Limiting Democracy

Headline: GOP Tries To Limit Vot­ing

If the constant Republican efforts to rob all manner of poor, elderly, and minority Americans of the right to vote don't convince you this is an institutional aim, check out the quote from Paul Weyrich we've posted on the front page of this blog. The whole lot is a clear and present danger to the republic. Vote for them at your peril (assuming they still let you vote).

Vote Logic

Headline: GOP Willing To Raise Payroll Tax On 113 Million Households To Spare 345,000 Millionaires From Tiny Surtax

Republicans don't even have the minimal nobility of wrong headed convictions. Of all the things they claim they're about, they're not even against raising taxes. In the end they just want to take care of their people. If you're not in the top 1%, you're not their people. Remember that when you vote.

Newt Serves Up A Softball

Raw Story: At a campaign event in Bluffton, South Carolina Tuesday the GOP hopeful called on Obama to “repudiate the concept of the 99 and the 1.”

Gingrich was referring to the Occupy movement’s opposition to the massive income inequality between the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and the other 99 percent.

“When I am president, I will be president of all the American people, not part of the American people,” the former House Speaker declared. “And I will seek to unify the American people, not divide them against each other.”

“You are not going to get job creation when you are engaged in class warfare,” he added.

The president needs to tell Newt to repudiate the concept of the 1% manipulating and looting the economy and by doing so devastating the middle class, increasing the gap between rich and poor, destroying the tax base and threatening the future of the country. And oh yeah, the 1% do create jobs... mostly in China... and in India. The more we cut their taxes, the more we deregulate them, the more they sell us down the river and send American jobs overseas. That's not our opinion, it's the historical record.

Complete Information

Huffington Post: David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, white supremacist and Louisiana politician, was arrested and taken into custody in Cologne on Friday, prior to a planned speech to a right-wing extremist group, German police said Monday.

Allow us to edit... David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, white supremacist and Louisiana REPUBLICAN politician, was arrested and taken into custody in Cologne on Friday, prior to a planned speech to a right-wing extremist group, German police said Monday.

Posts That Write Themselves

Mitt Romney on Wednesday: I'm not “trying to put money in people’s pockets...

...unless they're filthy rich.

Alas, Mitt is a Republican, which means by definition he's trying to put money in the pockets of the rich and the transnational corporation. They are after all, the party of trickle down economics. Unfortunately for us this philosophy is nothing but a stinking pile of garbage on the trash heap of history. Don't vote for it.

No Future

Daily Kos: As companies spend more and more of their cash on stock buybacks, it's not surprising that people who generally speaking think companies should invest in workers and the productive economy object to the practice. After all, the buybacks—sometimes paid for by laying off workers—temporarily prop up stock prices, which in turn often inflates the bonuses of the executives who decided to buy back the stock. That makes it a pretty direct way of taking from the 99 percent to give to the 1 percent. Of course Robert Reich objects; of course I do.

But the New York Times quotes a number of profit-oriented business analysts who think it's a terrible business practice:

“It’s a symptom of a deeper problem, which is a lack of investment in the long term,” said William W. George, a Harvard Business School professor and former chief executive of Medtronic, a medical technology company. “If we’re not investing in research, innovation and entrepreneurship, we’re going to be a slow-growth country for a decade.”

As a rule GOP style deregulation and tax policy not only allows such things but encourages them. Paying top executives in stock options, a practice which used to be illegal for exactly this reason is a prime example. Creating complex financial instruments such as CDO's and derivatives to to hide financial fraud is another. Repealing regulation like Glass-Steagall to allow banks to do this kind of thing on a mass scale is what crashed the economy. And of course, allowing these people to keep most all of their ill gotten gains because you've cut top marginal and capital gains tax rates only exacerbates the situation.

But aside from the obvious detrimental effects of such pro-1% stock manipulation, fiscal policy, and deregulation, the quote brings up another stark difference between Democratic and Republicans. Democrats do, and Republicans don't promote policy that encourages investment in the future, whether it be re-investing operating profit here at home or public money to basic R&D, education and infrastructure investment. The GOP would rather just pay their people, America be damned.

Burn In Hell

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweeting: "Unreal that Obama doesn't mention God in Thanksgiving message. Militant atheist. To whom does he think we are giving thanks?"

OK, number one, better Democrats don't mention God but actually show compassion and love than Republicans go around talking about God and Jesus all the time while they only look out for the rich, start horrific, dishonest wars, and sell out God's great green earth to their industrial polluter cronies. They really should worry about their own soul.

