Issa: Poster Image Of The GOP!

The Daily Smallest image!

The quality of politician in the GOP has seriously gone way ‘south” (pun intended).  This man is Chairman of the Oversight Committee. He is a monument to what happens when people stay home during off year elections.  He joins the tea party infested House of Representatives in passing bills that work against the good of all who are middle class and people who languish in lower income brackets.  

NPR on Issa.

Right-Wing Group Sanctions A Cost Study, Employs An Avowed Racist, and "Fumbles The Ball Badly!"

Heritage Foundation’s, senior policy analyst Jason Richwine

(Small image: racist deserve no more image space than the 

smallest allowable via this blog platform)

“No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites, but the prediction that new Hispanic immigrants will have low-IQ children and grandchildren is difficult to argue against.”

Watch the first 1:20 minutes of this video.  I would love to have comment from those ‘so-called’ black conservatives about the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute’s Dr. Richwine.

What kind of organization would hire, provide resources and publish the guttural philosophies of a person like the racist Jason Richwine, PhD?

Jason Richwine, PhD, provides validity that alleged lower IQ in conservative America fuels racism.  Richwine is a pro-typical refutation of the premise albeit on a singular scale (Richwine) Vs. that of collective beliefs in racism as endemic of lower IQ. And, it must be shattering to have his newly anointed PhD tarnished via termination (resignation) so shortly after award of the Doctorate of Philosophy.

On May 6, the Heritage Foundation published a detail piece that included the following table.

 

Ah, nothing like data on which to set the stage for “Third Reich” like propaganda grounded in anti-Latino immigration dogma. Why go there? What is the point? How does such data and the surrounding article assist in matters related to immigration?  A series of rhetorical questions with obvious answers. Malign Latino immigrants well beyond what is necessary to make an anti-immigration point. 

The last point is personified when one considers the Heritage Foundation, its supporters and an empathetic soci/political base. The following background is critical to the foundation of the Jim Crow like characterizations. Take a quick peep that is relevant.

Hispanic immigrants will cost the US trillions!  The perfect conservative double-whammy! “Racial intolerance” and “costs” combine for an effective message to conservative America. A message second only to “food stamp president”, “BLAH People”, or “socialist president”. The Right is so simplistic in dog-whistles and its use of code to deliver images and marching orders.

Have you heard of the Heritage Foundation?   Apparently, the conservative ”think-tank” has deep enough pockets to attract Jim ” Tea Party” Demint (former Republican Senator South Carolina) out of the US Senate.  

Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage’s stated mission is to “formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense“.^[2] 

The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies drew significantly from Heritage’s policy study Mandate for Leadership.^[3] Heritage has since continued to have a significant influence in U.S. public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the United States.^[4] 

Koch Borthers Politics

Political organizations

Citizens for a Sound Economy was co-founded by David Koch in the 1980s.^[22] According to the Center for Public Integrity, the Koch Brothers donated a total amount of $7.9 million between 1986 and 1993.^[1] In 1990, the brothers created the spinoff group Citizens for the Environment.^[1] 

In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy was renamed FreedomWorks, while its affiliated Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation became Americans for Prosperity (AFP). Since then the Koch brothers have given more than one million dollars to AFP.^[1][22][23] At an AFP rally in 2009, David Koch said “Five years ago, my brother Charles and I provided the funds to start the Americans for Prosperity, and it’s beyond my wildest dreams how AFP has grown into this enormous organization.”^[23] AFP is the political arm of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, for which David Koch serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees.^[22][24] Americans for Prosperity created Patients United Now, which advocated against a single-payer health care system during the 2009-2010healthcare reform debate. Both FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have provided support for the Tea Party movement.^[25][26] 

Charles and David Koch also have been involved in, and have provided funding to, a number of other think tanks and advocacy organizations: They provided the initial funding for the Cato Institute,^[22] they are key donors to the Federalist Society,^[22] and they also support, or are members of, the Mercatus Center, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Institute for Justice, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, the Institute for Energy Research, the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the George C. Marshall Institute, the Reason Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute,^[27][28] American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),^[29] and the Fraser Institute.^[30][31] 

As of 2011, David Koch sits on the board of directors of the Cato institute,^[32] the Reason Foundation and the Aspen Institute.^[24

The Ronald Reagan reference above?  If you are one who continues to value the Reagan Administration as good for America, I suggest you not waste time reading farther. We have posited and written volumes about the fallacy of Reagan as a great, even as a good president. We will not revisit the issue. If you do not recognize the delusional sophisms Gingrich, Giuliani and all who speak about the virtues of "Reagan-like" conjure images of a 1980s Founding Father who left a legacy of great leadership and national success, accept my invitation to stop reading.  As matter of fact, if you do not know that Ronald Reagan followed Richard Nixon in employing the racist strategies of one Lee Atwater, the following will only anger you.

How can conservative organizations wallow in Jason Richwine's sleaze?  The strategy is long-standing, contributes to the current deep social divides in the nation, and provides a path for situations such as Richwine's forays into how far they can go with increasing manifestation of overt racism. We realize the GOP is a party of 92% white people, but we fail to understand the Heritage Foundation's sanctioned studies and publication of such racist doctrine.

