Unlimited Maine/LePage Hilarity Thread

[Adios]

Try living here. 

Oh no, not after reading this thread!

[AFK]

Director of MaineCare was just fired, after only 15 days on the job.  She was the head of the Maine CDC and served under two administrations but stepped down after LePage was elected.

I suspect tomfoolery and shenanigans. 

[East Coast Hustle]

Well, if you are ever in Maine, you should enjoy a whoopie pie made by the Isamax company based out of Richmond Maine.  They make them daily and ship them to local grocery store chains. 

I highly recommend the Oatmeal Cookie Whoopie Pie.

Isamax whoopie pies are fucking amazing. I like the chocolate with peanut butter frosting.

LePage is also fucking amazing, but for all the wrong reasons.

[AFK]

Like I didn't see this coming.  Apparently Gov. Walker is Gov. LePage's new hero:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0211/LePage_Were_going_after_righttowork.html

Maine Gov. Paul LePage said Saturday he would push forcefully ahead with right-to-work legislation in his state, even if it means a Wisconsin-style fight with unions.

In an interview at the National Governors Association, the Republican praised Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and couched his own proposal in the language of liberty loved by tea partiers.

"He's got a big challenge, and quite frankly, once they start reading our budget they're going to leave Wisconsin and come to Maine because we're going after right to work," LePage told POLITICO.

"I believe that the Declaration of Independence says 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,'" he said. "Whenever someone forces me to do something against my will, they're infringing upon my freedoms and my liberties. And that's what I think we're doing in Maine when we have fair share, which means that you are required to belong to a union, you're required to pay dues but you don't want to participate. I find that to be against everything the United States of America stands for."

LePage was unsure about the feasibility of passing right-to-work legislation.

"You know, it's going to be a battle," he said. "The people that elected me want jobs. They don't care if they're union jobs or non-union jobs. They just want a paycheck."

Republicans have majorities in Maine's state House and Senate, but moderates typically dominate the state's GOP establishment. LePage has a strongly conservative record, and he won in 2010 by playing up his "outsider"status. Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, one of the Senate's top moderates, will likely face a primary challenge from conservatives in 2012.

LePage said he's "never inspired by a fight," but that Wisconsin is unquestionably an impetus behind a renewed GOP push to demand concessions from public-sector employees and to go after union power.

"I think [Walker is] going to have a lot less hair next month than he has this month, but I admire him for recognizing the problem and at least attempting to get it under control," LePage said. "We're all looking at each other and discussing the options, and he's taken an option that he believes is necessary for his state. And I certainly support him."

LePage said people who want to join unions have that right, but stressed that no one should be forced into the decision.

"I believe if an individual wants to join organized labor and work under a union contract, they should have the legal right to do so," he said. "At the same token, a person who does not want to work under organized labor and wants to work should have the ability to do so without the threat of having to join and having to pay dues to organized labor."

"It's that simple," he said. "It's all about freedom and liberty."

Imma gonna go Google and see if we get to recall our governors here in Maine. 

[AFK]

http://www.pressherald.com/news/grow-jobs-in-maine_-not-when-india-calls_2011-03-09.html

So instead of putting Mainer's back to work, we are putting people in India to work.  Now, technically, these contract bids were submitted when Baldacci was still in office but the final approval came under LePage and he could've fixed it so a Maine company with Maine employees received the bid.  Nope.  All in the name of saving some pocket change.  Way to go Maine!

[Luna]

"If you want prosperity, you have got to make sacrifices," LePage said. However, as Zaid Jilani pointed out, LePage's proposed budget asks the middle-class and public employees to bear the brunt of filling the state's budget gap, while cutting taxes for the state's wealthiest residents.

As part of his budget, LePage proposed raising the retirement age for public employees and freezing their cost-of-living adjustments. He also increased the amount that public employees are required to pay into their pension fund from 7.65 percent to 9.65 percent, which constitutes a cut in take-home pay for these employees. However, as Mike Tipping at the Kennebec Journal reported, the change doesn't apply to LePage's own compensation:

    One public employee currently paying 7.65 percent, however, won't see an increase.

    The governor has exempted himself...If LePage faced the same increase as state employees, it would cost him $5,880 over his term.

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/15/lepage-pension-exempt/#

Dang...  Do these people think nobody will NOTICE?

[Cain]

No, he just doesn't care.

Whatta ya gonna do...kick him out of office?  He can make more in the private sector anyway, and you'll just have a Democrat who decides to do the same....austerity is this new season's black, after all.

[AFK]

He doesn't care.  And he's thrown down the gauntlet with the legislature.  He says that if they don't pass his proposed 2 year budget, AS IS, he will veto it.  Now, in Maine, a 2/3 vote is required to pass a budget bill.  The GOP don't have that majority and thus will need Democrats to pass the budget.  Which means shit will get changed and then LePage will be forced to make that choice. 

The other thing that LePage is likely forgetting, or ignoring, is that while the GOP is in the majority, they aren't all Tea Party types like him.  Some of the freshmen are, but many of the longer serving state legislators are more moderate, in the mold of Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins.  Oh, and there is an election in 2012 that they have to worry about. 

