Friday Fish Wrap: September 24, 2010

Today is my husband’s 79th birthday, or as it’s known around here … 19 years since the airlines and the FAA decided he was too old to be in command of a passenger airliner. Ha! That’s in reference to the archaic ‘Age 60’ rule that was still in force then, which said that a pilot couldn’t possibly be competent to command an airliner even a day after his 60th birthday - so sayonara, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. The good news for younger pilots - the Age 60 Rule was changed in 2007. You can now fly until age 65 - all still contingent on maintaining a FAA First Class Medical Certificate, of course.

Sheesh.

This is Mr. Maven today, riding 15 miles on his bike.

Ain’t he cute? What a guy.

Oh, on a ride the other day, I saw a Sand Hill Crane out in the Damonte Ranch wetlands.

The following is from alert reader, Peg. It’s very good indeed.

‘Benevolent Mischief’ by Chase Jarvis

Let’s take a look at John Boehner’s ‘Pledge to America’, since it’s been big news, having been beamed into John’s tinfoil helmet from the dusty archives of the mothership out beyond the solar system.

Right off the top, I asked myself the following:

“Permanently stop all tax increases” - uh, is he referring to letting the expensive Bush tax cuts expire on the richest 2% of Americans? Not actually at tax increase, John. It’s more like a savings when it comes to the deficit. A $700 billion savings.

“Allow small business owners to take a tax deduction equal to 20% of their business income” - what constitutes a ‘small business owner’ on Boehner’s planet? Is it gross receipts under $1 million? Under $10 million? Just what is it? Oh, I know - it’s businesses with gross receipts over $50 million annually. Now that’s your local Mom and Pop pizza parlor, isn’t it?

“Hold weekly votes on spending cuts”  Jeeze Louise, it seems like Congress can’t get anything done as it is and John wants to tie it up even worse with votes on every nickle and dime ‘spending cut’? That’s too precious to be believed.

“Prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion” - Oh, he must mean like it actually is already.

FactCheck.org has this to say about it (here’s the ClifNotes version. A far more detailed analysis can be seen here.):

The Republican “Pledge to America,” released Sept. 23, contains some dubious factual claims:

• It declares that “the only parts of the economy expanding are government and our national debt.” Not true. So far this year government employment has declined slightly, while private sector employment has increased by 763,000 jobs.
• It says that “jobless claims continue to soar,” when in fact they are down eight percent from their worst levels.
• It repeats a bogus assertion that the Internal Revenue Service may need to expand by 16,500 positions, an inflated estimate based on false assumptions and guesswork.
• It claims the stimulus bill is costing $1 trillion, considerably more than the $814 billion, 10-year price tag currently estimated by nonpartisan congressional budget experts.
• It says Obama’s tax proposals would raise taxes on “roughly half the small business income in America,” an exaggeration. Much of the income the GOP is counting actually comes from big businesses making over $50 million a year.

For details on these and other examples please read on to the Analysis section.

And the Democratic Senatorial Committee has this handy dandy comparison chart. As your action item for the weekend, I suggest you cut this out and paste where the GOP ‘true believers’ can see it.

WHEN REPUBLICANS “PLEDGE” TO…	THEY REALLY MEAN THEY WILL:
“Permanently Stop All Job-Killing Tax Hikes.”	Re-open tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping American jobs overseas which Democrats closed.[i] Give deficit-exploding handouts to CEOs who ship American jobs overseas.[ii] Hold middle-class tax cuts hostage to giveaways for CEOS and special interests.[iii]
“Rein in the Red Tape Factory in Washington, DC”	Let Wall Street off the hook for gambling away Americans’ savings.[iv] Let mine companies off the hook when mines collapse.[v] Let food producers off the hook when contaminated food kills innocent Americans.[vi]
“Give Small Businesses a Tax Deduction.”	Pretend Wall Street bankers and partners in law firms represent small businesses, and hand them giant, deficit-exploding tax giveaways.[vii] Vote against relief for real small businesses.[viii] Put small business’ interests behind the interests of Wall Street and companies that ship American jobs overseas.[ix]
“Repeal The Job Killing Health Care Law And Put In Place Real Reform”	Let insurance companies go back to denying children coverage due to pre-existing conditions.[x] Let insurance companies go back to imposing lifetime limits.[xi] Push millions of Medicare beneficiaries back into the “doughnut hole.”[xii] Take away tax breaks that help small businesses pay for health care.[xiii]
“Our Plan Stands On The Principles Of Smaller, More Accountable Government; Economic Freedom; Lower Taxes.”	Read Rep. Boehner’s lips: “We are not going to be any different than what we’ve been.”[xiv] Despite their rhetoric, Republicans will take us back to Bush-era policies of giving huge handouts to CEOs and the very wealthy while the middle class suffers – the same policies that drove us into a recession and cost 8 million Americans their jobs.[xv]

