ProLA

Landslide?

2008-11-04T22:09:00.006-06:00

We have a new president!

Update: McCain supports booing Obama's win during McCain's speech. CLASSY.

Update2: Fantastic speech by Obama. It's all pretty unbelievable.

Update3: Obama at 349 electoral votes as of 3 am. It's looking like he'll win NC while MO and MT will be close but likely a loss. Interestingly there are some questions about Georgia, which has yet to be called by the AP due to some confusion regarding early voting ... we'll see how that goes. In other news, Al Franken is clinging to a small lead in MN with 98% reporting. Hopefully tomorrow will bring more good news.

Today's THE DAY!

2008-11-04T08:30:00.000-06:00

Get out there and vote!

"Oui, On Peut"

2008-10-31T01:36:00.000-05:00

Re: Nov. 4th Amendments

2008-10-30T17:27:00.006-05:00

I'm currently working on getting some clarification on some of these amendments. For now, I think nola.com has a fairly clear rundown (although there are a few that I'm not so sure about). Here are the Times-Picayunne (nola) recommendations:

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
AMENDMENT NO. 1: Against
AMENDMENT NO. 2: Against
AMENDMENT NO. 3: Against
AMENDMENT NO. 4: Against
AMENDMENT NO. 5: For
AMENDMENT NO. 6: For
AMENDMENT NO. 7: Against

The editorial board seems to think that the first two amendments are either unnecessary or poorly conceived, and I agree. The third amendment (replacements) seems to me to be one of the most controversial. Basically it would allow a legislator to choose his or her own temporary replacements if he or she is called away for military duty. I think this is just a terrible idea that's bound to cause problems in the future. These are elected positions we're talking about. The decision of who should fill those positions (if we're going to issue temporary replacements) should fall to the people who live in those districts. We have enough backscratching in our state government without opening yet another door. I would like more information on amendments 4, 5, and 6, although I'm inclined to agree with number 5. I'll update this post as soon as I have that information. Amendment 7 is the other big one (in my opinion). It should be a no-brainer: over the last few weeks we've all seen what can happen in the stock market. This just seems like a terrible idea and I think it's astonishing that they're putting it forward at this point in time.

So MY assessment is this:

AMENDMENT NO. 1: Against
AMENDMENT NO. 2: Against
AMENDMENT NO. 3: Against
AMENDMENT NO. 4: (need more info)
AMENDMENT NO. 5: (need more info, but likely "for")
AMENDMENT NO. 6: (need more info, but likely "against")
AMENDMENT NO. 7: Against

November 4th Election - La. Amendments

2008-10-28T14:40:00.002-05:00

PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

Term Limits for Members of State Boards and Commissions

A vote FOR would impose term limits for members of certain state boards and commissions.

A vote AGAINST would continue to allow members of certain state boards and commissions to be elected or appointed for an unlimited number of terms.

Time Limits for Calling Special Sessions

A vote FOR would require that the call for a special legislative session be issued at least seven calendar days prior to the start of the session.

A vote AGAINST would continue the requirement that the call for a special legislative session be issued at least five days prior to the start of the session.

Temporary Successors for Legislators Ordered to Active Military Duty

A vote FOR would allow the Legislature to appoint a temporary successor for any legislator called to active military duty that prevents performance of the duties of office.

A vote AGAINST would continue to require districts to be without representation in the case of their elected legislator being called away to active military duty and refusing to resign.

State Severance Taxes to Parishes

A vote FOR would dedicate additional state severance taxes to parishes of origin, restrict the use of a portion of these funds, and dedicate a portion of severance taxes collected on state lands to the Atchafalaya Basin Conservation Fund.

A vote AGAINST would maintain the maximum amount of severance tax revenue that has to be paid by the state to parishes at $850,000, adjusted annually for inflation.

Transfer of Special Property Tax Assessment Level

A vote FOR would allow homeowners to transfer any special property tax assessment level to their new homes when their property is sold to or expropriated by the state, federal or local government.

A vote AGAINST would continue to prohibit the transfer of special property tax assessment levels to new properties.

Re-Sale of Certain Expropriated Property

A vote FOR would remove the requirement that public authorities first offer expropriated property back to its prior owner before the property can be sold to a third party if the property was taken to remove a threat to public health or safety and was held for less than 30 years. It also would remove the requirement that such property be sold by public bid and eliminate the opportunity for certain property owners to challenge surplus takings.

A vote AGAINST would maintain the same re-sale requirements for property taken to remove a threat to public health and safety as for property taken for other public purposes.

Investment of Non-Pension Benefit Trusts

A vote FOR would allow public funds reserved for non-pension, post-employment benefits to be invested in stocks.

A vote AGAINST would continue to prohibit public funds reserved for non-pension, post-employment benefits from being invested in stocks.

"Obama Bucks"

2008-10-16T13:11:00.004-05:00

GOP mailer puts Obama's face on foodstamps:

The latest newsletter by an Inland Republican women's group depicts Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama surrounded by a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken, prompting outrage in political circles.

