Here's what fascism was about in Europe.
The radical right likes to throw around the word socialist indiscriminately as if they actually know the definition of socialism. Socialism is when the people, through the government, own the bulk of the companies of its nation. Seen that lately? Probably not. Venezuela for sure; Cuba, too. Fascism on the other hand involves a corrupt marriage between big business and government. The right doesn't know the definition of fascism either thanks to snake-oil historians like Glen Beck and Jonah Goldberg.
Mussolini said "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power". With the Citizens United ruling, Corporations are people and can influence elections with mountains of money. Democracy is losing to the corporate aristocracy which is buying our politicians and determining many of their decisions.
Mussolini was a socialist until around the end of WWI when he vehemently renounced socialism in favor of his new political ideology of fascism that emphasized militant patriotic nationalism. Ring a bell? Mussolini relentlessly attacked liberalism and socialism. You can read it all HERE. In his manifesto he mentions liberalism and socialism in a negative way 43 times. In contrast to the materialism of socialism, Mussolini claims Fascism is spiritual and uses the term 23 times to define Fascism. Materialism and spiritualism are opposites Socialism is concerned with the proletariat; fascism is concerned with the power of the state. Fascism is government without any intention of representation. It runs on ideology, not people. Certainly, people are easily confused because no political ideology holds completely unique beliefs.
I read in a local newspaper "Liberals do love to associate conservatives with Nazis but since facts might muddle the charge they never offer any" Facts? Okay.
In 1920 and 1921 the Italian streets were filled with protesting workers. Mussolini's fascist "blackshirts" were used to crush unions or any other perceived socialism, disrupting their meetings and committing violence in the streets. Mussolini took advantage of the situation by forming alliances with industrial giants and together they finally trade unions to crumble and socialists mayors to resign. In 1927, Mussolini gave some rights back to unions as long as they were state or party controlled. Hey, Scott Walker!
In 1933, when Hitler gained dictatorial powers with the "Enabling Act", he abolished labor unions and replaced them with the Nazi Party's "Labor Front". Trade unions were socialist and Hitler, like Mussolini and Franco, hated socialism. Mussolini abolished trade unions, too. Sound familiar? Hitler used "law and order" to destroy individual rights. Fascists ended collective bargaining rights. Together, Mussolini, Hitler and Franco arrested hundreds of thousands of communists, socialists and democratic socialists because socialism was the enemy of fascism.
Hitler's fascism emphasized "real Germans" like our right wingers emphasize "real Americans". Fascists supported laws that would attack any cultural diversity in the press, the arts or radio in Germany. They thought any foreign cultural influence would strip Germany of its soul, so they mounted a cultural war just as our right wingers do. Liberal professors were targeted. Any use of a non-German language was unpatriotic. Note the vehemence of the English-only crowd.
German Fascism was vehemently anti-immigrant. Mussolini declared universal suffrage was the greatest of lies. If you follow America's right wing you will notice the harsh anti-immigrant rants. Conservatives also have a long history of opposing universal suffrage from religious equality, abolition and women's suffrage, to child labor laws, reproductive freedom and gay rights.
In 1936 Hitler and Heinrich Himmler created the bureaucracy, THE REICH OFFICE FOR THE COMBATING OF HOMOSEXUALITY AND ABORTION. The Reich, as soon as it was empowered by dictatorial powers raided every gay business in the nation and shut their doors. Between 1936 and 1939, 100,000 gay men were imprisoned at one time or another. A Tea Party dream I'd say. What remains of records from concentration camps like Buchenwald evidence the gassing of at least 15,000 gay men. In his speeches, Himmler bragged about pretending to allow gays to escape the camps so they could kill them. In the camps certain doctors were tasked with finding a way to cure gays. One way was to force them to have sex with prostitutes. Straight porn, too, Homosexuals that found themselves in the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Neuengamme were experimented upon by the Danish SS doctor, Carl Vaernet. The SS gave him a research position, a staff, laboratories, financial support, and camp inmates with which to experiment upon. His treatments included castration for the incurable, and hormones for the others. Under the Nazi doctrine of re-education, Vaernet had developed a hormone implant for homosexuals
Fascism was about family values! Contraception and/or abortion were outlawed by Mussolini, Hitler and Franco. Family planning clinics disappeared. Hitler awarded women with the the Motherhood Cross who had given birth to the largest number of children. Lesser Medals were the Golden Cross for eight children, the Silver Cross for six children, and a Bronze for those who had four children. Four kids! Shameful! Mussolini's government paid extra benefits to the exceptionally reproductive! Are you catching on yet? Women were supposed to be the helpmates and babymakers of men. Before Hitler came into power there were 100,000 female teachers but that ended with Hitler's rise to power. Women went home until so many of the men were killed they had to go back to work.
If it walks like a goose, its probably a goose.
There is plenty more to address but this was originally for a printed newspaper so space was an issue.
