For the great divide in our politics isn’t really about pragmatic issues, about which policies work best; it’s about differences in those very moral imaginations Mr. Obama urges us to expand, about divergent beliefs over what constitutes justice.
SNIP
One side of American politics considers the modern welfare state — a private-enterprise economy, but one in which society’s winners are taxed to pay for a social safety net — morally superior to the capitalism red in tooth and claw we had before the New Deal. It’s only right, this side believes, for the affluent to help the less fortunate.
The other side believes that people have a right to keep what they earn, and that taxing them to support others, no matter how needy, amounts to theft. That’s what lies behind the modern right’s fondness for violent rhetoric: many activists on the right really do see taxes and regulation as tyrannical impositions on their liberty.
There’s no middle ground between these views. One side saw health reform, with its subsidized extension of coverage to the uninsured, as fulfilling a moral imperative: wealthy nations, it believed, have an obligation to provide all their citizens with essential care. The other side saw the same reform as a moral outrage, an assault on the right of Americans to spend their money as they choose.
This deep divide in American political morality — for that’s what it amounts to — is a relatively recent development. Commentators who pine for the days of civility and bipartisanship are, whether they realize it or not, pining for the days when the Republican Party accepted the legitimacy of the welfare state, and was even willing to contemplate expanding it. As many analysts have noted, the Obama health reform — whose passage was met with vandalism and death threats against members of Congress — was modeled on Republican plans from the 1990s.
But that was then. Today’s G.O.P. sees much of what the modern federal government does as illegitimate; today’s Democratic Party does not. When people talk about partisan differences, they often seem to be implying that these differences are petty, matters that could be resolved with a bit of good will. But what we’re talking about here is a fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government.
According to Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, the president recently told friends, "All I want for Christmas is an opposition I can negotiate with." Well, he had one, briefly, so long as he was willing to cave in to its demands to bust the budget with a massive gift of more than $130 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 percent of the country and the gutting of the estate tax. That cleared the decks for other "victories" and "compromises" and led to widespread insider approval of Obama's ability to "make the system work." Like 13-year-olds at the movies, pundits love "action," period, never mind its consequences.
It's hardly surprising that few of them noticed that even during this decidedly brief Era of Good Feelings, Republicans refused to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. Instead, both parties agreed to extend current levels of funding temporarily to avert an immediate government shutdown, with the mutual understanding that the postelection House will be much stingier than the old one. So Obama bought himself some peace in Hawaii, but at the cost of returning home to a metaphorical house on fire.
What is not understood by those who cover contemporary conservatives (and, one fears, by those who negotiate with them) is that while they like to talk about all kinds of values, these are always subordinated to a single, unchanging and uncompromised goal: class warfare.
SNIP
Hamtramck, Michigan, recently profiled in the New York Times, is the future to which these Republicans look forward. The town already ceased taking care of the trees and grass on public property and ran out of money for street plowing just before the recent blizzard. Localities like Hamtramck are getting little help from the state legislature, however. "All our communities have done is cut, cut, cut," said Summer Hallwood Minnick, director of state affairs for the Michigan Municipal League. "They're down to four-day workweeks and the elimination of parks, senior centers, all of that. So if there's anything else that happens, they will be over the edge."
SNIP
The conservative Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis has helpfully laid out the Republican strategy. By refusing to bail out the states, local governments will be forced to go the route of either Hamtramck or Prichard, cutting services, pensions or both. Republicans may even pursue legislation allowing states to declare bankruptcy and let the unions fight it out in the courts. "From the Republican perspective," Pethokoukis explains, "the fiscal crisis on the state level provides a golden opportunity to defund a key Democratic interest group." Barack Obama, forgetting, once again, which side elected him, chose to reinforce this right-wing narrative by unilaterally—and unnecessarily—freezing the salaries of all federal workers. Once again, it pains me to add, he elicited not a single conservative concession in return. Obama, like so much of Washington, loves to see the deal done and worry about the details later. But with a radical Republican majority coming to power in the House, what America needs right now in the White House, Mr. President, is a fighter, not a referee.
I'll be civil when the class warriors surrender, and not before.
Once again, President Obama hit the bulls-eye with his remarks at the Arizona memorial Wednesday night.
And once again, he aimed at the wrong target.
Once again, he pretended there is no difference between the hatemongers who want to destroy him and the supporters who try to defend him.
No, I don't agree with the rethuglican liars like Marc Thiessen in WaPo who claims Obama
"delivered a clear rebuke to those on the left who were so quick to politicize this tragedy and assign blame to their political opponents."
That's not what Obama did. What Obama did was come upon a vicious bully beating an innocent bystander to death, pull the two apart, and procede to lecture the innocent bystander about the importance of solving disputes like gentlemen. While the bully ran off laughing.
"The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better. To be better in our private lives, to be better friends and neighbors and coworkers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in more civility in our public discourse, let us remember it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy -- it did not -- but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud."
Apparently Barrry's grandmother never told him it's a waste of time to argue with drunk, crazy and stupid people.
It is this administration's suicidal insistence on "civility" that has handed power to the hatemongers and the nihilists.
The teahadists are not patriots. The rethuglicans are not anyone's definition of a citizen. The conservatards are barely human.
And you, Mr. President, are enabling them. You are strengthening them. You are legitimizing them.
By refusing to call them out and condemn their hatemongering, you implicitly approve of them. The message you send is that only dirty fucking hippies have to behave. The bullies, however, can wreak havoc every day and you'll just pat them on the head and punish the liberals.
"As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let's use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together....I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us."
If Obama thinks the haters are going to hear that and think: "gee, maybe being nice to liberals is the right thing to do after all," he's delusional.
If he thinks demanding civility from the people who are the targets of the haters is going to accomplish anything except yet more surrender and defeat and destruction, he's criminally incompetent.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) took the opportunity to muse that the government may be withholding information about the crime because Jared Loughner is a flag-hating Marxist liberal who might embarrass President Obama.
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), by contrast, ran through a litany of now-infamous statements by high-profile politicians, leaving blank the names of people and issues under threat.
"Let me read some statements that I have seen to be pretty awful," he said on Wednesday.
What's really dangerous is Obama's insistence on painting everyone with the same broad brush. Saying that republicans who lose elections should use bullets and Second Amendment remedies to get their way is NOT the same as criticizing for violent rhetoric the people who say republicans who lose elections should use bullets and Second Amendment remedies.
It's the EXACT OPPOSITE.
One side is calling explicitly for the elimination of its political opponents.
The other side is calling expliitly for the exposure and condemnation of people who call explicitly for the elimination of political opponents.
One of these things is not like the other.
Yet Obama conflates them and implicitly blames liberals for calling attention to conservatives' violent rhetoric.
In the face of a lethal attack on federal officials, President Clinton demanded we stand up to hate.
In the face of a lethal attack on federal officials, President Obama suggests we play nice with the bullies.
My entire adult life, I have fought against the conservative libel that liberals are weak appeasers who always surrender to opponents.
Barack Obama is no liberal, but he absolutely is a weak appeaser who always surrenders to opponents.
I will keep assigning you to take on final projects that require you to call your senator. I will keep taking you on field trips to legislatures. I will continue assigning extra credit for attending lectures of those officials with whom you disagree politically. I have asked you to consider running for office. We have talked about the reasons, the challenges and the costs. I am still asking you to run. I am asking you to lend your voices, your talents and your time. I am asking you this in the shadow of bloodshed, of sadness, of terror. I am asking you, even now, to be brave enough to believe that we can be a better country.
It’s long been obvious that conservatives conceive of “civility” solely in terms of point-scoring, because they are essentially sociopathic fuckwads.
