The PCTC Blog

Politics 101 for the Far Left: The Right Doesn't Win, We Lose!

One of the keys to our overall strategy of turning the United States into a progressive nation has to do with our understanding that we are being dominated by a group that represents a significant minority of the American population. The far right in this country represents about 25% of its inhabitants, at most. Yet, for 32 years -- an entire generation -- they’ve been running the government, and we've been increasingly locked out of the government altogether. We even have the most progressive president in the modern era and the single best pure politician in the last 50 yeas lashing out at "the professional left."

And before you professional lefties start laughing at me, consider this; Barack Obama got a black man elected president of the United States, and you think the surest way to a progressive majority is by replacing "Blue Dogs" with teabaggers. We've been in the wilderness for 40 years; how much longer do we shoot ourselves in the foot before we figure out to aim the gun elsewhere?

If we're so great at politics, how is it that a distinct minority of the population can come to dominate the policymaking apparatus in a democratic republic for an entire generation? 

The answer is, we help them.  We actually do more to damage our own prospects than they do. They don't win, we lose. 

Once again, let me explain how we help them.

The Real Meaning of "Investment"

Under the current president's leadership, we're starting to get a little better, in that it's very unlikely that we'll see a major bubble pop up in the economy anytime soon. But oil prices still go up and down, depending on where speculators want to manipulate them, and the price of an ounce of gold as of today is $1673, which really should be seen as absurd. Even some aspects of the stock market's rise to 13,000 should be worrisome. 

 

At some point, we have to learn that our biggest problem, economically speaking, is rooted in our tendency to demand huge, quick returns on our investments, instead of investing in a solid, workable future. Our parents built the greatest economic engine in the world through investment in ourselves, and by having enormous patience. The stock market didn't double in five years; it rose steadily. Likewise, inflation was very modest for many years; people knew how much a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk was going to cost from year to year. But these days, Instead of putting our money aside for a rainy day, everything's become a bet of sorts, and the end result is an economy that is largely scary and unpredictable. Our notion of investment has become somewhat bastardized over the years, and it's high time we changed our attitude; otherwise, we'll never get out of the doldrums completely. 

The Main (But not the only) Reason to Vote Democratic; The Current GOP Sucks; Here's Proof

You've heard this from me many times over the years, but both parties are NOT the same, and anyone who says such a thing is not an "expert," no matter how he/she portray themselves.

The 2012 election is a crucial one for progressives. This is our tipping point; if we don't make our mark now, we risk becoming a historical asterisk. We have allowed the right wing to pretty much run the show for the last 32 years, and it's time to take the country back. I'm not talking about marching and singing and playing political theater. I'm talking about opening our eyes and seeing the real problem with our politics and getting rid of it. 

 Whether you like it or not, the economy will always be the number one issue, regardless of the year. But the Republican Party still touts economic policies which were proven wrong many years ago, like supply-side economics, which is often called "trickle-down." Unless we're comparing the economy to molasses, a lot more should have "trickled down" to us by now, don't you think? It has been 32 years, after all. 

Mark Williams: Exhibit One that Teabaggers are Racist.(Part one of a series)

I am sick to death of the Tea Party bullshit. I’ve just plain had it.

First of all, I refuse to take them seriously as a "movement." It's not a movement; it's your classic "astroturf." A number of rich crooks are taking advantage of the most ignorant assholes in our society and they're using them to raise money. 

Now, I will admit that, for a long time, I was among those delusional folks who tried to be   diplomatic and give them the benefit of the doubt.  Yes, I am among those who have said in the past that “some of the points the Tea Party makes are valid.” 

I was wrong.

 

I have spent the last several weeks examining the Tea Party, and I’m here to tell you; there’s no there there.  The Tea Party “movement” obviously has nothing to do with patriotism, and there is no corollary between what these ignorant assholes say and do and any of the events that led to the revolutionary war. After examining this charade and its elements, I’m here to tell you;  this entire “movement” is nothing more than an attempt by moneyed interests to motivate stupid, ignorant, racist crackers to put them back into power.

 

Yes, I said stupid, I said ignorant and I said racist. And I am setting out to prove all three. 

Why Arizona SB 1070 Is Bad Law, No Matter What You Think

You have to hand it to right wing Republicans. They certainly know how to adopt an issue and get behind a law based on that issue that they know a) will probably be overturned by a court because it's unconstitutional and b) if it's not overturned won't actually fix the problem, in any case. Because see, if you fix a problem, then you can't run on it. I mean, how long do you lame right wing idiots have to be strung along before you figure out they have absolutely no intention of outlawing abortion, stopping drugs or reducing illegal immigration, because to do so would make it almost impossible for them to bitch about stuff that gets them elected.

