Republicans are "appalled", even Mitt got in on the action, calling it a “a slap in the face to all those brave individuals in Cuba who are enduring relentless persecution.”
'It' is giving Fidel Castro's niece a visa to chair a panel on LGBT issues at the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco later this week.
She was granted visas on three separate times during the Bush years. Selective amnesia is a wonderful thing in politics.
Idiots.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Why Isn't James O'Keefe in Prison yet
The pusculent stain on humanity that is James O'Keefe is still around to run free with his video camera is a measure of just how low right wing standards have sunk. His one big hit, the takedown of Acorn was only possible because he hadn't yet been exposed as a monumental fraud and the wholesale panic that set in among Democrats allowed Acorn to be defunded and shut down before any of the evidence was in.
Turns out his video 'evidence' was a monument to selective editing and a 'Pimp' outfit used just for show but not in the actual meetings with Acorn where he was dressed normally. Why anyone in their right mind would even be conned by this alleged 'Pimp' get up is beyond me.
His story soon fell apart and he's now the subject of a number of lawsuits from former Acorn employees. Courts in New Jersey and California threw out cases against Acorn in the preliminary stages once the courts saw how heavily the tapes were edited.
The Acorn debacle did prove that thee right understands absolutely nothing about both the voter registration process and the election process itself. For the few that may know, silence was preferable to bursting the right's bubble about voter fraud. Firstly, anyone registering voters is obligated by law to turn in every filled out voter registration form even if they know its fraudulent. The person or organization turning in the registration can notate their suspicions but destroying that registration even if it says 'Micky Mouse, 123 Main Street, Disneyland" is a felony. Not to worry, the county election board will check every registration and only they can reject them. The myth that invalid registrations turned in by Acorn or any other organization registering voters will allow Mickey Mouse to vote is a paranoid fantasy.
His next stunt was getting arrested for illegally entering Sen Mary Landrieu (LA)'s offices posing as telephone repairmen. It was never certain what he was trying to do but tapping her phones wasn't part of his plan. Lucky for him because that would have landed him in jail, not as a Pimp but as a Pimpee or in prison parlance, someone;s bitch. Instead he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and got 3 years probation.
O'Keefe's next foray into voter fraud was in New Hampshire. After studying recent death notices O'Keefe and his cohorts showed up at polling places using the names of those recently deceased to obtain ballots. Soon enough they got caught when it turned out a poll worker knew the recently deceased individual. O'Keefe and his cohorts, probably more by luck than design stayed out of serious trouble by not casting any of the ballots they illegally obtained. All they had proved was it is possible to commit voter fraud, not that it actually happens.
Undeterred by looking more stupid each time O'Keefe set his sights on North Carolina. This time he was going to prove non0citizens were busy casting votes. Bingo success, or so claimed
Undeterred hus next stunt involved the failed seduction of CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau aboard a yacht sprinkled with condoms, sex toys and a sexy soundtrack to video the action and compromise Boudreau who was asking too many questions about her.
He then turned his attention to North Carolina where, horror of horrors, non citizens were voting illegally. The Breitbart babes were all over it. Please get back to vetting the 2008 version of Obama. The whole world is waiting to hear who he hugged. World Net Daily took time off trying to prove Obama was born in Kenya to cover the story as well.
Unfortunately the two individuals singled out by O'Keefe both happen to be U.S. citizen and are therefore entitled to vote. O'keefe's reaction. He deleted all messages on his U Tube page pointing this out.
Maybe he will finally go away....then again
Turns out his video 'evidence' was a monument to selective editing and a 'Pimp' outfit used just for show but not in the actual meetings with Acorn where he was dressed normally. Why anyone in their right mind would even be conned by this alleged 'Pimp' get up is beyond me.
His story soon fell apart and he's now the subject of a number of lawsuits from former Acorn employees. Courts in New Jersey and California threw out cases against Acorn in the preliminary stages once the courts saw how heavily the tapes were edited.
The Acorn debacle did prove that thee right understands absolutely nothing about both the voter registration process and the election process itself. For the few that may know, silence was preferable to bursting the right's bubble about voter fraud. Firstly, anyone registering voters is obligated by law to turn in every filled out voter registration form even if they know its fraudulent. The person or organization turning in the registration can notate their suspicions but destroying that registration even if it says 'Micky Mouse, 123 Main Street, Disneyland" is a felony. Not to worry, the county election board will check every registration and only they can reject them. The myth that invalid registrations turned in by Acorn or any other organization registering voters will allow Mickey Mouse to vote is a paranoid fantasy.
His next stunt was getting arrested for illegally entering Sen Mary Landrieu (LA)'s offices posing as telephone repairmen. It was never certain what he was trying to do but tapping her phones wasn't part of his plan. Lucky for him because that would have landed him in jail, not as a Pimp but as a Pimpee or in prison parlance, someone;s bitch. Instead he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and got 3 years probation.
O'Keefe's next foray into voter fraud was in New Hampshire. After studying recent death notices O'Keefe and his cohorts showed up at polling places using the names of those recently deceased to obtain ballots. Soon enough they got caught when it turned out a poll worker knew the recently deceased individual. O'Keefe and his cohorts, probably more by luck than design stayed out of serious trouble by not casting any of the ballots they illegally obtained. All they had proved was it is possible to commit voter fraud, not that it actually happens.
Undeterred by looking more stupid each time O'Keefe set his sights on North Carolina. This time he was going to prove non0citizens were busy casting votes. Bingo success, or so claimed
Undeterred hus next stunt involved the failed seduction of CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau aboard a yacht sprinkled with condoms, sex toys and a sexy soundtrack to video the action and compromise Boudreau who was asking too many questions about her.
