Handicapping The Right

In the midst of a relatively quiet August, politically speaking, certain bored members of the American media have been chomping at the bit for the 2012 political season to get into gear.

While we understand the urge of some of our fellow news gatherers - especially those in political media - to push up the starting line on the 2012 Presidential race, we don't necessarily share their desire for a longer campaign season. So far, the contest looks like it'll be less than a photo finish. In fact, Allan Lichtman - the American University professor whose election formula has correctly projected the winner of every U.S. Presidential race since 1984 - said on Tuesday about his 2012 prediction, “Even if I am being conservative, I don’t see how Obama can lose."

Still - we've said before that we don't believe in calling events finished before they've even begun and we stand by that. That said, the GOP's latest so-called front runner, Texas Governor Rick Perry - a man given the nickname "Gov. Goodhair" by legendary columnist Molly Ivins - doesn't give us much hope for a competitive contest for the presidency next year.

We aware of the fact that in more than one poll, Perry has suddenly jumped to the front of the GOP field, over the head of the man presumed for some time to be the GOP's likely 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney.

That doesn't make him the nominee yet.

Perry has been called an idiot. He's also been labeled as dumb. He's been called clueless on how the office of the President really works. He's displayed a stunning ignorance of how key federal government programs - like Social Security - really work. His opposition to science in general, and climate change in particular, is offensive at least and dangerous at worst. Quite a few people have also noticed striking similarities between Rick Perry and George W. Bush, the man who brought him to prominence in Texas politics.

Perry isn't a clean candidate, either. He's got a history - both with other powerful Republicans like Karl Rove, and with the other GOP front-runner, Mitt Romney. Like Romney, Perry has flip-flopped on some important issues to conservatives - like health care. Furthermore, Romney has been campaigning in one form or another for the Presidency for at least four years - and Romney's only beginning to retaliate against Perry.

Some of our colleagues in the media have already added all that up, and made their final call - that Perry is nothing more than a headless horseman, a distraction for the far right who will never really win the nomination.

We don't agree.

We tend to side with several of our colleagues from across the political spectrum, that Perry should NOT be underestimated.

It's not that we think he's the most qualified candidate the Republicans have put forward so far in this early 2012 presidential race. He's not even close to the most qualified. Not by a long shot.

Then again, neither was George W. Bush.

That's what concerns us more than anything.

Praise Where It's Due

As we looked back through our recent editions while we were on vacation break, we noticed that we'd missed covering a few stories recently - including some potentially well-earned praise that we missed handing out.

Since the President is back to work - apparently he's the only major part of our government back from vacation - but the rest of Washington, DC is still on vacation, we thought we should cover at least one of those items we'd bypassed earlier this month.

After all, what else would we talk about? The insanity of Rick Perry, the second-coming of George W. Bush, who is currently leading the 2012 GOP field? Not today. Maybe we'll look at that tomorrow.

The news item we're focusing on today - one we'd missed covering in early August - is a simple one. Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, someone we haven't always had the kindest words for, did something amazing earlier this month at a town hall gathering in Lincoln. His action was amazing because, sadly, we've yet to hear almost any Republican at almost any level these days state what he did.

Fortenberry, in not so many words, told right-wing extremist Grover Norquist and his Tea Party minions to go to hell.

In case you're unfamiliar with the background, we'll give you the Cliff's Notes version. Grover Norquist, an anti-tax, pro-corporate lobbyist, has gained a political stranglehold over much of the Republican Party over the last twenty-five years. His most recent tactic is to demand that our elected officials bend to his whims, and not necessarily to the whims of the people who elected them. To accomplish that end, Norquist extracts a pledge from Republicans running for office that says they won't raise taxes for ANY reason... Period.

Admittedly, Rep. Foretenberry signed just such a pledge when he was trying to win his seat in the house of Representatives in 2004.

What Fortenberry did earlier this month, in that town hall in Lincoln, was to pointedly reject the pledge he'd previously signed with Norquist's anti-tax organization.

As a Republican, in a political atmosphere thick with extremist rhetoric, flush with massive amounts of outside cash from hard-to-track sources, Fortenberry finally took a stand for the moderate GOP members that truly make up the majority of Nebraska Republicans (and we believe, Republicans across the country).

We're not sure if Rep. Fortenberry will back up his comments - comments he's since repeated - with actions that make sense, like those that Warren Buffett has suggested this past summer.

What we will say is this: to our moderate Republican friends and readers who complain to us that they are tired of being tarred and feathered with the same political muck attached to the likes of Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry - adjectives like racist, ignorant, classist, uneducated, intolerant, and bigoted ...

If Fortenberry doesn't at least receive a word of praise from you for being to willing to stand up for the sane, moderate, sensible position we know that you truly support, then you'll have no one else to blame but yourself for the kinds of extremist nutball candidates you'll have to pick from in your primary elections in 2012.

We sincerely hope, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, that you follow through with your words, and find some revenue enhancements - meaning taxes on those who can afford them - that you can support.

If you do that, sir, we can honestly say you'll have earned the praise we're willing to afford you now.

The More Things Change...

When someone goes on vacation, or even moves to another place, there often seems to be some kind of strange mental hangover that one experiences. It's an illogical kind of mental disconnect that says, "Even though I know the rest of the world continues when I'm not there, upon my return, things should be exactly how and where I saw them last."

It's a process we've all been through as we've travelled this past week, and it's one we're certain you've also likely experienced in your life.

Of course, things do keep moving on in other corners of the world, even while we're away. The Gadhafi regime fell last week (though Gadhafi himself is still on the loose), and the Washington Monument did not (contrary to rumors reported through certain less-than-accurate media outlets). Hurricane Irene swamped the East Coast, and her effects could last for weeks. There was even an earthquake in Washington, DC - ironically centered in the congressional district of Rep. Eric Cantor, who earlier this year said we didn't need to fully fund the U.S. Geological Survey, as there are places in the U.S. that don't have earthquakes. Like the District of Columbia.

Sadly, even while we were away, certain politicians couldn't stop digging themselves deeper political holes - including Nebraska's Attorney General, Jon Bruning.

