Category Archives: Politics

Politics

Thoughts, thoughts, and more thoughts…

Leave a comment

Well….I haven’t been able to make a coherent long-form thought in a couple of days so I think I’ll just go with it and write what I like to call short stories…pretty original, huh? Starting with the headline in the USA Today that states that American taxpayers are paying less in taxes than they have in any year since 1958…yep, so when you hear the repubs say that taxes are still too high and want to cut them more for the well off, remember that if we went back to the tax rates of the booming 1990′s, the deficit would be cut by more than a third without cutting the aid to college students, seniors, and the rest of the middle class that the repubs are saying is absolutely necessary. Remember, too, that it has never been shown that tax cuts for the rich and business do anything but make them richer…no jobs created, no benefit to those who are struggling.

Another one that got a rise out of me was an editorial in the Detroit News that did nothing but denigrate the people in localities around Detroit for approving millages to continue to pay their firefighters, police, and to maintain the services that make their communities more livable. The News goes on to assert that the voters in those localities are stupid for raising their own taxes instead of buying into the draconian cuts that gov Snyder is jamming down the throats of the rest of Michigan. Where the hell does the News get off telling the voters how to vote? I see this as just a huge snit by the News since they blindly think Snyder is the savior of Michigan and that only his ideas are worthy of action….and they are so irritated that the elected officials of those communities have decided not to attack their neighbors and buy into the bogus attempts that the repubs are making at playing the middle class off against each other. What’s next Snyder? Are you going to take over those communities that voted to raise taxes and appoint emergency managers since they are obviously crazy to not drink your repub kool-aid? I guess the Snyder honeymoon is over…can’t wait for 2012 when we can say goodbye to these idiots…geez…okay, only two thoughts so the title is not accurate….maybe there are more than one thought in each one?

Okay, let’s make it three….another report that came out today saying that the compensation for CEO’s is higher than it has ever been as compared to normal workers and has completely recovered from the blip of a downturn it took last year…I don’t have to tell you what that means…okay, I will anyway….these guys were not touched at all by the recession that decimated the rest of the nation….great work if you can get it…geez…

Politics

It’s the right decision…

Leave a comment

Well…just got back from the bike ride and I am sore…but that’s pretty normal for me….I did want to weigh in on the controversy over the pictures of a dead bin Laden and the president’s decision not to release them. I think it’s the right decision and is part of the type of things we need to do to restore our standing in the world; a businesslike way of running the country that takes the emotional bullshit out of decision making….something the Bushies never could figure out with their faith-based administration. I know, I should get over the Bushies at some point in the near future, but when people like Peter King continue to support and give credit to them and make excuses for them, I need to call them out on it. If you hadn’t heard from rep King, he trotted out the old repub talking point that torture got them the information that led to bin Laden’s capture and death….even though everyone in the intelligence community dismissed that years ago and he ignores the fact that torture did more to turn the world against us than anything else in the history of the country. Well…that may be a little hyperbole, but seeing these guys continue to want our names, as citizens of this country, associated with this dark episode still irritates the hell out of me…geez…

Politics

I just remembered…

Leave a comment

Well…I’m in the middle of watching a movie and I just remembered that I promised some thoughts on the nullification strategies that the repubs are using on Obama, the same as they did with Clinton…using the birther controversy to match the Whitewater inquest to try to make sure that there are always distractions that take peoples minds away from what is really important. Doesn’t anyone else see this as un-American? The right goes on and on about supporting the commander in chief in wartime when one of theirs in in power, but when it’s not, all you hear is picking, sniping, and second guessing by these hypocrites. Contrary to what the right thinks, politics is not war…not a battle to be won at the cost of our very Americanness…..Yeah, I know, that not a real word but it is a good descriptor…America used to be the place where people of all political stripes could come together for the good of the nation, not just of their party and we all know it is the repubs that have ruined it. Let’s start holding them accountable…..geez…

Politics

There’s a theme here….

Leave a comment

Well….there have been things happening here in Michigan that I think need some comments since it appears that there is a theme that is running through them. Hey…didn’t bury the lead…oh, yep I did…damn….okay, let’s get to it…starting with the passing of the Snyder budget proposal that barely squeeked by the repub controlled House that will eliminate taxes for 86% of businesses here…yeah, you read it right 86% of business will pay no taxes under Snyder’s plan…that means you and I will be building the roads, paying for the schools, police and fire protection that business will then be able to use for free….sounds a lot like the welfare that the repubs always say is ruining this country when it goes to individuals, but I guess it’s just peachy when it goes to the rich and business. Doesn’t it take away businesses incentive to work hard when they can just freeload on the backs of the people? If you remember, this is just what the repubs said about people getting unemployment benefits earlier in the year. Aren’t you tired of this nonsense yet?

