Kerfuffle

I look forward to the Republican deficit hawks spinning this inconvenient fact...

Republican tax plan adds more than $36 billion to the federal deficit next year; transfers most of that to the rich.

The Washington Post reports that the analysts for the non-partisan Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation have been crunching some numbers on both the Democratic and Republican tax proposals.  With that Bush tax cuts due to expire, we need a new plan.

As WaPo's Lori Montgomery reports...

A Republican plan to extend tax cuts for the rich would add more than $36 billion to the federal deficit next year -- and transfer the bulk of that cash into the pockets of the nation's millionaires, according to a congressional analysis released Wednesday.

Hmmm.  But I thought Republicans were against (right now) any kind of deficit spending... except for wars and associated profiteers, of course.  Anyway...

New data from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation show that households earning more than $1 million a year would reap nearly $31 billion in tax breaks under the GOP plan in 2011, for an average tax cut per household of about $100,000. 

And the distributions of the tax cuts look kind of like this:

Wow!  That sure is a big gray dot there.

Meanwhile, there are some who think both plans are a bad idea...

Given the soaring national debt, many economists deem both proposals unaffordable. Even some Republicans, including Reagan administration budget chief David Stockman and former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, have urged lawmakers to let them expire and allow income tax rates to pop back up to their levels during the Clinton administration.

Both parties are pushing on.  The Democrats want to live up to Obama's campaign pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class.  Meanwhile, Republicans are demanding support for their high-dollar plan, despite the deficit and the rather selfish and unseemly "let them eat cake" appearance, because they know that people who make over a million a year are really hurting.  Can you imagine having to go from the 25 year old Macallen to the 12 year old stuff?  Outrageous! 

I'm inclined to roll with the President and the Democrats on this one, but I actually think Stockman and Greenspan are correct.

Today we ask the musical question: What if the Tea Party was Black?

You almost have to agree:  this guy makes some really good points...

I mean, some really, really good points.  [Lyrics may be viewed here.]

While I agree with Vice President Joe Biden that the Tea Party movement is not primarily a racist organization, it is beyond clear that there are a good number of their members -- and leaders -- who seem to have some real problems with those of us who aren't white and Christian.  The Right Wing media echo chamber fosters this bilious, festering crap through race baiting, innuendo, inflammatory language and outright hate speech. It makes me both sad and angry. 

We can only hope that either the majority of conservatives will regain control of their party or that the majority of Americans in total will band together to overcome this insidious and ugly cancer on our society.  I fear that won't happen in my lifetime, thanks to the ignoramuses that blindly follow of media mouths such as Limbaugh, Beck, and Savage, along with politicians the likes of Sessions, Tancredo and Palin.  It's up to the sane and the rational to overcome the ignorant and the hateful.

[h/t OsborneInk]

Apparently FOX News producers don't go back into their own video archives to continuity-check their bullshit. Jon Stewart does, and does it well.

These nincompoops on FOX News, especially the clowns on the FOX & Friends morning program, are so often unintentionally hilarious that it's hard to keep count anymore.  But the Daily Show does what it can...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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It's not even worth pointing out their hypocrisy anymore, nor pointing out how they are so not credible in any journalistic sense whatsoever.  Just point and laugh.

Sometimes, there's only one thing you can say to terrorist idiots. Jon Stewart explains...

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Deadly accurate observations of the situation, with jokes! Those Daily Show guys... damn, they're good.

"Jesus H. Christ! That damn Obama is meeting with atheist hate groups!" shriek religiously Righteous hate groups

There are somewhere around 13% of US citizens that identify as atheists or nonthiests... people who do not believe in a god or other supreme deity or what have you.  Closer to 16% claim no religious affiliation.  And well over half think religion shouldn't play a roll in politics.  Of those who do hold a religious affiliation, only about one third see their church membership as being conservative.  (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life).

Of course, given that the Republican Senate caucus sees 41% as a controlling majority these days, I guess it stands to reason that the religious right wing zealots would freak out that staffers in the Obama administration would have the unmitigated gall to meet with a group of nontheist -- atheist -- "don't buy into a god thing" leaders.  Because those godless people are haters, don't you know.

"It is one thing for Administration to meet with groups of varying viewpoints, but it is quite another for a senior official to sit down with activists representing some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation," says In God We Trust's Chairman Bishop Council Nedd.

And, to be fair, guys like the good Bishop know hate when they see it.  Hell, they have brought hate to an art form.  They own the franchise rights to hating gays, hating a woman's right to control her own body, hating people who have a god that isn't their god, hating people who say stuff like "Jesus was an Ethiopian (aka Black), hating contraception, hating sex ed in schools, and probably hating competing forms of hate.  I think they invented self-loathing too... gotta give bonus props for that one.

So what's on the minds of those anti-god, atheistic haters that the religious right haters hate so much?  ABC's Jake Tapper reports...

[Sean Faircloth, executive director of the Secular Coalition of America] said they would address three items: "religiously based child abuse issues, so-called faith-healing" and religious child care being exempt from some health and safety laws; the "pervasive" religious atmosphere in the military and ways in which troops "with non-theistic views are made to feel unwelcome"; and faith-based initiatives.

Hmmm.  OK.  So they want to talk about people who let their kids suffer and die by withholding basic medical treatment so as to let "god's will" take it's course.  Yeah, that would appear to be a needless tragedy and therefore kind of a problem in the 21st Century... worth discussing. And these heathen haters want to talk about that unspoken "Go Our God, the Godliest God of All, or Go Home" military policy.  This appears to be a reasonable issue for consideration, given the Constitution does seem to have provisions for both freedom of and from religion.  And then there are those so-called "faith-based" initiatives that some might call cash giveaways to religious organizations.  But, wait; don't those programs help people?  (Sounds like socialism... insert drama sting here... but let's overlook that for now.)  It appears reasonable to think that secular organizations should be able to administer some of that faith-funneled money too.  Maybe they can call themselves names like The Church of Common Sense, if that will make it easier. 

For a bunch of people who call themselves Christians, these buffoons really give Christianity a bad name.  I remain convinced that the vast majority of people who identify as Christian are good, decent, and tolerant people.  (And the Pew study seems to back that up.)  But these few hardliners seem to want to speak for everybody... loudly and hatefully.  Isn't that always the way?  (Oddly, as we've learned, they also follow a "Do as I say, not as I do" kind of policy, but that too is for another time.)

Presuming there was a Jesus, and he was as loving and giving and selfless as he is made out to be, I have to think this crap makes him kind of mad... the way some people throw his name around and attach it to shit totally inconsistent with everything he stood for.  Reminds me of a great t-shirt I saw.

What is this, high school? Of Sarah Palin, Rahm Emanuel, satire, and f***ing retards

I've been schooled by some very well-meaning friends about my occasional use of the word "retarded."  I wrote a post defending the word, as if it is defensible.  I must agree that, to many, many people, it is insensitive at best and offensive and hateful at worst.  I get it.

America's air-headed conservative sweetheart, Sarah Palin, doesn't like the word and it's variations either.  Unless it is uttered by someone she is afraid to piss off, or she uses it herself.  She called for the firing of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel when he used it to refer to progressive Democrats.  But she sees it as satire when used by El Rushbo.

I thought if you went to several universities to cobble together a single broadcast journalism degree, you would understand what "satire" means.  I guess not.  But what can you expect from someone who has to scrawl and then actually use notes on her own hand.  Hilarious!  And it's not even satire!  But this from Stephen Colbert sure is... and it's really well-done satire...

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Well played, Mr. Colbert.  I especially like the "hand-o-prompter" line.  So many on the right have parroted criticism on Barack Obama for using a TelePrompTer, forgetting that every president -- or corporate big shot -- uses them when they want to stay with a pre-written speech.  Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address on the backs on envelopes, the TelePrompTer of his day, for chrissakes. Do people think politicians and other important speakers deliver major addresses extemporaneously?  I don't think our previous president could order at the Taco Bell drive-thru without notes.

But writing stuff on your hand?  WTF?  Of course, since she is prone to releasing "statements" on her Facebook page, I guess this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.  Yet, this is the person people still think should be our next president?  What... is Miley Cyrus not interested in running?  Are we all suddenly 14 years old again?

Which brings me to another piece of brilliant satire from last week's Saturday Night Live.  Andy Samberg nails the whole Rahm Emanuel thing...

Samberg seems to take a page from the Glenn Beck playbook for his satirical inspiration:  "I'm just saying what other people are thinking."  That's the great thing about satire; it allows a point to be made clear in a way that is both humorous and deadly accurate.  It's a rhetorical or literary device, though, and not an excuse for being an ass.  It's also not something you can claim retroactively after you say something incredibly hateful, offensive, or just plain ignorant.  Sorry Rush.  Sorry Glen.  It's only satire when you have that as an objective before the fact.

I gotta run. I have class and I need to write my discussion points on my arm.

Apparently, some basic fact checking is all that's needed to demonstrate (again) what lying sack of poop Dick Cheney really is

The so-called "Underwear Bomber" story has been pumped and pumped hard by the GOP this week.  Their talking points have been repeated by habitual liars like Karl Rove, Pete Hoekstra and others on the cable news channels.  But the Republican's Darth Vader himself finally emerged from the ether to offer his memory-and-facts-be-damned take of the story.  As is to be expected, he found several points to criticize about the current administration, while completely forgetting or ignoring that the administration in which he served as co-president did exactly the same things and then some.

And what are Democrats doing about it?  Not much, it seems.  They're just letting these asshats bullshit their way through hypocritical and baseless talking points unchallenged.  I have to give Republicans props for sticking to the script, and knowing they can get away with saying almost anything since Democrats do have a penchant for spinelessness, and the media can't be bothered to fact-check all that much.

While FOX News,  with their fact-challenged straight face, is now promoting themselves as "Hard News, Real Reporting," MSNBC actually did some real reporting on this subject last night.  And all they needed to do was some Google searching to demonstrate what an evil asshole of a liar Richard B. Cheney is...

Well played, Rachel Maddow.

Today's installment of the curious nature of Republican values: "Rape's OK with Us" edition

Yeah, I know.  This has been around for more than a few days now.  But it still both amazes and annoys me.  Thirty Republicans in the US Senate voted against an amendment that would hold government contractors to the law.  In this case, the law has to do with rape.  And the contractor in the hot seat is perennial Republican darling KBR (you might know them as Halliburton).

John Stewart does what the mainstream (you might know them as "liberal") media doesn't bother to do:  call these assholes on their behavior...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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I especially love that Stewart points out that these same clowns were ever-so-quick to scream for ACORN's funding to be cut for crimes that could have been but weren't.  But they say that trying to get involved with who the government hires and what standards to hold them to isn't really in their purview.  Really?  What a bunch of hypocritical bullshit.  You guys can't call this KBR-Rape's OK issue "playing politics" while pouncing on ACORN before facts were even assembled.  And I'm not sticking up for ACORN; they created their own problems.  But how can you vote in favor of KBR over rape?  Just couldn't bring yourselves to vote for something that has Al Franken's name on it, huh?  Fucking petulant children.

(Like how Stewart uses the word "kerfuffle" in his report.  An underused but fun word, at least in my view.  As you'd likely expect from me.) 

Fake pimps and fake whores. Real guns and real felonies. Which should we be more concerned about?

Those videos of the central casting version of a white guy pretending to be a pimp and his pal doing her best to appear like a whore got a lot of people all kinds of worked up over ACORN.  It gave FOX News fodder for weeks, and ultimately ACORN lost funding and government contracts.

For what those videos showed, ACORN deserved to be investigated.  I have no disagreement with that at all.   It may have been a little more appropriate to investigate before passing judgment, but such a process fall under the IOKIYAR rule I guess.  (As an aside, though, props to RNC national chairman Michael "How We Roll" Steele for actually speaking up in favor of ACORN's CO.  I wonder how many GOP heads exploded on that one.  But I digress.)

That brings me to this video montage.  I am shocked -- shocked! -- that FOX New hasn't been all over this hidden video sting operation.  Can you believe it?  Private gun sales do not require background checks even at gun shows and the like... unless the sells knowingly sell to someone who gives reason for the seller to even suspect they may not pass a background check.  [18 U.S.C. §922(d)].

As noted by David Wildman at DK...

You can see more at GunShowUndercover.org, plus video of "straw purchases," where a presumably prohibited buyer makes the deal, then brings in someone totally different to fill out the paperwork and become the "owner," right in front of the eyes of federally licensed dealers.

Fake pimps. Fake "hos." Fake "brothels."

Real guns. Real crimes.

You tell me which one deserves time on the TeeVee, and a stampede to the floor of the House and Senate with new legislation in hand.

This series of stings was carried out by weapons investigators for the City of New York.  This wasn't a game of gotcha by a couple FOX wannabe operatives looking for a scandal.  These are real investigators uncovering real crimes involving real guns... not just fishing with "what ifs."  94% of their attempted gun purchases by people admitting they cannot pass a background check -- enough to stop a sale by law -- went through anyway.  (No word on how many of those ACORN "stings" didn't work.  I guess that's the difference between real and play investigation.)

Help register Black people to vote?  Evil!  Must be shut down by any means.  Sell assault weapons to people who could never pass a background check and openly admit it?  Hey, go on ahead now, ya hear?

I'm not here to try to defend the ACORN nonsense.  Much of it is indefensible based on what I know and read.  I just want to see the same attention paid to real gun sellers breaking the law repeatedly and putting very dangerous (and needless) weapons on the street in the hands of people the law clearly says should not be packing heat. 

Can you just smell those Republican values?  Mmmm.  Guns.

There are a lot of people who simply can't wait much longer for a public option

People against what they call "socialized medicine" and a "government takeover of health care" seem to either not know, not understand, or not care that there are a lot of people (including me) who cannot get insurance, or have certain parts of coverage denied due to pre-exisitng conditions.

To those who don't know:  Climb out from under whatever rock you are living.

To those who don't understand:  Educate yourself.  Reach out to people not like you who have different lives, and talk to them so you can understand that not everyone without insurance is some kind of lazy bum or otherwise less-than-human.  Read.  

To those who just don't care:  How can you sleep at night?  I mean, really.  So many people aligned with the conservative right in this country only see health care as a privilege that you get if you can afford it... like a new car.  Can't afford health care?  Tough.  And yet, they are the same who talked of death panels with great authority, choosing not to acknowledge that CIGNA and United Health Care give out death sentences every day in our current system.  Oddly, these people claim to be "Christians" while espousing this point of view.  How very unChristlike. 

Of course, not everyone of the Democratic side is happy either.  Evidence this email sent in reply to the person who sent around the video shown above:

"With the news that some in the White House are considering a "trigger"—a delay tactic designed to kill the public option—it's more important than ever to get the word out that we simply can't afford to wait for real reform."
 
It could be you or me without health care one day indeed. There but for the grace of god...
 
Oh, MAN. Therese, I just can't take this anymore. OBAMA IS THE SINGLE GREATEST DISSAPOINTMENT IN MY POLITICAL LIFE. Does anyone else I've CC'd feel the same? It's not just on gay issues, it's on everything. It boils down to this: Why is he in ANY way "negotiating" or "compromising"? The Democrats control the legislative and executive branches of our government. He was elected to do the things he promised, like health care for all. And he's worried about the fringe Republican minority?! He's been letting the Republicans frame the debate over health care, and other issues, when he, IF HE WERE A TRUE LEADER, should be defining the debate and not compromising for anyone. "Change you can believe in"? What an asshole. He is just another spineless Democrat who doesn't know how to govern and is a pussy when it comes to leading. Obama is nothing but the grandest political disapointment in modern American history. If he does health care reform without a public option, it's not health care reform at all, and the Republicans will have won.
 
I'll say this for the worst president in our history, GEORGE W. BUSH. He had an agenda and he got everything he wanted done. And he did so with a DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED LEGISLATURE! The spineless Democrats, as always. Bush did not compromiose and he got everything he wanted. I don't agree with Bush, OF COURSE, but my point is he led and did everything he wanted to do. Why the hell can't Obama do the same? I'll tell you why, because he is a FUCKING PIECE-OF-SHIT SPINELESS DEMOCRAT FUCK. Democrats, suck.
 
And now I'm back to being unable to watch the news. I had to stop watching the news during the Bush presidency because I got so steamed it threatened my mental health. And now I can't watch the news because of the tiny little decaying Republican party controlling the debate on every issue and the limp Obama exercising his FETISH FOR COMPROMISE. He's not going to get anything done unless he turns into LBJ and starts smashing some Democrats' heads. Obama is a piece of shit.

People are dying around us for lack of health care... in the United States of America... land of yellow "Support our Troops" magnetic ribbons., as if we are some Third World contry  People who supported the Democrats in general and Barack Obama in particular are very unhappy.  And nothing changes.

As I've said before, we are, indeed, doomed.  So party on while you can.