Romneycare Upheld

Political Cartoon is by John Cole in the Scranton Times-Tribune.

Tx GOP Raises Taxes (Just Not On Rich)

Once again the Republicans here in Texas (and probably most other places too) are running on a pledge to not raise taxes. It would take a fool to believe them though. They ran on the same promise in 2010. They didn't keep that promise then, so why would they do it now?

Now some of you fellow Texans may be thinking "I don't remember a tax raise. Isn't the sales tax the same as it was before?" -- in which case I have to think you must not have been paying attention. Yes, the rate of the state sales tax (the most lucrative tax for state government) is the same as it was in 2009. But that one fact doesn't mean taxes weren't raised.

First of all, all kinds of fees were raised. This is a favorite dodge of Republicans. If they raise a fee, they can claim they didn't raise taxes. But that's just playing word games. The fact is, if they government is taking more money out of your pocket, then they have raised taxes -- and calling it a fee instead of a tax doesn't change that a bit.

Second, the claim they didn't increase sales taxes is not true. They increased them by making sure that they now apply to anything any Texan buys off the internet. Now I'm sure the Republican legislators will say this wasn't a tax raise -- just a clarification of tax law. But the fact is that Texans weren't paying taxes on items bought off the internet, and now they are.

One company tried to fight the new internet tax -- Amazon.com. But the Republican State Comptroller, Susan Combs, went after them. And Amazon finally capitulated. On July 1st, they started charging Texas customers the required state sales tax. There won't be any more tax-free books, tapes, etc.

I'm not really against the new sales tax. I think it just levels the playing field between local retailers and internet retailers -- and that's a good thing for your local neighborhood businesses. But I just don't like hearing Republicans claim they didn't raise taxes. I didn't use to have to pay a tax on internet purchases and now I do -- and that's a tax raise, whether they want to admit it or not.

Just remember, the next time you hear a Republican say he/she "won't raise taxes", there is some fine print to that pledge. And that fine print says taxes on the rich or on corporations won't be raised. The new internet tax (and the higher fees) mean nothing for a rich person or a corporation (since it is such a tiny portion of their income or doesn't apply to them at all). But for the poor, the working class, and many in the middle class, it's not negligible at all. It's a tax raise and it means they have less to spend on other things.

Republicans don't really mind raising taxes -- on everyone but the rich.

The Patient Will Live

Political Cartoon is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.

Romneycare vs Obamacare

You can bet that Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) will be trying to distance himself as far as possible from the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in this presidential campaign -- he has to since his party is on record as hating the new health care reform. He may even try to claim that the program he signed into existence while governor of Massachusetts (Romneycare) is much different from Obamacare. That would be a lie. They are very much the same program, with only minor differences (and those minor differences actually make Obamacare the better of the two -- slightly).

Unbelievable

Political Cartoon is by Chip Bok at bokbluster.com.

Tour de France Standings After Stage 1

STAGE 1 WINNERS
1. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) Liquigas-Cannondale
2. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) Radio Shack-Nissan
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) Sky Procycling

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall Race Leaders)
1. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) Radio Shack-Nissan

2. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) Sky Procycling..........00' 07"

3. Sylvain Chavanel (France) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........00' 07"

4. Tejay Van Garderen (United States) BMC Racing..........00' 10"

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) Sky Procycling..........00' 11"

6. Denis Menchov (Russia) Katusha..........00' 13"

7. Philippe Gilbert (Belgium) BMC Racing..........00' 13"

8. Cadel Evans (Australia) BMC Racing..........00' 17"

9. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Liquigas-Cannonball..........00' 18"

10. Ryder Hesjedal (Canada) Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda..........00' 18"

GREEN JERSEY (Best Sprinters)

1. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) Radio Shack-Nissan..........55

2. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) Liquigas-Cannondale..........49

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) Sky Procycling..........42

4. Phillippe Gilbert (Belgium) BMC Racing..........33

5. Sylvain Chavanel (France) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........23

POLKA DOT JERSEY (Best Climbers)

1. Michael Morkov (Denmark) Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank..........3

2. Peter Sagan (Slovokia) Liquigas-Cannondale..........1

3. Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spain) Euskaltel-Euskadi..........1

WHITE JERSEY (Best Young Riders)

1. Tejay Van Garderen (United States) BMC Racing

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) Sky Procycling..........00' 01"

3. Rein Taaramae (Estonia) Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne..........00' 12"

4. Wouter Poels (Netherlands) Vacansoleil-DCM..........00' 14"

5. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) Liquigas-Cannondale..........00' 14"

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Sky Procycling (Great Britain)

2. Radio Shack-Nissan (Luxembourg)..........00' 04"

3. BMC Racing (United States)..........00' 06"

4. Omega Pharma-Quick Step (Belgium)..........00' 13"

5. Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda (United States)..........00' 23"

King James Bible

The Ultimate Flip-Flopper

We've seen politicians accused of flip-flopping on issues in the past. Sometimes it was not a real flip-flop, but just a slight change in a position on an issue. At other times, it was real because the politician had found new evidence that caused him/her to change their mind. Both of these are understandable, and actually show an honesty that is desirable in a politician.

