Just a Quick Look Around Will Show Why Texas Is repeating It's Real Life Disaster Movie In the Face of Heavy Rains

The mind wanders to why Texas has repeated flooding problems and occasional massive flooding disasters.  After all, the storm moving through isn't Katrina and Texas isn't partially below sea level like areas of New Orleans.

I was wondering if anyone else noted that maybe this years tragedy didn't have to happen. Besides a damn breaking (yes, LA had a big dam break but that was the dark ages of 1963, surely dam construction has advanced quite a bit since..) drainage is certainly not what it should be.

But as reported by CityLab from The Atlantic a mainstream source, Texas won't spend the money to make their state safer.

Even after deadly floods in 1981.

Why doesn't Texas spend more to keep it's residents and citizens safe.

It basically collects taxes on the backs of the lowest earning workers. (Make no mistake that most non-citizen are contributing to the tax base.)  But higher earners are not carrying their fair share of taxation load.

This is freedom?  It's as if the pilgrims and pioneers took poor people from cities and hooked them unwillingly to pull their wagons.

It's a form of slavery in fact.

Now it's killing folks because poor people can never make up for what the wealthy who make money off the work of the less powerful, won't pay their fair share in taxes as long as they can buy off state legislators, and spam airwaves to maintain their lower tax privilege.

Next time your GOP neighbor talks about low taxes creating prosperity, ask him or her "for whom?" and "How can you enjoy any prosperity when your life is tossed upside down or even ended by poor infrastructure spending?"

Was The Pennsylvania Crash of #Amtrak188 Set Up? Projectiles Shot at It and Two Other Trains Using Tracks in Same Area Just Before Crash

It has been established that the front windshield of the train running the Amtrak 188 has the typical break pattern found when projected objects hit glass at great force.

But the news was released yesterday "two other trains were hit by projectiles along the same line" (1) in the minutes before the deadly derailment.

Someone was apparently deliberately hoping to disturb a train. 

Who would do such a thing.

Okay, I had my Ayn Rand period (lasted less than half a year) enticed by her strong female characters.

In Atlas Shrugged a major train tragedy caused (caution: snark ensuing) wonderful and dynamic female industrialist woman who at one time had been running the family railroad while pretending her brother was the miracle working boss to come down from a mountain hideaway where the "Atlasses" (really big rich and powerful industry runners had hidden to show the world we couldn't do without them) and reclaim her legacy.

So we do well to remember that railroad funding in the GOP controlled House was to be voted on the next day.  Was someone hoping that the GOP would wrench the railroads from the American people and hand it to the "makers" (or in reality the frakking oil extracting & money from the middle & working class mining great gods we have in their place today)?

I do not ask this question lightly.  I do it because the last thing the US media or investigators will do (Basil Fawlty is in my brain saying "Don't Mention the Guns!") is get to the bottom of the "projectiles" question.

Plus, there's the curious question of the right wing clown Chuck C Johnson getting a dump of info on what he claims is the Amtrak engineers' sexual inclination (complete with dick pics) and using it to say the man's lifestyle caused the the killer crash. No kidding.

Projectiles.  Now what throws a projectile with the speed and force that could at least leave a shatter pattern in a tough train window? Hmmm

Below is source for top link in this post.  It was inserted by the source.  I link to it above, but thought I should let this rest down here as well, though it has no right to interupt my words above in prime space.

(1) from: Read more: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/2-Trains-Hit-by-Projectiles-Minutes-Before-Amtrak-Derailment-SEPTA-303820821.html#ixzz3aK1XdZ76

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John Oliver: Last Week Tonight (March 7, 2015) on Racism Towards the People of US Territories

Yeah, it's a bit old, but important to remember. Basically I think current powerful parties fear what territory citizens might vote for. So the centuries old prejudicial game goes on.

Last Week Tonght (last week's) How Elected Judgeships May Skew Judicial Decisions: John Oliver's Hilarious Explanation

Bingo: We Can Stop Blaming California for the Anti-Vaxxer Movement in the Nation

Big Sur: California likes to export pictures of purple sage, green trees and sparkling blue water, not diseases and dangerous anti-vaccine philosophy. (Attribution at bottom)

After a month or more of us West Coast dwellers being punched around by the media over "California's elitist anti-vaxxer movement" screwing up the nation's "herd immunity", one Twitter poster (who does a lot of this kind of stuff on important subjects) published a list of where immunity in children was the lowest, and it wasn't California.  It was the Midwest and South.

