This jackal probably knows the history of taxation in this country as far as the fact that we had the strongest economy combined with the lowest levels of unemployment when we had a 70% tax rate on high end capital gains. High end, of course, being the massive amounts of money made by those who were already very wealthy.

That high tax rate not only did nothing to hurt those people and corporations which were subject to it, but they also kept increasing their bottom line.

Furthermore, that economic strength, combined with American ingenuity and dedication to a strong work ethic, is the very thing that enabled the development of a strong middle class. And that strong middle class was the fuel for maintaining a strong economy.

The Glass-Steagal Act, passed in 1933 during the Great Depression, in part kept commercial banks from getting involved in risky venture
capital endeavors.

Grover Norquist: Possibly the most influential unelected individual in America

When that act was rescinded, such endeavors began in earnest as investment banks merged with commercial banks. It picked up steam as time went on and the corporate demand for deregulation took hold and began to hold sway, culminating first in what we so lovingly refer to as “Reaganomics”, the theory known as “trickle down economics”.

That theory led to lowering the tax rates on corporations and the wealthy, as well as a concerted effort to further deregulate as much as possible in support of increasing the incomes of the wealthy and the profits of the corporate world. This led directly to the “Great Recession” of 2008, otherwise known as the Bush Economic Crash.

Now comes Grover Norquist and the pro-corporate, no-tax-increase cabal of extreme right-wingers currently in control of the Republican Party. They clearly are aware of the history stated above, yet they insist that taxes on the wealthy and corporations be pared down even further. It is enough to make one wonder if perhaps they WANT the United States to fail, so that corporations can take over completely.

If that is the case, then they must be stopped at the ballot box in no uncertain terms. Failing that, we are heading for a new feudalism in which the wealthy do, indeed, control everything because they own everything and everyone.

It’s already started. The only question now is, can we stop it?

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But don’t tell that to my Republican friends who are chock full of misinformation — you know, like the one that says the IRS will come for you if you don’t get health insurance like Marco Rubio says? — see this law as the death star that hangs ominously over the heads of citizens across the country. Let them tell it, the Supremes and Chief Justice John Roberts of all people, have gotten it wrong on this one — damn those activist judges! But hey, Republicans are idiots about the Affordable Care Act (read here). Let them tell it, the law is supposed to be a major job killer that negatively impacts small businesses, which are the engine of our economy. Wanna hear some truth? Per the law, businesses with less than 50 employees are not required to offer insurance coverage to employees. Wanna hear some more truth? About 96% of small businesses in the U.S. have less than 50 employees; which means, only a very small percentage of said small businesses will be required to provide coverage; and, for the ones that do — you know, the ones with at least 50 employees? — they’ll be given tax subsidies or tax credits as incentive for hiring which offsets cost.

But hey, facts don’t matter:

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According to Gallup, Romney edges Obama on middle-income voters — these are registered voters who earn between $36,000 and $89,999 per year. Ironically, the poll concludes that Obama has a significant lead over Romney when it comes to low-income voters. Yes, it would appear that voters on the lower end of the income totem pole, may be feeling a the hope and change thing.

This from Gallup:

PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney currently has a 49% to 45% edge over Barack Obama among middle-income voters, those whose annual household income is between $36,000 and $89,999. Romney has the same lead among upper-income voters, while Obama maintains a wide advantage among lower-income voters.

The results are based on Gallup Daily tracking of 2012 election preferences by demographic group, including more than 9,000 interviews with registered voters conducted between May 14 and June 3. During this period, Obama and Romney were tied at 46% among all registered voters.

[...] Obama’s lead over Romney among low-income voters has ranged between 13 and 16 percentage points in each of the three-week rolling averages of the vote by demographic group that Gallup has reported since late April. Meanwhile, Romney’s edge among middle-income voters has been between four and seven points, and among upper-income voters, between four and six points.

Romney, the wealthy former head of Bain Capital, has slightly greater appeal to the highest-income voters in Gallup’s data, those making $180,000 or more in annual income. This group has shown a 53% to 42% preference for Romney since mid-April, compared with 50% to 45% for Romney among those earning between $90,000 and $179,999.

