Politics, Humor, Music and just the plain simple pleasure of being an annoying sonofabitch.
"I'd also like us to encourage people to gang rush shooters, rather than following their instincts to hide; if we drilled it into young people that the correct thing to do is for everyone to instantly run at the guy with the gun, these sorts of mass shootings would be less deadly, because even a guy with a very powerful weapon can be brought down by 8-12 unarmed bodies piling on him at once. Would it work? Would people do it? I have no idea; all I can say is that both these things would be more effective than banning rifles with pistol grips."http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/18/newsweeks-megan-mcardle-calls-for-children-to-b/191889
> If only we had More Guns. Many, many more guns.
> Arm the teachers - cross train them as S.W.A.T Commandos.
> Hi-tech security and armed guards and/or Police in all schools (what about massacres in movie theaters, malls and churches Wayne? Armed guards & cops there too?).
> Ban shoot-em up video games.
> Too much gun violence (no I'm not making this up) in movies and on tv.
> Ban music videos that show America's youth disrespecting authority.
BENJY SARLIN:
Like many traumatic national events, the Newtown shooting has already spawned its share of wild conspiracy theories that draw in everything from British finance to the Hunger Games.http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/newtown-libor-hunger-games-theories.php
Ted Nugent called for the suspension of the right to vote for "any American who is on welfare" as part of his proposal to reduce federal budget deficits outlined in his latest Washington Times column.
The National Rifle Association board member also called for "slaughtering the three sacred entitlement cows" of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and called for tax increases on "the nearly 50 percent of Americans who pay zero federal income taxes." Nugent wrote that these policies should be instituted "before taxes are raised on the producers, which will further choke the economy."
Nugent frequently attacks Americans who receive public assistance, whom he has termed "gluttonous, soulless pigs."
"If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year," Nugent said, according to a video posted on YouTube by the NRA. "If you can't go home and get everybody in your lives to clean house in this vile, evil America hated administration, I don't even know what you're made out of."http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/17/nugent-threatens-death-if-obama-wins-in-november/
Throughout the fiscal cliff negotiations Republicans have insisted on preserving tax cuts for the richest 2 percent of Americans, but have dogmatically opposed maintaing a payroll tax holiday that disproportionately benefits the middle class. Payroll taxes fall harder on those lower down the income ladder and economists believe that allowing 2011′s 2-percent decrease to expire could undermine economic growth, while permitting the top rates to go up would have only minimal impact.
On Tuesday morning, during an appearance on SiriusXM’s POTUS Politics, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) argued that raising marginal rates on the very rich would slow-down job creation but insisted that the nation’s debt problem requires the government to allow the payroll tax holiday to expire. Price said that individuals — presumably those who benefit most from the holiday — must feel “more pain” to help set the country on a sound fiscal footing:
TIM FARLEY (HOST): The payroll tax holiday is likely going away. People will likely get that increase in the deduction from your pay as of January 15, you’ll see your first paycheck, 2 percent will be gone. And I wonder if, even if you come to a solution…people are going to look at their paychecks and say, ‘I thought we solved this and look at all this money being taken out of my paycheck.
PRICE: Well, remember, step back and recognize that we’ve had four straight years of trillion dollar plus deficits, we’re $16 trillion plus dollars in debt. This doesn’t get fixed without some pain for everybody…The remarkable challenge that we have requires more work and more diligence and more pain for more individuals.
United States corporate profits reached a record high in the third quarter of this year, even adjusted for inflation, according to a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
But not everyone is happy with Costco's business strategy. Some Wall Street analysts assert that Mr. Sinegal is overly generous not only to Costco's customers but to its workers as well.
Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder."
Mr. Sinegal begs to differ. He rejects Wall Street's assumption that to succeed in discount retailing, companies must pay poorly and skimp on benefits, or must ratchet up prices to meet Wall Street's profit demands.
Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco's customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. "This is not altruistic," he said. "This is good business."
