If you live or work in the district I think this is worth listening to. I liked what he was saying about splitting up a deputy mayor position so that it focuses not only on real estate development but business development as well. When it comes to local elections it basically comes down to economic conditions, education and crime. DC has had issues in all three of these areas. There has been some good economic development in the NW quadrant but it has not been smart growth.

I’m reminded of books like Big Box Swindle who highlight what the reliance on chain stores and big boxes does to an area. I’m also reminded of the Great American Jobs Scam by Greg LeRoy. Where he talked about how corporations and developers were getting a Free Lunch and not paying their fair share in taxes. If the Gray administration does anything to address these sorts of problems then it will be a major improvement.

Sure there has been some efforts at development in Wards 7 and 8 like the Navy Yard, but you can’t tell me that that is all the current administration has to show for development. As far as eduction goes Michelle Rhee may be Fenty’s best move, but we won’t know that for a few years. All of the painful layoffs she has made do not make her look good. For her sake and for Fenty’s her decisions better pan out.

I also liked that Gray mentioned public transportation in one his website videos on urbanism. I’d love to hear what he would do about WMATA! Chairman Gray you have got to realize we’re suffering in this regard! On a closing note isn’t it great that DC has some politics to pay attention to! There’s a tight race and all eyes are on Washington. In the past DCers probably would travel into Maryland and Virginia to get involved in campaigns. I think it is great that they have a chance to do something right where they are.

In fact, without the $2.5 billion it received in stimulus funds, Virginia would not have been able to beat the odds, according to the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.

via Virginia surplus doubles estimate – Aug. 19, 2010.

Well Bob McDonell looks good right now thanks to the stimulus money playing a major factor. Sure, VA slashed spending and cut jobs but it is ugly to balance a budget on the backs of people. As one commenter to this article said “I was a state employee who got laid off.” “I’m sure glad they saved millions of dollars.” Therein lies the rub. At least most of the money from the surplus is mandated to go and fund state needs. I’m not against fiscal responsibility but often times that means spending  on social programs gets slashed while other programs, funding and tax cuts are allowed to happen. This goes for both sides of the aisle.

Mr Simpson agreed that addressing the countrys record £155bn budget deficit was necessary, but favoured Labours approach of making the cuts over a longer period.”If you care about ordinary people, you do it over a properly planned period,” he said.He said the Conservatives should expect a backlash from voters at the next election, once the impact of the cuts had been felt.

via BBC News – Unites Derek Simpson plays down strikes threat.

The Conservatives in the UK have got to realize that making people swallow too tough a pill could possibly have consequences.

He should have really ran with that Ayn Rand Paul thing, honestly.

“As bad as it sounds, ultimately we do have to sometimes accept a wage that’s less than we had at our previous job in order to get back to work and allow the economy to get started again,” Paul said. “Nobody likes that, but it may be one of the tough love things that has to happen.”

Then Dr. Uncertified goes on to say…

U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-KY) has made opposition to the “heavy hand” of the federal government one of the hallmarks of his political ideology. Yet, despite his anti-government rhetoric, the Kentucky opthamologist has gone on record opposing cuts to the Medicare program, saying that “physicians should be allowed to make a comfortable living.”

Off to Europe with you Rand Paul! Why you’d make a better liberal/social democrat than I! Welfare for the doctors! None for the people! L’etat c’est moi!

President Obama’s top budget adviser wants federal agencies to identify “laggard programs” that they can trim as a step toward reducing spending by 5 percent. The idea is to “make it easier” to comply with the president’s plan to freeze some federal outlays for three years beginning with the 2011 federal budget.

via Obama Budget Chief Wants Agencies to Cut Spending 5 Percent.

Here’s what I never get. Fiscal conservatives and others always talk about cutting out “wasteful” government spending, smaller government and etc but never want to talk about the Department of Defense’s budget.

If you lose your job after June 1, you’ll see more than just your paycheck disappear. You also won’t get the 65% federal subsidy to cover your COBRA health insurance premium.

That’s because House Democrats last week opted not to extend the subsidy in order to bring down the cost of a jobs and tax bill winding its way through Congress. Continuing the provision through Dec. 31 would run $7.8 billion.

via No extension of federal subsidy of COBRA premiums – Jun. 6, 2010.

