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Santorum: Ignorant or Liar? We report, you decide.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The article at this link is mainly devoted to documenting Newt Gingrich’s hypocrisy in the matter of supporting American workers while buying foreign made stuff. ABC is asking the Republican candidates to explain the foreign made t-shirts and other doodads that their campaigns are distributed. Newt just hemmed and hawed, but Rick Santorum ran with it:

“Made in the Dominican Republic,” he answered: “It’s tragic that so many products in this country are made outside of this country. And what we have to do is create a different dynamic. I think my policies are very clear that we have to go out and make setting up a business in this country productive.
Unfortunately under this administration and frankly previous administrations we have had had a unfriendly environment, particularly to the textile business.

You probably can find a T-shirt occasionally made in the United States but it’s harder and harder to do. That’s the tragedy. It’s a case in point of the tragedy of those kinds of jobs that should be in the United States but are not.”

Matter of fact, it takes about 3 seconds to find a t-shirt made in this country, as the Google demonstrates. These Republicans really should learn that it’s far easier these days to uncover a lie than it used to be. But then, since the media rarely calls them on their lies, maybe they just don’t care.

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Working geezers = unemployed youth

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Further proof at the link, if any were needed, that Lieberman’s proposal to raise the age of Medicare eligibility makes no sense in financial terms.

One thing that is rarely mentioned when these issues are discussed is the effect that raising eligibility ages has on the young. This is an issue, however, about which the young themselves, and their parents ( I can testify to this) are acutely aware. Many people who have reached the age of 65 are ready and willing to retire and make way for the younger generations. The problem is, they are often not able, and will be even less able under this proposal. Not able to survive on the early retirement benefits that social security pays to early retirees, and not able to pay the cost of private medical coverage. Being rational actors, they do what Joe wants them to do, slave away at their jobs so they can have insurance in case disaster strikes.

Meanwhile, young people entering the labor force are facing the worst job market in years, which will only be made worse by the Liebermandate that we must now work until we are 67 or dead. Rational people, such as Jamie Galbreath, have suggested that it makes more sense to reduce the age of eligibility for these programs. It would be, in effect, a massive stimulus program, getting money into the pockets of both those retiring and into the pockets of the underemployed or unemployed young, all of which, rather than being socked away into some hedge fund manager’s bank account, would be spent, thereby creating economic activity. See here for more on this issue.

On a related issue, David Kurtz at TPM makes the valid and what should be obvious point that all of the debt ceiling plans are being scored for how much money they would save, but none are being scored for how many jobs they would destroy.

Congress has consumed itself arguing and posturing about how to further destroy the economy, but hasn’t spent a minute talking about trying to do anything about the single most important economic problem we face. Since both sides have entered into the austerity debate with gusto, both bear responsibility (in varying degrees it’s true ) for the sorry place in which we find ourselves.

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What’s good for Obama is not necessarily good for the Democrats

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

David Atkins, at Hullabaloo tries to make sense of Obama’s debt ceiling maneuvering, particularly his seeming eagerness, all of his own volition, unasked by the Republicans, to throw Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security under the bus. He notes speculation that Obama is intentionally ticking off his base so he can run as the reasonable centrist while counting on the fact that we have nowhere else to go, and concludes:

But I wouldn’t take that bet. As an activist on the ground, I can see firsthand how dispirited many of our core volunteers are at this stage. How long can the Democratic Party run headlong from its base even as Republicans eagerly rush to embrace theirs, before the liberal base gives up and goes home even if it means Michele Bachmann in the White House? It seems the President and his advisers are willing to test those limits. Time will tell if it blows up in their faces in 2012, or if they are vindicated.

It is always possible, of course, that the “centrists” Obama is reaching for might not be happy about the fact that he would like to doom them to an impoverished old age. It is also possible that a lot of them will, faced with two unpleasant alternatives, decide to sit the election out. The latter seems the most likely scenario to me, but I still think from Obama’s totally selfish point of view (which really appears to be his point of view) the strategy works, because, consistent with the fact he’s the luckiest guy on earth, his opponent bids fair to be someone so crazy that those who do show up will feel they have to vote against her or him. The real destruction occurs down ticket, because the mass in the middle cannot and, particularly given the nature of our media, never will understand that the Republican party is a monolithic structure, and a vote for the Republican candidate from their district is a vote for right wing extremism, no matter what he or she may say in order to get elected. In addition, the districts will be awash in third party money, so you will have a toxic mix of stupidity and propaganda that bodes no good for the hapless members of Congress that did not create this mess and did not propose, for example, cutting social security, but will be nonetheless attacked for being of the party whose president proposed doing just that. It is ironic, but irrelevant, that the attacks will come from people who will proceed to destroy social security should they win.

