The Republican Mask Slips Once Again

As Republicans accidentally tell the truth.  This time it's former Bush White House shill (now DC PR shill) Tony Fratto letting us know what's coming as soon as the serious centrists get their way:  the VAT tax.(empahsis mine)

The VAT has been attacked by both the Left and the Right, and I’m sure I’ll hear howls of protest from both sides, but the time for a VAT in the U.S. is coming.

Liberals see the VAT as regressive, arguing that it would disproportionately impact lower income groups who spend a relatively larger portion of their disposable income on consumption. Conservatives argue a VAT on top of the current tax system would merely raise more revenue to fund an ever-expanding federal government. They also argue that the tax is so efficient that nominally tiny increases in the rate of the VAT would result in huge revenue increases for federal coffers. 

There’s something to each of criticisms, but all fail to persuade me that a VAT isn’t desirable. And if we’re serious about reforming what is clearly a broken tax system, we need a VAT sooner rather than later.

The United States has the most impressive voluntary tax collection system in the world, but it’s also the most inefficient – and for a large, mature economy that inefficiency is a drag on productivity growth, limiting increases in our standard of living. 

The economic argument for a VAT is unassailable. It is an extremely efficient tax collection tool, that virtually eliminates tax evasion, and – if coupled with an elimination of corporate taxes – would make U.S. firms more competitive globally. 

And right there Fratto gives the game away.  Get rid of corporate tax loopholes by getting rid of corporate taxes...and then turn around and hit all the folks who don't make enough income to pay income taxes with a national sales tax on everything they buy: milk, bread, pop tarts, you name it, you pay the VAT.

Eliminate taxes on the guys making billions a year in profits.  Drag that revenue out of everyone in America who buys anything.  Cut taxes on the rich, raise them substantially on the poor.  No wonder a former Bushie is all for raising taxes.

Watch out for the VAT.  You'd better believe a Republican Congress and President will pass this on you faster than you can say "regressive taxation"...and don't put it past certain members of the Democrats, either.

In Which Zandar Answers Your Burning Questions

So I ask myself, "Zandar, what does 330 pounds of crazy in a five pound bag look like?"  And I find the answer.



To recap you're looking at one of the craziest women on the planet  here, one who believes that President Obama is an existential threat to all life in America and will basically stop at nothing to depose him before her own deepest persecution fantasies kick in and she's dragged screaming off to his re-education camps.

And the other woman is Orly Taitz.

There She Is, Miss Indignation

The Miss USA pageant crowned a winner last night and made history as Michigan's Rima Fakih became the first Arab-American to win the tiara.  The 24 year-old Muslim beat out 50 other contestants.  Needless to say, the wingers are going absolutely berserk.  Cue Malkinvania and friends in 3...  But it gets worse.  The woman Fakih beat?  She was plugging Arizona's immigration law.

Miss Oklahoma USA Morgan Elizabeth Woolard was named first runner-up after handling a question about Arizona’s new immigration law. Woolard said she supports the law, which requires police enforcing another law to verify a person’s immigration status if there’s “reasonable suspicion” that the person is in the country illegally.

She said she’s against illegal immigration but is also against racial profiling.

“I’m a huge believer in states’ rights. I think that’s what’s so wonderful about America. So I think it’s perfectly fine for Arizona to create that law.

A Muslim beats out a white girl from Oklahoma over Arizona's papers, please law.  You can't buy this level of outrage as Roy Edroso explains:

Debbie Schlussel, who informed us that Miss Michigan Rima Fakih was funded by supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah (I guess that means they bought gowns for her), now suggests that her elevation to Miss USA may have been "rigged," and declares that "Barack Obama will exploit this as propaganda for Islam." Why does pageant owner Donald Trump hate America?

Michelle Malkin, seeing she'd been beaten to the Muslim-bashing punch, is reduced to muttering, "She nearly tripped over her gown."

These people are just mad they're not old enough to have protested Jackie Robinson signing with the Dodgers.