Oh, perhaps this is unfair. But as I was grouching about last night, “once you’ve gone ahead and, say, made excuses for state-sponsored torture, if you want the benefit of the doubt, fuck you.”
Fifteen states agree with me, and do not give the option for the death penalty to their prosecutors. A sixteenth, Illinois, is about to join them.
Illinois was poised to become the first state since 2009 to abolish the death penalty after the state Senate approved the ban on Tuesday and sent it to Democratic Governor Pat Quinn for his signature.
The Senate vote came after House approval late last week. The Senate vote was 32-25.
Illinois has not executed anyone for more than a decade after former Republican Governor George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in January 2000 following a series of revelations that people had been sent to Death Row who were later found to be innocent.
Illinois is also refusing to let hysterical cries for austerity destroy its economy and its residents.
California has chosen to cut, cut, cut to balance its budget (and still faces a huge hole.) Illinois on the other hand is still able to raise revenues and they just did in a huge way.
Many states are struggling with anemic revenues and the prospect of an end to additional federal funds, but Illinois faces a budget deficit of as much as $15 billion, owes some $8 billion in unpaid bills to social service agencies, doctors, dentists and others, and is receiving mounting signs of worry from bond investors.
Under the legislation, the income tax rate would, at least temporarily, rise to 5 percent from its current rate of 3 percent. Lawmakers had talked about an even steeper increase, but set that aside as the hours went by and the debate grew increasingly emotional. The rate for corporate taxes would rise to 7 percent from its current rate of 4.8 percent. As part of the deal, the state’s spending growth would be limited from one year to the next over the next four years.
Gov. Patrick J. Quinn, a Democrat whose signature would be needed to make any rate increase final, has indicated in the past he believes a tax increase is necessary.
The tax hike irked Republicans in Springfield, the state capital, and business owners around the state. Again and again, Republicans argued that the state needed to make significant spending cuts to solve its deficit before it even began considering a tax increase.
On the Statehouse floor on Tuesday night, Roger L. Eddy, a Republican representative, said that lawmakers were essentially “making up for our mistakes” on the backs of taxpayers, while one state senator called it a “train wreck.” Representative David Reis, another Republican, warned of the “sucking sound” he imagined would now be heard of businesses leaving the Illinois.
The fallout of the vote remains to be seen: Will Illinois businesses really now flock to neighbors Wisconsin and Indiana as opponents have suggested? Will the increase impress investors and quickly improve the state’s sunken bond rating? And, perhaps most of all, will the change be enough to turn around the financial woes of a state where the deficit has grown to the size of half of the annual general fund?
We'll see. Republicans who forced California into draconian cuts say they had no choice. Illinois Democrats who forced a major raise in the state's income tax said they had no choice either. We're about to see a laboratory of democracy experiment in action.
Which state will recover first, if either?
I'm betting on the state that is making reality-based decisions that reflect decades of economic success from progressive taxation.
What's your secret, Illinois? What are you feeding your state legislators? And how fast can we get emergency shipments of it to Frankfort?
78-year old Nancy Smith is one of two individuals arrested last year after crossing onto the Ft. Benning military base in Georgia as part of a protest against the School of the Americas, a military training academy notorious for the human rights abuses of its graduates:
Nancy Smith and Chris Spicer were among the thousands who gathered on November 19-21, 2010 outside the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia to demand a change in U.S.-Latin America foreign policy and the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC). Four people peacefully crossed onto Ft. Benning, site of the school, while thousands stood vigil at the gates of Fort Benning in memory of those killed by graduates of the institution. Two of the four, Father Louis Vitale and David Omondi from California plead no contest and were sentenced in November to six months in federal prison. Nancy Smith and Chris Spicer plead not guilty and are scheduled to go to trial on January 5, 2011.
The two have since been sentenced. Smith, a retired psychology professor at Columbia-Greene Community College, with a long history of international work with humanitarian organizations, told supporters she was “not particularly worried” about going to prison:
“It would be a far different experience for me if I were not white, middle class, educated and old…. I face less risk in prison simply by virtue of my race and economic class.”
Whether or not you believe the US government should be accountable for the actions of soldiers they train upon return to their home countries, whether or not you buy the notion that SOA has cleaned up its act since it changed its acronym to WHINSEC, and whether or not you think the the right to peaceful assembly extends to entering federal property, the sentence itself is pretty outrageous. Even if one accepts the US government’s assumption that it should prosecute civilians who trespass on military facilities, surely something short of incarceration in a federal prison would have been more appropriate for a woman of Nancy Smith’s age, particularly given the nature of the offense.
Are the Koch brothers offering a reward for the most dangerously ludicrous response to the assassination in Arizona? Because the Kentucky General Assembly just won it.
Lawmakers are pushing three identical bills to exempt Kentucky-made guns and ammunition from federal background checks, dealer licenses and other national regulations if the items remain in the state.
The effort comes as a recent report shows Kentucky is one of the nation's biggest exporters of guns that cross state lines — legally or illegally — and end up at crime scenes in other states, often in cities with tight gun ownership restrictions.
Beat that, Texas!
At the same time, one lawmaker who opposes the proposed legislation is pointing to Saturday's mass shooting in Arizona, which left six dead and wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and many others, as evidence Kentucky's guns laws should be strengthened, not weakened.
"This is just an effort to pander to the National Rifle Association and the Tea Party movement, which is shameful given the attempted assassination of a congresswoman over the weekend," said Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville.
Hushup, Mary Lou! You're gonna make us lose gun-nut first place.
July 2, 2010—The Wyoming Department of Revenue suspends sales tax collections at the state's gun shows because of "increasing animosity" toward field tax agents. Dan Noble, director of the department's Excise Tax Division, cites one particular incident at a gun show that "crossed the line" and says, "We tend to have more trouble at gun shows than any place ... I have 10 field reps throughout the state, and every one of them has experienced some animosity ... I don't want to put my people at risk."
July 3, 2010—Joyce Kaufman, a conservative radio hosts on WFTL in Florida, tells a crowd of supporters at a Fort Lauderdale Tea Party event, “I am convinced that the most important thing the Founding Fathers did to ensure me my First Amendments rights was they gave me a Second Amendment. And if ballots don’t work, bullets will. This is the standoff. When I say I’ll put my microphone down on November 2nd if we haven’t achieved substantial victory, I mean it. Because if at that point I’m going to up into the hills of Kentucky, I’m going to go out into the Midwest, I’m going to go up in the Vermont and New Hampshire outreaches and I’m going to gather together men and women who understand that some things are worth fighting for and some things are worth dying for.”
July 6, 2010—Herb Titus, a lawyer for Gun Owners of America, tells Religion Dispatches, "If you have a people that has basically been disarmed by the civil government, then there really isn't any effectual means available to the people to restore law and liberty and that's really the purpose of the right to keep and bear arms—is to defend yourself against a tyrant." Titus goes on to cite the "totalitarian threat" posed by "Obamacare" and "what Sarah Palin said about the death panels."
You won't believe how much of this there is out there. It's swirling throughout the ether. It's real.
This relentlessly hostile rhetoric has become standard issue on the right. (On the left it appears in anonymous comment threads, not congressional speeches and national T.V. programs.) And it has gone almost entirely uncriticized by Republican leaders. Partisan media encourages it, while the mainstream media finds it titillating and airs it, often without comment, so that the gradual effect is to desensitize even people to whom the rhetoric is repellent. We've all grown so used to it over the past couple of years that it took the shock of an assassination attempt to show us the ugliness to which our politics has sunk.
Don't let anybody get away with pretending violent rhetoric and images is something "both sides" do. It's not. It's a right-wing, conservative, republican phenomenon, as David Neiwert documents in his book The Eliminationists.
Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?
