Teapublicans are out to steal YOUR retirement insurance premiums.

Let’s call some spades, here, OK? Social Security is INSURANCE for which we are forced to pay premiums. Some of us have paid for this insurance for decades and have the right to expect that the seller will deliver the product we had no choice but to purchase. Sounds simple, yes? We pay, we should get what we pay for, like any other insurance (car, home, life) product.

But not according to “Republicans”: they are out to breach our contract and steal our money:

As one of its first orders of business upon convening Tuesday, the Republican House of Representatives approved a rule that will seriously undermine efforts to keep all of Social Security solvent.

The rule hampers an otherwise routine reallocation of Social Security payroll tax income from the old-age program to the disability program. Such a reallocation, in either direction, has taken place 11 times since 1968, according to Kathy Ruffing of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The most cynical aspect of this attack is that it comes from some lawmakers who were helped by Social Security in their own lives. The roster includes Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who received Social Security benefits during his college years, after his father’s untimely death, and now thinks that the nation can’t afford to keep paying them as currently scheduled.

Another is Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), the sponsor of the House rules change, whose father died when he was 2 and then was raised by a single mother on Social Security and veterans benefits. Now he talks about Social Security going “bankrupt,” which is flatly incorrect, and promotes a measure aimed at cutting benefits for all. This is known as climbing the ladder and pulling it up behind you.

Got it, folks? The Teapubbies are doing exactly what they said they would do if elected. They are out to wreck Social Security, pocket our premiums, and throw anyone who is retired or disabled onto the streets instead of giving you the insurance benefits you paid for.

F*** those people. And if you voted for a “Republican”, f*** you too.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Even Big Business’s Mouthpiece Admits It: “Republican” Policies Suck.

When Forbes, of all magazines, says “Obama kicks Reagan’s ass”, or words to that effect, you know that the Supply-Siders are totally f***ed. And that they suck dead elephant d***s. And are too f***ing stupid to realize how stupid they are.

But Big Business follows data, and data proves that Voodoo Economics is a giant, stinking heap of dinosaur bollocks:

Bob Deitrick: ”President Reagan has long been considered the best modern economic President. So we compared his performance dealing with the oil-induced recession of the 1980s with that of President Obama and his performance during this ‘Great Recession.’

“As this unemployment chart shows, President Obama’s job creation kept unemployment from peaking at as high a level as President Reagan, and promoted people into the workforce faster than President Reagan.

“President Obama has achieved a 6.1% unemployment rate in his sixth year, fully one year faster than President Reagan did. At this point in his presidency, President Reagan was still struggling with 7.1% unemployment, and he did not reach into the mid-low 6% range for another full year. So, despite today’s number, the Obama administration has still done considerably better at job creating and reducing unemployment than did the Reagan administration.

Big businesses may not like Obama, but they (unlike brain-dead ideologues like Ted Cruz) can read a balance sheet. They know that good old-fashioned math-based accounting proves that supply-side economics is deader than a doorknob. So too do most normal Americans.

Why, then, does our nation persist in its apparent infatuation with such a bankrupt ideology? Simple: the Teabaggers who are dumb enough to buy the voodoo potion turn out and vote; and the precious few in the business world who are profiting by the Reagan-era policies spend lots of money buying elections for ideologues like Ted F***ing Cruz.

Sad to say, mere facts and common sense matter litlle when politics rears its ugly head. This writer hopes that you, Gentle Reader, will at least consider facts when you express opinions and cast ballots. The same facts that even the Repubs at Forbes are acknowledging.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

As predicted, “Voodoo Economics” has created a “Zombie Economy”.

This blog sneers ofttimes at “Republicans” and their stupid-f*** “supply-side” economics. (Here is one example of said mockery.) The gist is: tried and true data-based economic practices are the way to succeed, and Randian, Lafferesque Voodoo economic policies are the way to fail.

In Kansas, one of several states that have decided Ayn Rand was the false Goddess they shall worship, Voodoo economics have had the result most of those in the Reality-Based community have predicted:

In Kansas, the right wing has completely run the show in the state capitol since the 2012 elections, when Sam Brownback (who became governor two years earlier) led a purge of moderate Republicans who were acting as a brake on his agenda in the state Senate. Kansas is now a laboratory for what would happen if conservative Republicans gained full control of government. Empowered state Republicans slashed taxes for the rich, arguing that an economic boom would follow. It didn’t, as job growth in Kansas has underperformed the national average (as has Scott Walker’s Wisconsin, another state that moved hard right around the same time). But what did follow was a huge hole in the state’s budget (while liberal-dominated California is running a surplus and paying down debt).. (Emphasis via Cranky)

In state after state, the predicted results have occurred: Voodoo economics have created a sort of Zombie economy. What might seem just a mildly amusing turn of phrase is in fact a devastating blow to those of us not in the 1% (said 1% motherf***ers not being in the least incommoded by the Undead Economy). The economy is limping along, barely alive as far as most of us can tell, and that is not a sustainable path.

In Kansas, Wisconsin, Ohio, and indeed across the nation, we see the results of “Republican” policies: and rotten results they have proven to be. Using millions of people to test their voodoo theories was unethical at the outset, and has since sucked most of the life our of our economy.

