Liberals are out to tax your corn dogs!!! Bachmann warns.

I just laughed when I read this fund raising letter voters received from Michele Bachmann the other day. If you can't get people motivated and angry enough about the economy and the unemployed, you can always piss 'em off about higher corn dog and beer prices at the fair if the Democrats win in November. She really said that.

"...while thousands of Minnesotans -- including my family -- are enjoying timetogether at the Minnesota State Fair, my opponent and her liberal allies are plotting new schemes to defeat me on November 2.

I'm running against a tax-and-spend liberal whose love for taxing hardworking families goes so far that she wants to raise taxes on state fair food like corn dogs and beer! It's facts like this that make it crystal clear: we can't afford to allow Tarryl Clark and Nancy Pelosi to defeat me.

Wow, pulling out her list of “facts,” Bachmann wants to protect fair goers from higher taxes on corn dogs and beer?

did you know Howard Dean has thrown his weight behind my opponent? His far-left liberal organization, "Democracy for America" raised $22,000 in 24 hours … liberals will stop at nothing to silence our voices.

Please don't sit on the sidelines and allow Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean steamroll me with their well-funded attacks.

Instead, Michele Bachmann wants to steamroll her Democratic opponent with “well-funded attacks.” How could the Democrats even think of spending money like Republicans to get elected? Crazy and just more dirty socialist tricks.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Michele Bachmann Is Asked to Stop Using Minnesota State Fair Logo (politicsdaily.com)
• Video: 1st Bachmann ad hits "Taxin' Tarryl" (hotair.com)

Money Influencing Government!!! Outspending Noncorporate individuals by Wide Margin. Now that's Free Speech.

Citizens United Ruling by Conservative Activist Supreme Court Starts to Dismantle Country
It didn’t take long, did it, to see what the end of our representative democracy would look like under the influence of the money changers. With all the money spent on media advertising by corporate America, think media outlets will report anything that would negatively impact these big spenders?

Go corporate personhood.

Oil billionaires David and Charles Koch have jumped on board an effort to suspend California's global warming law by making a million-dollar contribution this week. They join two Texas-based companies, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp.

California's global warming law, known as AB32, seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide to 1990 levels over the next decade.

Proposition 23 is opposed by environmental groups, Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who called the contribution "extremely disappointing."

A Koch spokeswoman, said the company believes the law will cause "significant job losses and higher energy costs." So far, the Proposition 23 campaign has raised $8.2 million, of which 97 percent has come from oil interests.

Scott Walker as Governor: Pollution, No Rail, No Educational Rules, No High Tech Industry, No Health Care, No Pill..

Wisconsin State Journal had this interesting and obscure article, where I have added my critiques to in ( ):

If elected, Scott Walker says he would:
Bring 250,000 jobs and 10,000 new businesses to Wisconsin by 2015 by cutting taxes, easing regulations. (Don’t you just love this old saw? It never gets old.)

He would block frivolous lawsuits against businesses. (Why let the courts do that when some bureaucrat can? Where are the checks and balances between protecting public safety and someone making blood money?)

Stop the passenger rail project between Milwaukee and Madison. (Taxpayers should repair the tracks from the state coffers and forget about the future benefits of rail.)

Work to remove state mandates for education. (Yes, education should be whatever it wants to be, and as good as privates schools say they are)

Try to block federal health care reform from taking effect in Wisconsin, would support a lawsuit, state legislation or a constitutional amendment to stop the measure. (The trillions of dollars savings estimated by the CBO can’t be believed. A competitive race to the bottom of cheap health care should protect our freedoms, just as long as we can’t sue)

Oppose embryonic stem cell research. (The frozen eggs should all be adopted, tossed or saved, but not used to cure disease and save lives, not to mention build on a huge economic engine for the University of Wisconsin. So much for being a leader in the medical research industry. Hey, is that a jobs killer?)

Support a ban on all abortions in the state, with no exceptions, and has said he would protect pharmacists who refuse to dispense birth control on religious grounds. (Forcing women to have an incestuous baby or rapists child, what could be wrong with that...if you're the Taliban? And the conscience clause makes medical treatment voluntary, subject to the whims of ideology. Crazy? Why the hell not...?)

In the world seen through the conservative mirror, the above dramatic changes are being packaged as a return to the "real America," and a rejection of the last 80 years of progress.

