Monday, November 14, 2011

Did Herman Cain just have his “Oops” moment?

Herman Cain, in front of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board, stumbles hard when asked whether he agrees with President Obama’s policy toward Libya.

"I do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason [pause.] No, that’s a different one [pause.] I gotta go back and see; got all of this stuff twirling around in my head [pause.] Specifically, what are you asking me about what I agree or disagree with?"

When Cain gets around to it, he says he would have done more to distinguish who was in the Libyan opposition before making his decision about whether to intervene.

NBC’s Chuck Todd thinks it may actually be worse than Perry’s infamous Oops moment during the debate in Michigan last week.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

http://liberalsarecool.com

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Amendment To Overturn Citizens United?

Democratic Sens. Tom Udall of New Mexico and Michael Bennet of  Colorado introduced a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that would  overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial 2010 decision in Citizens  United v. Federal Election Commission  The decision gave corporations and unions the ability to spend  unlimited amounts of money to influence elections, so long as their  actions are not coordinated with a candidate’s campaign.    Another step in the sensible direction.

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

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

Another step in the sensible direction.

Monday, October 31, 2011

"Weaponized Keynesians."

Paul Krugman: Republicans know government spending creates jobs; they say so every time there’s a chance military spending will be cut; they just don’t want you “to know what they know, because that would hurt their larger agenda — keeping regulation and taxes on the wealthy at bay.”

A few years back Representative Barney Frank coined an apt phrase for many of his colleagues: weaponized Keynesians, defined as those who believe “that the government does not create jobs when it funds the building of bridges or important research or retrains workers, but when it builds airplanes that are never going to be used in combat, that is of course economic salvation.”

(Source: realitychex.com)

Friday, October 28, 2011

Scott Olsen Being Shot By Police

Watch at the 1:42 mark when a police officer throws a teargas canister at crowd trying to attend to the injured man.

In-fucking-credible.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Obama Calls Out GOP, Krugman Calls Out Paul Ryan

Obama Calls Out GOP, Krugman Calls Out Paul Ryan

Here is a pretty lame quote from mental midget Paul Ryan:

“Just last week, the President told a crowd in North Carolina that Republicans are in favor of, quote, ‘dirtier air, dirtier water, and less people with health insurance.’ Can you think of a pettier way to describe sincere disagreements between the two parties on regulation and health care?”

Here is a great response from Paul Krugman:

Just for the record: why is this petty? Why is it anything but a literal description of GOP proposals to weaken environmental regulation and repeal the Affordable Care Act? So Ryan is outraged, outraged, that Obama is offering a wholly accurate description of his [Ryan’s] party’s platform…. You really have to be somewhat awed when people who routinely accuse Obama of being a socialist get all weepy over him saying that eliminating protections against pollution would lead to more pollution.”

WSJ: "Most Millionaires Support Warren Buffett’s Tax on the Rich"

WSJ: “Most Millionaires Support Warren Buffett’s Tax on the Rich”

A new survey from Spectrem Group found that 68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more) support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners. […]

Explains George Walper of Spectrem: “What this tells us is that there are a number of wealthy folks who said: ‘Gee, we need to increase taxes to stimulate the economy. No one likes to be taxed more, but the reality is maybe it has to be done.’”

The vast majority of Americans believe millionaires and billionaires should pay a little more in taxes; the clear majority of self-identified Republicans believe millionaires and billionaires should pay a little more in taxes; and now the clear majority of millionaires and billionaires believe millionaires and billionaires should pay a little more in taxes.

The only people on the other side are congressional Republicans.

The only people on the other side are congressional Republicans. Party over country. Always

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Real Radicals

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“We, the 99%, are the Americans and we want our country back.”

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

A Businessman Occupies Wall Street

Manhattan-based brand consultant David Intrator discusses the nature of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Share this one with your conservative friends!
“Returning to a country, as opposed to just being a market. A return to being citizens, as opposed to being consumers.” 
 For those who think the protesters are radicals, they have this movement backwards. It’s the corporations that are the radicals.  

Source: Youtube

Monday, October 17, 2011

We Do Know What We're Protesting

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The revolution may not televised, yet, but the rational mind of America is awakening.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

The GOP Jobs Plan FAIL

"

“Now, it turns out that the Republicans have a plan, too. I want to be fair. They call — they put forward this plan last week. They called it the ‘Real American Jobs Act.’ The ‘real one’ — that’s what they called it — just in case you were wondering.

“So let’s take a look at what the Republican American jobs act looks like. It turns out the Republican plan boils down to a few basic ideas: They want to gut regulations; they want to let Wall Street do whatever it wants. They want to drill more. And they want to repeal health care reform. That’s their jobs plan.”

"

President Obama, speaking in Asheville this morning.

There need not be a rhetorical question of which is better. This isn’t a matter of opinion; we’re talking about demonstrable facts, as bolstered by independent economic analysis: the White House jobs plan would make an immediate, positive difference, and the Republican jobs plan wouldn’t help at all.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Friday, October 14, 2011

A Mimple Message About the 99%

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A simple message for those trying to skew the 99% and Occupy Wall Street movements.

