The National Football League has designated Tampa Bay and Arizona as the two final competitors vying to land the 2015 Super Bowl.
League spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed Thursday the NFL has informed the Bay area and Glendale, Ariz., they are the only two regions still in the running for the next available Super Bowl. Both suitors are required to submit formal bids before league owners vote in October at the NFL's fall meetings.
If Tampa is chosen, this would be the fifth Super Bowl for the city. Tampa's first Super Bowl was in 1984.
As if Citizens United, which unleashed unlimited piles of cash for donations to influence political campaigns wasn't bad enough, yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court dealt yet another blow to actual "citizens" and gave businesses another big advantage over consumers. Just like the Citizens United ruling, you can thank the "Bush five" ( John G. Roberts Jr., Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Antonin Scalia) for stacking the deck against individuals in favor of those big donor corporations.
This time the ruling deals with class action lawsuits, and potentially helps corporations avoid them altogether. The case involves a California couple, AT&T Mobility, and an objection to a $30 charge for what was supposed to be a free cellphone. Because of a contract the couple signed, they were forced to resolve any disputes against AT&T Mobility through arbitration.
The couple sought class action treatment, and a lower court allowed the case to go forward. In the Supreme Court ruling yesterday, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the lower court "failed to properly apply the Federal Arbitration Act, which overrides some state court decisions disfavoring arbitration."
What does that mean for consumers? Well, it's not good:
Though the decision concerned arbitrations, it appeared to provide businesses with a way to avoid class-action lawsuits in court. All they need do, the decision suggested, is use standard-form contracts that require two things: that disputes be raised only through the informal mechanism of arbitration and that claims be brought one by one.
“The decision basically lets companies escape class actions, so long as they do so by means of arbitration agreements,” Brian T. Fitzpatrick, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, said. “This is a game-changer for businesses. It’s one of the most important and favorable cases for businesses in a very long time.”
Put another way, it basically says a business can force consumers to sign a contract that would bar them from filing any class action against that company, which in turn protects the company from liability. If you want to do business with companies requiring that you sign such an agreement, you're stuck. The company now has unfair advantage over you to do whatever they choose, say like charging you huge "fees" hidden in the fine print for a "free" product, like the couple who filed the original suit in California.
Sure, you have the option of not doing business with any company who requires that you sign away your rights, but think about that. What company would be left to you that hadn't jumped on board with a contract that would give them carte blanche with consumers rights? Corporations are in business to profit. What company would say "well, we really shouldn't require an unfair contract against an individual that would be advantageous to our bottom line. Let's give the little guy a break?" With all the money that is literally being bled into political campaigns even as I write this blog post, what are the chances of that happening?
Right. Zilch.
Welcome to the new world of corporate domination. Since Republicans and the Bush Administration have succeeded in politicizing virtually every branch of government all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, you, the voter and consumer, are just plain screwed. Citizens United merely opened the floodgates.
Still think your "one little vote" in an election doesn't matter?
Here is a look behind the scenes at how Republican Allen West "chooses" what questions will be asked at his town hall meetings.
As the video shows, the West staff doesn't want to get bogged down by the whole "back and forth" of spontaneous questions from constituents, which only leads to pesky follow up questions. They're just not into the whole "town hall" format.
Team of Florida Republican Tea Party favorite, Allen West, gets caught cheating. After facing some tough Town Hall questioning from Broward & Palm Beach County residents during first first months in office, the controversial freshman congressman went for a Town Hall "makeover" that turns out to be all "Fix". At April 27, 2011 Town Hall in Boca Raton, FL, West's Chief of Staff goes on record lying about the "fresh approach" to Question & Answer time...
Remember last year during the health care fight when the media reported on the "angry mobs" at town hall meetings all over the country?
Remember also that these "plain folks who were outraged over a potential government take over of health care" were really bused in and in some cases paid by groups attempting to hijack the Tea Party "movement," and to use manufactured outrage to disrupt the meetings?
Well, that was last year.
This year there are more of those town hall meetings, and there are plenty of angry people again too. The difference this year is these people aren't bused in, paid, or scripted by those "Tea Party" lobbyists. They're real people who are armed with more facts than the congressmen have talking points and colorful pie charts in which to muddy them with.
