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Subscribe to RSSObama’s unfulfilled goal: moving toward Middle East peace… President departs for Israel at 8:00 pm ET… Iran tops Obama’s upcoming agenda with Netanyahu… Violence in Iraq marks 10th anniversary of the war there… RNC report gets conservative pushback… Rand Paul backs comprehensive immigration reform… How quickly public opinion has changed on gay marriage… And it’s primary day in South Carolina!
*** Obama’s unfulfilled goal: As President Obama departs for Israel later tonight on his first foreign visit since winning re-election, the trip is a reminder of one of the big failures of his first term: moving toward Middle East peace. During his ballyhooed 2009 Cairo speech, the president talked about the necessity for peace and two-state solution. “That is in Israel's interest, Palestine's interest, America's interest, and the world's interest. And that is why I intend to personally pursue this outcome with all the patience and dedication that the task requires.” He added, “Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear.” But nearly four years later since that speech, both sides seem farther apart than ever before. Much of it isn’t Obama fault and is due to things outside of his control -- the Arab Spring, Israel’s move to the right, its settlement building, and the Palestinian National Authority’s reduced influence. Still, it’s a goal that Obama set, and one that doesn’t have as much “patience” and “dedication” as it once did for the White House. Before Obama departs for Israel at 8:00 pm ET, he meets with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny at 10:30 am, has lunch with him, and then hosts a belated St. Patrick’s Day event in the prime minister’s honor.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP file photo
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their bilateral meeting at the U.N. Building, Wednesday, Sept., 21, 2011.
*** Iran tops Obama’s agenda with Netanyahu: The New York Times says that dealing with Iran will top Obama’s agenda when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was weakened and humbled after Israel’s recent elections. “Public disagreements between Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu over how to deal with Iran have waned in recent months. This comes from a combination of the president’s repeated warnings to Tehran; Iran’s strategy of not crossing Israel’s red lines while continuing to build its nuclear program; and changes in Israel’s political landscape, which have weakened Mr. Netanyahu and made a unilateral military strike less likely. ‘What Netanyahu wants to be persuaded of is that the chances Obama will take care of the problem, combined with his assessment of the decay of the Iranian economy, justifies Israel standing down this year,’ said Cliff Kupchan, an Iran expert at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm, who just returned from a visit to Israel.”
On the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Morning Joe panel examines the war and its cost on both Iraq and on the U.S. The Washington Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Bob Woodward, Time's Bobby Ghosh, NBC News' Michael Isikoff, the Washington Post's David Ignatius and IAVA's Paul Rieckhoff join the conversation.
*** Violence in Iraq marks 10th anniversary of the war: As we’ve already noted, today is the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war -- in our eyes the most consequential political event of the past 10 years and probably beyond. And the anniversary, Reuters reports, is marked by more violence. “A dozen car bombs and suicide blasts tore into Shi'ite districts in Baghdad and south of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.” Indeed, the Washington Post notes that Iraq today “is neither the failed state that seemed all but inevitable during the darkest days of the war nor the model democracy that the Americans set out to build.” More: “Haunted by the ghosts of its brutal past, Iraq is teetering between progress and chaos, a country threatened by local and regional conflicts that could drag it back into the sustained bloodshed its citizens know so well.”
*** RNC report gets conservative pushback: The post-election report that the Republican National Committee released yesterday is getting GOP/conservative pushback on two different fronts. The first: Potential 2016 candidates who are upset about the report’s recommendations to reduce the number of debates and to de-emphasize the caucus contests. As Politico’s Martin writes, “Each of those steps would benefit a deep-pocketed candidate in the mold of Mitt Romney. That is, someone who doesn’t need the benefit of televised debates to get attention because he or she can afford TV ads… “[P]otential 2016 hopefuls Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum … reacted angrily to recommendations they think are aimed at hurting candidates who do well in caucuses and conventions and need debates to get attention.” The second front of criticism: Republicans who aren’t happy with the report’s endorsement of comprehensive immigration reform. “Senate Judiciary ranking member Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., both said immigration is an important issue to tackle but that efforts should not be rushed because of political calculations,” Roll Call says. “Both also noted that if a policy rewrite passes, Republicans would still need significant outreach to win over Latino voters.”
*** Paul backs comprehensive immigration reform: Speaking of immigration, look who’s the latest Republican to back comprehensive immigration reform: Sen. Rand Paul. So that means that the top-two finishers from last week’s CPAC straw poll back comprehensive immigration reform. “In a speech to be delivered Tuesday morning to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the potential 2016 presidential candidate declares, ‘If you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you,’” the AP reports. “Paul's path to citizenship would come with conditions that could make it long and difficult for illegal immigrants. Chief among these, Congress would have to agree first that progress was being made on border security” -- similar to Marco Rubio’s demand. More AP: “Nonetheless, Paul's endorsement of allowing illegal immigrants an eventual way to become citizens puts him in line with a growing number of Republicans who are embracing action on immigration as a way to broaden the GOP's appeal to Latinos.”
*** How quickly public opinion has changed on gay marriage: When you think about it, Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of gay marriage yesterday shouldn’t have been too surprising. If you’re a Democrat who’s even considering a potential presidential run -- in 2016 or beyond -- you’ve got to jump aboard the gay-marriage train. Yet what remains fascinating is just how quickly public opinion has changed on the issue. Back in 2004, according to our NBC/WSJ poll, just 30% of Americans backed gay marriage. But by the end of 2012, that percentage had increased to 51% -- a jump of more than 20 points. (The partisan breakdown from that last NBC/WSJ poll: 69% of Democrats, 46% of independents, and 27% of Republicans support gay marriage.) And yesterday, a Washington Post/ABC poll found nearly six in 10 (58%) backing gay marriage.
*** Primary day in South Carolina: South Carolina voters go to the polls today in the special congressional primaries to fill the seat vacated by Republican Tim Scott, who’s now serving in the Senate. As we wrote yesterday, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford -- yes, the same Sanford who was supposed to be hiking the Appalachian Trail but was instead with his Argentine mistress -- is expected to finish first on the GOP side, due largely to his name ID. But that’s the easy part for Sanford. If no one gets more than 50% (as is also expected), that triggers a run-off for April 2. And if Sanford today leads the pack with, say, 30% to 35% of the vote, the question becomes: Can he increase that percentage in the run-off? On the Democratic side, the big name is Elizabeth Colbert Busch, who’s the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert. Polls close at 7:00 pm ET, and only about 30,000 voters are expected to participate in the special primary.
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There Is No Debt Crisis:
On ABC's "This Week" Speaker Boehner told Martha Raddatz that there is no debt crisis. Let me repeat that: there is no imminent debt crisis. Paul Ryan went further to say that the push for spending cuts is all about conservative ideology, not about economic collapse. In short, the debt crisis was an excuse to attack America's safety net.
It is now apparent that the Republicans have been creating a myth of a debt crisis in order to cut spending in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare. The evidence of this statement is sixty-six percent of the Ryan budget is focused on removing the above benefits from the middle class and the poor.
What Speaker Boehner and Paul Ryan do not understand is that Americans (Republicans included) want Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare left alone. Don't mess with my benefits, leave them alone is clearly what seniors and near-seniors are saying.
So, if Speaker Boehner was forward looking, he would push through the House a one sentence bill that would end the sequester and undo the hardship that Republicans are imposing on working Americans. I doubt Boehner will do that because he does not see a path forward. In fact, Boehner is lost and doesn't know where to go.
Lewis Carroll said it best in his book, Alice in Wonderland. "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."
In 2012 Ryan and Romney offered their budgets: Their super-objective being to starve (us and) the federal government of revenue.
Now as before, Paul Ryan's new GOP budget would repeal Obamacare (psst - now the Law of the land), end promised coverage for 32 million people, turn Medicare into a limited voucher program & convert Medicaid into a block grant program. Some Republican governors have refused to expand Medicaid coverage in their states. So while giving the Comfortable Co. at least another $200,000 tax break, RyanGOP would cut our safety nets to the last marrow.
GOP/Ryan's intention is to undermine the health care system along with the economy, voter/women's/worker/human and civil rights, food security, clean air and water, the Constitution, eliminate the living wage, accessible quality Education for all, undermine economic growth and job creation. Why not simply call it "the destruction of our future"?
GOP's demolition-only approach to everything is like pruning & trimming trees until finally you cut them all down. They don't believe in planting any new trees, or caring for them as they age.
So while Rep. Ryan (R-WI) gets good/great health care on our tax dollar, he openly denies the rest of us that same right. And human beings DIE when you do that.
FR lefty liberals love to assert MSDNC’s superiority over “lowly” Fox News.
Now an independent study of MSDNC, Fox News and CNN has debunked that lefty liberal wishful thinking.
The non-partisan Pew Research Center has released a study of the late 2012 content of all three networks news coverage. Far and away MSDNC has the least straight news reporting and the most opinion content. At 85% opinion content, MSDNC is 30 points ahead of Fox News. That means in a typical hour with 18 minutes for commercials and 42 minutes for content, an MSDNC viewer gets about 6 minutes of straight news reporting and 36 minutes of opinions.
BTW, “opinion” content is a euphemism for “propaganda”. No wonder the FR lefty liberals love MSDNC.
From Politico:
By MACKENZIE WEINGER |
3/18/13 11:04 AM EDT
MSNBC offers viewers far more commentary and opinion than either Fox News or CNN, according to a new study, but all of the big three cable networks are increasingly focused on partisan talk and debate.
Opinion filled 85 percent of the content on MSNBC, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2013 State of the News Media report. On Fox News, commentary made up 55 percent of its coverage, while CNN was the only of the big three cable news channels to produce more straight reporting than opinion. Even so, story packages and daytime live event coverage on CNN was cut down by about half between 2007 and 2012, the report found.
In its study of the cable networks in late 2012, Pew reported that commentary and opinion was "far more prevalent on the air" than straight news reporting, with 63 percent of the airtime devoted to talk compared to 37 percent dedicated to reporting. CNN's coverage was made up of 54 percent reporting compared to 46 percent opinion, while MSNBC had just 15 percent reporting. Fox News, meanwhile, fell between the two with 55 percent commentary and 45 percent reporting.
Overall, the cable news landscape has undergone a major shift as “daytime programming now resembles primetime, with interviews and opinion replacing coverage of live events and breaking news,” the report stated. Interview segments are up 31 percent from 2007 to 2012, while live event coverage dropped 30 percent.
And more broadly, the report “pinpoints multiple signs of shrinking reporting power” across the media spectrum. There are now fewer than 40,000 employees working in newspaper newsrooms, the lowest since 1978, and estimates for newsroom cutbacks puts employment down 30 percent since its peak in 2000, Pew reported. On local TV news, coverage of government and politics has been cut in half, with sports, weather and traffic now making up 40 percent of the content for viewers. And about one in three people, or 31 percent, said they stopped going to a particular news outlet because they felt it no longer offered them the news they were used to getting.
“This adds up to a news industry that is more undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories, dig deep into emerging ones or to question information put into its hands,” the report said.
According to Pew, that shift was best represented by the 2012 presidential election. Campaign reporters, Pew wrote, “acted more as megaphones, rather than as investigators of the assertions put forward by the campaigns.”
“In the 2012 race, only 27 percent of statements in the media about the character and records of the presidential candidates originated with journalists, while roughly twice that many came from political partisans,” the report stated. “That is a reversal from a dozen years earlier when half came from journalists and a little more than one-third came from the campaigns. At the same time, the campaigns also found more ways than ever to connect directly with citizens.”
With a “continued erosion of reporting resources" amongst news outlets, politicians, government agencies and others now have more opportunities “to take their messages directly to the public,” Pew noted.
And although “horserace coverage was down,” stories focused on issues did not fill that gap in the 2012 cycle, according to Pew.
“In 2012, the amount of coverage devoted to tactics, strategy and polls declined to 38 percent, down from 53 percent in 2008,” the report stated. “But that attention to policy issues — both foreign and domestic — barely budged, inching up from to 22 percent in 2012 compared with 20 percent four years earlier.”