Now, this is where it gets interesting for like-minded race hustlers like myself. Interestingly enough, Romney maintains an edge on white voters of all income levels. That’s right, even broke-ass white people are leaning Romney’s way. However, unlike the meme that suggests that black folks all voted for Obama in ’08 because he was black. I doubt the same would be said about white voters who as the poll suggests, are more supportive of Romney. I’m not sure he’s human, but he’s definitely white.

Yeah, I mean, nobody wants to be labelled as racist, right? Nobody wants to believe the suggestion that white folks refuse to vote for Obama because, well, a black man(?). Now I finally understand why some Americans believe the national anthem should be changed.

In each of the three major income groups Gallup reports, there are strong racial divides in voting preferences. Non-Hispanic whites and nonwhites show stark differences in their candidate preferences.

In Gallup tracking since April 11, Romney is the leader among whites in all income groups, including those who are lower income. At the same time, Obama has a commanding lead among nonwhites in all income groups.

Obama’s large lead among low-income voters overall is due to two factors. First, as the prior table shows, lower-income nonwhites prefer Obama to Romney by a 68-point margin, compared with smaller 55-point and 52-point margins among middle- and upper-income nonwhites, respectively. At the same time, Romney has a smaller lead among lower-income white voters (10 points) than among middle- (19 points) or upper-income white voters (14 points).

Second, and perhaps more importantly, nonwhites fall disproportionately into the lower-income group. Nearly half of nonwhites, 49%, report annual household incomes of less than $36,000. And 38% of those in the lower-income group are nonwhite, compared with 22% of those in the middle-income group and 17% in the upper-income group.

I find this to be very interesting, especially when you consider than 87% of the five hundred thousand or so people who donated a minimum of $200 to Obama in 2008, have yet to donate a single dime to his campaign in 2012. If you remember back in ’08, Obama had the small donors on lock – and no, we’re not talking about all the people who bought Obama t-shirts from the trunk of somebody’s car at the local Piggly Wiggly. Now this all leaves me on the fence when it comes to my idea of having a fundraiser in the hood attended by Obama. Yeah, we could invite low-income whites as well.

I mean why not? He’s been hobnobbing with wealthy celebrity types like Goerge Clooney, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Jon Bon Jovi. Uhm, why not a local hood barbecue fundraiser? OK, yes I know Fox News and right-wing assholes would have a field day. So what? We can call then racist for overwhelmingly supporting Romney despite his proposed economy crushing policies, right?

Whether this proves white folks are racist can be debated until the cows come home. However, what it does prove, is that black folks place no faith in rich white men giving them anything.

White folks on the other hand… ?

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Now, clearly to any rationally thinking mind, it is absurd to suggest anything as ridiculous as the aforementioned. But, don’t tell that to South Carolina State Senator Kevin Bryant, who argues that it is the unborn fetus conceived in an act of rape or incestuous relationship who is the real “victim,” and not its would-be-mother, Yes, I know, this is just re-damn-diculous.

This via The Columbia State:

The dispute focuses on the definition of “victim.” Supporters, like Bryant, say the unborn child is a victim who has rights that must be protected.

“We’re focusing on the rights and the liberty of an unborn child, and I can’t understand why the life of a child that’s a victim ought to be terminated,” Bryant said.

So what is an uninsured rape victim supposed to do? Well, she can pay-out-of-pocket for an abortion — something that isn’t likely given her financial status. Or, she can bare the shame and degradation of knowingly carrying and eventually going into labor and delivering the child of her attacker.

At that point, she can then make the decision to keep the child, or give it up for adoption. Now I’m not a woman, but this seems very wrong on so many levels. I could be wrong, but it seems too much like punishing a woman for 1) being a victim of rape, and 2) for being poor. According to the provisio — which is defined as a temporary one-year law — abortions would be paid for with tax payer dollars only in the event that the life of the mother is in danger.

