My crap -- not your crap. It might be political, social, or personal. If you don't like it, leave. Comment if you want. I might reply or I might not, but I do read them.
We keep talking about the Bush Tax Cuts. Wrong. We should be talking about the Republican Tax Increases.
That's right. Tax increases. If nothing is done, all income taxes will go up next year. That is the law. That is the law that the REPUBLICANS passed with reconciliation. They provided tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 and tax increases in 2011. There is not disputing this.
The Democratic plan is to provide tax cuts for about 98% of the people. The only people who will not get a tax cut are the top 1% or 2%. Those making over about $200,000 per year.
Let's hope the Democrats are not purposely labeling their tax policy as ending Bush tax cuts rather than providing tax cuts because they really don't want to raise taxes on the rich. After all, the rich are Democrat benefactors also. I'm just saying...
All you have to do is be one of the richest 120,000 people in the US AND have the Bush tax cuts extended. That is what the republican want to do.
Oh, and in the process the republicans want to add $680,000,000,000 (that's six hundred eighty BILLION dollars) to the deficit, the deficit that is so important to them that they would rather have average Americans starve and be thrown out of their homes than extend unemployment benefit because of the impact on the deficit.
Republicans -- love the rich, and hate the poor and middle class.
The LA Times has it right in their editorial today. Both Laura Schlessinger and Sarah Palin do not understand the First Amendment.
It seems like whenever the right is criticized for exercising their First Amendment rights, they claim their First Amendment rights are being violated. Just more twisted rightwing logic.
The 1st Amendment is just fine: Schlessinger exercised her right to use a racial slur; offended listeners exercised their right to criticize her for it.
Who knew that Laura Schlessinger was so thin-skinned? After all, this is a woman who has relished her perch as a radio shock jock. In her 30 years on the air she has offended many, blaming women for their husbands' affairs and referring to gay people as "biological errors." Even friendly callers often get a piece of her mind. So it's a bit surprising that a fairly predictable reaction to her enthusiastic use of a racial slur has sent her scurrying out of the kitchen, so to speak.
Schlessinger, better known as Dr. Laura, announced Tuesday that she was leaving her show because she wants her 1st Amendment rights back. If only Dr. Laura could give Dr. Laura one of her famous tongue-lashings. Since she's moping, we'll try: The 1st Amendment is just fine. Schlessinger exercised her right to use a racial slur when criticizing her caller, and offended listeners exercised their right to criticize her for it. That's America.
Or perhaps Schlessinger honestly does not understand the nature of the protections she says are being denied her. Here is the pertinent text: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." It does not guarantee that the world will agree with radio hosts, only that the government will not censor them.The government didn't demand Schlessinger's ouster; listeners did. She may not like it, but she doesn't have a constitutional right to be free from criticism.
Sarah Palin, apparently, also is confused. She tweeted: "Dr. Laura: don't retreat…reload. (Steps aside bc her 1st amend. rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence isn't American, not fair.)" It's frightening that a former governor and candidate for the vice presidency thinks that public dissent is either un-American or unconstitutional.
Schlessinger isn't quitting because she can't say what's on her mind; she just couldn't take the heat after she did it. To paraphrase her advice to the caller whose questions launched her racial tirade, she should just stop being so sensitive.
The new Laura and Sarah union can be called "Quitters United".
A New America Foundation study is not calling for Social Security to be cut back but to double it. With the crash of private pensions, homeownership and personal savings in the footsteps of this Republican Great Recession, Social Security becomes central to the historic "three-legged stool" of American retirement security. Yet Social Security now only brings in only a about a third of the money needed for retirement. This study recommends doubling social security payments, and funding it by lifting the cap so millionaire banker, who right now pay a paltry 1%, pay the same 12.4% that a carpenter or firemen does. Add to that a social security tax on billionaire hedge fund managers and others who make their living through sitting on their butts, around the pool, waiting for the interest or dividend check to arrive in the mail, and you can not only double current social security payments, but the system is solvent forever.
Thom also made an interesting comment to a caller. Why not just turn it around, or reverse it? Right now, we and our employer together (each pay half) pay 12.4% of our first $106,000 of wages. Over $106,000 you pay nothing. So, most people and businesses pay all year long. What if we switched it around. Pay nothing on the first $106000 and then pay 12.4% on everything over. What a great benefit to the economy and businesses alike. Most people would get a 6.2% raise, and their employers would see a 6.2% drop in their expenses, and the wealthy would pay their fair share.
From here --The media giant which owns Fox News and The Wall Street Journal -- has donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, the GOP organization that helps coordinate Republican gubernatorial campaigns and pays for independent ads in support of their candidates.
I just received a phone call from mastercard asking for verification of a couple of charges made today on one of my credit cards. They were not charges that I made. I am in California and the charges were in Florida. There were two charges, about $5 at a McDonalds, and about $100 at a clothing store. The account has been closed and I will not have to pay the charges.
But I wonder, how did they get the number?
I don't not use this card much. It is used every month, but it is not my primary card. There are a couple of automatic charges on it each month. The other charges are from places that I go to regularly that do not take American Express. So, I wonder!?
