Category Archives: Culture

Teapublican Lie #15.

Posted on by

“The founding fathers intended the US to be a Christian nation.”

This is simply preposterous when you consider the backgrounds of those who were living in our nation at the time it was founded.  Many had been subjected to religious persecution and intolerance in the countries they left.  Does it then make any sense that they would intend to establish an official religion in the US? 

If they did, they would simply be creating an environment similar to what they left.

If that logic escapes you, consider this. From the Website www.Monticello.org, Thomas Jefferson, author of our Declaration of Independence and one of the most influential founding fathers, “…was always reluctant to reveal his religious beliefs to the public… He was raised as an Anglican, but was influenced by English deists such as Bolingbroke and Shaftesbury.”

Indeed, Jefferson made the following recommendation to his nephew Peter Carr in 1787: “Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”

And, in Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson outlines the views which led to the separation of church and state: “The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. … Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error.”

Teapublican Lie #14.

Posted on by

“Immigrants steal our jobs.”

That’s been a common accusation since the very beginnings of our nation. Previous generations despised the Irish, Italians, Germans, Scandinavians, Eastern Europeans, etc. for simply trying to eke out a living. Nothing has changed in the present day, except that now the charge is leveled against Latinos.

In discussing her book, They Take Our Jobs! and 20 other myths about immigrants, Avi Chomsky, historian, teacher, and coordinator of Latin American studies at Salem State College says, “When people claim that immigrants take our jobs, underlying the statement are some flawed ideas of how our economy works. They don’t understand that the world economy is extremely integrated.”

“In the US, there is a dual labor market,” she says. “One category consists of good jobs that offer security, benefits, decent pay and safe working conditions. The second category consists of jobs that are dangerous and unpleasant with no security and low wages. The jobs in the second category have always been done by those who are politically excluded, such as undocumented workers. By politically excluding workers, employers are able to exploit them. And others in our society rely on people doing these jobs.”

In reality, the number of jobs taken by immigrants is a very small percentage of the jobs shipped overseas by our corporations. Moreover, immigrants actually create jobs because they purchase food and automobiles, and they rent or buy homes. They also pay sales taxes, property taxes, income taxes, even Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. (In 2010, it’s estimated that illegals paid $12 billion into Social Security. Yet they are not eligible for any of the government services provided by those taxes.)

As Chomsky states, “The debate on immigration is a way of creating a scapegoat for very real problems, like the economy, even the environment.”

A Decade of Fear and Paranoia.

Posted on by

As the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 approached, the television networks were filled with programs about the event. The best was MSNBC’s special Day of Destruction: Decade of War, Part I with Rachel Maddow and Peter Engel. It presented stories and facts that were both enlightening and frightening.

For example, since 9/11 we have:

– Created Homeland Security, the third largest bureacracy in Washington, DC.
– Created the Transportation Security Administration, an $8.1 billion agency with more than 45,000 employees.
– Created enough office space for security, intelligence and counter-terrorism personnel to fill 22 US Capitols.
– Expanded military bases all over central Asia.
– Doubled our defense budget.
– Deployed more than 2 million coalition troops to Afghanistan and Iraq where more than 4,600 US troops have been killed and nearly 33,000 wounded.
– Turned much of our military over to mercenaries and private contractors.
– Militarized our police forces as never before.
– Created the “Patriot” Act which has allowed our government to suspend many of the provisions of the 4th Amendment to our Constitution and permits the police and military to intrude in our lives as never before.
– Intentionally fomented fear and paranoia among Americans for partisan political reasons.

During the past 10 years we have spent more than $1 trillion on defense and security; money that could have been used to rebuild our decaying infrastructure, to improve the  quality of life for our citizens or to reduce our national debt. We have learned that $60 billion of taxpayer money has gone unaccounted for in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade. And, not surprisingly, we have learned that the US will abandon billions of dollars worth of equipment and military bases when we finally leave Iraq.

Has it been worthwhile?

Each person is likely to have a different answer to that question. But my own answer is a resounding NO! Actually, it’s HELL NO! Especially upon reflection that all of this is the result of 19 terrorists, many of whom were on no-fly lists, boarding airplanes with $5 box-cutters. The only attacks on US soil since 9/11 have come from the gang who couldn’t shoot straight; people who failed at attempts to explode an SUV, a shoe, and underwear!

Since 9/11, the US has dramatically changed for the worse.  And most of the damage has been self-inflicted.

America’s Most Corrupt Sheriff?

Posted on by

Unless you’re an intelligent, non-Teapublican living in Arizona, you probably know Joe Arpaio as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.”

