Friday News Roundup - Hour 1
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-09-16/friday-news-roundup-hour-1
A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories. President Obama traveled to battleground states this week to promote his new $450 billion jobs plan; eight GOP presidential candidates faced off in the Tea Party-CNN debate on Monday; and Republican Bob Turner scored an upset victory in New York in a special election to replace Congressman Anthony Weiner.
Guests
Jerry Seib
Washington bureau chief, The Wall Street Journal.
Lisa Lerer
politics reporter, Bloomberg News.
John Dickerson
chief political correspondent for Slate.com and CBS political analyst and contributor. Author of "On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star."
Friday News Roundup Video
The panelists discuss the controversy surrounding the GOP presidential candidates' debate over administering the HPV vaccine to young girls:
Comments
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The latest measure announced yesterday are only temporizing, kicking the can down the road. The Euro is predicated upon central control of monetary policy but individual member state control of fiscal policy. Also the currency union combined southern European soft currency nationas with northern European hard currenct states. So long as these structual issues remain iunaddressed and unresolved, there is no certainty that the default crisis has been averted, just temporarily derailed. Lack of intergration is a surefire road to disintegration of the EU.
pufeles - there are sites that have this information, not many and most require a paid subscription. The one that is free is Open Secrets. It's part of the Center for Responsive Politics. Most of the information you will find though is federally related. That's because every state has different lobbying rules (talk about a different EPA for every state or multiple versions within a state) and developing a database that can make sense of all the differences just isn't feasible at this point. Texas has one of the most lax (if not the most) set of laws in the nation. I think the reason we are yet to see a lot of reporting on Perry's contribution history is because of all these reasons...the reporters investigating have to dig thru a lot of lax filings and convoluted regulations. And the lax filings probably means we will never get a full picture of what's going on in Texas.
The federal lobbying rules are uniform but they largely lack enforcement power and are not tremendously onerous to the industry. For example, to be a registered lobbyist you have to spend 20% or more of your time actually lobbying. That allows a whole lot of people who are lobbying to not actually register. Many of the members of congress who leave end up doing exactly this; they "consult" with the big K Street lobbying firms. They claim that less than 20% of their time is spent lobbying so they don't have to register. That means no one knows who they're talking to or trying to influence.
And that's on the federal side. The states are all individual Wild Wests...
Then problem with allowing a default on the Greek debt is the secodnary market in derrivatives and credit default swaps in whiich major financial instiutions globally trade risk. It was the betting on mortgage securitites not the mortgages that led to the implosion of commercial credit three years agon which the Fed had to rescue. We are seeing a repeat of the same conduct with respect to European sovereign debt. Remember as Santayanna said: " Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Re:
sacchinft wrote:
ecgberht wrote:
"When times are good ...."
The only difference between the Democrats and Republicans is that when the Democrats are in power they are tax and spend and when the Republicans are in power they are cut taxes and spend. Only when they are out of power are the Republicans in favor of cutting regulations. You will be hard pressed to find any regulation reductions from 2001 through 2008, but we sure got a whole bunch of new ones with the Patriot Act.
Teece Bowman wrote:
"After listening to the Republican debate last night I would like to be among the first to suggest to the panel on Friday that Americans who either have no job or no insurance should simply volunteer to be euthanized.
They (the Republican/ Tea Party) have made their message quite simple, "sorry we cannot afford you....go away and die".
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Congratulations Teece! You have all the qualifications to be the NBC GOP Debate moderator. Is Brian Williams your alter ego?
Concerning republicans and cutting regulations... Apparently Virginia's abortion clinics will be more heavily regulated in the near future. They aren't for cutting all regulations, only the ones that hurt their interests.
To me, that is the heart of the Republican ethos...it's about me and mine. And the really confusing twist is that over the past 3 decades the party has been taken over by the evangelicals. But the overarching teaching of Christ was compassion. The only explanation is that the co-opting was done by the Pat Robertson's and Jerry Falwell's who were really more interested in filthy lucre than the fundamental teachings they were leaning on.
Caller refers to Rehm using the hackneyed phrase "National Treasure." Perhaps Rehm reminds him of the Everglades National Park?
accountant wrote:
"The only difference between the Democrats and Republicans is that when the Democrats are in power they are tax and spend and when the Republicans are in power they are cut taxes and spend. Only when they are out of power are the Republicans in favor of cutting regulations. You will be hard pressed to find any regulation reductions from 2001 through 2008, but we sure got a whole bunch of new ones with the Patriot Act."
That is a fair point. RINOs paid the price in 2006 and 2008. That's where the Tea Party comes in. It continues as a quiet revolution within the Republican party. That Old Guard, though they are fighting them tooth and nail, is being eased out by Constitutional Conservatives. Look for it to continue in 2012.
Kathleen said:
Also down the road from the former Delphi plant is Wright Patterson Airforce Base. Republican Governor Kasich voted down former Democratic Governor Stricklands acceptance of federal funds to build a high speed mass transit system in Ohio. Governor Kasich said no to those federal transportation funds.
Kathleen
And what happens if the public does not use this high speed mass transit system. Perhaps the public does not want to give up the car. Then what. Who is going to get shafted if this high speed mass transit system does not get the ridership to pay the bond holders?
"Steve on Plum Isle wrote:
I understood that the NY Congressional seat went to the Rs, in part, because the D candidate has supported same-sex marriage in the NY Assembly.
Why not report it to a wider/NPR audience?"
