Archive for January 4th, 2006
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
NMMNB:
Republicans don’t control everything because they win battles of ideas — they control everything because every chance they get they portray their opponents as sick, dangerous, and evil. Sorry if this offends delicate sensibilities, but Democrats won’t win until they fight fire with fire.
I doubt it’ll happen. We thought Enron would critically wound the GOP; it didn’t. We thought Abu Ghraib would bring down the White House; it didn’t. We’re still waiting for more Fitzmas presents in the Plamegate scandal; they haven’t arrived. In every case, Republicans sent a message that yes, some mistakes were made, but by a small, finite number of wrongdoers who aren’t D.C.’s marquee names; in every case, the public has failed to take it out on the GOP at the polls. I’d love to think this will be different, but I’m not going to get my hopes up. The right-leaners in the media will foreground any and all Democrats caught in this net, and the Democrat or Democrats will be deemed equal to however many Republicans are also caught. And so it will be a D.C. corruption story, not a GOP corruption story. And life will go on as usual. That’s unless the Democrats step up now and howl in partisan outrage with one voice, for as long as necessary. Anybody really think that will happen?
I sure don’t. The Clinton Administration has the reputation as the most scandal filled Presidential term since Nixon. However, without the GOP attack machine and the complicit “liberal” main stream media, the Clinton Administration would have been nothing short of ordinary.
None of these scandals gain traction in the press because the GOP has a much better system of press intimidation than the Democrats ever will. Liberal bias indeed…
Posted by smithersmpls at 9:50 pm in Uncategorized | Permalink | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Somewhere at sometime someone told me that I should pay attention to what the soldiers say in order to learn what the facts on the ground are in Iraq.
Kind of hard to get a balanced view of what might be going on in Iraq when the Pentagon shuts down the blogs of soldiers who do not happen to be cheerleaders for the war.
Posted by smithersmpls at 9:28 pm in Uncategorized | Permalink | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Moral: Not all pain is gain.
Posted by smithersmpls at 5:40 pm in Uncategorized | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Today’s Anti-Strib question for Liberals: President Bush proposed a partial privatization of Social Security and it was rejected. What solution do you have to fix Social Security?
The first thing that needs to be done in regards to Social Security is to re-educate the American public as to what Social Security is.
It’s the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). The key word there is Insurance. Social Security was not meant to be a retirement program and President Bush’s attempts at Social Security “reform” only serve to perpetuate the myth the Social Security is a retirement pension.
Social Security should serve one purpose and that is to assure that those who have retired, or are no longer able to work, and their significant others and children are not forced to live in poverty due to insufficient income.
Once the American public understands what Social Security is for it would be easy to fix.
• Raise the age at which one qualifies to receive Social Security benefits. Life expectancies have increased since Social Security was enacted at the qualifying age should go up a corresponding amount.
• Means test those who age qualify to assure that Social Security payments only go to those who actually need it. You don’t get an insurance payout unless you have the need for it. Simple as that.
With these two steps it would be quite easy to bring Social Security under control and probably even reduce the amount of payments into FICA that the current workforce needs to pay in.
Posted by smithersmpls at 3:49 pm in Uncategorized | Permalink | 16 Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Here is the list of all the contributions Jack Abramoff made. Find the Democrat…
Posted by smithersmpls at 3:32 pm in Uncategorized | Permalink | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Today in the White House press room:
Q Scott, Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff has pleaded guilty to fraud and corruption and tax evasion here in the federal court in Washington. Already the DNC has put out a statement essentially saying that this is another example of what they are calling the “culture of corruption and abuse of power” that has been the hallmarks of the Bush administration. Any response?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I’ve seen press reports that indicate that he has — he and his clients have given to both Democrats and Republicans. So that’s the first thing that I would say.
I just love how the White House, and its media arm Fox News, keep mentioning how Abramoff gave to both Democrats and Republicans. As if this latest scandal was not to be associated with either party.
So, how much money did Abramoff himself give to Democrats?
$0.00
How much to Republicans? Let’s just say that he was a Bush Pioneer.
Posted by smithersmpls at 3:33 am in Uncategorized | Permalink | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Anti-Strib has my four questions for Conservatives posted here. Join in the mosh pit!
Posted by smithersmpls at 1:04 am in Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »
