Joe Miller losing Alaska senate candidate blames Native Alaskans for his loss

Tea Party backed Miller became the first Senate candidate to lose to a "write-in" candidate when incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski lost to him in the primary.

He accused them of using their political power and influence to help her win. How dare they! Image that, actualy using legal means to influence an election.

He claims they formed a "super-PAC" called Alaskans Standing Together, which conducted all sorts of underhanded activities for Murkowski -- such as running an ad campaign against him, educating voters on how to cast a write-in vote, and getting out the vote with rides to the polls.

"AST hit the airways with hundreds of thousands of dollars in attack ads, making numerous false allegations regarding my positions and background. Within a mere three weeks, AST spent $1.2 million, inundating the Alaska market," Miller writes. "It also hired dozens of workers to travel to the villages to teach people how to vote for Lisa Murkowski. They even painted vans with AST's logo to bus people to the polls."

Aftre all, they could be considered illegal aliens as they crossed over from Asia when land atill connected the two continents in what is now the Bering Straight.

A little quiet on the Irritable front

I've been fighting a dreadful cold/flu for the past few days doing the bit of work I've had to in between bowls of chicken soup and hacking, coughing sleepless nights. My father had the best cure for the above. A bottle of good brandy, no specified does but enough to take the edge off the aching body and head, at least 5 blankets and then let human nature take its way and sweat the crap right out of the system.
(Scotch Whiskey) can be substituted if needs be but the sweetness of the brandy does a better job of soothing the cough.

The Daily Flog Blog

Visit my friend, Shauan Z's blog called The Daily Flog Blog. It's witty, contemporary and sardonic, while taking a wry look at various things around us.

Check it out. The Daily Flog Blog

Arizona has instituted 'death panels'

What's Sarah Palin going to say about that.

A law in Arizona that cuts Medicaid funding for certain transplant operations is likely to bring about the deaths of poor residents in need of such procedures.

Starting in October, a measure passed by the Republican-led state legislature began denying Medicaid funds for organ transplants such as bone-marrow, lung, heart and liver transplants, which can be very expensive and are often performed in life-threatening cases.

Even people who have waited years to get to the top of list are being denied.

Robert Reich nails the problem and tears Obama a new one in the process

One of the most common accusations against Obama is that he wants to transfer waelth from the rich to everyone else, so obviously he's a 'Socialist". The reality is that the last 20 years has seen the largest transfer of wealth in history and it's all gone in one direction. the rich have gfrown immeasurably richer while the median income for Americans have dropped in the past decade. The top 5% own 62% of the wealth while the bottom 80% own 15% of the wealth. As Reich says, the last time that gae was this great was in 1928. It's a story you never hear from the Democrats.

I doesn't make for a vibrant economy because the bottom 80% send most if not all their money which ultimately drives demand and the economy. With industrial capacity well below 100% the davocates of more tax beaks for corporations and extending tax cuts for the wealthy will not stimulate muxh investment of create jobs except in the wishful thinging of Repubicans.

Let Reich explain the problem.

If Obama and the Democrats were serious about story B they’d at least mention it. They’d tell the nation that income and wealth haven’t been this concentrated at the top since 1928, the year before the Great Crash. They’d be indignant about the secret money funneled into midterm campaigns. They’d demand Congress pass the Disclose Act so the public would know where the money comes from.

They’d introduce legislation to curb Wall Street bonuses – exactly what European leaders are doing with their financial firms. They’d demand that the big banks, now profitable after taxpayer bailouts, reorganize the mortgage debt of distressed homeowners. They’d call for a new WPA to put the unemployed back to work, and pay for it with a tax surcharge on incomes over $1 million.

They’d insist on extended unemployment benefits for long-term jobless who are now exhausting their benefits. And they’d hang tough on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy – daring Republicans to vote against extending the cuts for everyone else.

It's really quite simple. Why doesn't the White House get it. They seem to be frozen with fear.

Stimulus is okay if it's for a creation theme park in Kentucky

Is it even constitutional for taxpayers to subsidize what is clearly a religious theme park?

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced Wednesday that Ark Encounter LLC and Answers in Genesis (AiG), which is widely known for its Creation Museum, will begin construction of a Noah's Ark tourist attraction in his state.

And according to reports coming out of the state, Kentucky taxpayers may end up subsidizing the park.

Set aside the the constitional issue Beshear is happy that it will create 900 jobs in Kentucky, a state that has been hard hit by the recession. The state could end up subsidizing 25% of the cost but wait...isn't that a 'stimulus'? Damn right, and that is how you create jobs, by spending money, not by giving more tax cuts to rich people. That's how you make rich people even richer while increasing defecits.

What the Democrats should do on extending the tax cuts.

Separate the bills. Hold a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts for all incomes below $250.000 and then do a separate bill for extending the tax cuts for incomes over $250.000. The Republicans will do anything to stop the first bill including a filibuster in the Senate. Let them do it so that maybe a few more Americans will wake up and see what the GOP's priorities really are.

Not my idea. It was first posted on Talking Points Memo.