We can think of one basic premise and motive for such overtly racist philanthropy.  D.W. Griffith's "The Birth Of  A Nation" is a perfect example of message propaganda for purposes of delivering paradigm excitement and commitment to Right-wing dogma.  We are linking the 1915 video here with a starting point at the 1:53.33 minute mark; well into the movie   If you desire to watch the spectacle, it is available in its entirety on YouTube. If you view the clip keep in mind then President Woodrow Wilson thought the work was a masterpiece and truly representative of America. Could Wilson have bee prophetic or clairvoyant?

An even more poignant example of propaganda for a purpose: The Eternal Jew (Introduction). Also, we our research indicates the genocide of 100 million "First Nation" Native North Americans was accompanied by unprecedented propaganda and racial demonizing. While, we do not suspect the Heritage Foundation, their paid racist and most in conservative America have desires as dire as the three preceding examples, we are leery of "things getting out of control."

Richwine resigned his position at the Heritage Foundation this afternoon.  An encouraging sign of of GOP "Rebranding."  I think not, someone in Richwine' someone in management team or an editor approved publication of the racist piece. Scapegoating Richwine s surely an end to avoid alientrioan of even more Latino voters in 2014. 

The Atlantic Wire took exception to Richwine's theories and published this piece. 

Slate Dot Com published what reads as an inside look at the social and inner workings of Richwine and cautions he received about proceeding down the dark path of overt racism. 

I asked this question as I started this piece.  

"What kind of organization would hire, provide resources and publish the guttural philosophies of a person like the racist Jason Richwine, PhD?"

Your answer.... Watch the FoxPEN (Fox Propaganda and Entertainment Network) ooze over the flawed report.

There are lessons here for all. Despite his termination (resignation) Richwine speaks for a vast number of people in America (and across the globe). The sentiment seems to exist in predominant numbers of people who claim the social far-right and many in conservative America. It is interesting we do not hear such overt racism against blacks in Sub-Saharan Africa when whites insert themselves geographically for endless purposes and activities. It seems many many whites in the western world relish the failed premise and doctrine of IQ.  It is a convenient tool of “white privilege” (for those who want said privilege) and is often trumped by EQ (Emotional Quotient) experience, knowledge, and interactive skills.

smude.edu.in

Dramatic Changes In Healthcare Go Unnoticed

Data is coming forth that sheds light on the sad state of healthcare in the United States.  Healthcare has been a forefront social issue for President Obama. The seriousness and critical nature of the problem goes back to Bill and Hillary Clinton in the mid-1990s. As a nation we have one political party and one social arena that has taken proactive measures to alleviate a scourge in our nation. 

Over the past week three important information blasts have hit internet news sources. One report has received moderate airing, but is being overwhelmed by other news stories. The kidnapping news form Cleveland, Ohio, Immigration deliberations, gun control and as of today the Jodie Arias verdict, have completely covered healthcare news.

I.  Medical facilities (hospitals) are charging  a wide range of prices for the same service.

Hospital cost data shows wide range in prices charged to consumers

Federal regulators released a huge swath of hospital pricing data Wednesday as part of what President Barack Obama’s administration said is an effort to foster more transparency in the often-opaque health care industry. Those figures show a wide disparity in the amount hospitals charge for taking care of patients with the same malady, including within the same city or region.  

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services highlighted the wide range nationally for joint replacement procedures, noting that an Oklahoma hospital had an average charge of $5,300 compared to a hospital in Monterey Park, Calif., that charged $223,000.  

The prices that hospitals report to the federal government aren’t what most consumers end up paying. The federal Medicare and Medicaid programs pay much less. Private insurers too negotiate lower prices for their customers. 

Read more (Including various data sources) 

II. Health Insurance in 2012 left out 55 million Americans.

Health Insurance Market Left Out 55 Million Americans In 2012, Survey Says

More than 40 percent of U.S. residents went without health insurance or had coverage that didn’t protect them against high medical costs last year, survey results released Friday reveal.Thirty percent of people in the U.S., or 55 million, were uninsured for at least part of the year prior to the survey, which was conducted from April to August 2012 for the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based research organization. Another 30 million people, or 16 percent of the population, were “underinsured,” meaning their health plans offered too little coverage and exposed them to high out-of-pocket costs, the survey found.

Read more 

III. Between 2009 and 2011 healthcare medical costs increases slowed.

Health-Care Cost Slowdown Seen Saving Up to $770 Billion

By Alex Wayne - May 6, 2013 11:01 PM CT

John Moore/Getty Images)

The changes include greater use of generic drugs, higher out-of-pocket costs and more efficient care, a trend encouraged by the 2010 health-care overhaul, said David Cutler, a Harvard University health economist.

People with health insurance saw increases in their medical costs slow from 2009 to 2011, signaling potential structural changes in the industry that could cut health-care inflation and save the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars, according to two studies.  

The changes include greater use of generic drugs, higher out-of-pocket costs and more efficient care, a trend encouraged by the 2010 health-care overhaul, said David Cutler, a Harvard University health economist. If they permanently slow growth, the U.S. may reap $770 billion in unexpected savings from projected expenditures by 2021, wiping out a fifth of the budget deficit, one of the studies found. 

