I’m still down and feeling like I should be buried in the deepest corner of my kitty box. Nevertheless, I could not ignore today’s international holiday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:07 (average 4:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From NY Times: A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concludes that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture” and that the nation’s highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for it…
Click through for much more. This is what would happen if there were a criminal investigation into the Republican War Crimes committed by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al. It is years past due.
From Alternet: It’s a sign of how well relentless propagandizing works that Joe Stiglitz has to devote a lengthy op-ed in the New York Times to debunking the idea that our income tax system, whose salient characteristic is low tax burdens for the rich, is good for anyone other than the rich. Economists have increasingly taken note of the fact that the US experiment in lowering taxes produced the opposite of the outcomes that were claimed for it, namely, spurring growth and increasing incomes in all cohorts (the barmy “trickle down” theory). Cross-country comparisons show that advanced economies with higher growth rates, like Germany, typically tax their wealthy more, showing that high taxes on the rich are not a negative for growth. Instead, giving tax breaks to the rich has turbo-charged rentier capitalism…
Click through. The class warfare propaganda, inflicted on America by the Republican Party, needs to be debunked again and again and again.
From Right Wing Watch: On a recent "Faith and Freedom" radio broadcast, Matt Barber and Mat Staver were discussing the current Religious Right outrage over an Army Reserve briefing [faux noise dekinled] in which "Evangelical Christianity" was listed among various kinds of "religious extremism."
A spokesperson said the slide was not produced by the Army and was removed and the person responsible for it has apologized, but Staver and Barber know who is really to blame: the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Staver is correct that this is like what happened in Nazi Germany, except that it is Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians that are dehumanizing gays, Muslims, and others, and in the case of gays, are even sponsoring their murder by the Ugandan courts. Talk about projection! There is only one reason SPLC designates groups as hate groups; they are groups that spread hatred.
Cartoon:
…why Democrats should not follow through with Republican plans.
5 Responses to “Open Thread–4/17/2013”
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"From Alternet: It’s a sign of how well relentless propagandizing works that Joe Stiglitz has to devote a lengthy op-ed in the New York Times to debunking the idea that our income tax system, whose salient characteristic is low tax burdens for the rich, is good for anyone other than the rich. Economists have increasingly taken note of the fact that the US experiment in lowering taxes produced the opposite of the outcomes that were claimed for it, namely, spurring growth and increasing incomes in all cohorts (the barmy “trickle down” theory). Cross-country comparisons show that advanced economies with higher growth rates, like Germany, typically tax their wealthy more, showing that high taxes on the rich are not a negative for growth. Instead, giving tax breaks to the rich has turbo-charged rentier capitalism…"
Oh I do so agree! – Perhaps I take more notice of Germany than most as my brother in law is German, so perhaps I tend to notice what might pass others by – but they are doing sooo well and they get value for their taxes!
3:30 I think I burned my buns today.
3:03 I can smell that nice French bread now! Fresh bread, fresh cheese, fresh cured ham, fresh fruit and a bottle of French table wine — that is what my lunches consisted of when I went to France. I went to the market daily so everything was so fresh, so good!
4:15 It is only fitting that you win on your Big day, Lynn. Happy belated! And many more!
Puzzle — 3:03 I can smell that nice French bread now! Fresh bread, fresh cheese, fresh cured ham, fresh fruit and a bottle of French table wine — that is what my lunches consisted of when I went to France. I went to the market daily so everything was so fresh, so good!
NY Times — Many have thought that Baby Bush, Chickenhawk Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz at all should have been charged with war crimes and tried at The Hague for a very long time, myself included.
“damaged the standing of our nation" — that is a term in my business for Reputational Risk when assessing Operational Risks.
Mr. Jones said. “We lost our compass.” Just a tad understated!
Alternet — I always like that old Republican/Teabagger chestnut that the 1% are the job creators.
And Dorothy kept clicking her heels and saying "There's no place like home." in this case Kansas. Well that ain't so! The so called job creators add nothing to the economy except pain and suffering for middle and working income earners.
Right Wing Watch — Cry me a river! Talk about projection! These idiots say they are being discriminated against, when in fact it is they who are doing the discriminating. What a bunch or ignorant nimrods!
Cartoon — I turned 9 years old that day and remember hearing the rhetoric flying between the US and the USSR. It was such that we had air raid drills and "duck and covers" for nuclear attacks. I remember one one speech by Nikita Kruschev when I thought he was going to pop a gasket he was so fired up.