These people should scare us, but sadly don't anymore.

Government by God can operate without question, reason, or reproach.

I found this comment right on point:

The reason leaders (or so called leaders) want to push religion and “god” into politics, policy, and government, is because god can operate without question, reason, or reproach.

Those in power can simply do as they please, with the impunity of “god”.

Sarah Palin's thoughts in gutter: "Impotent" and "Limp" reveal what's really on her mind or Gay Bash?

I don't get into discussing Sarah Palin much, she has so little to offer and is just plain stupid, but the latest look beneath the surface of this political celebrity should raise some good questions. The clip from Morning Joe asks those questions and more.



Keep in mind that the supposed hit piece might be very negative, but if she were a generally nice person, such extremes are impossible to create. Here are a few perspectives:

Huffington Post:The author of the blistering Vanity Fair profile on Sarah Palin says he wanted to write a positive piece, but was shocked by what he learned as he
researched his story. "The worst stuff isn't even in there," Michael Joseph Gross said on "Morning Joe" Thursday. "I couldn't believe these stories either when I first heard them, and I started this story with a prejudice in her favor. I have a lot in common with this woman. I'm a small-town person, I'm a Christian, I think that a lot of her criticisms of the media actually have something to them. And I think she got a bum ride, but everybody close to her tells the same story."

In the profile, Gross paints Palin as an abusive, retaliatory figure with an extreme ability to lie. "This is a person for whom there is no topic too small to lie about," he said. "She lies about everything." Asked about Palin's political future, Gross said it depends on what the media lets her get away with. "If we decide to let her keep lying and getting away with it, she's gonna still be around," he said. "But if we start returning to the standard that a politician has to talk with people, and a politician has to tell the truth, then she's outta here, because she can't stand up to that."

Gross added that he takes exception to criticisms that he wrote a "hit piece" against Palin. "I started this with every good intention toward her," he said. "I was just shocked and appalled at every step at what I found. And I wrote this story sort of against my will. It wasn't what I wanted to write, it wasn't what I wanted to find. It was what was forced on me by the facts."

There's more from the Washington Post:

The former Alaska governor weighed in herself: "Those who are impotent and limp and gutless and they go on their anonymous -- sources that are anonymous -- and impotent, limp and gutless reporters take anonymous sources and cite them as being factual references," she told Sean Hannity. "It just slays me because it's so absolutely clear what the state of yellow journalism is today that they would take these anonymous sources as fact."

The Advocate wonders that Palin is gay-baiting, as Gross is gay.

GOProud's chairman, Chris Barron, defended Palin's language to Slate: It is The Advocate, not Sarah Palin, who is guilty of "gay-baiting." I don't think most people associate the words "impotent," "limp," or "gutless" with being gay - I know I certainly don't."

Impotent and limp are ways to describe a soft dick. Am I missing something here...? Kind of makes you wonder what Sarah does "read." Is Katie Couric around?

Sen. Scott Fitzgerald sued for defaming husband of Democratic Senator. “Families off limits” only applies to Republicans?

Getting what he deserves, Sen. Scott Fitzgerald went after a private citizen in his zeal to bash a public servant, a no no in the eyes of the law.

The biggest whiners over media pot shots at family members, conservatives see nothing wrong with breaking that ethical wall, since they’re fighting the enemies of liberty and freedom I guess.

A state senator's husband has filed a defamation lawsuit against Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. The La Crosse Tribune newspaper reports Sen. Kathleen Vinehout's husband, Douglas Kane, alleges in the lawsuit Fitzgerald made malicious and untrue statements about him in an Aug. 23 column. The lawsuit takes issue with statements that Kane had a "long and sordid" history as an adviser to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and counseled him on tax changes.

The lawsuit contends Kane doesn't have a sordid history and he never counseled Blagojevich or served as his adviser, though he did work as a consultant for him on tax issues.

Fitzgerald, a Juneau Republican, has led GOP attacks accusing Vinehout, an Democrat, of plagiarizing Kane's essays on taxes.

That’s right, crazy conservative Scott Fitzgerald accused the Senator of plagiarizing her own husbands writings:

The state Republican Party claims three essays written over the past
three years by Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D, lift passages nearly verbatim from
columns written by her husband, Douglas Kane.