The research, published yesterday in the journal Health Affairs, suggest that while the recession accounted for almost 40 percent of the decline, hitting those who can’t afford care, other factors also were at work. The analysis will be part of the debate between President Barack Obama and Republicans over how to control spending growth for Medicare and Medicaid.  

“Folks have gotten the message: The money flows are going to be different, and they’re very much responding to that,” said Cutler, who was a co-author of one of the reports.

Read more

Maybe, some time during President Obama’s second year of his second term healthcare data will become the issue for discussion. Meanwhile, the nation is immersed in social issues (critical as they are) and salacious ”news of the month” issues. Let’s hope the truly critical social issues of immigration and gay rights are enacted into law, and we can focus on an issue that impacts ever American: the changing dynamics in healthcare.

An ending digression and relevant warning. As long as the Right can prop-up and promulgate political leverage with issues such as Benghazi, the nation is robbed of true progress towards a better society.

Excuse the digression.

Frantz Lutz Speaks About Limbaugh And Is Secretly Recorded

livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com

Republican strategist and adviser Frank Lutz is the latest GOP talking head to be captured superstitious speaking frankly about conservative America. Lutz, while speaking to a group of students at the University of Pennsylvania clearly stated that Rush Limbaugh was a polarizing force in conservative America. Lutz spoke in the context of laying the nation’s polarization to the EB Network demagogue.  He spoke frankly enough the word “problematic” in relation to Limbaugh was captured on a student’s IPhone. 

Lutz is a well-documented and effective “word coach” for the GOP. He is often the basis for GOP mantra and verbal strategy; and, he has been effective.  Mother Jones parenthetically uses an example from the brain and mouth of Lutz that was clearly adopted by all GOP politicians, pundits and surrogates.   Lutz advised as follows, during deliberations and resistance to President Obama’s healthcare reform initiative. 

Mother Jones

“(In 2009, Luntz urged GOPers to decry President Barack Obama’s health care reform proposal as a “government takeover” in order to defeat it.)”

How many times did you hear the mantra?  Yes, the GOP is not noted for its originality and maverick approaches to political. If you hear catchy phrases from the GOP chances are the phrases emanated from the mind of Frank Lutz.

While speaking about the prospect of loosing the House of Representative in the 2014 off year elections, Lutz was prodded into speaking in a manner very off-limits to anyone int he GOP.  He spoke about the extent to which Limbaugh  the GOP ideology leader, has affected US politics and to a greater extent promulgated a deleterious and polarizing aura among Americans.

Mother Jones posted video (that is really audio only and very low sound volume at that) http://youtu.be/ujGRUtsu-kw

Excerpt

At one point, Luntz was asked about political polarization. He replied that he had something important to say on this matter but was apprehensive about speaking openly; doing so, he explained, could land him in trouble. Members of the audience groaned; some called out for Luntz to continue off the record. Luntz asked if anyone was recording the event, and Eric Kaplan, a reporter from the college paper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, indicated that he was. Luntz requested that he turn off his recording device. Kaplan did so and agreed that this part of Luntz’s talk would remain off the record. But one of the students present, Aakash Abbi, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics, and economics, started to record Luntz on his iPhone (without letting Luntz know), and Abbi has provided that recording to Mother Jones. 

Believing he was speaking privately to the dozens of students present, Luntz proceeded to gripe about conservative talk radio and its impact on political polarization: 

And they get great ratings, and they drive the message, and it’s really problematic. And this is not on the Democratic side. It’s only on the Republican side…[inaudible]. [Democrats have] got every othersource of news on their side. And so that is a lot of what’s driving it. If you take—Marco Rubio’s getting his ass kicked. Who’s my Rubio fan here? We talked about it. He’s getting destroyed! By Mark Levin, by Rush Limbaugh, and a few others. He’s trying to find a legitimate, long-term effective solution to immigration that isn’t the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him. That’s what’s causing this thing underneath. And too many politicians in Washington are playing coy.

Why did Abbi decided to IPhone Lutz after the consultant asked for “no recording?”  The student basically did what many should consider when a person asks to speak without being recorded if the request is outside of issues related to (intellectual) property rights.  He recorded the comments.

I am reading comments that indicate some feel recording when asked not to record was “sleazy”, “dicky (whatever that is)”, and immoral. I ask, :…wait a minute, the guy is a paid consultant and has agreed to speak to a group in which I am a participant.” What could he have to say that he wants to hide from the public domain?  Why does he want to speak without being on recorded? Is he going to tell a bunch of lies or is he going to speak frankly while hiding the truth behind anonymity.  There is something clean and wholesome about honesty.  If you ask me to turn-off recording devices and you are not seeking protecting from infringements of intellectual property, my mind goes to ‘truth or untruth.’

Limbaugh?  As I complete this screed, Limbaugh is not worth additional words. Lutz spoke the truth. He will undoubtedly catch real hell for speaking truthfully, but he should feel cleansed via his honesty. He should also know that many in the GOP agree with his surreptitiously recorded comment  but they will not speak openly.  

The salient point is, why is Lutz willing to share the truth with anyone in a public setting (even with a request for no recording). He shows he is made of ‘umph’ not common to politicians in the GOP.

Quick Hit: Climate Deniers!

…almost as bad as Birthers.

Who elects these people?