He then turned his attention to North Carolina where, horror of horrors, non citizens were voting illegally. The Breitbart babes were all over it. Please get back to vetting the 2008 version of Obama. The whole world is waiting to hear who he hugged. World Net Daily took time off trying to prove Obama was born in Kenya to cover the story as well.
Unfortunately the two individuals singled out by O'Keefe both happen to be U.S. citizen and are therefore entitled to vote. O'keefe's reaction. He deleted all messages on his U Tube page pointing this out.
Maybe he will finally go away....then again
Thursday, May 17, 2012
GOP and Reality -Complete Strangers
Back in the days of the Iowa caucuses, which seem like a decade ago, Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota decided to withdraw from the GOP Presidential race after a poor showing in his former state. Little did he know that being marginally less of a dufus than Perry, Cain, Bachmann or Gingrich, he could have got his 15 minutes of fame as putative GOP nominee. Who knows, his fame might have lasted a little longer seeing as he didn't want to build Club Med on the moon, had no sexual harassment suits, knew the three branches of government and didn't make up stories about 7 foot tall doctors.
Instead, he chose to spend his time working for the computer robot formerly known as Willard (Mitt) Romney. With a persona about as exciting as mud he's probably better off working for Romney. The Romney team has him working the morning Cable News shows where few are watching anyway. Talking to Mrs. Alan Greenspan AKA Amdrea Mitchell today, he came up with some real zingers. He started by claiming President Obama has no clue about the economy seeing as his only previous experience was as a community activist which is like being in government and moreover, Joe Biden who has been in government forever is even less qualified. Pawlenty differentiated himself by claiming that he is far more qualified because he comes from a "blue collar" background as does Joe Biden, but who's counting anyway.
He also claimed that the stimulus was a complete waste of time and money and did nothing to help the economy despite clear evidence to the contrary. That almost 50% of the stimulus was in the form off tax cuts is obviously completely irrelevant to Pawlenty. Simple logic thus suggests that tax cuts don't help the economy, an idea that totally cuts the cornerstone of the entire GOP economic policy but who's counting?
During Pawlenty's second term of Governor, Minnesota faced a huge budget shortfall. How was he able to balance the budget?.....with a large onetime payment from the stimulus.
Sigh
Instead, he chose to spend his time working for the computer robot formerly known as Willard (Mitt) Romney. With a persona about as exciting as mud he's probably better off working for Romney. The Romney team has him working the morning Cable News shows where few are watching anyway. Talking to Mrs. Alan Greenspan AKA Amdrea Mitchell today, he came up with some real zingers. He started by claiming President Obama has no clue about the economy seeing as his only previous experience was as a community activist which is like being in government and moreover, Joe Biden who has been in government forever is even less qualified. Pawlenty differentiated himself by claiming that he is far more qualified because he comes from a "blue collar" background as does Joe Biden, but who's counting anyway.
He also claimed that the stimulus was a complete waste of time and money and did nothing to help the economy despite clear evidence to the contrary. That almost 50% of the stimulus was in the form off tax cuts is obviously completely irrelevant to Pawlenty. Simple logic thus suggests that tax cuts don't help the economy, an idea that totally cuts the cornerstone of the entire GOP economic policy but who's counting?
During Pawlenty's second term of Governor, Minnesota faced a huge budget shortfall. How was he able to balance the budget?.....with a large onetime payment from the stimulus.
Sigh
Monday, May 14, 2012
"Some Blots on the Record"
John Derbyshire was a leading writer for The National Review, one of the leading conservative journals, originally founded by William F. Buckley back in 1955. The journal describes itself as, "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."
Derbyshire was recently fired for an article he wrote that pushed the envelope of racism a little too far even for the Review, which itself has moved far further right in recent years.
Free to spew, he's revealing his true colors. In an article on a White Nationalist website that will remain unnamed and unlinked to he wrote the following:
Firstly, the 'enemies of conservatism' don't call the right "White Supremacist" very often unless, as in this case, they are just too blatant about it but what really cracks me up is the "some blots on the record". A 'blot'..that's like calling Katrina a minor inconvenience for the people of New Orleans.
In Derbyshire's world colonialism probably doesn't even rate a blot, even its worst aspects. The Holocaust, that may rate as a blot because for people like Derbyshire, Jews are not really truly worthy of absolute "whiteness" even if some of his friends are Jewish.
Derbyshire was recently fired for an article he wrote that pushed the envelope of racism a little too far even for the Review, which itself has moved far further right in recent years.
Free to spew, he's revealing his true colors. In an article on a White Nationalist website that will remain unnamed and unlinked to he wrote the following:
The enemies of conservatism are eager to supply their own nomenclature. “White Supremacist” seems to be their current favorite. It is meant maliciously, of course, to bring up images of fire-hoses, attack dogs, pick handles, and segregated lunch counters—to imply that conservatives, especially non-mainstream conservatives, are cruel people with dark thoughts.
Leaving aside the intended malice, I actually think “White Supremacist” is not bad semantically. White supremacy, in the sense of a society in which key decisions are made by white Europeans, is one of the better arrangements History has come up with. There have of course been some blots on the record, but I don’t see how it can be denied that net-net, white Europeans have made a better job of running fair and stable societies than has any other group.
Firstly, the 'enemies of conservatism' don't call the right "White Supremacist" very often unless, as in this case, they are just too blatant about it but what really cracks me up is the "some blots on the record". A 'blot'..that's like calling Katrina a minor inconvenience for the people of New Orleans.
