Success In the Bluegrass State

For evidence that "Obamacare" is a resounding success, look no further than the state of Kentucky:

'Nuff said.

"Negative Control At Helm"

The UN recognizes 193 nations in the world. Of those, the United States maintains an embassy in 169. According to reporting from Rachel Maddow, however, about a fourth of this country's embassies are operating without an ambassador.

You can thank Republicans in Congress for this, as they have refused to confirm any new ambassadors:

The Senate may not be confirming nominees to posts in a slew of countries before departing for the August recess, but after some procedural maneuvering, the U.S. will be getting a top diplomat in Russia.

 

Senators confirmed the nomination of John F. Tefft by voice vote as the chamber finished evening business after he faced objection to confirmation by unanimous consent earlier in the night.

Source: http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/republicans-block-ambassador-nominations-in-nuclear-option-fallout/?dcz=

Why aren't Republicans interested in appointing ambassadors at a time when world events are as unstable as they currently are? Senator Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo) explains:

“We used to pass ambassadors and all kinds of people en bloc like that, but we have this nuclear option now that the majority chose so it takes a little longer to do that whole process, and on that basis, I object,” Enzi said.

 (Source is same article)

Got that? Normally, Republicans would be more than happy to actually provide this country with the ambassadors it needs for proper foreign relations. But because their feelings were hurt when Democrats used the "nuclear option" to put an end to constant Republican filibustering, they're instead going to sit on their hands and pout.

This is yet another in a series of examples of Republicans who apparently hate Obama more than they love their country - or are interested in serving their country by providing what the US needs to continue its diplomatic work.

Another Day, Another Failure

Do the Tea Party Republicans in Congress who keep blocking legislation truly love their country?

That's not a question I ask lightly. Because the patriotism of liberals like me is routinely questioned by some of the same people who are the subject of this blog post, I'm loath to question the patriotism of others.

And yet I have long wondered about people - like many Tea Partiers who emblazon their organizations with words like "patriot" and "liberty"  - who bluster about what big patriots they are. It seems to me that the more you talk about how much of a patriot you are, or how humble you are, it often turns out that you're not actually all that patriotic or humble.

With that in mind, we turn to news from yesterday that Republican leadership has again failed to pass a bill. But not just any bill, mind you, but a bill containing Republican-friendly language on an issue - immigration - that has long been a source of Republican bluster about "securing our borders":

Democrats blamed Boehner for chasing after conservative votes for the border bill that were never going to materialize, after he initially proposed a more robust $1.5 billion plan that likely would have drawn some Democratic votes. Instead, as conservatives balked at that price tag, GOP leaders shrank the bill in an effort to grow the Republican vote – while losing Democrats.
“The worse the bill, the more votes on the Republican side,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in the closing minutes of the debate.

The pulling of the bill marked an embarrassing failure in the first real test of the new leadership team that takes office Thursday following Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor’s resignation as majority leader.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/07/31/at-11th-hour-house-gop-poised-to-pass-border-bill/

All of this to block passing a bill that doesn't actually solve the humanitarian crisis at the border, but simply allows Republicans to go home to their constituents and say "Well, we did what we could". They couldn't even pass a bill that's all show and no substance.

This Congress' inability to pass anything thanks to the intransigence of the Republican base has, in my opinion, gone from being infuriating to scary. If our elected officials cannot even pass basic legislation what will it mean for this country as a whole? I fear a number of nightmare scenarios: Americans dying on a highway bridge somewhere because of Congress' inability - refusal, even - to address this nation's crumbling infrastructure, or this country's financial solvency called into serious question because of another big fight over raising the debt ceiling.

The usual suspects, of course, will be quick to blame the president. I'm sure Republican politicians are banking on the American people blaming Obama for the lack of action on immigration. To paraphrase a character from the Disney movie A Bug's Life: as the leader, everything is your fault.

The interesting aspect of this story, however, is the fact that it serves to illustrate that the problem is coming not from the Executive Branch or from the Democratic coalition in Congress, but from the Republicans. The base seems so poisoned against Obama, so set in its opposition, that it is forcing the leadership to reject bills that Republicans would normally like.

