The Latest Flavor of Not-Romney

ABC's Cokie Roberts actually made a good point yesterday on the Sunday morning show This Week.  Hard to believe I know, but here's what she said.

the NPR figure labeled Cain as just another “flash in the pan.”

“Herman Cain is just this week’s or this two week’s ‘Not Romney,’” she said. “We have had an entire season of ‘Not Romney. ‘Whether it was Rick Perry or Donald Trump or Herman Cain or Chris Christie, this is ‘this week’s.’”

Roberts added: “Until the Republicans decide it’s the “Not Romney or Romney is the nominee, we are going to have these people pop up.”

I think this is about right.  They have nobody else.  They certainly aren't going to nominate Cain or Ron Paul.  They are pretty much just going to go through the motions with every candidate until they finally reconcile it within themselves that they only have Romney.  Republicans did the very same thing in 2008 when they groaned themselves into accepting McCain as the nominee.  The outcome in 2012 will be much the same as well.  Barack Obama will be reelected and Republicans will call it tyranny.

Poll: In Illinois Tea Baggers Keep Going Limp

A recent statewide poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute found 42.2% of the public disapproved or strongly disapproved of the fringe Republican group.  That number is up almost 8 points from the same time last year.  Twenty-eight percent said they had no opinion.

The poll also found that almost 80% of the Illinois public understands compromise is a necessary function of government. Astonishingly, 71.5% of tea bagger supporters said they prefer candidates that are willing to compromise.  Even though that number is down almost 10% from the whole, it's still wildly high for a group of people who believe people who don't agree with them are enemies.

Other things that are more popular in Illinois than tea baggers:

• The war in Iraq
• George W. Bush
• Legalizing drugs
• Oprah
• Social Security
• Medicare
• Public Option

Government and Law Enforcement Twist Google's Thumb for data, Google Complies

The U.S. government, courts and local and state police authorities requested Google remove 757 items from its servers within the last year.  The Biannual Transparency Report submitted by Google on Thursday is quite the fun read in 21st century censorship.  Everything from videos of police brutality, to information supposedly pertaining to national security were among the requests.  The report also states one request from American authorities was to remove a video it believed to be critical of the government.

Separately, the report declares American law enforcement requested data from Google on 11,057 different users or accounts.  Google said it complied with 4,700 of those requests. Almost all of this data sharing was done without a warrant.

Another post-9/11 privacy invasion?  Not exactly.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act was written 15 years prior to Saddam Hussein al Qaeda flying airplanes into our buildings.  In addition to preceding modern terrorism, the law also preceded the average daily internet use by the billions of people who use it every day.  In 1986, only a few hundred people used email.  No one had ever heard of a browser.  And Mark Zuckerberg was only 2 years old.  And...and Al Gore was still tinkering with those intertubes. Thus, a very outdated law, written even before the digital age went public, is governing a practical piece of our lives that grows larger every year.  A much needed update is overdue. To do that, though, would require a government that is as deadlocked and do-nothing as any representative body has ever been to actually do their jobs.  Not to mention, there's only about 4-5 members of the government I would even trust to write such a law in the first place.  We might be screwed either way...

TSA Agent Suspended

Freaky vibrator girl, Jill Filipovic, who had her luggage ransacked by a note-leaving TSA agent telling her to "get her freak on" has learned the agent involved has been suspended.

As sad as it is, Jill is right.  She will probably forever be remembered as the masturbating feminist who brings her sex toys on trips.  Lord knows I probably won't let her live it down.  But does the fact that she's an attractive woman distract us from the real issue of the day: personal privacy in the age of 9/11?  Only if we let it.

Here's the part that's going to get lost in all this.  Let's say Jill looked like Kathryn Jean Lopez. Ugh, that would suck for her I know.  But just assume for conversation that she resembled Republican "intellectuals" like Lopez.  Would this story have gained any traction in the MSM whatsoever?  Not a chance.  Why?  Because no one wants to picture Kathryn Jean Lopez with a vibrator .  And that's the issue, or double standard, feminism has striven for over a century now to overcome. Sure feminism involves treating women as equal to men, no doubt about that. But it also includes treating women as equals too.  So there ya go.  The whole thing is still an equality debate even if all we want to do is focus on the hot girl with a vibrator.

*Update:

Sorry guys but I took the Lopez picture down that was originally published with this article. Can't do it.  If you must see it, for the sake of comparison, click here.

Quickies

• GDP growth almost doubled in Q3.

• Euro leaders reach a debt deal.

• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) says America is the land of upward mobility especially when compared to Europe.  Of course he's dead wrong on that.  

• According to this chart, my tax liability under Rick Perry's new plan, would decrease by about $2,000.

• According to the same chart, people who make much less than me and have families will see their tax liability go up under Perry's plan.  Kind of puts me in a dilemma.  

Economic Info From Motley Fool

Motley Fool has an interesting list of 50 facts about the American economy.  Here are the ten I found to be the most interesting.

50. From 1948 until 2007, the average duration of unemployment was 13.5 weeks. Today, it's 40.5 weeks.

47. In 1952, corporate taxes were 6.1% of GDP, and employment taxes were 1.8% of GDP. In 2009, corporate taxes were 1% of GDP, and employment taxes were 6.3% of GDP.

39. Health care for an average family now runs $19,393 a year, according to the Milliman Medical Index. It was about half that much in 2002.