Case in point; S.B. 1070, the Arizona immigration law that is unconstitutional and guaranteed not to work. Yeah! Republicans got a two-fer on that one.

Look; I know Arizona very well. Most of the people there are generally nice, face to face. They’re sweet and kind and they seem to always smile.

Of course, I’m white; they have nothing against me.

Traitor For Congress, Alabama Second District?

Rick Barber. Remember that name. (And no, this is not the longtime radio talk show host at KOA in Denver. He could never be this stupid.)

This asshole is running for Congress. In the United States of America. Yes, last I checked, Alabama was still a state, and had a significant number of sane people living there. 

Keep in mind as you watch this campaign video; this guy is running for a seat in the United States Congress, representing  just under a million people. No, a million AMERICANS. 

 I’m going to ask this question again; why do so many right wingers wish to turn this country into a clone of the old Soviet Union, and why the hell do we have to listen to them? If this guy is in fact running this ad on the public airwaves, why are we allowing this? Yes, I am for free speech, but this isn’t about free speech; it’s about treason, folks. This guy is advocating armed rebellion against the government because he doesn't like the "progressive tax code." This, despite the fact that he was apparently quiet as a church mouse while his fellow neocons basically trashed the progressive part of the tax code. 

Senators Who Should Be Ousted -- A Miranda Warning Warning

Let’s talk about Miranda Warnings, shall we?

First of all, Miranda warnings do not grant rights. A lot of times, when the media talks about them, it almost sounds as if police are giving suspects rights or something, but the fact of the matters is, everyone has the right to due process, and the right to not be compelled to incriminate himself, simply by being present in United States jurisdiction. In short, when the government accuses someone of a crime, the government has to prove the crime occurred and that you were responsible; you do not have to prove you didn't do it. Got that? Everyone has the same rights, regardless, in order to protect you from government tyranny.

What does the right wing have against the Constitution? Except for the Second Amendment, which they hold as truly sacred, they seem to simply disregard the rest of it, when upholding it becomes “inconvenient.”

The Caribou Barbie is an Idiot Chronicles: The Oil Spill

This blog has been remiss, and I apologize.

You see, I often dismiss Caribou Barbie (Sarah Palin) as a crank and an idiot, which is just too easy at times. I sometimes forget that a significant portion of the population actually believes what they think she said (most of it is intelligible, quite frankly), and she does have a modest amount of political power. Therefore, we have to cut her crap, too.  She says some incredibly crazy shit, and I think it’s time we called her on it.

This particular piece of prose from the the ex-governor, ex-candidate, ex-beauty queen, ex-college student-four-times-over, etc, doesn't seem quite as nutty as the crap she spews from her second-darkest orifice, which is why I felt it particularly necessary to address it. It's pure garbage wrapped in a veneer of pure reasonableness.

The following is from her Facebook page, April 30 (and no – I will not provide a link – let her find her own “friends”). This isn’t among her stupidest things, but it’s still completely right-wing clueless:

PCTC Right Wing Fart Machine Case Study: Who's Pissing on Jesus?

Do you know why so many right wing leaders like to show outrage at the stupidest things? It’s because they know they’ll get the masses inflamed enough to send them a bunch of money.  That's all. It's all about the money. Does anyone believe Sarah Palin was actually offended when David Letterman made fun of her weeks ago? Did she really think Letterman was talking about her younger daughter?

Of course she didn’t.  But the fact of the matter is, the Republican “base” is made up of the stupidest, most gullible morons in the country, and they can always be counted upon tocough up a few dollars to support anything that fires them up. Forget jobs and fixing the economy; it's sex and "dirty" body parts that make for the best money trail.

It is this knowledge that keeps the Right Wing Fart Machine greased and running.  While the Republican “base” has a lot of phony passion and fake moral outrage, they have absolutely no sense of humor.  And I mean none, folks. Have you ever noticed what the right wing laughs at? Everything they find “humorous” involved cruelty and/or death. They just absolutely love death. And they never actually laugh in a way that demonstrates joy, like the rest of us; every right wing laugh is far more sardonic than anything.

