Just as states with progressive lawmakers and activists have themselves initiated innovative programs over a wide range of issues, state-based progressive blogs have helped provide us with a point of view, inside information and often an edgy voice that we just don't get from the traditional media. This week in progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Let me know via comments or Kosmail if you have a favorite state- or city-based blog you think I should know about.
Inclusion of a diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement or endorsement of its contents.
At Burnt Orange Report of Texas, Joseph Vogas writes—CD-36: After Extended Filing Period, Twelve Republicans File to Replace Steve Stockman (R):
Congressman Steve Stockman's (R) last minute kamikaze run against incumbent Senator John Cornyn (R) could not have been predicted by anyone; but happen it did. Because of a little known rule in the Texas Election Code, the filing period was extended to allow for new candidates to run for Texas' 36th congressional district (CD-36).
There are two exceptions, however; first only Republicans could file in the extended period and, second, candidates who have already filed for a 2014 office could not refile for CD-36. State Rep. James White (R) and State Board of Education Member David Bradley (R) were notably disappointed they wold not be given the option to carry on Rep. Stockman's legacy. Rep. White released a statement saying:
"It is unfortunate that Congressman Stockman and some Washington insiders have decided to do D.C.-style power politics and inject them into southeast Texas."
This is the only open-seat race for the US Congress in Texas for 2014. It has attracted an understandably large field of Republicans in this 25.66% Obama district. With a dozen political neophytes and political rejects running for the seat in the Republican primary, who has the right amount of crazy to carry on the legacy of the 36th congressional seat's only representative to date?
At
The Mudflats of Alaska,
Jeanne Devon writes—
Good Tidings & Great Pain – The Rill Dill:
The invisible war is come. It is insidious. It lurks out of your conscious mind, weaving its evil spell. You don’t even know it’s happening because the War on Christmas is cleverly disguised… as Christmas itself. It’s like the monster under your bed, disguised as a sock. Or that person following your car five miles back that you never really see. But ohhhhh, he’s there. It’s all designed to lull you into believing that monsters don’t exist, and that the CIA is not following you to the mall. Clever. Veeeeery clever.
But not clever enough for Sarah Palin.
We’re still in Chapter 3 of her book Good Tidings and Great Joy, entitled “The Real Thing,” or as Palin often calls it, “the rill dill.” Sarah didn’t get her coveted Walkman for Christmas. Instead, she got a dictionary and learned that “words have meaning.” And now, we’re going to find out how she’s strung a bunch of them together in some kind of order in order to try to make a “thought.” [...]
Here’s the gist. People don’t “get it” when you talk about the War on Christmas. Because it really seems like, with all the Christmas stuff around, and all the decorations, and music, and hustle and bustle, and people taking the day off to celebrate, and putting up trees, and singing carols that Christmas is just fine… BUT IT IS NOT FINE. Not fine at all.
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Blog for Arizona,
Pamela Powers Hannley writes—
As Income Disparity Grows, Tucsonans Protest Low Wages at Walmart & McDonalds:
Protests against multinational corporations like Walmart and McDonald's rage in the streets, as news media report the pros and cons of income disparity and the US government votes on continued austerity policies for workers and continued pork for the military-industrial complex.
With income disparity at an all-time high, just 51 Americans own $1 trillion of the country's wealth. Compare this to 1982--at the dawn of President Ronald Reagan's trickle down economics scam--when 1500 Americans owned $1 trillion of the country's wealth. Our wealth is 30 times more concentrated today than a generation ago; if this trajectory continues, in another 31 years, just 12 Americans will own $1 trillion, according to Bob Lord, writing for AZ Central.
The majority of more than 30 economists surveyed last week by the Associated Press believe that income disparity is a drag on the US economy.
Excerpts from more progressive state blogs can be found below the fold.
At Left in Alabama, countrycat writes—In Alabama, The Priorities Are Clear. Medicaid: No. Boeing Welfare Payments: Yes!
What do you call a state government that thumbs its nose to $2.1 billion in federal money that would help create a minimum of 30,000 new jobs, & provide over 500,000 citizens with health insurance? "Clueless" probably fits, but add this next tidbit into the mix, and you might agree that "criminally negligent" is a better description.
Alabama's joined with a number of other states and gone on a plane hunt. Specifically, the state wants to pay Boeing a several hundred million dollar bribe to fly on down South & build planes. Nobody's even sure of the exact total needed:
To recruit Airbus in 2012, Alabama provided a variety of state and local tax breaks and $158 million for bond expenses, site and road improvements, building costs and worker training. That plant is supposed to create about 1,000 jobs.