You would think that if immigration was truly an issue that was consequential to this country's health and survival, as Republicans have claimed, they would be quick to find a solution to the current refugee crisis. Yet once again, we see politics, as well as pure spite towards Obama, get in the way of what's best for the country. This is a pattern that has, unfortunately, continued to repeat itself since Obama was elected the first time, from Mitch McConnell suggesting that ensuring Obama was not reelected was more important than helping his country to Republican attempts to thwart attempts to raise the debt ceiling.

This history is what leads me to seriously question the patriotism of the self-professed super patriots currently in Congress, who speak in such glowing terms about our founding fathers and their values, and yet seem interested in destroying what our founding fathers created all in a Moby Dick-like quest to "get" Obama.

My country may not survive that quest, however, and I find that I love my country more than I love asinine electoral politics. Shame on Republicans for not feeling the same way.

"Leading From Behind"

I finally got around to watching Sunday's Meet The Press. Aside from the usual beltway blather about Obama being "weak" on foreign policy, there was one part of David Gregory's 'roundtable' that stuck out at me: claims that the president "looks weak" economically.

In actuality, the numbers speak for themselves, and they make Obama look pretty damn good. For one thing, the job market is as strong as it's been since before the Great Recession

But in recent months, something has changed. On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. employers added 288,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent, its lowest level since September 2008, the month Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy sparked a global financial crisis. The U.S. has added 1.4 million jobs so far this year, making it the best half-year since the recession ended. Payrolls are up by 2.5 million over the past year, also the best mark of the recovery.

Source: Five Thirty Eight

The Wall Street Journal added:

U.S. employers added 288,000 jobs in June, far more than economists had forecast and a sign of strength in the labor market. Job growth in April and May was sharply revised upward as well. The gains mark the fifth consecutive month that nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 200,000, a streak unmatched since the late 1990s.

Source: Wall Street Journal

"Sure, sure," some may retort, "But what about the stock market?". Well, actually, the Dow recently reached a high of 17,000.

Terrance Odean, a finance professor at the University of California at Berkeley, is expecting the Dow reaching 17,000 will spur more buying.

“I expect that the biggest effect of hitting 17,000 is that the event gets news coverage and, in the process, reminds (or informs) investors that the market has been going up,” Odean told MarketWatch in an email. “While this could prompt some people to sell, I’d expect it to trigger more buying than selling.”

 Source: Market Watch

"That said, investors should be feeling good about Dow 17,000," Scott Wren, a senior equity strategist with Wells Fargo Advisors, wrote in a note to investors. "The stock market has more than recovered from levels seen during the financial crisis more than five years ago. Slow and steady can win the race; and it has."
The Dow has climbed more than 10,500 points since its Great Recession low of 6,547.05 on March 9, 2009.

Source: Seattle Times

As for the storied deficit, it has shrunk - not grown - on Obama's watch:

The federal budget outlook will continue to improve this year, with the deficit projected to shrink to $514 billion — the lowest level since President Barack Obama took office.
Rebounding tax receipts and slower spending will help narrow the budget shortfall for the third consecutive year, the Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday. The deficit will continue to fall next year, to $478 billion, before beginning to climb again in 2016, as costs related to aging baby boomers mount.

Source: Politico

(All emphasis mine)

Not bad for a president so many derisively accuse of being a "Socialist". But don't wait for the so-called "liberal press" to report much on these good numbers - they're so worried about appearing "biased" in the eyes of noted centrists like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity that they skew coverage to the right in a ham-handed attempt to "balance" the news.

A lie by omission, of course, is still a lie. As long as this good news doesn't receive proper coverage, however, it gets passed on until it becomes gospel to under-informed voters. So much for the media doing its job...

Son, You're Gonna Drive Me To Drinkin'

Am I a 'nattering nabob of negativism'?

One of my friends on Facebook has, in so many words, accused me of it in the past. I will be the first to admit that I sometimes tend to focus on the negative - people and policy that piss me off - instead of the good things happening, though I also blog to inform as many as possible about some of the underhanded bullshit that you never hear about on Nightly News.

But it's also true that one of my biggest criticisms of Bob Gorrell - the editorial cartoonist who has appeared in multiple posts here - is that he's a relentlessly negative, naysaying critic of the president who ignores or glosses over Obama's accomplishments (which are many).

