While de-funding NPR might save as much as $90 million (or, not, according to the Congressional Budget Office), that savings would pale in comparison to any real savings to be had by taking a bite out of America's truly costly endeavors, such as the never-ending war in Afghanistan.
So, What would Ron Paul Do?
]]>The new law would apparently allow a governor, upon declaring a financial emergency (whatever that might mean...), to replace elected officials, such as mayors, with Emergency Managers of his own choosing. Of course, it would be interesting to see such a law challenged in the courts, but if the courts are properly stacked, then I suppose the sky's the limit.
]]>Or is something else going on? With the constant drumbeat of anti-government (which is to say anti-democratically elected American government) rhetoric spewing forth from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Michael Savage, et al, maybe it was simply a matter of time before some unhinged individual such as Laughner took a cue from the Right-Wing talking heads and busted off a few rounds. On that note, here's Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik:
Of course, it really helps people like Laughner if such luminaries as Sarah Palin identify which Democrats need to be shot by putting them in crosshairs in her website.
So, was this just some lone deranged gunman? Or was this a not-so-random attack spurred on by manufactured Right-Wing rage in a sort of murder-by-proxy?
]]>Indeed, from February 2001, Bush’s first full month in office, through January 2009, his last, the economy added just 1 million jobs. By contrast, in 2010 alone, the economy added at least 1.1 million jobs.
I mean, isn't this a meme that should be shouted from the rooftops and pundit desks from coast to coast? You have to admit it's fascinating that Obama Created More Jobs In One Year Than Bush Created In Eight.
]]>In particular, they will soon attempt to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known to many as "Obamacare." It's a horrible law, they argue, because it's like socialism, or something. (No word from the Republicans as to how purchasing insurance from private providers is socialism, but...)
And they're just in time. While it is too early to declare PPACA a smashing success or failure, some interesting anecdotal information is coming in. According to this piece by Rick Ungar in that ultra-liberal rag Forbes, there's been a significant uptick in the number of small businesses providing healthcare to their employees. Ungar attributes this to the tax cut created in the law which provides an incentive for employers to offer health insurance.
The gist of the article is that at least the tax incentives part of PPACA appears to be working. So, why would the Republicans want to kill it? Well, maybe that goes back to their number one priority - simply opposing Obama. After all, the worst thing in the world for Republicans would be if a Democratic idea actually worked.
]]>So the Republican party and their tea bagging buddies appear to be outside the mainstream on this. Then how did the Republicans take over the house in November 2010? Because they're the loudest and angriest, and have no problem lying to the American people and engaging in fear mongering to get elected. Douchebags.
]]>“I don’t even know if there was a deal, to be honest with you, before his show,” said Kenny Specht, the founder of the New York City Firefighter Brotherhood Foundation, who was interviewed by Mr. Stewart on Dec. 16.That show was devoted to the bill and the comedian’s effort to right what he called “an outrageous abdication of our responsibility to those who were most heroic on 9/11.”
Mr. Specht said in an interview, “I’ll forever be indebted to Jon because of what he did.”
The New York Times article goes on to quote people in the business comparing Stewart to Cronkite and Murrow. He's a bit funnier than either of those guys were, though.
]]>How did Republican leaders reconcile their purported deep concern about budget deficits with their advocacy of large tax cuts? Was it that old voodoo economics — the belief, refuted by study after study, that tax cuts pay for themselves — making a comeback? No, it was something new and worse ... 2010 marked the emergence of a new, even more profound level of magical thinking: the belief that deficits created by tax cuts just don’t matter. For example, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona — who had denounced President Obama for running deficits — declared that “you should never have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.”
Magical thinking is a great description of how Republicans approach governing. None of their thinking is based in reality. They just make stuff up to justify protecting their super rich supporters and handlers. Like tax cuts for the rich will magically improve the economy. Which they won't, never have, and never will.
Damn you, Paul Krugman, for engaging in reality-based thinking! That's so 1940s! It went out of style a loooong time ago.
]]>The work of war is very much a family affair. Nearly 6 in 10 of the troops deployed today are married, and nearly half have children. Those families — more than a million of them since 2001 — have borne the brunt of the psychological and emotional strain of deployments.
And we just extended tax cuts that were unnecessary in the first place, and are borrowing every single dollar we spend to send these men and women into harm's way. So no one besides the troops are sacrificing blood or treasure. Fuck these wars. And fuck the politicians who started them - Republicans and Democrats.
Happy new year, America. Hopefully you can pull your collective heads out of your collective asses in 2011.
]]>It was also nice to meet Obama and find him very different from the media makeout. It's really almost criminal what they do with our President. There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he's doing certain things that he's not. It's just a big old political game that I don't want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down. I'm sure some of it's true and some of it's not. I was very surprised to find the man very humble and he had a nice handshake. His wife was very cordial to the guests and especially me. They made a special effort to make me feel welcome. It was not at all the way the media described him to be.
It's too bad the media doesn't have the nuts to take Republicans to task for their lunatic fringe stories about the president. Luckily for us, though, Merle does.
]]>38 percent of Americans, the poll estimates, believe God guided the process that brought humans from "cavemen" to today's incarnation over millions of years, while 16 percent think humans evolved over millions of years, without any divine intervention.
So only 16 percent of Americans have embraced reality on this subject. The rest continue to embrace ignorance. The good news, though, is that this is a 9 percent increase from 1982, when only 7 percent of Americans accepted the reality of evolution. 7 percent! Saying you don't believe in evolution is like saying you don't believe in photosynthesis or the existence of the central nervous system. You don't get that choice. It's science, not opinion, kids.
]]>[T]he United States, which has waged a 40-year, $1 trillion war on drugs, is looking for answers in tiny Portugal, which is reaping the benefits of what once looked like a dangerous gamble. White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske visited Portugal in September to learn about its drug reforms, and other countries — including Norway, Denmark, Australia and Peru — have taken interest, too.
I'm having trouble envisioning legislators and politicians in the United States doing something so pragmatic, though. Who will take care of the private prison industry if we stop imprisoning Americans (primarily black) who have been busted with drugs?
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