Unlike the zombies one sees in movies, our Repub-afflicted economy can be healed and brought back to life. All that is needed is to lay off the voodoo, apply some healthy policies, and the rotting ambulatory corpse of our nation will be restored to health.

And the first step of that cure? Get out and vote. Vote against each and every “Republican” in every race, in every location. Banish the witch doctors and bring back the trained, educated professionals that had served us so well for centuries. Ditch the dream of Supply-Side, and awaken to reality.

That ‘dream’ turned out to be a nightmare the likes of which even Romero could never have envisioned, anyway.

Mr. Blunt and Crankly

Matthew 25 Updated: If Jesus were here today…

“When I was hungry, you cut my food stamps; when thirsty, you allowed my water to be polluted for corporate profit; when I was a stranger, you detained and deported me. When I was naked and vulnerable, without a job or income, you denied me extended unemployment compensation, holding it hostage to a political agenda. When I was ill, you refused to extend Medicaid; when I was in prison, you denied me justice in favor of revenge, and executed me.”

And the righteous replied,”When was it that we saw You hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, ill or in prison?” And He said, “Anything you did to one of these–however humble, poor and powerless–you did to me.”

This was submitted to the Cleveland Plain Dealer by Chester E. Ramey, and was published in their LTTE section on 1/19/14. And a better case against the Republicans cannot be made, in this blogger’s humble opinion.

What would Jesus do and say, if he were here today? Probably something a lot like this.

Give this a think, oh “Conservative Christians”. Give it a really good think.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Here’s why the Repub-controlled House is totally full of s***:

The “Republican”-controlled House of “Representatives” acts as though they speak for the “American People”, even though they clearly do not. They got pummeled in the last election; are regarded horribly in any poll you’d care to cite; are loathed by everyone from the Loony Left to the Raging Right; are hated by Main Street and Wall Street alike; and still they claim to speak for us. They might  be delusional or cynical, but it is patently obvious to everyone but the Gang of 218 that they speak for no one but themselves.

Think about it –  they want to shut down the government, even though the majority of Americans oppose it. They want to keep siphoning money away from the poor to give to the rich, even though the majority of Americans oppose it. And they are claiming that the American People hate Obamacare, when in fact the American People are not of one mind on the topic.

This misrepresentation on the part of the House is why this writer puts “Representatives” in quotations whenever they are called out: they cannot represent us if they misrepresent us. And that, Gentle Reader, is why the “Republican”-controlled House of “Representatives” is truly, massively, totally full of s***.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

 

The Astounding Hypocrisy that is The Tea Party

Rep. Jim McDermott pointed this out in a recent Congressional IRS-bashing hearing. As he says, “None of your organizations were kept from organizing or silenced. We are talking about whether or not the American taxpayers would subsidize your work. We are talking about a tax break.”

Wow. That puts the whole IRS/Tea Party scandal in a whole new perspective.

These anti-government activists were looking for government financing of their activities.

These anti-tax organizations were asking for tax money (that is what a tax break does).

These groups who hate government re-distribution of wealth were asking the government to re-distribute wealth to themselves.

Look in your dictionary under “hypocrite” and you’ll see a picture of the Tea Party if there is any justice in this universe.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Note to the Hard Left: Calm the F***ing F*** Down

To hear a few crazies on the Left tell it, this week’s election results are a sign of the impending Social Democratic Paradise on Earth. News flash: uhhhh, ermmmm, not really, no. What it was was a repudiation of the Teabagging, Randian AMFYOYO dope dreams of the Radical Right. That is something quite different from an endorsement of the Hard Left.

The majority of the American electorate is and has always been Centrist.  This despite the earnest efforts of generations’ worth of extremists of many persuasions: alas, the sad reality is that most humans don’t really give a monkey’s about the nuances of political theory. What they want from politics is to have safety, security, and to do their own thing.  So when their wealth is redistributed beyond what seems an equitable extent, they get pissy. When their freedoms are infringed beyond the extent that seems required for their security, they get a wee bit ticked off. When they are insulted, condescended to, or abused, they get hugely pissed off.

All three things were done unto them in the past few years by the Radical Right; and so they gave the Teabaggers a humiliating kick in the groin. Well-deserved it was, and quite entertaining to watch. What they did not do was to endorse a wholesale shift to the Left.

What does that mean? If the Left wants to achieve their goals, they’ll have to do it slowly, carefully, respectfully, in consultation with the Center, and above all in a way that enhances the overall freedom, safety and security of the nation. That requires a calm, grownup approach, peeps.

The last thing anyone in the Center wants to hear right now are the words “radical” or “revolutionary”. They have had a bad experience with that sort of thing of late, and anyone who tries to peddle it now will wind up with their nether regions  feeling a lot like those of Akin, Mourdock and Company.

Mr. B & C

The High Cost of Hearing Only What You Want to Hear

According to CBS News, the Romneybots were “shellshocked” by their election loss. Karl Rove melted down in front of Fox News’s cameras and refused to believe it. All across the country, true believers totally lost it. None of them could handle the outcome: Obama won.

