18 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

1. The results are thin: According to USA Today, three years after the program began Arizona had tested more than 87,000 welfare recipients. The total number of drug cheats caught was exactly one — a single positive result, which saved the state precisely $560.

   Checking in again in March, the Arizona Sonora News Service cited state Department of Economic Security figures which found that over the course of more than five years, "42 people have been asked to take a follow-up drug test and 19 actually took the test, 16 of whom passed. The other 23 were stripped of their benefits for failing to take the drug test."

   That adds up to a grand total of three failed tests from 2009-2014. The net savings reaped from withholding benefits for those who either tested positive or failed to complete a drug test was around $3,500, once the $500 cost of testing the 19 is factored in, according to one state agency report. The haul is shockingly unimpressive when you consider the $1.7 million in savings state officials promised when they began the program.

   http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/22/1404639/-Arizona-drug-tested-87-000-welfare-recipients-and-found-they-are-flushing-taxpayer-dollars?detail=emailclassic#

    

   At least it's a higher percentage by many magnitudes than voter fraud. Speaking of:

   There's absolutely nothing subtle about the South Carolina Republicans. Take this tweet, for example.

   

   What he's gloating over is this news report.

   COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s new voter photo identification law appears to be hitting black precincts in the state the hardest, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

   For instance, nearly half the voters who cast ballots at a historically black college in Columbia lack state-issued photo identification and could face problems voting in next year’s presidential election, according to the analysis of precinct-level data provided by the state Election Commission.[…]

   [A]mong the state's 2,134 precincts, there are 10 where nearly all of the law's affect falls on nonwhite voters who don't have a state- issued driver's license or ID card, a total of 1,977 voters.

   The same holds true for white voters in a number of precincts, but the overall effect is much more spread out and involves fewer total voters: There are 44 precincts where only white voters are affected, or 1,831 people in all.

   The precinct that votes at Benedict College's campus center has 2,790 voters, including nine white voters. In that precinct, 1,343 of the precinct's nonwhite voters lack state identification, but only five white voters do. The former group accounts for 48 percent of the precinct's voters.[…]

   A precinct at South Carolina State University has 2,305 active voters, including 33 white voters. There, 800 nonwhite voters and 17 white voters there lack state IDs. More than a third of the voters in the precinct lack state photo identification.

   Disenfranchising huge groups of people—African Americans—is thus "EXACTLY" why Republicans created this law, according to Wesley Donehue. Well, who's he? His LinkedIn profile tells us that he currently serves as Political Strategist at South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus, and is "a southern political operative who has run, worked on, or advised countless winning campaigns," who "helped establish Senator Jim DeMint’s massive Internet following," and "leads Internet efforts for Congressman Joe Wilson and many other candidates across the nation."

   Thanks, Donehue, for so baldly stating the truth behind the GOP strategy. It'll provide even moreevidence for the Justice Department to consider while reviewing the law.

   https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/19/1028056/-South-Carolina-GOP-operative-admits-suppressing-black-vote-is-goal-of-voter-ID-law?detail=emailclassic

    

   So can we all stop pretending any of this state legislation is about anything but humiliating people, suppressing the black vote and pandering to the racist bigot base?

    

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   1. BC, you should read the original AZ story.

      http://www.svherald.com/content/submitted/2015/03/07/394585

      It strikes me that the "drug test" is actually more of an IQ test:

      When someone is approved to receive welfare benefits in Arizona, that person is screened by being given a three-question form, which asks if the recipient has used any illegal drugs in the past 30 days. If the applicant answers yes, then a drug test is required.

      So, not everybody is required to take the test, nor is it a random drug test. No, it's an opt-in drug test. Oy vey.

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      1. Six other states experiences were similar. Hundreds of thousands of poor people tested, millions spent, hardly any positives, no money saved. Average percent of welfare recipients using drugs: less than 1%. Average state citizen using drugs: about 9%.

         And Scott Walker, Republican presidential front-runner, wants to mandate this for any Wisconsin citizen needing unemployment or food stamps as a result of Walker's disastrous policies.

          

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      2. So even more of a meaningless waste of money.

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2. Censored news: Friday, July 24, 2015

   Dine Native people protesting the proposed Saddle Butte pipeline, in downtown Denver Friday, July 24. The group talked with Wayne Swafford, VP of engineering for Saddle Butte Pipeline company. Swafford had nothing to say about the probability of contaminating scarce groundwater in the region, nor of seismic disturbances and road traffic disturbing the ancient ruins there.

   I can't post the picture of the protest for some reason having to do with the page format.