The three exemptions in the state health plan — rape, incest or life of the mother — mirrors the policy of the federal government health plan, commonly referred to as the Hyde Amendment, named for former U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois. That federal policy has been in place for more than 30 years.

Since 2006, state taxpayers have paid for 6 abortions. All of them were to save the life of the mother, according to the state Budget and Control Board.

Currently the state’s health insurance plan covers 417,000 individuals – no word on just how many of them are raped annually. However, this is something SC Republicans have been trying to pass for the last two years. Here’s to hoping that they remain unsuccessful this time around. But whether they are or not, it can never be said that women without access to affordable health care were not under attack like they always have by our slightly-more-conservative friends in the Republican party.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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Of course, in 2012 (most) governments don’t just sentence a dude to death, but something similarly life-ruining for the current day would be in order. Naturally, an “accidental” murder could surely take place, but we will not go there today.

Reading the responses I did get, and knowing what I know from having actually read my bible (specifically the new testament for the sake of this post), I arrived to the conclusion that Jesus was a Liberal. I don’t care how much that last sentence will anger my Conservative friends who live to paint Jesus and their relationship with him into a role that is immediately struck as untrue if only one ACTUALLY reads what is said to have transpired in the Bible. Walk with me, here…

Let us assess the company that Jesus was known to keep. He spent time with those in need; the poor, sick, immoral and otherwise downtrodden. He helped those in need, healing the sick, giving some semblance of hope to the hopeless and feeding the poor. He interacted directly with the scourge of humanity – in fact seeking out that element – and spent his time with them, bringing a select grouping along with him on his journeys. What he did NOT do, however, was JUDGE them.

He fed the hungry; he didn’t step over him shaking his head over bad decisions that may have them penniless. He healed the sick; he didn’t turn his nose up at them telling them that their sickness was some fault of their own. I don’t recall at any point in my bible reading that “God hates fags,” especially not at any statements purportedly made by Jesus. Intolerance? Didn’t he bring someone we’re to understand was a harlot into his fold? Yeah, who are WE to judge?

Funny, the story I was taught as a child and up through adulthood was one of love, charity and generally taking care of our fellow man without judgment for what they do that we may or may not agree with personally. Judgment (or nothing at all, dependent upon what you believe) will be handled by the Supreme Being waiting at the end of the line, so let Him/Her/It handle that.
These are all VERY liberal ideals, aren’t they?

The long-and-short of it can be summed up in one image:

What Jesus WAS, however, against, was the use of God’s name as a controlling factor in the furthering of a very much for-profit situation that intermingled the “churches” of the time and the political arena. His actions against it and his “radical” message were apparently a problem and stood in the way of the more important bringing of people together to attempt to love one another without judgment and in peace. Well, apparently his Liberal agenda was not profitable to the “1%” of 2000ish years ago, so he was fasttracked through the system and quickly put to death to be gotten out of the way.

Which brings me back to 2012…

If Jesus, in his original context but adjusted for 2012 applicability, existed these days, he would be labeled a “Marxist,” a “Liberal Extremist” and demonized as a “socialist” and would be categorically treated like a terrorist because of his skin color – provided his locality – and would be quickly shunned for the actuality of his message just not being profitable.

Again, I am not here to change anyone’s beliefs, so those who choose not to can take the story as presented and intended, and the outcome would be the same. In about 30something A.D., Jesus was falsely accused, tried and sentenced to death for views that were simply “Too Liberal” for the higher-ups of his time, and nothing about how the world is nowadays suggests to me that the outcome would be any different, contrary to the ironic statements of ANYONE who seem to use his name for their own gain.

Sometimes I genuinely wonder if my buddy Rick Santorum or any of his ilk REALLY understand the story of the man they claim to have this intimate understanding of despite actions directly contrary to his own. You won’t ever catch the type of person guilty of this admitting it, but the fact(s) of the matter at hand present it that Jesus himself was a Liberal and was crucified for it.

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Yep, so much for corporations being people, right?

Across the United States more than 2,700 companies are collecting state income taxes from hundreds of thousands of workers – and are keeping the money with the states’ approval, says an eye-opening report published on Thursday.