GOP HAS NO JOBS BILLS SO THEY VOTED ON "IN GOD WE TRUST". JUST WHAT WE NEEDED!
'In God We Trust' wasn't added to our money until after Civil War
It is entirely possible that a majority of Americans accept the motto "God We Trust" on our currency because they think it been with us for a long time. The same with "under God" I would like to present some facts as to how and when this all began.
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by a Christian socialist named Francis Bellamy and was adopted as our national pledge in 1942. It did not contain the phrase "under God" in it when written nor when adopted. The phrase was added by the right-wing Congress during the reactionary red scare years in June, 1954. The Constitution had left the room in the era of Joseph McCarthy and the cold war fear-mongering gave the right wingers many excuses to subvert the Constitution. If you didn't agree, you were unpatriotic.
Our money did not have any religious mottos during the founding era. In fact, my favorite is the 1792 half dime that has the motto, "LIBERTY PARENT OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY". That should be a comfort to the anti-science folks on the right. The 1776 Continental Dollar had "MIND YOUR BUSINESS" for a motto. Another coin minted in 1783 had the motto "NOVA CONSTELLATIO", which means New Constellation, containing an enlightenment meaning of a new order of things. The Fugio Cent of 1787 and afterward also had the motto "MIND YOUR BUSINESS".
New York State issued the Excelsior coin in 1787. On the obverse in bold letters is EXCELSIOR, meaning "ever upwards". On the reverse around the outside is written E PLURIBUS UNUM, Latin for One From Many. Nowhere on our currency did any religious notion, except for a plethora of pagan goddesses like Minerva, Justitia and Libertas, appear during the founding era. That did not happen until right at the end of the Civil War when guilt and mourning swept the nation. From 1938 onward the motto appeared regularly but was not mandated by Congress until a month after the red scare congress put "under God" in our pledge.
James Veverka
Tilton
RAISING REVENUES IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOP IN HOUSE
After reading Tony Boutin's "Audacity of Despair" in the Laconia Daily Sun, I think I can offer an alternative point of view that is more accurate.
The present state of economic affairs is largely due to the Bush economic policies. The entire Right Wing World is in denial and almost never mentions Bush's name when discussing the economy. Those with Obama Derangement Syndrome use a simple strategy of deception by omission, distraction and distortion. According to the way the right puts it, the unemployment rate should have gotten much better immediately if the President did his job right. That means the use of the failed policies again. Unemployment, economic growth, bankruptcies, and foreclosures as they stand are part of our most recent plummet created by GOP economics. In September of 2008 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll showed that by a 2 to 1 margin, Americans blame Bush for this economic mess. In a more recent poll last Summer by the Quinnipiac Poll, the 2 to 1 margin stands. Clearly, Mr Boutin spends too much of his time watching Fox.
Let's take a look at the only crash worst than Bush's crash and see how they handled it. In the first year after the Stock Market Crash in 1929, when banks imploded due to malfeasance the unemployment rate was around 8%. A year and a half later it was over 16%. What was set in motion in 1929 was like a downhill freight train just like what Bush set in motion with his trickle-down, deregulation religion, and credit card mentality. By 1932 the unemployment rate went above 24%. That year, 43,000 people including 17,000 troops owed money to marched on Washinton, DC. They set up camps but were dispersed by General McArthur's troops using bayonets and tear gas. In 1933 unemployment hit 25%. Four years after the crash of 1929 the unemployment rate began to fall slightly. The unemployment rate then dropped a bit in 1934 to around 22%. The first national general strikle was called in 1934. Not surprising, Alcoholics Anonymous was born at this time. No relief in sight after 5 years.
In 1934 President Roosevelt finally took the economist John Maynard Keynes seriously and created a public works project to put millions back to work. The project included schools, bridges, dams and highways for starters. In 1935 the unemployment rate was still at 20% when in August FDR signed The Revenue Act of 1935. It became known as the Wealth Tax Act because it also taxed high-earning Americans, and closed tax loopholes that the wealthy were using to legally avoid paying tax. Ring a bell? It sharply raised taxes on income over $75,000 with those exceeding $5,000,000 paying 75% instead of 59%. $75,000 was enough to but several small mansions in 1935. Congress also revised corporate tax rates by lowering those on small businesses and raising them on larger ones. During this time there were many strikes and this is when the auto industry recognized the UAW.
By 1937, unemployment had dropped to 14% from the 25% peak. Some sources say as low as 11%. Wages, profits and production had finally returned to 1929 levels! The stimulus was working; the revenue raising was successful and millions were back to work. With great pride, American workers finished the Golden Gate Bridge that year. But then trouble appeared. Conservatives and friends of Wall St. in FDR's cabinet urged spending cuts and a more balanced budget. Ring a bell? What happened was the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was drasticly cut and the Public Works Adminstration (PWA) nearly stalled. The economy dove into a harsh recession, lasting over a year. Unemployment shot back up from 11/14% to 19% and manufacturing dropped 37%. Industrial production plummeted.Three years of growth were lost when FDR caved to the conservative economists demanding much trhe same nonsense that the right wingers demand. FDR shot back with attacks on the monopolists, who were deemed the major cause of the depression and this sudden downturn in 1937. Harry Truman gave 'em hell as the top man in Anti-Trust. So in 1937 FDR sent to Congress another large stimulus spending program to re-fund the WPA, the PWA and other relevant programs. It passed and the economy recovered to its early 1937 levels by the end of 1938.