The capitalists broke game. They bent the rules. They grabbed all the money. We are all paying the consequences of people taking advantages.

In order to move forward, we have to admit some truths as a country. “Denial ain’t just a reservoir in Egypt” - Ali G

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

62 Million Americans Have Zero Or Negative Net Worth

62 Million Americans Have Zero Or Negative Net Worth

62 million Americans have zero or negative net worth. Wow. Think about that for a second.

These are hard working people. They made good decisions. They did not take massive risks. Deregulated markets were going to provide the ways and means, they were told.

But a decade of unparalleled financial thievery and corruption, of artificially inflated commodity prices, we now have millions displaced from their homes through a rotten and perverted mortgage market, all the worse because of the crimes of the modern financial elite.

Take your pick: from bribery and insider trading and market manipulation, to backroom dominance of government and the usurping of the regulatory structure from within, the 50-headed hydra of Wall Street corruption simply can’t be seen by the public or put on TV.

So what do people do? They pick on a myth. Are 62 million people lazy? Should they just “get a job” to make it better? When the real evil is clearly the banks, certain types vindictively want to pick on their fellow man, the 99%, and place blame on them. For not struggling enough? For not having 3 or 4 jobs which still are not enough?

The point is we should not all be struggling. The system played us all. It’s time to change the system.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Righteous Indignation

Thursday, October 13, 2011

No One Thinks Wall St "Owes" Us Anything

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$44 trillion in wealth was lost around the world in the financial and banking failures of 2007-08. That’s $44,000,000,000,000 Wall St gambled away.

Context [2006 data]:

* $64 trillion = world’s output, the collective GDP
* $119 trillion = total value of stock and bonds
* $473 trillion = derivatives market valuation
* [Additional perspective, derivatives climbed to $684 trillion (as of June 2008)]

Wall St has created such a massive market out of speculation, that it dwarfs actual GDPs of the world. It’s 10 times the size. So if you want to think they are not in control, then wake up.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Sub-prime Mortgages

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Sub-prime mortgages:
Do you think banks created them to take advantage of new owners in order to bundle and leverage the debt obligations at ratios of 33:1, as well as, reap massive profits in the home building industry bubble?
Or
Do you think risky, jobless, asset-less new owners forced the mighty banks into creating sub-prime mortgages, and additionally, force the banks to loan the money to the developers to build all the homes, and the trillions in leveraged securitized mortgages was just a wee coincidence? Seriously.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Saturday, October 08, 2011

Tea Party Protest Signs Translated.

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The Tea Party was always about personal attacks on Obama. Blame one guy for everything going wrong and every fear you have.

These are same people who have the “don’t blame the banks, blame yourself” mentality when faced with the cold truth of what is really the root of the crushed economy. They never think of the real problem or how to solve them, just come up with an obtuse, willfully ignorant Obama character assassination bordering heavily on racism to distract you from any deep thought or understanding of a subject you have no clue. - douglas/liberalsarecool

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Friday, October 07, 2011

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Monday, September 19, 2011

Obama Tax Proposal Has Overwhelming Support

Obama Tax Proposal Has Overwhelming Support

Andrew Sullivan: “Every single poll shows that the American public overwhelmingly supports higher taxes on the wealthy as part of a package to cut the deficit. The margins are staggering: the NYT poll shows a majority of 74 - 21; even Rasmussen shows a majority of 56 - 34. What the president proposed this morning is simply where the American people are at. If he keeps at it, if he turns his administration into a permanent campaign for structural fiscal reform, I don’t see how he loses the argument.”

That’s 3:1 support!! Three regular people for every one delusional corporatist hack. #end_the_plutocracy

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DADT Ends

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The U.S. Army, in a memo announcing that the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law prohibiting openly gay and lesbian soldiers from serving in the military will formally end tomorrow.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Out Of Touch Republicans

“By the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over.”

— Rep. John Fleming (R-LA), in an interview on MSNBC, on why as a small business owner he can’t afford a tax increase.

Would $410,000 make it better? Paying your fair share and getting the economy going would help your small business make more money, but the “me first and me only” dynamic of Republicans makes that all too hard to comprehend.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Friday, September 16, 2011

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Death Of Pro-Life: The Meaningless Rhetoric Of The GOP

Pro-life is OFFICALLY over. The meaningless political stance [who isn’t pro-life?] is now a front for pro-suffering and pro-indifference, matched by their previous pro-torture policies.

The GOP, the supposed party of life, cheers affirmative when countered, “should society let this man die” after being asked who hypothetically should help an uninsured man with cancer.

A for-profit health care system championed by the Republicans is the worst case of hypocrisy you can imagine. Every life is precious? My ass. If you don’t have money, then you’re on your own.

Ron Paul, a doctor, says “freedom is your own risk?” What a vacuous shitty thing to say about a very specific situation. His sage medical wisdom and years of public service comes down to “sucks to be you”.