You’ve likely heard of the way he treats prisoners at his “Tent City” in the desert by forcing them to wear pink underwear and eat baloney sandwiches for every meal. You may have heard of his regular “sweeps” for illegal immigrants. You may have heard of his celebrity “posses.” And you may have heard of his political connections to the Teapublican elite, such as Senator John McCain, half-governor Sarah Palin, Governor Jan Brewer, AZ State Senator-under-recall Russell Pearce, and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.

But you probably haven’t heard that he’s under federal investigation for civil rights violations. You probably don’t know that he misspent $100 million of Maricopa County funds. You probably haven’t heard of the county’s investigation resulting in the firing of his top henchmen.

Unless you live in Arizona, you probably haven’t heard allegations that he and his buddy, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, trumped up investigations and charges against Arpaio’s political enemies. And you probably haven’t heard that he and his “deputy” Steven Seagal are being sued for shooting an innocent family’s dog during a botched raid looking for suspected illegal immigrants.

For any other elected official, even one of these issues would result in dismissal from office, if not a trip to “Tent City.” But given the massive numbers of wingnut voters in Arizona, Arpaio seems untouchable. Indeed, he’s actually considering a run for the US Senate.

Now he’s even opened an investigation with his “Cold Case” Posse to check the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate! And the Teapublican presidential wannabes are trekking to Phoenix to kiss Arpaio’s…er..ring.

With thugs like Sheriff Joe in their camp, how can anyone take the Teapublicans seriously?

Teapublican Lie #10.

Posted on by

“President Obama’s Jobs Plan is Class Warfare.”

Teapublicans haul this one out every time a Democrat talks about raising taxes on the wealthy. It sounds terrible, doesn’t it? How could anyone be for dividing America into classes based on privilege and wealth?

Oh, wait! Teapublicans have been pursuing policies of class warfare for decades!

Thanks to Teapublican policies, 400 people now control 50 percent of the nation’s wealth, a combined $1.5 trillion. Their average net worth is $3.8 billion – a 12 percent increase from last year! Meanwhile, the bottom 90 percent have an average annual income of just $31,244 per household.

While the wealthy pay a federal tax rate of 15 percent on profits from their investments, middle class families pay a federal income tax rate of 25-33 percent on their salaries. While the corporations’ share of federal tax revenues has dropped from more than 30 percent in the 1950s to less than 10 percent now, individuals’ share has remained at more than 40 percent. At the same time, payroll taxes (for Social Security and Medicare) have gone from 10 percent to more than 40 percent!

But there has been even more bad news for the poor and middle class. In the past 10 years, incomes for the top 20 percent of Americans have increased dramatically while incomes for the bottom 80 percent of Americans have dropped! And while the Great Recession forced millions of American workers into unemployment lines, corporate CEOs and bankers have paid themselves multi-million dollar bonuses.

No, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann, making those who have benefited the most from our country pay their fair share is not class warfare. Continuing the Teapublican policies from the past 30 years is.

Teapublican Lie #9.

Posted on by

“Cutting taxes on the wealthy creates jobs.”

This lie could only have been generated by wealthy contributors to political campaigns. But let’s examine it anyway.

Both political parties acknowledge that the vast majority of jobs are created by small businesses and, most especially, by new businesses. Yet, for investors, these businesses often entail a great deal of risk – something the wealthy are generally adverse to. So the wealthiest Americans tend to invest their money, instead, in large corporations which offer greater security.

Moreover, most of the incomes for the wealthy are the result of capital gains (generated by selling stocks for more money than they paid for them). This income is now taxed at the unbelievably low rate of 15 percent. That’s lower than the income tax rate for most of the middle class! It begs the questions, “How much farther can we cut taxes for the wealthy?” and, “How will that create jobs?”

Teapublican Lie #8.

Posted on by

“Most Americans don’t pay taxes.”

Lately, Teapublicans have been saying that 51% of Americans don’t pay any taxes at all. They say that those Americans should be forced to “have some skin in the game.” They call them the “Freeloader Class.” And they blame them for the nation’s economic woes.

While it is true that 51 percent of Americans did not pay federal income taxes for tax year 2009, it is not true that they did not pay taxes. It’s not even true (as Teapublicans suggest) that they are lazy, welfare recipients content to sponge off society. In fact, many of those who paid no federal income taxes in 2009 were among the wealthy and the upper middle class!

From an article by PolitiFact.com, Bob Williams, a tax policy specialist at the nonpartisan Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, said there are lots of popular tax breaks, which are sometimes called tax expenditures. “We estimate they total more than a trillion dollars a year in reduced taxes and, in fact, the bulk of those go to the top end of the income distribution,” said Williams.

