Armed and Liberal

I have been doing a lot of looking into guns recently and this is a good article.

What Gun To Purchase: Consider the 9mm Pistol for Self-Defense?

The sections on hollow points and practice are well considered.

What Gun To Purchase

I also recommend a Glock 9mm.

Why Glock, why 9mm - one person's experience.

USA All government spending vs. GDP

There is a two year lag between election and presidents being responsible for all of the budget.  Bush was appointed by the Supreme Court following the 2000 election and took office in 2001 under a budget of the House and Clinton administration.  Similarly Obama took office in 2009 but the 2009 budget was Bush's and Congress's final act. I urged Obama to have nothing to do with it, the FDR policy, but begin a clean sweep after he took office as Republican's would claim his support for the proposals and helping Bush pass it would let them claim it was his. That is exactly what they have done.

Here is the share of all government USA spending as percent of GDP.  2010 to 2013 is under Obama's leadership.

How to get rid of the National Debt

Thom Hartmann Debunks INSANITY of Supply-Side Reaganomics! (Video) - Americans Against the Tea Party

Thom Hartmann Debunks INSANITY of Supply-Side Reaganomics! (Video) - Americans Against the Tea Party

A true progressive with an intimate understanding of economics, Thom Hartmann is one of our go-to guys for explaining how TEApublican policies have completely destroyed our economy time and time again.

Thom introduces his video this way,

“Get your pencils ready! I’m giving a crash course in economics. ·The economy is one big interlocking circle, but let’s begin at the most important point. First there’s demand. Paychecks, needs, desires.”

Demand creates jobs.  Help the people and they will demand new and better products.  Increasing supply without demand doesn't work.

Move Over Simpson-Bowles…There’s a New Plan in Town

Move Over Simpson-Bowles…There’s a New Plan in Town

A very Clinton like plan not very complicated.  Current policy is current taxes, current law is what happens after the temporary Bush tax cuts go away.

From The Center for American Progress which drew upon some of the Clinton policy experts. 

Here are the details PDF.

Naomi Klien seems radical to many in the US, she's just from Canada

"I actually had a child five months ago in a public hospital and never got a bill. Seems pretty amazing."

Move to Facebook going well

More and more followers. Ran an advertising campaign for Obama in swing states in what seemed like persuadable demographics with 98,000 favorable impressions the last week.

Just wrote a comment on Ace of Spades blog where he is shocked, shocked that The Romney campaign is lying and saying their untested GOTV day of the election campaign didn't totally fail.

Might as well add it here.

Imagine that, a campaign known for unprecedented lying is still lying. Meanwhile I had the loosest* connection to the Obama campaign and received email and Facebook messages election day about contacting particular friends on Facebook in battleground states and see if they had voted yet.
* I was running my own Facebook adv. impression campaign in toss-up states to likely women persuadable voters using the photo of Obama hugging a women standing beside Christie (Real Bipartisanship) or the granddaughter of Ike and her intelligent reasons she couldn't vote Republican this year. Don't know if I motivated anyone to get out and vote but 98,000 favorable impressions couldn't hurt.
Those of us who listened, watched and read from the reality based community were not surprised at all by the election results.
Far from the mainstream media being biased it was the "Fair and Balanced" media that were severely biased and did not inform their viewers but kept them riled up with propaganda instead of facts.
If you were surprised, it seems you were very surprised, please reflect on your choice of media and add some balance and perhaps you won't be fooled again.
We actually would like rational opponents with real facts to debate how to solve problems, not those we have to contact when the real world finally unmistakably intrudes to just say "We told you so."

Go to my Facebook page for frequent news and comments for liberals and anti-authoritarians.

http://www.facebook.com/EasterLemming

Daily Kos: Give Google a Medal

Click Google or where it asks or enter "I want to vote" to get where you are supposed to vote.

Daily Kos: Give Google a Medal

Alternate Universes

For most polls this election has a simple story. Obama lead from the beginning, had a bad first debate where suddenly Romney seemed credible and they were tied, and Obama has been inching and trying to claw his way back up and now leads by less then a point.

This is shown by all nearly all polls. I am only going to exclude two pollsters out of dozens to show this.

There are two pollsters who have strong Republican leanings and were not very accurate in the 2008 and 2010 elections compared to others. Rasmussen is known as a Republican lean poll and is the only one who excludes cell phones and weights its polls according to what it thinks the turnout by party will be. Gallup has a long history but has become very conservative and has been criticized for recently overweighting the South on national polls, some wrong methodology, and using a likely voter model that induces big swings that makes sure that Gallup polls are often talked about. Unfortunately because of their conservative bias and frequency these are the pollsters Republicans and conservatives almost exclusively use, when they aren't criticizing all polls and not recognizing the science behind polling.

Here is the conservative poll story using just Gallup and Rasmussen. The polls varied often after Romney got the nomination with both sides having leads until early summer where Obama got the lead and kept it until the first debate. After the first debate Romney took the lead has been increasing his lead almost daily until it is now four points.

Because of their methodologies and recent history I go with the average of all the other pollsters and think the Gallup and Rasmussen polls have it wrong.

Surprise! A Romney adviser is lying about ObamaCare

Run Everybody! Avik Roy is Coming!

Someone paid by the Romney campaign promotes himself as a healthcare expert and goes on popular website to write articles about how expensive Obama is going to make insurance.  Just carefully reading his latest articles, coincidentally aimed at very close swing states, should reveal to anyone his blatant lies.

This link at a non-profit goes into a bit more detail on how Avik Roy transforms a 1 to 3% cost increase into a 55 to 85% increase.

Please hurry and let Romney's Lying Express be over.

More Texas Republican Voter Fraud

I am turning over my post today to Jacob Limon of the TDP.


True the Vote and the King Street Patriots Get Caught With Their Pants Down - Confirm They Are Only Concerned With One Kind of "Voter Fraud"

The Republican candidate for County Commissioner in Fort Bend County voted in the general elections in both Texas and Pennsylvania in 2006, 2008, and 2010. In all three cases, he voted by mail in Pennsylvania and then fraudulently voted in person in Texas.

