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From Jindal Admits Katrina Story Was False by Zachary Roth:
Looks like the game is up.Read the rest here.
Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night -- about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims?
Turns out it wasn't actually, you know, true.
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The way we were.
From From One-Party Rule to Cry-Baby Caucus by Greg Saunders:
To sum up the last eight years, we’ve had one-party rule in Washington D.C. which had “fiscal conservatives” feeling entitled to spend taxpayer money like drunken sailors (which exacerbated the very fiscal crisis that the current Congress is trying to address). When the minority party tried to insert themselves in the legislative process, they were not only shunned completely, but the GOP leadership would shut down meetings until they left, hold open votes for hours until they got the results they wanted, and would actually call the police to have Democrats removed from meetings. Where the HELL do these guys get off complaining about partisanship?
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From Rush Announces Female Listener Summit to Discuss EIB Gender Gap:
So we'll have a female summit, with breakout groups discussing and reporting back to me over several intervals in time as we try to ascertain what I must do to attract women. Isn't this much the same as what our conservative intelligentsia has asked, "What do we do to attract the Hispanic voters? We have a huge ethnic gap in the Republican Party," they would say. So we'll do that. I don't know if we'll do it tomorrow because we got Obama's big speech tonight, but we might. So, you ladies be on standby. Be ready at any moment for me to declare the summit officially underway, and we will take calls only from women who want to seriously discuss the proposition of this giant gender gap that I have, and what I could do to close it. In other words: What could I do to attract a higher favorability rating among more women in America? I own the men, and what must I do now to own women? And who better to ask than women? Including some of those who may agree that that I'm unfavorable. So stand by for that.Perhaps the first two women that Limbaugh should try to win over are Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. He thinks that Hillary “sounds like a screeching ex-wife" and that Chelsea is a dog.
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The extreme right wants you to bring your biggest guns to their tea party. Their idea of democracy is a strange one. The losers in an election have the right to incite violence against the winners. How civil of them. How insane.
From Good Odds that Rupert Murdoch Will be Responsible for the Next Timothy McVeigh or Assassination Attempt by Mark Karlin:
Yes, with the civil war talk on the program of the recently acquired FOX News demagogue, Glenn Beck, inflammatory talk by Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh's nativist rants that equate Obama to something akin to an amalgamation of Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler, the right-wing media is stirring up the dangerous angry white male resentment to a dangerous frenzied pitch.
And we all know where that ended up with Timothy McVeigh and the militia movement of the '90s, which was enabled by the right-wing media barons -- such as Rupert Murdoch -- to create a literal armed militia movement against the government of the United States.
But when the armed angry white males decide to act because of the Murdoch/Limbaugh et al. incitement to rise up ringing in their ears, the blood will be on the hands of Rupert and his fellow right-wing corporate media barons -- and he won't be sorry for it."Glenn Beck is one bizarre right-wing-nut."
He'll only feel one thing: Mission accomplished.
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From Bobby Jindal's moment in the spotlight by Ewen MacAskill:
He was born and raised a Hindu, but converted to Catholicism and also has links to Protestant churches. Unusually for a Rhodes scholar, he believes in creationism, a viewpoint that increases his appeal to Christian evangelicals.
Jindal's politics are firmly on the Republican right: he is opposed to abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay marriage and the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling.
One of the most controversial incidents from his past was a claim to have witnessed an exorcism, though he has since partly rowed back on that.
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John Boehner reacting to the Obama Budget:
On Tuesday, the president called to Congress to make fiscal responsibility a priority, and Republicans agree. That’s why it’s ironic that on the very next day, House Democrats would pass a $410 billion appropriation bill, 8 percent above last year’s levels, and including some 9,000 earmarks. I think we’ve just got to admit it. We’re broke, and we can’t continue to pile debt on the backs of our kids and grandkids. The president campaigned against wasteful spending, and he ought to veto this bill.Perhaps Boehner doesn’t think that any Americans make less that $250,000 dollars a year. What a bonehead Boehner is. Obama wants to cut taxes for those Americans that make less than $250,000. Stop lying, Mr. Boehner. The American public is tired of all the lies.
As you know the president sent his budget to Congress today. Middle class families are making sacrifices and cutting their expenses. It’s time for Washington to do the same. We need to do that by stopping out-of-control federal spending.
The American people know that we can’t tax and spend our way to prosperity. That’s just the formula that appears the president’s budget is relying on. The era of big government is back, and Democrats are asking you to pay for it. The administration’s plan -- I think, it’s a job killer, plain and simple. And it raises taxes on all Americans while we’re in the middle of a recession.