In Derbyshire's world colonialism probably doesn't even rate a blot, even its worst aspects. The Holocaust, that may rate as a blot because for people like Derbyshire, Jews are not really truly worthy of absolute "whiteness" even if some of his friends are Jewish.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
A few Mother's Day songs.
Merle Haggard - Mama Tried
Dionne Bromfield, Amy Winehouse - Mamma Said, covering the original Shirelles hit
and lastly
'Mother's Llittle Helper" - The Rolling Stones.
God bless mothers everywhere. It's a tough and often thankless job.
Catholics Bishops attack Girl Scouts
And no, it's not a headline from the Onion although in a saner world it would be. They're investigating the Girl Scouts for among other things, supporting abortion, supporting the "homosexual agenda" and partnering with Planned Parenthood. There is scant evidence to support any of these charges other than guilt by co-incidental association. The Planned Parenthood charge, for example stems from a United Nations event the Girl Scouts attended. At the same event Planned Parenthood brochures were handed out. No one expected the Spanish Inquisition but we know have the 21st Century version.
The Bishops are racking up quite a record this year. The House held a hearing about insurance covering contraceptives and the Bishops were invited to give testimony. Famously Sandra Fluke, nor any other woman was invited to give testimony at the GOP led hearing. That ended well for everyone concerned.
Then they viciously attacked Nuns for caring to much about social justice and not enough time fighting abortion and gay marriage.
The Catholic Church are also exploring new ways to fight sexual abuse suits by filing lawsuits against organizations supporting victims of pedophile priests as well as forcing every victim to fight lawsuits one by ono instead of paying out large lump sum settlements.
Bill Donohue, that miserable excuse for a human being and also Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights said,
Bear in mind that while the Bishops oppose Catholic institutions covering contraceptive coverage for women even when medically needed, they have no problem covering Viagra prescriptions. You just never know when a priest might have to rise to the occasion at the sight of an innocent altar boy.
The Bishops are racking up quite a record this year. The House held a hearing about insurance covering contraceptives and the Bishops were invited to give testimony. Famously Sandra Fluke, nor any other woman was invited to give testimony at the GOP led hearing. That ended well for everyone concerned.
Then they viciously attacked Nuns for caring to much about social justice and not enough time fighting abortion and gay marriage.
The Catholic Church are also exploring new ways to fight sexual abuse suits by filing lawsuits against organizations supporting victims of pedophile priests as well as forcing every victim to fight lawsuits one by ono instead of paying out large lump sum settlements.
Bill Donohue, that miserable excuse for a human being and also Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights said,
He said bishops were also rethinking their approach of paying large settlements to groups of victims. “The church has been too quick to write a check, and I think they’ve realized it would be a lot less expensive in the long run if we fought them one by one,”They would have racked up a perfect 100% record for vile ignorance but for one blemish. The criticized Paul Ryan's GOP House budget for failing to meet certain “moral criteria” by disproportionately cutting programs that “serve poor and vulnerable people.” This is the same budget that Ryan claimed was influenced by his strong Catholic faith. You're really got to push the envelope of decency to piss off the Bishops. Ryan managed that. Never fear, it was back to the regular program scheduling for the Bishops, attacking nuns, Girl Scouts, covering up sexual conduct and the like.
Bear in mind that while the Bishops oppose Catholic institutions covering contraceptive coverage for women even when medically needed, they have no problem covering Viagra prescriptions. You just never know when a priest might have to rise to the occasion at the sight of an innocent altar boy.
The GOP: Obvlivious to the Real World
The Bush administration kept on telling us that they are creating their own reality, never mind what we're observing in that same reality.
Their cause took a hit last week when J.P. Morgan announced they had just lost $2 billion in a matter of weeks on high risk bets. Jamie Dimon, their CEO has long railed against financial reform. Admittedly J.P. Morgan handled risk somewhat better than other investment banks in the financial meltdown but all the same. Boo effing hoo. Take your medicine and shut your piehole.
In this weeks announcement, Dimon said, "We made a terrible, egregious mistake," and "There's almost no excuse for it.". No shit Sherlock! Out in the real world, this could help undermine Mitt Romney's position that Dodd Frank should be repealed in full and it may help Obama a little.
Then along comes John Thune with the GOP version of reality. The shorter version, We should mitigate risk but not at the expense of forming banks to mitigate risk and we definitely shouldn't be jumping to conclusions.
“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out."We all know how that reality turned out. Fast forward to the present and more recent past. The right has adamantly refused to assign any blame to the banking world for the financial collapse in 2008. They have fought every attempt to regulate the financial markets. All the GOP candidates vowed to repeal the Dodd-Frank financial reform completely.
Their cause took a hit last week when J.P. Morgan announced they had just lost $2 billion in a matter of weeks on high risk bets. Jamie Dimon, their CEO has long railed against financial reform. Admittedly J.P. Morgan handled risk somewhat better than other investment banks in the financial meltdown but all the same. Boo effing hoo. Take your medicine and shut your piehole.
In this weeks announcement, Dimon said, "We made a terrible, egregious mistake," and "There's almost no excuse for it.". No shit Sherlock! Out in the real world, this could help undermine Mitt Romney's position that Dodd Frank should be repealed in full and it may help Obama a little.
Then along comes John Thune with the GOP version of reality. The shorter version, We should mitigate risk but not at the expense of forming banks to mitigate risk and we definitely shouldn't be jumping to conclusions.
“We need to make sure we get all facts before jumping to conclusions about the need for greater financial regulation,” he said on Fox News Sunday, "it is important that we make sure we have got some good safeguards in place but in a way that doesn't impair their ability to mitigate risk and to protect themselves and their balance sheets as well."Fortunately J.P. Morgan can handle the loss. What it shows is the financial markets haven't leared a damn thing and unacceptable risks will still be undertaken. Meanwhile, the GOP's vision of reality remains at odds with reality.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Nina Simone - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Nina Simone's great cover of one of Bob Dylan's most poetically evocative songs. It doesn't get much better than this.
