Knuckle Draggers

While showing enthusiasm for such nut-job inanities as redefining freedom of religion Talibangellically to enable health care providers to deny care based on their prejudices ~

Gov. Grendel Jindal and the GOP say NO to health care solutions

At the start of the current legislative session, Gov. Bobby Jindal called for bipartisanship and “Louisiana solutions.” Yet [June 9th] at the Capitol, the Jindal administration tried three different maneuvers to kill HB 889, the Louisiana Healthier Families Act. The Louisiana Healthier Families Act would reduce our youth smoking rate and generate upwards of $127 million a year for health care – and it enjoys bipartisan support in the Legislature.

That hasn’t stopped Gov. Jindal and Louisiana Republican Party chairman Roger Villere from opposing the bill at every turn, despite offering no alternatives.

“Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana Republican Party march lockstep with the national GOP’s “party of no” approach – no new ideas, no leadership and no solutions,” says Chris Whittington, chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “At a time when Louisiana faces the challenge of serious budget cuts to health care, why is Gov. Jindal so opposed to an open debate and vote on legislation that would reduce teen smoking and secure funding to offset cuts in health care?”

A recent poll done by the Mellman Group shows about three out of four Louisianans support the Louisiana Healthier Families Act. (That included 72 percent of both Democrats and Republicans and 67 percent of independents supporting the proposal.) Today, The Advocate newspaper ran an editorial urging the Legislature to support the Louisiana Healthier Families Act.

h/t to Louisiana Democratic Party

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Thanks, Again..... , Jindal and His Fellow Freepers Fan Freefall

Political Scientists Boycott
2012 New Orleans Convention

More sad news for Louisiana economy. Part of the Statement by a group of political scholars planning their 2012 convention states:

A 2004 amendment to the Louisiana Constitution denies marriage and “the legal incidents thereof” to same-sex couples. This provision places an affirmative burden on visiting lesbian and gay pairs, who may never have legally recognized relationships in Louisiana, regardless of their marriage, civil union, or domestic partnership in home states or countries. For example, the 2004 amendment may well invalidate, by operation of law, medical-care agreements signed outside of Louisiana between the members of same-sex couples because such documents touch the legal incidents of marriage which the state constitution withholds from those pairs. As a result, the undersigned support the boycott of the American Political Science Association’s 2012 New Orleans conference and will not attend that meeting. We believe that a substantial risk of serious discrimination against visiting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) political scientists and their families exists in the Crescent City.

The boycott's organizers are urging the organization's members to support New Orleans hurricane recovery NOW by making contributions now when needed. Their view is that its not enough to plan a convention there in 2012. The claim is they can legally terminate their contracts with host hotels because their written agreements state that New Orleans was chosen for the convention because of its anti-discrimination ordinances. Since the city is enforcing state rules on marriage inequality, the contracts are voidable.

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Jindal Laughing Stock of Nation

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Jindal Addresses the Nation

Part 6 in a series,
"Jindal, What's Up With THAT?"

Well, Nothing really, and
now the whole nation
knows it, too.

Many politicos across
the nation were thoroughly
surprised at the
wunderkind's kinderwund.

Not the Crapauds. Its over.

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Jindal: Selfish Child Politico

Part 5 in a series,
"Jindal, What's Up With THAT?"

Crapaud's across town homeboy, Joseph in Louisiana, over at Blagueur had this post in the last day or so.
The Crapauds think his wish is coming true.


Bobby is acting childishly less grownup than his childhood doppelgänger.

Blagueur Sez:
OH, PLEASE Bobby. Please turn the money down.

GOP Governors Consider Turning Down Stimulus Money

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the No. 3 House Democrat, said the governors _ some of whom are said to be eyeing White House bids in 2012 _ are putting their own interests first.

"No community or constituent should be denied recovery assistance due to their governor's political ideology or political aspirations," Clyburn said Wednesday.

