Mitch McConnell's Ability To Understand Economic Legislation Questioned

Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said he's determined to make President Obama a one-term President, has demonstrated so poor a grasp of economic issues that one elected official observed he "either doesn't understand or chooses not to."   This was during deliberations in April of 2010 on what became the most extensive set of financial reforms in America.

A set of changes that seemed to be too much for Senator McConnell to grasp.

The person who said that was Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner.  In April, Senator Mitch McConnell said the Senate financial-regulation bill meant "endless taxpayer-funded bailouts for big Wall Street banks," according to Ezra Klein of The Washington Post. But Warner didn't stop there:

"It appears that the Republican leader either doesn't understand or chooses not to understand the basic underlying premise of what this bill puts in place. Resolution, will be so painful for any company. No rational management team would ever choose resolution. It means shareholders wiped out. Management wiped out. Your firm is going away. At least in bankruptcy, there was some chance that some of your equity would've been retained and you could come out in some form on the other side of the process. The resolution that Corker and I have tried to create means the death of the company. The institution is gone."

McConnell doesn't get that the Senate financial-regulation bill solved problem of banks that fell into a category of "large, interconnected non-bank financial firm." Before the law, such banks had only two options: obtain outside capital or funding from the US government or file for bankruptcy.

Now, the bill provides for the government to actually dissolve such banks in a way that avoids use of taxpayer funds. It's not that funds will not be provided, but only on a case by case basis; it's not a bailout program. If anything, it's a bad bank clearout program.

Mitch McConnell doesn't get that.  Instead he's worked to stop financial reform.  It's not that he doesn't agree with it, he's just not able to understand it.

Perhaps, then, Senator McConnell should step out of the decision-making process.   In the case of the passage of the Financial Reform Bill, McConnell led an attempted filibuster - it didn't work.  And all because he did not intellectually grasp what he was voting for.  

Sad way to represent the people of Kentucky.

Mitch McConnell: President Obama And Democrats Must Punch Him In The Mouth

Republican Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (photo at left) is laying down a gauntlet and being disrespectful to the President of The United States, not to mention threatening to wreck Walgreens Health Care Reform-based business model, by stating not just that the GOP will work to block and ultimately repeal Health Care Reform, but work to make President Obama a one-term President, apparently at the expense of America.

Senator McConnell has went too far.

The only answer for Democrats and the President is to punch McConnell right in the mouth. To make him look so bad that his efforts are clouded. This is easy to do.

No, not actually hit Senator McConnell physically, but communicatively. Senator McConnell's not a perfect representative and Dems must reveal that. For example, try doing a Google search for "Mitch McConnell racist" and you'll find a treasure-trove of results.

For example, Senator McConnell refused to denounce Tea Party racism this year. According to Think Progress, McConnell was on CNN on July 18th, 2010, saying that he's "not interested in getting into that debate" in response to CNN’s State of the Union, host Candy Crowley asking the Senator about the NAACP’s resolution asking the Tea Party movement to condemn "racist elements" in its organization. Instead of saying the NAACP is right, McConnell backed off.

The result was what a number of observers called "the most racist election" in years.

What Democrats have to do is, every day, track all statements Mitch McConnell makes, and pounce on even the smallest statement.

 The Senator makes this easy to do.

For example, he says "we will stop the Liberal Onslaught" - how stupid. America had and has to increase spending because of the credit crunch, and we're not out of the woods at all. The money's not going to come from other places because the problem's Worldwide. The stimulus has been used in various countries, not just America. But Mitch McConnell's either too dense to see that or refuses to, and is willing to wreck the American economy.

Mitch McConnell must be stopped from doing that for the sake of this country.

Democratic forum managers, commenters, and bloggers, all unite.  The blog target: Senator Mitch McConnell.  The start date: now.

Oakland City News: Jane Brunner and Dan Lindheim On Police Positions

In a small press conference Thursday, Oakland Councilmember and City Council President Jane Brunner and Oakland City Administrator Dan Lindheim sat down to talk about the election and the status of Oakland Police staffing. Well, it was really all about Oakland Police staffing, and not so much about the ranked choice voting election.