In this day and age, it’s a common thing for Democratic executive-branch leaders, be they governors or presidents, to cower at the sight of Republicans — and this is doubly true when the Republicans actually have official control of one or houses of a state or Federal legislature. Which is why it’s so refreshing to see Governor Dayton, politely yet fearlessly, go toe-to-toe with Republicans and their patrons:
Governor Mark Dayton told an audience of business leaders wary of tax hikes that the state needs more money to fix its budget problems. Dayton gave a 30 minute speech to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce at its annual legislative dinner last night. He went through a litany of facts to explain why Minnesota should increase income taxes on top earners – a proposal that makes many business leaders nervous. Dayton said trying to erase the $6.2 billion dollar deficit with spending cuts alone will hurt the state in the long run.
“Eliminating all of the state agencies would save about $3.5 billion of just over half or the projected state deficit. And that is why I say respectfully to anyone who thinks this session is going to be easy and painless, please share your magic potion with the rest of us. Or else get to work reading and understanding the state budget as I have.”
Listen to the audio recording of the speech here. He enters to enthusiastic applause and, through self-depreciating humor and direct acknowledgment of their differences, has the crowd — a group of tax-phobic businessmen — eating out of his hand, and maybe he might have got a few of them to soften their intense opposition to his stance that Minnesota needs to raise taxes, particularly on the rich. With a combination of hardcore, unassailable facts and polite yet direct manner, Governor Dayton made his point with the audience, and likely left his mark on them as well.
When he’s not emulating Daniel in the lions’ den, he’s also resisting pressure to appoint cronies or other unqualified persons to key state government posts. For instance: He was under a great deal of pressure to pick Rod Skoe, a rice farmer with no conservation management experience and someone seen as very friendly to mining interests casting hungry eyes on northern Minnesota, as the next head of the state Department of Natural Resources. Instead, he picked Tom Landwehr, a man who, as Neil Haugerud states over at Renaissance Post, is “long known to Minnesotans for his varied rôles as educator, scientist, wildlife manager, lobbyist and, above all, conservationist. Landwehr holds Master’s degrees in Wildlife and in Business Administration from the Gopher Mound. His outstanding career in public service includes over 15 years in wildlife research and management, Conservation Director responsibilities for Ducks Unlimited in Iowa and Minnesota, and the Assistant Directorship in Minnesota and the Dakotas for The Nature Conservancy.”
I have a feeling that my new governor is going to do just fine. After a long stretch of immature greedheads, it’s nice to see a responsible adult in the big mansion on Summit Avenue.
Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?
From an email sent by City of Winchester, KY staff on City of Winchester computers to an apparently statewide distribution:
Subject: Prayer Meeting Hosted by Mayor Burtner
Each year Mayor Burtner has arranged a prayer meeting near the beginning of the year to focus attention on the needs of our local elected leaders for the prayers of the people of the community. This year the prayer meeting will be at Emmanuel Episcopal Church and those leading in prayer will be several of our elected leaders themselves. The meeting will be on January 8, 2011 at 10 am and everyone is invited to come and be part of this time of encouraging our leadership to know that the church is behind them with prayer.
Emmanuel Episcopal Church Saturday January 8, 2011 10 AM Prayer for our local officers
Local officials in Winchester certainly are in dire need of assistance. I'd recommend starting with a basic introduction to the Establishment Clause.
As for the poor abused citizens of Winchester: instead of begging for magic tricks from an invisible sky wizard, they should start recruiting candidates from the reality-based community.
Here's the last president who faced an outbreak of horrible political violence during his term and I think it holds up well today:
Yesterday Hillary and I joined tens of thousands of people in Oklahoma City, and of course millions of you all across the country, to witness the end result of abject hatred. I was there, as President, to represent all of you in the mourning. But also I felt that we were there, Hillary and I, as ordinary American citizens as well, as husband and wife, as parents, as neighbors of those people.
No words can do justice to how moving it was to be there yesterday. No words can do justice to the courage of those who worked in the rescue operation around the clock. And one person has already given her life in that endeavor. No words can do justice to the small acts of kindness and generosity, all the people in Oklahoma who won't take money at the gas station or the local coffee shop or the barber shop or even at the airline ticket terminal for people who are there working to try to help them put their lives together.
But I will never forget, more than anything else, the faces and the stories of the family members of the victims. I was walking through the room shaking hands with them, and I saw a lady with her children who had been in the Oval Office just a few weeks ago as her husband left my Secret Service detail to go to what seemed to be a less hectic pace of duty in Oklahoma City. I saw the children of a man who was a football hero at the University of Arkansas when so many people who are now on the White House staff were friends of his. The young Air Force sergeant took out two pictures his wife had taken f me just 3 weeks ago when I visited our troops in Haiti. And she was one of those troops, but she came home because we wound down our mission there. And she married her fiance, and 3 days later she went to the Federal building to change her name. And so he had to give me the pictures his wife took. I saw three children, teenage children, with a woman and another child taking care of them. One of them had one of my Inaugural buttons on. Their mother died last year of an illness. Their father went to our Inaugural, and they asked me to sign the pin to their father who is still missing—three teenagers losing both parents.
I could go on and on and on. I say to all of you, first we must complete the rescue effort and the recovery effort. Of course, we must help that community rebuild. We must arrest, convict, and punish the people who committed this terrible, terrible deed, but our responsibility does not end there.
In this country we cherish and guard the right of free speech. We know we love it when we put up with people saying things we absolutely deplore. And we must always be willing to defend their right to say things we deplore to the ultimate degree. But we hear so many loud and angry voices in America today whose sole goal seems to be to try to keep some people as paranoid as possible and the rest of us all torn up and upset with each other. They spread hate. They leave the impression that, by their very words, that violence is acceptable. You ought to see—I'm sure you are now seeing the reports of some things that are regularly said over the airwaves in America today.
Well, people like that who want to share our freedoms must know that their bitter words can have consequences and that freedom has endured in this country for more than two centuries because it was coupled with an enormous sense of responsibility on the part of the American people.
If we are to have freedom to speak, freedom to assemble, and, yes, the freedom to bear arms, we must have responsibility as well. And to those of us who do not agree with the purveyors of hatred and division, with the promoters of paranoia, I remind you that we have freedom of speech, too, and we have responsibilities, too. And some of us have not discharged our responsibilities. It is time we all stood up and spoke against that kind of reckless speech and behavior.
If they insist on being irresponsible with our common liberties, then we must be all the more responsible with our liberties. When they talk of hatred, we must stand against them. When they talk of violence, we must stand against them. When they say things that are irresponsible, that may have egregious consequences, we must call them on it. The exercise of their freedom of speech makes our silence all the more unforgivable. So exercise yours, my fellow Americans. Our country, our future, our way of life is at stake. I never want to look into the faces of another set of family members like I saw yesterday, and you can help to stop it.
Our democracy has endured a lot over these last 200 years, and we are strong enough today to sort out and work through all these angry voices...
Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside.
From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife.
“We either live together, or we die together,” was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the “human shield” idea.
Among those shields were movie stars Adel Imam and Yousra, popular preacher Amr Khaled, the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak, and thousands of citizens who have said they consider the attack one on Egypt as a whole.
“This is not about us and them,” said Dalia Mustafa, a student who attended mass at Virgin Mary Church on Maraashly. “We are one. This was an attack on Egypt as a whole, and I am standing with the Copts because the only way things will change in this country is if we come together.”
In the days following the brutal attack on Saints Church in Alexandria, which left 21 dead on New Year’ eve, solidarity between Muslims and Copts has seen an unprecedented peak. Millions of Egyptians changed their Facebook profile pictures to the image of a cross within a crescent – the symbol of an “Egypt for All”. Around the city, banners went up calling for unity, and depicting mosques and churches, crosses and crescents, together as one.