Number two, Ben Shapiro is a Jew. The base of the Republican party is conservative Christian. This means they believe Shapiro deserves to burn in the lake of fire for all eternity because of his religious beliefs. When push come to shove they'll burn him at the stake. So instead of worrying about if Obama mentioned God or not in a speech, he should consider the company he keeps.

Given Up By History, Facebook

ASSOCIATED PRESS -- A west Georgia business owner has been deluged with calls and emails after posting signs on his company's trucks that say he's not hiring anyone until President Barack Obama leaves office.

Waco-based U.S. Cranes LLC owner Bill Looman tells WXIA-TV that reaction has been so intense he's had to disconnect his phones and temporarily shut down the company's website.

He posted the signs on his company's trucks for other motorists to see on roads and interstates across the South. The signs proclaim "New Company Policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone."

Looman says he's not refusing to hire employees to make a political point. He told WXIA he can't afford to hire anyone because of the economy, and he blames the people in power.

Of course under Obama we've gained jobs for 22 straight months. This in stark contrast to the nearly 800,000 jobs a month we were losing when he took over. Since the alternative is obviously much worse, jobs and the economy can't possibly be what this guy is about. He's either a racist or not a fan of the United States. A look at his Facebook page suggests both. He's a big fan of the confederacy.

Criminals

Raw Story: Joe Miller, who had worked as a probation officer for nearly three years in Arizona, was fired in December after adding his name to a Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) letter that supported a California ballot initiative to decriminalize marijuana.

People who have a smoke in their own home are no more criminal than those that have a drink. Lawmakers (and probation officers) who want to decriminalize marijuana are not less moral than those who favor continued criminalization, they're far more so. In fact, those who favor continued criminalization are the real devils. They're at best huge hypocrites, and more often than not corrupt sleezebags working on behalf of the prison-industrial complex, the law enforcement industry, and all the various industries that make inferior, environmentally dangerous products that only exist because industrial hemp is illegal. They should be called out for who they are and what they do. Society suffers greatly at their hands.

The Big Lie

GOP Super Committee Co-Chair: The Congressional Budget Office, the Medicare trustees, and the Government Accountability Office have each repeatedly said that our health-care entitlements are unsustainable. Committee Democrats offered modest adjustments to these programs, but they were far from sufficient to meet the challenge. And even their modest changes were made contingent upon a minimum of $1 trillion in higher taxes—a move sure to stifle job creation during the worst economy in recent memory.

Let's put aside for a moment that yet again the Republican party says very clearly they're out to destroy Medicare. The fact of the matter is the Republican drive to cut taxes for the rich and the transnational corporation has created jobs... in China... and in India. But here at home it's been a national disaster. The more we cut their taxes, the less incentive they have to invest in the American worker and production capacity here at home and massive outsourcing has been the result. That's not a matter of opinion, that's the historical record.

Back when taxes were much higher, rather than extracting operating profit and paying it to the government in the form of taxes, management made the rational decision to invest that money back into the company. This increased the value of the company, created American jobs, grew the middle class, and gave the market buying power. It also grew the economy and expanded the tax base so we were able to afford things like Medicare. Republicanism has destroyed all that. To save the country it must be reversed.

Guilty

John Rudolf: MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Late on the night of August 4, 2010, a badly beaten young man arrived at the trauma ward of Jackson Hospital here. Although the patient was hardly a flight risk, security was tight and prison guards crowded into the emergency room as doctors began treatment.

This guy can write. And put together a pretty damn good case at the same time.

Not Good On The LSAT

Newt Gingrich: Debates elevated me in this campaign.

There have been 10 such debates so far and Newt has been spewing his horrific public policy ideas for three decades. He was speaker of the house for crying out loud. And it was only after Herman Cain got exposed as a serial sexual harasser did Newt rise up to be the latest anti-Romney. It was not the debates. Anybody with logical reasoning skills or a sliver of honesty would know that and reject Gingrich's assertion. The Republican base however, will probably buy it.

Uppity-ism

Rush Limbaugh on Michelle Obama: “We don’t like paying million of dollars for Mrs. Obama’s vacations. The NASCAR crowd doesn’t quite understand why when the husband and the wife are going to same place, the first lady has to take her own 757 with family and kids and hangers-on four four hours earlier than her husband, who will be on his own 747. NASCAR people understand that’s a little bit of a waste. That’s a little bit of uppity-ism.”

