January 24, 2013
Colbert on Gerrymandering: Republicans Are Giving America The Finger
Tuesday night on The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert summed up Republican congressional district gerrymandering with a visual approximation…
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January 23, 2013
It’s Cold, Conservatives Are Bored, Commence Al Gore “Jokes”
It’s the dead of winter. Much of the country is in a deep freeze. And apparently conservative commentators and your annoying Facebook pals are bored. Now that “war on Christmas” mode has lapsed, we find ourselves knee-deep in “global warming can’t be real because it’s cold outside” mode.
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January 20, 2013
My Laughable Solution To Fix The Senate Filibuster: The Mainstream Media
It appears Harry Reid, in longstanding Democratic (with a capital D) fashion, is losing his nerve when it comes to substantive filibuster reform. Since it seems we will not get the filibuster reform in the Senate that is required to make Republicans accountable, I suggest an alternate solution — the mainstream media.
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January 16, 2013
Gun Violence: Obama Says ‘This Time Must Be Different’
Today President Obama showed he is willing to spend great political capital by making gun control the top priority of his second term. In introducing a comprehensive plan to curb America’s gun violence, Obama said, “[t]his time must be different.”
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January 11, 2013
The Debt Ceiling Has One Purpose – Extortion
Even though Republican lawmakers, Fox News pundits and conservatives at large believe the debt ceiling puts a limit on federal spending, that doesn’t make it so. The debt ceiling (or limit) is a 1917 law (part of the Second Liberty Bond Act) that gave the executive branch power to take on debt without congressional approval. So it sounds like Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are right when they say President Obama wants to do away with the debt limit so that he has the free rein to spend all he wants, right? — Wrong! Only congress can authorize new spending. However, it is up to the Treasury Department to actually pay the bills, and Treasury is part of the executive branch. And when the federal government is running a deficit, that means some bills are paid by loan (government bonds).
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January 7, 2013
GOP Opposition To Chuck Hagel For Defense Secretary
I’m not endorsing Chuck Hagel, but I would like to point out that if Republicans strongly oppose Hagel’s nomination, you do have to wonder if he just might be the right guy for the job.
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January 5, 2013
Does Social Security Add To The Federal Budget Deficit?
Every time we have a national debate about the deficit, Republicans start talking about cuts to Social Security while Democrats, at least some of them, say that Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. So who is correct?
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January 3, 2013
The Romney-Ryan Roadside Campaign Sign Problem
So I’m driving to work today along the same highway I use every day to get to work and I see the same two Romney-Ryan signs in the grassy area between northbound and southbound traffic. These signs have been there since well before election day, possibly placed in the ground only days after Ryan was named as Romney’s running mate.
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January 2, 2013
Fiscal Cliff: Did Republicans Vote For A Tax Increase? – No
There is a lot of reporting that Republicans voted for a tax increase for the first time in decades when both the House and Senate voted to approve the “fiscal cliff” bill. This is false. While it could be seen as a technicality, it’s a technicality that matters when it comes to politics in Washington.
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January 1, 2013
House Passes Fiscal Cliff Bill 257-167
The House of Representatives passed the Senate fiscal cliff bill by 90 votes, and it has not gone unnoticed by this liberal that both the Senate and the House votes happened in the new year. It means not a single Republican voted for a tax increase since all tax cuts expired at midnight before either of the votes. How convenient.
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