Senator Harry Reid’s spokesman released this today:

Washington, DC – Jim Manley, spokesman for Nevada Senator Harry Reid, released the following statement today after Republicans blocked legislation to discourage companies from sending American jobs overseas:
 
“Someone should start keeping a count of how many different ways Republicans will try to justify protecting CEOs who send American jobs overseas. The facts speak for themselves. Republicans have a long and distinguished track record of protecting multimillionaire CEOs who offshore American jobs at the expense of the middle class, and clearly they want to keep on with more of the same policies that cost 8 million Americans their jobs. But don’t take it from me, Representative Boehner said it best yesterday when he admitted, ‘we are not going to be any different than what we’ve been.’”

The bottom line here is that Boehner’s diversionary ‘Pledge’ is just a warmed over version of Newt Gringrich’s long ago discredited ‘Contract With America’. Here’s what Mother Jones had to say then about the Contract:

“The House Republicans’ Contract with America is like miniature golf. Each tenet of the 10-item contract has its own hole, and the entire course is a fun, popular, and largely diversionary exercise meant to satisfy middle-class sensibilities. While I write, the Republicans are near the beginning of the course. By the time you read this, they could be as far along as hole seven or eight.

But the contract is no more an agenda for governing America in a new way than playing miniature golf is a way to play real golf: Instead, it diverts attention from the Republicans’ real agenda.”

Wouldn’t it be cool if the Republicans ever came up with anything original? Once again, they are basing their program on  fantastical spending cuts without ever taking ownership of what get cuts, how much it get cuts, how it bends the deficit upwards and worst of all,  who gets hurt in the process.

Oh, and here’s what economist Paul Krugman had to say about the ‘Pledge’:

On Thursday, House Republicans released their “Pledge to America,” supposedly outlining their policy agenda. In essence, what they say is, “Deficits are a terrible thing. Let’s make them much bigger.” The document repeatedly condemns federal debt — 16 times, by my count. But the main substantive policy proposal is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which independent estimates say would add about $3.7 trillion to the debt over the next decade — about $700 billion more than the Obama administration’s tax proposals.

We swung by Klaich Animal Hospital today to pick up more meds for little old Asta, my 19-1/2 year old Jack Russell Terrier. Mark Klaich is amazed. You just don’t see many dogs this age and still in this good of shape. Her lab tests indicate …. nothing. She’s fine except being deaf … really old and frail … crotchety … snarly … incontinent. We’re now trying some estrogen to see if that will help the incontinence. The bottom line here is that we’re playing it day by day. It’s all theoretical at this point. Nick Klaich told me that he’s never seen a Jack Russell this old.

Here’s a neat tidbit: Nick Klaich and new family was the first owner and occupant of this house we’ve lived in for 20 years now. Yes, Reno is still kinda a small town in some ways.

I got a boatload of housework done this week. How? Why? I’ve got company coming from out of town. It’s a great way to ‘find the time’ to get all those nagging jobs done like hosing the bird poop off the patio, polishing all the wood furniture and such.

I’m hoping our houseguest doesn’t notice all the gardening that needs to be done for the fall.

I finally got around to picking up my new skis over at Bobo’s today. I got a pair of the Dynastar Exclusive Active’s in a 158 cm. It’s a woman’s all mountain ski with a wider waist (74 mm) and a 14 turn radius. This ski will give me the flexibility that I’ve been missing on my old Rossignol’s to explore more terrain - especially trees and powder on those rare days we get any here in the Sierra’s. Plus, there’s some added stability through crud and a higher speeds.

 

I demo’d a similar pair last winter and loved them. They turned on a damn dime. They’ll also push my center of gravity a bit more forward, compensating for my small frame. I’m sooo looking forward to using them. The Rossi’s are still a great all round ski, and will become my ‘rock’ skis.

Don’t be alarmed if there isn’t a Monday Musings blog post. I’ll be winging my way down to Houston for a couple of days. Should be back by Tuesday night.

So have a great weekend and enjoy the full moon - which should be in full swing tonight - and the really warm fall days that we have here in Reno. I could live a lot of other places but Northern Nevada in the autumn is so great - why would I?

Sit. I’ll let myself out.