No doubt.  It was rigged by the massive Muslim conspiracy that has controlled America since 900 AD as wingnut wanker Daniel Pipes opines.

On his blog yesterday, Pipes pointed out five other Muslim women who've won beauty contests in the U.S., Britain and France over the last five years.

"They are all attractive, but this surprising frequency of Muslims winning beauty pageants makes me suspect an odd form of affirmative action," he wrote.

That "suspicion is borne out," he wrote, because of one pageant winner at North Carolina A&T University who wore a hijab under her crown.

Pipes does not explain why Miss A&T's hijab proves his suspicion that a handful of Muslim beauty pageant winners are the result of some "odd form of affirmative action." 

They're not even trying to hide the racism anymore, folks.

Cut Out From Under You

Looks like embattled and outgoing NY Gov. David Paterson has a parting shot for Noo Yawkers on the way out the door.  He's not going to be the only state employee out of a job.

Gov. Paterson has put massive state employee layoffs "on the radar screen" after being told the no-layoff pledge he signed with public employee unions last year is not legally binding, The Post has learned.

The administration has estimated that up to 10,000 job cuts would be needed to reach the governor's target, an official said.

Paterson's new tack follows a federal court ruling last week that temporarily blocked his $30 million-a-week plan to put 100,000 workers on furlough.

Now, he's weighing pink slips if the furlough offensive fails in subsequent court hearings.

"Layoffs are on the radar screen," said a source.

A legislative source told The Post that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is "warming to layoffs" because the unions appear "inflexible toward any other workforce savings." 

Cutting jobs in a recession, gosh, that'll help the state save money.  They can just pay people unemployment money instead.  You know.  From the state.  If you've gotta go, take out people with you, I guess.

A Textbook Case Of Denial

What, you thought the wingers were done with turning Texas textbooks into a joke?

With the long-running Texas history textbooks standards fight scheduled to end with a final vote by the State Board of Education Friday, arch-conservative board member Don McLeroy is proposing a new set of changes that read like a tea party manifesto.

The new amendment (.pdf), which is expected to get a vote on Thursday, would require high school history students to "discuss alternatives regarding long term entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, given the decreasing worker to retiree ratio" and also "evaluate efforts by global organizations to undermine U. S. sovereignty."

McLeroy, who will leave the board at the end of the year after a primary election loss, says the first provision "is a critical thinking skills item, and it is also relevant to assessing the policies of the various ideologies that have shaped where we are as Americans."

As justification for that second item, McLeroy writes: "Threats of global government to individual freedom and liberty include the votes of the U. N. General Assembly, the International Criminal Court, the U. N. Gun Ban proposal, forced redistribution of American wealth to third world countries, and global environmental initiatives."

Yeah, one world order stuff and tinfoil theories going into textbooks for tens of millions.  If you can beat them with facts, change the facts.  And just think, if these guys get back in control, this is in store for everyone in the country too.

We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control...

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

Glennsanity giving the commencement address at Liberty University.



We're screwed.

Run Mitchy Run

With tomorrow's primary in Kentucky almost certainly to go Rand Paul's way on the Republican side, Mitch McConnell's hand-picked successor Trey Grayson suddenly can't get anyone in the RNC to return his phone calls...especially Mitch.

For almost a year, Mitch McConnell's protege Trey Grayson has been the standard bearer of the state GOP establishment in the Kentucky senate primary. But today on Meet The Press, his benefactor seemed to suggest that that the outcome of Grayson's battle with Tea Party favorite Rand Paul might not matter much one way or another.

"We don't have incumbency on the line in Kentucky," he said. "We have two non-incumbents running for an open seat."

That's a big change from the man who's been cutting ads for Grayson all year.  And Rand Paul supporters want to see Mitch gone for good...and so does Rand Paul.

GOP front-runner Rand Paul says he may not support Kentucky's other senator, Mitch McConnell, for minority floor leader if he's elected to the U.S. Senate.

In a sometimes testy televised debate Monday night, Paul's chief Republican opponent, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, said he "proudly" would vote for McConnell. McConnell has endorsed Grayson in the May 18 primary.

The debate is the final face-off in what has become an increasingly acrimonious race to replace Sen. Jim Bunning. 

We'll see how it goes tomorrow.  The GOP will back Paul over any Democrat, that's for sure.  They need to keep the seat to maintain their filibuster margin and while November will certainly mean some gains for the party out of power, every seat counts. 

Bang Bang Blame

Early Sunday morning a seven-year old Detroit girl was killed.  That kind of thing happens, but this time it's different, the seven-year old in this case, Aiyana Jones, was killed by Detroit police.

The warrant was executed about 12:40 a.m. ET Sunday at a home on the city's east side, Godbee said. Authorities believed the suspect in the Friday shooting death of 17-year-old high school student Jarean Blake was hiding out at the home. Blake was gunned down in front of a store as his girlfriend watched, Godbee said.

Preliminary information indicates that members of the Detroit Police Special Response Team approached the house and announced themselves as police, Godbee said, citing the officers and at least one independent witness.

"As is common in these types of situations, the officers deployed a distractionary device commonly known as a flash bang," he said in the statement. "The purpose of the device is to temporarily disorient occupants of the house to make it easier for officers to safely gain control of anyone inside and secure the premise."

Upon entering the home, the officer encountered a 46-year-old female inside the front room, Godbee said. "Exactly what happened next is a matter still under investigation, but it appears the officer and the woman had some level of physical contact.

"At about this time, the officer's weapon discharged one round which, tragically, struck 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones in the neck/head area."

The girl was immediately transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Godbee said he and other officers went to the hospital while others stayed at the home to execute the warrant.

Aiyana's father, Charles Jones, told CNN affiliate WDIV, "She was sleeping and they came in the door shooting and throwing flash grenades ... burned my baby up and shot her, killed her."

Jones claimed the officers had the wrong house, but Godbee said in the statement the 34-year-old suspect in Blake's death was found and arrested at the home. In addition, a vehicle and a moped matching the descriptions of those involved in Blake's shooting were also found, he said.

The suspect's name was not released.

The cops say they had a suspect's location and went in with flashbang grenades and guns.  Into a home.  Now...what happened when Aiyana Jones was killed may never be fully known, but when the common response of a city police department is to use flashbang grenades, there's something wrong.  Clearly the grenade didn't "disorient" everyone in there.  And they used this weapon and still discharged deadly force on a seven-year old girl.

A suspect in a shooting in 2010 now rates flashbangs and a full SWAT team like something out of a Tom Clancy movie?  On our own citizens?  Nice.

StupidiNews!

• Iran will ship its current stockpile of uranium to Turkey to be enriched, but will continue to produce more.
• Iraq's recount confirms a narrow victory for Ayad Allawi over current PM Nouri Al-Malaki.
• A Mexican former presidential candidate has gone missing, and authorities believe foul play is involved.
• Greece is considering legal action against Wall Street banks for fraud that could have contributed to the country's current financial crisis.
• The largest study to date on cell phone use and cancer hasn't provided any definitive answers.

Last Call

Steven D has some interesting predictions for the rest of the year...or what won't happen this year, anyway.

Just Beneath The Surface

Massive deep sea oil geysers are like icebergs.  It ain't the 10% on the surface that's going to kill you...

Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given.

“There’s a shocking amount of oil in the deep water, relative to what you see in the surface water,” said Samantha Joye, a researcher at the University of Georgia who is involved in one of the first scientific missions to gather details about what is happening in the gulf. “There’s a tremendous amount of oil in multiple layers, three or four or five layers deep in the water column.”

The plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf, worrying scientists, who fear that the oxygen level could eventually fall so low as to kill off much of the sea life near the plumes.

Dr. Joye said the oxygen had already dropped 30 percent near some of the plumes in the month that the broken oil well had been flowing. “If you keep those kinds of rates up, you could draw the oxygen down to very low levels that are dangerous to animals in a couple of months,” she said Saturday. “That is alarming.” 

