More History Of The Political World

Facts is Facts: Supply Side Economics Has Been An Epic Failure

Republicany party public policy is a God-damn-national-disaster. Why anybody but the top 1% and enemies of the United States would want it is beyond us.

WTF?

Rick Perry today on Fox News Sunday: The idea that a commander-in-chief would stand up and signal to the enemy a date certain of when we’re going to pull our troops out I think is irresponsible. You need to be talking to your commanders in the field. You need to be working with the experts who understand what is going on in those countries, for instance. We need to finish our mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. You better believe I want out kids home as soon as we can and safe. But to give that signal that we’re pulling them out is bad public policy and, more importantly, its putting our kids lives in jeopardy[...]

Right, because lying and cheating to initiate a hugely counter productive war, where tens of thousands of our kids have been killed or maimed, isn't putting our kids lives in jeopardy, but pulling them out is. Unreal. Remember, tens of millions of Republicans love this guy.

Rentboy.com

Raw Story: It’s almost more newsworthy these days when a conservative Republican politician turns out to not be in the closet. According to Talking Points Memo, Medford, New Jersey mayor Chris Myers insists that he is not resigning in spite of a mushrooming scandal involving his purported contact with a male prostitute who he procured through the website “Rentboy.com”.

We're quite sure Rentboy.com gets most of their business from closeted Republican types. This is because if you're not part of the conservative movement you can actually admit you're gay, have relationships with other adults, keep your job, and lead a normal life. You don't have to go underground. It's pretty clear conservative philosophy not only leads to ruined economies, ruined environments, ineffective government, and bullshit wars, but also fits of criminal perversion.

Confederate Tendencies

Headline: Texas Handgun Instructor Won't Teach Muslims Or Liberals

Anybody who would publicly announce such a thing seems well on the way down the road to being the next right-wing, gun-crazy, violent, Republican terrorist. Not only does this man need to be watched, but so to do the people his does choose to train.

Mistake?

Headline: Maher Panel Rips GOP Strategist For Not Admitting Iraq Invasion Was Wrong

This panel misses the mark. We're far beyond whether Bush, Cheney and Republicans made the right decision to invade and occupy Iraq. The available evidence shows they knew they were lying about Niger yellow cake, Sadam's relationship with Bin Ladin, aluminum tubes, and curvball. They knew Sadam was not a threat because logic, past behavior, and CIA had told them so. And yet they invaded anyway. This makes them war criminals. And it makes anybody who is defending them now a very dangerous person to have around.

Clear And Present Danger

(CNN) -- Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are scheduled to march on the offices of five major banks and financial-services firms in Manhattan on Friday, a day after a California mayor apologized for a police crackdown against demonstrators that left an Iraq war veteran hospitalized.

Wall Street is not to blame. Transnational corporations are not to blame. They're no more to blame than a great white shark hunting prey. These entities exist to hunt short term profits. It's what they do. It's all they do. It's what the corporate charter demands. Just ask the stockholders.

In nature and in business we need both the predators and protection from them. To a significant degree they drive our evolution. But when it comes to business, if we (government by the people) let them, they will destroy the planet, the people on it, and eventually themselves (as their eternal drive to cut costs destroys the market). The private sector must be watched closely, regulated heavily, and if they provide essential services, regulated even more.

So let's be clear: what is to blame for the deregulation that allowed the looting of the financial system is Republican Party public policy. What is to blame for the tax policy that's increasing the gap between the rich and everybody else is Republican Party public policy. What is to blame for offshoring of jobs and corporate profit is Republican Party public policy. What is to blame for the financial meltdown we suffered in 2008-2009 is Republican Party public policy. What is to blame for the slow recovery of the job market is Republican Party public policy. What is to blame for the destruction of the environment is Republican Party public policy. Republican party public policy makes us shark bait. That's not our opinion, it's the historical record.

By Any Objective Measure

Think Progress: The Congressional Budget Office today released a new report on the growth in income that’s occurred in the U.S. over the last three decades. CBO found that, “for the 1 percent of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007,” while it grew by just 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent of the income scale. “As a result of that uneven income growth, the distribution of after-tax household income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979,” CBO said.

