Last Call For Liberals And Chris Bag O' Donuts

Chuck Pierce tries to figure out why almost a third of liberals voted for the Jersey Devil on Tuesday.

31 percent.

That's the number of the night, people.

That's the percentage of self-identified "liberals" that voted for Chris Christie, essentially endorsing the idea that he should run for president of the United States, since that was the real purpose of the New Jersey gubernatorial election yesterday. It certainly wasn't about who's going to be the governor of New Jersey, since Big Chicken is eighty-eight-and-out-the-gate as soon as the dust clears from next autumn's midterms, if not sooner. (All that talk about "Washington" in his acceptance speech was a pretty clear indication that the man has his travelin' shoes on already.) No, as soon as it was determined by the strategic geniuses in the Democratic party that Barbara Buono would be fed to the woodchipper -- and good on her for calling the duplicitous bastards on it last night -- the only issue in the election became whether or not you think Chris Christie should run for president. And 31 percent of the liberals who voted assented to that proposition. How the hell did that happen on a night when the state also kicked him squarely in the nuts by overwhelmingly reversing his veto of an increase in the minimum wage, a veto that is the perfect expression of everything Chris Christie stands for as a politician? If you want to know why actual liberalism continues to be a dead parrot in our politics, and why the only real political dynamic in the country revolves around a choice over whether we will drift slowly to the right or stampede headlong in that direction, look to that number.

BooMan, being from Jersey, explains that no, that wasn't it at all.

I am going to get myself in trouble talking about Chris Christie and New Jersey. First, you have to understand what it was like for a New Jerseyan to see the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, particularly down at the shore. I don't know what to compare it to, except maybe to how New Yorkers (and New Jerseyans) felt when the Twin Towers were suddenly missing from the Manhattan skyline. Maybe if Fenway Park were lifted up and thrown into Boston Harbor, then Bostonians would know how it felt. 

So, when Governor Christie started his "Stronger Than the Storm" ad campaign, it was a very feel-good moment. There he was, down at the shore, assuring us that we are going to rebuild it, that we'd get through it, that we were strong enough to overcome the devastation. It's what we wanted to hear. It's what we needed to hear. And it made everyone, including Christie's ardent political opponents, feel more favorably disposed to him. He wasn't talking about birth certificates and ACORN and Solyndra and Benghazi. He was working with the administration to get shit done.

That's what Charles Pierce doesn't get. But he'd feel the same way about Governor Mitt Romney if he was rebuilding Fenway Park. That's why so many self-described liberals voted for Christie. But it's also why the ad campaign was ethically dubious. Because it was financed with federal disaster-relief dollars. And Rand Paul is correct to raise questions about the appropriateness of a politician appearing in those kinds of ads in an election year. I think Paul opposes the ads regardless of who appears in them, because his tiny brain cannot understand the valuable role of marketing in reviving a destroyed tourism industry. But I agree with him that Christie got an unfair advantage in his reelection campaign by featuring himself and his family in feel-good advertisements that he didn't have to finance.

What I know is there's a lot of people who want to set up Chris Christie as the next McCain or Romney.  They think he can win nationally.  Of course, McCain and Romney both lost.  So the perception of Christie depends on whether or not you see him as national (as Chuck thinks there nothing local as Christie will resign to run in 2016) or local as BooMan does (and Christie knows he has no shot nationally and wants to go out on top).

Pierce has a point, but if Christie is the savior in 2016 and everyone "knew" Romney was going to lose, why didn't he "save" the party in 2012? 

What's different now?  Tea party still hates the guy.  He's still a bully and a jackass.  That'll play in New England, but not in Iowa or blood red South Carolina.

We'll see, but given where the GOP is now, Christie's heading directly for the fate of the last two Republicans who ran for President.

Mississippi To Hagel: Drop Dead

The SCOTUS decision on DOMA and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's Pentagon directive requiring all states to issue ID cards allowing same-sex National Guard couples to claim federal marriage benefits apparently doesn't matter to Mississippi that much.  Their response to Hagel?  Begins with F, ends with "and the horse you rode in on."

“We must continue to abide by the state constitution, and we will continue to refer applicants to active duty installations in Mississippi,” Mississippi National Guard spokesman Tim Powell said. 

Mississippi and the other states won’t provide the ID cards but will refer same-sex couples to federal installations to receive the identification. 

Mick Bullock, a spokesman for Gov. Phil Bryant, said Mississippi’s position is in line with state law. 

“The Mississippi Constitution clearly defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman and expressly prohibits the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions,” Bullock said.

This is a losing battle, of course.  It was 50 years ago, and 150 years ago.

But Mississippi College Law Professor Matt Steffey said, “The most basic principle of our system of constitutional government is that federal laws trump state laws whenever the two conflict. So, certainly, the federal law prevails over the Mississippi law.” 

Steffey said the text of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution requires that all state legislators and executive and judicial officers take an oath to support the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.

Why, it's our old friend, Mr. Supremacy Clause!  So good luck with this one, guys.  Nice way to waste taxpayer money too when you decide to take this to court and lose, too.

Enjoy the cultural inevitability, boys.

New Guy's A Bit Of A Douche

Cincinnati Mayor-elect John Cranley is wasting no time in pushing his promise to kill the city's streetcar project, twice approved by voters, and making friends with streetcar supporters.

The argument over Cincinnati’s streetcar didn’t end with mayor-elect John Cranley’s decisive victory in Tuesday’s mayoral election, but Cranley has a clear advantage in the fight.

“They should immediately stop spending,” Cranley told reporters at his first post-election news conference at his Hyde Park home. “I mean, seriously, look who got elected yesterday. This is a democracy.”

The current city administration shouldn’t be “agitating voters” by continuing the project, Cranley said, maintaining that when the costs of future streetcar operating costs are added up, the costs of stopping are far less than continuing the project.

Of course, Captain Dick Move here left out the part where "agitated voters" approved the streetcar project on ballot measures not once, but twice.  And the cost to the city to cancel the project now may far exceed the cost of finishing it.

The city has spent more than $23 million on the project to date and would have to return $44 million in federal funding if it cancels the project. Cranley said he planned to speak with White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett today about using the federal funding for something else. But $25 million of the funding, by law, must go toward public transit projects, so changing its use would take an act of Congress.

The city also said that the federal money already spent — about $2 million — would have to be paid back using city operating funds instead of capital funds set aside for the streetcar project. That would make the city’s budget deficit for next year even worse.

Before the election, Cranley dismissed that possibility.

“Who said this? Some kid? What citation did they cite to make this absurd argument?” he asked. “If the federal funds are paying for something, presumably capital-related, and we’re paying them back, in essence, buying the goods that the federal government paid for, and that good is a capital good. So of course the capital budget can be used. The city’s allowed to build a road and tear up the road. Just because we don’t end up using the road doesn’t mean we can’t consider it a capital expense.”

So not only is Cranley an asshole, he's ignorant too.  And good luck getting this past the GOP House, John Boehner representing precisely zero people in Cincinnati itself.

Of course, there's the possibility that all the contractors working on the project now, and the organizations who backed it, will simply sue the pants off the city.

The city will have spent $26 million on the project by the time new leadership takes over at City Hall on Dec. 1, according to an Enquirer analysis. It could cost the city another $5 million if it loses a lawsuit against Duke Energy over utility relocation – and more litigation could be forthcoming from contractors and streetcar supporters.

“There has definitely been a buzz in the community about litigation,” said Over-the-Rhine resident Derek Bauman, co-chairman of Cincinnatians for Progress, a streetcar advocacy group. “Whatever we would have to do. I think it would be a huge mistake to stop the project – one the city could not recover from.”

So yes, Cranley's not only wanting Mark Mallory to pronounce the project dead now (in a giant screw you to streetcar supporters) but he's picking a fight that will almost certainly drag on for years and cost taxpayers more.

And did I mention he wants to put in a downtown shuttle system instead?

