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The View From Here

Thursday, September 1, 2011


© Lee Judge

Doesn’t it seem like the current crop of candidates are running away from the viewpoints held by the majority of voters? For example, a strong majority of voters would like to see a tax increase on the rich.

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Who’s Playing Politics?

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Obama requested a joint session of Congress next Wednesday at 8pm so that he can lay out his agenda for increasing employment.

But the Republicans objected, since that is when one of their (more than 20) Republican presidential candidate debates is taking place, and accused Obama of playing politics — even though this debate is only being shown on cable TV and could easily have been moved an hour later, giving the Republican candidates a chance to make their own job creation proposals.

So then, House Speaker John Boehner counter-proposed that they have the joint session on Thursday night (Sept 8). Which happens to be the opening night for the NFL.

And Obama graciously agreed.

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Trust and Anti-Trust

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Thank goodness someone is standing up to big monopolies and illegal anti-competitive behavior. The Department of Justice announced today that it is filing suit to block AT&T from acquiring competitor T-Mobile on antitrust grounds. I applaud the DOJ for taking our vital antitrust laws seriously.

Of course, AT&T claims that the proposed merger is not anti-competitive, saying “We remain confident that this merger is in the best interest of consumers and our country.” When a company only has three competitors and seeks to eliminate one of them, how can that not be anti-competitive?

And the stock market seems to agree. Not only did AT&T’s shares fall today on the announcement, but shares in Sprint/Nextel soared 7.6%. Merging AT&T with T-Mobile would have created the largest cell phone company in the US and reduce the number of players in the market from four to three.

Eliminating T-Mobile would have been especially bad for innovation in the mobile phone business. T-Mobile was the first carrier to offer a smartphone based on the Android OS, the first Blackberry e-mail over wireless, the first national Wi-Fi hotspot access, and the first nationwide advanced HSPA+ data network. They also managed to undercut AT&T on prices. No wonder AT&T wanted to buy them out.

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That’s All Folks!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011


© Henry Payne

So, if the revolution in Libya turns out well, do you think any Republicans will give Obama any credit at all for how he handled it?

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Late Night Political Humor

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

“Dick ‘Kaboom’ Cheney has written a book, and he says he wouldn’t change anything. He feels strongly about this. He’d still invade the wrong country.” – David Letterman

“Get this. In a recent interview, Dick Cheney said that his new memoir will have quote ‘heads exploding’ in D.C. Yeah, especially if you read it while you’re on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Cheney says he wrote the memoir because friends encouraged him to do it. This guy has friends?” – David Letterman

“The rhetoric is heating up between Republicans Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. These two do not like each other. Perry has opposed many of Romney’s positions – but to be fair, so has Romney.” – Jay Leno

“Happy birthday to Sen. John McCain, who turned 75 today. He celebrated with a party that was going just fine – until he invited Sarah Palin.” – Craig Ferguson

“Happy Birthday to John McCain, who turned 75 years old today! A lot has changed since he was born. Back then a dollar was worth 20 cents. Today, it’s not worth nearly that much.” – Jimmy Fallon

“John McCain turned 75 today. He thought Hurricane Irene was a flapper he had a crush on in the ’20s. On Friday the world’s oldest woman celebrated her 115th birthday in Georgia. John McCain said, ‘Irene!?'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Hurricane Irene wasn’t that bad. In fact, it was downgraded to a tropical storm. Even our hurricanes are getting downgraded. Maybe Irene owed money to China too.” – Jay Leno

“Over 6 million people were evacuated from New Jersey ahead of the hurricane. And now, three of them have gone back.” – Jay Leno

“They had so much rain in New York that a lot of the cabbies had their first shower in years.” – Jay Leno

“New York even the subways were closed for Irene. New Yorkers had nowhere to go to the bathroom. They were stunned.” – Jay Leno

“Moammar Gadhafi had a photo album of pictures of Condoleezza Rice. Who doesn’t have one of those?” – David Letterman

“Gadhafi is apparently on the run, though today he released a message congratulating Beyonce on her pregnancy.” – David Letterman

“Vice President Joe Biden has been in China meeting with the Chinese Vice President. One embarrassing moment during the trip when he met the Chinese Vice President’s children, he said, ‘What factory do you work in? Those are nice sneakers, did you make those?'” – Jay Leno

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Freaky

Tuesday, August 30, 2011


© Mike Thompson

I’m noticing that the wing-nut crowd isn’t making fun of climate change very much recently. I guess they are blaming it on God instead.

UPDATE: The Science Guy goes on Fox News to discuss climate change and Hurricane Irene, and explains slowly and carefully:

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Unlimited Cash, Unlimited Corruption

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Buried near the end of an article in the NY Times on Super PACs is an interesting fact.

