A Primer on Canada for Wingnuts

A pretty funny post from Daily Kos:

So you are sick of the tyranny and want to move to Canada. A guide.

What Are the Odds?

Okay, so I was thinking...now that the Supreme Court has announced its decision on the ACA...what are the odds that Scalia and his fellow Republicans will heed Scalia's words after Bush v Gore to "Get over it"?  It's only fair, right?  I'm waiting....

Neumann Joins the Loonies

They must have done something to the water in my (former) home state of Wisconsin.  We have Walker and Johnson, and now Senate candidate Mark Neumann is also residing in that parallel universe.

http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2012/jun/29/mark-neumann/obama-and-team-socialists-wisconsin-gop-senate-can/

Looks like the Republicans are having a contest to see who can amass the most "Pants on Fire" ratings.  I expect the Koch brothers are providing the prize money.

Rubio's Anti-Logic

I just saw an interview with Marco Rubio and his tortured explanation of how the ACA is a huge tax increase.  It seems that if you disobey the law, then you get fined and the IRS is charged to collect it.  Rubio apparently believes that these lawbreakers shouldn't be held to account, and if they break the law, then the IRS is the villain for enforcing it.  Yikes!  Here is a sitting United States Senator taking the side of the lawbreaker!  Tell me Senator Rubio--does that mean that I, too, can decide which laws I get to ignore and have immunity from enforcement?  Just how many do I get to pick?  This defense of lawlessness is a recurring theme of the Tea-Party tainted anti-logic in the parallel universe where many Republicans now live.

Nicely Said

I just got my first issue of Jim Hightower's neat little newsletter, "The Hightower Lowdown".  The front page has a quote that pretty well summarizes today's Christian Right and Republican Party.  It's attributed to a French writer and economist, Frederic Bastiat, in 1850.  It's worth repeating and remembering:

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."

Nicely said...

A Quick Review

If you watch CNBC (and, to a lesser extent, Bloomberg Television), you would see that it is conventional wisdom that a Romney win in November would be good for investors.  It's presented as if beyond dispute.

I've done it before here, but let's have a little review of the past four presidents, two from each party:

When Bush Senior took office in January 1989, the Dow was at about 2,220;  when he left four years later it was at about 3,250.  A nice increase of 45% or so.

When Bill Clinton was president, he started with the 3,250 from Bush the First and left office four years later with a Dow of 10,588.  A nifty increase of 225%!!!!

In his eight years,  Bush Junior turned Clinton's 10,588 into a Dow average of about 8,230....a decrease of about 22%!!!

Barack Obama has been in office for over three years and the Dow closed today at 12,415.  So, in his 3+ years the Dow has gone up right around 50%.

So, the two Republicans were up 45% (pretty good) and down 22% (a disaster).  The two Democrats were up 225% and 50%  (yes even that socialist Obama beat both the Bushes so far).

Just sayin'....