You read that right, HER HUSBAND. It actually gets even better…

Kane said he wrote drafts of some of her columns, much like a campaign staff writer would write a candidate's speeches. Some of the language from his works carried over, he said. "If it wasn't so stupid, it would be amusing," he said of the GOP's allegations. "(How can it be) plagiarism if it's donated from one person to another?"

Republicans say the similarities raise questions about Vinehout's credibility. "This is the definition of plagiarism," said John Hogan, executive director of the Committee to Elect Republican Senators. "Does she have any original ideas?"

James Peterson, a Madison-based intellectual properties attorney, said using Kane's work was no different than any politician turning to a speech writer or a staff writer.

You have to wonder just how the conservative brain can come up with this stuff. Is it paranoia, fear of someone getting something for nothing, the peoples government not controlled by private business, an inability to understand the human condition, a distrust of everyone around them...what?

U.S. on verge of electing the Anti-government government. Joe Miller can thank Government for Success.

Even as zealot right wing candidates chalk up a few wins here and there, the voter mood of the country is following the media created theme that government is so bad and big, that even psychopathic loners might help save our Constitution. But a closer look reveals that even these libertarian outsiders depended on government “handouts.” Take the case of recluse Joe Miller, who wouldn’t be where he is today without taxpayer dollars. It’s really amazing:

The Myth: NY Times: The man with the best chance of becoming the next senator from Alaska lives at the end of a long gravel road … Tribulation Trail … Signs warn against trespassing … A dog’s baritone bark rattles the aspens when car wheels, unexpected, churn the driveway. Joe Miller, 43 … comes across as a self-confident iconoclast but wraps his message in the Constitution … Even as Miller vows to drastically scale back the size and spending of the federal government; he has spent much of his life in some form of government employment or service.

Joe Miller the Taxpayer Parasite: The military helped educate him. For seven
years, until last September, he worked part time as a salaried assistant attorney for the Fairbanks North Star Borough, roughly equivalent to a county government. His work with the borough allowed him to complete a master’s degree in economics from the University of Alaska. “We paid his tuition,” said Rene Broker, the borough attorney who first hired him.

He worked 20 hours a week for the borough, enough to receive health care benefits for his family of 10, Because Mr. Miller is married and has eight children, his family is eligible to receive 10 dividend checks each year from the Alaska Permanent Fund, an account that pays dividends from state oil revenues to residents of Alaska. The amount changes yearly and is often between $1,000 and $2,000. In 2008 Palin pushed through a one-time increase to $3,269. That would have meant more than $32,000 for Mr. Miller’s family.

Joe Miller the Carpetbagger: In 2004, two years after moving to Fairbanks, he challenged the city’s lone Democrat in the State Legislature, David Guttenberg. Mr. Miller lost, 52 to 48 percent. “He’s a carpetbagger,” Mr. Guttenberg said. “He moved into my district to run against me because I was the only Democrat in Fairbanks.”

Joe Miller federal welfare slayer?: Miller has faced repeated questions over how he will square his views on federal spending if he becomes a senator from a state that depends on government for one-third of its economy. He argues that ending restrictive federal regulation will free Alaska to reap more from its natural resources “in an environmentally responsible way.”

Which means what, that he will end the biggest return on the dollar from federal coffers, and/or add to Alaskan pockets with oil money? Think Progress found this on Miller's hypocricy on the New Deal:

Today on ABC’s Top Line, host Rick Klein asked Miller to expound. “Do you think those programs are constitutionally authorized?” Miller dodged, first — noting that his parents benefit from Social Security and Medicare — arguing that they should be preserved now, but “transition” to a privatization model in the future.

Joe Miller, WRONG on the Constitution:

Then, Miller again suggested the programs are not constitutional:

MILLER: "I think we have to look at transferring power back to the states in such a way that states can then look at solutions that may be more appropriate. Then ultimately, when you look at the Constitution and you evaluate what the plan was originally, it was for states to take on more power than the federal government, particularly in the areas of, such as those things that may promote the general welfare. It was not a federal role."

Miller’s claim that the Constitution gives states the sole power to provide for general welfare is exactly wrong. In fact, Article I, Section 8 specifically states:

“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.”

