16 December 2012. A Point to Ponder. THIS is What the Republican Party Wants… DO YOU?

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John Boehner speaks of “reforming” Social Security. That’s rightwing-speak for “reducing benefits to ordinary people so that the Affluent Effluent can party on without a care”. Quite frankly, Jim DeMint, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Grover Norquist, Paul Ryan, Willard Romney, et al are all unpatriotic self-centred pigs at the trough who want to kick the weakest amongst us so that they have more swag in their sacks (so that they can stash it offshore and spend it here). THIS is what they want. Take a GOOD look. They want to kick your parents and grandparents in the teeth so that the idle rich can continue to enjoy the lowest tax levels in the developed world. That’s EVIL.

We’re Christians… that means that we believe in a communitarian religion. We’re not Evangelicals or Mormons, who’re nothing but apologists for power and  money. You can have Christian sharing n’ caring or you can have Evangelical greed and hypocrisy. God or Mammon? You can’t have both…

BMD

 

President Obama Pardons Turkeys as the USA Marks Thanksgiving

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As millions of Americans sit down to turkey dinner today, US President Barack Obama pardoned two birds in an annual White House Thanksgiving ceremony to mark the national holiday. Now, the birds will live at George Washington’s restored Mount Vernon estate. Two 40-pound turkeys, named Cobbler and Gobbler, came from Virginia. Gobbler’s role was to replace Cobbler, should the latter be unable to fulfil his duties. Obama pardoned both birds. Whilst granting his ‘presidential’ pardon, Obama joked about his recent re-election, saying, “You know, they say that life is all about second chances. This November, I couldn’t agree more. So, in the spirit of the season, I have one more gift to give. It goes to a pair of turkeys named Cobbler and Gobbler. The American people have spoken, and these birds are moving forward”. Americans chose the turkeys through an online vote.

According to the White House website, the traditional pardon dates back to President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s son Tad begged his father to write out a presidential pardon for the bird meant to be the main dish in the First Family’s Christmas feast. The young boy argued that the turkey had as much right to live as anyone. However, not all US Presidents followed this tradition. Some didn’t pardon their gift turkeys; they ate them. In November 1963, just four days before his assassination, President John F Kennedy spontaneously spared a turkey. The bird he was presented wore a sign reading, “Good Eatin’, Mr President”. Kennedy responded, “Let’s just keep him”. Since 1989, the tradition was formalised.

The estimated number of turkeys that Americans will eat on Thanksgiving 2012 exceeds 46 million. Some 13 percent of Americans won’t be feasting on turkeys this Thanksgiving season, as they’re dependent of food stamps. Officials say the figure will only increase, given the economic slump and the devastation in the Northeastern USA caused by the recent Hurricane Sandy. According to a new report by the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit government watchdog group, today, as many as 42.2 million Americans, which equal the population of California and Connecticut combined, are in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). According to the report, SNAP estimates that a meal costs 1.00 to 1.25 USD (31 to 38 Roubles. 0.80 to 1.00 Euros. 0.65 to 0.80 UK Pounds) per person.

The number of Americans dependent on SNAP has increased by 70 percent since 2007. Last year, it involved approximately 44.7 million Americans and cost the US government a record 72 billion USD (2.25 trillion Roubles. 56 billion Euros. 45 billion UK Pounds). Meanwhile, due to past summer’s drought food prices have skyrocketed while supplies remain low. For some low-income families, a turkey for Thanksgiving is an unaffordable luxury.