How to Argue With a Right Winger: First in a Series

Okay, in the interest of the relative sanity of the populous, I should probably start by advising you to never argue with a right winger in a one-on-one, face-to-face situation.  It's better to preserve the brain cells, and just shake your head and walk away muttering.  (But make sure you mutter, because the muttering drives them batshit.) The only reason to even counter a right winger on anything would be to influence  any  reasonable people who might be lurking nearby, and might possibly be influenced by the  right winger's diatribe in some small way.

Let me be clear; I'm only talking about right wingers, not conservatives.  If you're wondering what the difference is, you're drinking the Kool-Aid, friends, and you have to stop.  Conservatives actually use facts to develop arguments that run counter to ours, and they're our loyal opposition, not the enemy. It is possible to for two people to see the same set of facts and come away with different points of view. Right wingers, however, approach every issue with a preconceived notion, and look for any information possible to support that notion.  That's why almost everything you hear coming from right wing media is a lie; they're feeding the piranhas, as it were. 

Me vs. Coulter -- Kicking the Ultimate RW Liar's ASS on Health Insurance Parts 3 & 4

Okay, I've been neglecting my Coulter-thrashing duties, so I'm forced to combine two of her crap-laced columns into one. Sue me. Better yet, I almost wish she would.

 

As a nasty liar, this woman(?) is world-class. She has made a really good living telling the wingnuts what they want to hear, and mocking them every chance she gets. If you think she actually believes this crap, think again. She just has no scruples. If there was money in being a liberal, she'd switch sides in a heartbeat. But believe me, I can attest, there is no money in being a liberal, so we won't see her joining our side any time soon. Thank goodness, because I have to be honest; I couldn't follow someone on our side who was so nasty.

 

Just once, I would love to see the far right come up with a lie that we liberals actually tell. Just one. This column encompasses both the third and fourth parts in her series, and she hasn't gotten one right yet. Strange, but if I wanted to, I could easily come up with some lies told by liberals in this debate, which indicates that she's not really trying.  Surprised?

 

Okay, on with the show… as always, my comments are in Red...

Jon Stewart Fries Paid Health Care Liar Betsy McCaughey

I told you all about lying sack, Betsy McCaughey a while ago on this very blog, and in my first appearance on the Nicole Sandler Show.

But what I want to know is, where is our press on this? Reporters should be chomping at the bit to expose these people. Why is it being left to blogs by admittedly non-professional journalists like me, and a COMEDIAN to put these people on notice and to clear the record?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Me vs. Coulter -- Kicking the Ultimate RW Liar's ASS on Health Insurance

I got this in my email yesterday, and had to laugh my ass off. You'll see why when you look at the title.

 

I'm not even going to lead into this one; I'll just say it's typical Coulter; red meat and pure BS for the droolers who will believe anything she says without question. I'm just going to dive right in.

 

Once more, my comments are in  red…

 

----------------

 

Liberal Lies About National Health Care: First In a Series

by Ann Coulter

Posted 08/19/2009 ET

Updated 08/19/2009 ET

 

(1) National health care will punish the insurance companies.

Pseudo-Christians Using Jesus' Name to Lie About Health Care Reform

(The original deconstruction of the right wing lies about the health care system is still here. You just have to click on the link at the top right... or you can click here... )

I received this in my e-mail Sunday (of all days). I'm having problems with formatting, so I apologize in advance. Not only is it sacrilegious on some level, and should be seen as an affront to any actual Christian who claims a belief in the words of Jesus Christ, but it also shows once again the lack of an irony gene on the part of the right wing.

Seriously, how can you call yourself “The Pray in Jesus’ Name Project,” and then tell out right lies and swear to God on them? Think I’m exaggerating? Check out the signature at the end. And then be sure to read about the guy who signs this crap "in Jesus' name."

Oh, and by the way, look at what they include at the end of this thing. Faithful readers of this blog will recognize it right away.

My Comments are in dark blue and bold…

Cutting More "Objectively Standard" Lies About the Health Care Bill

(Note: The original "Deconstruction" is still here...)

Apparently, they haven't figured out we're onto them.  

What follows is from an e-mail sent by a reader. The original comes from a blog entitled "The Objective Standard." It's an Ayn Randian type blog that simply has a problem with the government doing anything in general, so it's somewhat different from a typical right wing rant. Although it's still plenty dishonest.First of all, the title of the blog is insane. I'm not sure they even understand what an "objective standard" is. Frankly, I'm not even sure such a thing is possible. Facts are objective; standards tend not to be.They may TRY to be objective, but the fact is, pretty much all standards are subjective at their heart. But check out the title of the article. He purports to tell his readers what HR 3200 actually says, but then proceeds to leave out huge sections of the bill, removes any context from the sections of the bill he cites, and then mischaracterizes what the bill says.

