Dismal model: AFL-CIO's Trumka scoffs at Perry's Texas miracle

One of the nation's top union leaders says today that any elected official who isn't focused on creating more jobs doesn't have much of a future in public office. But Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, is no fan of Gov. Rick Perry and his oft-touted "Texas miracle."

"God help us if that model was nationalized," Trumka said today over breakfast with reporters organized by the Christian Science Monitor. Apart from Perry's own staff, he added, everyone has "unmasked" the fallacy of Perry's boasts about job creation in Texas, which helped propel the governor to the front-runner spot in the GOP presidential field.

"You had the same unemployment level down there you did anywhere else," Trumka said.

Texas unemployment rate, 8.4 percent, ranks 27th, though it is below the national average. As Perry often boasts, Texas accounted for 40 percent of net job creation nationally in the last two years. Trumka isn't impressed.

"The jobs that were created were minimum wage or sub-minimum wage. I don't think that's necessarily a good model for the future," he said. "...If you look at where they are on education, if you look at where they are on health care, it's a dismal model. I don't see it as a miracle, and I don't think most informed people see it as a miracle, either."

The AFL-CIO endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, and the union's political support overwhelmingly goes to Democrats, though Trumka indicated that no Democrat, including him, should count on active support next year.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/08/afl-cios-trumka-scoffs-at-perr.html

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Happy anniversary

There were touching messages today from one partner to another on their first anniversary:

Nick: We don't like cutting but the Tories do.

David: There's only one party you can trust on the NHS.

Brings a warm glow to your heart, doesn't it?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/05/happy_anniversa.html

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Herman Cain Apologizes to Muslim Americans

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctpolitics/~3/5zc9qxTjzQ4/herman_cain_apo.html

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Elections - the agony and the ecstasy

Elections can bring relief, agony, joy and doubt.

David Cameron must scarcely be able to believe his luck this morning.

A year after failing to win the general election and having announced deep and painful spending cuts he will be deeply relieved that - so far at least - his party has barely received a scratch from the electorate. Losses may still follow but on nothing like the scale once feared.

The reason is clear - it's his coalition partner who has absorbed all the pain. Nick Clegg will have watched in agony as his party headed towards its worst share of the vote in its history and as they were routed in the Northern cities he was so proud to control.

And then there was the surprise of the night - Scotland. The Nationalists' stunning series of results will bring them joy. They were, above all, a personal victory for Alex Salmond. He is re-shaping the politics of his country and dreams of going much further.

Which leaves Ed Miliband. Once all the results are in - he should be be able to celebrate the fact that Labour will govern Wales again, will have many more councillors and a greater share of the vote.

Yet his party will have their doubts when they see it is their enemies - the Tories and the Nationalists - who have the biggest smiles this morning.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/05/elections_-_the.html

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Map: Record Number of State Abortion Laws in 2011

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Buerkle Tops NY Reps In Heritage ScoreCard

The conservative DC-based group Heritage Action for America has released it’s scorecards for all members of Congress – and the top scoring member from New York is CNY Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle. The House score is determined by 30 specific votes taken by members of Congress. They also looked at whether the member co-sponsored one

Source: http://www.capitaltonight.com/2011/08/buerkle-tops-ny-reps-in-heritage-scorecard/

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VP Joe Biden Stirs Debate on China's One-Child Policy

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Dems push referendum to end Republican voter law

Several Democratic candidates and officeholders gathered in front of the Hamilton County Board of Election Tuesday morning to decry House Bill 194, a Republican bill reforming Ohio election law that Democrats say is nothing more� than “voter supression.” The Democrats said they are part of a statewide push to gather about 232,000 valid voter signatures [...]

Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2011/08/23/dems-push-referendum-to-end-republican-voter-law/

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Dems Use Zadroga Comment Against Turner (Updated)

The Democrats are gleefully pouncing on GOP NY-9 candidate Bob Turner’s ill-timed comment to the DN editorial board that the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act is “too broad” and shouldn’t cover volunteers. Turner was no doubt trying to come off as fiscally responsible, but you’ve got to wonder what he was thinking –

Source: http://www.capitaltonight.com/2011/08/dems-use-zadroga-comment-against-turner/

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Obama team scouts for anti-Perry Texans

The Obama campaign team is asking Texans to share complaints about Gov. Rick Perry, and compiling the critiques for possible use in Perry-bashing ads and other material - a sure sign the president's advisers are taking no chances.

"Your feedback will help hold him accountable on the campaign trail, inspire fellow Texans to get involved, and introduce his record -- his actual record -- to voters across the country," Hector Nieto, the campaign's Texas director, told Texas supporters by email blast today. "Your words will remind him that even as he runs, he won't be able to hide -- a lesson he apparently hadn't learned as recently as last week. That's when his campaign explained that the positions he took in the book he wrote just nine months ago, like saying that Social Security is unconstitutional and `a crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal,' no longer represent his views.

"But what other Americans are just starting to learn about -- and, frankly, reject -- Texans have dealt with for more than a decade. It's up to us to make sure he doesn't get to run away from the truth."

Nieto's email says hundreds of Texans have already shared their dim views on Perry, directing critics to an online form where they can suggest their own favorite "failed policies" for which he should be held accountable.

Submitting a suggestion grants the Obama campaign perpetual rights to use the comments in any form of political advertising.

Last week, Nieto sent an email blast seeking donations as small as $5 to help counter Perry's "tall tale" of a Texas economic miracle.

"We've seen this movie before. A Republican governor from Texas decides to run for president on a record of `results,' " he wrote. "...It's up to us to introduce folks around the country to the Rick Perry we know in Texas: the man who supports the Tea Party plan to end Medicare as we know it, who would cut K-12 education spending and important investments in research and jobs, and who's so far out of the mainstream on climate change that he actually believes the globe is cooling."

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/08/obama-team-scouts-for-anti-per.html

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2012's Unofficial Campaign Songs, from a Man Who Knows

Wasilla native and Portugal The Man lead singer John Gourley picks a (mostly appropriate) playlist for the trail

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/campaign-songs-list-6109689?src=rss

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Some tea party activists rib Dewhurst for no-shows: UPDATED

A blogger for the North Texas Tea Party used this picture of a fictitious missing-child milk carton to protest Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's absence from recent GOP forums for U.S. Senate candidates.

Aides to Dewhurst, though, have suggested privately that he won't actively campaign until September. Even then, it's not clear he'll show up at the sorts of events that are being sponsored with some regularity by tea party groups, county Republican party organizations and Republican women's clubs. But at a July 30 New Revolution Now event at the state Capitol, Austin tea party activist Dean Wright said he highlighted Dewhurst's absence -- and that of Democratic Senate hopeful Ricardo Sanchez -- by placing name cards and empty chairs for them at the candidates' table.

"We even addressed one question to Mr. Dewhurst and he was 'no comment,'" Wright recalled, saying he posed as Dewhurst. "We're coming from the grass roots and we've been totally ignored by Dewhurst and Sanchez."

Perhaps with that on his mind -- or perhaps Dewhurst always has the tea party on his mind -- his campaign manager Jim Bognet on Monday sent supporters an email that highlights one of the lieutenant governor's few campaign-related appearances since filing for Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat on July 20: A link to a radio interview he granted Houston talk-show host Joe Pags last Wednesday.

"I have always been a very conservative person, a strong fiscal conservative person," Dewhurst says. "We have taken the philosophy [of] our friends in the tea party, where we reduced spending and we balanced our budgets and we respect states' rights. We started that years ago."

The federal deficit and debt problem, he said, are much on his mind.

"I'm running because my wife and I have prayed about this ... we've been praying about it, praying about it for about a year, and I just can't take it any more, looking at TV, looking at Washington and seeing what a mess," Dewhurst said. He fended off a question about whether a successful Rick Perry presidential campaign might make him want to be governor and not pursue the Senate race. Dewhurst said he could've run for Senate in 2002, but as land commissioner (running for lite guv), he wanted to help solve the state's problems on budget, school finance, medical malpractice lawsuit and homeowners' insurance matters. Now, he said, the big problem's in Washington.