Now I'm going to have to stop sneering at all those "coexist" bumper stickers.
I won't keep you in suspense: In 2010, the Obama/stimulus/health-care-reform economy added 1,100,000 jobs. That's more jobs than Smirky-Darth's Feed the Rich economy created in eight years.
All told, for the entirety of Bush's eight years in office, the net job gain was about 1 million. In 2010, and just 2010, the net job gain was about 1.1 million. What's more, 2010 wasn't an especially good year; on the contrary, the 1.1 million jobs created last year reflected a frustratingly weak employment market.
But it managed to top Bush's total anyway.
There's a larger significance to this, beyond marveling at the failures of the Bush/Cheney era, and that is the widely held belief in Republican circles that those Bush/Cheney policies worked.
Remember, for eight years, the Republican administration got the precise economic policies it wanted. From taxes to regulation, investment to trade, Bush was able to do exactly how he pleased -- and the results were a disaster.
This matters a great deal today, not only because we're still living with the consequences of spectacular Republican failures, but because GOP leaders are absolutely convinced that the country will benefit if we go back to Bush's economic policies. They've been explicit on this point, insisting the country needs to go back to the "exact same agenda" that's already been proven not to work.
In the midst of these larger debates, let's not forget how completely crazy this is.
Republicans: Still Lying. Still Stupid. Still Determined to Destroy the Nation.
Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?
Step back in time to the 18th century, when American Indians and European Americans lived closer to nature. Carter Caves State Resort Park at Olive Hill invites you to its Woods Lore and Tracking Weekend March 4-6. Learn some of the skills that were necessary for everyday life, and of the cultural sharing that has made our modern lives richer.
Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park is partnering with the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources to host a Hunting & Fishing Expo March 4-5.
The United States Adventure Racing Association has announced that its 2011 National Championship will be held at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in Corbin, Ky. on October 6 – 8, 2011. First Lady Jane Beshear said the event will help highlight some of the adventure tourism opportunities in Kentucky. “The Cumberland Falls and Big South Fork area feature some spectacular scenery and will provide an excellent location for this competition,” Mrs. Beshear said. “We’re proud to host this event and look forward to many more like it.”
Natural Bridge State Resort Park is hosting a Winter Bird Blitz on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4-5. The Winter Bird Blitz features a day of birding activities on Friday followed by a bird count on Saturday morning and afternoon. Bird count data over time in any given area can provide valuable insights into the long-term health of bird populations and the environment... and besides, it’s fun and free!
Carter Caves State Resort Park will offer a workshop on gravestones, icons and cemeteries as part of family tree research with its Cemetery Iconology Seminar on Feb. 5.
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and several Kentucky State Parks are offering special packages during February. State parks offer a great chance for a getaway weekend, along with excellent food, entertainment and natural beauty and scenery. Listed below are the resort parks with a description of the Valentine’s packages and the park toll-free phone number. For more information about each park and online reservations, visit www.parks.ky.gov. Click here for details about packages at each park.
Lake Cumberland State Resort Park will present Buffalo Night on Jan. 29, 2011. The event will include a special buffalo buffet dinner and live music by Native American flutist and drummer Mark Barfoot of the Wolf Clan Onondaga.
Jefferson Davis State Historic Site invites guests to learn more about how free African American women survived and supported black soldiers as they fought for freedom during the Civil War. The Feb. 4, 2011 program will feature the Female Re-Enactors of Distinction (FREED), affiliated with the Civil War Museum in Washington, D.C. The ladies of FREED dress in period costumes and use period speech to portray African American people and their way of life during the Civil War. The program, part of Black History Month, is free and will be offered from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Central Time.
Anglers’ Cove Restaurant at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park will feature its first International Classic Cuisine Italian Night on Feb. 5. The menu will include baked spaghetti, chicken alfredo, chicken parmesan, baked vegetarian lasagna, catfish, Italian green beans with almonds, asparagus with red peppers, Sicilian vegetable blend, rice pilaf, peas with pearl onions, smashed redskin potatoes and gravy, homemade pizza (for the kids), a salad bar, soup, garlic bread and cornbread, assorted Italian desserts, pudding and cobbler.
Eagle Watch Weekends. Nature lovers should make plans to participate in a unique Kentucky State Park tradition – Eagle Watch Weekends in January and February 2011. The park system will be sponsoring this wildlife-watching opportunity as American Bald Eagles gather around the major lakes of western and south-central Kentucky looking for food. The park tours allow you to observe and learn about these beautiful birds of prey. For four decades, the Kentucky State Parks have offered Eagle Watch Weekends, a chance to view the eagles from land and water and learn about the national symbol and other wildlife. Click here for schedule.
Pennyrile Forest State Resort Par will be hosting two special events during January – one for Rook players and another for artists. The round-robin Rook tournament is Jan. 7-9 and begins at 7 p.m. Friday night and runs through Saturday evening. House rules will apply. The registration fee is $25 per team and a new deck of Rook cards. The early bird registration fee is $20 per team and a new deck of Rook cards due one week prior to the event. The park is offering a special lodging discount of two night’s for the price of one for all registered participants. Prizes will be given to the top three finishing teams. This tournament is open to any team that loves to play Rook. The Rook is played as a wild card that can trump all trumps and can be played at anytime during a game.
The park’s Oil Painting Weekend will be Jan. 21-23. If you’ve always wanted to learn how to paint, this is the weekend event for you!
Natural Bridge State Resort Park will host its Appalachian Heritage Buffalo Night on Jan. 15. The evening will include a special all-you-can-eat buffet from 4-8 p.m. featuring Kentucky Proud buffalo in the Sandstone Arches Restaurant. Buffet items will include roasted buffalo steamship round carved on the line, BBQ ribs, buffalo meatloaf, buffalo chili, country fried chicken and fried catfish. Side items will include whipped potatoes, country style green beans, corn pudding, soup and salad bar and assorted desserts. The cost for adults is $16.95. Children ages 6-12 are $8.95 and children 5 and under are free.
Greenbo Lake State Park will be hosting two weekends for its Creative Memories Scrapbooking on Jan. 14-15 and Jan. 21-22, 2011. Creative Memories present two weekends designed for the experienced and the novice scrapbooker. All participants must bring their own scrapbook and materials. Scrapbooks and materials can be purchased for an additional fee.
Each year thousands of Sandhill Cranes make Barren River Lake a stop on their journey back home. Join Barren River Lake State Resort Park during its Nature Watch Weekends to get up close to these beautiful cranes as they migrate through the area. The weekends, Jan. 21-22 and Feb. 18-19, 2011, will consist of educational sessions conducted by Wayne Tamminga, a wildlife biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, on Friday evenings at 7 p.m. CST.
Carter Caves State Resort Park will present a weekend of hiking, canoeing, cave tours, winter survival and other adventures with its second annual Winter Adventure Weekend Jan. 28-30, 2011. Guests will be able to select from a list of trips they want to take – for beginners and advanced winter adventurers alike. All of the trips and events are led by guides. Each trip is placed in a level based on the difficulty and skills that are required. The higher the level, the more skills and special equipment required. Guests will be responsible for appropriate dress, water and snacks and other items.
Pine Mountain State Resort Park is set to provide off-season adventure with their upcoming Winter Photography Weekend on Jan. 28-30. The event features a digital photography competition, evening picture shows, and the exceptional photographic work and instruction of Tim Webb of Richmond, Ky.
Cumberland Falls State Resort Park will host a Kentucky Chautauqua program Jan. 29 featuring Adolph Rupp, the coach who helped put Kentucky basketball on the map. The Kentucky Chautauqua program, sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council, brings unique Kentucky characters to life. Edward Smith will play Rupp in this one-man show that will include dinner. The dinner and show is $35 plus tax per person. Dinner will be served from 5-8 p.m. and the show will start at 8 p.m. Arrive early and watch the University of Kentucky game at 4 p.m. in our Great Room.