To make up for any Gorrell-like negativism that I may display, I'd like to post some editorial cartoons that actually make me happy:

This is excellent. Despite all the claims from some that things were so much better back in the "good ole days", the so-called "Reagan revolution" of the '80s and the "Republican revolution" of 1994 has been busily rolling back policies from the past that were more progressive than what passes for "progressive" today.

During the Eisenhower era, the tax rate percentage for the wealthiest Americans was in the nineties:

Today we hear that an increase of a few percentile points to the one-percenters' tax rate is akin to "Socialism", though the country managed to survive - and thrive - thanks to progressive policy.

The people are willfully dense of our nation's history and the helpful policies that some in Washington have been dismantling in the name of "small government".


Along the same lines, here's another excellent Ruben Bolling creation:

The arguments from those who think that the poor are just "lazy" or need to work harder to improve their station - which tellingly, never come from those who are themselves poor - are incredibly simplistic. My generation has been told time and time again that if we do well in school, go to college and graduate, we will find ourselves a well-paying job that sustains us.

The unfortunate reality is that even with a two-year degree from an accredited community college, few employers - especially in "STEM" professions - won't give you the time of day.

So the solution is to just get your Bachelors degree, right?

Well, you still have to get your foot into the door before you can get a great job - degree or not. So you search and search and search, but nobody will hire you for "lack of experience".

Of course, you can't get relevant work experience without actually working!

My point is this: the poor need more than platitudes about "bootstraps" and how they're lazy moochers for needing assistance. As an aunt of mine used to say, "it takes a sight to live", and it's hard to make it in a world where there are already two strikes against you because you're poor and can't buy or influence your way to success (like the rich).

It's true that it's not the rich people's fault that you're poor, but sometimes, it's not the poor person's fault either. The sooner we realize that, helping people and lifting them out of poverty instead of blaming them for our economic troubles, the sooner we'll actually live up to the ideal of being the "Christian nation" we claim to be.

Many thanks to Ruben Bolling for his consistently good cartoons!

Those Who Live In Glass Houses...

House Republicans recently took time out of their busy, busy schedules to ban funding to renovate the White House bowling alley. The planned renovation, which had already been scrapped, was characterized by Representative Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) as "a want, not a need".

Good work in solving problems that don't actually exist, House Republicans.

There is, however, a bigger dynamic at work here: for all their worry about "wants" and "not...need[s]", Republicans sure seem eager to spend taxpayer money on a frivolous lawsuit against the president.

The irony was not lost on Democrats:

Democrats on the House Rules Committee said that voters had a right to know at least a projection of how many taxpayer dollars would be spent on a lawsuit they dubbed a “political stunt.”

“The American people have endured enough waste from this House Majority and we are demanding an estimate so that Members of Congress and the American public will know the true cost of the House’s petty partisan lawsuit against the president,” Rep. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), the top Democrat at House Rules Committee, said on Thursday.

Source: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/212615-house-dems-demand-cost-of-obama-lawsuit

It's a fair question. The self-appointed party of "fiscal responsibility" sure seems willing to waste taxpayer money on a lawsuit regarding Obama's delayed implementation of a part of the Affordable Care Act that Boehner doesn't want Obama to implement.

Another example of "penny wise, pound foolish".

Next time Republicans pontificate about "wants vs needs", perhaps they would do well to remember the old adage about those who live in glass houses. This frivolous lawsuit, after all, is "a want, not a need" that is an enormous waste of time and taxpayer money.

Michael Ramirez Is A Vile Human Being

It's not often that I call out editorial cartoonists for their often disgusting opinions. Every once in a while, however, there comes a political cartoon that's so despicable that it deserves to be singled out because the author is a shitstain on humanity's bottom.

Today, this dubious honor goes to Michael Ramirez, editorial cartoonist for Investor Business Daily and professional shithead, for this abomination:

This is, of course, a response to today's yesterday's news that an errant Israeli missile had killed four Arab children who had been playing on a beach.

Now, I admit that I don't follow Israel-Hamas politics that closely. I don't really have a dog in this fight, except that I suspect that Israel is not always the squeaky-clean, put-upon state that some in this country make it out to be.

Regardless of your politics, in what world is it acceptable to say that having a problem with Israel merits the deaths of children - who, I should add, have nothing to do with your conflict?

Two Pulitzer prizes, ladies and gentlemen. This shithead who celebrates the death of innocents as "payback" has earned two Pulitzers for his cartooning.