MIT Economist John Reilly Calls Republicans Liars

You ever had someone try to tell you water wasn't wet? Or what about fire isn't really hot. You can touch water and get wet and stick your hand in fire and your ass will be burned, right?

Well the republican leadership has been touting a lie for weeks now even when any idiot can look at the facts that contradict what they are saying.

"The administration raises revenue for nationalized health care through a series of new taxes, including a light switch tax that would cost every American household $3,128 a year," the House Republican Conference said in a Web post and press release titled "Questions on the Budget for President Obama," distributed March 24. "What effect will this have on Americans struggling to pay their mortgages?" it asked.

To back up the claim, their staff pointed us to an M.I.T. report that says a similar a cap-and-trade proposal (the administration has not yet detailed their own version) would raise $366 billion per year. If you divide that by the 117 million households in the United States, you find it would cost each household $3,128, they said.

MIT economist John Reilly, the author of the report, has come out and criticized republicans for distorting his report........basically lying about it.

"It's just wrong," said John Reilly, an energy, environmental and agricultural economist at M.I.T. and one of the authors of the report. "It's wrong in so many ways it's hard to begin."

Not only is it wrong, but he told the House Republicans it was wrong when they asked him.

"Someone from the House Republicans had called me (March 20) and asked about this," Reilly said. "I had explained why the estimate they had was probably incorrect and what they should do to correct it, but I think this wrong number was already floating around by that time." So of course they decided not to correct the number but rather continue and lie.

That's just not how economists calculate the cost of a tax proposal, Reilly said. The tax might push the price of carbon-based fuels up a bit, but other results of a cap-and-trade program, such as increased conservation and more competition from other fuel sources, would put downward pressure on prices. Moreover, consumers would get some of the tax back from the government in some form.

So let me get this straight, republicans use Reilly's report, gets it wrong, calls him to clarify it, he tells them it's wrong and they decide to use it anyway. What else is new?


PolitiFact: GOP full of hot air about Obama's "light switch tax"
Rep. Gohmert bashes economist Reilly

Conservative America Will Now Start to Freak Out!

We knew it would be coming, maybe not this soon and probably not this Justice. Supreme Court Justice David Souter is reportedly going to be retiring when the current terms ends.

Souter is one of the younger Justices at 69 and was one of them who was thought to be on the bench for several more years. This means that president Barack Obama will be appointing his first Supreme Court Justice in his first year in office and possibly two more within his first term.

Conservatives will be ready to go to war on day one with this issue. They will waste no time in going to battle to ensure any appointee that has a liberal mind is quickly put under a microscope. You will see from various sources names of possible candidates, and they will be quickly demonized before the president will be able to say their names.

With Obama already labeled by the right as far-left, they fear his plan is to appoint a someone who wants everything the far-left wants. This is going to historic on many levels. Just imagine with two terms in office he will most likely appoint a total of four people to the Supreme Court.

I love this stuff! I guarantee you this will be a fun ride!

Steele & Biden Use Their "Dumb-Ass" Cards Again

Both these guys just about every time they open their mouths say something they either have to apologize or retract or get called morons for.

Biden has doomed the mass transit system, if you listen to my conservative friend over at Stormin's Morning Java. When in reality he just gave the right more ammunition to criticize the Obama administration. People will continue to travel as normal on mass transit and Joe will get another talking to from the president and this will blow over.

Will someone please get this guy a interview coach and headphone to tell him what to say, something! Joe, please don't listen to your first instinct in your head, it's wrong! Take your time and think about what happen the last time you opened your mouth.

Now what can I say about the dopest, illest, hypest leader of RNC? That's right it's Michael Steele. He continues to think he can win over minorities by talking slang and trying to be "cool".

Whether it's his attempt to make the RNC website "off the hook" or telling everyone that "Arlen Specter Mama raised him better", referring to Specter leaving the party and not telling him, Steele is still in some sort of "Repupangsta mode".

