TomCat

Income Inequality IS a Problem!

Posted by TomCat at 1:10 am Politics

Dec 292013

Income inequality may be the most critical problem America faces, and because masking it worse is a key goal of the Republican Party, they need to fool voters into thinking it’s no big deal. They like to do this indirectly through organizations, like Third Way, that pretend bipartisanship, but are really just fronts to push Republican extremism under a kinder, gentler disguise. Robert Reich had a run in with one of those charlatans.

Here we go again with another one of these Third Way flacks making their way onto our airways — although this one has moved onto the Manhattan Institute [propaganda delinked] and working as an economic adviser for Rep. Paul Ryan. From this Friday's The PBS Newshour, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich joined Scott Winship to discuss the expiration of unemployment benefits and " mounting concerns over inequality and lack of opportunity."

To no one's surprise given his background, Mr. Winship did his best to try to convince the viewers that lack of upward mobility and record income disparity in the United States is really no big deal.

Business Insider ran a piece on Winship last month, who is apparently working on some big plan that's supposed to be unveiled this spring, and surprise, surprise, he's a big fan of "entitlement reform" a.k.a. gutting our retirements and earned benefits, and he really likes tax cuts, vouchers and the earned income tax credit as opposed to increasing the minimum wage; or in other words, the same trickle-down economics conservatives have been pushing that haven't worked for decades now… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

Here’s the video.

You'll need to click through tor the video. The embed code from the site has an error.

Note that Winship kept saying that the 'studies' and the 'literature' support his position, but has no specifics to back it up the way Reich does. Thank goodness we have a Robert Reich to counter the Republican Reich!

Open Thread–12/29/2013

Posted by TomCat at 1:09 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 292013

I’m writing for tomorrow, a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos will be worshiping at Oakland, and it will be televised here, so you what I’ll be doing tomorrow afternoon. It’s also the last game in our Fantasy Football league. After taking 2nd place in the regular season, the best I can to in the playoffs is 5th, and that only if that Patty Monster doesn’t MASH me AGAIN!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:17 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

My Window – Out and In:

The first picture was out my window. Note the red X to the right of the grocery store sign.

The second picture was from that red X. You can see my headboard in the window.

The interior is not yet sufficiently organized for pictures.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Here’s a cool map from artist and urban planner Neil Freeman, who engaged in a thought experiment to rectify a serious problem with the electoral college: namely, that California has 66 times the population of Wyoming but only 18 times the electoral votes. Of course, this size disparity is an even bigger problem in the Senate, though Freeman’s radical plan would remedy both—by redrawing the 50 states to make them all equipopulous…

Of course, this will never happen, but it sure explains the inequities in the electoral college. It also would deal with the extreme advantage in Senate influence small state residents have.

From Truthdig: Droughts by the end of this century somewhere in the world will be 20% more frequent. But the catch is that nobody right now can predict with any certainty which places will feel the effects soonest, or more frequently.

Thirty research teams from 12 countries report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced on a global scale, an extra 40% more people are likely to experience real water scarcity.

While some will have too little water, others might have too much. Of the areas investigated, more than half could also expect increases in river flooding.

Mene mene tekel upharsin!

From Crooks and Liars: Occupy Madison volunteers have been working to combat homelessness in Madison, Wisconsin. This year they launched an ambitious project to start building small, portable homes for Madison’s homeless population. The first residents moved in on Christmas Eve.

The two finished homes are both approximately 98 square feet and have a bed, kitchen, bathroom and storage.

Kudos to Occupy Madison. Every little bit helps, especially when it’s right under Fartfuhrer Walker’s nose!

Cartoon:

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An American tragedy!

The Worst of Faux Noise

Posted by TomCat at 12:46 am Politics

Dec 282013

When it comes to facts Republicans seem to live in a different world from the rest of us. One of the main reasons is that they get their information from non-factual sources, such as the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise. Here is one of their most idiotic offerings of 2013.

Along with death and taxes, Fox News is one of the few things we can depend on in this world. Just as the sun rises and sets, it’s a given that, over the course of 12 months, many ridiculous, offensive, stupid and bewildering things will be said by persons seated in front of a Fox News studio camera. Whether it’s from the hosts, guests or mere contributors, you can be assured that someone is going to say something that was better left unsaid.

With that in mind, join us as we go through some of the lowest lows from Fox News, moments to remind us that when it comes to lizard-brained inanity, no one holds a candle to the guys and gals at Fox.

5. Bill O’Reilly says Asians aren’t liberals because they’re “industrious and hard-working.”

O’Reilly may be considerably less relevant today than he was around 10 years ago — but he’s still totally racist! While this aside about Asian people isn’t quite so outlandishly bigoted as his infamous recollection of that one time he ate at a place with black people, it’s still a brain-dead comment founded entirely on a racial stereotype. And, in fact, it’s kind of doubly (or triply) racist because it implies that people who vote for liberal politicians are not industrious or hard-working. Other than that, though, it was a totally defensible thing to say…

Inserted from <Salon.com>

I shared just number five with you. Click through for the other four and a better understanding of why Republican apologists are so thoroughly detached from reality.

In fact, it is so bad that a University of Maryland study confirmed that people who watch Faux Noise are less informed than people who watch no news at all.

Open Thread–12/28/2013

Posted by TomCat at 12:45 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 282013

I’m writing for tomorrow and waiting for my helper friend to arrive and continue the business of moving. It’s a slow time for news, because the people woo make it are on vacation, but with a little extra digging, I could come up with articles.

Jig Zone Puzzles:

Today’s took me 3:08 (average 5:08). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: Conversations about the U.S. education system often revolve around misconceptions. Here’s some clarity.

This video makes it crystal clear that Democrats are on the right track, but every one of the Republican educational policies will make the problem worse.

From Alternet: You already know that the United States locks up a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world. If you look at local, state and federal prison and jail populations, the United States currently incarcerates more than 2.4 million people, a figure that constitutes roughly 25 percent of the total incarcerated population of the entire world.

A population of 2.4 million is a lot – enough, in fact, to fill up a good-sized country. If the incarcerated population of the United States constituted a nation-state, what kind of country would it be?

Click through for a fascinating read on the US system if

Click through for a fascinating read on the US system if prison injustice. Because I spend three days a month working with prisoners, I can confirm this piece.

From Crooks and Liars: As 2013 draws to close, the negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program have entered a delicate stage. But in 2014, the tensions will escalate dramatically as a bipartisan group of Senators brings a new Iran sanctions bill to the floor for a vote. As many others have warned, that promise of new measures against Tehran will almost certainly blow up the interim deal reached by the Obama administration and its UN/EU partners in Geneva. But Congress’ highly unusual intervention into the President’s domain of foreign policy doesn’t just make the prospect of an American conflict with Iran more likely. As it turns out, the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act essentially empowers Israel to decide whether the United States will go to war against Tehran.

Contact your Senators, and tell them to oppose this. Empowering Israel over war on Iran is like empowering Republicans over war on ________. (Almost anything good will do here.)

Cartoon:

1228Cartoon

Contrary to Republican lies, this was not handed down from the founding fathers. It was written in 1892, and the words "under God" were not added until 1954.

Libertarian InsaniTEA

Posted by TomCat at 12:20 am Politics

Dec 272013

It is popular among the young today to say they are Libertarian, because Libertarians are typically anti-war and pro-marijuana legalization. Sadly, most who identify with libertarianism do not realize that it is usually just a front for Republican InsaniTEA. Here is an article that projects some key Libertarian assumptions forward, so you can see the dystopias that would result.

These four libertarian/conservative dystopias are offered, as Rod Serling used to say in "The Twilight Zone," "for your consideration."…

…1. What if you cut all benefits?

You’ve heard it from Sen. Rand Paul and other conservatives this winter: unemployment benefits increase unemployment. It’s an enormously destructive idea, though absurd on its face. It’s like the argument that hospitals create sick people; after all, there are so many of them there.

We usually consider such thinking "primitive" in modern societies.

Yet that’s exactly what libertarian/conservatives are arguing when they say that unemployment benefits increased or extend unemployment. There is no credible evidence to suggest that this is true. There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that unemployment is caused by other factors, including poor consumer demand and lack of business confidence.

Right now there are nearly three job seekers for every job opening. That means there are no jobs available for two out of the three. They will not “go out and find work” once their unemployment benefits stop. They will simply plunge into deeper economic misery. They will become like accident victims who are denied hospital care because it would “foster an attitude of dependency.”

But, as absurd and unkind as this thinking is, there’s something even more frightening about it: This kind of thinking never ends. If you believe that unemployment benefits cause unemployment, you’ll cut those benefits off. That could throw millions of people onto the welfare rolls. But if you believe that welfare causes dependency, you’ll cut those benefits off, too. That will leave people utterly dependent on programs like heating oil subsidies, food assistance, and even homeless shelters.

But if you believe that those programs create dependency, too….

It never stops: Close down the homeless shelters. Shut down the Salvation Army. Make it illegal to throw a starving person a coin or toss a blanket over them as they lay on the sidewalk. This logic only ends one way: in a hellish dystopia where the underclass is starving, homeless and dying in droves.

If that seems melodramatic, ask a libertarian/conservative this question: When will you know that your theory is wrong?…

Inserted from <Alternet>

I have given you just one of the four scenarios that the article presents, so I urge you to click through for the other three. While Libertarianism talks of individual rights above all, they ignore the consequences of situations in which the rights of one person or group impinge on the rights of others. When they do, Republicans call it freedom. I call it InsaniTEA.

Poll Results–12/27/2013

Posted by TomCat at 12:19 am Blog News, Politics

Dec 272013

Here are the results of our Naughty or Nice Poll. Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories. Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population. Nevertheless, our polls are often both accurate and indicative of the nation’s view.

Poll1226

And here are your comments.

Showing comments 1–9 of 9.

Posted by SoINeedAName December 20, 2013 at 2:57 pm.

I’m not getting ANY presents!

Almost two decades ago our family decided to forgo gift exchanges at Christmas. All it was, was an exchange of shopping lists for things none of really needed.

We each select a charity to give to instead.

So now Christmas is just like Thanksgiving (family – food – friends) – but with better decorations … and a better feeling in our hearts.

Posted by Angelica in reply to SoINeedAName December 22, 2013 at 3:15 am.

That is simply beautiful.

Posted by Joanne D December 17, 2013 at 8:09 am.

Nothing fits. I’ve been nice but I won’t get presents. I won’t get a lump of coal because the 1% has the market cornered and would certainly not let me have anything I might use to keep warm. And I assume the third answer is for Republican politicians only.

BTW I have a pattern to knit a "lump of coal" but it has to be felted to be finished and I am allergic to wool. Anyone interested let me know.

Posted by Patty December 15, 2013 at 2:41 am.

Even though I’ve been nice to most, I was naughty toward the 1%. I don’t give them my money or my time.

I won’t even get coal.

Posted by Edie December 13, 2013 at 6:02 pm.

Sorry, can’t help myself. I try to be naughty, but all that repression I was taught as a child keeps popping up.

Posted by Rixar13 December 13, 2013 at 1:30 pm.

Lump of coal from the 1% just as Marva pointed out…

Posted by Marva December 13, 2013 at 11:47 am.

You’re missing the most common answer for much of the world:

You’ve been nice, but the 1% is going to clout you with a lump of coal anyway.

Posted by Miss Kitty December 13, 2013 at 11:24 am.

Posted by Yvonne White December 13, 2013 at 9:15 am.

I lied..oh, I’ve been very naughty, but the expensive presents were just fantasy!;

I found out on Fox News that Santa is a nit-picking white dude, so I’m screwed..

I voted ‘Naughty’. While I haven’t actually done anything naughty, I would have, if only I could remember how!! Besides, TomCats are naughty by definition. I need to have a long talk with the ladies who voted ‘So very, very naughty’. 😀

Vote in the new poll quickly. It will last less than a week.

Open Thread–12/27/2013

Posted by TomCat at 12:18 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 272013

I’m writing for tomorrow and recovering from an excellent Christmas day, in which I worked my butt off cooking. This was my first time roasting in my convection microwave oven, and it works like a charm. We also took a plate to the person working the security desk at my building, so he would not have to go without Christmas dinner, and he was very appreciative.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:47 (average 6:23). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: The contraception mandate in the new health care reform law accommodates religious beliefs. It exempts houses of worship from having to provide contraceptive coverage without a co-pay. Church-affiliated organizations like schools and hospitals need only send a short form to their insurance administrator, which takes care of the coverage.

There is no breach of religious freedom, nor any undue burden involved. But that was not enough for a judge of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Brian Cogan, who decided that even filing a form is too much to ask. He ruled in favor of two high schools and two health care systems affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act…

…This case is among dozens challenging the birth control mandate. The Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases involving secular for-profit companies. What Judge Cogan missed, and the justices need to recognize, is the threat to religious liberty comes from employers trying to impose their religious views on workers.

I’m not surprised that a Republican GW Bush appointee would rule that violating the religious freedom of women is the right of a high school that provides education in secular, as well as religious subjects.

From Think Progress: BP has sought to cut down on payments for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster by asking that local businesses prove the link between their economic losses and the oil spill. A federal judge halted BP’s effort to skip payments on Tuesday, ruling that BP cannot reverse its interpretation of the settlement simply because the cost is higher than what the oil giant once estimated.

BP wanted the rules of a class action settlement to be rewritten to require “proof of causation” or to throw out the entire multi-billion dollar agreement. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier disagreed, writing that BP’s argument is “not only clearly inconsistent with its previous position, it directly contradicts what it has told this court.” In an earlier decision, Barbier also blasted the company for “attempting to rewrite or disregard the unambiguous terms of the settlement agreement.” BP had once called the class action settlement “more than fair.” BP plans to appeal.

Unlike the judge in the last item, Barbier is a Clinton appointee. This case underscores the need to keep Republicans out of the Presidency, where they would appoint corrupt judges, as a GOBP judge would not have ruled fairly.

From Raw Story: The GOP’s corporate allies have set a New Year’s resolution they hope will lead to electoral victory in the 2014 midterms: “No fools on our ticket.”

Republican House leaders are planning to impose discipline on unruly members to help avert the party squabbles that badly damaged the GOP brand, and major donors and advocacy groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Crossroads intend to develop and fund more centrist candidates.

“Our No. 1 focus is to make sure, when it comes to the Senate, that we have no loser candidates,” said Scott Reed, the top political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told the Wall Street Journal [Murdoch delinked]. “That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.”

In other words, the Republicans are intent on fielding candidates adept at hiding their true policies from American voters, like they did in 2010, when all those "jobs, jobs, jobs" gave way to TEAbuggery as soon as they assumed office. We must remain ever vigilant to expose them for what they are.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–12/26/2013

Posted by TomCat at 12:36 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 262013

I’m writing for tomorrow, early on Christmas morning, because there will be no time later in the day, if I don’t get it done now. No matter what your faith, I hope your Christmas has been everything you hoped it would be.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:42 (average 5:33). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Bill Moyers: BillMoyers.com’s Most Popular Segments of 2013

Click through for an incredibly good collection of video clips.

From Crooks and Liars: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) spent the Senate’s last day in session in 2013 in the hospital due to what doctors diagnosed as exhaustion.

Reid is a hard worker, but how ironic is it that he was fatigued by presiding over half of what has been the least productive year of Congress in history?

In the first of its two years the 113th Congress passed fewer than 60 bills, far less than the 395 passed by what President Harry Truman called the “Do Nothing Congress” of 1947.

It’s less than the 90 bills passed in 2011, when a Republican takeover of the House [Faux Noise delinked] left a divided Congress that set the previous mark for dysfunction.

Poor Harry! Having to swing those ObamaBalls is really hard! 😉

From Raw Story: It was a big year for bigots of all stripes, but particularly for anti-LGBT bigots. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down 1996′s federal anti-LGBT statute — the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — and declare California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional inspired America’s anti-LGBT jerkwads to a whole new level of hateful excellence.

This year, they proclaimed that “traditional marriage” is in danger and that the LGBT shock troops are going to force everyone to get same sex married. They declared that Christians are going to be rounded up and put into camps (if only!) and that the future will be nothing more than a fabulous Gucci jackboot stamping on a human face…forever.

Here are Raw Story’s nominees for the Top Five anti-LGBT assholes of the year, as well as some mitigating factors about each one and our proposed punishments for each offender.

Click through for a thoroughly disgusting collection of Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian hate mongers.

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