*Please... Cut the Crap

The Republican Concept of Regulation is Childish, and Oh, Yeah; Capitalism is Not Really a Religion

“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” – George Bernard Shaw

One of the recurring themes at this week’s debate between Willard Romney and President Obama is this concept that, somehow, regulation itself -- any regulation -- tends to severely restrict commerce and has a negative effect on the economy. While such a thing is possible, the current regulatory environment tends to be the opposite of that. Republicans, and even some Democrats, have been dereguating for 40 years. It's unlikely there is much debilitating regulation left. 

One of the more childish and irritating concepts the current incarnation of the Republican Party tends to push is the one that regulations are, almost by definition, restrictive and confining. They love to champion the idea that all regulations inhibit freedom, when in fact, most regulations actually enhance the freedom of business owners to engage in whatever commercial activity they desire. While rules against predatory commercial activity would keep Walmart from charging prices designed to put everyone else in town out of business, they keep everyone else in business and keep commercial activity thriving. Having a big box store displace 20 other retailers is not good for commerce. I can't believe that has to be said out loud.

The Issue is NOT Abortion, It's Freedom.

The entire punditry is abuzz after Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin made the following remark yesterday on a local talk show, after being asked about his support for an absolute ban on abortion ban, even in cases in which a woman gets pregnant as a result of rape:

"It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that is really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. … But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child."

While pundits far and wide seem focused on the term in bold above, and they question his scientific knowledge (seriously? A right winger lacks scientific understanding? How odd), I encourage everyone to look at the statement as a whole, because this illustrates a problem with the entire Republican Party. They want everyone else to live by their “moral code,” such as it is.

There is no such thing as an “abortion” debate. There is, however, a freedom debate. Who gets to decide whether or not a woman should stay pregnant against her will? Does the woman herself have that power, or should she be forced to cede that power to the government? The current incarnation of the Republican Party thinks their '”small government” should be big enough to try, convict and jail all of the women who choose to not stay pregnant.

Welcome to the “land of the free,” right wing style.

Liberals Say Right Wingers are Mean, Selfish and Hate the Poor Because It's True

I don’t know how many of you have ever read Jennifer Rubin’s column in the Washington Post, entitled “Right Turn,” but you probably should. While she’s supposedly a “real” right winger, the column reads like a parody of what right wingers think liberals think about.  Seriously, WaPo? “Right Turn”? You don’t need a right winger for “balance.” Just tell the truth, and the far right and the far left will both come after you. It’s all good.

Anyway, the headline of this morning’s post caught my eye when it came across my desktop”

The left: If you disagree, you hate the poor

See what I mean by “Parody”? Everyone who disagrees with those of us on the left “hate the poor”? Really? That’s not something a gown adult woman with a job at the Washington Post would really think, is it? Or have the Post’s standards dropped so far that they’ve been reduced to picking reporters from high school newspapers to write their blogs?

Okay, let’s be fair, as I always try to be. Sometimes, reporters don’t write their own headlines. Sometimes, they don’t match the content of the article. So, let’s examine the article, shall we? Let’s see if it matches the ridiculous headline. Here’s the lead paragraph:

There's No Such Thing as a "Free Market!"

One of the greatest fictions that has been perpetrated by the current incarnation of the Republican Party over the last 32 years is their notion of a “free market.” They often express their belief in this silly concept in the same way they express belief in God. That's not to say there is no God, but their belief that “In the Free Market, all things are possible” sounds more like an article of faith than a statement of fact. 

To hear Republicans tell it these days, only a purely capitalist system can work, economically. And yet, there is no such thing as a “free market” in a purely capitalist system.  In such a system, Joe Blow creates a product, manufactures and sells it, and makes a profit. Then, someone copies that product and sells it cheaper, putting the actual creator out of business. A third entity could then copy the same product, sell it cheaper still, and put the previous seller out of business. Or someone with a lot of money could conceivably build the product, sell them for a penny, put everyone else out of business, and control the market and the price. 

The ultimate aim of every player in a purely capitalist system is to become the only one on the block, and to eliminate competition, in order to increase profits every year.

The Founding Fathers understood this, even more than 200 years ago, when capitalism in its current form was an experiment. That's why they imbued the government with the power -- no, make that the obligation -- to “regulate commerce.”

Reaping and Sowing: The GOP Should be Dying. Why They're Not.

I've written and rewritten this post a number of times over the years. I think the first time was in 2002, when the original Daily Weasel was kicking ass and taking names and it's still true. The GOP is largely dead. If it seems as if it's taking a long time for the current incarnation of the GOP to die, look in the mirror, folks. If not for the political incompetence of progressives, we could have shut the door on the GOP far right in 2004 at the latest. Really, if we had any political chops at all, we could have gotten Carter a second term and never had to deal with them in power at all. 

I'm not sure many progressives understand what's actually happening with the Republican Party these days. Progressives love to whine and complain about what they call "Blue Dogs," and their seemingly poor fit in the Democratic Party, but the fact of the matter is, we can't do anything about them until we get rid of the current Republican leadership. What you don't understand is that Blue Dogs are a sign that there is only one viable party for reasonable people these days. With this version of this column, I hope to begin to tell you how to make the current incarnation of the Republican Party go away for good, and save this country from the extremists who control so much of the debate.

The first step is to stop calling these people "conservative."

Don't Waste Time On Cranks! Ignore Them, Move Forward

If there seems to be a large number of right wing troublemakers out there who take great pleasure in creating blog after blog full of misinformation and outright BS, and who seem hell-bent on trying to pick fights with us, you're not mistaken. There are a lot of them. They operate in swarms, and they're annoying. But they're only dangerous if we enable them. So stop enabling them.

There are two major reasons for the swarm, and they're both somewhat related. The main reason is what I've  been telling you all along; the Republican Party has been taken over by a psychotic fringe, and they only way they can win elections now is to depress turnout. The other is, well, money.

There are more of them out there, and you can blame Bush for screwing up the economy. All of these little gnat-like creatures are competing for a chance to be paid by the fat cats who fund this crap. They share a delusion that, by successfully smearing liberals on the 'Net, and by pushing the most ridiculous misinformation they can think of, they can out-crazy all of the other nut-bags for a chance at a piece of the purse that low-lifes like the Koch Brothers dangle in front of them, and by getting in their good graces, they'll be able to move out of that single-wide and they won't have to eat ramen noodles for dinner. 

The Definition of Newtie: To Fix The Economy, We Do What We Did Before, Right?

How big an idiot is Newt Gingrich?

Apparently, he’s a pretty big one. And trust me when I tell you, you do not want him running an economy. Although, the thought of him and Caribou Barbie (Sarah Palin) being the political face of the Republican Party makes me giggle. 

In this morning’s Forbes, Newtie provides commentary on just what President Obama can do to get the economy moving and create jobs. The opinion piece, entitled “Job Killers vs. Job Creators, can be found here. Feel free to follow along.

I’m going to start at the beginning:

The National Bureau of Economic Research officially scored the recession as starting in December 2007. Since World War II, 65 years ago, the average duration of recessions has been 10 months, with the longest being 16 months. In April of this year, NBER issued a statement saying it could not yet determine an end to the recession, 28 months after it began.

