does not agree with you on DADT and other items. Pot, Kettle.
On 10/21/2010 11:14 AM, Tommy News wrote:
> There you go, using words as clubs again like a bully.
>
> On 10/21/10, dick<rhomp2002@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> This posting is so full of lies it is hard to know where to begin. The
>> truth is not in him tells us all we need to know about the Bob Cesa.
>> If this is what you truly believe then yu are a true fool.
>>
>> On 10/21/2010 10:30 AM, Tommy News wrote:
>>
>>> The Republican Swindle About 'Obamacare and Stimulus'
>>>
>>> -by Bob Cesa
>>>
>>> If you happen to be a swing voter who's considering the Republican
>>> slate next month, you're being tricked. That's not to say you're an
>>> idiot, but the Republicans are doing an excellent job masking over
>>> what they really stand for, and millions of Americans seem to be
>>> falling for it.
>>>
>>> The Republican strategy for this midterm election is simple: Treat
>>> voters like easily manipulated hoopleheads. The GOP and its various
>>> apparatchiks are spending untold millions of dollars, much of it from
>>> anonymous donors and, perhaps, even some illegal foreign donors, in
>>> order to play out this nationwide swindle. They're investing heavily
>>> on the wager that Americans are so kerfuffled by the slow-growth (but
>>> growth nevertheless) economy that they're willing to buy any line of
>>> nonsense as an alternative solution.
>>>
>>> Regarding that nonsense, just about every GOP solution and every GOP
>>> idea reveals either a hilariously obvious contradiction or an utterly
>>> transparent hypocrisy. Say nothing of unchecked awfulness like
>>> Southern Strategy race-baiting or bald-faced lies. But it doesn't seem
>>> to matter much because they've buried most of it under heaping piles
>>> of inchoate outrage and fear. Just like always. It's not unlike the
>>> 2000s all over again. They're engaging in the same bumper sticker
>>> sloganeering and myopic agitprop, but with updated content for 2010.
>>>
>>> If you've seen any of the Republican TV spots this cycle, you're
>>> probably familiar with the focus-group-tested duet of fear: "Obamacare
>>> and Stimulus." For example, that infamous John Raese commercial
>>> featuring two not-West-Virginian West Virginians in full "hicky"
>>> regalia discussing why they're voting Republican. Among the reasons:
>>> "Obamacare and Stimulus." No specific reasons why those items are
>>> evil, they're just two scary things the hicky guys are pissed about.
>>>
>>> And why aren't there any specific gripes cited along with those two
>>> items? Because the actual gripes are ridiculous.
>>>
>>> Let's start with "Obamacare," then hit "Stimulus" presently.
>>>
>>> The Republicans are trying to tell us that the health-care-reform bill
>>> is a hugely expensive trespass against freedom and liberty. This
>>> obviously refers to the price tag and the individual mandate. What
>>> they don't mention is that "Obamacare" will actually achieve several
>>> very significant goals.
>>>
>>> 1) The health-care-reform bill will help working and middle class
>>> Americans to afford quality health insurance via hundreds of billions
>>> of dollars in subsidies. For example, families of four earning $54,000
>>> will see their insurance premiums reduced by around $10,000 per year.
>>> That's a lot. Who in their right mind would turn down a government
>>> check for $10,000? Every year. That's a full semester of state
>>> university tuition, among other things.
>>>
>>> 2) Contrary to the "Obama-is-spending-too-much" meme, the bill does
>>> not increase the deficit. According to the nonpartisan CBO, the bill
>>> cuts the deficit by $130 billion over ten years. Put another way, all
>>> that scaremongering about the cost of the bill is just that:
>>> scaremongering. The bill pays for itself and then some.
>>>
>>> 3) There are no enforcement mechanisms for the super-duper terrifying
>>> individual mandate. If you choose not to buy insurance when the
>>> mandate takes effect in 2014, and are consequently fined $695, there
>>> is no means of actually enforcing the payment of that penalty. No
>>> liens, levies, no jail, no Obamacare Goons swooping into your house
>>> like America-hating Kenyan ninjas. Nothing will happen to you.
>>> Nothing. So, you know, chill out about the mandate.
>>>
>>> The question about "Obamacare," then, is very simply: Why are the
>>> Republicans against reducing the deficit by $130 billion, and why are
>>> they against more accessible and affordable healthcare? I have no
>>> idea, other than they're taking the childish opposite position of what
>>> was passed (despite the deficit reduction and subsidies for the middle
>>> class, etc.). Oh, and they call it "Obamacare," which is spooky and
>>> one letter away from being "Osamacare." Scary, but entirely without
>>> substance.
