We've never been big on excuses here at The Daily Felltoon. If we screw up, we'll cop to it - and if someone or something else fails in our production chain, we'll let you know about that too.
Sadly, we know we're not the norm these days when it comes to that kind of integrity. There are examples-a-plenty, from DC, New York, and many areas across the Northeast today.
The excuses from DC are sadly the exact same ridiculous problems, caused by the exact same arrogant and ignorant politicians, that almost blew up the world economy at the beginning of August. Once again, the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have purposely tanked another Continuing Resolution (in Washington-speak, a "C.R.") - and once again have put the Federal government on the verge of shutting down.
Long and short, Democrats wanted to help their fellow Americans in the Northeast who are still trying to recover from Hurricane Irene and the unusual earthquake near DC. Republicans, meanwhile, were trying to use the temporary spending bill to push ideological measures down everybody else's throats.
Of course, this is after the top Republican "leaders" in Congress tried to bully Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke into doing NOTHING to help the economy.
These are the same DC Republicans who excuse their own abusive and destructive actions with the same lies they've been telling for years.
To add injury to insult, in addition to dealing with the usual excuses and lies coming from that corner of Washington, folks in the Northeast may find themselves paying more this year for pumpkins for their jack-o-lanterns, or for pumpkin pies.
Hurricane Irene didn't just leave flood damage from New Jersey to Vermont She also destroyed a large number of pumpkins in the Northeast - meaning Northeastern produce buyers have been desperate to find pumpkins anywhere else in the country they can bring in.
Maybe they should try growing them in trees, like they do in Iowa.
Sadly, while these stories have all received some media coverage over the last twenty-four hours, the national media - which is primarily based out of New York City - has almost completely ignored a massive story right on their own streets - literally.
The Occupy Wall Street protests are now going into their fifth day - yet there's been no major media exposure for an event that most of the national networks could cover by sticking a camera out their sixth- floor studio windows. So far, the event has turned out considerably smaller numbers than the twenty thousand that protest organizers had hoped for. Still, the numbers for this protest are already far bigger than many ridiculous Tea Party protests that major media outlets have blanketed before - and the protestors are vowing to camp out indefinitely.
All this, yet... all that the major media outlets are giving the public on this story are excuses why they're not covering the story.
There are many things we can excuse in life - like the possibility that we may not be able to enjoy pumpkins in our DC location this Halloween.
However, the actions of Republicans in DC or the inaction by major national media in New York are things we just can't excuse - and we hope you don't either.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Winning At All Costs
As our longtime readers know, we generally despise the use of the 'politics as sport' metaphor that seems to run rampant through the media. A couple of times a year, though, we drag out our best sports and politics cliches from the old locker, and give it our best college try - which is what we're doing today. That's more than we can say for the current Republican Party.
To say the GOP is looking ugly for 2012 has nothing to do with their appearance.
To start with, President Obama's latest plans to tackle both jobs and the debt already have the support of significant majorities of Americans. Even worse for partisan Republicans heading into an election year, Congressional poll numbers are sinking somewhere below the Ohio State football team's poll numbers - and Americans are more unhappy with Congressional Republicans than they are Congressional Democrats.
The GOP playbook also seems to be all out of winning formations. It's obvious the go-to Republican technique of saying no to everything won't work anymore, with the trigger threat hanging over their heads. Bigotry and class warfare also seem to be headed for the bench.
To top it all off, their fans - Republican voters - don't seem too happy with any of the potential "team captains" running for the GOP 2012 Presidential nomination.
With all those factors against them, it doesn't surprise us at all that Republicans are trying to cheat the system, and change the rules.
The political right has already curbed early voting in multiple states, made it harder to register new voters, rolled back voting rights for ex-cons who have already done their time, and even eliminated voter registration groups like Acorn. Where they can, Republicans have tried to rig federal congressional redistricting processes to make Democratic-leaning districts disappear and give Republicans an unfair advantage.
In Texas, GOP arrogance led to them getting caught already in political hanky-panky.
Republicans' biggest unethical move for 2012 appears to be a direct assault on the Electoral College - from both sides of the ball.
In Pennsylvania, Republicans are attempting to change the way their state tallies votes for President. Their state GOP is trying to sell the idea that a system like Nebraska's and Maine's - a proportional system - would better represent the voters in Pennsylvania. While that may be true, it's also no secret their real intention is to try to use that proportional system to give Republicans more electoral votes overall - an idea that could backfire.