As for the rest, they are mostly the elderly living on Social Security and those working at minimum wage jobs that don’t make enough to pay federal income taxes. (According to the 2010 Census, one in six Americans now lives below the poverty line.) Yet these people still pay taxes. Many pay payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare. All pay sales taxes. Many pay state income taxes and property taxes (even if they rent). And most pay gasoline taxes, beer and liquor taxes, etc. So they do, indeed, “have some skin in the game.”

The real freeloaders are those who are living off the hard work of others – those who have inherited fortunes from their ancestors, Wall Street bankers who are paid enormous bonuses to gamble with others’ money, and those who, by a stroke of luck, have found themselves in a position of power – and taking advantage of a host of tax shelters created by politicians to protect their benefactors.

The Kings and Queen of Mean.

Posted on by

So far, the debates between Teapublican presidential candidates have been very entertaining. Watching them is somewhat like watching Voldemort, Simon Legree, the Joker, Scrooge, Alfred E. Neuman, Lex Luthor and the Wicked Witch of the West face off to see who can be nastier, more spiteful, more repugnant and more snide.

Yet the sentiments of the audiences have been even more revealing.

In one debate, an audience of upper middle class white Californians actually broke out in applause upon the mere mention of Gov. Perry’s 234 executions. In another debate, when confronted with the question of whether or not the government should allow a hypothetical uninsured young American die, members of the pitchfork crowd in Tampa screamed “yes.”

And these are the religious so-called “values” people?

If voters are unwise enough to put them in charge of our country, we won’t have to build a bigger fence to keep immigrants out of our country. We’ll have to build one to keep our own citizens in.

Are We Still Fighting The Civil War?

Posted on by

As I was reading a book about the Civil War, I was struck by the many similarities between the run-up to the war and today’s political climate. The Confederate States of America were sparsely populated and dominated by slave-owning plantation owners who resented any interference by the federal government. As one historian said, they likely would have seceded earlier, but it took 6 years for the plantation owners to convince the poor dirt farmers to fight their war for them.

On the other side, the Union was more densely populated with a recent influx of European immigrants. Many of these people had faced persecution themselves in the Old Country, and their religious beliefs were at odds with slavery. Moreover, as a result of the density of population, those in the North tended to understand that regulations and laws were necessary for everyone to thrive. Not just a few.

So the Civil War was as much the result of a conflict of philosophies as it was slavery. This conflict continued when, following the war, many former Confederate soldiers fled westward to get away from the law and order imposed by the victorious North. Unfortunately for them, they eventually ran out of real estate as settlers who believed in the law followed them west. But the philosophies of the former Confederates never entirely disappeared.

Fast forward to today. Our politics are now roughly divided into red states and blue states. The red states strongly oppose any “interference” by the federal government. And where are most of those red states? In the South and West.

And where are the blue states? In the heavily populated East, Upper Midwest, California and Northwest.

Certainly, there are pockets within the South and West where voters understand the necessary role of government. Those tend to be large population centers. But in the rural areas and smaller cities, government – especially the federal government – is viewed with disdain and suspicion.

Particularly in the West, many people identify with the cowboy mentality of old (not realizing that the term “cowboy” was originally a perjorative akin to calling someone a rustler or bandit). These people see themselves as modern day gunslingers who are standing up for their individual rights. They mostly could care less about anyone else, including the less fortunate. After all, to these people, everyone has the responsibility to pull themselves up by the bootstraps no matter the odds against it.

In the South, the story is somewhat different. Certainly resentment of the federal government continues. But now it’s wrapped in the cloak of religion. The new Christian right stems from churches that believe the Bible is literally the word of God. They selectively choose Bible verses that support their narrow views. They are anti-government (it’s the government that prevents openly Christian prayers in public schools and other public venues), anti-gay, anti-minority, anti-abortion, anti-education, anti-environmentalism, anti-evolution, anti-climate change, etc. If the government is for it, particularly the federal government, they are against it.

So here we are, politically not much further ahead than we were 150 years ago. But at least for the moment, we’re fighting with ballots. Not guns.

Who Does God Root For?

Posted on by

As long as I’m on the subject of Divine intervention in current events, is it true that God is a sports fan? From watching collegiate and professional sports these days, you’d surmise that players believe God is dictating all of the outcomes like some sort of bribe-wielding bookie.

Many of the athletes would have you believe that their success is solely the result of their faith. What’s puzzling is that there appear to be athletes of great faith on every team – at least based on the number of players who point skyward following a touchdown or big play. (And, lately, it seems like that’s the required action after every play.)

God chooses one team to win and the other to lose? Seriously? Is it based on how many players on each team profess their faith? Is it based on the faith of the teams’ management? The faithfulness of the teams’ fans? It’s difficult to tell.

Until God reveals His team loyalties, I guess we’ll have to assume that it doesn’t matter how hard a team prays. Just how hard it plays.