Even Fox Flummoxes Fiorina

Posted by TomCat at 1:50 am Politics

Oct 182010

Carly Fiorina has proven her worth by taking a once fine company and driving it to the doorstep of bankruptcy. It should therefore be no surprise that she’s a perfect fit for the party of no, especially no new ideas. But she was so intent on misrepresenting the old Republican standard of destroying the safety net for millions of Americans, that she could not even handle the softball approach of Chris Wallace.

Touting her outisde, business-executive saavy, GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina (R-CA) constantly chants the GOP mantra to cut government spending. She even released a budget plan last month intended to prove that she’d “rein in out-of-control government spending.” But, in telling her constituents that she will cut government spending, Fiorina seems undaunted by one minor fact: she has no idea how.

Today on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace gave Fiorina a chance to lay out her actual plan. Touting her “tough, bottom-line business executive” motto, Wallace pointed out that Fiorina also wants “to extend all, all the Bush tax cuts which would add $4 trillion dollars to the deficit…where are you going to find $4 trillion dollars to cut?” But when Fiorina retreated to recycled response of government waste and an earmarks ban, a frustrated Wallace begged Fiorina seven times to “name one single entitlement expenditure you’re willing to cut” because “that’s where the money is.” Fiorina’s only response? “You’re asking a typical political question”…

…Watch it:

… In fact, the only “solution” Fiorina has offered is to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — an agency that does not yet exist… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

What wallace wanted to do here was to get Fiorina to support slashing our safety net, because that’s what Faux Noise has been touting in its role as Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda. Of course that’s what Fiorina intends to do, but she does not want voters to know that. She did say one positive thing and that is to provide a tax cut for R&D spending, but I can only surmise that she lied. Fiorina goose-steps in lock step with fellow Republicans, and they have already filibustered and blocked such a proposal.

We should not be surprised at the one cut she did suggest. Republicans are afraid of Elizabeth Warren.

Freedom of the Press, Republican Style

Posted by TomCat at 1:49 am Politics

Oct 182010

Who can forget the campaigns of 2004 and 2008 when Crawford Caligula and McConJob kept their audiences pure by refusing access to anyone who might criticize them. When it comes to the press, the Republican Senate nominee runs from them at an obtuse angle. But the Alaska Senate nominee has set the bar for defining freedom of the press, Republican style.

Security guards for Alaska senate candidate Joe Miller handcuffed and detained the editor of the online magazine "Alaska Dispatch" on Sunday while he tried to interview the Republican nominee, according to multiple reports.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that Tony Hopfinger, who founded and edits "Alaska Dispatch," was arrested by Miller’s private guards at an Anchorage school. The senate hopeful was on hand as part of a town hall event.

The firm that handles Miller’s security says that Hopfinger shoved a man, but Hopfinger claims that he only pushed back at a guard after the guard began pushing him.

According to an article at the website for "Alaska Dispatch," Hopfinger was warned that he would be charged with trespassing if he did not cease asking questions and leave the premises.

Hopfinger had been trying to ask Miller questions when two or three guards told him to leave or risk being charged with trespassing… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Huffington Post>

I have never been to a Democratic campaign rally where people, let alone press, were excluded due to their political views. If Republicans take power, the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Fox, may be the only ones with access.

Open Thread – 10/18/2010

Posted by TomCat at 1:48 am Open Thread, Personal

Oct 182010

Yesterday was a day of …um… religious meditation, but I did reply to comments and returned visits, before the games started. We received a donation from Marva Dasef. Thank you so much. I may fall behind today, because my ballot arrived in the mail, and I have some additional research to do on some of the ballot measures.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:32. To do it, click here. How did you do?

Religious Agony:

DenWeek6

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: U.S. Sen. John McCain’s daughter said Sunday that Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell of Delaware, a tea party favorite, is seen by many young Republicans "as a nut job."

Unless she follows her father’s example by selling out her principles, Megan has no future in the Republican Party.