The report from Good Jobs First, a nonprofit taxpayer watchdog organization funded by Ford, Surdna and other major foundations, identifies 16 states that let companies divert some or all of the state income taxes deducted from workers’ paychecks. None of the states requires notifying the workers, whose withholdings are treated as taxes they paid.

General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and AMC Theatres enjoy deals to keep state taxes deducted from their workers’ paychecks, the report shows. Foreign companies also enjoy such arrangements, including Electrolux, Nissan, Toyota and a host of Canadian, Japanese and European banks, Good Jobs First says.

Why do state governments do this? Public records show that large companies often pay little or no state income tax in states where they have large operations, as this column has documented. Some companies get discounts on property, sales and other taxes. So how to provide even more subsidies without writing a check? Simple. Let corporations keep the state income taxes deducted from their workers’ paychecks for up to 25 years.

It was not always this way. Letting companies keep their workers’ state taxes apparently began in Kentucky two decades ago as a way to retain jobs.

Taxation and fairness will be the big conversation this week given pending votes on president Obama’s Buffett Rule – a measure that is marginal at best when it comes to having a long-term positive impact on deficit reduction. Current polls indicate that a majority of Americans support the idea of wealthy millionaires and billionaires paying their fair share in taxes. No word on just how they may feel about the corporate welfare program currently enjoyed by corporations who hardly pay their fair share in taxes. So how does this program work? Well, read on:

Yep, Blame Obama For Everything!

Deals cut with the states over the past two decades diverted $5.5 billion from public purposes to private gain, the report says. Close to $700 million more was diverted last year, Good Jobs First estimates.

New Jersey approved $73.2 million in new deals in 2011 on top of $178 million diverted that year alone under previous deals. I calculate that at nearly $80 per household in corporate welfare based on New Jersey’s 3.1 million households.

These deals typify corporate socialism, in which business gains are privatized and costs socialized. They also mean government picks winners and losers, interfering with competitive markets. Leaders in both parties embrace these giveaways because they draw campaign donations from corporate interests and votes from people who do not understand that they are subsidizing huge companies.

Yep, paying to play has long been the order of the day. However, this sounds like workers paying a fee for employment. You know, sorta like that  crime punishable by jail time known as blackmail?

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Citing the needs of his daughter who has something called Trisomy 18 as reasoning, Rick Santorum announced the “suspension” of his push for the GOP nomination. Of late, he had emerged as the only one who might be primed to give Mitt Romney a run for his money – but not literally his money, he would get MURDERED in that department – for the nomination. A few primary wins here and there showed that SOME people are buying what Santorum is selling.

Anyway, we all know that I am on record as preferring that Santorum be the GOP nominee/sacrificial lamb, since ol’ Spermin’ Cane was not able to keep his skeletons properly contained in his closet until after the primaries had passed us.

Santorum was the guy to clean this mess up!

- touting an evangelical conservative message, he would step in and eliminate people having sex for fun and thus eliminating the ills of us all.

- that same evangelical conservatism will quash marriage betwixt anyone other than a man and a woman, and thus seeing to it that America’s status of “on the way to hell in a handbasket” comes to an end

- will stop making “blah” peoples’ lives better by giving them other peoples’ money.

- A “war on porn”

- abolishment of contraception

- striking down the separation of church and state

- lessening the number of people going into higher education because college causes “62% of attendees to lose their religion” (his unsourced figure, not mine)

- removal of the “right to privacy” because he doesn’t believe the constitution grants that?

I was in full “GO RICK GO!” mode, because – like Sarah Palin before him – he seemed so oblivious to how much a kook he comes across as, so ensconced in his message that addresses nearly nothing anyone legitimately should be thinking, caring or talking about that his bravado could be construed as confidence to anyone other than those who were simply in position to support him because they only hear what they want to hear.