Tax increases for the wealthy -- those individuals making more than $200,000 and families whose incomes are over $250,000 -- wouldn't kick in until 2011, Obama's budget director said Thursday, rejecting charges that the administration is raising taxes during a recession.
"That's just factually wrong," budget director Peter Orszag told reporters. "We're not doing that."
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Here is some of what Mary Matalin said on the Today Show this morning:
I, I, well, this is a different kind of presidency, isn’t it? Although these are old-timey policies, the likes of which, though, at this, of this magnitude we’ve never seen. And to pay for this, we are going to not just raise taxes on the rich — two-thirds of whom are small business owners who create three-quarters of all the jobs — but now we’re gonna eliminate tax deductions for that same class of people. We are absolutely going to discourage investment, savings, job creation, and we’re going to — he says he’s gonna reduce the deficit, cut it in half, which is still a greater deficit than George Bush ever had. It is, it is jaw-dropping. That’s a good word for it, Meredith.Old-timey policies? What the hell does she mean by that?
On MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews did not challenge former Gov. Robert Ehrlich's false suggestion that President Obama's proposal to let the Bush tax cuts for wealthy taxpayers expire would increase taxes on a large percentage of small businesses. In fact, Obama has proposed raising marginal income tax rates and reducing income tax deductions for individuals earning more than $200,000 per year and for couples earning more than $250,000 per year, and according to the Tax Policy Center, just 2 percent of tax returns that reported small business income in 2007 are in the top two income tax brackets, which include all filers with taxable incomes that would be affected.
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From Anyone Have Smelling Salts? by Tom Flynn:
Last post, I mentioned one brave legislator’s campaign to strip obsolete but discriminatory language from the Arkansas constitution that bars atheists from holding public office or testifying in court. On Feb. 17, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty—a legal advocacy group that usually comes down in favor of accomodation between church and state—sent a letter to the Arkansas legislature coming out foursquare in favor of amending the state constitution.Read the rest here.
How about those smelling salts? Just pinching myself doesn’t seem to do the trick.
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Good God Almighty, I actually agree with something David Brooks said. Ready the smelling salts, I’m feeling faint.
From Republicans, Democrats criticize Jindal's speech by Beth Fouhy:
Insane. Childish. Disaster. And those were some of the kinder comments from political pundits about Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and his response to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress on Tuesday night.
David Brooks, a conservative New York Times columnist who has criticized aspects of the stimulus plan, nonetheless called Jindal's arguments "insane" and tone-deaf given the dire economic challenges the country faces.
"To come up in this moment in history with a stale, 'Government is the problem, you can't trust the federal government' is just a disaster for the Republican Party," Brooks said on PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." "It's not where the country is, it's not where the future of the country is."
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Barack Obama had "Reagan-esque" moments last night? Then why do Booby Jindal and the rest of the Republicans hate him so much?
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Do we all believe in the same God?
Overall I liked Obama’s speech last night. Here is my least favorite part:
God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.I voted for Barack Obama. He is supposed to represent me, as well as all the other atheists in the United States. It is my audacious hope that atheists will one day not have to listen to supernatural verbiage from any politician ever again.
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Do we all share the same values?
Overall I liked Obama’s speech last night. Here is my favorite part:
To overcome extremism, we must also be vigilant in upholding the values our troops defend, because there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. And that is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists, because living our values doesn't make us weaker. It makes us safer, and it makes us stronger.I trust that when the president says “our values” he means the “values” that are the exact opposite of the “values” of George W. Bush. That is my audacious hope. Telling lies, killing people, invading other countries, taking from the poor to give to rich, ignoring people in desperate need, and so on, are not my values.
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From Banker in Obama speech recognized for his generosity:
More than two dozen guests joined first lady Michelle Obama at the president's speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night.
One person on the first lady's guest list was Leonard Abess Jr., a Miami banker who received a $60 million bonus from the proceeds from the sale of shares of City National Bank in Florida and gave it out to his 399 workers and 72 former workers.
During his speech, President Obama said Abess didn't tell anyone about his generosity, but when the local newspaper found out, Abess simply said, "I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself."
Abess demonstrates the kind of "responsibility" the president has called for from high-profile financial CEOs, the White House said.
Obama contrasted Abess' story with the greed that he said got the country into the problems it faces now.
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Wall Street needs to have some very bright sunlight shone on it.
From Commentary: Investigate Wall Street by Julian E. Zelizer:
Partisan warfare in the 1990s, including the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton, made many Americans cynical about congressional investigation, as it seemed to be just another tool in the bitter culture of Capitol Hill.