But there is another type of politician. This type must read the polls before announcing their position on anything, because they have no real values or beliefs (other than to do whatever is necessary to be elected to the office they are seeking). The most recent and egregious example of this kind of politician, the real flip-flopper, is Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie).

Romney has changed his position (flip-flopped) on a whole array of issues. He has gone from pro-choice to anti-choice. He has gone from supporting equal rights for women to opposing equal pay and opposing their free and easy access to contraception. He has gone from supporting equal rights for gays/lesbians to opposing those rights and supporting the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act. He has gone from being in favor of giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship to now denying that path and wanting to make life so hard for immigrants that they will "self-deport".

And that's not all. Romney once supported the ban on assault weapons and the Brady gun control law, but now opposes both. Romney once thought global warming was real and action needed to be taken to curb it, but now he claims it has not been proven to be real. Romney once supported stem cell research, but now says he would criminalize that same research. Romney once refused to sign Grover Norquist's no tax raise pledge (calling it "government by gimmickry"), but now that he's running for president he has signed it. Romney once supported a limit on campaign donations, but now is in favor of both secret and unlimited donations. Romney once thought the minimum wage should keep pace with inflation, but now opposes raising it at all.

There are probably more Romney flip-flops than that, but that incredible list should make it clear that Romney has no real deeply held beliefs (other than to cut taxes for himself and his rich friends). He will take whatever position he believes will get him the most votes. Massachusetts is a pretty liberal state, so he took liberal positions to run for office and then govern that state. But those same positions are anathema to the teabaggers and evangelicals that form the huge majority of the Republican Party base, so he flip-flopped on all those issues to appeal to the right-wingers who pick the Republican nominee. He ran far to the right in the Republican primaries.

But nothing illustrates Romney's propensity to flip-flop for votes more clearly than health care reform. While governor of Massachusetts, he took the health care reform proposed by Republicans (in opposition to the Clinton plan) after got it passed in that state. As he signed it into law, he proudly proclaimed it to be a real accomplishment for his administration (including the "individual mandate" requiring the purchase of insurance that was included in the law). And while the reform was not perfect, it did improve health care in that state -- saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars, covering most of the state's citizens with decent health insurance, and reducing those without health insurance (and subject to the penalties of the individual mandate) to less than 1% of the population.

Now one might think Romney would be proud of signing this reform into law since it did so much good -- and for a while he was proud of it. But then a Democratic (and African-American) president passed an almost identical health reform law for the nation as a whole. And the Republican Party base couldn't stand that. If a Democrat (and even worse, an African-American) passed the health care reform law, then for them it had to be a bad thing -- in spite of the fact it was originally a Republican plan.

Romney wants to be president, and he knew he could never get the Republican nomination by supporting the Democratic reform (Obamacare), even though it's nearly a mirror image of his own "Romneycare". So he flip-flopped. He now opposes his own health care reform law, and would like to see it repealed (or at least says he wants it repealed).

This whole mess has exposed Romney as the ultimate flip-flopper. He will take any side of any issue, as long as he thinks it will get him votes (including opposing bills that he signed into law). The teabaggers were right. He simply cannot be trusted.

(NOTE -- The humorous, but true, pictures above were found at the excellent blog called Under The Mountain Bunker.)  

Thumbs Up

Political Cartoon is by R.J. Matson in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Major Powers Agree On Plan For Syria

As the violence goes on in Syria, the major powers at the United Nations have agreed on a plan for the war-ravaged country -- and even Russia and China have agreed to the plan. Here is how CNN describes the plan, which will most likely quickly be approved by the Security Council:

The first step should be a recommitment to a cease-fire by both sides and implementation of a U.N. and Arab League-backed six-point plan without waiting for the actions of others, Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan said.


A key to the process will be a transitional government, which Annan said could include members of the current Syrian regime. The make-up of such a body would be decided by the Syrians, he said.


"We are determined to work together urgently and intensively, to bring an end to the violence and the human rights abuses and the launch of a Syrian-led political process leading to a transition that meets the legit aspiration of the Syrian people," Annan said.