Steve:
I heard that the Republican won due to Obama's anti-Israel stance.
sacchinft wrote:
When times are good, Republicans want to cut regulations and lower taxes, when times are bad, Republicans want to cut regulations and lower taxes
sacchinft
Bush I inherited a recession when he took office in 2001. This was right after the Internet Bubble bust in 2000 and thousands of IT employees lost their jobs. Bush I campaigned in 2000 for tax cuts to help the economy get back on track. So in 2000 & 2001 the economy was not in good shape.
It seems everything from the Fed’s monetary policy to a National debt created over the last thirty years to the procurement process is a referendum on Barack Obama. The bankruptcy of Solyndra, and the frantic attempt to turn it into something political that sticks to Obama, is an excellent example of how failed economic policies and processes are transformed into partisan politics instead of being addressed for what they are: failed economic policies—and created under past administrations devoted to allowing private industry to call all the shots and even write legislation. One caller complained that the media would be all over it if Bush were in office, but wait a minute—Solyndra isn’t Halliburton. Obama wasn’t chairman and CEO of Solyndra before he took office, as Dick Cheney was of Halliburton; and the money wasn’t used in no-bid war profiteering contracts or allocated by the Dept. of Homeland Security to build internment camps in the wake of Katrina. Obama didn’t receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from Solandra during his tenure, as Dick Cheney did from Halliburton. Apples and oranges.
Agreed, these programs do need to be subject to oversight and thoroughly vetted before they begin, but this happens all the time, under any administration. Corporations are always getting favorable treatment, tax subsidies, and state and local governments to out-do each other to see who can lower labor and environmental standards the most to get the jobs in—usually finessed by way of veiled threat. The issue is crony capitalism. That’s what needs to change. I often hear the argument that government should manage its affairs like a business. How can it, when businesses are constantly running it into the ground for a profit? Government SHOULD run more like a business; in fact, it should get business right out of government and be in business for itself and the American people—without business interference, leading and competing with private industry.
Mr gbloper:
A few weeks ago you mentioned that you favored Public Industries and Public Investment. Would you be so kind as to show what entities should be Public Industries, how they would run, and what government department would be responsible for their oversight?
FYI: Hailliburton which had a subsidy, the former KB was one of the few companies that had the ability and experience to feed and house million of service man and service women. This experience that HAL developed was from housing and feeding oil field workers in foreign countries for decades. I do not see how a government entity created from the Gulf Wars would have been able and at what expense to feed our service men in the time needed. But then you probably have not even thought of that believing there should not of been a war in the first place.
As a reminder, Clinton used HAL services during his tenure. KB still feeding our troops today.
"gbloper wrote:
Agreed, these programs do need to be subject to oversight and thoroughly vetted before they begin, but this happens all the time, under any administration. Corporations are always getting favorable treatment, tax subsidies, and state and local governments to out-do each other to see who can lower labor and environmental standards the most to get the jobs in—usually finessed by way of veiled threat. The issue is crony capitalism"
Mr. gbloper:
What do you call politicians that promise that taxpayer funds will be used for certain programs but are diverted to other programs completely different from its original intent? For example, 26 Billion was set aside to hire new teachers in California under the 2009 Recovery Act. However the funds were diverted to the Teacher's pension which was in the red.
Another decision made by this administration without consent of Congress was the recent decision by Kathleen Sabilus, Secretary of Health to require insurance companies to cover the "morning after pill" at no charge to beneficiaries? Would you not describe this as crony federalism.
Private companies officials would be thrown in jail if they followed the practices of politicans and bureacratics.
The Democrat Party is nothing but simply a Communist party, hell bent on the destruction of America! It is a proven fact they they ARE in the for-front of illegal immigrants flooding into this country. Obama, their god, wishs,~~~ has approved hundreds of thousands of ILLEGAL immigrants to suck up our welfare, housing, and other resources. They have killed, this once great country! The bottom line, for all these bottom feeding Democrats is to have them {ILLEGALS} vote their satanic communist-socialist-agenda of anti-christain, pro-homosexual, pro-tax, destruction of america. I have to say, they have done a very good job!
gbloper wrote:
"Obama didn’t receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from Solandra during his tenure, as Dick Cheney did from Halliburton."
So the lie of the left with respect to Cheney and Halliburton resurfaces yet again. I thought this one had been put to bed. The decisions that were made with respect to Halliburton contracts COULD NOT have been influenced by payments to Cheney. He divested himself of all interest in the company EXCEPT some guaranteed payments (essentially "retirement" payments) that were FIXED and INSURED and, therefore, not influenced by the success of the company - even if it went belly-up. But that still wasn't enough for the left, so he finally gave the money to charity. But, apparently that's STILL not enough for gbloper! Too funny!
"and created under past administrations devoted to allowing private industry to call all the shots and even write legislation"
So let me get this straight. the .5B funnelled to Solyndra, which the BUSH ADMINISTRATION PUT ON HOLD and which was PUT ON THE FAST TRACK BY OBAMA is also Bush's fault?!
Don't you get it, gbloper. This is why independant thinkers are fleeing this administration and the Democrats in general. THEY ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to take responsibility for ANYTHING. EVERYTHING is somebody ELSE's fault! That's what a 3 year old does, not a President of the United States.
meanconser wrote:
"A few weeks ago you mentioned that you favored Public Industries and Public Investment. Would you be so kind as to show what entities should be Public Industries, how they would run, and what government department would be responsible for their oversight?"
mc, I think Maxine Waters already answered that with respect to the oil companies:
"Then, this 'liberal will be all about 'socialize' [sic]...er, ah ... basically, ... about the government taking over and running your companies!"