25% of the biggest corporations in America pay ZERO federal income tax.
At the same time corporate profits are at an all-time high, as is the DOW.
Ask why Rep. Ryan & his party repeatedly "balance budgets" on the backs of the non-wealthy, while cutting millions of jobs and obstructing job creation = American livelihoods + Revenues?
Corporate America MUST contribute its fair share going foward.
Upon further review of the RNC autopsy report, I stand corrected.
The official cause of death has been changed from terminal stupidity to "death" by 1,000 self-inflicted cuts...
From watching the @!$%# show of crazy they put on last weekend, the knife is still oh, so, very sharp and they are not afraid to keep on slashing! lol
Today’s WSJ has a page one article about workers saving too little to retire. 57% of workers surveyed by the Employee Benefit Research Institute reported they have less than $25,000 in savings and investments excluding their homes.
Gee, I wonder if these are the same people that own expensive McMansions, have several new or nearly new $50,000, 6-7,000 pound gas-guzzling SUVs, $300 a month cable TV bills, the latest smart phones with unlimited use plans for everone in the household over age 5, maxed out credit cards and home equity loans they spent on great vacations, 60” flat screen TVs in every room in the house, going out to dinner 4-5 nights a week, expensive wine, and the latest designer clothes and handbags, etc.
Oh well, it sucks to be them.
Life is good.
Enjoy.
(or, if you are a lefty liberal, at least try to be less miserable)
Dueling Budgets
The left wing goons have come out in droves to trash the Ryan budget. These folks are shocked, shocked I say that his budget dares to express a conservative approach to governance. Indeed, Ryan has not just given us numbers on a spreadsheet, but he's wrapped those numbers in a vision that explains the philosophical foundation on which those numbers are based – to include advocating for the repeal of Obamacare. Oh the humanity, oh the horror, how can any serious leader do such a thing! In fact, serious leaders do this all the time so let's set the pathetically ill informed lefty morons straight.
Budgets are inherently political documents. They reflect the priorities and governing philosophies of the folks who write them. And before you get to the numbers, the words tend to come across as a campaign platform or speech. That holds true whether we're talking about the Murray budget or the Ryan budget, the Obama or the Bush budget, the Clinton or the Reagan budget. It has ever been thus, and only a simpleton would take shots at the Ryan budget on the grounds that it waxed eloquent on conservative policy preferences.
Consider the Murray budget. In grand budgeting tradition, the Murray budget is an expression of liberal tax and spend philosophy. In that same tradition, it is also a document which defends that philosophy in part by criticizing the approach of their political opponents, namely Ryan's plan. As the WaPo editorialized: "partisan in tone and complacent in substance, [the Murray budget] scores points against the Republicans and reassures the party's liberal base." Glenn Kessler the WaPo fact checker takes this idea a step further by characterizing the Murray budget as being akin to "a glossy marketing document." Gee, you could knock me over with a feather. So I guess the rhetoric in Ryan's plan isn't that unusual after all.
Regarding taxes, there is some dispute among devotees of budgeting arcania on whether Murray wants to raise taxes by $1.5 trillion or a mere $975 billion. But either way, she is clearly in the camp of advocating for significant new revenues by raising taxes. And she is also consistent with the historical content of past congressional budget resolutions by not specifying in detail which taxes would be raised or which loopholes would be closed to collect that new revenue. As uber liberal wonk Ezra Klein put it: "the tax reform section is a lengthy defense of the need for more tax revenues and the idea of closing loopholes, but in the end, it punts on the specifics." OMG, she's doing the same thing as that devil Ryan, how can that possibly be??
Well, because congressional budget resolutions are not detail level documents, nor were they ever intended to be. What budget resolutions do is establish broad tax and spending goals, then it's up to the subject matter committees in Congress to write the detailed legislation required to implement those goals. For example, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee would actually write detailed tax legislation, not Ryan or Murray. As Kessler has described it, "budget resolutions, after all, are basically like a blueprint for a house, with the details filled in later." So another left wing criticism of the Ryan plan turns out to be based on profound ignorance. But hey, what else is new around here?
Then there's the poll tested epithets that Ryan's budget is "extremist" and "radical. Good grief, do any of the idiots who toss out that crap even bother to look at the numbers? Since the end of World War II, on average federal tax revenues have amounted to about 18% of GDP while federal spending has come in at about 20% of GDP. The Ryan budget achieves balance by proposing tax revenues and federal spending at a level of about 19% of GDP. So what Ryan is doing is increasing federal revenues slightly while reducing government spending slightly from the historical average – yet somehow this is portrayed as a "radical." And he is putting government revenues and spending in line with the same levels during a period in which America prospered as the richest nation in world history – yet somehow the Ryan budget is "radical."
The army of slime on the left will stop at nothing to demonize and discredit anyone who dares to challenge their vaunted welfare state.
Take note Speaker Boehner.
Congressional Democrat budget proposals are clearly ON the record:
(1) Senate Democrat budget = 1:1 spending cuts and tax revenue. (2) The Congressional Progressive Caucus has proposed a plan supported by Business Insider : It includes $2 trillion to create jobs, paid for by increasing taxes on corporations and the very rich.
While Ryan/GOP prioritize TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY every time -- Democrats prioritize JOBS as the short-term challenge facing us.
The Autopsy Report: Two Tails in The GOP
The GOp died of a biological abhorrent. It had two tails both were infected. The Rand Paul Tail was beginning to germinate remnants of new a tail; but was overridden with disease and killed by the older, staler, GOP tail.
How Three Top Republicans Are Already Blowing Up The RNC’s Minority Outreach Strategy
Well, that didn’t take long.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/03/18/1735771/how-three-top-republicans-are-already-blowing-up-the-rncs-minority-outreach-strategy/
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The Republican Party’s “Growth and Opportunity Project”document GET IT? ☺, or “GOP” as they call it unintentionally extremely, amusing, misguided, report.
Same old dirty tricks
Couldn't get all the way through the rant, Joe. It's not worth the time and effort. The relative amount of time spent on opinion versus news doesn't matter so much as the apparent notion that neither Fox News nor its viewership can tell the difference. My scan of your rant did not reveal anything about the Fairleigh Dickinson University study that disclosed the ignorance of those who watch only Fox News. Good 'ol Fox - intellectual empty calories! A Twinkie for your thoughts!
Ron,
The United States has a net worth estimated at about 80 Trillion Dollars … almost 5 times our debt
That is like a person holding $200,000 in debt (House, Car, whatever) but their net worth is $1 Million
There is no immediate debt crisis but since our debt is still growing it is time to slow the debt growth and establish a long term plan to reduce the budget deficits and out National debt.
Iran is a danger to middle east security, however I think that we as a nation cannot afford another war. Any aggression should be met with a like response but from the rest of the world not us. We can help with our tech., but not with us being in the lead. We simply cannot afford it. Unless of course the right wing, decides to tax those that can afford it most enough to pay for it up front without hurting the middle and lower classes. Enough austerity is enough, this is also a problem with the republican party. Don't pay enough to exist and need government help to subsidize billionaires so they can accumulate even more wealth while they pay their employees sub standard wages and no benefits. Enough is enough.
Ron, terrific post. The clip of Speaker Boehner answering Raddatz's reinforcing question, "Do you agree with President Obama then?" sums up the GOP: hesitant pause, shocked look, gulp, look down and quietly say, "yes".
No, the Republicans have not been creating a debt crisis as a myth. But no surprise liberals spew whatever nonsense comes from the latest version of talking points. Imminent by definition means about to happen. Does 10 years from now constitute imminent? Obviously not in the minds of liberals, or Obama. Obama's only concern for the debt is being out of office before imminent changes to now. There is no doubt that the US is on a path that is totally unsustainable, and it is not if but when we collapse financially. But liberals who screamed about the spending under Bush now defend it under Obama. Talk about the party of hypocrites. Wth the path laid out by Obama, we shall see what is left of the Democrat Party by the end of his second term. This country is sure to pay a heavy price for the insincerity of the Obama doctrine.
But in other news.....
Bill in Fairfax -- Here's all anyone needs to know about Ryan's budget. The rich get richer.
Auntie,
Me either!
Although, I did read the Pew "findings" yesterday and came to the conclusion, it sounds like Pew is still pissed off at blowing the last two elections... lol
Ron great post, the GOP are very good at hype no matter the topic, that same hype got us into the Iraq war. If there is anything good to come out of the Iraq debacle, it is that it has taught us to question more. Let's hope the Democrat politicians in DC are more aware of being taken in by mere words that paint pictures of doom, and not vote or support what their inner self tells them it is wrong. During that time, if anyone voiced doubt or dissent from the narrative the Bush administration pushed, they were shouted down and dismissed as being unpatriotic.
Those drums are being beaten today about our financial state, couched in the direst of terms to gain leverage through fear, the GOP seek power over all aspects of the situation, their eternal squawking brings about stagnation. This tactic appears to be just to stall efforts, and hope they gain more seats in 2014.
Dennis: You are absolutely correct. Economist Paul Krugman has argued there is no debt crisis and the focus should be on creating more jobs. The Republicans don't seem to realize that the sequester has the effect of taking away jobs.
Rick: It is your guy Boehner who agrees with our President that there is no imminent debt crisis. It is a myth generated by the flat earth society.
Here's something to chew on Bill in Fairfax. If Republicans want to cut SPENDING they should look at the entitlements the RICH receive through the TAX CODE.
But I thought Hillary did a good job? All the speeches in the world are not going to help him jive his way out of this one. Isreal will attack Iran. What do we do? Well liberals, what does Obama do?
What you failed to mention about the Pew report Joe. Fox = 55% commentary 45% lies. Joe in Albany 100% lies.
Report: Lies dominate Fox
Keep touting Fox Joe, their the main reason you tea people lost in November and will keep losing as long as you rely on them for your news.
AH OH, Spaghettios, looks like Reince just committed suicide by GOP zombies when he released his autopsy report on the GOP/TP cause of death. Looks like Reince is about to be devoured much like Rove devoured Sarah (or is it vice versa - it's always hard to tell in the B-movie Zombie genre films that are the GOP). Never fear GOP - for while you may be consumed and left without a heart and soul, their is always room for you to rise from the dead. Why just look at DesJarlais - that anti-abortion conservative doctor that sexed up his patients, got them preggies, and pushed for abortions to hide the ugly truth. Or what about those abortions his wife had - all two of them. Seems he is now the darling of the party worth resurrecting from the dead. Of course, the man should be in prison, but no, he is now an exemplary GOPer - just like his BFF Vitter.
Corrupt, devoured, regurgitated and raised from the dead. Who needs an autopsy report when you can simply repackage the candidates as flesh eating monsters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/scott-desjarlais-scandal-election_n_2259441.html
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/why-are-republicans-raising-money-for-a-scandal-plagued-congressman-20130318
"Everyone else does it, so it must be okay"
That appears to be Bill in Fairfax's argument for Ryan budget's total lack of details and avoidance of reality.
That's the problem - the Ryan budget is ALL vision and philosophy, there is no spreadsheet and there are no numbers.
Obviously a budget proposal is a broad outline that establishes a framework of policies and proposals that will lead to a desired result, in Ryan's case a balanced budget in ten years. The crippling deficiency of the Ryan budget is that the very foundation or "blueprint" he proposes is a fantasy assumption that Obamacare will be repealed.
That is akin to an architect preparing a blueprint for a house that didn't include any type of foundation and no support for the roof. Trying to build such a house would be in exercise in folly, which is exactly what the Ryan budget represents.
The other "foundations" of the Ryan budget ignore both math and logic. The detailed, specific tax rate decrease would reduce revenue by at least $4 trillion over 10 years, and there is no mathematical way that can be offset by eliminating loopholes or limiting deductions without severely impacting the middle class.
The Medicare voucher system purports to reduce costs, but merely adds an unneccessary layer of profit to the equation and transfers the increased costs and uncertainties to our future seniors.
The Ryan budget is not a "blueprint", a serious budget proposal, an attempt at compromise, or even the start of a negotiation.