If they listened to Tont Boutin's on how wrong spending is, they would have never gotten out of the depression nor that serious dip in 1938. Tony tells us that the Stimulus was a failure which makes him nothing more than a right wing propaganda tool to spread lies wthru. Its the Memes, folks. Most economists say about 2-3 million jobs were saved or created and we were also saved from a serious depression. The truth of the matter is that the stimulus should have been bigger and the reason why we are climbing out of this hole so slowly is because the GOP is obstructing economic success. They keep suggesting the same tactics conservatives demanded in 1937 that reversed the climb out of the depression and sent the nation into another recessionary plunge. Another stimulus is what reversed the conservative economic failures of 37-38. Like FDR, Obama has proposed a jobs bill that would target bridges, schools, and roads but the GOP is obstructing again. Top economists say another 2 million jobs could be created.
Tony says that 81% of Americans are not happy with the direction of the country. He wrongly claims the 81% are anti-Obama and the rest are Obama-lovers. With a 20-30% approval for the Tea Party, around a 10-12% approval for the Congress, a very low approval of the GOP. the numbers suggest that Americans are far more troubled by the obstructionism of the right wingers than they are Obama whose approval have jumped 7% in just one month of taking it mto the people. Another distortion of the facts that Mr Boutin uses is blaming Obama for the Debt ceiling fiasco. Nothing supports this claim. It was a manufactured teabagger crisis. In a post debt fight CNN+ poll on August 9, 2011, Republicans had a disapproval of 59%. The approval for Democrats increased. Americans blamed the GOP extremists for the downgrade. And don't forget, it was the right wing nutjobs that were yelling "Shut it down!"
FROM the S&P Press Release: "We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process. ....Our lowering of the rating was prompted by our view on the rising public debt burden and our perception of greater policymaking uncertainty,.."
Raising revenues is an impossibility as long as the GOP controls the House and that is why our rating was lowered. Thank you Teabaggers. I think its clear America is on the wrong path because of the Tea Party extremists holding America hostage.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
ITS THAT "SOCIALISM SCREECH" AGAIN
To the editor
The president of the United States deserves our deep gratitude this week. Again, his foreign policy has yielded the end of another mass murderer. As with the death of Osama bin Laden, the right wingers are attempting to deny the president any credit. On Friday, the Stephanie Miller show played about a dozen audio clips of the right wingers yammering back in March how the president couldn't lead. It was pretty amusing. When Bin Laden was killed we heard the same partisan dishonesty. Don't forget, George Bush, after screwing up bin Laden's capture in Tora Bora, claimed he "didn't think about him much anymore". He didn't think about the murderer of 3,000 Americans anymore? All along, President Obama was right about Pakistan.
Finally, the war in Iraq is coming to a close. This war was the worst mistake America has made since the Vietnam war. Three of my nephews served in Iraq but only two came home alive. My sister's only child, Brandon Sapp, was killed by a roadside bomb. Bush lied, thousands died. But finally, this ill-begotten war will be coming to a responsible close. Osama Bin Laden is dead, Al Qaeda's Anwar al-Awlaki is dead, Ghadafi is dead, and the war in Iraq is coming to an end yet the right wing desperately clings to its "destroy Obama" agenda. Congratulations, Mr. President, you make me proud. Most of the troops will be home for the holidays and this calls for a great deal of celebration in America. Unfortunately, instead of of celebrating with Americans, the extremists of the right wing will only be interested in plotting to undermine the president.
Well, what kind of week did the right wingers have? Oh, it was as bad as last week with their seventh abortion day vote. According to the latest Gallup Poll, 75-percent of Americans support the president's effort to provide funds to hire teachers, police officers, and firefighters yet the Congress doesn't get it. 72-percent support a public works project that would include 30,000 schools that need work. But the Congress wouldn't pass any such bill. From conservative Democrats to the ranters of the right, they just don't get it. Consequently, the conservatives have once again obstructed a plan to get America working. Bit by bit, Americans will see that right wingers don't really care about people.
