The Plan

by Larry Tate on January 28, 2012

The Republican-dominated New Hampshire legislature is considering a new bill designed to punish moochers who are taking all the tax money from the good people of New Hampshire. Specifically, the bill targets women who have a baby while they are on state welfare assistance. Current law gives the new mothers an additional $72.50 per month for a new child; Republicans like Rep. Neal Kurk, who sponsored the bill, want to take that away:

“I think it’s bad public policy for the state to make a payment to an individual that is an unnecessary payment when it is within the individual’s control to avoid the problem for the state,” Kurk said.

“When I try to help somebody in a private charitable venture I don’t expect them to do things that will make it more expensive for me to help them. I just will not give money to that kind of a charity or that kind of a person.

“I think people who receive welfare have an obligation to act responsibly and we should not be making payments that reward them for acting in a less than responsible manner,” he said.

A clear plan is emerging:

Step One: Vote to defund Planned Parenthood and similar organizations that dispense birth control to people in poverty within the state.

Step Two: Vote to restrict access to abortions.

Step Three: When babies result, punish the impoverished women and their innocent children by taking away their food assistance.

 

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Ground Control to Major Newt

by Larry Tate on January 25, 2012

Newt promises to create a permanent Moon base by his second term as president.

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Just a Normal Guy

by Larry Tate on January 25, 2012

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There you go Again

by JimLarkinsGhost on January 25, 2012

Newt Gingrich has brought up Ronald Reagan 22 times in the last four debates, and a total of 55 times in all of the Republican Primary debates.

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Against My Religion

by Larry Tate on January 25, 2012

The New Hampshire legislature is at it again:

Florists, caterers and other wedding-related businesses could turn away engaged gay couples under legislation before the House that opponents likened to segregation and Nazi Germany’s race laws.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday on the bill, which would allow providers of wedding-related goods or services to withhold those services if they believe doing business with gay couples would violate their conscience or religious faith. The bill also would bar lawsuits against business owners in such situations.

What’s next, NH legislature? New regulations on lunch counters?

By the way, I’m sure it will be impossible to find a gay-friendly florist or wedding planner.

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Santorum, Ignorance, and Bigotry go Together

by JimLarkinsGhost on January 24, 2012

Presidential candidates say and so a lot of shameful things in the primaries, but this is beyond grotesque.  In the video below, a bigoted, misinformed citizen addresses Rick Santorum; her remarks include a reference to Barack Obama as “an avowed Muslim” who is legally not President.  Watch how Santorum responds.  Rather than disavowing the birther fantasy and rejecting the bigoted and bizarre insistence that he is a Muslim, the former Sentator cozies up to the questioner. The Republican primary is a really sad and offensive affair.

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13.9%

by Larry Tate on January 24, 2012

How much Mitt Romney paid in federal taxes last year. This is my favorite graf from the article:

Romney advisers stressed that the holdings in the Caymans — along with those in a Swiss bank account that was closed in 2010 after an investment adviser decided it could be politically embarrassing to Romney — were reported on tax returns and were not vehicles to avoid taxes.

Of course. The fact that accounts in the Cayman islands and Swiss banks are notorious tax shelters should be ignored. And the fact that someone thought that their existence might torpedo his run for president is beside the point. And anyway, we’re not going to release those old tax returns so that you can check our story. Just trust us: nothing nefarious was going on.

 

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Mittens

by Larry Tate on January 22, 2012

Romney says that he will now release his tax return from 2010 and an “estimate” for 2011. But nobody cares about that. It will be sanitized. Everyone wants to see the tax returns from the Bain years.

Mitt’s own father, George Romney, released 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president. He said “One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show.”

Thanks, Dad.

 

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My Heart Sings

by Larry Tate on January 20, 2012

A heartwarming story about Ann Romney’s hard-fought rise through the ranks of elite dressage. Would make a great campaign ad.

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Holy Grail of Opposition Research

by Larry Tate on January 18, 2012

Here’s the thing about Romney. He has a tell. When asked a question that he doesn’t want to answer, Romney responds with a really clumsy and vague doublespeak that differs significantly from his other remarks which are often quite sharp.

Yesterday, when asked what rate he pays on his federal taxes, Romney cagily remarked that his effective tax rate was “probably closer to 15 percent than anything.” Closer to 15 percent than “anything”? What the hell does that mean?

