Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Last Call For Another Rand Paul Flip Flop

Looks like Sen. Rand Paul is back to outlawing all abortion in America if elected President.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared to return to his hardline stance on abortion in a recent interview, after suggesting in April that he had softened his position. 
Earlier this year, Paul upset his social conservative allies by saying he wouldn’t try to outlaw abortion if he became president. 
But in an interview with the American Liberty Association, the potential 2016 presidential candidate said he believes human fetuses deserve personhood rights — a move that would completely outlaw abortion.

“It is a big issue for me. I tell people that really it is all about when life begins,” Paul remarked. “You know, I’m a physician. One of the things I would do in my job is to go into the pediatric nursery and I would examine babies that are one-pound babies, looking in their eyes to try to make sure they didn’t suffer from blindness from being born prematurely.” 
“And the interesting thing is when you’re in the neonatal nursery and you’ve got a one-pound baby, everybody acknowledges that that baby has rights, the Bill of Rights applies to that baby and nobody can hurt that baby,” he continued. “It’s a one-pound baby. But a week before, even a full-term seven-pound baby has no rights, according to the way people are looking at it, and I think that is a big mistake.”

So now the "libertarian" hero is not only fully on the forced birth train, but he's on the ridiculous "personhood" issue as well.

But please, explain to me again how he's not a Tea Party Republican.

The New Koch Tastes Suspiciously Like Old Koch

Just a reminder that Charles Koch has enough money and power to buy an op-ed in USA Today to tell us lesser schlubs that the real problem in America is that poor people have it too easy, and that to fix the economy we're going to have to make some sacrifices.  And by "we", he means "you."

Too many businesses focus on getting subsidies and mandates from government rather than creating value for customers. According to George Mason University's Mercatus Center, such favors cost us more than $11,000 per person in lost GDP every year, a $3.6 trillion economic hit. 
Compounding the problem are destructive regulations affecting whether and how business invests and employees work. Federal rules cost America an estimated $1.86 trillion per year, calculated the Competitive Enterprise Institute. At Koch Industries, we've seen how punitive permitting for large projects creates years of delay, increasing uncertainty and cost. Sometimes projects are canceled and jobs with them. Meanwhile, 30% of U.S. employees need government licenses to work. We need a system that rewards those who create real value, not impedes them.

Now this math only works if you believe that A) government contracts add no value to the country's GDP and B) the $1.86 trillion per year in federal rules has no benefit whatsoever, unless you basically want to get rid of every federal agency in the US: Education, the EPA, the SEC, the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, our intelligence agencies, the FDA, and pretty much everything else.  That price tag is the cost of being civilized.

When I was growing up, my father had me spend my free time working at unpleasant jobs. Most Americans understand that taking a job and sticking with it, no matter how unpleasant or low-paying, is a vital step toward the American dream. We are in for more trouble if young people don't find that all-important first job, which is critical to beginning their climb up the ladder. 
Finally, we need greater incentives to work. Costly programs, such as paying able-bodied people not to work, are addictive disincentives. By undermining people's will to work, our government has created a culture of dependency and hopelessness. This is most unfair to vulnerable citizens who suffer even as we say they are receiving "benefits." 
I agree with Dr. Martin Luther King. There are no dead-end jobs. Every job deserves our best. "If a man is called to be a street sweeper," King said, "he should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

Don't you love it when a man dedicated to destroying wages, unions, and the dignity of being able to support a family without having to take a second job quotes Dr. King?  Only a truly awful man, a man worth so much money that he has become a sociopath, would look at our safety net and declare it's "paying able-bodied people not to work."

What a great Master of the Universe to serve, eh?

Meat Depressed

Well, just when you thought NBC's Meet The Press couldn't get worse, dismal ratings with host David "Fluffy" Gregory have the peacock network planning to replace him with the even worse Chuck Todd.

Chuck Todd, a political obsessive and rabid sports fan, is the likely successor to David Gregory as moderator of “Meet the Press,” with the change expected to be announced in coming weeks, according to top political sources. The move is an effort by NBC News President Deborah Turness to restore passion and insider cred to a network treasure that has been adrift since the death in 2008 of the irreplaceable Tim Russert. Although Todd is not a classic television performer guaranteed to wow focus groups, his NBC bosses have been impressed by his love of the game, which brings with it authenticity, sources, and a loyal following among newsmakers and political junkies.

Because NBC really needed more insider baseball Villager crap on MTP, and not someone intelligent enough like any number of MSNBC hosts.  Maddow has the gravitas to do the job, but she's also smart enough not to take it because it's the political equivalent of masturbation.  If I had to listen to Sen. John McCain, RNC chair Reince Priebus, and columnist David Broder discussing Iraq and I was unable to hit any of them in the face with an engine block, I'd pass on being considered too.

Oh, and Tim Russert wasn't that great, guys.  He still helped the Bushies sell Iraq.

StupidiNews!