Obama calls GOP budget 'Social Darwinism'

Washington, DC, April 3, 2012. President Obama attacked the Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget passed in the House of Representatives, calling it "Social Darwinism." The Grand Old Tea Party immediately attacked the President saying "Darwinism? That's evolution. We can't practice evolution. We don't believe in it!"

When he heard about the response from the GOP and Tea Party, President Obama started laughing. His laughter, however, subsided when he was reminded of the November 2010 elections, the Grand Old Tea Party majority in the House, their votes in the Senate, and their apparent 5 - 4 majority in the Supreme Court.

President Obama was having lunch with editors and reporters of the Associated Press when he condemned the Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget. He called it a “Trojan horse” and “thinly veiled social Darwinism.” Mark Landler, in the New York Times, aka "the Liberal Elitist media,"  (here), wrote that Obama said the Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget "would greatly deepen inequality in the country."

While expanding the disparity of wealth that exists between the 3.07 million richest Americans, i.e. the 1%, compared to the 303.93 million not-richest Americans, i.e. the 99%; by decreasing educational opportunities and access to health care, and by increasing poverty, the Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget would actually serve to expand equality among the 303.93 million non-richest Americans, albeit in what many consider to be the wrong direction.

The Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget has been endorsed by all four remaining candidates running in the Republican primaries. Altho Newt Gingrich, opposed it before he was for it, calling it "right wing social engineering." As Speaker of the House, Mr. Gingrich, it must also be noted, pioneered the technique of shutting down the government as a way to protect the taxpayers from the services they need from their government.

The Grand Old Tea Party also attacked the President for having lunch when he should be working. There are rumors that Mr. Gingrich called President Obama "shiftless" and "lazy" for having lunch when he should be working. However, as there are no reporters covering Mr. Gingrich, those rumors could neither be confirmed nor denied.

Rush Limbaugh demanded videos of the President with young female reporters. Mr. Limbaugh later changed his statement, demanding videos of young female reporters without the President, and large quantities of various controlled substances.

Former Vice President Cheney could not be reached for comment. It is believed that he is in a secure but undisclosed location where he may be hunting with lawyers. Or hunting lawyers. 
 

Investment Advice: The STUBL Index

Carl Richards, author of "The Behavior Gap," and a columnist in the NY Times, wrote "Beware of 'Market Predictors' (here)

"To demonstrate how ridiculous market predictors can be, ... David Leinweber decided he could prove a point with butter production in Bangladesh:

    After casting about to find a statistic so absurd that no sensible person could possibly believe it could forecast U.S. stock prices, Mr. Leinweber settled on annual butter production in Bangladesh. Over an 13-year period, he found, this statistic “explained” 75 percent of the variation in the annual returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.

    By tossing in U.S. cheese production and the total population of sheep in both Bangladesh and the U.S., Mr. Leinweber was able to “predict” past U.S. stock returns with 99 percent accuracy."

I've used the STUBL index, pronounced "Stubble" index. It stands for "Standard Transitory Unshaved Beard Length." I look at college students on Monday mornings. When a majority of them are clean-shaven I conclude they went to sleep early enough to get up early and shave, and therefore didn't have a great weekend. When a majority of them have a two day beard I conclude they had a great weekend. 

This is a leading predictor of the market.  However, I'm not sure when the correlation is positive and when it's negative. That's where the crystal ball comes in.

See, it's an integrated approach.

Gingrich "I'll set the price of gasoline at $2.50 per gallon."

Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker, former lobbyist, and former husband to two different women, wants to set gasoline prices back to $2.50 per gallon. (here) But how? Would a President Gingrich sign an “Executive Order” setting the price of gasoline at $2.50 per gallon? The President can authorize a mission to attempt to kill terrorists, as Obama did with Bin Laden and Awlaki. But how can the President set the price of a commodity?

I suppose he can order rationing of gasoline – say 10 gallons per citizen per day. And if he does, with my 30 mpg '99 Chevy Malibu w 165,000 miles, I will be able to drive 300 miles per week. If you have a Hummer that gets about 8 mpg, you can go about 80 miles. Or you can buy gas from me for $10 per gallon. (I's a capitalist, yo.)

Or a President Gingrich can say “The market price for gasoline is $5.00 per gallon. But we'll set it artificially to $2.50 via a government subsidies. We'll tax the oil companies." When a lobbyist for the oil companies reminds him that rather than tax oil companies we give them subsidies, as one will, he will flip-flop and tax poor people and the middle class – who don't have lobbyists.

Or, a President Gingrich can say, ““The market price for gasoline is $5.00 per gallon. But we can set it artificially to $2.50 simply by revaluing the dollar so it takes Two Real Dollars to buy one Newt Dollar. As a stroke of marketing genius he could put Reagan's picture on the Newt Dollar. But Newt, never known for his humility, seems more likely to put his own picture on the Newt Dollar.  

Of course, if you have a brain then you'll realize that this is not exactly small government. But then again if you've a brain then you're not going to vote for Mr. Gingrich.

There is actually one other way to cut the price of gasoline: cut demand.