In fact, governors who reject some of the stimulus aid may find themselves overridden by their own legislatures because of language Clyburn included in the bill that allows lawmakers to accept the federal money even if their governors object.

He inserted the provision based on the early and vocal opposition to the stimulus plan by South Carolina's Republican governor, Mark Sanford. But it also means governors like Sanford and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal _ a GOP up-and-comer often mentioned as a potential 2012 presidential candidate _ can burnish their conservative credentials, knowing all the while that their legislatures can accept the money anyway.

Jindal said he, like Perry and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, is concerned about strings attached to the money even though his state faces a $1.7 billion budget shortfall next year.

Well, Blaguer, it seems your fondest wish is coming true. Bobby says too many strings attached to increasing unemployment compensation, and it would be too hard on businesses.

Li'l Bobby''ll just turn down that $98,000.000.00 right up front. What a compassionate dispassionate calculating little christian his Hindu parents have spawned.

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Part 4 in a series,
"Jindal, What's up with That?"

A compendium of Where's Bobby??

Recently recounted in The Independent

As an unprecedented $2 billion shortfall eats away at health care and higher education while state government braces for lockdown, Gov. Bobby Jindal has found a new way to address tough challenges — hitting the road. It’s a sad day when, as Rome burns, the only thing you see of the emperor is his derriere as he high-tails it out of town, but such is the case. Consider his recent schedule:

Friday, Jan. 30 — Jindal spent the first part of his day at the Rapides Parish Courthouse discussing his legislative priorities for cracking down on sex offenders. While that’s a worthy cause, the governor knows he doesn’t need to beat this drum. Is anyone rising to the defense of sex offenders? Of course not.

It’s a PR move, a distraction. Later that day, Jindal held a town hall meeting, or rather met with business interests, inside a warehouse in Thornwell, just outside Lake Arthur. Jindal has conducted at least one of these gatherings each week since being elected. In a way, they’re an extension of his campaign. Only this time, it’s about 2011 and not 2007.

Meanwhile, that same day, Dow Chemical announced the elimination of 260 high-paying chemical jobs in Plaquemine and Hahnville. The layoffs will quicken the pace of the recession in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Tuesday, Feb. 3 — The governor traveled to Winnfield and Jena to announce homeland security funding for Winn and LaSalle parishes. While it’s wonderful that Jindal is willing to attend ceremonial, ribbon-cutting announcements in person, there’s got to be a cabinet official or lackey capable of shaking hands and posing for pictures in times such as these.

Back home in Baton Rouge, news broke that the state ethics board — the agency whose authority Jindal trimmed last year, but now he’s protecting it from budget cuts — is paying a consulting firm $250 an hour to help with “strategic planning and staff reorganization.” The maximum payout, according to a contract inked in 2007, was to be $10,000. On this day, the total was doubled to $20,000. Apparently Jindal couldn’t find anyone in the belly of state government to do the job.

Wednesday, Feb. 4 — In an effort to raise his national profile to help him not run for president, Jindal traveled to North Carolina for a campaign fund-raiser “in support of his gubernatorial re-election campaign.” The Shaw Group Inc., a Baton Rouge-based Fortune 500 company and a frequent political player, served as host. Jindal also delivered the keynote address at the John Locke Foundation’s Annual Dinner that evening.

While Jindal was in another state, Louisiana officials unveiled plans to raid a special transportation fund to the tune of $750 million to help pay for a package of roads and bridges voters approved more than 20 years ago. The lapsed projects are part of an initiative known as the Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development, or TIMED. It appears state officials had a small problem projecting construction costs. Originally thought to cost the state $1.4 billion, the most recent tally is now $5.2 billion.

Thursday, Feb. 5 — Back on the trail of sex offenders, Jindal traveled to Monroe and Lafayette to tout his legislative priority.