One conclusion we must be forced to draw: Obama considers being president more important than accomplishing anything, because he is rather deliberately setting the stage for another four years of paralyzed government. In fact, it will be worse than the last four, because the Republicans will have every reason to believe they’ll be able to walk into the White House in 2016, and they will resist handing Obama anything he wants, unless it would work to treat them like the children they are and he asks for the opposite of what he really wants. Regretfully, whoever wins the presidency in 2012, we can probably kiss any chance of getting the corporatist majority on the Supreme Court watered down a bit. There will be no openings until Obama’s next term (or Michelle’s), and when there is, the Republicans will either filibuster his every nomination, or he will nominate someone they have pre-approved. I speculate the latter. No more Sotomayors. Look for someone slightly to the left of Clarence Thomas, with Obama basking in the glow of bi-partisanship when his only slightly right wing nominee gets confirmed.

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Still playing the share the blame game

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Times speaks with two tongues. On the editorial pages, where they are actually supposed to editorialize, they puts the blame for the “deadlock” just where it belongs-on the Republicans. But on the front page where they are supposed to stick to the facts, they editorialize. The headlines says “Both Sides Refuse to Budge” (print edition only), this despite the fact that the Democrats, or should I say Obama, have spent the last couple of months constantly budging.

Is it any wonder that the people of this country don’t have the slightest idea who to blame for their current ills, when the press insists on reporting that all of our problems are caused by intransigence on both sides, despite massive evidence to the contrary?

The Republicans know to expect this, because they have spent decades bashing the press for its alleged bias, and have now trained them to report any inanity the Republicans put out as one half of a he said/she said, with each sides argument, regardless of merit, being accorded equal respect. The process has now been extended to actions. In this case, each side is refusing to compromise, because one side is refusing to compromise. In a sense, I guess it’s true. The Republicans refuse to compromise and, after a series of compromise offers, the Democrats finally say enough. That makes them equal, in the eyes of the press if not in the eyes of a rational thinker.

Update: Paul Krugman agrees.

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My hat’s in the ring, sort of

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Thursday night I was nominated for not one, but two offices in the upcoming local election: town council, and Representative Town Meeting member for the district in which I reside. I agreed to have my name placed in nomination because we did not have enough candidates to fill our slates. So long as a real live human’s name is submitted to the state, we can substitute someone else later on. So I am acting as a placeholder, my personal position, should I be on the ballot come election day, being somewhat Shermanesque: being nominated, I will not run, but if elected, I will consider serving.

During the election campaign, much like the Sage of Monticello, I shall profess indifference, while allowing, as did he, that I will do my duty should I be called out of my own political retirement by a suddenly informed electorate. Unlike him, however, I will not be in constant contact with a Jemmie Madison equivalent, who will handle the dirty details while I maintain the facade of Olympian detachment. No need for facade for me, for as everyone who knows me can attest, I am genuinely detached, if not from ambition, at least from reality.

Still, a decent respect for the opinion of mankind, or, at least, for the sliver of that reprehensible species that resides in Groton, should impel me to inform my fellow Grotonites of where I stand on the vital Groton issues of the day. This I would gladly do, if I had the slightest idea of the nature of those issues, but, alas, I do not. This is a deficiency far more serious in a Democratic candidate than in a Republican, for Republicans know only one issue: taxes; and only one prescription for all our ills: lowering the aforesaid taxes. Thus, any Republican can run for any office at any time with no need to familiarize him or herself with any other issue, or, for that matter, with methods of rational thought.

So, to any of the Groton voters trusting enough to consider voting for me, I offer the following assurance. If elected, I will bone up on the issues and, given the acuity that I have shown so often on this blog, inevitably, in the fullness of time, arrive at the correct position. In the meantime, I will employ a decision making procedure almost as foolproof as applying rational thought to the operative facts: I shall hold my peace until I have determined the position of the majority of the Republicans on the council or RTM, and I will then vote the other way. There may be better decision making strategies for the uninformed, but if there are, I haven’t heard.

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Friday Night Summer Concert

Friday, July 22, 2011

See if you can spot the theme here.

 

A couple of standards. These Drifters are apparently one of many incarnations, but they sound alright to me:

The Spoonful:

And finally, something a little different, but I think we can all agree with the sentiment:

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Grifter leeches, long may they live

Friday, July 22, 2011

Today I got a mailing from Americans for Sarah, A Project of Justice PAC. I hate to admit it, because now my wife will have a comeback when I start kidding her about all the right-wing mailings she’s been getting lately. I like to think that some devious left wing mail order person is selling our names to these right wing groups, just to make them spend money.

But, I digress before I even start.

The interesting thing about Americans for Sarah is that, apart from trying to collect money using her name, it appears to have no actual connection to Sarah Palin. She isn’t, after all, running for president, and the letter I got never really says that she is, and certainly doesn’t state that the group has her blessing to trade off her brand. No, this is just a group that wants me to know that they think Sarah would make a peachy president, specially cuz she drives freedom hating liberals crazy, and they’d like everyone to send them money so they can help her win the Republican nomination that she hasn’t been seeking.