Suppose we build very efficient cars and a mass transit infrastructure. And we do research into bio-gasoline and figure out how to get octane and other hydrocarbons from plants we can grow without fossil fuel based fertilizers, rather than from fossilized plants. The only problem with that strategy is that it requires thinking, science, and engineering. Gingrich and Santorum, like Palin, Bachmann, Perry and Cain don't believe in thinking, science, and engineering (except engineering what people believe). Ron Paul might believe in thinking, science, and engineering, but he doesn't believe that the government should do anything. And Romney might, but he won't admit it until after the convention.

Or maybe Gingrich wants us to go metric, and actually meant $2.50 per liter.  He is getting old. He might be getting confused.

What do we know about President Obama?

Our allies in NATO like and respect President Obama. I don't believe Putin likes him. And I am pretty sure that Achmadinejad is afraid of him. He killed bin Laden and Awlaki (I know he didn't pull the trigger), led NATO to help the insurgents bring down Gadafi, led the international sanctions against Iran, pulled troops out of Iraq, is carefully watching the situation in Syria. He saved the American auto industry - and in so doing saved the midwest from Depression.

He says "I have Israel's back, but don't take my word for it, look at what I've done." His support for Israel at the UN and managing our response to the "Arab Spring" are good for the Americans, Europeans, Israelis, many Arabs, and many Persians, but not for Assad, Achmadinejad, and the Mullahs, or Putin. That's good enough for me.

That's not to say I like everything he's done. There are aspects of his health care, tax, energy, and environmental policies I would like to change.
 
But you asked "what do we know?"

He was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.

He was raised by his mom and her parents, who were from Kansas.

He went to elementary school in Indonesia, where his mom was living w her 2nd husband.

He went to high school in Hawaii. Played basketball. Went by the nickname "Barry."

His mom and her parents were middle class. His mom was lower middle class in terms of money, income, wealth. On occasions his meals were paid for w food stamps.

This is conjecture but he probably was quiet, introspective and thoughtful. Obama the man is introspective and thoughtful. Most boys are quiet, and Obama was a black kid w a white mom and white grandparents in Indonesia and Hawaii.

I don't know what it was like - I grew up Jewish in Staten Island at a time when there was one Jewish family per square mile - one family out of about 500 families - that's 0.2% - and had my share of "incidents" involving religion and bigotry. There were some colorful people in my neighborhood, but except for one kid with a Native American grandparent, there were no "people of color." None in my elementary school or Junior high. I was the only Jewish kid in in my class, I think my grade, until 4th grade. Then it was me and a very cute Jewish girl named Laurie. But I digress.

In the south he would have been a scandal. In Indonesia he was a paradox - a black kid w a white mom and Indonesian step-father. Privileged as an American, and yet conscious of it. In Hawaii there are 4 groups: Whites, Chinese, Japanese, and Hawaiians. A black kid w a white mom in the 1960's would have been his own category, especially with a half-Indonesian kid-sister. And divorce was uncommon and scandalous back in the 60's.  

My wife - who's from Eastern Europe - asks why we say he's Black because his mom was white. But she doesn't really understand race in America. A black friend of mine says I don't understand race in America from a black person's perspective, and, lawyer that he is, he makes a cogent argument, based on facts.

What else do we know?

Obama graduated Columbia University, then Harvard Law, and didn't go to either as a legacy kid. Ergo, he must be pretty smart and capable of hard work.

He went to Chicago trying to help poor people.  Met and married Michelle. He lost one or two elections early on. Got elected to the State Legislature, then the US Senate, then the Presidency.  

As we saw in the 2012 White House Press Correspondant's Dinner, he is able to laugh at himself. That evening he grinned ruefully when Seth Meyers said "I don't know who among the Republicans can beat you, but I do know who could beat you - the Barack Obama of 2008. Remember him?" And Obama himself, after issuing the order authorizing the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, and before knowing the results of the mission, before knowing whether it failed or succeeded, calmly and ironically saluted Donald Trump, saying "choosing whether to fire Gary Busey or Meatloaf- would keep me up at night." 

As a leader, he seems to listen to people he has reason to believe are experts, and make intelligent and informed decisions based on the facts and insight. That, in my opinion, is exactly what we need in a President. The melanin content in his skin, and the texture of his hair are irrelevant to his ability to do his job.

Mittens and He Who Should Be Neutered

Why is Buddy Roemer excluded from the GOP debates? It's not that I don't like Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul, it's that I have nothing but contempt for Mittens, he who should be neutered, and Santorum (who's name doesn't really mean what Google says it means) and ... Ron Paul is a white supremacist. Or he may not be, but he's their boy.

Gingrich cheats on wife 1, Jackie, with Other Woman 1, Marianne, who becomes Wife 2. Then cheats on Wife 2, Marianne, with Young Intern / Other Woman 2, Callista, who becomes Wife 3. This last while blasting Clinton for having a relationship with an intern. What Hypocrisy! What Arrogance! I mean "The Gingrich Wives" - sounds like the title of a film - a porn film.

Romney may be 'Wall Street.' But Gingrich is a lobbyist for Wall Street. Oh, I forgot- Gingrich is an historian.

Why don't I like Romney? He's not Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Tom Watson, Henry Ford, Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard, Walt Disney: They created stuff. Romney looked for companies to raid.

Romney on Obama: "He had no jobs plan." But he saved all the union jobs at GM and Chrysler. "He never even managed a corner store; he was a community organizer (helping poor people). Romney didn't create jobs; he created poor people.