What we do know is that in July 2010, 31 months after the recession started, the economy was still losing jobs. The Labor Department reported yet another 131,000 jobs lost in July. The department also revised the June report downward to show 221,000 jobs lost that month from 125,000. The unemployment rate remained at 9.5% only because 181,000 additional discouraged workers left the work force and so were not counted as unemployed.

Indeed, since April 1, 115,000 former workers have fled the work force in hopelessness and despair. Without that work force decline, the unemployment rate would be 10.4%.

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.

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:

Limbaugh Finally Admits It: Civil Rights No Big Deal to the Far Right...

You know, sometimes you see something that just makes your jaw come apart and fall to the ground.

I had always suspected that the right wing didn't care about an individuals; not really, anyway. Oh, sure, they don't want anyone to mess with their guns. Of course, they don't want women to have abortions (none of us do, really, but for some reason, they think their opposition is special). And they really don't want to pay any taxes. But other than that, what do they believe in?

In a discussion on his radio hatefest today, Limbaugh actually tried to defend the new Arizona law that mirrors Nazi Germany more than it mirrors anything that's happened in the United States since we rounded up Japanese Americans and locked them in internment camps.

The following is courtesy of Media Matters:

Arizona's Racist Immigration Law Must Go!

In the interest of full disclosure, I have lived in Arizona for a fairly significant period of my life, and I understand the frustration many Arizonans  feel, in that the federal government has largely dropped the ball on the problem of illegal immigration, at least from some perspectives.

But to pass a racist and pointless law in response is simply not the way to go about fixing such a problem. In fact, it’s absolutely the opposite approach from one that makes sense.

Like I said, the SB 1070 is a racist law, certainly not worthy of most Arizonans. The entire premise of the law is based on the concept that it’s possible to look at someone and determine that they are in this country illegally, which is a ridiculous concept on its face. It’s based on two concepts that are classically racist; the first is that all criminals stick out like a sore thumb, and that all Latinos look alike.

If it’s really that easy to spot “them,” then why aren’t the people in favor of this law rounding up all these people themselves and turning them in to the Border Patrol? And if they’re not doing that because, well, it’s the job of police, well then, I have another question for you – how much time do you think a typical police officer has, to go chasing after Latinos? If they already know who’s who, what’s preventing them from calling ICE now?

Facebook libertarian claptrap

So, I saw this in a wall post of a friend of mine on Facebook...

I was in my neighborhood restaurant this morning and was seated behind a group of jubilant individuals celebrating the successful passing of the recent health care bill. I could not finish my breakfast. This is what ensued:

They were a diverse group of several races and both sexes. I heard the young man exclaim, “Isn’t Obama like Jesus Christ? I mean, after all, he is healing the sick.” The young woman enthusiastically proclaimed, “Yeah, and he does it for free. I cannot believe anyone would think that a free market would work for health care. They are all crooks and thieves and don’t deserve all of that money.” Another said, ‘The stupid Republicans want us all to starve to death so they can inherit all of the power. Obama should be made a Saint for what he did for those of us less fortunate.” At this, I had had enough.

I arose from my seat, mustering all the restraint I could find, and approached their table. “Please excuse me; may I impose upon you for one moment?” They smiled and welcomed me to the conversation. I stood at the end of their table, smiled as best I could and began an experiment....

“I would like to give one of you my house. It will cost you no money and I will pay all of the expenses and taxes for as long as you live there. Anyone interested?” They looked at each other in astonishment. “Why would you do something like that?” asked a young man, “There isn’t anything for free in this world.” They began to laugh at me, as they did not realize this man had just made my point. “I am serious, I will give you my house for free, no money what so ever. Anyone interested?” In unison, a resounding “Hell Yeah” fills the room.

“Since there are too many of you, I will have to make a choice as to who receives this money free bargain.” I noticed an elderly couple was paying attention to the spectacle unfolding before their eyes, the old man shaking his head in apparent disgust. “I tell you what; I will give it to the one of you most willing to obey my rules.” Again, they looked at one another, an expression of bewilderment on their faces. The perky young woman asked, “What are the rules?” I smiled and said, “I don’t know. I have not yet defined them. However, it is a free home that I offer you.” They giggled amongst themselves, the youngest of which said, “What an old coot. He must be crazy to give away his home. Go take your meds, old man.” I smiled and leaned into the table a bit further. “I am serious, this is a legitimate offer.” They gaped at me for a moment.

“I’ll take it you old fool. Where are the keys?” boasted the youngest among them. “Then I presume you accept ALL of my terms then?” I asked. The elderly couple seemed amused and entertained as they watched from the privacy of their table. “Oh hell yeah! Where do I sign up?” I took a napkin and wrote, “I give this man my home, without the burden of financial obligation, so long as he accepts and abides by the terms that I shall set forth upon consummation of this transaction.” I signed it and handed it to the young man who eagerly scratched out his signature. “Where are the keys to my new house?” he asked in a mocking tone of voice. All eyes were upon us as I stepped back from the table, pulling the keys from pocket and dangling them before the excited new homeowner.

“Now that we have entered into this binding contract, witnessed by all of your friends, I have decided upon the conditions you are obligated to adhere from this point forward. You may only live in the house for one hour a day. You will not use anything inside of the home. You will obey me without question or resistance. I expect complete loyalty and admiration for this gift I bestow upon you. You will accept my commands and wishes with enthusiasm, no matter the nature. Your morals and principles shall be as mine. You will vote as I do, think as I do and do it with blind faith. These are my terms. Here are your keys.” I reached the keys forward and the young man looked at me dumb founded.

“Are you out of your mind? Who would ever agree to those ridiculous terms?” the young man appeared irritated. “You did when you signed this contract before reading it, understanding it and with the full knowledge that I would provide my conditions only after you committed to the agreement.” Was all I said. The elderly man chuckled as his wife tried to restrain him. I was looking at a now silenced and bewildered group of people. “You can shove that stupid deal up you’re a** old man, I want no part of it” exclaimed the now infuriated young man. “You have committed to the contract, as witnessed by all of your friends; you cannot get out of the deal unless I agree to it. I do not intend to let you free now that I have you ensnared. I am the power you agreed to. I am the one you blindly and without thought chose to enslave yourself to. In short, I am your Master.” At this, the table of celebrating individuals became a unified group against the unfairness of the deal.

After a few moments of unrepeatable comments and slurs, I revealed my true intent. “What I did to you is what this administration and congress did to you with the health care legislation. I easily suckered you in and then revealed the real cost of the bargain. Your folly was in the belief that you can have something you did not earn; that you are entitled to that which you did not earn; that you willingly allowed someone else to think for you. Your failure to research, study and inform yourself permitted reason to escape you. You have entered into a trap from which you cannot flee. Your only chance of freedom is if your new Master gives it to you. A freedom that is given can also be taken away; therefore, it is not freedom.” With that, I tore up the napkin and placed it before the astonished young man. “This is the nature of your new health care legislation.”

I turned away to leave these few in thought and contemplation and was surprised by applause. The elderly gentleman, who was clearly entertained, shook my hand enthusiastically and said, “Thank you Sir, these kids don’t understand Liberty these days.” He refused to allow me to pay my bill as he said, “You earned this one, it is an honor to pickup the tab.” I shook his hand in thanks, leaving the restaurant somewhat humbled, and sensing a glimmer of hope for my beloved country.

Use reason,

Clifford A Wright

Isn't that cute?