22 November 2012

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_11_22/Obama-pardons-turkeys-as-US-marks-Thanksgiving/

Editor’s Note:

The main cause of the increase in SNAP cases is the meltdown caused by Republican deregulation and crackbrained giveaways to the Affluent Effluent (coupled with inordinate spending on unnecessary warfare in foreign parts). Another reason is the “givebacks” demanded by management as they increase their own pay and bonuses (case in point being Hostess, where the management gave themselves an 80 percent pay hike and demanded “concessions” of the workers). Many of those “employed” at Wal-Mart are on SNAP… bear that in mind as you hear fatcat investors bleat about the cost of the ACA. I find that reprehensible and vile. Yet, they’re going to sit down to Thanksgiving Dinner without a care and with the lunatic notion that they’re the oppressed in this nation. If nothing’s done, there’ll be an explosion… and they’ll have no one else to blame but themselves (the same was true in 1917… ponder that).

By the way, the cost of SNAP is only some 10 percent of the bloated war budget. If there are 42.2 million people on SNAP, and the entire programme costs 72 billion USD, that means, if all monies were spent on benefits (and they’re not, for there’s administrative overhead in that figure), each individual on SNAP would receive 1,707 USD (53,300 Roubles. 1,325 Euros. 1,070 UK Pounds) a year, which works out to 142.25 USD (4.440 Roubles. 110 Euros. 90 UK Pounds) a month. That’s not a princely sum; all the bloviating that you hear about “welfare queens” and “welfare Cadillacs” is lies, and what’s more, those who spread such falsehood, do so knowingly. That’s called evil, kids.

The cost to taxpayers is 240 USD (7,500 Roubles. 186 Euros. 150 UK Pounds) a year per person… the US war budget eats up 2,500 USD (78,000 Roubles. 1,941 Euros. 1,566 UK Pounds) per person per year (much of that is kickbacks to corrupt pols and bloated management compensation)… now, can you tell me where the fat in the budget is? It’s NOT in “entitlements!” It’s not quite what the rightwing fanatics are telling you, is it? Reflect on that as you hear such unrepentant greedy cretins as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity scream about “entitlements”. They spend more than that on their country club dues or on one meal out. Let God see and judge…

BMD 

Obama’s Economic Policy: The Rich Should Pay Too

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There’ll be no more tax cuts for wealthy Americans… President Barack Obama signalled that after his re-election, he sees this as the best way to prevent a “budget catastrophe”. Delivering his first speech after re-election, Mr Obama outlined his economic strategy for the years to come. A budget deficit could cause the catastrophe Mr Obama was talking about. A “fiscal cliff”, which is likely to happen in January of 2013, could plunge the American economy back into recession. Spending cuts were approved as part of a strategy to avoid budget deficit. Mr Obama cited experts to say that by September of 2013 the budget deficit will decrease by 503 billion USD (15.9 trillion Roubles. 400 billion Euros. 320 billion UK Pounds). However, the USA would have to pay a high price for this… mass unemployment and a 0.5 percent decline in American economic growth. It means that rich Americans won’t avoid higher taxes. Mr Obama emphasised that he’d veto any bill suggesting more tax benefits to those earning more than 250,000 USD (7.9 million Roubles. 197,000 Euros. 157,000 UK Pounds) a year.

Some analysts believe that Obama overdramatized on purpose, trying to provoke a reaction from the Republicans who control the House of Representatives. Konstantin Sonin, Pro-rector at the Russian School of Economics {a pro-oligarch mouthpiece: editor}, said, “Obama’s just bargaining, since the sides have different approaches to the issue. To avoid a serious conflict they should achieve a kind of a compromise”. Yakov Mirkin, expert at the Russian Institute of Global Economy, said, “Evidently, there’ll be no budget catastrophe. Republicans and Democrats will definitely agree on raising the debt ceiling. Both parties focused on reducing budget deficit, although they offer different approaches to the issue. If Romney had won the election, there’d have been a decline in taxes with numerous benefits offered by the American tax code removed. I mean tax loans related to education, and the money spent on healthcare and insurance policies, as well as small businesses”.