Bruce J. Fleming of Sugar Land, age 60, is the Republican nominee for County Commissioner in Precinct 1 in Fort Bend County. His financial disclosure records show that he owns a homesteaded property in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, along with his homesteaded property in Sugar Land, Texas. Records from Bucks County show that a Bruce J Fleming with the same birth date and property address as the Bruce Fleming in Fort Bend County voted in Bucks County in the last three general elections with a mail ballot. He also voted in person in Fort Bend County in those same three elections.

Bruce Fleming is running against Fort Bend County Democratic incumbent county commissioner Richard Morrison. Fleming remains on the voter rolls in Pennsylvania although he registered in Texas in July of 2006. It also appears that Fleming’s wife, Nancy, voted in both elections in 2010.

Ironically, Catherine Renee Engelbrecht, President of the radical rightwing True The Vote and King Street Patriots lives and votes in the commissioner precinct in which Fleming is running. Fort Bend County records show that Engelbrecht voted in the Republican primary and in the runoff election that gave Fleming the Republican nomination. Obviously, Engelbrecht and True the Vote are unconcerned about the most common form of voter fraud – ballot by mail.

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said, “Here is Ms. Engelbrecht gallivanting around the country drawing attention to herself about imaginary voter fraud while her own Republican county commissioner candidate is a serial fraudulent voter. This is not voter fraud in her backyard. This is voter fraud in her living room.”

“Why should we take True the Vote seriously when they are not at all concerned about real voter fraud? They simply want to deny voting rights to Democrats. Ms. Engelbrecht needs to true the vote in her own house before she attempts to deny votes to honest voters across America,” Hinojosa continued. “We do, however, take True the Vote seriously. We believe they are seriously dangerous to democracy.”

“Additionally, I call on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to quit wasting taxpayer money on wild eyed conspiracy theories about voter identification and pay attention to real voter fraud in Texas by Republicans. This is a third degree felony, and would be a second degree felony under current Texas law. Let’s see if Greg Abbott has any money left after his losing battle in Texas courts to restrict honest voters. I challenge Abbott to prosecute this crime against the decency of the State of Texas,” Hinojosa concluded.

Unfortunately we know by now that Abbott is not interested in voter fraud. Abbott is only interested in suppressing the voter of students, the elderly and minorities.

The Texas Democratic Party sued King Street Patriots after the 2008 election for their illegal tactics and won. The case is on appeal now before the Austin Court of Appeals. It is a shame that only one political party, the Texas Democratic Party, will stand up for all voters in Texas no matter how they want to vote. Nevertheless, TDP will continue to pursue vote suppressers in public and at the courthouse until we leadership in state government that believes in democracy.


####

Jacob Limon

I see that Juanita Jean's first broke the story.

UPDATE - Flemming confesses to committing a felony - voter fraud. He didn't mention the tax fraud of claiming two homestead exemptions

Republicans Against Mitt Romney

Without Paul Ryan Medicare ax, GOP budget still in red

Without Paul Ryan Medicare ax, GOP budget still in red - David Rogers This confirms my prior post about the Ryan plan but adds one detail: compared to his first plan he cut thousands more from senior's Medicare vouchers/rebates to cut taxes further for millionaires. 

The other statesments I made about the Romney-Ryan plan below still apply.  It has trillions in unsupported assumptions about economic growth, the magic "fairy dust" sprinkled in heaps; asserts Republicans will raise taxes in unspecified eliminations of popular deductions; asserts they will also make further drastic cuts in popular programs in addition to the steep cuts already in the proposal; and still runs deficits until 2040.  It has been revised by Romney on the campaign trail to not cut $700 billion from Medicare in the early years -- which means the balanced budget by 2040 no longer applies.

The conclusion I reached in my prior post applies even more - the entire buget proposal is massive cuts for millionair's taxes and hang everything else which is just busy work to call it a budget.  "The real Romney-Ryan tax and budget plan is simple - reduce Romney's taxes and hang everything else. That is the plan, all the other words and goals and statements about the deficit and everything else don't matter - the plan is to cut taxes for the 1%."

 

What is the Romney-Ryan Plan - Explained

It actually has changed over time due to Romney flip-flops but I'll get to that later.


Te best nonpartisan analysis is the CBO report on the first version (pdf). Some details change, but the general idea remains the same.

For the first ten years Romney-Ryan (1) converts Medicaid into a block grant program, with much lower funding than projected under current law and (2) sharp cuts in top tax rates and corporate taxes. Note this doesn't reduce the deficit, it’s a tradeoff of reduced aid to the poor for reduced taxes on the rich with much higher tax reductions than savings.

How do they claim a big deficit reduction? The answer is two big “magic asterisks”. The first is Congress, with Republican control, will increase taxes in a broadening but unspecified way. Remember, these are GOP Congresspeople who never vote for tax increases and sign pledges to never do so but somehow they will. Expert opinion is that this will never happen especially with the magnitude of the tax increases this plan needs. The second "magic asterisk" is discretionary spending being cut in half as a percentage of GDP with details not specified. No proposals are specified on the massive cuts to popular programs needed.

After ten years Medicare is transformed into a mainly private insurance plan scheme with the government providing money, in the first plan vouchers, for people to buy this insurance. However, this second phase doesn't count on Medicare savings for deficit reduction but instead on further unspecified cuts in government programs that were already reduced 50% in the first ten years. Discretionary spending, which includes the military currently at 4% of GDP, is supposed to fall to 3.75% from the current 12.5%.

Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman summarizes:

Ryan basically proposes three big things: slashing Medicaid, cutting taxes on corporations and high-income people, and replacing Medicare with a drastically less well funded voucher system. These concrete proposals would, taken together, actually increase the deficit for the first decade and beyond.

All the claims of major deficit reduction therefore rest on the magic asterisks. In that sense, this isn’t even a plan, it’s just a set of assertions.

Putting some numbers on this fantasy wish list - tax cuts for millionaires and corporations $4.3 trillion. Off set that with cutting Medicaid $0.8 trillion, add somewhat less than $1.0 trillion in cuts to education, food stamps, job training, everything else, and lastly in this first version cut $0.7 trillion in Medicare. That's it, there isn't nothing more except for the "magic asterisks" that say the Republicans in the House will raise taxes and find more cuts. So $2.6 trillion INCREASE in the deficit in the first ten years as no one expects the Republicans to pull the magic unicorns out of their asses and raise taxes and cut the military and cut all programs even more than the $1.0 trillion already assumed.