Countries on our level like Japan, Germany, France, England, and even ravaged Iraq take care of their own through socialized health care, regardless of money.

America is the ONLY country in the world where you go bankrupt due to medical costs.

The GOP/Tea Party/Libertarian fish rotted from the head down. Last night, we got a whiff of the smell.

Even Rick Perry was shocked: “I was a bit taken aback by that myself. We’re the party of life. We ought to be coming up with ways to save lives.”

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

The GOP Pro-Life Scam

Friday, September 02, 2011

The More You Know, The Less You'll Like

"I wouldn’t have written that book if I was going to run for the presidency of the United States."

Rick Perry. The Texas governor conceded his book, “Fed Up!”, published last year, continues to be a goldmine for his detractors. 

Knowing about how Perry thinks is bad for his career. Interesting concept.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Republican Class Warfare

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Republican Class Warfare: on what moral ground do you stand?

The GOP are anti-business by threatening a default and bringing on a downgrade.

The GOP are anti-consumer by pushing more taxes on the Middle Class.

To the GOP, a family of four making $22,350 is living the high life, they need more tax burdens to ground them. While billionaires and mega-corporations with runaway historic profits need more breaks. #WTF

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

The Republican Dream Ticket

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Oh, how they love their actors as politicians.

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Things Mitt Romney Considers To Be People

Monday, August 08, 2011

The Future

All Tyrants Will Fall

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Plato and Aristotle define a tyrant as, “one who rules without law, looks to his own advantage rather than that of his subjects, and uses extreme and cruel tactics — against his own people as well as others”

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Krugman: A Must Read

Krugman: A Must Read

“To understand the furor over the decision by Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, to downgrade U.S. government debt, you have to hold in your mind two seemingly (but not actually) contradictory ideas. The first is that America is indeed no longer the stable, reliable country it once was. The second is that S.& P. itself has even lower credibility; it’s the last place anyone should turn for judgments about our nation’s prospects.

Let’s start with S.& P.’s lack of credibility. If there’s a single word that best describes the rating agency’s decision to downgrade America, it’s chutzpah — traditionally defined by the example of the young man who kills his parents, then pleads for mercy because he’s an orphan.

America’s large budget deficit is, after all, primarily the result of the economic slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis. And S.& P., along with its sister rating agencies, played a major role in causing that crisis, by giving AAA ratings to mortgage-backed assets that have since turned into toxic waste.

Nor did the bad judgment stop there. Notoriously, S.& P. gave Lehman Brothers, whose collapse triggered a global panic, an A rating right up to the month of its demise. And how did the rating agency react after this A-rated firm went bankrupt? By issuing a report denying that it had done anything wrong.”

Paul Krugman, NYT

(Source: The New York Times)

"No, what makes America look unreliable isn’t budget math, it’s politics. And please, let’s not have the usual declarations that both sides are at fault. Our problems are almost entirely one-sided — specifically, they’re caused by the rise of an extremist right that is prepared to create repeated crises rather than give an inch on its demands."

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Saturday, August 06, 2011

A Timeline In Real Facts Regarding Debt

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

1980: Ronald Reagan runs for president, promising a balanced budget

1981 - 1989: With support from congressional Republicans, Reagan runs enormous deficits, adds $2 trillion to the debt.

1993: Bill Clinton passes economic plan that lowers deficit, gets zero votes from congressional Republicans.

1998: U.S. deficit disappears for the first time in three decades. Debt clock is unplugged.

2000: George W. Bush runs for president, promising to maintain a balanced budget.

2001: CBO shows the United States is on track to pay off the entirety of its national debt within a decade.

2001 - 2009: With support from congressional Republicans, Bush runs enormous deficits, adds nearly $5 trillion to the debt.

2002: Dick Cheney declares, “Deficits don’t matter.” Congressional Republicans agree, approving tax cuts, two wars, and Medicare expansion without even trying to pay for them.

2009: Barack Obama inherits $1.3 trillion deficit from Bush; Republicans immediately condemn Obama’s fiscal irresponsibility.

2009: Congressional Democrats unveil several domestic policy initiatives — including health care reform, cap and trade, DREAM Act — which would lower the deficit. GOP opposes all of them, while continuing to push for deficit reduction.

September 2010: In Obama’s first fiscal year, the deficit shrinks by $122 billion. Republicans again condemn Obama’s fiscal irresponsibility.

October 2010: S&P endorses the nation’s AAA rating with a stable outlook, saying the United States looks to be in solid fiscal shape for the foreseeable future.

November 2010: Republicans win a U.S. House majority, citing the need for fiscal responsibility.

December 2010: Congressional Republicans demand extension of Bush tax cuts, relying entirely on deficit financing. GOP continues to accuse Obama of fiscal irresponsibility.

March 2011: Congressional Republicans declare intention to hold full faith and credit of the United States hostage — a move without precedent in American history — until massive debt-reduction plan is approved.

