Tag Archives: republicans

Misc

Okay, a little outrage…

Leave a comment

Well…there is this cloud of things that are in my head that I’m going to try to make sense of in a kind of stream-of-consciousness post that I really don’t know will work. It strikes me as stunning the complete abdication of a large part of our society to the cause of the know nothings who are still advocating “going by the gut” and ignoring the math of income inequality; preferring to continue the attack on the census that they believe is a political tool and as such, is not to be believed. This was not the case when they were in power in congress for the last census..at that time it was your civic duty to fill it out accurately and the data derived from it were important tools for governance, but the ignorance of the current leaders on the right and their concerted effort to make ignorance a political litmus test has resulted in a new generation that facts don’t mean anything to. This is a breathtaking cynicism whose only purpose is to regain political power on the backs of their followers who wear their ignorance and bigotry as a proud badge of “real Americans”.

What this allows the right to do is to discount any poll, study, or even peer-reviewed research that doesn’t agree with their ideology and is manifest in the “belief” that any and all scientific theory has an opposite belief system that has just as much validity. I blame a lot of this nonsense with the strange propensity of modern media give time and space to the opposition of settled science…it would be the same if the righties started to question gravity as a construct of the left and have the media treat these nuts the same as true scientists. When I was growing up, stupid ideas were painted as stupid ideas and were never given the validity they get today in the guise of “fairness”; back then, the cause of the truth was paramount and people died for it…today the truth has lost it’s value and we are the worse for it….geez…

Politics

Let’s blow up some myths…

Leave a comment

Well…an interesting article in the times this morning by Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize winning economist, addressing the myth of structural unemployment in regards to the current recession. Before you righties start bitching that Krugman is liberal leaning so his ideas are not credible…let’s see your Nobel prize winner who disagrees with J. M. Keynes (hey, this could be the Keynes one that I promised you) and who has a credible history of being right…..ok, still waiting…..still waiting…yep, thought so…you don’t have one.

In an economy with structural employment driven by a lack of skills, you would have at least a few industries who would be running ads looking for workers; looking to expand but not being able to because of the shortage of skilled workers. But, that is not the case in this economy, there is no demand for labor since the demand for goods and services is not rising. No matter what their skill level. Can the right truly believe that an industrial worker trained in Kaizen, The Toyota Production System, or JIT, no longer has a use and that is why they are out of work. If that is the case, then the billions and billions of dollars spent on training and equipment for these programs by management was one of the greatest scams ever perpetrated on American industry. When did managing an American company change completely so that someone with a Masters degree in Management and 30 years in industry no longer is qualified to manage? The skill deficit of the American worker is a myth that needs to be exploded and not used by the right as an excuse to do nothing to get people back to work…but, that’s what they want…they don’t care about workers; only their rich buddies that can reward them with enough money to get re-elected so they can maintain their income redistribution scheme that will take 3.7 trillion dollars over 10 years from you and me and give it to the rich. That’s the first one…going to look at some news and come back for the others…

Okay…had lunch and wanted to get back to one other thing…the complete disdain that the right has for conventional economic thought that traces itself back to Reagan and his embrace of Arthur Laffer and his “Laffer curve theory” that cutting taxes will increase government revenue by stimulating growth in the economy. This kind of baloney has been discredited long ago by the CBO and other economic organizations and analysts that have shown that all the cuts did was to explode the deficit. Something that is conveniently forgotten, or deliberately forgotten so the right can pursue the radical agenda of giving away America to the rich. But the point I wanted to make was that while the repubs are railing against government intervention in the economy and discounting Keynesian theory, they propose an even larger government intervention by the continuation of the Bush tax cuts that would dwarf the 800 billion stimulus program of the Obama administration. Again, intellectual dishonesty disguised as cutting edge political thought…geez…

Politics

Another republican attack on workers…

Leave a comment

Well…the latest attack in the war on labor by the repubs is another made up problem; that government workers make more than those in comparable jobs in the private sector. Why do you think that is? It’s not because government workers have seen their wages leap over the past few years, but because of the concerted repub and business attack on the middle class has suppressed and even lowered the wages of the average worker. It is again a case of extortion that has been perpetrated on the worker…take these concessions or we will move your jobs offshore; all the while corporate profits are at their highest in history. And now, the repubs are using the fruits of their propaganda campaign to demonize government and attack the one place they and their business cronies haven’t been able to control.

When are we going to realize that a fully functioning middle class with rising wages that match their rising productivity is why businesses have these huge profits….and in a consumer driven economy, hurting the consumer/worker at every turn is no way to ensure the growth needed for the country to be successful. But, these guys don’t care…their ideology will not allow them to do anything but favor business to keep the money rolling in…and getting re-elected. Geez….

Politics

Yep, It’s DADT…

Leave a comment

Well…listening to the repubs talk and block the repeal of DADT (don’t ask, don’t tell) all I can do is look back to the late 40′s when this same party (and to be honest, some of the Dems) said exactly the same things about the integration of the armed forces….and it is so funny to the absurd when you just substitute gays for African Americans in the comments from that time. Do the repubs even know that history exists? You wouldn’t think so with how they are treating this issue…an issue of civil rights where they always come out on the wrong side. Their primary argument goes to the idea of unit cohesiveness, readiness, and willingness to fight, and they just KNOW that allowing gays to serve openly will ruin the army….tell that to the Israelis, the Brits, Germans, and many other armies in the world. Tell that idea to the folks who have come up against the Israelis in any war they’ve fought. By keeping this policy, we align and compare ourselves to some of the most repressive countries in the world…where gays are still routinely murdered for being who they are…countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and countless others where the idea of civil rights has never taken hold.

