The Maddow blog put together this chart showing job-creation numbers for every year since 2001, Bush’s first year in office. In the image, the lighter color shows job losses/gains in the overall economy, while the darker color reflects just the private sector.
Context, of course, is key. When Bush took office in 2001, the economy had slowed, but it was a mild downturn compared to the global financial collapse that was underway in 2009. And yet, note that the economy added jobs in President Obama’s second year, which is more than we can say for his Republican predecessor. In Obama’s third year, 2011, more private sector jobs were created than in seven of the eight years Bush was in the White House.
Even this year, after just five months, some of which have been far from adequate, the economy has added more jobs than in Bush’s first three years in office combined.
For more info see the entire blog post here: A stroll down memory lane
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
Paul Ryan’s Record on Science and Government
(from the link): Ryan is best known for his work as a member of the House Budget Committee, which he now chairs. Following a time-honored tradition, Ryan has used his post to champion annual budget blueprints designed to highlight policy differences between the two major parties on taxation and spending. These blueprints typically lack detail (as ScienceInsider’s Jeffrey Mervis noted about Ryan’s 2013 budget plan, which was released in March), aren’t enforceable, and are typically full of questionable economic assumptions. But Ryan’s plans have sparked extensive debate, especially his proposals for remaking social welfare programs, such as the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly.
The implications of his plan for federal research spending are harder to nail down, although science advocates are plenty nervous. In large part, that’s because it calls for slowing the overall growth of federal spending over the next decade, particularly in what is known as “nondefense discretionary spending.” That is the roughly 15% share of the total federal budget that includes the four biggest civilian research agencies: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and DOE’s Office of Science.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/08/paul-ryans-record-on-science-and.html
Real world examples given —
Five ways privatization is ruining America
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/17/5_ways_privatization_is_ruining_america/
Bankrupting the country is the means, privatization is the goal.
First they refuse to raise any taxes ever. Then they give corporations huge tax cuts. Next they reduce state funding to municipalities. When the local governments are broke and ineffective, they sell the public on the inefficiencies of government. Finally they sell the privatization of public assets as the effective way out.
How Women Lead Differently, And Why It Matters
(from the link): Research shows that women direct up to 90 percent of their income to community infrastructure and improvement, whereas men reinvest 30 to 40 percent of their income. The World Bank’s 2012 World Development Report finds that women with decision-making power accelerate positive development outcomes, and studies from the World Economic Forum confirm a strong correlation between an increase in gender equality and an increase in gross domestic product per capita.
It’s now universally accepted that women are proven catalysts for economic growth–they are also a leadership reserve.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3000249/how-women-lead-differently-and-why-it-matters
5 Reasons Why No Woman Should Vote for Paul Ryan
THE LIE: “We remember the president’s party had a super majority in both houses for his first two years.” — Mitt Romney
THE TRUTH: The democrats did not have a super majority in the Senate for two years! The 60th Senator, Al Franken, wasn’t sworn in until July 8, 2009, after eight months of delays due to voter recounts. Then, less than two months later Ted Kennedy passed away, and was replaced by Scott Brown in February 2010.
The democrats had a filibuster-proof “Super Majority” (which included two Independents) from the time Franken was finally seated (7/8/09) until Ted Kennedy passed away (8/25/09).
That’s about seven weeks, NOT two years!
REMEMBER: When running for governor he refused to release his taxes. When the information did finally come out it was proven he was lying! He wasn’t a resident of Mass like he said. Now, once again, we’re asked to believe a man who has proven to be untrustworthy!
(from the link): For approximately three years, our governments, the banking cabal, and the Corporate Media have assured us that they knew the appropriate approach for fixing the economies that they had previously crippled with their own mismanagement. We were told that the key was to stomp on the Little People with “austerity” in order to continue making full interest payments to the Bond Parasites — at any/all costs.
Following three years of this continuous, uninterrupted failure, Greece has already defaulted on 75% of its debts, and its economy is totally destroyed. The UK, Spain and Italy are all plummeting downward in suicide-spirals, where the more austerity these sadistic governments inflict upon their own people the worse their debt/deficit problems get. Ireland and Portugal are nearly in the same position.
Now in what may be the greatest economic “mea culpa” in history, we have the media admitting that this government/banking/propaganda-machine troika has been wrong all along. They have been forced to acknowledge that Iceland’s approach to economic triage was the correct approach right from the beginning.
What was Iceland’s approach?
continue reading —
http://www.thestreet.com/story/11665082/1/iceland-was-right-we-were-wrong-the-imf.html
If President Obama is so bad on the debt, according to the republicans, why is he the only one making spending cuts?
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White House Kills $473 Million in Earmarks
President Barack Obama’s administration eliminated $473 million in old transportation earmarks today, telling states to reallocate the money by the end of the year or lose it for good.