I’ll tell you what it means. It means Romney doesn’t pay anything close to 15% in taxes each year to the federal government. No doubt Romney can get a crack team of financial wizards to massage all his holdings in such a way that he pays more in taxes this year than ever before in his life–somewhere around 15%. Then, when he releases his financials, he can minimize the damage. The real question, however, is how much did Mitt Romney pay in taxes before he started running for president?

Based on this Reuters article, it is possible that for many years Romney didn’t pay any taxes at all:

Tax analysts say Romney may have good reason to be reluctant to release his returns.

His vast fortune is invested in dozens of funds linked to Bain Capital LLC, the powerhouse private equity firm he co-founded and led for 15 years. Several Bain funds have offshore connections and take advantage of tax breaks used only by the U.S. financial elite.

His tax returns could shed light on how Romney and Bain use offshore strategies to avoid taxes, said Daniel Berman, a former U.S. Treasury deputy international tax counsel and now director of tax at Boston University’s graduate tax program.

Bain funds in which Romney is invested are scattered from Delaware to the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, Ireland and Hong Kong, according to a Reuters analysis of securities filings.

Romney, and those like him, are the true moochers in our country. Just imagine what a millstone it would be around Romney’s neck if someone were to uncover his financials…

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15%

by Larry Tate on January 17, 2012

Romney forced to admit that he pays around 15% of his income in taxes.

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MLK Day, 2008

by Larry Tate on January 16, 2012

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Republicans

by Larry Tate on January 16, 2012

Rick Perry doesn’t think soldiers should be thrown out of the military for pissing on the corpse of a slain enemy. Unless, of course, the pissing was done in a really gay way.

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Colbert PAC

by Larry Tate on January 15, 2012

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China

by Larry Tate on January 13, 2012

An angry mob of Chinese citizens took to the streets in Beijing to protest unsafe food  communist rule  human rights violations the delay of the iPhone 4S at a local Apple store.

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You’re Doing it Wrong

by Larry Tate on January 12, 2012

Look no further to find evidence that the Media have completely lost sight of their reason for existence. The public editor of the New York Times wrote this today:

I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.

h/t Atrios

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Academic Publishers = Suicide Bombers

by Larry Tate on January 11, 2012

If your life ever touches the world of academic publishing, you’ve got to read this post. And, as the author makes clear, even if you never read academic literature you should still be outraged.

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“A Salutue to Politicians”

by Larry Tate on January 11, 2012

Wolf Blitzer is from the crayon and safety scissor school of journalism. Can you read this and not hear it the voice of a 12-year old?

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Uh, Mexico?

by Larry Tate on January 11, 2012

Botas vaqueras exóticas are all the rage in Mexico.

 

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Values Voters

by Larry Tate on January 11, 2012

I have no doubt that Jesus Christ would agree with presidential hopeful, Rick Santorum, on this matter:

“On occasion scientists working on the nuclear program in Iran turn up dead. I think that’s a wonderful thing, candidly,” said Rick Santorumat a recent campaign stop in Greenville, South Carolina.

But it isn’t just dead Iranian scientists that gladden Santorum’s heart.

He continued: “I think we should send a very clear message that if you are a scientist from Russia, North Korea, or from Iran and you are going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe.

An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed by a car bomb today.

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Of Moose, Black Panthers, and Fox

by Larry Tate on January 10, 2012

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Mass Refinancing

by Larry Tate on January 10, 2012

Glenn Hubbard, a former Bush administration economic advisor, has co-authored a paper calling for a mass mortgage refinancing scheme for the American public:

Hubbard is an advocate for using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to set off a nationwide wave of mortgage refinancing. In a paper co-authored with Columbia economist Christopher Mayer, Hubbard estimates that more than 75 percent of the homeowners with 30-year mortgages backed by Fannie or Freddie are paying interest rates higher than 5 percent. But for the past two years, interest rates have been closer to 4 percent. That means tens of millions of Americans are paying more than they need to every single month.

Using the mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie, the administration could authorize automatic refinancing for millions of Americans, saving them thousands of dollars a month:

The effect on the economy would be twofold: First, the refinancings would act like a high-powered tax cut for those homeowners who took advantage of them. As Hubbard and Mayer write, “Empirical evidence suggests that consumers spend a larger portion of permanent increases in income than temporary increases.“ And as these refinancings would lower payments, they’re as permanent as you can get in government policy. Second, it would make the Fed’s efforts to keep interest rates low more effective in stimulating the economy.

And the best part is that the administration can’t be hog-tied by the “do nothing” Congress. The action does not require their approval.

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Dear Pope,

by Larry Tate on January 9, 2012

Fuck you.

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Oily McWar on President O’Romney

by Larry Tate on January 6, 2012

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Feudal Lords of New Hampshire

by Larry Tate on January 6, 2012

The Constitution ain’t good enough; we’re taking this bitch to the Magna Carta.

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On Recess Appointments

by Larry Tate on January 6, 2012

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Dogs Against Romney

by Larry Tate on January 6, 2012

h/t Balloon Juice

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Crony Capitalist

by Larry Tate on January 5, 2012

Mitt Romney said these words today in New Hampshire:

“This president is a crony capitalist,” Mr. Romney said. “He is a job killer.”

[. . .]

“You know he said he wanted to create green jobs,” Mr. Romney said of the president. “I don’t think we understood that he wants to give jobs to the people who gave him the green.”

WTF? This is like Annabel Chong calling someone a slut.

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Mitt Romney, Student Protester

by Larry Tate on January 4, 2012

Check out the guy on the right (click to embiggen). That’s Willard Mitt Romney, protesting the students who had occupied the Stanford University administration offices in opposition to the Vietnam-era draft:

The date was May 20, 1966. A group of students had taken over the office of Stanford President Wallace Sterling, protesting against the institution of a test that was among the first steps toward the Vietnam-era draft.

Carey Coulter, a conservative and anti-Communist student who had spent time as a civilian in Vietnam, was outraged and organized a counter-protest.

“We were there to get an education and these people holding the Administration hostage was antithetical to that,” he recalled to BuzzFeed in his first interview about the day.

As the story goes, Romney walked up to Coulter and wanted to participate. But I guess it was easy to be an “ardent supporter of the war” when there was no chance you’d have to take a bullet:

Romney did not, however, serve in Vietnam. As a Mormon missionary [to France], he was considered “‘a minister of religion” by the church and was exempt from the draft.

But it’s not like Romney was really happy with this arrangement. The truth is that Mitt longed to test his mettle in the sweaty-hot man jungles of Vietnam. Alas, strong forces prevented him from the glories of battle:

Mr. Romney, though, said that he sometimes had wished he were in Vietnam instead of France. “There were surely times on my mission when I was having a particularly difficult time accomplishing very little when I would have longed for the chance to be serving in the military,” he said in an interview, “but that was not to be.”

Just another Republican chickenhawk, running for president.

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Dog Style

by JimLarkinsGhost on January 4, 2012

From Andrew Sullivan’s live blog of the Iowa Caucuses:

12.17 am. A reader writes about Bachmann’s concession speech:

The definition of tone-deaf: The entire country thinks your husband is gay, and the cute little anecdote you choose to pull out about him is that, while you were all campaigning, he was buying accessories for your dog.

 

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Santorum’s Flaccid Arguments

by Larry Tate on January 3, 2012

Rick Santorum says that states have the right to ban the use of all birth control methods.

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Santorum’s Burden

by Larry Tate on January 2, 2012

Speaking on the stump today in the white state of Iowa, Rick Santorum expressed this noble sentiment:

“I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money,” Santorum begins. “I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.”

 

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Republican Fascism

by Larry Tate on January 1, 2012

Nice little story from Ohio today:

Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, has introduced a bill that would set specific “performance standards” for singing and playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at any event sponsored by public schools and state universities.

The law also would cover private schools receiving state or local scholarship funds, including vouchers.

Performers would have to sign a contract agreeing to follow the guidelines. Musicians — whether amateur or professional — would be fined $25 if it were deemed they failed to meet the appropriate standards.

Somewhere, Carl Lewis cringes:

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My Brain Just Exploded

by Larry Tate on December 31, 2011

So Newt Gingrich is really pissed because the state of Virginia passed a law that said every candidate who wants to appear on the presidential ballot must collect 10,000 signatures from actual residents of Virginia. The law also says that each of these signatures must be scrupulously examined by the voting commission of the state to ensure that the individuals who signed are actually residents of the state of Virginia.