   Here's a picture of the threatened Chaco Canyon ruins:

   And even more Oak Flat protests ongoing in Washington, DC, as Apache people occupy the land to prevent it from being ruined by copper mining. Props to Jared Polis,who introduced the Protect Oak Flat Act, which would repeal an section of the National Defense Act. Republican Arizona Senators John Mcain  and Jeff Flake, and House member Paul Gosar inserted a rider into the must-pass Defense bill that  allows mining companies (Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto) to exploit copper resources on Apache ancestral lands. 

   The Protect Oak Flat Act , cosponsored by Raul Grijalva and Jared Polis, repeals the Defense budget amendment language, and protects the 2000 some acre parcel as a Historic site. 

    

    

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3. Just got push polled by a firm claiming to be interested in surveying views about clean air but really was interested in pushing the economic costs of environmental regs. I answered most of her questions with questions. (As usual, they gave binary choices to questions with a range of responses.)

   I usually just hang up on these folk, but this time I thought I'd have some fun. On the Koch's dime……

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   1. What firm?  Were they 'polling' on the EPA carbon regs?

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      1. I forgot the name of the firm. They were not polling about the carbon regs by name, but they talked about regs and air quality. Some of it was goofy (like regulating emissions in national parks).  

         One of my favorite questions:  should environmental regs be at the federal or state level? When I told the caller that our planet's atmosphere crosses state lines and therefore, regulations should be at the federal (actually, at the international) level, she seemed taken back and flustered.

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4. Centrist Dems just can't:

   In the wake of centrist Democrats' recent trouncings, a resurgent liberal movement has emerged. " Liberal" is no longer a dirty word.

   Yet in spite of the fact that Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders drew 11,000 at rally last week in Arizona, red-(and purple-ed.)-state Democrats do not seem to have gotten the memo.

   They have taken the wrong message from their trouncing in the 2014 elections. Politico quotes centrist Democrats fretting over the party's blue shift:

   “The national Democratic Party’s brand makes it challenging for Democrats in red states oftentimes and I hope that going forward, the leaders at the national level will be mindful of that and they will understand that they can’t govern the country without Democrats being able to win races in red states,” said Paul Davis, who narrowly failed to unseat Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback last year.

   The leaders at the national level, one of them being our own Michael Bennet, gave Democratic campaigns the flexibility to ignore their party's successes and pretend their president didn't exist. And they lost. Will no one give Harry Truman credit for his acidic truths?

   In North Carolina, former Sen. Kay Hagan snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in 2014 running for reelection on her Republican Lite record, dodging questions early in her campaign on her support for the president and Obamacare. Lightweight Thom Tillis was opposed by many in his Republican party, yet prevailed. In Georgia, Democrat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), "prevaricated, kvetched, and weaved" regarding her support for Obamacare. I could go on.

   “Where the hell is the Democratic party?" an exasperated Howard Dean asked in the aftermath. "You got to stand for something if you want to win."

   Former Senator Mark Udall would still disagree. And I fear he'll never get credit for running such a poor, yet winnable campaign against the esteemed Cory Gardner. He certainly doesn't want it.

   Besides being bad politics and a resoundingly horrible and consistently losing strategy, the Republican-Lite, Corporate Dem way also neglects something they need in order to re-win those off-color seats – voters:

   Since the GOP took control of Congress, the party's favorability rating has nosedived, sliding nine points since the beginning of the year, according to Pew Research Center. Just 32 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Republicans, while 60 percent view them unfavorably. (Democrats presently have a 48-47 percent favorable to unfavorable rating.)

   The Democratic Party has often held an edge over the GOP in favorability in recent years, but its advantage had narrowed following the Republicans’ midterm victory last fall. Today, the gap is as wide as it has been in more than two years.

   Republicans, in particular, are now more critical of their own party than they were a few months ago. About two-thirds (68%) express a favorable opinion of their party, the lowest share in more than two years. Six months ago, 86% of Republicans viewed the GOP positively.

   A majority of Americans view the GOP as "more extreme" than Democrats. Democrats also win the empathy/honesty contest by double digits.

   They win the empathy/honesty contest. Can the win the smarts/strategy contest in 2016?

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5. Zap – the shift is clear. Running right-wing/center right politicians as Democrats has been a proven failure (look at the years that they lost), however, when progressives issues came forward in 2014, they won. Why? It's clear that the voters are ready to shift to the left after drifting to the right for the last 40 years to try to compete with something that's already a skeleton.  Time to push the reset button and go back to the left and get our voters back, and show progressive candidates instead of tired old Third Way (which is what Bennet is) and ready to primary Bennet out as he needs a primary – and since Republicans is actually offering no real challenge from the right, I think it's safe to try an real primary against Bennet from the LEFT.

