As always, Bob Cesca pens a brilliant post. Once a week, Huffington Post’s best poster sheds light on the darkness of our political discourse with humor that makes truth telling bearable…
Except this time I’m not laughing. (Sorry Bob.) This week I’ve seen numerous people who I feel ought to be more reasonable, and knowledgeable, passing along flat out lies picked up from the mainstream media. I’ve heard so called conservatives, with no stake in the elections whatsoever, excoriate our President for doing a less harmful version of what their former champion (Bush II) did, and I have finally had enough with dishonesty and deliberate disingenuousness.
These rich creeps whining on television about “revolution” need to get a grip. Here’s a nice IRS table showing tax rates over the years: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/02inpetr.pdf.
Have a look at key dates:
Tax year
Lowest bracket
Highest bracket
Tax rate² (percent)
Taxable income under–³
Tax rate² (percent)
Taxable income over–³
1959…………………………………………………………..
20%
$4,000.00
91.0%
$400,000.00
1962…………………………………………………………..
20%
$4,000.00
91.0%
$400,000.00
1969…………………………………………………………..
14%
$1,000.00
77.0%
$200,000.00
1972…………………………………………………………..
14%
$1,000.00
70.0%
$200,000.00
1979…………………………………………………………..
14%
$3,400.00
70.0%
$215,400.00
1982…………………………………………………………..
12%
$3,400.00
50.0%
$85,600.00
1989…………………………………………………………..
15%
$30,950.00
28.0%
$30,950.00
1992…………………………………………………………..
15%
$35,800.00
31.0%
$86,500.00
1999…………………………………………………………..
15%
$43,050.00
39.6%
$283,150.00
2000…………………………………………………………..
15%
$43,850.00
39.6%
$288,350.00
2001…………………………………………………………..
10%
$12,000.00
39.1%
$297,350.00
2002…………………………………………………………..
10%
$12,000.00
38.6%
$307,050.00
(If that chart doesn’t show up well, look on page 5 of the link).
The point being – the whiners are complaining about a tax hike that brings them no where near as high as the highest tax bracket during the majority of the Reagan years – and the one year when Reagan cut taxes down to 28%, he left George the First with having to break a promise and raise taxes (thereby likely costing the republicans their run).
Whiners. They want a revolution? While millions of Americans are LOSING THEIR HOMES and their JOBS and their HEALTH CARE… they want a revolution because they are going to lose less than 2% income to taxes – taxes to help get the country they claim to love out of its bind?
They want a revolution? They want to foster an environment where MY President is threatened by their reckless, selfish chatter about birth certificates and tea parties? Oh really? BRING IT.
Many thanks to Andrew Sullivan for finding a video of Kenneth from 30 Rock. I think NBC should send Gov. Jindal flowers in thanks for elevating the recognizability of their character:
Northern No Trust had a lavish dinner at the Ritz Carlton on Wednesday with a concert by Chicago (at a $100,000 fee); rented a private hangar at the Santa Monica Airport on Thursday for another big dinner with a gig by Earth, Wind & Fire, and closed down the House of Blues on Sunset Strip on Saturday (at a cost of $50,000) for a dinner and serenade by Sheryl Crow.
In the ignoble tradition of rockers who sing for huge sums to sketchy people when we’re not looking, Crow — in her stint as a federal employee — warbled these lyrics to the oblivious revelers:
“Slow down, you’re gonna crash,
Baby, you’re a-screaming it’s a blast, blast, blast
Look out babe, you’ve got your blinders on …
But there’s a new cat in town
He’s got high payin’ friends
Thinks he’s gonna change history.”
I am increasingly skeptical of our Secretary of the Treasury. I think our President likes Geithner as a fellow smart and elegant (thank you, Sean Penn!) guy. I recall reading that during the selection process, Obama just “fell in love” with Geitner. Well. I think the honeymoon will be over soon enough if Geitner keeps pouring money needed for other priorities into the banks while not really holding them accountable, and from all signs that I can see, the Treasurer’s plan doesn’t quite meet the president’s lofty goals for accountability.
We shall see. I remain committed to prayer for our nation, and for our president.
WTF? What was the text of the email, outside of the “no easter this year”? And if the mayor wasn’t aware of the racial implications – what was the joke?
One month into the Obama presidency, and racism just keeps bubbling to the surface. Until someone makes this make sense to me – I’m calling it like I see it. I think we get more of this, rather than less, and I continue to pray for the safety of black people in general, and the first family in particular.
So tonight I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be a community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.
And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself; it’s quitting on your country. And this country needs and values the talents of every American.
Last night my eyes opened wide and my mouth hung open as I heard these words. Never have I heard a president make such a statement, nor felt so compelled, myself, to rise to the challenge, nor felt so hopeful that others would hear this call as well. Can you imagine if we as a nation really do heed this call?
That’s what she said: “We are not quitters.” These words…
(APPLAUSE)
These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here. They tell us that, even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres, a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.
Their resolve must be our inspiration. Their concerns must be our cause. And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us.
I know…
(APPLAUSE)
I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far.
(LAUGHTER)
There are surely times in the future where we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed.
(APPLAUSE)
I know that.
(APPLAUSE)
That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.
Here’s a great quote from yesterday’s fiscal summit:
“I’m not in Congress, so I don’t want to interject myself too much into congressional politics,” the former Illinois senator said. Then, not passing up a moment to make his pitch, he said: “But I do want to make this point, and I think it’s important _ on the one hand, the majority has to be inclusive. On the other hand, the minority has to be constructive.”
Seriously! Lots of people miss the point that Obama, the constitutional scholar, is going to let Congress do its job… while he does his. While I think the stimulus would have looked better if he’d have dictated it, I love that he didn’t. And while the imperfect solutions yielded by our political process may be disappointing, the re-assertion of an effective 3-branch government over the unitary executive government we’ve been living with, is well worth the flaws we get along the way.
At this juncture – I am hopeful that all the beneficiaries of stimulus aid – including banks, credit card institutions, seniors, etc., I’m hoping they ALL remember that republicans voted NO.
Going one step further – I’m grateful that Obama is continuing a bipartisan effort. It isn’t going to change overnight. But those of us who genuinely believe in what Obama is trying to do – need to get onboard as quickly as possible to removing republican house members wherever they are. Keep kicking them out until we get some who will actually agree to work with the president. 2010, here we come.
From the blog: “Following Plouffe’s logic, Edwards’ voters were more likely to go to Obama once they realized that their candidate was out of the running. Of course, Hillary Clinton’s chief spokesman, Howard Wolfson, has basically insisted the exact opposite. He suggested that had Edwards’ dropped out of the primary because of his affair, his boss would have won the Iowa Caucus and, likely, the nomination.”
OK – in no way are these opposites. On the one hand – Plouffe suggests that in a three way race in which Edwards comes last, his supporters in New Hampshire would break for Obama. The other way suggests that a TWO way race between Obama and Hillary in Iowa would have put Hillary on top – making her inevitability seem more real (instead of doubtful).
BOTH viewpoints are correct, in my opinion – and I can’t begin to understand why they’d be cast as each other’s opposites.