It is a bizzare cross between a political manifesto and a "letter to Santa" that ignores both political reality and arithmetic and attempts to magically undo all the legislative accomplishments of the Obama administration and invalidate the results of the last election.
Same thing we always do when Israel bites off more than it can chew...we will be the good "Big Brother" and stop the bullies from picking on our "Little Brother".
If the Republicans keep pushing slashing and cutting Senior Benefits, Medicare and Medicaid and Obamacare their going to create a firestorm that will devour their Party. We Seniors may be to old to cut the mustard anymore (or as often as we'd like), BUT we're certainly not to old to VOTE. AND WE WILL. Social Security is not an entitlement, it's a right. I've been paying into since I was 16 years old. That's my money I'm receiving ever month, it's part of MY savings, it has nothing to do with YOU. Just keep messing with us GRAYHAIRS and you find yourself with a Congress of only Democrats and Independents. NO LONGER ANY REPUBLICANS.
kEEP IT UP. IT'S YOUR CHOICE.
Well said Tom, well said.
Alan, NJ
Alan, NJ,
Isn't it strange your GOPolitico article mentions nothing about the republican appointed to topple the Obama admnstation in the New Panther case?
Thernstrom: "This doesn't have to do with the Black Panthers; this has to do with their fantasies about how they could use this issue to topple the [Obama] administration."
In a July 16 Politico article, Abigail Thernstrom, a Republican who serves as vice chair of the Civil Rights Commission and is an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, criticized the Republican-dominated Civil Rights Commission's investigation of the Justice Department's actions in the New Black Panthers case. Politico quoted Thernstrom as saying: "This doesn't have to do with the Black Panthers; this has to do with their fantasies about how they could use this issue to topple the [Obama] administration. ... My fellow conservatives on the commission had this wild notion they could bring [attorney general] Eric Holder down and really damage the president." From the Politico article:
http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/17/bipartisan-agreement-fox-hyped-new-black-panthe/167847
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Nothing new here:
True lies, smears, and jeers
definitively from the bigoted, GOP hate merchants.
"Obstruct and Den" the Obama adminstration that is the GOP/ TEA SUCKER mantra
Hi Ron,
I have to agree with Speaker Boehner and President Obama in that there is no no imminent debt crisis.
geo, the answer to what will Obama do is, support Israel, we really have no choice. But we cannot afford war. Its that simple. China will take us without firing a missile. They will just buy up our debt and take over. How many years did it take you to get as dumb as you are?
edit: 1.27 should read..."Obstruct and Deny" the Obama administration that is the GOP/ TEA SUCKER mantra
Ron Indiana
Thanks for the story, Ron.
How many American families, Republican, Democrat, and Independents have suffered over the last five years (because of the Bush Recession and the Boehner House) all because these jerks refuse to comprimise with a Democrat President.
All for lies. All for power.
We now interrupt this program to bring you the following message:
“If Jesus came back and saw what's going on in his name, he'd never stop throwing up.”
Frederick – Max von Sydow, Hanna and Her Sisters (1986)
Salud
Pure nonsense from Fairfax Bill, who writes:
Ryan's budget, an "inherently political document" according to Bill, shows us Ryan's philosphical foundation, a "conservative approach". It borders on impossible to be any more obtuse, any more dishonest, or any more ignorant to see Ryan's budget as anything but a document of pure nihilism. It is not remotely conservative.
What it seeks to do is destroy Social Security and hand it over to "capitalist" profiteers. SS has been part of the American tapestry since 1933. Ryan seeks to put Medicare in the hands of "capitalist" profiteers who have clearly demonstrated they cannot deliver a competitive service without denying care to those who need it the most. Medicare has been a part of the American tapestry since 1965.
Ryan and his right-wing nihilist friends have tried more than 30 times to repeal Obamacare. They have failed each and every time.
The fact is there is something about a government that protects its elderly, that provides medical care for ALL who need it that just pisses Ryan and his fellow shills off. Let 'em die, let 'em get sick, let 'em starve. If the rich can't get richer, then there's something wrong as far as these nihilistic, lying scum are concerned. Their view has nothing to do with conservatism. It has everything to do with trying to satisfy their appetite for MORE. MORE OF EVERYTHING. That vision means the destruction of this country.
It is time to stop pretending that Fairfax Bill EVER brings something of value here. He does not bring a philosophical view. He brings pure ideology and dogma. He brings BS.
Wow...I like how a number of posters are now claiming that loopholes benefit the wealthy. Weren't these the same posters who claimed that there was no way to wring 500B a year out of the tax code just a few months ago? We now find out the two deductions, mortgage interest and health insurance, add up to 400B.
@DCIA Sounds like you would support the Romney plan if it didn't reduce the marginal rates. BTW, if the rich are benefiting from all these deductions and you remove them, then reduce the rates how do all the benefits flow to the rich if they are receiving them in the first place? I think the non-partisan Tax Policy Center is not so neutral. I believe it is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. The head of the Urban Institute is Sarah Rosen Wartel.
She sounds very unbiased.
On Brookings
elsewhere are reports that obama has declined the opportunity to address the israeli parliament and rather will hold a campaign rally at an auditorium.
this guy is consistent if nothing else
Well, I see Fairfax has his undies in a bunch this morning, way to go Bill, left wing "goons" right out of the gate. Perhaps someday, "oh, no, Mr. Bill", will explain why the richest, most powerful country in the world should not establish pensions and health care systems into which workers pay to ensure that its elderly, who have worked hard for 45-50 years, live out their golden years in dignity rather than in poverty. Perhaps someday, "oh, no, Mr. Bill", will explain why the richest, most powerful country in the world should feel NO responsibility to ensure that the disabled, the poor, the veterans, the children are not left to suffer and die in solitude.
The GOP lacks compassion and lacks understanding these days. Their vision of the United States is not a country worth celebrating as "exceptional" but instead is a country consumed by selfishness and greed; a party fooled into believing that all those who do not think as they do, are moochers, lazy, no goods and unworthy of living--there but for the grace of God go I, never occurs to them.
M0-681343
M0,
In Joe, the Albanian idiot's little head more is less.
Boy California Tom, you nailed it, I am a senior and I vote. I also have paid into S.S. and as a matter of fact I remember hitting the ceiling. I was paid off in Aug. in a factory job. The first time I heard that S.S. was on borrowed time was in 1965, guess what, I am 67 now and drawing it every month and so will the grand kids if they don't allow the likes of Paul Ryan to kill it for them. Do NOT believe he is out to "save" it.
Just as Reince Priebus was reading the manifesto as to how not to appeal to voters especially minority voters, the 'powers' that be, started to foam at the mouth when President Obama announced his nomination of Thomas Perez for Labor Secretary.
Oh yes, this will be easy to do Chairman Priebus, just take $10m and try to sweet talk people into voting for your brand as your party members yell and scream about minorities, moochers and the like. Yep, that will surely work for you.
They truly do not get what average Americans are all about.
@Bev
Yep, quoting from an internal report from the IG of the Justice Department makes Politico a tool of the GOP. You really are laughable. BTW, what's an admnstation? Some kind of rail road?
"Obama's unfulfilled goal"
Being a leader............
BTW I'd just like to say that today marks the 10 year Anniversary of our biggest mistake in recent history. Thanks to MJ for pointing out how many politicians of both sides were responsible for this mistake but ultimately the responsibility lies with the President of the time George W Bush.
A particular place of shame should be reserved for Paul Wolfowitz. He should be forced to tour the country and apologize at every location he made a speech supporting the invasion of Iraq.
Johntho - Thre Liberal genius on this board say we don't have a debt problem, so what difference does it make if China stops buying our debt? You pathethic libbies ought to get on the same page. I wrote slowly to help you read better.
billybob-6210632
billybob;
Link Please!!!
Speaking of constituency Tea Suckers are constituent at making sh!t up.
The President’s hopes for this trip are about getting leaders not to do things, rather than prompting action. In Jerusalem, he needs Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to bomb Iran before diplomatic talks have run their course. He also wants Netanyahu to stop, or at least slow, the building of new settlements in Palestinian areas so as to give the peace process a chance. And Obama would like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas not to report Israel to the Internal Criminal Courts for human rights violations. “
Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/19/obama-in-israel-running-to-stay-put/#ixzz2O0EAubj7
David Walker
Wall Street has been "licking their chops" over the prospects on getting their grubby hands on Grandma's and Grandpa's Social Security checks for seventy years.
Good to see you today.
Salud
I assume this is the people we are talking about and not the Federal Government?
So to use your logic we are fine. We can just use the Cyprus solution and confiscate 10% of everyone's wealth and that will clear the debt. Of course that is too regressive so we should just take 100% from the 1% first and go from there, right?
But are too dumb to answer a simple question, right geo? You even have trouble with reading comprehension. One thing you will never be accused of is being a genius, we don't have a debt problem, we have a revenue problem caused by years and years of you right wonders cutting the taxes of those that can afford it most. My opinion is pay up or get out, we can get along just fine without you and your money if you don't want to contribute thats ok, but don't make any of your money here in America. Go someplace else and screw them.
Alan, N.J. The answer is yes, if that is what it takes, those with the most have been robbing our country for years. Lets take some back.
RedDevPS
Bazinga!!!
Salud
What about China and our debt? Do they own the majority? Are we reliant upon ONLY China to buy the debt? Is there some sort of point this statement is intended to make? What IS the price of tea in China?
The last talking point from the right-wing nut jobs is we owe China more than we owe the entire whole-wide world, and therefore, should be very, very afraid. Well folks, it's all crappy, smoke and mirrors.
Ouch, that stings..however 'but but but, there are more knuckle draggers at Fox'. Thats Ok Joe. First Read has Bev the Racist, Fisty Rottencrotch, Boy Blunder, David Poseur, Jackoff in hismouth and Jethro. The Fab Five of First Read. and lets not forget the Token Foreingner, Klondike Pederast.
I had good time yesterday with the elite libs. Lets see when discussing the right to bear arms vs the none explicit right to vote, the conversation quickly turned sour..apparently my argument is silly, im an altar boy, im a fag, my supersticious diety sucks, they're me pimping out etc. What fine retorts and display of Liberalism.
It would appear the Fine Feathered elite libs are back at it today with their stellar analysis and experience from their iPads. Look at Bev, Gingerbred and Jethro. Whew...
Maybe Jody can explain why she Hearts Animal Farm style of Governing...you realize Jody that is called communism. To each according to their need..and you need a lot
Really? You don't want them to hang around?
geo-1957883
Liberal Genius = Win
Ignorant Troll = Loser
Salud
So, if SS is so solvent why do we need to borrow money from China to "send out the checks"?
I guess you have no worries that your retirement is based on the ability of the US to borrow?
Oxymoron, unlike Thomas who is a normal moron
Lechuga
BTW i said Fab five of FR above, I meant sensational six not including the Hoser in the North...I was doing some Liberal Math. nonetheless it changes not that how many esteemed far lefties post, they say the same thing and once they lose the argument record time, the liquid courage kicks in.
And Seven brothers were killed in Hawthorne Nv this morning. less than an hour from me. SEMPER FI
Red BS & Johntho - Red BS, was answering one of Johnboy's stupid ?'s. Glad you point out how dumb it was. Thanks! We support, but can not afford a war? Nice answer dipsh1t. What happens when it becomes a war? And it will!
geo,
China only holds 12% of our debt
Our Labor Unions hold more of our debt than China
Alan -
Did you happen to see "The World According to Dick Cheney", a new documentary on Showtime? It consists of Cheney, in his own words, detailing and defending his thoughts and actions on the 9/11, Iraq War, "waterboarding", and domestic wiretaps.
The documentary gives almost equal time to Cheney and his detractors, and although it does not portray him in a favorable light it is a relatively balanced approach.
What scared me the most was not only Cheney's unflinching, unyielding belief that what he did was right - that the ends justified the means - but also that he was too powerful and important to have to answer to anyone.
If the constitution didn't give him the power, he would find a way around it. If the Geneva convention didn't support it, he would claim it didn't cover these "enemy combatants". If some dire rumour or scrap of intelligence had a "1%" chance of being accurate, he would present it to Congressional leaders as unequivocal fact.