That's a little bit of race-ism. Of course his audience is the base of the Republican party. And since the modern incarnation of the Republican party deliberately built its base with racists, this is the kind of stuff he says on his show. People who are not racists would do well to keep this in mind next November.

Less Than Zero

Fox News viewers are less informed than people who don't watch any news, according to a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Turns out there are people that know less than low information voters. Less even than no information voters. The public airwaves should not be used to spread disinformation. Fox News should be illegal.

Where It Belongs

Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “This country does in fact have a serious deficit problem, but the reality is that the deficit was caused by two wars — unpaid for. It was caused by huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this country. It was caused by a recession as result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. And if those are the causes of the deficit, I will be damned if we’re going to balance the budget on backs of the elderly, the sick, the children, and the poor. That’s wrong.”

We love us some Bernie Sanders. We would only add that the wars, the tax breaks for the 1%, and the financial deregulation that plunged us into economic meltdown were all the work of Republicans. Let's make clear not only what, but who got us here.

And His Public Policy Sucks Too

Raw Story: During an appearance in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney appeared reluctant to explain why his former aides had destroyed emails from his term as Massachusetts governor just before he left office in January 2007.

While we fully endorse hitting Romney for what appears to be legally questionable and morally corrupt behavior that's obviously designed to hide something, what is in the public record is reason enough not to vote for him. He got rich by cutting American jobs and he favors the very same Republican economic policy that's outsourced our production capacity, destroyed our tax base, and devastated the middle class. He also advocates the same regulatory policy that caused the economic and financial meltdown of 2008. Elect him and let his policies come back into effect and we'll for sure suffer the same results. It's Einstein's definition of insanity to expect otherwise.

The Oligarchs

Media Matters: The day after publishing an article article titled, "Registering the Poor to Vote is Un-American," which contained such abhorrent statements as "[r]egistering [the poor] to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals" and repeatedly called the poor "nonproductive segments of the population," right-wing author Matthew Vadum appeared on Eric Bolling's Fox Business show to rail against President Obama's voter outreach plan.

Just more evidence the right-wing and their official propaganda outlet, Fox News, can't stand democracy. If the constant Republican efforts to rob all manner of poor and minority Americans of the right to vote don't convince you this is an institutional aim, check out the quote from Paul Weyrich we've posted on the front page of this blog. The whole lot is a clear and present danger to the republic. Vote for them at your peril (assuming they let you vote).

At Least They're Consistent.

AP: Who needs leafy greens and carrots when pizza and french fries will do? In an effort many 9-year-olds will cheer, Congress wants pizza and french fries to stay on school lunch lines and is fighting the Obama administration's efforts to take unhealthy foods out of schools.

If you follow the link you'll find that - surprise - it's Republicans again pushing this destructive, unhealthy policy and doing the bidding of their crony campaign contributors at the expense of our kids. You will read that they've been doing it since Reagan declared catchup a vegetable.

Whether it's horrific, dishonest wars, policies that destroy our economy and environment, or feeding crappy food to kids, all they do is push destructive, unhealthy policy at the expense of ordinary Americans. So here's the deal, if you think pizza is a vegetable, please vote Republican. If you know it's not, understand that Republicans can't be trusted to tell you the truth on anything, much less the quality of the food their cronies are feeding our kids in school.

Glad We Cleared That Up

The chairman of the Republican National Committee says that it is simply “not true” that his party takes the side of the wealthiest Americans over the poor and middle class.

Well, at least we don't have to think about taking this guy seriously ever again. The reality is not only do they take the side the wealthiest Americans over the poor and the middle class, but they take the side of the wealthiest Americans over our infrastructure, food safety, education system, economic strength, national security, and in general the future of the country.

And this clown is so far gone he doesn't even know... pathological really. If you read the link you'll see that he immediately follows his hopeless denial by proposing yet another policy that totally favors the rich, a further cut in the capital gains tax.

The 400

The GOP campaign to aid the wealthy has left America unable to raise the money needed to pay its bills. "The Republican Party went on a tax-cutting rampage and a spending spree," says Rhode Island governor and former GOP senator Lincoln Chafee, pointing to two deficit-financed wars and an unpaid-for prescription-drug entitlement. "It tanked the economy."

If all Americans voted their best interest the GOP would get about 400 votes.

Job Creators

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican bid to block new controls on power plant pollution that blows downwind into other states.

By a 56-41 vote, senators defeated a resolution by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who said the step was needed to rein in what he called the Obama administration's overzealous job-killing approach to environmental protection.

Reining in the EPA will create some jobs. There will be a greater need for cancer specialists, hospice workers, and grave diggers.

