In the past decade, nearly every pillar institution in American society — whether it’s General Motors, Congress, Wall Street, Major League Baseball, the Catholic Church or the mainstream media — has revealed itself to be corrupt, incompetent or both. And at the root of these failures are the people who run these institutions, the bright and industrious minds who occupy the commanding heights of our meritocratic order. In exchange for their power, status and remuneration, they are supposed to make sure everything operates smoothly. But after a cascade of scandals and catastrophes, that implicit social contract lies in ruins, replaced by mass skepticism, contempt and disillusionment.

—Christopher Hayes, in a TIME magazine piece that is well worth reading.

During meetings in January and this week, the state board made numerous changes to standards proposed by teachers, scholars and other curriculum writers over the past year. Among the decisions made by the board this week:

• The board rejected a proposed standard requiring students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.” That means the board opposes teaching students about the most fundamental constitutional protection for religious freedom in America.
• Even as board members continued to demand that students learn about “American exceptionalism,” the board stripped Thomas Jefferson from a world history standard about the influence of Enlightenment thinkers on political revolutions from the 1700s to today. In Jefferson’s place, the board’s religious conservatives succeeded in inserting Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. They also removed the reference to “Enlightenment ideas” in the standard, requiring that students should simply learn about the influence of the “writings” of various thinkers (including Calvin and Aquinas).
• The board removed the word “capitalism” from the standards, mandating that the term for that economic system be called “free enterprise” throughout the standards. Board members such as Terri Leo and Ken Mercer charged that “capitalism” is a negative term used by “liberal professors in academia.”
• The board removed Santa Barraza from a Grade 7 Texas history standard on Texans who have made contributions to the arts because board conservatives objected to one of her (many) paintings, which included a depiction of a woman’s exposed breasts. Some of Barraza’s works had been displayed in the Texas Governor’s Mansion during the gubernatorial administration of George W. Bush in the 1990s.
• Board members added Friedrich von Hayek to a standard in the high school economics course even though some board members acknowledged that they had no idea who the influential Austrian-born economist even was.
• In a high school government standard about ”the importance of the expression of different points of view in a democratic republic,” board conservatives added a requirement that students learn about the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.

The board decided in November to proceed on its revision of the standards without further formal input from scholars and classroom teachers. As a result, board members cast their votes in January and this week without any guidance from classroom teachers or experts in the social sciences.

They also struck the word “democratic” from any descriptions of the American system of government because… well, because Republicans outnumber Democrats on the board by a two-to-one margin.

This just makes me sick to my stomach. I mean, can they even teach students about the Bill of Rights in Texas anymore? Because the “freedom of religion” part of the First Amendment is out completely, and the “free expression” part has to also include the Second Amendment, for some bizarre reason, not to mention the fact that Thomas Jefferson, a major proponent of having a bill of rights in the first place, is out of the curriculum entirely because he’s not Christian enough for the American Taliban members of the Texas SBOE.

And since Texas students won’t be learning about Thomas Jefferson, board members won’t have to worry about kids googling Jefferson, finding out that he was from Virginia, and then seeing a woman’s breast on our state flag, because just seeing a breast once would scandalize them for life. (By “them” I’m referring to… well, I actually don’t know if I’m referring to the students or the board members.)

Oh, and isn’t it great that these morons can just add and remove things from the curriculum without consulting teachers or experts? Even if they have no idea who a person is? This sounds like a great way to improve education in our country! And don’t even start in on the “capitalism” thing, because that just doesn’t make any sense. None whatsoever.

Ugh. If you live in Texas and plan on sending your kids to public schools, I’d get the heck out as fast as possible.

Gov. Bob McDonnell has forcefully ordered state agencies not to discriminate against gay and lesbian workers during the hiring process or in the workplace, but he opted not to push legislation that would produce a similar effect.

His directive Wednesday comes in response to controversy ignited by a letter that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent to Virginia college and university officials telling them they lack the legal authority to adopt employment policies with sexual-orientation protections.

While McDonnell’s missive takes a strong stand against discrimination, it doesn’t carry the weight of law as an executive order does.