I don't know about you, but most of what I hear about the MidWest and South about California is not a worshipful pledge to do everything California style.  Mostly it sounds like barely controlled cuss word replacements.  So telling people that all those anti-vaxxers in the MidWest and South are influenced by people they consider "hippies" doesn't fly.

I failed apparently to save the graphic on that, but found some info tonight from the CDC on vaccination levels in various states instead of lumping them into regions, but California isn't even mentioned.

Again the states mentioned as low vaccination spots are not places that people sit around and wonder how most to be "Californian".  They might throw you out of the house if you implied they did.

So this doesn't lump states into the regions of the chart I failed to save, but it's enlightening.

In 2013, wide geographic variation in vaccination coverage was observed among the states (Table 3). Coverage for ≥1 MMR dose ranged from 86.0% (Colorado, Ohio, and West Virginia) to 96.3% (New Hampshire). Coverage ranged from 74.3% (Arkansas) to 93.3% (Massachusetts) for ≥4 DTaP doses, from 44.8% (Vermont) to 88.0% (Kentucky) for HepB (birth dose), from 33.6% (Wyoming) to 72.1% (Connecticut) for ≥2 HepA doses, from 56.0% (Arkansas) to 84.4% (Rhode Island) for rotavirus, and from 57.1% (Arkansas) to 82.1% (Rhode Island) for the combined vaccine series.

Unknown to me is the demographics of the mentioned state. For instance I lower the measles immunization rate in California because I was born before they were given even at the age of 7, and like most in my day gained by future immunity the "natural way" because I had no choice.  I'd have taken the shots if I could. Compared to the disease, it's a holiday.


But the state most effectively keeping children from vaccinations is Poverty:

DTaP, PCV, and Hib coverage were 8 to 12 percentage points lower for children living below the poverty level compared with children living at or above the poverty level. Parents and caregivers of children living below poverty might face additional challenges in maintaining well-child visits and thus be more likely to fall behind on booster doses. Children living below poverty also had rotavirus coverage that was 13 percentage points lower than that of children living at or above the poverty level. The first dose of rotavirus vaccine should be given before age 14 weeks and 6 days, and the final dose should be given by 8 months (3). Children living below poverty might be more likely to miss these milestones and thus not able to start or complete the series. The Vaccines for Children program likely has been successful in reducing differences in vaccination coverage between children living at or above poverty level compared with those below the poverty level for these vaccines and in removing poverty differences for vaccines such as MMR and varicella (1). To further reduce disparities, clinician and system-based interventions should be targeted to communities with a high proportion of the population living below the poverty level. Interventions to improve parental knowledge about vaccines and to further facilitate access to vaccinations can also help to reduce disparities in coverage.

So, can we please give California a break, stop blaming it for lapses in vaccination, and GTF together to make sure that children have the transportation, and access to medical care including vaccinations they need and their parents even want, but can't find time or energy to get their children to the doctor after working 1-2 jobs and lacking help around the house.

And how about a nice pin saying "Because my parents love me they D'tapped me 2 (or 1 to 4 whatever) times!"

Hopefully someone can explain what that means before the cops show up at your door, but it might get some attention and let people know that vaccination is considered good, not evil by most families.

Picture at top clipped and used by permission CC by 2.0 thanks to flickr user Dawn Ellner aka flickr name *~Dawn~* who has no connection to this blog or blogger

Lower picture (stop sign) clipped and used via Creative Commons License Attribution CC by 2.0 thanks to Steve Johnson aka flickr name Steve A Johnson who has no connection to this blog or blogger.

Many flickr users have two names representing them on flickr.  I assume the reason is that they want to be known by their real name for future acknowledgement, fame, but flickr requires a unique name for search purposes.  I try to comply with using both names of those who have two such identifications.

Pre-term Birth Subtly Affects Memory Function. Why this is important in the Fight Against Racism

What if we held a cute pig race, but some of the racers had 10lb weights strapped to their hind legs. Would that be fair?

A recent study found that preterm births affect a person's memory functions.

