Well…I’ve been reading about the salivating the media is undergoing when they talk about a republican “moderate” like John Huntsman getting into the 2012 presidential race, and I can’t help but sit here amazed that this is a story at all. I know the media needs to feed the the 24 hour news cycle and find the next big thing, but talking about a repub moderate is like talking about a dodo bird…they just don’t exist anymore except in comparison the the hard right that dominates the party. Does anyone in their right mind think someone like Huntsman can get through the primary process that is dominated by people that used to be the fringe right that included the John Birch society? Ronald Reagan couldn’t even get through to the nomination in this era of ideological purity and litmus tests that the fringe has imposed on them….making the pragmatism (or supposed pragmatism) of someone like Huntsman a death sentence for his candidacy.
Just had a thought, maybe this is just another ploy from the repubs to lie again…run someone as a centrist, just like they did for governor in Michigan and Wisconsin, and lie like crazy to everyone but their base, and then have this “stealth” candidate win so they can give the rest of the country away to the rich and business…machiavellian, I know, but stranger things have happened…remember you heard it here first and I won’t be afraid to say “I told you so” when this plan is worked right in front of the media’s eyes and they miss it….
Well…just a shorty before I go out and get some coffee and read the papers…just read an interesting study that looked at tax revenues in 2007 and the findings made me laugh like crazy…it turns out that the top ten “welfare queen” states; states that get more in federal money than they pay in, are the hot beds of the tea party and the right wing of the repub party…oh, the whole repub party is right wing now so I guess I’ll have to find a new descriptor….so, they hate the federal government and think it should be shrunk? I propose that we start with the easy way, cut off the welfare queen states and they will then have incentive to get off their butts and start working…that’s what the repubs say about the unemployed and that’s what should happen to these states. Geez…
Haven’t done one of these in quite a while and no, I don’t think it’s cheating…I did watch the movie and it was no where near as good as the documentary on Jack Abramhoff that I watched the other day….there was way too much focus on the title character and not enough on the influence peddling and the “pay for play” aspect where he was selling access to repub senators and congressmen. The real story was just more interesting….it has been kind of interesting what is going on with the repub presidential candidates and all of the supposed front runners that have decided they can’t win in 2012 so they are staying in their cushy Fox jobs and will continue to rake in the money from their hate and attacks….now, all they have left is Paul, Romney, and ole Newt that have their hats in the ring…and not one of them can ignore their pasts of favoring healthcare before they were against it, for being serial cheaters, or for wanting to tear the federal government completely down….I know you can figure out which one is which without me telling you if you’ve been paying even a little attention…..
I do have a little hope that Obama is starting to think and act strategically by getting bin Laden, pushing for more oil drilling, and attacking the Ryan budget proposals…now he just needs to get out in front of them instead of counterpunching…I may even have another one today…
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…
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…
Well….it’s gotten to almost noon and I don’t feel too much better either physically or mentally so there won’t be any politics today I don’t think. Have not done much yet…did go out for coffee and read the papers but there are no topics that have grabbed me…there was one about ethanol and the new rules that are going to allow 15% ethanol in gasoline but then it goes on to say that any car older than 2002 won’t be able to use it without damage….so, anyone who is poor like me can’t drive anymore? Or, are they going to put normal gas in one pump and then jack the price up because it’s “special” gas? I can see why people are concerned about government interference in their lives….and I haven’t even touched on the effect that the diversion of all that corn has had on food prices or the subsidy that the ethanol producers get to make the stuff. Okay, repubs, why aren’t you bitching about this…oh, that’s right it helps business and it’s okay if government helps business; but it’s wrong to help citizens. See…I can’t even work up the minimum of outrage that would power my writing so I’m going to quit here….
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….
Well….I do feel a little better so I thought I’d get this one out before I slink back to the couch to continue this slow, painful recovery. I have been having problems writing lately since it takes a lot out of me to be outraged all the time, and I do want to write about good news; there just hasn’t been any lately. That might not be completely true, there was an election in Wisconsin yesterday and the turnout by the people that want fairness restored to their political process was huge….maybe I was right that the repub thugs have overreached and misread the will of the people. No one but the rich could have voted for what gov Walker foisted on that state, or for what Paul Ryan is proposing on the federal level…that there will be no more social contract, that there will be no more shared responsibility, that the US will see the last 100 years of progress on social issues repealed. I just hope that we can keep up the outrage of the electorate now that the repubs have revealed their true selves….shame on us if we don’t…
Well….a good bit of outrage has built up of the past few days reading the budget proposals that are coming out of the repubs, and Paul Ryan in particular…and I find it breathtaking that they think they can just steal 4 trillion more dollars from the country in the guise of “deficit reduction”. To put this whole idea in perspective, we only need to remember that without the Bush tax cuts for the rich, there would be no budget crisis…remember that, there would be no budget crisis if the Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire. That is one of the things that these thieves don’t want you to know…one of the others is what they want to do to Medicare…they are back to their old scam of privatizing all of the safety nets that have kept older Americans out of poverty for 80 years and turning it into a private insurance con that would transfer more wealth into the hands of the rich and business. But this is not the only place these idiots want to attack while giving more to the rich…they want across the board cuts to every program that has any benefit to the middle class; saying it’s a needed sacrifice that the middle class needs to make…my question is: “where is the sacrifice from the rich?” Don’t waste your time looking….you won’t find it. What would have happened if Social Security and Medicare were privatized when the financial meltdown happened; perpetrated by the rich for the rich? All of us in the middle class would have lost everything while the bankers walked away with their millions and millions in bonuses.
Please, people, start paying attention and don’t let these liars take what is left of the country….geez….
Well….it has struck me, thinking over the last couple of weeks, that the only thing the repubs are good at is taking away peoples rights or preventing classes they don’t like in gaining the rights that the rest of us enjoy. I know I’ve talked about this before, but this same old silliness has taken over the repubs like never before….let’s take away the rights of people to bargain, let’s take away the rights of people to be let alone (i.e. the Patriot Act), and let’s prevent gays from having the rights they deserve. My larger question here is what does this nonsense have to do with creating jobs and helping repair the middle class that has been destroyed over the past 30 years? The quick answer is nothing…but that’s what the repubs do, talk, promise, and lie, then give more to the rich. Their latest trick to silence their critics? They are now using the Freedom of Information Act to go on fishing expeditions to try to find innocuous e-mails that can be twisted in their latest smear campaign…and are they asking for those of the right-leaners…of course not…I’ve told you before these folks are just a bunch of thugs and this is just another example that they will stop at nothing to destroy anyone that does not agree with them.
Okay…are you getting tired of me bitching about this? Yeah, I am too…but you can see how difficult this is to keep fresh….I am going to keep trying, and trying, and trying….