Miller appears to be embracing what the Wonk Room’s Ian Millhiser describes
as “tentherism,” the belief adopted by many on the right that posits that progressive policies such as health care reform and entitlement programs are an unconstitutional infringement on states’ rights.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Last Guy to Beat Joe Miller Has Some Advice for the Next Guy to Beat "Joe the Teabagger" (seminal.firedoglake.com)
• While Tea Party Candidate Joe Miller Complains about Federal Government, Alaska Swims in Federal Dollars (firedoglake.com)
• Alaska Winner, Lover of Privacy, Loses His Own (nytimes.com)

Paul Ryan's Road Map Hits Road Block in Chicago.

Paul Ryan greeted by protesters over privatizing Social Security? Surprised? Me too, since you never see stories like this anywhere. Tea party protesters joined in.

On Sept 1, 2010,150 IL seniors gathered outside a campaign luncheon at the
Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago to protest Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI)'s
'roadmap' budget plan to privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare.

Loved this post at the Huffington Post and the idea that if politicians want to privatize Social Security and Medicare, they should give up their Cadillac benefits and "enjoy" their brilliantly conceived privatized plan like every other American. It's a challenge every interviewer should pose to these free market failures. Why shouldn't elected officials expect to make a similar sacrifice to balance the budget.

Events of the last week have made the Deficit Commission an embarrassment. Co-Chair Alan Simpson is a one-man disaster movie, compulsively offending one key voting bloc after another. Commission member Paul Ryan faced an angry crowd over his anti-Social Security stance, while another Commissioner locked experienced workers out of a nuclear facility rather than provide retirement benefits. That's right: He's cutting retirement benefits. But if the political blowback is obvious, here's what isn't:

The Commissioners who are determined to cut your Social Security benefits are going to enjoy their own retirements in comfort. Their own pension plans insulate them from the fears that many other Americans face.

If you don't know much about the topic and are protected from the problem, what
makes you credible? Their pre-established prejudices makes the situation even
worse, and their own situations underscore the irony of their self-professed
willingness to make "brave choices" - choices whose consequences will mean little or nothing to them.

Consider Commissioner Alice Rivlin. Rivlin co-authored a paper that called for raising the retirement age and other benefit cuts, will presumably enjoy a comfortable retirement supported by multiple public pensions. Says Rivlin: ""We can't get out of this problem without doing both spending cuts, especially slowing the growth of entitlement, and tax increases."

Experts on Social Security finance (including the long-time Chief Actuary for the program) flatly disagree with Rivlin, pointing out that an adjustment to the payroll tax cap would unquestionably be enough to get the job done. They have the numbers to prove it.

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, an aggressive advocate of Social Security cuts and privatization, will also enjoy his sunset years in comfort, thanks to a publicly-funded pension from his tenure as a Congressman. (He'll presumably earn even more as a result of his employment as an aide to two United States Senators.)

Rep. Jeb Hensaerling has served as both a Representative and as an aide to Sen. Phil Gramm, so he should be safe from financial insecurity in his old age too . The average annual pension payments for former members of Congress ranged from $41,000 to $55,000 in 2002, considerably more than the average $13,836 that Social Security recipients received in 2009.

Yet neither Ryan nor Hensaerling have proposed cutting Congressional retirement benefits - nor should they. Sound pension plans like theirs were once available to most working Americans, and more effort should be made to restore them.

Tom Coburn, another would-be Social Security cutter, will receive a Congressional and Senatorial pension too.

If these Deficit Commission members want their recommendations to have any credibility, they should pledge to live on the same Social Security benefits that they would impose for other Americans. Better yet, they should dedicate themselves to helping provide every American with the kind of retirement security they enjoy.

Lakoff: Conservatives Determined to Preserve Moral System, like Ron Johnson's "discipline, hard work and common sense."

I'll be honest, I was stump by the three reasons why GOP/tea party candidate Ron Johnson would be a better senator than Russ Feingold. As you can see by the list in Johnson's TV ad, we're not given actual policy ideas, only moral platitudes. There's a reason for that, and George Lakoff knows why, as he explains in the piece below from the Huffington Post:

In the conservative moral system, the highest value is preserving and extending the moral system itself. That is why they keep saying no to Obama's proposals, even voting against their own ideas when Obama accepts them. To give Obama any victory at all would be a blow to their moral system. Their moral system requires non-cooperation. That is a major thing the Obama administration has not understood.