36. The labor force participation rate for men has dropped from 87% in 1948 to 71% today.

34. 5.5 million Americans are unemployed and not receiving unemployment benefits. Last year, that number was 1.4 million.

33. The U.S. government provides health care for a minority of its population (elderly and poor) at a greater cost per citizen than many European countries spend on universal coverage.

32. As a percentage of GDP, federal taxes in 2010 were the lowest since 1950.

19. One percent of households captured 52% of all income gains from 1993-2008.

15. Private jobs growth over the past two years has been faster than it was from 2001-2003.Public job losses have been a major factor in our current jobs crisis.

5. Cash flow among S&P 500 companies set a new all-time record last year, at $1.2 trillion.

Perry Says His Tax Plan Will "Set Our People Free"

This afternoon I'm going to read up on Rick Perry's new tax plan for America.  Policy, like this, is really what keeps me involved in politics.  After all, it's policies that are the true judge of any administration.  Like I said on a Facebook discussion one time.  Sure Reagan claimed he supported small government, sound economics and slashing budgets.  But he never did any of that.  Same for George W. Bush.  The same can be said about any modern Republican administration.  There is no segment in their political history at which they can point to and say here is when we governed the way we campaign.

That brings us to the very first thing I read this afternoon about Perry's newest tax plan.

(CNN) - Rick Perry said Tuesday his plan of giving Americans a choice between their current income tax rate or a 20% flat-tax would "set our people free" from burdensome tax law. 

Of course he said it that way.  Everything thing they do is a REVOLUTION!.  They are constantly fighting evil, islamosocialistliberalfascists, and anti-Americanism.  You know, the people who don't agree with them.

I wouldn't expect Perry, or any Republican, to say anything different about any single policy proposal of theirs. They are a brutally oppressed people downtrodden by the enemy occupying our country.  Everything they do is simply to fight against tyranny and bring freedom to all.  If you disagree with any of it, your love for this country is highly questionable.

TSA Gets Real Freaky, Okay Scary Freaky

Jill Filipovic who blogs at the famous Feministe, and who is totally hot and I don't mind saying that, had quite the story to tell when she landed in Norway Dublin.

Luckily, they let her have her vibrator back.  Honestly, I think I'm more offended a girl this hot even needs a vibrator.

*Update:

 On second thought, hot girls with vibrators don't offend me at all.

Perry's Grades Could Have Gotten Him Into Harvard

A mysterious someone, I'm sure someone who is anti-American and probably voted for Obama, leaked Rick Perry's college transcripts to Huffington Post.
Rick Perry's Texas A&M Transcript

As you can see, he's an idiot.  He got D in economics and F in organic chemistry.  He only received two A's his whole time in college.  In all here's the breakdown:

A = 2

B = 20

C = 27

D = 9

F = 1

If his Dad had been director of the CIA he could have went to Harvard Business School with marks like that.

Iraq Over So Soon? What Republicans Told Us Then Versus What They Are Saying Now

Since 2001, Congress has allocated $1.3 trillion to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Well over half of that, more than $806 billion, has been directly allocated for the nearly 9-year war in Iraq. Those figures don't even begin to scratch the surface of how much Bush's Endless War Program has cost this great country, however.

By far, the steepest price this country has paid for the wars is the more than 5,000 dead and the more than 35,000 wounded.

Aside from the thousands dead and $1.3 trillion allocated, there are other costs that go unnoticed but are still very much incurred.  There is the cost of caring for veterans once they return.  The cost of rebuilding a diminished and tired military.  The cost of borrowing billions to finance the war.  And the cost on the home front of rising prices due to the instability of an endless war program.  Considering all that, the costs quickly surpass the $3 trillion mark.

That's a dang ton of money.  But it's not enough say Republicans.  They want more war, a longer occupation and a larger debt financed for no other reason than the thrill of seeing war on teevee.

Let's consider this, though.  Republicans told us the war in Iraq would be over in a matter of weeks.  Republicans told us it would be a cakewalk.  They told us it would cost at most $50-$60 billion.  Nothing they told us turned out to be true.  Nearly a decade later, easily over $1 trillion already spent and they are scoffing at ending the war.  Consider all that, and then also consider they are saying ending the war by year's end constitutes a "failure."  There can't be anything more deranged than that.

Ron Paul Wants To End All Federal Student Aid

Ron Paul claims there is no authority in the Constitution for the federal government to provide monetary assistance to college students.  If elected president, Paul says he'll stop all aid.

Of course, as any high schooler can tell you, the Constitution allows for Congress to spend money almost any way it wants in order to meet the objectives of government.

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"

If it wanted to pay for all college tuition in the whole country, it could.  There's nothing illegal about it.  What Congress can't do is authorize money to be spent to violate someone's Constitutional rights.  Such as, Congress cannot authorize money to be spent on keeping women from voting.  Or authorize money to keep people over the age of 25 from running for federal office.  Those are rights guaranteed in the Constitution and Congress cannot hamper them.

This is yet another pesky argument by Ron Paul, and many of his supporters, that unless it's directly mentioned in the Constitution it's illegal.  It's a way of applying the Constitution very narrowly to meet their ideology.  For instance, the Constitution says nothing about owning an automatic weapon.  It merely says the right to bare arms and there's no way the Founders meant automatic machine guns.  But that's when Ron Paul wants the Constitution applied very broadly cause it's something he believes in.  Therefore, even though it was never the intention of the Founders for people to own bazookas, nor is it specifically mentioned in the Constitution, it doesn't matter to Paul.

Anti-American Vile

Today President Obama announced nearly all American troops in Iraq will be home by year's end.  The Pentagon is saying about 150 troops will remain in Iraq to overlook policy arrangements.

This is a huge announcement.  Finally, after almost a decade of war with Iraq, America will be ending its occupation of that country.  This should be great news for all Americans.  Bush's policy of War Without End was never sustainable and helped facilitate the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  A trillion dollars and thousands of American lives have been spent fighting a war of choice waged by psychopathic madmen.  Finally, shortly after Christmas 2011, it will be over.

But this isn't great news for all Americans.  Pathetic Republicans are furious that their war will come to an end.  They are so furious they are calling the war's finale a "failure" and proof that American foreign policy under the current administration "has fallen."  This is a disgrace to America and to those who have served our country so valiantly.

Treason is really all that can be said to describe these reactions:

Mitt Romney:  “President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women,“ Romney said in a statement.

Michelle Bachmann: "Today's announcement that we will remove all of our forces from Iraq is a political decision and not a military one; it represents the complete failure of President Obama to secure an agreement with Iraq for our troops to remain there to preserve the peace and demonstrates how far our foreign policy leadership has fallen."

I'm sure as the day goes on there will be more comments from GOP members that are similar and equally disgusting.  Iraq was a war that never should have happened.  We have no business staying in that country one more day.  The thought that it will soon be over and we will be able to focus more of our resources on our own people is a great thing for this country. Suggesting that we should continue waging war in Iraq is the only defense mechanism the GOP has for failing to come to terms with their legacy of complete and total incompetence.

Anyone that dared call Bush policies a failure, especially his war policies, was immediately labeled anti-American and siding with the enemy by the very people speaking today.  After today's comments listed above there's no reason to sugar coat anything anymore.  The Republican Party has without a doubt climbed into a pit of some of the most despicable anti-American vile ever spoken.  Shame can't even describe what you bring to this country.

Whore in the Bedroom

For once I agree with a Republican.

New Jersey state senate candidate Phil Mitsch on his twatter page: "Women, you increase your odds of keeping your men by being faithful, a lady in the living room and a whore in the bedroom."

What's wrong with that?  Well, for one.  It's 2011.

Things You'll Never Hear the Right Wing Admit

• The Obama administration has deported more illegal aliens than any administration in history.
• The Obama administration has added more jobs to the economy in two years than Bush did in 8 years.
• The Obama administration has cut more pork spending than any administration in history.
• The Obama administration has presided over the single largest loss in public sector employment.  This isn't necessarily a good thing.  I'm just saying it's proof that we aren't becoming a socialist country like the right wing wants everyone to believe.
• The Obama administration has had more legislative success than any president since FDR.
• The Obama administration has waged a much more successful and effective war on terror than George Bush and his neocons could have ever dreamed of doing.  He has absolutely put the focus back on al Qaeda and the people responsible for 9/11. Anyone who denies that is notably stupid.
• The Obama administration's policy on Libya validates the first George Bush's doctrine of working with allies to achieve a common good by forming coalitions that are recognized by the community of nations.  In other words, with us or against us is a foolish, corrupt and has put America in a damn mess.

GOP's "Ludicrous" Jobs Plan

Anyone who is surprised by Republican efforts describing their recent jobs plan as creating 5 million jobs hasn't been paying attention for the last ten years.

Tea Bagger Randy Paul (R-KY) sent out a press release exclaiming the bill would create 5 million new jobs.  John McCain and Rob Portman all signed on to it as well.  This is what they do.  Republicans make wild claims and no one is to ever question them.  If we do question them, we are liberal or anti-American.

But we do have fact-checkers that try to keep up.  And WaPo's Glenn Kessler calls their claim "ludicrous."

As well know, however.  Republicans aren't talking about a real jobs plan meant for reality. They're referring to their alternate universe where they are merely Freedom Fighters trying to keep America from going socialist.

666 999 Will Raise Taxes on 84% of Americans

Pizza man and presidential hopeful Herman Cain has a plan for America.  Ask him.  He'll tell you about it.  He calls it 999, which is actually just 666 upside down.  He claims his plan is so fantastic and will be so great for America that people will be begging for it.  Essentially, much like SimCity 4, Cain's Freedom Fighting Plan will create a federal tax rate for everything: 9% on personal income, 9% on sales tax, 9% on business profits.  Wiola, America is free again!

As we've discussed before, Cain has admitted some people's taxes will go up if his new plan is enacted.  The key word in all this is "some."  Who are the some that will see higher taxes?  As the Tax Policy Center notes, 84% of Americans will see a tax hike if 666 takes effect.

As you can see, people who make less money have a higher tax burden under 999.  But isn't making the tax code uniform for everyone a FAIRer system?  Not really.

People who make less money spend more of their money.  They don't spend more money, just a higher percentage of their income gets spent as compared to people who make a lot of money.  Someone who makes a million dollars actually makes enough money to save some of their income.  But someone who makes $40,000 doesn't and is probably spending almost every penny that comes in.  The person spending the higher percentage gets their income taxed two and three different times under Cain's plan and thus carries a higher tax burden.

The $40K person gets it taxed at 9% when they make it.  Another 9% when they spend it.  And will get taxed again to make up for the businesses who are simply passing their 9% tax on to consumers, cause you know they will.  The person making $40K will see their taxes go up about 10% under Cain's plan.  In all, 84% of Americans will see an increase in their taxes anywhere from 2% to 20%.  Only people making over $200,000 will see an actual tax cut.  Seeing how about 85% of Americans make less than $200K, Cain's plan is nothing but a tax increase on the Middle Class and a huge tax cut for the wealthy.  No wonder he flipped the 666 upside down.

Adam Levine Has a Really Huge Set of Balls

I'm no Maroon 5 fan by any means.  But I do think Adam Levine is one of the best singers alive today.  He's also one of my new favorite people.

Qaddafi Dead

Supposedly he's dead.  Now what?

Day Off

Took the day off yesterday cause I had a huge headache. Feeling better today so maybe I'll get some posts up shortly.

Hannity: Obama Grew Up in Kenya

Okay, so maybe Obama was born in America but he grew up in Kenya you punk!!!

This is just crazy folks.  How can this possibly be our discourse, still???  There are way more important things going on in this country to be dealing with other than right wing nutjob conspiracy theories.  Someone like Hannity should be yanked off the air by Fox.  They should disown the guy.  But they won't. They pay him millions of dollars to spread lies about the President of the United States. They pay him millions so he can go on teevee to pretend he's an ordinary average American barely getting by.  The only thing worse than Sean Hannity are the people who watch and listen to his shows and believe every word he says.

You're an idiot Hannity.  But people who watch you are completely insane.

Mitt Romney: The 1-Percenter

Big Love Mitt Romney in the middle flashing and stashing cash from his Wall St. days

U.S. Concludes Iraqi Parliament Doesn't Like Occupation

From the Times:

BAGHDAD — An Obama administration proposal to keep a few thousand American troops here after the end of the year to train the Iraqi military is being scaled back, as the administration has concluded that the Iraqi Parliament would not give the troops legal protection, two American officials said on Saturday.

What has become of Glorious War and Freedom Bombs?

Fiscal Conservatism Version 1412

TPM breaks the story of over $100,000 of Herman Cain's already tight campaign cash being transferred to private companies owned by none other than Cain himself.  According to FCC regulations, a candidate is not allowed to profit from book sales purchased with campaign money, which is the reason Cain is giving for some of the money transfers.

Quickies-- Herman Cain Alternate Universe Edition

• Under Herman Cain's Patriotic Freedom Fighting Tax Plan 999, billionaire Warren Buffet, who has been begging government to increase his tax burden, would pay ZERO income taxes.  How's that for shifting the tax burden?

• Cain admits his tax plan would raise taxes on some people.  Who, you ask?  The Middle Class to be exact, which accounts for more than just "some people."  Because the Middle Class and lower income level people spend a greater percentage of their income-- almost all of it actually-- they will be subject to the 9% sales tax and the 9% income wage tax. That's not fair in any sense of the word.

• Cain's tax plan is 666 turned upside down.

• Imagine there's no pizza.

• The default tax rate in SimCity 4, 2003 ed. was 9% income tax, 9% business income tax, 9% sales tax.  Scared yet? 

Romney is Wall Street's Man

From the Times:

Since this spring, Mr. Romney has raised $1.5 million from employees of firms like Morgan Stanley; Highbridge Capital Management, a hedge fund; and Blackstone, a private equity firm. Mr. Obama has raised just over $270,000 from firms that were among his leading sources of campaign cash in 2008.

Hell Freezes Over! Fox News Apologizes for False Story About President

Yesterday Fox News' morning show, Fox and Friends, ran a segment that was utterly false.  They claimed a Wikileaks cable showed President Obama planned to go to Japan in 2009 and apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The only thing that prevented the president from doing this, according to Fox News, was a dignitary from Japan who told the president it was not necessary.

Here's how Fox ran the false story (h/t Mediaite):

“The president, in 2009,” Kilmeade said, “was heading to Japan, at which time evidently the White House had a great idea. Let’s apologize for dropping that bomb on Hiroshima.”

He then asked, “Guess who stopped it?”

Co-host Gretchen Carlson took the hand-off, saying, “A Japanese official who said, look, we don’t want any apology for that because actually, we sort of need to keep the nuclear threat alivebecause of the people — the countries that are betwixt around us, speak of China and maybe North Korea. Those country’s that are a threat or could be to Japan. According to Wikileaks and this report, the Japanese official is the one who contacted the White House and said let’s not apologize for Hiroshima.”

Of course if you actually read the leaked cable you would see that no where does it say anything like how Fox reported it. There was never any plan by the White House to apologize for the 1945 atomic bombings. Fox made the whole thing up.

So today, for what might be the first time ever, Fox News forced Steve Doocy to issue an apology.  “There was never a plan for President Obama to apologize to Japan,” said Doocy, adding, “we should have been clearer about that, and we’re sorry for the confusion.”

Holy Cow did that just happen!!!??!!

On Monday Fox News was forced to distance itself from Hank Jr. and now they are offering apologies for false stories about President Obama. Grab your Bibles, the end is near.

Obama Camp Hauls in $70.1 Million

Third quarter fundraising for President Obama's campaign and the Democratic Party saw a monstrous $70.1 million haul.  $42.8 million was for his own campaign.  In all, for the 3rd quarter, over 600,000 individuals donated to his campaign with an average of $56/donation.  That's double what he did in 2008 when he broke all fund raising records-- and it's not even an election year yet! Currently the Obama Campaign is quickly approaching the million donor mark with over 982,000  individual donors.  These stats are simply amazing to be honest.

But I thought Obama was losing popularity?  Sure just like every president he's taken a hit to his support.  But he still has a very strong base and still has the ability to attract regular Americans to support his reelection.  In fact, his entire operation is built around average Americans donating small sums.  I'll take that over a candidate controlled by large donors any day.

To put this into context, of just how extraordinary these stats are consider Michelle Bachman's mistaken brag last week.  She claimed her campaign was so popular and that she was so mainstream that she had over 250,000 donors.  A spokesman for her campaign quickly released a statement clarifying the campaign did not have near that many donors and the candidate simply meant over her political career.  That number is still suspect but we'll go with it.  Bachmann has been running for office since 1999.  In 10 years of campaigns she might have somewhere around 250,000 donors.  In one quarter of one off-election year Barack Obama had over 606,000 individual donors. That's how huge Obama's numbers are.

Two Words: Alan Keyes

I can tell you right now the logic behind many Republicans who are jumping for joy that Herman Cain might be the nominee. They are hoping that by having a black GOP nominee it will offset the black vote.  Thus, without the 95% black support Obama enjoyed in the last election, he'll lose.  It's a good thought, I'll give 'em that.  But it won't work.  This sort of logic has been tried before by the GOP and it failed.  I have two words for Republicans who think it's a brilliant way to divide the minority vote against Obama and get a Republican victory: ALAN KEYES.

Romney's Religion Is What it Is

I can't think of one single item I can go to a right wing Christian website and find agreement except for the whole mormon stuff. People may disagree with me on that. People on the left may disagree and say mormons are no more a cult than any religion is and I understand their point, and I'm okay with the disagreement.  I can understand as a practicality that all religion is cultish in nature.  Of course it is.  Where I'm coming from is that there are certain beliefs among Christian religions that have to be followed.  If not, Christianity becomes no more a practice than voodoo.

To believe that God lives on planet Kolob or Orem or whatever they call it.  And that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are prophets has no basis in Christianity.  What's more, Romney is an ordained minister in the Mormon Church, which means he not only professes to believe such nonsense but has sworn to spread it around the world.

Could you imagine if Barack Obama was a minister of a church whose doctrine insisted God lived on a planet in outer space and preached its followers wear magic underwear?  Do you think the GOP would lay off that?  Not for a second would they not make it an issue.  There's no reason to give Republicans a pass on this.

Dems Finally Decide to Relate Tea Baggers With GOP

Sen. Chuck Schumer pens a brilliant idea: link tea baggers and their fringe ideas to Republicans and call it Tea Party Economics.

Tea Party Economics

Of course The Fold Blog has been doing this for almost two years.  The DNC could have saved itself a ton of heartache and alka seltzer had it listened us.  A long, long time ago, like 2009-ish, you know when it was semi-rationale to believe austerity was a fool's errand, we were the lone beacon in the night telling the world that there was never any reason to ever differentiate tea baggers from Republicans.

Why Ron Paul Should Never Be Called a Libertarian Again, but will because he has some sort of cloak that makes him a super tough guy patriot

I've gotten a number of emails asking why Ron Paul's existence at the Values Voter Summit makes me like him less (yes even a few from Paultards telling me I'm not smart enough to understand how great he is).  I mentioned this in a post a couple days ago. And here's the short story of why.

As a primer, I would never vote for anyone who is courting the votes of people who follow Tony Perkins and his Christian Right neanderthals.  They are scary End Timers who cheer on War Without End.  They are as fake as they come and did I mention scary.  They claim to possess and seek out others who will represent their moral and family values.  In reality, there is nothing moral about anything they say or do.  The very thought that someone would compete for the votes of these people is disgusting.

On a more ideological note, someone who claims to be a libertarian, like Ron Paul so famously does, would not in anyway give End Timers or their conference the time of day.  That's not to say that Ron Paul or someone who is a libertarian can't be religious or subscribe to an element of faith.  I'm not saying that at all.  Of course they can do all that.  But a true libertarian does not believe in combining religion with politics.  And that's exactly the intent of the conference, to combine religion with politics. More precisely, a libertarian would not pander for their votes and certainly wouldn't give a speech like Paul did talking about how faith guides his political judgments.

Considering Ron Paul's pandering of the Values Voter Summit, his stance on abortion, his stance on gay marriage and equal rights, it's impossible to label him a libertarian.  He's not.  He's a Republican.  And judging from his recent winning of the Values Voter straw poll, his speech to the End Timers and his insistence on white male victimization he's no different than any other Republican who has run for president since the 80s.

Joe Walsh Claims He Had Verbal Agreement Not To Pay Child Support

Republican Tea Bagger and deadbeat dad Joe Walsh (R-IL) claims he had a verbal agreement with his ex-wife not to pay child support.  His former wife is suing him for $117,000 of back child support.  While unemployed Walsh loaned his political campaign $35,000 and took his new wife on a trip to Europe all while having his home foreclosed on.  Walsh is giddily labeled a fiscal conservative and deficit hawk by the establishment media and the GOP.

Marines at Occupy Wall St. Tell Sean Hannity to F 'Off

The cameraman then asked what their feelings were about Hannity hosting a protester on his show, only to call her “un-American.”

“You know, that’s pretty funny,” the first man responded. “When they have these protests, violent protests overseas, we call ‘em democratic. The people are trying to get theirs. But as soon as we start doing ‘em here, they call us unpatriotic. So that’s, uh, very ironic that he would say something like that.”

“Is there anything that you would specifically tell him if he was here standing in front of you?” the cameraman asked.

“I’d tell him to fuck off,” the veteran replied. “That’s what I would tell him.”

The other man added: “I think that’s the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard. Everyone here loves this country and wants to see it grow and wants to see it better. They love the people, they love their community, their neighbors. There hasn’t been racism here or bigotry. We get along as one big family, and that’s what we want for the rest of the country. All the people who are suffering in debt, who can’t speak for themselves, who are too afraid to voice their opinion, we’re here fighting for their rights.”

Jobs Bill to Get GOP Filibuster

If a vote on the president's jobs bill is held this evening in the Senate it won't come anywhere near the necessary 60 votes to overcome a Republican-led filibuster.  And it might not come anywhere near a simple majority either.  Three or four supposedly labeled "moderate" Democrats are balking at the vote.  A piece of legislation that is as popular as any bill in Congress can get at the moment, unemployment at drastically scary levels and an economy growing at barely 1% and it's still impossible to do what's right.

It would be nice to garner enough votes to show the public that the bill would pass if the GOP would allow an up-or-down vote, like they demanded so many times when they were in power. Chances are, though, the only thing this vote will show the public is that Democrats don't need an opposition party to block their agenda.

*Update:

Repubs successfully filibuster Obama's jobs bill, 50-48.  Two Dems sided with the GOP, Ben Nelson and Jon Tester.  Obama administration plans to break the bill into smaller parts and try, try again.

It's Not a Contest

99% > 53%  Just saying

When Ron Paul Wins It's an Outlier

No doubt every straw poll is meaningless.  They are not a measurement of anything except to a small extent of campaign organization and even that too might be an overstatement.  Nonetheless, we've seen our share of Republicans running for the finish line when it comes to bragging about the results.  Don't forget, either, the over-exaggeration is all made possible by the media establishment.  Michelle Bachmann was treated like queen frontrunner, even though she clearly wasn't, after winning a straw poll at the Iowa state fair.

Rare it is though, or maybe never do you see the actual organizers of the straw poll shrugging off its over-hyped importance.  Typically straw poll organizers, like Values Voter Summit leader Tony Perkins, do everything they can to ensure the masses that their straw poll is necessary and trustworthy.  Prior to the event "Perkins said his organization did 'everything to preserve the integrity of this straw poll,' including denying campaigns from buying blocks of tickets, "which they attempted to do this year."  Well that was before Ron Paul won it.

Within minutes after Paul captured 37% of the vote, enough to garner him the win, Perkins began shrugging off the victory even suggesting its irrelevancy. 

“I don’t think Ron Paul is truly reflective of where values voters stand,” said Perkins on CNN’s "American Morning on Monday."  Perkins went on to call Paul's win an "outlier" and even accused Paul's supporters of ballot-stuffing.

Wow, I really don't think I've ever seen a poll organizer do such a thing.

It's clear Ron Paul wasn't supposed to win Perkins' poll.  Perkins would have preferred Herman Cain, Perry or even Romney over Paul.  Since that didn't happen, Perkins does what every Christian Moralist and George Bush voter does and shrugs the poll off as being detached from the mainstream of voters.  I find it hard to believe if one of Perkins' chosen ones had won, he would have been calling it an "outlier."

Deep Thought

When is Herman Cain going to be forced to submit his birth certificate?

*Update:

I was just informed that Cain is a Republican candidate and thus a proven freeborn Patriot!  Only Democrats with funny names and dark skin are subject to questions surrounding citizenship and love of America.

Blog Issues

We've been doing updates to the template today.  Still having some issues with Disqus finding its way back to the site.  Hope to have it fixed today.

Robert Jeffress Makes a Stir

I've been waiting for the right wing to start mentioning something about Big Love Mitt Romney's Mormon faith and it looks like over the weekend it finally happened.

This might be the single issue I agree on with the religious fanatics of the GOP.  Y'all may disagree but I do believe Mormonism is a cult.  Or in the very least, not a Christian ministry.  But if it has to be classified as part of Christianity then it's a cult among the many sects of the religion.

Could you imagine the outrage if a Democrat running for president believed in Kolob and Orem and that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri?  Can you possibly imagine how out of the mainstream the GOP would make him or her?

Ron Paul Wins Values Voter Straw Poll

Another straw poll for Ron Paul.  Winning this one actually makes me like him less.  The Values Voter Summit is full of some very crazy people.  They are the people who assured America that George W. Bush was somehow epically superior in his moral values than anyone else to ever live.  Very Crazy People. 

Tea Baggers Call Wall St. Protesters Criminals

Only people who protest Democrats are Super Patriots.  All others are criminals.

There is, as expected, a larger point here.  The whole thing revolves around the accepted and established Republican view that Democrats are enemies of the state who want to destroy America.  Notice when Hank Jr. gave his hate-filled speech on Fox News the other day that he called them enemies that must be stopped.

In an interview Monday morning on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," Williams, unprompted, said of Obama's outing on the links with House Speaker John Boehner: "It'd be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu."

Asked to clarify, Williams said, "They're the enemy," adding that by "they" he meant Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

Naturally the enemy, when they do speak up and march in the streets, is partaking in a criminal activity.  This is where our political discourse is at in America.  It's not that you disagree with someone.  It's that the other person is a socialist enemy that hates America.

In the entirety of Bush's 8 years, I disagreed with him many times.  But never did I call him an enemy.  Or someone that hates America.  Never did I think the people who supported him where enemies that hated America.  The same doesn't apply for Republicans who now find themselves in the minority. They view everyone-- yes everyone-- that doesn't believe everything they do and watch Fox News as enemies that must be stopped at all costs.  There's a sort of cultish mix of fanaticism involved with such a mindset.  Whatever it is, it's alive and well and has hijacked the GOP.  There's no reason to think it's going to change any time soon either.  It's a disgrace.

Quickies

• Sarah Palin won't run.  Shocker.  Yawn.

• Michelle Bachmann, yet another female right wing lunatic in the mold of Palin, lied today by saying her presidential campaign had over 250,000 donors.  She's crazy.

• Ron Paul called the Occupy Wall St. protest a "legitimate effort." 

• Turns out Sean Hannity's claim that Obama was hanging out with Black Panthers in 2007 is a total lie.  Yeah, real shocker.  

• Fox News' Steve Doocy, once again, distorts the facts about Reagan's presidency.  Doocy claimed that Obama's policies won't work and he should instead look at Reagan's "permanent tax cuts" to get the economy on the right track.  As County Fair notes, Reagan's tax cuts in '81 and '86 were offset by his 11 tax increases.  One of those 11 increases was the largest tax increase during peacetime in history.  Never mind any of that though.  As always though, we aren't talking about Real Reagan here.  Republicans are simply talking about Fantasy World Reagan.

Occupy Wall St. Is Not Political and Doesn't Want To Be

I haven't written much (one item actually) about the Occupy Wall St. protests that appear to be spreading across the nation.  My neglect has largely been because this blog isn't a social movement facilitator.  As much as anyone would like it to be, it's not.  It's just an opinion blog like thousands of others on the web.  To a larger extent, I haven't written much about the protests because I don't know who or what they are.  Sure I can empathize with them when it comes to paying bills but as far as much else, I live in the middle of the country where such movements are the last thing you tend to jump into.

What I do know is the protest is a long time coming.  Almost 3 years ago to the day the Bush administration signed an $800 billion piece of legislation known as TARP that effectively bailed out the Wall St. fat cats.  In addition, trillions of tax payer dollars have been poured into Wall St. in the form of very low interest loans which will rarely get repaid.  The result did rescue the economy from collapse but it also financed the greed of Wall Street. Millionaire CEO's are pulling in the largest salaries and bonuses in history. The rich are getting richer and the rest of America is stagnant or falling behind.  All of that is recipe for the majority to finally make some waves.

The movement seems to have no ties to the left and certainly none to the right.  What you can clearly see are the people involved want equal treatment and a fair shake at life.  Bailing out the rich while ignoring the vast majority of America is not an attribute most people, especially Americans, embrace. That in and of itself does nothing for movement politics.  But politics is not at all what the people protesting care about.  Politics is what gave us TARP in the first place.  Politics is what has allowed the richest 1% of Americans to keep getting richer.  The last thing Occupy Wall Street wants to do is turn into a political movement lining up candidates for election.  So far, that's a good thing.

*Update:

So who are the top 1% everybody is so mad at?  Tax Policy Center has the numbers.

• The top 1% of American earners have an average yearly income of $1.5 million.
• The top 0.1% of American earners have an average yearly income of $6.7 million.

Suffice to say I'm not in either group.

Don't confuse this, though, with the notion that people are mad that the 1% are rich.  No one is saying that it's not fair the rich are rich and I'm not.  And no one is saying take from the rich to give to the poor.  What the Occupy Wall St. movement is saying is that the top 1% have been unfairly given tax payer money (TARP and various other bailouts over the last 3 years) to make themselves richer while 99% of Americans have received no such help.

Somebody Give This Man a Pulitzer!

"I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot and got ratings."-- Fox News CEO, Roger Ailes

Look at the bright side, at least he didn't try to tell us it was because she's smart and informative.

Al Jazeera Does the Job American Media Refuses To Do With the Bushies

Donald Rumsfeld, arguably the worst Secretary of Defense this nation has ever had, was pressed harder on Al Jazeera English the other day than ever by any American media network.

“Do you think the numbers of US troops that you went into Iraq with did absolve you from the responsibility of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed by the coalition and those criminals you talked about?” Foukara asked Rumsfeld. “Give me a straight answer.”

“You can characterize my answers any way you want,” Rumsfeld responded. “And you do it in a pejorative way.” 

Incredible.  One of the men most responsible for the blunder of the century that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and a trillion dollars of American tax money gets told to answer for his actions and he calls it derogatory.    Rumsfeld went on to call the whole interview a "haranguing," in other words an attack.

That's just it.  We are never allowed to bring up Iraq unless we praise how brave and glorious the Bushies were for getting rid of the evil of Saddam.  If we do, we are being hateful and attacking.  If we dare mention that everything the Bushies ever told us about Iraq turned out to be a lie, we are immediately lumped into a group of Not Very Serious People and told not to come back out until we learn to not question anything Bush ever did.

That Bush and his cohorts set this nation on a path of Endless War without ever raising a penny to pay for any of it is considered slander in American politics and never to be mentioned.  We are supposed to give Rummy and his people Medals of Patriotic Freedom and tell them how great and safe they've made the world.  And call the people responsible fiscal conservative patriots.

Apple Makes Old New Again

Not that I'm a total Apple convert-- yet.  I'm on the fence though.  I have a Droid 2 cell phone, an iPad 2 and a Dell desktop.  At work I use a Dell desktop and a Dell laptop.  Can't remember the last time I touched my laptop, though.  But my one Apple device (iPad 2) is my favorite.  Also, when my Verizon contract is up in April 2012 my next phone will undoubtedly be an iPhone.  That's why I, for the first time, was actually excited and paid attention to today's Apple announcement.  As it turns out, my next cell phone will be an iPhone 4S.

I want to elaborate a little bit more, however.  I like my Droid 2.  I have no problems with it.  But iTunes has taken me over.  It's a huge hassle to put music from iTunes onto my Droid.  That won't be the case when I get my iPhone 4S.  In fact, the iCloud is one of the most awesome features I've ever seen.  With the iCloud, I won't have to sync to iTunes via a computer anymore.  Every song, book or app I download will wirelessly sync to all my Apple devices.  That alone is worth it.

So it's not that I think Apple makes better products.  Motorola and Google can compete with no problems.  For me, Apple makes products more useful and much less hassle free.  I don't have any particular attraction to iOSX versus Windows or Android.  I just like the fact that an Apple operating system is creatively productive in comparison.

Game Changer Not So Much

Stop the clock...Chris Christie won't run for president.  Buffets all across America are safe for now.

Game Changer

Democrat Jerry Costello of the IL-12 has decided not to run for reelection.  He's my home rep.  This is a total game changer.  This was a very safe Democratic seat.

Probably the biggest Republican name I'm seeing thrown around to run in what will be a new district and an empty seat is Jason Plummer.  He was the GOP's 2010 Lt. Gov. nominee in Illinois.

ESPN Boots Hank

I'm a Hank Jr. fan.  Listened to him almost all my life.  I probably know almost every word to all his songs.  So it's with disgust that I watched him make a fool out of himself on Fox News by comparing the president to Hitler and calling Democrats enemies.

Hank would have been the first person to call someone a traitor for saying such stuff about Bush and the GOP.  He would have questioned anyone's patriotism for doing any such thing just two years ago.  And it's totally within ESPN's rights to pull him from their Monday Night Football intro.  They simply don't want to partake their programming with an idiot.  That's their decision to make.

Hank used to stand for a figment of country music known as an Outlaw because he bucked the establishment.  He blamed them for forcing his father into second-class status because he didn't always act the way the old white geezers running the program wanted him to act.  Now as he sits there on the most watched news organization in America, especially by old white geezers who don't want anything to change, Hank has become the embodiment of everything he claimed to reject.  He is officially a crusty old white man that yearns for the days when no one questioned old crusty white men.

To their credit, Fox News has disowned and disavowed every word Hank said.  Good for them.  Now quit portraying the president as a socialist enemy of America and maybe this country can advance past such idiotic rhetoric and the mindset that caused Hank to say what he said.

Go F' Yourself Cheney

One of the most unpopular men in American history, who can't get enough Glorious War on his Fox News teevee set, and who co-presided over one of the most despicable and lawless administrations since Richard Nixon, says President Obama should apologize to the Bushies.

"I think it was a very good strike. I think it was justified," Cheney told CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union." But "I'm waiting for the administration to go back and correct something they said two years ago when they criticized us for 'overreacting' to the events of 9/11."

The Obama administration has "clearly ... moved in the direction of taking robust action when they feel it is justified," Cheney said.

Not that there's any chance in the world the current president will apologize to George Bush or anyone who worked for him, it's clear Cheney still has no grasp of reality.

Like Steve Benen notes, President Obama never said in his Cairo Speech the Bushies overreacted to 9/11.  No where in the speech can you even find that word.  While we are focusing on facts, if invading a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 isn't "overreacting" then what is?

Let's also be clear, too, on the second part of Cheney's complaint that Obama has "clearly...moved in the direction of taking robust action when they feel it is justified."  OF COURSE THEY HAVE.  But let's be clear, President Obama took "robust action" on al Qaeda, the people responsible for 9/11, and not a man and a country that had nothing to do with it.

Obama has been robust at Bush's failures.  He's tracked down and killed bin Laden.  He put the focus back onto the people responsible for attacking us.  And he's been quite successful at all of it.  Way more successful than I ever thought he would be.

By all means, if the president is going to be robust then be robust competently.  Forgetting about bin Laden and his organization and turning your attention to Iraq is not robust action.  It's criminal stupidity.

The Bush administration is criticized precisely because they took robust action on the wrong people.  Had Bush not invaded Iraq and sent America into a downward spiral, then criticism for his other activities would have been on the same level of as what the current president is receiving.  But invading Iraq did more than just make Cheney and George W. even richer.  It opened them up to criticism on everything, robust or not.

Quickies-- Fat Man In a Little Coat Edition

NJ Gov. Chris Christie is pondering throwing his 400lb. physique into the presidential race.  Might decide this week.  Or he might explode first.

Is it wrong to poke fun at his obesity?

fat people are Super Patriots too!

Good thing he's not black and fat.  Could you imagine that?

Here's the comparison folks.  As you can see Chris Christie is a victim in all this.

Maybe instead of having debates Obama and Slim can ball it out on the basketball court?  Or maybe they can have beer summits instead. Surely consuming large quantities of calories in one setting is something Christie can handle.  But I've drank beer with Obama and he can keep up trust me.  Christie will have his hands and plate full, pun intended.