bobby jindal Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

News Roundup – Confederate Flag, ObamaCare, Gov. Bobby

Over the last week or so there has been a ton of conversation about the South, Dylann Roof and the Confederate Flag. Just for one second, let’s take a deep breath. What was the Civil War about? Someone will usually say that the Civil War was about States Rights. Okay. That’s a half answer. The Civil War wasn’t about states’ rights to have their own Navy or trade exclusively with Africa or England. The Civil War was about a state’s right to continue slavery as they saw fit. The Confederate Flag is clearly associated with slavery. Then, after the war, the Confederate Flag was most associated with the KKK, a terrorist organization. So for me, as a Black man who grew up in the South, the Confederate Flag is associated with nothing positive. It is associated with terror and racism. Now, I fully understand that there are those Americans who see nothing but positive when they look at the Confederate Flag. They see bravery, honor and dedication to duty. We need to understand that the Confederate Flag symbolizes both. It is like that Batman character – Two Face. You can’t have one without the other. I think that removing the Confederate flag from the state capital in South Carolina is a step in the right direction. Oh, and I should add that Dylann Roof understood the meaning of the Confederate Flag. He clearly understood its link with racism. (Now, before some folks begin to seize, I don’t believe that every Southerner is a racist. On the other hand, I don’t believe that every Northerner is a saint. Look, America is a complex country. Good and evil can be found everywhere. )

ObamaCare (Affordable Care Act) has been upheld by the Supreme Court. I’m a little surprised. The following is from ScotusBlog:

That, the Court concluded by a six-to-three vote, was what Congress intended when it passed the sweeping overhaul of the health insurance market five years ago. If the subsidies are not available across the nation, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., wrote for the majority, that would bring about “the type of calamitous result that Congress plainly meant to avoid.”

Had the ruling in King v. Burwell gone the other way, to eliminate subsidies in thirty-four states, at least 6.4 million Americans likely would have almost immediately lost the insurance coverage that many of them have for the first time. And, given the way Congress wrote an interlocking law, the cascading effect of the loss of subsidies for so many probably would have collapsed the whole arrangement — a point that Roberts embraced in foreseeing the potential for a “death spiral” for the ACA.

Bobby Jindel. The GOP needs more candidates. It is like that old disco song – “More, more, more.”

Here are 10 “great” moments from Donald Trump’s announcement speech.

By ecthompsonmd|2015-06-26T07:32:41-04:00June 25th, 2015|Healthcare, Party Politics, Race, Terrorism|Comments Off

Gov Bobby Jindal

Some budget crisis are truly unpredictable. Something unforeseeable happens and suddenly there’s not enough money to go around. Let’s be clear, this is not what we’re seeing now. Republicans across the country have been cutting budgets, cutting taxes giving tax rebates for the last 20 years. Yet, for the most part, they have not cut spending. Sure, there’s been some window dressing a little cut here a little cut their but as a whole spending has remained basically flat. It is true that all states have suffered a reducing revenues secondary to the economic downturn. Economic downturns are predictable and should be planned for. Yet, Republicans have taken this opportunity to give away more of the taxpayers money and then asked the middle class and lower class to tighten their belts.

Yesterday, I received one of the best comments I’ve read in a long time from LucyGirl576. She is clearly from Louisiana and has been following Governor Bobby Jindal’s budget ax for quite some time. Here’s her comment:

Since Jindal took office,he has cut taxes aleast six times, including the largest income tax cut in the history of Louisiana – a cut of $1.1 billion over five years, along with helping to speed up the elimination of the tax on business investments.

In 2008, Jindal vetoed $16 million dollars in earmarks from the state budget and then declined to veto $30 million in legislator-added spending. He vetoed over 250 earmarks in the budget, which was twice the number of such vetoes by previous governors in the preceding twelve years.

In March 2009, Gov. Bobby Jindal said he plans to back $8 million dollars in tax breaks during that year even though our state government’s financial outlook was dismal financial. The tax relief was to benefit the entertainment industry and general businesses. I guess he thought they needed the help more than the people.

Our state cannot run on tax cuts. Everything in the U.S. has gone up and taxes in Louisiana have gone down, not for the middle class but for those making more than the average person in our state. Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture? Less tax, by Jindal, has hurt our state and brought us to where we are today.

Now, Jindal wants to increase college tuition making it even more difficult for our young people to go to college. He wants to cut jobs and health services in the Department of Health and Hospitals, and he want to sell and privatize our prisons to fix the budget after he helped to cause this problem.

Selling and privatizing the prisons will not fix Medicaid or save our health services. We need to change our laws to decrease sentences, finding other ways to help people on drugs and that drive under the influence. Even helping to make our state agencies (the prisons included) go green to save energy can help us. There are other ways to take care of our budget without adding to the unemployment and food card line by cutting jobs in the Department of Health and Hospitals and Department of Corrections.