And yet this display was not the worst of right wing world this week. The Tea Party Nation website sent out a pledge for businesses last week. The pledge was for businesses NOT TO HIRE PEOPLE! Yes folks, the pathological hatred of the far right towards the president has turned them into a Steven King Clown-Car on crack that could care less about the economy. They are so full of themselves they can't even consider the plight of ordinary people in these hard economic times. Just like the anti-abolitionists, the anti-suffragists, the segregationists, and the anti-gay bigots, the Tea Party psychos are doing the "socialism screech". It's a very old tactic and they still use it even though they lost every one of those battles. Sent out by Melissa Brookstone of the Tea Party Nation, businesses are asked to pledge not to hire anyone until "the globalized socialism movement" was defeated. Commies in the closet! Marxist Islamic Caliphate growing under the bed! According to this misfit, the Senate is socialist and the president is a dictator. Get real, nutjobs!
Here is the url to the Tea Partye Psycho's pledge:
http://www.teapartynation.com/profiles/blog/show?id=3355873%3ABlogPost%3...
http://www.teapartynation.com/profiles/blog/show?id=3355873%3ABlogPost%3...
This blatant attack on real American lives is the reason a majority of Americans now believe the GOP is deliberately sabotaging Obama's Presidency
“I’m on strike!” - Ellis Wyatt, from the end of the movie "Atlas Shrugged, Part 1", based on the novel by Ayn Rand
Resolved that: The Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Senate, in alliance with a global Progressive socialist movement, have participated in what appears to be a globalist socialist agenda of redistribution of wealth, and the waging of class warfare against our constitutional republic's heritage of individual rights, free market capitalism, and indeed our Constitution itself, with the ultimate goal of collapsing the U.S. economy and globalizing us into socialism.
Resolved that: President Obama has seized what amount to dictatorial powers to bypass our Congress, and that because the Congress is controlled by a Progressive socialist Senate that will not impeach one of their kind, they have allowed this and yielded what are rightfully congressional powers to this new dictator.
Resolved that: By their agenda and actions, those in our government who swore oaths to protect and defend our Constitution have committed treason against the United States.
Resolved that: The current administration and Democrat majority in the Senate, in conjunction with Progressive socialists from all around the country, especially those from Hollywood and the left leaning news media ( Indeed, most of the news media. ) have worked in unison to advance an anti-business, an anti-free market, and an anti-capitalist ( anti-individual rights and property ownership ) agenda.
Resolved that: These same factions expect that, by carrying out a radical anti-business agenda, which includes the passage and inflicting of Obama"Care" on our nation, class warfare and redistribution of wealth, and expanding the government, while killing businesses in this country with an environment hostile to business, including excessive regulations ( the average business must now spend about $11,700 per year per employee to comply with government regulations! ), and by borrowing and wasting more money than has been spent in the entire previous existence of our republic, that they will "create jobs", when in fact all they have "created" have been government jobs that consume wealth, and don't "create" it.
Resolved that: Our President, the Democrats-Socialists, most of the media, and most of those from Hollywood, have now encouraged and supported "Occupy" demonstrations in our streets, which are now being perpetrated across the globe, and which are being populated by various marxists, socialists and even communists, and are protesting against business, private property ownership and capitalism, something I thought I'd never see in my country, in my lifetime.
I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped.
I hereby declare that my job creation potential is now ceased.
“I’m on strike!”
GOP TALKING POINTS - BUSTED
After reading Tony Boutin's "Audacity of Despair", I think I can offer an alternative point of view that is more accurate.
The present state of economic affairs is largely due to the Bush economic policies. The entire Right Wing World is in denial and almost never mentions Bush's name when discussing the economy. Those with Obama Derangement Syndrome use a simple strategy of deception by omission, distraction and distortion. According to the way the right puts it, the unemployment rate should have gotten much better immediately if the President did his job right. That means the use of the failed policies again. Unemployment, economic growth, bankruptcies, and foreclosures as they stand are part of our most recent plummet created by GOP economics. In September of 2008 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll showed that by a 2 to 1 margin, Americans blame Bush for this economic mess. In a more recent poll last Summer by the Quinnipiac Poll, the 2 to 1 margin stands. Clearly, Mr Boutin spends too much of his time watching Fox.
Let's take a look at the only crash worst than Bush's crash and see how they handled it. In the first year after the Stock Market Crash in 1929, when banks imploded due to malfeasance the unemployment rate was around 8%. A year and a half later it was over 16%. What was set in motion in 1929 was like a downhill freight train just like what Bush set in motion with his trickle-down, deregulation religion, and credit card mentality. By 1932 the unemployment rate went above 24%. That year, 43,000 people including 17,000 troops owed money to marched on Washinton, DC. They set up camps but were dispersed by General McArthur's troops using bayonets and tear gas. In 1933 unemployment hit 25%. Four years after the crash of 1929 the unemployment rate began to fall slightly. The unemployment rate then dropped a bit in 1934 to around 22%. The first national general strikle was called in 1934. Not surprising, Alcoholics Anonymous was born at this time. No relief in sight after 5 years.