This year they're angry not over a manufactured, mythical government takeover of health care ("Hands Off My Medicare!"), they're angry at a real GOP proposal to take away Medicare and health care as they know it. They aren't fooled by the sales pitch they're getting from their congressmen, and they're confronting them with it.
And those Republicans don't like it.
Last week, Paul "Ayn Rand Is My Mentor" Ryan was booed at his first town hall, where he was confronted by people who (surprise!) don't care for replacing Medicare with Ryan's "throw them a bone voucher" in order to fork over yet more tax cuts for big corporations who are already either paying very little taxes or none at all, getting refunds, subsidies, and oh by the way, busily NOT creating all those jobs the Bush tax cuts promised oh those many years ago.
Problem.
This week there have been a couple memorable town halls, which are actually getting some media attention. Two of them were in Florida.
The first was in Alan Grayson's former district, this time represented by Daniel Webster who defeated Grayson in last year's election. You'll recall that Grayson was defeated in part because he dared to speak the truth about the GOP health care plan. Grayson gave a speech on the House floor, where he said:
"The Republican health care plan: don't get sick," he said. But, he added,"The Republicans have a back up plan in case you do get sick ... This is what the Republicans want you to do. If you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly!"
This description immediately caused the GOP, the media, and some Democrats to fan themselves and head for the fainting couches faster than one could say "but he's right." He was. Read that quote again and see if you can see any difference from the Ryan plan for Medicare. Don't get sick, because if you do, well good luck finding insurance with that coupon! (As if any health insurance company would even insure them in the first place.) That being said, because Democrats are labeled as radicals for speaking the truth about what the GOP is really up to, for that offense Grayson was in part swept out of office and replaced with a real radical, Daniel Webster.
Webster's first town hall since Ayn Ryan...I'm sorry, PAUL Ryan unveiled his fantasy based, math free "budget plan" took place yesterday. Webster was busy reciting his scripted talking points to the crowd with his little charts and graphs when he was challenged by constituents who were armed with facts. This is what happened:
Problem.
GOP New Town Hall Rule 1. Facts are not permitted.
Now we move on to another of yesterday's town hall meetings held by Allen West who makes Dan Webster look almost down right normal. Almost. West has never been a "fact" person and he tends to make up his own reality as he goes along. However, yesterday according to reports, he did admit to one fact: This years town halls are more heated than last year. He just chooses to pretend it's for different reasons.
“The natives are restless. You go up and you whack a hornet’s nest,” he said.
Well, sure. If those "restless natives" are senior citizens, or those who will be in the near future, who want health care, and if that "hornet's nest" is being "whacked" by members of the media asking actual fact-based questions rather than those collected and screened "George W. Bush style" at the door prior to the meeting. Those natives and whackers of hornets nests would be dealt with, as West pointed out himself:
“You’re not going to intimidate me,” West said.
West is certainly a man of his word, and in his little corner of GOP style Democracy, those who dare to ask impromptu questions will be...arrested:
One protester was just arrested at Congressman Allen West’s Fort Lauderdale town hall meeting.
Nicole Sandler of Coral Springs interrupted when West was explaining the Republican position on Medicare.
Sandler shouted a question, which prompted responses from other audience members: “Shut up lady.”
She didn’t stop. As people recorded the scene with their camera phones, she was escorted out by a Fort Lauderdale police officer.
Sandler objected to being asked to leave, arguing with the officer as he escorted her out, including emphatically cursing at him. Ultimately he arrested her for “trespass after warning” and transferred her to another police officer who took Sandler away.
Problem.
GOP New Town Hall Rule 2. You May Ask Questions Only If You Don't Mind Spending At Least One Night In Jail. Bring Your Toothbrush.
So there is a glimpse of what democracy looks like in the new world of the Right Wing-Nuts who have become today's Republican Party. Facts have rarely been tolerated by the GOP in the past either, it's just that now there will be no debate. Rather than asking questions based on actual facts, you will be stripped of your rights and silly luxuries like Medicare, and you will sit quietly while your future is quite possibly destroyed so that the rich might buy another yacht with gold-plated fixtures so they can sail to one of their private islands where they can bide their time sipping cocktails garnished with swizzle sticks topped with tiny plastic senior citizens and poor children as they keep the fire pits stoking with $100 bills.
