Vote em out!

[MoosePond]

Do those who resist cutting federal spending realize that the federal government is presently spending around $3 Billion Per Day more than they take in? Of course, it's not really necessary to cut spending, we just need each of the approximately 100 million taxpayers in the US to kick in an extra $30 each and every day (above and beyond whatever taxes they're already paying)! Then we'd have a balanced budget. And, if they'd each kick in another $10 per day, in a mere 45 years or so we could eliminate our national debt (a bit longer if we're expected to pay interest). That's not too much to ask, is it? Heck, it's only an extra $14,600 a year per person ($29,200 per couple) in federal taxes to insure that we don't leave our children and grandchildren a big pile of debt. This is truly a way in which each and every taxpayer can pay their fair share of our federal deficit and national debt.

[Rockwood]

Seems some business owners are going out of their way to get publicity over this and it's all bad publicity!
When Massachusetts got Romneycare, people had the same worries and more.


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com App

[manida]

Bob Cesca
The Crazy Base Won't Let the Republican Party Change
Posted: 12/06/2012 3:28 pm

In the wake of the election, there's no doubt the Republican Party is capable of making some adjustments to rebrand itself. If nothing else, the party has demonstrated its proclivity for sloganeering and marketing and there are plenty of ways it can adjust its messaging. But it's obvious to anyone paying attention that the base simply won't allow the party to change in any meaningful way.
The base is deeply encased within the twisted, alternate-reality looking glass that the GOP has been constructing throughout the last three decades: a realm of anger, racial resentment, distrust of government, hatred of immigrants and violently anti-choice misogynists and demagogues. The party has deliberately incited these tendencies via the conservative entertainment complex, as David Frum called it on Morning Joe -- AM talk radio, Fox News Channel and the like -- and augmented it with the generous contributions of wealthy financiers who bankroll everything from astroturf campaigns to the bulk-purchasing of every book-length screed by Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck.
The problem this creates, of course, is that the Republican Party has been consumed by misinformed idiots with no substantial connection to the real world, and the first post-election PPP poll only serves to amplify this conclusion.
First, the good news. Fifty-six percent of Republican voters aren't really interested in seceding from the United States.
Wait. Isn't that kind of low given the seriousness of topic?
The bumper-sticker party of "these colors don't run" -- the party that practically branded the notion of American patriotism during the previous decade -- is only around half-sure that it doesn't want to totally abandon the United States it heretofore claimed to love so much. The other half is split between still making up its mind on secession and totally wanting to secede right away.
As I've written before, we can only regard this as fair-weather patriotism. More than that, it's just dumb. Perhaps there's a big steaming chunk of wishful thinking on the part of the secession supporters, but the process of secession presents a huge obstacle: it's simply impossible.
For a significant demographic cross-section of the party, softening on issues like immigration and reproductive choice is more obscene than the impossible task of disconnecting from the Constitution and forming a separate nation.
But wait. There's more.
The PPP study asked Republican voters why they thought President Obama was reelected. Thanks to the ex-morning-zoo-deejays and television screechers in the conservative entertainment complex, half of all Republicans think the president stole the election. Actually -- correction -- the president didn't directly steal the election. Half of all Republicans told PPP that ACORN stole it for him. 49 percent of Republicans believe ACORN, the evil nonprofit organization, rigged the election for the president somehow.
Good news and bad news on this one.
The good news first: the percentage of Republicans who think ACORN stole the election is down by three percent from 2009 when 52 percent thought ACORN prevented John McCain and Sarah Palin from winning the election.
Here's the bad/hilarious news: ACORN ceased to exist years ago following a conspiracy of videotaped lies by Andrew Breitbart and James O'Keefe; a scam that was picked up by Republican leadership in Congress where the organization, which didn't break any laws, was stripped of federal funding. After it was too late, the U.S. Government Accountability Office determined that the Breitbart/O'Keefe videos were heavily edited and that no federal funds were misused and no laws were broken. But ACORN was killed by a conspiracy of lies and slander anyway.
And now, years following its wrongful death sentence, ACORN is still being unjustly and inexplicably accused of stealing elections, and it's all because the base is entirely disconnected with facts and reality -- a disconnection that's reinforced in almost every sphere of right-wing influence.
Anyone who thinks the Republicans are capable changing is just as delusional as the secessionists and conspiracy theorists who compose the GOP's base. The far-right entertainment complex is so deeply and inextricably woven into the life-support system of the Republican Party, it's nearly impossible to extract the crazy-cells without killing the host.

[manida]

Republitard

Mitch McConnell filibusters himself after Dems call bluff

Republican Mitch McConnell was forced to filibuster his own proposal after Democrats called his bluff on the debt ceiling.