When asked about civil liberties, Cheney replied:
The most frightening thing is that Cheney still believes that he had the power and the righteous authority to make that decision without consultation with or confirmation from the other branches of government.
This is very telling. Left borrowing money from unions who in turn give it to left PACs.
If unions were my bread and butter you better believe I would fight like hell for them as well. But that would just be my greed talking. For the betterment of the employed? They have outstayed their welcome, we have laws that do that for them now.
TNSEVOL - In the immortal words of D. Cheney, "Go @!$%# yourself." I hope they quoted him.
Good think he doesn't have the power to wield Executive Orders.
@TNSEVOL
Haven't seen it yet but it looks fascinating. What is particularly compelling is that I did catch interviews with the film maker and was very impresses with the way he left politics at the door. It seems he has created a historical documentary that leaves it up to the viewer. Very impressive for such a polarizing subject.
The 1% doctrine is particularly disturbing. There was a book that came out around 2007 that described this and for the US foreign policy to be based on this was scary.
I don't think he did anything less than Truman in his "end justifies the means approach", but his argument that Iraq/Al-Quada was an existential threat similar to the Axis in World War 2 is just ridiculous.
One could only hope that disgustus would shut his trap for a day and give his brain a rest. It needs it. This leads me to believe there is nothing dumber then a wanna bee Roman. King of the trailer park, but it is probably a small park.
Thomas, consider the source, It is so much fun to push their buttons and watch them explode from ignorance, just look at disgustus here. Talks so much and says so little that he has to be exhausted at the end of the day and has accomplished nothing.
Listen up geo, we will do the right thing. Will you. Will you offer to help pay for a war with Iran.
Alan, NJ
You are really laughable in how selective you are in your quoting. Or perhaps it's just that your gullible enough to fall for the right wing spin that Politico always gives a story and didn't get to Page 3, where Politico sometimes likes to bury the part of the story that doesn't suit their political biases:
The REST of the story:
The Politico article mentions that the internal investigation report criticized liberals in the DOJ who said nasty things about the Civil Rights Division leadership during the Bush administration, but it left out a few interesting details that would not have helped with Politico's anti-Obama spin. During a time that liberals were saying these terrible things, the Civil Rights Division was under the direction of an attorney named Hans von Spakovsky, who is infamous for his efforts to suppress minority voting writes and his futile fishing expeditions for evidence of voter fraud:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_von_Spakovsky
I wonder what internal investigators were doing when this clown Spakovsy was there?
Dennis - Again, answering an ignorant Johnboy ?, but thats kind of redundant is it not?
Morgs, labor unions have always owned a lot of this nations debt. Even in times of trouble like the previous administration. REPUBLICAN administration.
geo, But you didn't anwer, probably because you cannot read.
Johnboy - As a small business owner, something I am positive you could not do, I pay my fair share! Now go take your meds and get a good nap in, I think Matlock is about to come on the ME channel.
Great post Ron.
Jody . . .
Could NOT agree more, excellent post!
Good morning all you crazy lefty liberals!
bev -- look here for one place -- though it appears msnbc does not consider this news many other organization do: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3767
@ Alan
With that said about being the President at the time, you would surely agree that what has happened in the last 5 years is where the true responsibility lies, just like you said. Interesting admission
geo, Jethro is beyond ignorant. at this point Stupid has fully consumed her. apparently she thinks if she types her tripe without proof or evidence it makes it true...kinda like 'well regulated militia' without understanding what that really means... oh well, like Pew Research said, MSDNC/FR is a propaganda outlet.
Carry on Comrade Commissar Jethro..
P.S. Jethro, if youre paying for any wars with EBT, it aint your money...sux to be you!
The entirety of Obama's time in the White House is "unfulfilled." He hasn't done a damned thing to make life in this country any better or any easier for anyone.
Aside from being the occupant of "1600" when our military got Osama Bin Laden, which was pure luck of the draw, nothing of any positive consequence has happened since he took office.
"Unfulfilled" is how his presidency will be remembered.
Only fools believe we do not have a debt crisis .... of course, some FOOLS will slip in that sneaky little word "IMMINENT" to try and justify an asinine belief !
Our country is $16.5 trillion in debt and still rising ! Under Obama, the U.S. has gone from $10.8 trillion in debt to over $16.5 ... and libbies, who can't balance a checkbook let alone a budget, try desperately to twist reality !!
WE HAVE A MAJOR DEBT CRISIS ! Playing silly-ass word games does not change that reality. Do liberals want to face bankruptcy head-on before they recognize the crisis is "IMMINENT" ? Are they really that STUPID ?
jim,
The USA cannot go bankrupt – fact !!
Sovereign nations cannot go bankrupt
jim-1455434
John Boehner, who had an unforgiveable lapse into honesty on a Sunday talk show, said that there is no immediate deficit problem. There is a long-term deficit problem. There IS a real crisis: the unemployment crisis. The GOP and the media don't care about the real crisis. They've all got jobs, so what do they care? The GOP political hacks keep their jobs by appeasing the tea bag people so they don't get "primaried" and the media keep their jobs by appeasing the GOP.
@Houston!
So, Politico gives a right wing spin to stories up to page 3 where they bury the left wing spin? Or, they write a balanced story where they can't fit all the bits you agree with on page 1?
@ZU
That the President is responsible? I hold GWB as responsible for the Iraq invasion as I do Obama for the Afghanistan escalation. I'd give Obama to 2010 a pass on the economy but after that it was his responsibility. I think GWB expanded executive power more than I am comfortable with, Obama has went further, and his successor will only build on these precedents. Rand Paul's filibuster was important not because of drone policy in isolation but in demonstrating how expansive executive power has become where (see Dick Cheney above), we are in a constant war on a battlefield that is defined as everywhere so that the powers of the Commander in Chief are absolute.
Johntho, who gives a @!$%#. Do you think the fact that someone else did it makes it right? Get it through your head, just because someone did it first doesn't make it right. It makes you an idiot because you didn't learn a damn thing from history. Do you think I enjoy watching Obama make the same exact mistakes someone else did? Although I love watching this train wreck of an administration in action but not at the cost of Americans.
As a senior you have been through much more history than most, time you do something with the lessons you have learned instead of just using it to justify inept actions by an inept president.
So true. Here is something else that is true, American's can go bankrupt - Fact!!
When your $50k a year buys you 5 loaves remember Dennis says "The USA cannot go bankrupt - Fact!!"
Alan, NJ
They buried the "balance" part far enough down that YOU missed it. And they obviously made a big deal about Perez, who doesn't seem to have even been a central figure in the report , because he is an Obama nominee. If he weren't an Obama nominee, Politico probably wouldn't have even run the story because their real target is Obama, not Perez. Politico is getting a bad reputation for this kind of stuff, like their breathless reporting on the "threats" Woodward claimed he was getting from the Obama administration, which Politico was late forced to repudiate without exactly admitting that their first version was bunk.
Citing a poll in which 69 percent of Americans oppose raising the debt limit, CBS news reporter Chip Reid asked Obama if the problem was that he and others had “failed to convince” the American people that “we have a crisis here.”
The President responded:
“Let me distinguish between professional politicians and the public at large. You know, the public is not paying close attention to the ins and outs of how a Treasury auction goes. They shouldn’t. They’re worrying about their family, they’re worrying about their jobs. They’re worrying about their neighborhood. They have got a lot of other things on their plate. We’re paid to worry about it.”
I clearly remember the education in school as "WE THE PEOPLE" - not "WE THE GOVERNMENT".
Amazing. While they are running for office, we are "SMART" - and just look how "DUMB" we are after the election.
Alan -
I certainly agree that GW Bush (with support and justification from Dick Cheney) expanded executive power beyond it's constitutional borders. I disagree that President Obama has expanded them further - he has receded from some (waterboarding, warrentless arrests) and argued against others (Guantanamo, military tribunals).
I do agree that the current level of executive authority is still more than I am comfortable with, although I see the drone program as a high-tech evolution of presidential authorization of strikes against enemy targets.
Prior presidents used indiscrimate cruise missile attacks, which have been replaced by more frequent but less disruptive drone strikes. I am in favor of further discussion on the use of drones and the establishment of clear authority and oversight.
Dennis, I've seen you use this argument many times recently. The problem is that our government is worthless (both literally and figuratively). The net worth you speak of is the sum of the net worth of the people of the U.S. of which my net worth is included. I don't particularly care to have the government playing games with my net worth. Next thing you know, they may think they are entitled to take some of my savings to cover their idiotic spending. It's happening elsewhere, can you say with any degree of certainty that it can't happen here?
Morgs -
What a well-thought-out and reasoned response to my post! Kudos to you!
In fact, over half of the documentary is an interview with Dick Cheney where he outlines in his own words the reasoning and rationalization behind his actions.
The fact was that since Dick Cheney had the trust and backing of GW Bush, he could basically issue executive orders by fiat.
Watch the documentary and come to your own conclusions, but in my opinion Dick Cheney @!$%#'d all of America with his reckless disregard for the truth and his uncompromising belief in his own omnipetence.
THats why we need the rich to pay their 'fair' share and more government programs to help/protect us
@ joe the Albanian idiot
Idiot,
Have you ever pondered about those sub-prime mortgages, pensions tuned into 401(k)s which took hits on the on the stock markets while despite losses CEOs got big bonuses, or the average wage is 10 dollars now which barely feeds a family of four;
Get real and stop sounding like a Red-neck's headache.
Furthermore, don't you realize the WSJ is a Right Wing World Rupert Murdoch Rag which means it, like FOX
NEWSLIES is subject to more lies and skewed information?KCBones,
I have posted this statement exactly one other time, not many times.
The government can seize all of your property, savings and other assets if a National disaster is declared.
History tells us that like it or not that is what can happen when countries are in extreme financial distress.
is your opinion on that statement that it is good? curious Dennis
You forget his precedent of ignoring the War Powers Act and the Congress over Libya. Using this argument a future President can launch a remote, or even nuclear, attack on Iran by arguing that no American Servicemen are in harms way or have boots on the ground. As you so rightly point out the evolution of technology has allowed the Executive to skirt Congress and expand it's powers.
Senator Obama also indicated he was open the erosion of 4th Amendment protections when he reversed his decision on unwarranted wire tapping before he was elected President.
Brilliant Bill Fairfax says: " . . . the Murray budget is an expression of liberal tax and spend philosophy."
Hey, Brilliant, even if what you say is true, it is far less insidious than the Republican "borrow and spend" model.
Or, the Bush model: jazz up the public to support a couple of wars; but don't bother to put the cost on the books.
Yeah, real sweet.
David,
Why is it that the Republicans are so successful with their "throw granny under the bus" and "death panels" rhetoric (i.e., lies), yet the Democrats cannot come up with similar lines when the accusation about Ryan's plan does exactly those things?
Morgs - "If unions were my bread and butter you better believe I would fight like hell for them as well. But that would just be my greed talking. For the betterment of the employed? They have outstayed their welcome, we have laws that do that for them now."
How are those right to work for less and less and less laws working out for people in Texas for example where the median income is $11.20 an hour. I made more than that in 1982 as a union grocery store clerk with benefits on top of that hourly pay scale. Do they have thirty year old prices in Texas to go along with those thirty year wages. You think those people are socking money away in 401k's for their retirement, do you think those are the people that use the ER as a clinic or depend on medicaid because they have no health insurance. 9 of the top 10 welfare states are solidly republican voting states, and most of them are Right to work for less and less and less states, where do you think a lot of the 47% of people that don't earn enough to pay federal taxes come from, they are not people working under decent union contracts, now are they.
My union dues over the years were the best investment I ever made, bar none. I made decent wages and was able to raise a family on my single income. I have a hell of a nice retirement portfolio due to a defined contribution plan as opposed to a defined benefit plan that for years now companies have been allowed to bail out on, and my family has always had first class health insurance, and I have always paid twice the percentage of income tax that people like Mitt Romney pay. You think the average worker can on his own negotiate with large companies without the help of professionals to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement for them. The company has a bevy of professionals advising them now don't they. The market is booming companies are flush with cash where is the trickle down, why are they not voluntarily handing out raises and increasing benefits. How is someone making $11.20 an hour going to free themselves from being dependent on the government to feed, clothe, and educate their children, much less have any kind of quality of life in their old age after SS and medicare are gutted?
Here is another strange fact, here late in my working career I have taken a management position, I am now paid more than I have ever been to do less that I ever had to do, but the union bashers are fine with that because I no longer work under a collective bargaining agreement (that is the strange part). Truth is I am grateful for working under collective bargaining agreements for many, many years, and eventually helping to negotiate those agreements, because I knew what I needed, what I wanted and was not afraid to ask for it when I "cut my deal" with this new employer, and having said that I guarantee you they still did not agree to pay me more than they could afford to, no employer ever has.
I would strongly suggest that workers stop waiting for a fair slice of the profit pie they produce with their labor to trickle down to them, organize, and negotiate for it now, your families are depending on you. BTW UNIONS ROCK!
And the difference between extreme financial distress and bankruptcy is......
Forrest Grump 2.0 - First off " I made more than that in 1982 as a union grocery store clerk with benefits on top of that hourly pay scale." is too much for a grocery store clerk. This is an entry level job that should be paid entry level salaries.
Get a better education and improve yourself. If you can't improve yourself on your own merit you don't deserve anything better. I worked for $10 an hour loading and unloading semi-trailers when I went to college and hated every bit of it. Sure it would have been nice to have a gang of lawyers to try and get better pay but I knew I didn't deserve it and I guess that is the difference between you and I.
Gratz on your management position.
Weird how the free market works isn't it? Now you can have a little pride knowing you earned your position and didn't have to placed by your union. Self-worth alone must be staggering.
Aboso-freaking-lutely. This is how grown men work. Laws hold your hands now.
Sen. Vitter threatens to block Obama nominee for Labor sec
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/18/obama-to-nominate-justice-official-to-top-labor-post/#ixzz2O0b0YwPE
-----------------------------------------------------
So much for the CLOWN'S POLITICAL ACTION (CPAC) rebanding
Defend the Black Panther's actions and you can expect this. I also expect a new nominee to be announced soon as this block will be an easy one.
billybob-6210632
billybob, Lookie here...
While in the Prime Minister's office, Ehud Olmert criticized Adelson's leaning towards Benjamin Netanyahu.[6][7] Ben-Dror Yemini has described the paper as "a danger to democracy".[8][
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_HaYom
You are right. Israel Hayom is not news. It's war mongering Islmophobic propaganda. Do you see at one time the paper was owned by Sheldon Adelson?
Sheldon Adelson the Macao embezzler ! Please take head out
Jack in Portsmouth asks:
An excellent question, Jack. The easy answer is: Republicans are stupid and hate dark people and Democrats because their masters tell them to do so.
The more nuanced answer explains the easy answer in detail for Democrats, but confuses Republicans because it is based on facts. The right-wing is dependent on labels, which are supplied by Talking Point Central and fed to the likes of icons like Big Gulp Palin, Can't Do Arithmetic Ryan, I Hate Working People Romney, and I'm Beyond Insane Cheney.
Like class warfare, death panels have been around for many years, but were never labeled as "Death Panels". Right wingers simply felt it was their duty do die for the bottom line of insurance companies. That's capitalism. Having affordable health care/insurance because of a government program is socialism. Socialism is evil in the same way that basing arguments on labels that have no substance is a good thing.
The "Throw Gramma Under The Bus" mantra fails on two counts. First some right-wingers are Grampa's and they think they are excluded. (Come on man, these are right-wingers. Gramma croaks, right-wing Grampa gets more.) While they're still kicking though, they profess their love for non-government programs like Social Security, which really is a government program. (Come on man, these are right-wingers and facts are irrelevant.) This is compounded by those same Gramma's and Grampa's who secretly say, "Who gives a rotund rodent's rectum about our kids and grandkids, this is about me, me, me."
Tune in tomorrow when we explain how increasing defense spending does not bust the budget and is a good thing, and feeding hungry children is a bad thing.
P.S. if you are still confused, see the incredibly ignorant post of Morgs74 who cannot understand that a person with MS, Muscular Dystrophy, Downs Syndrome, or some other profound disability might have just the teensiest-weensiest bit of trouble improving their lot in life and their attractiveness as employees.
WoW..so in other words Morgs hands you your ass and this is the best you can do...typical Leftwing Loon. Thanks for proving it...
Are you saying we don't have any programs for these people David? Google may be a new tool for you but all I did was type in "government benefits for the disabled". You should see all of the good information out there to needy people. Do they need special union representation?
But back to the point, these people have nothing to do with Dennis' business acumen or inability to negotiate better benefits for himself.
I don't know what Alternative Universe you believe in, but simply saying something (i.e., that David had his ass handed to him) doesn't make it true. Oh, wait. I forgot. That's what RWNJs do.
Morg says: "But back to the point, these people have nothing to do with Dennis' business acumen or inability to negotiate better benefits for himself." Obviously he has never heard of the "strength in numbers" concept. Pssst! Morg! It's especially useful when the relationship isn't equal.
Preach on brother. I have heard how raising the debt ceiling would be down right unamerican. I have heard how same sex marriages shouldn't take place. I have heard how having a deficit this big would lead to a one term president. Not a single thing has come to fruition they way it was explained to the masses by a young wanna be president. And now that he is president nothing he says makes it true.
You people are like low hanging fruit....
Psst, in case you haven't heard we have a bill of rights that protect minorities. If someone is being treated unfairly you bring up bills to fix it. You don't bully you way to prosperity...this is one of your mantra's for friggin' sake. Besides keeping the inept employed tell me where a union is better than work protection laws.
David Walker - Whose policies get more dark people murdered? Bet you are to stupid to give an accurate answer!
You are comparing the net worth of the entire country, including individuals and business, to the debt of the Federal Government. Unless everyone in the country is willing to donate 20% of any savings that they may have to resolve the national debt, your point is meaningless.
Bill,
What is the difference between your “20%” and the dollars that every household or individual owes as part of their share of the National Debt?
Were you asleep during the Presidential Elections? Do you remember the ad showing an actor that looks like Paul Ryan wheeling an elderly lady to the edge of a cliff and throwing her over the edge? How many times do we have to hear the absurd rhetoric from Democrats that Republicans want to throw the elderly and poor out of their homes, eliminate their health care, dirty the air and water, etc., etc., etc.? There must be at least 10 times the number of Democratic lies about Republicans than the other way around.
Basic math, Dennis. You said that there is 5 times the net worth to every dollar of debt, e.g. $80 Trillion net worth vs $16 Trillion of debt. $16T divided by $80T is equal to .2 or 20%.
Morgs74
All blocks are easy ones because Harry Reid fell for Mitch McConnell's false assurances that the Republicans would promise to stop abusing the filibuster, which is what David (The Diaper Man) Vitter is doing.
Right. Now, let's see . . . which recent president was it who changed EPA laws to allow an increase in the arsenic levels in water. . . ?
And why can't you tell the difference between lies (Republican assertions of "death panels" and "throwing Granny out onto the street") and truths (Paul Ryan wheeling an elderly woman to the edge of a cliff and throwing her over)?
Yep, Mr. Obama has a "laser beam" on Middle East peace like he had a "laser beam" on jobs in early 2009.
Yeah, right.
I wonder what Mr. Obama has up his sleeve for another Nobel Peace Prize nomination ? Oh yeah....NOTHING.
If Republican's hate "dark people," then maybe you can explain why it was Republican votes that passed the Civil Rights Act 80% of House Republicans voted in favor of the act vs 63% of Democrats. 82% of House Republicans voted in favor of the act vs 69% of Democrats. If you look at the voting record of House Democrats, which is vote against anything proposed by a Republican, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would have been defeated in the House 153 - 262 and in the Senate 46 - 54. Those are facts that you cannot dispute.
Bvllshlt..Davey boy and you Jackoff and Ruken make the same claim almost daily just by typing...then why can't i make the claim? Because you say so? Take your circular logic back to your circle jerk fest.
You see Jackoff, Davey Poseur's rebuttal was hardly that of sound mind..it was more libtard childish retort.. His response was classic and i mentioned it in my very first post of the day...thanks for proving me right.
So cheer up Jackoff ;o)
Funny how even an ardent liberal like Bill Maher is saying enough is enough. Apparently now even Maher is tired of hearing that the wealthy need to pay their fair share as he says California is on the verge of losing him. Especially when all Democrats are talking about in Washington is the need for more tax increases. Liberals have over played the tax the wealthy mantra, over played sequester, and are now over playing that the debt is sustainable for at least the next 10 years. With Pelosi claiming we don't have a spending problem, to the Senate budget that double counts much like the math used with ObamaCare the Democrats are a party on the edge of chaos. Democrats now point in every direction, which is the same as having no point at all. Reality is finally catching up with the party of political pandering. Unqualified to do the job is why the Obama presidency is unfulfilled. Surviving Obama not at all a given for the nation.
The DDI crowd was busy during their Friday email-in session, talking about what to post for the next week insults.
Bill,
You explained that you understand third grade math but you still didn't explain what the difference is between how much citizens owe as part of the National Debt and 1/5 (20%) of their collective net worth.
Morgs, the wages I made in 1982 were the staring salary for a full time employee in that grocery store thirty years ago. When did you make 10 bucks an hour loading trucks was that a few years ago because $11.20 an hour is not much money in 2013. My union does not place people, they have an available to work list and the employer is not forced to hire the next person on that list but must provide a valid reason why they will not if the person has never worked for them before or a valid reason why they will not rehire them if they did. I have never had a problem with knowing my self worth, I knew I was worth every penny of my $54.00 an hour wage and fringe package when I worked under my union contract and was often paid above scale (which my union allows) because I and my crews made a lot of money for the employers I worked for, and keep this in mind those employers have to be the low bidder to get the job and then bring it in under bid to make a profit. If the law holds their hands and it is so easy for people to negotiate on their own then tell me why half the people in places like Texas are picking $hit with the chickens as far as wages and benefits are concerned. The law holds their hands, the federal minimum wage is about $7.25 an hour, which is insane because if you work full time for that you are well below what the government considers the poverty line, that is some hand holding. To visit my grocery store days again I made $7.60 an hour in 1975 as a "regular" time clerk that was an employee who worked at least 20 hours a week but not full time, and you got partial benefits. So are you going to tell me that people are all over the south are just too lazy, stupid, uneducated, or just don't know "how grown men work" so they can't negotiate better pay and thereby don't deserve anything but those pitifully low wages even though they provide the labor that produces the profit, or are they like you were and just know they really don't deserve anything more.
In an any event thanks for the "Gratz" on my position, but it has little to do with my own perceived self worth, as I was already a patented inventor, and a recognized expert in my field who brought new innovations to the industry. Truth is none of that would have been possible without the income, my union experience and the security of my collective bargaining agreement. You can't pay patent lawyers and risk the kind of dough I did if you make $11.20 an hour or if it means your wife and kids won't see a doctor if they need to. It has more to do with me wanting to nurse an older aching body along, and get paid even though a good portion of my time is spent at home. BTW I have had a good deal of college courses but have never actually earned my degree, to honest about that, even if you have the money it is not too easy to do when you are working hard to support a family.
@TNSEVOL
Regarding Dick Cheney and the biopic, I agree that his conviction is frightening but it's not terribly surprising. It comes down to the simple fact that there are two types of evil beings: 1) those who commit evil acts who know that what they are doing is evil, yet they do it anyway, and; 2) those who commit evil acts who do not realize that what they are doing is evil, fully convinced of their own righteousness. The latter are more numerous and dangerous; they see themselves as the hero of the story. Osama bin Laden was such an individual; so too is "Darth" Cheney.
We could eliminate the deficit if we did just one thing.
Re-write the laws that allows US companies to claim US made profits as overseas income and allow US companies credit for taxes they pay to other countries.
Truly make them pay a fairshare margin...say a real true 25%.
We are missing taxes on over 1.7 TRILLION per year, every year. That would amount to 425 billion per year flowing into the goverment coffers.
Were missing the boat on this - and we don't even have to raise the taxes on individuals at any income level.
If you are so worried about the debt and the deficit, why don't you actually do something about it? Slashing spending isn't going to work. We have already seen how that plays out, it makes the problem worse as the economy contracts and productive workers end up collecting unemployment instead.
If you are so worried about the debt and the deficit, then why do you insist on doing things that will make it worse?
The simple fact is that the debt and the deficit ARE problems. But they are not problems that Republicans actually care about. They pretend to care about them in order to use it as an excuse to destroy the safety net for the middle class and the poor.
Read some of the posts made by the Right Wing folk on this very bulletin board. They have one thing in common - they are livid about the fact that liberals do not kowtow to their superiority. From their perspective, we should be oohing and aahing over the pearls of wisdom they cast in our direction. Our lack of gratitude and proper awe is galling.
The shredding of the safety net is intended to destroy our complacency. Instead of being uppity, we would know our proper place and be grateful for the scraps they hand to us.
It's not about money. It's about power. People like Rand Paul and Paul Ryan, people who genuinely believe in flawed and failed economic policies, are useful idiots towards achieving this goal.
Forrest Grump 2.0 - Taking your writing at face value, it sounds like the union did nothing for you but hold your hand through this. You are an over producer with some college education. Why you would even want to pay union dues is beyond me until I read how much you made, $54 an hour - $112K a year. You brought innovation, not the union.
I go back to one of my points in my original rant "If unions were my bread and butter you better believe I would fight like hell for them as well. But that would just be my greed talking. For the betterment of the employed? They have outstayed their welcome, we have laws that do that for them now." Maybe you are worth it, maybe you aren't but this is a decision that should be made by the people who put a value on your work, namely your employers.
I don't have any prejudices about people in the south despite the fact it is 8 degrees here today. Bitter about that.
This doesn't make any sense. What if all the employers got together and decided that they are not going to pay anything more than $2.50 an hour? If you leave the decision solely the employers, nothing prevents them from doing this. That is why there are laws to prevent collusion, price-fixing, wage-fixing and the like.
A free market is not a natural state of affairs. It is the initial state of affairs, but played out over a period of time, the static end result is a few monopolies in equilibrium. This prevents customer decision power and also stifles innovation because business does not like competition.
The solution, of course, is to have strong oversight and enforceable laws. That is why business is so anti-government and anti-union. One gives power to its customers and prevents the business from over-charging them and the other prevents it from squeezing employees for all they are worth.
Byron Raum - This is why we have a minimum wage law. We also have collusion laws. And on top of that we have free will. It is no ones fault but your own if you stay at a position that pays less than the industry average.
Renee - Northern CA
There was another poll that indicated that NINETY percent of the public wrongly thinks the national deficit is increasing when in fact it is decreasing. Sometimes polls only show how ignorant the media is keeping the public. Economists universally agree that not raising the debt ceiling would be catastrophic because it means that the US government would stop paying money it owes. Polls won't make the inevitable consequences of recklessness and stupidity go away.
There are more issues than just pay and benefits Morg, many companies should never be allowed to solely determine how much an employee's worth is, how much was the 29 men buried alive in a Massey Energy non union coal mine worth, as far as the company was concerned they weren't worth more than the numerous fines paid for multiple OSHA violations. Those men went down in that mine every day knowing that it is death trap, they are too scared to say crap if they had a mouthful because it is the only game in town and they have a family to feed. Management claims it is safe from their nice office in town they don't go down in there with them, on a union site when the steward says it is safe he goes in with you and works all day side by side with you. The innovations were mine, they were unique and patentable but I would not own and have had full economic benefit of those patents if it were not for my union job. If I made poor wages and crap benefits I would never have been able to risk the money on the patents much less the money to have the tooling made to produce the tangible product. I have helped negotiate union contracts on behalf of my union, the employers are businessman, they know what they can afford and they have never agreed to more than they could afford, but of course they are willing to offer far less to people who would accept it, and left on their own how many people would be forced into a position to accept less than what is a reasonable slice of the profit their labor produces.
I don't have prejudice for people in the south and don't imply you do, but you side stepped my question. Given your views on unions, education, knowing how to own your own be able to negotiate with an employer, and being paid what the company deems you are worth, why do you suppose the wages and benefits are so pitifully low in those states?
Morgs -- Free markets don't exist. There are so many distortions the market doesn't function as it should. For instance, why is it productivity and corporate profits are at their highest yet wages are stagnant or falling?
Disgustus, how does it feel to be the dumbest rock in the pile?
Bachmann’s claim that Barack Obama has a ‘$1.4-billion-a-year presidency’ of ‘perks and excess’
Posted by Glenn Kessler
“A new book is out talking about the perks and the excess of the $1.4-billion-a-year presidency that we’re paying for. And this is a lifestyle that is one of excess. Now we find out that there are five chefs on Air Force One. There are two projectionists who operate the White House movie theater. They regularly sleep at the White House in order to be readily available in case the first family wants a really, really late show. And I don’t mean to be petty here, but can’t they just push the play button? We are also the ones who are paying for someone to walk the president’s dog, paying for someone to walk the president’s dog? Now, why are we doing that when we can’t even get a disabled veteran into the White House for a White House tour? That isn’t caring!”
— Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, March 16, 2013
During last year’s GOP presidential race, Bachmann racked up the highest ratio of Four-Pinocchio comments, so just about everything she says needs to be checked and doublechecked before it is reported.
In this case, Bachmann appears to be citing the self-published book “Presidential Perks Gone Royal,” by Republican lobbyist Robert Keith Gray, though one wonders whether she actually read the book — which is only 131 pages — or just read a summary that appeared in the Daily Caller, since many of her points are highlighted in the Daily Caller article.
Former White House aide Bradley H. Patterson Jr. — attempted to figure out the tab for the White House for a book, “To Serve the President,” published in 2010 by the Brookings Institution.
Patterson estimated that the cost of running the White House for fiscal year 2008 — when George W. Bush was president — was nearly $1.6 billion. About half — more than $800 million — related to the Secret Service budget. An additional $271 million was spent on the president’s helicopter squadron.
If Bush is a $1.6 billion man, does that make Obama a relative bargain at $1.4 billion?
We could not track down a source for “five chefs” on Air Force One, but perhaps the word “cook” would be better. In any case, taxpayers will be pleased to hear that White House staffers need to pay out of their pocket — $20 a meal — if they eat on board.
As for “the projectionists,” this appears to be part of the president’s 24-hour-a-day staffing requirements. Gary’s book devotes considerable space to how much all presidents have used the White House movie theater, with Jimmy Carter supposedly using it 450 times. (The White House Museum saysit actually was 480 times.)
The dog walker is the silliest claim. This refers to Dale Haney, the White House groundskeeper. Gray includes in his source list an Associated Press article on Haney, which states:
“Haney is often spotted walking Bo, the Obama family’s Portuguese water dog. In fact, he’s tended to every White House pup since King Timahoe, Richard Nixon’s Irish setter. . . . Before Bo came along to romp on the South Lawn and roam the White House hallways, Haney spent a lot of time walking and playing with President George W. Bush’s Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley. Haney was most fond of Spot, an English springer spaniel whose mother, Millie, belonged to Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush.”
In other words, the White House groundskeeper — whose main job is caring for more than 18 acres of lawns, trees and gardens — happens to like dogs and has been doing this for every president since 1972
But there is big difference between “perks and excess” and security necessary to protect the president. So using the broad $1.4 billion figure is fairly misleading in that context.
Moreover, the money spent on the presidency and the so-called perks she describes appear to be no different for Obama than for Bush or other presidents. It’s absurd to suggest otherwise.
Four Pinocchios
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/bachmanns-claim-that-barack-obama-has-a-14-billion-a-year-presidency/2013/03/17/bb5f3ea2-8f40-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_blog.html?hpid=z5
John Boehner Tells ABC He Trusts Obama, Agrees Debt Is ‘Not An Immediate Problem’
by Garrett Quinn
House Speaker John Boehnerdownplayed the national debt as a major problem for the country during his appearance this morning on ABC’s This Week. Boehner told fill-in host Martha Raddatz that not only does he think the debt is not an immediate threat but that he trusts the president and that “they’re trying to bridge some big differences.”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-boehner-tells-abc-he-trusts-obama-agrees-debt-is-not-an-immediate-problem/
Paul Ryan Tells CBS’ Bob Schieffer ‘We Do Not Have A Debt Crisis’
by Garrett Quinn
Congressman Paul Ryandownplayed concerns that the United States is in the midst of a debt crisis on Face The Nation this morning by saying that the country hasn’t arrived there yet because it is buoyed by factors unique to America. Ryan’s statement was similar to what House Speaker John Boehner said earlier today where he too allayed concerns of a national debt crisis.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/paul-ryan-tells-cbs-bob-schieffer-we-do-not-have-a-debt-crisis/
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Second of all get a little coherence back in your message. For God’s sake keep ‘Ol Stumblin’ John and ‘Lil Paulie from screwing up and telling anything remotely resembling the Truth. It confuses the Yahoo Echo Chamber to no end. After all if we don’t have a Debt Problem that they’ve been absolutely Apocalyptic about since the Election how are you going to sell You’lls Sequester Thingy as anything more than what it is. One more thinly veiled attempt to make the Gentleman in the White House fail at We the People’s expense.
Fox News Is The Latest Media Outlet To Fail The Steubenville Rape Victim
Lindsay Cross
When you stop and think about the number of ways that the media has failed the Steubenville rape victim, it is truly appalling. From their lack of coverage until the internet made the story too big to ignore to their questionable focus on “poor” Ma’Lik Richmond and Trent Mays and their promising football careers, this entire case has brought some of the worst of rape culture to light. And now, an established media outlet that should know better has released the 16-year-old rape victim’s name.
While discussing the apology of Trent Mays‘ to his victim after the judge announced his verdict, Fox News chose not to bleep the name of Mays’ 16-year-old victim, who was already received numerous threats on Twitter since yesterday’s announcement. Even though the victim is a minor, even though it is customary not to announce a victim’s name and even though most media companies have gone to great lengths to give this girl at least a modicum of privacy in the national media, Fox News apparently decided that this consideration was unnecessary.
http://www.mommyish.com/2013/03/18/fox-news-releases-name-of-steubenville-rape-victim/http://www.mommyish.com/2013/03/18/fox-news-releases-name-of-steubenville-rape-victim/
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And you wonder why those of us with better sense question why the Yahoo Brethren worships at the altar of Yellow Journalism.
No sane person pays any heed to Michele Bachmann. She doesn't represent a congressional district so much as she represents an asylum.
Trying to do to much with those few tools that I have this morning. This is supposed to go with my lead in:
So ‘Ol Rance has spent 10 million dollars and 4 months on an “autopsy” of what we so horribly wrong back in November.
Hell I could of preformed a post mortem in about 5 minutes and it would of only cost you a dollar two ninety eight.
First of all keep the more incoherent members of the Yahoo Boys and Girls Club from speaking to gatherings of more than 15 of the faithful and for God’s Sake don’t let them close to a camera or recording device
Michele Bachman is a dangerous if somewhat derange ideologue. Her lies are carried around and added to by those who believe whatever tripe comes from her. In that respect we have to be aware of them and debunk them as often as is possible.
Thanks for posting this IR, as distasteful as it is for me to read about her, it is important to be aware of what she is peddling.
Even better advise to the tea people republicans Independent Redneck is quit getting all your information and advise from Fox, Limbaugh and the other right wing entertainment shows. Use real facts instead of right wing spin.
IR, terric articles and comments.
Bachmann, like so many GOPers, seem obsessed with the cost of President Obama's every activity yet ignored the same activities, functions, perks of President Bush and every president before him. Loon, wacko birds, ignorant numnuts...and they wonder why most voters think the GOP has become a "scarey" party.
Independent Redneck Va.
Good morning Independent Redneck Va.