God Complex

Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain says that God told him to run for president, National Journal reports.

We post this not to hit Herman Cain. On the contrary, we sincerely hope beyond hope he would be the GOP nominee. But it does say something about the Republican party that this kind of delusion plays well with the base. Voters who are not bat-shit-crazy would do well to keep that in mind next November.

March On Christian Soldier

Think Progress: State representative Rick Womick (R-TN) has made no secret of his anti-Muslim views. A New York Times article from July described Womick on the statehouse floor, warning his constuents that Islamic law was the most urgent threat to their way of life. But in an interview on the sidelines of the “Preserving Freedom Conference” at the Cornerstone Church in Madison, TN, Womick went to new extremes to paint Muslim Americans as dangerous and seditious.

In the interview, which took place on Veterans Day, Womick told ThinkProgress that “I don’t trust one Muslim in our military” and “if they truly are a devout Muslims, and follow the Quran and the Sunnah, then I feel threatened because they’re commanded to kill me.” When asked if Muslims should be forced out of the military, Womick responded “Absolutely, yeah.” Read the exchange:

FANG: What about the thousands of Muslims that are still in the military that are veterans, that are translators, that are active personnel. Is there some sort of policy solution that you’re advocating? […]

WOMICK: Personally, I don’t trust one Muslim in our military because they’re commanded to lie to us through the term called Taqiyya. And if they truly are a devout Muslim, and follow the Quran and the Sunnah, then I feel threatened because they’re commanded to kill me.

CLIFTON: You believe they should be forced out?

WOMICK: Absolutely, yeah.

Of course you could say the same thing about devout Christians. It's ridiculous (not to mention illegal) to ban Muslim Americans from the military. It makes far more sense to ban people like Womick from public service due to their utter disregard for the constitution, the law, and the American way. They are the truly dangerous ones.

Warning

LA Times: The Senate votes 52 to 46 along party lines to reject a Republican effort to overturn federal rules aimed at preserving open Internet access for online users. Still, the GOP is likely to continue the fight.

If you like your free and fair access to the internet, best not vote GOP. As you can see, if they get into power they will take it away.

Now That You Mention It

Huffington Post: A challenger to Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) had his web ad, which featured graphic images of murdered non-Muslims and the House member swearing to the Koran, pulled from YouTube for violating the site's terms of service last week, Hopkins Patch reports.

"Congressman Ellison swore an oath to uphold the Constitution," says Ellison's challenger Gary Boisclair, "on a Koran." He continues, "The Koran says Christians and Jews are infidels. The Koran says Christians are blasphemers who should have their hands and feet cut off and that they should be crucified and killed." He asks, "Do you really want someone representing you who swears an oath on a Koran, a book that undermines the Constitution and says you should be killed?"

Of course the same could be said of anybody who swears on a bible.

From Here

Think Progress: In the wake of HB 56, Alabama’s extreme immigration law, students have been bullied by their peers simply for looking Hispanic, and now even one teacher has singled out a student because she looked foreign — even though she is an American citizen. The ACLU reports that a teacher gave Cineo Gonzales’ young daughter a pamphlet in Spanish about HB 56. When Gonzales, a Birmingham taxi driver, went to the school’s principal to ask why it was given to his daughter specifically, the principal told him that the school handed out the pamphlets to students “who looked like they weren’t from there”

Of course the reality is people like Cineo Gonzales are the only people who look like they are from here. And if her teacher and principal don't like it, they can go the fuck back to Europe.

Obviously Full Of Crap

Huffington Post: Rush Limbaugh escalated his attack on Sharon Bialek, the woman who has publicly accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment, on his Tuesday show. Limbaugh even compared Bialek's teenage son to a Nazi [...] "You think Obama doesn't love hearing this?" Limbaugh said. "A 13-year-old tattle-tale. I mean, that is a brownshirt preview here. Exactly what big government types like."

Putting aside that Rush again shows what a scumbag he is by going after the woman's 13 year old son and using this ridiculous Nazi analogy, his obvious lack of honesty in this regard should be a big, red flag to even his most die hard fans. No, we don't think that Obama loves hearing this. What Obama would love to hear is that Herman Cain is the GOP nominee... because he would crush him in the general election. He won't crush Mitt Romney. Limbaugh knows this. And so does every other Republican and GOP shill in the media accusing the Dems of somehow orchestrating what's going on. None of them can be trusted.