Bruning, the Republican front-runner likely to challenge Sen. Ben Nelson for Nebraska's U.S. Senate seat in 2012 had a particularly lousy time of it last week, all self-induced.

First, it was revealed that Mr. Bruning, often one to brag about his small town, Cornhusker work ethic, has apparently been making himself a multi-millionaire while Nebraskans pay him $95,000 a year to be the top law enforcement official in the state. It's alleged that he's only a part-time Attorney-General on full pay, while enthusiastically pursuing his personal business interests. It was also revealed that Bruning is anything but fiscally responsible, as his campaign is heavily in debt.

His questionable behavior doesn't end there.

Four years ago, student loan company Nelnet reached a million dollar legal settlement with Attorney-General Bruning and the state of Nebraska over improper and questionably legal conduct. Bruning, however, relieved Nelnet of its obligation to pay a penalty, since Nelnet made a similar deal with the state of New York. Bruning stopped defending that decision later, after being accused of favoritism toward Nelnet.

This past week, it was discovered that Bruning and two top Nelnet executives purchased a $675,000 lake house together just a year after the earlier controversy had blown over.

We've warned Mr. Bruning on these pages more than once, that the story his actions have been stringing together has not been a tale likely to convince voters of his fitness to be a U.S. Senator.

We had thought that when we left for a week of vacation, since the President was on a working vacation, and Congress was in recess (and getting yelled at back home), the Supreme Court was on break, and the astroturf groups took this August off from disrupting Americans, there wouldn't likely be any political news for us to miss covering. Apparently, we were wrong.

Maybe Mr. Bruning had a feeling similar to what we experienced on our respective vacations - a feeling that if no one said anything, maybe his somewhat smelly actions wouldn't be noticed. Just as we described before, it's as though he thought if he left his actions alone, nothing would change and his image would remain relatively clean.

We hate to tell you, Mr. Attorney General, but not even elected officials are immune to the effects of time. Things change, even when you're not around.

This time, that includes your reputation.

Friday Funday: On The Road Again...

As our regular readers know, our staff members tend to get around the United States a bit. We have conferences, presentations, and other business to attend to and we usually take our work with us. From DC to Lincoln to Florida, and a whole host of other places, the three of us do a surprising bit of travel, and still deliver a solid media product to you each weekday.

Being a member of the media is demanding work, as many of you know - since many of you also work in that profession. We have more than a few cartoonists, writers, broadcasters and other members of the American national media who follow our work. Quite a few politicians and other politicos who interact with the media are also on our mailing list - and we know you too, see how hard we work.

Some of you even use our work to give you a starting point for the next 24-hour news cycle.

We know this, and don't mind. Frankly, people who toil in the media and communications fields know we sometimes borrow ideas from one another - or at least, appear to. When the facts all point in the same direction, and great minds all think alike, it's inevitable that some of us arrive at similar conclusions.

For the next week, though, you'll have to make those conclusions without our participation, as our entire staff is going on vacation.

We're taking some time away from the news because... we can.

As we noted earlier this week, the astroturf groups appear to have taken the month off, thank goodness. With the President taking a vacation, and Congress still in the middle of their five week recess, we weren't sure when we'd get another chance to take some R&R for ourselves.

When we get back, we know the coming months will be filled with long days, long nights, stacks of work, and tough decisions - and that's just in our day jobs, not just what we do for you here at The Daily Felltoon.

We know you might be feeling a bit lost while we're gone - so we hope you'll read the work of a few of our colleagues to keep yourself well-informed and occupied while we're away. As always, we hope you read at least two newspapers daily, including the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, and Wall Street Journal. For foreign news, keep up with the BBC and Aljazerra. We also hope you'll keep checking out the work of Nate Silver and the fine folks at FiveThirtyEight.com. Dave Weigel of Slate also usually has some good work, and Greg Sargent, Adam Sewer, and the gang the Plum Line are often spot on.

Make sure you read your local and regional newspapers too; not everything is a national issue, after all.

For your daily cartoon fix, we hope the fine work of Jeff Koterba, Wiley Miller, R.C. Harvey, and a host of other great cartoonists from the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' website will keep you chuckling and thinking while we're away.

Take hope, though; while you won't be able to get your Daily Felltoon fix via the usual email channels, you can still access Paul's daily editorial cartoon view of the world at the website of his syndicator, www.artizans.com - or even easier at his page on the AAEC website.

It's always good for people to take some time for themselves, whenever that rare opportunity comes up.

We plan to make every moment count - and we look forward to being back with you on August 29th.

Somehow, we have a feeling there will be plenty to share with you upon our return.

School Supplies: What You May Have Missed

As the month of August speeds towards Labor Day weekend, schools across the country, from elementary to college, are opening their doors again, to give students from every kind of neighborhood another shot at learning something new.

In some states, there is already reason for some hope, even in the face of brutal budget and personnel cuts facing educators everywhere. Nebraska and Iowa both got their ACT test results back yesterday, and students from both states, on average, do better than kids in other states. Those scores are to be commended - but they're not the sole measure of the quality of education in each state, nor should they be.

Paul has taught on both the high school and college level, we each have family members who are or have been teachers, and each of us has taught certain subjects individually - what's commonly known as tutoring. More than many, we understand that school is about far more than just tests.

A growing number of Americans seem to be finally beginning to comprehend the difficulties facing administrators, school boards, teachers and students these days - including increasing acts of violence, by both students and teachers. Still, too many Americans fall back on the tired, old standby complaints when they talk about the problems in education. "It's those damn teachers unions," or "Public schools just can't compete these days," are arguments we all hear regularly, from across the country.

Sadly, the kind of comment we hear hear least, is a heartfelt "Thanks" to teachers and support staff.

When many of us went to school, the economics of the country were far different. Households where both parents worked were not the norm. Single-parent households were rare. Effective wages were much higher, manners and civility were much more the norm- and all of these things helped reduce what we expected schools to deal with at all levels.

For most of us, it's always been more than just reading, 'riting and  'rithmatic. These days, it's much, MUCH more. Now, it's not just reading - it's reading in multiple languages. Writing includes a healthy dose of technology - and often includes writing computer code, as well as "normal" languages. And arithmetic - math - is algebra and geometry, beginning in elementary school. Not to mention that the computer teacher may also double as the art teacher, and perhaps teaches english, to boot - if the kids are lucky. And don't forget world history, American history, and modern history all taught by the same person, with a couple of other subjects thrown in.

Most teachers are also coaches - or they're the faculty advisor (meaning 'coach by another name') for some other activity that used to be considered "extracurricular". If kids want to get beyond just high school, everything from shop to home ec, from football to theatre has become "extracurricular" these days.

This, of course, has teachers and administrators everywhere - in public and private schools alike -continuing to operate from smaller and smaller budgets. This increasingly means teachers have to work another job, on top of their chosen profession, to make ends meet for their families.

That says nothing for the paperwork and lesson plans most of them take home every day, as they always have.

The supplies that we ask that you bring to school this year, whether you're a student, parent, teacher, administrator - or legislator looking at education budgets - are simple.

Serious respect; significant patience; and a real understanding of what our teachers face every day in this economy, just to do their jobs.

No one goes into teaching these days for either the money or job security. Neither exists much anymore. If someone is there, teaching your children - or you - they're there because they've got a passion for it. As former teacher and cartoonist - and our editor-in-chief - Paul Fell has often said: "teaching just gets in your blood".

We doubt most Americans can say the same about their job.

Reaching The Bottom Of The Hate Barrel

As we mentioned earlier this week, August is often a slow month for news, especially when extremists and astroturf groups - bankrolled by rich interests to stir up trouble - actually take the month off, as they seem to have done during August, thankfully.

There is still plenty of discontent out there. In a poll of Ohio voters on Tuesday, if the election for President were held today, the projected winner would be no one. The bright news, if there is any, is that the poll shows that Ohioans hate President Obama the least of any of the current contenders. No single Republican comes close to his favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Congress is much worse off than that nationally, reaching a new low in voter satisfaction.

As of yesterday, Congressional job approval numbers had tied their historic low of 13%. In short, America is fed up with politicians from all parties. Surprisingly, independent Congresspersons are loathed even more than either Republicans or Democrats. The late Idi Amin of Uganda and the current tyrant in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, are running a close second (We're just kidding about that).

It's been obvious on President Obama's bus trip through the Midwest that he's hearing voter frustration - and that he's also fed up with a Congress that continually refuses to do almost anything.

Of course, some wealthy Americans, after hearing Warren Buffett's recent call for higher taxes on the rich, got off their fat backsides... to complain to the media that they were being picked on.

All the while, the media - especially the political media - hungry to feed their 24-hour news channels and websites, have been hovering over the Republican Presidential candidates like an excited child with a new toy. Rick Perry has been feeding his ego, and doing what Texas bullies often do - opening his big mouth and threatening everyone in a completely amateur and unpresidential way.

We tend to agree with certain other patient members of our field that the shine on Perry will wear off faster than the gloss on the new shoes of kids heading back to school.

All in all, we're glad the hatemongers, extremists and astroturf groups aren't filling this month with a storm of insane rhetoric.

In truth, we wonder if they haven't actually run out of steam, finally.

Hate can be a powerful emotion, there's no doubt. Its biggest failing is that when it's spent, there is rarely anything left to show for it, long-term.

For all the railing against the health care reform bill? It passed.
For all the rhetoric about driving the country into default? It's not close.
For all the rallies at the Lincoln Memorial? We are still a nation divided, in many ways.

We think - no, we hope - that maybe, just maybe, the break in the insanity and lies, and stupidity might finally give an opportunity for the truth to take root in  American popular discourse.

We won't hold our breath, though.

The Oracle Speaks The Truth

We spent some time digging through the news debating what should be the subject of today's commentary in part because - as we mentioned yesterday - August is a slow month. Yes, we could have re-hashed the Iowa Straw poll again - but we think the real winner of that poll is pretty clear, and there's little need to dig through that mess again.

The topic that kept catching our attention today was a message we've delivered before, one that Warren Buffett put so succinctly on Monday in his New York Times editorial, that we were almost loathe to focus on it again in the wake of his writing.

Buffett's message was as direct as the title of his piece - that our government needs to stop coddling the rich in this country, and collect from them the taxes they've been avoiding for too long. It's time for them to quit playing the tax system against itself and pay their fair share.

Mr. Buffett makes no bones about the fact that taxes for the wealthy must go up, if the future of America is going to be saved. He said that the debt & budget committee that has been set up in Congress for this fall needs to "turn to the issue of revenues" if we're going to deal with our national fiscal problems in a mature way.

He also says that those who earn more should pay more, a direct description of a progressive tax system, something we've advocated for years.

It's gratifying to see that a person like Warren Buffett, who always thoroughly walks his thoughts to their conclusions, agrees with our own conclusions on this matter.

President Obama also agrees with the concept of progressive taxation, a fact we've known for some time. Admittedly, that's been why we've been somewhat frustrated with the President's actions on tax policy over the last two years. He's compromised again and again with Republicans whose political party is currently gripped by illogical fanaticism, who seem to think that a world where no one pays taxes is a completely realistic thing.

The facts have always said otherwise.

As Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Homes said, "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society." That mathematics and facts also support the idea of a progressive tax, with little to no loopholes, and higher rates for those at the top of the income scale, is something we were pleased to see being released in a recent academic paper, as pointed out by journalist and economic policy wonk Matthew Yglesias.

In short, the concept of trickle-down economics doesn't work in an open economic system. It never has. The idea that capital investment flows like water to the place with the lowest cost and the highest return is what applied macro-economic capitalism is all about. If you build - or in the case of America currently, allow - a system with a ton of holes in it, it's like trying to haul a sieve full of water from a well. If you expect to quench the economic thirst of your nation using a tool like that, you will never be anything other than disappointed.

We get it. President Obama gets it. And even the Oracle of Omaha - never one to be a wild-eyed fiscal liberal - gets it.

It's time - long past time, actually - to accept the fact that some folks on the American political right will never "get" this idea, not because it's not possible for them understand, but because they choose not to.

It's time to accept the fact: there is no needle in that haystack.

No Surprises Here

August is traditionally the month when Congress is in recess, and nothing much happens, in political terms. Unless someone forces something to happen - as the Koch Brothers-supported AFP and other far right-wing groups did during the Summer of Hate in 2009  - it's generally a slow month for news.

Combine the usual dearth of fresh real news with overbearing heat, and add in the stress of summer vacation coming to an end. Now mix in the annual ramp-up of the school year complete with sports practices, music lessons, and every other activity helicopter parents can cram into their kids' lives, and you have a perfect recipe for a grumpy American electorate.

It's the same social pie Americans have been sitting down to in August for many years - and its effects on our collective system are as negative as always.

We weren't surprised then, at the results from the Iowa Straw Poll over the weekend. Historically, the straw poll means very little to the eventual outcome of who gets the GOP nomination. It's basically a contest to see who can buy the most voters and throw the best party - or whose supporters are the most fanatic. Think of it as a caucus with even fewer rules and organization.

Put those factors together, and you can see why it was no surprise to us when Michele Bachmann bit off a win over the weekend. It was also no surprise that Ron Paul's fanatic followers propelled him to a close second place finish - or that Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the GOP race after coming in third.

It's also not a shock that Rick Perry's official announcement that he was running came over the weekend - or that Sarah Palin didn't announce an official run for President. If she had announced, she might actually have to put some effort into the race - and it would limit her ability to make money from the stupidity of many in the media. Thankfully, others are finally echoing what we've said about Ms. Palin for some time - that her fame clock says her fifteen minutes have just about expired.

We're also not surprised the heat and stress have begun to build to a low boil for those people grousing about President Obama - especially those from the more liberal Left. There are those bored media folk jumping up and down that Obama's poll numbers have slipped here or there. Sadly, it's obvious many of them haven't done their homework, as his numbers compare favorably to, say, President Clinton at the same point in his first term.

We understand - the heat and boredom make some people lazy.

That's not to say some on the left aren't justifiably incensed with the President's over- willingness to compromise with the GOP. Still, the yowling and complaining and threatening to run a primary campaign against President Obama, as though such a thing would hurt him politically, is laughable.

A primary campaign could really only help Obama, much as it did when Hillary Clinton ran against him in 2008 - so that kind of threat from those on the left is hollow, at best. Yes, we're hoping that when Congress returns, President Obama gives them hell. No, we're not expecting he'll put members of Congress in a pro wrestling ring and give them a cosmic noogie until they learn to act like grownups, much as most Americans would love to see that happen.

For now, we're content to let Mr. Obama also take his vacation, after his bus tour through the midwest this week.

In short, while we're also tired of the heat, the humidity, and the stupidity, we're still sane enough to realize it won't be long before people will be pulling out their winter coats, longing for these last few days that signal the end of summer.

It happens every year.

Friday Funday: Extending Our Family

In putting together today's edition, it occurred to us how interconnected our little staff is. Paul's wife finished Amy's wedding dress. Amy and Shawn went to school together over twenty years ago. Paul and Shawn have worked together for over a decade, beginning at the Nebraska Press Association.

We've known each other, been friends with each other, worked together, travelled together, and enjoyed each other's work for a long, long time.

We're a family, of a sort - and frankly, we sometimes communicate with each other more often than we do members of our own families.

Our friends, Sarah and Ian, are beginning their lives together - officially - today, adding to their own extended family, which includes us.

It amazes us sometimes, when we think of the incredible people who make up our extended families. From lawyers and lobbyists, to seamstresses, business people and car buffs. There are a great many theatre people in our extended family, and several large clusters of folks who work in radio, print, and web too.

There are more cartoonists then you can shake a Hunt Crow Quill pen at. From the man behind Hagar the Horrible, to Batman's body double/Mad Magazine cartoonist; from the man behind the Undercover Cockroach and the Martians, to the first cartoonist in space (ok, it was his work that went up in the shuttle, but still...)

While all of these people are incredibly talented, we'd love them even if their skill sets consisted of merely being good friends.

It's often said that we don't get to choose the families we're placed into. Whether through biology or adoption, that's at least partly true for almost everyone.

For the most part, the families that we each choose as we become adults - our spouses and friends - are individuals who often have characteristics we admire and strive for in our own lives. Whether those characteristics include beauty, intelligence, loyalty, integrity, or a combination of all those qualities and more, the people we choose to bring into our larger families are no less important to us than the people we grew up with.

With that in mind, as our friends join together their already somewhat mixed families, we proudly welcome their newest members into our own extended family.

Congratulations, you two.

May you have many, many, many long years of happiness together.

"Like Grapes In A Jar"

There are times that doing what we do is incredibly difficult.

Attempting to create fresh new content five days a week, drawing a cartoon, writing a commentary, editing the commentary, finding links, and putting it all together takes a great deal of work. Researching to make sure all the facts are right is another time-consuming task. With regular jobs, families, non-work lives, and occasional traveling thrown in, what we provide for you can take a lot of extra energy at times.

Then there are those days where a politician, or two, or more, shove their shoes halfway down their gullet, and we breathe a sigh of relief for an easy day of work. You could say it's as easy as shooting fish in a barrel - or getting grapes from a jar.

Today is one of those days, courtesy of the leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, and current Nebraska Attorney General, Jon Bruning.

In case you missed it, although it was covered locally here, here, here, here, and here, and nationally here, here, and here - we recommend you watch the YouTube video of Mr. Bruning making multiple insults in the span of a few seconds, right here.

In short, Jon Bruning gave a speech at an event in Papillion, Nebraska, last weekend where he compared people who are on welfare to scavenging raccoons.

The racist and classist overtones alone should have scared off anyone with a half a brain from using the comparison he did. That Mr. Bruning also delivered those words publicly in the midst of an ongoing recession, displayed either a severe lack of understanding of the economic sensitivities of millions of Americans - or displayed a craven grab at attention from the media. Or both.

Some of our staff have met Jon Bruning before. At least one has has enjoyed a beverage or two with him at a Lincoln bar. He's not a horrible fellow, though he is definitely a bit green. He's not overtly racist, nor is he overtly classist. He is, however, more than a bit ambitious.

Ambition isn't always a bad thing - but it can easily be abused by powerful outside forces, and turn a rising star of any kind into a puppet zealot. The advisors and assistants an ambitious person chooses to surround themselves with need to be more than just toadies and sycophants - and they certainly can't be incompetent.

Like whichever staff member Mr. Bruning delegated to write the speech he gave in Papillion.

If the goal was to get people talking about John Bruning, the staff member who wrote that disgusting line in his speech certainly did his or her job. We'd also fully agree that the staffer's observation of the tactics of that known slimeball and piece of human trash, Karl Rove, paid off in terms of getting Mr. Bruning attention, from both the press and the public.

Of course, each of us had parents who echoed one another when they taught us that there are different kinds of attention - and the kind Mr. Bruning has received for this gaffe isn't positive.

Since we know Mr. Bruning is an occasional Daily Felltoon reader we'll simply say this to him: Jon...? Find out who the twit is who wrote that racist, classist drivel, and fire their ass. With cause. Regretting you said those words is nice - but Americans are tired of pretty words and apologies.

Americans want leaders who are going to tackle the problems of the present and the future. Not people who surround themselves with those who should know better - and still choose poorly anyway.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well, including giving speeches - and hiring assistants.

Right now, it's obvious you've failed on both counts.

Reaping What Was Sown

When a person lives any length of time in Nebraska, if they're any sort of observant individual, there are a few things they'll likely pick up on.

For example, Nebraskans tend to wear a lot of red. Especially on days that a Husker football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball, or other team has a game or match - which pretty much means Nebraskans wear red most of the time.

Nebraskans also tend to be proud of their state capitol building, with the statue on the top named "The Sower". For those of you unfamiliar with Nebraska, The Sower is a  massive bronze statue of a man sowing - or planting - the seeds of the future. Like any farmer, when those seeds have grown into crops, and are fully mature, they'll need to be harvested. If a farmer sows seeds that are filled with weeds and bad seed, they'll likely reap crops filled with weeds and rot.

Sadly, it appears many Republicans, both in Nebraska and around the country - including U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns, the former governor of Nebraska - have yet to learn that simple lesson: that you reap what you sow.

If Senator Johanns had better recall of his Nebraska roots, he might have been more prepared for what he encountered at his town hall meeting on Monday, at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln. To say that his constituents were unhappy would be a bit of an understatement. From a source we had at the event, it wasn't just Democrats, liberals or progressives that were calling for taxes to be raised on the rich - some Republicans were also behind that idea. Sadly, Johanns not only openly opposed that idea, but he made things worse by sowing more lies about GOP plans for Social Security.

Senator Johanns' friend, Sen. John McCain didn't fare much better halfway across the nation in Arizona.

Americans across the country are beginning to comprehend the effects of the bitter seed Republicans have sown all over the nation.

In the latest CNN poll, released on Tuesday, for the first time in history Americans don't believe their elected representatives in Washington deserve re-election. On fact, only 41 percent of Americans think their U.S. House member deserves another term.

The numbers are far worse for Republicans than Democrats.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans disapprove of the Republican party, nearly two out of every three U.S. citizens. At the same time, while 47 percent of Americans disapprove of the Democratic Party, an equal 47 percent approve of Democrats in Congress. Compared to Republicans, that's a 14-point lean by Americans towards the Democratic Party, and away from Republicans.

Tea Party candidates have only harvested growing distain from the people they purport to represent. Only 31 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of the Tea Party, continuing the downward slide of opinion- one of the worst showings since Tea Party numbers started to be measured about 18 months ago.

The results of some the recall elections in Wisconsin last night only further prove our point. [The results of at least one race in Wisconsin can't be trusted as honest - though it appears that Wisconsin Democrats have caved and won't be contesting the results, as they should.]

While many of these numbers seem to have surprised more than a few pundits, we're not surprised at all about the way the pendulum is now swinging back towards the political left.

Instead of making the hard choices, and fighting to conserve those things which have been good about our government - which is what being conservative truly is - the Republican party over the last decade has continually reached for candidates and actions that have merely gained them attention. Whether that attention has been positive or not hasn't seemed to concern the GOP. They've sown the seeds of anger, hatred, ignorance, and arrogance indiscriminately.

It appears, heading toward 2012, the American political right may now be about to reap the fruits of their actions.

No Bull

We pride ourselves on being straight with you, our readers, every day - and today is no exception.

We're not going to say that we're completely unconcerned about the massive drop in the stock market yesterday. Like millions of people, we also have investments, and we also lost some value on those instruments yesterday - so we understand the economic pessimism that seems to be rampant.

That being said, the idea that the American economy is mortally wounded, and that the vultures are sweeping in to clean up the kill is ridiculous. As Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman points out, while stocks dropped like a rock, U.S. Treasury bond prices rose.

That is far from a sign that U.S. debt isn't a safe investment.

It's a sign that the U.S. continues to have a weak economy, and is being held back by two things: a lack of jobs, and a barely functional political system - which we've discussed before. Yesterday, in fact.

The jobs problem in America may not be able to be fixed today - but the political problem may get a jump start towards repair today, with the latest round of the Wisconsin recall elections.

Today Wisconsinites are heading to the polls to vote in six recall races across the state. A mass recall of this nature has never been held anywhere in the U.S. Some officials are expecting turnout rates of seventy-to-eighty percent, which is a level of participation most legislative districts in the U.S. never see, even in Presidential election years.

Then again, we've never seen the kind of corruption and disregard for the law exhibited by the Wisconsin Republican Party and their extremist, far-right wing, corporatist boosters over the last year. Recently, the right-wing lobbyist group "Americans For Prosperity" (as if there were Americans who wished for decay and failure, other than themselves) purposely sent out blatantly misleading absentee ballots to the six districts having recall elections today -- mail-in ballots which had the date of the recall elections wrong. If voters were to have followed the advice of this group of cheats and liars, their votes would have come in long after the races had already been decided.

Of course, the right-wing group feigned incompetence (which we don't think was completely an act) for the misleading ballots, and blamed the printer for their mistake. For an organization that often crows about individual responsibility, we find their hypocrisy both sadly ironic and par for the course.

These GOP state legislators are the same people who have been aiming to kill union rules in the state that gave birth to the union movement in America, who want to roll back child labor laws, wipe out protections for both tenants and landlords (both private and commercial), and enact a far-right wing ideological agenda on a generally moderate Midwestern state.

We agree with the Wausau Daily Herald that the recall elections Wisconsinites are engaged in today are indeed a direct check by the populace over elected legislators.

We also agree with many who have said there far more important things going on in the world today than whether the stock market goes up or down a bit.

In Wisconsin, there's an election today to put the power back in the hands of the people. Let's hope the best candidates win.

Pointing Out The Obvious

As we and many others pointed out recently - more than once - after the ridiculous and unnecessary debt & budget battle of this summer, it was likely that at least one of the credit rating agencies would downgrade our credit, even after the debt deal was signed last week. After waiting until the market closed on Friday, Standard & Poors downgraded the credit of the United States last Friday, proving us right once again.

The fact that Standard & Poors is one of the primary agencies that got the United States into the fiscal mess we now face has not escaped us. The trustworthiness of a group that gave AAA credit ratings to banks it knew were making thousands of questionable loans in the last decade - and notoriously gave Lehman Brothers a AAA rating the month before it collapsed - should be seriously investigated. The fact that on the day they downgraded the U.S., they also had to admit a $2 trillion error in their calculations - one that was a severely amateur mistake - should also give MANY people great pause.

We don't think we need to point out that if the officials refereeing the action have proven themselves to have poor judgement - as Standard & Poors has - their fitness as fair judges should be questioned until they prove, beyond all doubt, their credibility once again.

As unethical and questionable as the judgement of S&P is, they are not the true culprits we still face today for our collective inability to act in our own national interests. There is plenty of blame to go around, after nearly a decade where regulations and tax rates fell, and unethical behavior and corporate profit-taking for the richest rose, all while too many people sat by and did little or nothing.

That said, there is at least one group of people who clearly hold more blame than others. In fact, the folks at Standard & Poors bluntly told us who is to blame.

In their official reasoning they stated, "Republicans saying that they refuse to accept any tax increases as part of a larger deal" was one of the three major reasons given for downgrading the U.S credit rating. The other reasons included, "the political confusion surrounding the process of raising the debt ceiling and lack of confidence that the political system will be able to agree to more deficit reduction."

In short, because we have a group of obstinate fools in the Republican Party, in the House and Senate of the United States who are ignorant of their responsibilities to the nation, the rest of us will now likely have to pay higher prices on everything.

We had warned this day would come, more than once - and we would rather that we had been proven wrong than right.

That proof, or the questionable judgement of the ratings agency, won't repair our credit rating right away.

What will repair our credit rating, and fix our economy is the same thing that we and MANY others have been pushing for several years now: MORE JOBS.

The fact that there are still political hurdles to our government attempting to spur more job creation has not escaped us or others. The need to get the fat corporate interests and wealthy individuals off their asses to start spending some of the billions they are holding in cash liquidity is key to creating more jobs, and will not be easy.

Sadly, the only tools the government truly has left is either to offer tax breaks that companies would get only by generating jobs for poor and middle class Americans, or through direct tax hikes that penalize the rich and corporations for holding onto their cash and not investing it in America.

Either task will be long, heated, and dirty - and will likely last long after the dog days of summer have come and gone. We're certain the right will attempt to point blame at the left for any economic problems caused by their failure to cooperate; they were already pointing fingers on the Sunday morning talking heads shows. All their pointing and yelling won't change the facts we've pointed out here.

America needs jobs. NOW. Period.

Friday Funday: It Don't Mean A Thing...

While short-term investors the world over are dreading today, and praying it won't be like the day before, we're really not all that concerned about the massive drop in stock markets around the world  that happened 24 hours ago.

For one thing, it's Friday.

For another, the jobs report is in - and it's better than most expected, though it's still not great.

Lastly, some of the most intelligent people we know on these affairs, - like Dr. Paul Krugman - really aren't apoplectic about the economics, while others like Nate Silver and Ezra Klein aren't that concerned about the politics. Yes, they're concerned - but they're not saying we need to stop the world and have a meltdown. In fact, they're saying just the opposite.

It's August, after all. It's time to look forward to the County and State Fair seasons around the country, time to get ready for kids and teachers to go back to school.

And time for members of high school and college marching bands to begin the grueling annual exercise known as band camp.

For those of you who trained for athletic events like football, baseball, or track and field in the blistering sun of summer, we know you empathize with those "band geeks" going through two-a-days on their own practice gridiron. Holding perfect posture, while dancing across a field and playing an instrument, and getting everything perfect is difficult enough.

Add in heat indexes of over 100ºF and those young men and women carrying tubas, drums, and giant saxophones don't seem to be such creampuffs after all. At least football pads don't tend to focus the energy of the sun like a laser beam on your skin. The same thing can't be said of shiny silver and gold instruments that literally and figuratively burn the hands and bodies of those who struggle to make them work in such grueling conditions.

It may sound to some as though being in a marching band is nothing but pain, sweat, and sacrifice, as difficult in its own way as any sport ever was. There is certainly some truth to that.

Just like being part of a football, baseball, or softball team that trains together in extreme conditions, going through an experience like a band camp is a bonding experience that teaches individuals about more than just music or choreography.

It teaches individuals how to be part of something greater than themselves, a group that can accomplish big things, things that no individual can hope to achieve alone.

Hmmmmm...

Maybe we should strap tubas and drums to all 435 members of Congress, and force them to go learn a marching routine on the National Mall. In the deep summer heat.

Of course, they'd need someone to lead the band, a task we're fairly sure President Obama would have little trouble handling. He's still young - only fifty - and seems to have plenty of energy to lead a motley crew like that.

Let's just hope that when Congress gets back from their five-week vacation, they can all learn to play the same tune - or at least, to stop purposely running into each other.

Heads In The Sand

In case you missed the change of the calendar, with all the recent hoopla over the debt bill, it's August - the month traditionally known for ugly heat, a Congress in recess, and over the last few years, constituents who have been driven into a frenzy by outside groups, primarily from the right.

While there doesn't appear to be an issue just waiting in the wings for the right wing lobbying groups to gin up anger during the next five weeks, we wouldn't be surprised if they attempt to find one. After all, as more than one Republican leader has made plain, their goal is to sink the President. A decreasing unemployment rate wouldn't help their primary goal one bit.

We're not saying the politicians in DC, especially those on the right, are attempting to tank our economy, or shoot American business in the foot, as some on the political left are saying. It's obvious to us, however, that far too many House and Senate members alike have their heads in the sand when it comes to the desperate need to help generate jobs in America.

The private firm ADP released its July 2011 jobs survey today, saying U.S. companies added 114,000 jobs last month. While their numbers are often more optimistic than the official statistics, the key to understanding that number is that it mirrors what other economic figures are also showing - that there is a another slowdown in hiring happening right now.

Part of that falloff can be credited to the same issue we've been warning about since late last year: the stimulus money is gone, and now government agencies at all levels are having to cut jobs - again - as their budgets continue to be slashed. For example, the Army, already looking to cut 27,000 soldiers from their ranks, is trying to cut another 8000 civilian jobs in the next fifteen months.

Consulting firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas confirmed that over 66,000 more Americans found themselves out of work last month, and thousands of those lost jobs came from the public sector - also known as the government sector, the place where the bloviators on the right say "government can't create any jobs."

If government can't create any jobs, how can it lose over 66,000 jobs? We're sure the individual Americans who lost their civilian jobs in July doing things like serving our military would tend to disagree with those same purveyors of hot air.

So far this year, since the new 112th Congress came in, we've seen the Democrats try to focus on jobs - and be distracted by fake crises like the debt ceiling. We've seen the President try to focus on jobs - and be distracted by fake crises, like whether he had a valid birth certificate. The President is leading the way again, telling Congress to get back to DC to put over 70,000 construction workers back to work on FAA construction projects. Obama is even planning on a bus trip through the Heartland later this month to try to talk with Americans about their ideas for generating jobs.

Meanwhile, the current House of Representatives, led by Republican John Boehner, has only FIFTEEN pieces of legislation they've originated, passed through both houses of Congress, and had signed into law by the President. In comparison, the Democratic-led 111th Congress succeeded in passing 254 laws and eleven joint resolutions over two years, while the Democratic-led 110th had 308 laws, plus ten joint resolutions. Even the last GOP-led 109th Congress finished with 316 laws, and 16 joint resolutions.

For a man who said his Republican House was going to have a "laser-like like focus" on job creation when they swept into office almost a year ago, Speaker Boehner and his caucus should all be fired for gross negligence of the responsibilities of their own jobs.

Yes, we realize that would also add to the numbers of unemployed on the streets. Somehow, though, we think the country - and even Mr. Boehner - would do better without certain current members of the House of Representatives.

Counting The Costs

We're aware that you're tired of the debt ceiling talk - and frankly, after covering it extensively over the last six weeks, we are too. As we've often reminded you though, dear reader, anything worth doing is worth doing well. For us, that includes cleaning up a few questions and comments put forward by some of our readers.

One reader thought we should cut off the perks for our elected representatives and base their salaries and benefits on the economy, "so that when they screw up the economy for us, it will affect them in the same way." We wish that were true, but sadly, that would likely only cause more graft and favors to be sold on Capitol Hill, not less.

One reader asked one of our staff if we thought Tea Partiers are really terrorists. For that, we simply defer to our colleague at Slate, Dave Weigel, who said on Tuesday, "If you don't want your opponent to label you a hostage-taker, here's an idea: Don't take hostages."

The biggest question we've heard so far is: Who won?

There are a ton of different answers to that question, depending on how someone is trying to spin it - or what their perspective is. Short-term, long-term, left, right, or terrorist Tea Bagger, the list of winners and those claiming victory includes almost everyone.

Everyone except the continually shrinking middle and working classes. They lost - and that includes most of you, our readers.

Wall Street didn't find much to cheer about in the new law Tuesday, even though its passage staved off a fiscal catastrophe. The economic news at the end of last week was horrible, in large part because of state and local governments having to make draconian budget cuts over the last six months. With this deal, it looks like that will only get worse. Because local and state governments have been firing more local people (since they no longer have Federal stimulus dollars to cushion them), people are spending less. Even with lower gas prices in June, consumers kept their wallets in their pockets.

While two of the three major credit ratings agencies did NOT downgrade America's credit, they did put the country on a kind of fiscal probation, warning the kind of shenanigans caused by nearly a decade of immature budgetary irresponsibility, capped off by Tea Party antics, will not be tolerated again. In an unusual way, most Americans agree with the credit ratings agencies, that lawmakers have been acting like 'spoiled children', especially since the last election.

Meanwhile, what was missing from the new law was help for jobs and the unemployed - both things that would help the middle class.

What was also missing from this new law - at least in the short term - was higher taxes on the rich and the closure of tax loopholes for corporations. There is no need to argue either of these points. Tax rates are some of the lowest they've been in nearly sixty years, in large part thanks to the loopholes built in primarily for the rich. Further, corporations like G.E. and Amazon paid effective tax rates near zero last year. While those problems might be addressed by the Congressional Debt committee established by this new law, that won't help create more jobs in the short term for the people who need them now, not sometime down the road.

The fact is, there are a lot of things that could have and should have been done over the last eight to ten years on the subject of debt, and paying our debts - but none of them were done.

Now, the debt is due, and it must be paid - by ALL Americans, one way or another. While those who lost the most in this fight may be the middle class, we can tell you this much: there really weren't any winners in this war.

We Now Return You To Your Regular Programming, Already In Progress...

And just like that, the great battle of the debt ceiling is done.

No, the bill hasn't officially passed through the Senate, or been signed by the President this morning - but the likelihood that it will be a law before three o'clock this afternoon is pretty high.

We're extremely glad this whole debacle is past, for now. Hopefully, our government can begin moving towards more jobs-related actions, since this bill did nothing on jobs or to help the unemployed. There are some signs that Democratic members of Congress already have begun to do so. The entire time this massive debt debate has been going on, the economy has continued to flicker in the background, like some Laurel & Hardy short where the problem seems obvious to everyone but them.

Still, the argument is basically over - but you may not have had the time to dig into the bill as some of us have. Before this subject gets filed away for a little while, we thought we'd give you a quick post-skirmish analysis. Think of this as a Cliff's Notes for the bill that was passed after all that fighting.

To start with, for those on the right who wanted cuts in entitlement programs? They didn't get them. For those on the left who wanted tax revenues from the wealthy, they didn't get what they wanted either.

After digging into the bill, it's fairly easy to see that the Republicans seem to have traded the appearance of winning the politics on this issue for the substance that the Democrats actually gained.

Yes - the bill still has a two-phase process. No, passing a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) isn't a requirement of either phase. Yes, there is a provision for attempting to pass a BBA (which is highly unlikely). Yes, both phases give the power to raise the debt ceiling to the President (even though that power constitutionally is the responsibility of Congress). Yes, both phases are subject to a "vote of disapproval" from the House & Senate, as Sen. McConnell initially proposed. No, neither vote of disapproval is expected to be anything other than a formality.

When all phases are complete, the debt ceiling will be raised to a minimum of $2.1 trillion, but no higher than $2.4 trillion.

After the bill is signed today, about $1 trillion in cuts will be locked in immediately - but the cuts are heavily back-loaded, with most of them not beginning until 2013 or 2014, and not ending until 2022. Only about $22 billion dollars in cuts will come from 2012 spending budgets - the same cuts that President Obama and Speaker Boehner began discussing about a month ago, and agreed on publicly over a week ago.

A committee will be formed, made up of twelve members, six from the House and six from the Senate. Each leader - Reid, Pelosi, Boehner, and McConnell - will choose three committee members. The committee will be tasked with finding $1.2 trillion in debt reduction savings from the Federal budget. There will almost certainly be massive closing of tax loopholes, which is allowed. Some form of tax increases are also almost certain.

If the committee doesn't reach it's goal in finding $1.2 trillion dollars in savings by this Thanksgiving, and Congress doesn't follow the committee's recommendation, then an automatic trigger kicks in, which automatically cuts $1.5 trillion from the budget, half of which would be from defense.

Programs for the poor and elderly, including Medicaid and Social Security, will be exempt from these cuts. Medicare payments to providers could be hit in a small way - but not to Medicare recipients.

In short, this agreement allows Congress to FINALLY get moving on the most important job they've all been avoiding so far, the single biggest thing that could solve both our debt problems and the economy - job creation.

Of course, Congress will get going on that right away... as soon as their FIVE WEEK summer vacation is over. After all their fine work in Washington, be sure to tell them how you feel about their job performance when you get the opportunity.

Get Busy Livin' Or Get Busy Dyin'

As these words hit your e-mail box today, we don't know if there is a final debt and budget deal in place yet for the United States. Yes, a deal was announced last night - but it isn't over until all the votes are counted.

Frankly, we're not sure it matters all that much anymore. Even the head of the International Monetary Fund has acknowledged, America's financial reputation is already severely damaged, thanks to this unnecessary debt & budget debacle. One ratings agency says the deal won't prevent a credit downgrade for the U.S.

What few details about the latest "last ditch" bill that have come out are not promising. The deal will cost jobs, will lose the federal government revenue, and will squeeze the states even further - which will only make things worse at the local level.

As Paul Krugman, one of the smartest economists in the world right now, has said time and time again, we are doing exactly what we should NOT be doing at this point: cutting government spending in the near term. In fact, all the numbers and facts say there will likely be NO better time for America to borrow money - in the SHORT TERM - so that we can usefully and measurably fix our infrastructure, invest in our nation, and plan for long-term debt reduction.

Investing in ourselves would create jobs in the private sector right away, as it always has in the past, which would also help fuel the one sure cure for our long-term debt problem: economic growth.

Of course, doing so would mean both Republican and Democratic leadership, as well as our President, would have to do something they seem to have found impossible the last few years: Tell the political terrorists in the extremist, regressive right to take a hike.

We don't say that hyperbolically. The extremist right has taken a new approach, absolutely not intended by the founders or the Constitution: extortion politics. Why wait and do things slowly, through procedure, when holding a political gun to the head of anyone who disagrees with you is so much faster and easier? That idea sounds really good until it's the guys on the OTHER side trying to shove through legislation that will have long-term negative effects on everyone. Even well-known hyper-conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer says, "...trying to force the issue — trying to turn a blocking minority into a governing authority — is not just counter-constitutional in spirit but self-destructive in practice."

It hasn't helped that our President has acted so weak, stubbornly refusing to understand that his opposition views him as an enemy, not as a partner in governing. Mr. Obama has been "left at the alter" by the GOP so often, the defense that Mr. Obama is "playing 11-level chess" seems far less likely than the fact he's simply, willfully, politically naive.

A feckless media is also to blame, as any insane tea bagger fool can swing around like a monkey on a pole and have every so-called news agency within fifty miles covering them. Meanwhile, when a progressive rally with significant numbers occurs, most of the media doesn't even bother to cover it. There is definitely media bias in America - but anyone who tells you it's liberal is still living in the 1970s.

The final failure has been that of individuals on both ends of the political spectrum. On the left, Democrats grumble, but they still support their President blindly, by ridiculously high margins. Even more responsible for this failure are the Republicans, who conscripted the Tea Party folks into their own political organization - but then failed to control the extremist Tea Bagger movement within the Tea Party.

It's time – long, long, long past time, actually - for Americans to get their lazy asses off their couches, to talk with their neighbors, to educate themselves on the issues, to stop being TOLD what to think by professional bloviators, and to get involved again in governing their country. The extremists MUST be minimized to the proper representation of their numbers in the greater population. The rules must be followed by all parties and individuals - and heavy penalties need to be levied by the offenders' own party to keep political terrorism from becoming the defacto method of governing.

Americans must get busy repairing the economic and political damage that its citizens have allowed over the last thirty-plus years -- or we Americans may as well disband this union-in-name-only of states that we occupy, and sign the death certificate of this great experiment we've proudly called the United States of America.