I take exception with the Conservative Political Action Conference title. It is really should be "The Clown's Political Action"
Bachmann's family farm received $251,973 in federal subsidies ... bachmann-opponent-of-farm-subsidies-benefits-from-them. Every government subsidy has been created by a socialist-minded democrat.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jul/01/michele-bachmann/rep-michele-bachmann-says-shes-never-received-penn/
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Michelle Bachmann's Vision for a New GOP: More Caring, More Benghazi. That's more proof the GOP hasn't changed!
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Regarding the media's sympathy for the rapists, saw a clip last night of CNN. I was disappointed in Candy Crowley's playing into the female reporter's emphasis on the emotional response to the verdict by those poor teenage rapists; their lives were ruined. Excuse me, those teenage boys made the choice to rape--and their football coach treated it like a joke. Yes, I find it a sad story for both victim and rapists but, those boys made a choice; the consequences were of their own making.
We read about and see the exalting of ball players from high school through college; coaches cover up or try to evade charges against their players--this mentality that the sport and the school's reputation is more important than integrity and moral conscious is wrong. We need only look at Penn State's Jerry Sandusky and the decade of coverups of child abuse to keep from tarnishing the football program. No one, no team, no coach, no school should tolerate such behavior.
Excellent posts this morning, IR and thank you for them. I've been reading about how all of the networks have covered the rape case and found the coverage yesterday morning on CBS news actually rather good. This, however,
Seriously made me mad. This entire case has seemed to be more about football and the boys. I truly feel sorry for this young woman who made a wrong choice (to get drunk) but to have others capitalize on her choice and abuse her because of it. Sinful and shameful. For the media to report it otherwise is disgusting.
Obama has earned more "4 pinocchios" than Bachmann has.
He is a pathological liar and the laughing stock of the international community.
Why no long posts detailing his lies?
I couldn't help but notice that Chuck Todd and company began their article lamenting another Obama lie describing it as an "unfulfilled promise" and the drones first reaction was to deflect and whine about Republicans.
Drone cultist are so predictable.
As for Hillary's impeccable timing on her announcement of her support of homosexual marriage, it did not go unnoticed that she announced on the same day it was revealed that hacked email exchanges between her and Blumenthal concerning Libya were released to hundreds of journalists and former lawmakers.
There's no debt crisis?!
President Bush must be feeling better after all the the heat he took for only marginal overspending.
So what's the new redline, or debt limit, that will lower our credit rating, be considering a crisis, or even more practically speaking, be the tipping point of crowding out all discretionary spending?
GOPTP's Self-Autopsy. Reince Priebus said focus groups described the GOTP as narrow minded, out of touch, stuffy old men. That pretty much sums up the descriptive terms except Priebus left out intolerant, prejudiced, bigoted, paranoid, delusional, and filled with "wack-o birds." Sure, there's some wacky folks in the democratic party but they are at the fringe, are small in numbers, and do not control the party.
Priebus added that--after 100 pages of introspection--"our principles are sound" but our messaging to explain our principles is not working. In other words, it is not our message that is the problem, it is our packaging. Now that is seriously flawed introspection. Once upon a time GOP principles were rooted in fiscal conservatism; that is to say, responsible fiscal choices and conserving all things which included the environment. Back then, the GOP believed in increasing taxes when necessary, believed in a fair and more level playing field, believed that government did have a responsibility to assist the least among us, believed in whatever size of government that was necessary yet remained functional and practical. This is the 21st century, a government the size of what it was in 1780, or 1948, will simply be inadequate and unable to function as it should.
One of the GOP's biggest current problems is the adoption of religious beliefs into their Party Platform. While a politician's faith was always part of their public, political face, religious doctrine was not. Religion was viewed as the Constitution intended--government should remain neutral by not establishing any law respecting a religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
When religious doctrine becomes the only glass through which a party sees its principles, the party absorbs the prejudices, the intolerance, the acceptance that science is contrary to the tenets of faith. Once that happens, that Party attempts to write those personal, religious beliefs into law disregarding the Constitution that clearly states there shall be no laws regarding religion. A party's or an individuals personal, religious beliefs should never become law. If it does, then our democracy will more closely resemble what the GOP claims to hate: an intolerant Religious State--not embracing all religions, just a particular one--in the GOP's world, that would be the Christian faith.
Mr. Priebus, it is not the package of the GOP's message and principles that is the problem--IT IS THE MESSAGE AND PRINCIPLES the party speaks.
Jody, excellent piece. Religion as we know has no place in politics, but the zealous efforts to influence politicians is really disturbing. Just yesterday, right wing Catholics, took Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi to task for being pro choice in their political lives and therefore were considered not worthy to receive Communion at the installation Mass for Pope Francis. I wish more politicians would leave their personal beliefs behind them and just work for ALL the people and not just for select groups and their beliefs.
Excellent post, Jody. To re-emphasize a question posed by the FR crew last week, it IS the pizza AND the box!
For the betterment of society in the US, it sure would be a great idea that all holding office in our goverment, from this point on stop saying "may god bless the United States of America".
It should start at the top. No president should reference god at all in any of his statements.
Since liberals think god is such a huge problem in the world, they should expect our leader to stop using the word immedately in any of his statements.
Lets be fair to all who don't want god in their lives, or having it mentioned at all, to perpetuate any myths about religion
GBM, thanks. Your example of VP Biden and Nancy Pelosi adds to my point. The right-wing Catholics and evangelicals are entitled to their beliefs; they are not, however, entitled to force everyone else to agree with their beliefs. VP Biden is a devout Catholic, so is John Kerry who was attacked similarly in the 2004 campaign. VP Biden and Kerry both clearly stated that it is wrong to force their religious beliefs on everyone else. Therein lies the difference between democrats and republicans. One party's politicians are no more religious or nonreligious than the other--it is that democrats believe in the separation of Church and State, believe in freedom of religion and freedom from religion.
Utopia, liberals do NOT think God is a problem in our society; we just happen to think Church and State must remain separate one from the other. I do not believe that religious tenets and doctrine should dictate laws. I have no objection with any president, R or D, asking God's blessings for our country; it is an expression of their personal faith and a wish that our bounty continue. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem I see afflicting the GOPTP and that I stress is when one party's religious beliefs are forced on others in a country who may or may not have the same beliefs. For example, contraception; the GOPTPers are writing legislation to ban hormonal contraception both at State and Federal levels. Rand Paul is proposing a bill which does just that.
Learn the difference, Zappas, between a right to religious expression and a religion rite which seeks to control those who do not share it.
How interesting that those conservatives who would claim and defend the Constitution so willing to bypass the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...."
Further, article Six of the Constitution forbids a religious test as a requirement for holding a governmental position.
Conservatives go even further than that. While condemning the fanaticism of Arab countires like Iran, they seek to establish their own theocracy here in the United States. People like the Puritans and the Quakers came to and settled America precisely to escape this type of fanaticism in Europe.
The concept of choice is lost on conservatives. You are welcome to practice whatever you want. You are not allowed to compel your practices onto the rest of us.
Jody
Thank goodness for all those tolerant, non-prejudiced and openminded folks like yourself.
In God we Trust we probably better not, as he surely can't guarantee our money. lol
Really, First Read---Obama has failed at Middle East peace? As long as I can remember there has been turmoil in the Middle East. Their problems are not unsolvable yet the parties in the Middle East have chosen not to solve them. Yet despite decades of involvement by the U.S., it is somehow the President's fault that there is not Middle East peace. Give me a break.
Steeler Fan, I thought the very same thing regarding the "failure" statement. Very poor choice of words.
See Alan's post above. lol
Steeler Fan, great point; well said! I found that wording too simplistic when considering the Middle East. It seems to be normal for the media to blame President Obama for the failures of all the previous presidents not just on peace in the middle east but most everything including the debt and race relations.
Until such time as Israel comes to terms with the right of Palestine to exist, and vice versa (which includes the entire Middle East), peace will be a wish filled with good intentions. That said, I don't think Netanyahu helps Israel's cause any more than Iran's Ayatolla and Amadinejad helps theirs.
so jody, obama is blameless for everything because it is the fault of all of his prececessors? do you take this back to nixon? kennedy? lincoln? washington? they are all responsible for obama's troubles?
the media does not blame obama but rather make excuses for him and have ever since he said he would run for president (after saying emphatically that he would not before his senate term ended, but that is another story).
the mid-east has been a problem for thousands of years and for any president to believe they can just magically fix that is simply ridiculous. carter and obama received nobel prizes for their work and yet nothing has changed. once iran gets the bomb it will be a free for all. we are either then going to support our ally or not.
One thing for certain, there will be no chance of peace in the middle east as long as Netanyahu is in power. He made his political bones by stirring up tension and fighting in that region and has feasted on unrest every since.
Obama is an empty suit and has little chance of making a difference in the middle east.
President Obama already has. We're leaving Iraq and Afghanistan - both mega-fatal travesties begun by GWB.
Right, Backhouse! We slither out of Iraq and Aghan, and chaos explodes. Just like in Vietnam, anti-war faggots pressure our government to turn our every well-meaning sacrifice for freedom into utter failure. What about all those brave Americans and those of other nations, who gave their lives and their bodies for the noble cause of freedom for the oppressed?
THEY ARE SCREWED.
All you anti-war idiots will not fight for right, and, to make yourselves feel better, rail against those who will.
AMERICAN GOODNESS, PRIDE AND EXCEPTIONALISM IS IN THE HANDS OF COWARDS AND MORONS!
Chedder... Like every President before him?
If you think that is why we stormed Iraq and Afghanistan, you are severely mistaken. It had nothing to do with freedom for the oppressed. Nice attempt to re-write history - unfortunately, there are to many videos and articles from that era that prove otherwise.
CheddarIsBetter
GW sure made a difference didn't he; Cheddar?
GW Bush gave has Hamas when he invaded Iraq.
George W Bush: Hamas is entirely responsible for the Israeli invasion of Gaza
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/george-w-bush-hamas-is-entirely-responsible-for-the-israeli-invasion-of-gaza-28460085.html
Yes he certainly has impacted the middle east in significant ways. We left Iraq, we are leaving Afghanastan, and the middle east and all of North Africa is safer today than 10 years ago.
@Outhouse, Your usual Bull$hit is quite predictable ... war in Iraq and war in Afghanistan were both VOTED ON and APPROVED by Congress !!! But that wouldn't fit the false hysteria of your asinine "blame game" ... now would it ?
logico, chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan is not because we are leaving those conflicts, it is because we went there in the first place. Add VietNam to that list as well. We went for the wrong reasons and we mishandled the situation while we were there.
Jim, when will you and others like you get it through your heads that it is not the votes to engage in those wars that is the problem? It is the reasoning and the justifications that led to those votes.
Democrats in Congress were given the same intelligence that President Bush had ! If you are saying their reasoning and justfications were flawed then so be it ! Remember, the terminology "Weapons of mass destruction" statrted with Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright ... long before Bush was elected ! Look it up !!
“Each of those steps would benefit a deep-pocketed candidate in the mold of Mitt Romney. That is, someone who doesn’t need the benefit of televised debates to get attention because he or she can afford TV ads… “[P]otential 2016 hopefuls Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum … reacted angrily to recommendations they think are aimed at hurting candidates who do well in caucuses and conventions and need debates to get attention.”
It's not like these steps stopped Romney. It's not like the debates were helpful. Lastly, it's not like doing well in caucuses and conventions (i.e. preaching to the choir) produced candidates that appealed to other than a narrow band of voters, i.e. the choir!
Uh, I would say the situation in Israel is none of Obama's fault. It's the responsibility of the people in the Holy Land to act like righteous neighbors and resolve their differences, Geesh. The United States is not, repeat not, the world's policeman.
" The United States is not,repeat not the world's policeman."
I would say the families of some of the drone attacks would disagree with you.
What about the families of Cheney/Bush's shock and awe in 2003 broker? You know when Cheney and Bush rained missiles down on Iraq and didn't have a clue what they were hitting, or who they were killing as long as it looked assume.
Mo
What in my post deserves your rant? Or maybe school is out on holiday.
