GOP: Same Same
Posted by Michelle Moquin on February 12th, 2013
Good morning!
New GOP = Old GOP
Feb 5, 2013 | By ThinkProgress War Room
It’s The Policies, Stupid
In the wake of a blowout at the polls (save for in their gerrymandered U.S. House seats) last November, Republican leaders have engaged in much soul-searching about the failings of their party. They seem to have reached an interesting conclusion: their party’s deep unpopularity has absolutely nothing to do with their party’s deeply unpopular policies such as calling for more tax cuts for the wealthy and gutting popular programs like Medicare.
Republicans have instead decided that they just need better messaging about their policies. To that end, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R) gave just the latest in a series of speeches attempting to “rebrand” the GOP. ThinkProgress’ Igor Volsky and Pat Garafalo listened to today’s speech so you don’t have to. Unsurprisingly, they found that the new, “softer” GOP is more or less the same as the old GOP. Here’s eight reasons why:
1) SCHOOL FUNDING: “Imagine if we were to try and move in this direction with federal funding. Allow the money we currently spend to actually follow individual children. Students, including those without a lot of money or those with special needs, would be able to access the best available school, not just the failing school they are assigned to.” This is a redux of Mitt Romney’s school funding plan, which while a decent idea in theory, wouldn’t be possible alongside the House GOP budget’s call for $2.7 billion in cutsto spending for disadvantaged students. As The Nation’s Dana Goldstein explained, this plan calls for shuffling funding “without guaranteeing the federal funding or regulatory support necessary to ensure quality.”
2) HIGHER EDUCATION: “Over the course of this Congress, we will also work to reform our student aid process to give students a financial incentive to finish their studies sooner. We will encourage entrepreneurship in higher education, including for-profit schools.” The House Republican budget would eliminate Pell Grants for more than one million students. Many for-profit schools, meanwhile, take huge amounts of taxpayer money while leaving students burdened with debt and facing bleak job prospects. Their focus is corporate profitability, not education, and they useaggressive marketing tactics to target vulnerable students.
3) WORKING MOTHERS: “Federal laws dating back to the 1930s make it harder for parents who hold hourly jobs to balance the demands of work and home. An hourly employee cannot convert previous overtime into future comp-time or flex-time…Imagine if we simply chose to give all employees and employers this option. A working mom could work overtime this month and use it as time off next month without having to worry about whether she’ll be able to take home enough money to pay the rent.” Cantor’s proposal would do far less good than simply ensuring that all workers have access to paid sick leave and paid maternity leave. The U.S. is currently the only developed country with no paid sick leave policy and one of just threewithout required paid maternity leave.
4) TAX REFORM: “Loopholes and gimmicks benefitting those who’ve come to know how to work the system in Washington, are no more defensible than the path of wasteful and irresponsible spending we’ve been on for decades. Working families should come first. Everyone agrees a fairer, simpler tax code would give us all more time.” Republicans pay lots of lip service to tax reform, but want to raise no new revenues through the closing of loopholes and deductions, despite the fact that the deficit reduction implemented since 2011 has comeoverwhelmingly via spending cuts.
5) IMMIGRATION: “It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home…. I’m pleased that many of my colleagues in both chambers of Congress on both sides of the aisle have begun work in good faith to address these issues.” Republicans have embraced immigration reform after losing the Hispanic vote in the 2012 election. In 2010, Cantor and 160 other Republicans voted against the DREAM Act, a measure that “would offer a pathway to citizenship for undocumented young people who attend college or serve in the military.”
6) OBAMACARE: “The new medical device tax in ObamaCare makes it harder for researchers to develop these innovative devices in the U.S….ObamaCare has unnecessarily raised the costs of our health care. “ A tax on the medical devise industry — which will benefit from health care reform — will help fund coverage expansion, without undermining innovation. As the Center For Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) points out the tax “does not apply to eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, or any other medical device that the public generally buys at retail for individual use.” It would also have minimal impact on innovation since “tax rate is just one of the many factors affecting financial incentives.” The Affordable Care Act has had a very small effect on current premiums.
7) MEDICARE: “We should begin by ending the arbitrary division between Part A, the hospital program, and Part B, the doctor services. We can create reasonable and predictable levels of out-of-pocket expenses without forcing seniors to rely on Medigap plans…. “ President Obama has included many of these efficiency reforms in his budgets — but the GOP’s proposal move far beyond increasing program efficiency. Cantor and almost all Republicans support transforming Medicare into a voucher or premium-support program that will shift health costs to seniors without reducing overall health care spending.