Mittens, Newter, Santorum, and Ron Paul will solve poverty by eliminating food stamps, Medicare. They will save poor people by allowing them to die.

So the problem with the Republican Party is that it has become the party of the lunatic fringe. Why is Buddy Roemer exlcuded from the GOP debates?

Romney: “Obama apologizes for America.” How, Mitt? By killing bin Laden? By going after Quadafi? Romney should apologize for driving for 12 hours with his dog strapped to the roof of his car.

 

John McCain was called a "Maverick" because he actually worked with Democrats.

Occupy Wall Stret

Q  What did the lawyer say to the cop?
A   Please take your motorcycle off my leg.

Q  What did the cop say to the lawyer?
A   Whack.
      You're lucky you're not in Tien Ahn Mien Square
      Whack Whack
      Or Damascus, Riyad, or Tehran
      Whack Whack Whack Whack.

Bankster: Why are you here? Don't you understand what we do?
Demonstrator: Yes I understand what you do - that's precisely why I'm here.

Republican field narrows in the 2012 Race to Lose to Obama

The loss of Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump leaves Republicans Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michelle Bachmann, Chris Christie, Herman Cain, and Ron Paul in the race to lose to Obama. On the Democratic side, Russ Feingold has indicated that he will challenge President Obama. Dennis Kuchinich is also said to be contemplating a run for the White House. Martha Coakley, who recently lost her bid to represent Massachusetts in the United States Senate, is also planning on registering as a candidate. She is not, however, planning on running an actual campaign.

The Democrats are planning Primary Debates in the historic Fraunces Tavern, in New York City, and the Green Dragon Tavern, in Boston, Mass. These are symbolic: a victorious General George Washingon said farewell to his troops, at Fraunces Tavern, and was inaugurated a block or two north, on the balcony of Federal Hall, on the Corner of Wall and Broad Streets, in 1789. (click). John Adams, Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and other Sons of Liberty ate, drank, and planned the Revolution at the Green Dragon. Before, after, or during their debates, someone, somewhere will say, "A black man, a Jew and a Pollack walk into a bar. The bartender asks 'What'll ya have?' The African American says 'Oval Office, straight up.' The bartender replies 'It's on the rocks.' The Jew and the Pollack say 'We'll have what he's having.' The bartender says, 'I can only serve one every four years, and he has dibs.' "

In a move that may disappoint social Conservatives, Mike Huckabee, Republican Governor turned Fox News commentator / entertainer announced that he is not running against President Obama in 2012. "I lost to McCain in 2008, I don't want to lose to Obama in 2012. Maybe I'll run in 2016. I should be able to beat Biden. And I'm making $2 Million at Fox. Why give that up?" Like most of the Republicans, he spends most of his time pandering to the far right and groveling to would-be kingmakers. But when he is candid and honest; he's refreshing and almost charismatic. Like Pres. Reagan, who raised taxes 11 times over the course of his Presidency, Huckabee, as Arkansas' Governor, raised taxes to pay for schools. He also referred to the "Club of Growth" as the "Club of Greed." Conservative kingmaker Grover Norquist seeks to apply to the United States the "Starve the Beast" tactic, a variation of the "Feed it till it Bursts" tactic Reagan applied to the Soviet Union. This has resulted in a terrible loss of infrastructure in the United States as our roads are full of potholes, bridges are crumbling, schools are declining and as the Europeans, and Chinese are pulling ahead in manufacturing, solar power, wind power, and railroads.
Donald "The Donald" Trump, the real estate mogul from New York City, in a move that was sure to disappoint comedians, also bowed out of the race. Despite giving more support to Democrats than Republicans while George Bush was President and Republicans had a majority in both the House and the Senate, Trump was talking about running as a Republican and was proud of his major accomplishments: inheriting a fortune, going bankrupt once or twice, marrying three models, divorcing two, firing people on television, hiring people to write trivial books about Donald Trump, and demanding that President Obama ask Hawaiian authorities to release his birth certificate. As profoundly important as these accomplishments may be, "The Donald" appears to believe that he was trumped by the President's recent accomplishment - authorizing the successful "Capture or Kill" mission against Osama bin Laden, which resulted in bin Laden's death and the capture of a treasure trove of information, albeit with the loss of one American helicopter. Trump will return to what he does best, firing people and boasting.

Disappointing both her supporters and the comedians, Sarah Palin has been strangely quiet. This is particularly upsetting to Tina Fey and the writers and producers of Saturday Night Live. Palin's last known public statement, that former President Bush deserves credit for the mission President Obama authorized that killed bin Laden, can only be described as a "gift" to comedians and "baffling" to rational people.

That leaves Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michelle Bachmann, Chris Christie, Herman Cain, and Ron Paul.
Newt Gingrich, the 69 year old former Congressman, college professor, and intellectual, who married and divorced as often as Trump, but who did not marry models, is eminently qualified to work with John Boehner and Paul Ryan as they work to end Medicare, privatize Social Security, and dismantle the government. Gingrich is committed to, as Seth Meyers put it, "stop using my tax dollars to take care of me." As the force behind the 1994 "Contract On America," Gingrich is credited with shutting down the U. S. government, and helping Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election. Maybe Gingrich's real goal is to help Obama win re-election and thereby pave the way for a Republican to lose a challenge to Joe Biden in 2016. Gingrich, who began his campaign with a Twitter note and a Youtube video, wants to hook up with young people. Depending on the age of the young people he hooks up with, Gingrich could be looking at charges of statutory rape, or just being creepy.

However, by describing the Paul Ryan budget as “Radical” and “Right wing social engineering” Gingrich, while telling the truth, may have shot his campaign in the foot. (click). What the Republican and Tea Party rank and file seem to have just found out, is that the people funding the GOP and the Tea Party LIKE Radical right wing social engineering.
Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, looks to this self-styled pundit as the putative Republican front-runner in the campaign to lose the election of 2012. While Romney opposed the Cape Wind offshore wind farm that will generate electricity without pollution, he can honestly be credited with passing the Massachusetts Health Care Plan, also known as Obama-Care 1.0. (click). Voters, however, will have to ask themselves "why elect a moderately liberal Republican like Romney when they can elect a moderately liberal Democrat like Obama.
Tim Hosni Pawlenty is an American of Polish and German, not middle-eastern origin. While he can count on the support of Hosni Mubarek, and Republicans of middle eastern-origin, he probably cannot count on the support of Democrats or independents of middle-eastern origin.
Michelle Bachmann, stepping in to fill the void left by Sarah Palin, aspires to be the next hot middle aged babe on the Republican ticket. It really doesn't matter what she says, as long as she smiles appropriately. This is terrific news for Saturday Night Live. Sources tell us that Kristen Weig is rehearsing echoing platitudes, staring into space and looking away from the camera.

Disappointing Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and Progressives in New Jersey, Chris Christie is steadfast and adamant that he is not running, yet. "I wish he'd run," said a gay, Vegan, tree-hugging community organizer, on the condition of anonymity, "it would limit the damage he'd do here in Jersey."
Herman Cain, the Pizza Guy, one of about 1.1 million African Americans in the 55 million strong Republican Party, said, "Hey, I know I don't have a snowball's chance in hell of beating Obama. And I don't know if I want to. He's doing a good job, and all those black kids look up to him. But can you imagine how many pizzas I'm gonna sell with this? Do you have any idea of the Return On Investment of this 'candidacy'? Man, it's huge. Huge! And I'm talking to Murdoch about my own reality show. We'll call it 'Pizza Man' or 'President? or Pizza Man?' or Pizza Man President! I'll get Eddie Murphy to play me."
Ron Paul, the uncompromising libertarian physician turned Congressman, who's medical practice was devoted to Medicare patients, wants to legalize all drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, LSD and heroin, and eliminate all government programs, including education, research, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, NASA, NOAA, the ATF, the IRS, the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, and the Defense Department. "Fergit the 1950's, we need to return to the 1850's," he said. When it was pointed out that the US in 1850 had about 23 million people, and about 3.2 million were slaves, the wiley Texan said "Yep, so, what's yer point? I mean, we're all slaves to our hearts and our debts."

-

Copyright © 2011. Larry “XB Cold Fingers” Furman. This is a work of satire. Any resemblance to the facts is tragic, or hilarious. I report. Or I make it up. You decide.

Bin Laden. 2 Bullets. No Photos.

By XB Cold Fingers.

New York, May 5, 2011. President Obama decided that the U. S. will not release photos of bin Laden. "However," the President said, "we will release the Death Certificate, and the Long Form Death Certificate."

Donald Trump could not be reached for comment.

"We'll get the photos," said Julian Assange, of Wikileaks, "even if we need to use 'Photoshop.'"

"Conspiracy theorists," Assange continued, "are free to use 'Photoshop' to create their own photos. Other conspiracy theorists are free to use audio and video editing systems to create fake recorded messages from Osama 'proving' that bin Laden is still alive. Wilileaks will pay for any legitimate looking 'proof.' "

The Pakistan government has joined Wikileaks and is preparing a Request for Proposal for the best "proof" that the May 1, 2011 commando raid by US Navy Seals was either:

A) In Afganistan, 35 miles from Kabul, not in Pakistan, 35 miles from Islamabad and down the road from the Pakistani military academy,
B) Carried out by Pakistani authorities against Indian terrorists living in Pakistan,
C) Carried out by Israeli agents against Hamas and in Gaza,
D) Carried out by Hamas and Hezbollah against Zionists living in Pakistan,
E) Carried out by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society against Japanese whalers, or
F) All of the above.

Budget conscious Representative Paul Ryan complained about the cost of the mission. "Bin Laden," he said, "was shot twice. Did we need to use two rounds? Wasn't that twice the ammunition needed? Wasn't that a 50% waste of resources? And we lost a helicopter. Does the President know how much those cost? Why wasn't this job outsourced to the lowest bidder in China or India?"

Speaking from the campaign trail, the cost-conscious isolationist libertarian doctor Representative Ron Paul said "Eight years ago Pres. Bush said 'Mission Accomplished.' What did Obama hope to prove?"

Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, who hopes to be the first Republican Cougar running for President, echoed Rep. Paul, adding "In 2005 Pres. Bush shuttered the CIA's hunt for Bin Laden and shifted efforts to Iraq, and he got Saddam. What does Obama hope to accomplish?"


Sarah Palin, the community organizer who quit her job as Governor of Alaska to focus on her "work" as a microblogger on Twitter and Facebook, said "How's that hopey changey thing working out for you?"