For the second version of the plan released in 2012 replace vouchers for Medicare with another form of payments to individuals to pay for private insurance that are just like vouchers, but not vouchers because people don't like vouchers, instead it is called premium support. The savings from Medicare come from the government payments being less than what the plans cost and that gap increases each year. That is the basis of Democratic advertisements, you pay more for Medicare under the Romney endorsed Ryan plan and that quickly mounts to many thousands of dollars each year.

Ryan budget two moved balancing the budget back to 2040, 28 years of deficits!, because no one liked the cuts proposed. There were some specifics - all deductions and credits on the income tax form eliminated, hope you didn't need any of them, in favor of somewhat lower rates. Reduce the top corporate rate to 25% from 35%, part of why corporate giving of hundreds of millions has swung to Romney. The military budget is held constant with inflation, there goes the only real spot to cut hundreds of billions but it does preserve the Republican campaign donation stream. Ryan 2 reduces discretionary spending 2% in 2013 from prior budget by another cut by fiat with no details. Overall, except for what I just mentioned, more vagueness in cuts and taxes. Here is a chart of the Republican fantasy federal budget.

The Romney plan based on the Ryan plan expanded the vagueness but set five tax goals and added sweeteners for billionaire and big business, must keep those contributions coming. The five goals dooming the mathematics of the Romney tax plan are: 1. Tax reform must be revenue neutral but 2.) must reduce income rates by 20% and 3.) must preserve or increase deductions for investments. 4.) Eliminate the Estate Tax. 5.) Get rid of the Alternate Minimum Tax.

A problem: just using those assumptions independent analysts that Romney had praised in getting the nomination found the plan would greatly reduce tax rates for millionaires and increase income taxes for everyone else. The Republicans cried foul for injecting facts into the debate. After consulting with the Romney camp and other conservative Republicans the analysts issued another report sticking by their conclusions: voting for Romney will increase your taxes for the great majority of people. Even ending the tax exmption for government bonds and insurance investments, violating plank 3 but a Republican suggestion, and even allowing for increased growth because of the magic fairies who love small government, your taxes will go up.

After being hammered by the media and Democrats about the Medicare cuts Romney flip-flopped last Sunday to say he would not cut Medicare by $0.7 trillion. That increases the deficit under the Romney plan by $0.7 trillion to $3.3 trillion in the first ten years. I should point out that Obama's $0.7 trillion in Medicare SAVINGS expanded and provided more Medicare and health care benefits and also that overall ObamaCare reduced the deficit according to the CBO but that the same savings in the Ryan plan did not expand health care. Now the repeal of Ryan's cuts by Romney just adds to the deficit. Romney says he will use the $0.7 trillion to extend Medicare's life until it is fixed. But Romney has flipped-flopped on so many issues, in this case Medicare in just a few days, so often can anyone trust him? Originally Romney-Ryan plans just took the $0.7 trillion out of Medicare causing it to run out of money in 2016 so this flip improves that at the cost of the budget deficit.

The fact that Romney's plan is mathematically impossible is not the worst problem. The fact that Republicans repeatedly and routinely lie about what they will do (it just came out that the GOP has issued a directive to candidates to not use the words "entitlement reform" or "privatization") is not the worst problem. The problem is that Republicans will say and do anything to get elected and then sprinkle magic pixie dust on their policies claiming one thing while actually doing what they have done for decades - reduce taxes on the rich and hang everything else. Romney is just a more obvious example of that.

The real Romney-Ryan tax and budget plan is simple - reduce Romney's taxes and hang everything else. That is the plan, all the other words and goals and statements about the deficit and everything else don't matter - the plan is to cut taxes for the 1%.

New Location - Facebook

For the last several years I have been posting most liberal news on my Facebook page - Gary Denton.

They will now be posted on the Facebook Easter Lemming Liberal News Page.

See you there.

The Economy is based on Demand

The Economy is based on Demand for Goods and Services.
Additional demand is what tells Business to go out and Hire New Employees.
No Additional Demand, No New Jobs.
Give a million dollar tax break to someone that makes 10 million a Year.
That extra million ends up in a stock portfolio of some other investment.
The Velocity of that million dollars is Zero.
New Demand is Zero.
Give that same Million to the People at the bottom.
That Million dollars goes BACK into the Economy at the Speed of Light.
It gets spent on Food, Housing, Gas, utilities.
The Velocity of that Million is Very High.
Every place that money is spent sees New Demand.
The New Demand At the BOTTOM creates NEW Jobs.
Tax Cuts for the Wealthy do NOT.

Econ101

The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds everyone that early voting has begun as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff finished his interview tour of Texas with a conversation with Domingo Garcia in CD33.

BossKitty at TruthHugger will not weigh in, whether or not the truth was actually served in court, when a black lady fired a warning shot into a wall. Firing a gun in irresponsible ways is natural in Texas. But, Florida has contradictory laws that allow courts to pick and choose who gets punished for similar irresponsible behavior. You can decide for yourself how good a job of it they do.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry came to Williamson County this week, he endorsed John Bradley for DA. WCNews at Eye On Williamson has the rest of the story, Birds of a feather.

It was a good week to be gay if you were Barack Obama and John Carona, and a bad week to be gay if you were Mitt Romney and Dan Patrick. And if you think that's confusing, wait until you read what PDiddie at Brains and Eggs said about Greg Abbott's rose petals and Joe Arpaio's pink panties.

Lewisville Texan Journal looks at Republican candidate for HD 106, Pat Fallon's residence, and addresses whether he committed voter fraud by voting from an address where he apparently did not live.

At TexasKaos, lightseeker asks Could the Education Cuts be the beginning of the End for Texas Republican? Check out the details.

Neil at Texas Liberal endorsed Sean Hubbard in the Democratic primary for the open U.S. Senate seat.