Steele on Morning Joe today said, "Now the Northeast, I wear my hat backwards, you know, 'cuz that's how we roll in the Northeast." He was referring to his brand of conservatism vs. folks in other regions of the country.

This is who the republican party chose all by themselves to lead the RNC into a new era of conservatism, nice move. Hey Mike, trying talking like a normal person and maybe it just might work.

GOP Continues to Give America the Hebee Geebes

What to you do after over a year of trying to scare America away from voting for Barack Obama.....? Why you continue to the exact same thing. That's pretty much the GOP strategy for everything, just keep doing what we're doing:

I Thought Ex-Prez's Popularity Rises After Office?

Normally after leaving office, the former president popularity rises. Voters whether they were supporters or opponents of the president, usually forget any opposition they had with policy and ideals and grade a ex-president with less judgment than they would if he were still in office.

That general rule does not seem to apply to George W. Bush. A new Wall Street/NBC News poll has shows that the popularity of the former president has dropped from 31 percent to 26.

You would have thought with all the radical changes Obama has made since his inauguration and with the recent tea parties, a lot of voters might have missed the days of King George. You hear from conservative thinkers how so many people are upset with Obama and how he is taking this country in the wrong direction, yet his popularity rises and for the first time in a while people finally think we are heading in the right direction.

From day one he has been criticized by the right. He has not even gotten the benefit of the doubt from them. Even I gave president Bush well over a year before I began to criticize his policies, hell I even voted for the man his first term!

No matter what the right has accused the new president of doing in first 100 days in office, he remains unfazed and untarnished by the attacks. His popularity grows along with his support, even with a country supposedly which thinks center-right.

The honeymoon however won't last forever, he will face criticism as time goes on, but the level of distrust and disappointment that George W. Bush has earned will forever be unmatched.

Obama Seeks to Change Crack Sentences

I never understood why a prison sentence was harsher for crack cocaine vs cocaine powder.

Although the two types of cocaine cause similar physical reactions, the sentences that users and sellers of the drugs face are vastly different. For powder cocaine, a conviction of possession with intent to distribute carries a five year sentence for quantities of 500 grams or more.

But for crack, a conviction of possession with intent to distribute carries a five year sentence for only 5 grams.

This is a 100:1 quantity ratio. Under this format, a dealer charged with trafficking 400 grams of powder, worth approximately $40,000, could receive a shorter sentence than a user he supplied with crack valued at $500.

In 2007 81 percent of people that were convicted of crack related offenses were African American. All of this information means African Americans are given longer jail sentences for drug dealing vs. White Americans.

While many will say there is some type of racial plot against Blacks vs. Whites, I will not give that a thought without concrete proof. It is troubling however to see so many young African Americans get longer prison terms than those who did the same thing they did, sell drugs.

Maybe we will finally see a little balance when it comes to those who choose to break the law and sell drugs in their communities.

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration joined a federal judge Wednesday in urging Congress to end a racial disparity by equalizing prison sentences for dealing and using crack versus powdered cocaine.

"Jails are loaded with people who look like me," U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, an African-American, told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said the administration believes Congress' goal "should be to completely eliminate the disparity" between the two forms of cocaine. "A growing number of citizens view it as fundamentally unfair," Breuer testified.

It takes 100 times more powdered cocaine than crack cocaine to trigger the same harsh mandatory minimum sentences.

Continue.......

Michele Bachman Too Stupid to Use Google

For those looking on some history when it comes to 'Swine Flu' you can easily do a Google search to give you some information on how America and the president dealt with the situation in 1976.This simple procedure has seem to elude republican congresswoman Michele Bachman.

Doing a interview with the right-wing news organization PajamasTV today, Bachman seem to try to tie in both Swine Flu outbreaks in 1976 and now with a Democrat being president.

BACHMANN: I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under Democrat President Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it is an interesting coincidence.

The only problem is that the last U.S. outbreak of swine flu did not begin under Carter. Rather, it began in February of 1976, when Republican Gerald Ford was president.