Charles Koch, the billionaire who 'secretly' funds the Tea Party, and foots much of the bill for Palin's $1.0 million a year in appearance fees and wardrobe upgrades said "Obama had to say 'Yea' or 'Nay.' What did he actually do?"

In their statemens Ron Paul, Michelle Bachmann, and Sarah Palin made reference to the observation that Obama presents America and the world with an optimistic agenda, one of hope. And Koch, while his radical political agenda is at odds with that of the President, did credit Obama with the decision to send the Navy Seals on this mission.

Saudi Prince Alaweed bin Talel, a major stockholder of News Corp, the parent of Fox News, the Wall St. Journal, and the New York Post commented privately, saying "Osama bin Laden may have made some mistakes, he may have been was a wayward son of the kingdom, but he was a subject of the House of Saud who was brutally murdered by the Americans. The King will not forget this slight."

Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned his position in 2008 after allegations of corruption, and who, as a young man, studied in the military academy in Abbottabad a few blocks from bin Laden's palatial hideout said "Pakistani intelligence was either duplicitous or incompetent, probably incompetent." Musharraf should know - he was President of Pakistan when bin Laden moved in to the Abbattabad hideout.

Former President George W. Bush, speaking to Former Defense Secretary Donald "The Other Donald" Rumsfeld, Former Vice President Dick Cheney, Former National Security Advisor Condaleeza Rice, and former advisor Karl Rove said "I told you we should have gotten him. But you didn't listen to me. And I was 'the Decider.' " Rice said "you decided to agree with what we told you, that the Mission was Accomplished." Rove said "I was your brains, remember?" Rumsfeld said "the outcome has proven to be one of those things that was known to be unknowable." Cheney, in an undisclosed location, could not be reached for comment. He is believed to be looking for a lawyer to shoot.

* Copyright (c) 2011, XB ColdFingers. This is a work of satire. The only facts known to the author are:
A) On May 1, 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed, shot twice by American Navy Seals on a covert capture or kill mission.
B) The  mission was authorized by President Obama.
C) A helicopter was lost in the mission.
D) In 2005, the CIA turned its attention away from bin Laden.‬
E) The bit on Musharraf, while funny, is not an exaggeration.
F) The bit on Koch, while not funny, is not an exaggeration.

Wisconsin, Egypt – It's the Economy, Stupid

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is trying to stimulate the economy by eliminating corporate income taxes and regulations on businesses and cutting taxes on wealthy people. These kinds of activities do stimulate GDP. Here's how.

Wealthy people, like Lindsay Lohan, Brittney Spears, Mel Gibson, and Charlie Sheen have people, including paparazzi and media people following them around. That costs money. They do things in a spectacular way, and when they do stupid things in a spectacular way they have lawyers get them out of trouble. Economists call this “multipliers.” The lawyers, paparazzi and media folks need to eat, sleep, rent hotel rooms, etc. And they don't camp out and chow down on toast, water, and dried fruits and nuts. Celebrities often require high powered consultants from the sex and pharmaceuticals industries. When they trigger rapid increases in the entropy of hotel rooms, by “trashing” them, carpenters, electricians, decorators, architects and others need be hired to restore the room – all this costs money, and stimulates GDP.

When regulations are lax or eliminated businesses regulate themselves. This stimulates GDP. Consider the recent GDP stimulus of Wall Street, when those npw-legendary credit default swaps raised real estate values (until they crashed). Similarly, when industries are releived of the burden of environmental regulations, they create products which increase GDP and pollution which is not counted in GDP. When the pollution is cleaned up, at taxpayer expense, the GDP again increases. We see this dramatically in Tennessee, at the site of the Kingston Steam Plant. When a flood released 1.2 billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge from the coal-fired power plant, December, 22, 2008, the cleanup costs were added to the bills of the people who buy power from the TVA.

Note that there are people who think about ecological economcis understand the costs of cleaning up pollution, and other things they call economic bads, should not be considered a component of the health of an economy. They favor the use of indices like the Genuine Progress Indicator, GPI.

However, in words Alan Greenspan might use, “with a syncopatedly integrated interperiodic boom-bust bubble-pop series of microeconomic events pursuant to macroeconomic cyclical patterns we will sustain high employment with simultaneous episodic high unemployment, causing elevated productivity and de-elevated wages, giving many people virtually sufficient purchasing power to buy most of the necessities they need to live productively, work their entire lives, create terrific negative net worth, also known as debt, and give their children some of the education they will need, unless or until they get sick or incapacitated."

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is trying to make Wisconsin business friendly by eliminating corporate income taxes. What he could do is use the power of Eminent Domain to take over a few mansions and then give them to Lohan, Spears, Gibson, and Sheen. Those four, by themselves, could stimulate the economy, especially in a small state like Wisconsin. Imagine what they could accomplish working, or playing, together. The synergies would be terrific. Walker could recreate Madison as "The Hamptons North West" or "Hollywood North East" - he could pay the Post Office for special zip codes, for example, 90210-A and 11937-B. Their lifestyle would stimulate the economy in a significantly more dramatic, and probably less unsustainable manner than cutting taxes for Koch Industries and rich folks and their hangers on who would jet off to Paris, the Riveria, or the real Hamptons and stimulate the economy in those places.