The Paramount Arts Center’s Paramount Players presents “Clue the Musical” -- A Murder Mystery at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park on Jan. 29, 2011. Who did it? Was it Miss Scarlet in the dining room with a rope? Enjoy an excellent meal prepared by the Anglers’ Cove Restaurant followed by a musical murder mystery. Enjoy one night’s lodging, dinner and show for two and a continental breakfast all for $136 plus tax. Dinner and show only is $35 plus tax per person. Reservations must be made by January 21, 2011 by calling 1-800-325-0083 or contact Stephanie.poplin@ky.gov Guests are encouraged to come to the show in costume if you like.
Fort Boonesborough State Park and the Fort Boonesborough Foundation will be holding a series of “Fireside Chats” with famous characters from Kentucky history beginning Feb. 5, 2011. During each Saturday program, there will be a “Taste of Frontier Fare” from 5:30 – 6:15 p.m. The program begins at 6:45 p.m. at the block house. Below is a schedule of appearances by Kentucky historical figures. * Feb. 5, Daniel Boone, Kentucky woodsman portrayed by Scott New. * Feb. 12, “Mad” Anne Bailey, heroine of the Kanawha Valley portrayed by Suzanne Larner. * Feb. 19, The Doctor, an 18th century physician portrayed by Albert Roberts. * Feb. 26, Andrew Montour (Sattelihu), native diplomat, interpreter and warrior of the French and Indian War portrayed by Bill Hunt.
Rough River Dam State Park and Pine Knob Theater will present a “Nifty 50s Weekend” during the weekend of Feb. 4-5. The event will include a dinner theater on Friday night with Pine Knob Theater presenting “Daddy Took the T-Bird Away,” a musical featuring great 50’s era music and fun for all. On Saturday, bring your poodle skirts and bobby socks for the Saturday Night Sock Hop with “cool music” provided by The Countdowns.
If the motive for the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffods turns out to be what we all suspect it is, I will be leading the mob screaming for Homeland Security to name Tea Party Nation and the whole Republican Party as known terrorist organizations.
But for now, I find comfort in how one American reacted to an assassination that threatened to tear the nation apart.
.... In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.
SNIP
But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.
My favorite poem, my -- my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.
We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past, but we -- and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.
But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.
And let's dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.
The obscenely wealthy have moved beyond being mere social parasites on the body politic; their bottomless greed and selfishness now pose a positive threat to the survival of democracy.
The debate has officially shifted from "deficit reduction" to "cutting spending to reduce the deficit." This has to be one of the fastest internalization of GOP propaganda in history and that's saying something. Matthews may be an outlier, but from what I saw today among the gasbags, they are all coming on board very quickly.
If I had to guess, it was the lame duck deal that finally took taxes off the table for the Villagers. It's dead as far as they are concerned, so "cut-go" is the only way to reduce the deficit.
Naturally, they all agree that pain and sacrifice are necessary. They will not personally feel it,of course, but they will feel a slight bit of guilt and shame when they have to step over sick people and little children in the gutter, so it will be almost as bad.
I shouldn't be flippant about this. We are seeing a full embrace of "austerity" by the ruling elite happen before our eyes. It's not necessarily inevitable that these things will pass --- gridlock is probably our best case scenario at this point --- but something significant has shifted.
This is difficult to accept for those of us who grew up learning about the public service and philanthropy of wealthy elites like the Roosevelts, the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, the Fords and the Kennedys.
They were proud to be wealthy, but knew they owed their wealth to the strong democratic economy of the United States, and gave back to that democracy in recognition and gratitude.
The new wealthy elites reverse that economic patriotism to an extent that borders on treason. Kevin Drum:
Chrystia Freeland has a piece in this month's Atlantic about the new "global elite" and the growing alienation of America's super-rich. Her article flits from one point to another with enough abandon that it's not always easy to figure out where she's going, but one interesting theme that runs throughout the narrative is that intense globalization goes a long way toward explaining why the super rich don't really seem to care much anymore about all the rest of us:
The U.S.-based CEO of one of the world’s largest hedge funds told me that his firm’s investment committee often discusses the question of who wins and who loses in today’s economy. In a recent internal debate, he said, one of his senior colleagues had argued that the hollowing-out of the American middle class didn’t really matter. “His point was that if the transformation of the world economy lifts four people in China and India out of poverty and into the middle class, and meanwhile means one American drops out of the middle class, that’s not such a bad trade,” the CEO recalled.
....Speaking at the [Aspen Ideas Festival], Thomas Wilson, CEO of Allstate, also lamented this global reality: “I can get [workers] anywhere in the world. It is a problem for America, but it is not necessarily a problem for American business ... American businesses will adapt.” Wilson’s distinction helps explain why many of America’s other business elites appear so removed from the continuing travails of the U.S. workforce and economy: the global “nation” in which they increasingly live and work is doing fine — indeed, it’s thriving.
The super rich, she writes, "are becoming a transglobal community of peers who have more in common with one another than with their countrymen back home." Thus the fury of the financial elite at the suggestion that perhaps they were responsible for the crash of 2008 or that they owe it to the rest of the country to do anything about it:
When I asked one of Wall Street’s most successful investment-bank CEOs if he felt guilty for his firm’s role in creating the financial crisis, he told me with evident sincerity that he did not. The real culprit, he explained, was his feckless cousin, who owned three cars and a home he could not afford.
....A Wall Street investor who is a passionate Democrat recounted to me his bitter exchange with a Democratic leader in Congress who is involved in the tax-reform effort. “Screw you,” he told the lawmaker. “Even if you change the legislation, the government won’t get a single penny more from me in taxes. I’ll put my money into my foundation and spend it on good causes. My money isn’t going to be wasted in your deficit sinkhole.”
I don't know if this attitude is truly new. Maybe not as much as Freeland suggests. Still, it certainly feels as if America is dominated more and more by an elite class that cares less and less about the public good because they don't really feel like they have a stake in the public good anymore: they've never served in the Army or the Peace Corps, their kids never come within yelling distance of public schools, they donate their money exclusively to their own churches and their own global foundations, and they whine constantly about taxes even though their incomes have skyrocketed and tax rates have fallen dramatically over the past several decades. To them, taxes aren't part of a social contract, they're just pure welfare: they don't care about education or infrastructure or unemployment or healthcare because they don't have to. Within their own bubble, they don't need to rely on the public versions of any of that stuff. Felix Salmon adds this:
When it comes to US plutocrats, [] most of them are very similar to the Russian oligarchs who seized their country’s natural resources — they’re bankers and hedge-fund managers who seized their country’s financial resources. They produced no goods, and they created no jobs — quite the opposite. And so it makes sense for Americans who have lost their jobs and their hope to reclaim those financial resources, through mechanisms like a wealth tax or a financial transactions tax. The Silicon Valley elite would happily pay such things. And if the angry bankers went off to destabilize some other financial system, they wouldn’t actually be missed.
He's not optimistic about the prospect of the American public ever rebelling against our ruling elites, and he's probably right. Ever since the demise of organized labor, the working and middle classes simply haven't had the kind of energetic, institutional presence that allows them a serious voice in our political culture.
The elites are winning because, at the moment, there's really nobody left to fight them.
Nobody is fighting them successfully at the moment, but there are 300 million of us who can fight them.
We outnumber them 99 to 1. The first step in beating them is to reject the idea that anything that is good for the rich is good for the rest of us.
The super-rich have gone so far overboard in their selfish demands, in fact, that we now have a simple, perfect rule for judging any policy, program or legislation:
If it's good for the rich, it's bad for the country.
Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?