But Congress can help us learn. We need another Pecora Commission, another Fulbright Committee, another Sam Ervin to use the power of Congress to shed light on the causes of our current economic meltdown.
Congress needs to learn more, not only about the kind of criminal activity for which Bernard Madoff is being charged, but also the legal practices -- such as risky home loans -- that created dangerous bubbles and put families at risk.
If voters and politicians are going to be able to evaluate legislation that is being proposed on a weekly basis, citizens must understand what has gone wrong.
This will be the first step toward restoring the confidence that the country needs if it is to start a better day.
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From Penny Stocks? Small Change For Big-name Companies:
_ General Motors shares have fallen from $30.30 to $2.22, less than the cost of a standard spark plug (about $3.79).
_ New York Times Co. shares have fallen from $24.27 to $3.95, cheaper than the $4 cost of its Sunday edition.
_ General Electric Co. shares fell from $30.30 to $9.08, cheaper than a GE two-slice bagel toaster at Wal-Mart, selling Tuesday for clearance price of $12.
_ Office Depot is down from $38.27 to $1.26, less than a 12-pack of medium point Papermate BallPoint Stick Pens that run $1.89.
_ US Airways has fallen from $53.89 to $3.66, less than the current $4 cost of two in-flight coffees.
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Where was Rick Santelli when the banks and mortgage lenders were promoting and practicing bad behavior? Would Santelli have favored a computer voting system allowing all Americans to vote on all the issues when Bush was president? Why does Santelli think that commodities traders (or are they stock traders?) represent America? When was the last time you saw someone driving a ’54 Chevy? Was it fueled by water? Why are the anchors (or whatever they are) encouraging Santelli? They refer to the National Guard, the police, and the mob behind him. The weird woman anchor even tries to stage outrage. It falls flat. Why the hell are they doing that? Isn't it against the law to incite a riot?
Does Santelli remind you of the loud, belligerent drunk at your local bar?
There have always been people who could not afford their homes. There have always been foreclosures. This wasn’t a problem in the not so distant past. The lenders themselves minimized the number of foreclosures by being responsible lenders. It became a problem when the number of foreclosures skyrocketed. The lenders themselves encouraged people to take risky mortgages. They had become greedy, and in the process they had become irresponsible lenders. (And no, I don’t think it was the government that caused this, although they could have prevented it.) People like Rick Santelli want to blame everyone except the banks and the mortgage lenders. Are they really that innocent? In other words, the lenders used to deal with the “losers” (Santelli’s word, not mine) pretty effectively. What changed? Was there a sudden increase in “losers” or did the lenders simply allow more “losers” to participate?
The problem with foreclosures becomes worse when they spread like a contagion. Pretty soon everyone becomes susceptible, even if they don't become infected. Doctors try to stop the spread of infectious disease. Obama is trying to stop the spread of foreclosures. Mr. Santelli should not be so arrogant to think that he is immune from this. Given enough time, perhaps even he will become infected. If this happens, my guess is that he will come running to the government for help, just like the investment banks and the automakers have done. No one and no thing is too big to fail. That includes Rick Santelli. (And no, Mr. Santelli, that is not a threat.)
I really don’t know if what Obama is trying to do is the right thing to do. I am willing to give it a chance. I am also willing to give a little now if it means that I don’t have to give a lot (or everything) later. At least Obama is proposing something more than “rebate” checks (I call them bribes) and cutting taxes as a solution. It is a fact that certain American municipalities are in dire straits because of foreclosed property. Foreclosed property is already costing all of us money. Why isn’t Santelli talking about that?
For a very long time the government (and a portion of our tax dollars) has helped those that are less fortunate than the rest of us. Once upon a time the majority of Americans thought this was a good thing. Maybe since many of them had lived through the Great Depression and World War II they had a first hand knowledge of hardship and sacrifice. In other words, they knew what it was like to suffer, and therefore did not like to see other people suffer.
Rick Santelli has no soul and no heart. I’ll let you decide about his brain.
Update:
From This is not your father's country anymore by Jack Cafferty:
This is not your father's country anymore. And we had better all start getting used to it.Right-wing-nut inspired riots or shared national sacrifice. Which will it be? Kill your neighbor or help your neighbor? Which will it be?
On the bright side, our history shows that times of shared national sacrifice have resulted in our greatest national achievements. It's been a very long time since we have been called upon to make any kind of serious sacrifice. We were overdue until one day in September, when Lehman Brothers collapsed. We're not overdue anymore.
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