Watering Hole: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 – SS is not an entitlement

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All cartoons are posted with the artists’ express permission to TPZoo.
Paul Jamiol, Jamiol’s World

This is our Open Thread.  I have nothing else so you will need to Speak Up!

112 thoughts on “Watering Hole: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 – SS is not an entitlement”

  1. If you haven’t taken the time to read the GOP Autopsy Report for yourself (rather than rely solely on pundit analysis), here’s a link to it.

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/130999130/RNC-Growth-Opportunity-Book-2013

    Of course, with premises like this (pg 6) “Republican governors are America’s reformers in chief. They continue to deliver on conservative promises of reducing the size of government while making people’s lives better.” This is, of course, pure bullshit, and not because “reducing the size of government” is just buzzword bullshit devoid of any real meaning, but because their policies have NOT made people’s lives better (unless by “people”, they mean the top 2% of income earners.)

    Then, shortly after (pg 7) is this, “We need to remain America’s conservative alternative to big-government, redistribution-to-extremes liberalism, while building a route into our Party that a non-traditional Republican will want to travel.” Again, not only do we have the vague bogeyman “big government,” but we also have the false premise that Liberalism as practiced in this country is “redistribution to extremes.”

    I’m only on page 7 out of 99, but already I see them gearing up to defend Selfishness and Greed.

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      • Oh, it;s already gone off the charts and I’m only up to page ten. It appears that Republicans think everyone is just as Capitalistic and selfish as they are. I see evidence of binary thinking, the idea that there are two and only two options for any problem. They think because private sector job growth is the best, that it should be the only option endorsed. What’s amazing about this is that these are politicians – public sector employees by definition – and yet they think the government should not be part of the solution to anything.

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  2. Here’s something from page 8 that I don’t think I’ve heard any of the punditry mention and, if anything, it should have had them howling with laughter: “We have to blow the whistle at corporate malfeasance and attack corporate welfare. We should speak out when a company liquidates itself and its executives receive bonuses but rank-and-file workers are left unemployed. We should speak out when CEOs receive tens of millions of dollars in retirement packages but middle-class workers have not had a meaningful raise in years.”

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  4. Just a note on the bank crisis in Cyprus.
    The EU BankCartel is trying to impose a tax on depositor funds.
    Looks like it’s not going to pass their Parliament (they are, after all, elected).
    Suggestion for EU Cartel Banksters. Before you tax the depositors, confiscate 25% of the bank’s shares of stock. Then impose a 90% tax on the salaries of the bank officers. Then send in an army to put down the insurrection.
    Assholes.

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    • News flash for RandyPaul. Undocumented workers, for the most part, pay U.S. taxes. Sales tax, gas tax, and in some cases payroll withholding tax, even if it’s against a bogus SSN. Idiot.

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  7. The article shows a picture of him sitting in the pope throne, lined with red velvet and gold.

    Really to talk about taking care of the poor from such trappings, imo.

    Pope’s first mass: ‘protect each person, especially the poorest’ – Yahoo! News

    Pope’s first mass: ‘protect each person, especially the poorest’While Pope Francis, the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, has brought a dramatic change of style to the papacy, whether he brings a change of substance remains to be seen.

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    • As a work project, I saw all the episodes of The Bible about 2 months ago, and I watched some behind the scenes stuff too. I knew there’d be a big audience for this kind of thing and the modern efx help shepherd (*cough*) some things along.

      But I laughed all the pretty people, especially the hip looking Jesus, and knew even back then that some people would look at Satan and see Obama. Yeah, I laughed all the way to the bank.

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    • The part I really liked was when they said the important thing to remember is the Bible is fact. They really should have named the miniseries “Touched”. Or maybe “Touched by an Angle”.