Sweet Melinda
The peasants call her the goddess of gloom
She speaks good English
And she invites you up into her room
And you're so kind
And careful not to go to her too soon
And she takes your voice
And leaves you howling at the moon.
The peasants call her the goddess of gloom
She speaks good English
And she invites you up into her room
And you're so kind
And careful not to go to her too soon
And she takes your voice
And leaves you howling at the moon.
Friday, May 11, 2012
And Then There Is This
To emphasize the point below. It has to be heard to be believed. She takes right wing crazy to a whole new level. The City Council in Lincoln Nebraska is debating an LGBT rights ordinance. Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska is also a University town, the verging on sanity but obviously not in this woman.
The Right Won't Take Heed
A leading GOP pollster has written a quite startling letter to party insiders, candidates and operatives. The message: back off gay marriage. He writes that up to 2009 support for gay marriage was increasing at about 1% a year but since then it has accelerated to 5% a year and now has a lead of 10% against those who don't support it. The movement crosses party lines as well as age groups but is strongest among younger voters.
The last paragraph of the letter by pollster Jan Van Lohuizen is telling.
Conservative fundamentals: “As people who promote personal responsibility, family values, commitment and stability, and emphasize freedom and limited government we have to recognize that freedom means freedom for everyone. This includes the freedom to decide how you live and to enter into relationships of your choosing, the freedom to live without excessive interference of the regulatory force of government.
He's right but for one thing. Today's Republicans are as much Conservatives as Obama is a Socialist. Today's right are Christian Fundamentalist Reactionaries and as such cannot and will not accept the idea that gay marriage is congruent with their philosophy. It's why they stepped right into the contraceptive fight on the wrong side and in the process will lose a few million votes in November. They do not support most conservative principles, certainly not fiscally or socially.
Obama's announcement on Wednesday was a stroke of political genius, coming a day after the debacle in North Carolina. The Romney 'bullying' store coming right after that doesn't help the right's cause either. A few of the saner wing of the GOP might tut-tut and say he's right but any who speak out loud in support of the ideas of the memo will face instant crucifixion.
The last paragraph of the letter by pollster Jan Van Lohuizen is telling.
Conservative fundamentals: “As people who promote personal responsibility, family values, commitment and stability, and emphasize freedom and limited government we have to recognize that freedom means freedom for everyone. This includes the freedom to decide how you live and to enter into relationships of your choosing, the freedom to live without excessive interference of the regulatory force of government.
He's right but for one thing. Today's Republicans are as much Conservatives as Obama is a Socialist. Today's right are Christian Fundamentalist Reactionaries and as such cannot and will not accept the idea that gay marriage is congruent with their philosophy. It's why they stepped right into the contraceptive fight on the wrong side and in the process will lose a few million votes in November. They do not support most conservative principles, certainly not fiscally or socially.
Obama's announcement on Wednesday was a stroke of political genius, coming a day after the debacle in North Carolina. The Romney 'bullying' store coming right after that doesn't help the right's cause either. A few of the saner wing of the GOP might tut-tut and say he's right but any who speak out loud in support of the ideas of the memo will face instant crucifixion.
Mitt Romney's Fiscal Insanity
Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility, yeah right! Saint Ronnie blazed the trail with his 'trickle down' economics. When Reagan became President the U.S. had accumulated $930 billion in deficits in 204 years. It took Reagan 8 years to almost triple that to over $2.6 trillion, an increase of 189%. David Stockman, Reagan's first budget director has seen the light and now admits the 'trickle down' concept of tax cuts was a fraud and they knew it at the time. Their real objective was to 'starve the beast' by running up deficits to justify spending cuts, except for one problem, they didn't cut spending either.
George H. Bush fared marginally better but still managed an increase of 55% in his four years. Given another term, he would have more than doubled the debt. In the 12 years of Reagan/Bush I they grew Federal debt by 10% or more in each of 12 years.
Bill Clinton changed that. He raised taxes for the wealthy in 1993 which led to a parade of Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich going in front of the cameras and predicting the end of America as we know it. The result was budget surpluses for most of his second term. The economy grew for 116 months, a record, he created more than 22 million jobs, almost all in the private sector and left office with 4% unemployment, the lowest in 30 years. Then along came Bush. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) predicted that with Clinton's tax and spending policies in place the U.S. could retire it's entire federal debt in 12 years. Instead Bush added $5 trillion to the deficit while Rove and Cheney constantly reminded us that "deficits don't matter" neglecting to add 'only under a Republican administration"
With the economy in free fall Obama took office with an unenviable task. A new book has revealed that on the night of his inauguration a secret meeting of GOP leaders met to lay out their plans for the future. The previous month had seen 750,000 people lose their jobs, a number that was repeated in January. GDP had fallen 8.9% but the GOP had a bigger concern than the economy and the American people. Their mission was going to be to stop to stop Obama dead in his tracks. That alone should disqualify them as a legitimate political party but in these times of acrimonious partisanship, anything is fair game for the right.
With a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, Obama was able to pass a watered down stimulus, a watered down financial reform bill and Obamacare, ironically based on the GOP's response to Clinton's failed health care reform in 1994. Although formulated by the right wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation, Obamacare came under immediate assault as the right wing hysteria about 'death panels' and 'socialism' fueled the Tea Party surge in 2010 and Obama's policies were stymied, The ultimate irony is that they were attacking a policy that was their own just 14 years prior.