Boeing is looking at a $7 billion to $10 billion plant that would start with 3,250 workers in 2018 and grow to 8,500 by 2024.
"In order to recruit 8,500 jobs and that large of a project, obviously we need more than we have right now," the Republican governor said.
Just so we get this straight, let's remember why Boeing is even bribe-shopping. Fresh off record profits, record order backlog of over $400 billion, and stock prices at record heights, Boeing management decided the company needed to economize: by trashing worker pensions and offering 1% raises every 2 years,
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North Decoder,
Chet writes—
Capital One and Samuel L. Jackson. Every Damn Day:
I don't think I'm a prude. I swear sometimes. I curse. Not a lot. But I do. But not around my kids. I know I can't protect them from swearing everywhere, every damn day, but I'm pretty good at shielding them from profanity -- words they simply don't understand -- at home. I have friends who swear around their kids, and I don't have any desire to impose my parenting methods on them. But I like to think I get to decide things like this around my own home.
I'm pretty sure my four-year-old made it through his first four years of life without learning any curse words at home. (We once got a note from a daycare provider when the 12-year-old was younger and at daycare when he used an "inappropriate" word. We asked what it was and were relieved to find out he'd said "gosh.") [...]
But then we trusted the TV people to run child-friendly commercials during Scooby frickin' Doo. And this is what they ran with [a Samuel L. Jackson Capital One commercial]. [...]
So thank you Capital One.
Thank you Samuel L. Jackson.
I know my baby will learn curse words eventually, but I'm appreciative that you helped get it out of the way when he's four and still in preschool. This way he can help teach the other kids how to curse.
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California Progress Report,
Jeff Bryant writes—
Support Efforts To Rein In For-Profit Colleges:
The good news coming from the U.S. Department of Education recently is the effort to put tougher restrictions on for-profit scam colleges that rip off students, families and the taxpayers.
The bad news is that not all Democrats are behind this effort and pushing for the tighter restrictions.[...]
Rather than seeking agreement or compromise with Republicans, Democratic lawmakers should unify behind what the Obama administration is trying to do.
The new restrictions being considered are reasonable. For instance, for-profit colleges would lose access to federal money if their students’ average debt payments after graduation exceeded 12 percent of the students’ annual income or 30 percent of discretionary income several years after they leave school. Also, schools would face restrictions if the share of students defaulting on federal loans within three years of leaving a program couldn’t reach 30 percent.
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My Left Nutmeg of Connecticut,
abg22 writes—
Esty Dodges a Bullet as GOP Poised to Nominate Far-Right Teabagger in 5th CD:
Under normal circumstances, or at least a more normal Republican party, Rep. Elizabeth Esty would be in serious trouble, the most endangered of the five Democrats in Connecticut's congressional delegation. The freshman Democrat from Connecticut's fifth congressional district has alienated the Democratic base with her vote to delay Obamacare implementation and her willingness to cut Social Security benefits. Her acceptance of campaign contributions from companies that are regulated by her husband's state agency (the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) isn't illegal or necessarily unethical, but it has provided perfect fodder for GOP attack ads. Her probable opponent, Litchfield real estate developer Mark Greenberg, will make sure those attack ads are lavishly disseminated, having indicated his willingness to spend upwards of $4 million out of his own pocket on the race. [...]
So why does Stu Rothenberg, dean of congressional handicappers, rate Esty's seat as "safe Democrat?" The reason is that the GOP is poised to nominate a far-right candidate in Greenberg, who has called supporters of abortion rights "pro-death" and refused to condemn the recent government shutdown manufactured by tea party extremists. Because Greenberg almost certainly cannot win the general election, his seeming invincibility in the GOP primary represents a colossal recruiting failure by the GOP establishment.
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Delaware Liberal,
Delaware Dem writes in an
open thread:
The Governor is about to show us whose side he is on? The rich or the poor.
Gov. Jack Markell, who will present a new budget to the General Assembly next month, will not have a significant boost in new tax revenue to cover mandatory cost increases in health care and education, according to new revenue estimates out Monday.[...]
“Even though revenues ultimately are still going to be up from last year, they’re not going to be up enough to cover the automatic growth in Medicaid and the automatic growth in schools,” said Rep. Melanie George Smith, D-Bear, co-chair of the budget writing Joint FinanceCommittee. “That’s the real issue.”
Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson offers the standard Republican prescription for anything involving fiscal matters: tax cuts and more tax cuts. Even though history has shown all tax cuts do is raise the budget deficit, something the Governor and the General Assembly is trying to close.
