Thursday, July 15, 2010

Headlines - Thursday July 15

 
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Republicon Eric Cantor via ThinkProgress:
[W]e have seen the stimulus dollars that have been spent have not produced jobs. The stimulus was designed to lower the unemployment rate, to keep it from going over 8 percent. We know nationally now, it still hovers around 10 percent; here in our area, it's 7 1/2 percent. So, obviously, government spending money doesn't create jobs.
Cantor is too smart to know that what he just said isn't true. First off, CBO already said the stimulus created and/or saved millions of jobs. Second, the fact that unemployment remains at 10% does not mean the stimulus did not create jobs. Unemployment might have been at 12% without the stimulus, for example. Did the stimulus create enough jobs? No. Simply because it wasn't big enough. But to suggest it hasn't created any is a lie.

The fact that the GOP House Whip is still saying that the stimulus hasn't created any jobs, well, it's bad. The White House should come down on Cantor like a ton of bricks. Tell him to come to the White House tomorrow, and you'll have the cameras there, and he can explain to the American people exactly how the stimulus hasn't created any jobs, when CBO says it's created millions, when other GOP members of Congress have held press conferences with companies whose jobs have been saved/created by the stimulus.

Do what the GOP would do. Burn Cantor so bad that neither he, nor any other Republican, dare use this talking point ever again.
 
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I  don't follow stick-and-ball sports, but I've heard of Mr. Steinbrenner because he was controversial enough at times to make the news outside the sports page. I neither like him nor dislike him and couldn't care less, but this one makes my blood boil:

Raw Story

Conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh must have felt jealous that Mel Gibson was hogging the racially insensitive spotlight so he decided to "pay tribute" to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner on the day that he died by injecting race into the mix.

Media Matters caught Rush Limbaugh using George Steinbrenner's death as an occasion for race-baiting.

"That cracker made a lot of African-American millionaires," Limbaugh said Tuesday. "He fired a bunch of white guys as managers left and right."

Much more.

That racist bastard couldn't even wait to let the body get cold before he uses it to make racist remarks.

I take back my opening remark in part. There's one ball game I would dearly love to watch and cheer for right now: Motorcycle Polo with Limbaugh's head.

Taking that a step farther, there's enough wingnut racist bastards that Motorcycle Polo should have its own animal-friendly leatherless World Cup.
 
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What? Is he going to change parties? Obama promises to help House Dems

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Morford: Mel Gibson's 10 tips for sexist monsters.
 
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How do they say this stuff with a straight face? 

And why are they not being called on it by the "journalists" they spew this nonsense to:

Republican Senate Minority Whip John Kyl was hammered by Democrats earlier this week for backing extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy – and insisting they need not be paid for.

Now Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (pictured) is backing up Kyl's position.

"That's been the majority Republican view for some time," McConnell told TPMDC. "That there's no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject."

McConnell's argument is that even though the government would be forgoing hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue by extending the tax cuts on relatively wealthy Americans, that loss will be more than offset by the growth spurred by keeping the money in taxpayers' pockets. (The Obama administration wants to extend the cuts for Americans making less than $200,000 or $250,000 but let them lapse for those making more than that.)

WTF is he talking about? That just makes no sense whatsoever. None. Zero. One of the main justifications of the tax cuts back in 2001 was that the surplus was too large and we didn't want the government having to reinvest or have too much money, so we would cut taxes so the government would have less money and give it back to "the people who earned it." Now McConnell says that despite the fact that there is several trillion dollars less in the government cofferes because of the tax cuts, those tax cuts bring in more revenue. So why did the surplus not increase?

How do they get away with this shit? Any journalist who doesn't laugh in the face of someone spewing this nonsense should go home, rip up their j-school diploma, and then do the honorable thing.

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Barack Obama and his administration are economic idiots and gutless cowards.

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funny pictures of cats with captions
 
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The miracle of the Bush economy.
 
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BP may get tax refund because of oil disaster expense. 
 

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Dick Cheney, America's only hero, much closer to heroic death

He's more machine than man now.

Iraq/Katrina/Florida Recount hero Dick Cheney may have finally used up his five death deferments. The beloved 69-year-old former vice president now has a "ventricular assist device" — or a dual-battery heart pump — implanted in his abdomen with motors churning the blood through his otherwise dead heart. The pumps "were once used only to keep patients alive until they could obtain a transplant," but they're beginning to be installed to simply drag out the congestive heart failure for up to two years. Oh and don't cry because Cheney will still be able to play golf, with this robot ooze pump jammed into his chest and batteries dangling under his armpits. MORE »

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Burn down the Taco Bell
 
Idaho Republicans hate word 'Fiesta' for reason you may suspect

This is taking our jobs.

Some depressing county fair in Idaho decided its theme this year would be "Fiesta at the Fair," as that seems exotic and fun (depressing). So of course the county GOP decided that this was an evil Messican idea. "Bonner County fair board Chairman Tim Cary said the fair was just looking for a theme that's fun to decorate with, and the choice had nothing to do with official language or immigration disputes." NICE TRY. The Bonner County GOP's booth will say "celebrate" instead of "fiesta" and they have "asked Arizona officials for some license plates to put in the booth." This gets more dumb and depressing, as you can imagine. MORE »

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Ummmmm.... Nice cat

More awkward family pets here. 

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Wisco: For a lot of people, facts don't matter.

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Sarah Palin: "Teabaggers aren't racist."

Let's go to the tape, shall we?

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Demonstrating once again that we northerners are dour old puritans, Argentina has legalized gay marriage.

If this means Argentinians are damned, that's just more good news: there will be Carnival in hell.

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Mario Piperni: Mitch McConnell and Republicans - economically illiterate, or charlatans?