-maven

P.S. - I’ve decided it’s time to focus on the two activities (cycling and skiing) I truly love and so have decided to sell my entire Kayak outfit. It’s a great - and cost effective - way to start kayaking.

See the listing on Craigslist Reno

Monday Musings: September 13, 2010

Who says that Bob Schieffer of Face the Nation doesn’t have a backbone? What I can say with certainty is that Rep. John Boehner, R-OH, will not willingly ever -  EVER - appear on the show again. Ha! That that!

Schieffer was doing his regular stuff - or so it seemed - softballing power, when suddenly he took the riff right off the tracks talking about his own battle with lung cancer due to smoking, and asked Boehner if he still smoked. He does. I was holding my breath. (09:20 into the show) Where was this going?

“You’ve taken $340,000 from the tobacco industry” … and asked how Boehner ‘squares’ that with the fact that cigarette smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

Sic ‘em, Bob! As Schieffer says, “how do you justify that in your own mind?”

Make note of the look on Boehner’s face. He was all ready to give more canned answers to canned questions on taxes, and here comes tobacco out of left field! WTF? Mr. Maven and I are sitting there punching each other in the arm.

Boehner’s answer: Tobacco is a legal product. Folks can choose to smoke or not. That’s all. That’s supposed to cover all his sins, whore-ing for the tobacco industry.

“The American people ought to have the right to make those decisions on their own.” says Boehner. Uh, not the point, John. Why are you taking money from the tobacco industry?

Ha! If this isn’t a huge object lesson on why we need robust campaign finance reform in this country, nothing is. We need politicians that are working for us, not private industry. If they want to work for private industry as a pond scum PR hack or lobbyist - more power to them. Just not on our dime.

Why isn’t the Tea Party outraged at this abuse of power?

Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka must have been wearing the same tin foil space helmet as the Tea Nuts and Sharron Angle when he received a suggestion from the Mother Ship that putting a 2% tax on food would be a great way to help the state out of it’s $3 billion ‘slump’.

I couldn’t believe that the RGJ wasted the paper and ink to Fact Check Goicoehea’s ‘argument’. Yup, it’s not within the state constitution to do that. You might think the Assembly Minority Leader should know that. That’s your first clue that Eureka elected an idiot. But here’s the second question: didn’t Goicoechea take a second to reflect on the fact that a food tax would be highly regressive - hurting those citizen’s least able to take the hit?

This points again to the chasm-like disconnect that the GOP/Tea Party has with its base here in Nevada and elsewhere. They repeatedly score in the 99th percentile  on the ‘WTF?’ meter. Goicoechea must be coaching Sharron Angle in speaking before understanding the facts - which is why the Reid campaign has a treasure trove of actual recorded comments to use against her.

Also in PRINT ONLY - you’re screwed if you missed buying the analog version of the Sunday Reno Gazette-Journal - was Region’s ‘American Nightmare’ recounts tales of woe by nitwits who leveraged themselves into a financial hole based on the real estate bubble.

I wish I could feel sorry for them, but Mr. Maven and I stayed put - we bought our house to live in, enjoy and pay off as soon as possible - not to use as an ill-considered bank overdraft protection system for living beyond our means. Here’s an excerpt:

‘Rich Gray and his wife bought a home in Reno 15 years ago. They planned to raise a family here, then retire and move to Texas for their golden years.

Now, the kids have grown up and Gray is retired. but he won’t be moving to Texas any time soon.

“We owe more than the house is worth,” said Gray, who - like many others - took out a second mortgage during the housing boom. “There was a time when getting your hands on property was income.”

That time has passed for many homeowners in Nevada, where home values have declined by more than 50 percent since the housing peak, and others across the country.

For Gray, home ownership was an elemental part of the “American Dream.” … The American dream is dead,” the 63-year-old Gray said. “The American dream is now the American nightmare.”’

Well, actually not for the people who saw home ownership for just what it was, and not a cash cow. Economists were warning people that this was folly - a type of over-consumption based on a kind of casual market-driven pyramid scheme known to economists as ‘The Greater Fool’ theory.

You know how it works - you foolishly buy a house that is sorta kinda maybe beyond your means, but with the confidence that there will be a next Greater Fool to come take it off your hands, and a next one, and a next one. It’s also known as ‘survivor investing’. It may occasionally work in the stock market, when practiced by those with brass balls, lots of experience and loads of money to burn. But using the Greater Fool theory  to finance the American Dream is a new spin - and one that failed big time for millions of small time investors with brass balls, little experience and now without loads of money to burn. Uh, kinda like the small time investors that got so horribly burned buying stocks on margin in 1929.