Now, has the world seen the like of this before? Here we have a bunch of grifters leeching off a grifter in whose name they claim to be acting, and it’s all perfectly legal, as far as I can see.

Well, all in all, I say go to it. This is a phenomenon that affects the right wing more than the left (though who knows, maybe Colbert is going to let me down). A few years ago I posted (and don’t ask me to find it) about a group of political consultants who specialized in raising money for no-hope GOP candidates, which candidates got a tiny sliver of the money that was raised. Looks like Americans for Sarah is doing those groups one better, in that it is apparently going to keep every penny, depriving Sarah of sucker cash that rightfully (or wrongfully, depending on your perspective) belongs to her, and every dime sent is one less that can be sent to Michelle, Hermann, or the other crazies that are actually in the race.

My wife takes her petty revenge on the right wing fundraisers by sending the postage paid envelopes back empty. Alas, Americans for Sarah is wise to that gambit. Grifters they may be, but stupid they’re not. If you want your freedom, you have to pay postage.

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I’m a hero

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Someone told my wife that my name appeared on the crawl as one of Colbert’s heroes, in recognition of the fact that I ponied up some money for his Super-PAC. She figured that we’d have it on tape, as I record Colbert every night for our viewing next day, but alas, that was not the case last night, for my only Lion upgrade glitch was EyeTV’s refusal to launch. (Of course, I upgraded first thing, not for me to wait until the glitches are ironed out)

Thanks to a sharp eyed friend, I do have proof of my status, as you can see here. I am actually quite hopeful that Colbert can air some clever ads that will expose Republican perfidy, as he does so well on his show. Certainly the Democrats seem incapable of doing so.


By the way, for any die hard PC fans out there, I solved the Lion glitch in time to tape the repeat at 7:30 tonight

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What did we do to deserve this?

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

I now officially resent the fact that I am going to have to vote for Obama in 2012. I have tried, out of respect for some that I love, to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this tears it:

President Obama announced his support Tuesday for a deficit-reduction plan drafted by a bipartisan Senate group known as the “Gang of Six.” The lawmakers’ proposal promises to reduce the deficit by $3.7 trillion.

The plan, once thought to be too ambitious and too vague to consider seriously, proposes cutting spending, overhauling entitlement programs such as Medicare, revising the tax code and revisiting Social Security.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the lead authors of the plan, said they were surprised by the level of support they received from members of both parties. And with the debt-ceiling deadline looming just two weeks out, the plan may be Washington’s best opportunity for compromise.

As Dean Baker explains it in a post entitled Peter Peterson Promises to Give Up His Social Security in Exchange for Tens of Millions in Additional Tax Breaks:

Okay, that’s not true. Peter Peterson has not promised to give up anything, but he will stand to gain tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in additional pocket change over the next decade thanks to the Senate Gang of Six’s new tax breaks.

In case you missed it, this is how leaders in the Senate reduce the deficit these days. Give more tax breaks to the Peter Peterson and other Wall Street types and then turn around and cut Social Security and Medicare for ordinary working people. For the Senate’s Gang of Six (Democrats Kent Conrad, Dick Durbin, and Mark Warner, and Republicans Tom Coburn, Saxby Chambliss, and Mike Crapo) the biggest problem facing the country was the rich did not have enough money and ordinary working people have too much. Their deficit reduction plan is a big step forward toward addressing this imbalance.

Bad politics and bad policy, all in one big steaming pile of ****.

Meanwhile, Mr. “Yes we can” is lecturing his former followers. It seems that, in reality, no we can’t, and we shouldn’t even try. Read Digby on that here.

The sad truth is that Obama is not playing 19 dimensional chess here. He is looking after his own interests, but in the process he’s taking down the middle class and his own party. It would be a kindness to believe that he’s as naive as Tom Tomorrow portrays him here:

Only a Republican could go to China, and only a Democrat can destroy Social Security and Medicare. Obama has taken aim at both. The Republicans will play along and take electoral advantage of the betrayal. It’s time for some serious pushback from the real Democrats in the House and Senate, but don’t hold your breath.


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Wildlife sighting

Sunday, July 17, 2011

While putting the final touches on my previous post (which I was writing out on my patio) what should come walking through my yard but a coyote. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to get the camera on my Ipad going, he had skedaddled over the road and into a neighbor’s yard, so no footage.

This is the second time a coyote has walked through our yard in the daytime while we were outside quite near it. I made eye contact with this one and I could see that he had no interest in getting to know me better. Being without pets at the moment, we are unlikely to be directly impacted by their predations. In fact, my wife pointed out that the chipmunks that were once so abundant and bold-they would run under our patio table while we were sitting at it- appear to have disappeared. Yes, they’re cute, but when they start residing under your house they are definitely imposing on your good will. So, perhaps we owe the coyotes for their disappearance, in which case I must tender them my thanks.

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