Month: June 2011
Congress by Party If It Truly Represented the U.S. Electorate
America is getting more and more diverse — for instance, our Hispanic population grew by 43 percent in the past decade alone — but you’d never be able to tell it by looking at our Congress. Here’s what the House and Senate look like today, alongside what they would look like if they were demographically representative of our nation. Spoiler alert: There’s not a lot of color on the Hill.
They left out the gay demographic — […]
Christians Vs. Republican Party’s Worship of Atheist Ayn Rand’s Philosophy of Selfishness
Left: Ad from Christian group attacking Republicans over Rand’s influence in the party; right: Democrats’ ad depicting Republicans tossing Granny off a cliff
Here’s a new and welcome twist. Christians are attacking Republicans on moral grounds, targeting the decidedly un-Christian influence over the party of Ayn Rand, a best-selling author of novels in which she advocated atheism and what she called the “virtue of selfishness.”
[Faith] is a sign of a psychological weakness. . . I regard it as evil to place your emotions, your desire, above the evidence of what your mind knows. That’s what you’re doing with the idea of God.
– Ayn Rand
– Ayn Rand
These Christians are particularly critical of the GOP’s 2012 budget bill which was authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, who is both a Catholic and an outspoken proponent of Ayn Rand’s cult of godless individualism. The Christians say Ryan based his “toss Granny off a cliff” kill-Medicare plan on Rand’s “every man (woman and child) for himself” philosophy.
Ryan’s bill passed in the House in April with 253 Republican votes. All the Democrats and three Republican members voted against it. It failed in the Senate last month with all Democrats and five Republicans voting against it and 40 Republicans voting for it. Despite the draconian cuts in Ryan’s bill, including its provision to kill Medicare for everyone 54 and younger, had it passed and been signed into law, it would have still added as much as $6 trillion to the debt over 10 years.
It’s about time that true Christians — that is, those who believe in Christ’s message of compassion and forgiveness and who follow his admonitions to care for the poor, homeless and sick — called out the Republican Party over its moral degeneracy on Christianity’s most fundamental values. The GOP and its tea party base make a practice of putting the interests of their corporate sponsors — for example, the health insurance industry — over the needs of their brothers and sisters — for example, the uninsured — all the while depending on the votes of right-wing evangelicals to cling to power.
On Friday, as Rep. Ryan left a right-wing religious conclave sponsored by Ralph Reed, the Christianist leader who was disgraced by his dealings with the Bush-era GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, he was caught on video being approached by a Catholic protester who tried to give him a Bible. Ryan refused to take it.
Amy Sullivan at Time Magazine:
Warning: Rick Scott Ahead
$8,800
Amount spent by Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R/Tea) to add his own name to the 35 highway signs which welcome visitors to the state. No governor has ever placed his name on the signs, but Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino applauded the move. “When travelers cross into the state and see ‘Governor Rick Scott,’ he wrote, ‘it works on the same level as ‘Low Flying Aircraft,’ ‘Rock Slide Area’ or “Slow: Children Playing.'” Scott slashed other state spending, recently vetoing $615 million from the state budget that included 500 jobs at the Department of Children and Families.
CA State Controller Threatens to Dock Legislators’ Pay If They Miss Budget Deadline
California lawmakers will start losing their pay in two weeks if they don’t make further progress in balancing the budget, says state Controller John Chiang.
Chiang, the state’s chief accountant, is citing a ballot measure voters approved in November in justifying his plan to dock legislators of their pay absent a balanced budget. His interpretation of the measure differs from that of legislative lawyers, who had previously opined that a budget bill lawmakers passed in March — which still left the state with a multibillion-dollar shortfall — met the conditions set by voters needed to keep salaries flowing once the Legislature’s June 15 deadline for passing the budget arrives…
“In passing Proposition 25 last November, voters clearly stated they expect their representatives to make the difficult decisions needed to resolve any budget shortfalls by the mandatory deadline, or be penalized,” Chiang said in a statement. “I will enforce the voters’ demand.”
Chang has the support of Gov. Jerry Brown, who is also a Democrat:
Republican Path to Victory in 2012: Take Down the Economy
We get that Republicans don’t care about folks like us. We know they are willing to stop Social Security payments, and payroll for the members of America’s armed services rather than raise the debt ceiling. We get it, we really do.
But to tank the American, and likely the global, economy just to give their lame candidate (whoever it might be) a chance at taking down Obama in 2012? Exactly that is starting to look to like their best strategy.
The Economist: ‘America is undermining its economy for no good reason’
It’s not just Americans drawing a line between a House vote not to extend the debt ceiling and economic setbacks. Our friends across the pond are making the same observation.
Blogger “R.A.” at Britain’s The Economist predicted with exact accuracy on June 1 that such moves would mire economic growth, and decried these self-inflicted wounds. Our stock markets dropped that same day.
R.A. begins with the big picture, the one tea partiers and FOX News miss.
Off the Radar
They say through a sneak attack he
Is out to steal the New Hampshire primary.
He’s a possible dark horse,
Oh, we’re speaking, of course,
About former New York Gov. George Pataki.
Listen, My Children, and You Shall Hear Sarah Palin’s Version of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
PALIN: He who warned, uh, the…the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringin’ those bells and um by makin’ sure that as he’s ridin’ his horse through town to send those warnin’ shots and bells that uh we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free…and we were gonna be armed.