Goodbye fishing industry.  Now, here's my question.  If you're a Teapublican, once again, why aren't you screaming at the Republicans and the free market solutions that created this and will end up putting thousands of hard working real Americans out of work for good?

I mean you can blame Obama for this all you want to, but the fact of the matter is he's not the one running the oil well, not the one who decided to cut safety measures to cust costs, not the one who subcontracted the rig out to Transocean and Halliburton, and not the ont that screwed up the plans for the blowout preventer and failed to maintain the piece of vital safety equipment.

And if your Republican buddies have anything to say about it, you're the ones who will be stuck with the bill, too.  This is a disaster caused by the corporations who are funding this movement.  Just like the banks, this isn't a conservative or liberal issue, or a black or white issue, or a red state vs blue state issue, or a religious vs secular issue, this is a greed issue.

And you're being played for fools by the same people who are literally wrecking this country.

[UPDATE]  BP has managed to get that siphon tube on the oil riser pipe, but the "percentage reduction of the oil flow is unknown" at this point.  So who knows if it's even working at all.

The Play Continues On Script

Remember my call last week on how the Kagan nomination process would play out?  It's proceeding exactly according to my theory, and we've now officially reached step 5:

There will be no need for the Senate to waste their time interviewing President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court if Newt Gingrich has his way. Fox News' Chris Wallace asked Gingrich Sunday what he thought of the nomination of Elena Kagan.

"I think the president should withdraw it," said Gingrich. "You don't need a whole lot of hearings. The very fact that she led the effort -- which was repudiated unanimously by the Supreme Court -- to block the American military from Harvard Law School...."

Expect the next month or so to be filled with pointless speculation now over whether or not Obama will withdraw the nomination or Kagan will ask her name be withdrawn.   It will continue until it becomes clear that Kagan will not only get her hearings, but passes them easily.  We'll be in this phase of the mess unfortunately until July or August.

Keep in mind however I did call this a week ago.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

When it comes to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the only things at this point stopping a massive march on Washington by the Teabaggers (with thousands of rabid El Rushbo and Glennsanity fans screaming for Obama's blood, literally) are:

• The complete incompetence of the response of the companies involved in the spill, BP, Transocean, and Halliburton.

and

• BP being able to get away with lowballing the oil geyser numbers for three weeks.

That's it.  If BP's public relations guys weren't horrible, and BP hadn't tried to buy off thousands of Gulf residents in the first days of the spill, if they had actually come clean and said "Yeah we think it's three million gallons of oil a day, easy" you'd have Teabagger primary candidates being asked if they would support impeaching Obama over this oil spill.

You still may.  After all, factor two there is no longer in play, so the only thing saving Obama's ass right now is because BP is a bunch of complete tools and publicly demonstrates the fact they have no clue what they are doing on a daily basis.

So as long as BP continues to screw up, Obama's in the clear.  Of course, the longer it takes to cap, the worse off it's going to be for all of us, so maybe Obama should tell BP to get the hell out of the way and get the military down there.  If Obama can prove that the government can resolve this and not the "free markets" then it'll go a long way to restore confidence in the government.

If he can't however, he's in real, real trouble.  We all will.

Gates At The Barbarians Again

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has served past his usefulness according to BooMan.

It's time to be realistic about Afghanistan. And it's time for some clean hands at the Pentagon. Bob Gates has served his purpose. He's actually done a pretty good job of cleaning up Rumsfeld's mess and of being a team player in the Obama administration. But there is just too much rot in the Pentagon from the Bush years for someone who served during the Bush years to be credible enough to clean it up. If Gates remains, bad things will happen. He should stay no later than the end of the year. 

BooMan's talking about this story in the NY Times this morning:

Top military officials have continued to rely on a secret network of private spies who have produced hundreds of reports from deep inside Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to American officials and businessmen, despite concerns among some in the military about the legality of the operation.