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    • Yesterday and today, the women at the pool (I go for water exercise in the mornings) were all a bubbly with conversation about “The Bible” as seen on the History Channel. I just don’t understand the appeal of bible stories. If I was planning on staying in the area, I would quit the Y and join LA Fitness which is about 8 miles further from my house than the Y. These old women are either complaining about other people or complaining about life in general. Now they found the bible show and I am guessing that this will be the topic of conversation for the next few weeks. If I didn’t need to hear the instructor, I would wear ear plugs.

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  9. QOTD:

    “Whatever is vibrating on the iPhone just isn’t as valuable as the eye contact you are making right now,” – Douglas Rushkopf, in Present Shock.

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    • Oh please, you’re being unreasonable, just like those miners and their families. Don’t you understand that the rich need that money for yachts, 50,000 square foot homes, and trust funds for the horrible children they inflict on the world?

      Get real.

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    • And Republicans wonder why people think unregulated, unfettered capitalism is a scam perpetrated by the 1% on the working class…

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    • And in this case, Patriot is doing nothing to hide its fat- cat heart. Its bankruptcy advisers billed $2,635 for a single dinner; the company is even now seeking court permission to hand out $6 million in bonuses to executives.

      These greedy assholes…shame, just shame on them for seeing nothing wrong with denying medical to those who’ve worked hard, yet, pay the fat assed executives who made it fail.
      There is serious moral failure with the 1%ers and corporate-citizens.

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  14. QOTD II:

    “10 yrs ago began the long, difficult work of liberating 25 mil Iraqis. All who played a role in history deserve our respect & appreciation,” – Donald Rumsfeld, war criminal.

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  15. Steve Kornacki is taking over “Up” on the weekends. I like him.

    I like Chris Hayes too, but watching him makes me feel nervous and jumpy. I think it’s his frantic pace.

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    • I can’t watch him for long at all. He’s way too invested and hyper. And lose the tinted glasses, Chris. Yeesh.

      MSNBC needs to can Rev. Al and give Joy Reid a show. And Tweety needs to stop with the almost daily JFK idolatry, Peace Corps memories, or how Tip O’Neill and Reagan led a kumbaya government.

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    • While I’m ranting, I do not care for Melissa Harris-Perry, or Perry-Harris, or whatever. Do not. Everything is racially tinged with her.

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    • I’m interested in how Kornacki will do with the UP format. I haven’t gotten much of a read off him because I can’t watch The Cycle.
      Hayes should be calmer doing regular news. He won’t have so many guests on at one time either.
      Most of all, I’m looking forward to Ed’s Sunday review of the morning shows. That should be fun. He can tape a documentary in advance for the Saturday show, if he needs a day off.

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    • A heavy, heavy price to pay for a dick measuring contest between father and son.
      Not to mention an opportunity for CheneyBushco to plunder our nation’s youth and treasure.

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  19. I hear tell that GW Bush is taking up painting. Perhaps he should crank out portraits of every Iraqi and American soldier who died for his hubris. And incarcerate him until he’s done.

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  20. From an MSN article: Re; Bush aka his Assholiness.
    the president had stressed that “a liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform that vital region, by bringing hope and progress into the lives of millions.”
    In a televised statement to the nation, President George W. Bush announces “early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq.”
    …
    “An estimated $61 billion in U.S. reconstruction funds later, reality has fallen short of these expectations.
    …
    Total cost of the mission estimated at 2 trillion dollars.
    …
    An estimated 189,000 people — including Iraqi civilians, U.S. troops and journalists — were killed in the war in Iraq since 2003. The country is considered one of the most corrupt in the world, and many of the improvements promised have not materialized. Sectarian tensions regularly explode into open violence. ”

    Iraq now rivals the U.S. as the most corrupt nation on the planet. We should take the 2 trillion out of the hides of those responsible.

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    • How about we officially guarantee them that, due to their loyalty and love of war, they are, each and all, at the top of the list of those who will be sent to fight the next one. No matter their age, physical condition, mental condition, etc., no matter where the next war is or with whom. They are first in line. For the new draft.

      Ten bucks says that the percentage would shrink from 42% to 4.2% (or less) within minutes.

