Options For Would-Be Tea Party Speaker Daniel "Taliban Dan" Webster Staying In Congress Are Closing

Daniel Webster has been in the news lately because he's "running" (not really) for House Speaker as the Freedom Caucus/Tea Party candidate. He isn't considered a serious candidate with an actual chance to ever become Speaker, just a pawn in the game between the extremists and the mainstream conservative Establishment. But ole "Taliban Dan" is probably happy he's in the news as a potential Speaker rather than as someone who's about to lose his congressional seat. Let's talk about that for a minute. In 2010 Webster was elected in the 8th district in Central Florida. The following year, the corrupt Republican state legislature gerrymandered the state up again to create as many Republican seats as they could and Webster got a nice red seat, now called the 10th. In 2008, the 8th had gone to Obama by 5 points but the newly created 10th, which put many Democratic neighborhoods into the 9th district created a frankenstein-monster of a district that includes southwestern and southeastern Orlando but skirts areas where Democrats live, Obama would have lost by 5 points, quite the swing. And, in fact, in 2012, under those lines the district-- with a PVI of R+6-- gave Romney an even heftier 53-46% win. Webster beat a weak but well-funded Democrat, Val Demings, 52-48% in 2012 and then beat an even weaker Democrat, Michael McKenna, last year 62-38%.

But then the state of Florida was sued for the gerrymandered districts and a judge threw them out and one of the districts most effected was Webster's. Under the new lines-- Under the new lines-- which includes African-American neighborhoods of west Orlando and does not include any of red-leaning Lake County (or Polk County)-- the district that gave Romney a 53.4-45.7% win over Obama would have given Obama a 60.7-38.4% landslide win. Bye-bye Webster. (The likely Democratic challenger is a well-known, well-heeled and well-liked former state Democratic Party chairman, Bob Poe, a progressive who will first have to beat DCCC/EMILY's List deadbeat, Val Demings, who wants to give it another' try but is intensely disliked in the area.)

Meanwhile, there has been constant chatter about John Mica moving up to FL-06, a deep red district, much of which was his previously and leaving FL-07, his current district. The rationale is that FL-07 is a tough district, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans and could be a challenge for Mica. Under the old lines Romney beat Obama 51.8- 47.1% but under the new lines it would have been an exact 49.4-49.4% split. (FL-06, by contrast, newly open because current Congressman Ron DeSantis is running for Rubio's open Senate seat, will have a population that gave Romney 52.2% to Obama's 46.6%, much safer for Mica.) The problem is that Mica doesn't want to move and says he won't do it, especially since the DCCC has a typically lame candidate, Blue Dog Bill Phillips who would pose no real challenge to Mica. So much for the musical chairs scenario... unless Webster wants to skip a couple districts and move up to FL-06 himself, completely new territory for him.

He'd be looked at as a carpetbagger in a basically coastal district that stretches along the 95 from below Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach all the way up along the coast through Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, and St. Augustine. Worse yet, for Webster, former Tea Party Republican Congresswoman Sandy Adams is already running in the 6th (as is New Smyrna Beach ex-mayor Adam Barringer). And the Democrat who represents Daytona Beach in the state House, Dwayne Taylor, announced last week that he's running as well. If Ted Cruz is at the top of the GOP ticket and it's an especially bad year for the GOP, FL-07 and FL-06 could both go blue (although Mica would be a better bet for the GOP in either district than Webster who would have a real struggle in both districts, though they're viewed as not as impossible as the new 10th. So, in all likelihood, like I already said... bye-bye Webster.

Nick Ruiz-- What Does He Bring To The Table?

In Central Florida, two Republican incumbents, teabagger Sandy Adams and Establishment shill John Mica, have been thrown into the same district, FL-07, in the Orlando area. In 2008, McCain won Adams' old district (FL-24) 51-49% and won Mica's old district (FL-7) 53-46%. Under the new boundaries, it would have been quite a bit closer. McCain would have won 50-49%. And since then, the district has become bluer. 39.5% of voters are Republicans; 34% are Democrats and 26.5% are Independents. And whomever wins the Republican primary on August 14 will have to face Democrat Nick Ruiz, the subject of the NBC-TV interview above. Given Mica/Adams' conspicuous attack on the middle class, that basically declares open season on working families, Nick can win this race. The Republicans' anti-middle class agenda is anathema to many Republicans and Independents, as well as Democrats! The district is ripe for the taking by a Democratic candidate who has crossover clout and appeal like Ruiz, and for representation by Ruiz of an electorate that is sick and tired of government that doesn't work for their interests, particularly with the surge of non-partisan registrations, who we can assume will think more independently. It will be a contest to see who the electorate believes will fight more for their middle class interests. Mica and Adams have already proven themselves worthless in this regard.

Although the GOP infighting is intense and very ugly, when it comes to the insanity that defines the Republican policy agenda, Adams and Mica really are tweedledee and tweedledum. This week there were two important votes in Congress that-- as in all rollcalls-- Adams and Mica, voted exactly alike-- even though their votes were tremendously at odds with what their constituents prefer. FL-07 is a moderate district, not some blood-red Mississippi hellhole and Adams and Mica seem really out of synch with what most people expect there. First they both voted to remove the exemption for rape and incest in the abortion ban they're trying to push. And then they both voted against the middle class tax cut.

The only thing that could keep Nick from winning this seat is not having enough money to get out the message of how Adams and Mica have been voting and how he plans to vote once he's in Congress. This morning I asked him how he would have voted on these two bills and why.

"It's unfortunate that Republicans continue to attempt to use a woman's right to choose as a wedge issue. But divide and conquer is an old strategy, of which they never tire. I can't say what motivates them to want to deny women their basic civil rights. But I can say that I never would. It's simply not up to anyone to decide but the person that is pregnant. As for the aisle-crossing 'Democrats' that supported this heinous bill-- we will not forget it.

"A middle class tax cut is a common sense response to the continued economic downturn Americans face. It's not the only thing, or even most important thing we could do, but why in the world would anyone vote against it? Reps. that voted against it, could not express their carelessness and disdain for the middle class more clearly. If America is to be a better place-- we'll have to remove politicians of this kind from office. There is no other way to ensure that American get a fair shake on economic policy."

Nick was the first candidate endorsed by Blue America this cycle. The DCCC, which has an ironclad policy of never challenging Republican heavyweights or committee chairmen has refused to work with him, knowing that Mica, the [very obstructive] chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is likely to be the GOP nominee. If we're going to get Nick, elected it's really going to be up to us. If you can, please consider contributing to his campaign on our Blue America page.

A GOP Victory Could Prove Inconvenient For Florida

I'm thoroughly enjoying Stephen Goldstein's new book, Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned! and I sit around trying to identify the inspiration he must have used for the characters in the novel (which is set about 50 years in the dystopian future). Yesterday I was convinced he must have had little-known Florida Congresswoman and teabagger Sandy Adams in mind. Her colleagues-- of both sides of the aisle-- have voted her the dumbest Member of Congress (yes, dumber than Gohmert!) and she cracked up the whole House Science Committee when she proposed the elimination of the National Weather Service, claiming that private cable TV channels do it better, unable to grasp how the private cable TV channels get their information. Not every Republican is as grotesquely ignorant as Adams but it should be pointed out that the party has voted overwhelmingly to cut the National Weather Service's budget drastically. I actually contacted Stephen Goldstein and asked him if Adams had inspired the chapter in his book about what happens in Florida when GOP plans come to fruition. He gave me permission to publish this excerpt-- and told me it was actually Rick Santorum, who introduced a bill that would have prohibited the National Hurricane Center from distributing for free any information that a private company could.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5: THE FLORIDA PENINSULA. Tuesday, August 2, the sky was a brilliant, clear blue until 4 p.m. when an unbroken cover of steel-gray clouds suddenly created a canopy over Key West, Florida, obliterating what had promised to be a typical, made-for-tourists sunset. With the clouds came the unique mugginess locals knew was the harbinger of an impending storm, confirming the rumors that had been swirling for the past two days. Fishermen returning from the day’s catch had been telling stories of a monster-- presumably a hurricane-- already moving through the Caribbean.

There was no way to know the intensity or extent of the storm for sure, however. After three failed attempts within the past five years by agents of the Corporate States of America to overthrow the Cuban government and clear the way for businesses to privatize the country’s assets, all communication between Washington and Havana came to an abrupt end, including tropical storm tracking that was routinely shared on humanitarian grounds, even when the countries were bitterest enemies.