The Governor is probably legally required to balance the budget. Should he do this by raising taxes or cutting spending and cutting taxes and regulations on corporations and wealthy people? If he cuts taxes and regulations, and those corporations pollute more than would if the taxes and regulations were in place, then the citizens will have to pay the costs of cleaning up the mess. As described above in the description of the Tennessee coal ash flood, this stimulates GDP.

Walker seems to want to eliminate health and other benefits from government jobs, except for police (and no doubt the Office of the Governor) in order to balance the budget and continue to allow him to cut taxes. This will shrink the GDP. Greenspan might refer to this as “Negative Growth.”

Roosevelt and Keynes proved that government spending stimulates the economy. Walker should be raising taxes to cover spending. Cutting wages and benefits stimulates employees to leave. The long term impacts of destroying your education system are on display in West Virginia and Mississippi.

On the other hand, maybe Gov. Walker and the Koch brothers are right. If there are no jobs for the young people of Wisconsin it may be better to keep them uneducated. If they get educated they might get uppity, they might demand "Rights." As the Taliban in Afganistan knows, if you want to keep people in line, it is easier if they have no education. Former President Hosni Mubarek found this out in Egypt. The revolution in Egypt was led by young educated young people who don't have jobs. The people in China have jobs and are not revolting - they're too busy working 7 days per week and trying to save some money. An educated citizenry revolts. If you don't want your citizens to revolt, keep them stupid.

Links:
On Egypt:
Freidman, NYTimes, Postcard from Cairo, 1, Postcard from Cairo, 2
Pharoah without a Mummy
On Wisconsin:
Klein, at Washington Post
Talking Points Memo

The Invention of the Necktie

London, England, circa 1776. And English "Lord" with a rebellious son in New York - Brooklyn as a matter of fact (or fiction - the accounts vary) was troubled. Torn between loyalty to his son and fealty to his king.

So torn as he was between fealty and loyalty - his son may have been a signatory to the Declaration of Independence - this Lord, who shall remain nameless, retreated into madness. He began to wear gowns in his wife's closet. This, by the way is the origin of the phrases "out of the closet" and "closet Queen," which was originally "Lady of the closet."

He recovered from his madness and chose loyalty to his son over fealty to his king and was compelled to leave London in haste.

He also understood that kilts were one thing, and more out of place in New York than in London, and ladies gowns on men quite another. The “New World” may have been radical in its approach to the rights of (white) men, it was not in its approach to the roles of men, or their dress.

So he took a knife and cut off two inches of the lower hem of the favorite four of his wife's gowns - two of which had his crest in a swirling teardrop of bold green and yellow - he was the Earl of Paisley. He tied one around his neck in what has become known as the Windsor knot, and left England.

Upon arrival he reunited with his son, a young Captain in Washington's command. He was able to counsel Washington on British strategies until captured by Cornwallis, and hanged by his tie - which thus became a symbol, like coffee, of American Independence.

A true story. Or truly a story.

Brittney, LiLo, Snookie, Ann, Sarah, and W.

Brittney Spears, like Lindsay Lohan, really cares about America, and humanity, particularly young women, young girls - their fan bases. Like Nicole "Snookie" Polozzi their "antics" are a carefully thought out existential drama designed to show girls and young women, their mothers, fathers and brothers, especially those in lower socio-economic strata - all of us - that wealth doesn't buy happiness, that no matter how much money you have, you still have to wrestle with intoxicants, people who don't want to share, men who treat you as sex objects . . . . How else do you explain Brittney's famous act of performance art in emerging from a cab in a short skirt hiked up to her waist, with her panties carefully concealed?

Like other visionary women, they are misunderstood. Ann Coulter - at first glance you would think she personally hates Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Meghan McCain. However, if you look beneath the surface you might find a coke-whore who secretly wants to have Bill's baby, McCain's baby, or Hillary's baby, but knowing this is impossible, masks her tragedy in addiction, anger, and best selling rants and diatribes.

Or Sarah Palin. The former Governor who earned $13 Million in speaking fees may be the barely educated former governor of a state who's population is about the same as Monmouth County, New Jersey, or Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay, and Coney Island, Brooklyn. She may be the former mayor of a town with a population about the size of an apartment building in the Bronx or on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. But she challenges our assumptions about what it means to be coherent. She recently said "those protesters in Egypt, I don't know if they are telling the truth." While I realize she said that while walking AND chewing gum, what are the protesters saying? They seem to be saying "We want Mubarek out of office." But that phrase is so wrought with ambiguity - do they want to take him out for drinks? (Well, not the Moslem Brotherhood). How about a nice lunch of roasted lamb with rice and tea? Maybe they want him out of his office so they can paint it? Regardless, she challenges our assumption that the office of the President of the United States should be held by someone who can think deeply, and make decisions based on rational assessment of the facts and scientifically observable data. After all, W held it for 8 years, 8 long years during which we lurched from one catastrophic decision to the next as if passengers in a bus driven by a nearsighted drunk on magic mushrooms. How hard can it be?

Obama and Palin - the Best of Both Worlds

Obama and Palin - the Best of Both Worlds

Washington, DC, April 1, 2011. The White House announced that President Barack Obama has appointed former Governor Sarah Palin as "Liaison to the Conservative Community." The White House also appointed professor and "former" radical Bill Ayers "Liaison to Socialists, Progressives, and Other Kooks."