"The reality is that the people behind the streetcar have great love for this city. They want what I want – a vibrant, 24/7 downtown, Over-the-Rhine, and Banks. I think Hop on Cincinnati (a proposed trackless trolley) and things of that nature like downtown Denver – no one’s accusing Denver of being behind the times. And they’ve got a similar kind of thing. I think starting to work on something that’s affordable is something that can help unite the city."

Which he would have to get approved with two new Republicans on city council.  Awesome.  This guy is a piece of work.

StupidiNews!

• A general cease-fire in Burma may mean the beginning of the end of the world's longest-running civil war.
• Police are now looking to bring charges against a Detroit man for shooting and killing a 19-year-old black woman who knocked on his door, seeking help, after an auto accident.
• A US Navy Commander is the third officer to face charges of accepting bribes and prostitutes from a Singapore-based Pentagon contractor.
• Twitter's stock offering goes public today at $26 a share, and that means many founders and employees with stock options are now millionaires on paper, at least.
• It's the end of an era as parent company Dish Network will close all remaining 300 Blockbuster Video stores by the end of next year.

Last Call For That Stopped Clock Being Right And All

Today's contestant:  Joan Walsh.

No, no link.  Not for Joan Walsh, and double not for Joan Walsh at Salon.

There are two big lessons from Virginia. Abortion matters. Twenty percent of voters said it was their top issue, and they broke overwhelmingly for McAuliffe. And African-American voters continue to be the most reliable pillar of the Democratic base.  Black voter turnout was identical to 2012, chastening people who suggest the Democrats won’t do as well without Obama’s name on the ballot. Where McAuliffe lost white voters 56-36 to Cuccinelli, he won nine of 10 black voters.

So yes, guess who once again turned out for the Democrat in the race and provided the margin of victory, despite overwhelming attempts to stop the black vote, and where only 37% of all Virginia voters turned out?  Keep in mind 80% of Virginia voters turned out in 2012, but black turnout was virtually the same.  The rest of Virginia stayed home.  Think about that when you hear reasons why Cuccinelli lost.  He lost because black voters showed up in the same numbers they did in 2012, in an off, off-year election.

The Virginia results also show why Republicans are working overtime to suppress black voters. Anyone who cares about 2014 and 2016 (are you listening, Hillary Clinton?) should be making voting rights and turnout efforts their No. 1 issue, starting today.  Virginia shows that it’s going to be tough, though not impossible, for Democrats to make 2014 the kind of “wave” election that could let them take back the House of Representatives, as they did in 2006. But it also shows that the so-called Obama coalition can survive without anyone by that name on the ballot.

Timepiece, otherwise frozen and useless, happens to have correct chronometic reading in this particular instance.  I note the occurrence for posterity and move on.  Jamelle Bouie at the Daily Beast spells it out:

Where the change from 2009 was most significant was among black voters. Then, African Americans were 16 percent were of the electorate, a significant drop from the 2008 election. This year, blacks were 20 percent of all voters, which means their turnout was exactly where it was in 2012. Put another way, for the second year in a row, African Americans turned out at a rate above their percentage of the population, and supported the Democrat by a 9-to–1 margin.

This is huge. For McAuliffe, what it meant is that—for almost every black voter who went to the polls—he could count on a vote, giving him crucial support in a tight race. To wit, more than 37 percent of his vote total came from African Americans. It’s not hard to see what the race would have looked like with 2009 numbers; a four percent drop in black turnout would have slashed roughly 80,000 votes from McAuliffe’s total, turning Ken Cuccinelli’s narrow loss into a slim victory.

Fin.  Exeunt, stage left.

The County Unfair

As far as the vanity proposition to "push for secession" in 11 Colorado counties on the ballot yesterday, six of them said yes, we want to start taking steps to secede.  The Denver Post:

Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said the 51st state movement is halted — at least in his county — but there were positive benefits from the secession campaign.

"Weld County voters said this is an option we shouldn't pursue and we won't pursue it," Conway said Tuesday night. "But we will continue to look at the problems of the urban and rural divide in this state."

Weld County voters Tuesday soundly rejected the 51st State Initiative 58 percent to 42 percent.