The conservatives understand the centrality of morality. They attacked the Obama health care plan as immoral for violating the moral principles of freedom ("government takeover") and reverence for life ("death panels.") The Obama administration made a policy case, not a moral case. The conservatives have characterized the bailouts as thievery and Obama's ties to Wall St. as immoral -- as being in bed with the thieves.

The attacks on government are seen as moral attacks, with government seen as taking money out of working people's pockets and giving it to people who don't deserve it. Whether it is the birthers, or the anti-Muslims, or the anti-immigrants, of the pro-lifers, the attack is a moral attack. The Tea Party cry is moral -- for "freedom" (see my book Whose Freedom?), for God, for patriotism. Even jobless benefits are seen as giving money to people who are not working and don't deserve it. Even social security that workers have earned, that are deferred payments for work, are seen as undeserving people "sucking on the tits of the government."

Why are so many people about to vote against their interests?

The Republicans are not offering kitchen-table benefits. The "swing voters" are really "swing thinkers." And it is language -- moral language, not policy language, heard over and over -- that strengthens one political moral system over the other and determines how people vote. The kitchen table arguments must become moral arguments as well -- arguments about freedom, life, fairness, and the most central of American values.

Argue for your values. Frame all issues in terms of your values. Avoid their language, even in arguing against them. There is a reason that I wrote a book called, Don't Think of an Elephant! Don't list their arguments and argue against them using their language. It just activates their arguments in the brains of listeners. Don't move to the right in your discourse or action. That will just strengthen the conservative moral system in the brains of swing thinkers.

Frame your arguments from your moral position.

Finally, Democrats need a truly effective communication system. They need unified, morally-based framing of issues. They need to train spokespeople all over the country in using such framing and avoiding mistakes. They need to organize those spokespeople. And they need to book them, as conservatives do, on radio, TV, in civic and religious groups, in schools and universities.

Related articles by Zemanta

• George Lakoff: The Cry for Democratic Moral Leadership and Effective Communication (chelseagreen.com)
• The Dems Need to Speak to Progressive Values, or Else Lose Badly Come November (alternet.org)
• Lakoff on how Democrats frame messages (americablog.com)

Shocker!! NRA "Trigger the Vote" ad with Chuck Norris FUNNY!

Just so liberals weren't confused about the conservative assassination agenda to take back their country, the NRA humorously makes pulling the "trigger" fun, with a big fat target for a logo.

Gee, I wonder who they have in their sites?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Chuck Norris kicks out the vote in NRA spot (adweek.blogs.com)
• Now This: Chuck Norris Reloads For Midterms With New NRA 'Blougar' Ad (mediaite.com)
• NRA Releases Chuck Norris On Voters With 'Trigger The Vote' Ad (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Chuck Norris has 20 votes, one for every finger and toe. (makethelogobigger.blogspot.com)

Bush Tax cuts Bad for Small Businesses, Paid for by Lower and Middleclass.

Here's a video clip collection that pretty much tells the Bush tax cut story, and why it really is an amazing argument coming from Republican deficit hawks and supporters of private business investments. David Cay Johnston is an intelligent voice cutting through the politics.



Something I've got to get off my chest: Because politicians borrowed from the Social Security surplus fund, we are now expected to make cuts to the program to keep it solvent. Sorry, no!!!

The fund was a tax on the lower and middleclass that was used by the politicians and the wealthy for reckless spending. They used our retirement safety net for spending. They can't just walk away and say Soc. Sec. is broke and the money is gone forever.

Who the hell said borrowed money doesn't need to be paid back? Politicians and the wealthy who benefited from their little middleclass slush fund have to pay us back. Period.

Related articles by Zemanta

• David Cay Johnston on the Bush tax cuts (americablog.com)

Go to Hell iPad, welcome competition

Starting (in) mid-month Samsung launches its Galaxy Tab mobile device in Europe (US and Asia will get it "in the coming months").

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a 7" widescreen touch tablet powered by Android 2.2. The Tab will use the same TouchWiz UI used on Samsung's line of Galaxy S smartphones … the device has a metal back, black bezel, bottom speakers, and even a 30-pin connector.