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  25. “We don’t have leadership, we have reality television.” — Sarah Palin, without even a hint of self awareness, at CPAC,

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  27. It Took You Long Enough Dept.:

    Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said Tuesday he could win a steel cage match against his successor, Reince Priebus, who he called “numbnuts.”

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    • The love affairs are over.
      Palin pecking at Rove who pecks back.
      Geller vs Taitz
      Steele and Priebus jugando ¿quién es más macho?

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    • That is the saving grace of extremist movements. Most of them eventually fall apart under the weight of seeking “purity” and turn into multiple splinter movements.

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  28. Hi, gang. I’ve been busy with the new plane and some band activity. I’m still not going to get on stage myself but I’ve been working as a coordinator so that the other guys won’t screw up when they perform my stuff. Tigger is doing O.K. but she’s not her old self. I figure that it’s not too extreme for a cat of her age to change her behavior a bit. Yesterday’s blood test still shows some reduced kidney function but nothing dangerous. She might last a year or she might go tomorrow. I’m at peace either way as long as she isn’t suffering. It would be a big help if spring finally arrived so I could get out more.

    It has been interesting and maddening to see all the locals using our cold snap to “prove global warming is a hoax”. March is on schedule to be the first below average month in over 4 years but I guess that cold in March is different than warm in January, and every other month in 4 years, to Reichwhiners. Our flock of robins still stayed for the whole winter and the sparrows are building a nest on my deck. The geese are also paring but I have not managed to catch a display when I had my camera. I will trust the birds before a mere thermometer any day. Sigh… I sure wish that Reichwhiners were as smart as birds.

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    • Reads as if you are content to watch and listen to your work from afar. Do you ever see yourself performing on stage?
      Mel, the cat, is happy to read Tigger isn’t in the danger zone on the kidney function.

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      • Short answer? No. Standing in front of a bunch of strangers and demanding they notice me is simply not an option. I’ve tried just about every remedy for anxiety, chemical and otherwise, and none of them have managed to get rid of my stage fright.

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    • I had to send that to the future-ex. She and I are e-mailing sometimes now.
      She is sending me pictures of the remodeling she is doing on her house, because they don’t show up good on my cheap phone.

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  31. On The Ed Show with Michael Eric Dyson.
    David Cay Johnston: “The total stock market is worth less today, than it was in 2000”
    See, Chris Hayes would have stopped Johnston right there and had him explain why that is so. No one else ever seems to do that. Maybe there isn’t time on a one hour show.

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    • Well, that’s the thing. This was not a spontaneous, breaking news booking. The producers had time to discuss what he would say. I agree that’s a line worth explaining, as it seems so counter-intuitive.

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      • I recall that the Dow Jones Industrial Average was pretty high back then, but the Nasdaq was a lot higher then than it is now. The dollar was stronger then too.

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        • Of course, the Dow is simply the sum of the prices of thirty stocks chosen by the editors of the Wall Street Journal to be “representative” of the stock market. But they’re all “blue chip” stocks, whose performance really doesn’t match that of the rest of the market. IMHO, it’s an effort to confuse the average American whose life doesn’t revolve around Wall Street. It’s gobbledy-gook technospeak jargon vague enough to mean anything they want it to mean.

          I have never been a fan of the idea of assigning a mass mentality to a mindless thing like a stock market. What happens to the Dow is not the result of 300+ million Americans getting together and deciding where they want their money invested. This wasn’t the decision of a group, it the the individual decisions of millions (though probably really just thousands) of people. Same false analogy applies to elections.

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    • Is anyone surprised? No. The freaks at FAUX”News” are absolutely predictable. If someone in the “librul media” would just devote an hour a week to predicting and exposing them? Their viewership would shrink.

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      • You’ve probably turned-in for the evening.
        I’ll park this here and then move it over to tomorrow’s Watering Hole…

        WWII in color: Rare photos from 1942 show Flying Fortress bombers and their heroic crews in The Mighty 8th Command

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