Hi Mo,
Bush and Cheney most likely killed at least 100,000 in Iraq. Of course they didn't want that number public. Now these bagger brains that cheered when the first attacks on Iraq went down, are concerned That President Obama is in charge and taking the real bad guys out.
mo -- you continue to compare things you apparently disliked about bush as justification for obama doing the same thing. does that make them both right or both wrong?
Right or wrong, it makes Obama smarter. Or, would you rather we endanger our troops needlessly? It's amazing the goodwill a president generates when he doesn't get 4,500 of our troops killed for nothing.
Just stating facts billybob just stating facts.
BTW: President Obama hasn't rained cruse missiles down on anyone like Cheney/Bush did in Iraq.
Mosephus, Your "opinions" are not magically elevated to "facts" simply because they emanate from your pie hole !
ole jobless one and the other lib lemmings that are lamenting 2003 invasion of Irag, did you forget that almost everyone including most of the dems were in favor of the war. Oh, you forgot that part... How typically convenient!!
ole jobless one..."bagger", is that the job you are trying to get?
That is because W.Bush and the Dick lied to Congress and the American People. Also, I bet I earn more and pay more taxes than you do in a year!!!
Well, it's a fact I do.
Always an excuse, always someone else's fault .... Dems refuse to take responsibility for their own actions !
So after complaining that President Obama had not visited Israel during his first term, will the same voices demand now that the President not travel to Israel and stay in Washington instead?
Hell no.The more he is out of the country,the better!! :-)
Hi Da Noid,
You know how those bagger brains work. Whoops, I mean they don't work!!!
At least he can leave the country broker. that can't be said for Cheney/Bush.
Can you please explain to us broker why you think it's better when our President is out of the country? His work goes on his agenda is still being implemented. You make stupid statements like this, you get laughed at.
Friday it was Rob Portman.
Yesterday it was Hillary Clinton
So, are we taking bets on which politician will come out today in support of same-sex unions and make the Conservatives lose their collective minds?
i am waiting for the first liberal to come out and say polygamy is fine and that we should not restrict anyone's right to get married, multiple times if they choose. and is age going to be tossed by the left as well? why shouldn't a 12 year old or a 6 year old be allowed to marry?
Polygamy laws have been on the books for over 100 years and found Constitutional...see Reynolds v United States.
We have age of consent laws...and you're welcome to change them.
...but enough of the Straw Man arguments.
"
"the trip is a reminder of one of the big failures of his first term"
Damn Chucky. Didn't recieve the Democratic talking points before going to press.LMAO
I have to agree with Speaker Boehner and President Obama in that there is no no imminent debt crisis. So, when or if we ever get to the point we can raise revenue.
It appears that this whole out of control spending issue didn't come up until the tea party birth. You know right after President Obama took office.
Gosh, I wonder why!!!
Job, baby-
WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING AND HOW CAN I GET SOME?
When the country goes totally broke into a depression, and we are out on the streets begging for handouts, we might as well be as stoned as you are right now.
I hope you don't run your finances the way our government runs the nation's. But, I guess that doesn't bother you as long as the government takes care of you, at least for now.
'IGNORANCE IS BLISS' IS THE NEW AMERICAN PSYCHE. PITY.
Maybe because the Tea Party realized early on that President Obama would preside over the largest explosion of debt in our nation's history? Just a wild guess there!
Mike....forgetting conveniently, that debt was mainly caused by poor choices made by republican administrations? From Reagan on down, debt has exploded following conservative fiscal principles........and ol' George and his crew just doubled down on it, by going to war..not paying for two wars and the prescription drug program. In addition they also expanded government in a major way by creating the Dept of Homeland Security, all this and more had added to the bill, but Dick Cheney's advice was, deficits don't matter, yet when the bill comes due, all these debt builders are no where to fix the mess.
I didn't realize that an Administration could spend any money without Congress' approval. My mistake.
But how do you explain that the debt rose roughly by $6 trillion under GWB, and has already increased by about the same amount under Obama?
What policies has Obama and the Democrats actually changed that will put us on more secure financial footing?
Funny how the Democrats love to hate GWB, and yet hold him up as an example when compared to Obama. By your own standards, aren't you setting the bar a little low?
And could there have been another reason?
logico
I bet earn more, and pay more taxes than you do!!!
Thats what they were telling residents and investors in Cyprus before they told them they will confiscate 10% or more of their savgings accounts.
I go back to RFK and the republicans have been doing this budget, Social Security and Medicare crisis thing every time there's a Democrat in the White house.
RFK When was he elected?LMAO
Mo --- Yes , and it started right after S.S. came into being almost 80 years ago, one just has to look a the history of the Republican party,it's there.
And mo did you mean JFK ?
Yes old man I did mean JFK. OOPS. But it did give broker1 a good laugh.
And Mo they're attempting to do the same thing with the AFA, it will be part of their platform for years to come.
Mo--Medicare has never been fully self-paying. It blew through it's initial 10-year projected budget in about 6 years, and then doubled every 4 years for the next 12 years.
Social Security is an elaborate Ponzi scheme that relies on a new influx of "investors" (workers) to pay off the older "investors" (retired people). Too many people are able to collect far more than they ever put into the system, and some people collect who have never contributed to it at all.
That Senator Paul would back immigration reform is not a surprise. The classic Libertarian view is that all borders should be open. I do not agree with this view in this age of terrorism. Nations have to be able to protect their borders.
As to whether there is a debt crisis, the only realistic way to view that is to compare our debt to our GDP. That is, you have to look at the debt ratio, not just the overall total of the debt. By that ratio measure, and accounting for inflation, we have been in much worse debt before now. The inescapable conclusion is that the "debt crisis" is a public relations ploy by Republicans whose true goal is to protect wealthy constituents from paying their fair share.
So since we AREN'T in a debt crisis, will the Democrats ever stop blaming the GOP for massive spending and adding to the debt?
Mike when they take responsibility, acknowledge their unpaid wars and tax loopholes, in addition to the Bush tax cuts they gave at the same time as they wage war........who ever heard of going to war, not paying for it and at the same time giving tax cuts across the board?
Really a ridiculous response from you, Gingerbread , but I expect nothing better ! This ongoing repeated bull$hit about "unfunded wars" is getting old, even as a demmie talking point ! The wars were voted upon and approved by Congress ... including votes from Hillary and John Kerry. If the "COST" was not funded, you fail to prove how that is GWB's responsibility !!
The tax cuts were to stimulate the economy which was headed down again when Slick Willie left Congress.
Actually, it should read "when Slick Willie" left office.
mo -- you do realize that rfk was never the president don't you?
if one looks at the democrat proposal it is a purely philosophical document that continues the trend of the tax and spend democrat party
Mo is confused today ... as always !
Unforefilled says it all !
His policies are like throwing darts at a map.
Peace in the middle east is this Presidents unfulfilled goal ??? Really ? Are you serious ?
PValdes... I'll bet he is serious.
Or maybe he is just turning his "laser-like" focus on the Middle East now. LOL!
mike yeah, because there's nothing else on the administration's table. Seriously, when he focuses on jobs they rank on him for not focusing on the debt. If he focuses on the middle east they'll rank on him for not focusing on the deficit. And blah, blah, blah... It's such a transparent and childish game.
When has Obama EVER been focused on jobs ? Obama is clueless ! The only jobs Obama has created is all the jobs that will come with the massive government takeover of our health sysytem that is called Obamacare !
Obama's only focus is taxing and redistributing while growing government at every opportunity ... the same government that feeds like a cancer on the tax dollars produced by the private sector !
Why, when the Democrats had complete power, did they not rewrite the tax code and make the rich pay more?
Can anyone explain why tax rates for the middle- and lower-class are at historic lows? I though that those Bush tax cuts only helped the rich, but then President Obama got those rates extended for 98% of us. How can both things be true--that the Bush tax cuts only helped the rich, and the GOP wants the middle class and poor to pay for everything?
Wouldn't it have made much more sense for them to have RAISED the rates on the poor and middle class instead of lowering them?
I propose we raise mikehataway's taxes to the 39% rate, he seems to think he's paying way to little in taxes.
BTW Mike: It's not who it hurt or who it helped, it's who can most afford a tax hike.
So no answer as to why the GOP got the lowest taxes in history for the lower- and middle-class, huh?
President Obama loved those rates so much he got them extended for 98% of us. Now why would he do such an evil thing like that?
According to Mo, it is not what constitutes "fair taxation" it is how much you can afford to give up for the federal government to waste and redistribute !
Psychological projection - is a defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own negative attributes by ascribing them to objects or persons in the outside world instead. Thus, projection involves imagining or projecting faults onto others
Its ok Joe
Joe in Albany-1902257
Today’s WSJ has a page one article about workers saving too little to retire. 57% of workers surveyed by the Employee Benefit Research Institute reported they have less than $25,000 in savings and investments excluding their homes.
Gee, I wonder if these are the same people that own expensive McMansions, have several new or nearly new $50,000, 6-7,000 pound gas-guzzling SUVs, $300 a month cable TV bills, the latest smart phones with unlimited use plans for everone in the household over age 5, maxed out credit cards and home equity loans they spent on great vacations, 60” flat screen TVs in every room in the house, going out to dinner 4-5 nights a week, expensive wine, and the latest designer clothes and handbags, etc.
Oh well, it sucks to be them.
Life is good.
Enjoy.
(or, if you are a lefty liberal, at least try to be less miserable)
Steve B...wrote'Psychological projection - is a defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own negative attributes by ascribing them to objects or persons in the outside world instead. Thus, projection involves imagining or projecting faults onto others'
That's Joe and a few others on the right.....in a nutshell.
I came upon an old account book I kept about 15 years ago, in which I pasted my grocery receipts. Looking at the prices, I swear food costs have gone up by a third since then. Has my income gone up that much? No.
Expenses are higher these days for everything, but wages are stagnant. Think that could be impacting folks ability to save for retirement?
Amy,
That is a bummer, 15 years and you haven't managed to increase your earnings by even one third? You should get a degree. People need to start understanding that education is the best bet for a better future.
Obama's unfulfilled goals? If you look at how far our Nation has fallen in just the last four years ( though the fall started before obama) I cannot think of any goals this anti-American wingnut has left. Other than officially destroy the Constitution instead of circumventing it, that is.
Navyvet98 you need to take a break from Fox for awhile your brain has been tainted.
You need to look at how far President Obama has brought our country back since 2008.
So you don't seem to have a problem with the 17 trillion dlls deficeit typical lib. If thats an accomplishment is like having a compulsive wife with an unlimited credit card.
Our President has added over $5.7 trillion in debt from his first term alone ! If left unchecked, Obama will double the national debt of ALL his predececessors combined ... that is NOT bringing our country back !!
The middle east is more unstable than ever......
Could it be because of Cheney/bush's debacle in Iraq?
Mo, you seem to take great pride in making asinine statements. Obama has been able to end the war in Iraq because: A) The "Surge' worked and B) GWB had set a timeline for withdrawal before Odumbo was elected !
Because of Obama, Egypt is more unstable than before and the anti-American Muslim Brotherhood is in power, Libya is more unstable and Syria is more unstable !!!
Obama and his kowtowing have made the situation worse than at any time since 1967.
.
For once, a truthful headline from msnbc. Obama's failed middle east policy. Going into 5yrs in office and this is his first trip to Israel? Inexcusable. Look at Egypt in turmoil and ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, Obama's chosen people. We send 250 million to Egypt and can't open the White House for tours. I don't blame Israel for being leery of Obama.
Obama's failure to visit Israel is "inexcusable"? Israel's "leery" of Obama? Really? BIG DEAL!! This "friendship" with Israel is a one-way street! They need us a damn sight more than we need them!
Who ares about the dam Jews,,
We have our own issues here ,,
Ahhhh, BMan, spoken like the TOLERANT, LOVING, ALL-INCLUSIVE little liberal ranter that you actually are!
I hope the dam Jews deal with their own issues,,we should a limited backing but that's it.
Bulletman,
Both of your last posts were nearly incomprehensible. The only thing I could really gather is that you are antisemitic.