In 1934 President Roosevelt finally took the economist John Maynard Keynes seriously and created a public works project to put millions back to work. The project included schools, bridges, dams and highways for starters. In 1935 the unemployment rate was still at 20% when in August FDR signed The Revenue Act of 1935. It became known as the Wealth Tax Act because it also taxed high-earning Americans, and closed tax loopholes that the wealthy were using to legally avoid paying tax. Ring a bell? It sharply raised taxes on income over $75,000 with those exceeding $5,000,000 paying 75% instead of 59%. $75,000 was enough to but several small mansions in 1935. Congress also revised corporate tax rates by lowering those on small businesses and raising them on larger ones. During this time there were many strikes and this is when the auto industry recognized the UAW.
By 1937, unemployment had dropped to 14% from the 25% peak. Some sources say as low as 11%. Wages, profits and production had finally returned to 1929 levels! The stimulus was working; the revenue raising was successful and millions were back to work. With great pride, American workers finished the Golden Gate Bridge that year. But then trouble appeared. Conservatives and friends of Wall St. in FDR's cabinet urged spending cuts and a more balanced budget. Ring a bell? What happened was the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was drasticly cut and the Public Works Adminstration (PWA) nearly stalled. The economy dove into a harsh recession, lasting over a year. Unemployment shot back up from 11/14% to 19% and manufacturing dropped 37%. Industrial production plummeted.Three years of growth were lost when FDR caved to the conservative economists demanding much trhe same nonsense that the right wingers demand. FDR shot back with attacks on the monopolists, who were deemed the major cause of the depression and this sudden downturn in 1937. Harry Truman gave 'em hell as the top man in Anti-Trust. So in 1937 FDR sent to Congress another large stimulus spending program to re-fund the WPA, the PWA and other relevant programs. It passed and the economy recovered to its early 1937 levels by the end of 1938.
If they listened to Tont Boutin's on how wrong spending is, they would have never gotten out of the depression nor that serious dip in 1938. Tony tells us that the Stimulus was a failure which is nothing more than a right wing propaganda tool. Most economists say about 2 million jobs were saved or created and we were saved from a serious depression. The truth of the matter is that the stimulus should have been bigger and the reason why we are climbing out of this hole so slowly is because the GOP is obstructing economic success. They keep suggesting the same tactics conservatives demanded in 1937 that reversed the climb out of the depression and sent the nation into another recessionary plunge. Another stimulus is what reversed the conservative economic failures of 37-38. Like FDR, Obama has proposed a jobs bill that would target bridges, schools, and roads but the GOP is obstructing again. Top economists say another 2 million jobs could be created.
Tony says that 81% of Americans are not happy with the direction of the country. He wrongly claims the 81% are anti-Obama and the rest are Obama-lovers. With a 20-30% approval for the Tea Party, around a 10-12% approval for the Congress, a very low approval of the GOP. the numbers suggest that Americans are far more troubled by the obstructionism of the right wingers than they are Obama. Another distortion of the facts that Mr Boutin uses is blaming Obama for the Debt ceiling fiasco. Nothing supports this claim. In a post debt fight CNN+ poll on August 9, 2011, Republicans had a disapproval of 59%. The approval for Democrats increased. Americans blamed the GOP extremists for the downbM the S&P Press Release: "We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process. ....Our lowering of the rating was prompted by our view on the rising public debt burden and our perception of greater policymaking uncertainty,.."
Raising revenues is an impossibility as long as the GOP controls the House and that is why our rating was lowered. Thank you Teabaggers. I think its clear America is on the wrong path because of the Tea Party extremists holding Americans hostage.
The present state of economic affairs is largely due to the Bush economic policies. The entire Right Wing World is in denial and almost never mentions Bush's name when discussing the economy. Those with Obama Derangement Syndrome use a simple strategy of deception by omission, distraction and distortion. According to the way the right puts it, the unemployment rate should have gotten much better immediately if the President did his job right. That means the use of the failed policies again. Unemployment, economic growth, bankruptcies, and foreclosures as they stand are part of our most recent plummet created by GOP economics. In September of 2008 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll showed that by a 2 to 1 margin, Americans blame Bush for this economic mess. In a more recent poll last Summer by the Quinnipiac Poll, the 2 to 1 margin stands. Clearly, Mr Boutin spends too much of his time watching Fox.
Let's take a look at the only crash worst than Bush's crash and see how they handled it. In the first year after the Stock Market Crash in 1929, when banks imploded due to malfeasance the unemployment rate was around 8%. A year and a half later it was over 16%. What was set in motion in 1929 was like a downhill freight train just like what Bush set in motion with his trickle-down, deregulation religion, and credit card mentality. By 1932 the unemployment rate went above 24%. That year, 43,000 people including 17,000 troops owed money to marched on Washinton, DC. They set up camps but were dispersed by General McArthur's troops using bayonets and tear gas. In 1933 unemployment hit 25%. Four years after the crash of 1929 the unemployment rate began to fall slightly. The unemployment rate then dropped a bit in 1934 to around 22%. The first national general strikle was called in 1934. Not surprising, Alcoholics Anonymous was born at this time. No relief in sight after 5 years.
