Perpetual Blackmail By House Republicans ?

Under the guise of protecting the country from a growing deficit and national debt, the newly-enfranchised House Republicans have taken to blackmail like a fish to swimming or a bird to flying -- like it's a natural thing for them. They started with the budget for this year, threatening to shut down the government if their demands for slashing of social programs, the EPA, and education were not met.

The president was able to negotiate an end to that crises without too much hurt for ordinary Americans, but only because the Republicans recognized an even better opportunity for blackmail was just down the road -- a vote on whether to raise the debt ceiling established by Congress. And the time for that is now fast approaching.

The government will reach the debt ceiling around the middle of May, and unless that ceiling is raised by Congress the government might have to default on the debt it owes. If that were to happen it could not only throw this country into a depression, but could have negative worldwide reprecussions. The House Republicans don't seem to care about that. They simply see an opportunity to use this crises to get rid of social programs they never liked (like Medicare and Medicaid) and cut many others (Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc.), while giving more tax cuts to the corporations and the mega-rich.

They are currently in the process of throwing a tantrum and threatening to vote "no" on raising the debt ceiling if their mean-spirited and hurtful demands are not met. They even have business scared, and many corporate and business representatives have been trying to get these House Republicans to pick another battle because the reprecussions of this one are too serious. But so far they have not been able to talk the Republicans out of their blackmail scheme.

In fact, some of these House Republicans are devising a scheme to turn the blackmail over raising the debt ceiling into a perpetual and permanent thing. They have been discussing among themselves a plan to raise the debt ceiling only for a couple of months each time. And they would want some of their demands met each time a new vote was scheduled. This way they could keep slashing programs they don't like and cutting taxes for their rich buddies without end, since they would get more every couple of months. And some Republicans, especially some of the new teabaggers in Congress, are already signing on to this scheme.

It goes without saying that this new blackmail scheme would be disastrous for the country's economy. Not only would it do nothing to create jobs and encourage growth, but it would keep both the government and the country in a never-ending state of turmoil -- destabilizing the economy and hurting all Americans. But they don't seem to care about that as long as they can get what they want.

It is time for the president and the Democrats to put their foot down. A continuance of the debt ceiling for only a couple of months is unacceptable, and giving in to the onerous Republican demands is just as bad. It's time to call their bluff. They have already gone too far by voting to abolish Medicare (so they can give corporations new tax breaks) and the people are angry. If they refuse to raise the debt ceiling and throw this country into turmoil, they will make the majority of Americans even angrier -- and they will pay for it at the polls in 2012.

Republican leaders know this and I don't believe they'll let the congressional teabaggers do anything else to further hurt the party. If the Democrats will just have enough backbone to stand firm, the Republicans will give in and vote to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats just need to make sure it is not a short-term (two month) solution. They must not allow the Republicans to engage in perpetual blackmail.

Hoax ?

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

A Patron Saint For Pedophiles

One of the most popular catholic religious leaders of modern times was Pope John Paul II. He headed the church from 1979 until his death in 2005. His popularity was such that almost immediately upon his death there were people demanding his promotion to sainthood. And the current Pope, Benedict XVI, responded by giving a special dispensation removing any time limits on the road to sainthood.

Still, a person (even a beloved pope) can't become a saint with performing some "miracles". And supposedly the dead pope has now done that. A French nun has credited John Paul II with curing her of Parkinson's Disease. That's good enough for John Paul II's beatification (a recognition by the church that he is "blessed"), and that was what happened this last weekend in front of over 1 million catholics in the Vatican. With one more miracle John Paul II can become a full-fledged saint -- and that will happen because the church wants it to happen.

But there are some who believe there is a rush to make John Paul II a saint to protect both his reputation and the reputation of the current pope. John Paul II presided over the church during a period when many hundreds (perhaps more) priests were molesting children. Instead of exposing and turning these priests over to law enforcement, as should have been done, the church just played their own version of "musical chairs" -- shifting the pedophile priests from one church to another to protect them and the reputation of the church.

This protection of the pedophile priests was directed from the Vatican (and overseen in Germany by the current pope while he was an archbishop). It is beyond believable that John Paul II did not know what was being done to protect the pedophiles (and the church) -- even though this just set up more children to be molested rather than solving any problem.

As Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society in Great Britain said, "This sprint to sainthood is to deflect examinations into JPII's unedifying record on clerical child abuse -- and, with it, Benedict's own role." Wood is right. The enormous amount of priestly child abuse could not have gone on for so long, become so widespread, and been hidden from the public so effectively without the participation of both John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

So a protector of pedophiles is on the way to becoming a saint in the catholic church. I guess it was bound to happen. All kinds of groups have their catholic patron saints (who intercedes on their behalf) -- Christopher (travelers), Crispin (shoemakers), Luke (doctors), Gabriel (broadcasters), Isidore (farmers), Matthew (tax collectors), Vitus (comedians), Yves (lawyers), and many more.

Since every other group has their own patron saint, I guess it is fitting that the world's pedophiles will now have their own patron saint -- someone to intercede on their behalf with the invisible sky fairy. And who could do that better than the person who protected them in this world -- John Paul II?

Fairy Tale ?

Political Cartoon is by Nate Beeler in The Washington Examiner.

Corporate Tax Dodgers

Found at understory.ran.org.

Public's Distaste Of Teabaggers Is Growing

I have posted recently about how the teabagger "movement" seems to be losing some of its steam since the last election. A convention of teabaggers that was supposed to draw thousands (that many would have been needed to fill the hall that was rented) in Florida wound up with only about 300 participants -- about 12 participants for each scheduled speaker. And the "giant" teabagger tax day rally in Washington (D.C.) was an even bigger flop -- with the news media outnumbering the demonstrators.

But while the movement is losing steam, it also looks like the public is turning against the teabaggers. These radical (and racist) right-wingers have never been supported by a majority of Americans, but in the beginning there were a lot of Americans who simply didn't care one way or the other about the teabaggers. That is changing. Since the Republican's took over the House of Representatives with a lot of new teabagger politicians, the public has been faced with just how extreme the beliefs of these people really are.

These new teabagger Republican representatives have fueled an attack on the government by opposing the EPA's attempts to improve the environment, slashing funds for education, opposing a woman's right to choose, trying to abolish Medicare and Medicaid, proposing benefit cuts for Social Security, proposing cuts to unemployment and other social programs that help unemployed and poor Americans, protecting job outsourcing -- and doing all of this while protecting huge subsidies for corporations and proposing new tax cuts for those corporations and the rich.

Americans wanted some changes made (cut the deficit, create jobs, stop outsourcing) but they weren't ready for the mean-spirited fringe right-wing agenda of the teabagger politicians. Now these politicians are experiencing a backlash among voters (as many of them are experiencing in town hall meetings). And it looks like the entire teabagger "movement" is also starting to experience some backlash from the public.

A recent Gallup Poll shows that nearly half of the American people say they have an unfavorable image of the teabaggers. The poll shows that 47% of the population now views the teabaggers negatively -- a 5% rise since January 2011 and a 7% rise since April of last year. At the same time, those who view them positively has dropped by 6% since January 2011. Here are the poll results showing the number of people viewing teabaggers negatively (with a demographic breakdown):

General Public
positive...............33%
negative...............47%

Men 18 to 49
positive...............34%
negative...............42%

Men 50+
positive...............49%
negative...............40%

Women 18 to 49
positive...............27%
negative...............47%

Women 50+
positive...............26%
negative...............57%

East
positive...............27%
negative...............49%

Midwest
positive...............34%
negative...............48%

West
positive...............25%
negative...............52%

South
positive...............42%
negative...............41%

Republican
positive...............60%
negative...............24%

Independent
positive...............30%
negative...............43%

Democrat
positive...............10%
negative...............73%

Bluff Or Suicide ?

Political Cartoon is by Stuart Carlson at carlsontoons.com.

Contraceptive Use Common - Even Among Religious Women

There is a perception among many in this country that the use of contraceptives is discouraged by religious leaders -- especially Catholic leaders and many of those in fundamentalist congregations. If that is true, them women are not listening. A new study shows that religious women use effective forms of contraception at basically the same rate as all women.

The study by the Guttmacher Institute (in interviews of over 7,000 women from 2006 through 2008) found that of all  American women who have have sex, about 99% of them have used some form of birth control other than "natural family planning". And among women who are currently sexually active, about 69% of them use an effective method of birth control (IUD, the pill, sterilization, etc.).

And the percentages hold up for christian women -- even those who regularly attend services. The study showed that this was true of 73% of mainline protestants, 74% of evangelicals, and 68% of catholics. If the preachers (and priests) are still teaching that sex is only for procreation, then religious women are not listening. It seems that women, whether they have a career or not, simply don't want more children than they can afford or care for.

The only real surprise in the study (at least for me) was that evangelical women employ sterilization (male or female) far more than women of other faith traditions -- to the tune of about 40%.

Right-wing fundamentalist men may still want women to be second-class citizens and subservient to males, but it seems that modern women (even religious women) are getting past that. They have lives to live -- lives that are every bit as important as those of males. It looks like at least part of the feminist message is getting through, whether people want to admit it or not.

It Proves. . .

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

In One Year

Some Sad Facts from the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence.

Why Won't Anyone Listen To The People ?

If you ask the economic pundits and the politicians you might think that things are going pretty well in this country. They will tell you the recession is over, jobs are being created, and as soon as they finish cutting the deficit (something both parties think is the most important thing) everything will be just hunky-dory again in America. There'll be rainbows everywhere, a chicken in every pot, and pink unicorns roaming the countryside.