July 2011: Obama offers Republicans a $4 trillion debt-reduction deal. GOP refuses, pushes debt-ceiling standoff until the last possible day, rattling international markets.

August 2011: S&P downgrades U.S. debt, citing GOP refusal to consider new revenues. Republicans rejoice and blame Obama for fiscal irresponsibility.

There have been several instances since the mid 1990s in which I genuinely believed Republican politics couldn’t possibly get more blisteringly ridiculous. I was wrong; they just keep getting worse.

#2012RecallRepublicans

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The Damage Done: #2012RecallRepublicans

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We have a dysfunctional element in our Congress. While America strives to “form a more perfect Union”, the Tea Party is out to dismantle the social safety net, default on our Country’s obligations, and pathologically create a crisis where there is none in order to “ransom” a “hostage” that is our Government, which is “we the people”.

Never forget. #2012RecallRepublicans

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Why Do We Trust Ratings Agencies?

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Nate Silver, droppin’ some knowledge on the plebs.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Friday, August 05, 2011

212 Days and Counting

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You can count on the GOP never addressing jobs because you can't make a job with a cut.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Capitalism Crushes Us All

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Too many tax breaks for Big Oil and “Too Big To Fail” Banks. Unregulated Wall St gambled toxic mortgages and defrauded the world.

We make our own crisis. Now the Right Wing creates political crisis.

We need some changes. Allow Government to negotiate drug prices. End the wars. Tax the wealthy. Recall Republicans.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Time Waster

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“That’s the problem with being in the leadership. Eventually, you have to lead.”

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

GOP Class Warfare

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If we stop spending as opposed to raising revenue through borrowing or taxes, only the poor and elderly will pay the price and that is a great outcome for those rich enough to not require government services. See?

And all that money we borrowed up to now, it didn’t just disappear. It’s in the coffers of the rich.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Obama's Accomplishments In A Time Of Right Wing Extremism

Obama’s Accomplishments In A Time Of Right Wing Extremism

A little reminder of some of Obama’s accomplishments in Congress during 2009 and 2010 in the face of unrelenting opposition from the GOP:

  • Health care reform (which Democrats have been trying to pass since Truman in 1948 and Teddy Roosevelt proposed in 1911)
  • Financial reform (written in part by Barney Frank with Elizabeth Warren forming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
  • DADT repeal
  • Obama saving approximately 4 million jobs in manufacturing industries by forcing GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and within 6 weeks resurrecting them with union representation on the board (taxpayers are on track to make money on that one and GM has hired back just about everybody laid off in 2009)
  • making sure all the TARP money is paid back and recycling it back it into the economy (with $26 billion in profit so far to the American taxpayer, raise your hand if you think George Bush would have pulled that off, or even tried)
  • 2 more women on the Supreme Court
  • the Lilly Ledbetter Act
  • more private sector jobs created in 2010 than in the entire 8 years of the Bush administration
  • expansion of: Medicaid, mental health care for veterans, and Pell Grants
  • the Recovery Act which by itself is the single biggest accomplishment by a Democratic president since FDR (not my opinion - Rachel Maddow’s)
  • the START treaty
  • and in general dragging us back from the brink of another Great Depression,
  • hmmm…what am I missing? Oh yeah Obama got Osama bin Laden.

Some things Obama has done by presidential fiat:

  • raised fuel efficiency standards
  • removed Bush ban on embryonic stem cell research
  • provided federal benefits for same sex couples by executive action.
  • The new food safety law so you don’t buy poison eggs, spinach etc.
  • Monday July 11, 2011 the Obama Administration announced that it would require gun dealers in states bordering Mexico to report to law enforcement multiple sales of certain semi-automatic rifles.

Imagine what more could be done with a Democratic House and a filibuster proof Senate. Recall all Republicans and Tea Baggers.

We need to pass this info along to all the disgruntled people who say they’ll sit out 2012.

Parity is gone from politics. The two parties are no longer equal. #obama2012

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Friday, July 22, 2011

NYC Set To Break Records As Gay Marriage Legalization Starts Sunday

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NYC Set To Break Records As Gay Marriage Legalization Goes Into Effect On Sunday

NYC bakers better start whippin’ up fondant. Florists, you’d best stock up on lilies, because let me tell you: this weekend is gonna be busy for the dearly beloved.

The City Clerk Office is prepped to marry 764 couples this coming Sunday as New York’s Marriage Equality Act takes effect — and ceremonies are in such high demand that it’ll take a winning lottery ticket to make the Day One cut.

Add that excitement to last night’s announcement that the Pentagon is set to repeal the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gays in the military, and it’s a particularly good weekend for LGBT rights progress.

Six down (Iowa, New Hampshire, Massachussets, Connecticut, Vermont and New York), 44 to go.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Doubling Down On St. Norquist, The Patron Saint Of Starving Economies

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Republicans followed Norquist and created the debt problem we have by cutting taxes too low. Now they want to double down and follow this unelected lobbyist again.

Imagine if every Democrat signed an oath with George Soros or Al Gore and were willing to put the global economy in the tank, do you think it would have the same coverage in the media?

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

I, pledge allegiance, to Grover Norquist...

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Republicans are so afraid to upset Grover Norquist, they are willing to put the entire economy and global markets into chaos to protect the failed Bush tax cuts for the richest 1%.

The GOP pledges their allegiance, not to a flag or a Republic or a Nation, but to special interests and corporate profits.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Saturday, July 16, 2011

#complete_scum

We Have A Revenue Problem

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"Republicans assume, and expect everyone else to assume, that the government is bringing in plenty of money to meet its needs. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) went so far as to tell a national television audience this week, “Four of the last five years, we’ve had record levels of revenue.”

It’s important to understand how very wrong Republicans are about this. Federal revenues have dropped to 15% — a 50-year low. To bring the federal budget closer to balance, we’d expect to see this number around 19%. Given the fact that we’re fighting at least two wars and dealing with the aftermath of a brutal recession, all while worrying about deficit reduction, the fact that the right sees 15% as too high is insane."

We have a revenue problem. FACT

Republicans are completely and willfully wrong on this matter. FACT

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Friday, July 15, 2011

Why Did Bachmann Quit Her Church?

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) "has long been a darling of conservative evangelicals, but shortly before announcing her White House bid she officially quit a church she'd belonged to for years," CNN reports.

Bachmann was asked about her status with the church at the airport, but an aide "quickly hustled her away, noting they were late for a flight."

The Bachmann campaign declined to immediately respond to a request for further comment.

However, Jack Kilcrease notes she quit her church earlier this year when learning that her church taught that "the office of the Papacy is the Antichrist."

I'm sure Catholic Conservatives will have no problem with this. They gave Palin a free pass.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

The Cantor Obstruction

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The Cantor obstruction is just a symptom of a deeper cancer. The deadly Norquist carcinoma aka “Starving the Beast”.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Norquist Has GOP House On A Leash

Years from now, when we try to explain what brought about the Debt-Ceiling Hostage Crisis of 2011, we’ll need to begin with the most powerful unelected politician in American history, Grover Norquist, and the entrenched special interests he represents. Everything else we see right now — the partisan wrangling in defense of the hostage crisis for instance — is just a smoke screen for politicians who have a sworn allegiance to Norquist and the unrivaled power of the profiteering lobby, and, simply don’t want voters to understand that.

By “profiteering lobby,” I mean special interests who view safety regulations, financial oversight, and taxes on corporations and the wealthy an obstacles to maximum profit and maximum power, and spend unfathomable amounts of money to avoid/destroy them.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Republican FAIL

What the what?

Talk about absconding responsibility.  The GOP does not want to make tough choices, so they kick all the power to the Executive Branch.  The same branch they say is a socialist/Marxist/Kenyan and wants-to-destroy our country/economy. 

How do the Tea Baggers feel now that they have been taken for a ride? The deficits never mattered because the Chamber of Commerce and Wall St give the Republicans their marching orders.

Funny how no one saw how the default would have crushed the very same corporations the GOP depend on. Their financial backers were telling them that if they block the debt limit being raised, the campaign checks will stop.

Yet, it was always framed how Obama was weak. Well guess what? They got outmaneuvered again! The Republicans will get nothing from this stand-off but pissed off Tea Klanners, pissed off seniors, pissed off Independents, and pissed-off fake deficit hawks.

They made promises they said they would keep. That they’d never give in on.

Cowards. The lot of them.

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Obama Reports Massive Fundraising Total

President Obama’s reelection campaign released a video revealing that they have raised a combined $86 million for Obama for America and the DNC between April and June, shattering previous single-quarter fundraising records and far surpassing the campaign’s stated goal of a $60 million haul. The funds were raised from 552,462 donors.

Technically, the re-election campaign raised $47 million while the DNC raised $38 million.

Morning Score: “The $86 million raised for Obama’s reelection easily doubles — and nearly triples — all the major GOP candidates to announce so far, combined. While there are a few Republicans who haven’t shared their numbers, including Michele Bachmann, the group that includes Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich has taken in just $33.1 million.”

(Source: politicalwire.com)

Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Who "Made Things Worse"?

[On the left is a] chart showing private-sector job creation in the  latter half of  2010, when stimulus money was still being spent, and  when Democrats  enjoyed the congressional majority.  [On the right is] a  chart showing private-sector job creation so far in 2011,  after  stimulus spending largely ended, Republicans took control of the  U.S.  House and most of the nation’s gubernatorial offices, and the  national  discourse pivoted from jobs to the deficit and debt.

[On the left is a] chart showing private-sector job creation in the latter half of 2010, when stimulus money was still being spent, and when Democrats enjoyed the congressional majority.

[On the right is] a chart showing private-sector job creation so far in 2011, after stimulus spending largely ended, Republicans took control of the U.S. House and most of the nation’s gubernatorial offices, and the national discourse pivoted from jobs to the deficit and debt.

How would you grade Republican leadership? A complete failure and reversal of the job growth that Democrats created. And Mitt Romney likes to talk all about who “made things worse.”

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Sunday, July 10, 2011

The GOP is the Party of Rule or Ruin.

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The Republicans, when in office, borrowed and spent as much as they could. Now, with Obama in office, they want to threaten a default on the debt they created.

Recall all Republicans in 2012.

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Saturday, July 09, 2011

Friday, July 08, 2011

Anyone see a sad trend?

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The GOP benefits from never having to change and the voters who don't seem to care. Let's be adults about the way we take care of each other.

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Wednesday, July 06, 2011

The final Nail in the Supply Side Coffin

The final nail in the supply side coffin: taxes are low, interest rates are low, corporations are sitting on $2 trillion in cash - but nothing "trickles down" to the American worker

Salon:

“The theory of supply-side economics tells us that if you cut taxes on rich people and corporations, the newly liberated moguls and businessmen will take their windfall and invest it, creating jobs and accelerating the rate of economic growth. The benefits of a light hand on the upper class, therefore, will “trickle down” to the working man and woman.

Ever since Ronald Reagan first attempted to make supply-side economics a reality and proceeded to inaugurate an era of persistent government deficits and growing income inequality, it has become harder and harder to make the trickle-down argument with a straight face. But we’ve never seen anything quite like the disaster that’s playing out right now…”

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But where were you, Mr. Brooks?

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But where were you, Mr. Brooks, when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush openly and vigorously played the race card to win the White House? When the Right was rising to power on the backs of the poor, the weak and the powerless? When Newt Gingrich and GOPAC taught Republicans to call Democrats “traitors” and “liars” and “unAmerican” in every speech? Where were you when your Dear Leader lied us into a catastrophic war and then lied to us to keep us there? Where were you when Terri Schiavo’s mortal remains were being tossed around like a puppy’s chew toy for pure, partisan political advantage? Where were you when New Orleans drowned? When Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine and gave birth to Rush Limbaugh?

“The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name.”

But where were you, Mr. Brooks, when voodoo economics was hollowing out the middle class and destroying our industrial base? Where were you when radical banking regulation was setting us up for the kill? When Republicans were running up crippling deficits and then demanding that Democrats pick up the tab?

You see Mr. Brooks, as hard as you try to pretend otherwise, you are not an alarm bell in the night warning a sleeping nation of impending disaster.

You are just another symptom of that disaster.

Because, Mr. Brooks, the answer to the question “where were you?” is a simple one : you have been busy being fatally, loudly and very, very profitably wrong about your Party and your Movement your entire fucking life.

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Saturday, July 02, 2011

Eric Cantor Invested In Fund Where He Would Profit From Government Default

Eric Cantor Invested In Fund Where He Would Profit From Government Default

Last year the Wall Street Journal reported that Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, had between $1,000 and $15,000 invested in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury EFT. The fund aggressively “shorts” long-term U.S. Treasury bonds, meaning that it performs well when U.S. debt is undesirable. (A short is when the trader hopes to profit from the decline in the value of an asset.)

According to his latest financial disclosure statement, which covers the year 2010 and has been publicly available since this spring, Cantor still has up to $15,000 in the same fund. Contacted by Salon this week, Cantor’s office gave no indication that the Virginia Republican, who has played a leading role in the debt ceiling negotiations, has divested himself of these holdings since his last filing. Unless an agreement can be reached, the U.S. could begin defaulting on its debt payments on Aug. 2. If that happens and Cantor is still invested in the fund, the value of his holdings would skyrocket.

(Source: oliverwillis.com)

Do you need any more proof that Republicans are the worst? Party over country every step of the way.

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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011

Republicans Wasting Your Time, Again

Republicans Wasting Your Time, Again

Still no jobs bills, Mr Boehner? How could you expect something important like that to happen when the GOP is working on a complete waste of time like this:

This week, for example, the House Judiciary Committee debated and approved a measure to amend the U.S. Constitution to cap government spending at 18% of GDP. As a substantive matter, the idea is truly insane — it would require brutal cuts to everything the federal government does, force officials to slash Medicare and Social Security, and make it permanently impossible for federal officials to respond to economic downturns.

(Source: washingtonmonthly.com)

An amendment to the Constitution? Are you kidding me? This is how Republicans spend their time? These are measures that will never, ever pass.

Why would you ever want to decrease spending to a level so low, the usual percentage of GDP is between 21-22%, and then force it that low by Constitutional amendment? What if there were a war? A natural disaster? An oil spill?

These are the same guys who throw out “Founding Fathers” in every sentence, then do exactly the opposite by trying to change the laws for pure political reasons.

The GOP is out to weaken America so badly during a Democratic Administration, that any conceivable threat would cripple the country. Country First, my ass.

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The Compassion and Wisdom of Michele Bachmann

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The compassion and wisdom of Michele Bachmann. Exploiting Americans and rewarding corporations with their “race to the bottom” mindset is the Republican way.