1. Open up your favorite web browser.
2. Go to Google.
3. Type in the search box the words "Mitt Romney Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
4. The very first result of that search should be a link to a NY Times article with same name. Click the link - which is actually this one: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html.
5. Look at the article byline to see who wrote the article with the title "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
6. The author of that article is Mitt Romney. Read the whole article and then ask yourself if that sounds like a plan which would have "saved the auto industry."
But of course there are many other reasons why the Republicans have failed to ask George Bush to campaign for their Presidential ticket. Two stand out.
We have had two great economic experiments in America over the last 30 years. One succeeded. The other failed – in fact, it was a man made disaster.
The first was led by President Bill Clinton. Clinton believed that you grow the economy from the middle out – not the top down. He understood that businesses don't invest and hire unless there are customers out there with money in their pockets – that they are the "job creators" – not a bunch of hedge fund managers on Wall Street.
Clinton proposed a federal budget that would eliminate the deficit mainly by calling on the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes -- and by investing in infrastructure and education to grow the economy. And Clinton forcefully defended programs like Medicare when Newt Gingrich wanted to cut them to give tax cuts to the rich.
When his budget was debated in Congress, Republicans predicted it would lead to massive job losses and recession.
The Republicans were dead wrong. Clinton presided over the most prosperous period in human history - literally. On his watch the economy experienced robust growth and created 22 million new American jobs. Clinton eliminated the Federal deficit and left his successor with budget surpluses as far as the eye could see.
Then came George Bush. He cut taxes for the rich – arguing that this would turbo charge job growth and that the deficit would take care of itself. In fact, Bush's Vice President, Dick Cheney – a man who has also been noticeably absent from the campaign trail this fall – famously said that "deficits don't matter."
The result: Bush left office having presided over the worst record of job growth since the Great Depression – zero net private sector jobs created – that's right, zero.
Worse, his failure to regulate Wall Street set the stage for the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression, costing 8 million Americans their jobs, wiping out 40% of many people's pensions, collapsing of the housing market, and causing the worst economic downturn in 60 years.
Bush's trickle down tax policies not only failed to create economic growth – they left the Federal Government saddled with more debt than all of the previous Presidents had racked up since the beginning of the Republic. And remember, that debt load made it even harder for President Obama to clean up the economic mess once he came into office in 2009.
It's not surprising, then, that you don't see George Bush on the stump trying to convince Americans that Mitt Romney's economic policies will create a better life for the middle class. Of course he could step in for Mitt, he certainly knows the script – in fact he wrote the script.
After all, Mitt Romney is promoting exactly the same economic policies that Bush used to create zero private sector jobs, crash the economy and run up the deficit just a few short years ago.
As the East Coast and parts of Ohio struggled to regroup in the devastating wake of “Superstorm” Sandy, the Romney campaign hastily transformed a scheduled victory rally in Dayton, Ohio into a non-political “storm relief event” on Tuesday. According to BuzzFeed, the campaign encouraged supporters to bring hurricane relief supplies and “deliver the bags of canned goods, packages of diapers, and cases of water bottles to the candidate, who would be perched behind a table along with a slew of volunteers and his Ohio right-hand man, Senator Rob Portman.”
Just to be safe, campaign aides reportedly spent $5,000 at a local Wal-Mart on supplies that could be put on display. When supporters arrived at the rally-turned-relief event, they were treated to the 10-minute video about Romney’s life, which was first unveiled at the RNC. The event ended with supporters lined up to hand over supplies and meet Romney. But according to BuzzFeed, this donation process was also staged:
Empty-handed supporters pled for entrance, with one woman asking, “What if we dropped off our donations up front?”
The volunteer gestured toward a pile of groceries conveniently stacked near the candidate. “Just grab something,” he said.
Two teenage boys retrieved a jar of peanut butter each, and got in line. When it was their turn, they handed their “donations” to Romney. He took them, smiled, and offered an earnest “Thank you.”