If we one day wake-up and climate killings politicians have benefited personally while our environmental world died, you an I will suffer the ultimate death.

The GOP Lobotomizes and "Don’t Call Me A Republican!

‘Don’t call me a Republican’

libachrysalis.wordpress.com

Republicans are more and more appearing a party of people who are money-grabbers, a party that feeds off the fears of millions, a party with a dedicated propaganda machine (media: electronically and print) and a party that seems to believe African-Americans are intellectually,  politically and socially stupid.

I would not go so far as to posit the party believes African-Americans in aggregate are cognitively deficient.  As I often see and hear evidence of systemic beliefs in intellectual superiority of whites over blacks, in fairness I dare not lay that one the GOP (in aggregate). Factually, there are liberals who feel same; you and I both know such. The GOP however, shows signs of a major lack  of mental wherewithal with their post-2012 election efforts to “Lobotomize” the party.  Maybe, I used the wrong word. The word they are using is “autopsy”. They literally use a word that denotes after death.  The GOP is on a collision course with death, but TAPS is not yet in order.

After a few weeks of speaking in terms of “autopsy” to denote a strategy to trick people into believing the party is a party that wants to affect change, more active GOP (ers) resorted to the same “ol’ stuff.    The strategy will not work for many reasons, in fact the claims of change induces laughter in this writer. A few reasons I feel the GOP stands out as obnoxious in underestimating the intellect of potential voters.

• What will stop poor choices of campaign staff such as Sununu who, we have to know, is the campaign staffer who told a Brit Obama was not of the “Anglo experience”?
• What will stop the party from nominating a candid who will with his staff paint his face tan to appear at the Univision annual event?
• How about a party with a top candidate who would bus-in supportive black people to an NAACP conference?
• Do you think the GOP will ever seek to improve the lives of its constituents  vs promulgating an environment conducive to big earnings for big business. 
• Does anyone really think the GOP will cease voter suppression?

   

While I am certain GOP efforts to “lobotomize”, correction “autopsy” or re-brand will fail, some efforts are seriously failing and comical.  One such strategy is Rand Paul’s miscalculation in visiting the historic and predominantly black Howard University. His visit could be considered by some as noble and in good faith. I strongly disagree. If he was seriously interested in bridging gaps, why take that tired old , “The GOP helped black peopel out of slvery” argument. And, if that one is not good enough for the perpetrator, they often resort to the old, “The GOP was for Civil Rights the DEMS fought Civil Rights in the South.”   Last one, “Martin Luther King was a Republican!”

These false mantra and sophism are nothing less than offensive to all black people and they are absolutely insulting to people who have probably studied US History, particularly African-American History. Rand Paul’s strategy is no surprise as he suffers from a life of indifference to diversity, probably from his upbringing   Today, I am stopping shy of my belief the man is (at minimum) a bigot who at times show signs of being a racist.  I am relegating Paul to the back burner today as there is another in the GOP who seriously underestimates the intellect of 12% 14% of the population. Correction, I could say 12 to 14% of the population minus the 4% African-Americans who seem to find affinity for the GOP. As I leave Paul, I should ask, why do the 4% feel so very many African-Americans have an aversion to the GOP? 

Do you think they subscribe to the old adage from Robert Owen, a social reformer who lived from 1771-1858, ‘All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer’?  Nonetheless they persist and they thrive. They also cannot be heard from or read as various conservatives and members of the GOP speak racist and disparaging remarks against people who share their ethnicity.  

But there is no strategy that compares to the most recent strategy from none other than Herman Cain. Cain declared this week, he no longer wish to be called a republican. Let’s run a quick journey through Herman Cain before I introduce his latest effort to perform false mantra and flawed strategy form the GOP.

• “If You Don’t Have A Job And You’re Not Rich, Blame Yourself”
• Herman Cain on Libya
• 51% Have A Serious Ignorance Problem
• Black Voters are Brainwashed

Cain’s D. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde strategy is exponentially more Insulting than Paul Rand’s Frankenstein Monster meandering around black groups with false mantra and specious words.  

A moment or two from CNN Political Ticker

Cain: ‘Don’t call me a Republican’

Posted by CNN Political Reporter Shannon Travis

Washington (CNN) – As the Republican Party struggles with ways to attract more African-Americans to its party, one of their own former, African-American presidential candidates could throw a wrench in their plan. 

Herman Cain insisted Monday he does not want to be called Republican for fear of being saddled with the “dumb things” Republicans have said in the past. Cain also said the black conservative movement is “different from the Republican brand.”

Read More

A few points.  

While I feel I know exactly where Cain is coming from or understand his perspective, he is showing supreme foolishness by ‘dissing’ the GOP. GOP  ”the land he loves” as a conservative there is no readily avialable political alternative.  Surely, Cain recognizes his party is 92% white. How can he expect to accomplished anything (politically)  with the denizens of the party who comprise less than 7% of the membership (Latino and Asians probably comprise the majority of the remaining 8%). Actually many black republicans probably find Cain a buffoon as do I. 

Cain mentions avoidance of saddling himself with the “dumb things;’ republicans do.  I find only John Sunnunu and Newt Gingrich as stewards of the higher plain of GOP “Dumb things”. Will the highlight and bulleted items above evaporate from the minds of the millions he disparaged with his previous remarks?  

Finally, Cain managed to schmooze (to keep it respectful)  to the top of one American corporation. Regardless of the horrors of Godfather Pizza, Cain was at one time CEO of the pizza chain.  In order to operate at the level of CEO, African-Americans must have at least of of three competences: a.) Schmooze ability, b.) extra-ordinary intellect and proven ability to transform intellect to actionable goal attainment,  c.) extreme luck coupled with fried sin high places.    The glass ceiling finds very few minorities an woman in CEO positions.  A clear example of the scant prospects of minorities and woman occupation of CEO positions, we can visit the Fortune 500. Yes, Godfather is far from a Fortune 500 corporation, but for sake of illustration the example stands).  

(2011 data) 

Q: I was looking for a list of “minority” CEOs. Who are the Black, Latino, Asian and women CEOs on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity?

A: There’s a dearth of Black, Latino, Asian and women CEOs running major companies—but the DiversityInc Top 50 companies have better stats:

• Eighteen percent of the DiversityInc Top 50 senior level are Black, Latino or Asian (up 33 percent from five years ago), which is 80 percent more than the Fortune 500.

• Twenty-four percent of the DiversityInc Top 50 senior level are women (up 9 percent from five years ago), which is 20 percent more than the Fortune 500.

There are six Black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, accounting for 1.2 percent of all Fortune 500 CEOs:  American Express and Merck & Co. are Nos. 14 and 16, respectively, in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity. CEOs in the DiversityInc Top 50 total 4 percent Black.

• Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck & Co.

• Roger W. Ferguson Jr., TIAA-CREF

• Kenneth I. Chenault, American Express

• Don Thompson, McDonald’s

• Ursula M. Burns, Xerox Corporation

• Clarence Otis Jr., Darden Restaurants, Inc.

There are seven Asian CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, accounting for 1.4 percent of all Fortune 500 CEOs. MasterCard is No. 15 in the DiversityInc Top 50. CEOs in the DiversityInc Top 50 are 4 percent Asian.

• Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo

• Richard Hamada, Avnet

• Laura J. Sen, BJ’s Wholesale Club

• Kevin M. Murai, Synnex

• Ravi Saligram, OfficeMax

• Ajay Banga, MasterCard Worldwide

• Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk

There are six Latino CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, accounting for 1.2 percent of all Fortune 500 CEOs; CEOs in the DiversityInc Top 50 are 4 percent Latino.

• Antonio Perez, Eastman Kodak Co.

• George Paz, Express Scripts

• Josue Robles, United Services Automobile Association (USAA)

• Paul Raines, GameStop

• Robert E. Sanchez, Ryder System 407

• Joseph Molina, Molina Healthcare

There are 21 women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, accounting for 4.2 percent of all Fortune 500 CEOs; IBM and Kraft Foods are DiversityInc Top 50 companies (Nos. 17 and 7, respectively). CEOs in the DiversityInc Top 50 total 6 percent women.

• Meg Whitman, HP

• Virginia Rometty, IBM

• Patricia A. Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland

• Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo

• Irene B. Rosenfeld, Kraft Foods

• Marillyn A. Hewson, Lockheed Martin

• Ellen J. Kullman, DuPont

• Phebe Novakovic, General Dynamics

• Carol Meyrowitz, TJX

• Ursula M. Burns, Xerox

• Sheri S. McCoy, Avon Products

• Deanna M. Mulligan, Guardian Life Insurance

• Debra L. Reed, Sempra Energy

• Denise M. Morrison, Campbell Soup

• Ilene S. Gordon, Corn Products International

• Heather Bresch, Mylan

• Kathleen M. Mazzarella, Graybar Electric

• Mary Agnes (Maggie) Wilderotter, Frontier Communications

• Gracia C. Martore, Gannett

• Marissa Mayer, Yahoo

• Beth E. Mooney, KeyCorp

You can  access all our lists, such as DiversityInc’s Top 10 Companies for Blacks, at www.DiversityInc.com/top50. 

The fortune 500 has serious minority and women deprivation at the top.  As I last looked 4 African-American Males occupied the ‘top seat (that figure may have moved to five).

We posted the information to make a simple point. Herman Cain while not the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation, was a CEO of a major US fast food chain (for a period of time). Those positions are not often filled by African-Americans. Despite the conservative mantra of “You get what you earn“,  African-America denizens in top corporate jobs is more the reality of open-minded Senior executives and boards of directors, or corporate cultures that practice real diversity.

The point I am drilling down to is, of the three competences listed above (a.) Schmooze ability, b.) extra-ordinary intellect and proven ability to transform intellect to actionable goal attainment,  c.) extreme luck coupled with friends in high places.) Cain is much more likely to have used his gift of gab, and penchant for buffoonery for advancement to the CEO positions.  There are simply some in the nation, who love a black man who pokes fun at himself, differentiates from the black masses, and who has less self-pride than even he realizes  Cain in a speech during the 2012 primary races. “I am a bother from another mother to the Koch Brothers.”  In one North Carolina school county the Kochs are reported to have sponsored activities that somehow led to re-segregating a school system.  