But in six of the 11 counties where the secession question appeared on the ballot, the measure passed by strong margins. 

"Positive benefits" like being a laughingstock.  OK.

The ballot question, intended as a straw poll, asked residents whether their county commissioners should takes steps to secede from the Centennial State.

Fort Lupton Mayor Tommy Holton said Tuesday night that secession probably would not succeed. But he said the publicity would shed light on rural Colorado's grievances.

"We not only want to be at the table," he said, "but we want a voice at the table as well."

Proponents say they have become alienated from the more urbanized Front Range and are unhappy with laws passed during this year's legislative session, including stricter gun laws and new renewable-energy standards.

Well then, you do the adult thing and campaign to get those laws changed, not throw a temper tantrum and say "we don't have a voice" when the vote doesn't go your way.  I mean, it's not like there's rampant voter suppression of white rural voters, right?  Did anyone in Greeley Colorado have to wait 8 hours in line to vote?  No?

Suck it up, cowards.  You lost.  That happens in a representative democracy.  Voters in Colorado rejected a $950 million school reform bill that would have raised the state income tax on the wealthiest citizens.  The cry of "it'll destroy family farms and ranches" won big, despite $10 million spent by folks like Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg to pass the measure.

So should the people who wanted the school measure passed now secede from the state?  That what you do when you lose a vote, right?

Cowards.

Election Day: The Morning After

As the smoke clears from last night's election results, no really huge upsets in the state races in New Jersey and Virginia, nor in the big mayoral races.

Chris Christie easily won re-election in New Jersey, where exit polls showed him winning 20% of black voters and 45% of Latinos, unheard of in most elections.  In Virginia, Terry McAuliffe fought back AG Ken Cuccinelli's last minute push to win by about 3 points.  And in New York City, Bill de Blasio rolled to a huge victory in the mayoral race there.

But locally, things aren't looking good at all.  John Cranley looks to have won by a big margin in the Cincinnati mayor's race, beating Roxanne Qualls by double digits.  Cranley, in his victory speech, vowed to end the streetcar project as his first act as Mayor.  With the city council also being realigned and Laure Quinlivan and Pam Thomas out and streetcar opponents Amy Murray, Kevin Flynn and former Mayor David Mann in (along with Qualls' departure), Cranley should now easily have the votes there to scrap the project entirely.

In other words, the streetcar project is almost certainly dead after being approved by voters twice.  The question is how soon the burial will be, and how much damage the city's reputation will take when outside investors decide that putting money into any project in Cincinnati is impossible when the council and mayor can just kill any infrastructure improvement plan voters approve.

What'll happen is the council will vote on a plan to shelve any futher work on the project until yet another study can be done on the project, and then the project will never be restarted.  Council members PG Sittenfeld and now David Mann have suggested the study route, even though there have been several studies on the project both before and after the project was approved by voters.

We'll see if they pull the plug or not.  Considering that was Cranley's top promise and he won by 16 points?  Count on him doing everything possible to try.

Really the only good news is that Issue 4, the Tea Party backed ballot initiative to basically scrap all city pensions and replace them with 401k plans (eagerly backed by Ohio investment banks) lost by more than 50 points.

The measure also would have crippled the city financially the same way that Republicans crippled the Postal Service:  by requiring the city to pay off pension liabilities for workers decades from now in just 10 years. That would all but eliminate the city's budget for social welfare, public safety, and infrastructure improvements or requiring huge tax increases, or most likely both, just to balance the budget.  And of course, the Cincinnati charter would require voters to approve the tax increases, which would fail, ultimately leaving all the budget balancing to mean massive and draconian cuts in city schools, police, firefighting, safety, and social programs.

Needless to say, the measure died screaming.

We'll see if the streetcar survives the next year.  I'm betting like the Cincinnati subway, it will lie unfinished for eternity.

StupidiNews!

• Several explosions were reported near Communist Party offices in the Chinese provincial capital of Taiyuan Wednesday morning, at least one person is dead.
• Same-sex marriage has finally passed the state House in Illinois after passing the state Senate in February, Gov. Pat Quinn says he will sign the bill into law making 15 states that allow it.
• Sen. Barbara Boxer of California is offering legislation with Republican support that would change how the military prosecutes cases of sexual assault.
• Wells Fargo is the latest bank to face a federal investigation linked to subprime mortgages that led to the financial crisis of 2008.
• Los Angeles plans to roll out free municipal broadband internet to all homes and businesses, and fiber to those who can afford it, in one of the largest US municipal internet projects to date.

Last Call For The Dumbest Thing On The Ballot Today

Sorry, Katy, Texas.  You guys need a $69 million high school football stadium about as much as I need pap smears.

Voters in the Houston suburb of Katy will decide Tuesday whether to approve a bond package that includes $69.5 million for a new, 14,000-seat football stadium.

The stadium would serve Katy's powerhouse program, but district officials also say they could attract playoff games and other events. It's on the ballot one year after the Dallas suburb of Allen opened a $60 million stadium with 18,000 seats and dozens of concession stands.

The $99 million in bonds would also pay for a $25 million expansion of an agricultural sciences center and $4.5 million for a science and technology center.

Oh good.  That's nice.  Hey listen, you guys realize Texas has cut public education spending by about 25% since 2009, right?  I mean hell, why would we want to spend all $99 million on education instead of competitive concussion development?

But here's the best part:

Some local tea party members oppose the bond package, saying the district shouldn't take on more debt.

Why do tea party Republicans hate Texas high school football?

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/05/3732370/houston-suburb-to-vote-on-69m.html#storylink=cpy

A Game Of Word Appropriation

Rand Paul explains the difference between the Makers and the Takers.  Other people make articles, Rand Paul takes the words as his own.

Sections of an op-ed Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul wrote on mandatory minimums in The Washington Times in September appear nearly identical to an article by Dan Stewart of The Week that ran a week earlier. The discovery comes amid reports from BuzzFeed that Paul plagiarized in his book and in several speeches.

Paul also delivered testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 16, 2013, that included the copied sections.

So, does this make him a moocher or a looter?   Please Republicans, please nominate this ridiculous clown show as your 2016 pick for the White House.

PS, why didn't anyone in the Village figure out Rand Paul was lifting speeches and policy positions wholesale from other authors before, or were you too busy regaling the world with how awesome and principled the guy is?

Jackasses.

We Mayor May Not Have The Streetcar Plan In Cincy

Cincinnati's streetcar plan is the chief issue in today's mayoral election, and Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls wants to continue the project started under Mayor Mark Mallory.  CityBeat here in town backs her for the streetcar and for a number of reasons:

The streetcar project has already effectively been supported by two voter referendums, and the situation has progressed to the point that stopping the project could end up costing more than finishing it, a ridiculous proposition, not to mention the sign it would send to people currently investing in Cincinnati’s progress as a forward-thinking, economically growing city.

But CityBeat’s support for Roxanne Qualls goes further than the streetcar project or any other single issue.

During the past six years, Qualls has been part of the true revitalization of downtown and Over-the-Rhine that too many of Cranley’s supporters — and sometimes Cranley himself — publicly doubted. Anyone who’s been downtown in the past couple years has seen the result of Qualls’ work with the rest of City Council: a flourishing riverfront, an Over-the-Rhine bustling with new businesses and restaurants, and a downtown that can’t get new apartments quickly enough to meet demand.

Despite Cranley’s attempts to distance himself from some of the worst of the urban doubters, there’s a profound concern that a Cranley victory would send a message to all of the city’s detractors that voters are embracing their defeatist direction.

The Cincinnati Enquirer however backs her opponent, John Cranley.

During his nine years on council, he not only reached across party lines, he drove to fellow council members’ homes and sat in their kitchens courting their votes. The next day, on a different issue, he’d find new allies and build an entirely different coalition.

The city needs his directness. Ask Cranley what he thinks about an issue, and he’ll tell you.