According to CREW, a group that keeps watch on responsible and ethic reports that Jindal made the top ten Worst Governors List for the following reasons:
• Prevented the public release of government records and has fought legislation to make
government more transparent
• Weakened the authority of the state ethics board
• Refused to accept federal stimulus funds to expand unemployment insurance and to fund
other important programs
• Rewarded campaign donors with government jobs and contracts
• Has been fined for ethics violations

He is fourth on the list according to CREW:
■Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)
■Gov. Donald Carcieri (R-RI)
■Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV)
■Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA)
■Gov. David Paterson (D-NY)
■Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-GA)
■Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)
■Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM)
■Gov. Mike Rounds (R-SD)
■Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)
■Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA)

You can read their full report here.

The cuts Jindal has been making and proposed to make by helping to make corporations rich off of crime will not help the citizens of the great state of Louisiana.
Join us on April 7th in Baton Rouge at the Capital to oppose Jindals budget cuts. You can make a difference in Louisiana’s future.

By ecthompsonmd|2011-04-03T14:57:13-04:00April 3rd, 2011|Budget, Party Politics, Taxes|Comments Off

Jindal & Barbour Take Federal Tax Dollars To Fight Global Warming Impact

The Obama administration is making a new effort to protect barrier islands and other coastal areas in the Gulf of Mexico area. Mississippi and Louisiana seem to be a specific focus of this program.

(Above–A picture of Ship Island off the Mississippi coast. In the background you see Fort Massachusetts. The federal government controlled the island in the Civil war and used the island as a prison for Confederate soldiers. Black combat units were also trained on Ship Island. Here are facts about Ship Island.)

From the Associated Press article on the Obama Gulf Coast effort—

“Since the 1930s, the Mississippi River delta has been slowly falling apart and eroding due to levee construction, oil drilling hurricane damage and other factors. Louisiana has lost about 2,100 square miles of coast and loses about 25 square miles a year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey…With sea levels on the rise due to global warming, experts warn that much of south Louisiana and Mississippi are at risk of being lost for good.”

Here is the full story.

This sure is interesting. You’d think that the good folks down in Mississippi and Louisiana might oppose federal dollars to help remedy the effects of the great scam of global warming.

Here is a recent New York Times story about how people who think evolution is not real, are now adding global warming to their list of hoaxes.

I’m out of patience with this stuff. People are free to believe what they wish. Freedom of religion is a principle our nation is founded upon. But schools and public debates are places for facts. They are not places for ideologically-driven lies.

Maybe a referendum should be held in Mississippi and Louisiana to be sure that folks in these places believe in global warming. We don’t want to be wasting taxpayer dollars.

Here is a Times of London story about the possible impact of global warming on people and animal life across the globe.

Here is more from the Associated Press story—

“Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the report “clearly demonstrates a positive shift in direction, but must be coupled with aggressive action on the ground — turning dirt. There is no time for delay.”

You are reading this correctly—Republican Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana wants some swift federal action to help address a problem in his state.

Here is how Governor Jindal felt about federal money last year—

“Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday that he will decline stimulus money specifically targeted at expanding state unemployment insurance coverage, becoming the first state executive to officially refuse any part of the federal government’s payout to states.”

I see.

Here is the White House press release about this federal help that the people of Mississippi and Louisiana will no doubt be glad to take.

From the release–

“Ultimately, successful implementation of the shared vision depends on access to the best available science in a form that is useful for management decisions. The Working Group will assess current capacities and identify gaps in science so the Federal-State vision will be implemented based on the best information.”

I put the term “best available science” in bold so that nobody would miss what is being said. The Feds are coming down South to cram global warming down the throats of the people. Time for a tea party!

Is Republican Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi going to tolerate this federal intrusion?

From Think Progress, here is a portion of Mr. Barbour’s record on the environment from when he was a corporate lobbyist–

“Back at his lobbying firm in early 2001, Barbour was hired “to help apply pressure in all the right places.” He convinced President Bush to break his campaign promise to reduce global warming pollution from power plants. Barbour’s memo “Bush-Cheney Energy Policy & CO2” belittled global warming as a “radical fringe issue,” and called the regulation of carbon dioxide pollution “eco-extremism.” He urged the President Bush to avoid making decisions informed by science, which would “trump good energy policy, which the country has lacked for eight years.”

Here is the full report on Mr. Barbour’s record on the environment.

The federal government has dominion over the states. In this case, the federal government is going to provide help for Mississippi and Louisiana no matter if they like it or not.

(Below–Fort Livingston on Grand Terre Island off the coast of Louisiana. This fort, named after a political figure from New York, was built by the federal government and fell back into federal hands after the fall of New Orleans in the Civil war. Here are some facts about Grand Terre Island.)