Why would a black politician speak so openly while schmoozing the uber wealthy Kochs in a back-drop of the North Carolina report?  Cain does not care what he has to say or do if it facilitates his ability to garner an audience, earn a buck, or step-up his opportunity to align with those of power. Ultimately, his proclamation of sibling-hood to the Kochs was about money for his campaign. 

All of those examples stated and points made, does Herman Cain actually believe that a simple declaration of his neo-non Republican status will convince a people to flock to American conservatism? 

Cain’s competency in schmoozability, his willing to deploy unadulterated buffoonery, and an aura that at times resemble minstrels of old, will not succeed in the lie he now adorns as Mr. Hyde.  Moreover, I strongly suspect Cain is following orders like a good minstrel in changing from Dr. Jekyll to facilitate the role of Judas Goat.

Herman Cain, “The Differentiator”

A Judas goat leading lambs

"War on Women": Gallery of Shame, 138 Busts of Republicans

commons.wikimedia.org

138 House members voted against comprehensive Violence Against Women Act………………

Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined.

Interesting,  italic font for Democrats….. no italic font among the “No” votes.

“War on Women!”.

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 55(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
      S 47      RECORDED VOTE      28-Feb-2013      11:56 AM
      QUESTION:  On Passage
      BILL TITLE: Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013

	AYES	NOES	PRES	NV
REPUBLICAN	87	138		6
DEMOCRATIC	199			1
INDEPENDENT
TOTALS	286	138		7

—- AYES    286 —

Alexander Amodei Andrews Bachus Barber Barletta Barr Barrow (GA) Bass Beatty Becerra Benishek Bera (CA) Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blumenauer Bonamici Boustany Brady (PA) Braley (IA) Brooks (IN) Brown (FL) Brownley (CA) Buchanan Bucshon Bustos Butterfield Calvert Camp Capito Capps Capuano Cárdenas Carney Carson (IN) Cartwright Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Chu Cicilline Clarke Clay Cleaver Clyburn Coffman Cohen Cole Collins (NY) Connolly Conyers Cook Cooper Costa Courtney Cramer Crenshaw Crowley Cuellar Cummings Daines Davis (CA) Davis, Danny Davis, Rodney DeFazio DeGette Delaney DeLauro DelBene Denham Dent Deutch Diaz-Balart Dingell Doggett Doyle Duckworth Duffy Edwards Ellison Engel Enyart Eshoo Esty Farenthold Farr Fattah Fitzpatrick Foster Frankel (FL) Frelinghuysen Fudge Gabbard Gallego Garamendi Garcia Gardner

Gerlach Gibbs Gibson Grayson Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Grimm Gutierrez Hahn Hanabusa Hanna Harper Hastings (FL) Heck (NV) Heck (WA) Herrera Beutler Higgins Himes Holt Honda Horsford Hoyer Huffman Hunter Israel Issa Jackson Lee Jeffries Jenkins Johnson (GA) Johnson, E. B. Joyce Kaptur Keating Kennedy Kildee Kilmer Kind King (NY) Kinzinger (IL) Kirkpatrick Kline Kuster Lance Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Latham Lee (CA) Levin Lewis Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Lofgren Lowenthal Lowey Lujan Grisham (NM) Luján, Ben Ray (NM) Lynch Maffei Maloney, Carolyn Maloney, Sean Markey Matheson Matsui McCarthy (CA) McCarthy (NY) McCollum McDermott McGovern McHenry McIntyre McKeon McKinley McMorris Rodgers McNerney Meehan Meeks Meng Messer Michaud Miller (MI) Miller, George Moore Moran Murphy (FL) Nadler Napolitano Neal Negrete McLeod Nolan Nugent Nunes O’Rourke

Owens Pallone Pascrell Pastor (AZ) Paulsen Payne Pearce Pelosi Perlmutter Peters (CA) Peters (MI) Peterson Pingree (ME) Pocan Poe (TX) Polis Price (NC) Quigley Rahall Rangel Reichert Renacci Richmond Rigell Rogers (MI) Rokita Ros-Lehtinen Roybal-Allard Royce Ruiz Runyan Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Ryan (WI) Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schiff Schneider Schock Schrader Schwartz Scott (VA) Scott, David Serrano Sewell (AL) Shea-Porter Sherman Shimkus Shuster Simpson Sinema Sires Slaughter Smith (WA) Speier Stivers Swalwell (CA) Takano Terry Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thompson (PA) Tiberi Tierney Tipton Titus Tonko Tsongas Turner Upton Valadao Van Hollen Vargas Veasey Vela Velázquez Visclosky Walden Walorski Walz Wasserman Schultz Waters Watt Waxman Webster (FL) Welch Wilson (FL) Yarmuth Yoder Young (FL) Young (IN)

—- NOES    138 —

Aderholt Amash Bachmann Barton Bentivolio Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Bonner Brady (TX) Bridenstine Brooks (AL) Broun (GA) Burgess Campbell Cantor Carter Cassidy Chabot Chaffetz Collins (GA) Conaway Cotton Crawford Culberson DeSantis DesJarlais Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Ellmers Fincher Fleischmann Fleming Flores Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Franks (AZ) Garrett Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Goodlatte Gosar Gowdy Graves (GA)