 

As usual, I don't expect anyone to take my word for anything. Follow along with the bill itself. It's important that you know what's in it.

As usual, my comments are in red... By request, I darkened the color. Hope you like it.

Even Newer! Deconstructing the Right Wing Lies on Health Care Bill - Part III

(I have compiled everything into one page for easier consumption. Click the link at the top right of this blog and you'll be taken to it...)

(For those of you who missed me on the radio last night, you can GO HERE and listen to me take apart the Right Wing Fart Machine on Air America's Nicole Sandler Show...)

As noted previously, lawyers are quite long winded, and the person/people who wrote this "critique"of the bill obviously stayed up all night, drinking copious amounts of coffee and laughing maniacally at their coup of finding so many things to hate about the Obama Health care plan.

This is the second installment debunking the Liberty Counsel Memo on what they claim is in the original Health Care Bill (HR 3200), and the third part overall. Seriously, this should provide a rebuttal for pretty much every BS talking point the far right has come up with. The first two parts are Here (Part I) and Here (Part II)).

 

To remind you, The Liberty Counsel is a lobbying group that describes itself as "a nationwide public interest religious civil liberties law firm," according to the memo, which is conveniently located on their web site. The Liberty Counsel's web site tells more...

I also urge you to read through the actual bill, so that you know what's in there. In this part, we'll start on page 734. (And do NOT be intimidated by the 1017 pages. If the margins, line spacing and text size were "normal," this would be a couple of hundred pages, at most.)

NEW! Deconstructing the Right Wing Lies on the Health Insurance Bill -- Pages 500-730

(This is an all-new round of BS, mostly covering the pages after 500. Please feel free to check out the original post right here, as well... These lawyers are so long-winded, there will be a Part III... Stay tuned...)

(I was on the Nicole Sanders Show Wednesday night to discuss this... check it out here...)

Thanks to a reader, I found another little right wing talking points from a little group called the "Liberty Counsel."

 

The Liberty Counsel is a lobbying group that describes itself as "a nationwide public interest religious civil liberties law firm," according to the memo, which is conveniently located on their web site.  Because much of the memo mimics the previous article almost word for word, and lie for lie, I have mercifully left out the portions of the memo that I have already addressed.

 

The Liberty Counsel works out of three locations, including -- and don't tell me you didn't see this coming -- Lynchburg, Virginia. Those of you familiar with the history of far right wing politics will recognize the misuse of the term "Liberty" and the city of Lynchburg, VA quite well. Jerry Falwell, it seems, saw himself as something of a right wing messiah (note the lower case, folks) of sorts for those poor, downtrodden white southern Christians, who have never had a real voice in this country. (Right wingers, that was sarcasm.)

Still Birthers After All These Years

How comfortable can we possibly be when we realize that, as we walk down the street today, nearly one out of every 12 people you encounter are actually stupid enough to think it's possible that President Obama wasn't born here, and therefore shouldn't be president of the United States?

 

I'm not going to say I'd feel safer walking through gang turf, past a group of young gentlemen wearing gang colors and sporting bulges in their jackets, but at least you can see that menace.  How does a nation get to be this incredibly collectively stupid?

Please continue this... I even have pictures... and at the end is a priceless video of the Queen Birther with David Shuster...

Cutting the Health Care Crap: Betsy McCaughey

There is a name you will keep hearing throughout the health insurance reform debate; Betsy McCaughey (It's pronounced "McCoy," for those who only hear the name and wonder who's lying to them). You will hear from her and see her ad nauseum, because the right wing, especially the whacks at Fox News, love parading her before you like their prized bull at the county fair. And make no mistake, what you will hear is prized right wing bull.

 

The reason the far right fart machine likes McCaughey is because she's relatively nice to look at, she's actually quite intelligent, and she has a veneer of credibility, having served one term as Lieutenant Governor of New York. She has a significant background as a scholar. Unfortunately, being a scholar doesn't mean she's incapable of making stuff up. Make no mistake; when it comes to her opinions on health care policy, she's one hundred and ten percent behind the private health insurance companies, and most of what she says can't pass a sniff test. But why wouldn't she lie? She's paid to, as one of their lobbyists. But don't let her know you know this; she likes to pretend she's somehow looking out for "the people," and she tends to deny it. Yet, she never sues anyone who calls her out on it. I know, because I've done this before. 