Worry About Your Own Soul

In video released Tuesday morning from a secret religious right-wing event titled “One Nation Under God,” Focus on the Family founder James Dobson warned Americans that if they don’t vote right-wing in 2012, they’ll be in “serious trouble” with God.

What a crock. Republicans only care about rich people, they start BS wars where hundreds of thousands if not millions of people die, and they pollute God's great green earth with gusto. God hates Republicans. Likewise if you believe in Jesus and his teachings (take care of the poor, etc), you also know Dobson is full of crap.

“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24

Back To The USSR

A group of Republican state senators have proposed a bill that would make the Pledge of Allegiance mandatory for every public school student in Michigan.

Republican state Sen. Roger Kahn’s SB 637 would also require schools to purchase a flag for every classroom.

“THE BOARD OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT OR INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DISTRICT OR BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL ACADEMY SHALL ENSURE THAT EACH PUPIL IN EACH PUBLIC SCHOOL IT OPERATES IS REQUIRED TO RECITE THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES EACH SCHOOL DAY,” the bill says.

Ok, wow, talk about indoctrination. Forget for a minute about the unconstitutionality of making somebody chant they believe in God with public money. These Republicans would have done well in the Soviet Union where all citizens had to pledge allegiance to the state. Even more crazy to force kids to do it. These people really don't belong in a secular, democratic government. They should resign.

The Party of God

TPM: At a campaign stop on Thursday, Kentucky Republican gubernatorial candidate David Williams, who is also president of the state Senate, took some more time to explain what he called “a little controversy that’s happened” — and called upon Hindus to come to Jesus.

The controversy in question, of course, is Williams’s attack on Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear participating in a Hindu religious ceremony at the groundbreaking for a factory run by an Indian company.

If you're a evangelical Christian who believes this country was founded by Christians and is only for Christians, and you believe religious law should replace secular government by the people, you should vote Republican. If not, it's rather dangerous to do so.

Hitler Would Agree

Texas Republican state Rep. Larry Taylor has apologized for urging an insurance association to do right by policy holders and not "Jew them down" at a hearing earlier this week.

Why apologize? That's the way he feels. He agrees with Hitlers' propaganda and is a member of a political party that makes common cause with modern day Nazis. Look, for 40 years the Republican party has been a haven for racists and bigots. The historical evidence is undeniable. They pimp Israel only to try and get some US Jews to vote their way and to pander to their radical Christian base who only want to keep it away from Muslims before Jesus returns and sends all the Jews to hell. Any Jew thinking of voting GOP would do well to remember that.

Medicareless

Washington Post: Mitt Romney on Friday unveiled a plan to fundamentally re-shape Medicare, tackling one of the 2012 presidential contest’s most delicate issues before a skeptical crowd of tea party activists. [...]

Romney’s plan is similar to the controversial proposal released by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan earlier in the year. He hasn’t finalized many details, but the federal government would no longer pay for all Medicare patients’ health-care costs under a Romney system. Instead, it would offer future recipients a set amount of money to be used for a private insurance plan or a version of the traditional program.

Mitt Romney wants to kill Medicare. Pass the word.

Fine, Have It Your Way

Raw Story: An unemployed supporter of the the tea party lost his cool at an event for Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) Wednesday night, calling her a “socialist whore "

Let him starve. Society shouldn't lift a socialist finger to help this ingrate.

Best They Not Talk About That

Coulter: GOP Blacks Much Better

Gutter Truth: Yeah, all four of them.

Make Them Less Than 1/3 Or Else

Raw Story: Democratic Sens. Tom Udall of New Mexico and Michael Bennet of Colorado introduced a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

The decision gave corporations and unions the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections, so long as their actions are not coordinated with a candidate’s campaign.

Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) have co-sponsored the legislation.

We can tell you right now every Republican will be against this constitutional amendment, and thus it will not pass. At least not until the voters make sure there are less than 33 GOP senators. If the Democrats go to the mat on this, and keep at it, they can make that happen. For the sake of our country, here's hoping they do.

Attack Back

Think Progress Headline: Under New GOP Law, Florida Teacher Faces Huge Fines For Crime Of Registering Students To Vote

The institutional Republican effort to steal elections by systematically disenfranchising core Democratic constituencies should be met with criminal prosecutions, lawsuits (what's the right to vote worth? Some disenfranchised Americans should sue the GOP and find out), recalls, and most importantly, complete rejection of the GOP by the electorate. This war on voters is an attack on all Americans, regardless of political affiliation. Anybody who values democracy would do well to remember that come election day (assuming you're still eligible to vote).