Graves (MO) Griffin (AR) Griffith (VA) Guthrie Hall Harris Hartzler Hastings (WA) Hensarling Holding Hudson Huelskamp Huizenga (MI) Hultgren Hurt Johnson (OH) Jones Jordan Kelly King (IA) Kingston Labrador LaMalfa Lamborn Lankford Latta Long Lucas Luetkemeyer Lummis Marchant Marino Massie McCaul McClintock Meadows Mica Miller (FL) Mullin Mulvaney Murphy (PA) Neugebauer Noem Nunnelee Olson Palazzo

Perry Petri Pittenger Pitts Pompeo Posey Price (GA) Radel Ribble Rice (SC) Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rohrabacher Rooney Roskam Ross Rothfus Salmon Scalise Schweikert Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Sessions Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Southerland Stewart Stockman Stutzman Thornberry Wagner Walberg Weber (TX) Wenstrup Westmoreland Whitfield Williams Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Womack Woodall Yoho

—- NOT VOTING    7 —

Coble Granger Hinojosa

Johnson, Sam Miller, Gary Reed

Young (AK)

Critcal Census Survey Languishes Under GOP Attacks

Some in America do not like “Facts”. Rhetoric and emotion are their drivers.

In May 2012, the Tea Party House of Representatives passed H.R. 5326.  The bill included an amendment Right-wing media and far Right Neo Cons (like Michelle Bachmann) have sought for years: the elimination of a critical Census Annual Survey. Their contemptuous rationale against the American Community Survey (ACS)?  ”It is intrusive.”  Allow me to repeat, “it is intrusive.”  A short description of the survey: gives communities the information they need to plan investments and services.

The House of Oz attacked last May.

H.R. 5326 includes an amendment that would prohibit the Department of Commerce from funding the American Community Survey (ACS), a yearly household survey conducted by the Census Bureau. ACS data is used by numerous organizations (including NPP) to track demographic indicators and plan policy and services. (See Infographics below).

“…to plan investments and plan services.”   

Two words that are instant ‘skin-crawlers’ for the GOP, especially the Tea Party House of Oz.

The Daily Kos May 15, 2102

In a CNN story on health care and poverty implications of killing the survey, Jonathan Gruber of MIT summed it up perfectly:

“If you’re opposed to the survey, you’re opposed to understanding what’s going on in America,” said MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, director of the Program on Health Care Research at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The first 2013 congressional escape (recess) left all federal legislative initiatives second the to golf carts and vacation homes.  The Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill (S. 2323) awaits congressional return and languishes like other critical legislation on the obstructionist mood of the GOP. It seems the 15 days the 113th congress worked since the end of the last session was a bit much. 

We can only hope sanity reigns and the Tea Party influence in the House is countered in the Senate.  The ACS feeds information to many government agencies, assists in funding critical human services programs and supports efforts to make life better for our returning veterans.   I may have answered any curiosity about why the Tea Party (and the House Republicans) would find the Survey reprehensible. It facilitates critical programs that the Tea Party alleges are unnecessary and wasteful. We know the GOP has longstanding aversion to programs that help to make life comfortable for millions (children, mothers, the unemployed, the disabled and the elderly). GOP disdain for our veterans was readily apparent as there was no mention of our troops, foreign wars, nor veterans at the 2012 RNC Conference and no mention in Mitt Romney’s primary victory acceptance  speech. 

There was a time when the GOP seemed to care more about the well-being of our troops and veterans. The really sad reality is, if Right-wing demagogues cared one iota about our troops and veterans, the GOP would follow in tight formation. Sound preposterous?

If you think the poli/social Right doesn’t listen to ultra-conservative media demagogues, think just a bit. Republicans follow the insane tomfoolery and cognitive manifestations of paranoia from the likes of Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly and Fox News et al, as surely as they ignore their own constituents.

Media Matters 2009 

Media conservatives target the 2010 census, encourage audience not to complete forms

The ACS has been a target of the Right since before the 2010 elections. It became an outright target of attack and elimination after the mid-term elections. Of special noted the Census, in general, is a target of the Right now that the House has been gerrymandered into districts that electorally benefit the Right. The 2010 gerrymandering facilitated GOP retaining the House when Democrats received 1.5 million more votes in 2012.

If you are only somewhat informed on the American Community Survey, take a quick look at the survey’s usefulness across the nation, and two infographics related to survey respondent data.

About the American Community Survey

What is the American Community Survey?

The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides data every year — giving communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year.To help communities, state governments, and federal programs, we ask about:

• age
• sex
• race
• family and relationships

• income and benefits
• health insurance
• education
• veteran status

• disabilities
• where you work and how you get there
• where you live and how much you pay for some essentials

All this detail is combined into statistics that are used to help decide everything from school lunch programs to new hospitals.

More after the break below

   

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

 

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

American Community Survey may cause serious spasmodic reflux for the GOP for another reason. The survey reports race, gender and ethnicity data. “Melting Pot” data may not set well in the digestive systems of a party comprised of 92% white people.

[Source: Speigel Online International]

Let’s hope the Democrats in the Senate, and the gullible Harry Reid can put an end to GOP attacks on the ACS.   The Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill may not present a quick shoot-from-the-hip filibuster from the Right. Unless, President Obama speaks out for passage of the bill.

Mr. President please do not even mention the ACS as a critical Census tool!

The "Prodigal" GOP

We trust the forefront gentleman is wearing bi-color faded jeans!

