Thank you Ladyhawke
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The People’s View
- Follow me at my new venture: Reclaim the Fight Spandan Chakrabarti
- Ignore the bait: Why it’s the right strategy for Democrats to focus SCOTUS fight on health care Spandan Chakrabarti
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Smartypants
- Can Democrats Work With the "New Right" on Anti-Trust Issues?
- Alito's Embrace of Junk Science Will Make Several Forms of Contraception Illegal
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The Obama Diary 
that was bloody brilliant by L O’D 😮 😀
the GOP’s favorite anchor baby is working his magic.We really should really makes this viral for the sake of our country 😡
Resignation Raises New Questions On Jindal’s Health Care Privatization Push
Less than two months ago, Scott Kipper replaced Tommy Teague as the head of Louisiana’s Office of Group Benefits (OGB). Teague was apparently ousted for his refusal to go along with the Jindal administration’s plan to privatize the agency, which manages state workers’ health insurance. This week, the saga took another twist, with Kipper turning in his own resignation.
The administration has argued that the state shouldn’t be in the health insurance business, and has claimed that privatizing all or part of OGB would eliminate 149 jobs and generate recurring savings of $10.2 million, along with a significant upfront payment. But critics have questioned those figures, and the necessity of altering an agency that, by many accounts, provides good, reliable services and has accumulated a surplus of over $500 million. Some have even gone as far as suggesting that the move is an attempt to raid the surplus money.
Kipper’s resignation “follows a stormy confirmation hearing last week during which senators accused him of withholding information about the privatization effort,” according to the Associated Press.
The debate apparently centers on a report prepared by New Orleans company Chaffe & Associates, outlining the OGB privatization plan. According to WAFB, Kipper “reportedly didn’t want to refuse access” to the report, while Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater wants to keep it out of public view.
“Well okay, so here, first of all, the report has just been completed,” Rainwater told WAFB on Monday. “Secondly, what I’ve got to make sure is that the report itself does not cause us a problem as we go through a solicitation of offers.”
Tom Aswell, a former state employee and vocal critic of the privatization push, wrote on his blog on Monday that the administration has argued to him that the report is “exempt from the public records law.”
Another critic of the plan, state Sen. Butch Gautreaux (D), told WAFB the administration doesn’t want to make the report public “because it indicates that [privatizing OGB is] not a very smart thing to do.”
Kipper’s resignation will be effective June 24, the day after the regular legislative session ends. The move also apparently eliminates any need for a confirmation vote in the state Senate. Publicly, at least, the administration is not citing any rift with Kipper.
“He was not asked or encouraged to [resign] — in fact, he was encouraged to reconsider,” Michael DiResto, spokesman for the governor’s Division of Administration, told the AP in an e-mail. “Mr. Kipper has had a long and distinguished career in insurance, but he expressed his conclusion that he did not believe the appointment was a good fit for him, and so his resignation has been accepted.”
That’s different from what Rainwater said when Teague was fired in April.
“We just think it is extremely important to have a leader who will work with us,” Rainwater said at the time. A few days later, Teague testified at a state Senate committee hearing that there were “a million details that would have to be worked out in order for a sale to be favorable to the state.”
The administration has issued a second Request For Proposals (RFP) looking for a third party to facilitate any deal involving OGB. Goldman Sachs expressed interest after the state issued the first RFP in February, but negotiations later broke down.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/another_twist_in_jindals_state_health_care_privati.php
From Bloomberg……
PAWLENTY TAX PLAN PANNED BY SKEPTICS WHO QUESTION HIS REVENUE PROJECTIONS
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-07/pawlenty-to-criticize-obama-s-economic-record-in-chicago-speech.html
—————–Excerpt————————————-
DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had this to say:
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a U.S. House member from Florida, said in a statement after the speech that Pawlenty’s plan “would take the Republican policies of the last decade, which exploded our deficit and debt and nearly sank our economy into a second Great Depression, and inject them with steroids.”
I feel confident with DWS as head of the DNC. She is a fighter.
Isn’t she awesome. I just love Debbie. Here is her complete press release on the Tim Pawlenty economic speech.
http://www.democrats.org/news/blog/chair_debbie_wasserman_schultz_tim_pawlenty_wants_to_impose_misguided_and_w
Tim Pawlenty’s plan to extend and expand the Bush tax cuts, deeply slashing taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans and corporate America and sending our deficit soaring even higher, is not an economic plan—it’s a prescription for economic disaster that would fall squarely on the backs of seniors and working families. Mr. Pawlenty would take the Republican policies of the last decade, which exploded our deficit and debt and nearly sank our economy into a second Great Depression, and inject them with steroids.
Of course, perhaps no one should be surprised that Mr. Pawlenty, who left the state of Minnesota with a massive budget deficit, is now proposing to explode the deficit at the federal level. Tim Pawlenty left the people of Minnesota with a budget and economic nightmare. When Tim Pawlenty left the governor’s office, middle-class families and small-business owners were paying higher property tax bills, college students were paying more for tuition, and at the same time funding for special education and services to seniors had been slashed. Even after raising taxes on hardworking Minnesotans and slashing vital services, Mr. Pawlenty left the state saddled with an historic $6.2 billion projected deficit.
On budget and fiscal matters Tim Pawlenty failed the people of Minnesota, and now he wants to impose such misguided and wrongheaded policies on the rest of us. No thank you.
It appears to me that Tim Pawlenty, the majority GOP/TP House of Representatives, the GOP/TP Senators and the new crop of GOP/TP governors want to actually do, is to extend and expand the Bush tax cuts to zero for the wealthiest Americans and corporate America; while at the same time, ending all regulations for corporations. Let the poor, working class and middle class be responsible for the overall financial burden of the country, and let the corporations set conditions for the public, be they good or bad!
Me, too. She is very sharp and knows how to deliver a message.
Along with introducing his breathtakingly stupid and unrealistic economic plan, Tim Pawlenty has the nerve to trash talk about President Obama and his economic policies and accomplishments. I guess somebody told him it would make him look good if he talked tough on the campaign trail. After reading this compilation of wisecracks from Pawlenty, it just confirms for me he is not a statesman. He is an empty suit and in over his head. President Obama is the epitome of class. Tim Pawlenty, not so much.
PAWLENTY TALKS TOUGH ON OBAMA
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/pawlenty-talks-tough-on-obama/
frack Paw;enty 🙄
Somebody did tell Pawlenty to try and toughen up his image. Rachel had a segment on this last year, when he was inappropriately making nearly lewd comments about his “manly” private life with his wife. The whole thing is quite pathetic. Who in their right mind would vote for a confused puppet when we already have the genuine article in office?
Somebody did tell Pawlenty to try and toughen up his image. Rachel had a segment on this last year, when he was inappropriately making nearly lewd comments about his “manly” private life with his wife. The whole thing is quite pathetic. Who in their right mind would vote for a confused puppet when we already have the genuine article in office?
This one should be sculpted by OFA and others into a ~ 45 sec hit piece and played continuously from now until Election Day 2012.
Yes.We.Can. … DO.More.Together