Friday, Feb. 6 — Jindal flew to Arkansas for a weekend’s gorging of fund-raisers with Wal-Mart and Tyson executives. On the same day, the Louisiana chemical industry announced more job cuts could be coming stateside, and the Louisiana Child Poverty Prevention Council met in Baton Rouge to recommend new laws.

Saturday, Feb. 7 — Jindal spoke at the Washington County Lincoln Day Dinner in Springdale. Back in Louisiana, communities around the state observed National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day — without Jindal — by hosting various events, including free tests and other state-supported services.

Finally back in the Bayou State this week, the governor kicked off Monday by touring the barracks at Fort Polk and visiting the Lake Charles courthouse to — once again — highlight his legislative priorities for cracking down on sex offenders. This, on the day before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations begins reviewing the salaries and expenses of a half-dozen state agencies, including Jindal’s own branch.

No doubt Jindal’s travels can benefit Louisiana. But can’t feel-good victory laps wait until he plugs the state budget’s $2 billion hole? So far, his ideas look no different from those of previous governors.

Granted, some of his accountability measures are new to the process, but the ranges of cuts Jindal has sent to each agency look like recycled across-the-board cuts — with higher education and health care shouldering the burden, as usual. Shades of Edwin Edwards, minus the jokes.

If Jindal doesn’t make some dramatic (and effective) moves soon, he may have all the time he wants to move about the country — after the next election. But not on taxpayers’ dime

National science group boycotts Louisiana to Protest "Science" Education Act

Part 3 in series: Jindal, What's up with That?

Jindal's catering to Ultra Right for political gain hurts Louisiana.

by Bill Barrow, The Times Picayune

Monday February 16, 2009

BATON ROUGE -- A national organization of scientists has informed Gov. Bobby Jindal it will not hold its annual convention in Louisiana as long as the recently adopted Science Education Act remains on the books. See the letter HERE.

The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology told Jindal in a recent letter that its executive committee chose Salt Lake City for its 2011 convention over New Orleans "in large part" because of the legislation. Satterlie's letter is posted on the group's Web site under the headline: "No Thanks, New Orleans."

"That's too bad," Jindal spokesman Kyle Plotkin said of the group's decision. "New Orleans is a first-class city for a convention." Plotkin said the governor did not respond to Satterlie's letter.

Jindal signed the law last year, agreeing with its supporters that science teachers need wider latitude to use supplemental materials for lessons on topics such as evolutionary biology, global warming and cloning.

State teachers unions have said educators already are free to use materials other than text books, though a handful of students testified before lawmakers that teachers are sometimes unsure of how to handle questions that challenge established scientific theories, particularly evolution.

Many science groups, both in Louisiana and nationally, urged the governor to veto the bill. They cast the act, sponsored by Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, as a back-door attempt to allow Judeo-Chrisitan creation theology or "intelligent design" -- the concept that biological life forms are the result of an intelligent being -- to be taught as part of science class.

The act allows local school boards to approve supplemental materials as part of its curriculum. The state school board retains power under the law to bar specific materials, either on its own or after a public hearing on a citizen complaint about specific texts approved at the local level.

"It is the firm opinion of SICB's leadership that this law undermines the integrity of science and science education in Louisiana," Richard Satterlie, president of the society, wrote to Jindal.

According to Satterlie, New Orleans "has been a popular venue" for the the 2,300-member organization in the past. Satterlie told Jindal that the 2009 meeting brought more than 1,850 scientists and graduate students to Boston for five days last month.

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Jindal going places, but is he leading?

Part 2 in series: Jindal, What's Up With That?

Louisiana Political Guru John Maginnis sez, in summary:

Posted by John Maginnis, Columnist, @The Times-Picayune February 11, 2009

On the same day Gov. Bobby Jindal attended a fundraiser for himself in Charlotte, N.C., officials at Nucor Corp., based in the same town, made headlines by raising doubts about building a proposed $2 billion steel mill in St. James Parish. Jindal did not contact Nucor officials, and it would not have made much difference if he did, since the company's concerns about the world economy and coming tougher federal environmental standards are above the governor's pay grade.