Super PACs, created after the Supreme Court ruled that money was protected speech, are like regular Political Action Committees (PACs), with one big exception — they are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash on political campaigns. And while Super PACs are supposedly required to be firewalled from the candidates themselves, the line between them is blurry indeed. When Romney appeared at a fundraiser for Restore Our Future (a Super PAC whose sole purpose is to get Romney elected), this line consisted of them waiting until Romney left the room before asking for any money.

But according to the NY Times, a study by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that more than 80 percent of the money raised by Republican-leaning Super PACs this year came from just 35 donors. Yes, that means that just 35 organizations or people control the vast majority of money going into Republican election campaigns.

Interestingly, Democratic-leaning Super PACs are even worse, with more than 80 percent of contributions coming from just 23 donors. But this may be due to the fact that liberal Super PACs raised less than half as much money as conservative ones (Restore Our Future all by itself raised 60% more money than all liberal Super PACs put together).

As one political operative put it “People are just starting to get it. It’s completely unlimited. And it’s going to change everything.”

What I want to know is, what are these 58 donors buying for all this money?

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Late Night Political Humor

Monday, August 29, 2011

“Gaddafi’s sons are getting arrested. A revolution is not the best time to be a dictator’s sons, or as they’re called in Libya, dictator tots. It’s tater tots with a “dic” in front.” – Craig Ferguson

“No one knows where the low-budget Bond villain Moammar Gaddafi is. He swears he’ll die in his compound. He’s a guy, once he gets a bad idea he sticks with it. Look at this picture. “I’m going to wear the curtains.” – Craig Ferguson

“Yesterday, earthquake; today, hurricane. Where do you go next — Tripoli?” – David Letterman

“They traced the epicenter of the earthquake to N.J. Governor Chis Christie’s aerobics class. No, to Kim Kardashian’s honeymoon suite. ” – David Letterman

“The earthquake was so strong that the Tea Party shifted to the center.” – David Letterman

“After the earthquake on the East Coast, they found Mayor Bloomberg standing under his desk.” – David Letterman

“The east coast is still cleaning up after the earthquake. Experts say this only happens once a century. It’s Larry King’s third.” – Craig Ferguson

“On the bright side, I didn’t have to shake my morning martini.” – David Letterman

“Apparently there’s a crack in the Washington Monument. Calm down, Marion Barry, I said ‘a crack.'” – Craig Ferguson

“They felt the earthquake at Martha’s Vineyard. It was so bad, President Obama nearly missed a putt.” – David Letterman

“President Obama is enjoying the fun and sun in Martha’s Vineyard. It’s really sad when your SPF factor is higher than your approval rating.” – David Letterman

“The earthquake registered 5.8 on the Richter scale. I’ve had bigger heart attacks than that.” – David Letterman

“A guy last week put a fatwa out on me. CBS has been great. When they heard about it, they started holding auditions for my replacement.” – David Letterman

“I’m sorry I was late coming out. Backstage I was talking to the guy from CBS. We were going through the CBS insurance policy to see if I was covered for jihad.” – David Letterman

“A guy, a radical extremist, threatened to cut my tongue out. I wish I had a nickel … I think the first time was during the Academy Awards.” – David Letterman

“Tonight you people are more to me than an audience. You’re more like a human shield.” – David Letterman

“Today Mitt Romney announced he’s building a $12-million beach house in California. There’s a man who can read the mood of the country.” – David Letterman

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It’s all Obama’s fault

Sunday, August 28, 2011


© Jim Morin

FEMA was ready (despite budget issues), and loss of life was kept to a minimum, so now will the Republicans blame Obama for overreacting to hurricane Irene?

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The GOP Race to the Bottom

Sunday, August 28, 2011

CNN commentator Jack Cafferty asks a very good question:

When it comes to presidential politics, why does America seem to be allergic to brains?

I’ve been wondering the same thing. Like, how did we end up with the current crop of Republican frontrunners? As The Onion satirically put it in a recent headline “White-Hot GOP Race Down To Two Mentally Ill People, Person Who Lost Nomination Last Time”. Cafferty agrees, comparing GOP superstars Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann to The Three Stooges, and saying that Perry’s quick rise in the polls is “a little scary”.

Richard Dawkins was recently asked about the anti-science stance of candidates like Rick Perry. An excerpt from his response:

There is nothing unusual about Governor Rick Perry. Uneducated fools can be found in every country and every period of history, and they are not unknown in high office. What is unusual about today’s Republican party (I disavow the ridiculous ‘GOP’ nickname, because the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt has lately forfeited all claim to be considered ‘grand’) is this: In any other party and in any other country, an individual may occasionally rise to the top in spite of being an uneducated ignoramus. In today’s Republican Party ‘in spite of’ is not the phrase we need. Ignorance and lack of education are positive qualifications, bordering on obligatory. Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job.