A New Democrat Cheers Me Up

I was feeling depressed by a friend of a friend writing that he thought it was "scary Fascism" the criticism Rush Limbaugh was getting and all the sponsors dropping his show over his hours of insults to a young women who testified why contraception is a health issue that should be covered by insurance. I looked up where the friend of a friend was coming from and as far as I could tell he was only getting information from a far right collection of media sites, both written and broadcast. Then I have someone else who says he has an open mind but apparently relaxes by listening to crazy right-wing media clowns. But then I read something on my friends Facebook page that made me happier.

To my first mentor,

I've finally done it. I just wanted you to know that. After a decade since first meeting you and having my eyes opened to the world, I finally caved in.

Today, the 9th of March, 2012, I donated money to the Democratic Party. I'm part of the family now. It's Facebook official.

Just thought you ought to know.

- GRS

Really it wasn't that hard to make the switch. I've been irritated with the Republican Party for quite some time. They touted conservatism and freedom and liberty, all the while serving as this unholy alliance between big businesses who pay zero dollars in taxes and evangelical diehards who want to institute private ideology into public policy.

The tipping point however, came from Rush Limbaugh and his 60+ comments about the "slutty" young woman who bravely stood in front of the national headlights.

When the Republicans only lukewarmly moved away from the radio host, I was appalled. No one should treat another American citizen like that. And especially not when they made it abundantly clear that they didn't bother to read her testimony or base their arguments in facts.

The glaring truth stood there. The more I read, the more I disagree with them on almost every issue. Not only this, but they as a group wish to destroy all my rights and privileges, all under a guise of freedom. It's disgusting. That sir, was the tipping point.

Congratulations for opening your eyes, new Democrat. Maybe there is hope yet.

Stocks better than Social Security? Think Again.

What if you could have followed the GOP advice and pulled all of your Social Security money into the stock market in 2000. How much money, in both nominal and real terms would you have now?

At the end of Bush's eight disastrous years you would have lost half of your money, more if inflation adjusted.



Since Obama's policies went into effect you would have doubled your money since that low point.

Republicans, bad for the stock market, bad advice, bad for everyone.

From Three U.S. Indexes Since 2000.

Six Facts About Mitt Romney's Tax Returns | ThinkProgress

Six Facts About Mitt Romney's Tax Returns - ThinkProgress

Why should a passive investor pay a lower rate of taxes than you?

Black Out

Stop the Internet Blacklist Legislation

New Conservative Book

I have a reasonably frequent commenter and blogger who has written a book.

I confess I more often find his observations and questions clueless and questionable despite his claims of centrism. In looking at his book via the free link I see one explanation. He watches and listens to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to get historical context! I think that is about as useful as reading Karl Marx to get the thinking of the University of Chicago economists or using the false histories of theocrats to understand the Constitution.

Where to begin... I have to confess my own failures to persuade conservatives after giving them what I thought were very informative books that start from where they are coming from. A case in point is giving my ex-father-in-law Blinded By the Right which is the story of how one of the Republicans biggest propagandists suddenly couldn't do it any more that was also influenced by his coming out as gay. My ex-father-in-law thought he was a mixed-up confused man, ignoring the story I saw of a powerful well-financed group using media propaganda to pursue their economic self interests.

Some of the people I read and listen to most started as hard-core Republicans and left the Party. I find them much more coherent than those who were Marxists when young, both those who moved to the opposite extreme and those who stayed. I think there are habits of thinking that continue to influence you as you get older and I am very interested in those studying the differences in morals of liberals and conservatives where it is clear to me those are still appropriate and convenient terms.

Seriously?

The man who drew this cover:

Objected to this family cover.



More here on David Dorman controversy.

The shame of being a conservative has never been greater.

We've been doing the Reaganomics thing for thirty years now, more or less, and if it had all worked the way they were selling it to us, we'd be in economic Nirvana by now, not facing the prospect of one out of every two Americans in or near poverty. It's a real world study: cutting taxes, destroying the social safety net, and deregulating industry have all been tried, repeatedly, and failed utterly. Time for a new economic paradigm, or rather, time to return to FDR's New Deal.

Texas Progressive Blogger Roundup

The Texas Progressive Alliance is all about the wassailing as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff has a look at candidate filings in Harris County as of what was once the deadline date.

BossKitty at TruthHugger - sees the grim side of a corporate ruled America, is that Climate Change Controversy May Be A Conspiracy and we are the targets.

BlueBloggin - Special interests are really not very special when they represent mindless, dangerous attitudes of corporate extremists, who don’t want to be accountable for their actions. Let Me Sell you A Lie – EPA Consequences of The REINS Act – H.R. 10 shows that corporations really do own America's lawmakers.

Bay Area Houston says Rick Perry is one rotten bastard.

Death sentences and the use of the death penalty are hitting record lows. Mostly because of the corruption and injustice in our criminal justice system. It's led WCNews at Eye On Williamson to wonder, Is the death penalty dying?

Third-party presidential candidates may make some noise and perhaps even some news in 2012, writes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw gives us the headsup on the latest episode of Rick Perry, fraud and hypocrite. Check out: Double Dipping Rick the Hypocrite.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes Greg Abbott called the US Supreme court to poop on Texas' politicians and voters. That's a republican for you.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote a post considering the life of the real St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was a foe of the death penalty who was said to have brought back to life children who had been cut up and were going to be pickled.

McBlogger takes on PolitiFact's pathetic attempt to beat up Congressman Lloyd Doggett.

Refinish69 from Doing My Part For The Left wonders Do They Know It's Christmas in Washington or anywhere else in the world.

The Bush-era tax cuts that sank the supercommittee | Business | guardian.co.uk

The Bush-era tax cuts that sank the supercommittee | Business | guardian.co.uk

In a recent report the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded government spending under president Barack Obama was not the prime reason for today's massive deficit. "The fact remains, the economic downturn, president Bush's tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years," the center concluded.

Nor have the tax cuts benefited most Americans. According to itscalculations the cuts put an average of $860 in tax benefits the pockets of people earning between $40,000 and $50,000, a 2.2% increase. For those earning over a $1m the benefit was $128,832, a 6.2% increase.

The center concluded that the Bush-era tax cuts did not spur economic growth and had made a significant contribution to the deficit. Scrapping the tax cuts for the wealthy alone would be enough to make up for the shortfall in social security; scrapping them entirely would halt the rise in the national debt over the next decade.