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Saturday, June 11, 2011

This Is Not Here

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Of course, none of these aforementioned facts can ever counter the propaganda about Reagan that fills the airwaves of Fox News and AM radio or the talking points of right-wing ideologues like Sarah Palin. Facts do not matter to the Republican base, including especially those in the base’s current incarnation as tea baggers.

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Bush Tax Cuts 10 Years Later: "A Failure In Every Conceivable Way"

“It seems hard to believe but, just a decade ago, the deficit didn’t exist and there were surpluses as far as the eye could see. The United States was on track to eliminate the national debt altogether by 2010, making the country debt free for the first time in nearly two centuries.

Then 2001 happened. In fact, a year ago this week, George W. Bush’s tax policy became law, and to honor the occasion, Slate’s Annie Lowrey tried to “find something redeeming” to say about them. Alas, she came up empty, concluding that they’ve “been a failure in every conceivable way.”

Ten years ago this week, the policy’s conservative champions made bold predictions about what the tax cuts would do — massive job growth, vast new wealth, higher incomes, smaller government, and balanced budgets. None of these predictions proved to be even remotely true.”

The more important problem: the fact that we haven’t learned anything from the mistakes of Republicans.

I say we because the known policy failures, the complete lack of regret from the GOP, the ambition to radically experiment with the economy and see it fail, and still, Republican ideas are seen as half the debate rather then the empirical root of the greedy and avaricious downfall in modern America.

Worse, the GOP not only “hasn’t learned anything from the failure of the Bush tax cuts,” it’s actually managed to “unlearn some things, too.”

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Sunday, June 05, 2011

Willfully Ignorant

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Climate change means more extreme weather. Higher highs, lower lows, stronger winds, etc.

Conservatives think snow in March somehow disproves one element of climate change, global warming, then quote a report paid for by an oil company, and fulfill yet another childish, non-serious approach to a critical subject. #willfullyignorant

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Saturday, June 04, 2011

GOP Strategy 101: Pick On The Little Guy

GOP Strategy 101: Pick On The Little Guy

Religious leaders attempt to remind the so-called religious right that the Bible wasn’t written by Ayn Rand.

While religious conservatives and Republican political leaders gathered at the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington this weekend, another group of religious leaders held a small gathering across the street to warn GOP against the perils of the Republican Party’s fiscal priorities.

The leaders — Rev. Jennifer Butler, Jim Wallis, Rev. Derrick Harkins, and Father Clete Kiley — asserted that the GOP efforts to cut funding from many anti-poverty programs while balancing the budget on the backs of the poorest Americans were not in line with Christian values:

They don’t bear the brunt of our fiscal irresponsibility because they didn’t cause it. We did not get into fiscal trouble because of poor people.The poor didn’t cause this. Let’s not make them pay for it.

(Source: thinkprogress.org)

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Friday, June 03, 2011

OMG! Medicare Is Going Bankrupt

OMG! Medicare Is Going Bankrupt

Eric Zorn of the Chicago Sun Times cracks open the history books, to hilarious effect:

Chicago Tribune July 2, 1969: The Medicare hospital trust fund faces bankruptcy by 1976 and taxes must either be raised or benefits reduced the senate finance committee was told today.

New York Times July 7, 1981: Medicare payroll taxes already imposed by Congress, including two increases scheduled for 1985 and 1986, will only be able to keep the hospital insurance system solvent for eight to 10 more years, three Cabinet officers informed Congress. Even under the Reagan Administration’s highly optimistic economic projections, the fund will be bankrupt before 2000, the three said.

Washington Post,March 6, 1983: Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici warned the nation’s governors the other day, “Medicare can be bankrupt in 2 1/2 years,” unless some way is found to put the brakes on its burgeoning costs.

Chicago Tribune: June 25, 1983: Medicare is in danger of bankruptcy as early as 1986, the system’s trustees declared Friday.

Chicago Tribune, March 10 1984: To avert Medicare’s expected insolvency, a federal advisory council proposed Friday raising the eligibility age to 67, taxing employer paid health insurance benefits and boosting the tax on alcohol and tobacco… the Congressional Budget Office said Medicare may be insolvent in 1989

New York Times, January 20, 1985: In the last few years, when it appeared that the Medicare trust fund would run out of money in 1987-89… But the need seemed less urgent after the Congressional Budget Office issued new estimates last September indicating that the Medicare trust fund would not go bankrupt until 1994.

Chicago Tribune February 6, 1985: Medicare is still expected to go bankrupt in 1991, and a new flood of red tape is not helping America’s hospitals.

New York Times, March 27, 1985: Reagan Administration officials said tonight that new projections showed the Medicare trust fund would not go bankrupt until late in 1990′s.

Chicago Tribune, Nov. 17 1985: Last spring, the government estimated that the Medicare trust fund would run out of money by 1998. Given less optimistic assumptions about the economy, it could happen as soon as 1992

Washington Post, April 1, 1986: The Medicare hospital insurance program faces bankruptcy by 1996, two years earlier than projected last year.