Another thing we should remember is that the repubs were voted into office largely on the argument of the “government takeover” of healthcare and their incessant yammering that this was creeping socialism but what Snyder is doing here in Michigan is right out of the central planning of the old Soviet Union…where he and his cronies now have the power to remove elected officials an take over any entity that doesn’t toe their line. Where is the repub outcry over this egregious central government takeover?

The third thing that happened lately is the imposition of the new young driver rules that take away a parents right to control that part of their children’s behavior…inserting the state in between that relationship and not allowing a parent to set the rules for behavior….for instance, the new 10 pm curfew for new drivers…what if they work after 10? What if they have a family outing? It’s just another example of the repubs talking individual freedom and then imposing the power of the state whenever they have the chance…..

Politics

A couple of musings…

Leave a comment

Well…if you don’t live in Michigan, you’ve probably not heard of the huge controversy we have going on in the East side of the state concerning the new US/Canada bridge that has been proposed to alleviate the congestion at the privately held Ambassador Bridge that connects Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Today’s article in the Detroit Free Press sheds a lot of light on why the Mattouns, the owners of the bridge, are spending so much money on trying to prevent another span being built…a big part being that they own the fuel sales rights on the bridge plazas and have a sweetheart deal where they don’t pay taxes on any of those sales…yep, they make a profit of almost 60 cents per gallon on each and every gallon of gas or diesel sold there, along with the money from tolls. A license to print money that they will fight to the death to protect…no matter what is good for the people of Michigan or the country….just another instance of the rich not giving a damn about anything but their money and power….who allows important border crossings to be privately owned anyway? This is one of only two in the US and needs to be run for the benefit of the country….not just one family.

The other thing that I wanted to talk about today is a neat article by E.J. Dionne in the Washington Post this morning where he notes that people are starting to tire of the false choices that the repubs have been presenting to the country that are increasingly framed in the “either/or” and not the “both/and” that the country wants to hear…and the earlier presents a pessimistic view of the countries future that is not how you run a democracy. E. J. goes on to assert that this type of political rhetoric is one of the big reasons why we can’t find compromises anymore….I ask the question: why can’t we have a social safety net and lower deficits? Why can’t we cut government spending and still have the services that the majority of the country expects from government? I think it’s because politicians have gotten lazy and dogmatic and I agree with E.J. again that this type of false choice has substituted for thought and is the real reason that we can’t seem to solve any of the countries problems…geez…

Politics

Wandering around in my head on Friday….

Leave a comment

Well….there are quite a few things going on in my head today so I thought I’d just free form it and let them come as they will…oh, free speech and the first amendment….read an article in the Detroit papers about the idiot Terry Jones and his plans to protest Islam outside a mosque in Detroit today…if you remember, he’s the one that burned a Koran in Florida that set off the rest of the idiots in Afghanistan and across the middle east and the protests there killed almost 50 people….so it’s not okay to burn a Koran, but it’s okay to kill 50 people protesting it? I just don’t understand that whole mindset….but, back to Detroit…the government there wants Mr. Jones to post a huge bond to cover the costs of security….since when does the first amendment come with a price tag? While I abhor the supposed preacher and his hate speech…we must all defend his right under the first amendment to that speech…and you do not have to pay for the privilege….so, kudos to the ACLU for defending him….

Hmmm….oh, to all of you who bitched and moaned about the bailout loans made to the auto industry in the meltdown….I have a bit of “I told you so” to throw back at you…the CEO of Chrysler today announced that they will be paying back the remaining 7.5 billion they owe 6 years early…yep, that’s right 6 years early and in full….another success story of the targeted government intervention that I advocate and it just adds to the success of the TARP programs that is going to show a 40-50 billion dollar profit for you and me…and these were things that the free market was unwilling or unable to do…take that repubs….

Anything else? Oh, another myth about taxing the rich fell today….that if their state tax rates rise, they will just move out of that state to another one that has lower taxes….doesn’t happen….the outflow and inflow of rich to those states was exactly the same as it was before the tax increases….so, let’s add this one to the myth that cutting taxes on the rich creates jobs and the corresponding one that says cutting taxes on corporations creates jobs…just doesn’t happen…..but the repubs will just keep lying about this until enough of us start paying attention and pushing back…..

That’s about it….for now, wanted to get this one out before lunch so you’d have something to kill time with when you come back from lunch….it is Friday, after all….