This directive basically says the state shouldn’t discriminate, but there are n0 legal consequences if it does. If McDonnell is so committed to preventing discrimination based on sexual identity, why not give those protections the force of law?

(Sorry, Dad. But don’t worry, I’ll have plenty of time for sleep in twelve days!)

He’s spent only 431 days in Congress, has never seen any of his bills pass out of subcommittee and was best known for voting against major pieces of legislation because they weren’t liberal enough for him — at least until he was accused of sexually harassing a male staffer.

Meet Eric Massa, conservative media hero.

The New York Democrat’s weekend radio rant against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has his star rising on the right even as he resigns from Congress under an ethical cloud.

Rush Limbaugh vowed to make a “national story” out of Massa’s claims that Democrats orchestrated his downfall because he voted no on health care reform — adding that Massa is “going to have so much support from people.”

Matt Drudge led his site for much of the day Monday with all-caps links to POLITICO’s coverage of Massa’s statements: “RAHM ‘WOULD SELL HIS OWN MOTHER,’ ‘SON OF THE DEVIL’S SPAWN.’”

And Glenn Beck took to Twitter to announce that he’d have Massa on his show for “the full hour” Tuesday because “all Americans need to hear him.”

And remember, these are the “family values” guys.

A quick Google Image search reveals several photos of Massa, including official Congressional portraits, which do not involved thrusting and/or phalluses (phalli?), but hey, who is CNN’s “best political team” to pass up a good dick joke?

HOW REFORM WOULD WORK: Let’s be clear, the changes Mr. Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress are proposing are significant. But, despite what the critics charge, this is not a government takeover. And the program is not only fully paid for, it should actually reduce the deficit over the next two decades.

Under the new system, all people would be required to have health insurance or pay a penalty. If you are poor or middle class you would also get significant help through Medicaid coverage or tax credits to pay the premiums.

The legislation would create exchanges on which small businesses and people who buy their own coverage directly from insurers could choose from an array of private plans that would compete for their business. It would also require insurance companies to accept all applicants, even those with a pre-existing condition. And it would make a start at reforming the medical care system to improve quality and lower costs.

46 MILLION AND RISING: If nothing is done, the number of uninsured people — 46 million in 2008 — is sure to spike upward as rising medical costs and soaring premiums make policies less affordable and employers continue to drop coverage to save money.

The Congressional Budget Office projects 54 million uninsured people in 2019; the actuary for the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects 57 million.

It should be no surprise that people without insurance often postpone needed care, and many get much sicker as a result. That is morally unsustainable. It is also fiscally unsustainable for safety net hospitals — which foist much of the cost on the American taxpayer when the uninsured end up in the emergency room. As the number of uninsured rises, that bill will rise.

The Senate’s reform bill would reduce the number of uninsured by an estimated 31 million in 2019. The Republicans’ paltry proposals would cut the number by only three million.

BUT I HAVE INSURANCE: While most Americans have insurance, many pay exorbitant rates because they have no bargaining power with insurers.
…
If current trends continue, the number of underinsured Americans — those who have coverage too skimpy to pay substantial medical bills or protect them from high out-of-pocket spending — will also rise from an estimated 25 million in 2007 to 35 million in 2011, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a respected research organization.

That will increase the risk that this group will forgo needed care and will expose many more of them to potential bankruptcy if they cannot pay huge medical bills. Some 72 million adults currently have medical debt or problems paying their bills even though most of them have insurance. Reform would help them by setting minimum standards of coverage and providing subsidies to tens of millions of low- and middle-income people to help pay their premiums.

BUT I LIKE MY INSURANCE: Most Americans get their insurance through large companies, with large group bargaining power. While they complain about premiums and paperwork, most seem satisfied with their coverage.
…
For this group, the real advantage of reform is security. If they get laid off, decide to be self-employed or switch to a smaller employer that offers no insurance, they will still be guaranteed coverage — even if they are a cancer survivor or have heart trouble or any other pre-existing condition. And they will be able to buy insurance on the exchanges.