Obama offers a different approach… the affluent, which comprise some 2 percent of the American population, should pay more taxes, whilst the rest, some 98 percent, could enjoy lower taxes. The Senate has already approved a bill, and the president is ready to sign it at any moment. To reduce negative consequences, Mr Obama is ready to look for a compromise with Republicans. In any case, he won`t be able to avoid debates on the economy with the House of Representatives. Generally, Russian experts think that Obama’s re-election is a good sign for the US economy, since he’s already a proven and successful leader in terms of handling the financial crisis. Despite strong opposition from the Congress, he managed to attract huge investments into the American economy, which resulted in moderate economic growth. If Mr Obama sticks to this policy, it’d only do good to both domestic and global markets.

10 November 2012

Andrei Smirnov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_11_10/Obama-s-economic-policy-the-rich-should-pay-too/

Editor’s Note:

The American electorate rejected the tripartite emphasis of the Romney/Ryan non-plan:

• Massive tax cuts for the rich, coupled with drastic cuts to all government social programmes
• Unrestrained warfare in foreign parts and a return to torture and imprisonment at black sites abroad
• Turning a blind eye to racism and white supremacy (“Keep the White House white”)

That is why white women rejected the Grand Olde Phony candidate. They saw their families hurt by Republican cudgelling of ordinary folks to aid the grasping Affluent Effluent, they saw their kids coming home in body-bags or maimed from the wars, and the Republicans’ unfeigned racism disgusted them (the “legitimate rape” comments weren’t so influential… all women know that the Grand Olde Perverts are like that). The Republicans needed to win big with white women, but their greedy and cruel platform ensured a massive gender gap in white voters (mainly, they lost white women whilst winning white men). Yet, its telling defeat didn’t lead the Republican Party to reject any of these rancid points. It’s poised to break into two, if not three, blocs, which would cement Democratic power for the next generation. The Republican Party is paying dearly for such heeding greedster RINOs as Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Grover Norquist, and Paul Ryan… it’s rejected its true legacy from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ike, Rocky, Jake Javits, Nixon, and Gerald Ford. As it’s done that, it deserves to die… the sooner, the better. They’re just shills for the rich and whores for the military-industrial complex… do remember what Ike said of that.

The Republican Party turned its back on its past with Slobberin’ Ronnie Reagan, with his shameless whoring for the Affluent Effluent and his mindless juvenile hatred of “big government”. No society of 300 million can be run as though it were a rural Ozark backwater. In 2012, the Republican Party shot itself in the head with full malice aforethought. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put them back together again…

BMD

2 July 2012. Ann Coulter Backstabs John Roberts… NOT a Wise Move

Ann Coulter‘s backstabbed Justice Roberts in public… and without any warning. She’ll regret that in future, to be sure. 

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Read this. Note this, in particular:

Coulter stressed the historical problem with whisking through these “blank slate” type “stealth” nominees. It appears in Roberts’s case, according to Coulter, that he was more career-driven and wanted to be on the high court more than anything else. One of the ways he accomplished this, writes Coulter, was by keeping his personal opinions to himself throughout his career up until his confirmation. Coulter recently tweeted, since Justice Roberts sided with the liberal half of the court on the recent Obamacare decision, Roberts would “go down in history as the Warren Burger of the 21st Century”.

Queen Ann shall regret ever having written such twaddle. It’ll turn John Roberts not only against her, but also against all conservative pundits (who’ve done nothing but savage him since the ACA decision). In any case, John Roberts has read the tea leaves, and they tell him that Mittens is going to lose big-time in November. That’s why he refused to let the Court be used by the woollier elements of the GOP. If they wish to repeal the ACA, they’ll have to muster the votes to do so. By the way, they don’t have them now… and they never shall, for the demographic changes in the American population (brought about by the greed of American libertarian entrepreneurs) shall guarantee that the GOP as we know it is a dead duck.

Texas will be the bellwether, as Hispanic births outnumber Anglo births by 50 percent. When Texas flips, you may as well bury the GOP outside of Born Again precincts. That can’t happen soon enough for me.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Monday 2 July 2012

Albany NY