The NRA has only 4.3 million members. Why does the tail wag the dog?
Omission: Boehner, under the mistaken impression that he has backing from his own party to pass his 'Plan B', says that President Obama will have to sign it or veto it. Mr. Boehner seems to forget that the Senate would have to pass his ridiculous plan, which ain't gonna happen.
Assignment: Define and describe how the children in Newton, CT differ from the children routinely killed by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, in Pakistan and Yemen and Somalia and other places. Why is it that they have no names, no pictures, no candles or flowers or teddy bears? Why do we feel no sorrow, no guilt? Maybe the scope of gun control discussions should be widened.
Fraud Alert: Those who insist on including Social Security in any deficit reduction discussions are con men. Social Security is solvent for many years to come thanks to its Trust Fund. The fact that Bush and the Republicans took those moneys and gave them to the rich via tax cuts does not invalidate the bonds held by the Trust Fund. If they will not raise taxes to pay that money back, they are committing theft and should be jailed.
Kick 'em While They're Down: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appear to have lost over $3 billion through the big banks' manipulation of Libor interest rates. Now that USB has agreed to pay a $1.5 billion fine, it would seem like a good time to sue the bastards.
Noted: According to the Agriculture Department, in 2010 20% of households receiving food stamps had no cash income.
Failure Succeeds: QE's I-III and doing The Twist While Quantitatively Easing did not perk up the economy or increase jobs (it decreased the unemployment percentage by driving away portions of the labor force), so the Fed is going to do more easing, indefinitely. Just be glad it wasn't castor oil and beatings. And don't worry about inflation when (and if) the Fed has to dump all those overpriced assets. It's pretty sure it can do so without higher inflation, economic collapse, civil strife and … oh, wait.
He's Baaack! Former Italian PM Berlusconi, warming up to be the power behind the throne come Spring, said: "If Germany doesn't accept that the ECB must be a real central bank, if interest rates don't come down, we will be forced to leave the euro and return to our own currency in order to be competitive."
Guns & Butter: Here's what at steak stake as Obama joins the Republicans in undermining Social Security via “chained-CPI': the cost of living increases will assume that when prices go up, retirees will switch from all-meat catfood to the cheaper grain-based, meat-flavored brands. This will let the country Congress divert even more Social Security funds to the arms industry.
Repeat: Another Al Qaeda 'second in command' has been captured, this one in northern Algeria where he supposedly oversaw activities in the Maghreb.
In The Beginning: The New Orleans school board, in open defiance of Bobby Jindal's efforts to completely pervert education in Louisianna, has banned both textbooks and teachers that "present creationism or intelligent design as science," as well as textbooks based on the strange version of history ( the Trail of Tears was God's way of bringing Christ to heathens) mandated by the esteemed Texas legislature. It's a start.
Porn O'Graph: Housing recovery, the view from over there.
The Parting Shot:
4 comments:
Re: NRA
The tail wags the dog because the 4 million members are irrelevant -- what's relevant is the corporate backing of the largest weapons industry in history.
Ah, yes. Follow the money... Why did I think it was about votes... ckm
Just a couple of things to 'fix' it. No more Capital Gains, and no cap on SSN income.
Do you think we would hear the explosion from Tulsa?
Off topic, but I wonder how much we spend on the farce of ABM defense, including the floating golf ball radar platform and money hole? Or the whiz-bang F35 Cashrocket II, but shhhhh (it's invisible)!
«how the children in Newton, CT differ from the children routinely killed by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, in Pakistan and Yemen and Somalia and other places.»
Ahhh interesting argument.
I used exactly the same argument with people who said that poor people have a moral right to free health-care, and it is monstrous to let them die in the gutter though lack of health-care insurance just because the rich don't want to pay higher taxes.
The argument is that if the poor of the USA have that right, then the poor or Aghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, etc. also have that right, and ACA/Medicare/Medicaid should be extended to the poor outside the USA.
Putting political arguments in moral terms can have vast consequences...
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