Meanwhile, in a dimension where stupid is smart...

Just the facts, ma'm

Trying to get the information out to the public. The more you know, the less you'll like.

Paul Ryan has a plan for you.

GOP still doesn't care about poor/middle income people.

Obama - not a progressive hero.

More on President Obama's proposed budget, including cuts to Social Security and Medicare...

From Daily Kos...

Nobody could've predicted this, except everyone:

    Release a budget with cuts to Social Security.
    The base pushes back: Um, we're Democrats. We don't cut Social Security!
    President Barack Obama gets defensive: But it's the Republicans' idea!
    Except that the Republicans didn't include Social Security cuts in their crazy draconian budget. Why?
    Because only a moron would step on that third rail.
    Re-read step #1.
    Republicans begin 2014 campaign, charging that Democrats want to cut Social Security.

If there's any silver lining in this debacle, it's that it'll allow congressional Democrats the opportunity to distance themselves from this bumbling White House.

Unfortunately, they have to distance themselves from the party's leader, never a fun place for a politician to be. See 2006. And 2010.

Hypocrites all

It was interesting to me yesterday that Obama got on TV and acted all outraged over the NRA victory on gun control (expanded background checks on gun purchases went down to defeat in the Senate). But face it - he, like all of the Senators that voted no on the gun control issue, are owned by big business interests. I would have been far more interested in what the POTUS had to say if he had thrown a few bankers in jail after the banking scandals of the past few years. His sponsors are just different than the Republican sponsors. Douche-bag.

Regarding the President's budget proposal, including cuts to Medicare and Social Security...

From Daily Kos

We can't win here, so lets do the GOP's work for them.

So says a "longtime Obama aide," according to Politico:

    "We're not going to have the White House forever, folks. If he doesn't do this, Paul Ryan is going to do it for us in a few years," said a longtime Obama aide, referring to the 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate who proposed a sweeping overhaul of Medicare that would replace some benefits with vouchers.

Seems this person forgot Paul Ryan was on a ballot last year. Verdict rendered.

You know what? Fine. If we lose the White House and both houses of Congress, then by all means, Paul Ryan should go ahead and get his druthers. If the American people vote for the Ryan budget, then by God they should have it. That's the way the political system works in a democracy. You run on a platform, you win, you get to implement your platform. If the American people don't like it, they only have themselves to blame for voting for it. They asked for George W. Bush's party, platform and leadership and boy did they get what they asked for.

Do you think Paul Ryan would ever come out and say "Fellow Republicans, we had better go ahead and raise the minimum wage because if we don't, Bernie Sanders is going to come along and do it in a few years?" Ridiculous.

If Democrats run on something and win, then they should implement what they ran on. What Democrats should not do is run on a platform, win, then turn around and implement the policies of the side that lost. That doesn't make any sense. It makes a mockery of the political process. It treats Democratic voters like a bunch of rubes. If Republicans want to cut Social Security, let them run on it and win. We don't need to do their work for them.

No, we won't have the White House forever. That is why we should do what we stand for. What we get elected for. If the people want Republican government, then they should vote for it and get what they deserve.

Who does Paul Ryan actually represent?

Reducing the deficit

It's important to different between our "deficit" and our "debt." The national debt is the total accumulation of money we owe to our creditors - a sum built up since the nation's founding. The deficit, on the other hand, is the amount each year's budget exceeds the nation's income for that same year.

Critics like to talk about Obama as a tax and spend liberal, but in fact, each year he has been in office since his first, he has been reducing, not increasing, the annual deficit that he inherited from the Republicans. Never, ever forget who the big spenders are in our government - they just won't tax to cover the cost.

Just one small tweak...

Where does your donation to your church actaully go?

Rebuttal to Paul Ryan's budget

From Think Progress...

What the American People Didn't Choose
Mar 11, 2013 | By ThinkProgress War Room

6 Things Americans Did Not Vote for in 2012

[When considering Paul Ryan's budget proposal in the House of Representatives] it's worth considering a few things that voters did not choose in the 2012 election.