Senate negotiations took a strange turn on Thursday when Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was forced to filibuster a vote that he had called for himself.

It started when McConnell demanded an up or down vote on a measure that would allow the president to have more authority in raising the debt ceiling.

According to the Huffington Post, McConnell was betting that some Democrats would vote against the move, "which would have allowed McConnell to portray President Barack Obama's desire for such authority as something even Democrats opposed."

He also hoped it would show disunity among Democrats.

But Democrats soon realized a way to turn the tables and decided to call McConnell's bluff, saying that voting for a permanent solution to the debt ceiling was the fiscally responsible thing to do.

“Our downgrade of America’s credit rating was not based on the state of our economy but the debt-ceiling debate,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D) of Illinois told the Christian Science Monitor after the vote.

“We are paying dearly for that already. So the Republicans are creating a situation which makes reducing the debt and deficit extremely difficult by creating this uncertainty about the debt ceiling.”

McConnell was forced to turn around and say "I object," filibustering his own suggestion.

"What we're talking about here is a perpetual debt ceiling grant, in effect, to the president, " McConnell said. "Matters of this level of controversy always require 60 votes."

Sixty votes are required to end a filibuster during debate on a bill and to hold a vote.

Democrats seized on the irony of the situation and used the opportunity to call for reforms of the filibuster process.

"I don't know how the Republicans can say they're not abusing the filibuster after what we saw on the floor today," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told the Huffington Post.

"It's somewhat comic, but sad as well, that we've reached the point where Sen. McConnell will not even accept a majority vote on his own measure."

According to the Washington Post, Thursday's vote was the first major test of whether Democrats will remain united behind the idea that the President should control the debt ceiling rather than Congress.

The debt ceiling is about to make another big appearance after the 2011 debate that brought the government a breath a way from its first-ever default.

The proposal that McConnell ended up filibustering in fact originally came from the president, reported the Christian Science Monitor. President Barack Obama essentially asked the Treasury Department for the power to raise the debt limit without interference from Congress, the newspaper said.

The Monitor reported that under this proposal Congress would have 15 days to pass a joint resolution of disapproval. The president could then veto their disapproval and require Congress to override his veto with 60 percent majorities in both bodies.

[speedlever]

Pay their fair share? Doesn't appear so.

http://news.yahoo.com/hey-fat-cat-un...GFnZQ--;_ylv=3

[cdepuydt]

Originally Posted by speedlever

Pay their fair share? Doesn't appear so.

http://news.yahoo.com/hey-fat-cat-un...GFnZQ--;_ylv=3

Yeah, they pay no taxes, but they have no qualms about trying to influence the fiscal cliff negotiations:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/u...-politics.html

I found this kind of interesting. A tax calculator that gives you an idea of how the various tax proposals will directly affect you.

http://calculator.taxpolicycenter.org/

I found it interesting because it varied so much. One plan had me paying almost $4000 less and one plan had me paying almost $7000 more per year. I bet you can guess which plan had me paying more.

If I have to pay$7000 more per year, plus the "mandates" I will be paying because of Obamacare, on top of what I already pay...well, put it this way...I will be driving my truck for a few more years, I will be working for a few more years because I won't be able to retire when I want, and I guess the kids can always go to local community colleges.

[B43]

I guess it's not just me, but I do hate it when I see my own words put to print like this. Someone should be punished for plagiarizing my ROC posts.

And I want to personally thank Andrew Breitbart for showing James Carter III the power of the hidden video camera.

Originally Posted by manida

Bob Cesca
The Crazy Base Won't Let the Republican Party Change

The problem this creates, of course, is that the Republican Party has been consumed by misinformed idiots with no substantial connection to the real world, ...

... the Breitbart/O'Keefe videos were heavily edited and that no federal funds were misused and no laws were broken....

[cdepuydt]

Better stock up on those medical supplies now:

http://news.yahoo.com/irs-finalizes-...7--sector.html

Just another example of how sh!tty this bill is written...if you buy tongue depressors and latex gloves for...say a craft project...no addional tax. But, if you buy them for "medical use" they are taxed at a higher rate. Wow, what a POS!

[B43]

Obama should take the Constitutionalists at their word, invoke the 14th Amendment and just raise the Debt ceiling...

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/...e-Constitution

In the wake of the Civil War, the government wanted to make clear that loans to the US government were still good (while Confederate debt would not be honored). Accordingly, the 14th Amendment includes the following provision: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law... shall not be questioned.”

[25 Year Honda Owner]

Interesting article of Food Stamps. Seems like the eligibility requirements have been raised so that many more are now eligible.

http://townhall.com/columnists/linda...ate/page/full/