In addition, ten years ago, the National Hurricane Center in Miami was privatized, its assets sold to CallUS.com, a company that specialized in creating Internet-based businesses, specifically call centers. In short order, the most experienced meteorologists were fired to save money and increase profits. The site posted almost no original weather analysis, but typically repackaged data and information from other sites. Free weather reports disappeared. Only people who could afford to pay could get updates and were prohibited from sharing them or making them public. In the biggest blow to what had once been a model agency, “Hurricane Hunters,” the Air Force Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, which flew directly into the eye of storms and provided lifesaving information, was discontinued because it wasn’t considered profitable enough. Finally, just last year, CallUS.com declared bankruptcy. While its assets are tied up in court, nothing can be done to replace it, leaving hurricane-prone regions of the CSA defenseless.

So, Wednesday morning, August 3, when residents and visitors in Key West woke up to a pitch black sky, they had no idea what they were in for. Fearless conchs, as residents affectionately call themselves, typically take storms in their stride. They stand pat and snicker at people who run scared. Nothing gets them to evacuate. “Just another storm in paradise,” long-time Duval Street resident John Macalister reassured his friends visiting from Syracuse, New York. “We’ll get some heavy rain, probably a good deal of flooding. But it won’t amount to much.” Local TV stations ran banners across their screens, advising people to stay put, but few paid any attention.

By 8:30 a.m., fifteen-foot waves were crashing across the island’s wharf. Within half an hour, all streets were under at least six feet of water. Key West looked like a game of pick-up sticks. Buildings that had withstood years of storms were swept away, reduced to rubble. Victims sat perched in trees or hanging on to branches. Everywhere, people-- the lucky ones-- clung to anything that could float. But heavy rain pelted them, and, with heads bobbing, they struggled to stay alive in water churned by merciless winds. Many had already lost consciousness and drowned. Dead, bloated bodies and the carcasses of hapless pets already outnumbered the living. All power to the island gone. All communication severed.

As the storm made its way north, local, on-the-ground reports pieced together an unimaginable story: the Florida peninsula was either being hit by two storms at once-- one on the east coast, the other on the west-- or by one storm that split in two. No one could say for sure. But either way, the net effect was the same. On the east coast, the eighteen-mile stretch of bridges connecting the Florida Keys and the mainland was completely destroyed, so there was no way to escape-- and no way to bring victims relief, except by helicopter. Using
boats was not possible because most docks had been swept away. The trendy art deco district of South Beach on Miami Beach and highrise buildings along Biscayne Bay were leveled. A tornado destroyed the MacArthur and Julia Tuttle Causeways.

The story was the same as the storm relentlessly made its way up the east and west coasts of the peninsula; city after city leveled. In Fort Lauderdale and surrounding cities, all the bridges over the Intracoastal Waterway had been blown away. Residents of the flooded barrier island have no water or power or any way to reach land or be reached. Palm Beach, the playground of the rich, is no more-- its palatial oceanfront mansions now piles of rubble; its residents, homeless. Causeways from the mainland were blown away, so there is no way to help thousands stranded on the island.

Fort Pierce, Cape Canaveral, Titusville, Daytona Beach, St. Augustine, Jacksonville-- city after city has been flattened. On the west coast, Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Clearwater have been leveled. Two-thirds of the Florida peninsula are cut off from the mainland. I-95 from the Keys to Jacksonville is impassable. I-75 from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa and the I-4 corridor from Tampa to Daytona were swept away and are no more. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay has collapsed.

After two of the most destructive days in U.S. history, about twelve million people in Florida are estimated to be homeless and/or living without water or power. About twenty years ago, claiming that existing building codes, written specifically to ensure that structures could withstand hurricane-force winds, cut into their profits, developers successfully lobbied the state legislature to eliminate them.

Frequent gas leak explosions and fires raging out of control are creating panic. Scores of victims who have ignored warnings to stay out of the water because of downed, live power lines have been electrocuted. Vehicles are strewn everywhere, often piled on top of each other. It’s being called “the rich man’s hurricane” because almost all of the damage has been done to the most expensive private property. Reconnaissance planes and helicopters surveying the damage are recording video of unimaginable devastation and human desperation. Refrigerators and stoves are strewn everywhere. Clothing is scattered, caught in trees, blowing like flags in the wind.

Children’s dolls and toys are piled in heaps on land. Some are floating in stagnant pools, clutched tightly in the arms of dead boys and girls. “Help!” has been painted on the rooftops that survived intact and on sheets-- and spelled out in scattered debris to draw the attention of aircraft. At the sight of planes possibly bringing help, victims wave furiously, drop to their knees and clasp their hands as though praying, but collapse in despair when they disappear.

The truth is: No help is coming from the government. No help can come. There are no public relief agencies at any level-- local, state, or federal-- to provide assistance because of a disaster, any disaster. A cardinal principle of Free-for-All economics is hands-off government and personal responsibility-- no big brother, every man for himself. The market replaced the government. If you could afford to pay for protection, you were supposed to arrange to get it on your own. If you couldn’t afford it, you were out of luck. The Corporate States of America abolished all national search, rescue, and aid agencies.

And state and federal governments followed suit and disbanded theirs. What survived was a patchwork of for-profit businesses that provide fire, fire rescue, flood, general disaster aid, and related services, to which individuals annually subscribe for a fee. The problem is that most of those corporations have been devastated from the storm and, even if they hadn’t been, they didn’t have anywhere near the resources they’d need to function after a widespread disaster.

This morning, Friday, August 5, a few helicopters and small boats of private companies from outside of Florida are beginning to land and offer assistance to anyone who can pay. They have limited supplies of canned goods and water. But most people who have money don’t have access to it. So, when about fifty victims in the rubble of what used to be Worth Avenue in Palm Beach were told that “money talks, nobody walks,” they became so incensed, ten of them wrestled the pilot and two crew members of one helicopter to the ground and held them down, while others ran off with the provisions they carried.

Similar scenes are occurring everywhere.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 10 A.M. By video link from Tallahassee, Governor Cris Cott of Florida and, from the Press Room of the White House, President Ham Cooper hold a joint press conference in the aftermath of the recent hurricane.

Malcolm Scott of Floridanews.com: “Governor Cott, four days after the most devastating hurricane in U.S. history has destroyed at least two-thirds of Florida and left an estimated twelve million people homeless, destitute, and cut off from the rest of the country, no help has been forthcoming from the state. Victims are desperate. There are reports of riots and looting in affected areas. What is your plan of action to help them?”

Governor Cott: “Mr. Scott, your question suggests that help in some form should be coming from the state, that whenever and wherever there’s a problem, government is going to come to the rescue. So, I’m delighted to be able to set the record straight: Government has no role to play. Anyone who thinks it does is guilty of a pre-Galtian, socialist, inhibiting, looter mind-set. The overwhelming majority of the country has evolved way beyond it. You and others who think like you are a tiny minority of reactionaries. Storm preparation is a personal matter for families and individuals, which they can address by being responsible and buying appropriate goods and services from for-profit businesses. The same applies to the aftermath of any disaster. It’s the law of the marketplace. The state has no role in it.”

President Cooper: “Well said, Governor Cott. Let me add my unconditional support. The federal government also has no role to play.

After so many years, I’m shocked that anyone in the CSA still believes in socialism. Why should residents of California or New York or anywhere else have to pay to help people in Florida? If you live in a place where there might be bad storms, it’s up to you to protect yourself. That’s a basic principle of Free-for-All economics. It’s what has made the CSA great and what will keep it great. This is no time to question or abandon the core principles that have made us the envy of the world. It’s taken too long for us to get where we are to abandon our beliefs because of one disaster.”

Angela Rothbart of The People’s Voice: “Governor Cott, there are countless reports of people without their medications. Medical personnel on the ground fear the outbreak of infectious diseases. Serious injuries are not being treated. People are dying. Surely, this is a public health crisis of a magnitude that only government can deal with.”

Governor Cott: “Ms. Rothbart, who should be responsible for making sure they have enough of their prescriptions on hand at all times? Can you honestly expect the government to send out reminder notices or, better yet, deliver medications to people’s homes?”

Angela Rothbart: “Governor, thousands of homes were destroyed. High winds and tornadoes scattered everything over miles. Victims may have had all the medications they needed, but they were blown away.”

Governor Cott: “Ms. Rothbart, Ms. Rothbart, private health providers are flying hundreds of medical relief helicopters into affected areas. They will bill insurance companies for services if people have proof of coverage. Anyone without coverage or proof of coverage may pay in cash or with a credit card. So, your statement that this crisis is so big only government can deal with it is totally and completely misguided.”

Melinda Farkas of The Washington Reporter: “Mr. President, surely you are aware that polls show massive disapproval of the way Washington and Tallahassee are responding to the crisis. How do you explain the serious disconnect between your position and public opinion?”

President Cooper: “I think I can answer for Governor Cott and myself. When people are hurting, for whatever reason, even the most enlightened may look to blame others. That’s human nature at its worst-- and weakest-- giving in to emotion instead of accepting full responsibility for people’s personal failure. They refuse to look in the mirror to find the source of their problems. They cannot bring themselves to accept that the uncomfortable position they’re in is proof of their own weakness, foolishness, and basic inadequacy. There’s no mystery in any of this. But I repeat: that doesn’t mean we have to abandon our core principles. When there are emergencies, some people are going to suffer. It can’t be helped. But everyone has a choice between playing the victim card or standing on their own two feet and turning a bad hand into a winning one. The aftermath of the hurricane is the perfect opportunity for Floridians to rise to the occasion and grow stronger.

Jonathan Brown of South Florida Today: “Mr. President, the National Hurricane Center was privatized and eventually the for-profit business that replaced it went bankrupt. People are saying that, if Floridians had had early warning about the extent and force of the hurricane, lives and property could have been saved. In light of the current disaster and failure of the system, do you think the privatization of the Hurricane Center was a mistake and are you considering rebuilding it?”

President Cooper: “The answer to both of your questions is: Absolutely not! I find it truly amazing that, when things get a little tough, there are still people who think that all we should do is return to the days when government coddled its citizens. There was a time when the National Hurricane Center didn’t exist and people got along just fine. Then, we went through years of pouring tax money down a rat hole to keep the place going-- without any return on the dollar. Once we sold the Center off, everyone could see it was simply a losing proposition. The company that bought it was able to make money selling the land, the building, and its equipment. The CSA was saved from continuing to throw good money after bad. The CSA is not in the business of funding losing propositions.”

Governor Cott: “I’d like to add my wholehearted support for President Cooper’s position. The CSA federal government lost hundreds of millions of dollars propping up the money-losing National Hurricane Center that never had a chance of breaking even, let alone returning a profit. And since the Center’s building was located in Miami, the state of Florida lost millions of dollars because it didn’t have to pay taxes. After the for-profit company that took it over went bankrupt, an investment group bought it, and it’s finally generating a healthy bottom line. All the tracking equipment was sold off and the original building was leveled. The new multi-purpose, business and residential facility is ten stories. There are shops on the ground floor, parking on two floors, offices and condos on six floors, and a state-of-the-art fitness center on the top floor, complete with an indoor-outdoor swimming pool. That’s the CSA spirit of entrepreneurship that drives us in Florida. The whole country needs to keep the cash registers ringing.

Geraldine Fredericks of Washington Today: “Gentlemen, what do you say to victims of the disaster who have lost their homes, are literally living exposed to the elements, haven’t eaten in going on four days, and who may have been injured or have health issues?”

Governor Cott: “My answer is simple: Get to work. Roll up your sleeves and start digging out and rebuilding your lives. Pay others to help you if you can afford it. Don’t wait for anyone to come to your rescue because no one’s coming. You live and die in your own skin. If you didn’t know that before, you know it now. Floridians need to learn from this experience to better prepare themselves in the future. No one is going to be there to bail them out.”

President Cooper: “I’ll ditto that, Governor Cott. There is an especially good business opportunity, mostly in the central core of the state, for Floridians who have escaped the most serious loss and damage. But it’s also good advice for people anywhere in the CSA. Ask real entrepreneurs and they’ll tell you that one person’s misery is another person’s profit. That’s just a simple fact. So, people who can hear this message should hop into their trucks. It won’t be long before they wind up in a disaster zone-- and start making money.”

Agnes Richards of TV 7 Miami: “What is the role of government if not to come to the aid of its citizens during crises? Can you really believe that we’re all on our own, totally alone, that there should be no social structure to help people when they are truly victims of forces beyond their control?”

President Cooper: “Ms. Richards, I can’t believe what you’re saying Honestly, I guess living in the White House I have to be reminded from time to time that, as unthinkable as it sounds, there are still people who think as you do. Your questions are filled with all the socialistic buzz words that sent John Galt and his companions on strike in the first place. ‘Aid’? Government should come ‘to the aid of its citizens’? Have you any idea how feeble that thought is? You suggest that responsible adults should simply sit back and wait for someone to make everything better for them, that they have no responsibility to get themselves out of a jam. It’s really unbelievable. You suggest that there should be a ‘social structure to help people when they are victims of forces beyond their control’? Help and victim are words that should be banned from the English language-- at least as it’s spoken in the CSA. If I help you because you’re a ‘victim’ for any reason, I make you into a victim for a second time-- my victim. What a useless existence that would be! How anyone would want that is beyond me.”

George Knight of The South Florida Times: “Governor Cott, this disaster has been called ‘the rich man’s hurricane,’ because it has destroyed some of the most expensive homes in Florida. In many cases, property owners paid premiums for years and thought they were insured against hurricanes. But now they’re discovering that those companies have gone out of business or don’t have reserves to cover claims. What’s their recourse? We’re getting reports that some people are planning to sue the state.”

Governor Cott: “Rich man’s hurricane? You media people make up words like that. Mother Nature doesn’t know the difference between rich and poor. And it doesn’t make any difference to me and the state either. Recourse? Recourse? That word is right up there with “victim” and “help” and “aid” and all the other cop-out vocabulary that people use to get others to sympathize with them and shift the blame onto innocent businessmen, whose only job is to maximize profits. I am proud of the fact that, after years and years of sorting
through a maze of laws and regulations, the state of Florida freed the insurance industry to compete in the marketplace without profit-killing restrictions. What used to be called consumer protections were nothing more than wealth-redistributing, socialistic schemes to defraud corporations. Sue the state? Let them try! I don’t care how much money they have or who they are, whatever gripe they have is strictly between them and their insurer. The state has absolutely no responsibility or liability. They should have protected themselves before they signed a contract.”

George Knight: “Governor, a follow-up question, please. Are you saying that the state of Florida has no responsibility to see to it that insurance companies operating within its borders are not committing fraud and are able to cover the policies they issue and live up to the terms of their agreements?”

Governor Cott: “Why of course! I’m saying exactly that. How could it be anything but that? Fraud? What’s fraud? Isn’t it in the eye of the beholder? One person’s fraud is another person’s not paying attention to the terms of an agreement. Buyer beware is standard operating procedure for anyone with half a brain. Read the fine print. And what about consumers defrauding businesses? Would you have the state protecting corporate interests against the illegal acts of individuals? Shouldn’t what’s good for one be good for all? The beauty of Free-for-All economics is that the sacred marketplace takes care of everything. You don’t need a judge and jury with it. Consumers will spread the word about fraudulent insurance companies, others won’t buy policies from them, and they’ll go out of business. It’s a perfect model!”

George Knight: “Governor, a follow-up question, please.”

Governor Cott: “OK, but this is your last one. You’re hogging the stage.”

“In your scenario, the damage is done and people have to be shafted, before the word gets out that companies are being unethical and ruthless. And there’s no guarantee that it will get out quickly and to enough people or that people will believe what they hear-- assuming that the accusations are accurate.”

“Mr. Knight, there are no guarantees in life. Grow up. Accept ultimate freedom. You lead your life alone, on your own. Don’t expect anyone or anything, especially the government, to be there for you.”

Phillip Cohen of Washington Insider: “Governor, five years ago, you signed into Florida law a sweeping bill that replaced state building codes and preempted county and local standards designed to ensure construction that was able to withstand hurricanes. Do you regret doing that-- and do you plan to reinstate former building codes that deal specifically with hurricane conditions?”

Governor Cott: “In a word, no. The codes we eliminated cost developers too much, increased the price of new construction, and reduced jobs. The government has absolutely no role to play in micromanaging construction. If developers want to build to a hurricane-proof standard, the choice should be theirs and theirs alone. If customers want stronger construction, they can pay extra for it. And insurance companies can charge more or less for policies based upon criteria they establish. That’s the beauty of the Free-for-All market.”

Phillip Cohen: “A follow-up, please. President Cooper, with two-thirds of Florida destroyed, what steps do you plan to take from Washington to help businesses recover?”

