The Real Makers And Takers.

Teapublican rhetoric aside, the real makers are in the bluest of states and the vast majority of takers are in the reddest of states.

Washington DC, Delaware, Connecticut, Minnesota and New Jersey contribute the most per capita in income taxes to the federal government.  On the other hand, West Virginia, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Montana pay the least.

Overall, the states that contribute the most total revenue are California, New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois.

So if the government-hating red states of the old Confederacy really want to follow through with their threats to secede after President Obama’s re-election, they may want to consider how they’re going to pay for the federally-financed benefits they now enjoy.  Without subsidies from the blue states, they can expect their benefits to plummet and their taxes to skyrocket.

As for the Union, the blue states will be just fine.  In fact, by eliminating most of the “taker” states, taxpayers in the blue states will likely enjoy lower tax rates while rebuilding their infrastructure, improving education and strengthening safety nets.

My message is this:  All of you so-called “patriots” should do a little research to determine who’s really paying for your military, your border patrol, your prisons, your welfare, food stamps, healthcare, schools, highways, etc.  If afterwards, you still want to secede, go for it.  Don’t trip over your racist anti-Obama signs, your “Don’t Tread On Me” flags, your Federalist papers, Bibles and assault weapons on the way out.

A Victory For Truth And Fairness!

President Obama’s re-election should give us all hope.

Yesterday, a significant majority of the American people rejected the hate and lies spewed by Teapublicans for the past two years.  Americans rejected a presidential candidate who made many promises with no specifics to back them up.  They rejected a presidential candidate who made a fortune in the US by dismantling American companies then outsourced his profits to Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Switzerland.  They rejected a vice-presidential candidate who sold a plan to the House of Representatives that would balance the budget by taking money from the poor, the middle-class and the retired and giving it to the wealthy.

American voters also rejected a church-backed agenda that would deny equal rights to gays and lesbians; that would further victimize women who have been raped; that would allow employers to deny healthcare coverage for contraceptives while providing coverage for boner pills.

And American voters re-elected a president who righted our economy, signed a bill demanding equal pay for equal work, passed a bill providing healthcare insurance for tens of millions, ended the war in Iraq, ordered the capture or death of Osama bin Laden, nominated two women to the Supreme Court including the first Latina, and ended the government-sanctioned discrimination of a portion of our population by the military.

A president who is winding down the war in Afghanistan, who has emphasized alternative fuels and higher fuel efficiency standards to increase our energy independence.  A president who has prioritized the environment over the profits of multinational corporations.  A president who has done more good for the people of our nation than I have room to detail.

Despite all this, President Obama was vilified by the reckless and highly partisan Fox News Channel, attacked daily by the loudmouths on conservative hate radio, dismissed by the Republican leaders of Congress, and disrespected by millions of racist teabaggers.

President Obama has deserved far better and the majority of American voters agree.

GOP Strategy: Lie, Cheat, Steal, Suppress And Spend.

Think I’m exaggerating?  Consider this:  For months, we’ve been bombarded with commercials from Republicans and their SuperPACS based on pants-on-fire lies, such as Romney’s latest gem that Chrysler is planning on moving the production of Jeeps to China.  Never mind that the Chrysler CEO immediately denounced the commercial as a blatant lie.  Mitt the Twit has continued to air it.

Mitt has also continued to air commercials stating that President Obama has cut $716 billion from Medicare (he hasn’t); that President Obama began his first term with an “apology tour” of the the Middle East (he didn’t); and that Mitt recommended the same steps to save the US auto industry as President Obama (he didn’t).

In the primaries, Mitt ran as a “severe conservative,” stating that he would sign a bill to end legal abortion; that he believed all abortions should be outlawed even if the pregnancies were the result of rape or incest; that he would dismantle the EPA and the Dept. of Education; that he would cut taxes for everyone, including the wealthy; and that he would spend billions on our military that the Pentagon hasn’t even requested.  Despite all of this, he claimed that he would somehow pay down the national debt.

But when it came to the first debate, he denied almost all of those statements.  He has now portrayed himself as a centrist.  As a result, we don’t know where he stands on any issue.  We don’t know his economic plan, assuming he actually has one.  What we do know is that he is a serial liar.  And despite his slogan “Believe in America,” we know that, instead of investing his millions in the US, Mitt has dodged taxes by stashing his money offshore in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Luxembourg.

As for Mitt’s party, we know that it has spent the past four years blocking virtually every bill and presidential nomination.  Republicans have used the filibuster hundreds of times – not just for big items, but for ordinary business, in hopes of making President Obama a one-term president.