Paul Ryan: In selecting Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney put Ryan and his ideas front-and-center in the election. Voters said thanks but no thanks to Ryan and his radical ideas. Ryan even lost his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin.

A Republican House of Representatives: President Obama was easily re-elected and Democrats expanded their majority in the Senate, so why are we stuck with a GOP-controlled House of Representatives? Gerrymandering. Democratic House candidates won more than a million more votes than Republican candidates, but districts drawn by Republicans for Republicans allowed the GOP to hold on to their majority. This isn't even disputed by the Republicans. In fact, they brag about it.

The Middle Class Footing the Bill: The centerpiece of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's economic proposal was a tax plan that raised taxes on the poor and middle class in order to slash taxes for the wealthy. By contrast, President Obama proposed raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. The GOP budget's tax proposals is nearly identical to the Romney-Ryan plan rejected by voters in November.

Ending Medicare: Mitt Romney not only chose Paul Ryan, he wholeheartedly embraced Ryan's controversial plan to end Medicare as we know it and replace it with a voucher system that stands to double seniors' out-of-pocket health care costs. Romney and Ryan lost key states with senior-heavy populations, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and New Hampshire.

Repealing Obamacare: Not only did voters not vote for the team that wanted to repeal Obamacare, Mitt Romney says that the president won because of Obamacare. Nevertheless, the GOP budget plan to be unveiled tomorrow will once again call for repealing Obamacare - except for its $716 BILLION in savings from Medicare. Despite demonizing the president for the cuts throughout the campaign, Ryan's plan keeps those cuts in order to to pay for new tax breaks for the wealthy and special interests like Big Oil and Wall Street banks.

European-Style Austerity: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan proposed unrealistic draconian spending cuts, while the president proposed investments that will create jobs now and grow the middle class and our economy over the long run. The American people rejected the former and gave an Electoral College landslide to the latter. Nevertheless, the GOP budget plan will feature the kind of unrealistic draconian spending cuts that will make it impossible to make investments in the middle class.The GOP plan will slow down the economy and kill hundreds of thousands of jobs. It's the same kind of austerity that has led to shrinking economies and record-high unemployment in Europe. Austerity isn't working there and it won't work here.

BOTTOM LINE: Paul Ryan and his policies were soundly rejected by voters last November. Instead of doubling down on extreme and unpopular ideas like ending Medicare as we know it and raising taxes on the middle class in order to slash taxes on the wealthy, Republicans should come back to the table and agree to deal with our fiscal challenges in a responsible, balanced manner.

Paul Ryan's budget

Even though the numbers don't all add up, and even though there aren't any real details given, and even though it would require the repeal of Obamcare's benefits without rescinding any of the revenue raising in Obamacare, Ryan's budget is a great equalizer - we'd all have to accept some changes. The changes are better, however, for some than others.

In the post I made previous to this one, Rachel Maddow speaks to "trolling" on the Internet. And you've got to know that Ryan's budget is exactly that - the Republicans can make a show of voting for this draconian budget, but if they ever did approve it, they would be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail - and they know it.

Gaining understanding

This image is a little dated, but the idea behind it is not. The Republicans love their wars and their defense contractors.

We know the truth...

Inside the Corporate Plan to Occupy the Pentagon: Behind the growing push to slash soldiers' pensions and other military costs is a little-known advisory group—stacked with Wall Street executives.

Anyone with half a brain cell knows that our governmental leaders are bought and paid for by the corporations and the top 1%. If the defense budget is cut, a lot of the aforementioned stand to lose a lot of money unless they take away from the people serving in the military. And we all know that money comes before country.

How the U.S spends its money...

GOP and the sinking ship - cartoon

Must be the GOP REALLY loves them some military.

So much for Washington's big budget deal that almost shut down the government last week 

 From the Washington Post

The Congressional Budget Office estimate shows that compared with current spending rates the spending bill due for a House vote Thursday would cut federal outlays from non-war accounts by just $352 million through Sept. 30. About $8 billion in immediate cuts to domestic programs and foreign aid are offset by nearly equal increases in defense spending.

What it's all about, Alfie

Farm subsidies

Why some things won't be touched in the budget cuts. Crooked politicians? You bet.

Loser