Occasional Words from the Resistance

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…from the desk of R.E. Vanella. Like a Woodpecker With a Headache The house at 1410 Quotidian Street was not the nicest on the block. It was in a category neighborhood people referred to as run-down. Not dilapidated or unoccupied, but in some manner of general disrepair and lazy upkeep that usually suggests one of two situations; an elderly or infirmed homeowner who lacked the resources or ability to manage proper maintenance, or occupied by a renter. In this case it was the latter.

The December 2, 2016 Thread

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It looks like a few Republican Senators are trying to clip Paul Ryan’s wings when it comes to his plan to move forward on privatizing Medicare.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was blunt about the outlook for a major Medicare overhaul. “I think we should leave Medicare for another day,” he said. “Medicare has solvency problems. We need to address those, but trying to do that at the same time we deal with Obamacare falls in the category of biting off more than we can chew.”… Most Senate Republicans agreed that there was still a lot of work to do on Obamacare before the topic of Medicare changes could even come up in the Senate. “I’m all for a kind of step-by-step approach, so let’s do one thing at a time,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told TPM. “A step-by-step approach makes a whole lot more sense as opposed to something big and comprehensive. We don’t do big, comprehensive very well here in Washington, D.C.”… “It’s just too much to bite off,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told TPM. He added that he thought Ryan’s plan was “worthy of consideration,” but that ultimately any changes to Medicare should be considered in a bipartisan manner.
It’s Settled?

It’s Settled?

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Nutshell: 4-3. Settlement accepted. What remains to be seen is how the best interests of our students are being served by taking the settlement. Once the language is made public, we’ll get a good idea of what each board member believes is in the best interest of our kids.
Who is the Other in our Poll?

Who is the Other in our Poll?

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Right now, Other is tied with Bryan Townsend with 22% and trailing Eugene Young in our nonscientific nonrandom purely for fun internet poll of who would be the best young upstart progressive candidate to actually defeat Senator Tom Carper in a primary, or who should replace him should the Senator realize reality and retire at long last. Senator Carper will be 71 years old on Election Day 2018, and has been in elected office in one form or another for over 40 years. He has been in Congress, either as a Senator or a Congressman, for 25 years. His Third Way brand of right wing Democratic politics has been discredited time and again. He yearns for bipartisanship as a goal in an of itself in a time when partisanship warfare is not only desired but required. His time is past, and we need a new Senator. So who is the other candidates voters are thinking of? Or are you all just not satisfied with Townsend, Williams, Meyer or Young?
The December 1, 2016 Thread

The December 1, 2016 Thread

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Politico: “Congressional Republicans are setting up their own, self-imposed deadline to make good on their vow to replace the Affordable Care Act. With buy-in from Donald Trump’s transition team, GOP leaders on both sides of the Capitol are coalescing around a plan to vote to repeal the law in early 2017 — but delay the effective date for that repeal for as long as three years.” “They’re crossing their fingers that the delay will help them get their own house in order, as well as pressure a handful of Senate Democrats — who would likely be needed to pass replacement legislation — to come onboard before the clock runs out and 20 million Americans lose their health insurance. The idea is to satisfy conservative critics who want President Obama’s signature initiative gone now, but reassure Americans that Republicans won’t upend the entire health care system without a viable alternative that preserves the law’s popular provisions.” LOL. So they will repeal it, but then keep the law in place. Uh huh. And when those three years are up they will have no replacement and have to either pass another delay, or pass some minor change and call it Trump Care. Meanwhile, a timely new Kaiser Health poll finds just a quarter of Americans say they wanted to scrap the Affordable Care Act, down from nearly a third in October. By contrast, nearly half say they want the law expanded or implemented as it is. Another 17% say they want the law scaled back. The GOP has no replacement, probably because the Conservative idea for Health Insurance Reform was Obamacare. So if they repeal and do not replace, it will be a political disaster for them.
Senator Tom Carper and Dem Senate Colleagues Take a Hard Line on Trump’s Treasury Pick

Senator Tom Carper and Dem Senate Colleagues Take a Hard Line on Trump’s Treasury Pick

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
(Steve Mnuchin) is the Forrest Gump of the financial crisis…His selection as Treasury secretary should send shivers down the spine of every American who got hit hard by the financial crisis, and is the latest sign that Donald Trump has no intention of draining the swamp and every intention of running Washington to benefit himself and his rich buddies,"