Chicago Tribune, June 29, 1986: Dr. Jerald Schenken of Omaha, an AMA trustee, said the doctors have worked for more than two years on formulating the plan, because they fear the current Medicare system will go bankrupt by the end of the century.

New York Times, May 22, 1988: Reflecting the view of the Reagan Administration, Dr. William L. Roper, the head of the Federal Medicare and Medicaid agency, said, ”With the Medicare Trust Fund expected to go insolvent shortly after 2000, it is hard for us to sign on for a major expansion of the Medicare program beyond the catastrophic care bill.”

New York Times, January 22, 1989: The fund that pays all Government reimbursement for hospital care of Medicare patients is projected to become insolvent in the next decade or so.

Washington Post May 4, 1990: Control of health costs is considered by many experts to be the number one health problem in the United States. Such costs are expected to bankrupt Medicare by the year 2003.

Washington Post December 13, 1994: The trust fund that finances Medicare is projected to become insolvent in the year 2001

Los Angeles Times May 31, 1995: For weeks, Republicans have been talking about a report that warns that Medicare is in danger of going bankrupt in the year 2002.

Chicago Tribune April 25, 1997: Medicare trustees said Thursday that the program providing health care to more than 38 million senior citizens is still headed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Chicago Tribune, January 7, 1999: [The National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare] was created in 1997 to deal with Medicare’s projected bankruptcy in 2008.

Medicare is always about to go belly-up. Always. That is the story the Republicans want to sell you so they can cut your entitlements. The GOP is excellent at creating scenarios that will never happen in order to cut your services.

(Source: oliverwillis.com)

Over 40 years of going bankrupt.

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Clarity Has A Well-Known Liberal Bias

"When you transform a program that pays seniors’ medical bills into a program that gives them a voucher that almost certainly isn’t enough to buy adequate insurance, you can call the new scheme Medicare, but it isn’t the same program…. Republicans are proposing to destroy Medicare; saying that clearly isn’t scare tactics, it’s simply pointing out the truth."
Paul Krugman, from the aptly named article, “Clarity Has A Well-Known Liberal Bias”.

(Source: The New York Times)

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Sarah Palin On Paul Revere: Abject Moron

“He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed.”

Abject moron.

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Friday, May 27, 2011

Running With Scissors

The GOP Clown Sideshow

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The clownish sideshow ring mastered by the fringe GOP candidates is a textbook Catch-22 for the GOP. If party leaders publicly badmouth, marginalize, or ostracize them than that almost certainly will blow the very slender chance they already have of making Obama a one term president. This would be the GOP’s nightmare and Obama’s dream. The GOP thankfully is stuck with its clowns.

Palin, Bachman, Trump, Cain, Perry and Paul know that any utterance, no matter how silly and irrelevant, will be picked up, played up, and endlessly talked about in the mainstream media. Their idolatrous followers love every word from them.

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Monday, May 23, 2011

Conservative Radio Is Tanking

Right-wing talk radio may have worn out its welcome, at least for now,” reports Crain’s New York Business.

A new Arbitron report shows Rush Limbaugh’s ratings down 33% from a year ago and Sean Hannitty down 28% over the same time period. Meanwhile, more centrist personalities — Don Imus in the morning and John Batchelor at night — were both up from a year earlier.

Nice to see that stupidity is losing it’s appeal.

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Thursday, May 19, 2011

GOP: Speak The Truth, Get Snuffed

Newt and I are considered political opposites, but I couldn’t agree more with what he said Sunday about the plan to end Medicare. He acknowledged that it is right wing social engineering. It was refreshing to hear such candor from a top Republican. Gingrich was saying what everyone knows to be true: The plan is extreme.... He is the Republican canary in the coal mine. When that canary speaks truth, he is snuffed out. What Newt seems to realize is that it would be impossible to win the White House if they embrace the Ryan plan. If Republicans make endorsing the Ryan plan the standard in the Republican primary, it will make the nominee unelectable. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Debt Ceiling As Historical Relic

Before 1917, Congress needed to approve each and every debt issuance. But when World War I hit, the legislature decided to make the process easier, setting an overall debt limit and letting Treasury issue as many bonds as it needed to stay within it. A century ago, the ceiling made more sense. The government was smaller, with discretionary spending a bigger portion of the federal budget. Having the additional check helped to keep appropriations under control. But now, the debt ceiling does little to encourage smarter budgeting. Most of the country’s debt stems from spiraling mandatory spending on programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security anyway.” - Anne Lowrey

Annie Lowrey calls it “the budgetary equivalent of the appendix”

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Who Increased The Debt

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Tea Birthers should take note.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Republicans Hate Medicare

"Republicans … hate Medicare because it represents everything they are philosophically opposed to: a government-run program that works and is popular across the political board. It’s tough to shout about the dangers of universal health care when the two greatest protectors (if not creators) of the elderly middle class are those pillars of 20th-century progressive change, Social Security and Medicare."
Tim Egan

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