2012.02.13
The mouthy Monday OPEN thread
Miro Cacik | Wikimedia Commons
“A politician is a statesman who approaches every question with an open mouth.”
Adlai E. Stevenson
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Right-wing opportunist harpy Ann Coulter declares on Fox that Romney will take the nomination. Conservative rich kids at W&L declare the same (and they’re almost always right). But I guess suzie’s still praying.
Comment by gdad — February 13, 2012 @ 10:10 am
It could be true that they cannot win with a moderate, but it is doubly true that they cannot win without one. Center right is not right wing and some people need to realize that.
Comment by Sandi Saunders — February 13, 2012 @ 10:23 am
From the New York Times: “Even Critics of Safety Net Increasingly Depend on It”
Ki Gulbranson owns a logo apparel shop, deals in jewelry on the side and referees youth soccer games. He makes about $39,000 a year and wants you to know that he does not need any help from the federal government.
He says that too many Americans lean on taxpayers rather than living within their means. He supports politicians who promise to cut government spending.
Yet this year, as in each of the past three years, Mr. Gulbranson, 57, is counting on a payment of several thousand dollars from the federal government, a subsidy for working families called the earned-income tax credit. He has signed up his three school-age children to eat free breakfast and lunch at federal expense. And Medicare paid for his mother, 88, to have hip surgery twice.
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Many people say they are angry because the government is wasting money and giving money to people who do not deserve it. But more than that, they say they want to reduce the role of government in their own lives. They are frustrated that they need help, feel guilty for taking it and resent the government for providing it. They say they want less help for themselves; less help in caring for relatives; less assistance when they reach old age.
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In recent years he has earned so little that he did not pay federal income taxes, although he still paid thousands of dollars toward Medicare and Social Security. The earned-income tax credit is intended to offset those payroll taxes, to encourage people with lower-paying jobs to remain in the work force.
Mr. Gulbranson said the money covered the fees for his children’s sports leagues and the cost of keeping the older ones on the family’s car insurance.
“If we didn’t get these government things, then probably my kids could not participate in some of the sports they do,” he said.
http://tinyurl.com/72pyhlj
What a bunch of hypocrites. They complain about government programs intruding in their lives, government overspending etc. And yet they are part of the problem. Quit claiming tax credits. Pack your kids’ lunch. Stop using government money to subsidize your way of life and tighten your belt to live within your means. Then maybe your argument will mean something.
Comment by Lori — February 13, 2012 @ 10:44 am
Ok, Newt’s fortunes have fallen since South Carolina launched his short lived bottle rocket of momentum… but this could resurrect the guy. I don’t know that is about Bad Lip Reading, perhaps my eternal middle school sense of humor, but this is funnnnnnyyy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BagYRDEFvy0&feature=share
Comment by Mike Scott — February 13, 2012 @ 10:45 am
There you go Lori, the cold hard truth no one wants to acknowledge. My husband has a very right wing, anti-government friend (whom he keeps well away from me) who has been on the disability dole for years and years (yet he manages to hunt, fish and raise a ruckus at the drop of a hat on political issues) and he is constantly bashing the government, the Dems and liberals who he insists “want something for nothing” and any other crap he can pull out his…
Despicable!
I saw this on Moyers this weekend too, the ignorance and BS that is accepted as truth in this nation is as scary as the Nazi propaganda machine was in many ways.,
Bartlett is a true patriot!
http://www.truth-out.org/bill-moyers-where-right-went-wrong/1328974045
“I’m not sure if they really know very much about taxation. Back when the Tea Party first came into existence, back in 2009 they had a big demonstration in Washington. And we went around and we surveyed a good percentage of the people in this demonstration about what they knew about taxes, what they thought the top rate was, what they thought their tax rate was. You know, questions of just straight factual knowledge, not opinion.
And it turned out that these people all thought taxes were vastly higher than they really are, and that they were paying exorbitantly high tax rates that would be impossible for them to pay. And so, I think that this is part of what’s going on here, is simple misinformation.
And there have been other polls and things that are showing the same thing. I mean, if you really thought, if you’re a typical middle class person, you really believe the government was taking half your income, you’d be out demonstrating. But the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people pay less than 10 percent federal income taxes. So they simply have a wrong understanding of what they pay.“
Comment by Sandi Saunders — February 13, 2012 @ 11:18 am
The Carilion Virginia Tech medical school recently published a paper suggesting that some people get stupider when they get into groups. I wonder if this can’t be at least part of the explanation for some of the stuff you hear from the Tea Party.