The October newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated says if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps -- instead of dollar bills like other presidents. The statement is followed by an illustration of "Obama Bucks" -- a phony $10 bill featuring Obama's face on a donkey's body, labeled "United States Food Stamps."

Add it to the list ...

538 Profiles Louisiana

2008-10-15T01:58:00.003-05:00

From the Road to 270 series:

CAJUN BAYOU TABASCO RED, Louisiana appears this year to be on pace to break its streak of supporting every presidential winner since 1972. Since 2004, Huey Long's home state has been ravaged by hurricane damage and lost a significant segment of its population. It's also seen political scandals and widespread graft in the FEMA rebuilding effort, so the relationship with politics may be a little skewed and hard to be certain of how the effect will play in Louisiana, land of Avery Island red gold.

More here

Another "Kill Him!"

2008-10-14T15:04:00.007-05:00

Coverage of a Palin rally, by the Times-Tribune in Scranton:

Chris Hackett addressed the increasingly feisty crowd as they await the arrival of Gov. Palin.

Each time the Republican candidate for the seat in the 10th Congressional District mentioned Barack Obama the crowd booed loudly.

One man screamed "kill him!"

Update: It continues to go beyond just words as today an Obama campaign office in South Philadelphia received a mail threat containing a white powder (later determined to be sugar). How many incidents are we up to again? Here are a few:

McCain rallies emphasize Barack *Hussein* Obama.

Local McCain campaign chair authors a racist column in a small newspaper:

Supporter shouts "Terrorist!" in response to McCain's question "Who is the real Barack Obama?"

McCain's running mate works up a mob to the point where someone shouts out "Kill Him!"

PA GOP calls Obama "terrorists best friend."

Someone at another Palin rally screams "Treason!"

Here's a video shot at another rally.

"Bomb Obama" shouted at down-ticket dabate:

Louisiana man arrested after threatening to shoot election officials ... said he had to "keep the nigger out of office."

Someone sets fire to an Obama sign in African-American family's front yard.

Attacks on Michelle Obama through Ayers.

Trying to place blame for economic crisis on blacks ... then tying that to Obama and mythical election fraud.

A number of incidents of violence against American Muslims which may or may not be connected to campaign tensions.

VA GOP chair give volunteers talking points on "the connection" between Obama and Osama bin Laden.

And of course the infamous monkey guy, seen here and here.

And the sad thing is that I know I've left out many more ...

update: uggh

update 2: GOP mailer puts Obama's face on a foodstamps.

Campbell Brown

2008-10-14T13:04:00.001-05:00

I Can Only Imagine What Things Are Like In New York

2008-10-10T08:46:00.001-05:00

I don't know if I've mentioned before that the accounting firm that I work for merged with a financial services and wealth management firm and now a number of the CPAs in the office do extensive work of that nature. The focus of many of our top tax people has shifted from tax work to wealth management. This shift was made much at the same time that we moved into a new building, our office being on the third floor now as opposed to the first, like we were before.

We have a pretty large office and it has two sides: an audit side and a tax/wealth management side. I sit on the tax/wealth management side, right in the middle of the top wealth management guys.

With the stock market looking something like this over the last month:

I've heard A LOT of jokes about people throwing themselves out of windows or climbing to the roof to jump.

I bet the jokes on Wall Street have an especially morbid tone these days.

More Racism, More Hate ... This Time in Louisiana

2008-10-09T14:42:00.005-05:00

A 75 year old man from Louisiana threatened to shoot election officials over a delay in receiving his registration card. Why so angry? Well apparently he needed to vote so that he could "keep the nigger out of office."

Affidavit here.

Keep doing us proud you assholes.

Update: Obama sign set on fire in (African-American) supporters' front yard (NY).

More of This Please

2008-10-08T10:04:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal published an excellent article on the financial crisis and how it affects the average person.

This is what I've struggled with through the breaking news of this crisis. I knew it was a crisis because everyone kept telling me that it was, and I knew that we may be heading into a recession or a depression and I know how THOSE things affect me, but I never saw the correlation of the the financial market crisis and its direct relationship to my life. This article helps to break it down.

Why This 'Credit Crisis' Hits Everyone

LaBruzzo Gets the Boot

2008-10-07T09:59:00.004-05:00

That Louisiana state representative who was all psyched about introducing a eugenics policy has been removed from his position in the House Health and Welfare Committee.

McCain Campaign and Hateful Rhetoric

2008-10-07T09:03:00.014-05:00

Local McCain campaign chair authoring racist columns in small newspapers ...

Supporters at a rally, egged on by McCain, shout that Obama is a "Terrorist!" and McCain says nothing...

Supporter at a Palin rally shouts "Kill him!"
after she all but calls Obama a terrorist herself ...

How far does this go?

Update: Milbank column notes that Palin's crowd is growing increasingly aggressive towards reporters, now shouting obscenities—and in at least one case it's racist.

2nd Update: Now it's someone at another Palin rally yelling "Treason!"