At the heart of the device is the same 1GHz ARM processor and PowerVR GPU core that powers the Galaxy S phones, and is in most respects equivalent to Apple's A4 processor. It also includes 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and 3G connectivity; assisted GPS capabilities; accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer sensors; and comes with either 16GB and 32GB of built-in flash storage.

However, there are a few areas where the Galaxy Tab separates itself from the iPad. The display is a 1024 x 600 pixel, 7" diagonal 16:9 wide touchscreen. The device also includes both rear- and front-facing cameras; the iPad's omission of cameras has been heavily criticized. At the rear is a 3MP autofocus camera with LED flash, while the front has a 1.3MP fixed focus camera. In addition to stills, the Tab can record 720 x 480 resolution video.

To expand storage, the device accepts up to 32GB MicroSD cards.

On the software side, the Tab includes the mobile version of Flash 10.1—Apple's iOS devices famously lack Flash compatibility—but the jury is still out on whether that is a benefit or not.

No it isn’t. Is there really any question about Flash, besides the fact that Steve Jobs hates it?

The Tab is compatible with a wide variety of audio and video formats for media playback, including being the first DiVX-certified tablet. Like Samsung's other Galaxy devices, it features the innovative Swype soft keyboard. And Samsung is targeting the popularity of the iPad as a full-color e-reader by including a Kobo-developed "Readers Hub" which is compatible with ePub, PDF, Kobo, and Adobe DRM'd content, including books, magazines, and newspapers. By virtue of running Android 2.2, it also includes all the Google apps like Navigation and Latitude, and can access software from the Android Marketplace.

Ryan's Road Map Leaves Seniors Picking up Medicare and Soc. Sec. Shortfalls, while More Seniors Now Fall into Poverty.

Remember the Ryan Road Map to a Dickensian Future:

The Ryan plan would raise taxes for most middle-income families, privatize a substantial portion of Social Security, eliminate the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance, end traditional Medicare and most of Medicaid, and terminate the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The plan would replace these health programs with a system of vouchers whose value would erode over time and thus would purchase health insurance that would cover fewer health care services as the years went by.

"All in all, the Ryan Roadmap charts a radical course that, if they understood it, few Americans likely would want to follow."

Combine the decrease in Social Security and Medicare payments with the following worsening condition in America:

The Wisconsin Poverty Report shows the rate of poverty in Wisconsin worsened in 2008, with more than 11 percent of the state's population living in need, including one in seven children and one in 10 elderly residents.

The Wisconsin measure also indicates a steep increase in poverty among the elderly, whose rate jumps to 10.4 percent - compared with 7.1 percent under the official measure - and an increase in children's poverty rate, which is 13.6 percent under the Wisconsin measure, compared with the 13.3 percent rate under the official measure.

These new numbers are important because some might try to pass off the old way of measuring poverty to lessen the negative inhumane reality:

The official federal poverty measure considers pretax cash income (but) not work-related expenses, such as transportation and child care, or out-of-pocket medical expenses, whereas the new Wisconsin Poverty Measure counts other resources as well, such as food assistance and tax credits.

The new Wisconsin Poverty Measure also looks at geographic differences in cost of living both within the state and relative to the nation as a whole.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Is Rep. Ryan's Plan An Austerity Program? No Way, Spokesman Says (blogs.forbes.com)

Ron Johnson would have inner city teens workin' on the farm. Oh, and there's more...

Is it possible to own and run a business, have lots of money and run for a U.S. Senate seat, but still get the idea of capitalism and the economic meltdown so wrong?

Just ask Ron Johnson.



Johnson was asked on the Wisconsin Radio Network about providing a solution to Milwaukee's inner city jobless:

Johnson: "Let's just talk about youth. As I'm traveling around the state and
talking to farmers, they're having a hard time finding workers...from a state
level, I'd like to see some mechanism to bring those...the hard core teen
unemployment, and bring those folks to Wisconsin farmers and "solve that solution. That's just one mini solution."

Is he really suggesting busing in minority teen slave labor for farm work? No, really?

When asked about the "uncertainty" excuse used by Republicans to explain the slow economy and lack of jobs:

Johnson: "I've talked to corporations that don't even consider coming to
Wisconsin because of the business climate. The same is true of America. I'd
encourage people to go onto Youtube and type in 'Steve Wynn.' He's the one that
creates resorts in Las Vegas. He's also creating resorts in Macau in communist
China. His point is the climate for business investment is far more certain in communist China than it is in the U.S here."