Despite the empirical economic evidence since 1980 that tax cuts, wars, financial deregulation starting with the S&L crisis in the '80's and the far more devastating economic collapse in 2008, and exploding deficits, the GOP continues to push these same economic ideologies as if none of the above ever happened
Mitt Romney, their current flag bearer wants more of the same but with the even further drift to the right has adopted the same failed policies but on steroids. The Bush tax cuts will be extended ad infinitum while a slew of new cuts expected to add $480 - $610 billion to the deficit each year are proposed. Romney also plans to boost the defense budget to 4% of GDP from its current 3.5% which will add another $200 billion to the deficit each year. Neither Romney nor Paul Ryan with his House budget have been able to elucidate any coherent plan to pay for these revenue losses other than to vaguely mention eliminating tax loopholes every once in a while. Romney's only specific contribution thus far has been to suggest ending the mortgage interest deduction on second homes for those lucky enough to still have a second home, never mind a first home. That's expected to add $1.5 billion a year in revenue which is a rounding number mess that passes for accounting in the Pentagon.
The GOP still obstinately cling to the idea that tax cuts more than pay for themselves. Clinton proved that you can raise taxes, grow the economy and create surpluses. Bush W. proved that tax cuts will add to the deficit and won't necessarily create jobs yet in the GOP world where the laws of math have been rendered obsolete, ideology trumps both sanity and empirical evidence.
The IRS recently released an analysis of the distribution of income growth in 2010, the first year of the current recovery. 93% of added income went to the top 1%. 9% went to the next 9% while the bottom 90% saw its income increase 0.2%. So much for Obama creating a Socialist state. No economy can thrive under those conditions and the Romney plan, coupled with the recently passed Ryan budget (not that it will pass) will only serve to exacerbate those out of whack numbers. Ultimately, what drives the economy is demand and no matter how much extra money is put in the hands of the wealthy, it won't be invested in creating jobs as the GOP believes. When 90% of consumers are not seeing their income grow, nor are they seeing any prospects growth a truly robust economy, not one eking out gains on the margins cannot exist.
It's one big con and too many are suckered into believing it because of the effective right wing propaganda machine led by Fox News and the total domination of right wing radio that has convinced a large sector of Americans that Obama is a socialist who hates America, hates freedom and therefore has to be voted out of office. This machine preys on the naive, convincing social conservatives who have always been inclined towards the GOP that they are serving their economic interests by cloaking their true policies in patriotic symbolism.
The reverse is true. A Romney presidency, coupled with the GOP holding on to the House and taking the Senate will usher in the same failed policies of the Reagan and Bush eras. In addition they want to repeal the minimal financial regulations passed in the wake of the 2008 policies, repeal Obamacare and deregulate industry as much as possible while still allowing corporations thousands of loopholes to avoid paying taxes. The current fragile state of the economy is far less robust than when Reagan or the Bushes exploded the deficit. Their policies on steroids, which is the current GOP agenda will if allowed to reign, destroy the economy to a level from which it may never recover. The stakes are that high as conservatism in America moves further and further way from reality from history and from the basic rules of math.
George H. Bush fared marginally better but still managed an increase of 55% in his four years. Given another term, he would have more than doubled the debt. In the 12 years of Reagan/Bush I they grew Federal debt by 10% or more in each of 12 years.
Bill Clinton changed that. He raised taxes for the wealthy in 1993 which led to a parade of Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich going in front of the cameras and predicting the end of America as we know it. The result was budget surpluses for most of his second term. The economy grew for 116 months, a record, he created more than 22 million jobs, almost all in the private sector and left office with 4% unemployment, the lowest in 30 years. Then along came Bush. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) predicted that with Clinton's tax and spending policies in place the U.S. could retire it's entire federal debt in 12 years. Instead Bush added $5 trillion to the deficit while Rove and Cheney constantly reminded us that "deficits don't matter" neglecting to add 'only under a Republican administration"
With the economy in free fall Obama took office with an unenviable task. A new book has revealed that on the night of his inauguration a secret meeting of GOP leaders met to lay out their plans for the future. The previous month had seen 750,000 people lose their jobs, a number that was repeated in January. GDP had fallen 8.9% but the GOP had a bigger concern than the economy and the American people. Their mission was going to be to stop to stop Obama dead in his tracks. That alone should disqualify them as a legitimate political party but in these times of acrimonious partisanship, anything is fair game for the right.
With a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, Obama was able to pass a watered down stimulus, a watered down financial reform bill and Obamacare, ironically based on the GOP's response to Clinton's failed health care reform in 1994. Although formulated by the right wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation, Obamacare came under immediate assault as the right wing hysteria about 'death panels' and 'socialism' fueled the Tea Party surge in 2010 and Obama's policies were stymied, The ultimate irony is that they were attacking a policy that was their own just 14 years prior.
Despite the empirical economic evidence since 1980 that tax cuts, wars, financial deregulation starting with the S&L crisis in the '80's and the far more devastating economic collapse in 2008, and exploding deficits, the GOP continues to push these same economic ideologies as if none of the above ever happened
Mitt Romney, their current flag bearer wants more of the same but with the even further drift to the right has adopted the same failed policies but on steroids. The Bush tax cuts will be extended ad infinitum while a slew of new cuts expected to add $480 - $610 billion to the deficit each year are proposed. Romney also plans to boost the defense budget to 4% of GDP from its current 3.5% which will add another $200 billion to the deficit each year. Neither Romney nor Paul Ryan with his House budget have been able to elucidate any coherent plan to pay for these revenue losses other than to vaguely mention eliminating tax loopholes every once in a while. Romney's only specific contribution thus far has been to suggest ending the mortgage interest deduction on second homes for those lucky enough to still have a second home, never mind a first home. That's expected to add $1.5 billion a year in revenue which is a rounding number mess that passes for accounting in the Pentagon.