Bill McKibben was briefly considered for the job of "Sustainability Tzar" however Tim Geithner, Larry Sommers, Steven Chu and Ken Salazar persuaded the President that "we don't need a Sustainability Tzar, we need more growth of GDP and unregulated derivatives, and more consumption of fossil fuels coupled with Rube-Goldbergian carbon sequestration technologies, to be invented soon, and nuclear fusion, which is only 50 years away, maybe less."

Quoting Alan Greenspan, they said, "with a syncopatedly integrated interperiodic boom-bust bubble-pop series of macroeconomic cyclical events we will sustain high employment with simultaneous episodic high unemployment, causing elevated productivity and de-elevated wages, giving many people almost enough purchasing power to buy most of the necessities they need to live productively, work their entire lives, creating terrific debt, and give their children all the education they will need, unless they get sick." Obama took two aspirin and sent them away, calling for Palin and George W. Bush, saying, "bring me some real Amaricans I can understand."

Ayers could not be reached for comment. However, we were able to locate him using radio signals from his cell-phone. He is on a hunting trip with Mike Huckabee and Dick Cheney, and is expected to resurface re-educated and working with the Tea Party Movement.

Palin, however, said, "I'm a former 'Weather Girl,' so I can work with a 'Weather Man.' However, I'm not sure I can take the job because 'liaison' is a French word and I make more money egging on, I mean 'speaking to' the Tea Party activists."

Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh, on Fox News and other conservative oriented comedy broadcasting called it "a trick," missing the point that it was "a joke."

Single Prayer Health Care - I Pray, but I Don't Get It

Medicare works well for my octogenarian father. My insurance premium is large enough - $1200 per month - for a new BMW and a new Mercedes. And I can't see the doctors I'd like to see.

My insurance is great as long as I don't get sick.

Then I'd face bankruptcy. What good is it? And One out of Six Americans has no health insurance and therefore very limited access to health care. This is appalling. It's the population of California, NJ and New York City. It's roughly the population of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland - the entire mid-Atlantic and New England states. It's 47 Million People!

Please call your Senator and your Representative in the House. Tell them to support a DFA Green Orca who runs on a campaign to deliver single payer health care and 100% clean energy in 10 years.

Will it be easy? No. But - When John Kennedy urged us to accept the goal "before the decade is out, of sending a man to the moon and returning him safely" he said it would be hard and expensive. Yet we did it.

When the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said "I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day my children will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" he didn't say it would be easy. He didn't say it would happen overnight. And he spoke those words about 45 years ago, about 100 years after Lincoln freed both slaves and the slaveholders of the bondage and oppression of slavery. And while last November a sufficient plurality judged Obama and McCain by the content or their character and not the color of their skin, we're not out of the woods yet. (How else do you explain people like CNN's Lou Dobbs? If his questioning Obama's birth is not racism I'll eat a whaleburger.)

We didn't know where Apollo would lead - other than to the moon and back. We didn't know it would lead to the Internet and tons of cool high tech. Unlike the Apollo program we know these twin goals - single payer and 100% clean energy - will have tremendous economic and national security benefits.

We can't afford the status quo. As Gore said, "we are borrowing Billions from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf and burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has got to change." Coal, by the way, is dirtier than oil. It may be abundent, but it's abundently dirty

Let's turn those Blue Dogs into Dog Meat. And the Dog Meat Republicanista ...

Think about it - rotweiller and pit bull versus orca? No contest. Orca wins.

The Republicans - The Party of No

It started with Nancy Reagan who said: "Just say no to drugs."

The Republicans just say No to everything.

• No Support for the Unemployed.
• No Help if you're Facing Foreclosure.
• No Health Insurance for 45 to 50 Million Americans - about one in six.
• No Vision for The Future.
• No Understanding of Science.
• If you're a lobbyist, peddling influence and campaign contributions, "No, I'm not busy, come in."
• And if you're on Wall Street, No way you're responsible for your actions. You're too big to fail. The Government will bail you out. It's the American Way!

The Party of No!

The President v The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is supposed to be above politics. The President is not. The Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary braches of the United States Government are supposed to check and balance each other. Refer to the Constitution for details (here).

In his State of the Union address, President Obama criticized the Supreme Court and asked Congress for a law that will reverse the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission. Obama didn't criticize the Supreme Court in a classroom, on partisan political ground, or in a closed session with Democrats. He criticized the Court in a non-partisan forum, in a televised joint session of Congress, in front of 6 members of the Supreme Court.

The way we can judge the substance of Obama's criticism is to look at the matter, "Citizens United versus Federal Election Commission, the decision, the majority opinion and the minority opinion. (Supreme Court Wiki here , SEC Analysis here, Independent analysis: here.) The Court, in a 5 to 4 decision that appears to be along ideological lines (Alito, Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, & Thomas, v Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor & Stephens) in Obama's words "reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections." Obama went on to say, "I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong."

I am not a lawyer, but I think the Supreme Court said “Corporations have the right to free speech, even if they make political advertising that is not factual.”

We will see what happens next.

Will the House and Senate enact legislation that reverses the Supreme Court decision or curtails the right to free and misleading speech by corporations?
Will this legislation be challenged in Court?
Will the Court that hears the challege agree with the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission or support the new law?