For Johnson and fellow business elites it perfectly normal to look at China as a great place to invest, after all, low wages and lax environmental controls (that's changing) encourage development. But uncertainty, which the interviewer rightly observes is a "side effect of our democracy, the partisan back and forth, certainty is a harder hurtle to clear." But that's only part of the story.

China heavily subsidizes industry it considers part of its national interest, a fact conservatives like Johnson conveniently ignore. It's anti-free market. As for low wages, the average annual income in China is only $896. Two years ago 230 million Chinese were living on an average annual income of $44. Dr. Cheng Xiaonong: (World Wage Research) WWR’ exposes a basic problem. It is that China’s so-called development completely ignores social justice. It favors or tends to protect the interests of an elite group."

Johnson "completely ignores social justice." I couldn't have said it better. Two more quick points:

Johnson: "I would argue the cause of the financial collapse really was the housing bubble, it burst. I believe that was a creation of Washington."

Sure it was, if lax enforcement of rules, self policing and deregulation weren't the real cause.

Johnson: "In this financial regulation bill...it didn't even address Fannie and Freddie, it did not address the root cause of the problem."

Fannie and Freddie weren't the root cause of the problem. Period.

Zemanta" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=035b1be9-9a7d-4db0-8543-f74aac7fa95d">

Gingrich helps recruit "more jihadis" for the Taliban to use against our Troops.

Image via Wikipedia Liberals have been called many things; appeasers, traitors, socialists and anti-Americans. But isn’t it in fact, a case of “I know you are but what am I,” or projection. Thom Hartmann points out what is really happening with our super patriotic conservative friends.

…Giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy?

For months, far right-wing conservatives have led a hateful campaign against the proposed Park 51 Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York City. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is even claiming it will be a launching pad for "Sharia law" in America. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Zabihullah, a Taliban spokesman said, by "preventing this mosque from being built, America is doing us a big favor." The, "...more mosques you stop, the more jihadis we will get."

Gingrich's hysterical campaign about the Park 51 community center is hurting
Americans in two ways. First, he succeeded in turning a majority of Republican
Americans against their own President based on a lie.

Second, he's giving aid and comfort to recruiters for the very extremist in Islam whose credibility would be most diminished by the building of this community center.

Westlake: No Benchmark Educational system and wants classroom Creationism. These are our Future Conservative Political Leaders?

Are conservatives just crazy, and leading us into some kind of "dark age," where what you believe is suddenly a substitute for knowledge? Good god. Check out this anti-education, anti-science candidate for Senate, Backward Dave Westlake.

Blogging Blue: I was trying to catch the weather tonight on my local newscast and up pops Dave with less of an understanding of science than my soon to be 2nd grader.

- Dave Westlake, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, says creationism should be taught in Wisconsin schools and that the earth is thousands, not billions of years old. When asked if the earth was around 6,000 years old, as some creationists believe, Westlake said, “That’s probably a general timeline. There are very solid supporting evidence out there, or data out there, that shows that it’s very reasonable to expect that it’s not nearly as old as science says it is.”

Then as if that was not enough he comes up with this lunacy Westlake called for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, and said states and local school boards should determine a district’s curriculum.

So the earth is 6000 years old, supported by science...wait...scratch that, supported by "solid evidence." Westlake isn't talking about the Creation Museum displays, is he? Oh boy.

As a parent of two young boys, there isn't a chance in hell I'd want our local schools controlled by whatever hot political whim is "in" at the moment, with no standards.

It's educational chaos, not to mention a really dumb idea.

Tom Barrett Challenged to another fight, tastelessly, by Republican candidate.

Republican governor candidate Scott Walker made Olbermann's worst persons list, again, after tastelessly challenging Democratic candidate and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to a "fight." Watch and see why.



One Wisconsin Now: Walker turned hardball politics into dirty ball. In his television ad, he implies he’s ready to get physical with Mayor Barrett -- going so far as to don boxing gloves and knock them together likes he’s ready to fight.

Why would Scott Walker mock the heroic effort made by Mayor Barrett to protect a grandmother and her granddaughter who were under attack? Why would Scott Walker diminish Mayor Barrett’s real heroism -- heroism that left him the victim of a vicious and potential fatal beating with a crowbar when he intervened?