Sigh. We're not stupid, Mr. President. We can tell the difference between stale crumbs and fresh cake. And between genuine compromise and cowardly capitulation.
Let's have separate classes of citizenship to accurately reflect the separate economic classes we already have. Then maybe the need for the not-top classes to rise up and defeat the social parasite classes will finally become obvious.
Because the non-rich will be a lower class of citizen, we can eliminate all forms of publicly-funded support for them. After all, the real citizens will all be rich, and will have no need for food stamps or unemployment compensation, or public education, or municipal drinking water, or toll-free highways. The people who do need those things will be a lower class of citizen and therefore not entitled to the benefits of rich-people citizenship.
Or we could approach the class designations from a different direction: according to your actual value to society. Not your claimed magical ability to create invisible jobs, as rethuglicans claim for their obscenely wealthy parasite masters. But your actual, tangible, daily contribution to making life for your fellow Americans just a little more tolerable.
By that measure, the highest citizenship class with the most citizenship benefits will be awarded to garbage collectors, farmworkers, janitors, waitstaff in diners, nurse aides (the ones who change bedpans and bathe the bedridden), social workers, probation officers, grocery stockers, daycare workers, firefighters, beat cops, special-education teachers and plumbers.
The lowest citizenship class, the one that bars voting, would be assigned to people who live off inherited money or interest on investments, corporate CEOs, lobbyists, consultants, celebrities who are famous for being famous, defense contractors, fossil-fuel industry executives, public relations hacks, televangelists and all media purveyers of thumbsucking conventional wisdom.
And revoke citizenship altogether for everyone who dares to claim that some citizens are more equal that others.
Do not be fooled. This is not "informed consent." This is jamming a video camera up a woman's vagina and forcing her to watch the pictures and listen to a freakazoid harangue about how a blastocyst feels pain.
And make no mistake: any legislator who votes for the Rape the Sluts bill is a drooling, mouth-breathing pervert who is jerking off under its desk at the thought of this abomination.
Media Czech brings us this video of Sen. Kathy Stein speaking truth to fiends from last year's debate over the bill:
Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?
A fundamental principle of the Rule of Law in a civic democracy - or even the "constitutional republic" the teabaggers claim - is that those who caused damage are the ones who pay for the damage.
But the austerity vultures are rejecting that principle in their rush to make the working class pay for the crimes of the obscenely rich.
Fuck that shit. Repeat after me: "We won't pay for their crisis."
In 2010, the new theme of the Washington elites was that the U.S. had spent itself into a financial mess. President Obama's "Deficit Commission," Republicans in Congress and even some Democrats were all saying that the country was broke and that it was going to be necessary to put Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs at risk to balance the books.
That's right. They want working Americans to sacrifice in order to pay off the debts they ran up on their wars and bailouts?
And what do defense contractors and big banks get under the scenario that is currently in play? More federal contracts, more bailouts, more tax breaks.
The close of 2010 saw the Obama administration and congressional Republicans working together to extend tax breaks for billionaires, create new estate-tax exemptions for millionaires and weaken the underpinnings of Social Security. Now, Washington is abuzz with speculation about the prospect that the next Obama-GOP project will be a formal assault on Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid—with an announcement coming in the State of the Union address.
What's the proper response?
Remember who got us in this mess?
Reject the spin of those who would suggest that "entitelment programs" ever were or are the problem.
Recognize the genius of the slogan heard on the streets of European cities as governments sought to spread the pain caused by financial speculators to the whole society.
The banners declared: "We Won't Pay For Their Crisis."
That should be the starting point for any American response to the threat of austerity.
Of course, there is a place for fiscal responsibility. But there is also a place for moral responsibility. Those who created the mess should shoulder the burden of cleaning it up. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid did not create this crisis, war profiteering and Wall Street speculation did. So before any working family sacrifices, the first demand should be that the profiteers and the speculators pay for their crisis.
One of the many reasons freakazoids, rethuglicans and other conservatards are successful in implementing outrageous anti-American policies and actions is that their proposals are so over-the-top insane that liberals are left flabbergasted and speechless with shock.
Like ripping the living heart right out of the Greatest American Novel ever written.
A new edition of Huckleberry Finn is about to be released. This scrubbed version will have no instances of the "N" word, and the word "Injun" is also replaced throughout Twain's novel. Twain expert Alan Gribben insists he is not trying to censor classic literature, but to update. Epic fail. Classic literature does not need to be updated, that is what makes it classic.
Let's look at some of our classics. To Kill A Mockingbird shows us an ugly time in the South, and a glimpse of how rural life really was for millions. Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men is brutal and painful, and the characters are not the least bit respectful towards the mentally handicapped. Speaking of mentally handicapped, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was miles from politically correct. It is still one of the best stories I've ever read, mainly for its ability to make my heart hurt at the injustice. Don't even get me started on Gone With The Wind. We are not parrots, the purpose of reading is to use the mind and expand our ideas. Most will not mindlessly flinch at the use of an offensive word, but the anger or outrage we may feel at what once passed for common can inspire us, and help us realize the roots of the words we speak and the culture we came from. Good art, no matter the medium, inspires thought and stirs our emotions. And the person who decides what goes into that art is the artist himself.
Nobody has the right to alter someone's work in this manner. Nobody has the right to decide what we read. This is no more appropriate than if we try to scrub Snoop Dogg's lyrics for our great-grandchildren. If you do not want to be exposed, then exercise your rights to choose what you read. Do not exercise your rights on the behalf of others, who are free to feel differently. This isn't about the N word, folks. It is about respecting art, context, history and the lives that people lived for good and for bad. If Gribben feels there should be a lighter version of this story, then perhaps he should write one. What he should not do is lead a campaign to alter the art that someone else worked over, and put their heart and best into, and decide what Twain should have said.
Twain, who spent a lot of words ridiculing the know-nothing puritans of his own time, would appreciate the irony.
I wish I could say that Kentucky Democrats in the state house and the governor's office are too smart to risk losing the Hispanic vote by supporting this despicable piece of racist bait, but I can't.
I'm afraid this is just the first of many teabagging pieces of shit with which Senate President and gubernatorial candidate David Williams will be torturing Democrats during this legislative session.
Opponents of an immigration bill filed Tuesday by Senate Republicans say it goes even further than a controversial Arizona law that has been challenged in federal court by President Barack Obama's administration.
Senate Bill 6 was one of several filed Tuesday that is backed by GOP leaders, who have said they hope to pass the measure by the end of this week. Other bills filed Tuesday include a proposal to create a panel that would recommend changes to the state's tax system and bills to tweak state pensions and election laws.
Those who oppose the immigration bill — which would allow police to ask if a person was in the country legally — began to rally against SB 6 on Tuesday, saying it appears to be more onerous than Arizona's immigration law. A judge has issued an injunction halting parts of the Arizona law, including the part that allows police to stop people and verify their immigration documents.
SNIP
The bill, filed by Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, also creates criminal charges for smuggling illegal immigrants and "aiding and abetting" illegal immigrants.
The Catholic Conference of Kentucky, Kentucky Council of Churches, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Kentucky Equal Justice Center were either in the process or had already sent letters to state legislators opposing the bill.
The Catholic Conference of Kentucky, in its letters to senators, voiced concerns that if such a measure were passed, it could cause more harm than good.
"For example, seasoned law enforcement officials report that once they are forced to take on immigration enforcement, they believe immigrants, with whom they have established a degree of trust, will be afraid to report crime to them or help solve it," Delahanty said.
It's impossible to say how many illegal immigrants are in Kentucky, although several studies have placed the number between 26,000 and 45,000. However, studies show that Kentucky has one of the smallest illegal immigrant populations. For example, California is estimated to have 2.7 million illegal immigrants compared to 45,000 in Kentucky, according to a 2008 Pew Hispanic Center study.
