Bachmann Is Still trying To Re-Write History

Michele Bachmann, the wild-eyed teabagger queen and Republican presidential candidate, has never been one to care about accuracy -- about facts or history. She knows that telling the Republican teabagger base what they want to hear will get her a lot further than telling them the truth. As we have seen in the past, she just makes up things as she goes along, whether its about American history, the economy, or President Obama.

And she's still doing it. Just a couple of days ago (10/28/11) she was being interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer and she made the following completely irrational statement. She said:

"Under Barack Obama's watch, we have expended $805 billion to liberate the people of Iraq and, more importantly, 4400 American lives. . .He's been a disaster on foreign policy."

That's not even remotely near the truth. President Obama didn't start the war in Iraq, George Bush did that. And it was a completely unnecessary war, since Iraq had no weapons of mass destructions, would not allow al-Queda operate in the country, and posed no danger at all to the United States. The Iraq war was a foreign policy disaster, but it was Bush's foreign policy disaster.

The Tricking Continues

Political Cartoon is by Cameron (Cam) Cardow in The Ottawa Citizen.

Big Oil Companies Making Huge Profits

As you probably know, most of the giant oil companies paid very little in income taxes for last year and some, like ExxonMobil, paid no income taxes at all -- they actually got a tax rebate of several million dollars from the federal government. One reason these giant corporations pay little or nothing in taxes is because they get government subsidies and tax breaks. But do they really need those subsidies and tax breaks, especially in light of the deficit and the millions of Americans who have been hurt by the recession and need government programs to keep their heads above water?

The short answer is no, they don't need those government giveaways. This is easily borne out by the profit figures of the five largest oil companies. These companies are earning billions of dollars in profit (and yes, I said profit -- the amount they have left after all expenses are accounted for). Here are the profits recorded for the five biggest oil companies in just the first three quarters of this year:

ExxonMobil...............$31.66 billion
Shell...............$24.41 billion
Chevron...............$21.78 billion
BP...............$15.93 billion
ConocoPhillips...............$9.06 billion

All together...............$102.85 billion (in only three quarters)

And even though they are registering profits like that for a year that's not even over, the Republicans and their blue dog buddies want to give these same corporations even more tax cuts (and protect the unneeded subsidies). Ridiculous. A worker earning the median American income of about $50,000 (before expenses are deducted) will have to pay some income tax, but most (or all) of these corporations will not. Does that even approah the realm of "economic fairness"?

But don't expect Congress to make these corporations pay their fair share of taxes. Most members of Congress are members of the 1% class, and wouldn't dare make their rich buddies pay taxes -- not to mention that too many congressmen/women own shares of stock in these companies and get a ton of money from them in contributions.

Looking at this, it becomes very clear why the Occupy Wall Street movement is badly needed in this country.

Fair And Balanced ?

Political Cartoon is by Daryl Cagle at msnbc.com.

2012 Election Debates Are Already Set

We know who one of the participants in next year's presidential general election debates is going to be -- President Barack Obama. But it may be several months before we know who the Republicans will put up against him -- probably either Romney, Perry, Gingrich, Paul, or Cain. But even though we don't know all the participants, we now know when and where the debates will be.

The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced the schedule on Monday. The debate schedule is:

October 3rd -- University of Denver (Denver, Colorado)

October 16th -- Hofstra University (Hempstead, New York)

October 22nd -- Lynn University (Boca Raton, Florida)

There will only be one debate for the vice-presidential candidates, and it will be on October 11th at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.

Myth And Reality

Political Cartoon is by Nick Anderson in The Houston Chronicle.

Advice To Remember

This bit of advice from the legendary John Lennon is still true, and all the wonderful folks participating in Occupy Wall Street demonstrations everywhere need to remember it. Violence just gives the authorities an excuse to hurt people. Don't play their game.

Cain Leads Perry In Texas, But He Has Other Problems

Pizza magnate and presidential candidate Herman Cain has been riding high recently. As the teabagger "flavor-of-the-month", he has been beating most other candidates in the polls -- and even beats, ties, or comes a close second to establishment favorite Mitt Romney in all recent national and state polls. Now a new in-state Texas poll, done by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune, shows that Cain leads in the state, edging home-state boy Rick Perry and trouncing Mitt Romney by 18 points.

The UT/TT Poll surveyed 800 registered voters between October 19th and 26th, and had a margin of error of 3.46 points (a 4.93 point margin of error for Republicans only). Here is what the poll showed:

No Help Coming

Political Cartoon is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Obama Acts To Stop Medicine Shortages

Those of you who are pretty healthy may not know this, but the United States has a growing problem of drug shortages. I'm not talking about shortages of illegal drugs (those are plentiful), but of legal prescription drugs prescribed for patients by their doctor. In 2010 there were 178 drug shortages reported to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Shortages of medicines in 2011 are on a pace to top that.

Naturally, as with most other serious problems in this country, Congress has refused to address the issue. Too many Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats are afraid that passing legislation to stop the shortages might in some way affect the profits of their rich buddies in the pharmaceutical industry -- and corporate profits take precedence over everything else, even the health of seriously ill American citizens.

Mitt And Rick

Political Cartoon is by Tom Toles in The Washington Post.

A County GOP In Virginia Steps Way Over The Line

The images seen above were included as part of a "Halloween" memo sent out by the Loudoun County (Virginia) GOP. I have no problem with most of the images -- after all, Halloween is a fun holiday and people should have fun with it (and zombifying your political opponents, like was done with the picture of Rep. Pelosi, can be a good-natured part of that fun).

But I have a big problem with the middle picture on the top row -- the picture of the President of the United States with a bullet hole in his forehead and his brains exposed. That is inappropriate, to say the least. For an older guy like me, it instantly brought back memories of another president shot in the head exposing his brains -- President John F. Kennedy. And my second thought was whether this could give the "crazies" in our society the idea that doing the same thing to President Obama would somehow be acceptable.

Frankly we have enough problems with virulent racism in this country without publishing such an image. In a country where we have seen the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the attempted assassinations of Ronald Reagan and Gabrielle Giffords-- not to mention past presidents and leaders who have been killed -- is way over the line of decency, common sense, and acceptable behavior.

I don't know if it was racism or just incredible stupidity. In either case, it is just not something that should be tolerated. The Republicans are now doing some "damage control". Pat Mullins, chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, said, "The disgusting image used today on a mass e-mail has no place in our politics. Ever. The Republican Party of Virginia condemns the image and its use in the strongest possible terms."

I appreciate those words by Mr. Mullins. But I have to wonder what kind of person, a county party official, could have thought that the image would be appropriate, even funny. The e-mail should never have been sent, or even considered for distribution, and the official who OK'd it should be fired.

Bought And Paid For

Political Cartoon is by Ed Stein at edsteinink.com.

Defending The Constitution

This picture from the blog of Yellowdog Granny reminds us that our Constitution does not just need to be defended in foreign lands. Sometimes the most egregious attacks on the Constitution and our rights comes from within our own borders. Right now the protesters of Occupation Wall Street are trying to exercise their constitutionally-guaranteed right to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. But authorities at various levels of government are trying to deny them those rights.

Whether we support or oppose the Occupy Wall Street protesters, it is important that we join together and demand all levels of government respect their rights and allow them to protest. When we protect their rights, we are protecting the rights of all Americans.