Comment by Dan Casey — February 13, 2012 @ 11:27 am
This is my favorite Bartlett quote:
Bruce Bartlett: REPUBLICAN AND REAGAN ADVISOR has to say: “Basically we’re still stuck in the situation we were three years ago and we haven’t made any progress at all except that our problems are much worse because of political reasons, because we now have a crazy party in charge of one of the Houses of our Congress and they won’t allow anything to happen because it’s in their vested interest to make things worse,” Bartlett explained in his typically exasperated way. “Plus they have a theory that is completely nuts…. I’m very depressed. [...] The most we can hope for is that a complete crazy person like Newt Gingrich gets the Republican nomination, the Republicans lose so badly that they lose control of the House and don’t get control of the Senate and then maybe in a year we can finally talk about doing something rational. [...]” http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/economic-experts-gather-in-dc-to-explain-why-politics-has-doomed-us.php
Comment by Hillary — February 13, 2012 @ 12:15 pm
@67 Shoot Dan, it may explain some of the comments on this blog even.
Comment by Miriam — February 13, 2012 @ 12:26 pm
same can be said for democrats dan..they’ve proven it over and over and over and over and over and over, ad nauseum
Comment by pammala — February 13, 2012 @ 12:44 pm
Does anyone else see the irony in Carilion publishing a paper on groups of people doing stupid things?
Comment by Terps — February 13, 2012 @ 12:52 pm
Dan@6
It doesn’t even take a group for diminished intellect. Employers have often used an old adage:
If you hire a boy, you get half a man. If you hire two boys, you get no man at all.
Comment by Mike Scott — February 13, 2012 @ 12:59 pm
No real surprise here, if you show your intellect they will either want you to do all the work or take all the blame. Some people are smart to play dumb in a group setting. Sadly some are not playing.
I don’t think that holds true for all groups. Groups with a stupid but catchy premise will attract clingers and be bound for problems. Groups you choose and want to see succeed will have the smart people emerge and take center stage quickly but they can get drowned out. Groups you crash, are assigned to or fall into by default often are proof of their point though. I readily agree with that.
Comment by Sandi Saunders — February 13, 2012 @ 2:05 pm
I’m sure Suzie Q is aware of all this information about Rick Santorum.
Top Ten Catholic Teachings Santorum Rejects while Obsessing about Birth Control
The right wing Republican politicians who have been denouncing the requirement that female employees have access to birth control as part of their health benefits as an attack on religious freedom completely ignore the church teachings they don’t agree with. Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both Catholics, and wear their faith on their sleeves, but they are hypocritical in picking and choosing when they wish to listen to the bishops.
1. So for instance, Pope John Paul II was against anyone going to war against Iraq I think you’ll find that Rick Santorum managed to ignore that Catholic teaching.
2.The Conference of Catholic Bishops requires that health care be provided to all Americans. I.e., Rick Santorum’s opposition to universal health care is a betrayal of the Catholic faith he is always trumpeting.
3. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty for criminals in almost all situations. (Santorum largely supports executions.)
4. The US Conference of Bishops has urged that the federal minimum wage be increased, for the working poor. Santorum in the Senate repeatedly voted against the minimum wage.
5. The bishops want welfare for all needy families, saying “We reiterate our call for a minimum national welfare benefit that will permit children and their parents to live in dignity. A decent society will not balance its budget on the backs of poor children.” Santorum is a critic of welfare.
6. The US bishops say that “the basic rights of workers must be respected–the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions…”. Santorum, who used to be supportive of unions in the 1990s, has now, predictably, turned against them.
7. Catholic bishops demand the withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Rick Santorum denies that there are any Palestinians, so I guess he doesn’t agree with the bishops on that one.
8. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops ripped into Arizona’s law on treatment of immigrants, Cardinal Roger Mahony characterized Arizona’s S.B. 1070 as “the country’s most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law,” saying it is based on “totally flawed reasoning: that immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder, and consume public resources.” He even suggested that the law is a harbinger of an American Nazism! Santorum attacks ‘anchor babies’ or the provision of any services to children of illegal immigrants born and brought up in the US.
9. The Bishops have urged that illegal immigrants not be treated as criminals and that their contribution to this country be recognized.
10. The US Conference of Bishops has denounced, as has the Pope, the Bush idea of ‘preventive war’, and has come out against an attack on Iran in the absence of a real and present threat of an Iranian assault on the US. In contrast, Santorum wants to play Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove and ride the rocket down on Isfahan himself
Comment by Ron — February 13, 2012 @ 5:53 pm
Liberal Ron doesn’t understand that bishops that the matters he lists are personal preferences of bishops, whereas the matter of abortion is not.
A president of a Catholic college should know that. That’s why Catholics need to run Catholic colleges. That’s Common Sense 101. Then you don’t get whacked out pro-abortionites running the place.
Comment by Suzie — February 13, 2012 @ 7:07 pm
It could be true that they cannot win with a moderate, but it is doubly true that they cannot win without one. Center right is not right wing and some people need to realize that.
Reagan was a moderate?
As we have shown over and over, McCain was exactly the kind of candidates the moderate pukes claim to want. He never led in the race until he brought on a strong conservative to the ticket. Were it not for the strategically timed “collapse” by 0bama’s buddies in the banking business, Palin probably would have carried the ticket.