The GOP still obstinately cling to the idea that tax cuts more than pay for themselves. Clinton proved that you can raise taxes, grow the economy and create surpluses. Bush W. proved that tax cuts will add to the deficit and won't necessarily create jobs yet in the GOP world where the laws of math have been rendered obsolete, ideology trumps both sanity and empirical evidence.
The IRS recently released an analysis of the distribution of income growth in 2010, the first year of the current recovery. 93% of added income went to the top 1%. 9% went to the next 9% while the bottom 90% saw its income increase 0.2%. So much for Obama creating a Socialist state. No economy can thrive under those conditions and the Romney plan, coupled with the recently passed Ryan budget (not that it will pass) will only serve to exacerbate those out of whack numbers. Ultimately, what drives the economy is demand and no matter how much extra money is put in the hands of the wealthy, it won't be invested in creating jobs as the GOP believes. When 90% of consumers are not seeing their income grow, nor are they seeing any prospects growth a truly robust economy, not one eking out gains on the margins cannot exist.
It's one big con and too many are suckered into believing it because of the effective right wing propaganda machine led by Fox News and the total domination of right wing radio that has convinced a large sector of Americans that Obama is a socialist who hates America, hates freedom and therefore has to be voted out of office. This machine preys on the naive, convincing social conservatives who have always been inclined towards the GOP that they are serving their economic interests by cloaking their true policies in patriotic symbolism.
The reverse is true. A Romney presidency, coupled with the GOP holding on to the House and taking the Senate will usher in the same failed policies of the Reagan and Bush eras. In addition they want to repeal the minimal financial regulations passed in the wake of the 2008 policies, repeal Obamacare and deregulate industry as much as possible while still allowing corporations thousands of loopholes to avoid paying taxes. The current fragile state of the economy is far less robust than when Reagan or the Bushes exploded the deficit. Their policies on steroids, which is the current GOP agenda will if allowed to reign, destroy the economy to a level from which it may never recover. The stakes are that high as conservatism in America moves further and further way from reality from history and from the basic rules of math.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Charles Pierce nails it as usual
As it happens, of course, I live in the capital of gay marriage, in Massachusetts, where a great lawyer named Mary Bonauto and some brave judges on the Supreme Judicial Court cracked the ice on this issue for good. I can tell you from personal experience that we are a better, fairer Commonwealth than we were before the Goodridge decision was handed down. The president of the United States finally has stepped on that same road, and, at the end of it, a better and fairer country awaits.Let the 'poo flingers', as he calls them throw their tantrum. They're on the wrong side of history and time will show that.. Despite way too much evidence to the contrary, tolerance is, and always has been a virtue, as American as apple pie.
I'm prouder to be driving through this country than I was this morning, that's for sure.
Right on cue
The Log Cabin Republicans who still believe there's a home for them in the Republican Party criticize Obama's support for gay marriage. Is there anything left that Republicans haven't criticized him for? Thought not.
Billy Bragg and Wilco - California Stars
From their first Woody Guthrie tribute album, Mermaid Avenue recorded in 1998. Guthrie wrote and performed hundreds of songs but relatively few were ever recorded. With no formal musical education most of his songs are only written lyrics. Bragg and Wilco took two albums' worth of his songs and put them to music. This is one of my favorites. He wrote and recorded the iconic, "This Land is Your Land." His guitar often bore the words, "This machine kills fascists."
2012 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. Song of the Day dedicated to Chana, on the other side of the world.
We Don't Need No Edukashin
Far be it for me to pick on the fairer sex, especially on their looks but every once in a while I feel I have to descend into the mire when the persona behind the mugshot is even more nauseating. Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC bigot party) deserves the accolade. She chairs the House Committee on Higher Education with a level of contempt that says higher education is doomed.
On the G. Gordon Liddy radio show she said the following;
FOXX: I went through school, I worked my way through, it took me seven years, I never borrowed a dime of money. He borrowed a little bit because we both were totally on our own when we went to college, totally. [...] I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there’s no reason for that. We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” You don’t have it dumped in your lap.
Inquiring minds want to know, where and when did she graduate and what did she study? Dinosaur husbandry? Try working your way through college today with tuition outpacing even health care costs in inflation. Her hypocrisy runs deep and wide, having gone to bat for the 'for profit' on-line college world where almost 80% of students get government subsidized student loans. Using often illegal sales pitches for profit colleges make up 50% of all student loan defaults despite enrolling only 10% of higher education students. 25% of students at these schools default within 3 years, most without a degree after being suckered in by high pressure sales tactics which promise far more than the school can deliver.
Attempts to reign in these abuses have been few and far between thanks to resistance from the GOP. These colleges are more than happy to take some of their government subsidized revenue and spend it freely on lobbyists to make sure those Federal dollars keep rolling in.
She sponsored the satirical tome otherwise known as the 'Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act.' to give cover to the aforementioned colleges. In the press release she used the 'use at every opportunity available' GOP 'reduce job killing regulations' phrase to make sure everyone knows which side she's on.
She's branched out into full-on birtherism, no subsidized contraception for sluts and this classic quote:
“The Republican plan will] make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.”
If she's referring to the original Republican health care plan put out by the Heritage Foundation in 1994 that eventually became the blueprint for Obamacare, she's 100% correct but I suspect that isn't what she's referring to.