In 1934 President Roosevelt finally took the economist John Maynard Keynes seriously and created a public works project to put millions back to work. The project included schools, bridges, dams and highways for starters. In 1935 the unemployment rate was still at 20% when in August FDR signed The Revenue Act of 1935. It became known as the Wealth Tax Act because it also taxed high-earning Americans, and closed tax loopholes that the wealthy were using to legally avoid paying tax. Ring a bell? It sharply raised taxes on income over $75,000 with those exceeding $5,000,000 paying 75% instead of 59%. $75,000 was enough to but several small mansions in 1935. Congress also revised corporate tax rates by lowering those on small businesses and raising them on larger ones. During this time there were many strikes and this is when the auto industry recognized the UAW.
By 1937, unemployment had dropped to 14% from the 25% peak. Some sources say as low as 11%. Wages, profits and production had finally returned to 1929 levels! The stimulus was working; the revenue raising was successful and millions were back to work. With great pride, American workers finished the Golden Gate Bridge that year. But then trouble appeared. Conservatives and friends of Wall St. in FDR's cabinet urged spending cuts and a more balanced budget. Ring a bell? What happened was the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was drasticly cut and the Public Works Adminstration (PWA) nearly stalled. The economy dove into a harsh recession, lasting over a year. Unemployment shot back up from 11/14% to 19% and manufacturing dropped 37%. Industrial production plummeted.Three years of growth were lost when FDR caved to the conservative economists demanding much trhe same nonsense that the right wingers demand. FDR shot back with attacks on the monopolists, who were deemed the major cause of the depression and this sudden downturn in 1937. Harry Truman gave 'em hell as the top man in Anti-Trust. So in 1937 FDR sent to Congress another large stimulus spending program to re-fund the WPA, the PWA and other relevant programs. It passed and the economy recovered to its early 1937 levels by the end of 1938.
If they listened to Tont Boutin's on how wrong spending is, they would have never gotten out of the depression nor that serious dip in 1938. Tony tells us that the Stimulus was a failure which is nothing more than a right wing propaganda tool. Most economists say about 2 million jobs were saved or created and we were saved from a serious depression. The truth of the matter is that the stimulus should have been bigger and the reason why we are climbing out of this hole so slowly is because the GOP is obstructing economic success. They keep suggesting the same tactics conservatives demanded in 1937 that reversed the climb out of the depression and sent the nation into another recessionary plunge. Another stimulus is what reversed the conservative economic failures of 37-38. Like FDR, Obama has proposed a jobs bill that would target bridges, schools, and roads but the GOP is obstructing again. Top economists say another 2 million jobs could be created.
Tony says that 81% of Americans are not happy with the direction of the country. He wrongly claims the 81% are anti-Obama and the rest are Obama-lovers. With a 20-30% approval for the Tea Party, around a 10-12% approval for the Congress, a very low approval of the GOP. the numbers suggest that Americans are far more troubled by the obstructionism of the right wingers than they are Obama. Another distortion of the facts that Mr Boutin uses is blaming Obama for the Debt ceiling fiasco. Nothing supports this claim. In a post debt fight CNN+ poll on August 9, 2011, Republicans had a disapproval of 59%. The approval for Democrats increased. Americans blamed the GOP extremists for the downbM the S&P Press Release: "We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process. ....Our lowering of the rating was prompted by our view on the rising public debt burden and our perception of greater policymaking uncertainty,.."
Raising revenues is an impossibility as long as the GOP controls the House and that is why our rating was lowered. Thank you Teabaggers. I think its clear America is on the wrong path because of the Tea Party extremists holding Americans hostage.
CRASHING THE TEA PARTY
Crashing the Tea Party
By DAVID E. CAMPBELL and ROBERT D. PUTNAM
GIVEN how much sway the Tea Party has among Republicans in Congress and those seeking the Republican presidential nomination, one might think the Tea Party is redefining mainstream American politics.
But in fact the Tea Party is increasingly swimming against the tide of public opinion: among most Americans, even before the furor over the debt limit, its brand was becoming toxic. To embrace the Tea Party carries great political risk for Republicans, but perhaps not for the reason you might think.
Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later, Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent.
Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.
The strange thing is that over the last five years, Americans have moved in an economically conservative direction: they are more likely to favor smaller government, to oppose redistribution of income and to favor private charities over government to aid the poor. While none of these opinions are held by a majority of Americans, the trends would seem to favor the Tea Party. So why are its negatives so high? To find out, we need to examine what kinds of people actually support it.
Beginning in 2006 we interviewed a representative sample of 3,000 Americans as part of our continuing research into national political attitudes, and we returned to interview many of the same people again this summer. As a result, we can look at what people told us, long before there was a Tea Party, to predict who would become a Tea Party supporter five years later. We can also account for multiple influences simultaneously — isolating the impact of one factor while holding others constant.
Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today.
What’s more, contrary to some accounts, the Tea Party is not a creature of the Great Recession. Many Americans have suffered in the last four years, but they are no more likely than anyone else to support the Tea Party. And while the public image of the Tea Party focuses on a desire to shrink government, concern over big government is hardly the only or even the most important predictor of Tea Party support among voters.
So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.
More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.
This inclination among the Tea Party faithful to mix religion and politics explains their support for Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. Their appeal to Tea Partiers lies less in what they say about the budget or taxes, and more in their overt use of religious language and imagery, including Mrs. Bachmann’s lengthy prayers at campaign stops and Mr. Perry’s prayer rally in Houston.
Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose. While over the last five years Americans have become slightly more conservative economically, they have swung even further in opposition to mingling religion and politics. It thus makes sense that the Tea Party ranks alongside the Christian Right in unpopularity.
On everything but the size of government, Tea Party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans. Indeed, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, today’s Tea Party parallels the anti-Vietnam War movement which rallied behind George S. McGovern in 1972. The McGovernite activists brought energy, but also stridency, to the Democratic Party — repelling moderate voters and damaging the Democratic brand for a generation. By embracing the Tea Party, Republicans risk repeating history.
FOX SNOOZES CLIMATE CHANGE
MORE FOX STUPIDITY ON GLOBAL WARMING
THESE CORPORATE TOOLS IN THE FOX SANDLOT DON'T REALIZE THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS CAUSED BY INCREASED MOISTURE IN THE AIR CAUSED BY OVERALL WARMING. BIGGER STORMS, INCREASED FRQUENCY, FLOODS, ETC. DUH. SEEN ANY FLOODING LATELY? DEATHS BY NATURAL DISATERS BROKE ALL RECORDS IN THE USA THIS YEAR.
Friday, November 4, 2011
CHRISTIAN EXTREMISTS AND MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISTS SEEK COMMON WORLD
Generally speaking, you can't reason with the unreasonable. Simply put, there is no moral equivalency between those who truly love liberty and those who believe its just for some according to what their religion dictates. Legally, this is not a Christian nation; the Constitution forbids religious tests and any establishment of religion by the government yet the Christian right wishes to create tests based in religious belief for equal rights. With Mr. Perkins and Mr. Torresson, your sexual life has to have Biblical clearance.
Ex-representative Gary Torresson was upset that I have pegged Tony Perkins for what he is — a theocrat who prefers medieval models of religious government over a religion-neutral government such as ours. Back in 2000, Mr. Torressen did his best to attack gay rights by introducing a law in the N.H. House to do just that. By introducing a law that attacks gay rights, he has become just like the Islamists using the government to enforce his religious viewpoint on the LGBT community. By introducing that law in N.H., Gary Torresson, like Mr. Perkins is an advocate of a Christian version of Sharia Law.
People who use the state to enforce Christian beliefs are Christian versions of Ayatollahs. Like Ayatollahs who issue edicts, Christian radicals use the legal system to enforce religious viewpoints. If people took the Bible literally, we would have capital punishment for misdemeanor offenses, women would be silent, slavery would still exist and having the wrong religion would land you in the Christian Sharia Court. Years ago I created a side by side chart comparing the Bible, the Quran and the Muslim Hadiths (Hadiths are the pillars of Sharia law). When it comes to religious intolerance, sexism and anti-gay bigotry, fundamentalist Jews, Christians and Islamists are of the same species. The chart is at www.stopthereligiousright.org/biblequran.htm
Mullah Torresson claims I am intolerant. He could not be more right; I am fiercely intolerant of intolerance and have plenty to say to those who talk of patriotism and the constitution yet will not afford equal rights to all. Consider this: those on the right have an obsessive fear of Sharia law and claim its going to destroy the American way of life. When Christian extremists protested to N.J. Governor Chris Christie after he appointed a judge who happened to be Muslim, he told them it was crazy talk. It certainly is. When Muslims were trying to build a new Mosque in Tennessee, right wing Christians were trying to convince people and local courts that Islam was not a religion but a political system. Their motions in court were their way of attacking the Constitution's guarantee of a Muslim's religious liberty. How is this any different from Islamists who legally attack other religions?
