Monday Highlights of Doom

What a lovely morning. And it’s working it’s way towards even better: wind, rain and snow. Lucky it’s Monday morning and everyone has someplace to be. Here’s some enjoyable highlights:

• There was a labor rally Saturday in Salem; the Oregonian and OPB knew about that one but the one right here in town, on Friday afternoon? Not so much.
• Jeff Mapes is no longer a reporter; he’s a blogger. And he’s the one who came up with the idea that the nickel-per-bag included SB 536 is not a fee but a tax (I could swear Sen Ted Ferroili, among others, stated that in the Senate committee hearing both Mapes and I attended). And the “debate” he “sparked”? It’s an article with a link to comments on OregonLive.com. Not exactly the Roman Forum.
• Mitch Daniels, while serving as Pres Bush’s Budget Director had no responsibility for decisions that led to the destruction of the Clinton surplus, believes tax cuts for the rich saved the nation’s economy in 2004 (and honest commentators agree with him), and is spinning as “pragmatic” his sudden surrender to Indiana Democrats over public union-busting. Ok, that last part is true.
• The only way to replace a public sector employee with a private sector contractor, who will bill the people of the state for profits public employees don’t ask for) is to pay the actual workers massively less than the public. So you 1) make thousands of workers unemployed, 2) add thousands of low-wage, low-benefit jobs, which means 3) skilled, well-paid workers are replaced by just the opposite.
• The right questions about David Wu won’t be asked by politicians or editorial boards. We need to hear from mental health experts.
• My brother, Aaron Barnhart, the tv writer for the Kansas City (MO) Star, attended Rachel Maddow’s taping in Lawrence, KS, last week. He reports on it at TVBarn.com, including how he got caught on-camera and an (audio-only) interview with Maddow after.