The problem is that the American people know that is a load of unadulterated crap. A recent McClatchy/Marist poll (of 1,274 adults from April 10th through April 14th) shows that the huge majority of Americans say the recession is still raging in America -- about 71% to be exact (and this view cuts across all demographics). The recession may be over for the rich (and the politicians), but it's still negatively affecting everyone else. Here are the numbers of those who say the economy is still in a recession:

All Americans...............71%
Democrats...............67%
Republicans...............73%
Independents...............73%
Northeast...............71%
Midwest...............66%
South...............68%
West...............80%
Making <$50,000...............72%
Making >$50,000...............73%
College graduate...............68%
Not college graduate...............73%
Age 18 to 29...............67%
Age 30 to 44...............67%
Age 45 to 59...............77%
Age 60 or older...............69%
White...............73%
Non-white...............68%
Men...............72%
Women...............70%

Those are some pretty large majorities who believe the recession is still raging (and far more than the 3 point margin of error can account for). The fact is that the American people are still hurting, and they are still waiting for someone to do something about it. This is where the Republicans (and some Democrats) will jump in to assure people that they are acting to cut the deficit, and where Democrats will jump in to assure people they will protect social programs. But while the people consider both of those things to be important, they don't consider either to be the most important thing.

I don't know why no one is listening to the American people, but the polls show us that the people know Congress is not listening. That is why they give both parties in Congress such a low approval rating. They don't think either party is doing what is necessary to end the recession (a recent Gallup poll showed 32% of Americans approve of congressional Democrats and 31% approve of congressional Republicans -- some pretty anemic numbers).

So what do the American people want? That can be answered by one 4-letter word -- JOBS. The recession (which 63% of Americans still believe Obama inherited) has cost this country millions of jobs -- somewhere between 9 and 12 million jobs depending on who you listen to. And the people want those jobs back. And they know neither party is currently doing anything to solve the jobs crises (and it is a crises to ordinary Americans).

Poll after poll has shown that Americans believe the number one problem facing America is the lack of jobs. The pundits have said the nation is in recovery -- albeit a jobless recovery. The people are not stupid enough to believe that though. They know there will be no recovery until large numbers of jobs are being created month after month (far more than the small number currently being created -- which barely keeps up with the new workers entering the job market).

When the Democrats assumed power they took on health care and Wall Street. Both of those problems needed to be addressed, but neither of these did anything to solve the major problem of massive unemployment. When the Republicans took back the House they took on the problem of cutting the deficit. Again, it is a problem that needs to be addressed but does nothing to solve the unemployment problem.

I realize that each party has its pet issues and they are going to address those when given the opportunity, but isn't it about time that both parties start listening to the American people? Isn't it time to put all the contentious issues on the shelf and address the one issue the people want addressed -- job creation?

Wait !

Political Cartoon is by Gary Varvel in the Indianapolis Star.

Comptroller Incompetence Could Cost $21 Million

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the unbelievable incompetence displayed by the office of Texas Comptroller Susan Combs (pictured). Employees in this state agency posted the personal information of over 3.5 million Texans (names, addresses, social security numbers, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, etc.) on a computer system that was accessible by anyone in the general public. And making it even worse, they didn't find their mistake for more than a year -- leaving these millions of people at the mercy of identity thieves.

The only thing that could have made this any worse was if they had advertised their dumb mistake after doing it (and I'm half-surprised that they didn't). If you think I sound a little angry at this blunder, then you are exactly right. My daughter and I were two of the 3.5 million people who's private information was exposed by the comptroller.

Comptroller Combs has assured Texans (and those who were affected) that the information is no longer available to the general public. And she has said that those who were responsible have been terminated. I still wonder if the people responsible for supervising those employees, including Combs herself, aren't also responsible and should be submitting their resignations -- especially in light of the huge amount of money the stupid mistake is going to cost the state now.

In an effort to make up for the egregious mistake, the comptroller's office is now offering credit monitoring, free of charge, to all 3.5 million people affected by their blunder. Each of those people will have the option to sign up for a free year of credit monitoring, and if they all sign up, it will cost the state of Texas $21 million dollars (at the rate of $6 a person). I've already signed up and I don't see why the other 3.5 million wouldn't do the same.

As you may know, Texas is already in the throes of a serious budget crunch. It has an anticipated budget deficit of about $27 billion for the next biennium. The legislature is already proposing large cuts to every state agency and to social programs, and from $5-$9 billion in cuts for K-12 education. The state certainly didn't need another bill for $21 million to clean up the incompetency of a Republican office-holder.

But the Republican-dominated legislature can't say too much because they're engaging in their own brand of fiscal idiocy. They have decided that a mere $27 billion budget shortfall doesn't warrant an increase in state revenues -- just massive cuts to nearly everything -- cuts that will negatively affect the quality of service delivered to every Texan. In fact, instead of raising taxes (or broadening the sales tax base) they have decided to cut taxes -- not for everyone, just the richest Texans.

A House subcommittee has approved a cap on the state sales tax for YACHTS that cost at least $250,000. Now a reasonable human being might think that anyone who can afford a yacht costing $250,000 should be able to pay the full amount of the sales tax on that purchase. But not our Republican leaders. The thought that the rich might have to pay the same percentage in sales taxes that the poor and workers pay just horrifies these Republicans. What are those poor rich people going to do if we actually ask them to pay taxes?

I've come to the conclusion that the Texas voters are getting exactly what they voted for. They elected these incompetent idiots, and that's what they are getting -- incompetence and idiocy.

She Knew It !

Political Cartoon is by Mike Thompson in the Detroit Free Press.