Politics

Still struggling…

Leave a comment

Well…just thought I’d get a shorty out to let you know that I am working on getting another one going in my head but this whole day has been a weird jumble of things happening and I am so far off my normal routine that I haven’t even read the online papers yet…so I’m going to do that now and then come back in a while to finish this…

Okay, I’m back…had to run an unexpected errand and still haven’t found anything to write about….maybe the hurt feelings of Paul Ryan would be appropriate…I just had to laugh after Obama attacked Ryan’s radical budget proposal, with Ryan calling the speech “overly partisan”…oh, poor baby, you should be happy he didn’t call you the idiot that you are…well…he kind of did, and as time goes by and people other that the Heritage Foundation take a close look…we’ve learned that it does nothing to lower the deficit, yep, that’s right…nope, I can’t even fake surprise at this one….these guys have taken “voodoo” economics to a new high, and I am so happy they did it, finally letting the curtain fall on their agenda to end the social contract that has existed for the past 90 years. It is a little heartening to see the same kind of thing happening here in Michigan with gov Snyder losing support even from his own party where they still have some realists…..I can’t wait to see the ads for the next election where the dismantling of Medicare is going to be the subject…and it will make it easier to believe when the left says the repubs want to end Social Security, too….going to be interesting time over the next two years…strap in and hang on…

Politics

Did you vote for this?

Leave a comment

Well…if there was any confusion over whose side the newly elected repubs are on here in Michigan, you only have to look at what a new bill is doing to the foreclosure process here….where the current law provides a 6 month window for people trying to save their houses, the new bill, written and paid for by the banking industry, will cut that time in half and allow the banks to make the homeowners jump through more and more paperwork hoops while they will have absolutely no requirements for timeliness for their end of the process…basically allowing them to drag the process out to “run out the clock” on the homeowners and ensuring that less and less people will be able to save their homes. I will point this at those of you who voted for these thieves: “Did you vote for this?” Did you vote to have your friends and neighbors houses stolen when they run into financial trouble? If you did, then shame on you…geez…

Politics

What’s wrong with the rich?

Leave a comment

Well….as I sit here and think about the news over the past few weeks a question comes to mind: “What’s wrong with the rich?” When did they become so greedy and self-centered that they lost any pretense of caring about anyone but themselves? This post was kind of spurred on by the recent report that the super rich in this country have an average tax rate that is below 17%. Let’s put that in perspective using my own situation as an example….I took 15 k out of my IRA last year just to pay my rent and keep food on the table and my tax rate was over 25%…yep, someone that is barely making ends meet is paying more percentage in taxes than billionaires, and this is on money that I earned and saved over my working career. But, you won’t hear me bitch about paying taxes; they are necessary to maintain our social contract and make this a better society for everyone…not just the rich. I find it so funny that these people will spend millions and millions of dollars buying repubs to write them favorable laws but will balk at paying for the infrastructure and military that allow them to make those outrageous sums of money. Why are they so un-American? But, it’s not just the rich that are at fault here…it’s our fault for voting for people that are nothing more than shills for business and that lie like they breathe….who don’t believe that there should be a shared responsibility for the welfare of our country…should we be surprised? Nope, most of the legislators we now have are millionaires that are there for one thing and one thing only…to line their pockets and tell us that a greater America is no longer possible; that the poor and middle class are leeches that will be better off if the safety nets that have kept millions of seniors and unemployed out of poverty are gone. Is that the vision that you or I share? I sure hope not…geez…

Politics

Nolan Finley is still an idiot…

Leave a comment

Well…if you’ve been here before, you know one of my favorite, recurring targets is Nolan Finley, who writes a column for the Detroit News….the right wing leaning newspaper I read every morning…yeah, I know, you ask yourself why, why do I read this paper when you know that I am a progressive? Look, I need to know what the repub talking points are and I can be sure that the point of the day will be in the News…usually led by brother Nolan. This mornings’ column is a screed that goes off on Obama’s speech yesterday that proposed letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those who make over 250 K a year, and he goes on that it would be unfair since the top 1% already pay 30% of the taxes paid in the US. He continues that the top 10% pay 73% of the taxes paid and it is unfair for them to pay more when 47% of the filers pay no taxes at all. Nolan, Nolan, Nolan….you do forget to mention that the top 10% get over 90% of the total income in this country…do the math….that means that the rich are not paying their fair share but are finding ways to buy a favorable tax code through donations to the repubs…..and to your second point, the reason that 47% of the people pay no taxes is the repubs policies from Saint Reagan to now have decimated the middle class and incomes for all of the middle class and poor have dropped to the point that they are now approaching the poverty level.

I don’t think Nolan and his repub cronies will be happy until they steal all of America…it is a question of fairness and of vision, what kind of country do we want? Where the repubs can excoriate the middle class for becoming poor and not paying taxes while our richest corporations use their power and money to do the same? Geez….I may be back to add to this one later…but I am so irritated by this idiots ramblings that I am having trouble being lucid….