“Our study provides evidence that prematurity can result in problems with a particular subprocess of recollection,” according to Kerstin H. Kipp, principal investigator of the research project when she was at the University of the Saarland (Kipp is now with the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart and the University of Ulm.)
“The specific modification in the memory network is so subtle that it could be overlooked because it doesn’t manifest itself in clear memory impairment. But memory deficits can appear in situations in which retrieving contextual information is essential,”

 So what does this mean when conservatives say that all children must be treated equally or we're biased against white people?

To keep this quick and simple, statistics show black children are more than 50%  likely to be born prematurely than whites and Asians and more likely than other ethnicities, though Native Americans are close. (Original source CDC)

Throwing all the kids in the pool to sink or swim is like organizing a deep end race between a shark baby, a whale baby, and a human baby.  It isn't fair.  Saying it's fair is a way to continue to encode racism.  Treating all children the same as conservatives want to pretend they do (though only small amounts of time are needed to discover natural advantages of more affluent communities) is a way to continue racism.

The study was on a form of memory that is not normally associated with "learning" in school. First of all was it the narrowness of subject (which scientists love to use to quell blow-back). Or will we learn later that it's at the core of learning instead of somewhere out in the wilderness? Scientists are always revising those kinds of findings.  Meanwhile there are children who need a good education.

And the info gleaned from the recent study and the CDC graphic show this starts at birth.

End of story, unless, of course, you are Bill O'Reilly or other right wing scammer promoting the continued ability of the richest to take from society at the expense of the poor (and paid to do so by the same wealthy folk).

In our real life we need to show the real statistics when confronted about treating all ethnicities alike "to be fair". Tell them that's incorrect until society fixes conditions that forces certain minorities, from birth, to fight against problems that harm their ability to learn.

Picture at top used via Creative Commons License (CC by 2.0) thanks to Flickr user krgjumper (only name identified by Flickr).

Did The Bush Administration Cause Widespread Distrust in Vaccines?

Americans used to feel they could trust their government to be working for them, not high end political donors. Where did that break down into a feeling that powerful people are only using Americans to enrich and further empower themselves and their big financial backers? Maybe somewhere in the harsh lands of Iraq and Afghanistan during a couple of wars in which our government abandoned our troops and our trust for war profiteering. (Attribution at bottom)


The reality of our recent past is that measles was declared eliminated in the US in the year 2000.

Of course,  more can come in from immigration and travel, but essentially the US had eliminated the threat.

So what happened?

Anti-vaccination has a history over 200 years long as a small interest and vague worry.  That may have been a good thing given the unsterile conditions of medicine of earlier centuries, but did the current US movement gain it's strength as people realized that their government could be producing huge lies that would harm even kill large number of citizens, to enrich and empower their friends and allies?

Until I can find the numbers by year of the anti-vaxxer movement, not just some outraged internet hack yelling at me, I believe that the Bush-Cheney (Cheney-Bush) administration did major damage to the faith that Americans have in people in important, informed, and powerful places to act in their best interests instead of the bank accounts of their own political and financial partners.

Neither the former president nor vice president seem to be harmed themselves from any of this.  Bush's brother is planning on carrying on the family tradition of inhabiting the White House, and Cheney's daughters look to be trying to get themselves into powerful positions, as well.

There is a song that we used to sing as kids (okay scouts) that ended with "We're all the broker's men".  Just place the Koch bros in the slot for "brokers" (and recognize that women are now considered part of the human race or "men" in most states) and you have the reality of most of the Republican party.

Whatever they say publicly, the Republicans greed for wealth and power may have literally killed kids, even without missiles, and guns by destroying the faith of Americans in their government to promote the common good.

I hope that people can regain their trust in government or at least their realization that they need the vaccinations for their children before great damage is done to more children.

And get those

Top picture of soldier used with permission via CC by 2.0 thanks to Flickr user DVIDSHUB who has no connection to this blog or blogger. Located here with further information including name of pictured soldier. Bottom picture used via CC by 2.0 thanks to Flickr user Blake Patterson (flickr name: blakespot) who is providing the arm and who has no connection to this blog or blogger see here.

Video: Anti-vaccine movement is giving diseases a 2nd life

Also see here for more information

The History of Subsidies Shows Why Joni Ernst is Wrong On Her Farm Belt "Self Reliance" Stance

Iowa cornfields in all their subsidized glory. Thanks to you, Taxpayer! (And thanks to flicker user Carl Wycoff for picture.  See permissions, full attribution, at bottom of page.)