Meet the Senator and his Daughters

Massachusetts Senator-Elect Scott Brown, flanked by his daughters, Ayla and Arianna.

"Just in case anyone who's watching throughout the country, yes they're both available," Brown shouted.

As the crowd started to hoot - and a look of extreme annoyance crossed the face of daughter Arianna, and his wife Gail let out a mortified gasp - the future senator did his best to reel in his comment.

"No, no. No. Only kidding, only kidding. Only kidding, only kidding," he said. "Arianna... Arianna's, definitely not available."

"But Ayla is," he added.

Brown, the Senator-Elect and former Cosmo Boy, was also voted "Senator most likely to go 'hiking' on the Appalachian Trail."

Sarah Palin is looking to Brown to be her running mate in 2012.

This may be what happens when you legalize marijuana.

It proves that the once-blue state of New Jersey is not the only place where voters exercise bad judgment.

The election also proves that Dumb-ocrats fail to understand that in order to make policy, you have to be good at politics. Or just sexy.

Obama v Bush - Cheney, Happy New Era

In response to the Christmas Day attempted terror attack, President Obama's actions and former Vice President Cheney's comments highlight the difference between the two administrations: The Obama Administration investigates first. On 12/29/9 President Obama said it was a systemic failure (Christian Science Monitor). On 1/3/10 he said the attack was planned in Yemen (NY Times).

The Bush / Cheney Administration shoots first, ask questions later. In response to the Christmas Day attempted terrorist "incident" the former VP attacked the President and the Administration, but oddly enough did not condemn the attack itself (Politico)

I think Obama should send Cheney to Guantanamo as a special investigator. I don't think he should be sent to Kabul, Baghdad, Gaza, or S. Lebanon - those areas are too volatile, and besides, he already knows all the answers. That's the difference. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc believed they knew all the answers, and the answer to every question was either coal, oil, or war. Obama and his team know that these are complex developing systems.

In all seriousness, at first glance Cheney doesn't appear to know what he's talking about. Obama is not talking about closing Guantanamo and setting the incarcerated suspected terrorists free, he is talking about closing Guantanamo and putting the suspects in jail until they are tried in a court of law. (Politico).

Cheney bears an uncanny resemblance to the character of Senator Bob Rumson, played by Richard Dreyfuss, in "The American President," (IMDB)

the 1995 film by Rob Reiner (IMDB) starring Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd, Annette Benning, as Sydney Ellen Wade, an environmentalist lobbiest, Dreyfuss, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, etc. In a terrific monologue at the end of the film, President Shepherd says (YouTube)

"Being President of this country is entirely about character.

"For the record: yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. ... This is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: Why would a Senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution?...

"You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free".

"I've known Bob Rumson for years, and I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it! We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only:

• Making you afraid of it and
• Telling you who's to blame for it.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.

"You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character. And wave an old photo of the President's girlfriend and you scream about patriotism and you tell them, she's to blame for their lot in life, and you go on television and you call her a whore."

Corzine v Christie

Gov. Jon Corzine supports families like mine and citizens like me, Bush's former Prosecutor Chris Christie supports the Insurance Companies, which act like families like Don Vito Corleone's. As President Obama, Vice President Biden, and former-President Clinton highlighted last week, those differences could not be more clear:

Corzine: Expanding Health Insurance Jon Corzine expanded health coverage for over 100,000 more kids and signed legislation to require insurance companies to cover autism screenings.	Christie Sides With Insurers Chris Christie would give insurance companies free rein to drop coverage for critical procedures like mammograms and autism screenings and would give them $100 million in tax breaks.
Corzine is Protecting Paid Family Leave Jon Corzine is one of a handful of governors to pass paid family leave that lets people care for newborn babies or sick relatives while still getting paid.	Christie Isn't Standing with NJ Families Chris Christie opposes paid family leave, and would allow hospitals to discharge new mothers less than 24 hours after they've given birth.
Corzine Defends The Right To Choose Jon Corzine strongly supports a woman’s right to choose.	Christie is Anti-Choice Chris Christie supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.
Corzine Has Provided Historic Tax Relief Jon Corzine has provided more property tax relief than any other Governor in New Jersey history.	Christie's $2 Billion In New Taxes Chris Christie said he would side with right wing governors and reject $5 billion in federal stimulus funds, including money for education, which would lead to a direct $2 billion increase in property taxes.
Corzine Supports Responsible Gun Laws Jon Corzine fought for a one handgun per month law.	Christie Is Backed By The Gun Lobby Chris Christie is backed by the gun lobby and even opposes banning guns that fire bullets to pierce a cop’s bulletproof vest.
Corzine Has Made Education A Priority Although he cut state spending, Jon Corzine increased funding for New Jersey schools by $1.8 billion and expanded pre-K education.	Christie Thinks It's "Babysitting" Chris Christie calls early childhood education "babysitting" and his rejection of federal stimulus funds would have undercut the real progress we've made in educating our kids.
Corzine Stands With President Obama Jon Corzine is endorsed by President Barack Obama, and is in step with our President's vision for our country. Together, they will work to lead our state and our country out of this global recession.	Christie Stands With President Bush Chris Christie would side with other right-wing governors to obstruct Barack Obama's agenda and would have rejected federal stimulus funds, driving up our property taxes by over $2 billion.