The rightwing governors are not trying to solve their state's woes, they are only worried about one thing..looking like they are doing something, when they actually aren't, and getting more R's re-elected in 2012. EJ Dionne has a good read up at WaPo that addresses this issue. Dionne addresses the problem we have with the corporate media and how they and the rightwingers control the conversation. From his OpEd:
If you want to get national attention as a governor these days, don't try to be innovative about solving the problems you were elected to deal with - in education, transportation and health care.No, if you want ink and television time, just cut and cut and cut some more.
Almost no one in the national media is noticing governors who say the reasonable thing: that state budget deficits, caused largely by drops in revenue in the economic downturn, can't be solved by cuts or tax increases alone.
There is nothing courageous about an ideological governor hacking away at programs that partisans of his philosophy, including campaign contributors, want eliminated. That's staying in your comfort zone.
The brave ones are governors such as Jerry Brown in California, Dan Malloy in Connecticut, Pat Quinn in Illinois, Mark Dayton in Minnesota and Neil Abercrombie in Hawaii. They are declaring that you have to cut programs, even when your own side likes them, and raise taxes, which nobody likes much at all. Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee has warned of possible tax increases too.
Don't you find it amazing how these corporate stooges on the right keep putting the burden on those that can least afford it? How they refuse to actually deal with the state deficits in a sane and rational manner? I do not get how Americans can sit and watch the carnage, that will eventually impact them, and think everything is just fucking fine..when it's anything but. Taxes must be raised to cover the shortfalls created by this recession..just to stay at the same levels as before. Even my dumbass gets that.
Pat Quinn (D), not someone on my radar, has raised income tax rates in Illinois. He got so much shit for it from the right, I am surprised they haven't started a recall movement.
My own governor, Jerry Brown, made a campaign promise that he would take all tax hikes to the people via a special election, aka a statewide vote by the citizens of my fine state of California. The idiot GOP state reps are pissing down both legs over this idea and have already stated they will do what they can to block such a vote. God forbid we, the people, make the hard decisions ourselves!
As Dionne notes in his OpEd, the corporate media fucks aren't paying attention to the governors that are trying to make smart decisions about their state budget woes. All we hear about are the fuckwads like NJ's Christie, FL's Rick Scott and WI's dipshit Scott Walker. Again from Dionne's piece:
Being responsible doesn't get anyone any press? How fucked up is that? So the problem isn't all on the governors, its the friggin media..the corporate media, that isn't serving our best interests either.
That's a fight we can't win. We have no control over the Corporate Media skanks and what they determine as newsworthy. They would rather feed us fodder daily on that disgusting human cesspool known as Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen will not fix our economy. Hello? Is this thing on? Let me say it again..Charlie Sheen will not fix our fucking economy.
We deserve better than we are getting..from both the corporate media and our elected representatives. Yet, the majority of Americans will continue to bury their fucking heads in the sand and ignore the real problems..thereby taking ALL of us down with them.
Pat Quinn (D), not someone on my radar, has raised income tax rates in Illinois. He got so much shit for it from the right, I am surprised they haven't started a recall movement.
My own governor, Jerry Brown, made a campaign promise that he would take all tax hikes to the people via a special election, aka a statewide vote by the citizens of my fine state of California. The idiot GOP state reps are pissing down both legs over this idea and have already stated they will do what they can to block such a vote. God forbid we, the people, make the hard decisions ourselves!
As Dionne notes in his OpEd, the corporate media fucks aren't paying attention to the governors that are trying to make smart decisions about their state budget woes. All we hear about are the fuckwads like NJ's Christie, FL's Rick Scott and WI's dipshit Scott Walker. Again from Dionne's piece:
What's truly amazing, as Stateline.org reported recently, is the number of governors who are cutting taxes at the same time they are eviscerating programs. A particularly dramatic case is Florida's Republican Gov. Rick Scott. He faces a $3.5 billion budget gap - and is pushing for $2 billion in corporate and property tax cuts.
Historically, times of fiscal stress forced states to make useful economies in programs that didn't work or were not essential. But what's happening in so many places now is a reckless rush to gut the parts of government that all but the most extreme libertarians support - and that truly deserve to be seen (one thinks of education and programs for poor children) as investments in the future.
And those governors doing the hard work trying to balance cutbacks and tax increases get ignored, because there's nothing sexy about being responsible.
Being responsible doesn't get anyone any press? How fucked up is that? So the problem isn't all on the governors, its the friggin media..the corporate media, that isn't serving our best interests either.
That's a fight we can't win. We have no control over the Corporate Media skanks and what they determine as newsworthy. They would rather feed us fodder daily on that disgusting human cesspool known as Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen will not fix our economy. Hello? Is this thing on? Let me say it again..Charlie Sheen will not fix our fucking economy.
We deserve better than we are getting..from both the corporate media and our elected representatives. Yet, the majority of Americans will continue to bury their fucking heads in the sand and ignore the real problems..thereby taking ALL of us down with them.