Why is this scowling mien relevant today? Interest on student loans is due to double from 3.4% to 6.8% in a couple of months which will guarantee a huge spike in loan defaults considering today's thriving job market for college graduates. We all know the GOP will eventually cave on this politically suicidal mission. The real issue is how to pay for it The Democrats want to pay for it by closing a tax loophole that allows wealthy professionals like doctors and lawyers avoid paying any payroll taxes. Ironically the loophole is called The Edwards Loophole for the lying, cheating former North Carolina Senator, John Edwards.
The GOP Senators used the filibuster to kill that because it would punish our sacred job creators. They would rather take it out of funding for the Prevention and Public Health fund part of the ACA which is designed to fight preventable diseases brought on by obesity and smoking, something the GOP used to support until the Democrats actually made it law. Ironically Red states will benefit more from the law, having far higher obesity and smoking rates than sensible states. Kill the 'Nanny State'. We want freedom to get as fat as we want and smoke as much as we want.
Virginia Foxx is the face of the GOP's higher education values, gut public education funding at all levels and steer as much of it to the private sector as possible and lastly, why has talk radio become such a financial haven for right wing felons, bigots and hucksters like G. Gordon Liddy who falls into all three categories.
FOXX: I went through school, I worked my way through, it took me seven years, I never borrowed a dime of money. He borrowed a little bit because we both were totally on our own when we went to college, totally. [...] I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there’s no reason for that. We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” You don’t have it dumped in your lap.
Inquiring minds want to know, where and when did she graduate and what did she study? Dinosaur husbandry? Try working your way through college today with tuition outpacing even health care costs in inflation. Her hypocrisy runs deep and wide, having gone to bat for the 'for profit' on-line college world where almost 80% of students get government subsidized student loans. Using often illegal sales pitches for profit colleges make up 50% of all student loan defaults despite enrolling only 10% of higher education students. 25% of students at these schools default within 3 years, most without a degree after being suckered in by high pressure sales tactics which promise far more than the school can deliver.
Attempts to reign in these abuses have been few and far between thanks to resistance from the GOP. These colleges are more than happy to take some of their government subsidized revenue and spend it freely on lobbyists to make sure those Federal dollars keep rolling in.
She sponsored the satirical tome otherwise known as the 'Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act.' to give cover to the aforementioned colleges. In the press release she used the 'use at every opportunity available' GOP 'reduce job killing regulations' phrase to make sure everyone knows which side she's on.
She's branched out into full-on birtherism, no subsidized contraception for sluts and this classic quote:
“The Republican plan will] make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.”
If she's referring to the original Republican health care plan put out by the Heritage Foundation in 1994 that eventually became the blueprint for Obamacare, she's 100% correct but I suspect that isn't what she's referring to.
Why is this scowling mien relevant today? Interest on student loans is due to double from 3.4% to 6.8% in a couple of months which will guarantee a huge spike in loan defaults considering today's thriving job market for college graduates. We all know the GOP will eventually cave on this politically suicidal mission. The real issue is how to pay for it The Democrats want to pay for it by closing a tax loophole that allows wealthy professionals like doctors and lawyers avoid paying any payroll taxes. Ironically the loophole is called The Edwards Loophole for the lying, cheating former North Carolina Senator, John Edwards.
The GOP Senators used the filibuster to kill that because it would punish our sacred job creators. They would rather take it out of funding for the Prevention and Public Health fund part of the ACA which is designed to fight preventable diseases brought on by obesity and smoking, something the GOP used to support until the Democrats actually made it law. Ironically Red states will benefit more from the law, having far higher obesity and smoking rates than sensible states. Kill the 'Nanny State'. We want freedom to get as fat as we want and smoke as much as we want.
Virginia Foxx is the face of the GOP's higher education values, gut public education funding at all levels and steer as much of it to the private sector as possible and lastly, why has talk radio become such a financial haven for right wing felons, bigots and hucksters like G. Gordon Liddy who falls into all three categories.
A cesspool of ignorance, bigotry and hypocrisy
Just another day in America.
Let's start in North Carolina which had shown some signs of sanity voting for Obama in the 2008 election but that flew out the window today as its voters decided to opt for some serious biblical bigotry today. Gay is the new black so Amendment 1 to the state constitution passed easily, making bigotry and ignorance legal. Gay marriage was already illegal in the state constitution but why not pass it again just to make sure it stays illegal, and as an added bonus deny gays their civil rights, almost 1,200 of them.
Without civil union rights single sex couples can't get health insurance even if their spouse has an employer health plan that offers it. They can be denied hospital visitation rights to their spouse if they're intensive care, can't get joint auto or property insurance, leave to care for a sick spouse. They will also be denied the right to have a shitty marriage just like heterosexual couples can.
Saturday was National Prayer Day so thousands of good god fearing citizens gathered before local courthouses to pray for bigotry and ignorance. What would Jesus do, probably play a round of golf instead before the U.N./black helicopter/George Soros conspiracy destroys all our golf courses according to GOP Senate candidate, Ted Crus of Texas; where else.
We move to Kansas, home of abortion doctor killers, where the GOP's 'War on Women' which is all just another insidious Obama plot, was breaking new ground. The State Houses sent a bill to be signed by Gov. Brownback to punish those sluts who happen to get pregnant and try to terminate the pregnancy which is still legal in America. It gives cover and legal immunity to doctors who feel it is their God given duty to stop an abortion at all costs. If there is a medical threat to the health of the mother or the fetus they are not obligated to inform the woman just in case she decides to have an abortion and can't be sued for malpractice if something bad happens to the mother. Long live the fetus.
It clearly violates the Hippocratic Oath, but what the hell, it's just a theory, like evolution. The bill also forces women to buy special abortion insurance. Kansas had already stripped abortion from health insurance plans. These hypocritical 'there is no War on Women' alleged humans managed to create a new tax. Women who have abortions will now have to pay a 6.9% sales tax for the pleasure, even in the case of rape. What would Grover; 'no tax increases ever' Norquist say?
