Day: May 14, 2009

2009 Anal-Ocity

This person has made many gaffs and anal statements, but this one takes the cake.

The person in question of political affiliation is Gen. Colin Powell.

In terms of being a Republican — I’d go with Rush Limbaugh, I think. My take on it was that Colin had already left the party. I didn’t know he was still a Republican.

Words from the mouth of ex-VP Dick Cheney.  There is the whole thing with the GOP…if you do not agree with the biggies then you are NO longer a Republican.

To question Colin Powell on anything is just moronic…the Cheney tour is nothing more than trying to influence any potential jurors in case there is some sort of legal action against him.  Funny how open and “honest” a secretive VP can be when he is dancing for his life, huh?

These guys make it all so easy…no need to rack one’s brain trying to find the anal…it is out there almost every day.

The Battle For Tax Loopholes

Major corporations are arming for a brawl over overseas tax breaks that could be the year’s biggest clash between business and the White House.

“We’re going to spend whatever it takes,” said Brigitte Schmidt Gwyn, senior director of congressional relations for the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs of the nation’s largest companies.

Obama last week announced a “Leveling the Playing Field” plan aimed at overseas tax shelters and other provisions that he calls loopholes for corporations. Combined with other international tax reforms planned by the administration, the crackdown would raise $210 billion over 10 years.

These were the observations written in the Politico.  They also gave us a list of tactics to watch for in the coming battle.

1. Start immediately.

The big companies that would be affected by Obama’s proposed changes have already closed ranks. He revealed his plan in his budget proposal in late March, and a group of about 200 trade associations and U.S.-based multinational firms immediately formed the Promote America’s Competitive Edge coalition. Members range from McDonald’s to computer maker Dell and financial services giant Prudential.

2. Emphasize the economy.

The main thrust of the business argument is that Obama’s proposed changes would be bad for an ailing economy. The companies argue that, contrary to Obama’s contention that multinationals use the targeted provisions to ship jobs overseas, being competitive abroad allows them to create more jobs here at home.

3. Go local.

The coalition’s lobbying strategy aims to localize the fear of job losses by having companies reach out to home-state senators and representatives. After that, the companies branch out to lawmakers from states where they have employees.

4. Go bigger.

Another message PACE members are stressing on the Hill is that any changes to deferral should happen only in the context of a broader rewrite of the tax code. What the lobbyists don’t say is that Congress is highly unlikely to undertake fundamental tax reform anytime soon. Not only are lawmakers strapped with an already ambitious legislative agenda, but the recession means there’s no extra money to smooth out the rough spots that such a major rewrite would inevitably produce.

Now we have the tactics that will be used and it will be interesting to see how they use each one of them.  I will be keeping a scorecard .

Will Obama have his way or will there be a cave to the businesses?  My money is on the cave.

How About Greenhouse Gases?

Jake Tapper reports on the discovery of an internal EPA memo that admits what everyone knows about cap-and-trade systems and regulation of CO2.  The memo advises the White House that any attempt to regulate output of CO2 in energy production will likely have “serious economic consequences.

This memo destroys the argument made by Obama often over the last two years that cap-and-trade would wind up being an economic boon.  Obama had argued that a renewed emphasis on green energy production would be akin to landing on the moon, a big government program that boosted employment in pursuit of an ambitious goal.  The difference between the two is that the space program didn’t impose massive burdens on the airline industry to pay for it, or on the auto industry, or Amtrak.

Since the discovery of the memo there has been movement in the Congress.House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D., Calif.) has been negotiating with a group of Southern and Midwestern Democrats on his committee who have withheld support for his bill because they feared it would hurt the economies in their states.

Mr. Waxman’s bill calls for capping emissions of greenhouse gases, and requiring companies to hold permits in order to emit such gases. But the original version of the proposal was silent on the degree to which companies would have to pay for those permits, versus being given them free. Utilities dependent on coal and other carbon-intensive industries such as steel plants or oil refineries have been lobbying Congress to give them the permits for free, at least initially.

Republicans and other interest groups were already turning up the heat on Democrats and the Obama administration ahead of Tuesday’s deal. Earlier in the day, Republicans pounced on a White House document that says regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act “is likely to have serious economic consequences for regulated entities throughout the U.S. economy, including small businesses and small communities.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said the OMB memo “suggests that a political decision was made to put special interests ahead of middle-class families and small businesses struggling in this recession.”

So the compromises have begun and most of the pie in the sky bills that have been promised will become a watered down pale reflection of any real change.  People!  The planet is dying, now is NOT the time for lame ass compromises!

Will Free Information On The Web Be A Thing Of The Past?

For a decade now, consumers have become accustomed to free access to music, films and information, via the internet. But with many of the media’s big players – including Rupert Murdoch – thinking of charging for content, is the tide about to turn?

And yet for almost a decade now, quality entertainment and culture, as well as mainstream sources of news, have been freely available on the web. The arrival of the internet has seen musicians, publishers and news organizations all slowly float off together into uncharted waters.

Consumers who have grown up during the past 15 years are completely at home in a world where much of what they want to hear, see or read will cost them nothing. True, in the case of some films and TV shows, the practices involved may skirt around the law a bit. Generally speaking, though, culture has become a happy free-for-all. Now may be the time to pay the bill.

One of the biggest players in the game last week questioned the rationale behind the current give-away culture.  Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp, even went so far as to refer to it as a “flawed” business model when he spoke to reporters in New York. The media mogul – who owns the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World in Britain, as well as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal in America – announced that he was considering charging for more of his internet sites.

It is worth noting, too, that opposing political ideologies are at work here, not simply commercial forces. While the libertarian impulse to “free the web” is claimed by hippy counter-culture, it is also aligned with far-right thought. Pirate Bay, the Swedish bootlegging site at the center of a legal storm this year, receives financial support from right-wing politician Carl Lundström.

This battle is worth watching…will info remain free or will only thoise who can afford it, have it?

The Donald, The Master Of BS

OMG!  The crap that flows from the media is just f*cking astonishing.  Miss California–now here is a story that deserves a good flush of the toilet.

Miss California USA lost some goodwill with controversies over semi-nude photographs and her association with a conservative advocacy group for marriage, but she gets to keep her crown.

Carrie Prejean’s comments about her opposition to same-sex marriage ignited a media firestorm after a celebrity judge suggested her response may have lost her the Miss USA title; she finished as first-runner up. The photos from her teenage years surfaced later and led to the review of her state title, but pageant owner Donald Trump said Tuesday that Prejean may retain it.

Surprise!  Was there any doubt?  Come on people, the Donald is a master at bullshit.  This was nothing more than a PR stunt by the Donald.  Her title was NEVER in jeopardy.  Why?

Second, who wrote her speech for her?  It was so much horseshit.  She is lying!  Let me see those photos–you were modeling and you did not know that the guy with the camera was taking pics of you….is that about it?  She was punished!…Huh?…and by whom?  What a yawn!

Just look at the occurance a year or so a go when a Miss America or Miss World or Miss…whatever was caught being naughty and we went through this will she or won’t she keep her title?  And what was the outcome?  Title retained.  Go figure!  And yet people somehow thought that this time it would be different and that Miss Calif could possibly lose her title for her words and deeds…..HA!  The Donald has once again played the media and the people like a cheap flute.  Congrats!  You people are just plain stupid!