Anybody can be in congress, anybody.......anybody..........anybody.

Limbaugh Has to Choose Between 'Punkin the Cat' and Gun Owners

While trying to appease his live-in love interest 'Punkin' the cat (above), Rush Limbaugh has infuriated the animal hunters of America. In taking up a good cause in doing PSA's for the Humane Society because of his love for animals has caused a backlash from a portion of his listeners.

Twenty-eight groups representing millions of hunters and sportsmen are demanding that the conservative radio commentator end his collaboration with the HSUS and stop "helping them to mainstream their image in the minds of reasonable people."

The reason for the groups opposition of Rush being a spokesperson for HSUS is because of the organization's opposition to hunting, fishing, and trapping," the groups, including Ducks Unlimited and the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, wrote in a letter last week to Mr. Limbaugh.

Scott Sutherland, director of governmental affairs for Ducks Unlimited, which has 630,000 members, said, "Supporting HSUS implies an endorsement of an anti-sportsman agenda." In their letter, the groups say that Mr. Limbaugh's collaboration amounts to "implied endorsements" for the Humane Society that are "a real coup for their cause." "With America's most prominent conservative spokesman on board, they have the opportunity to make inroads into a new cross section of our country. You are helping them to mainstream their image in the minds of reasonable people. Your collaboration furthers the anti-hunting and anti-fishing agenda of HSUS, which will undermine the great success of conservation and threatens the economies of small towns and rural states across our nation."

Now Rush is torn between his life partner Punkin who is a avid supporter of the HSUS, and a chunk of his radio listening audience who would probably take aim at his little pussy if it was out in the wild.


Washington Times: "Gun owners attack Rush Limbaugh"

Opposing Views: "Rush Limbaugh Goes Anti-Gun With Humane Society Ads"

Glenn Beck Leads Right-Wing Wackos in Paranoia Again

The ever so popular right-wing conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck suggested on his radio show today that the Obama administration may have caused this pandemic of swine flu to push through the confirmation of Kathleen Sebelius this week:

We Survied this Before, We'll do it Again

Every time a airborne virus hits the news, the media goes into panic mode. If I were in let's say Hati or any third world country I would probably freak out to. But this is America, we don't fold that easily. We've gone through this before (swine flu outbreak 1976) and survived, and we will do it again:

The Left Pointing Fingers at Republicans for Pandemic

Fellow lefties, let's not go all wingnutty here. I have no problem calling out wrongdoers on the right when called for, but this one in pure idiotic.

With the recent outbreak of the "Swine Flu", some folks on the left are pointing fingers at a few republicans who opposed pandemic preparation in the stimulus bill.

From the Nation:

Famously, Maine Senator Collins, the supposedly moderate Republican who demanded cuts in health care spending in exchange for her support of a watered-down version of the stimulus, fumed about the pandemic funding: "Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill No, we should not.

You what...... she was right. Funding for pandemic preparation has nothing to do with a bill designed to jump start the economy. Yes we need to prepared for an outbreak of a contagious disease, and yes we need funding for it, but just not in a stimulus bill.

Let's fight our battles where she should and not engage in battles that just make us look as petty as republicans.

Reagan Would Stand With Obama on Torture Issue

From his signing statement ratifying the UN Convention on Torture from 1984:

"The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention . It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.

The core provisions of the Convention establish a regime for international cooperation in the criminal prosecution of torturers relying on so-called 'universal jurisdiction.' Each State Party is required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution."

No conservative alive would argue or have the audacity to say that Ronald Reagan did not love America. He, in all respects was a true conservative. How many "true" conservatives in republican leadership exist today? Would any person have the gall say that Reagan was soft on terror?

So on the issue of torture alone, if Reagan was so adamant against inhuman abuse by the United States or any other nation, how is he any different than Obama?

Oh I forgot, Obama doesn't love his country.

Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan