The Latest

The Gateway (Tolerant Intolerance and Every Other Kind Edition)

|

Odds on favorite for SC's Governor and 1st Congressional District are Republicans–one of South Asian origin; the other Black. A triumph of what I call The New Tolerant Intolerance”," Michael Steele's effort to wean the GOP off race hatred and direct its hatred elsewhere and thereby reach social conservatives across racial lines where they exist aplenty. Now this strategy appears on the way to victory in a State where some if its uglier antecedents were first brought to fruition by the likes of Lee Atwater.

One potential Achilles heal elsewhere: the most fertile area of potential growth for this strategy is among Latino immigrants, but asking adherents of the New Tolerant Intolerance on all sides of the racial divide to give up immigrant bashing may be asking them for more tolerance than they are ready to muster. FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: SC Runoff Results www.fivethirtyeight.com

　

MacArthur Park (McChrystal Blew Persuasion)

|

RICHARD HARRIS (or DONNA SUMMER): I will take my life into my hands and I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow like rivers through the sky…
…I'll be thinking of you
And wondering why.

MacArthur Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down…
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!
Oh, no
No, no
Oh NO!!

San Diego May Declare Bankruptcy to Cut Benefits

|

Here is the link. I was asked once what the federal government should do about the upcoming institutional collapse. I suggested creating a time travel machine so we could go back in time and undo what Generation Greed has done, because I didn't have another idea. But now I do.

The federal government should think carefully about Chapter 9 of the bankrputcy code, and be prepared to set some standards. How bad does life have to be in a community before it is allowed to stop paying some of its burdens from the past, such as debts, pensions and retiree health care? Do those who are not of the executive and political class have to be left to starve in the street? Do public schools need to be eliminated? Does the tax burden need to be increased to a level current residents couldn't possibly pay, with storm troppers to be known as "pension collectors" sent in to toss them out as their homes are sold out from under them? Do the police need to stop protecting people from crime?  There needs to be a standard, and it needs to be the same for all.

The MTA Makes A $1 Billion Contribution to the State Legislature

|

The sad thing for Generation Greed is that eventually it will have to end. It will have extracted so much from our future that there is nothing left to take. But in Albany, they don't think that far in advance. All they want is two more years to sign contracts with each other guaranteeing themselves even more future benefits and exemptions from cost, contracts that will be unassailable regardless of the consequences. And though elections are rigged, they still want to disguise the consequence of past deals until after the November takes place, so they can be assured of going back for more.

So how is it that a $400 million MTA budget deficit, now assumed to be a $525 billion budget deficit, just goes away? The answer is that the MTA will borrow $525 billion to get through November. In fact, it has already borrowed $475 million in "revenue anticipation notes" for revenue that was not actually anticipated to come. Since the MTA anticipated it, it could claim a balanced budget. Now it will just borrow $525 million more, for a total of $1 billion. Younger generations will be paying for that forever, with nothing in exchange. And they rejoice in Albany, while pretending $billions in borrowing does not exist.

The Gateway (Guaranteed: Less Than 50% of the Items Mention Israel)

|

This is clearly a troubled marriage Visiting the family of the Hamas terrorist who tried to kill my wife | JTA – Jewish & Israel News www.jta.org

This is an actual quote from a candidate's Facebook posting: "Morning rush and evening rush at subways stops. Then onto a…Parks Committee meeting. Voter Engagement Summer rolls on!" Query: does such ponderous self-absorbed wanking really work? I mean, couldn't he at least wink?

Even More From The Times On Pensions

|

In Sunday's paper. Referring to Illinois, which should hit the wall earlier than average, “We’re within a few years of having some of the pension funds run out of money…Funding for the schools is going to be cut radically. Funding for Medicaid. As these things all mount up, there’s going to be a lot of outrage…paying public pensions straight out of general revenue would be ruinous. In Illinois’s case, it would consume about half the state’s cash every year, bringing other vital state services to a standstill.” Of course it isn't just the pensions. It's the federal, state and local debts. It's the infratructure that hasn't been maintained. It's the lower pay and benefits younger generations receive, in both the public and private sectors, and will continue to receive when they get older — and face possible deprivation to pay for the prior generations than spent decades in leisure on borrowed money.

The benefit of foresight is that I'm already started moving beyond outrage to resignation.

Two Hudson Valley Democrats Running for Governor

|

Two Hudson Valley Democrats Running for Governor

 

By Michael Boyajian

 

It may seem highly unlikely that a challenger will breach the unified front offered by Democrats in support of Andrew Cuomo for governor of New York, but, as Democratic leader Elisa Summer has said, organizing Democrats is sort of like herding cats.  And it has not deterred two Hudson Valley Democrats from making a run for the Executive Mansion.

© Room Eight