3rd Update: The Secret Service is looking into the "Kill Him!" threat.

4th Update: In addition to "Sit down, Boy," the words "Uppity Negro" were used.

Bush/Palin

2008-10-05T00:56:00.001-05:00

Bold Progressives

2008-10-04T17:48:00.002-05:00

Bloggers pushing a more progressive agenda within the Democratic Party:

This week, Democrats helped George W. Bush and Republicans loot the federal treasury and hand billions over to Wall Street.

For some reason, we can never find money for kids' health care, clean energy, or other progressive priorities. But when it comes to right-wing priorities like war and giveaways to failed Wall Street executives, Republicans always find the money and Democrats go along.

There were progressive solutions to the financial crisis that would have truly held Wall Street accountable and helped the middle class. But instead of fighting for a bold progressive alternative, Democrats caved to the least popular president in history.

ENOUGH. Anyone with common sense will vote for Barack Obama and Democratic congressional candidates this November. But it's time for citizens to fight back and take this pledge -- will you join in signing it?

http://boldprogressives.org/

Religulous Censorship

2008-10-03T17:14:00.010-05:00

So Lafayette theaters are passing on "Religulous." It's pathetic that the local faiths are so feeble that they can't stand up to comedic criticism, but fine. What ticks me off is the recent advertising blitz for "An American Carol," and the fact that it is being shown here. If the decision to not show "Religulous" is due to economic reasons, I can understand that. But is "An American Carol" really going to bring in big bucks with a whopping THREE showtimes? It's looking more like censorship from where I'm sitting.

So I'm disappointed in the other local theaters—but as for Carmike 10, they've lost all future ticket purchases from this guy.

And I'm left wondering whether or not Oliver Stone's "W." will get the same treatment.

How to Debate Like a VP

2008-10-03T16:31:00.003-05:00

Credit to adennak at DailyKos.

Google Gets It

2008-10-02T13:49:00.003-05:00

Google announces a plan to greatly reduce U.S. dependence on coal and oil by 2030.

Full proposal here.

2008-10-01T10:25:00.003-05:00

I don't usually like to post email forwards that I receive, but this one is at least interesting in light of the subprime crisis.

This is a NY Times article published in 1999; actually nine years ago, yesterday. The article is being floated around the internet in the form of an email forward in a slightly edited form. A few sentences and paragraphs have been omitted from the email version which do not change the message of the article entirely, but seem to have been removed in an attempt to rest the blame for today's crisis solely on the Clinton Administration. Certainly that administration had some part in it, but as the actual article illustrates, there were other interest groups who pushed for the policy change.

Emphasis is added by me.

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
Published: September 30, 1999

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.

Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.

In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.

Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

It's this kind of thing that is floated around on the internet that drives me nuts. The first thing I did when I received this email was to check out Snopes to find out if this was a hoax or not. When I found no entries with related search terms there, I went to the New York Times website and began a search there. Sure enough I found the original article and read through it, only to discover the omissions that, while seemingly harmless, change the tone of the article from one which is warning of the possibility of the need for a bailout of Fannie Mae to one which lays blame on the Clinton Administration alone for the current crisis. The message is subtle, but it is there and it is misinformation.

If anyone would like to read the edited, email version I received for comparison purposes, feel free to email me at Luke.Sonnier@gmail.com.

LaBruzzo

2008-09-28T12:09:00.004-05:00

Update from ThinkProgress:

Last month, Louisiana state Rep. John LaBruzzo (R) announced a plan “to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied,” along with “tax incentives for college-educated, higher-income people to have more children.” He predicted that people would “get excited” about his idea. After intense public backlash, however, he was removed yesterday from his position as vice chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee. House Speaker Jim Tucker (R) said Labruzzo’s comments “impeded his abilities to help lead critical health-care reform.”

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton Video

2008-09-18T15:18:00.000-05:00

W Pulls An All-Nighter

2008-09-13T00:19:00.002-05:00

So apparently The Procrastinator wants Bin Laden by Nov. 4th. Wonder what that's all about...

Update:

KEY corps commanders of Pakistan's 600,000-strong army issued orders last night to retaliate against "invading" US forces that enter the country to attack militant targets.

... wonderful.

Bush Doctrine?

2008-09-12T00:25:00.002-05:00

And do we really need to run the risk of electing John McCain when (should he pass) we could end up with four more years of a president who says "nukular."

Obama on Letterman

2008-09-10T23:37:00.006-05:00

Barack Obama had a fantastic appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight. He was astute, charming, confident, down-to-earth, and seemed very—very—comfortable. I just don't see how anybody can claim that they are unable to relate to him after seeing a performance like this. He moved back and forth between political, biographical, and family discussions with ease, addressing many themes without coming off as condescending or overbearing. By now everyone is aware of his ability to address large crowds with power and eloquence, but performances like these show just how flexible—how artful—a communicator he really is.

Here's a link to Letterman's website.

I'll embed a video as soon as one is available