Oakland Mayor-Elect Don Perata (which we can say because his 11 point first vote lead coupled with the first and second choices yet to be counted puts him closest to the needed 50 percent majority), said at his election party that his first action as Mayor of Oakland will be to reinstate the 80 police officer positions eliminated to trim Oakland's huge budget deficit. Here's the video containing Perata's comments at the 4:28 mark:



Don Perata's proposed action was met with some hesitation from new Oakland District 4 (Montclair - Oakland Hills) Councilmember Libby Schaaf, who said that she wasn't willing to rubber stamp Perata's intentions without knowing where the money to do it was going to come from. Here's the video with her comments:



Council President Brunner Agrees

In today's press conference, Council President Brunner echoed Schaaf's view. Brunner said "You know there's no money in the General Fund. I have had conversations with Perata about where else you could look for money in this system. It's probably the other funds. It's Redevelopment. Somebody's going to have to come up with something really creative. I don't know if he has a detailed plan at this point, but I don't think you can find $14 million out of $28 million. You may be able to find a few million. But we're all going to sit down right away."

Brunner said she wants to be careful not to call Perata the "Mayor" just yet because they're still counting votes.

Redevelopment Code And The Police

I pointed out that Section 33678 Subdivision (b) (C) of the California Health and Safety Code...

This:"(C) None of the funds are used for the purpose of paying for employee or contractual services of any local governmental agency unless these services are directly related to the purpose of Sections 33020 and 33021 and the powers established in this part."

Allows for the use of tax increment revenue for the provision of police services, but only if the redevelopment plan specifically points to its use. That means a redevelopment plan which doens't have such a provision must be rewritten. Lindheim said that using funds would not require rewriting of the plan, but here's where he's wrong. It does and the code really calls for this, just to keep yourself legally safe from attack.

I didn't attack him on the issue, because I wasn't there to do that, the quotes on the Perata statements were top priority. Plus, I can use this form to point out that if the City of Oakland's using tax increment revenue in a way that's legally unsafe, and it does seem so, it should stop doing so.

This is part one. Part two on Friday.

Eunice Sanborn is World's Oldest Woman

At 115 years old Eunice Sanborn is the world's oldest woman.

Sanborn was born July 20, 1895 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She has outlived three husbands and her only child, Dorothy. She will be in Guiness Book World Records as the world's oldest woman.

She currently resides in Jacksonville, Florida.

Oakland Mayor - Elect (?) Don Perata On Reinstating 80 Oakland Police Positions (Video)

On the evening of the 2010 Midterm Elections, which included the Oakland, California Mayor's Race, the person who can arguably be called "Mayor-Elect" Don Perata said to this blogger his first action will be to "reinstate the 80 Oakland Police Positions," and did so in this video at the 4:28 mark:



This set up what seems to be a political battle as it flies right in the face of the Oakland City Council's decision to eliminate those positions as part of massive budget cutting efforts to eliminate Oakland's large deficit.

In her first interview, new Oakland Council District 4 Councilmember Libby Schaaf said that while she supports the Oakland Police, and is willing to consider Perata's proposal, she's not going to rubber stamp it:



Oakland Councilmember Jane Brunner and Oakland City Administrator Dan Lindheim will address this issue at a press conference today at 1 PM.

Did Unemployment take down the Democrats?

Did Unemployment take down the Democrats? After "Election Tuesday", this seems like a fair question to ask.

The answer is: The Democrats took down themselves....and yes unemployment and how little has been done to resolve the suffering attributed to massive joblessness in America played a major role in the Democrats’ huge defeat!

The 99ers did everything possible to wake up the Democratic leadership, long before the election, as to how they could preserve their majorities, help millions of Americans - and the economy - at the same time. (A win/win/win) The Democrats simply ignored all the emails, letters, videos, rallies, phone calls, faxes and in person pleas from the unemployed & 99ers alike. Now the Democrats are feeling the sting of consequences directly resulting from their own inaction on and their lack of urgency in dealing with the unemployment issue.

