Month: June 2012

This is how far modern-day conservatives have walked the Tea Party's right-wing plank: progressives like me now look back on Republicans like George W. Bush (and his father, George H.W.) a lot more fondly than we did when they were president. Like Ronald Reagan, both of the Bush's would be viewed as dangerously -- gasp!-- moderate by today's GOP faithful. Remember when "compassionate conservatism" was viewed positively by Republicans? No more. Just three years after George W. Bush left the White House, compassionate conservatives are an endangered species. In the new Tea Party era, they've all but disappeared from Congress, and…

Does Mitt Romney have no shame? For a supposedly religious guy, he sure has no problem lying. Today PolitiFact caught him in an obvious falsehood.  The Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, doesn't add trillions of dollars to the deficit. Actually, the Congressional Budget Office says that it will reduce the deficit. So Romney is just making crap up.  So says PolitiFact, in a more polite manner. How is it that a law can raise taxes and cut spending, but also add trillions to the deficit?That was Mitt Romney’s claim after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the core of the health…

There. I've gone out on a limb. I put a "will survive" in the title of this blog post. I've been thinking that the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, is going to fare better with the Supreme Court than most pundits are predicting. But until today I felt this was wishful thinking. My wife and I hate Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon, who we send a large amount of money to each month for an individual policy that steadily costs more and covers less. We're looking forward to becoming eligible for Medicare in a few years, having experienced the…

Do you want a puppet to represent you in Congress or be your President? Wouldn't you prefer to have someone who thinks for himself or herself and acts in the best interest of the country, rather than a robot who jumps whenever strings are pulled by a behind-the-scenes controller? Republicans are those puppets. Grover Norquist is the puppeteer. His rigid anti-tax pledge is the strings. Columnist Dana Milbank reports that it's been signed by all but four House Republicans, most Republican Senators, and Mitt Romney. Read his column, "Grover Norquist delivers the GOP's marching orders." Then make your own independent,…

I'm sure the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 555, had other reasons to endorse a proposed 2012 ballot initiative here in Oregon -- the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, which would legalize and tax marijuana consumed by adults. But when I saw the Portland Business Journal story, all I could think was: Smart move for a food group. Munchies! There's also some marijuana legalization news from Washington state today: The other ballot measure is Initiative 502, which would essentially legalize marijuana, regulate it, and tax it. Washingtonians seem to like pot even better than gay marriage, as the initiative is…

A few years ago Oregon raised taxes on businesses and high-income individuals. Tax-hating conservatives screamed warnings about how bad this would be for the state's economy, and how the "job creators" would be moving out. Not happening. Here's a couple of recent headlines from the Oregonian. Oregon economy growing at nation's second fastest rate"Oregon's economic growth outpaced all but one state in 2011, driven largely by double-digit manufacturing gains." Oregon payrolls continue to grow in May, but monthly figures cloud hiring picture"Oregon employers added 6,900 jobs last month, according to the state's monthly report. That's equal to 10 percent of all jobs…

After Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker survived his recall election last Tuesday, I was disappointed but not depressed. Democrats took back control of the state Senate and there were other reasons to not feel like the progressive sky was falling. Now I'm feeling even better. Joshua Holland helped boost my spirits with his "8 Ways Delusional Right-Wingers Are Blowing Wisconsin Out of Proportion." Thanks, Joshua. In the aftermath of the vote, conservatives, proving typically magnanimous in victory, spun the results like a top. They claimed the outcome spelled doom for Obama this fall, marked the death of the labor movement and…