The agreement also calls on the Syrian government to release detainees and allow journalists access to the country. The right to peaceful demonstrations must be respected, Annan said. . .


Under the agreement, it remains possible for al-Assad to remain part of a transitional government, an idea unpalatable to many.


But in remarks with reporters, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the document makes it clear that there is no future for al-Assad in Syria.


"Assad will still have to go. He will never pass the mutual consent test, given the blood on his hands," she said.


According to the agreement, the power to govern Syria will be vested in the transitional governing body, so all authority will be stripped from al-Assad if he refuses to step down.


I really hope the plan works, but I have to admit that I think a snowball would have a better chance of surviving in the Sahara Desert. First, short of invading Syria (which it will not do), the United Nations has no way to actually strip Assad of his power. All he has to do is ignore the U.N. plan, and the status quo will continue. The only thing the U.N. has in its arsenal is to impose severe sanctions on Syria -- and it is unlikely that Russia and China will actually allow that to happen.

I don't think this plan has much chance of success. But I hope I'm wrong.

Clown Act

Political Cartoon is by Daryl Cagle at caglecartoons.com.

GOP Still Wants No Rules For Wall Street

(The graphic above was found at the website called The Big Picture.)

There is no doubt that the root cause of this recession was the trickle-down economic policies of Republicans -- which were started in the Reagan administration, and accelerated in the administration of Bush II. This policy deregulated Wall Street, redistributed most income to the richest Americans, encouraged the outsourcing of American jobs, and created the widest gap in wealth and income since before the Great Depression. But the actual trigger of the recession was the meltdown of Wall Street -- which sucked trillions of dollars out of the economy and cost American workers millions of jobs.

It became obvious to anyone with half a brain that Wall Street needed to be re-regulated to prevent another meltdown and allow the economy to recover. And President Obama (and congressional Democrats) have tried to do that. The Dodd-Frank bill was passed. This bill did not do everything that needs to be done in re-regulating Wall Street, but it was a good start.

The problem is that the Republicans are not allowing adequate funding for the new law -- and a law that is not funded adequately to allow proper oversight is as bad as no law at all. The Republicans could stop the Wall Street reform, but by being in control of the House of Representatives they are now trying to starve it to death. The two organizations that have the task of overseeing Wall Street are the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) -- and both are underfunded. And if the Republicans have their way, they will lose even more funding.

In House committees, the Republicans have recently voted to cut $25 million from the CFTC budget, and to fund the SEC budget at $245 million less than is needed by the agency to enforce the law on Wall Street. Once again, the congressional Republicans have shown they care more for the Wall Street bankers than either the American economy or the citizens of the United States (who will undoubtably have to foot the bill for the next meltdown, just like they did for the last one -- remember the $700 billion bailout using taxpayer money?).

This is just one more reason (among many) to vote against the Republican Party in November.

Bummed

Political Cartoon is by Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Tour Is Finally Here

The Tour de France bicycle race has finally arrived, and the prologue (profile of course above) was run Saturday in Liege, Belgium. I love the Tour de France, so I will be doing some posting about it. However, I realize that some (if not many) of you readers are not fans of the Tour -- so I will limit my posts this year to a daily update of the three winners of each stage and the overall leaders in each class. Here is the first submission:

PROLOGUE WINNERS
1. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) Radio Shack-Nissan
2. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) Sky Procycling
3. Sylvain Chavanel (France) Omega Pharma-Quick Step

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall race leaders)
1. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) Radio Shack-Nissan

2. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) Sky Procycling..........00' 07"

3. Sylvain Chavanel (France) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........00' 07"

4. Tejay Van Garderen (United States) BMC Racing..........00' 10"

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) Sky Procycling..........00' 11"

6. Brett Daniel Lancaster (Australia) Orica Greenedge..........00' 11"

GREEN JERSEY (Best Sprinters)

1. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) Radio Shack-Nissan..........20

2. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) Sky Procycling..........17

3. Sylvain Chavanel (France) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........15

4. Tejay Van Garderen (United States) BMC Racing..........13

POLKA DOT JERSEY (Best Climbers)

No results yet.

WHITE JERSEY (Best Young Riders)

1. Tejay Van Garderen (United States) BMC Racing

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) Sky Procycling..........00' 01"

3. Patrick Gretsch (Germany) Argos-Shimano..........00' 02"

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Sky Procycling (Great Britain)

2. Radio Shack-Nissan (Luxembourg)..........00' 04"

3. BMC Racing (United States)..........00' 06"

4. Omega Pharma-Quick Step (Belgium)..........00' 13"

5. Orica Greenedge (Australia)..........00' 19"