From Think Progress: Jerry Mayotte, executive vice president of the Greater Hudson Chamber of Commerce, announced last Friday that his group is leaving the U.S. Chamber because he does not want to be associated with the national Chamber’s political ads in favor of Republican candidates.

Kudos to those folks from NH. More local chamners should follow suit.

From Alternet: Citing unnamed Iraqi government officials, current and former members of the Awakening and insurgents, the newspaper said that although there were no firm figures, hundreds of fighters appear to have rejoined Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia in recent months.

It looks like this Petraeus plan is failing too.

Cartoon:

OGIM!

Choose: Jobs in the US or Jobs Elsewhere?

Posted by TomCat at 2:04 am Politics

Oct 172010

Republicans keep blaming Democrats for the jobs shortage, ignoring the facts that, although the Clinton Administration is also to blame, the primary causes of the job shortage stem from the Bush Regime, and Republicans continue to support outsourcing. Every American has a choice to make. Where do we want jobs to be created? Democrats want to create jobs here in the US, because that will benefit the American People. Republicans want to create jobs in China, or anywhere else where a government is willing to allow the exploitation of their citizens’ labor for slave wages, because that benefits greedy corporations and the richest 1% of Americans.

US President Barack Obama said on Saturday he wants to create tax incentives for businesses that innovate and create new jobs.

Americans hold up "I want to work" placards as they join a protest of several thousand people demanding jobs outside City Hall in Los Angeles in August 2010. US President Barack Obama has said he wants to create tax incentives for businesses that innovate and create new jobs.

"I want to give every business in America a tax break so they can write off the cost of all new equipment they buy next year," the president said in his weekly radio address. "That’s going to make it easier for folks to expand and hire new people."

The comments came after US government data showed the US economy shed 95,000 jobs in September just weeks ahead of key mid-term elections.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6 percent from August.

Obama also said he wanted to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent as job creation depended on promoting new ideas and technologies.

He also said he wanted to provide a tax cut for clean energy manufacturing in America.

But Obama criticized previsions in the US tax law that give billions of dollars in tax breaks to companies that create jobs and profits in other countries, saying: "I want to close these tax loopholes."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Alternet>

A Crooks and Liars, I found a link to Obama’s video.

That should make it a clear choice. You can support Republicans, but unless you are very rich, buy lots of Vaseline for your nether region. You’ll need it. You can whine that the parties are the same and not vote or throw away your vote. That’s the same as supporting Republicans. You’ll need the same Vaseline. Or you can elect Democrats, even if you have to hold your nose to do it. Unless you are a criminal corporation or a member of the uber-rich, the only people Republicans truly represent, the Democratic plan for jobs or for ____________ is better for you than the Republican plan. Fill in the blank with whatever you want. The validity remains.

Vote!

What America Needs to Learn from France

Posted by TomCat at 2:04 am Politics

Oct 172010

When Sarkozy was first elected, I worries that he would try to dismantle the standard of living that social democrats had achieved for France’s citizens. My fears were well founded as that’s exactly what he is doing, but unlike Americans, who seem content to either sit on their hands or buy into Republican brainwashing and blame the wrong people, the French are expressing their outrage.

The battle over a planned overhaul of France’s pension system has intensified as rolling strikes cut the fuel pipeline to Paris airports and shut down most of the country’s oil refineries.

In an attempt to pummel the government into backing down on its controversial plans to raise the retirement age, a broad alliance of unions, leftwing political parties and students are pressing ahead with a series of nationwide protests.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to join the nationwide protests on Saturday, just days ahead of the final government vote on the reforms on Wednesday. Unions are also promising a major strike on Tuesday in a final attempt to stop the legislation.

The protestors were to march from the Place de la Republique to the Bastille in Paris.