Old earmarks for projects that have not yet been built, from fiscal years 2003 to 2006, have been effectively nixed. Appropriations bills for those years contained a provision allowing the secretary of Transportation to make unused funds available for other projects, the administration said.
“My administration will continue to do everything we can to put Americans back to work,” Obama said in a statement. “We’re not going to let politics stand between construction workers and good jobs repairing our roads and bridges.”
“We are freeing up these funds so states can get down to the business of moving transportation projects forward and putting our friends and neighbors back to work,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla), a top critic of earmarking, issued a favorable statement to Roll Call.
“This is a good sentiment but Senate Majority Leader Reid [D-Nev.] and Speaker Boehner [R-Ohio] have the authority and responsibility to take this step. It’s also important to take the time to spend this money wisely and not throw money at projects,” Coburn said. “Still, this announcement shows how far the debate has moved toward restraint, which is a victory for the American people.”
Obama has vowed to veto bills with earmarks, but the earmarks in question predate his election.
Under the order, states must identify how they plan to use the money by Oct. 1 and obligate the money by Dec. 31.
http://www.rollcall.com/news/white_house_kills_473_million_in_earmarks-216910-1.html?pos=hatxt
Well, it looks like the war on women lost a major battle in Kansas. The New York Times calls out Brownback and the church ladies. All charges against Planned Parenthood are dropped, and it’s national news.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/us/all-charges-dropped-against-planned-parenthood-in-kansas-abortion-case.html?_r=2&smid=fb-share
Looks like Brownback and Ks AG Schmidt are not the only ones making national news for being jackass ideologues. Now Kobach, on his Hatred of Minorities national tour, is being rejected in yet another state. Could he please stay in Kansas, do his effin’ job and STFU?
Kobach shouted down in Alabama
It was anything but Sweet Home Alabama this morning for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as he went down South to defend laws he helped write cracking down on illegal immigration.
His appearance before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Birmingham did not go well as he defended laws he helped write for Arizona and Alabama.
Here’s a recount of the tumultuous meeting and the protest that broke out during his seven-minute testimony before the panel.
Read more here: http://midwestdemocracy.com/articles/kobach-shouted-down-alabama/#storylink=cpy
A protest erupted at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing on Friday, Aug. 17, 2012, on the impact of state immigration laws like Arizona’s and Alabama’s. The group of protestors stood, shouted in English and Spanish and held banners saying “undocumented” to interrupt the remarks by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who helped write Alabama’s and Arizona’s immigration laws.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/08/protest_interrupts_hearing_on.html
Kansas. As bigoted as you think. Could our entire state government be more of a national embarrassment? I don’t think so, but just when you think Kansas can’t get any dumber, it does…
I post this on the KC Star site this morning. The Eagle has banned me (six months and counting) from posting in Kansas.
For most of the past 30 years, the American economic model has been ‘trickle down.’ Now we are finding that, without demand, there is no need for ‘supply side.’ It’s as simple as that. With no demand, no amount of tax cuts and benefits for businesses is going to improve the economy.
The so-called ‘job creators’ have no reason to create jobs if there is no one that can buy the products or services that they offer.
The Republicans have succeeded in convincing a huge portion of our society that if we just give enough money to the top 5%, they will look favorably on the rest of us and give us a job. Well, it hasn’t worked and now we are paying the price for our foolishness.
We gave the economy away to the folks at the top and they put the money in a Swiss bank account.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/17/3767054/steve-kraske-the-american-dream.html#disqus_thread#storylink=cpy
I banned myself from the Eagle’s blog. That was the place to be if verbal abuse was what you were looking for. They could have given lessons in disrespecting women, in particular, but everyone was fair game. I don’t consider that a redeeming quality in the blogging experience!
The truth is, I was banned for referring to a regular Con poster by his real surname – in reply to his post that called me by my real name. I was banned – he wasn’t. Truthfully, I don’t want or need to go back there, anyway. I post a little at the Star and HuffPo and here, but mostly I just try to behave myself. That is a real big job and takes a lot of my energy.
Attention, Congressman Ryan: I am one of the women you said must not be from Iowa or Wisconsin because we did not sit back quietly, respectfully, and smile and say nothing while you lied to us during your first solo stump speech as a vice-presidential candidate at the Iowa State Fair earlier this week. Actually, I am from Iowa. I grew up here. My parents are from here. I have taught school here, in Des Moines, for 40 years.
I asked you if you were going to cut Medicare. You didn’t answer. The truth is, Congressman, I already know the answer. I know what’s in the budget you wrote, that your fellow Republicans in Congress voted for, and that your running mate, Gov. Romney, supports. I know it ends Medicare as we know it today and turns it into a voucher program that raises seniors’ costs by thousands of dollars a year and throws us on the mercy of private insurers.