In Nebraska, the state GOP is claiming exactly the opposite as their teammates in Pennsylvania - that Nebraska should go back to being a "winner take-all" state in the Electoral College. The Nebraska Republican Party is even threatening with political excommunication any Republican state senator who dares to stand up for the state's current method of apportioning Electoral College votes.
If these were old-fashioned, sane, moderate Republicans, this kind of unprincipled, amoral spiking the ball would be called what it is - cheating - and would never be tolerated.
Of course, if the current Republican Party was controlled by old-fashioned, sane, moderate conservatives, they never would have gotten themselves into this mess in the first place.
To say the GOP is looking ugly for 2012 has nothing to do with their appearance.
To start with, President Obama's latest plans to tackle both jobs and the debt already have the support of significant majorities of Americans. Even worse for partisan Republicans heading into an election year, Congressional poll numbers are sinking somewhere below the Ohio State football team's poll numbers - and Americans are more unhappy with Congressional Republicans than they are Congressional Democrats.
The GOP playbook also seems to be all out of winning formations. It's obvious the go-to Republican technique of saying no to everything won't work anymore, with the trigger threat hanging over their heads. Bigotry and class warfare also seem to be headed for the bench.
To top it all off, their fans - Republican voters - don't seem too happy with any of the potential "team captains" running for the GOP 2012 Presidential nomination.
With all those factors against them, it doesn't surprise us at all that Republicans are trying to cheat the system, and change the rules.
The political right has already curbed early voting in multiple states, made it harder to register new voters, rolled back voting rights for ex-cons who have already done their time, and even eliminated voter registration groups like Acorn. Where they can, Republicans have tried to rig federal congressional redistricting processes to make Democratic-leaning districts disappear and give Republicans an unfair advantage.
In Texas, GOP arrogance led to them getting caught already in political hanky-panky.
Republicans' biggest unethical move for 2012 appears to be a direct assault on the Electoral College - from both sides of the ball.
In Pennsylvania, Republicans are attempting to change the way their state tallies votes for President. Their state GOP is trying to sell the idea that a system like Nebraska's and Maine's - a proportional system - would better represent the voters in Pennsylvania. While that may be true, it's also no secret their real intention is to try to use that proportional system to give Republicans more electoral votes overall - an idea that could backfire.
In Nebraska, the state GOP is claiming exactly the opposite as their teammates in Pennsylvania - that Nebraska should go back to being a "winner take-all" state in the Electoral College. The Nebraska Republican Party is even threatening with political excommunication any Republican state senator who dares to stand up for the state's current method of apportioning Electoral College votes.
If these were old-fashioned, sane, moderate Republicans, this kind of unprincipled, amoral spiking the ball would be called what it is - cheating - and would never be tolerated.
Of course, if the current Republican Party was controlled by old-fashioned, sane, moderate conservatives, they never would have gotten themselves into this mess in the first place.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Class Warfare, Math - And Who Will Win In The End
As expected, President Obama announced a budget reduction and revenue generation plan yesterday as a companion piece to the American Jobs Act he announced a week and a half ago. Even before his Rose Garden presentation on Monday, the heads of many in the GOP began to explode in rhetorical flames, as they cried out that President Obama's proposal to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires was class warfare.
The President was prepared for their false cries, and he threw their lie right back into their faces. “This is not class warfare,” Obama said. “It's math.”
President Obama's right. Since 1950, American businesses grow FASTER when the top level of taxes is HIGHER. It's not a direct causal relationship - meaning higher taxes don't automatically mean faster growth. It is, however, a fact that Republican claims that lower taxes always equal faster growth are complete lies.
That's not the only lie those on right are spewing as they desperately try to fight the facts of the President's math.
As the non-partisan CBO mentioned this summer, if Congress simply does nothing – something the current GOP-led House is incredibly good at doing – by sometime around 2018, the federal budget will balance. That inaction would absolutely cause massive problems for the Medicare and Medicaid programs, among other government services Americans expect - but the federal budget would be balanced.
Unlike the Tea Party Republicans at the last GOP debate, most Americans don't generally think letting people without health insurance die is a good idea. In fact, most Americans - by a three-to-one margin - have NO problem raising taxes on those in our society who can afford it the most.
It's obvious that President Obama has gotten that message from the American people loud and clear. His tax and budget plan would include a tax for millionaires and billionaires - a tax that would affect less than three tenths of one percent of Americans. In a country of over 310 million people, when you can help 309 million by slightly increasing the taxes of less than one million of the wealthiest individuals, it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that decision is a no-brainer.
Yet, the Republicans are claiming the President's entire plan is class warfare.
Let's make sure everyone understands the math. The President and 75% of the American people - including one of the richest Americans in the world, Warren Buffett - want the rich to pay a little more (which they can easily afford), while the middle and working classes get to keep many of their current tax breaks. Since the middle and working classes will spend more of their money sooner, that would boost our economy faster in the short term. This plan could also allow us to make sure doctors get more of their Medicare and Medicaid payments, and help pay down America's debt - which will help keep interest rates low when the next growth boom happens, which is a benefit to every American.
Meanwhile, Republicans and conservatives and the other 25% of Americans want MORE tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, which they CLAIM will bring jobs to America. If their claim had any weight behind it, the unemployment rate in America should be at a record low, since Americans are playing less taxes proportionately than they've paid in over sixty years.
Point blank, Republican math about the President's latest plan is wrong in virtually every way we can imagine. Maybe they need some time with a high school math teacher we used to know who hung meat hooks on her walls as motivation to get the answers right. Or as political reporter and McLaughlin Group regular Eleanor Clift once told right-wing politico Pat Buchannan, “Class warfare is when we burn down your houses, Pat."
Either way, if it's a war the richest Americans and the Republican Party want, they need to remember: the most important math is that there are millions and millions more Americans who agree with the President on his plan than there are those who stand with Republicans and the rich.
It may burn the GOP's hide - but both the odds and the facts are simply not in their favor.
The President was prepared for their false cries, and he threw their lie right back into their faces. “This is not class warfare,” Obama said. “It's math.”
President Obama's right. Since 1950, American businesses grow FASTER when the top level of taxes is HIGHER. It's not a direct causal relationship - meaning higher taxes don't automatically mean faster growth. It is, however, a fact that Republican claims that lower taxes always equal faster growth are complete lies.
That's not the only lie those on right are spewing as they desperately try to fight the facts of the President's math.
As the non-partisan CBO mentioned this summer, if Congress simply does nothing – something the current GOP-led House is incredibly good at doing – by sometime around 2018, the federal budget will balance. That inaction would absolutely cause massive problems for the Medicare and Medicaid programs, among other government services Americans expect - but the federal budget would be balanced.
Unlike the Tea Party Republicans at the last GOP debate, most Americans don't generally think letting people without health insurance die is a good idea. In fact, most Americans - by a three-to-one margin - have NO problem raising taxes on those in our society who can afford it the most.
It's obvious that President Obama has gotten that message from the American people loud and clear. His tax and budget plan would include a tax for millionaires and billionaires - a tax that would affect less than three tenths of one percent of Americans. In a country of over 310 million people, when you can help 309 million by slightly increasing the taxes of less than one million of the wealthiest individuals, it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that decision is a no-brainer.
Yet, the Republicans are claiming the President's entire plan is class warfare.
Let's make sure everyone understands the math. The President and 75% of the American people - including one of the richest Americans in the world, Warren Buffett - want the rich to pay a little more (which they can easily afford), while the middle and working classes get to keep many of their current tax breaks. Since the middle and working classes will spend more of their money sooner, that would boost our economy faster in the short term. This plan could also allow us to make sure doctors get more of their Medicare and Medicaid payments, and help pay down America's debt - which will help keep interest rates low when the next growth boom happens, which is a benefit to every American.
Meanwhile, Republicans and conservatives and the other 25% of Americans want MORE tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, which they CLAIM will bring jobs to America. If their claim had any weight behind it, the unemployment rate in America should be at a record low, since Americans are playing less taxes proportionately than they've paid in over sixty years.
Point blank, Republican math about the President's latest plan is wrong in virtually every way we can imagine. Maybe they need some time with a high school math teacher we used to know who hung meat hooks on her walls as motivation to get the answers right. Or as political reporter and McLaughlin Group regular Eleanor Clift once told right-wing politico Pat Buchannan, “Class warfare is when we burn down your houses, Pat."
Either way, if it's a war the richest Americans and the Republican Party want, they need to remember: the most important math is that there are millions and millions more Americans who agree with the President on his plan than there are those who stand with Republicans and the rich.
It may burn the GOP's hide - but both the odds and the facts are simply not in their favor.
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