Deconstructing the Right Wing Lies on the Health Insurance Bill -- Pages 1-500

(Thanks to a reader, I found another source of right wing crap on the health care bill, so there is now a part II to this post. As you may have noted, the right wingers who came up with this piece crapped out at page 500; their ADD must have kicked in. But this new source, a group of right wing Christian lawyers, no less, have gone much farther. Part II can be found here... part III is coming very soon... )

The right's lies  about the current health insurance proposals before Congress have rarely been compiled in such concise form before. 

 

What follows is an article from the Right Wing blog ChronWatch:

 

Page After Page of Reasons to Hate ObamaCare

By Alan Caruba

 

The problem is, there's something missing, such as context. See, the writer is expecting the reader to take everything as gospel, and agree that it's bad, without any sort of explanation.  It's a list of all of the things that are wrong with the current state of the health care reform bill before Congress. If you'd like to follow along, feel free to click here to go to the bill itself. In fact, I would encourage you to look at it for yourself; it's an easy way to learn what's actually in it, without having to read through all of the legalese.

Don't Let 'Em Fool Ya! The Neocons Screwed Our Economy

One of the more fascinating arguments used by right wingers to justify their continued belief in the ridiculous concept of supply-side economics, or "trickle-down" as they like to call it, is the truly hilarious argument that "private investment in markets created your job."

Yeah, I know. The concept is pretty laughable. The only thing that's been "trickling down" to the masses is the urine from the rich, who are pissing all over you as they laugh themselves silly.

But to a typical right winger, this is an airtight argument. And why wouldn't it be? I mean, if you’re somewhat addled, mentally speaking, then it makes sense to think that, if no one invests in a company, it might not be able to pay its bills, and it won't be able to make any money, right? Keep in mind, these are the same people who have argued for years that the best way to go after al Qaeda was apparently to lure them into Iraq, where we would be able to attack them with huge Halliburton and Blackwater contracts.

In basic capitalist economic theory, this is how investment is supposed to work:

Joe’s company invents a widget. Joe then forms a company, which manufactures widgets. If Joe’s company is able to demonstrate a market for widgets, by selling a warehouse full of them. In order to meet market demand, Joe sells stock in his company, and raises money to expand its widget factory, so that it can make and sell more widgets. As Joe sells more widgets, he pays the stockholders a portion of his profits, as a reward for their support during his expansion.

See, first comes the research, development and manufacturing, and then comes the investment, which should facilitate economic growth. That's how investment in this country actually worked for many, many years.

Then Ronald Reagan was elected, and the neocons hit the fan. Since then, the whole concept of investment has been bastardized, and the notion that “investment creates jobs” is now patently absurd.

Cutting the Crap! Republican Senator ONLY Skeptical of Bailing Out Americans

Don't let them fool you. Republicans sound like they're concerned about wasting money bailing out the US car industry. But this is not about giving money to the car companies, and a concern about getting it back. This is about killing the last major bastion of American manufacturing, and breaking the unions.

If you doubt that, take special note of WHO is speaking in the following article from the New York Times:

Senator Remains Skeptical About Auto Bailout - NYTimes.com.

Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said that he did not know whether he would support the larger loan requests that G.M. and Chrysler made Tuesday but that he had reservations about G.M. owing taxpayers $30 billion, nearly 24 times the amount that the company is worth based on its outstanding stock.

Mr. Corker said he was also concerned that G.M., which was negotiating with bondholders to cut much of its debt to them, would continue to ask for more money.

“They’re coming back for debt that will load down their balance sheets,” he said in an interview. “How much better off is the capital structure of G.M. when another $30 billion of public lending supplants that private debt?”

Bob Corker. Tennessee.

Ring any bells, folks?

Cutting the RW Crap: PDFs and Oxycontin: a Potent Mix!

There is no end to the excuses the right wingers are trying to use to tar and feather Democrats when it comes to the stimulus. The latest load of crap that has been going around the right wing crap machine is the notion that President Obama and the Democrats have broken their promise of transparency and openness, by not making the final stimulus bill available for 48 hours before voting on it.

This is a load of crap in so many ways, not the least of which is the fact that the final, consolidated bill was an amalgam of the House and Senate versions of the bill, which had been out for more than 48 hours. There were few changes, and all Congresspeople have a staff to look over the bills and track any changes. Speaking of which, they could have done a track changes on the documents themselves, and concentrated on just the parts that had changed.