"I want to go up there and be a bullhorn and twist arms and make people understand that ... you have to live within your means," he said.

UPDATE: Dewhurst campaign spokesman Enrique Marquez said his candidate "has been building a campaign and reaching out to supporters and voters across the state." Marquez, asked to respond to the jibes about Dewhurst's no-shows, said Dewhurst "looks forward to participating in town hall meetings and events across Texas to discuss how we can get our country back on track and stop President Obama's liberal, job-killing agenda."

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/08/post-30.html

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Happy anniversary

There were touching messages today from one partner to another on their first anniversary:

Nick: We don't like cutting but the Tories do.

David: There's only one party you can trust on the NHS.

Brings a warm glow to your heart, doesn't it?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/05/happy_anniversa.html

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Nominate Your Favorite Nurse

Voting ends soon in our 2012 Excellence in Nursing awards. If you know a nurse who deserves recognition for his or her fine work, follow the link.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dmagazine/frontburner/~3/d0DDDX9ryJA/

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Talking UK riots and free speech

I sat down with my friend Charles Adler to discuss the UK riots, root causes, and social media the Sun News Network:

Source: http://www.stephentaylor.ca/2011/08/talking-uk-riots-and-free-speech/

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Hutchison: Perry didn't fight fair in 2010 governor's race

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison - labeled by Gov. Rick Perry as "Kay Bailout" in last year's gubernatorial primary - says today he criticized her unfairly. But she would support him for president - if he gets the nomination. The prospect of an endorsement before that remains remote.

Her comments come from an interview with Fox Business that airs tonight at 8 pm in Dallas.

"It was a very tough race. He had told our supporters he wouldn't run and changed his mind. I was running for an open seat for governor I thought, but he pivoted and decided to run again," Hutchison says told Fox Business. "I thought I was unfairly criticized but of course I would think so. I'm concentrating on finishing my last year and a half and trying to help get our ship of state on the right course."

It was only a month ago that Hutchison, on MSNBC, threw cold water on any hope Perry might have of winning her support in the primary. "I'm looking for the candidate who has real business experience. I'm looking for Gov. Perry's views on federal issues. I don't know what they are," she said, adding - somewhat grudgingly - that she would support him if he wins the nomination.

She reiterated that pledge today.

"Of course I will be for the Republican nominee for President... whoever it is, because I know we can do better for our economy."

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/08/a-thaw-in-hutchison-perry-riva.html

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BLITZER?S BLOG: U.S. handing over frozen Libyan assets to new gov't

(CNN) - This is one of those historic moments in world history, and, once again, we?re seeing it unfold live...

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/23/blitzer%e2%80%99s-blog-u-s-handing-over-frozen-libyan-assets-to-new-govt/

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Husted: Don?t send those absentee applications

Ohio?s top elections chief is banning county officials from sending voters unsolicited absentee ballot applications ahead of Election Day. The move by Secretary of State Jon Husted Monday comes after several county boards of elections – including Hamilton County’s – recently had tied votes on whether to send out applications. A spokesman for the Republican [...]

Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2011/08/22/husted-dont-send-those-absentee-applications/

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A Mother Goes to College ? And Leaves Her Son There

Some of you may recall this FrontBurner essay written by Alex Schultz about refereeing kids’ basketball games in Plano. Alex was 17 when he wrote that. Alex went off to USC this year, and his mother, Melissa, wrote an essay on the NYT’s Motherlode blog about how hard it was to drop off her baby [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dmagazine/frontburner/~3/6Lko5LX17qc/

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If Not the Cowboys, How Do You Pick Who to Root For In the NFL?

If you’re me, you pick college football. If not, and you still need some guidance on who to root for in the NFL, Gawker has provided a very convoluted but somewhat amusing flowchart to help you decide.
The decision process for becoming a Cowboys fan is, um, rather truncated.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dmagazine/frontburner/~3/3qRpYh0uiSA/

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