Instead of trying to sell their plutocratic vision of America, Republicans and their billionaire supporters have spent billions attacking President Obama and other Democratic opponents.  They have also looked for new ways to suppress the vote of those who might disagree with them.  We’ve already seen the impact of their efforts in Ohio and Florida where early voting has been limited forcing people to stand in line for hours.  Of course, this has been especially true in counties with large minority populations.

Election day is almost certain to be worse.

Let’s hope that a majority of the electorate has recognized the Republican strategy and makes them pay.

“Fraudulent,” “Fantasy,” “Con Game,” “Mathematically Impossible.”

These are the words used to describe the Romney-Ryan budget plan by economists, The Washington Post, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center and Bloomberg News.

Mitt says his plan will cut taxes for all Americans, increase defense spending and still cut the deficit.  And, get this; he claims that his plan will be “revenue neutral.” He says that the costs will be offset by the elimination of tax deductions.  Yet he steadfastly refuses to provide details.  The only cuts he’s mentioned are funding for Public Broadcasting and Planned Parenthood.

In fact, after more than a year of campaigning for the office of President of the United States, Mitt has not provided any numbers for his plan…until tonight.

During the second debate with President Obama, Mitt announced the number five…in reference to his 5-point plan for the economy.  But don’t expect Mitt to provide any details for that plan, especially with regard to his budget figures.

He either can’t, or won’t.

Romney can’t explain his budget plan.  Liein’ Ryan can’t explain it.  And one of the campaign’s top surrogates can’t explain it.  When Sen. Marco Rubio was asked by Lawrence O’Donnell to name the tax deductions that would be eliminated, he admitted he couldn’t name a single one.

Instead of offering details about his plan, all Mitt says is “trust me.”  Now, tell me, Mitt, why would we do that?  You say one thing today. Then a day or two later, you say something else.  You’ve had at least four answers to every question.  Indeed, you’ve had more positions than the Kama Sutra.

When it comes to your economic plan, Mitt, I’ll trust the opinions of President Obama, President Clinton, most independent media, and non-partisan economists.

Ayn Rand And Liein’ Ryan.

In the 1950s and 60s, Ayn Rand authored a series of books which focused on the virtues of individualism versus collectivism. Having grown up in Russia and the Soviet Union, she believed that government, religion, social organizations, even charities are evil.

For those of us who were raised in democracies during the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, it was difficult to imagine the appeal of such a narrow-minded, selfish philosophy.  Yet congressman and vice-presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, has repeatedly credited Rand as his inspiration for public service.

Of course, he says he doesn’t accept all of Rand’s beliefs.  After all, Rand was a pro-choice aethist while Ryan says he’s a pro-life Catholic.

Moreover, Rand, in the last years of her life, decided that collectivism wasn’t all bad, especially when she could cash Social Security checks and let Medicare pay for her healthcare.  Yet these are the very programs that Ryan wants to get rid of.

But maybe Ryan isn’t so different from Rand, after all.  Although Ryan hates the federal government, he happily cashes government checks for his congressional salary.  He gladly accepts his government-paid healthcare.  He works out in a government-owned gym.  And I’m betting that, if Ryan and his Teapublican buddies don’t kill Social Security and Medicare first, they’ll happily accept those benefits to go along with their government pensions.

It would seem that, in Ryan’s mind, government programs are only bad when the money goes to someone else.

I’m reminded of the true story of W.C. Fields.  Although he was an avowed aethist, a friend found him reading the Bible on his death bed.  When the friend asked why, Fields responded, “Looking for loopholes.”

To learn about more of Ryan’s lies, read The Teapublican Book of Lies available at Amazon.com and other on-line bookstores.

A Political Party So Obstructionist It Even Opposes Itself.

For years, GOP governors have asked for changes in the welfare reform bill of 1996.  They wanted more flexibility in how states measure work requirements, hoping that changes would help even more people move from welfare to work.  Even Governor Mitt Romney supported such changes in 2005.

Upon the recommendation of his Health and Human Services department, President Obama endorsed the changes.

Of course, that meant Teapublicans had to oppose the changes.  Mitt Romney and his Wisconsin partner-in-lies immediately went on the attack, saying “President Obama wants to eliminate the work requirement for welfare.”  They even made a TV commerical repeating the lie.

On Thursday, Liein’ Ryan and his obstructionist House-mates made it official.  They voted against the welfare changes that their own party requested.

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who has followed Teapublican hypocrisy over the past four years.  Following the Inauguration-night strategy meeting during which Teapublican leaders vowed to block every initiative by President Obama, they have steadfastly refused to support the administration even if it means attacking their own ideas such as Romneycare…er, Obamacare.

Is it any wonder Congress hasn’t been able to pass tax reform and jobs bills?