>>>
>>> Oh, and speaking of the deficit, the Republicans are lying to voters
>>> about the Democratic handling of the deficit as well. It turns out the
>>> Democrats and the Obama administration cut the deficit this year. Cut
>>> it. The 2009 Bush-approved budget was $1.416 trillion and the 2010
>>> Obama-approved budget was $122 billion less. Meanwhile, the
>>> Republicans are admitting to increasing the deficit by $4 trillion by
>>> making the Bush tax cuts permanent. And they won't say what they plan
>>> to cut from the budget in order to pay for it. Once again, we're back
>>> in the early Bush years with so-called fiscal conservatives engaged in
>>> big, irresponsible spending without any way to make up the shortfall.
>>>
>>> Actually, the only spending cuts that appear to be on the table are
>>> the Social Security checks, the Medicare reimbursements and the
>>> veteran's benefits that will stop when the Republicans gleefully shut
>>> down the government. (Any senior citizen who votes Republican is
>>> voting for their Social Security and Medicare checks to stop --
>>> indefinitely. Just thought I'd mention that.)
>>>
>>> Circling back, it's important to repeat: President Obama and the
>>> congressional Democrats cut the deficit. Fact: The first Obama budget
>>> was billions less than the final Bush budget. And, in the process,
>>> President Obama's policies have pushed the DJIA from 6,000 to 11,000;
>>> his policies have turned Bush-era job losses into job creation; and
>>> pulled the nation from the brink of another Great Depression.
>>>
>>> Again, why are the Republicans against all of this?
>>>
>>> By the same token, why are they against the stimulus? They really
>>> won't say other than to screech about how expensive it was. But,
>>> before we go further, read the paragraph about the deficit again. The
>>> Democrats cut the deficit. And then factor into the mix that $288
>>> billion out of the $800 billion cost of the recovery act was composed
>>> entirely of tax cuts. Tax cuts! As a matter of history and taken as a
>>> lump sum, this was the largest American middle class tax cut ever. So
>>> it's not a stretch to suggest that the Republicans are suddenly
>>> against the largest middle-class tax cut in American history.
>>>
>>> Despite the attempt to turn a derivation of the positive word
>>> "stimulate" into a negative, there's very little about the stimulus
>>> that actually sucked, other than the fact that it wasn't big enough.
>>> Beyond that, Republican voters need to ask themselves if the tax cuts
>>> were bad -- or maybe was it the new roads and infrastructure that
>>> helped to create jobs, or was it the money that was spent to keep the
>>> states out of bankruptcy and police, teachers and firemen from losing
>>> their jobs? What's awful about any of that?
>>>
>>> Then they need to ask themselves why Republican politicians like Rep.
>>> Pete Sessions (R-TX), along with dozens of other Republicans, actually
>>> petitioned and received from the Obama administration millions in
>>> stimulus dollars? Some of them even posing with giant novelty stimulus
>>> checks and literally campaigning on the wads of money they received
>>> from the stimulus. Pete Sessions, in fact, wrote to Secretary Ray
>>> LaHood and emphasized that the funds would literally "stimulate the
>>> economy" in his district. Naturally, Sessions turned around and
>>> campaigned against the stimulus. He thinks you won't notice.
>>>
>>> Elsewhere, Newt Gingrich and others are trying to deceive voters by
>>> insisting that it's "liberal math" for an investment to earn a return
>>> -- for, say, a one dollar investment to grow into $1.74. Since when do
>>> Republicans believe that wise investments are "liberal math?"
>>> Specifically, Newt was talking about government spending on food
>>> stamps as a means of stimulating the economy. Based on simple math,
>>> one dollar in government money spent on food stamps creates $1.74 in
>>> economic stimulus, according to Moody's. Why? Because food stamps help
>>> Americans to buy things. Whereas the Bush tax cuts, for example, are a
>>> poor investment, only earning 32 cents for every dollar spent. Why?
>>> Because rich people tend to save their tax cuts rather than pumping
>>> that money into the marketplace.
>>>
>>> Back to our refrain: Why are the Republicans against smart investing?
>>>
>>> Yeah, Obamacare and the Stimulus. Destroying America from within, right?
>>>
>>> It's worth noting here that this same Republican deception runs across
>>> other issues as well. Republicans are suggesting they'll protect
>>> individual liberty, while shrinking government small enough to fit
>>> into your bedroom or your uterus. Or they're running on the
>>> Constitution, while also having their hired thugs handcuff and detain
>>> a reporter in a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. Hell, some
>>> Republicans are running for U.S. Senate while opposing the 17th
>>> Amendment that established popular elections of senators. Wrap your
>>> head around that one.
>>>
>>> Sure, there are still many things the Democrats have yet to unravel
>>> after 30 years of Reaganomics. But, despite their obvious faults,
>>> they're moving in that direction. And they're being as honest as
>>> politicians can be with their intentions. The Republicans, meanwhile,
>>> are running on some sort of Mobius Loop of backwards logic and flimsy,
>>> if not totally destructive, policy positions.
>>>
>>> With less than two weeks to go, the sooner voters wise up to this
>>> Republican flimflam, the better off we'll all be.
>>>
>>> More:
>>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-republican-swindle-ab_b_770692.html
>>>
>>>
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>
>
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