Tag: Tea Baggers
If Guns are the Problem, More Guns are the Solution
I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities.
Pres. Obama, making a rare statement in support of restricting the types of assault weapons, and presumably, military protection gear, tear gas canisters, and other explosives used by the Batman movie theater killer. Obama, who is constantly accused of leading the charge for gun control (Bumper sticker: “I’ll keep my guns and money, you keep the change”) has actually been little threat to gun ownership. Meanwhile, gun supporters have successfully reframed the debate from needing guns for hunting to needing them for personal protection. According to the gun lobby, safeguarding one’s home explains the rise in stockpiling of paramilitary weapons and ammunition since 2008.
Be Careful What You Ask For: CBO Tells Boehner That Obamacare Saves Money and Its Repeal Would Cost More
Pity poor John Boehner. The Republican House Speaker from Ohio asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which exists to measure all things mathematical for the legislative branch, how much the most recent bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would save.
The answer? Nada. In fact, the CBO found that the ACA will decrease the deficit while its repeal would increase it. Here are parts of the letter sent to the honorable JB.
As you requested, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have estimated the direct spending and revenue effects of H.R. 6079, the Repeal of Obamacare Act, as passed by the House of Representatives on July 11, 2012…
Olympics Illustrate the Failure of Romney-esque Ideas
The Olympics, known for being above politics yet always in the shadow of them, haven’t even started but the games are a showcase for the themes that are driving election year debate.
Privatization, a tenet of American conservatism and tea baggery, isn’t providing a very good answer to the question, “How’s that working for you?” The private security firm the British government hired at an equivalent of $444 million is unable to provide enough trained staff members in time for the games.
Guess who’s bailing them out? That’s right, Mr. and Ms. British taxpayer will provide army troops and police officers to make up the for the failure of the private sector to prepare security guards.
And then there’s outsourcing. American politicians and members of the public expressed outrage that the Ralph Lauren designed Team USA uniforms were — like almost everything else sold in this country — made in China. The company was caught short by the criticism, China was offended, and let’s face it, the entire country can be embarrassed that the lack of confidence corporations have placed in the American worker, coupled with our desire for more and ever cheaper goods, was exposed on the world stage. It did, however, lead to one of the lamest assurances ever released on company letterhead.
Ralph Lauren promises to lead the conversation within our industry and our government addressing the issue of increasing manufacturing in the United States and has committed to producing the opening and closing ceremony Team USA uniforms in the United States that will be worn for the 2014 Olympic Games.
Should we expect the role of tax cuts for the rich, issues around unionized labor, and restriction of women’s reproductive rights to make appearances before the games end?
How to Wake Up an Electorate Dominated by the Rightwing Culture of Scarcity
Try to ignore the ad agency’s patting of itself on the back in this video — although they kind of deserve to. They explain the very different approach they used to reframe the issue in a space usually dominated by no-tax drivel. Bravo!
Bad News for Obama: Racism Could Cost Him Re-election
Creative research published by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz shows Obama will be in trouble in his bid for re-election in part because of his race.
Stephens-Davidowitz decided to see if there was a correlation between Google searches for the word, “nigger” and voting behavior. Yes, he looked at searches for that word.
The conditions under which people use Google — online, most likely alone, not participating in an official survey — are ideal for capturing what they are really thinking and feeling. You may have typed things into Google that you would hesitate to admit in polite company.
He examined searches conducted nationally in the years 2004 to 2007, before Obama was officially running, and long before he was the front-runner on the Democratic side. From that study, he identified the most, and least, racially charged areas of the country.
Most racially charged areas of America:
- West Virginia
- Western Pennsylvania
- Eastern Ohio
- Upstate New York
- Southern Mississippi
The state with the highest racially charged search rate in the country was West Virginia. Other areas with high percentages included western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, upstate New York and southern Mississippi.*
Next, Stephens-Davidowitz came up with a baseline for how a generic Democratic candidate would have performed based on the vote for John Kerry in 2004 which presumably reflected the ballots of people who were likely to go Democratic, even if a not very exciting, privileged, rich Massachusetts liberal who said stupid things like, “I voted for it before I was against it” was the candidate. He also looked at how Democratic Congressional candidates did in the 2008 election.
The results were striking: The higher the racially charged search rate in an area, the worse Mr. Obama did.
Swiss Miss? Bachmann is Sworn in as Swiss Citizen
It’s hard to imagine an American president gushing about the wonders of another country the way Switzerland’s newest citizen, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, does in this video.
Were the United States to have a conflict with Switzerland, whose side is hypothetical Pres. Bachmann on?
Bachmann took the astounding initiative to become a Swiss citizen for what can only be described as fuzzy reasons. Her husband is Swiss. O.K. Yes, but why would someone who ran for president of the United States so recently that she still hasn’t paid off her campaign debts decide to be a citizen of a whole other country?
The move raises even more questions than being born in Hawaii (Obama) or Panama (McCain). For starters, to which country is her allegiance? Were the United States to have a conflict with Switzerland, whose side is hypothetical Pres. Bachmann on?
Founding Fathers in the Washington and Adams Administrations Passed Laws Mandating the Purchase of Health Insurance
How can imposing mandates on the citizenry to buy stuff, including health insurance and guns, be jackbooted authoritarian “socialism” if the Founding Fathers did it?
Pres. George Washington had no difficulty imposing a health insurance mandateIn making the legal case against Obamacare’s individual mandate, challengers have argued that the framers of our Constitution would certainly have found such a measure to be unconstitutional. Never mind that nothing in the text or history of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause indicates that Congress cannot mandate commercial purchases. The framers, challengers have claimed, thought a constitutional ban on purchase mandates was too “obvious” to mention. Their core basis for this claim is that purchase mandates are unprecedented, which they say would not be the case if it was understood this power existed.