Comment by Suzie — February 13, 2012 @ 7:15 pm
3
Nothing like an anecdotal evidence to prove a false premise. Libs do this for everything. But the one thing they have NEVER been able to show, even anecdotally, is an example of a thriving socialist country.
Comment by Suzie — February 13, 2012 @ 7:21 pm
“Reagan was a moderate?”
Ha, ha! No, in his day he was a conservative. Compared to conservatives today, he was a liberal.
Comment by Dan Casey — February 13, 2012 @ 9:14 pm
in his day he was a conservative. Compared to conservatives today, he was a liberal.
A frequent lie of the left. Conservatives then and now ran on limited government, tax cuts, and pro-life. Show us how they are different.
Comment by Suzie — February 13, 2012 @ 9:22 pm
-wing opportunist harpy Ann Coulter declares on Fox that Romney will take the nomination. Conservative rich kids at W&L declare the same (and they’re almost always right). But I guess suzie’s still praying.
Gdad hopes dearly our nominee is Romney. Doesn’t take a great deal of courage to predict the frontrunner will win, does it, Skippy?
Comment by Suzie — February 13, 2012 @ 9:24 pm
Compared to anybody today, Reagan was a leader.
Comment by John Wilburn — February 13, 2012 @ 9:27 pm
Your #16 would make sense Suzie, except no one is advocating for a “socialist country”, you are simply believing your own lies dear.
Comment by Sandi Saunders — February 13, 2012 @ 9:44 pm
Suzie Q doesn’t understand that none of the 10 points I mentioned in my post dealt with abortion. The matters I mentioned are stands taken by the American Conference of Catholic Bishops not personal preferences. I have worked for the last year with Cardinal Mahoney on the immigration issue, meeting with him most recently during my trip to Washington,DC two weeks ago.
As I have said on many occasions, not that Suzie Q pays any attention, I do not support abortion.
Comment by Ron — February 13, 2012 @ 9:48 pm
#15 Oops, now the troll has another stupid tinfoil hat conspiracy. Did everybody know that bankers wanted Obama elected?
Comment by gdad — February 13, 2012 @ 9:58 pm
#15 Right wingers today wouldn’t even consider voting for the Reagan of the 1980s.
Comment by gdad — February 13, 2012 @ 10:06 pm
That’s because there are no truly “Socialist” countries. The European economies are a mix of Capitalism and Socialism. You Can’t point out what doesn’t exist.
Here is America, we too are a mixed economy. A little bit socialist, a little bit capitalist, a whole lot of cronyism and very little democracy.
Still, the best system in the world. We just need to get the cronyism under control a bit.
Comment by Cold n P — February 13, 2012 @ 10:44 pm
Sounds like Suzie’s running away from the Catholic Church more than Santorum is!
Comment by Dan Casey — February 13, 2012 @ 11:08 pm
#19 More lies from suzie. I’ve said numerous times — MANY TIMES — that I prefer Santorum to Romney because I think Romney has the best chance of beating Obama. Why the hell does suzie keep telling lies that can so easily be exposed as lies? Because she’s an attention whore, of course.
As for it being easy to give it to the frontrunner, you’ve already done that several times this year, only to be proved wrong when that front runner crashed and burned. Good job, troll suzie. But in these cases, harpy Coulter allegedly has inside info and the W&L conservative kids do exhaustive research.
Comment by gdad — February 14, 2012 @ 10:52 am
gdad hit the nail on the head. Obama would smoke Santorum over the summer and fall. Romney has the best shot of beating Obama, not completely because of his virtues, but also because he is the most liberal of all of the Republican candidates depending upon what one considers to be liberal. That could take voters on the fence away from Obama. If Santorum took any Obama voters, they were the disgruntled ones three years ago as generic Republican X.
I like Ron Paul, but sound monetary policy, respect for the constitution, and cutting $1 trillion out of the budget in the first year doesn’t buy any votes and just isn’t that exciting to most folks.
Comment by John Wilburn — February 14, 2012 @ 12:56 pm
As I have said on many occasions, not that Suzie Q pays any attention, I do not support abortion.
You’re lying. You have said you support abortion rights and that it should remain legal. We get it in black and white.
Comment by Suzie — February 14, 2012 @ 1:47 pm
Re: Suzie on Reagan, “Show us how they are different.”
Reagan legalized abortion in California prior to Roe v. Wade.
Reagan raised taxes in 7 of his 8 years in office (11 times in all).
Reagan raised the debt ceiling numerous times with no political posturing or demands involved from either side.
Reagan said that the capital gains tax bracket should be the same as the highest federal income tax bracket.
Reagan granted amnesty to millions of “illegals”.
Reagan rarely went to church and didn’t talk much about religion.
These and more facts are readily available; here’s one source:
http://www.political-test.com/what-would-reagan-do/has-the-republican-party-abandoned-the-gipper
Comment by Say What? — February 14, 2012 @ 2:00 pm