This is another result of Reaganomics (which of course has been standard Republicans party policy since 1980). By every measure, it's a God-damn-national-disaster. The only people who can logically cheer GOP public policy are the top 1%, and enemies of the United States. It's as simple as that.

In This Life Or The Next

APF: President Barack Obama’s conservative critics on Friday blasted his announcement that all US troops will leave Iraq by year’s end, citing worries US archnemesis Iran will fill the vacuum.

Republican Senator John McCain, Obama’s rival for the White House in 2008, described the news as a “consequential failure” for Obama as well as Iraq’s leaders after talks broke down on leaving a small US force beyond December 31.

“This decision will be viewed as a strategic victory for our enemies in the Middle East, especially the Iranian regime, which has worked relentlessly to ensure a full withdrawal of US troops from Iraq,” he said.

The reality is Bush, Cheney and Republicans handed Iraq to Iran the second they decided to lie us into invasion and occupation. The only way to keep Iraq and the worlds second largest oil reserves from Iran would have been to stay forever. While we're sure the Republicans would have loved to keep transferring wealth from the American taxpayer to their crony war profiteers until the end of time, they've stolen enough of our future and it had to end. The only thing left to do is hold some people accountable for this great crime. If the justice system and the Democrats won't do it, we'll have to leave it to God and history.

P.S. Massive props to Obama for getting Bin Ladin. "I worked for a lot of these guys. And this is one of the most courageous calls – decisions — that I think I’ve ever seen a president make.” - Robert Gates.

Southern Hospitality

TPM: A federal judge accused two state Republicans, called by federal prosecutors in a massive Alabama corruption case, of cooperating with the feds because of their “ulterior motives rooted in naked political ambition and pure racial bias.”

State Sen. Scott Beason and former Rep. Benjamin Lewis, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson wrote, “lack credibility for two reasons.”

“First, their motive for cooperating with F.B.I. investigators was not to clean up corruption but to increase Republican political fortunes by reducing African-American voter turnout. Second, they lack credibility because the record establishes their purposeful, racist intent,” Thompson wrote.

Such is life in the political party that deliberately built its base with racists, is more often partial to the confederate flag than the American flag, and to this day has its geographical and philosophical power base in the confederate south.

Leave It To Them

CNN Blog: With the removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year looking more likely, absent an agreement to extend legal immunity, a large contingent of U.S. contractors will still remain facing their own legal and logistical ambiguities and challenges.

The massive transfer of wealth from the US taxpayer to the Republican crony war profiteers working Iraq is over. If they stay, they'll be paid by the Shiite Iraqi government, which is just a puppet of Iran. Fitting really, since all we really did in Iraq is hand the worlds second largest oil reserves to the Iranians anyway. Now the crony GOP corporate mercenaries can help the mullahs in Tehran battle the Sunnis in Iraq. They all deserve each other.

You're Going To Hell Jeff

Think Progress: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is pushing a new amendment that would make it more difficult for people to receive food stamps by restricting eligibility requirements and eliminating a planned $9 billion funding increase for the program. Sessions says his plan is intended to reduce the deficit and combat fraud, which he claims is rampant. From ABC News’ Top Line today:

SESSIONS: No program in our government has surged out of control more dramatically than food stamps. And nothing is being done about it. [...] Multimillion dollar lottery winners are getting food stamps because the money is considered to be an asset not an income. One of the fast and furious gun buyers –

HOST: But hold on, for ever lottery winner that has food stamps, there’s probably a lot more people who really need them who have them, right?

SESSIONS: Well look, do you think there are four times as many people who need food stamps today as in 2001. That answers itself. [...] We cannot do this. We do not have the money. Congress doesn’t understand that we can’t afford to double the program every three years.

Ok... number one, yes, since your public policy came back in 2001 a lot more people need food stamps. Thank you for highlighting how horrific your results are. Two, anybody who would trot out the ridiculous canard that "multimillion dollar lottery winners are getting food stamps" in order to keep them from millions truly in need, is just about the worst humanity has to offer. And three, as for not having money to pay for them, take a week off from the wars you lied us into or the tax cuts you gave to billionaires and we'll be fine for food stamps for poor people. Asshole.