LePage isn't going to get his way.  It will be interesting to see how he handles it.

[Luna]

He doesn't care.  And he's thrown down the gauntlet with the legislature.  He says that if they don't pass his proposed 2 year budget, AS IS, he will veto it.  Now, in Maine, a 2/3 vote is required to pass a budget bill.  The GOP don't have that majority and thus will need Democrats to pass the budget.  Which means shit will get changed and then LePage will be forced to make that choice. 

The other thing that LePage is likely forgetting, or ignoring, is that while the GOP is in the majority, they aren't all Tea Party types like him.  Some of the freshmen are, but many of the longer serving state legislators are more moderate, in the mold of Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins.  Oh, and there is an election in 2012 that they have to worry about. 

LePage isn't going to get his way.  It will be interesting to see how he handles it.

With, I'm certain, all the grace and maturity of a stymied three year old.

[AFK]

One more little tidbit about our Governor.  I've heard from some reliable sources that there is a new controversy surrounding the Governor.  Apparently, he is prone to offend in meetings with legislators.  No, not verbally.  Aromatically.  He will break the wind and apparently often, and it is so bad they have to open windows.  The controversy is that, anecdotally, it seems to happen more often in meetings with Democrats then in meetings with GOP or mixed representation.  

[AFK]

He doesn't care.  And he's thrown down the gauntlet with the legislature.  He says that if they don't pass his proposed 2 year budget, AS IS, he will veto it.  Now, in Maine, a 2/3 vote is required to pass a budget bill.  The GOP don't have that majority and thus will need Democrats to pass the budget.  Which means shit will get changed and then LePage will be forced to make that choice. 

The other thing that LePage is likely forgetting, or ignoring, is that while the GOP is in the majority, they aren't all Tea Party types like him.  Some of the freshmen are, but many of the longer serving state legislators are more moderate, in the mold of Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins.  Oh, and there is an election in 2012 that they have to worry about. 

LePage isn't going to get his way.  It will be interesting to see how he handles it.

With, I'm certain, all the grace and maturity of a stymied three year old.

Yeah, that seems to be the way it's happened so far. 

[Luna]

One more little tidbit about our Governor.  I've heard from some reliable sources that there is a new controversy surrounding the Governor.  Apparently, he is prone to offend in meetings with legislators.  No, not verbally.  Aromatically.  He will break the wind and apparently often, and it is so bad they have to open windows.  The controversy is that, anecdotally, it seems to happen more often in meetings with Democrats then in meetings with GOP or mixed representation.  

Charming.

I'd have to confess that I'd be tempted to throw a beans-and-broccoli picnic an appropriate number of hours before a large meeting of the Democrats with him.  Revenge could be arranged.

[Cain]

He doesn't care.  And he's thrown down the gauntlet with the legislature.  He says that if they don't pass his proposed 2 year budget, AS IS, he will veto it.  Now, in Maine, a 2/3 vote is required to pass a budget bill.  The GOP don't have that majority and thus will need Democrats to pass the budget.  Which means shit will get changed and then LePage will be forced to make that choice. 

The other thing that LePage is likely forgetting, or ignoring, is that while the GOP is in the majority, they aren't all Tea Party types like him.  Some of the freshmen are, but many of the longer serving state legislators are more moderate, in the mold of Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins.  Oh, and there is an election in 2012 that they have to worry about. 

LePage isn't going to get his way.  It will be interesting to see how he handles it.

While you know your own elected officials better, I wouldn't be so certain.  "Moderate" Republicans are amongst the worst for crowing about the need for austerity, with Blue Dog Democrats (like Evan Bayh, who was lecturing the public on how all Americans must suffer together, while his wife rakes in millions as a pharma and medical insurance lobbyist) in close second. 

Even Obama has conceded to the need to cuts, though this may simply be a case of his Goldlilocks Syndrome kicking in.  Either way, cuts are going to happen.  It'll be just like it was in the UK, the arguments will only be over how deep the cuts go, and what will be cut.

[Luna]

Cuts need to happen everywhere.  People expect their politicians to blow sunshine, rainbows, and cash out of their assholes.

Personally, the next election, I'll be strongly tempted to vote for the guy who says, "this is my accountant.  (List credentials.)  When budget time rolls around, I listen to HIM."

[Cain]

They did cuts in Ireland.  It blew a hole through the bottom of their public finances and caused an emergency budget.

They did cuts over here.  It caused our economy to go from "recovering" to back into a recession in less than 6 months.

You cut spending when times are good.  In a consumer economy, you have to stimulate demand.  Cutting spending causes people to have little money, causing them to save, causing less spending, causing more companies to go out of business, leading to less available jobs, leading to uncertainty, leading to more saving....its a vicious circle and it only leads down into ruin.

The idea that every country can go into austerity mode and somehow make up the difference through exports is crazy.  It was crazy when the Germans came up with it, and they are an exporting nation, and it is even crazier in the case of the USA, which has a global trade deficit and moved its heavy industry overseas.