The country has already endured four straight days of strikes, squeezing fuel supplies, grounding flights, cutting rail services and closing schools and other key facilities… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

Even in the 1960s, US demonstrators were not so disruptive. There was violence, but it was almost always police attacking demonstrators. But then, we had passion that seems to be missing today.

If Democrats maintain majorities, I think they will become more responsive to progressive needs. They no longer have an incentive to support business as usual for corporate criminals, because that constituency has shifted entirely to the Republican camp and is spending hand over fist to put Democrats out of office. Only a handful of extreme DINOs are getting corporate support these days. But if Republicans take over the government, we’d better be ready to imitate the French to stop Wall Street from strip mining us.

Hats off to the people of France!

Open Thread – 10/17/2010

Posted by TomCat at 2:03 am Blog News, Open Thread, Personal

Oct 172010

Yesterday was a hectic day. I replied to comments and returned visits. Then, to my great surprise, I received an email from PayPal that Lisa G had discovered our Donate button, which I installed a month ago today, under the duress of threats of physical harm and, even worse, the MOM voice. I thought I had successfully hidden it. ARGH! Thanks to both Lisa and Nameless (SoINeedAName) for their generous contributions, which will pay for hosting for the next year and more. I also discovered (thanks to Lisa) that the Cartoon site I have been using is no longer free to blogs to publicize their site, so I managed to locate another site that is. It’s a slow day for news, but it’s a holy day for the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb and the Broncos/Jets service will be televised here, so I’ll be deep in meditation.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:54. To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From About.com: An oldie but a goodie!

From Rebellious Pixels: Love this one!

Cartoon:

Followest thou the Orb?

I’ve Got the No COLA Blues

Posted by TomCat at 4:24 am Personal, Politics

Oct 162010

For the second year in a row there will be no COLA increase for Social Security recipients. My cost of living has gone up. In the last two years, my rent has increased 9.1%. My Medicare Advantage plan has increased 15.4%. My bus pass has increased 30%. My grocery store expense has increased 23.9%. I’ve heard rumblings that the Obama administration is cooking the books, but that’s not true. The COLA is based on the CPI. If the CPI goes down, Social Security benefits do not decrease. They stay the came until the CPI catches up and increases again. That’s what has happened. The CPI took a nosedive in late 2008 and early 2009, because home prices collapsed due to the Republican recession. It is still below where it was when Social Security Recipients received a COLA for 2009. It has stayed lower for several reasons. Housing prices remain depressed. People are buying more inferior merchandise from abroad that costs less. Fed fiscal policy is set to keep the dollar artificially low to benefit banksters. According to Bloomberg, the $US has dropped to a 15 year low against the yen.

16InflationJuly2010

President Obama will press Congress to send a one-time payment of $250 to senior citizens to help them get through another year without an increase in their Social Security benefits, White House officials said Friday.

The renewed call for those payments came shortly after the Social Security Administration announced that millions of retirees and disabled workers would see no cost-of-living adjustments for the second year in a row, a result of the low U.S. inflation rate.

Yet seniors are struggling through the current economic downturn, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday, and they can’t rely on their savings because of poor investment earnings.

The $250 Economic Recovery Payment would be akin to a similar benefit paid out by the federal government last year. That payment helped offset last year’s static Social Security rate for about 50 million recipients, according to the White House.

The idea met with support from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who says the House will vote in November on a measure to provide the payments to Social Security recipients. News about the Social Security rate is just the latest piece of bad economic news — not just for seniors but for Democrats trying to keep their majorities in next month’s midterm election.

But the plan faces opposition in the Senate, which defeated a similar measure last year, and among Republicans concerned about long-term funding of the Social Security system.

"It will be difficult for many seniors to deal with the lack of a COLA [cost of living adjustment] for a second year in a row, but that will pale in comparison to the actual hardships future Social Security recipients will experience if Congress continues to ignore the program’s underlying financial problems," said Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee. "We must put Social Security on a path to long-term solvency, and the sooner we do so, the better it will be for both taxpayers and beneficiaries alike."