Good Advice

The Hill: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said repeatedly Sunday that Republicans agree that too few people control too much wealth in America.

"We know in this country right now that there is a complaint about folks at the top end of the income scales, that they make too much and too many don't make enough," Cantor said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, toning down his earlier criticism of the Occupy Wall Street protests.

"We need to encourage folks at the top of the income scale to actually put their money their work to create more jobs so we can see a closing of the gap," he added.

Of course the only way to do that is to get Republicans out of government. It's their tax, trade, and regulatory policy that encourages outsourcing and only serves, as Cantor puts it, 'the folks at the top of the income scale.' It's very simple: GOP public policy caused our problems. It therefore stands to reason that getting rid of it will help solve our problems. And again, the only way to do that is to get Republicans out of government.

Finally Honest

Daily Kos: Not that there was any doubt, but I think the Tea Party Nation people are quite possibly super geniuses:

Tea Party Nation sent to their members today a message from activist Melissa Brookstone urging businesspeople to “not hire a single person” to protest the Obama administration’s supposed “war against business and my country.” Brookstone writes that business owners should stop hiring new employees in order to stand up to “this new dictator,” the “global Progressive socialist movement,” Hollywood, the media and Occupy Wall Street.

The evidence has long shown that transnational corporations would rather use slave labor in China, India or Bangladesh than hire here at home. It makes sense then, that their fake front group, the Tea Party, would advocate the same. But as Daily Kos implies, it's perhaps not the smartest thing in the world to say so. Appreciate the honestly though...

Grade School Inc.

Headline: Advertisments To Be Posted In Pennsbury Schools

This because they're broke and need the money. The corporate take over of the commons is proceeding full speed ahead. We're increasingly reminded of the Robocop movies where the corporation OCP owns pretty much everything. This is where the small government, lower taxes, less regulation crowd is bringing us.

Yawn

Think Progress: The Atlantic Bridge, the British affiliate organization to the American Legislative Exchange Council, is quickly erupting into a scandal that may force the public to scrutinize the practices of both right-wing groups. Earlier this month, the U.K.’s Charity Commission shut down Atlantic Bridge after an investigation revealed that the nonprofit has operated as little more than a front for various corporate lobbying and Tory party interests.

Forget ALEC, in this country the entire Republican Party operates as little more than a front for various corporate lobbying and Republican Party interests.

Hoisted On His Own Bullshit

Herman Cain: Liberals Are Deliberately Trying to Destroy America

He uses the current state of the economy as his justification for this bit of scumbaggery. Of course we're in a much better position now than we were during the economic and fiscal meltdown his party left us in the last time they were in charge. At the end of Bush/Cheney Inc. we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, the stock market had crashed to 7000, and we were all watching the news to see when we were going to have to run down to our bank and pound on the glass to get our money out. So by his own logic, it's conservatives that are deliberately trying to destroy America. By his logic every damn one of them should have been arrested for treason.

Most Corrupt

Think Progress: According to a New York Times analysis of campaign donation data, 2012 GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney has raised more than five times as much money from the employees of major Wall Street firms as President Obama.

In 2008 that money was with Obama and the Democrats. And it remained with them right up until they did the right thing and tried to re-regulate Wall Street. Wall Street didn't like that one bit and immediately switched to the GOP. In return all but three Republicans voted against increasing regulations designed to prevent another meltdown/looting of the financial system.

This graph represents the relative change in Wall Street contributions by party as financial reform was pushed through congress. It shows two things. One, that special interests try to buy both parties. And two, it's the GOP that delivers the best return on that investment.

Tell Us Something We Don't Know

Headline: Moody's Economist says GOP jobs bill would 'likely push US back into recession'

Duh. Their policies caused the economic collapse and recession in the first place. Of course if we let their public policy back into play we'll suffer the same results. It's the definition of insanity to assume otherwise.