I’M JUST WORRIED ABOUT COSTS: You should be. The cost of medical care is rising far faster than wages or inflation. And despite all of the talk about reform “bending the curve,” no one is yet sure how to do that.
…
Pending reform legislation, specifically the Senate bill, would launch an array of pilot projects to test reforms in delivering and paying for care. It would also create a special board to accelerate the adoption of anything that seemed to work. That seems a reasonable way to go and a lot better than standing by as costs continue to spiral out of control. The Republicans’ proposals — including their call to cap malpractice awards — would make only a small dent in the problem.

WHAT ABOUT THE DEFICIT?: Republican critics of health care reform have done an especially good job of frightening Americans with their talk of bankrupting the Treasury. The truth of the matter is that the pending reform legislation has been designed to generate enough revenue and savings to more than offset the substantial cost of expanding Medicaid and providing subsidies to the middle class.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate bill would reduce deficits over the first 10 years by $132 billion and even more in the second decade.
…
If reform is defeated, it seems likely that most of the proposed experiments designed to cut costs — first within Medicare and then throughout the rest of the health care system — will die as well. The legislation needs to be passed to establish a structure to force continuing improvement over the years. That is the best chance of restraining soaring medical costs that threaten the solvency of families, businesses and the federal government.

It’s been over a year since President Obama and the Democratic Party began working to reform healthcare. It’s time to pass the damn bill.

Virginia will continue to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to regulate greenhouse gases while federal lawmakers take center stage in the debate.

Daniel Dodds, a spokesman for state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, said the state will pursue litigation “until it’s rendered moot by anything on the federal level.”
…
Cuccinelli last month asked a federal appeals court to review the EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases are a health threat. Texas, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups filed similar complaints.

So when the law fits into The Cooch’s ultra right-wing conservatism, then the law must be enforced at all costs! But when Cooch disagrees with a law, well, it must be overturned no matter the cost. And speaking of cost:

State Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond, estimated it will cost Virginia up to $500,000 to pursue the case. The General Assembly is building a budget that cuts $4.2 billion from education, health care and transportation and is considering adding or raising a number of fees to raise revenue.

Sure, let’s get rid of a few more teachers and social services so Cuccinelli can do a bad job at playing scientist. Pretty soon we’ll all be praying for the economic strength of the Gilmore administration.

“It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including ’sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ ‘gender expression,’ or like classification as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy absent specific authorization from the General Assembly,” he wrote in the letter.

Colleges that have included such language in policies that govern university hiring and admissions — which include all of Virginia’s largest schools — have done so “without proper authority” and should “take appropriate actions to bring their policies in conformance with the law and public policy of Virginia,” Cuccinelli wrote.

So I guess when UVa and William and Mary and the like prepare their recruitment materials for next year, they’ll have to put a big ole’ asterisk next to diversity to remind prospective students that only straight students are welcome in Virginia.

At least when Gov. Bob McDonnell rescinded anti-discrimination protections for LGBT state employees, maybe some people could have claimed to have been surprised since McDonnell likes to run for office as a moderate. But The Cooch has never been anything but a far-right, anti-government, gay-bashing, woman-hating whackjob, or, as the Virginian-Pilot put it in their endorsement of his opponent Steve Shannon:

To put it politely, Cuccinelli’s election would bring embarrassment to Virginia, instability to the state’s law firm and untold harm to the long list of people who don’t fit his personal definition of morality.

Well, we went ahead an elected him anyway. And now, Virginia is getting just what we voted for.

For comparison, here’s Snipes in his upcoming film, Brooklyn’s Finest:

Yeah, those guys look the same.

(via here and here)

STEELE: It was unfortunate. It was, you know those are images that were pulled off the internet. They’ve been out in the public domain for a while and a staffer was putting together a presentation for a small group of about 9 or 10 folks and thought they would intersperse their presentation with humorous shots. [...] It was stuff that was pulled off the web that was inserted into a presentation to members of a finance team. It did not go out publicly.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think copyright infringement is the reason for the sane world’s reaction to the fundraising pitch. Nobody’s saying, “Hey, that picture of Nancy Pelosi next to cartoon villain Cruella DeVil offends me because it reproduces a Disney character without permission!” Or perhaps Steele is trying to blame the internet for… existing? Magically downloading itself into the RNC’s PowerPoints?