So what now? Enter the “Lame - Duckers.” On November 15th, Congress finally returns to Washington (well at least for 1 week) and if the past shows us anything, it is that the Senate can only get legislation passed in one week (or less) if it is either:

A - Spending to help ease suffering in Nations other than our own
B - Spending for US involved military conflict on foreign shores
C - Spending to bail out big business and Wall Street Bankers

Wouldn’t it be an unexpected delight for Congress to take less than a week to help the American people who are desperately suffering, like the 99ers - now without any income for 8 months?

Yes it would - but it is not very likely to happen. However, it could. If every person who is unemployed in this nation would start speaking up now, reaching out to your Washington elected officials from President Obama down to the most junior member of Congress - contact them often and with the same message. Continue to contact them until action is taken. Trust me, millions of Americans contacting Washington daily on this unemployment extension issue WOULD move mountains - or more importantly, Move Congress!

If anything, the millions of unemployed in America have not wielded the power of their sheer numbers in a unified effort to flood Washington with their demands - nonstop until action is achieved.

Do not misunderstand, it is a fact the 99ers and others have been holding fax attack, call in and email campaigns since March of this year, but unfortunately, it has been the unwavering participation of a focused minority of the American jobless that joined in this process. We need more.

Everyone needs to put the link to this article on their social networking pages, send it to their email lists, text and Tweet it out in mass. If everyone who reads this actually shares this with 10 - 25 people and they share it with all of their contacts and so on, and if everyone would just take action - determined to keep up that effort until Tier 5 is passed for all states and UI filing deadlines are extended - then everyone would have something to celebrate this holiday season.

It is a lot to ask, to give it one more big push, after doing so much already for 8 months and getting nowhere - but it is for our very survival. Look, in March this year, Washington was saying that: “No Tier 5 bill will ever come to the floor.” They all said it would never be written - well we got 2 Tier 5 bills written - now let’s get one passed! To those of you who are about to lose your benefits - NOW is the time to make your voice heard along with those of us who have been without UI for months and months.

Whitehouse Comments Line [Comments:202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461] Toll-free number to Congressional Switchboard 866-220-0044. Just ask to be transferred to your Senator(s) or House member. Call as many times as possible and start now. Make sure they come back to a mountain of messages when they finally return to Washington.

Walgreens CEO and Walgreens CFO: Walgreens Creates Shareholder Value, Backs Heath Care Reform

At today's Walgreens Analyst Day, Walgreens CEO Greg Wesson and Walgreens Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Wade Miquelon joined other Walgreens executives like Walgreens President of Pharmacy Services, Kermit Crawford, in showcasing the firm's new strategy of being a health care provider.

Walgreens sees its role as serving the estimated 32 million Americans who will be the new users of the heath care system because of President Obama's Health Care Reform initiative (the same program the GOP and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R - Ohio) want to repleal).

Greg Wesson, Walgreens CEO, explained that Walgreens serves 6 million health care customers a day. Wade Miquelon, Walgreens CFO, said that Walgreens is "embedding continuous process improvement and innovation into the fabric of our company," in an effort to better serve those 6 million daily customers.

What's interesting about Walgreens, and shows a way toward an American economic recovery, is that it's using new government programs, specifically Heath Care Reform, as the basis for its recovery, while acquiring pharmacy chains like Northeast-based Duane Reed, to embark on his "health services provider" strategy.

At Walgreens Analyst Day, seen via Shareholder.com, the Wesson said that Walgreens sees its 75,000 pharmacy workers as the ones who will help fill the demand for physicians that will be taxed because Heath Care Reform will bring 32 million Americans into the system.

Thus, the GOP's efforts to do away with the Obama Health Care Reform initiative will wreck Walgreens new business plans.  Indeed, the GOP would be smart to scale back, if not eliminate, its' rhetoric and examine just how the same American Business it claims to champion is actually embracing Heath Care Reform.

If Walgreens is on the right track, businesses like it, and Walmart and CVS are positioning themselves to actually help implement Health Care Reform.