Even some prominent Republicans have come out against the controversial taxes. If anything, New York mayor Mike Bloomberg has been more radical than the Democrats. "All income groups have to be part of the solution," the mayor said in a speech in Washington last month. "Allow the Bush tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012, not just for high-income workers as the president has proposed, but for all tax brackets."

Do you need one source for voting Info?

Vote411.org

Print out the 5 things you need to know card.

Go Vote - for Harris County.

League of Women Voter's - Houston Area, Texas.

Democratic Party - Harris County, Texas, and clubs.

Green Party - Harris County, Texas.

Texas Progressive Blogs.

Cost of Tax Cuts | costoftaxcuts.com

Cost of Tax Cuts | costoftaxcuts.com

Cost equals money lost to the U.S. Treasury due to tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Over $1 TRILLION DOLLARS. How many jobs did it buy? None, there is evidence it cost jobs.

Looking at top tax rates

Advantage of free consultation with lawyer

You can find out that the lawyer is not for you.

For example: on not receiving proper benefits: He did not know the 1000 hours annually rule for ERISA retirement accounts.

He did not know the Texas Administrative Code 30 hours a week rule for medical benefits coverage.

He did not know that the Texas Workforce Commission does not handle claims against political institutions like school and college districts.

He seemed to be a little shaky in math. Multiplying the number of hours worked by the lost benefits and reduced pay puts the claim well above small claims court.

Who's Deficit?

Not So Secret Republican Master Plan

I have turned over this blog post to small businessman Kristan Overstreet. Here is his thoughts on the Republican plan for the Masters.

The Republican Master Plan

And here I'm going to descend into a bit of conspiracy theory, but I'm not identifying any Sekrit Masters or Grand Protocols or anything like that. I posted this as a reply to someone's post, and it was long enough and fits my current political thinking enough that I thought I'd better post it here too.

* The Republicans want to privatize and/or abolish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, and unemployment assistance- to force the poor to "take responsibility for themselves," i. e. accept horrible jobs with terrible work conditions and low pay. The poor would be left wholly dependent on wealthy employers.

* At the same time, the Republicans want to abolish the minimum wage and repeal child labor and overtime laws- making those horrible jobs more dangerous, lower paying, and longer hours.

* The Republicans have largely succeeded in shutting off the civil court system of justice to workers complaining of being harassed, abused, or exploited- and, through their version of "tort reform," they are on the way to ensuring that punishment for even the most obviously illegal and abusive violations of law is minimal.

* The Republicans seek to repeal all government workplace regulation, food safety regulation, and environmental regulation- so the rich can pollute, poison, and exploit the working classes to their heart's content.

* The Republicans seek to cap taxation at such a low point as to either require all regulatory and law enforcement agencies to be abolished, or to destroy the government entirely under its own debts- thus leaving the poor at the mercy of those with enough money and power to take care of their own security.

* The Republicans seek to repeal the 17th Amendment and make Senators appointed by state legislatures again- returning America to a period when one house of Congress was selected by a tiny elite of political bosses.

* The Republicans seek further, more extreme sanctions against all those who cannot demonstrate their citizenship on demand - thus creating a permanent underclass too frightened to stand up for their human rights, and thus infinitely exploitable.

* The Republicans seek nonsensical and extreme laws punishing sexuality, credos, religions, speech and press, and other social issues- creating a system in which it becomes a practical impossibility to NOT break a law, and thus be vulnerable to extortion by those who control law enforcement.

* And, through it all, the Republicans insist on vastly oversized, overpowerful military establishments for the indefinite future, regardless of any actual international threats or the best means of responding to same.

Taken all together, the Republican end goal is a feudal state ruled by a tiny wealthy elite, in which the vast majority have no voice, no power, and no defense. Destroying the economy is only one step towards that goal- and from a Republican point of view, a very useful and desirable step, as the resources of the poor will dry up long before the super-wealthy's hoard..

And the sad thing is, not only are most Democrats doing little or nothing to stop this, some- including our president- are helping ADVANCE parts of this agenda in the name of "compromise" and "good government."

WE NEED SOMETHING ELSE.

ObamaCare and Texans after one year

None of this matters for those who don't care about others.

In the Medicare program, there is a gap when someone uses up the initial amount the program will pay for prescription drugs and before they hit the catastrophic coverage. That area of out-of-pocket expenses is often called the “donut hole.” More than 221,121 Texas residents who hit the donut hole received $250 tax-free rebates and will receive a 50 percent brand-name prescription drug discount. The White House estimates the hole will be closed completely by 2020.

There are 2.8 million Texans on Medicare. They are all eligible now for free preventive services and yearly wellness visits from a doctor.

Most insurance companies must cover children with pre-existing conditions now. This means an estimated 1.6 million children who might have been denied before will be covered.

Speaking of kids, if the economy — or the future unknown — has left your offspring unemployed, parents may keep their children on their plans until age 26. That’s about 149,000 Texas young adults.

Small businesses who now face insuring their employees can get tax credits. There is $40 billion in tax credits set aside for up to 4 million small businesses for providing insurance for employees and making premiums affordable. That could mean almost 300,000 in Texas.

About 12 million Texas residents have private insurance. The law keeps insurance companies from dropping or capping insurance plans unexpectedly and from imposing lifetime limits that pose problems for people with chronic diseases, such as cancer or HIV.

Krauthammer stamps his little feet over Social Security again

Time for another editorial by Charles Krauthammer over Social Security. He is wrong again and his stamping his feet and speaking in a louder voice doesn't make him right. Charles is a fine example of the So-Called-Liberal Washington Post's senile and privileged opinion writers.

1. There is no difference in government bonds held by the Social Security Administration and other government bonds. They are all numbers on computers and interest is calculated and paid. In one sense it is one branch of government having a debt and another branch having an obligation but governments work that way. If Social Security redeemed those bonds and bought other government bonds Charles would still object and those purchases would do nothing but generate a lot of transaction costs.