It’s unbelievable. But he did. And now he has to stop.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Wis. cand. runs fighting ad aimed at attack victim (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Let’s be honest with Ron Johnson when it comes to job creation...

Bullshit!

The business elite in America have a certain mindset, and that is to lower wages, eliminate benefits, get rid of environmental controls or…move overseas. Like China. It’s top of mind for Senate Candidate running against Russ Feingold, Ron Johnson. China.

jsonline: In an interview on Monday with the Wisconsin Radio Network, Ron Johnson was asked about his ideas about job creation. Johnson made reference to Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn. In paraphrasing Wynn's feelings about business, Johnson said, "His point is...the climate for business investment is far more certain in communist China than it is in the U.S. here."

See! China has the climate for great business investment. You can’t fault the elitist millionaire mentality of Johnson, or any other corporate CEO, it’s just the way they think.

But for jobless Americans, that can’t be a great message, so…

Campaign spokeswoman Sara Sendek issued this statement: "We unequivocally reject any notion that Ron Johnson ever said or implied that communist China is better for business."

Bullshit!

Related articles by Zemanta

• In Wisconsin, an Incumbent Holds Tight (nytimes.com)

The Hot Illegal Immigration Issue: Another pile of GOP crap devoured by the frightened voting public and media.

Let’s put these two stories together, shall we?

Washington Post: The number of illegal immigrants entering the United States has
plunged by almost two-thirds in the past decade, a dramatic shift after years of growth in the population, according to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center. (Bdfore) 2005, an average of 850,000 people a year entered the United States without authorization … As the economy plunged into recession between 2007 and 2009, that number fell to 300,000 … the new report reveals the first statistically significant reversal in the growth of the population in the past 20 years.

Gallop Poll: Republicans are trusted to stop the nightmare we know as illegal immigration, over the Democrats, by a significant 50 percent to 35 percent.

It looks like that 2/3 plunge in the nightmarish illegal immigration crisis needs the firm hand of the Republican Party to...solve once and for all?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Number of illegal immigrants drops, study finds (cnn.com)
• Illegal Immigrant Population Shrinks, Border Crossings Down Sharply (abcnews.go.com)
• So Much For The Illegal Immigration "Crisis" (outsidethebeltway.com)

Right Wing Nation: Democrats offer no counter balance to radicalization.

It wasn’t just sloganeering when President Obama pointed out that the Republicans were the guys who ran us into the ditch. It happened, and it happened recently.

But the Democrats and news media have offered little push back to the conservative narrative; claims the stimulus didn’t work, the bailouts weren’t necessary, tax cuts for the wealthy must continue and aren’t related to the deficit, Democrats caused the Great Recession, the constitution is what they say it is, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court isn’t an activist one, free market health care will save money, Sarah Palin isn’t really a horrifically stupid person, Blue Dogs are Democrats, we’ve lost our honor, that we’re a Christian nation, Social Security is in trouble, death panels and rationing were serious news issues, ACORN corrupted elections, Americans are paying more in taxes, racism isn’t an issue for the tea party’s…etc.

We can debate whether any of the above…WAIT! No we can’t and shouldn’t. But since Democrats waffled and compromised, two words never uttered by Republicans, the public lost confidence. If you don’t believe strongly in something, then maybe there’s another way. The conservative bullies look really confident, let’s try that again.

So I'm amazed at the latest results of a USA Today/Gallup poll: Who would you put in charge if the midterm elections were held today? Republicans, by a 51 to 41 percent margin.


Economy: 49 percent said Republicans would do a better job handling the economy than Democrats, who came in at 38 percent.

Jobs: Republicans held a 46-41 advantage over Democrats.

Corruption in government: 38 percent say that Republicans would do a better job than Democrats in handling the issue, compared with 35 percent.

Immigration, federal spending and terrorism, Republicans held significant advantages.

Healthcare: Democrats were favored 44-43.

Environment: Democrats also held a 23-point advantage, which the public ranked as the least important issue for Congress this year out of nine.

Surprisingly, Republicans have offered no specific plan for any of the issues above, except for maybe tax cuts.

Are tax cuts the answer to everything? The Gallop Poll says yes.