Category: Politics

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How you and the Obama campaign can turn the PA House of Representatives bluer

  By Pennsylvania, Politics, US

I’ve been following the Pennsylvania polling quite closely, but not primarily because I’m concerned about the Presidential election. If we all keep doing our jobs, Obama is going to win Pennsylvania. What’s really intriguing me however is how well Obama is doing in the suburban counties around Philadelphia. According to the Quinnipiac poll released at the beginning of the week, Obama is up 57-39 in Montgomery, Delaware, Chester, and Bucks counties. That is putting us into the realm in which Obama could have long coattail for candidates down ballot, including those running for State Representative. Continue reading

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The word on the street: no street money

  By Elections and Voting, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Ward politics

The word on the street is that there is going to be no money on the street from the Obama campaign. No one knows for sure. But ward leaders are worried. This would be an innovation in Pennsylvania politics…and in my view, a really dumb one. Continue reading

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How We Won Health Care Reform in Pennsylvania: A Bizarro Fantasy

  By Health Care, Humor, Pennsylvania

Reposted from YPP on Tue, 10/21/2008 – 12:13am. I was in the audience at a taping of a program on WHYY TV on health care reform tonight. And now I know how we managed to get PA ABC, Governor Rendell’s program to insure another quarter of million people, through the Senate. Continue reading

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Why buying into banks makes sense

  By Politics, US

Originally posted at YPP I always thought the initial plan to buy toxic securities was second best to actually capitalizing banks. The initial plan puts us in a dilemma: Continue reading

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Nine percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country tonight

  By US

Originally posted at YPP I haven’t had to write an essay examination question in about a year and a half. But I want to write one today. Nine percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country tonight. Who are they and why are they satisfied? Extra-credit: How will they affect the Presidential election? Continue reading

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So that’s what the Middle East looks like to everyone else

  By International politics, Middle East

I hope everyone read the long article in the Times on Sunday about the history of the conflict leading up to the war in Georgia. It is worth understanding how this war began. But I especially hope strong partisans on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of that conflict read it. For I suspect that their initial reaction will be like mine: both sides are responsible for this mess and both ought to be acting a whole lot more sensibly. Its is hard not to sympathize with the Georgians with the Russian Bear next door, until you see what the Georgians have been doing to their minorities and how they are provoking the Russians. That’s more or less the way I look at the Israel-Paletinian conflict these days. I’m still a supporter of Israel’s right to exist. (And I wrote my first published article calling for a Palestinian state in… Continue reading

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GOP health care plan copies Chairman Mao

  By Health Care, Pennsylvania

Published in the Morning Call, June 23, 2008 In 1965, Communist China was one of the poorest countries of the world. Chairman Mao Tse-Tung created a program—widely known as the Barefoot Doctors program—to provide health care for his impoverished people.  The Barefoot Doctors, who had a minimal level of medical training, offered basic primary care to people for whom no other medical care was available. Continue reading

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It's gotta be Hillary

  By 2008

I’ve made it pretty clear I have no love for the Clintons. But she’s got to be / is going to be the Veep. 1. Barack needs to make sure that there is a gender gap that works in his favor. With Hillary’s help, he can do much better with white women which will give him enough of the white vote to win the election. 2. Hillary is the only Veep choice that brings him a candidate who can move the base and turn people out in droves to events and fundraisers. And Bill is pretty good at that as well. 3. Hillary clearly wants it, and actually does have something of a claim to it, given the race she has run. If she doesn’t get it, she could create problems. The disadvantage is figuring out what to do with Hillary and, even more with Bill, after January. Barack will… Continue reading

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The Clintons: Our Nixon

  By 2008

Originally bloggded at YPP under the name A Philly Progressive on May 21, 2008 I’ve not been fond of the Clintons for a long time. It goes back to a few days after the 1992 election when I heard Bill Clinton talking about his ambitious plans for health care and I turned to a friend and said, “I sure hope he knows now to count to sixty.” It took no special prescience to see the disaster of Clinton care coming. The program was formulated in secret with plenty of experts but few congressional allies. Those experts were more intent on creating a document to satisfy their fellow wonks than in developing a plan that might attract a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. No one was surprised that the Clintons lost both the Congress and the issue. Instead of using the failure of the Congress to address the major issue of… Continue reading

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Nutter, transparency, and the Cohen wage tax rebate

  By Philadelphia, Taxation

Evidently transparency only goes so far in the Nutter administration. It was widely reported that the budget plan adopted by Council retained the Cohen Wage Tax Rebate but delays implementation of the program for another year until 2014. Now it is itself is a bit of a farce to delay the beginning of the program until after the next election for Mayor or Council. Michael Nutter wouldn’t claim to be serving the interests of the business community by promising a big BPT cut in 2014 but doing nothing now. But now it seems that this farce is the least of our problems. Stan Shapiro recently sent an email that said It turns out that the Cohen rebate has actually been stunted, not just postponed. Under the law as it is now, the rate for low wage workers would go down to 1.5% no matter what, in yearly half percent increments… Continue reading