Every year, the government automatically adjusts Social Security payments based on the nation’s inflation rate. For an increase in payments to occur, consumer prices must be higher than when the last increase was awarded, according to the Social Security Administration… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <LA Times>

The $250 would help. It will almost cover my rent increase of Republicans don’t block it. Isn’t it hypocritical that Republicans want to give the average rich person a new Mercedes, but would deny the cost of a muffler to America’s seniors?

Rupert to Investors: Go Fox Yourselves!

Posted by TomCat at 4:24 am Politics

Oct 162010

When Rupert Murdoch met with Newscorp investors, they grilled him on the fair and balances donations to the RGA and the US Chamber of Outsourcing for attack ads against Democrats. When they asked for input, he told them, in effect, to go Fox themselves. As frustrating as this situation is, there may yet be a silver lining.

In June, Fox News’ parent company News Corporation gave a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association. This evening, IRS disclosures reveal that News Corporation gave another check, time for $250,000, bringing his total donation amount to $1,250,000. Other donors include Bill Koch, who donated $100,000, Swift Boat-funder Bob Perry, who gave $3.5 million, and right-wing casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who gave $1 million to the Republican campaign group.

News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch recently stated that he directed his company’s donation in order to help his friend John Kasich, the Republican nominee for governor in Ohio… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Keith Olbermann covered the story with Chris Hayes.

This demonstrates even more that Faux Noise is nothing but the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda. Our best course of action is to Turn Off Fox News. I won’t do that completely, because I use it for enemy research and for listing advertisers, which I call and object to their supporting Fox with their advertising. But I did get Fox News turned off in the lobby/dining area of a motel, where I recently stayed.

Cenk Ugyur wrote an editorial on the upside to all this corporate support for Republicans.

In the past, corporations and rich donors were savvy enough to split their giving to both political parties so that both sides would have a financial incentive to protect them. Yes, they might lean more to the Republican side, but they gave enough to the Democrats to get them properly motivated to look out for corporate interests.

This is what has led to the two parties playing good cop-bad cop with us for the past 30 years. Republicans are the bad cops who rough up the middle class and the Democrats come in to sooth you over as they pretty much go along with very similar "pro-business" policies.

But now there is an important change in that dynamic. Multinational corporations seem to have pushed their chips all in on the Republican side. The Chamber of Commerce is planning to spend $75 million in these elections and 85% of it will go to Republicans.

Of course, there is a huge downside to this for the average American. The Republicans have an enormous financial advantage because of this and many other "independent" groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS piling on money collected from some of the richest people in the country. This is their class warfare to make sure the top 1% and their tax cuts are protected. And they seem to have chosen a very good time with the anti-incumbent feeling in the air so strong and the economy hurting so much.

So, what’s the upside? Well, they’ve given Democrats no incentive not to fight back (which is their usual M.O. in the good cop-bad cop games they’ve been playing until now). Now that the Democrats feel significantly endangered and there is no good argument for holding back, it’s game on.

If the Democrats manage to hold on, for the first time in a long time they would have an incentive to fight back against a system that is rigged in favor of the rich and the powerful. Because those same folks just declared war on them. If they don’t join the battle soon, they are going to get wiped out in 2012. If you thought business interests spent a lot of money in this election, wait till you get a load of 2012.

To be clear, of course not all business interests are nefarious. They are a very legitimate constituency to consider when making policy. But when corporations use their power to kill a bill that would have stopped subsidies for offshoring jobs, then that is exactly the kind of abuse of power that is hurting this country. And that just happened last month… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Huffington Post>

Cenk has made a great point here. I’m sure that some DINOs are too set in their ways to change, like the Nevada Leg Hound. Harry Reid will hump Republican legs, until they pry him off the last one to put him in his casket. But now we have a fantastic argument to get support from our Representatives and Senators for progressive issues. They may be all we have, but we are the only thing that can keep them in their jobs.

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