Steve King (R-IA) is a bigoted racist

In the 1980's and 90's the USDA in the South actively discirminated against black farmers applying for loans. The Supreme Court agreed and ordered the USDA to pay legitimate claims. After many delays caused by Republicans the law is finally being signed so the wronged farmers, or in many cases ex farmers who lost their farms because they couldn't get loans can finally be compensated.

King called it a backdoor reparation for slavery created by a black urban Presdident. Truth is the whole issue was settled before Obama was even a Senator. Republicans have argued that most of the claims are fraudulent. The USDA after examining all the paper including written evidence of loans being turned down found 3 cases of fraud out of 15,000 claims.

Watch this short video of King speaking about the issue.



For the record King is all in favor of corn subsidies for farmers in Iowa that lower the cost of corn syrup so food prosessors can use it in a variety of products to help push up the obesity rate.

Quote of the day - Mike Pence (R-IN)

The theology of tax cuts, as David Stockman calls it, is more powerful than a theology that was founded on the principles of charity and justice which Pence apparently believes in but has forgotten how to practice it.

Let me tell you, I think the minimum we have to do for Americans right now that are struggling in unemployment in this economy is make sure no American sees a tax increase.

Have a Merry Christmas etc - if you can

For over two million Americans unemployment benefits ended today because Republicans threw a hissy fit while Wall Street dishes out record bonuses. WWJS - "what would Jesus say" to those faux Christians on the right who think this is okay.

Read it and weep.

In Washington, the agenda has long since moved on from bailing out megabanks to figuring out how to stop paying for things that regular people need -- luxuries like health care, retirement benefits and unemployment insurance.

In the suburbs of Denver, Anthony Roebuck and his family find themselves confronting an action list that seems cruelly divorced from the proceedings in the nation's capital: They have to figure out how to keep the heat on through the Colorado winter now that his unemployment check has run out.

The latest extension of emergency unemployment benefits expired on Tuesday, as a dysfunctional Congress let the deadline go without striking a deal to keep the money flowing. That put Roebuck -- who drew his last check on Monday -- among the two million or so unemployed Americans facing the imminent loss of their benefits between now and the end of the year.

When life seemed so much simpler - The Beach Boys - Fun Fun Fun

GOP shows their true colors holding country hostage: When will the Democrats ever learn

Didn't Obama once say, 'bever bring a knife to a gunfight'? Once again the Democrats get kneecapped by Republicans behaving badly. It's Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown at the last second, the audience knows it, only poor Charlie Brown wants to kick that football so badly he get suckered into Lucy's bullshit promises one more time, only to land flat on his ass again.

Take a leaf out of the Harry Truman playbook. In the 1946 mid terms Truman lost both the house and senate. He chose to play a poker instead of follow the results. History as it that on being informed of his defeat his message to his wife was that he wasn't worried about it, he would still continue to do whatever the hell he wants.

Obama needs that. Hes been behaving more like a scolded schoolboy caught smoking in the locker room than a leader. Apparently, when he met a few days ago with Republicans he confessed to not reaching out enough to them. When he did reach out to GOP Senators like Olympia Snowe and Chuck Grassley on health care reform they kept stalling and moving the goalposts for months before pulling the Lucy football routine.

They GOP has done that over and over again in the past two years. Today the Republicans pulled of their most brazen Lucy impersonation. Just hours after the Democrats and Republicans had agreed to negotiations on a tax deal and Defense Sec. Gates had issued a call to repeal DADT based on a very positive response to a survey from the troops, the entire GOP senate bloc signed on to a letter threatening to block everything until the tax issue is resolved and the government fully funded.

So much for eaching out across the aisle. The Washington media elite are still tut-tutting that Obama needs to move towards the middle and compromise more, something that far too many Democrats have themselves proposed. For fuck's sake, the GOP leadership has already said they only legislative goal is to ensure Obama is a one term President. They will do the ame thing over and over. What is now this hypothetical "middle" is in reality Reagan or Bush the elder.

There is no middle ground with the radical right which is now mainstream Republicanism. Obama has a choice. He can either keep waffling about bi-partisanship or start to fight. The GOP is quite happy to hold the country hostage on extending unemployment, ratiional nuclear treaties supported by the old guard Republicans so that millionaires can continue to pay lower taxes without giving a flying fuck about the defecit.

A clear majority of Americans support extending the Bush tax cuts for all but the top 2 percent. Republican's arguments that this will hurt small businesses is bullshit yet they keep repeating it over and over. Most of the country isn't buying it. Obama should let them hold the country hostage and fight back by letting the country know exactly what the GOP is doing. Let unemployment expire, let the Bush tax cuts expire. People will be hurt but they are hurting anyway and caving in to the GOP now will only extend that hurt.

But first, every Democrat has to get behind Obama. Somewhere along the line Obama and the Democrats have to take a stand. Now is the time.

Update Apparently the Democrats are going to bring the tax issue to a vote tomorrow, extending the cuts for all but the top 2%. Good, let the country know exactly where the GOP stands.