I'm a little older than Senator Ernst though I dress younger, but that's not hard to do.

I remember the 70s though as a teen watching the horror stories coming out from the heartland on the news.  Various scams, crop failures, etc causing a mass exodus from agriculture, especially among minorities though I doubt MSM paid much attention to minorities losing their jobs, farms.  It sounded like another dust bowl, but one created by man, when loan officers either scammed farmers or were too inflexible in the face of crop failures, price drops, etc. 

Though subsidies had been given to farmers since the 30s according to The Library of Economics, substantial hikes in payments have have happened since the 90s (the time period I can find firm data on). I'm assuming that the 70s and early 80s in Iowa, the belle of the corn belt, were tough.

The point is that the reason that farm kids don't have to wear bread bags over their everyday shoes (probably sturdy, American made ones because of the time period of Ernst's youth) is because the government stepped in and boosted farm subsidies.

In fact, the the farm states are propped us by massive government handouts.

The New York Times posted a piece the other week about how much more affluent red states are than blue states.  It, of course, left out the fact that high per-capita government welfare in red states through the farm subsidies program is part of the reason.  So, in fact, blue states help prop up red states, and the calorie producing corn and wheat belts are the biggest winners though our modern populations need more fruits and vegetables.

I could only find a listing of farm subsidies since the 90s, but the growth has been substantial,  See chart on right from The history of American business

Calculator Soup says natural inflation from 1990- 2006 would make 9.7 billion equal to 15 billion. So the basic increased value of subsidies would have been 6.4 billion. If workers wages had fared so well we might not have half the problems that we do these days.

All thanks to government handouts to farmers those icons of self reliance.  We're reminded about that every Super Bowl it seems.

Back to you Senator.  Please make your information more complete,next time, and stop insinuating our kids should wear bread bags to school.

Further info on picture: Clipped and used via Creative Commons License CC by 2.0 thanks to flickr user Carl Wycoff (cwwycoff1 flickr id)

Former Right Wing Blogger, Now Working Fox, Admits She Was Doing it for Hidden Contributions

Lets say Blogger Heaven is somewhere out there in the sky.

We've all heard of blogger heaven, but few of us ever see it. Is that fair?

At least one blogger has acknowledged that blogging without extra C notes (beyond the small amounts creepy Internet ads bring) in are just not worth it.

I've heard about groups who fund bloggers and Internet news sites without ads showing up.  It seems a bit unfair that they get to pick and chose who gets money to survive and improve while the rest  of us bang away and hope someone reads.

I've been assured by other small time bloggers that Internet ads are not worth the effort  and Lauren Ashburn certainly seconds that opinion, but mostly secret elite groups certainly crammed with people who made big money in IT or news opinion and other businesses are handing the funding needed out left and right to favored people.

Until one of them falls through the "favored" cracks.  Of course, down here under the cracks one wonders how to get up there.

Having money invested would mean more time and resources to do a better job.

Luckily for her, Laura had a Fox News gig to fall back on.

But so much for the free speech on the Internet system the rest of us were counting on.

And we wonder why people are so extreme on the Web.

For big money, bloggers have to prove they can build the equivalent of a spaceship on the equivalent of a rowboat's cost.  Or make a big enough crazy enough splash (like Ed Snowden and co) to be lofted into blogger heaven immediately.

While I am dealing with my own problems with overwriting, I also have been working on finding new information, what others aren't already talking about.

Also I'm trying to figure out whether the good numbers Blogger reports are actually accurate.  (I never equaled them with any other blogging system, but are they true numbers or some vestige of how Blogger counts)?

And how and why are some bloggers lofted into money-pot heaven while the rest of us trudge through the mud.  Oh, and BTW is it ethical to write while having unacknowledged funders in the first place? (At least I don't have to worry about that one, since I have no funding).  At least with ads the source of funds and the reason they are offered are obvious.

But hidden donors?

That sounds creepy.

Picture at top is cut from a flickr CC x 2.0 offering by user VinothChandar (thanks so much) who has no connection with this blog or blogger). (I cut it  from a lovely composition showing Interlaken Valley, a place that this blogger though having traveled little since a child has actually been).