Besides; all Republicans were under orders from The Boner to vote against the bill, even before it was written, so it wouldn't have mattered if they had read the bill or not.

Okay, so along those lines, check this out, from Recovering Addict Limbaugh on yesterday's crapfest. This is priceless:

There was a promise from the Obama administration, the new era of responsibility and transparency, that all such legislation would be posted on the Internet for five days so that the public could read what is being voted on.  Ain't going to happen.  In addition, they have reformatted the bill.  They've made it a PDF file when they posted it.  Now, for those of you that don't use computers, basically what that means is that it cannot be keyword searched.  A PDF file is essentially a picture of a page, and so you can read every page but you cannot keyword search it.  It's not a text file as legislation normally is, as posted on these public websites.  They don't want anybody knowing what's in this.

Right Wing Crap Flows Through Media Goose

Have you ever watched a couple of dogs play with a chew toy? For some reason, that's the image that comes to mind when right wingers get hold of a talking point and simply will not let go. No matter how much the rest of us try to take it back and expose it as a lie, they just hang on, as if their life depended on it.

The latest example is the disgusting display on the part of the far right regarding a provision for digitization of medical records that was included as part of the stimulus package. Now, one could argue that such a measure should probably have its own bill, with clear provisions, but the provision merely creates the impetus and the funding to put all medical records into electronic form, so that doctors will have easy access to it when it becomes necessary, "to help guide medical decisions at the time and place of care."

See the above phrase? The one in quotes? That is actually from the bill itself, and has been taken as a talking point and gnawed on by nearly every right wing crank in the media, as meaning the government will be telling doctors what to do.

Yes, that's right; in right wing world, creating a medical records database, so that a doctor doesn’t have to guess on treatment when you end up in the ER while on a business trip on the other side of the country, has become "the government wants to tell your doctors how to treat you." And it's become "conventional wisdom" among the gullible morons who sop this crap up with a biscuit.

Right Wingers on NRO: 50 De-Stimulating Myths Disguised as "Fact"

One of the worst aspects of the "debate" over the economic stimulus package has to be the sophistry exhibited by the far right when discussing  the issue. One of the purest examples of the bullshit coming from the far right was in The National Review Online this morning, in the guise of an article entitled "50 De-Stimulating Facts: Chapter and Verse on a Bad Bill" by Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson. In the article, the two wingnuts cite "facts" that are certainly not factual, but no more than opinion., and that is being kind, because they are the opposite of factual. This is not unusual, of course; right wingers are always posing their opinions as "fact," even though they're usually wrong. But what makes the current effort by the right wing to muddy the waters is the fact that the lives of millions of families who are struggling with the economy these same idiots screwed up, are hanging in the balance.

We literally don't have time for this kind of crap: We just don't.

Before I get into their list of items they don't like, let's get something else out of the way first. In the introduction to the piece, they make the following claim:

The idea that the government can spend the economy out of a recession is highly questionable...

This is right wing sophistry at its ballsiest, folks.

Cutting the Crap: "Redistribution of Wealth" as a Neocon Talking Point

I know the neocons hate the word “redistribution,” because they claim it sounds “communist,” but here’s a stone cold fact; their baby, supply-side economics, is all about redistribution of wealth. These assholes have been taking from the average person for years. Look at your 401(k) for a clue. Twice in the last eight years, your account has been plundered. Haven’t you wondered where that money went? I’ll give you a hint; it didn’t vanish into thin air. Someone has that money; it just isn’t you. That money was “redistributed” to someone who’s right now laughing at your stupidity for trusting him. Money doesn’t disappear into the ether; it moves from one place to another. Don’t let these assholes fool you about the evil inherent in “redistribution of wealth.”

All wealth gets redistributed. That's how the freaking economy works. But for years, they've been creating instruments designed to take money from other investors -- you know, like you and your retirement fund -- and keep it themselves. That's why we're in the economic mess we're in, folks. Wealth is always redistributed, but for the last eight years, it's only been redistributed from the poor and the middle class to the rich.

It's time to even that out a bit, don't you think?

Cutting the Right Wing Crap Chart

Sometimes, it's fun to get e-mail from right wing clowns, especially lately, when it's pretty obvious Barack Obama will be our next president. They are apoplectic. My favorite of these last few weeks has to be a chart, which is designed to make it "easy" to know who to vote for.