8) MEDICAID: “We can provide states more flexibility with respect to Medicaid that will allow them to provide better care for low-income families in a way that ultimately lowers costs….And we must make it faster and simpler for states to gain approval of federal waivers to modify their Medicaid programs.” Democrats support increasing state flexibility in the Medicaid program, though Republicans — and Cantor himself — have voted to slash federal funding for Medicaid by 1/3 and shift some of the burden of Medicaid’s growing costs to the states. As a result, states could reduce enrollment by more than 14 million people, or almost 20 percent—even if they are were able to slow the growth in health care costs substantially.
BOTTOM LINE: The GOP’s problem isn’t bad branding, it’s bad policies. If Republicans really want to be more popular, they should stop pushing policies that are opposed by the vast majority of the American people.
*L*S*O*S*
Readers: I am so looking forward to Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight. Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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February 12th, 2013 at 8:53 am
Howie, I trust jews because you have shown me that you have a heart.
February 12th, 2013 at 11:28 am
Hi Michelle:
I too like to “MAIL” checks, letters, and greeting cards. Prefer not to bank on-line either. I cannot believe the proposed cuts that are targeting all of our much needed services. Theses cuts will literally kill many of the poor. I’m guessing that this is the idea.
The Post Office isn’t broke — it’s being robbed.
The United States Postal Service has just announced that due to budget shortfalls, mail will no longer be delivered on Saturdays starting in August.
Tell Congress: Don’t let Republicans kill the Post Office.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/usps_sat_delivery/?r_by=54647-5909718-jHKDrkx&rc=confemail
Al
February 12th, 2013 at 11:36 am
Loving you gives me much pleasure. But you loving me back would be the height of ecstasy.
February 12th, 2013 at 4:18 pm
It was great to hear today that VAWA passed the Senate.
The bill passed 78 to 22. All democrats and 23 repugs voted in favor.
Senators who voted against the bill included Republicans John Barrasso (Wyo.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), John Boozman (Ark.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Cornyn (Texas), Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Orrin Hatch (Utah), James Inhofe (Okla.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Jim Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kansas), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), John Thune (S.D.) and Tim Scott (S.C.).
It’s time to vote these bastards out of office!
/SB
February 12th, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Hi Michelle:
The Senate just voted to renew the Violence Against Women Act, Just as S/B said.
Momentum’s on our side, but House Speaker John Boehner and other representatives continue to block the bill from coming up for a vote. That’s why they created a petition on SignOn.org urging the U.S. House of Representatives to renew the Violence Against Women Act.
http://www.signon.org/sign/congress-must-extend?source=homepage
Al
February 12th, 2013 at 8:47 pm
The cops used a ruse to prevent the media from using their cameras to record their actions and then they set the house on fire and roasted Chris Dorner.
February 12th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Nothing smells better than roasted nigger.
February 12th, 2013 at 9:17 pm
“We may do different jobs, and wear different uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans, we all share the same proud title:
We are citizens. It’s a word that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we’re made. It describes what we believe. It captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations; that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter in our American story.”
———
God bless you too, Mr President.
(Where is everyone today? Not even a peep from ZL …)
/SB
February 12th, 2013 at 10:34 pm
Food
When you think of sauerkraut, what else do you think of?
What probably comes to mind are fatty hot dogs, bratwursts and kielbasa sausages…and an even fattier Reuben sandwich.
Those are not exactly healthy foods!
Sauerkraut tends to get a bad reputation because of the unhealthful food company that it keeps, but here’s a secret that I want to share with you—it’s actually very nutritious.
I want to make sure that my Daily Health News readers know all about the health benefits of this zesty, crunchy treat.
It’s time to set the record straight!
I talked with two experts who told me all about the healthful benefits of sauerkraut—one even provided me with a simple and delicious recipe for it that you’re sure to love…
A LOW-CAL, HIGH-NUTRIENT SUPER FOOD
Sauerkraut is actually high in fiber and contains nutrients such as iron, calcium and vitamins A, C and K—all in just 45 calories per one-cup serving, I learned from Mary E. Mennes, MS, professor emerita of food science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who loves making her own sauerkraut at home.