Don't be distracted by the congressional rethuglican kabuki being presented for your amusement; the real objective is dismantling Social Security. Fight the lies with the facts.
I am writing this after seeing young progressives I respect parrot conservative lies told about Social Security. It appears that the press has done a bang-up job of NOT reporting the truth about Social Security and allowing specious conservative lies to take deep root. So deep that intelligent young liberals even believe the spew, not to mention conservatives who have a vested interest in believing and spreading it.
SNIP
Lie #1: Baby Boomers Will Bankrupt Social Security
Baby Boomers were already planned for during the reforms undertaken under Ronald Reagan's administration. Here's a chart with the inflows and outflows of the trust fund since 1958. As you can see, there has been positive cash flow since adjustments were made to the assumptions, tax rates and SSRAs. Even in 2009, cash flow was positive, leaving a $2.5 trillion surplus in the fund.
Lie #2: There is no Social Security trust fund. It's all smoke and mirrors and accounting lies.
From the SSA.gov FAQ:
Far from being "worthless IOUs," the investments held by the trust funds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U. S. Government. The government has always repaid Social Security, with interest. The special-issue securities are, therefore, just as safe as U.S. Savings Bonds or other financial instruments of the Federal government.
Not only are they the safest investment, they're the only permissible investment under current law, because they are the safest investment.
Social Security is probably the best-functioning and most solvent government program there is. The fact-twisting that yields the idea that surpluses invested in Treasury bonds makes the fund insolvent or non-existent is an infuriating product of right-wing nonsense spin.
SNIP
Lie #3: Means-testing benefits does no harm to Social Security
There's a movement afoot among Young Conservative Idiots to means-test Social Security benefits, which also appears to be embraced by some young progressives. Such a move would undermine the fundamentals of the program, because Social Security was established as an insurance program, not a welfare benefit. Because it is a contract between individual workers and the United States government, it cannot be contingent on need.
It is a straightforward quid pro quo: workers and employers contribute throughout their working lives and benefits are paid upon attainment of Social Security retirement age, death or disability. Because contributions and benefits are tied to the Social Security Wage Base (wages subject to the OASDI tax), it doesn't matter if a claimant is a billionaire or a pauper. Means-testing would remove that objectivity and open the door for the contract to be breached on a number of different levels.
Eligibility for benefits must be based upon covered quarters and earnings taxed in those quarters, regardless of whether there might be excess earnings. Means-testing moves it from an objective standard to a subjective standard, leaving the door open for further erosion.
For more factual information about Social Security, I highly recommend Nancy Altman's book "The Battle For Social Security". Altman is a tireless advocate for Social Security, was mentored by Robert Ball, and has a firm grasp on the history of the program as well as the law. It's a fascinating read, especially the part where she reviews what it took to get the program passed in the form we know today. If you're especially wonky, the 2010 Trustees' Report (PDF) is also worth reading.
The next time somebody calls Social Security an "entitlement," stop them and tell them that social security is an investment for retirement - the safest investment anywhere. Tax cuts for the rich are an "entitlement."
Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?
As the Kentucky General Assembly begins its annual Reaming of the Commonwealth, the big item on the agenda is revising the tax code. David Williams and the rest of the rethuglicans are hell-bent on stripping the last shreds of income away from the state's shrinking middle class in order to further fatten our obscenely wealthy, who make up for their small numbers with outrageous greed.
One blogger has the experience, the persistence and the smarts to dig into Kentucky's tax system and figure out reforms that will really work. You should be reading Ralph Long every day.
Let’s take a look at Kentucky Corporate Income Tax.
Every corporation pays taxes. Corporate taxes can be computed three ways.
SNIP
This is pretty small business friendly; the first $100,000 is taxed at an average rate of 4.5 percent. Not bad since most of the businesses in Kentucky fall into the small business category.
So when we talk about abolishing the corporate tax, who really benefits?
I’d say the top five winners would be Humana, Brown Forman, Lexmark, Ashland and Yum Brands.
SNIP
So let’s do a little math, we’ll round the numbers to make it a little easier, for an annual net income for just these 5 companies. We’re looking at roughly $4 billion dollars in net profit. Now if they actually paid 7 percent to Kentucky that would be about $280 million to the state treasury.
According to Office of the State Budget Director, the Corporate Income tax collected in the first quarter of fiscal year 2011 was $69.9 million. So if that holds for the next 3 quarters we are looking at about $280 million in revenue from corporate taxes.
That’s from all the corporations in Kentucky not just the big five.
So here’s a proposal, remember the dollar amounts are net profit and that the rates would need to be reviewed on a regular basis.
Eliminate all corporate income tax on the first $50,000 in net profit. This helps small businesses and start-ups.
Reduce the rate to 3 percent on the next $50,000 in net profit.
From $100,000 to $250,000 reduce the rate to 5%.
Now every business with less than a quarter million in net profit got a major tax break.
From $250,000 to $1 million set the rate at 7 percent, no change for these companies.
Only after a million dollars in net profit do the rates increase.
From $1 million to $250 million set the rate at 10 percent.
Over $250 million set the rate at 12 percent.
And one other thing, no deductions, no exclusions, no exemptions, no extra breaks period. Just pay the rate.
This gives over 90 percent of the businesses in Kentucky a tax break, spurs employment and increases revenue for the Commonwealth.
First the sales and use tax needs to be expanded to all goods and services except food bought for preparation and medical expenses. While regressive in nature this would provide the elasticity needed in the tax base.
Second the sales tax rate is lowered to 3 or 4 percent from the current 6 percent.
Third exempt the first $50,000 of income from taxation. According to the United States Census the median family income in 2008 in Kentucky was $41,489 and the median income in the United States was $52,029. This would effectively eliminate the income tax for over half of Kentucky’s households.
Fourth, income from $50,001 to $75,000 would be taxed at 6 percent.
Fifth, income from $75,001 to $100,000 would be taxed at 9 percent.
Sixth, income from $100,001 to $250,000 would be taxed at 12 percent
Seventh, income over $250,001 would be taxed at 15 percent.
There would be no deductions or exemptions.
Admittedly the percentages will need to be tweaked and subsequently reviewed on a regular base to keep the system fair. I don’t have access to the detailed economic forecasts the state budget office has therefore the starting percentages may need to be different.
The combination of widening and lowering the sales and use tax while elminating the income tax for over 50 percent of Kentucky households would put the money in the hands of people who will buy products and services.
Couple this with a more progressive and agressive tax on high income individuals makes the system fair to all taxpayers.
Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?
It is perfectly legitimate - and beautifully American - to support something that the majority of your fellow Americans oppose.
I, for humble example, support banning from public employment of any kind - especially teaching - anyone who professes belief in an invisible sky wizard who grants wishes. Unfortunately, my supremely rational position remains in the minority. For now.
But it is not legitimate to falsely claim majority support for your minority position.
Like the congressional rethuglicans bragging they are following the "will of voters" by bankrupting the country to give massive tax cuts to the obscenely wealthy.
Sixty-one percent of Americans said that increasing taxes to the wealthy should be the first step toward balancing the budget.
By contrast, 20 percent of respondents preferred cuts to defense spending as the first option, while four percent said that cutting Medicare would be the best way to start cutting the deficit. Three percent said they preferred cutting Social Security.
Americans who got carried away with the media hype around a Tea Party "movement" financed by a handful of avaricious and manipulative billionaires will be in for a big surprise as they watch the newly empowered-- by them-- GOP majority in the House further destroy the underpinnings of the middle class with reckless tax cuts for the wealthy and the whittling away of protections for working families. When Republicans and their media allies screech about Democrats learning the lessons of November, they create a narrative that flies in the face of any kind of objective reality.