   Not Romanoff. I thought Carroll would provide a decent challenge, but she is running and will win over Coffinman. We need a REAL progressive candidate. Do we know of anyone, even an unknown? 

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6. I love un-rehabilitated liberals like Zapp. Wasn't it Yogi Berra who talked about "deja vu" all over again? Let's see; George McGovern in 1972; Walter Mondale in 1984; Bernie Sanders in 2016?  Wow, Bernie drew 11,000 attendees in a state with 6.7 million people. Be still, my beating heart. Or maybe it's "my poll can beat up your poll."

   Bernie's a decent guy. But that old fashioned liberalism; actually Bernie is an independent socialist; just doesn't play well in the broad based political world anymore. Wasn't it Churchill (Winston, not Ward) who said something like: if you're not a liberal in your 20s, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative in your 40s, you have no brain.

   Speaking of "rehab," you folks better hope that H.R.C. gets an image makeover in the months ahead. Her political baggage just keeps growing. Either that, or hope that the Donald runs as a 3rd party candidate.

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   1. CHB, you also left out President Dukakis in '88 and President Kerry in '04 but your point is well taken.

      Zapp is an idealist who keeps tilting at windmills but he's harmless. Dustpuppy, on the other hand, is delusional. If I recall correctly, DP was predicting a Democratic sweep last November which would have kept the Senate in Dem hands and retaken the House!

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      1. I know I should worry more about Citibank and Goldman Sachs and whether someone has insulted their Genius CEO's. Also, too, those poor, old oil companies are in such dire straits that they might see their raw material disappear unless we allow them to drill everywhere. Then where are they going to earn $10 Billion a quarter?

         I know I should accept Bennet's lies and media manipulation without complaining. He's a (D) and all (D) good, says Mongo.

         But I just can't…….

         Oh, and if we can't advance a few more progressive policies now, with the CO and national Republican parties in the shape they're in, then you should aim your insults at our party "leaders", not me.

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   2. Zap may be lacking in terms of balancing the ideal with the practical in politics but liberals are not the ones whose basic world view and economic theory demonstrates a need for rehab. Conservatives are the ones who clearly need to check into some sort of detox facility. The entire framework of all conservative economic theory and ideology has been so decisively proved completely and utterly wrong, discredited by decades of hard, facts on the ground, objective reality evidence to the point where conservatism now more closely resembles theology, taken on faith, than ideology or anything that should be dignified by the word "theory". I suggest you go rehab yourself. It's never too late.

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      1. Thanks, BC, for translating my charged language into something more palatable. 

         Now I know The Bern is a longshot, and admitting to that "socialist" stuff may have killed his campaign before it started, and that his bluntness in explaining his ideas can take away from the fact that they are in the mainstream of American political thought, but comparing Sanders to Trump has to be the height of daftness and should embarrass a Million-dollar newsreader such as Chuck Todd:

         Sen. Bernie Sanders threw cold water on Chuck Todd's false equivalency between himself and Donald Trump, but that didn't stop Todd from spending the next few segments doing exactly that. As Sanders pointed out, his voters are the type that would like to get the one percent like Donald Trump out of our political process, and not the other way around:

          

         Thanks in large part to timing, Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been paired with celebrity plutocrat Donald Trump in political analyses, as both are surging candidates representing fringe slices of their respective bases. […]

         On Meet the Press Sunday morning, Sanders dismissed the comparison.

         “The chord we are touching all over this country is that people are profoundly disgusted with the economics that make the richest people richer and everybody else poorer,” he told host Chuck Todd. “They are profoundly angered and disturbed by a political campaign system that allows billionaires to buy elections because of this disastrous campaign finance system calledCitizens United.”

         Which was followed by Todd bringing in his panel, where Bushie Sara Fagen attacked Sanders for supposedly pulling Hillary Clinton too far to the left and pretending that the our modern day Republican party hasn't moved so far to the right that they've fallen off of a cliff.

          

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         1. See poll numbers I posted below. These are not the numbers of someone seen as a totally out there extremist. 

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7. Well these are kind of interesting numbers for someone who's suppose to be so fringe:

   General Election: Bush vs. Sanders CNN/Opinion Research Bush 48, Sanders 47 Bush +1
   General Election: Trump vs. Sanders CNN/Opinion Research Sanders 59, Trump 38 Sanders +21
   General Election: Walker vs. Sanders CNN/Opinion Research Sanders 48, Walker 43 Sanders +5

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   1. he's from Brooklyn, too, so's we know he can fight. 

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