Here’s hilarious video:

If you want to help prevent low income women from dying of stupak, “A medical condition (subset of sepsis) resulting from unsafe – unnecessarily so – back alley abortions as a result of the ‘Stupak Amendment’ to the 2009 Health Care Reform Bill,” why not give the distinguished gentleman from Michigan a call at (202) 225-4735. John Cole has a suggested script:

Hi, my name is XXXXX and I am from XXXXX, and while not normally a constituent, Rep. Stupak insists on making me with his repeated attempts to kill HCR because of his fetus fetish. Please be assured I intend to donate the maximum amount to any opponent of Bart’s, Republican or Democrat, if he manages to torpedo HCR, and will worked to have him stripped of any and all committee assignments and removed from the Democratic caucus. And this includes if he should have any delusional gubernatorial aspirations.

• If there’s do much discrimination against the gays, why do they always look so happy in those parades?

Can I say that 20 million Americans unemployed, the fact that we’re worrying about the status of the White House social secretary…

—Economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, appearing on ABC’s This Week, trying to make sense of the nonsensical.

A gun instructor accidently shot a student in the foot Saturday during an NRA class to receive certification to carry a concealed weapon, Orlando police said.

Robert Frauman Jr., 50, was taken to Florida Hospital after instructor Michael Phillips’ firearm discharged about 11:45 a.m., police said.

Actual people dying doesn’t seem to bother Republicans, so it’s up to the Democrats to use their majorities in the House and Senate to pass healthcare reform and save American lives without the GOP. After today’s summit, in which Republicans said to President Obama’s face the same thing they’ve been saying to the American people for almost a year (that is, No!), it looks like Democrats are finally ready to do just that. A strong majority in the House and the availability of reconciliation in the Senate (a parliamentary maneuver which Republicans used when they were in the majority) mean that the only thing standing in the way of passing reform is the Democrats.

The Democratic Party has a real opportunity here not only to reform our healthcare system but to save lives as well. If the fail here, they will have no one but themselves to blame—and neither will the American people.

• Barack Obama is so uppity for not graciously losing the 2008 election to John McCain, War Hero.

• If Democrats try to stop us from holding up legislation in the Senate, we will hold up legislation in the Senate!

Ethics in Politics: An evening with Former Governor Rod Blagojevich

— Title of an actual upcoming event sponsored by the Northwestern University College Democrats.

(via)

The electorate voted for it when it elected conservative Bob McDonnell and his cabal to office in November. They rewarded his “no-taxes-at-any-cost” promise with their votes. And he’s living up to his promises.

They bought in when he said we didn’t need a gas tax to fix our roads. People would forget the potholes and traffic jams if only we re-opened the rest stops.

They bought in when he ran against state and local government employees, putting the value of our teachers and civil servants somewhere in the neighborhood of welfare recipients.

They bought in when members of the General Assembly, our own included, argued there’s nothing wrong with the state government that one more audit and budget cut couldn’t solve.

They bought in when school teacher Dickie Bell ran for office, taking the anti-administration breakroom grousing seemly every teacher harbors and elevating it into a campaign issue.

And what they bought in November is out on the front porch now. It’s at the front door. And many of those voters aren’t going to be happy with the package.
…
So we worsen mental health care. We spend less on higher education. We roll back primary education standards. Spend less on public safety. De-emphasize teen pregnancy prevention. Cut aid to local governments. Write off the homeless.

At the end of the day, Virginia will be a different place. But it’s a place we picked with our votes, so bring it on. Voters (and non-voters) will feel the result of their choices. Cause and effect, something often absent in the rhetoric-driven world in which we live.

Welcome to the new Virginia. Looks a lot like the old West Virginia.

Taxes generate revenue, revenue provides services. Bob McDonnell’s pledge to never raise taxes on anyone ever meant that something like this was bound to happen during his four years as governor. So when Virginia stops being the best managed state, the best place to raise children, or the best state for business, the people who voted for Bob McDonnell will have no one to blame but themselves.

(See this.)