Of course, for conservatards, hypocrisy and IOKIYAR-ism are features, not bugs. They will commit any crime, destroy any institution, if it will annoy just one liberal.
Hey - that's the answer! All we have to do is persuade the conservatards that what liberals really want ... oh yeah: I keep forgetting that if liberals were capable of persuading conservatards of anything we wouldn't be in this mess right now.
Leave it to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to end a thrilling NFL regular season on a sour, ugly note. As football fans, sports radio devotees and chat-room obsessives gathered Monday to discuss the playoff seedings, Goodell issued an ill-timed letter laying out the state of negotiations with the NFL Players Association. Both sides are striving to secure a new collective bargaining agreement and avoid labor Armageddon, but based on Goodell's letter, that's where the similarities end.
In the letter, Goodell seems to be following a tried-and-true strategy: blame the union and sow resentment between the fans and the players they pay to watch. But in taking a closer look at his musty missive, Goodell also establishes himself as a stalking horse for a broader, systemic strategy being used by governors and captains of industry across the country. It’s a strategy that for all the focus-tested language has one end-goal: getting workers to work harder for less.
First, blame the economy: Goodell writes: "Economic conditions have changed dramatically inside and outside the NFL since 2006 when we negotiated the last CBA. A 10 percent unemployment rate hurts us all. Fans have limited budgets and rightly want the most for their money. I get it." Does he get it? There is nothing about lowering prices for tickets, concessions or parking. Instead he goes on to blame the greedy unions for making decent wages and benefits as the reason there may be no football in 2011. As Goodell writes, "Yes, NFL players deserve to be paid well.
Unfortunately, economic realities are forcing everyone to make tough choices and the NFL is no different." This is the sporting version of something far broader and more pernicious, as public sector workers are becoming the Willie Hortons of our economy. They have become the 2011 scapegoat of choice as politicians impose the coming austerity. AFSCME has even started a campaign called "No More Lies" to counter the myths of the greedy unionists destroying state budgets.
SNIP
Goodell finally ends with some blather about wanting to achieve this kind of "forward looking CBA" and "protecting the integrity of the game." But there is no integrity in Goodell's vision: only the same blueprint for workers we are seeing across the country: work more, take less. I am sure that there are many who would read this with little sympathy for NFL players as workers. But please consider: a typical NFL career is three and a half years, and as NFL player Scott Fujita said to me, "We're the only business with a 100 percent injury rate." The ratings for the NFL this season have never been higher and no one ever paid hundreds of dollars to see Jerry Jones stalk the sidelines.
But it's even bigger than all of that. Goodell finishes this ill-timed screed by writing, "This is about more than a labor agreement. It's about the future of the NFL." It's also about the future of this country. We are living in a time of severe economic crisis. Whether the bosses or workers are made to pay for this crisis will be decided in battles large and small taking place around the country. But for all of these conflicts, there will be no greater stage or more amplified battleground than that between NFL owners and players. The vast majority of fans have a side in this fight. And it's not with Roger Goodell.
The NFL players' union has a pretty good reputation for hard bargaining, so I am hopeful they will tell Goodell to fuck off and die.
If I were the players' union, I'd not only reject out of hand all of Goodell's demands, but demand instead lifetime healthcare for players - decent coverage at affordable rates.
Getting in his face and making him back down: that's how you "negotiate" with a bully. If NFL players set an example, public employee unions will follow.
Tasering isn't law enforcement. Tasering isn't "controlling a suspect." Tasering is torture. And the only two purposes of torture are to punish the victim or sexually gratify the torturer. Why are we letting cops do either?
The long-term solution is developing ways to identify latent torturers before they get badges, but in the meantime, let's stop making it easier for the tiny-dicked authoritarians to express their violent impulses by electrocuting people.
You can't see much in the video, but you can hear someone screaming in horrible pain:
Here's what was happening:
John Harmon was coming off a late night at work when he left his downtown marketing firm for his Anderson Township home just after midnight in October 2009.
The 52-year-old longtime diabetic's blood sugar levels had dipped to a dangerously low level causing him to weave into another lane.
A Hamilton County sheriff's deputy spotted him on Clough Pike and suspected drunken driving.
What happened over the next two minutes and 20 seconds should never happen to anyone, Harmon said.
[...]
Deputy Wolf saw Harmon driving a 1998 Ford Expedition erratically near Wolfangel Road and pulled Harmon over.
Wolf, his gun drawn, and Wissel approached the SUV, the lawsuit said.
"The deputy's face was extremely contorted, he was screaming," Harmon said. "I remember being taken aback, recoiled and thought, 'What's going on?' I was being presented with pure evil, it was a chilling experience."
Wolf smashed the driver's side window.
Wissel shocked Harmon with a Taser for the first time. Deputy Haynes responded to the deputies' call for backup.
Harmon said the officers tried to yank him out of the SUV, but he was caught in his seat belt. He was stunned with a Taser again.
Wissel cut Harmon out of his seat belt. In his suit, Harmon said he was "violently dragged from the vehicle, thrown on the ground, kicked in the head by a boot, and stomped mercilessly while laying on his back."
"It all happened so quick, I didn't have time to think or react," Harmon said. "I just remember being on the ground, the intense pain and being pummeled."
The attack was so brutal Harmon said he thought it was a gang attack, not a traffic stop.
It was.
In fact, it took a Highway Patrol officer and state trooper randomly coming along to break it up. They charged him with resisting arrest even after they found out that he was having a medical emergency and all the officers involved are still working having suffered nothing more than a few days without pay.
SNIP
Harmon is a middle aged African American man and president of his own marketing firm. He moved to this town for the schools.
I suppose the argument can be made that if these police officers hadn't had tasers they would have beaten this man far worse with their batons or even shot him with their firearms. But I doubt it. Tasers unleash the sadist in people in ways that other instruments of pain don't. The fact that it leaves no marks and releases no blood makes certain people feel liberated.
No nation can call itself free or civilized if it allows its authorities to treat innocent citizens like they treated that man. It happens every single day in America.
Here's hoping that this will be the year that we come to realize that this isn't a joke and that it isn't "slapstick" humor. The Ninth Circuit opinion is a welcome beginning to a constitutional decision, however, I'm very concerned that this Supreme Court will find them perfectly legal. I think social and cultural sanctions are going to be necessary to end this.
We should start with Hollywood. As "funny" as these scenes are in films and TV shows, they are normalizing torture and we shouldn't stand for it. Next time you see one think about how funny it would be if it happened to you --- or a child or a sick person or any frightened citizen being shot through with 50,000 volts on the whim of a police officer, all of which happens all the time. Then picture how funny the scene would be if it was a billy club --- and ask yourself if there's really any difference.
Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?
"Blue" in Blue in the Bluegrass refers to my politics, not my state of mind, although being progressive-democratic in Kentucky is not for the faint of heart.
The Bluegrass Region of Kentucky is Central Kentucky, the area around Lexington. It's also sometimes known as the Golden Triangle, the region formed by Louisville in the west, Cincinnati in the north and Lexington in the east-south corner. This is the most economically advanced, politically progressive and aesthically beautiful area of the state. Also the most overpopulated by annoying yuppies and the most endangered by urban sprawl.
A Yellow Dog Democrat is one who will vote for even a yellow dog if it is running as a Democrat. I can't claim to be quite that fanatically partisan, especially since quite a few candidates who run as Democrats in Kentucky are more Republican than a lot of Republicans I can name.
But I do love the story Kentucky House leader Rocky Adkins never tires of telling about the old-timer in Eastern Kentucky who was once accused of being willing to vote for Satan if Satan ran as a Democrat. Spat back the old-timer:
"Not in a primary, I wouldn't!"
Amen.
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