Day: February 23, 2009

2009 Anal-Ocity

You know…I just cannot make this stuff up…no matter how I try…these people just make it way to damn easy.  With this guy you get two anal statements for the price of one…count them…two with one fell swoop…this guy is good…after all he is a Repub….go figure!

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum said while addressing students on the Middle East:

……..Santorum said he supported the war when it was unpopular because he thinks not fighting could destroy western civilization. He said he believes that Muslims are America’s enemy because they read their religion literally and apply it to real life, instead of in historical context…..

The lecture continued when Santorum pointed out what he thought were the main differences between Christians and Muslims. Santorum said Christians, who believe in Jesus Christ, never governed or conquered anyone, but Mohammed was a warrior and killed people.

Santorum said he believes Muslims’ religious views cannot be changed or altered, so Middle Easterners reject American, democratic ideals.

“A democracy could not exist because Mohammed already made the perfect law,” Santorum said. “The Quran is perfect just the way it is, that’s why it is only written in Islamic.”…………

What more can I say?  This is a guy that had the decision making process of the country in his hands and this is how he was thinking…..scares me…how about you?

My Problem With The New Stimulus Plan

I hate the fact that I am in a sort of agreement with the Repubs, for that I will wash my mouth out with soap, but not for the same reasons that they shout about.

There is the undeniable fact that very little in the so-called stimulus bill actually “stimulates” job creation. Much of the spending is for what would have been called, in the terminology of the New Deal, emergency relief—that is, money payments to the unemployed, extensions of healthcare benefits, expansion of Food Stamps.

The Republican opposition to these provisions only demonstrates the let-them-eat-cake mentality of the most predatory sections of the US financial aristocracy. But these measures were devised by the Obama administration to buy time, to avoid an immediate collapse in consumer spending that would have irreparable effects, on both the functioning of the profit system and the political stability of the United States. They do not constitute a serious program for reviving the US economy.

Obama closed his Denver speech with populist demagogy directed at his predecessor. He declared, “unlike the tax cuts that we’ve seen in recent years, the vast majority of these tax benefits will go not to the wealthiest Americans, but to the middle class, with those workers who make the least benefiting the most.”

This rhetoric ignores two facts: the actual amount of the tax cut for working people, $400 per individual and $800 per family, is derisory. It is not enough to make a single mortgage or rent payment for most households. And the new administration has apparently already abandoned its pledge to eliminate the Bush tax cuts for the super-rich, preferring to allow the tax cut to expire as scheduled under current law at the end of 2010, giving the wealthy two additional years of a bonanza at the expense of the Treasury, at a time when resources are desperately needed for working people.

In the short term, Obama’s promise of the “beginning of the end” may deceive some of the people. In the longer term, however, it will be utilized by his ultra-right critics in an effort rebuild their shattered political credibility. Thus Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele declared that the stimulus package might provide a “slight bump” in the economy, but no lasting benefits. “There will be a slight uptick, it will flat-line, and it will continue to go down,” he said.

Sad to say that I agree that this may not be the savior that we all hope it will be.

A Dysfunctional Institution

Professor, what the hell are you talking about?  Why the US Senate of course.

At one time it was called the most exclusive club in America now it is just called a comedy of errors.  These people spend more time back stabbing, back biting, partisan tap dancing and insuring that congressional gridlock is the rule of the day, than they do actually accomplishing anything.

Why do you think so many senators cannot wait to get out of there?  They jump at the chance to run of president or become a cabinet member or return home to run for governor.

What makes it such a dysfunctional family?  well to begin with the whole idea of seniority is just stupid.  Those that are best suited for the leadership are not those old farts that have been around since Christ was a corporal.  Just because someone is old and fat does not give them a corner on expertise,  just shows they play a mean political game.

Maybe the Senate should take a page from the House and find a fresh face to put out there for the public to focus on….you know someone in the same mold as Cantor…..the Senate’s front men now are old and tired and are pretty ineffective at carrying a message.