Yet Another Chapter In The Case For Higher Taxes

If you can't make any kind of sacrifice for these people, I have every right to question your patriotism.

And, believe me, I do.

You Can't Reach The Top By Kicking The Bottom

But, if you're a bully, maybe you think you can.  This tends to make me believe it.  From a Web site I've just discovered, The Blue State Post.

Well, I Guess You're Admitting That They DO Pay Taxes!

The undocumented (i.e., "illegals"), that is.  After all, this wouldn't even be an issue if they didn't file returns.

And how can you say that they should "follow" the rules for coming to this country when you want to apply a separate set of tax standards for them?  Are you admitting that immigrants are more productive than those born here?  And that we have, for most of our recent history, been living off of them, and not the other way around?

Guess it's not surprising that this story was on Fox, America's official source of disinformation.  Or, as they used to call it in the former Soviet Union, "Pravda."

As Well As (Hopefully) Another Source Of Future Jobs

It's always nice to find someone who agrees with me that higher taxes are the "welfare reform" that the well-off--and the rest of us--desperately need.  Taxes force the wealthy to put their wealth to work.  This is an especially relevant way of doing that now, given the fact that our current crisis is rooted in speculation on land.

And Let Us Remember The Source of Future Jobs

Green technology.  The environment and the economy aren't opponents; just the opposite is true.

If only enough people will realize that in time!

On This Labor Day, Let Us Remember And Support Those Without Jobs

As well as health coverage.  And die as a result.

However, at least he died with his "liberty" preserved by a Republican House.

Or did he?

"Which Side Are You On, Obama? Which Side Are You On?"

When you hear that question being echoed in the media, it's time to start thinking seriously about the possibility that Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, will only serve a single term.

When you see Obama accept environmental policies enacted by his predecessor, the man whose dismal Administration led us to embrace "hope and change," you have to wonder whether that's not what he deserves.

When you think about the Tweedledum and Tweedledee nature of current American politics, you have to wonder whether this is what we deserve.

And, when you consider the unwillingness of most Americans to stare the facts in the face, or even to take the time to look at them, the disheartening answer appears to be "Yes."

Do We Want To Be Owners, Or Savers?

Both are elements of capitalism, and yet they often come into conflict with each other:  the desire to own a piece of the pie, versus the desire to buy an even cheaper pie elsewhere.

This is hardly a new phenomenon in America; it has been around since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, as a new book about the A&P grocery chain shows.  But, to some extent, our inability to choose between these two competing characteristics of capitalism goes a long way toward explaining the limits of progressive politics in our society.  We somehow want to have the benefits of being a master along with the benefits of being a servant, instead of being a society of citizens who share benefits and burdens.

Will we ever be the latter?  Who knows?  We seem to be completely unwilling to try.  And unwilling to understand that, when everyone is out for themselves, everyone is guaranteed to lose.

A Matter Of Perspective

It's true, as this article points out, that their was never a progressive majority.  But it's also true, as this article points out equally, that a lot can happen when progressives out-work and out-organize the other side.

This is no time to give up.  This is the time to tell the other side to get out--and let sanity rule.

Innovation?

That's what charter schools are supposed to support.  Then again, I'm not sure that this is the sort of innovation their supporters have in mind.

Why Isn't This An Economic Opportunity?

Think about how many jobs might be created if, instead of allowing "space junk" to burn or orbit, we made a real effort to recapture it?  The space program could use a boost, in any case.  After all, even from an Earth-bound perspective, so many jobs and so much usable technology (including the computer on which I'm typing this) sprang from it.

Is Nate Walking On Tiptoe Around The Obvious?

The most recent post in Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight Blog for The New York Times discusses what he calls "The North Dakota Paradox"--i.e., the fact that Obama is extremely unpopular in North Dakota despite the fact that the local economy is in good shape.  Silver also notes the Obama is still relatively popular in states with deep economic troubles.

This would seem to suggest very strongly that, in terms of 2012, it's NOT about the economy.  And yet, Nate seems to go into overdrive to suggest that no one should come to that conclusion.

Well, if no one should do so, what is the conclusion?  Certainly, it seems that the popularity (or lack thereof) of the President is being driven by something.

Would it be too much to ask to see if the levels of Obama's popularity correlate to anything at all?

Including the issue that no one wants to talk about?  The one that rhymes with "face"?

Frankly, a comparison of the demographics of North Dakota with those of more pro-Obama states might lead one to conclude that the answer is as obvious as I think it is.  Why else would corporations be sitting on record profits, as Nate himself points out?  Even when they effectively control both houses of Congress?

Possibly because they want the White House to be the "white house."  Again.  After all, to these people, nothing is ever enough.  Or ever will be.

UPDATE at 6:00 p.m..  I knew about this, as can be seen from my earlier post.  It may indeed be the answer; as some of the comments suggest, it shows how capitalism can be mixed with socialism, which is something I wholeheartedly support.  It may indeed mean that North Dakota is an exceptional case.  On the other hand, if it is the explanation, why is the state's politics so relentlessly red (as Nate himself points out)?  Maybe he's right that the jury is still out.  But I think the court of public opinion ought to call it back in, and poll it closely.

Freedom Of The Press Is The Right To Own One

And the owners aren't as "liberal" as the VRWC claims they are.  That's why Rick Perry gets a pass, and his Democratic counterparts do not.

Sorry, Conservatives, But Liberalism Works

Even Forbes agrees.  And the supposed "failure" of health care reform was the rationale for a Republican House.

Can't wait for 2012!

Let's Start September On An Artistic Note ...

... by sharing this, possibly the best analysis of Woody Allen's two-decade descent I've ever read.  I have to agree; the films started to decay about the time that the man did, and the latter decay is the root cause of the former.

Hard to believe Allen was once a cultural hero of mine.  This is the way I view him now.