2. Those bonds also represent an obligation to the American people who have paid for those bonds with the Social Security tax and a default would have a big meaning. Such a big meaning I imagine that workers would riot and sweep away Charles's little world if the government ever did what Charles wants and sweeps away the bonds.

3. The statement that the debt is not used in calculations of government debt is simply wrong. It is easy to find presentations of where that debt is used in calculations of government debt and it seems more common than not.

4. Means testing is not any kind of "cure" for reducing Social Security obligations as even a little thought would show. Rich people are not a significant percentage of the population collecting Social Security. Other means for extending the current Social Security payment system past the 30 so years already covered, and is even covered well past that time at higher payments than today, will undoubtedly come to pass but it has nothing to do with the national deficit. It may have a little something to do with the scare-mongering of people like Charles Krauthammer.

5. The real usefulness of idiots like Krauthammer is preparing the people for another grab by the rich from the poor. The rich don't want to pay the taxes they have deferred and Wall Street wants its hands on the people's money that goes into Social Security.

6. As an aside, when is Charles going to quit using that 40-year-old picture that is published in his syndicated columns? Is it a reverse Dorian Gray, it doesn't age while his real face shows all the ravages of corruption and serving the interests of the rich and privileged? The one on the Washington Post page is midway between the Houston Chronicle's and what shows when he emerges from his crypt to appear under TV lights even after pancake make-up and black hair dye.

Today's economy

Who's screwed? Anyone's whose not a CEO of a company on the S & P 500. While many have lost their jobs and many more have seen their hours cut at work and their paychecks not going as far as they used to go, transnational corporations are poised to see the biggest profit gains in 18 years. Some of the nation's biggest corporations are expected to see a 9% profit gain this year - the biggest since 1993. And unlike in 1993 - when high profits spurred a hiring spree - don't expect the same things to happen today. That's because - thanks to insane free trade policies - these huge transnational corporations have gotten into a very lucrative business - shipping US jobs overseas. In fact - that's about all our nation exports these days - jobs.

-Thom Hartmann

Einstein on American Democracy

Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.

I Stand with the Unions

I don't want to say a lot about Wisconsin; though it occupies a lot of my attention. I don't want to say a lot because I really believe this thing could get ugly. While it may seem that Governor Walker and the Wisconsin legislature hold the upper hand; the fact is, they are left with NO OPTIONS in this; they took it too far to reverse course; it's way too late for them to back down, and the threat to fire anyone who strikes was the trump card. After playing that card, there are no options left for Governor Walker. If the protesters do NOT back down now, in the face of that threat, Governor Walker has one choice: violence, or the threat of violence; he has to intimidate the protesters; and the only way to do that now is to draw blood. Real blood.

But here's what little I will say about Wisconsin:

The Wisconsin decision to strip public workers of their right to bargain collectively followed a long campaign by right-wingers to create a stereotype of public workers as lazy, overpaid, bureaucratic paper-pushers who contribute nothing, and whose very jobs don't matter. They were attacked only after they were first weakened; a group of people they thought no one else will put themselves on the line to defend.

Except, people are paying attention and standing with Wisconsin's teachers, and not just public service employees. A lot of people are offended by the rightwing portrayal of government employees as public welfare recipients.

I am VERY proud of Wisconsin's firefighters for standing with the teachers; Governor Walker made it clear that they would be exempted from any attacks on the teachers. The firefighters chose on principle to stand with the teachers; or maybe they just realized how this kind of thing works, and knew their turn was coming.

All of us need to stand with Wisconsin's public workers. On principle. We don't have to march, or carry signs. We don't have to go to Madison. We can do it simply by sharing our support with those who know us well, and respect us. Our stated opinions are needed.

- Charles A.

Bad Voter ID Bill

The Republicans are at it again. Pretending to cure a problem that doesn't exist they are removing citizens from voting rolls sure that the great majority of those removed vote Democratic.

The Republican State Attorney General has spent millions trying to find instances of voter fraud that this bill will fix and found none. In fact, the only problems he caught were friends helping elderly and disabled to vote and forgetting to sign the mail in ballots on the proper lines. (That still counted as a success because the elderly and handicapped and the type of people assisting people to vote are also largely Democratic voters.)

The main problems with this bill include:

1) The legislation does not provide any alternatives to photo identification examples of identification that will no longer be acceptable to voter include student id cards, Medicaid/Medicare cards, expired driver’s licenses, expired passports, expired military id cards, birth certificates, official government letters, and employer id cards even if issued by a governmental entity.

2) Texas has a long history of voter discrimination and this law if enacted will be used primarily against minorities.

3) Voters, especially the working poor, will not return to the county elections department to provide the required identification within 6 days and cure his or her provisional ballot.

4) The bill contains no provisions to accommodate or address eligible voters whose last name on their driver’s license does not match their voter registration, such as recently married women.

5) The bill contains no provisions or guidelines to address a driver’s license that does not match the address of the voter registration certificate. This provision impacts students.

6) Offering a free personal identification certificate from DPS will not address the problem. Voters that lack the identification necessary to satisfy SB 14 will likely lack the means to obtain a personal identification card.

7) To implement this legislation, the state must put in substantial money for training and extensive public education. Money that would be better spent to address budget shortfalls in education, higher education, nursing homes, and healthcare costs.

8) The budget should be the first and only priority emergency item for the 82nd Legislature.

9) Implementing redistricting plans and extremely strict photo id laws right before a Presidential election is a recipe for disaster in voter confusion.

The people most impacted by this bill include students, the recently married, the recently moved, those with very low income, the elderly, legal immigrants, the handicapped, and the mainly urban dwellers who don't drive a car. These groups all lean Democratic so the Republicans count this bill as a success, getting any edge possible for elections.

See the bill here.

ADDED - Why courts in Texas will likely throw out this bill.

Congress Passes Socialized Medicine and Mandates Health Insurance - In 1798

How ignorant are most conservatives and how much do they lack a knowledge of history?

Rick Unger points out that they are over 200 years too late to stop insurance mandates for private citizens and socialized medicine. Forbes, by far not a liberal web site, has this.


Congress Passes Socialized Medicine and Mandates Health Insurance - In 1798

In July of 1798, Congress passed – and President John Adams signed - “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen.” The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance.