It pays to be a diligent student of history and economics.

Oh, talking about idiots … I saw a bumper sticker yesterday on a fancy Detroit POS that read:

Somewhere in Kenya, a village is missing an IDIOT.

The ‘O’, is of course the Obama logo.

On just what planet, politics aside, could Obama be considered an idiot? The man’s resume seems to, uh, belie that.

Compare, if you will, to the resume of George W. Bush. Or this one. Or even this sorta real one.

It also definitely pays to comparison shop.

Talking about comparison shopping on credible information about taxation here in Nevada, there was a nice pro/con on the OpEd page by former Nevada Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovic, (R) and PLAN Director Bob Fulkerson.

Bob, of course, making a solid case about the need to raise taxes on that infamous upper 2%. Vucanovich, of course, gives the canned GOP/TeaNut stump speech talking points that go like this:

“One does not need to be an economist to understand that a tax increase during this period of economic uncertainty would have drastic effects.”

Perhaps you don’t need to be an economist, but rather a Republican to keep flogging this dead horse. In fact, most credible economists say that a targeted tax increase now is exactly what the economy needs. Here’s what Noble Prize winning economist  Paul Krugman (I’m currently reading his economics text) says about extending the tax cuts. Here’s what Robert Reich (former Labor Secretary and currently teaching at UC Berkeley) says about extending the tax cuts to the wealthy in his “Guide to the Perplexed”. If those two economists don’t work for you, then try former International Monetary Fund economist Simon Johnson of the Baseline Scenario.

Take your pick. It’s not a cabal. They’re all independent thinkers and …. uh, economists that think it’s a patently bad idea to extend the Bush tax cuts to those earning above $250,000.

Barbara should get out more or learn how to Google information, but I shouldn’t pick on her. She’s, unfortunately, not at all unique in this.

Sheesh.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ve got to get to sleep so I can get up and meet a friend in Washoe Valley at Bower’s Mansion where we’ll do about 24 miles or so on the bikes. Yikes, I could have spaghetti for dinner. Hmmmm.

Hey, I’ll be adding some good stuff to the Food page, and more other Lifestyle and Health items throughout the week, so check in regularly.

Talk to me about what you would like to see here besides my political rants. I love to hear from you.

Cheers.

-maven

Update on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 16:16 by mavenandmeddler

I did it…. all 27.4 miles of it and my bike odometer turned over a solid 3,000 miles.

Yippee.

and here is friend ‘R. G.’ - who has put about 2,500 on his Trek just this year alone ( that includes 10 … count ‘em 10 circuits of Lake Tahoe this season so far) who will turn 80 this year. I had to hustle to keep up and not look too bad.

Whence Obama now? Look to financial reform

And, it’s going to be another tough slog, as Senate Republicans try to characterize white as the new black, up as the new down. Financial regulation as the new ‘big bank bailout.’

My dear readers, the bloody battle of health care reform hath chastened the GOP not.

Read what economist Paul Klugman of The New York Times has to say, and how he frames the coming fight:

Punks and Plutocrats

Health reform is the law of the land. Next up: financial reform. But will it happen? The White House is optimistic, because it believes that Republicans won’t want to be cast as allies of Wall Street. I’m not so sure. The key question is how many senators believe that they can get away with claiming that war is peace, slavery is freedom, and regulating big banks is doing those big banks a favor.

Click to read more ...

Monday Musings: March 22, 2010

Updated on Monday, March 22, 2010 at 09:59 by mavenandmeddler

Well, that was certainly a cliff-hanger worthy of Hollywood. Although I’m not sure just how many of these eleventh hour dramas we really need as a country, at least this one went the right way for the left.

Of course the day was not without its’ moments as GOP stalwarts stood in line to defend the status quo, distort the facts (even more) and defend everything from the Confederacy (WTF?) to unborn babies in the name of denying some 33 million Americans access to affordable health care.

Click to read more ...

Here's your chance to tell John Boehner he's wrong....

GOP minority leader John Boehner, who’s party has no health care plan, just issued a challenge.

Yesterday, he told a reporter, “I’m still trying to find the first American to talk to who’s in favor of the public option, other than a member of Congress or a member of the administration. I’ve not talked one and I get to a lot of places. I’ve not had anyone come up to me — I know I’m inviting them — and lobby for the public option. This is about as unpopular as a garlic milkshake.”¹

Let’s prove John Boehner wrong.

Sign your name to this petition saying, “Hey John Boehner! I’m an American and I support the public health insurance option.”Click here and we’ll automatically add your name to the petition.