Aside from the fact that this has probably been floating around a while (the recently-passed healthcare reform bill didn't include a public option, which was the only aspect of the legislation which could have conceivably been referred-to as a government takeover of healthcare, and it's clear, despite the story, that the author himself has not read the healthcare bill that was eventually passed), and aside from the fact that it probably never took place (it's always easier to win an argument when you get to write both sides, and frankly, it reads like a typical libertarian fantasy), there are several aspects of this libertarian screed that are notable.

You could replace the topic of this fairytale with pretty much any government action or regulation, and it would still apply.  This parable is less about healthcare reform in particular than it is simply an anti-government rant.

To most of us not of a libertarian persuasion, some of the ideas in the piece above may seem a little alien.  But let's bring some of the problems with it to the fore.

First of all, several of the premises don't stand up to scrutiny.  For example: libertarians are fond of the idea that they earn their money in a vacuum, on the strength of merit alone.  But this is a fantasy.  No one earns a dime without the government regulations and programs that make our modern capitalist system function in the first place.  As George Will notably once said:

A properly functioning free market system does not spring spontaneously from society's soil as crabgrass springs from suburban lawns. Rather, it is a complex creation of laws and mores... Capitalism is a government program.

And what pays for those programs and the regulation?  Well...that would be taxes.

Which leads to the second point: very few of us get something for nothing from the government.  Far from the mistaken notion expressed in this story, government spending -- whether it be for healthcare or anything else -- is generally paid for by pretty much everyone.

Conservatives are fond of pointing out that only some people pay federal income taxes.  And this is true: some folks (generally lower income, but some wealthy Americans, as well) pay little to nothing in federal income taxes.  What they neglect to mention is that income taxes are only one category of taxes.  Others include payroll (Medicare and Social Security), excise and capital gains, sales, state and local income, and property taxes (to name a few).  Add it all up, and lower income folks generally pay an equal or greater percentage of their incomes in taxes.

What's more, for a significant number of taxpayers, not paying income taxes is a function of engaging in behaviors society finds beneficial, and government is essentially paying them for it.

What it comes down to is this: whether we're talking about a public option healthcare plan, social security or virtually anything else, most of us aren't getting "something for free".  We're paying for it.

Most of the rest of the quoted story consists of little more than fevered Glenn Beckian ravings about the Obama admininstration and totalitarianism.  At the root of much of this baloney is actually political fear that people will find government solutions a net gain, which will be a setback for Republicans and conservatives/libertarians in general.

The cure for such paranoia lies in removing one's head from Fox News' backside.

Folks, there's a lot of crap making the rounds out there.  Most of it is motivated by politics (Republicans evidently believe the path to power is in telling one over-the-top baldfaced lie after another) or by greed (see, for example, millionaire Beck's recent statements about how he doesn't really care at all about politics, and this is all, in his view, just about entertainment).  We'd all be well served by turning a critical eye toward what we're being told.

Prepare to Laugh! Impeach Obama?

I have a friend with two dogs. Okay, he’ll tell you he has one dog and his wife has the other, but she’s been working so much lately, he’s the one who walks them.  He walks them both at the same time, and it’s really funny to watch at times, because the little one walks as if it’s the biggest, baddest dog on the block, and the big one’s a big sissy.  Basically, the big dog could eat the big dog in one healthy bite, but neither dog realizes it.

The whole scene reminds me of the current state of the major political parties at the moment. You have the Republican Party as the little dog who thinks he’s king of the world, and the Democratic Party as the big dog, who seems to have no clue he’s actually in charge.

At some point, Democrats will figure out they’re in charge again, and they’ll come out of their shell. We’re already starting to see it. And if we work our asses off and target  the biggest pussy Democrats next election, and elect a significant number of progressives, we’ll put the fear of Gawd in them and they’ll straighten up and fly right. But Republicans are in the crapper, and everyone but them seems to know it. They’re the little dog that struts and yelps and nips at your heels, and makes you laugh in the process.

UPDATED!! Finally, ACORN Takes on the Fox News and the Right Wing Fart Machine

I really don't understand why they waited so long. I've been rooting for them to fight back for well over a year.  But finally, The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN (I'm sure you've heard of them by now), has started to fight back against Fox News and the far right's smear campaign. They may sue them, and could possibly even bring criminal charges.

 

The right wing fart machine's demonization of ACORN has been absolutely unfair, and if defamation laws in this country weren't so pro-defamer, they would have been called out a long time ago.  Look at the number of times ACORN was mentioned in my Deconstruction of right wing health care lies for a hint. And let me assure you, ACORN has nothing to do with health care, although they might point you to a clinic, if you ask. They're nice people. 

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: Wherein I Kick Her Ass, Part II

Little Annie Coulter promised us that she'd come up with more "lies" we liberals always tell, and she hasn't disappoint. In fact, she's promised eight more sets after this one. That's going to take some imagination…

 

Thankfully for everyone involved, Annie is such a practiced liar, it should be no problem coming up with them. Look at the BS she's pulled in this one. It's breathtaking how much of this crap her anus can hold. She should really think about more fiber in her diet, because the stuff coming out of there isn't particularly solid… just stinky.

 

For those of you who'd like to follow along, I already answered her first crap-laden article about "liberal lies," and as long as she'll keep making them up, I'll keep knocking them down...

=========================================================

 

Liberal Lies About National Health Care: Second in a Series (Collect All 10!)

 

by Ann Coulter

Posted 08/26/2009 ET

Updated 08/26/2009 ET

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.

The Opposition to Health Reform is F-ing CRAZY!

These people -- the ones who are against health insurance reform -- are  f-ing CRAZY! How crazy, do you ask? I'm sure you heard about the loon woman, who screamed "Heil Hitler" at a Jewish man who was being interviewed by a local Las Vegas TV station. But have you seen the entire exchange? Check this out...

Now, here's the same woman before she decided to lash out at the guy. Watch this, and we'll talk...

These are crazy, evil, and extremely stupid people, folks. Here's a woman whose husband doesn't have health insurance, despite the fact that he lives with her and has to put up with her every day and he has three jobs. That would indicate that he's always a day away from a heart attack, and without health insurance, the two of them could be facing tens of thousands of dollars in bills that they won't be able to pay, unless she's actually a severely under-dressed millionaire, which isn't likely if hubby's working three jobs.

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.

Why I'm Not Always Nice...

(Don't panic. If you came here to see my deconstruction of the wingnut health care lies, it's right here...)

====================================================================

I hate to burst some bubbles out there, but I'm generally one of the nicest people you will ever meet, if you should ever meet me. The passion you see in these posts is real. I truly believe this country can do better, and that we, as a people working together, can do anything. But  I honestly believe that sometimes requires us to bust some heads, rhetorically speaking. (I'm also non-violent). And I will admit to a few things with which I have little patience, and you'll see that in spades as you read this blog.

 

You see, I've been confronted with my horrible personality so many times in e-mails and comments the last few days that I'm not sure whether to laugh or laugh harder. So many people take issue with how I refer to certain people, and the ridicule I routinely use to excoriate liars and the terminally stupid, who get way too much face time in our national discourse.  Strangely and perhaps sadly, many of the people who take offense are liberals. Stephanie Miller refers to them as "stick up the butt" liberals, and I can't disagree with that term. While I can't and won't speak for her motivations behind the names, I claim a specific strategy behind the way I refer to people. In other words, there really is a method to my madness.

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.)

Caribou Barbie Puts the Twit into Twitter, So Let's Smack Her Facebook

Just when I was feeling hopeful that she had gone away, Caribou Barbie (Alaska Governor-Quit Sarah Palin, of course) comes back in spades. Apparently, the reason she quit as governor was because it was difficult to lie her ass off with the press hanging on every word. I can imagine how difficult it must be to be the governor of a small state and a former vice presidential candidate and swimsuit model, and still stay anonymous. It's quite the challenge.

 

So, she quit her job, ostensibly so that she could keep all that "lawyerin' money" and do scintillating speeches before groups of wingnuts who didn't disagree with her and who, in fact, were willing to pay good money to sit in an audience and fantasize about doing her. Much easier, dontcha know.

 

So, now she lies on the Facebook, and promotes her lies by the Twitterin', you betcha. This is a note she put up on Facebook yesterday:

Cutting the Crap: Dennis Prager's 10 Health Care Lies -- er, Questions

(This isn't Part III... this is yet another example of lies the right wing is trying to pass off as discourse. My deconstruction of the lies in the Health Care Bill are Here (Part I) and Here (Part II))

(I was on the Nicole Sanders Show Wednesday night to discuss health care... check it out here... (yes, I know... I need a new cell phone...))

Sigh…

 

The right wing fart machine is working overtime on the health care reform bill, lemme tell ya.

 

The following was sent by a reader. It's by Radio Gasbag Dennis Prager (whom I'm told is actually a really nice man, so it will hurt a little putting my rhetorical foot up his "nice" ass…), and this load of crap is absolutely chock full of misinformation and false assumptions. He even lies about the number of questions. There are a lot more than 10.

 

The original apparently came from the Jewish World Review. (Why are so many so-called religious people so dead set against letting everyone have access to health care?)

 

As always, the article I'm responding to is not edited, and my responses are in red...

 

10 Questions for Supporters of ‘ObamaCare’

By Dennis Prager

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...

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.

Michael Steele Fills His Empty Suit With Excrement

If you want an example of just how toothless and ineffective the current Republican Party is, listen to them talk about proposed health care reform.  Take RNC Chairman and designated empty suit, Michael Steele.  For those unfamiliar with Steele, he was elected Chairman of the Republican National Committee last year, despite the fact that he's never run for and won elective office himself, and he's never run a successful political campaign. He has neither held political office nor served a political party in a capacity that he has ever been qualified for. In his political life,every position he has held has been thrust upon him because of the hue of his skin, not the cry of the people. Many would call that tokenism. I call it typically Republican, unfortunately. Seriously; why would any black man ever apologize to Rush Limbaugh on a matter of policy? How embarrassing was that?

 

And yet, this guy, who has never had a hand in making policy of any type, has all sorts of opinions about health care, and he waxed stupidly about it this morning.

Sen. Jeffy Beau Sessions: Racist Inquisitor

Sonia Sotomayor is the most qualified judge nominated to the Supreme Court in many years; possibly more so than anyone in my lifetime.  The woman has at least 15 stellar years as a judge, and there is really nothing for Republicans to smack her on. Okay, they really do; she's not a white man, and she's not a right wing tool. Of course, it would be rare for a female right wing tool to become a judge;those who don't stay home and obey their rich right wing tool husbands while they sleep around with their mistresses, tend to make more money as pundits on Fox News. Right, Michelle? Ann? Monica?

 

So, the wingnuts in the Senate, at least the ones on the Judiciary Committee, have been outstanding with their idiocy.  In a previous post, you saw Jon Kyl essentially parrot a right wing talking point in front of everyone watching these hearings, even though, as a former lawyer, one would assume he knew better. The Supreme Court only reversed 1.27% of Sotomayor's written opinions.

 

But there is no greater hypocrite on the Republican side of the Senate than avowed racist Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Isn't it ironic that a racist Senator would be named after George and Weezy?). Listen to this right wing scumbag dissing the good judge during his opening statement:

 

"During a speech 15 years ago, Judge Sotomayor said, ‘I willingly accept we who judge must not deny the difference resulting from experience and heritage, but attempt continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies and prejudices are appropriate.” And in that same speech she said, ‘My experiences will affect the facts I choose to see.’ Having tried a lot of cases, that particular phrase bothers me.”

 

Come on, Jeffy. Or may I call you "Beau"? Here's a woman being assessed as a candidate for the Supreme Court. With a 15 year judicial record and hundreds of written opinions under her belt, the best you can come up with is a line from a speech 15 years ago? What the hell is wrong with just acknowledging that she's a hell of a judge, and there isn't much negative to say about her, but we'll see what comes out at the hearing? Isn't that how it's supposed to work, Jeffy Beau?

Republic Whacks Ban Centaurs!!!

An interesting  little blurb in this morning's Politico, by Glenn Thrush gives us some insight into just how bull goose looney the far right has become.

It seems that Sam Brownback, one of the nuttiest wingnuts of all wingnuttery, has taken his obscenely extreme "anti-choice" rhetoric to new heights. It seems that President Obama's removal of some restrictions on stem cell research has him a little spooked, so he's introduced the -- and I am not making this up -- Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act of 2009.

Yes, for those of you who have been worried that stem cell researchers were secretly considering ways to make people faster by fusing horse hooves onto their legs or some such nonsense, here comes Senator Sam the whack job to the rescue. This comes straight from Brownback's own blog:

Open Appeal to Caribou Barbie: Please Go Away!

Seriously; when does Caribou Barbie actually go away? Is there any way to speed up the process?

 

I get the media's fascination with her; I really do.She's comedic gold. I know, every time I see her, the one-liners flow like the oxycontin dispenser at Limbaugh's house. In my experience, I can't remember a political train wreck lasting so long. This is starting to remind me of the time Lawrence Taylor broke  Joe Theismann's leg on Monday Night Football in 1985. I was working at The Federated Group in West Los Angeles at the time, and we had about 100 televisions tuned to that, and ABC was sure to show Theismann's leg break over and over and over, in slow motion for what seemed like hours.

It was gruesome. And watching Sarah Palin isn't entirely unlike that.

 

What the hell possessed John McCain to choose this woman as his running mate, anyway? I'm not a huge McCain fan, because I disagree with him on most policies, but he seems at least a step or two ahead of morons like John Boner (sp?) or Mitch McChinless, in that he actually seems to think once in a while. He must have just looked at pictures of Caribou Barbie, however; there's no way she spoke to him and enthralled him. I guess there could have been sexual favors involved, but I'd like to give McCain a little more credit than that, and I would like to prevent further nightmares from interrupting my sleep patterns. Perhaps 24 years earlier, McCain was one of those who taped the football game and kept watching the leg break over and over…

 

I saw a news article the other day that reported that nearly three-quarters of Republicans plan to vote for her for president. First of all, who gives a shit? I'm a huge Obama supporter, and I can't even tell you how I'm going to vote for president 40 months from now. Therefore, anyone who answers a question like that is kind of stupid, anyway. The problem is, no Republican has ever won the presidency without getting at least 85% of the Republican vote, and that was back before the numbers of Republican voters had dwindled to a handful. Last I saw, the number of voters who described themselves as Republican was below 25%. I know this is math, but has anyone told Caribou Barbie, or the nimrod wingnuts who keep touting this  number as proof of something special that three-quarters of a quarter means you have a hell of a long way to go to get to half.

 

Not that she's ever going to run for president, anyway. Hey, brainiacs on the right! If she was going to run for president, she'd be padding her resume, not stripping it bare. Oh, sure; the true believer wingnuts will vote for her because she's cute and "folksy" and because she says all the bullshit they want to hear. But who else is going to vote for someone whose main job is as full time mother (there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't qualify someone as president!), and whose entire political experience consists of two terms as mayor of a small town (and she even screwed that up), and half a term as governor of what is essentially a socialist state, before she quit for a bunch of reasons she lied about (she's not costing her state a dime in legal costs; the lawyers working on her ethics complaints were on retainer), as leader of the free world. Look, as much as I despise George W. Bush, he was more qualified going in than Caribou Barbie. Now, look at everything he screwed up and ask yourself; do we really want someone with even less experience running the country?

 

No, she quit to make money, folks. You'll see. She'll make millions on a book tour, for example although I'd advise her not to repeat the same mistake "Joe the Plumber" (who's neither a "Joe" or a plumber, by the way) made with his book tour. He should have stuck with signing books at Wal-Mart in rural areas, where they don't have access to journalists and talking heads who actually tell the truth. Joe learned this the hard way, when he scheduled stops in places like Washington, DC and New York City, and no one showed up because, well, that pick-em-up truck they paid cash for back in 1965 woulda overheated if they'd a tried to drive down them big streets.

 

Just watch. Within weeks after she gives up her job as Governor of Alaska once and for all, she'll turn up all over the media again, signing all sorts of million-dollar contracts to do all sorts of irritating shit. You just know she's going to show up on Fox News, which is where all right wing officials-turned-pundits go to die, politically speaking. And I say, good riddance. I never see Karl Rove's ugly mug, I don't have to listen to Newt Gingrich's attempts to sound smart for the unwashed masses; I ignore Fox News as much as possible, because I just don't care. Their highest-rated program has about 2.5 million viewers, three-quarters of which are tied to chairs in nursing homes and forced to watch by orderlies, because Murdoch probably subsidizes the home and demands it. I even toyed with the idea of putting together an anti-Fox News blog for a while, until I realized I'd actually have to watch that shit. My stomach couldn't handle it.

 

Whatever you're going to do, Palin, go do it already. If you're going to change your mind about quitting, then do it. If you're going to quit and go work at Fox News, or have someone ghostwrite some more swell columns for ya at the New York Post, you betcha, then go do it. But stop calling press conferences and talking about it, and then complaining that the press is hounding you. Stop lying, stop trying to pretend you know anything about politics, or even government, and please stop speaking into microphones.

 

I have a headache. Just go away...

DC Teabaggers Make the Founding Fathers Laugh From Their Graves

Apparently, the teabagging isn’t going so well, at least in DC. Fox News’ Publicity Department should be ashamed…

First off, some genius thought the initial idea, to dump 1 million teabags in the Potomac River, was a good idea on some level. Now, anyone with a pulse would have to admit it was a pretty goddamn stupid idea to pollute a river as a political protest, especially since the government would probably have to pay for the cleanup. Have you seen the Potomac River? It’s better than it was when I was a kid, but it’s still not all that clean, so polluting the river with a million teabags wasn’t going to fly, especially as a protest of government spending. Oddly, they had to cancel when they found out such an act would be illegal. Who could have ever imagined that, huh?

So, according to The Washington Post, the right wing geniuses who thought polluting a river to make a point was a slamming idea, decided to move the protest to Lafayette Park, which is the park directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. That plan involved the dumping of the same million teabags (why a million? I've never figured that one out...) on the ground and yell at them or something. Well, the truck showed up at the park, and started unloading the teabags, but it turned out they didn’t have a permit -- (What? You need a permit to dump a million teabags in a public park? What is this, Russia?), so they sent to truck off to who knows where, and the 1500 or so protesters “braved” the spring rain to express their displeasure at… um… what exactly?

Arthur Delaney of The Huffington Post was there, and provides the following quote, which is priceless.

"I'm here to protest the spending and the taxes and the government running the private affairs of private industries," said Steve, 51, a computer programmer who took the day off to drive from Northern Virginia and pay "a big chunk of money" to park in a downtown garage. "I'm here to protest the bailing out of companies when they should be going bankrupt."

So, let’s get this straight. A computer programmer, who makes his living on machines that were largely created and improved using government research and investment money is protesting the use of government money to support commerce? Also, how stupid do you have to be to pay $18-20 for parking (which is what it costs around there), when there is a Metro Station right next to Lafayette Park and two others within two blocks in either direction, with both train lines going to and from Northern Virginia, and costing less than $3 each way?

Did I tell you these righties aren’t very bright?

I’m not going to comment on the sign this asshole was carrying., except to note that the extent of right wing "cleverness" seems to be their mass adoption of “Urkel,” the iconic nerd from “Family Matters” to refer to Barack Obama. Sad, isn’t it?Bush looked more like Urkel than Obama does, except for the color of his... now... wait a minute...

The teabaggers also wanted to hold a second protest in front of the Treasury Building – which seems somewhat pointless, given that the Treasury Building is next to the White House, and adjacent to Lafayette Park, but that idea was scotched by the Secret Service. As most who protest near the White House know, protests there are usually forbidden, because it’s too close to the White House service entrance.

Of course, to top off this crapper of a day, apparently one of the protesters wasted a bunch of federal security money, by throwing an empty box over the damn White House fence. So the Secret Service have to clear the area, and use a robot to figure out it was nothing.

So, the net result of the DC teabagger? Nothing was accomplished, about 1500 people (or fewer) spent some time in the rain wishing they had some tea, and they wasted thousands of extra federal security dollars, just so they can bitch about a tax bill that has actually gone down under Obama or, in the case of one computer programmer, to bitch about government money, when his entire job exists because of past government spending…

When the right wing can’t waste money, as they have for the last 28 years, they just waste time…

Teabagging for Profit Once Made a Person a… Never Mind…

You know, when you look at the right wing “teabagging” episodes happening all over the country today, you really can't do anything but laugh. Here, we have a bunch of extremely rich, authoritarian morons asking middle- and working-class people to protest in mass numbers against a tax increase on the rich amounting to 3% of the amount over $250,000. And he's moronic clowns -- the viewers of Fox news -- are gladly taking to the streets in favor of something that hasn't happened yet and may not actually ever happen, under the guise of mimicking the glorious American Revolution. Of course, the issue during the revolution wasn’t the “taxation” part, but rather the “without representation” part. But let’s leave their “revolutionary” ignorance for another column, shall we?

This is just another example of why I consider neocons to be extremely stupid. They can call liberals any name they want, but the fact of the matter is, you'll never catch a liberal protesting something that doesn't exist, may not exist, it doesn't affect most of the people. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a really long time know that I happen to think that the liberal side of the ideological spectrum is too often politically dumb as a post, but the fact of the matter is, we are at least educated enough to know when someone's yanking our chain for their own benefit.

The right wing would have you believe that all of these teabagging parties are a “grassroots" movement of sorts. But if you look really closely at the people organizing this thing, it's hard to find one who isn't already a millionaire, or in the case of Rupert Murdoch, a billionaire. Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey (did anyone even suggest to Dick Armey that associating his name with something called “teabagging” was sure to get more people tittering than enraged?) By design, people like that can’t start a “grassroots movement.”

See, there's something you right wingers should know; in order to conduct a grassroots movement, you kind of need grass roots. You know, like regular people. You’d have to get your “base” to put down their AM radios, their Skoal and their NASCAR programs long enough to care about something that really matters. The impetus has to come from the people, not from a bunch of millionaires who want to save a few tax dollars, while they stick it to everyone else.

This is a Fox News publicity stunt, and nothing more. They have promoted this ad nauseum for several weeks, and they have made this an” us versus them” type of an issue. You see, when only a few hundred people show up in a few dozen cities, and no one in the "mainstream media" covers it, Fox news will be able to rally the troops, and say the mainstream media just doesn't care about the idiots who watch their channel. In other words, Fox viewers, your favorite channel is hosing you. They are once again treating you as little children who are too stupid to know what's best for you. Once more, the leadership of the right-wing treats the right-wing rank-and-file as a bunch of brain-dead idiots.

Of course, why wouldn't they?

One of the things I like to point out when talking about protests, even when liberals do so, is the relative ignorance of many of the protesters. I remember one time, many years ago, when that day of a job interview in Washington DC coincided with one of the myriad World Bank protests that happen every year on certain days. Because the subway was crowded and it was a nice day, I decided to walk to my interview. So there I was, wearing a dark suit and feeling playful, so I started asking protesters I passed what they were protesting. No one could really tell me.why they were there. Essentially, they were present for a social event; they were there because they felt like they were supposed to be there, even though they had no idea why. Most were dressed as pseudo-hippies, but you could tell by their electronics and the SUVs they were driving that they were a bunch of rich kids. bored out of their skulls and looking for something to do. Now, call me crazy, but if you're going to protest something, at least know what you're protesting

Imagine my surprise when the idiotic far right wing lost their political power and their leadership adopted the same moronic tactics that out of power liberals have been using for years and years. It’s almost a natural. The one difference is, as wrong-headed as liberal protesters can be much of the time,

If you look at the tea parties that are supposedly happening today, there are two issues. The main issue is taxes. Essentially, these idiots have been asked to protest taxes that haven’t been passed yet and which, when passed, will cost those making over $250,000 in extra 3%, but only 3% of the amount over $250,000. They don’t seem to have noticed that the recent stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by President Obama actually reduced taxes on 95% of the American people. How receptive do you think Americans in general will be to such a so-called grass-roots movement when most of them are seeing a tax decrease.

The second item of protest is government spending, which is a real hoot. This portion of the protest is wholly ironic, given the fact that these same people have run the government for most of the last 28 years, and increased the national debt from approximately $1 trillion in 1980, to approximately $11 trillion now. The only time the federal budget decreased in size during the last 28 years was during the Clinton administration. And as soon as Clinton left office, and the neocons ran the whole show, they proceeded to spend like drunken sailors for eight years. Not only did they spend the country into oblivion,; they also refused to regulate financial institutions, who proceeded to rape the treasury for all that they could. Now, three months into a new administration, and at a time when the economy is in freefall because of their insanity; NOW, they suddenly take up the mantle of fiscal responsibility. Complete silence, absolute complicity, and even argumentative support for absolute fiscal irresponsibility for eight years, and now, they’re worried about our children and grandchildren.

You know, one of the great traditions in American history has been the tradition of protest. I am not faulting right-wing morons for actually protesting things they feel are wrong. But I am laughing at them for allowing themselves to be led around by the nose by a people who truly wish to screw them, and not in a good way.

“Teabagging” is not a news story, it’s a publicity stunt. Fox News has created an event to keep its audience from leaving in greater numbers, and they’ve disguised it as a “grassroots” movement. To expect other news organizations to cover that would be akin to expecting Fox News to cover an MSNBC-sponsored event, which isn’t very likely.

Barney Frank Calls Scalia a "Homophobe" Frank's Right As Usual!

Seriously... you have to love Barney Frank. He seems to be one of the few Congressional Democrats who just says what he thinks, without running it through a "political expediency" filter.

In a recent interview with the gay news Web site 365gay.com, Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (why has he not been impeached? Do we have no standards?) a "homophobe." He was discussing gay marriage and his expectation that Supremes might eventually have to decide on whether the federal government should be allowed to deny recognition to same-sex marriages.

"I wouldn't want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."

Click the link to see the video and my commentary:

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.

Republican Stupid Idea of the Day: Nationalize the Banks!

Was I dreaming?

Didn't the Republican noise machine spend the last few months of the presidential campaign trying to portray Barack Obama as a socialist?

So, what the hell is this? This is from Lindsay Graham yesterday, speaking on ABC's This Week:

"I would not take off the idea of nationalizing the banks" from the table, Graham, R-S.C., told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week" program

"This idea of nationalizing banks is not comfortable, but I think we have gotten so many toxic assets spread throughout the banking and financial community throughout the world that we're going to have to do something that no one ever envisioned a year ago, no one likes," Graham said. "But, to me, banking and housing are the root cause of this problem. And I'm very much afraid that any program to salvage the bank is going to require the government.."

The first question I have is, why the HELL are Republicans still all over the goddamn talking head shows, spouting their bullshit, while Democrats, who are in charge, are still standing on the sidelines, when it comes to the major media? 

It's a good question, but one I'll get into that in another post, though. Let's talk about this, the stupidest damned idea to EVER come down the pike from a Republican, and that's saying a hell of a lot.

Boehner's Lasted More Than Four Hours! Call Someone!

How far the neocons in the Republican Party have come, eh?  You have to love their leader in the House, don't you?

 

Their leader during the "revolution," way back in 1995, was Newt Gingrich. Say what you will about Newtie (and believe me, there is a lot to say, and I've said it all over the years), but he was a skilled politician. He's not as bright as he thinks he is, but his political skills were actually quite good, at least when it came to phrasing his bullshit.  I remember when I was very young, and he was brand new to politics, and running as a liberal Republican in Georgia. I met him when he was trolling other liberal Republicans for support. He only had to lose two elections before he realized where the party was headed and promptly changed every single one of his core political principles so that he could win.

 

If he had actual core political principles, he might still be in power today.

 

After Newtie was dethroned because of his lack of principle and his wandering pecker,  he was replaced by a twosome; Dennis Hastert as Speaker, and Dick Armey as Majority Leader.  Once more, the GOP was led by people who had zero principles, but the political skill to pull off the trick of doing the exact opposite of what the Republicans said they would do, while sounding like they’re keeping their promises.  Hastert was a master at making sure Democrats had as little input into the process as possible, all the while looking reasonable and fair, while the unfortunately named Dick Armey (rumors that he had been forced to change his name from Penis Marines are unfounded) drew the resulting firepower away from Hastert, which allowed Denny to get his work done, and screw the country for a generation.

Annie Coulter: Squealing Like a Stuck Republican

I got this in an e-mail last night, and I just had to share. It's Annie Coulter's latest column, and it demonstrates just how much she despises the very people who buy her books... wingnuts, pay attention; she's talking about you...

Goodbye, America! It Was Fun While It Lasted

by Annie Coulter

Posted 02/11/2009 ET
Updated 02/11/2009 ET

It's bad enough when illiterate jurors issue damages awards in the billions of dollars because they don't grasp the difference between a million and a billion. Now it turns out the Democrats don't know the difference between a million and a trillion.

Why not make the "stimulus bill" a kazillion dollars?

All Americans who work for a living, or who plan to work for a living sometime in the next century, are about to be stuck with a trillion-dollar bill to fund yet more oppressive government bureaucracies. Or as I call it, a trillion dollars and change.

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

Note the tone. Can you hear "The Democrats" rolling off the tongue with that signature sneer?

Can you imagine? After eight years of Bush Junior, suddenly, she's concerned about the deficit, and the inability to discern the difference between million, billion and trillion.

Let's give Annie here a little bit of history, shall we? Okay.

When Jimmy Carter left office, and Ronald Reagan took over, as a percentage of GDP, the national debt was at its lowest point that at any time in the post-war era; 32.6%. For the first time since the war, the national debt was within sight of being eliminated. In eight short years, the debt had climbed to 53.1% of GDP. In other words, the debt was growing far faster than the economy, even though Reagan and the wingnuts were telling us how strong the economy was.

Gee; it wasn't growing because of runaway government spending was it?

Cutting the Crap! What are Caribou Barbie and the Chimp Faithful TO, Exactly?

Okay, we know she doesn't know anything about the Constitution, because  she demonstrated repeatedly during the campaign that she had no idea what a vice president does.  But isn't it time we started enforcing the separation of church and state that is contained repeatedly in the Constitution?

 

This is from a Monday interview of Caribou Barbie (Sarah Palin, of course) on Fox News:

 

Faith is a very big part of my life. And putting my life in my creator's hands - this is what I always do. I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it's cracked up a little bit, maybe I'll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don't let me miss an open door. And if there is an open door in (20)12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door.

 

Let me start off by saying, I don't really care about anyone's personal religious beliefs, especially those of politicians. I don't have a problem if they pray silently before every Cabinet meeting, or they ask God for guidance on an issue that vexes them.

 

I just want them to keep it to themselves.It's none of my business, no matter what they do for a living.

 

Religion and faith are very personal activities. Even when you go to church, it's still a personal activity; you just happen to be sharing with like-minded people who are in that church of their own free will. That has nothing in common with running the government. No matter how much they pretend it is, this country is not a church, and the president is not my pastor.

It's personal, and you have to understand that most people don't believe the same way you do when it comes to God. I know; for the last 40 years, the neocons have been trying to lump all "Christians" into one group, and tell you you're in "the majority," but the fact of the matter is, there are hundreds of Christian sects, and every one of them believes something different about God and Jesus Christ. For example, you Catholics and Mormons out there; did you know that quite a few of the other Christian sects refer to you as "cultists"? And you evangelicals and fundamentalists; were you aware that most other Christians think you're loons?

David Brooks: Wingnut GOP Has No Belief System? Yeah, they Do, and That's What's Killing Them!

The things that make me laugh…

 

On Sunday's "Face the Nation," conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks said, quite accurately, that the current incarnation of the Republican Party was "in a world of pain," because the party is "just a circular firing squad with everybody attacking each other and no coherent belief system, no leaders. …  you have half the party waiting for Sarah Palin to come rescue them, the other half waiting for Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana governor, to come rescue them. But no set of beliefs, really a decayed conservative infrastructure."

 

He has to be kidding with this.

 

If there is one thing the Republican Party has had over the last 28 years, it's a leadership, and a very strong belief system. The reason the Republican Party is in a "world of pain" is because their leadership and their belief system have been morally reprehensible, and ethically challenged bastardizations of what the United States is supposed to be about, and strangely, the people don't really care for that sort of thing.

 

Let's start with their leadership. It's roughly the same as it has been for a generation; corrupt bastards who hate everyone who isn't rich, and think they're entitled to be in power because it's their turn. It's difficult to name a Republican leader in the last 30 years who hasn't been forced to resign or "retire" because of some sort of scandal, and even those who weren't involved in a specific scandal supported others who were.  I mean, can you even imagine a Democrat outing a CIA agent and other Democrats letting him get away with it? Yeah, me either. And how corrupt must your leadership be to run against the sins of the other party, and then commit the same sins, and even build upon them, when you take power?

Cutting the Crap: Conservative, My Ass!

You know, I rarely agree with David Frum on anything, but much of his assessment of the McCain campaign in  this morning's Washington Post hits the nail pretty much on the head. Here's an excerpt:

There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him.

A year ago, the Arizona senator's team made a crucial strategic decision. McCain would run on his (impressive) personal biography. On policy, he'd hew mostly to conservative orthodoxy, with a few deviations -- most notably, his support for legalization for illegal immigrants. But this strategy wasn't yielding results in the general election. So in August, McCain tried a bold new gambit: He would reach out to independents and women with an exciting and unexpected vice presidential choice.

That didn't work out so well either. Gov. Sarah Palin connected with neither independents nor women. She did, however, ignite the Republican base, which has come to support her passionately. And so, in this last month, the McCain campaign has Palinized itself to make the most of its last asset. To fire up the Republican base, the McCain team has hit at Barack Obama as an alien, a radical and a socialist.

Sure enough, the base has responded. After months and months of wan enthusiasm among Republicans, these last weeks have at last energized the core of the party. But there's a downside: The very same campaign strategy that has belatedly mobilized the Republican core has alienated and offended the great national middle, which was the only place where the 2008 election could have been won.

Like I said; it's difficult to argue with that sentiment. John McCain will likely lose this election, because he played to the Republican base, and not to the real strength in this election, which is the middle of the ideological spectrum.

But there's something in the above that really bothers me, and has bothered me for a while, and that is the concept that the Republican "base" represents anything resembling what Frum calls "conservative orthodoxy."

Obama's Single-Handedly Reforming Campaign Finance: McCain Worried

John McCain made me laugh my ass off today.

I know, I usually laugh my ass off, but this had to be the most clueless thing I have ever seen in my life.  You see, McCain seems to be quite concerned about Obama's effect on the campaign finance system. Read this carefully, because it will make you laugh. Okay, it will only make those of us with a brain laugh;  the wingnuts will take this seriously:

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday" hours after Obama's campaign reported raising a record $150 million in September, McCain said the overall sum his Democratic rival has raised — $605 million — showed the "dam has broken" for future White House races.

McCain also complained that the identities of people who contributed more than $200 million of Obama's total take have not been reported, although that is allowable under federal law because the individual donations fall under the $200 reporting limit.

"I'm saying it's laying a predicate for the future that can be very dangerous," McCain said. "History shows us where unlimited amounts of money are in political campaigns, it leads to scandal."

With this, John McCain certifies himself as a clueless putz. I used to think he was a little smarter than his campaign demonstrated. Now, I'm not so sure.

Think about this for a moment.

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.

NRA Sells Out: Endorses "One of the premier flag carriers for the enemies of the Second Amendment”

Wow. I’m stunned. 

The National Rifle Association has endorsed John McCain. Not only that, but they have embarked on a $40 million ad buy, where they lie their asses off about Barack Obama, and his alleged desire to take away everyone’s guns.

Okay, let me dispatch the lies in the ads first.  

This is from The Wall Street Journal, and dated September 5, 2008 so you know it’s not coming from a “liberal” source:

A woman in the crowd told Obama she had “heard a rumor” that he might be planning some sort of gun ban upon being elected president. Obama trotted out his standard policy stance, that he had a deep respect for the “traditions of gun ownership” but favored measures in big cities to keep guns out of the hands of “gang bangers and drug dealers’’ in big cities “who already have them and are shooting people.”

“If you’ve got a gun in your house, I’m not taking it,’’ Obama said. But the Illinois senator could still see skeptics in the crowd, particularly on the faces of several men at the back of the room.

So he tried again. “Even if I want to take them away, I don’t have the votes in Congress,’’ he said. “This can’t be the reason not to vote for me. Can everyone hear me in the back? I see a couple of sportsmen back there. I’m not going to take away your guns.’’

So, there you are. We can start with the fact that the NRA is apparently a group of bald-faced liars.

Buying Bad Mortgage Policy from McCain

I know what a lot of you think you heard from John McCain last night about the government buying bad mortgages and all that. And in a way, it kinda sorta sounded like an idea Barack Obama had earlier, and that Congress included in its final bailout package last week.

But I listened to it again, and it sounded different. So, I looked at the transcript, and what I figured out is that John McCain really doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, and cannot be trusted with the economy.

See, the idea that I thought McCain was discussing, and claiming as his own, was this idea that many have recommended (including me), in which people who are upside down on their mortgages can negotiate a new mortgage, reflecting the current, lower value of their home. The banks could be partially subsidized for any losses, and in almost no time, we’d all be back on our feet. People who were previously screwed would be made whole, and it would then be largely unnecessary to bail out the gamblers who pissed their money away by creating a phony market based on no actual value. In other words, he may be trying to paraphrase the plan Obama and the Democrats have been pushing all along.

But read carefully, because McCain actually stands this idea on its head.

Out of the Way, Wingnuts! This Election is Too Important for Your Crap!

Just to make clear, what you're seeing all over the country is the far right in this country being forced back to the fringes of political discourse in this country, which is where they belong, and progressives and real conservatives taking back the country. This is not just people wanting a little change in Washington; this is a movement. This is Americans waking up from a slumber, and deciding to take the country back, before there's nothing left to take back.

 

And it's so humorous to watch these idiots flail, and try to hang onto power. Seriously, is there anything more pathetic than watching Elisabeth Hasselbeck pleading wih the others on "The View" to please take her seriously, because what she has to say has huge national importance, or to see Sean Hannity beating the Ayers and Wright horses well after they're deceased, and starting to smell?

 

I'm going to put it as bluntly as I can, folks. If you vote for John McCain, you are voting to bankrupt the United States and turn us into a Third World country within our lifetimes. That's not to say McCain wouldn't be a slight improvement over the disaster who occupies the Oval Office currently. But shouldn't we aim higher? Instead of trading lung cancer for hepatitis C, why don't we instead work for the good health of the country?

 

One of the likely reasons so many people are finally waking up, is because a significant enough number of them have finally maxed out their credit, and can no longer pay the bills every month, and it's starting to dawn on them; perhaps something is wrong?

 

So, what's been wrong with neocon rule since Reagan? Gee, where do I start?

 

When Did the United States Become a Nation of Pussies?

Today is the 39th anniversary of the day that American astronauts first set foot on the moon.

Think about that a moment. Within ten years, this great country was able to go from being unable to fire a rocket into space, to putting men into space, then creating a way for them to land on the moon, take off from the moon, and return home safely, six out of seven times.

Contrast that with today, 39 years later, when we're looking at taking 20 years to increase the average gas mileage of our cars to 34 miles per gallon, and lessening our use of "foreign oil."

When World War II was declared, a factory in Detroit that made Ford automobiles was retrofitted to manufacture helicopters for the war effort, and was able to do so in the space of eight weeks.

Contrast that with today, when all American car companies claim they can't compete in the global market, and they have to shut down for years, just to be able to make cars that people want to drive, cars they should have been making all along.

During World War II, our leadership was able to mobilize the entire country to defeat the Nazis and Japanese Imperial Forces, two of the most formidable powers in the history of world, and helped defeat them within four years.   

Contrast that with today, when our leadership expects us to cower in fear at rogue actors who might strap a bomb to their waist and blow up everyone within a short distance.

What have we become? We're afraid of everything these days. How have we gone from "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," to the current attitude, whereby; we're afraid of terrorists, because they might want to "kill us for our freedoms;" we're afraid to switch to alternative fuels, because it might entail pumping something other than gas; we're afraid to try anything new, because it may not work?

When did the United States become a nation of pussies?

N-Words and Wingnuts

If you haven't seen this clip from "The View," please watch this:

 

There are two problems with this conversation.

The first problem is with the "N-Word" itself.

Let's be clear, folks. Words have different meanings in different contexts. The late George Carlin was a genius at pointing this out in his comedy routines, but the fact is, there aren't many words in the English language that always have negative connotations, simply by existing. I know we have a tendency to imbue certain words with such meanings, but the fact of the matter is, context is everything.

One of the things Ms. Hasselbeck seemed genuinely shocked about is the fact that blacks and whites in this country have separate cultures. I'll get a little more into this in a bit, but seriously; what planet is she living on again?

Who Really Whines in this Country?

I'm gonna get to Phill Gramm in a day or two, so stay tuned, but for now, I want to address this concept of Americans supposedly "whining" about the economy.

I grew up working class, and I've never really risen above the middle, although for the last 13 years, I have worked around people who occupy the upper class. Now. combining my personal experience with what I read in the media, and taking all of it with a grain of salt, I can honestly say that no one whines like the upper class right winger, and I mean no one.

I remember not long ago, I was having a discussion with someone who makes approximately 5-10 times as much as me, and combined with her husband's income, the family income is probably in the half million per year range. But when I mentioned that I support Barack Obama for president, the reaction I got, word for word, was "I don't like him, because he's going to raise taxes."

Silly me, I decided to retort, and say, "But only on those people making $250,000 or more."

To which she shot back, "Um, HELLO!" and pointed to herself plaintively.

Please Cut the (Glenn) Beck!

Let me start off by pointing out that, as you will see from the bulk of my posts on this blog, I am a happy, shiny liberal, when compared to many in the progressive blogosphere. This country has been one of the greatest in the history of the world. We have experienced a higher standard of living than any other country in the history of the world. And for a long time, we were the only country in the world which at least tried, on paper, to create an actual meltimg pot out of our population, albeit as long as you weren't too incredibly brown.

And we are still making progress in many ways. This country is becoming increasingly tolerant of more and more people and cultures and even sexual preferences, and our laws have kind of forced people to at least give people a try whom they wouldn't normally even talk to. In many respects, people have more rights now then they had back in the olden days. This, despite of the neocons running the country, and doing their damnedest to reverse all gains made during the civil rights era.

But we are not the same country we were. In some ways we are better, but in many other ways, we are worse off. Our economy used to float all  boats, and now, it barely floats any. The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer, but that's not even the worst part of this economy; the worst part is, the people in charge don't care. They think it's a good thing that large companies control nearly every business there is, and prevent entrepreneurship to a very large degree. We are no longer the largest economy in the world, and we are in serious danger of becoming little more than a marginal economy. We spend more money on "defense" than every other nation on Earth, combined, and yet, we show remarkable weakness, except in our rhetoric. We cower in fear at the slightest provocation, and we have become all too willing to give up our rights, just to buy what certain people tell us is a little safety and security.