Doctors will also have to inform those evil baby killing women that an abortion can cause breast cancer, a theory that has been debunked over and over for the past 10 years, throwing science under the bus in an orgy of fearmongering.
Lastly, in that august body of frat house ignorance, the House of Representatives took sides in the old economic debate and chose guns instead of butter. A failure of Congress to reach an agreement on budget cuts would have triggered automatic cuts to the military and other government programs. Guns was the clear winner where the GOP led House decided that the threat of underpants bombers was so great that they added a further $29 billion to the Pentagon's budget request to build among other things two more nuclear submarines and for the F22 fighter plane disaster that pilots refuse to fly. Nevermind that the Pentagon is by far the biggest cesspool of waste in the government. WTF, has Al Qaeda recruited thousands of Spongebob Squarepants to surreptitiously wade ashore on America's beaches in those ridiculous spacious pants big enough to carry a nuclear underpants bomb.
To offset this military spending binge the GOP have proposed $261 billion in cuts over the next ten years in food stamps, medicaid, insurance for low income kids, school lunches, meals on wheels and other nutrition programs. GOP Rep, Kevin McCarthy (CA) described this as 'trimming the fat', For once he's right. Taking away 300,000 lunches from low income children, meals on wheels for elderly home confined citizens and food stamps in general will trim the fat, as people will literally go hungry, but it's a price worth paying to Protect us from hordes of Radical Islamic Spongebob Squarepants. Any criticism will be met with continuous wailing of 'class warfare, class warfare' from these shameless hacks.
There is more, just from today but this is more than enough to stomach, It covers the right wing trifecta, bigotry on an institutional scale, the war on women with bonus government interference in our private lives and the callous disregard of the plight of the growing numbers of Americans, barely able to hang on.
Let's start in North Carolina which had shown some signs of sanity voting for Obama in the 2008 election but that flew out the window today as its voters decided to opt for some serious biblical bigotry today. Gay is the new black so Amendment 1 to the state constitution passed easily, making bigotry and ignorance legal. Gay marriage was already illegal in the state constitution but why not pass it again just to make sure it stays illegal, and as an added bonus deny gays their civil rights, almost 1,200 of them.
Without civil union rights single sex couples can't get health insurance even if their spouse has an employer health plan that offers it. They can be denied hospital visitation rights to their spouse if they're intensive care, can't get joint auto or property insurance, leave to care for a sick spouse. They will also be denied the right to have a shitty marriage just like heterosexual couples can.
Saturday was National Prayer Day so thousands of good god fearing citizens gathered before local courthouses to pray for bigotry and ignorance. What would Jesus do, probably play a round of golf instead before the U.N./black helicopter/George Soros conspiracy destroys all our golf courses according to GOP Senate candidate, Ted Crus of Texas; where else.
We move to Kansas, home of abortion doctor killers, where the GOP's 'War on Women' which is all just another insidious Obama plot, was breaking new ground. The State Houses sent a bill to be signed by Gov. Brownback to punish those sluts who happen to get pregnant and try to terminate the pregnancy which is still legal in America. It gives cover and legal immunity to doctors who feel it is their God given duty to stop an abortion at all costs. If there is a medical threat to the health of the mother or the fetus they are not obligated to inform the woman just in case she decides to have an abortion and can't be sued for malpractice if something bad happens to the mother. Long live the fetus.
It clearly violates the Hippocratic Oath, but what the hell, it's just a theory, like evolution. The bill also forces women to buy special abortion insurance. Kansas had already stripped abortion from health insurance plans. These hypocritical 'there is no War on Women' alleged humans managed to create a new tax. Women who have abortions will now have to pay a 6.9% sales tax for the pleasure, even in the case of rape. What would Grover; 'no tax increases ever' Norquist say?
Doctors will also have to inform those evil baby killing women that an abortion can cause breast cancer, a theory that has been debunked over and over for the past 10 years, throwing science under the bus in an orgy of fearmongering.
Lastly, in that august body of frat house ignorance, the House of Representatives took sides in the old economic debate and chose guns instead of butter. A failure of Congress to reach an agreement on budget cuts would have triggered automatic cuts to the military and other government programs. Guns was the clear winner where the GOP led House decided that the threat of underpants bombers was so great that they added a further $29 billion to the Pentagon's budget request to build among other things two more nuclear submarines and for the F22 fighter plane disaster that pilots refuse to fly. Nevermind that the Pentagon is by far the biggest cesspool of waste in the government. WTF, has Al Qaeda recruited thousands of Spongebob Squarepants to surreptitiously wade ashore on America's beaches in those ridiculous spacious pants big enough to carry a nuclear underpants bomb.
To offset this military spending binge the GOP have proposed $261 billion in cuts over the next ten years in food stamps, medicaid, insurance for low income kids, school lunches, meals on wheels and other nutrition programs. GOP Rep, Kevin McCarthy (CA) described this as 'trimming the fat', For once he's right. Taking away 300,000 lunches from low income children, meals on wheels for elderly home confined citizens and food stamps in general will trim the fat, as people will literally go hungry, but it's a price worth paying to Protect us from hordes of Radical Islamic Spongebob Squarepants. Any criticism will be met with continuous wailing of 'class warfare, class warfare' from these shameless hacks.
There is more, just from today but this is more than enough to stomach, It covers the right wing trifecta, bigotry on an institutional scale, the war on women with bonus government interference in our private lives and the callous disregard of the plight of the growing numbers of Americans, barely able to hang on.
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