Keep in mind that the 5th Congress did not really need to struggle over the intentions of the drafters of the Constitutions in creating this Act as many of its members were the drafters of the Constitution.

And when the Bill came to the desk of President John Adams for signature, I think it’s safe to assume that the man in that chair had a pretty good grasp on what the framers had in mind.

Realizing that a healthy maritime workforce was essential to the ability of our private merchant ships to engage in foreign trade, Congress and the President resolved to do something about it.

Enter “An Act for The Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen”.

I encourage you to read the law as, in those days, legislation was short, to the point and fairly easy to understand.

First, it created the Marine Hospital Service, a series of hospitals built and operated by the federal government to treat injured and ailing privately employed sailors. This government provided healthcare service was to be paid for by a mandatory tax on the maritime sailors (a little more than 1% of a sailor’s wages), the same to be withheld from a sailor’s pay and turned over to the government by the ship’s owner. The payment of this tax for health care was not optional. If a sailor wanted to work, he had to pay up.

The law was not only the first time the United States created a socialized medical program (The Marine Hospital Service) but was also the first to mandate that privately employed citizens be legally required to make payments to pay for health care services. Upon passage of the law, ships were no longer permitted to sail in and out of our ports if the health care tax had not been collected by the ship owners and paid over to the government – thus the creation of the first payroll tax in our nation’s history.

When a sick or injured sailor needed medical assistance, the government would confirm that his payments had been collected and turned over by his employer and would then give the sailor a voucher entitling him to admission to the hospital where he would be treated for whatever ailed him.

While a few of the healthcare facilities accepting the government voucher were privately operated, the majority of the treatment was given out at the federal maritime hospitals that were built and operated by the government in the nation’s largest ports.

It not only covered sailors working in international waters but the U.S. lakes and rivers.

Clearly, the nation’s founders serving in the 5th Congress, and there were many of them, believed that mandated health insurance coverage was permitted within the limits established by our Constitution.

The moral to the story is that the political right-wing has to stop pretending they have the blessings of the Founding Fathers as their excuse to oppose whatever this president has to offer.

History makes it abundantly clear that they do not.

The fallacy of the reasonable middle

Crazy Extremist: "We have to kill all the kittens!"

Sane 'Extremist': "What?!? No! That's crazy! There's no need to kill any kittens!"

Moderator: "Now, now, none of that namecalling. Compromise is called for. We'll kill half the kittens."

...

A decade later, as the sane extremist has been repeatedly berated for their extremism, the "kill half the kittens" compromise has become the status quo, the best of a bad situation as it were. The yelling dies down.

Whereupon the crazy extremists again call for killing all the kittens, and the moderator insists on a "compromise" where only three quarters of the kittens die

The sane extremist then - understandably - goes ballistic, and is universally put down for being so impolite

The "middle grounders" are in fact, helping the craziest extremists.

In the presence of effective always-middle-grounders, then, the only reasonable approach is to be even crazier than the other guy. Otherwise, the middle grounders eventually hand all the ground to whoever is craziest.

Think the GOP will reduce the Federal Deficit?

(Click for larger image.)

Hasn't happened since Deficits-R-Us Reagan was elected.

As I have said before Republicans don't believe in government so they can't govern well.

Many Insane People Running This Year

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Because of ignorance and people's desire to "send a statement" and the new shrunken media a lot of these crazies are likely to win.

GOP reveals its Master Plan: return to Bush years

Despite Obama's fall in the polls he is much more popular than Bush was and the lastest survey even shows people still much prefer him to Bush. So why is the GOP new "Pledge For America" a return to the Bush year policies?

The pledge, their master plan for America, does not reduce the deficit and is mostly pages of platitudes.

It said it was developed from ideas posted on a website set up this Summer for citizens yet they have explicitly rejected the most popular idea - quit providing tax breaks to companies that outsource jobs and promote jobs in America. Nope, no way say Republican leaders.

The most detailed proposals are on health care where they vow to repeal the Democrats health care plan and replace it with - the Democratic health care plan. The proposals they list are already in the existing plan. If they do repeal the health care plan they don't explain how they replace the $140 billion in deficit reduction the plan provides.

They vow to cut taxes, while ignoring the rise in the deficit that will cause.

They have learned to even avoid talking about Medicare and Social Security which are left out of the pledge entirely, with a later admission they want to have frank talks with the American people later about how those are problems.

They vow to cut the deficit, with no serious proposals to cut the deficit and several proposals like tax cuts and repeal of Obamacare that increase the deficit.

No wonder even the Republicans are backing away from this plan when they are not outright condemning it.

It is also no surprise that the "Pledge to America" was put together by a major business lobbyist temporarily working for the Republicans.

Republicans can't govern, they just have experts in marketing from Wall Street. Eventually their empty promises will catch up with them. To answer the question poised at the beginning, they want to return to Bush policies despite their unpopularity and the economic collapse they caused because they have no new ideas.

What Bills Have Republicans Attempted To Block?

Here's just a short list of some of the bills that Republicans have blocked, or attempted to block, since Obama became President:

* Senator Franken’s Anti-Rape Amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill - Makes it so that women raped overseas while working for foreign contractors have the right to have their case heard in an American court instead of having their case mediated by the company they work for. Only Republican men voted against this, but it passed.

* Benefits for Homeless Veterans - Would have expanded benefits to homeless veterans and homeless veterans with children. Republicans blocked this.

* Health Care - Prevents insurance companies from discriminating against you on the basis of "pre-existing conditions". Requires that insurance companies spend 85 cents of every dollar that you pay on your actual health care. Limits health insurance companies profit margins. Republicans blocked this for months before it finally passed.

* Health Care for the 9/11 First Responders who got sick from being at Ground Zero- Would provide billions of dollars in health care to help the 9/11 First Responders who were at Ground Zero on 9/11 and are now sick because of it. Republicans blocked this.

* The Jobs Bill- Offsets the payroll tax for 1 year for companies that hire new employees, or people receiving unemployment insurance. Also gives other tax incentives to companies hiring new employees. Republicans attempted to block this. Small business lending bill- would give LOCAL, community banks access to billions of dollars to loan to small businesses. Republicans blocked this.