I’m not sure this is such a good move.

“I’m unemployed. I don’t have money to pay for medical bills,” said Stephanie Kohnke, a St. Paul, Minn. resident who lost her job in May and is waiting to be approved for the subsidy. “This is the worst time to lose that safety net.”,

COBRA let me also say it not cheap either! The premiums are still expensive.

While the Citizens United v. FEC ruling has taken a backseat to the other pressing issues of the day. I thought it interesting to see a local movement to try and stand up and fight back against the ruling.

From the Town of Greenburgh’s Democratic Committee:

WHEREAS, the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC ruled that corporate funding of candidate elections cannot be limited because corporations have the same First Amendment rights as “natural persons”; and

WHEREAS, corporations are not treated as “natural persons” in other respects under the law and have, among other advantages, limited liability privileges and favorable treatment for the accumulation and distribution of assets;

The Democratic Committee of the Town Of Greenburgh New York hereby;

RESOLVES, that it will exert all possible effort to urge the United States Congress and the New York State Legislature to pass legislation providing that all corporations which choose to exercise the privilege under Citizens United v. FEC to unlimited corporate funding of candidate elections and ballot questions have thereby waived their corporate privileges and immunities and may be treated as natural persons in all other respects.

Good for them! Now if they could get a resolution passed by the town board of Greenburgh, NY that would be another good step. The goal would be to get local municipalities throughout the state to pass similar resolutions which could then lead to a bill in Albany. Then it’s on to the US Congress!

Just because it’s a prison does not mean we treat people like animals.

Grievances have been filed about food infested with maggots*; rat droppings have also been found in prisoners’ food. The late rain may have been an annoyance to some of us, but it was flooding the women’s cells in the tower where they are held. One woman was given a plastic trash bag to deal with the leaks, which bag was soon filled with water. Another woman took to using her personal property, blankets, towels, sheets, and clothing to stuff up the leaks, all of which was soaked almost immediately. Even the ceiling of the visiting room was severely damaged by recent rain. The facility is fewer than 20 years old. In response to the complaints, the institutional grievance coordinator declared the food and flooding situations “resolved,” despite the fact that the leaks have not been fixed and the food sanitation situation is merely being “investigated.”

So Sherriff Cabral what is the deal? This place sounds so bad that MSNBC would not show this place on Lock Up!

I was getting off the escalator at Dupont Circle South this morning when I was handed a flyer by someone from the DC Sierra Club. The flyer altered me to the proposed cuts to the metro system.

• No rush hour 8-car trains
• No Yellow Line between Mount Vernon Square and Fort Totten
• No Yellow Line between King Street and DC late nights and weekends
• Longer waits for trains and buses at all times
• 30-minute waits for trains at night
• Many bus routes eliminated or shortened
• Train stations opening later — 30 minutes on weekdays, an hour on weekends
• Train stations closing earlier on weekends — as early as midnight instead of 3am
• Buses starting later in the morning and ending earlier in the evening
• Many bus routes eliminated at night or on weekends
• Closing some rail station entrances and even some stations entirely evenings and weekends

WMATA is facing a $190 million dollar budget deficit. The metro system of the nation’s capital cannot be allowed to function the way WMATA is saying it will have to function. It should not even be operating as it is now, does anyone remember what happened in the summer near the Takoma Station or the derailment of a train at Farragut North? I believe that the metro system should be federalized! It is ridiculous that it has to depend on so many municipalities for its funding.

Well the United States is calling on China to let it’s currency appreciate in value. For years it has been well known that China keeps its currency low to boost their exports to the United States and other countries. Yet when you’re in debt by an enormous amount to China this puts you in a predicament.

“In the press conference last year, I said I was a bit concerned about it,” he said. “This year, I make the same remark. I am still concerned. I hope the U.S. will take concrete measures to assure its investors.”

China makes a fair case that the United States should get its own house in order before lashing out at them. Why during the Bush years did that administration take a budget surplus and run us into the ground? Also, what about the trade deficit we face? Now all of a sudden Republicans and conservatives want to become “fiscally responsible” but they are feckless and have no clothes on. Furthermore, I’m for balancing budgets and equalizing trade deficits, but not on the backs of people. So first we need to fix the mess we’re in then you can look outward.