Makes Sense

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.): Occupy Wall Street protesters lack “the basic American legitimacy the Tea Party has.”

He feels this way because OWS is not a trans-national corporation/Koch Brothers/Freedom Works funded front group like the Tea Party. Republicans feel giant multinational corporations have legitimacy and people who object to corporate rule do not.

Tim McVeighish

Kentucky city commissioner Steve Frank (R): ‘I feel like going Taliban’ on Occupy protesters

Because we know many right-wing Republican gun loving types are terrorists at heart. Well more like fascists that turn into terrorists when democracy upsets them.

Country Clubbers

It's not often the corporate media accurately describes what's going on in Washington, but this headline is as honest as it gets. This bill was paid for by increasing taxes on people who make over a million dollars a year. So here we have yet another bit of proof that Republicans don't give a rip about anybody else.

Bartlett Brings The Wood

As he toured several areas in Martinsville and Henry County on Tuesday, 5th District U.S. Rep. Robert Hurt R-Chatham) said he will focus on affecting change that will lead to job creation — including ending unnecessary regulations — when he returns to Washington next week.

As yes, the ol' regulations kill jobs canard. One of the standard Republican big lies that together they must tell thousands of times a day. Anyway, Bruce Bartlett says it's utter bullshit, and has the goods to back it up.

We would only add that it's deregulation that kills jobs. For example, they deregulated the financial sector and that led to worldwide economic meltdown. As a result, at the end of the last 8 years of Republican rule, at the end of BushCo, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. The numbers are a matter of public record. This is history's verdict.

Projection

Raw Story: Paul Ryan (R-WI) suggested Sunday that the Occupy Wall Street protests were the fault of President Barack Obama for “sowing class envy and social unrest.”

Of course exactly the opposite is true. Democratic party public policy decreases the gap between rich and poor and expands the middle class. Republican party public policy increases the gap between rich and poor and destroys the middle class. When the middle class shrinks and the gap between rich and poor increases, social unrest follows.

Now They Want Science?

Herman Cain: ‘Show Me The Science’ That Being Gay Is Not A Choice

If Herman Cain feels that he can make the choice to become sexually aroused enough to have intercourse with another man, he needs to take a hard look at his own sexual orientation.

Investigations

Washington (CNN) -- The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee called Tuesday for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Eric Holder was honest when he testified earlier this year about his knowledge of a now-discredited federal gunrunning operation.

Ok but first we need investigations of the GOP voter suppression and voter intimidation schemes, the GOP campaign to kill the USPS, GOP efforts to lie us into a war and occupation in Iraq, the Bush administration's deliberate outing of the CIA spy network tasked with keeping nuclear material and technology from terrorists, Clarance Thomas's failure to report payments to his wife, the Koch brothers dealings in Iran, and what appears to be the criminal corruption involved in selling off the commons to campaign contributors in Ohio. If there are any Republicans who are not in prison after that, they can call for an investigation of Holder.

National Disaster

Reagan Insider: "How the GOP destroyed the US economy"

It's from last year but since the effects will be felt for decades to come, its worth reading again. More immediately, their policy hasn't changed and neither will the result. If we have any hope of fixing things we can't subject ourselves to Republican rule. Voting Republican is voting for national disaster. Don't vote for national disaster.

Got Your Apology RIGHT HERE

Huffington Post: Former Vice President Dick Cheney, along with his daughter Liz, praised President Barack Obama Sunday for the drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, but also said that the president owes the Bush administration an apology.

The Cheney administration allowed the worst terrorist attack in our nations history, lied and cheated to involve us in the devastating debacle that is Iraq, tripled the national debt, let 55,000 factories and millions of jobs move overseas, deliberately outed the CIA spy network tasked with keeping nuclear material and technology from terrorists, and left our economy in complete meltdown. He was well on his way to destroying this country before Obama had to come in and stop the bleeding. He should be in prison.

Killer Public Policy

Headline: Top Official Rejects GOP Charges EPA Kills Jobs

Getting rid of the EPA will create some jobs. There will be a much greater need for cancer specialists, hospice workers, and grave diggers.