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Preview of the doings our our forthcoming lords and masters (non-Birther Hearings related)

By: Attaturk Thursday September 2, 2010 1:30 am

via professor evil at flickr.com

Ladies and gentlemen, Focus on the Family sets the remaining moral agenda for the next Congress:

Being anti-bully is being pro-gay. How this affects John Stossel is unknown, but he is undoubtedly confused.

Meanwhile, good child-rearing — i.e. making a bully — demands attentive parenting.

For example, letting your son get a good long look at your “manly” full-grown penis is completely AWESOME!!!

And when the two are combined, you get to beat your “Wiener-Dog”.

Late Night: Jehovah Goes Galt

By: Thers Wednesday September 1, 2010 8:00 pm

God is basically Ayn Rand with a great big bushy beard, according to John Stossel, who may not be a great theological thinker, but who at least ought to know from ghastly misbegotten facial hair.

It’s a stupid article but it does tell us a lot about the beliefs of crackpot hard right wingnut jihadists like Stossel,  whose belief system is about to run and wreck the country because the Democratic Party refuses to act like liberals.

For more than a hundred years liberals and conservatives have been arguing over the true meaning of justice. The left emphasizes just outcomes—seeking smaller gaps between rich and poor, and a comparably dignified standard of living for all members of society. The right stresses just procedures –making sure that individuals keep the fruits of their own labors and remain secure in their property, without seizure by their neighbors or by government.

This is dogma, which I’m using as a polite term for “a devoutly believed-in article of bullshit right-wing faith.” The actual “left” believes that the United States should not be a game preserve, theme park, or toxic waste dump for a highly privileged minority. The actual “right” believes they should be allowed to use the power of the state to ensure that a highly privileged minority gets to piss on whoever they want, and that they shouldn’t pay taxes because fuck you.

Stossel says this is the Message of the Almighty. No, really.

If the Bible is indeed the word of God (as a big majority of Americans say they believe it is), then it’s difficult to escape the conclusion that the Almighty would cast his all-important ballot for Republicans…. the Biblical view directly contradicts the leftist inclination: no, you can’t unjustly confiscate wealth from those who created it to fulfill the righteous goal of helping the poor. The Bible insists that no matter how worthy your purposes, you must employ only righteous means in achieving them.

Which would be persuasive if “taxes” equate to “unjust confiscation,” a view that’s actually fairly extremist by historical and rational standards, even if it’s the Word of the LORD in Stossel’s circles. Heck, Stossel is basing this nonsense on the Torah; his interpretation might perhaps come as a bit of a surprise therefore to, say, the state of Israel. Don’t they even know over there how badly they are pissing off the Creator of All? Maybe Stossel should send them a note.

Stossel also seems to believe that the US legal system is Satanically geared towards helping the poor at the expense of the helpless, cruelly oppressed rich. I’d rebut this point but I might be forced to use bad words in doing so, and I am a gentleman.

In short, if your God is all about how you shouldn’t have to pay taxes, but is all right with the state letting corporations sell you salmonella, permitting torture, starting stupid wars, and making kids bring toilet paper to school with them along with their pencils and notebooks, well, your God can blow it out his ass, quite frankly, I say with as much courtesy as I can at present muster.


Feinstein’s First Move As Co-Chair of No on Prop 19 Campaign Is To Spout Nonsense

By: Jon Walker Wednesday September 1, 2010 7:15 pm

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein must really love the senseless, failed war on marijuana. Not only has she come out very publicly in opposition to Proposition 19, which would legalize, tax and regulate cannabis, but she also has taken the bold step of actually becoming the co-chair for the No on Prop 19 campaign.

In Farewell Speech, Romer Calls for More Stimulus

By: David Dayen Wednesday September 1, 2010 6:30 pm

In her final speech as a public official, the now former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, explained that the country required more stimulus to raise aggregate demand, and that failure to do so leaves “unemployed workers to suffer.”

Too Politically Toxic? Even Ron Wyden Distances Himself From Individual Mandate

By: Jon Walker Wednesday September 1, 2010 5:40 pm

We can only hope that Oregon’s Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden’s recent shift away from the individual mandate is a sign that the Democratic Party is beginning to acknowledge what a massive political and policy mistake they made.

Robert Rubin Demands Government Give $250 Billion to Millionaires

By: David Dayen Wednesday September 1, 2010 4:50 pm

What’s important to understand is that this reversion to 2009 rates permanently would cost the country $292 billion dollars, according to the Tax Policy Center. If we made it retroactive to capture the tax on estates in this holiday year of 2010, maybe it’s closer to $250 billion. But it’s still a large hole in the budget relative to current law, in a time when every deficit hawk is screaming about long-term debt.

Dear Congressman Blumenauer: What About the Telco Indemnifications?

By: bmaz Wednesday September 1, 2010 4:00 pm

Now that Earl Blumenauer has exposed the craven indemnification agreement the US government under the Bush/Cheney Administration gave to Halliburton/KBR, he should pursue the same types of agreements secretly given to telco companies participating in the illegal wiretapping program.

Banks Make Pre-Crisis Profits As They Prepare to Hand Out Bonuses Early

By: David Dayen Wednesday September 1, 2010 3:10 pm

Yesterday we got wind of an extended whine by the elites of the financial world, angered by the President… calling them mean names, or suggesting they might have had a role to play in the crashing of the economy, or something. Certainly, they could not be lamenting about the Administration hindering their profitability, because that’s going along just fine, thank you.

SEC to Ratings Agencies: Really, We Mean Business

By: emptywheel Wednesday September 1, 2010 2:24 pm

Yesterday, the SEC told ratings agencies they mean business. They will prosecute agencies for fraud.

In the future.

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