And I assure you, Congressman, what I did, what those other Iowans did that day, wasn’t easy for those of us raised to be “Iowa nice.” From a young age I learned to behave in the way you alluded to, to be extremely friendly and to always assume the best of people. Over the years I’ve sat very patiently, listening to politicians, watching them dodge questions or distort answers or really just abuse the facts and I never said anything because it wouldn’t be nice, it’s not Iowa nice.
But I’m 63 years old now, I’m retired, and I’ve seen the impact of that silence. I’ve seen who really pays the price for silence and it is the poor and the middle class. I have seen the big picture – how corporate greed erodes democracy and factories take over farms. I’ve seen it all up-close and personal too, every day, for 24 years, teaching middle school in a district that serves low-income families. I have seen kids come to school in the dead of winter with no socks and kept my classroom stocked with food to make sure these kids had a fighting chance to learn when they made it, by themselves, with no one to set the alarm and no one to drive them through the snow, to school against the odds. I’ve seen their parents struggle to get off drugs and wait months, years even, for a spot in a treatment program that would give them a fighting chance to be the parents they truly want to be.
So you understand, Congressman Ryan, and Governor Romney, that when I hear you tell a crowd that you want to “help the middle class to prosper,” by cutting off the lifelines these young people need to survive – food stamps, Medicaid, public education and, yes, drug treatment, it makes my blood boil. It sends that Iowa nice thing right out the window.
I get just as angry when you talk about broadly shared prosperity, as if that’s something you believe in, when you have written and voted for plans that slash taxes on millionaires and corporations and do nothing at all for my 86-year-old aunt, whose groceries I buy half the time, because she lives on $1,400 a month, mostly from Social Security, and pays $785 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.
There’s so much more, Congressman Ryan, and Governor Romney, that makes me forget my upbringing – at least the part of my upbringing that tells me to sit back, grin and bear it, and let you lie to me and destroy people’s lives and then maybe, at most, grouse about it quietly in private. Or maybe I’m not forgetting my upbringing at all, come to think of it. Maybe I’m remembering well the lessons of generations of hardworking Iowans who value community, fairness, opportunity and kindness in the face of a mean-spirited policy of greed. A little of that Iowa nice has turned from Iowa nice, to Iowa sad, to Iowa angry and finally, to Iowa strong.
Cherie Mortice is a retired schoolteacher and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) Action Fund member from Des Moines, Iowa.
This one lone man gave Obama more respect in his actions than the entire Republican Party combined has given Obama.
And I thank you for your service, sir.
Wow.
That is definitely what respect looks like.
I know I post too many links. I seem to find written pieces, photos, YouTube videos saying what I want to say, only always said better than I ever could. This one is special. Please watch this one.
This is 92 year old Retired North Dakota District Court Trial Judge and World War II veteran, Ralph Maxwell. He has been been married for 65 years, has 6 children, and 11 grandchildren. Judge Maxwell admits that he will be voting for President Obama, as he did 4 years ago, because “he represents my political philosophy more than the other contestant does; candidate I should say.”
In the video, Judge Maxwell recites an insightful and brilliant poem that he has written about Mitt Romney.
Romney advisers confirm it: We’re running a `just trust me’ campaign
(from the link): You don’t say! Let’s step back and survey the overall picture so far.
Romney has broken with recent precedent — his father included — in refusing to release his tax returns, but he says has paid 13 percent for 10 years. (Just trust me.) Romney has not released the names of his major bundlers, but he won’t be beholden to his donors, as Obama has been. (Just trust me.) Romney vows to eliminate the deficit, and promises that his tax plan will be revenue neutral, even though he won’t say which loopholes and deductions he’d eliminate to pay for deep tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the rich. (Just trust me.) Romney says he intends to eliminate whole agencies of government, but won’t say which ones, except in closed-door meetings with donors, and even then, details are scarce. (All together now: Just trust me.)
Both Romney and Ryan have already confirmed in interviews that they see no need to share details of how his tax cuts would be paid for until after the election, when it all can be worked out with Congress. And when it comes to Romney’s vow to eliminate whole agencies and programs, Romney has freely admitted that he won’t specify which ones for the explicit reason that so doing would be politically problematic for him.
But now, in what appear to be strategic leaks designed to mollify Republicans worried about the campaign’s lack of specificity, Romney advisers are explicitly confirming that all of this is part of a grand strategy to only signal general direction to the American people. It’s a guiding idea that specifics are a political peril to be avoided. The campaign thinks sharing details about what he’d actually do as president would be politically suicidal. As Steve Benen asks: “what does it say about the merit of Romney’s policy agenda if voters are likely to recoil if they heard the whole truth?”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/romney-advisers-confirm-it-were-running-a-just-trust-me-campaign/2012/08/17/6235b23e-e88d-11e1-936a-b801f1abab19_blog.html