Whatever happened to the old and time proven American conservative party known as the GOP?   

If you think the first question makes no sense, contemplate this question.  When did the GOP move from alleged conservative principles to the out-right political and social horror of the GOP today?  Evidence of the deteriorated and dying party was evident in the lead-up to the Fall 2012 General Election.  Mitt Romney spoke in cloaked privacy to an uber wealthy audience.  Romney’s advisers traveled the globe (with the candidate) vestiges of American racism and bigotry in the wake of Romney’s overseas  visits.  The GOP supported a Vice Presidential candidate who appears to have “first thought” in the realm of a lie vs. meaning and truthful substantive statements. 

Prior to 2012 presidential campaign,  the nation made a grievous mistake in allowing a tea party laden party control the US House of Representatives.  We swallowed their political gamesmanship hook, line and sinker, and watched as Congress forced the nation to a reduced credit rating.  Of much more significance, the GOP literally adopted a refrain of “Shut er Down“, in reference to raising the US Debt Ceiling. As you know raising the debt ceiling relates to our ability to pay debts we have incurred, not future debt. Rather than respect past debt, we heard  “Shut er Down”.  After Standard and Poor’s lowered the US credit rating from “AAA” to “AA”, John Boehner coincidentally spoke of getting 98% of what he wanted from the 2011 negotiations with the Obama Administration.  ”Shut er down” would mean not paying our troops (worldwide), reductions in federal government staffing, immediate cessation of certain human services programs and no payments to our elderly and disabled, (Albeit it temporary), and other dire financial consequences.

Out of 2010 mid-term elections came another legislative setback: GOP Gerrymandering. Gerrymandering … privilege of the winning party and when executed in conjunction with recent census counts.   The republicans in the House wasted little time in gerrymandering districts in states that historically vote Democratic.  The dynamic has dire consequences. In the 2012 elections, the Democratic party actually garnered a reported 1.5 plus million votes over the Republicans in Congress and still lost elections due to redistricting.   

The “Prodigal Party” has taken on a new face and a set of faces that spell doom for both the GOP and our democratic process of government.  

President Paul? Really?

A quick example is the dual and disjointed GOP response to the President’s State of the Union Speech tonight.  Marco Rubio will deliver the alleged GOP response to the SOTU (even though Rubio claims to be a tea party senator).  Rand Paul will deliver the tea party response, as if most in the nation acre one iota about his drivel.  It seems Paul has delusions of grandeur. Does he forget he is a sitting senator due to the tide of  2010 tea party congressional wins?   Delusional?  First, he told Hillary Clinton during congressional hearings “If I were president…”   Paul also asked  (then) Secretary of State about US arms to rebels in Syria being transported through Turkey.  The question was insane (to keep my comment clean) and appears to have genesis in Right-wing talk radio, specifically Glenn Beck.  

The ultimate indication of a ‘lost’ GOP? 

Congressman Steve Stockman (R) TX.  invited Ted Nugent to attend tonight’s State of the Union Speech. We posted a piece yesterday about Stockman and his invitee.

Mediamatters.org has published a piece that provides additional reason why characters such as Nugent should be kept far from civilized America and particularly far from the nation’s capital.

The Prodigal party seems to dig deeper and deeper into the inane and nonsensical. When will the old GOP, “Come Home?”

Ed Schultz: Postal Service Dying, Boehner Lies and FOX NEWS Doocy Disgusts

Enjoy while the caffeine kicks-in!!!!

Ed Schultz, MSNBC to go along with your Sumatra,  Kopi Luwak Indonesian, Kenya AA, Tanzanian, French Roast, Kona Coast, ‘Black Ivory’ [ Thai Elephant Dong],  Jamaica Blue Mountain, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Costa Rican, Espresso,  Moyobama Peruvian Organic, Indonesian Blend, Coffee Latte, Kauai Blend (often bitter), Colombian Red Lips, or your Folgers 100% Colombian.

Coffees of the World

_____________________________

Ed Schultz explores the background of a dying Postal Service. Is it not enough that we are mailing few ‘slow mail’ times. Why do we have a political party that has declared war on one of the nations most reliable, dependable, and longstanding institution?  The Postal Service works!

The GOP is most assuredly trying to kill another Democratic voting bloc.

Th following video is 15 minutes plus in length, but I wager you will not find an idle moment.

The party that consistently speaks about “strict interpretation” of the US Constitution bails on the one service clearly delineated in the historic document. Do you vote Republican?  ____________________ 

Ed tackles GOP phoniness that is simply stupefying   The following segment leaves me with thoughts of , “how could anyone vote for these people?”

 

We are fortunate Mitt Romney’s 47% of people who feel entitled to food, housing and healthcare  exercise our right to vote. Boehner and his party agreed to a deal in 2011, and what do they do. They typically backtrack and bob and weave to avoid their own avoidance strategy.

____________________________

Finally Ed address yet another disgusting example of Fox News entertainment and propaganda. Is the network via its chief idiot Doocy, attempt to compete with Comedy Central or SNL? 

Steve Doocy, did not write the segment that he quickly attempted to weasel out of in a tweet.  The writers at Fox should avoid attempts at humor and satire. Unless, Fox is using interns to develop material for the obviously dim-witted Doocy.