And speaking of Sarah Palin… why does a special needs child mean that he should have to “suspend,” effectively putting to bed, his candidacy? I mean, Sarah Palin continued to serve her positions while pregnant with and then appearing in front of the cameras to care for/about a child that she knew would be born with Down’s syndrome ahead of time. To me, this suggest that Santorum should be able to step up and show just what a multi-tasker and leader he is while he juggles caring for his daughter while motivating the base to get that nig–… uhh… “Marxist,” out of office.

In his mind, Santorum is the least racist, biggest, brightest and best to lead this country out of ruin. For that, I think that he and Newton Gingrich should CONTINUE in the primaries until one (or both) of them has taken Romney out, even if they have to go all the way to the convention. Then time will be upon them to go in on the presidential race.

Seriously…

Rick, don’t leave us. We will be sad if we can’t watch the most one-sided re-election in US history.

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Due to my cable going on the fritz in some storms last night, I was in need of something to do last night. I was able to take in Game Change last night with the ladies. Well, little one crawled around the living room and played, but we were all in the room.

Watching the movie, I was quite entertained as the movie suggested and/or delved deeper into things I’d only read about on the internets before. I will not opine on what it suggested about the complete and total trainwreck that was the McFailin’ campaign in 2008 and just how much of that came directly as a result of (1) the selection of Palin in the first place, and (2) empowering her, an apparent egomaniac, which created the monster that would prove the undoing of the campaign.

Enough on that.

Just after the movie ended, my cable was back and my Syracuse Orange had lost the game. Instead of getting all dejected about a loss that I knew was coming, my fiancé had looked to see what Palin’s “official” response was to the movie and implored me to check it out and chuckle with her. Despite her “not going to see” (Palin’s words, not mine) the made-for-HBO movie (ha!), her website featured the statement:

Despite HBO’s best efforts, we have all seen the movie Game Change. We stand by everything we previously said on the record. The movie is at best “historical fiction” – historical only in that Sarah Palin was nominated and campaigned for the office of Vice President. The movie is a series of scenes where the dialogue, locations and participants are invented or rendered unrecognizable for dramatic effect. HBO and its surrogates continue to argue that they spoke to 25 sources. None of them are on the record nor is their level of involvement in the campaign disclosed. Not one source is on the record in either the book or in the movie and it is clear why. The authors of the book never even traveled on the campaign with Governor Palin. We call on HBO to add the fiction disclaimer.

You know… I took a moment to think back on the things I saw on HBO when I actually DID have the channel available between my teenage years and 2007.

-Live sex/bastermation/insertion depicted on premium cable TV, both homo and hetero, with no X-rating.

-Crack being bought, sold and smoked; Crystal Meth, and Black Tar Heroin as well

-Prostitutes observed, followed and interviewed WHILE ON THE STROLL

… and the pimps who put them there

Through all of that, I’ve YET to hear/read of any of the drug/ass salespersons arrested as a direct result of their on-screen actions, nor have I heard anything of HBO themselves being tied up in it for their involvement.

I say all that to say that if HBO’s very apparently adept team of lawyers had ANY reason to think that they would have a problem with potential libel/defamation/slander, then the movie would have been edited accordingly or would already be marked as a fictional work – at worse, it might have been scrapped. She (or her people) continue(s) the time-tested tactic of “tell em a lie and let it serve your message until someone refudiates it” where they challenge that “none of the ’25 sources’ are on record. Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace, both intimately involved in the actions depicted in the film, defend its accuracy without apparent fear of retribution from the party, and George Stephanopoulos Liberal Media tool, defends it as accurate as well.

Alas, it is not marked as a fictional work, and I would be dollars to donuts that it never will be. The fact that people depicted in it have come forward to defend the accuracy speaks volumes to me. In fact, it was a damned entertaining movie and Sarah can continue to refuse to see it, but I think I will watch it a couple more times.

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Thus, the problem in this country is not the amount of money flowing through the system, that’s only secondary; the primary problem is the apathy, selfishness, and ignorance of the people. Money is merely a tool used to feed that apathy, selfishness, and ignorance to our severe disadvantage, and to make sure that we remain that way – both ignorant, and disadvantaged.

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It’s not that I hate everyone who doesn’t look, think, and act like me – it’s just that God does.

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