It’s all just political BS where the repubs can energize their base by supporting this misguided policy; just a part of their larger plan to keep gays and lesbians in their place just like they tried for African Americans in the 40′s, 50′s, and 60′s, and deal another defeat to Obama. Are any of you tiring of these made up issues as I am? Let’s remember that the constitution (you repubs remember that document…the one you wave around all the time?) guarantees equal protection under the law…to everybody…geez….

Politics

Here’s what you have to look forward to with the Republicans…

Leave a comment

Well…this is just a short one that I had to comment on, from the news this morning coming out of the republican party in Montana…their party platform, in direct conflict with their lies that they are for personal freedom and against government interference, proposes that homosexuality and homosexual acts be made illegal again, not only in Montana but across the US. This is all a part of their hidden agenda to impose Christian Sharia law here in the US…well…maybe that is a little bit of hyperbole but if you think they are for individual freedom…you have to realize it is only individual freedom that they agree with, and they will sit as the arbiters of what that freedom will look like. I, for one, don’t believe that the majority of the country wants to return to the bad old days when a large part of our population have their lives criminalized and controlled as second-class citizens….and if you listen to these republicans, they want to extend this restriction of rights to all those who don’t agree with them. Geez….

Politics

Let’s end the Republican lies on the tax cuts…

Leave a comment

Well…it’s pretty early and I could say that this burning issue has kept me awake all night…and part of it is true, I was awake part of the night….and it is early…oh, said that already. I did want to get into deflating the bullshit that the repubs have been pedaling about the continuation of the Bush tax cuts and how they are asserting that we need to renew those for the rich to get the economy going again. First, do they still think that anyone believes “trickle down” economics work? They have tried this little gem in every administration they’ve controlled since Reagan and the only results have been larger deficits and rewards for the least productive part of our economy. Let’s get to the lies next, that not extending the tax cuts for those making over 250K will hurt small business. Well…eliminating those tax cuts will affect only about 3 percent of what they call small business, but their definition of small business, includes some Fortune 100 companies….Fortune 100 means they are in the top 100 largest companies in America and includes some of the huge Wall Street firms and many of the super rich like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. It’s just another instance of the repubs protecting their own and lying to cover it up. Another little fact that they don’t want you to understand is that the 700 billion cost of continuing the cuts for the rich will need to be borrowed…yep, and pushed on to yours and my kids and increasing the deficit that they now seem so concerned about…

Then, we have the spectacle of Mitch McConnell yesterday saying that he will filibuster the tax cuts that Obama proposes for the other 98 percent of Americans, lying on the floor of the Senate that most of the American people support extending the cuts for the rich when it is just not true…polls show that from 52 to 65 percent of the public want them to expire…so, if you’re looking for true class warfare..look no further than the repubs…

Yeah, I’m still going to get to the Keynes stuff later…maybe not today but it is still something that I feel the need to comment on…

Politics

Listening to Fareed Zakaria…

Leave a comment

Well…an interesting article today by Fareed, who feels that we are giving way too much credibility to the 400 or so hard core terrorists that are left in bin Laden’s organization and spending way to much of our psychic energy on them; not to mention how many dollars it takes to maintain the armies that are chasing him. I agree with his assessment and have said that in a few earlier posts, but I take it a little further and ask this question: “who benefits from continuing the fear and overstating their capability?” It hasn’t been hard to see that the right has been the ones to manipulate this issue for political gain and continue to use it as a political ploy; they would be loath to say that the threat is greatly reduced since some of the credit would have to be shared with Obama, and their buddies in the military/industrial complex would see their profits plunge. Something their strategy of obstruction and demonization will not allow them to do.

So, what do we do about it? I’ve always been one to think that skepticism is a powerful weapon and to ask a politician to prove their baseless assertions is a good start; but, then to continue to ask the questions and teach people that is their right and duty to question these folks and hold them accountable…the founding fathers believed it, and I do to…

Politics

I just don’t understand…

Leave a comment

Well…have been reading the polls lately and one thing strikes me as a great example of the schizophrenia that the US electorate suffers. Why is it that the Democrats are always held responsible for everything, even things that are out of their control when the repubs can screw the whole country and preside over the greatest redistribution of wealth upwards in history and no one cares? I think it may just be ignorance since the leaders of the repubs proudly display the lack of “book learnin’” and exhort their followers to demonize those who have advanced degrees and who can think. If they could, think that is, they would remember their 11th grade economics that taught that employment is a lagging indicator in any recession; especially one this severe. I am kind of hoping that the repubs take control of the House so people will have their memories refreshed on how bad their policies are for the working people of this country…geez….

Politics

August 29th part two…

Leave a comment

Well…there was a Sunday Funday after all…but I don’t think there will more topics today since I just don’t have anything itching in my head…I do have an idea about the need for everyone (including me) to stop calling people names…but there are times when you need to do that to get your point across but, only when it is the truth…sometimes, idiots are idiots and liars are liars and need to be labeled as such…and there are so many more of them on the right…another thing that just popped into my head as I’m writing this…do we progressives lose elections while adhering to our principles or do we get down in the swamp with the righties? I lean toward principles, as you know, but it is hard to sit and watch while lies and race-baiting dupe the American people into voting for the righties. If they win this time using these tactics, I’ll probably just fold up the tent and just try to survive..but I reserve the right to say I told you so when the repubs screw everything up and give even more of the country to the rich…geez…

Only three more of these and this will be my most prolific month ever….can I say yay?