* Financial reform - Puts stricter regulations on the banks, preventing them from becoming "too big to fail". Curbs reckless spending practices that caused the banking crisis. Republicans attempted to block this.

* Stimulus Bill - Pumped billions of dollars into state and local governments to prevent us from sinking into a second Great Depression. Republicans opposed this but now want to take credit for the parts of it that we know are successful or the spending in their districts.

* Oil Spill Liability - Raises the liability on what companies can be made to pay to clean up after an oil spill. Republicans blocked this. Political Ad disclosure bill- Would have required all donors to political campaigns to reveal themselves. Republicans blocked this.

* Immigration - Republican suggested comprehensive immigration reform until Obama supported it. Now they're rabidly opposed to it and even voted against their own legislation. Republicans blocked this.

* Unemployment Extension - Would provide additional aid to the millions of Americans still on unemployment who are just trying to support themselves and their familes. Republicans blocked this bill for 8 weeks before it finally passed. Republicans blocked this for 8 weeks before it finally passed.

* Fair Pay Act of 2009 - Also called the Lily Ledbetter bill. Requires that women receive equal compensation to men for doing the same work. Republicans attempted to block this.

**** The next time someone tells you that the Republicans care about the American people just give them this list of all the bills Republicans wanted to fail. ****

Republicans bad for your income

This is a newer edition of something that has been out there for years.

You usually see charts analyzing income growth under Democratic Presidents versus Republican Presidents and conservatives always respond it is Congress that passes economic and tax policies. This chart does two things, it splits it up by income category and by what branches the parties control.

Click for larger image.


It is obvious the GOP governs to benefit the rich either not caring or mistakenly thinking that benefits everyone. That is wrong. They don't even do as good a job benefiting the rich.

The second response I always get from conservatives is it is a coincidence because government doesn't affect income growth. LOL!!! Remember that when they say Democrats are bad for your pocket book and show them this chart.

There are other charts out there with analysis of other parts of the economy and even government job growth and debt levels and pretty much anything you can shake a stick at. The bottom line is that Republicans don't govern well when they are in control, they don't even meet their stated goals of reducing debt and the size of government. The best thing they do is direct government money to their cronies and tax cuts for the rich, who save it instead of creating jobs. Savings does not create job, creating demand does.

RADICAL RIGHT - Hate Takes Center Stage

This has been an unfortunate Summer of Hate stirred up by the party of FEAR! and NO!

Looking back, I see these hate and fear campaigns have a long history in America and the haters lose, eventually.

Very little difference between the law and order campaigns, the anti-civil rights campaigns, and the communist hysteria last century and today's summer of hate.

This too shall pass, but we should oppose this fear, hate, and hysteria to remain true to America's best ideals.

RADICAL RIGHT - Hate Takes Center Stage

You can't just blame government

You can't just blame government which is what Republicans want you to do.

The corruption in offshore drilling regulations were practices put in place by the Bush/Cheney regime and their appointees.

This was similar to how they gutted FEMA and replaced the experienced people with political hacks.

This was also similar to them insisting that Homeland Security be removed from government services guidelines and reinstating the political patronage system.

Again, this is similar to how they staffed Iraq reconstruction making it purely political how appointees were chosen and wasting tens and hundreds of billions of dollars as children of political friends and people active in the right Republican causes were chosen to run projects with no experience.

Government run by the spoils system is spoiled, not government regulations.

Another analysis of the Democratic judicial primaries

Another analysis of the Democratic judicial primaries

In summing up the results, endorsements were important, but some endorsements mattered than others, and campaign funds raised mattered very little. The Houston Black American Democrats endorsement seemed to be the most influential in terms of prospects for victory. Their organizational push to get the vote out seems to have paid off. In addition, being a female candidate was a good predictor of victory, suggesting that Democratic primary voters were more interested in electing women to the bench than men. This could be the result of a concerted effort by organizations devoted to making the judiciary more diverse, or this could be a demographic effect where more women voting in the primary translated into more votes for female candidates.

Generally, all things being equal or being equally ignorant about the candidates, I know many Democrats who vote for the female candidate. There is a perception of less corruption and also the feeling of making up for past under representation.

Play Ball - Texas Round-up of Progressive News

The Texas Progressive Alliance welcomes the start of the new baseball season with another highlight reel of the week's political activity.

Off the Kuff looked at how voting returns changed in Texas from 2004 to 2008 in the Presidential and judicial races.

Aruba Petroleum: The Epic Fail of the Barnett Shale. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS now brings you 55 posts to document this failure of epic proportions.

Marshmallow Peeps make sweeping endorsements of Democrats on The Texas Cloverleaf.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why Republicans and Republican suck ups act like bleeping thugs? New Perry appointee, Nueces County DA Jimenez, threw out the board certified attorneys to bring in her cronies and HD 76 rep Norma Chávez is channeling Karl Rove.

A Texas Vox, everyone is a-twitter about the upcoming appliance rebate program. Want to trade up your tired old appliances for shiny new energy-efficient ones? The guv'ment will send you a check for it...

The last chapter (?) in the sad saga of Stay Bailey Hutchison is read aloud by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Sure April Fools Day is over, but this was funny enough to share again. Sarah Palin to Replace Michael Steele as Chair of the GOP. Bay Area Houston continues to be full of wit.

This week on Left of College Station, Teddy takes a first look at the Bryan mayoral candidates, and this week he will be taking a look at the candidates for College Station City Council Place 2 and Bryan City Council Single Member District 3. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the GOP's latest posturing and states that it's time for Gov. Perry and the Texas GOP to put up or shut up.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about undersea volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico that shoot out asphalt. Who knew?

WhosPlayin says animal welfare actvists in North Texas are claiming a victory in their fight against puppy mills: After months of weekly picketing by Texans Exposing Petland, the Lewisville, Texas Petland store is closing down.

Quote of the Day

There might have been a time when getting doctors, AARP, hospitals, labor, pharmaceutical companies, and 60 senators on the same side of a piece of legislation would have signaled that this is a moderate, consensus-oriented document that's respectful of the status quo. But in this case, the ferocious opposition of Republicans drove public perceptions about whether the legislation was moderate or not. - Ezra Klein.