Check this out... it's funny... but not in a humorous way... more like a sad, pathetic way. Oh, and the stuff in parentheses, in red, that's me, commenting...

2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE COMPARISON TALKING POINTS

ISSUE		JOHN McCAIN	BARACK OBAMA
Favors new drilling offshore U.S.		Yes	No (Of course, they start off with a lie. It's not first on his list, but it shouldn't be first on anyone's list, since drilling won't solve any problems, especially in the short term.)
Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it		Yes	No  (McCain's favorite judge is Scalia, and who makes things up out of whole cloth better than Scalia? In fact, one of the major qualifications of right wing judges over the last eight years has been to create passages in the Constitution that don't exist, such as the clause that gives government the power to force women to stay pregnant aganst their will.)
Served in the U.S. Armed Forces		Yes	No  (Lessee... eight years with the AWOL draft dodger, and this is suddenly an issue?)
Amount of time served in the U.S. Senate		22 YEARS	173 DAYS  (Once more, eight years with a governor from the weakest-governor state in the country, and this is suddenly an issue?) (By the way, this chart was apparently created four years ago. Probably some wingnut who created this for Kerry, and just changed the name; all us liberals are the same after all, right?)
Will institute a socialized national health care plan		No	Yes   (This is an outright lie. In fact, it's one of the complaints I have about Obama; his health plan isn't socialized enough. We need single payer, period. Nothing else will work.)
Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy		No	Yes   (It's kind of a lie. He's actually said he's in favor of curbs on abortions of viable fetuses, although it should still be a decisionbetween a doctor and the patient, and not involve the government at all.)
Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately		No	Yes   (Slowly over 16 months, and pending conditions on the ground is not "immediately." I would remove them immediately.)
Supports gun ownership rights		Yes	No   (Another absolute lie.)
Supports homosexual marriage		No	Yes  (Another lie. He's in favor of civil unions. Not far enough. He should be in favor of same sex marriage. Note the use of the term "homosexual marriage," thus revealing their obsession with sex.)
Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase		No	Yes  (He will reduce taxes on 95% of Americans, including small businesses. His goal is to increase the number of taxpayers, which would negate the need for a tax increase. And all of his programs are offset by spending cuts, so this is a lie too.)
Voted against making English the official language		No	Yes  (Good for him. This is a free country.)
Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegalʼs		No	Yes  (This is another lie although if someone illegal worked here long enough, and paid enough in Social Security taxes, perhaps a case could be made for their receiving Social Security?)
CAPITAL GAINS TAX
MCCAIN	0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples).  McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax.
OBAMA	28% on profit from ALL home sales.  (How does this affect you?  If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes.  If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes.  This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.) (This is an absolute lie. Obama proposes cutting the capital gains tax for most people to 20%, not increasing it. And the analysis of the tax consequences is way off, anyway. There are all sorts of ways to avoid taxes on such capital gains, and a tax accountant or lawyer can show you how to avoid it.)
DIVIDEND TAX
MCCAIN	15% (no change)
OBAMA	39.6% (How will this affect you?  If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama becomes president.  The experts predict that 'Higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.') (Surprise; Another lie. Obama proposes reducing the top dividend tax rate to 20%, and only for those making over $250,000. He also will NOT tax dividends at regular income tax rates.)
INCOME TAX
MCCAIN (no changes)	Single making 30K - tax $4,500 Single making 50K - tax $12,500 Single making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 60K- tax $9,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250
OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)	Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Under Obama, your taxes could almost double! (Seriously, how can they lie with a straight face, especially with all of the news coverage of this. All of the above figures are wrong. No one making less than $250,000 will pay one dime more in federal taxes of any kind. which makes all of the above complete crap.)
INHERITANCE TAX
MCCAIN	- 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)
OBAMA	Restore the inheritance tax.  Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax.  Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose them to these taxes. (Yup. You guessed it; another lie. First off, the estate tax was not eliminated under Bush. Under current law, it will be phased out eventually. Obama's proposal will retain a 45% tax rate, but exempt the first $7 million. Now, how many "loved ones" are looking to inherit more than $7 million? Try a whopping 0.3% of all estates.)
NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA
New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet. (Bullshit.) New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren't high enough already). (Bullshit)  New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity). (Carbon taxes, possibly, but they won't effect us more than a couple of dollars a month, at most.)  New taxes on retirement accounts, (Bullshit) and last but not least...  New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive the same level of medical care as other third-world countries! (And they saved the best for last. No new taxes will be needed, because we already pay an average of $14,400 per year in premiums and taxes for health care per family, anyway. Obama's plan simply doesn't allow insurance companies to deny coverage, and makes them pay for "pre-existing conditions." It also puts cost restrictions in place, and will probably result in a significant decrease in insurance premiums. I'll get more into this in a longer post, but suffice it to say, Obama's plan is not socialist enough. And if you want to talk health statistics, how about the fact that the United States, with the best health care facilities in the world, is 37th in the world when it comes to major health statistics. And ALL of the 36 countries above us have socialized medicine.)

Now that I have put this chart to rest, pardon me, I have to shower.

Why McCain Was Always Going to Lose: Bye Bye Right Wing!

The Republican Party is truly screwed, and I think they're just beginning to realize it.

 

See, the one basic truism of politics is that every election cycle is different. It's really not possible to compare 2008 with 2006, or 2004 to 2000, etc. I know, the pundits try, but if you actually pay attention, very few of them ever get anything right. There are a few who are less wrong than others, but for then most part, let's be real; they're wrong more often than they're right.

 

One of the reasons the Republicans are screwed is because they're trying to run the same campaign against Barack Obama that they ran against John Kerry, and that they've been running since 1980, and it's never going to work, for many reasons.

 

For the record, I would be saying this no matter who won the Democratic nomination, although Obama won the nomination largely because Hillary Clinton chose to run the same campaign Bill Clinton ran in 1992. You see, the Clintons have been way too beholden to the Democratic Leadership Council, which is the most Republican Democratic organization anywhere, and as such, they have absolutely zero political skills. If you doubt me on that, think about this: from 1994 to 2004, with the DLC running the Democratic Party, Democrats couldn't beat the pants off a party with a platform of essentially bankrupting the country and handing all tax money to the rich, and who have been bound and determined to prove the government absolutely incompetent.

It Really Is the Economy, Stupid -- This Time, Let's REALLY Change It!

You know, one of the greatest frustrations in being somewhat liberal is the tendency for others of my ideological ilk to demonize individuals, and to focus on specific people as "the problem."

Our economy is damn close to a total meltdown, and we're closer to being a Third World country than at any time in our history. In a system that purports to be capitalist, we the taxpayer are now expected to bail out these "Captains of Industry" to the tune of $1 TRILLION, just to prevent the collapse of the economy.

Let me make something clear here, folks. This is not the fault of a few select individuals; it's about ideology. This election represents a turning point for this country. It's not about Republican vs. Democrat, it's not about Obama, or McCain, or Bush and Cheney, or Palin. This election is about repudiating an IDEOLOGY; an ideology that has kept us stagnate since the far right took over the government in 1981, that has managed to make the economy look better than it was with a series of bubbles and an unprecedented amount of debt, and which has pushed us to the brink of economic annihilation.

A good economy makes things and sells them for a profit. A good economy provides good jobs for as many people as possible, and pays them enough to create a good life. A good economy encourages entrepreneurship.

We do not have a good economy, and we haven't for at least 35 years. We started to recover in the right way under Bill Clinton, because he guided programs that propped up the bottom rungs of the economy, and he encouraged manufacturing and increased trade. But overall, our economy has been shipping most good jobs overseas, pay has been largely stagnant since the mid-1970s, and the level of actual entrepreneurship is so low as to be frightening. And has anyone even begun to comprehend the amount of debt we hold as taxpayers? We'd better start thinking about it, because that debt has to be paid back at some point. And the higher that debt goes, the harder and more expensive it will be to borrow money later. And since we're currently counting on borrowed money just to make ends meet in the current right wing economic environment, that will eventually cause us serious problems in the near future. 

And no matter what the people on the right tell you, make no mistake; it's not liberal policies, or free-spending liberalism, that is causing our economic problems.

The culprit is a right wing Republican ideology, which takes money from the poor and hands it to the rich. They still push the completely discredited concept of "trickle down economics," even though it's been nearly 30 years, and the only thing that's "trickled down" to the poor and working classes is the urine from the rich fat cats who have made out like bandits on your dime, and who are proceeding to piss all over you.

This election is about returning us to an economic model that worked, and abandoning the failed economic policies of a generation of right wing Republican theory that has proven itself to be both economically and morally bankrupt. Again; this isn't juast about a difference between Obama and McCain;this is about  complete change in mindset; to making people count again.