President Cooper: “Mr. Cohen, you’re obviously asking a leading question because you assume that the CSA should do something in the first place. Well, let me go on record, as I’ve said before: Those businesses will survive and thrive that take care of themselves, without expecting anything from anyone else. If everyone in a given business pitches in and digs out from the debris, they’ll have a bright future. If they don’t, they don’t deserve to continue. Do you think our pioneer forefathers relied upon the government to rescue them as they tramped across the Continental Divide? Of course not! They set out to overcome unknown obstacles with the kind of resolve that made this country great. That’s what we’ve got to keep reinforcing. To keep the CSA strong, we’ve got to keep individuals resolved to look no farther than the end of their nose for the power to succeed.”

Governor Cott: “President Cooper, ladies and gentlemen, this
concludes our press conference.”

But it doesn't conclude the chapter, let alone the book. I suggest you get a copy of it for anyone planning on voting for Mitt Romney... or for any Republican running for any office. You can buy the book here-- and don't wait for Christmas; it could be too late by then.

Unmanned

As we mentioned a few days ago, California criminal Congressman Lucky Bucky McKeon started and chairs, the House Unmanned Systems Caucus, a polite way of saying the Drone Caucus. This is little more than a garden variety scam by the manufacturers of drones to ingratiate themselves to a bunch of Military Industrial Complex whores in Congress... like Lucky Bucky and money grubbing warmongers like Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Joe "You Lie" Wilson (R-SC), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Todd Akin (R-MO), Rick Berg (R-ND), Mike Rogers (R-MI), Brian Bilbray (R-CA), David Dreier (R-CA), Don Young (R-AK), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Robert Brady (D-PA), Joe Heck (R-NV), Anne Marie Buerkle (R-NY) and, of course Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK).

But the problems with the drones isn't just about killing in other countries. There isn't enough of a market for that. And Lucky Bucky and his band of whores stepped in to help the industry solve that by pushing to have drones flying all over a sky near you... very soon. A bill McKeon was paid very well to see passed was approved by the House 2 weeks ago and by the Senate on Monday "to open U.S. skies to unmanned drone flights within four years."

The FAA is also required under the bill to provide military, commercial and privately-owned drones with expanded access to U.S. airspace currently reserved for manned aircraft by Sept. 30, 2015. That means permitting unmanned drones controlled by remote operators on the ground to fly in the same airspace as airliners, cargo planes, business jets and private aircraft.

Currently, the FAA restricts drone use primarily to segregated blocks of military airspace, border patrols and about 300 public agencies and their private partners. Those public agencies are mainly restricted to flying small unmanned aircraft at low altitudes away from airports and urban centers.

Within nine months of the bill's passage, the FAA is required to submit a plan on how to safely provide drones with expanded access.

Even if you think it's cool that American drones are bombing the hell out of Pakistani civilians and causing unthinkable amounts of collateral damage-- people's sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, dreams... you want them spying on you here at home? The Tampa police has already ordered some. Thursday the Center for Democracy & Technology sent out this statement to the press. Did you hear anything about it on TV or radio... read it anywhere?

Congress is demanding drones in the air over the United States-- without considering the civil liberties issues. Within the span of three days last week, the House and then the Senate passed a law-- H.R. 658-- requiring the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to speed up, within 90 days, its current licensing process for government use of drones domestically and to open the national airspace to drone aircraft for commercial and private use by October 2015. While the law requires the FAA to develop guidance on drone safety, the law says absolutely nothing about the privacy or transparency implications of filling the sky with flying robots.

As CDT and others have pointed out, drones are powerful surveillance devices capable of being outfitted with facial recognition cameras, license plate scanners, thermal imaging cameras, open WiFi sniffers, and other sensors. Drones' unique ability to hover hundreds or thousands of feet in the air-- undetected, for many hours-- enables constant, pervasive monitoring over a wide area. Without clear privacy rules, public and private use of drones can usher in an era of unparalleled physical surveillance. Without transparency requirements, citizens will not even have the basic right to know who owns the drone watching them from above. Congress, the FAA, industry bodies, and the American people all should play a role in ensuring that drones are used responsibly.

Congress missed a major opportunity to build civil liberties protections into H.R. 658. Instead, Congress fast-tracked the bill, ordering the FAA to unleash drones without even requesting a study or holding a hearing on the civil liberties implications of domestic drone deployment. Perhaps indignant hearings are inevitable, however, once hours of embarrassing drone footage hits YouTube. Ideally, privacy rules for civilian and government use of drones would be an explicit part of the baseline privacy legislation, though Congress should consider giving the FAA authority to build privacy into the drone licensure process.

As CDT argued in a previous blog post, the FAA should build transparency standards into its drone certification process. First, applicants for a license to use a drone should be required to submit a statement disclosing the surveillance capabilities of the drone and the intended use of information the drone might collect. Second, the FAA should make the drone license and accompanying privacy statement publicly available online. There should not be an exception for law enforcement, although there may be a national security exception. Transparency requirements alone will certainly not provide adequate civil liberties protections to the American people, but they would generally prevent the secret use of drones.

The transparency requirements CDT proposes are well within the FAA's mandate to ensure the airways are used safely. There are many realistic scenarios in which knowledge of drone ownership can affect public safety, such as if an individual seeks to learn whether her abusive ex-husband possesses a drone license, as well as numerous legal precedents alleging a risk of harm to the public in divulging travels patterns, political views, or sensitive affiliations-- all of which drone surveillance can reveal. The FAA already makes many aircraft licenses searchable online, enabling the public to search for license-holders by name, craft tail number, or craft make and model - it would be illogical not to establish a similar process for drone licenses. Unfortunately, the FAA has steadfastly refused to identify current drone license-holders.

The drone industry has a big image problem. A glance through the comments section of any online news article on drones reveals an outpouring of strong opinions that alternate between alarm, fatalism, and-- very often-- fantasies of shooting drones out of the sky as a means to protect privacy. To counter this widespread negative sentiment, the drone industry has announced a major public relations effort to make Americans more comfortable with drones. (I sincerely hope this PR push will include drones dropping ice cream sandwiches and confetti on you on your birthday.) To be sure, drones can do many positive things and can spark broad technological innovation. However, the industry's goodwill gesture will not mask continued use of unmanned aircraft to watch over political rallies, monitor traffic, or levy taxes. The industry needs to do something a lot more substantial than PR.

The drone industry has a strong interest in supporting-- at minimum-- transparency requirements for drone licenses. Secret use of drones magnifies the perception of privacy invasion, sensationalizes the industry, and provides cover for those who would use drones for unethical or harmful purposes. The transparency requirements CDT proposes would subject the industry to almost no extra burden while providing the public with an awareness that could foster greater comfort with the technology. The drone industry should think seriously about a set of best practices for drone operators that include not identifying individuals over space and time without permission. CDT made similar arguments with regard to facial recognition.

The FAA is widely expected to propose rules for domestic drones this coming spring, at which time the FAA will solicit public comments. All Americans can submit their concerns to the FAA and demand, at a minimum, that all drone licenses be made publicly available. There is a lot at stake here. The fact that Congress, the FAA, and the drone industry appear to be ignoring the issue portends a big mess on the horizon. But by the time they get around to establishing the needed civil liberties protections, the horizon may already be filled with softly whirring black dots.

The bill passed the House 248-169, 24 Blue Dogs and Business-Dems joining all but 12 Republicans to take another giant step into Big Brother Land-- courtesy of Buck McKeon. All the usual suspects-- corporate whores like Cantor, Ryan, Upton, et al-- joined McKeon to push this through. Interestingly enough so did several Tea party-supported Republicans who were elected by people who aren't interested in drones snooping into their lives. A good example of a well-compensated corporate whore who took lots of money from the drone industry lobbyists and then voted to sell out his constituents on their behalf was John Mica (R-FL). Florida progressive Democrat Nick Ruiz isn't sure which drone supporter he'll be facing in November, crony-capitalist John Mica or lunatic fringe teabagger Sandy Adams. The two of them are in a life-and-death cage match for who will face Nick in the general. Mica voted for the drones because he was paid to. Adams was too stupid to figure out that her Tea Party base would be unhappy with a piece of legislation that impinges so directly on individual liberties. (She's also a member of McKeon's hopelessly corrupt Drone Caucus.)

"All the way from the Left to the Right of the political spectrum-- voters, privacy advocates and everyone against unwarranted surveillance of citizens by corporations or government-- are stunned by Congress' decision to essentially underwrite drone flights over American skies. But that's what happens when you elect people like Sandy Adams (R-FL) and John Mica (R-FL), both of whom voted to OK the use of drones, domestically, this week. And that's one more reason, why I'm running against them in the new FL District 7.

Rather than obsessing over the greater good of defense contractors that want to sell America surveillance drones, let's focus instead on the greater good, livelihood and socioeconomic improvement of our people. We don't need more unwarranted surveillance and invasions of our privacy-- what Americans want and need are higher wages, more jobs, greener energy, a cleaner environment and a better education for our children. It's just that simple."

UPDATE: Is This What Tea Party Activists Want-- 30,000 Drones Spying On Us?

Led by Buck McKeon, conservatives voted overwhelmingly to approve 30,000 drones flying over the American skies. Is this what the foolish Tea Party activists gave us by giving the Republican Party the majority in Congress? Were they just kidding about personal privacy?

Do not feel bad for not knowing about this, because, similar to the anti-Constitutional NDAA legislation, they purposefully tried to hide this from the American public. The corporate controlled mainstream media was once again complicit and was an integral accessory in this crime against “We the People.” The corporate mainstream media failed us all miserably once again.

Sure, the corporate media did fail us. And these guys are paid by the same sociopaths who have bankrolled the careers of politicians like Buck McKeon, Sandy Adams, John Mica, Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Fred Upton and the rest of the gang that pushed this outrage through.

Going Beyond Various Levels Of Suckage

Nick Ruiz, may have run into some unexpected good luck, when Florida Republican legislators-- embarrassed by Congresswoman Sandy's Adam's mindless extremism-- just gerrymandered her district (and Ruiz's) in such a way that will make it more difficult for her to be elected. Ruiz was the very first candidate endorsed by Blue America this cycle. His platform alone tells much of the story. No one is ever going to accuse him of being a Blue Dog type or of being a corporate shill, like so many Democrats, or even a goes-along-to-get-along type candidate that the DCCC prefers. Ruiz is ten steps ahead of the rest of the pack-- on everything. When I told Bernie Sanders about him, I told him Ruiz had passed the Bernie Sanders test.

When other candidates are arguing about the pros and cons of Austerity, Ruiz is explaining why a hefty increase in the minimum wage and a lowering of the age of retirement are the best ways to fix the economy. He's not going to engage in a discussion of cutting back on Medicare. He favors universal health, single payer health care, in effect, Medicare for all Americans. And yesterday, as his prospects of victory were brightening he sent central Florida voters a message about real progressive governance most of them have never experienced in their lifetimes:

The American legacy should not be one of poverty and abandonment, and yet increasingly, that’s how it is.

The American perspective should not be dogmatized by the singularity of conservative governance, and yet increasingly, that’s what it is happening.

American social justice requires that those that can do more-- do more to help the entirety of the whole. The American story is characterized by the solidly middle class, New Deal legacy that we have reconstituted time after time when facing economic
challenges. But since 1970, the top earners have been taking an ever larger piece of the American pie, as their tax obligations have shrunken to crumbs. The result: social injustice and spreading poverty, as there is less and less capital to go around.

And yet, conservative politicians tell you the top earners need more money.

Why?

And why, amid a national unemployment epidemic, and spreading poverty, would the US lower the lowest federal tax rates for the wealthy in decades, to even lower levels? It’s already evident that lower tax rates and diminished government investment destroy the middle class. So why suggest more of it, as conservative politicians
do?

If we continue to reward conservative politicians with election, they will continue to mock the middle class with condescending rhetoric and policies that lessen equality and opportunity for all.

If we continue to reward a political party apparatus and conservaliberal PACS that do not support New Deal candidates that we know are most inspired and competent to fight for our interests, then they will continue to fund and promote second-rate candidates that will ultimately take orders from the status quo. It's unequivocal
that in the crucial battles to come-- they will flounder, cut and run.

We should be rushing into renewable energy, nor wallowing in dirty tar sands.

We should be rushing home from undeclared wars, not wallowing in deathly defense spending and destructive human chaos.

We should ensure a fair federal minimum wage, conditions of employment and affordable necessity commodities.

Poverty should be eradicated, like the scourge that it is.

It’s not just Republicans that we must hold accountable. Democrats, ourselves must be held accountable.

If you like the way America is today, then you know where to send your money. The status quo is always happy to give you more of the same, and lead America further down the rabbit hole of middle class destruction. They can’t help themselves.

If you are like me, then you will fight back for the New Deal legacy, and you will not take no for an answer.

Progressives aren't going to get far electing corporate hacks in blue t-shirts who are slightly less bad than the corporate hacks in red t-shirts. Steny Hoyer, the Blue Dogs and Debbie Wasserman Schultz may suck less than the Republicans-- or maybe not. On that level of suckage, it hardly matters. If we don't opt for real leadership and real vision... we won't get it. I'm not asking you to put your life on hold and run for office. But how about contribiting to Nick Ruiz's campaign, so he can?

What Districts Like NH-1 and FL-24 Have In Common-- Growing Disdain For Tea Party Extremism

Earlier today we touched on some of the issues around the race between progressive Carol Shea-Porter and teabagger Frank Guinta in New Hampshire's 1st CD, where Guinta managed to unseat her last year 121,655 to 95,503. Democrats were so angry and disappointed-- more at Obama and the conflicted, pointless national party than in Carol per se-- that Democratic and left-leaning independent turnout plummeted in the district. Two years early (presidential election, in which Obama took the 1st, a district Bush won both times, with 53%), 176,435 voters turned out for Carol (and 156,338 for the Republican, former Congressman Bradley). It makes more sense to compared 2010 to 2006, which was also a midterm. That year, when Carol first beat Bradley 100,899 voters cast their ballots for her (as opposed to 94,869 for the Republican). So if we just compare the 2 midterms, 2010 and 2006, the GOP performance was much better in 2010 (up over 26,000 votes and the Democratic performance... just like everywhere in the country-- in the toilet. Over 5,000 of her 2006 voters didn't show up. And over 80,000 people who voted for her in 2008, didn't come to the polls in 2010!

Although Guinta has consistently tried-- both as a candidate and a congressman-- to appeal to the state's teabaggers, he was too much of a political coward to actually join Michele Bachmann's official Tea Party Caucus in the House. Nevertheless, the new Pew polling fits the political profile of the district in a way that should worry the deranged Guinta. Voters are sick and tired of the Tea Party and their disastrous, obstructionist agenda.

Since the 2010 midterm elections, the Tea Party has not only lost support nationwide, but also in the congressional districts represented by members of the House Tea Party Caucus. And this year, the image of the Republican Party has declined even more sharply in these GOP-controlled districts than across the country at large.

In the latest Pew Research Center survey, conducted Nov. 9-14, more Americans say they disagree (27%) than agree (20%) with the Tea Party movement.  A year ago, in the wake of the sweeping GOP gains in the midterm elections, the balance of opinion was just the opposite: 27% agreed and 22% disagreed with the Tea Party. At both points, more than half offered no opinion.

Throughout the 2010 election cycle, agreement with the Tea Party far outweighed disagreement in the 60 House districts represented by members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. But as is the case nationwide, support has decreased significantly over the past year; now about as many people living in Tea Party districts disagree (23%) as agree (25%) with the Tea Party.

The Republican Party’s image also has declined substantially among people who live in Tea Party districts. Currently, 41% say they have a favorable opinion of the GOP, while 48% say they have an unfavorable view. As recently as March of this year, GOP favorability was 14 points higher (55%) in these districts, with just 39% offering an unfavorable opinion.

Among the public, 36% now say they have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, down from 42% in March... [T]he steep decline in GOP favorability in Tea Party districts means that these constituencies now view the Republican Party about as negatively as the Democratic Party. As recently as March, GOP favorability exceeded Democratic Party favorability by 15 points (55% vs. 40%). Today, both parties receive about the same rating from people in Tea Party districts (41% favorable for the GOP, 39% for the Democratic Party).