How are Mr. Torresson and Mr. Perkins any different from the Muslim lawmakers who attack the LGBT community through the law? How is the use of the political system by Christians to promote bigotry towards the LGBT community any different from the Muslim version? It isn't any different. Every religion has its fundamentalist crazies. Most Muslims, like most Christians, are decent people but there are many rogues in each faith. There are even radical Christians in the USA that side with the Islamists in that homosexuals should be executed according to Biblical law. When social issues arise in the U.N., the right wing sides with the Pope and Muslim nations. Muslim and Christian extremists both derive their legalism from the laws of Exodus and Leviticus. Like medieval Christian governments, Sharia's foundations are in the Old Testament. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all "Abrahamic religions" that are founded in the laws of the Old Testament. Sharia law is the Muslim version of the Jewish Sanhedrin Court where religion and state were one. Stoning women to death for adultery is not originally a Muslim idea; it comes from the Old Testament. In fact, stoning for adultery is not even in the Quran. Killing homosexuals originates in the Old Testament, not the Quran. Death for wrong religion originates in the Bible, not the Quran. (To see my chart comparing the Bible, the Quran and the Muslim Hadiths by specific themes, www.stopthereligiousright.org/biblequran.htm)
When Christian radicals raise a clamor about "Islamofascism" don't be fooled because the Christian fundamentalists like Gary Torresson and Tony Perkins aim for the same thing as the Muslim extremists do. While radical Muslims prefer real bombs, radical Christians use powerful word bombs that promote discrimination and bigotry. Like Muslim fundamentalists, Christian fundamentalists will fight continually until their will is done thru the government. That is government intrusion, Mr. Torresson. Conservatives keep claiming they are for less government intrusion but the facts say otherwise. They are no different than the Taliban.
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions" — Thomas Jefferson regarding priest-craft in his letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp, 30 July, 1816
Ex-representative Gary Torresson was upset that I have pegged Tony Perkins for what he is — a theocrat who prefers medieval models of religious government over a religion-neutral government such as ours. Back in 2000, Mr. Torressen did his best to attack gay rights by introducing a law in the N.H. House to do just that. By introducing a law that attacks gay rights, he has become just like the Islamists using the government to enforce his religious viewpoint on the LGBT community. By introducing that law in N.H., Gary Torresson, like Mr. Perkins is an advocate of a Christian version of Sharia Law.
People who use the state to enforce Christian beliefs are Christian versions of Ayatollahs. Like Ayatollahs who issue edicts, Christian radicals use the legal system to enforce religious viewpoints. If people took the Bible literally, we would have capital punishment for misdemeanor offenses, women would be silent, slavery would still exist and having the wrong religion would land you in the Christian Sharia Court. Years ago I created a side by side chart comparing the Bible, the Quran and the Muslim Hadiths (Hadiths are the pillars of Sharia law). When it comes to religious intolerance, sexism and anti-gay bigotry, fundamentalist Jews, Christians and Islamists are of the same species. The chart is at www.stopthereligiousright.org/biblequran.htm
Mullah Torresson claims I am intolerant. He could not be more right; I am fiercely intolerant of intolerance and have plenty to say to those who talk of patriotism and the constitution yet will not afford equal rights to all. Consider this: those on the right have an obsessive fear of Sharia law and claim its going to destroy the American way of life. When Christian extremists protested to N.J. Governor Chris Christie after he appointed a judge who happened to be Muslim, he told them it was crazy talk. It certainly is. When Muslims were trying to build a new Mosque in Tennessee, right wing Christians were trying to convince people and local courts that Islam was not a religion but a political system. Their motions in court were their way of attacking the Constitution's guarantee of a Muslim's religious liberty. How is this any different from Islamists who legally attack other religions?
How are Mr. Torresson and Mr. Perkins any different from the Muslim lawmakers who attack the LGBT community through the law? How is the use of the political system by Christians to promote bigotry towards the LGBT community any different from the Muslim version? It isn't any different. Every religion has its fundamentalist crazies. Most Muslims, like most Christians, are decent people but there are many rogues in each faith. There are even radical Christians in the USA that side with the Islamists in that homosexuals should be executed according to Biblical law. When social issues arise in the U.N., the right wing sides with the Pope and Muslim nations. Muslim and Christian extremists both derive their legalism from the laws of Exodus and Leviticus. Like medieval Christian governments, Sharia's foundations are in the Old Testament. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all "Abrahamic religions" that are founded in the laws of the Old Testament. Sharia law is the Muslim version of the Jewish Sanhedrin Court where religion and state were one. Stoning women to death for adultery is not originally a Muslim idea; it comes from the Old Testament. In fact, stoning for adultery is not even in the Quran. Killing homosexuals originates in the Old Testament, not the Quran. Death for wrong religion originates in the Bible, not the Quran. (To see my chart comparing the Bible, the Quran and the Muslim Hadiths by specific themes, www.stopthereligiousright.org/biblequran.htm)
When Christian radicals raise a clamor about "Islamofascism" don't be fooled because the Christian fundamentalists like Gary Torresson and Tony Perkins aim for the same thing as the Muslim extremists do. While radical Muslims prefer real bombs, radical Christians use powerful word bombs that promote discrimination and bigotry. Like Muslim fundamentalists, Christian fundamentalists will fight continually until their will is done thru the government. That is government intrusion, Mr. Torresson. Conservatives keep claiming they are for less government intrusion but the facts say otherwise. They are no different than the Taliban.
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions" — Thomas Jefferson regarding priest-craft in his letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp, 30 July, 1816
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