And because it’s fermented, sauerkraut also contains probiotics—live bacteria that support the beneficial microorganisms in your gut and fight the bugs that cause tummy upsets.
You can, of course, buy sauerkraut in a store. But with most brands, by the time you buy a jar or can of it in a supermarket, it has likely lost most of its probiotics, I learned from regular Daily Health News contributor Andrew Rubman, ND. Store-bought sauerkraut is typically pasteurized, and the heat is what kills the probiotics. (Refrigerated varieties, though, are sometimes not pasteurized.)
In addition, many store-bought brands of sauerkraut contain preservatives, such as sodium benzoate. High levels of preservatives have been associated with cell changes and cancer, and Dr. Rubman said that they often lower the food’s probiotic count, so it’s safest to avoid preservatives whenever possible.
There are commercially available jars of preservative-free sauerkraut, but those can be very costly—as much as three times more than the kinds you’d find in your grocery deli section.
Also, store-bought sauerkraut sometimes contains added sugar.
So instead of buying sauerkraut, save money by making a fresh batch at home and you’ll end up with more probiotics, no preservatives and no added sugar—a financial and nutritional win!
Note: If you are cutting back on salt—for example, if your doctor has put you on a low-sodium diet due to high blood pressure—keep in mind that salt is necessary to ferment cabbage into sauerkraut and one drawback of the food is that it’s high in sodium (whether you buy it or make it).
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN SAUERKRAUT
Sauerkraut has two basic ingredients, Mennes said—cabbage and salt. What’s the secret to the perfect batch? Pick the largest head of cabbage that you can find, she advised. The larger the head, the sweeter it is—and the better your sauerkraut will taste.
Now that you have the perfect cabbage, here’s how to turn it into sauerkraut…
1. Shred cabbage to about a one-eighth-inch thickness with either a large, sharp knife, a food processor or a special kraut cutter and put it in a bowl.
2. Sprinkle the shreds with three tablespoons of pure canning or pickling salt per five pounds of cabbage. The salt will draw out the juice so it can be fermented.
It’s important to use canning or pickling salt, specifically, because it’s noniodized—iodine prevents the bacterial fermentation necessary to turn cabbage into sauerkraut. Mennes told me that you could also use kosher salt (which is noniodized) if you prefer.
3. Mix well and allow to stand for five to 10 minutes—until the cabbage begins to wilt.
4. Pack into an earthenware crock or a food-grade plastic pail. (Do not use a metal container, since the acid produced in the fermentation process can cause metal to leach out into the sauerkraut.)
5. Pound the cabbage with a wooden tamper or spoon until juices completely cover it.
6. Use a food-grade, water-filled plastic bag to cover the cabbage. This prevents the cabbage from coming into contact with air, which can interrupt fermentation and cause spoilage.
7. Keep at room temperature (68° F to 72° F) for three to four weeks. You can also ferment cabbage at temperatures down to 60° F—say, in your garage or basement—but the fermentation will take a little longer.
8. Check the container daily and skim off any film that develops on the surface. Mennes assured me that if you cover your sauerkraut correctly, as she advised above, a film is very unlikely to develop—but if it does, it’s simple to skim off. Afterward, recover your container thoroughly and completely so it won’t happen again.
How do you know when it’s done? Taste it after three weeks. If it tastes like sauerkraut, it’s sauerkraut, said Mennes. If it doesn’t taste ready, give it one more week and then taste it again. Whatever you don’t eat right away you can store in heavy-duty plastic freezer bags in the refrigerator for several months or in the freezer for up to a year. Do not keep it at room temperature or it will spoil.
WHEN HOMEMADE IS NOT AN OPTION
Of course, while homemade is great, not everyone has the time and energy to make sauerkraut. If that includes you, no problem. Mennes prefers refrigerated brands because they usually are crisp and flavourful and taste closest to homemade sauerkraut.
Personally, I would also look for brands with labels that say “nonpasteurized,” “no preservatives” and “no added sugar,” because those types are most healthful.
MORE THAN A HOT DOG TOPPER
Once you get the hang of making the basic recipe, or find a store-bought brand that you like, you can dress it up with a variety of other spices and produce, said Mennes, such as caraway seeds, chopped apples and onions, or shredded carrots and parsnips.