But when the voting commission in Virginia went though all the signatures Gingrich has collected, they discovered that he had come up short. Many of his signatures were disqualified. And he thinks that’s not fair.

But here’s what Gingrich said today, in regard to the Justice Department’s move to declare unconstitutional South Carolina’s new law that forces citizens to prove they are residents of the state with a picture ID before they can vote in the election:

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich blasted the Justice Department for blocking a South Carolina voter identification law and suggested the Obama administration wants to “steal elections.”

During a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the former House speaker questioned why Attorney General Eric Holder is “so determined not to identify if people are not eligible to vote.”

Gingrich went on to say that, “you have to ask, why is it that they are desperate to retain the ability to steal elections and I think that’s what it comes down to.”

The Justice Department recently rejected South Carolina’s law requiring voters to show photo ID at polling places as discriminatory against minorities. Republicans argue stricter voter ID laws are needed to avert voter fraud.

Boom!

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Are We Alone in the Universe?

by Larry Tate on December 31, 2011

Reading between the lines, Charles Krauthammer wants to put some black sites on exo-planets.

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Republican Crazy of the Day

by Larry Tate on December 30, 2011

Ron Paul:

Ron Paul stood before a crowded public library conference room here and warned the packed house about that the United Nations is coming to take their land and that America is this close to riots in the streets against a government that is becoming more and more like a dictatorship.

Matt Romney:

One of Mitt Romney’s sons has an answer for those who say his father should release his tax returns. He jokes that President Barack Obama should go first and release his birth certificate and other records.

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The Future is Clear

by Larry Tate on December 30, 2011

In the future, the Corning corporation controls everything:

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Mr. Activist Judges

by Larry Tate on December 29, 2011

Rick Perry:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has filed an emergency order in federal court to require Virginia’s Board of Elections to place his name on the ballot for the state Republican presidential primary.

Perry failed last week to meet Virginia’s requirements that each candidate receive 10,000 signatures of registered voters, with 400 from each of its 11 congressional districts. On Tuesday, he filed a lawsuit against the State Board of Elections and Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins.

So the guy who has been running for president on a platform of reigning in “activist judges” wants to find a federal judge who will overturn the election laws created by the duly elected representatives of the people of Virginia.

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Mr. States’ Rights

by Larry Tate on December 28, 2011

Rick Perry is suing the state of Virginia for not allowing him to appear on their presidential election ballot. He says their election laws are “onerous” and “unconstitutional.” Just think about that.

 

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Greek Moochers

by Larry Tate on December 27, 2011

What austerity looks like:

The free clinic here opened about a year ago to serve illegal immigrants. But these days, it is mostly caring for Greeks like Vassiliki Ragamb, who was sitting in the waiting room hoping to get insulin for her young diabetic son.

Four days earlier, she had run out of insulin and, without insurance and unable to pay for more, she had gone from drugstore to drugstore, pleading for at least enough for a few days. It took her three hours to find a pharmacist who was willing to help.

“I tried a lot of them,” she said, gazing at the floor.

Greece used to have an extensive public health care system that pretty much ensured that everybody was covered for everything. But in the last two years, the nation’s creditors have pushed hard for dramatic cost savings to cut back the deficit. These measures are taking a brutal toll on the system and on the country’s growing numbers of poor and unemployed who cannot afford the new fees and co-payments instituted at public hospitals as part of the far-reaching austerity drive.

 

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Extinction

December 27, 2011 Curiosities Read the full article →

A Day That Shall Newt in Infamy

December 25, 2011 Election Read the full article →

Political Correctness Takes its Next Victim

December 23, 2011 Culture Read the full article →

Gays Win

December 23, 2011 Republicans Read the full article →

Politifact, Utterly Discredited

December 20, 2011 Democrats Read the full article →

Infinite Detention

December 20, 2011 Culture Read the full article →

Kim Jong Il Dead

December 19, 2011 International Read the full article →

The War is Over

December 18, 2011 War Read the full article →

My Fellow Enemy Combatants,

December 17, 2011 Law Read the full article →

FCC Win!

December 15, 2011 Law Read the full article →

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