Or don’t ask him, and he’ll still tell you. His frankness can be bracing, but it will also be refreshing after the excessive control Mayor Mark Mallory exerted over the council agenda, curbing public debate and, in the end, serving citizens poorly. We’re disappointed that Qualls, as vice mayor, didn’t challenge his actions more forcefully.

The city needs Cranley’s passion. A real estate attorney by profession, he is a salesman at heart. It’s second nature to him to convince people of things. In a mayor, that skill can’t be overrated. Cincinnati has long needed a leader who could articulate a bold vision for the city and then roll up his sleeves and get out and pitch it to the masses. Neither will Cranley be shy about courting new businesses, selling Cincinnati to conventioneers or national media, or building a regional coalition to lobby for expanded service at CVG, the Brent Spence Bridge replacement or the I-71/Martin Luther King interchange – an idea he championed.

Cranley often talks about emulating powerful mayors like Michael Bloomberg of New York or Andrew Young, who once led Atlanta. That’s the type of energetic, game-changing leadership Cincinnati needs right now. One of Cranley’s best traits is that he’s not one to watch and wait from the sidelines.

Needless to say, anyone the Enquirer backs (with their raging hatred of the city's first elected black mayor in Mallory) is the wrong choice for the city.   Qualls has the good to back up her claims.  Cranley doesn't.  The problem is the race is already ugly, and with a state Supreme Court decision on ballot language necessitating early and absentee voters having to vote again (and possibly being disenfranchised as a result) it's anyone's ball game.

If you're reading from Cincy, go vote.

StupidiNews, Election Day Edition!

Voters across the country go to the polls today for a number of state and local races, including governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia, and mayoral races in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, New York, Detroit, Minneapolis and right here in Cincinnati.  In other news...

• Authorities now believe the suspect in yesterday's closing time mall shooting in Paramus, NJ is dead after police found the 20-year-old killed by a self-inflicted gunshot.
• A number of ballot initiatives go before voters today, including 11 Colorado counties voting to start the process of seceding from the Centennial State and creating North Colorado.
• Portland, Maine voters will determine whether or not the city will become the first in an East Coast state to legalize marijuana. 
• The SEC has settled with hedge fund giant SAC for a $1.8 billion insider trading fine and an agreement that the firm can no longer invest other people's money outside of billionaire founder Steve Cohen.
• The newest technology for enterprise data storage is helium-filled hard drives, offering as much as 50% more storage space for the same drive size.

Remember to check the local issues where you live today and get out there and vote!

Last Call For A SCOTUS Punt

Looks like the Supreme Court has taken a pass on Oklahoma's law banning pharmaceutical abortions, letting a lower court ruling stand finding that particular part of the law unconstitutional.

In an important, if likely temporary, victory for abortion rights, the Supreme Court took a major abortion case off its docket on Monday. The Court’s brief order does not explain the justices’ reason for doing so — it simply provides that “[t]he writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted. Nevertheless, it is likely that the justices decided that a recent Oklahoma Supreme Court decision muddied the issues presented by the case to such an extent that it made sense to wait to decide an important question regarding the ability of states to restrict the use of medication abortions. 

Though the Supreme Court agreed to hear Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice earlier this year, it also asked Oklahoma’s highest court to resolve two questions regarding the scope of an Oklahoma law banning certain forms of non-surgical abortions induced by medication. Last Tuesday, Oklahoma’s justices answered these questions by explaining that the state law at issue in Cline outlaws all medication abortions — including methods of terminating a pregnancy that were specifically approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Thus, if the U.S. Supreme Court were to rule on Cline they would have to answer the much larger question of whether an abortion procedure that’s specifically been approved by the federal government can be banned by a state, rather than considering a narrower question of whether specific methods of abortion lacking FDA sanction can be targeted by states.

So it's something at least.  And yes, SCOTUS would of had to rule very strongly in favor of the federal supremacy clause in the case of Cline.  No way were the conservative justices going to give a victory that big to the pro-choice side, so they punt instead.

And on we go.

Insurance Companies Are Still The Obamacare Bad Guys

Suddenly, Republicans are very, very concerned about people having their insurance policies canceled and being stuck with "substantially" more expensive plans.  But the reality is the insurance companies are happily using Obamacare as a smokescreen to screw their customers over every chance they get.  TPM's Dylan Scott discovers the truth as he investigates the case of Donna, a Washington State resident who got a cancellation notice from her insurer.

Across the country, insurance companies have sent misleading letters to consumers, trying to lock them into the companies' own, sometimes more expensive health insurance plans rather than let them shop for insurance and tax credits on the Obamacare marketplaces -- which could lead to people like Donna spending thousands more for insurance than the law intended. In some cases, mentions of the marketplace in those letters are relegated to a mere footnote, which can be easily overlooked. 

The extreme lengths to which some insurance companies are going to hold on to existing customers at higher price, as the Affordable Care Act fundamentally re-orders the individual insurance market, has caught the attention of state insurance regulators. 

The insurance companies argue that it's simply capitalism at work. But regulators don't see it that way. By warning customers that their health insurance plans are being canceled as a result of Obamacare and urging them to secure new insurance plans before the Obamacare launched on Oct. 1, these insurers put their customers at risk of enrolling in plans that were not as good or as affordable as what they could buy on the marketplaces. 

TPM has confirmed two specific examples where companies contacted their customers prior to the marketplace's Oct. 1 opening and pushed them to renew their health coverage at a higher price than they would pay through the marketplace. State regulators identified the schemes, but they weren't necessarily able to stop them. 

It's not yet clear how widespread this practice became in the months leading up to the marketplace's opening -- or how many Americans will end up paying more than they should be for health coverage. But misleading letters have been sent out in at least four states across the country, and one offending carrier, Humana, is a company with a national reach.

So at least some of these cancellation notices sent out by insurance companies were attempts to sucker  people into the most expensive plans they offer, automatically, before the protections of Obamacare kicked in fully.

Let's remember the practices that made the ACA necessary in the first place.  Republicans want to take us back to these bad old days across the country.  

Another ENDA Run Past Republican Hate

President Obama took to the Huffington Post this weekend to call for Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

Here in the United States, we're united by a fundamental principle: we're all created equal and every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law. We believe that no matter who you are, if you work hard and play by the rules, you deserve the chance to follow your dreams and pursue your happiness. That's America's promise. 

That's why, for instance, Americans can't be fired from their jobs just because of the color of their skin or for being Christian or Jewish or a woman or an individual with a disability. That kind of discrimination has no place in our nation. And yet, right now, in 2013, in many states a person can be fired simply for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. 

As a result, millions of LGBT Americans go to work every day fearing that, without any warning, they could lose their jobs -- not because of anything they've done, but simply because of who they are. 

It's offensive. It's wrong. And it needs to stop, because in the United States of America, who you are and who you love should never be a fireable offense. 

That's why Congress needs to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, also known as ENDA, which would provide strong federal protections against discrimination, making it explicitly illegal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This bill has strong bipartisan support and the support of a vast majority of Americans. It ought to be the law of the land. 

Americans ought to be judged by one thing only in their workplaces: their ability to get their jobs done. Does it make a difference if the firefighter who rescues you is gay -- or the accountant who does your taxes, or the mechanic who fixes your car? If someone works hard every day, does everything he or she is asked, is responsible and trustworthy and a good colleague, that's all that should matter.

ENDA is definitely something that needs to be passed, but I'm 99.99% sure that as long as Republicans control the House, nothing's getting past the bigots in the GOP.  And please note, the "moderates" in the GOP will vote against ENDA as surely as they did last time.

This time may be different, hence that .01% chance this bill gets through the House, because it's looking like every single Democrat will back the Senate version of the bill coming up for a vote this month.  It also looks like a number of Senate Republicans will back the measure and get it past a guaranteed filibuster attempt. However, all that means is that ENDA will die in the House again, just like immigration reform, jobs bills, and so on.  Tea Party groups are already threatening to go after any Republican who votes for the measure and it's very possible the bill could collapse in the Senate as a result.

The vote could come as early as this week in the Senate and Harry Reid has promised action before Thanksgiving recess, so we'll see.