Unfortunately, unlike homosexuality, which is not actually spread by gay people, people like Rick Perry are doing everything they can to spread stupidity. In Texas, where Perry has been governor for a decade, millions of students are heading back to school this week, and they face a dramatically revised, state-mandated social studies curriculum that deliberately pushes a conservative, and factually bizarre agenda. For example, students will be required to learn about Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, Phyllis Schlafly, and Estée Lauder. Indeed, Lauder is is designated one of the 68 most important historical figures in our country’s history, but that list strangely does not include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or John Adams. The curriculum also teaches that the findings of Joe McCarthy’s House Committee on Un-American Activities were confirmed, which is simply not true.

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GOP Favors Tax Hike!

Saturday, August 27, 2011


© Stuart Carlson

The GOP wants you to think that they are against raising taxes, so much that they claim that letting a tax cut expire counts as raising taxes (for example, in the case of the Bush tax cuts for the rich).

So why are the Republicans trying to stop Obama from extending the payroll tax cut? Didn’t virtually every Republican in Congress sign Grover Norquist’s pledge to not raise taxes? (As a side note, Norquist himself is curiously — and hypocritically — silent on this issue, even though he has repeatedly declared that letting tax cuts expire would violate the pledge.)

Interestingly, the Republicans don’t even feel any need to hide their hypocrisy. For example, Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) justified the move by saying “not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again.” He’s implying that tax cuts for the rich will spur job creation more than tax cuts for the rest of us, but the evidence says otherwise. In fact, cutting the payroll tax has been declared by the CBO as one of the most effective ways for creating jobs, while cutting taxes for the rich is one of the least effective.

So are the Republicans purposely trying to keep unemployment high so they can blame it on Obama? The only other sensible explanation is that they are class warriors who claim they want to cut taxes, but really only want to give money to the rich (perhaps in return for campaign contributions), while taking money away from the poor and middle class (who tend to vote Democratic).

Of course, then there is the explanation that makes no sense at all — that the Republicans are against extending the payroll tax cut simply because Obama is for it. Opposing Obama trumps even their most sacred principles.


© Mike Luckovich

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Late Night Political Humor

Saturday, August 27, 2011

“The CEO of Starbucks said that President Obama shouldn’t be vacationing during a crisis, and that he should be getting Americans back to work — so they can afford a $9 cup of coffee.” – Conan O’Brien

“The White House is pointing out that all presidents take vacation. Teddy Roosevelt took trips to Long Island, Harry Truman would go to Key West, and George Bush would go to Legoland.” – Conan O’Brien

“When they killed bin Laden, he had been locked in a house with three wives for six years. So when the SEALs broke in, he said, ‘Just shoot me.'” – David Letterman

“Some people think Gadhafi will go into exile somewhere harmless where we can keep an eye on him. I’m thinking ‘Dancing With the Stars.'” – Craig Ferguson

“I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re hoping for an end to the bloodshed, a peaceful transition to democracy, and . . . cheaper gas.” – Craig Ferguson

“There’s a fatwa on me. They say the guy that issued it is an Internet jihadist. Who says Obama isn’t creating jobs?” – David Letterman

“The State Department is investigating, but everyone knows it’s Leno.” – David Letterman

“Joe Lieberman has written a memoir in which he reveals why having sex with his wife on the Sabbath is so important to him. It’s in the chapter called ‘You Might Want to Skip This.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Yesterday a brawl broke out during a Joe Biden speech in China. Evidently, somebody blocked the exit, and people panicked.” – Conan O’Brien

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Evolved Thinking?

Friday, August 26, 2011

[from Calamities of Nature. You can also buy this as a poster.]


© Tony Piro

This graph definitely supports American Exceptionalism!

See Piro’s proof of evolution. He also has an interesting graph plotting Google searches for “god” against “free gay porn”.

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Growth Industry

Friday, August 26, 2011


© Ben Sargent

Perry continues to give high-level government jobs to his big campaign donors, despite the fact that he just announced he is running for president, and despite the fact that the New York Times just published a front page article about how Perry hands out tax breaks, contracts, and appointments to his strongest supporters and the businesses they own.

UPDATE: Further evidence of Perry’s corruption — an insurance scheme of questionable legality (and taste) designed by Phil Gramm and pushed by Governor Perry to allow Swiss bank UBS to profit on the deaths of teachers in Texas.

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A Sign

Thursday, August 25, 2011


© Glenn McCoy

And if an earthquake doesn’t do the trick, how about a hurricane?

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