New Revelations Show that Citizens United Decision is Unenforceable and Should be Discarded

What's wrong with a little deception? She could be a beautiful young woman at the bar or somebody's grandpa.


More coordination between political candidates' campaign staff and groups that want you to believe they're covered by Citizens United (and therefore are not required to expose their donors) have appeared.

The whole premise of Citizens United was that there would be no coordination so donor exposure wasn't needed.

But both earlier and this week, coordination that is hidden in plain sight has been exposed creating a visible rift in compliance.

Earlier this year  it was revealed that campaigns were posting what is called b roll footage of candidates, mostly admiring scenes of the candidates with little to no words, on YouTube.  In many cases outside "non-coordinating" groups would then pick up the video and use it in part in supposedly uncoordinated ads.

Since the FEC has 6 members who split evenly on whether the practice represents coordination it hasn't been credited with a decision and the practice continues (though thinking of turtle faced Mitch McConnell trying to look smooth and intelligent under any lighting and from whatever angle is almost worth the outrage).

So there we have campaigns passing material to supposedly non coordinating groups and what do they get back?

According to CNN:

Republicans and outside groups used anonymous Twitter accounts to share internal polling data ahead of the midterm elections, CNN has learned, a practice that raises questions about whether they violated campaign finance laws that prohibit coordination.

The Twitter accounts were hidden in plain sight. The profiles were publicly available but meaningless without knowledge of how to find them and decode the information, according to a source with knowledge of the activities.

 And later:

At least two outside groups and a Republican campaign committee had access to the information posted to the accounts, according to the source. They include American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by Karl Rove; American Action Network, a nonprofit advocacy group, and the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is the campaign arm for the House GOP.

The accounts were deleted minutes after CNN started asking questions of RNCC staff. Luckily they saved evidence, and went bold. Read the report linked above under CNN for details.

This shows that the government cannot trust political groups to refuse a coordination with political parties or campaigns and that invalidates Citizen's United Raison d'etre.

Will anyone pay attention?

Image above clipped using Windows Snipping Tool and used via Creative Commons Attribution (CC by 2.0) thanks to Flickr user 2 Top

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Rocky Mountians being Under Threat From Climate Change. Why Would Coloradoans Vote for the Candidate Favored by the Koch Bros, the Rockies' Destroyers?

Photo: Colorful Dawn by John Fowler (snowpeak)


The good folks of the Rocky Mountains love their homes in the grand scenery of the state.  But evidence shows that Old Energy is destroying many of its wonderful aspects.

The Denver Post published are report the other day on the fact that Front Range Flows  in Colorado's Rockies did major damage to the area and caused deaths last year.  The huge rains of 2013 made changes usually only seen in East Coast locations that are hit with hurricanes which develop in the warm water of the Southern Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico according to the report.

Good camping locations Picture by Paul Threlkel (PT Photo)

Yes, this was unprecedented as were the  Colorado wildfires of recent years that were spurred by drought. But with climate change we're not assured that this was once in a lifetime disaster and it's not an act of God or chance.

Scientists warned us that such will happen, and now it's happening. They tell us it's because of climate change, and we aren't going to believe them?  They tell us old energy is the reason for climate change and we turn on Rush Limbaugh to tell us otherwise? That would be beyond foolish for people who love the Colorado mountains and forests and the property they own or rent to live there to do.

But if they aren't trying to deny reality why are the good folks of Colorado seemingly poised to elect a puppet of the Koch Brothers who are deeply dependent on pushing more old energy to maintain their income growth.

Slopes full of snow. Picture by Jodie Wilson (jumpyjodes)

The Koch brothers also help fund the push for laws that make self providers of energy pay up to 2/3rds an electric bill just to help energy companies move their energy around.

For example, I pay about $80/mo for electricity, but laws are being passed at the request of old
energy companies to force home installed Solar panel users to pay $50 a month because they pass electricity through utility companies lines.  That's almost 2/3rds of a standard electric bill in addition to the substantial cost a homeowner must pay to have an alternative energy system installed. That puts a damper on alternative energy the Rockies need to avoid the effects of Global Climate Change.