One far right extremist who wasn't afraid to come out of the closet and join Bachmann's lunatic fringe caucus is Florida teabagger Sandy Adams. But she has more to worry about than just the Pew results. The Republicans who drew up the new districts were unkind to her. Rumors are the Republican Establishment in Tallahassee wouldn't terribly mind seeing, Adams, one of Congress' most ineffectual members, defeated anyway. It probably doesn't matter that the new 24th CD is now also the home of Republican power John Mica; he'll stick with his much redder old district regardless of where he lives. But they actually made it easier for a Democrat to win back the district. McCain won the 24th with 51% of the vote in 2008. Had the new boundaries been in place then McCain would have only won 50% of the vote. In 2008, Democrat Suzanne Kosmas defeated Tom Feeney who seemed on the verge of indictment for his role in the Abramoff scandal. She beat him 211,284 (57%) to 151,863 (41%), a pretty resounding victory with wins in all 4 counties, Brevard (52-46%), Orange (59-40%), Seminole (54-44%) and Volusia (61-37%). After one miserable term of calling herself a Democrat while voting like a Republican and acting in the interests of the Wall Street banksters she was supposed to be watching over the Financial Services Committee she thought of as a piggy bank, she lost 146,129 (60%)-98,787 (40%). Adams killed her in all 4 counties-- Brevard (64-36%), Orange (57-43%), Seminole (62-38%), and Volusia (58-42%). Just pathetic

But this time it won't be a race between a radical right teabagger (Sandy Adams) and a corrupt conservative shill (Suzanne Kosmas). This time a real Democrat is running against Adams, Nick Ruiz. Kosmas spent her two years in Congress having breakfasts, lunches and dinners with the sleaziest Washington lobbyists in town; she didn't deserve a second term. Ruiz is about as far from her as he is from Adams. A month ago he sent voters throughout the district an e-mail that let them know he's not just another garden variety political hack. In fact, if you're idea of a good legislator is Bernie Sanders, Nick Ruiz is someone you're going to swoon over. This morning I asked him about his commitment to take on the onerous and costly task of running for this seat-- and running for it without any help whatsoever from the DCCC. Here's what he told me:

I'm truly looking forward to representing FL-24 because for so long, central FL has had no real chance of contributing progressive ideas to her benefit, nor the national agenda. Aside from Alan Grayson's too short tenure, most of the candidates and representatives of this region have been of horribly right-wing, and repressive origins.

But Florida is far more liberal than you could ever imagine-- we have half a million more registered Democrats than Republicans. We have a hugely diverse population that respects diversity and equality. We want better times for more people. We want better jobs and higher wages for everyone. We want a more robust social safety net. We want a future that is sustainable and leadership we can believe in.

My commitment to a representative Congress arises straight out of this mix of cultural freedom, respect for diversity and socioeconomic fairness. When FL-24 elects me, it will be because they know in their heart of hearts - that I will purvey policy that benefits the majority of people. Tea Party Republican Sandy Adams has no vision for central FL, nor America, other than more of the same unequal oppression of the people by predatory wealth and neoconservative dogma.

I need your help to make sure that we can contribute our ideas and leadership to the national agenda, so that Florida's future, and that of America is a future where we invest in our people and collaborate with the rest of the world in a way that is sustainable and beneficial to all.

If you can afford to, invest with your heart. You're not going to find a better candidate than Nick Ruiz... not anywhere. You can contribute here; he was the first candidate endorsed by Blue America for the 2012 cycle.

Ten Reasons Tea Party Caucus member Sandy Adams (R) Will Lose to Florida New Deal Democrat Nicholas Ruiz III (D) in 2012

-by Nick Ruiz

1. Adams elected John ‘Republican Obstructionist’ Boehnor (OH-8) as the Speaker of the House, by which Adams ushered in the most ineffective House and leadership Congress has ever seen in the history of the United States. The 112th Congress polls at 12%. The public despises this Tea Party Congress because they represent the warped interests of the 1% Committee-– and they will be replaced in 2012.

2. Adams voted to deny healthcare services to millions of people by virtue of voting to repeal the current federal governmental effort to provide more health care services to Americans by widening access to health care insurance. And yet, Adams has government health insurance sponsored by her spouse’s government job.

3. Adams represents the 1% Committee’s twisted idea that we should not invest in America’s maintenance and future. To that effect, Adams voted to rescind investment in United States government efforts by rolling back to budgets from nearly half a decade ago.

4. Adams voted to reauthorize provisions of the most notorious aspects of U.S. surveillance of U.S. citizens understood as the USA Patriot Act. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the founders roll over in their graves nightly at this continued foul overstepping of U.S. citizen liberty initiated under George W. Bush’s tenure as President.

5. Adams' hysterically reactionary abhorrence of the vital functions of the EPA flies in the face of America’s dying rivers, lakes and seas in need of environmental protection and conservation from industrial waste and pollutants.

6. Adams voted against the Emergency Mortgage Relief Program, which serves only to assist homeowners ensnared in the Wall St. foreclosure debacle. Adams position on the foreclosure crisis is an affront to the American people who need and demand economic relief.

7. Adams voted to defund National Public Radio, but likes giant tax breaks for corporations like Fox News (where she is a regular guest), and the 1% entourage like the Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch.

8. Apparently, Adams is against the National Weather Service –ostensibly, because private cable weather ‘TV can just do it.’ Someone should remind her we live in Florida, that the National Weather Service is a major contributor of weather news, and that millions of Americans do not subscribe to and in many cases, cannot afford cable/satellite TV or internet information.

9. Though we live in the age of peak oil and amid desperate public need for green energy development-- instead, Adams wants more offshore oil drilling, pipelines for dirty tar sand fuel. Astonishingly, Adams advises that the federal government should cut funding to NASA for global warming/climate research.

10. The Tea Party contingent that Adams represents is responsible for the intellectually-crushing move to cut funding to NASA and valuable exploratory projects like the James Webb Space telescope, which means our space partners in Europe will have to collaborate on mutual space projects with other countries like Russia instead. This amounts to Tea Party/neocon intellectual isolationism.

And for everything else:



UPDATE

Blue America is urging anyone who can afford it, to contribute to Nick's campaign. You can do it directly, right here, because if you're waiting for the DCCC... well, Nick is a progressive and the DCCC abhors progressives even more than they dislike Republicans (who they have much more in common with).

Is Grover Norquist What's Wrong With America?

Few people outside of central Florida's 24nd congressional district have ever heard of Congresswoman Sandy Adams, a doctrinaire right-wing fanatic and member of the House Tea Party caucus. She's in Washington to vote against everything... except for more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. No list of the worst Members of Congress would be complete without her-- and last week, her constituents let her know they've been watching her dismal performance. Blue America's first endorsement for the 2012 cycle went to Nick Ruiz, a former Green Party candidate who joined the Democratic Party and is now mounting a serious progressive campaign against Adams. He wasn't at Adams' acrimonious town hall meeting in Port Orange Thursday night but he told us that her ideological extremism has been bad for the district.

"Our congressional district, like most of America, is made of hard-working people that need government to work for them. Most citizens are not responding favorably to ideologues like Sandy Adams because the Republican plans Sandy presents don't help most people. However, her plans fit real well for the upper 1% of Americans she seems to know so well. Our district rejects such a narrow prescription for America-- and I am glad to bring that voice to Capitol Hill in 2012."

Adams is like a zombie who endlessly repeats right-wing talking points. Rather than participating in discussions of problem solving with her constituents, she parrots mindless focus-group tested Boehnerisms like "I don't believe we have a tax problem. We have a spending problem" and peppers her pronouncements with charged anti-government, class warfare phrases straight from Fox and Limbaugh like "failed stimulus," "job-killing taxes," and "government takeover of health care." And she's far from alone. Her town hall meeting in Port Orange could have been basically anywhere in the country where a teabagger was elected last year. This week, the Washington Post took a look at how Democrats are striking back against the zombie-ism that has infected the Republicans in Washington. The Post story featured another mindless teabagger, this one from Illinois, Randy Hultgren. He tried vomiting out the same catch phrases Adams had. His constituents weren't amused.

“We have clear information that... tax cuts, especially to the super rich, has not increased any more jobs,” one man told him. “I want to know under what conditions you would be willing to consider increasing taxes, especially on those who can afford it?"

“I just have one question for you tonight,” said another. “Did you sign Grover Norquist’s pledge to never raise taxes?”-- referring to the promise that has been signed by most congressional Republicans, including Hultgren.

“Don’t you have the confidence in your own ability in Congress to make up your own mind? You need Grover Norquist to tell you?” the man continued.

It is a scene that has been repeated at town hall meetings across the country this August as Democrats make a concerted effort to use this month’s congressional recess to change a national narrative on taxes.

For years, it has been Republicans who have wanted to talk about the issue, winning elections promising not to let government take more from voters.

But since the showdown over raising the debt ceiling, Democrats have been unusually eager to embrace tax increases, gambling that voters will see the Republican refusal to consider higher taxes for the wealthy as recalcitrant and out-of-touch.

Voters are starting to wake up to this everywhere in the country. A random letter to the editor yesterday in Spokane's Spokesman-Review:

Cathy McMorris Rodgers has proved that she is nothing more than a puppet dancing on strings. Those strings are being pulled by the leadership of the tea party. They include people like David and Charles Koch, oil billionaires who fund many of the radical right wing’s unscrupulous activities that allow them to accumulate more wealth.

They also include Grover Norquist, who through his signed pledges forces politicians into a corner and makes it impossible for them to vote in the best interest of the country as a whole or think on their own. (Norquist was also tied to the Jack Abramoff money laundering  scandal.)

Tim Phillips is also a tea party leader who years ago was paid $380,000 to “mobilize religious leaders and pro-family groups” to push energy deregulation in Congress that soon led to an energy crisis and economic meltdown. Sound familiar? Are these wealthy individuals the people you want your representative answering to? Do they identify with the majority of people in our district?

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, start doing the job you were elected to do. Represent the people of your district and not the wealthy elite.

John C. Eagle

Last week Warren Buffett's NY Times Op-Ed, Stop Coddling The Super-Rich served as a wake-up call to many who accepted the right-wing ideology being spouted by tools like Adams in Florida, Hultgren in Illinois and McMorris Rodgers in Washington. It sets up a debate between those who embrace Grover Norquist's goal of shrinking the government (and drowning it in a bathtub) and those who feel there is a robust and crucial role for government to play in balancing the immense power of wealth against the greater good of society.

Less than half a dozen Republicans in Congress have refused to sign Norquist's anti-government pledge. Norquist is basically a sleazy lobbyist, a crony of Jack Abramoff's who managed to get away without a prison sentence. He takes around a quarter million dollars a year from the Republican Party front group, Americans for Tax Reform, and also works as a free-lance lobbyist, pushing every sort of crooked operation near and dear to right-wing extremists' hearts, from stealing from American Indians to overthrowing foreign governments that put their people's interests before corporate interests. A notorious closet case-- and member of the board of the self-loathing anti-gay gay group, GOProud-- Norquist is one of the primary behind the scene's string pullers who has turned the Republican Party into a dysfunctional, treasonous mess that is threatening the social cohesion of the United States while worthless predators, like Norquist and his followers, enrich themselves.

Do Central Florida Voters Know What Sandy Adams Gave Them When She Rubber Stamped Paul Ryan's Budget?

The congressional election in central Florida's 24th congressional district could be one of the most interesting to watch in the country. So far the race pits a right-wing zombie and notorious healthcare hypocrite, freshman teabagger Sandy Adams, against one of the Democrats' most cutting edge progressives, publisher and educator Nick Ruiz. The district will be subject to considerable redrawing and is likely to shed many of its Orlando suburban areas in Orange and Seminole counties-- including the Adams family home-- and consolidate in Brevard and Volusia counties along the Atlantic coast. The district was originally drawn by state legislator Tom Feeney for his own congressional race, which he won.

In 2008 Feeney's sleaze finally caught up with him and washed out his political career. Unfortunately worthless quasi-Democrat Suzanne Kosmas grabbed the seat, winning all 4 counties. She proceeded to vote with the Republicans on key issues-- like healthcare-- and distinguished herself in the Financial Services Committee with her lack of participation, spending committee meetings out on the town with lobbyists. And she did outraise her opponent 3-1. But it didn't help. This time she lost all 4 counties, Democrats and left-leaning independents simply staying away from the polls in droves, unable to distinguish between two anti-family conservatives, Republican Sandy Adams and Democrat Suzanne Kosmas. Steve Israel would like to see Kosmas run again. I'm sure Sandy Adams would as well. But she's been on a serious bender since her defeat and isn't likely to run again. Nick Ruiz is the first candidate for Congress Blue America endorsed this cycle.

Nick has been successfully presenting Florida voters a tapestry of Republican ideas-- a tapestry another Nick, this one in the NY Times Saturday, showed to point to the U.S. turning into Pakistan. And key to Nick Ruiz' thesis is the Republican attitude-- and specifically Sandy Adams' attitude-- towards health care. Short version, they're against it for anyone who isn't wealthy. Adams voted to repeal healthcare reform and she voted to turn Medicare into an inadequate voucher program that would be a virtual death sentence for hundreds of thousands of Florida seniors. Nick has a very different way of looking at it, a perspective that presumes healthcare is a right of every American citizen, something antithetical to the Ayn Rand/Law of the Jungle approach of the GOP. Nick:

We must decide, once and for all, what sort of society defines America. We have already decided that law enforcement (i.e. the police department) is a guaranteed service for all, regardless of social or economic status. We have also decided that the fire department is a guaranteed service. Our society, rightfully so, honors both of these public features. They are freely available to all, regardless of the size of one's wallet.

Why should healthcare be any different?

Social justice in a lawful commonwealth of society demands that when a person is attacked or threatened by crime or fire, the public will come to his or her aid. And when a person is attacked or threatened by disease, should the public not do the same?

We already employ an integral non-profit, for profit and single payer scaffolding to provide healthcare services. There is no reason to believe that all of these systems may not continue to work side by side in a free society. However, it is difficult to imagine that we can continue to allow profiteering to masquerade as uncontrollable healthcare costs that must consume such a large piece of our national income. Costs will have to be controlled through regulation. What is most important now is to take that final step and declare universal access to comprehensive healthcare as a standard public service, in the same way that fire and police services are a social norm everywhere. When will America realize that it is her ethical, logical, common sense and spiritual duty to provide universal healthcare services to her people?

America must no longer accept the false narrative of scarcity and withholding when it comes to healthcare. Social justice demands that all of our people receive universal access to all of these vital basic services. It is no great nation that denies these basic human services to people. In fact, anything less is uncivilized.

Adams, like most of the zombie Republicans have tried to claim that they didn't vote to kill Medicare, just to fix it. This morning, Paul Krugman examined that lie in the NY Times and concludes that Republicans "don’t want to make Medicare sustainable, they want to destroy it under the guise of saving it... in voting for the House budget plan, Republicans voted to end Medicare."

Last week Democrats on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce put out a report that shows very specifically what the impact of Sandy Adam's vote to kill Medicare would be on the residents of Volusia, Orange, Brevard and Seminole counties that are part of FL-24. It's a chilling picture and it shows what happens when a mindless partisan like Adams just follows along with the herd. She believed Paul Ryan's and John Boehner's lies about how their budget would be "good" for Medicare. But the Ryan budget "raises costs for seniors and individuals with disabilities enrolled in Medicare, reduces their benefits, and puts private insurance companies in charge of the program. For current beneficiaries, important benefits – such as closing the hole in Medicare’s drug coverage – would be immediately eliminated. For individuals age 54 and under, Medicare’s guarantee of comprehensive coverage would be replaced with a “voucher” or “premium support” to buy private health insurance. By design, this federal contribution does not keep pace with medical costs, shifting thousands of dollars in costs onto the individual." This is what Sandy Adams decided to do to her own constituents. This is what she voted for on April 15th; her idea of what's "good" for Medicare would

• Increase prescription drug costs for 8,800 Medicare beneficiaries in the district who enter the Part D donut hole, forcing them to pay an extra $87 million for drugs over the next decade.

• Eliminate new preventive care benefits for 122,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the district.

The Republican proposal would have even greater impacts on individuals in the district age 54 and younger who are not currently enrolled in Medicare. It would:

• Deny 570,000 individuals age 54 and younger in the district access to Medicare’s guaranteed benefits.

• Increase the out-of-pocket costs of health coverage by over $6,000 per year in 2022 and by almost $12,000 per year in 2032 for the 127,000 individuals in the district who are between the ages of 44 and 54.

• Require the 127,000 individuals in the district between the ages of 44 and 54 to save an additional $29.7 billion for their retirement-- an average of $182,000 to $287,000 per individual – to pay for the increased cost of health coverage over their lifetimes. Younger residents of the district will have to save even higher amounts to cover their additional medical costs.

• Raise the Medicare eligibility age by at least one year to age 66 or more for 72,000 individuals in the district who are age 44 to 49 and by two years to age 67 for 438,000 individuals in the district who are age 43 or younger.

No one knows for sure what the new 24th CD will look like. Rumors are flying that Republican powers in Tallahassee want Adams out and that hey plan to create a district she won't rake in a GOP primary. Replacing her with another Republican rubber stamp isn't the answer though. Replacing her with a tough, savvy progressive, Nick Ruiz, is exactly the answer. If you can, please consider contributing to his campaign at the Blue America page. Below is the ad Blue America has been running in the district:

Are Democrats Still Concerned With Guns... At All-- Even In The Hands Of Terrorists?

Deranged right-wing gun shill and ex-rocker Ted Nugent was on CNN with Piers Morgan the other night to rant and rave about how much he hates President Obama:

"Anybody that wants to disarm me can drop dead. Anybody that wants to make me unarmed and helpless, people that want to literally create the proven places where more innocents are killed called gun-free zones, we're going to beat you. We're going to vote you out of office or suck on my machine gun."