To the rest of us, it wasn’t much of a surprise, and for many not even a particularly big deal: the pollsters had predicted a toss-up that could go either way. It went Obama’s way. Shrug. OK, whatever. No shock, no awe, no freakouts to be found amongst the majority of Americans. So why, then, were so many Repubs and other right-wingers blindsided by the results?

Answer: they live in a bubble; watch only the news that fits their views; read only the polls that give them results matching their views; associate only with others who share their views; listen only to those radio screechers that reinforce their views; and viciously attack anyone with whom they disagree, driving them away so that contrarian views do not injure their quivering, delicate earlobes. Pretty soon, the bubble dwellers find themselves living in a filtered environment that continuously reinforces and strengthens their existing preconceptions.

When Romney’s team didn’t like the poll numbers they were seeing, they chose to believe “internal” polls that made them feel all warm and fuzzy.

When the Teabaggers were presented with proof that Obama really really really wasborn in the U.S., they refused to believe it. And still do.

When Speaker Boehner lost members of his caucus, including some of the biggest extremist loons of the lot, he chose to ignore the fact that Congressional Democratic candidates, overall, got more total votes than Congressional “Republican” candidates (it was only due to gerrymandered districts that he held onto his majority).  No, by golly, he has a mandate to continue his mission of obstruction, or so he thinks.

Ron Johnson blamed his party’s election losses on “an ignorant electorate”. This is perhaps the most instructive example of all: anyone who does not agree with his view of reality is wrong, plain and simple. The fact that he might not be 100% correct at all times and on all subjects doesn’t seem to enter his head.

And so on. These people don’t live on Planet Reality with the rest of us. They live (or at least  think they do) in a wonderful fantasy world, a parallel universe in which anything  in which they fervently  believe is a priori true and thus real, good, Godly and right. So when inconvenient reality intrudes upon their own private Eden, they have no idea what to do or how to cope.

And we wonder why Obama can’t get them to come to the table? They don’t even see the table, and they don’t want to. Until they get bitch-slapped by some big ugly facts a few more times, they are unlikely to come join us here in the real world; and until they get real, they won’t hear us telling them the truths that they do not want to hear.

And until they can hear what they don’t want to hear, there is no possibility of mutual respect and understanding, cooperation, or indeed of any constructive work getting done.

Mr. B & C

Hey, Wingnuts who are Freaking Out over the Election Results: Waaaah.

Both times Bush The Dumber managed to get his butt planted in the Oval Office, Mr. Blunt and Cranky heard lots and lots of people on the Left and in the Center losing their gourds. Threats, despairing recriminations, and of course, lots of bitter gloom-n-doom; all of these were present and accounted for in 2000 and 2004. Not much came of them, and the country limped along until that jackass exited the building.

Now, it’s the turn of the Raging Righties in Their Tightie Whities to barf out their weeping, wailing, useless and pathetic diatribes. Not much will come of their declarations, and the country will survive another four years of this Prexy, as it has dozens of his predecessors.

News Flash: sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t. That’s what happens in contests. The only people who get a pass for acting like two-year-olds when they lose are, well, two-year-olds. The rest of us are quite reasonably expected to act like, well, grownups. Suck it up, Buttercup.

Mr. B & C

Note to the Radical Right: Wake the F***ing F*** up

During this week’s election, the electorate’s centrist majority whupped a lot of ass upon the Radical Right. Mr. Blunt and Cranky was quite pleased to see how many of these teabagging nimrods received their walking papers: he was not pleased (though also not surprised) that the “Republican” leadership is determined to live in denial. Thus, the ever-so-gentle title of today’s post.

Listening to Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader McConnell’s comments (let’s not even think of the rantings of others like lil’ Donnie Trump) over the past day or so, it is plain that they still think that the Radical Right has the blessing of the majority of Americans: never mind that many of the Tea Party’s poster children went down like the Hindenburg yesterday. Never mind that the billions of dollars’ worth of dark money they spent to buy elections made not bit of difference. Never mind that their frantic efforts to suppress the vote had all the effect of a snail’s fart in a tornado.

No, regardless of the facts on the ground and what they signify, there are entirely too many of these zeebs who still think that today is the first Wednesday of November 2010. News flash: it is 2012, and the Right today must acknowledge that fact. But the Radical Right is unwilling to see the will of the people for what it is: a repudiation of partisan zealotry and excess.

The candidates that lost were, in the main, those that were perceived as having ties to the Tea Party, Social Darwinism, the 1%, pick the term you like. For the “Republicans” to deny this is to seal their doom. They need to climb out of their comfy little bubble and look at this basic fact: the more extreme they get, the more often they get kicked in the wedding tackle.

The Dems, on the other hand, have moved to the middle and scored some big wins.  The Teabag-slurping Repubs must wake up, search their souls, learn from the ass-whupping they endured this year and likewise move towards the center; not continue to move farther towards the fringe. If they can do that, they can win elections and gain the power they lust for. If not, well, pleasant dreams to them as they sleep their way past the end of their brief period of relevance.

Mr. B & C