But Cory Gardner's 2nd and 3rd top donors are old energy  providers including Koch Industries.  He's one their candidates to stop the government from boosting alternative energy that could save the Rockies and the state from worse effects of Global Climate Change as time goes on.  See snip from Gardner's Open Secrets page below:

I find it hard to believe that Coloradans wouldn't rather have Mark Udall as their senator to help protect the mountains and forests of their home state than a puppet of Old Energy companies that are likely to keep on harming , possibly even destroying them.

Just in case someone thinks that Senator Udall is of the same cloth, here are his top contributors:

.



No old energy sources at all.






Colorado needs to stand up for the Rockies against old energy promoters if they want their state to remain beautiful and/or full of hiking, climbing, skiing, and other outdoor opportunities.

If Mark Udall returns to DC as their senator they'll know they have a advocate for saving the great land they love.

And hundreds of delights to be found by just exploring. Photo by Cindy (WxMom)

Pictures used via Creative Commons License Attribution (CC by 2.0) thanks to owners as listed by name and specific flickr name below each photo.  None of the photographers has any connection to this blog or blogger.

Here is a page that shows how much AFP (a Koch bros super Pac have spent against Senator Mark Udall.  Apparently they thought they could hide spending for GOP enablers by using big $$ in opposition ads against their opposition).

The Truth About the Muslim Prayer Rug Dropped by the Border.

Behold a "Flying Carpet"!  Yeah, right!

Republicans are saying that a Muslim prayer rug was dropped on the US side of the Mexican border and that proves that "Islamists" are infiltrating the United States.  That is as much fantasy as stories about a flying carpet ride and now we have proof.

Before the Bush Administration the way I, like you maybe, saw most people who seemed to be Middle Easter so possibly Muslim, was as excellent doctors, and dentists, mechanics, shop clerks etc. And actually I still do, but I worry about our nation.  Since then we have been told that they are all potential terrorists.  I suspect some kind of dominance through ignorance game is in effect. (Being female I understand how the right wing turns all a group's strengths into means to control and use them.)

The proof is is the pictures below.

A well known moderate blogger went into the wild of the right wing information machine and grabbed the picture of the Muslim prayer rug the GOP is offering as proof that "terrorists" are infiltrating across the Southern border in Texas.

Though the newsman or blogger asserted it was a football jersey, I wasn't convinced, myself a case could be made.  Looking at the picture I wondered if by football he meant a soccer player which would still not be unequivocal.  Maybe or maybe not dropped by an immigrant.  I usually watch what's happening with Saturday football via computer due to having 1 TV and connection and having a family who want to watch other things.

What I saw didn't look much like soccer jerseys I found online, but today I see definite proof that not only is the object not a prayer rug, but it's definitely an American college football jersey.  The stripes are the kind that many college players wear in their NCAA games.

No really here's the proof!  On the left at the bottom of this post is a picture of a college football player in his jersey and pads.

On the right is the "prayer rug" GOP activists claim was dropped by the Southern Texas border rumpled and folded.

That's where the bold stripes come in.  They look great on the sleeves stretched over shoulder pads.  Check out "Muslim pryers rugs in a image search online.  Most are dark or moderate patterns in typical Muslim art, .  They aren't striped.  Below is a selection of prayer rugs from an image search page online.  There are many more, but they all seem to be of the same type.  (At bottom is an example of a college athlete in his jersey  and the "prayer rug".)  I'm only showing you a small selection of rugs, but I've searched and looked at hundreds. The "prayer rug"  used by the right wing haters' blogs is nothing like those.

The dropping of a football jersey may be sacrilege to a state that loves it's sports, but it's not indicative of terrorism.

With the GOP looking for a 17 year Universal Draft Males and Females 18-34 when they get full control of the nation again, we need to resist the lies that will give them the power. 

Why You Need a "Democrat" Senator to Bring Aid to Your State in Next Few Years

An analyst writing in the Anchorage Daily News (article has disappeared from online) revealed that states who have a senator from the same party as as the national administration, always attract more aid from the federal government.

You may sneer at aid, but it is beneficial to your state and often vital in boosting the economy.

Now I know that many states, like Kansas and Tennessee, no matter who is president have had  big economic problems, many of which were exacerbated when manufacturing fled to China in the 80s (because the Reagan administration gave large incentives to industries that took jobs overseas). Even Mitch McConnell with his father-in-laws' huge Chinese shipping fleet wasn't in a position of real power when that deal went down.