Rather than serving sauerkraut with high-fat meats, use it to accompany leaner cuts such as pork tenderloin, chicken or turkey sausage. Or add it to salads, slaws and casseroles. Believe it or not, one of Mennes’s favorite tricks is to slip two-thirds of a cup of drained and chopped sauerkraut into her homemade chocolate cake.
She stirs it into the batter as the final step before baking. The result? The extra hit of acid intensifies the flavor of the chocolate, and Mennes has a good time making her guests guess what her secret ingredient is!
The fermentation process involved in making sauerkraut is actually a form of pickling. To learn more about the health-boosting powers of pickled foods, click here.
Sources: Mary E. Mennes, MS, professor emerita of food science, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Andrew L. Rubman, ND, founder and medical director, Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines, Southbury, Connecticut. http://www.SouthburyClinic.com
February 12th, 2013 at 10:59 pm
Social Butterfly, I’m here. I fell in love with your character way back. So I always check in to see if you have posted something.
I live in San Mateo. If we could meet somewhere to your liking I would be there at your convenience. Would lunch interest you?
I am a 34 year old white male 6’2″ tall, 187lbs, in very good shape. I work in the software industry. I make a high 6 figure salary with a generous stock option.
I’ve never been married. I have had a 6 year on and off relationship with an MIt alumnus. We have been off for about 7 months.
Allen
February 12th, 2013 at 11:01 pm
George, WN have you noticed that the cops don’t shoot so well when they are being shot back at?
Sort of like the white boy who has to meet the OTW on an equal basis.
February 12th, 2013 at 11:20 pm
Michelle, I hope you can make me a Girlz. I am 21. I have to get off this planet because I am being pursued by a member of our Prime Minister,Wen Jiabao’s family.
They are so wealthy that even in the countries that are not friendly to the China, their wealth will help them find and kill me. I know so many of their secrets. They have kept me as a pet since I was 7 years old. They took turns with me since I was 8.
I need to get out. I will be found soon. Please help.
February 12th, 2013 at 11:36 pm
Michelle, women NEVER walk on their relationships or marriage, right?!
I guess it’s my brother’s fault that his ex wife chose to have an affair with a married man, then take their kids (bio son and two stepsons) and leave my brother for the other man.
I suppose my brother is a deadbeat for having paid $1,200 a month in child support for ONE child (bio son), while also buying his son anything and everything he needed, buying his two stepsons everything and anything they needed, having all 3 boys every single weekend, then eventually getting full custody of the two younger boys.
But wait, men are 100% to blame for every relationship that doesn’t work out! They are also deadbeats when a relationship ends,no matter if they pay child support and no matter if they still try to have or have an active role in their kids’ lives, right?
What about kids conceived as part of an affair or a one night stand, where the woman knows that the likelihood of the guy staying with her if she gets pregnant is slim to none? Is that still the man’s fault, when the woman ends up becoming a single parent?
February 12th, 2013 at 11:38 pm
Birth control is the responsibility of the male. If you don’t want kids, men, wrap it.
February 13th, 2013 at 8:33 am
“Many have noted Mitt Romney’s failure to collect a single vote in 91 precincts in New York City and 59 precincts in Philadelphia. More telling is his defeat in eleven more of the nation’s 15 largest cities. Not just Chicago and Columbus, but also Indianapolis, San Diego, Houston, even Dallas—this last a reason the GOP fears that, within a generation Texas will become a swing state.”
“Remove Texas from the vast, lightly populated Republican expanse west of the Mississippi, and the remaining 13 states yield fewer electoral votes than the West Coast triad of California, Oregon, and Washington. If those trends continue, the GOP could find itself unable to count on a single state that has as many as 20 electoral votes.”
=================================
Articles like this should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. Racism does not die so easily. As long as white america has the numbers at the polls, the OTWs right to equality, a woman’s right to control her body, and commonsense government can be taken away in a single vote.
And speaking of that vote, the GOP is at this moment conspiring to steal that with more gerrymandering and outright manipulation of how the electoral votes will be counted in the next Presidential election. The Greed Over Principle party will do any thing to win.
The scary thing is that white people that make up that party not only will accept whatever felonious, fraudulent, and unconscionable behaviors their elected representatives devise to continue to win. They feel entitled to being treated better than America’s non white citizens so whatever must be done to continue that is okay with them.
February 13th, 2013 at 9:06 am
Allen, you are very sweet to think of me. Thank you.
/SB