What Did You Do With Yours?

"Incomes for the bottom 90 percent of Americans only grew by $59 on average between 1966 and 2011"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/25/income-growth-americans_n_2949309.html?utm_hp_ref=business

"That disparity in income growth rates comes as the total federal tax burdens on those at the top have been slashed, compared with 1966, especially for the long-term capital gains that account for about a third of total income at the very top."

Food for thought also:

 "To put that wealth number in perspective, as Buchheit notes in his piece, for every one can of soup owned by a single Black or Hispanic woman, one of our wealthiest Americans owns a $30 million mansion AND a $10 million yacht."

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15319-that-giant-sucking-soundits-the-oligarchs

A Picture At CPAC Is Worth A Thousand Words

Sometimes you don't need to say anything.....

An attendee representing the Association for Mature Americans

"And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a 2012 presidential contender, charged that GOP leadership "is as mired in past and mired in stupidity as it was in 1976."

http://tinyurl.com/b37emjr

Compassionate Conservative Christian Counseling

 According to the Tennessean, the Tennessee chapter of Christian group Family Action Council drafted a measure designed to “bar schools from disciplining students if they decline to treat clients with “goals, outcomes or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the student.”
 Basically, the bill gives these counselors the right to deny help to any student they deem unworthy based on religious grounds.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/13/republicans-at-it-again-new-tennessee-bill-allows-religious-counselors-to-reject-lgbt-students/

If this country HAD been founded entirely on Christian Principles, as the Right would have us believe....we, as a nation, are to be ashamed of ourselves. The Republicans, who seem to claim they LOVE the Bible and it's teachings and who leave no stone unturned to make sure EVERYBODY in this country believes only as they do, apparently have skipped over parts of the New Testament.

Matthew 25:31-46

King James Version (KJV)

³⁴ Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
³⁷ Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
³⁹ Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

Where does it mention that cutting social services, eliminating a safety net for those seniors who have worked all their lives, taking food out of the mouths of poor children, denigrating those whose jobs have been taken away but who are looking for ANY kind of work, seeing that only the wealthy have access to affordable health insurance or higher education, gutting our public school system, deciding that contraception is not necessary, making sure that the votes of nonwhite folks are not counted, and humiliating God's people who were born with a different sexual orientation than theirs?

“With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion”

Steve Weinberg.

CONDITION OF THE DAY: Selective Amnesia

The noise from the Right these days is "Obama never reaches out to us. He doesn't like us." Of course, that was before the dinner that a few of them finally attended. The tab was on the President, too.

Let me refresh a few memories that seem to have become clouded over the past  four years:

In January, several high-ranking Repubs were invited to the White House for a private screening of LINCOLN. They did not attend.

"The guests of honor included cast members Daniel Day-Lewis, James Spader, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones, along with director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner.

http://www.newsmax.com/US/obama-lincoln-invitation-snub/2013/01/15/id/47148

The website says Boehner “may be setting something of a record for sending regrets to the White House,’’ having turned down six state dinners hosted by Obama."

"Also in 2011, the White House held a reception for newly elected members of Congress. Only 27 of the new Republican House members showed up, out of the record GOP freshman class of 87."

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/president-obama-cant-get-a-republican-date/

Then there is the infamous remark by Mitch McConnell. There seems to be some debate as to when the actual quote was made...but it WAS made:

"McConnell made his remarks in an interview that appeared in the National Journal on Oct. 23, 2010 — nearly two years after Obama was elected president. The interview took place on the eve of the midterm elections.
The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Did Mr. Boehner forget about this: "The president of the United States calls the speaker of the House, in the midst of an economic crisis, and the speaker won't pick up the phone? You don't refuse a call from the president, no matter how deplorable you find his policies."

President Obama may not play the usual "good ol' boy" political games that DC is infamous for. He isn't cut of the same cloth..and he's not been at it as long. But to say he has NOT tried to reason or compromise is ludicrous. When you have been mocked, denigrated, ignored, lied to, slapped down, called arrogant,  and been either described as a "dictator" or a "wus" (depending on the day of the week).....you tend to keep your own counsel. It's hard to say what anyone would do in the same situation.

Yep, The Liberal Media At Work

I just took this from NBC's website opening page:

(I'm sure the lead will change thru-out the day.)

WHY BUDGET BATTLES ARE WORSE: IT'S YOU, BABY BOOMERS

"Many of the cuddly newborns of 1947 are now wrinkled retirees collecting the Social Security and Medicare benefits that were promised to them....

The budget standoff is partly the result of those Baby Boom and Baby Bust demographics and of Democrats’ belief in expansive government – best symbolized by President Lyndon Johnson’s creation of Medicare in 1965....

“Republicans enjoy a 33-seat margin in the U.S. House having endured Democratic successes atop the ticket and over one million more votes cast for Democratic House candidates than (for) Republicans,” noted a memo in January from the Republican State Leadership Committee, which organized the $30 million Redistricting Majority Project in 2010."

http://tinyurl.com/agjszyb


It's bad enough that nobody is reporting facts on the Republican's stand on the sequester when it was first debated in 2011. Or how they are adamant about not closing loop holes for the rich on taxes. Or how the Democrats have put forth bills to do away with it but these have been filibustered just like the jobs bills and the budgets. The Repubs do not want you to know that you can GOOGLE the President's plan at the White House website. These same right Wingers do not want you to learn the facts about SS or Medicare, just believe that YOU are the problem.

I know there are problems of all sorts....and right now all sides are yelling at each other.
But... it's just easier to blame those they think cannot fight back: one group is seniors (who have worked all their lives, would still work if someone would hire them, lost their retirement funds and stock portfolios, lost their home's value....the mainstay of their retirement plan, and who raised these idiots who now want to yank everything out from under their feet.).

THIS Is What We Need To Say...

I live in a Red State...a very red state. For example....our neighbor is a good person, a hard working single gal, nice to talk to. But she is sort of a TPer and has a concealed carry permit. (I do not even like guns.) Another person is an "Obama is Gonna Let the UN Take Over The Country" pusher. You didn't see many Obama stickers on cars on my road. But another neighbor (a fellow Dem) used to be a Forensic Accountant with the FBI, living in DC. (Follow the money....) 

If you go downtown into the city of Knoxville......it's as if you are in a different world. Art galleries. Music. Obama stickers on cars. Fresh markets. Cafes and bistros (including the one that asked Stacy Campfield to leave), Green initiatives. ( We really have solar and wind power starting in this area. Chattanooga, by the way, is very progressive and has internet now as fast as that in Europe.)

So it was heartening to me so see the following article in our daily newspaper (on line version, of course.)

I’m a Democrat because I believe in Jesus’ Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) instead of the politician’s Golden Rule (“Those with the gold make the rules”). I’m a Democrat because John 3:16 teaches: “For God so loved the world ” — not just the powerful or the powerless, not just those who look like us or think like us, but the whole world.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/mar/02/roy-herron-strong-faith-led-to-democratic-party/

A lot of the comments make you cringe.....but not surprising to those of us who everyday plow through the insanity and twisted truth on the Right. It just makes me very sad that we cannot pierce through the veil of ignorance, racism, and the "don't-tell-me-I-don't-want-to-know-any-different" that passes for TRUTH and JOURNALISM today.

But hats off to the author of this intelligent article.