I assume Mr. Markell will not go down the tax cut course, for if he does, he should just join the Republican Party right now. But what I do seem him doing is trying to cut spending on social services to avoid in any way raising a dime in taxes on his friends in the corporate world.
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ColoradoPols,
ColoradoPols writes—
Don’t Be a Playa Hater, Say Increasingly High-Society Gardners:
There are a great many things that can motivate a person to run for public office, running the full spectrum of ethical defensibility. In the case of Colorado's most upwardly mobile Republican member of Congress, Rep. Cory Gardner, his time in office has been marked by an unrepentant embrace of the trappings of power in Washington, D.C. It seems as though every eyebrow-raising junket that makes headlines in the last few years has had Rep. Gardner's name quietly listed on the roster. There was the posh Florida yacht getaway that sub the subject of a CBS hidden camera investigation. The high-priced junket to Israel that featured a member of Congress (not Gardner personally) un-cooly skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galillee. Most recently, Rep. Gardner and his wife Jaime Gardner went on a lavish paid trip to Ireland, where they took in the sights between four-hour "work days" focused on "energy development issues." [...]
Rep. Gardner has been a steadfast advocate for the energy industry during his entire career in elected office. Rep. Gardner sits on the powerful Subcommittee on Energy and Power on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Congress. He has proven an ally not just of the booming oil and gas industry in his district, but such far-flung interests as drilling in the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico. That Gardner's wife is a power player in pro-energy politics, and was way back when Gardner was a nobody state legislator, shouldn't come as any surprise.
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Progress Illinois,
Ellyn Fortino writes—
Report: Proposed CPS Charter Schools Could Cost Taxpayers $225 Million Over Next Decade:
Proposals for 21 new privately run charter schools could cost city taxpayers at least $225 million over the next decade, according to a financial analysis issued Wednesday by Communities United for Quality Education.
Next year alone, the proposed charters could come with $21 million in extra costs, according to the education coalition of parents and community members. The group argues that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has been less than transparent about the added expenses associated with the new schools as well as how the district plans to pay for them.
Among other concerns, the activists fear that traditional neighborhood schools would see their budgets slashed, again, in order to cover the added costs, including heating and air conditioning fees, principal salary payments and start-up expenses. The Chicago Board of Education is expected to take up CPS’ recommendations for the new charters at its January meeting.
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Blog for Iowa,
Trish Nelson writes—
CCI Schools Jack Hatch On Factory Farms:
Gubernatorial candidate Sen. Jack Hatch now has a better understanding of the impact factory farms have on everyday Iowans and their communities.
On Saturday, nine [Citizens for Community Improvement] Action members took Senator Hatch on a van tour of rural Carroll County – an area dotted with huge corporate-owned factory farms (including 20,000 hogs in eight factories less than 1/4 miles from the Raccoon River). Members shared personal testimony about the factory farms and the impact on their lives.
After the tour, Senator Hatch attended a powerful community forum where CCI Action Fund members told Hatch why clean water and stopping factory farms are important to them.
Here are the top five things Senator Hatch said he learned from the day:
“CAFOs are not farmers, they are corporate facilities.”
“The management of the manure systems is inadequate and we need to put real teeth in that…this governor has systematically reduced staff at every level, including at the DNR.”
“CAFO pollution is a real human health issue.”
“This is everybody’s problem across all of Iowa.”
“Enforcement is lacking. As governor I will ensure we have staffing, enforcement, and stronger laws.”
At
Appalachian Voices,
Kimber writes—
Happy 50th Anniversary to the Clean Air Act!:
Well, sort of.
Although the Clean Air Act was first enacted Dec. 17, 1963, it wasn’t until the 1970 Clean Air Act amendments that the law was substantial enough to make a memorable mark on history. Perhaps embarrassed by memories of the more clumsy and inept act of 1963, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency itself gave the 50th anniversary the cold shoulder—instead celebrating the 40th anniversary of the amendments Dec. 31, 2010.
Yet despite the shortcomings of the original Clean Air Act, it marked the first time that the federal government seriously acknowledged the grave need to fund air pollution control mechanisms. In addition to being the era of free love, the 1960s were also a time when uncontrolled emissions from industrial facilities blanketed the nation in noxious air pollution. Aside from chronic health effects such as asthma and emphysema that resulted from this exposure, temperature inversions—the weather phenomenon that results in fog—would cause a killer smog to descend on many of the nation’s cities. The death toll could reach to over 100 during these incidences.
The problem with the Clean Air Act of 1963 was that it called on states to take primary responsibility for regulating air pollution. Every state declined to take this suggestion seriously and the deadly smogs continued.