The Red Cross, meanwhile, said they were grateful for the supplies but encouraged people to donate money or blood as a more efficient way to help the relief effort.
KETTERING, Ohio – Mitt Romney repeatedly ignored questions about his position on federal funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at an event for storm victims Tuesday.
After speaking briefly to supporters and gathering donations Romney, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and some campaign staffers headed outside into the cold, rainy afternoon and proceeded to load up a yellow Penske truck with supplies, canned goods and other donated items.
“Governor, are you going to see some storm damage?” one reporter asked.
Several others again asked Romney whether he would eliminate FEMA.
“Governor, you’ve been asked 14 times. Why are you refusing to answer the question?” one asked.
Romney ignored the reporters’ queries and continued loading up the truck. Earlier, during the event, he ignored similar queries.
Clock's ticking, and they're not being subtle any more.
Here's Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods taking to the social media today:
In a Facebook post today, Palin wrote: "Obama's Shuck and Jive Ends With Benghazi Lies." She also used the term in the text of the post, which concludes, "President Obama's shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end."
Then, let us move on the Megyn Kelly, oddly spelled Fox News spokesmodel, and her take on that whole horses-and-bayonets business:
"That's an interesting point, that it speaks to an ability to be bipartisan," Kelly agreed. "And whether the president has that, and whether he's been in Washington maybe too long, maybe it's gotten to him and he's sort of gone native because the guy who was going to be hope and change got to Washington, and now he sounds a lot like the people he said he was going to change."
Going native! Ungawa!http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/sarah-palin-shuck-and-jive-14056814
WASHINGTON -- Indiana GOP U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock declared Tuesday night he opposes aborting pregnancies conceived in rape because "it is something that God intended to happen."
Debating Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) in their final Senate race showdown, a questioner asked them and Libertarian candidate Andrew Horning to explain their views on abortion.
All three said they were anti-abortion. But Mourdock went the further, putting himself in territory near Missouri GOP Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin, the anti-abortion congressman who infamously asserted that women don't get pregnant from "legitimate rape."
"The only exception I have to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother," said Mourdock, the Tea Party-backed state treasurer. "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."
By Rebecca Leber on Oct 15, 2012 at 11:30 am
The Koch brothers’ $60 million pledge to defeat President Obama — along with their political network’s $400 million spending — make them two of the most influential conservatives this election.
Not content with their unprecedented influence in politics, the Kochs have also taken to influencing the votes of their employees. According to In These Times, Koch Industries sent 45,000 mailers to employees at Koch subsidiary Georgia Pacific, urging votes for Romney and other conservative candidates. The letter warns ominously of “consequences” for the workers if Republicans lose.http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/10/15/1010581/koch-employee-votes/
It is a paint-by-numbers deal for the elite political media, most of which, I guarantee you, already knows what it's going to say at the end of the night. Unless Romney comes out dressed like Anton LaVey, or the president starts reading, unbidden, from Soul On Ice, nothing either of these guys say to Candy Crowley and a room full of New Yorkers will be treated as being of any real consequence. Romney has so battered the political dialogue — and the English language — with his 100-pound bullshit sledge that he has pretty much shaped the narrative of the campaign in such a fashion that his fanatical devotion to barefaced non-facts has become a weird kind of status quo. Far too many people in this business have accepted the Etch-A-Sketch argument to the point at which whether something is true or not is measured by its effectiveness as a tactic. "He had to run to the right in the primaries and then 'pivot' to the center in the general" — that's something that makes the political wiseguys look smart, but, taken literally, it means that the entire election process in the world's oldest self-governing republic is a contest to find out who can most smoothly move from one set of lies to another, and it is also a recipe for depriving the people who ultimately will make that decision of the kind of information they need to do so. How this is in any way good for democracy is not for small minds to ponder, I guess.http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/presidential-debate-obama-2012-13353709