But according to the analyst, states receive more assistance if at least one senator has that cozy relationship with the White House that is honed with members of the same party.

You may sneer at federal aid, in fact the uber wealthy Koch brothers do in public, but every industry they are in receives incentives and tax breaks from the feds, because it always helps whomever is on the receiving end. In fact the Koch brothers only deride it because they want to lower their tax burden, which is already lowered by breaks and other measures.

The rest of us need to play the game more wisely and attract jobs to our state, through road building and improvement, and other economy boosters.  I bet even Rick Perry wouldn't turn down aid to improve his state's roads, which apparently Texas needs.  They have a senate race this year, but it's not likely that they'll pick up a Democratic Senator, considering the history.

So if you have a chance to vote for a Democrat for senator or governor, you may want to think about it before knee jerking to the other party.

No US House member has the clout of a Senator. Governors can help influence, but aren't as close as the Senator residing for Congression sessions right there in DC.

Yours may be one of the states that is thinking of going pure Republican after years of a Senator with both seniority and the best party affiliation for the next two years.

The GOP plays with your mind if they suggest a pure GOP Senate slate is better for you.  Not for the next few years, it won't be.  You can always change later.

It's your decision.  If you like being a backwater state, by all means vote your gut.  Just maybe think twice before you complain about the conditions of your roads and highways, and your sagging economy.

Picture at top used via Creative Commons License Attribution CC by 2.0 thanks to  Jessica (righto____) at flicker.com who has no connection to this blog or blogger.

Hint: All GOP senate candidates I've reviewed have received massive Koch help via direct donations or 3rd party ads against their Democratic opponents.  I'm sure the rest will show the same aid from the environment and women harming Duo and their front groups.

As it Happened One Month Ago: GOP Cut Spending On Ebola Fight in Half, Then pretended it didn't happen

Ebola Treatment Unit, Liberia.

A very interesting thing happened about a month ago as Congress was asked to provide funding to fight Ebola, you know the biggest immediate threat to world health these days.

As usual the GOP took out the paring knife er ok the chopping ax, sliced off over half the funding the WH requested for fighting Ebola, now recognized as the biggest new threat to life and health in the world.  (Vaccination gaps and hunger being such old news anymore that no one pays attention.)

But wait, though Hill reporter's sources said that Republicans cut an $88 millions request down to $40 million on Tuesday September 9th, by Thursday September 11, GOP leaders were demanding a retraction saying they never attempted to reduce Ebola funding.

In case the Hill report is deleted or blocked to search engines to cover tracks here is it's entirety from http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/217115-gop-cuts-obamas-ebola-funding-request

House Republicans indicated Tuesday that they will provide less than half of the White House's funding request to fight Ebola in the next government spending bill.

According to a source familiar with the negotiations, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) agreed as of Tuesday morning to spend a total of $40 million to fight the epidemic in the 2015 spending bill.

This would include $25 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and $15 million for the Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to ramp up production of an experimental anti-Ebola drug, the source said.

The White House had asked for $88 million for Ebola in total, including $58 million for BARDA, which is involved in coordinating experimental treatments during public health emergencies.

A spokeswoman for the House Appropriations Committee would not confirm the numbers, saying the details of the bill are not yet finalized.

The funding fight comes amid desperate cries for help fighting Ebola from health workers in West Africa and institutions like the United Nations.

CDC Director Thomas Frieden says the epidemic is spiraling out of control and needs immediate attention from lawmakers and officials around the world.

The death count in West Africa exceeded 2,000 people this week.

The House is expected to vote on a stopgap government funding bill on Thursday. The measure would keep the government open through Dec. 11.
UPDATE: The continuing resolution released Tuesday night ultimately included the full $88 million requested by the White House.

A spokeswoman for the Appropriations Committee said Thursday that reports Rogers had initially limited the funding were inaccurate.
—This post was updated Thursday at 2:25 p.m.

Original at The Hill: GOP cuts funding request to fight Ebola

Picture at top used via Creative Commons License Attribution (CC by 2.0) thanks to Flickr user CDC Global who has no connection to this blog or blogger.


Maybe negotiations were made behind closed doors to take more out of food stamps for poor families (including many armed service members' and their loved ones) instead of the pathetic request for money for the fight against the biggest emergency disease threat to human life on the planet this year.

BTW, was it this GOP spokeswoman?