Earlier this year, government officials admitted that the military had sent a group of former Central Intelligence Agency officers and retired Special Operations troops into the region to collect information — some of which was used to track and kill people suspected of being militants. Many portrayed it as a rogue operation that had been hastily shut down once an investigation began.

But interviews with more than a dozen current and former government officials and businessmen, and an examination of government documents, tell a different a story. Not only are the networks still operating, their detailed reports on subjects like the workings of the Taliban leadership in Pakistan and the movements of enemy fighters in southern Afghanistan are also submitted almost daily to top commanders and have become an important source of intelligence. 

The American military is largely prohibited from operating inside Pakistan. And under Pentagon rules, the army is not allowed to hire contractors for spying. 

Gates in other words is breaking his own rules in order to help us "win" in Afghanistan...and we're not even winning in Afghanistan.  By our own admission we're not winning in Afghanistan.  I agree that Obama absolutely needs to find a replacement for Gates, and I'll add this to the myriad of good reasons he needs to go:  Gates is stonewalling on DADT.

CNN is reporting that tonight, during an interview on John King USA, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will reiterate his support for repealing the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy (DADT) and argue that lawmakers should wait for the Pentagon to complete its review before rescinding the policy. Gates has expressed a similar sentiment in a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO), and his tone has drastically chilled any chance of ending the policy before the end of the year. But during tonight’s interview, he will go one step further, suggesting that a quick repeal would be “a stupid way to do change.”

Obama wants it gone.  Congress wants it gone.  Gates is dragging his feet on purpose, against the President's orders, and if he's not going to implement the President's orders as Defense Secretary, he needs to resign.  Period.  That's the way a chain of command works, Mr. Defense Secretary.  Perhaps you're familiar with the concept.

Racists Don't Make Very Good Grifters

After all, the point of being a grifter is to get the mark to like you and to talk them up to get them to trust you.  Besides, Moose Lady the Griftebrity's modus operandi is to play the gender card, not the race one.  To her credit, she's left the issue of race very much alone and gone with her Christian Dominionist Girl Powah thing instead.

That was the case until she stepped into Arizona's immigration law like a moose patty and stumped for Gov. Jan Brewer, and went hard core racist on us.

As calls spread for an economic boycott of Arizona, the state's governor enlisted the help of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday to defend a new law cracking down on illegal immigration.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Palin blamed President Obama for the state law, saying the measure is Arizona's attempt to enforce immigration laws because the federal government won't do it.

"It's time for Americans across this great country to stand up and say, 'We're all Arizonans now,'" Palin said. "And in clear unison we say, 'Mr. President: Do your job. Secure our border.'"

The former Alaska governor appeared with Brewer at a brief news conference on Saturday. Palin defended the controversial legislation Brewer recently signed, calling Arizona "ground zero for our nation's border security issues." 

Now, I figure she's left Arizona alone until now due to that soft spot she has (in her head) for Johnny Volcano.  This is McCain's state, and coming in here to make a mess complaining about Mexican border issues when being a half-term governor of a state like Alaska makes her the second least-qualified person in the GOP to talk about it (number one being Hawaii's GOP governor, Linda Lingle.)  Even better, after McCain's embarrassingly bad border fence ad (one so awful that Republicans are laughing at him at this point) you'd figure she'd steer clear of the state for a while.

But she can't help herself.  She's even using McCain's avenue of attack:  "The federal government won't seal the border!"

Well now, Sarah, dear?  You may not remember this, but about five years ago a guy named John McCain put forth one of those Congress bill thingies that would have improved this whole Mexican border doohickey, and that plan got shot down by the Republican party.

It's not Obama's fault here.  It's the GOP's fault.  And this really is a losing argument for you guys long-term.  And judging by the reaction by Arizona to the threat of boycott, it's a real big loser short-term too.  You can't call for action on immigration reform and then block immigration reform.

So now Sarah's weighed in as Arizona's white knight...emphasis on the white.  Not a good move for a grifter...