Mario Rubio who fled Cuba to bring his family to America, has died at age 83. HIs son, Marco, ascended in Florida politics to become the first Cuban-American speaker of the House and is now the leading candidate for U.S....
Mario Rubio, father of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio, has died at age 83 of lung cancer and emphysema.
Marco Rubio’s campaign said his political activities “will be placed on temporary hold,” and the campaign “will resume our full schedule some time in the coming days.”
Our condolences go out to the family. No matter how much we disagree with Rubio’s policies and politics, we would never wish ill will towards him or his family. Details here. Kendrick Meek’s statement.
The band that made great guitar playing cool in punk rock. Television paved the way for Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.
23:18 Ethics Complaint Against David Rivera » Pushing Rope
It is bad when The Corner is making a check list of scandals surrounding David Rivera. National Review contributor urged Republicans to back Rivera's primary challenger Paul Crespo. Ouch.
Things are not getting better for Rivera. William Barzee has filed an ethics complaint against Rivera.
WILLIAM R. BARZEE, ATTORNEY AT LAW
FORMER SUPPORTER AND DONOR FILES FEC COMPLAINT AGAINST DAVID RIVERA
I would like to inform you that I have filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission regarding David Rivera’s apparent violations of federal election laws. As a former supporter and donor to David Rivera, I am saddened and surprised by what I see as a disregard for the rules and laws that govern our elections.
I have filed this complaint as a private citizen based upon a good faith belief that federal candidate David Rivera and the 527 Committee “Voters Response” have violated federal campaign finance laws in at least two ways. First, by coordinating with a 527 committee to attack candidate Joe Garcia and second, by avoiding campaign contribution limits by off-setting campaign expenses through the 527.
Sarah Bascom of Bascom Communications has been acting as spokesperson for the Rivera campaign. Rivera campaign finance reports however show no payment for her services. The 527 “Voters Response” on the other hand has been paid by Bascom Communications for its services. “Voters Response” is the 527 committee that has launched repeated unfair attacks against Joe Garcia.
Enough is enough.
527 committees were not created to launch attacks on behalf of a candidate’s campaign, nor were they created as a way to avoid campaign contribution limits.
I call on David Rivera to end the nasty political attacks and to stop abusing our campaign finance laws.
William R. Barzee
Barzee is accusing Rivera of coordinating with a 527 group. That is illegal under federal law.
Ethics complaints never go anywhere in Florida politics. So don't expect much to come from this. However, an ethics complain isn't exactly something Rivera wants to brag about on a campaign mailer. David Ramba of Voters Response said the attack attack ads against Democrat Joe Garcia have nothing to do with Rivera. Riiight.
``The stuff I did against Joe Garcia had nothing to do with David Rivera,'' said Ramba, a Tallahassee lawyer who has donated $2,400 to Rivera's campaign.
Where this gets fishy is Voter Response made a payments totaling $3,000 to Bascom Communications & Consulting. Rivera uses Bascom Communications & Consulting for his campaign. Sarah Bascom said her firm is not involved with Voter Response. Bascom better check her financial records before making that statement.
22:14 Contribute to Michele Bachmann In What Language » Pushing Rope
The Michele Bachmann campaign web site has a contribute page written in Lorem Ipsum. Translation: dummy text to give an idea to the customer what a print or web page will look like. The Bachmann campaign posted the sample without ever changing the text.
Hat tip to GottaLaff for this hysterical find. If Bachmann wanted to show that people in government are incompetent then mission accomplished.
The Associated Press is reporting that the Failed blowout preventer on BP oil well reaches the surface. They finally got it aboard at about 7PM CDT after almost 30 hours. The FBI was waiting on the vessel and will escort the BOP to a NASA facility for examination.
McClatchy reports that Up to 90% [...]
Republicans in the Florida legislature attempted to urge women who were going to have an abortion to view an ultrasound. The bill was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist. Missouri is going one step further by forcing women to read
"The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being." This statement will be prominently featured on state mandated literature doctors are now required to distribute to women considering abortions – regardless of the doctor, patient, or medical organization’s philosophy or beliefs.
So much for the religious freedom Republicans say they love.
It is required law for women to read this material before getting an abortion. It serves no medical purpose whatsoever. The goal of Republicans and social conservatives is to make the woman feel like shit and decide not to have an abortion. If a woman doesn't want to have an abortion then that is her choice. Forcing to read Christian Right propaganda is absolutely unnecessary. Christian conservatives that say otherwise would freak out if mothers to be were given pro-choice material in the delivery room.
Keith at the Invisible Library wrote a post, Either Or, about the “game” that Jon Stewart started usually called “Evil or Stupid”. Keith points out that the sets are not exclusive and there are certainly some people who are both evil and stupid.
I favor “ignorant” over “stupid” because “stupid” implies that they incapable of [...]
19:06 Rick Scott Wants to Abolish Medicare & VA » Pushing Rope
Politifact rates Rick Scott's claim that Alex Sink wants to cut Medicare false. As I noted, Sink as Governor would not have the executive power to cut Medicare. Sink made the same point herself.
"That's how he's setting it up. He'll be calling me names for the next nine weeks," she told reporters. "I don't even know where he got that from. Of course I don't want to cut Medicare ….. It's a federal issue."
Medicare is a federal program. The governor of Florida does not have the power to cut a national program.
As CEO of Columbia/HCA, Scott advocated abolishing Medicare and Medicaid. Scott wanted all health care to be privatized. Which would also financially help companies such as Columbia/HCA. The poor and uninsured would be left at the mercy of private health care providers.
"Let us make a profit. So what?" Scott told USA Today in 1994.
The guy is all heart.
Scott also wanted to abolish the Veterans Administration.
"If you look at how the government runs VA hospitals and Medicare and Medicaid, you can see that the whole system is inefficient," Scott told the South Florida Business Journal the same year. "The things we are doing wrong in health care can be corrected if private business could run national health care administration."
Rachel Mayo of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society found that the VA provides "the best value in health care."
Another key to the VHA’s turnaround was its close tracking of performance measurements. Providing higher quality care was a major focus for the system as changes were implemented. This started with a reengineering effort beginning in 1995, which was focused on making quality management more systematic. The VHA began with a determined effort to create a product that had the best value in the market. Management defined several quality dimensions to focus on during reengineering:
• Personnel/human resources – hire and keep the top prospects available • Clinical care activities – perform the clinical activities which are necessary for good health • Performance indicators – establish and keep track of important indicators • Internal review and improvement – involve all groups across organization in improvement • External review and oversight – get an outside opinion of progress
Scott's companies Columbia/HCA and Solantic have been accused of Medicare fraud. Scott has forfeited his right to be taken seriously as a voice on health care issues. The fact that Scott is accusing Sink of cutting the same Medicare system he wishes to destroy is laughable.