This brings up another question in my mind. What if banks/credit card companies were able to do whatever they wanted? What if there were no regulations limiting my liability in such cases? Would they check so quickly and efficiently if I had to pay the bill no matter what? Since they get stuck with "bad charges", they move quickly to limit their losses.
And what could I have done differently to prevent this in the first place? I do not use this card on line. I could stop charging things and only pay cash. But paying cash for everything is a lot more trouble. It is very convenient to pay everything one a month.
I guess this is the price we pay for a "modern society".
And, thank goodness that we at least have some regulation. If republicans had their way, this would be all my fault, my responsibility, and I would be stuck with the bill.
Here is more republican fear mongering. This guy, Louis Gohmert, is a real congressman, part of the Texas braintrust that brought us "you know who". Obviously, there are a lot of village idiots in Texas.
TomCat over at Politics Plus has this graph showing the difference between the republican and Democrat tax plans. Here is the graph. Go to TomCat's place to read about it.
Here are a couple of interesting graphs that I have come across. The first one compares job losses by Bush and Obama. It is from Erza Klein, although I first saw it on Bob Cesca's site. It compares the job losses between December 2007 to July 2009 (Bush losses) and July 2009 to July 2010. The Bush losses includes the first six months of the Obama administration because Obama's policies had not taken effect yet.
The other graph comes from Ben Daniels. It tracks the monthly jobs report with the stimulus spending overlaid. The correlations is interesting. It is hard to say that the stimulus has not improved the jobs picture.
Linda McMahon has won the republican nomination for Senate from Connecticut. She is the ex-CEO of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). McMahon is experienced at peddling violence and mayhem to millions of people. Can you imagine the entertainment when she brings her expertise to the Senate floor. Take a look at this video of her to get an idea of what may lay ahead.
Why the hell not?!? Let the republicans, once again, show that they are in the pockets of big business at the expense of the American people.
So here we go again. All the republicans have to do is threaten to filibuster, and the dems start shaking in their boots. Of course Dodd and many other Democrats are in the pocket of the bankers and financial institutions, so they don't want a strong leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau either.
Again, the public will get screwed while the politicians get paid off.W
Republican hypocrisy is at work again. From Think Progress.org comes an article about how more and more high profile republicans are signing on the the idea of repealing part of the 14th Amendment while at the same time the GOP is listing the passage of the 14th Amendment as a great GOP accomplishment.
Looks like we have another example of how poorly the republicans govern. They don't even like their own, self-proclaimed accomplishment. Wow. The party that says we should follow the Constitution exactly as written, doesn't like the way THEY wrote it.
Well, tough shit, idiots!
Next time do a better job -- if there is a next time.
I picked up this video over at Randi Rhodes site on her front page. George did this show in 2005. He's a prophet. He told it like it has become.
Here's the video. Listen to it. Then spread it around. Everyone should listen to what George says. Beware, however, the language is a little rough. If there are young or sensitive ears around, turn down your sound. Alternatively, I have included the transcript of the video. Read, laugh, cry. Sadly, it is the truth.
“But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education SUCKS, and it’s the same reason it will never … ever … EVER be fixed. It’s never going to get any better, don’t look for it, be happy with what you’ve got. … … … BECAUSE … THE OWNERS, OF THIS COUNTRY, DON’T WANT THAT! … … I’m talking about the real owners now … … … … … the BIG owners! … … … The Wealthy … … … … … the REAL owners! … The big wealthy business interests that control things … and make all the important decisions. … … … … Forget the politicians. They are irelevant. … … The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice . . . … you dont. You have no choice! You have OWNERS! They OWN YOU. They own everything. They own all the important land. … They own and control the corporations. Theyve long since bought, and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. … They got you by the balls. … … They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying … . . . lobbying, … to get what they want . . . … Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but Ill tell you what they dont want . . . they dont want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. … … They dont want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. Theyre not interested in that . . . that doesnt help them. Thats against their interests. Thats right. … … They dont want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly theyre getting FUCKED by a system that threw them overboard 30 FUCKING years ago. … … They dont want that! You know what they want? They want obedient workers . . . Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. … And just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shitty jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now theyre coming for your … Social Security money. … … … They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? … … … Theyll get it . . . theyll get it all from you sooner or later cause they own this FUCKING place! Its a big club, and you ain’t in it! … … … … You, and I, are not in The big club. By the way, its the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table has tilted folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care! Good honest hard-working people . . . white collar, blue collar it doesnt matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-working people continue, these are people of modest means . . . continue to elect these rich COOK SUCKERS who dont give a FUCK about you. They dont give a FUCK about you . . . … they dont give a FUCK about you. …. …. They dont care about you at all . . . at all . . . at all, and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Thats what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick thats being jammed up their assholes everyday, because the owners of this country know the truth. Its called the American Dream, … cause you have to be asleep to believe it . . .”
You are a Peace Patroller, also known as an anti-war liberal or neo-hippie. You believe in putting an end to American imperial conquest, stopping wars that have already been lost, and supporting our troops by bringing them home.
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