When Morgan told him that 80 people across America die each day from a gunshot wound, Nugent obfuscated and started spouting hackneyed NRA talking points, "...78 of those 80 are let out of their cages by corrupt judges and prosecutors who know the recidivism is out of control, know that they'll commit the crimes again, and they let them walk through plea bargaining, early release, and programs. Kiss my ass. Where you have the most armed citizens in America, you have the lowest violent crime rate. Where you have the worst gun control, you have the highest crime rate... More guns equals less crime. Period."

A couple nights ago I went to hear Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, the thoughtful and independent-minded progressive running against rubber stamp Republican David Dreier in California's 26th CD in the L.A. suburbs just east of the city. When Anthony spoke passionately about the need for keeping guns out of the hands of criminals it occurred to me how few Democrats ever bring this up any longer. Yet his audience roared it's approval. The mindless hatred, fear-monger and commercial hucksterism of the Ted Nugents of this country has been going unanswered for too long. I was proud to hear Anthony pick up the challenge, regardless of the fact that gun advocate thugs have advocated the murder of him and his family. Another Democrat, on the other side of the side of the country, who's addressing sane gun policy as an issue in his campaign is Blue America-endorsed Nick Ruiz in central Florida. Last week Nick penned an editorial, Don't Need A Gun I want to share with you:

They always say that truth is stranger than fiction, and that is because fiction, largely, with a few relative and often literary exceptions, simply dramatizes the truth.

So when NRA darling, Republican Sandy Adams (FL-24) of Oviedo, Florida votes against a House Judiciary measure that would block those on the FBI’s watch list from buying guns, it should come as no surprise to Democrats. Such is the state of radical Republican disrepair. Are Republicans tough on terror? Yeah, sure, as long as it doesn’t interfere with selling guns, which is always-- so in other words, no, Republicans are not tough on terror or anything else-- except the poor and the unfortunate, who cannot adequately defend themselves.

It’s obvious to Democrats that federal law should be able to prevent a person from buying guns if that person is a terror suspect. It’s also a fact that the more guns a nation has, more murders and suicides as a result of gun sales will occur. The U.S. of course, is at the pinnacle of that list. In this regard, we outpace everyone.

On healthcare, we drag behind. On distribution of commodity necessities, we drag behind. On education, we drag behind. On jobs, we drag behind. On our social safety net, we drag behind.

But we sure know how to sell some guns.

According to the Orlando Sentinel-- “'Since 2004, over 1,300 persons on the terrorist watch list have been allowed to purchase firearms or explosives because federal law is so weak that being a known or suspected terrorist is not itself sufficient to prohibit someone from buying guns’ said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign, a gun control group, in a statement.”

Americans love our Second Amendment rights-- but this is ridiculous.

Sandy Adams of course, has nothing to say-- because she is wrong-- and voted against the gun control measure anyway. An America that allows gun sales to known or suspected terrorists to proceed unchecked by federal law, makes a mockery of justice and moral conscience.

America needs better gun policies-- put a progressive Democrat in Congress.

On his website, where Nick originally posted this, he illustrated it with a cool video clip of Billy Idol doing "Don't Need A Gun." Go take a listen here and please consider making a contribution to Nick's campaign, especially if you agree that law enforcement should keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. And, for your listening and viewing pleasure... here's a video of the Self Destruction Mix of Depeche Mode's "Barrel of A Gun."

So How's Florida Healthcare Hypocrite Sandy Adams Been Doing In Congress So Far?

Monkey in the middle... Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right

You're not likely to find a more persistent, outspoken voice for the conservative consensus than the Orlando Sentinel's in any newsroom in America. And in central Florida they are the echo chamber for the country's ruling elite. So, no matter what it might mean to you, their headline yesterday, Freshman Rep. Sandy Adams Is A Vocal Conservative In Congress, was anything but pejorative. They have their own Inside-the-Betway reporting, Mark Matthews, covering the local delegation, insurance that it will always be written with the appropriate Beltway spin rather than anything that could possibly be organic to the 24th congressional district.

Although Adams is, if anything, a fifth rate backbencher with zero influence, Matthews builds her up a little bit for the local rubes: "In just four months, rookie U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams of Orlando has made clear she intends to be more than a quiet foot soldier in the Republican revolution of last year. Since joining Congress, the former Orange County deputy sheriff and eight-year state legislator has grown into a full-throttle supporter of every major GOP initiative, even picketing outside the Democratic-controlled Senate when Congress was on the verge of a government shutdown."

True enough Adams has already cemented her reputation as a mindless rubber stamp zombie for the deranged right-wing, Koch-financed counter-revolution. Like Webster and Mica, the areas' 2 other Republican congressmembers, she's determined to overturn the New Deal and shred the social contract that has made America work for the past 75 years.

She has co-sponsored legislation to neuter the new health-care law, fought efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and joined the crusade to slash the federal budget, positions consistent with the tea-party backers who helped her win a landslide victory over U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, last year.

"It's a drop in the ocean the reductions that we've made in this year's budget," said Adams, who voted against the budget deal that would fund the government through the remainder of 2011-- while slashing an estimated $38 billion-- because the cuts weren't deep enough. Last week, she voted for the budget plan by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that, among other things, would slice future funding for Medicare and Medicaid.

Not a hint in Matthews' reportage of how Paul Krugman describes the extremist budget-- "a cause," according to it's author Paul Ryan-- a budget that will upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in central Florida, almost all of them for the worse, and which was voted for with gusto by Ms. Adams.

Consider the Ryan budget proposal, which all the Very Serious People assured us was courageous and important. That proposal begins by warning that “a major debt crisis is inevitable” unless we confront the deficit. It then calls, not for tax increases, but for tax cuts, with taxes on the wealthy falling to their lowest level since 1931.

And because of those large tax cuts, the only way the Ryan proposal can even claim to reduce the deficit is through savage cuts in spending, mainly falling on the poor and vulnerable. (A realistic assessment suggests that the proposal would actually increase the deficit.)

...Wait, there’s more. The core of the Ryan proposal is a plan to privatize and defund Medicare. Yet this would do nothing to reduce the deficit over the next 10 years, which is why all the near-term deficit reduction comes from brutal reductions in aid to the needy and unspecified cuts in discretionary spending. Tax increases, by contrast, can be fast-acting remedies for red ink.

And that’s why the only major budget proposal out there offering a plausible path to balancing the budget is the one that includes significant tax increases: the “People’s Budget” from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which — unlike the Ryan plan, which was just right-wing orthodoxy with an added dose of magical thinking — is genuinely courageous because it calls for shared sacrifice.

Adams voted against the People's Budget... instead she wants to do away entirely with progressive taxation, which taxes the wealthy at a higher rate than the middle class, and replace it with a national sales tax which puts the burden even more fully than it already is, on working people.

Matthews may have seen our Sandy Adams coverage, since he referred to "One left-leaning blogger" who "labeled Adams a 'healthcare hypocrite' for rejecting her congressional health plan, even though she is still covered by a government policy through her husband, John, an Orange County circuit judge." He didn't mention the radio ads we ran all over the sprawling district. Give it a listen:



It's part of the reason Blue America's first endorsed candidate of the 2012 cycle was her progressive Democratic opponent, Nicholas Ruiz. Matthews, true to Orlando Sentinel tradition, doesn't mention Ruiz in his puff piece on Adams, let alone ask him to rebut her nonsense. He writes that Adams defended the hypocritical healthcare "arrangement as 'just a personal decision' and said it's not hypocritical because she never intended it as a protest against the health-care plan that passed Congress last year." So we reached out to Nicholas for them and asked him how he feels about the congressmember representing his district. He interpreted Matthews' article far more positively than I did:

I'd say the Orlando Sentinel is spot-on. Adams' sponsorship of lame legislation and her voting record make it clear to Florida and America: she doesn't care about the environment, she does not want to invest in America, she doesn't believe in comprehensive universal healthcare as a basic human right. Sandy Adams is a real tea party dream.

Adams is an order taker for the radical right, along with Marco Rubio (R-FL), Daniel Webster (FL-8), Bill Posey (FL-15), Allen West (FL-20) and all the other 'all night' tea partiers. It's a way of life for them. Like Bernie Sanders, and others have pointed out-- for these kinds of representatives, it's the politics of Robin Hood in reverse: starve the poor to feed the rich."

Nicholas is running an entirely grassroots campaign. He isn't taking money from the kinds of special interest corporate PACs that have been financing Adams. If you can help out, every small donation helps him to get his message out. You can contribute here. Every contribution that comes in today with an additional .01 (one penny) gets an autographed CD by Middle States (Happy Fun Party) as a little happy fun thank you from DWT.