First rule in debate: Define your terms. Yet when debating the potential of various tax policy proposals on small business and job creation, both sides gloss over the most important term: What, exactly, is a small business?
Archive for June, 2011|Monthly archive page
What, Exactly, is a ‘Small Business’? The Hidden Tale Before Taxes and Job Creation Talks
In 2011, Bureaucracy, Corporatocracy, Democrats, Federal Government, Lobbyists, Politics, Republicans, The Congress, The House, The Senate, Wall Street, Years on June 27, 2011 at 6:25 pm
The Other Strategic Use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Screw the Koch Brothers & Goldman
In 2011, Barack Obama, Big Oil, Bureaucracy, Corporatocracy, Democrats, Federal Government, Koch Brothers, Neo Conservatives, Politics, Tea Party, The White House, Wall Street, Years on June 26, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Last week, the Obama Administration released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve [1]. The stated reason? Relieve high oil prices. The practical way of getting there? Send a loud message to the Koch Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and the small pools of investors that invest with them, that the artificial predictability that they built into the trading of the commodity is now gone.
“Columbo” Star Peter Falk Dead at 83
In 2011, Arts, Entertainment, NBC, Television on June 24, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Peter Falk, the actor who created the role of the brilliant detective who used his rumpled, cigar-smoking, befuddled persona to drive killers to confess their crimes on the Sunday NBC My, died Thursday, according to family sources. Born September 16, 1927, he was 83 years old. Read the rest of this entry »
Mr. Obama is not the 3/5ths President – 50 Years of GOP Addiction to Racism
In 2011, Ann Coulter, Barack Obama, Birthers, Campaign 2012, Democrats, Elections, Fascism, Fox News, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, GOP, Ideologies, Joe Wilson, Mike Huckabee, Neo Conservatives, Newt Gingrich, Partisan News, Political Punditry, Politics, Racism, Republicans, Richard Nixon, Right Wing Talk Radio, Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, Tea Party, The House, The Senate, TIm Pawlenty, Voting, Years on June 23, 2011 at 3:23 pm
The sheepskin of George W. Bush may have said Yale, but the mouthful of “Bushisms,” from the “decider” to “misunderestimated” made him the butt of billions of dollars of “dumb” joke merchandise. Yet, in all of that, not one Democrat in leadership or running against W. took a shot at his staggering lack of intellect.
The same cannot be said for Republicans. The level of acrimony and bile injected into every political thought, particularly in regard to Mr. Obama, is cynical pandering to their core white audience who seem to think that he is the 3/5ths president.
While the media obsessed with Tim Pawlenty’s lack of teeth in attacking Mitt Romney last week, the barb directed at the President was completely missed:
Is Privatizing America’s Public Sector in the Public Interest?
In GOP, Indiana, Legislation, Maryland, New Jersey, Newt Gingrich, Politics, Privatization, Republicans, States, The Congress, TIm Pawlenty, Wisconsin on June 18, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Indiana really is the crossroads of America, politically that is. The state is at the center of privatization, a hot trend for our nation’s Republican governors and mayors. GOP politicians and dominated legislatures sell public resources to the highest private bidder, using extensive, longer-than-long-term contracts. The deals often block the State from modernizing public transit, or placing resources more efficiently to save money. Is privatizing in the public interest? Read the rest of this entry »
The Power of the Big Lie for the GOP
In 2011, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Campaign 2012, Democrats, Elections, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, GOP, Jimmy Carter, Karl Rove, Politics, Republicans, Ronald Reagan, The Congress, The House, The Senate, Years on June 15, 2011 at 12:57 am
Last night, the first Republican Presidential primary debate for the 2012 election was awash with all kinds of interesting factoids that were dead-bang wrong. Illusions. Myths. Mendacities. Lies. They project them. collectively and individually, on the Lee Attwater-amplified theory of using the “Big Lie,” a tactic of extremist governance used throughout history, but most clearly stated by the ultimate Right-wing liar and mad-man, Adolph Hitler.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler defines the use of the same Big Lie that is common to the Attwater-Rove era of Republican dogma:
“[I]n the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.
Like this:
So Over Weinergate
In 2011, Campaign 2012, Democrats, Elections, GOP, Politics, Republicans, Sex Scandals, The Congress, The House on June 13, 2011 at 11:25 am
All the media seems to talk about these days is Congressman Anthony Weiner. He tweeted inappropriate photos. He had inappropriate conversations with women who were not his wife. Was it stupid? Yes. Was it ill-advised? Sure. Should he lose his seat in Congress over it? No way. Read the rest of this entry »
Made In America: Gates’ NATO Slam Is About Selling Death & Destruction, Our Top Export
In 2011, Barack Obama, Bureaucracy, Corporatocracy, Defense Contractors, Democrats, Federal Government, George W. Bush, GOP, Politics, Republicans, The Congress, The Pentagon on June 12, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Last week departing Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates blasted the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance members for their shorting of military spending in the Libyan campaign. He chastised NATO leaders and their governments for a general lack of collective will in Afghanistan as well. Do we need NATO? Emphatically yes. Not because they form a vital link in our own defense, or the defense of the free world. Their members make up one of the few economic growth opportunities that this nation possesses. Orders for ordinance help our economy. Death and destruction are the only major export we have left that has to be “Made in America.” Read the rest of this entry »
To Grow Green, Put Profit in Peace
In 2011, Barack Obama, Corporatocracy, Defense Contractors, Democrats, High Speed Rail, Living, Politics, The Congress on June 9, 2011 at 1:48 pm
America is the leading merchant of death and destruction in the world. The billions in bombs and weapons of varying levels of destruction are our number one export. They have developed, though generations of advanced technologies, many of which do not see their way to civilian application for decades. Instead of incentivizing ground-zero start-ups with no resources, we need to look to our corps of advanced engineers, scientists, and builders that have decades of know-how in the military industrial complex to ramp up our civilian reconstruction.
Weinergate: Bad Press? Costly. Scandal? Politically Fatal. Aiding Andrew Breitbart? Inexcusable.
In 2011, Andrew Breitbart, Democrats, GOP, Media, Media News & Criticism, New Media, Politics, Republicans, The Congress, The House on June 7, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Sex scandals in Congress are the rainbow sprinkles that top the political ice cream for journalists. Every year or so we get one. This month’s flavor is New York’s representative Anthony Weiner. You’ve seen the bulge. The tabloid press in New York, largely backed by the same Rupert Murdoch engine that powers up the Fox News TV machine that uses Weiner as a GOP foil, has shown more photos. The big problem though: Andrew Breitbart was right, not just Right.
Brian Ross
Jane Moss
Deborah Shlian
Latrice Phillips
kennatoney
John Ling