So it was just a coincidence, though it could have been an embarrassing one for him had the news from Nucor been worse. That comes with the territory -- and it's a big one -- as Jindal continues raising political money and making speeches around the country, befitting his status of rising Republican star.

In past months, he's been to Florida, Texas and Connecticut to graciously accept checks from the GOP elite, as well as from neighbors in southern Mississippi. Arkansas may be a poor state, but Jindal squeezed three money events out of it last weekend, including stops at Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods headquarters.

The more he tells audiences that the Republican Party has lost its way and deserved what it got in the last election, the more he's hailed as a leader for the next, whether as a candidate or not.

Not to suggest he is neglecting the homefront, for during the week he gets around the state a lot. The farther off the beaten path the better, his itinerary of town meetings reads like a Johnny Cash song.

At whistlestops and Chamber of Commerce banquets, he has been laying out his legislative agenda, the centerpiece of which is a crackdown on sex offenders. His proposals will have scant opposition, but he will still talk about them a lot.

In state and out, he keeps his profile high and free of blemish. But there is the nagging sense that something is missing here. Gov. Jindal gets all over the place, except where the real action is. There is a lot going on in Louisiana now, but he seems to go out of his way to avoid anything controversial.

Most people don't mind that we have a governor who is going places. But in these uncertain times, more are asking where, or if, he is leading us.

Fear is running through state government and universities among employees who don't know if they will have jobs when projected budget cuts are made. Hospital administrators and college presidents have been directed to prepare worst- to best-case scenarios, though none of them are good.

What we've not heard is some expression of keeping faith from the governor, an acknowledgment that our state workers are valued and that everything is being done to preserve their jobs so they can continue to serve the public. A few words from the bully pulpit would do much to shore up shaky employee morale.

Last month, education Superintendent Paul Pastorek was heckled by protesters when he asked the state board to take control of 10 schools from two local school boards. Jindal is on record supporting the takeover of failing schools, but he could have reinforced that with a statement of confidence in Pastorek and the board. He also could have encouraged and challenged the half dozen parish boards with schools under state supervision to improve them and thus maintain control.

Jindal also supports LSU's plan for a new teaching hospital in New Orleans, but you wouldn't know it from his silence while preservationists accuse state health-care officials of plotting to destroy a neighborhood alleged to be historic.

Jindal knows how to delegate and he needn't be holding his administrators' hands with every controversy. Yet there are moments when they should know that he has their back, because he says so publicly, even if some other people don't like it.

It doesn't matter how many weekends he spends out of state, or even that he's back at his desk first thing Monday morning. When it comes to leadership, it's not his perfect attendance that we need, but, rather, his presence.

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Part 1 in a Series, "Jindal, what's up with That?"

Jindal Signals Louisiana May Not Take Stimulus Money

by Brian Montopoli of CBS news

(CBS)

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, has suggested his state may not be interested in all of the roughly $4 billion allotted to it in the economic stimulus package to be signed by President Obama today.

"We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars," Jindal said, according to CBS affiliate WWLTV.

Jindal is scheduled to give the response to the president’s not-exactly-a-state-of-the-union address next Tuesday.

Louisiana reportedly faces a possible $2 billion budget shortfall next year. It has been allocated $538,575,876 for infrastructure spending in the stimulus package, and the White House predicts the bill will create 50,000 jobs in the state.

As WWLTV notes, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has said he’ll take any money that Louisiana turns down.

Seems to Crapaud that Jindal's hesitancy stems from what the bulk of Louisiana's $3.8 Billion share of the stimulus is designated: Medicaid, not a favorite of any conservatives. You know--those people--and all that.

According to WWL, "Included in the $3.8 billion: $1.7 billion for the state's Medicaid program, $587 million for public education, $455 million for road and bridge repair and $130 million in flexible dollars to help offset budget cuts. "

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