One of our staff members recently got a new iPhone - along with quite a few other people we know - and the thought that bounced around for us today is that modern technology has given us some pretty incredible developments. With those advances in technology come a lot more numbers than we ever used to deal with.
For example, a pile of polling results were dumped in the laps of the media yesterday. Apparently, New Yorkers - even Republicans - back the Occupy protesters at a 3-1 rate over the bankers on Wall Street. Ninety percent of New Yorkers think it's "okay" that that Occupiers are protesting.
If you'd prefer earnings numbers, Citigroup on Monday announced a third-quarter profit of $3.8 billion, up 74%. For a company American taxpayers bailed out three years ago, things don't seem all that tough on Wall Street these days.
There were even Pew Research Study numbers that have finally proven, once and for all, that the media is no longer liberal. When Sarah Palin gets favorable media coverage more than 30% of the time, while President Obama receives less than 10% favorable media coverage on average, anyone who claims the media leans left is neither fair nor balanced.
The strangest number we've seen lately, though, happens to be GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan - which sounds disturbingly like a Godfather's Pizza special, instead of a governing, tax, and budget theory.
Every legitimate examination of Cain's plan that we've seen says it would be a disaster for the Federal budget, and even worse for poor and working class Americans. In short, it would turn the current tax code on its head, and bury everyone but the wealthy with higher tax rates. The 9% sales tax alone would destroy many on the bottom rungs of our economic ladder, who find it difficult to even pay for a pizza.
Put bluntly, if your state and local sales tax is already 9%, Cain's idea would add another 9% on top of that.
Cain even admits it would raise taxes on the middle and lower classes - and yet for some reason, he still thinks Americans will rally around his plan, even after they figure this out. Maybe Cain should use a technological development known as "YouTube" to see exactly how large chunks of Americans feel about the wealthy being taxed less, while the rest of America has to suffer.
Somehow, we're not entirely surprised at Cain's feigned ignorance of facts regarding his own 9-9-9 plan.
His ties to the right-wing corporatist Koch brothers are well-known, through the misleading and mockingly named group "Americans For Prosperity." Cain's 9-9-9 plan would heavily benefit groups like AFP, companies like Koch Enterprises, as well as extremely wealthy individuals like the Koch brothers - and even Cain himself.
Even with all the numbers, statistics, and technology we've talked about today, the one constant that still hasn't changed is this: as long as nearly unlimited money is allowed to control our political process, the person who has the most money in most elections wins ninety four percent of the time.
If it takes you longer than thirty seconds to figure out that isn't an example of a properly functioning democratic republic, we're not sure anyone can deliver you from your sad state of delusion.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
We Have Yet To Reach The Promised Land
We hope you had an enjoyable weekend - or at least got the chance to spend some time outside.
If you did get outside, maybe you saw still expanding growth of the Occupy protests. They seem to be happening everywhere these days - in Minneapolis, in Lincoln, in Omaha, in DC, and in places all over the world. The media continues to focus on both the peaceful arrests of protestors, and the occasional violence - like in the protests in Italy - because many in the media still don't seem to understand what the protests are all about.
Sadly, it appears that much of the media would rather focus on the political garbage being flung about as the 2012 election battles begin to take shape.
The real issues that are behind all of the anger of the Occupy protestors are things that some groups of Americans have been facing since well before the days when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington - the kind of extreme economic inequality that takes away any real chance to succeed for millions of Americans.
The issues of jobs and justice were exactly what Dr. King was fighting for when gave his historic "I Have a Dream" address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial nearly fifty years ago.
In Washington, DC this weekend, there was another march for those same reasons - The Justice and Jobs March. Many of the Occupy protestors joined that march - and, we feel, rightfully so.
President Obama continues to beat the drum for jobs, much as he has in one way or another since before he ever took office. Lately, his focus on jobs has become a near-deafening pounding to those who are listening to what the American people actually care about.
While writing legislation is the job of the Legislative Branch, this President did the job that Congress either refused to do or was incapable of doing. He wrote, had scored, and delivered complete, a jobs bill to Congress, so that they could debate it and maybe solve the problems of some of those millions of Americans out of work.
Disgustingly, Republicans in Congress wouldn't even discuss allow the bill to be debated, as they stalled the bill in Senate procedures last week - further proving that their priorities are politics, not helping their constituents.
The President remained unbowed, however, much as Dr. King did in his struggles for racial justice. The President said in his weekly address, that he'll now begin pushing Congress to vote on each piece of his jobs bill, one by one if he has to, beginning with teachers and first responders, like police, fire, and medical personnel.
At the dedication of the monument to Dr. King, President Obama also reminded everyone of the odd similarities between then and now.
He said, "It is right for us to celebrate today Dr. King’s dream... yet it is also important on this day to remind ourselves that such progress did not come easily... it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone. Progress was hard. Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses. It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats. For every victory during the height of the civil rights movement, there were setbacks and there were defeats.
"Our work is not done... First and foremost, let us remember that change has never been quick. Change has never been simple, or without controversy. Change depends on persistence. Change requires determination... when met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr. King refused to accept what he called the “is-ness” of today. He kept pushing towards the “ought-ness” of tomorrow..."
"We can’t be discouraged by what is. We’ve got to keep pushing for what ought to be, the America we ought to leave to our children, mindful that the hardships we face are nothing compared to those Dr. King and his fellow marchers faced 50 years ago, and that if we maintain our faith, in ourselves and in the possibilities of this nation, there is no challenge we cannot surmount."
If you did get outside, maybe you saw still expanding growth of the Occupy protests. They seem to be happening everywhere these days - in Minneapolis, in Lincoln, in Omaha, in DC, and in places all over the world. The media continues to focus on both the peaceful arrests of protestors, and the occasional violence - like in the protests in Italy - because many in the media still don't seem to understand what the protests are all about.
Sadly, it appears that much of the media would rather focus on the political garbage being flung about as the 2012 election battles begin to take shape.
The real issues that are behind all of the anger of the Occupy protestors are things that some groups of Americans have been facing since well before the days when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington - the kind of extreme economic inequality that takes away any real chance to succeed for millions of Americans.
The issues of jobs and justice were exactly what Dr. King was fighting for when gave his historic "I Have a Dream" address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial nearly fifty years ago.
In Washington, DC this weekend, there was another march for those same reasons - The Justice and Jobs March. Many of the Occupy protestors joined that march - and, we feel, rightfully so.
President Obama continues to beat the drum for jobs, much as he has in one way or another since before he ever took office. Lately, his focus on jobs has become a near-deafening pounding to those who are listening to what the American people actually care about.
While writing legislation is the job of the Legislative Branch, this President did the job that Congress either refused to do or was incapable of doing. He wrote, had scored, and delivered complete, a jobs bill to Congress, so that they could debate it and maybe solve the problems of some of those millions of Americans out of work.
Disgustingly, Republicans in Congress wouldn't even discuss allow the bill to be debated, as they stalled the bill in Senate procedures last week - further proving that their priorities are politics, not helping their constituents.
The President remained unbowed, however, much as Dr. King did in his struggles for racial justice. The President said in his weekly address, that he'll now begin pushing Congress to vote on each piece of his jobs bill, one by one if he has to, beginning with teachers and first responders, like police, fire, and medical personnel.
At the dedication of the monument to Dr. King, President Obama also reminded everyone of the odd similarities between then and now.
He said, "It is right for us to celebrate today Dr. King’s dream... yet it is also important on this day to remind ourselves that such progress did not come easily... it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone. Progress was hard. Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses. It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats. For every victory during the height of the civil rights movement, there were setbacks and there were defeats.
"Our work is not done... First and foremost, let us remember that change has never been quick. Change has never been simple, or without controversy. Change depends on persistence. Change requires determination... when met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr. King refused to accept what he called the “is-ness” of today. He kept pushing towards the “ought-ness” of tomorrow..."
"We can’t be discouraged by what is. We’ve got to keep pushing for what ought to be, the America we ought to leave to our children, mindful that the hardships we face are nothing compared to those Dr. King and his fellow marchers faced 50 years ago, and that if we maintain our faith, in ourselves and in the possibilities of this nation, there is no challenge we cannot surmount."
Friday, October 14, 2011
Friday Funday: Fun With Family
There are a whole host of reasons why everyone on our staff enjoys both weekends and traveling, but one of the most important reasons is when we get to combine the two so that we can see our family, whatever that means these days.
This weekend, some of our extended cartooning family will be conveniently located near the Mall of America, in Minneapolis, for the Fall meeting of the North Central Chapter of The National Cartoonists Society. Another part of our family will be in Washington, DC, where the official dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial will be happening.
We're willing to bet that - like us - you've also got some friends you've known so long and so well that they're more like family than anything else. If the crazy stories you have from spending time with your "chosen family" are anything like the stories we have, we imagine that your tales are filled with laughter, love - and things you can't actually publish if you'd ever hope to get another gig. [Bucky - we're lookin' at you.]
The family we choose in life is almost more important than that in which we've been brought up. These are the people we bring into our homes and lives - and this weekend, some of them are people we'll be sharing with you, our readers.
If you're lucky enough to be in the Minneapolis area this weekend, we invite you to come out and see some of our family at the Midwest Comic Book Association FallCon. Stephan Pastis of "Pearls Before Swine", John Hambrock of 'The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee", Jerry Van Amerongen of "Ballard Street", as well our own wonderful editorial cartoonist, Paul Fell, will be there. Frankly, the entire membership of the North Central Tooners are incredibly talented people you might know - and we hope you get a chance to meet some of them this weekend.
If you're lucky enough to be in DC, the events around the Tidal Basin at the dedication of the MLK memorial should be beautiful, and include some folks you might also know, like Aretha Franklin, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Vice President Biden, and a guy one of our staff members calls his old boss - although we'd recommend that you call him President Obama.
No matter where you are this weekend, we hope that you take a moment and give thanks for your family of all kinds, whether they're the ones who chose you, or they're the 'family' that you've chosen.
Sure, there may be members of your extended family that occasionally make you want to grab the duct tape, and "assist" them to be quiet.
Just remember - they're family, and in a shorter time than you know, you'll all be strewn to the four winds again, back in your own homes... and wishing you had more time to spend with them again.
We hope you will enjoy your weekend as much as we will.
This weekend, some of our extended cartooning family will be conveniently located near the Mall of America, in Minneapolis, for the Fall meeting of the North Central Chapter of The National Cartoonists Society. Another part of our family will be in Washington, DC, where the official dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial will be happening.
We're willing to bet that - like us - you've also got some friends you've known so long and so well that they're more like family than anything else. If the crazy stories you have from spending time with your "chosen family" are anything like the stories we have, we imagine that your tales are filled with laughter, love - and things you can't actually publish if you'd ever hope to get another gig. [Bucky - we're lookin' at you.]
The family we choose in life is almost more important than that in which we've been brought up. These are the people we bring into our homes and lives - and this weekend, some of them are people we'll be sharing with you, our readers.
If you're lucky enough to be in the Minneapolis area this weekend, we invite you to come out and see some of our family at the Midwest Comic Book Association FallCon. Stephan Pastis of "Pearls Before Swine", John Hambrock of 'The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee", Jerry Van Amerongen of "Ballard Street", as well our own wonderful editorial cartoonist, Paul Fell, will be there. Frankly, the entire membership of the North Central Tooners are incredibly talented people you might know - and we hope you get a chance to meet some of them this weekend.
If you're lucky enough to be in DC, the events around the Tidal Basin at the dedication of the MLK memorial should be beautiful, and include some folks you might also know, like Aretha Franklin, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Vice President Biden, and a guy one of our staff members calls his old boss - although we'd recommend that you call him President Obama.
No matter where you are this weekend, we hope that you take a moment and give thanks for your family of all kinds, whether they're the ones who chose you, or they're the 'family' that you've chosen.
Sure, there may be members of your extended family that occasionally make you want to grab the duct tape, and "assist" them to be quiet.
Just remember - they're family, and in a shorter time than you know, you'll all be strewn to the four winds again, back in your own homes... and wishing you had more time to spend with them again.
We hope you will enjoy your weekend as much as we will.
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