And you will like it. Or else.
Yes, the GOP are learning a new lesson this year. Life just isn't scripted, and there are only so many gullible, bad actors willing to get on the bus and protest against their own best interests.
One year after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the oil is not gone. You may not see it, but it's there. Unfortunately it's not going anywhere, and it's likely that offshore drilling in the Gulf Of Mexico will be "business as usual" again soon.
On Tuesday Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida would not be joining the other Gulf states in a lawsuit against Transocean. His latest response when asked why was "“It’s not in our best interest to be involved in somebody else’s litigation.”
Someone else's litigation? It's someone else's litigation because Rick Scott, on behalf of Florida, said no thanks. Apparently in Scott's mind Florida was just "tragedy adjacent?" That makes about as much sense as Scott taking credit for last week's drop in unemployment numbers in Florida, merely because he happened to be in the state at the time.
Unfortunately it isn't just Rick Scott, with his just trust me approach to oil companies, that's making things easier for them. The republican party is naturally doing their part to lend them a hand and grease the wheels.
BP's PAC is back in business and making contributions as if the oil "spill" and the deaths of 11 crew members never happened, and (spoiler alert!) for the most part, the GOP is still big oil's BFF.
In March, BP's PAC cut checks primarily for Republican House leaders and Republican Party committees. These include:
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), who received $1,000, is the influential chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who received a $5,000 contribution from the BP PAC, is perhaps the most influential Republican on Capitol Hill because of his capacity as House speaker
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), also a beneficiary of $5,000, is the House Majority Whip
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) received $5,000. Upton is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and received more than $100,000 in contributions from the oil and gas industry during the 2010 election cycle
Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) is the sole Democrat to receive BP PAC money this quarter. His contribution totaled $3,000. Visclosky is a member of the Committee on Appropriations and is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
On March 1, BP's PAC also doled out $5,000 to both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The Center for Responsive Politics reports that BP's usual donation amounts, not surprisingly, dropped in 2010 right after the oil spill and stayed that way until March.
But wait, there's more!
Just when you thought the worst thing the GOP did since winning control of the House was making arguably the most mathematically challenged member they could find the House Budget Committee Chair, you were wrong.
Not only does Paul Ryan want to virtually destroy Medicare as we know it, and make those Bush tax cuts bigger, or permanent, with the money he'll save courtesy of older Americans, he wants to extend a large chunk of them to some of Bush's favorite recipients. As much as the news media wanted you to believe that Ryan's budget plan was "bold" and exciting, it was really just recycled. It seems the GOP doesn't frown on "green" policies as long as they involve recycling money.
House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed FY 2012 budget resolution is a backward-looking plan that would benefit big oil companies at the expense of middle-class Americans. It retains $40 billion in Big Oil tax loopholes while completely eliminating investments in the clean energy technologies of the future that are essential for long-term economic growth.
This budget would lock Americans into paying high, volatile energy prices. It would ensure that millions of clean energy jobs are created oversees–not here in the United States. It is a path backward to Bush-Cheney Big Oil energy policies that cost jobs and harm American competitiveness. In short, the Ryan plan ensures that we lose the high-stakes competition for the $2 trillion worldwide clean tech market.
Ryan claims in an April 4 Wall Street Journal op-ed that his plan “rolls back expensive handouts for uncompetitive sources of energy, calling instead for a free and open marketplace for energy development, innovation and exploration.” This is false. Ryan’s proposal actually violates his assertion in two ways. It maintains wasteful subsidies for Big Oil, while cutting valuable investments in the clean energy technologies of the future.
The above just scratches the surface of the nightmares in Paul Ryan's budget plan as it pertains to energy policy, so I would encourage you to read the entire article. It's not just oil drilling, and it's not just Florida and the Gulf. But Rick Scott, Paul Ryan and the GOP among others, hope that we'll turn a blind eye, buy what they're selling us, and "just trust them."
The oil is far from gone, and when the oil companies like BP say "We're bringing oil to American shores" they mean it.
They're also getting plenty of help from their friends.
GOP blowhard, auto enthusiast, and ironic chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Darrell Issa chose the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to demonstrate that he is indeed one of the sleaziest, most arrogant politicians in Washington D.C., and possibly of the free world. (For anyone not familiar with Issa's background, you can catch up here, if you have the stomach for it, and lots of time on your hands.)
Issa, in all his self-important, pompous bluster, also used the occasion to take part in one of the GOP's favorite sports, Obama-bashing, while also misrepresenting the facts, as any chairman of an oversight committee from his side of the aisle would:
(Actual job-crushing, time wasting Tweet)
As Think Progress pointed out, Issa has been busy not overseeing the oil "spill" himself. I"m guessing that would take too much time away from fund-raising, being swooned by lobbyists, cruising auto dealerships, and blasting out falsehoods via social media...or something..?
Under his chairmanship, Issa’s committee has held not a single hearing to investigate one of most devastating corporate crimes in American history, although even he admitted in March that the oil spill commission established by the president found “a degree of negligence by BP, its partners, and regulators that can only be called shameful.”
I suppose politicizing the deaths of the oil rig workers is just par for the course, coming from the guy who claimed 9-11 was "just a plane crash."
It's fitting that Issa uses a cartoon Keystone Kop lookalike avatar for his Twitter account.
Florida Governor Rick "Run The Government Like A Business" Scott chose the eve of the one year anniversary of the BP oil spill to give Transocean, the business, a break by announcing that Florida won't join the other Gulf states in a lawsuit against the company, just as he had hinted last week:
Scott told reporters at the event that he saw no need for a lawsuit."I'm very comfortable that my discussion so far with BP is that they're going to continue to do the right thing," he said.
“It doesn’t make sense that the state join that lawsuit. We have a plan to make sure our state is treated fairly with regards getting reimbursed by British Petroleum for the damages done to our state,” Scott told reporters on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the oil rig blast that spewed 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Scott spoke with reporters at Eastern Shipbuilding in Allenton, outside Panama City, where he and the Florida Cabinet will meet later this afternoon. The governor is in the Panhandle for a two-day swing as the region’s cheerleader-in-chief, coinciding with a $30 million marketing effort paid for by BP to the seven Gulf Coast counties hardest hit by the oil disaster.
Scott added that hopefully the state will just settle with BP rather than going to court. Or in Scott's words:
“That would be utopia,” Scott said of reaching an agreement with the oil giant.
Speaking as someone who has had to go to court over his business practices more than once, I suppose that would be "utopia." Unfortunately, there are many in the state whose businesses and livelihoods have suffered because of the oil spill. Florida isn't a "business" and Scott isn't its CEO.
...the goal of the governor and Attorney General Pam Bondi is to use the Oil Pollution Act to obtain damages from BP and its partners, Transocean and Halliburton, but will not join the multi district lawsuit against Transocean in a New Orleans federal court, which has a filing deadline of Wednesday.
"Regardless of what other state’s are doing, the attorney general and the governor are focused on getting the maximum recovery for Florida’s taxpayers in the shortest possible time and we believe that the best way to do that is through the Oil Pollution Act claims process and, if necessary, filing litigation against BP," Muñiz said.
Scott and Bondi have come under criticism for not pursuing the lawsuit against the rig operator. Steve Yerrid, a Tampa attorney who served as special counsel on the oil spill to Scott’s predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist, said the state has a solid claim against Transocean and the governor is obligated to get all the money it can for Florida taxpayers.
Scott recently came under scrutiny for conflict of interest over his shares in his family's health care chain, Solantic, which he had transferred to his wife. He subsequently sold those shares to an investment firm, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe last week.
A nearly $20.4 million investment in Drives Acquisition LLC. He created the company to purchase Drives LLC, a manufacturer of mechanical chains, in 2008. The company’s markets include North America and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
Drives, LLC, is a company that makes chains and drills for oil exploration. But he said he doesn't sit on the company's board and has pledged to put his investments in a blind trust if elected.
