It's Teabagg'n eve, and has there ever been anything so LOL funny about the wingnuts? Let me list the ways this brouhaha is tickling my bone-china funny bone.
Fox News denies that they are promoting the event despite headlines like "Time To Party Like It's 1773."
We all know the 1773 Boston Tea Party was about "taxation without representation" and an unpopular Tea Act which gave the English East India Company a monopoly. In a vaguely similar way, the 2009 revolt is about taxation (with representation) and TARP, but some teabaggers are hilariously off message.
They're also out of sync. Americans have the most favorable views of income taxes since 1956. And why not? 95% of American families get a tax cut under Obama's plan, and higher taxes for those at the top are no barrier to sustained economic growth.
Only a sucker would believe these tea parties spring from a grassroots coalition of "regular Americans." In reality, the movement was launched with a bang and a web site proclaiming, "the tea party protests, in their current form, began in early 2009 when Rick Santelli, the On Air Editor for CNBC, set out on a rant to expose the bankrupt liberal agenda of the White House Administration and Congress. Specifically, the flawed 'Stimulus Bill' and pork filled budget."
You know what you call the opposite of a grassroots movement? Astroturf! Like fake grass, the instant public support was manufactured. And the manufacturers are slick, conservative, well-funded, lobbyist-run think tanks called Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works.
With all those wealthy Republicans putting their money where their mouth is (ahem), you'd think they could come up with a better name than "teabagging!" That name is possibly the biggest LOL factor of the whole crazy brew (watch video below or on DailyKosTV):
Showing posts with label TARP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TARP. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Terms of Endearment
My grandma was a racist. I was slow to figure it out, just like this guy in Clerks 2 (if video doesn't show, click here):
Honestly, my grandparents used "monkey" as a term of endearment. I thought it was cute. I knew very little about that part of history where racists portrayed blacks as chimps to denigrate the entire race... But I was young.
That level of ignorance, though, would be inexcusable for an adult working for the Murdoch-owned NY Post. But ignorance isn't even the apology offered for this recent cartoon by Sean Delonas depicting police officers shooting a monkey for writing the stimulus bill. Instead, the editor-in-chief defends the unfunny cartoon as a "clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut."
Other apologists have suggested that the monkey symbolizes congress and not the president, or that the cartoon is a reference to the infinite monkey theorem -- except, of course, the cartoon depicts only one monkey.
Really though? We're expected to buy these excuses? No editor recognized the racism? Sean Delonas accidently tripped and crossed the line... like he's done so many other times in his other vile cartoons?
Ok, we can agree or disagree on the intended racism, but the bloody assassination part is undeniable. The message from the NY Post is we can solve all our political problems with guns, encourage acts of treason, and still provide a healthy profit to Murdoch, that little carnivorous vulture. And that's not a term of endearment.
Honestly, my grandparents used "monkey" as a term of endearment. I thought it was cute. I knew very little about that part of history where racists portrayed blacks as chimps to denigrate the entire race... But I was young.
That level of ignorance, though, would be inexcusable for an adult working for the Murdoch-owned NY Post. But ignorance isn't even the apology offered for this recent cartoon by Sean Delonas depicting police officers shooting a monkey for writing the stimulus bill. Instead, the editor-in-chief defends the unfunny cartoon as a "clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut."
Other apologists have suggested that the monkey symbolizes congress and not the president, or that the cartoon is a reference to the infinite monkey theorem -- except, of course, the cartoon depicts only one monkey.
Really though? We're expected to buy these excuses? No editor recognized the racism? Sean Delonas accidently tripped and crossed the line... like he's done so many other times in his other vile cartoons?
Ok, we can agree or disagree on the intended racism, but the bloody assassination part is undeniable. The message from the NY Post is we can solve all our political problems with guns, encourage acts of treason, and still provide a healthy profit to Murdoch, that little carnivorous vulture. And that's not a term of endearment.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Cue The Violins
Read. Scroll to the top of the page. Read a little more. Scroll up again. Double check. Check address bar just to be certain. Yes, I'm reading the NY Times not The Onion. The headline reads You Try to Live on 500K in This Town. I would gladly try it, and I wouldn't be half as whiny as this guy:
Just a couple of months ago the case was made not to bail out the ailing Big Three automakers. Labor costs were out of control we were told! Those union auto-workers -- with all those perks like health-care and pensions -- were earning close to $80 an hour! Except it was all misinformation. In 2006 a typical UAW-represented assembler at GM earned $27.81 per hour.
Sometimes I get the distinct feeling that arrogant, under-worked executives think they're better than everybody else. Who wouldn't feel superior when you're better off than royalty of old?
Sure, the solution may seem simple: move to Brooklyn or Hoboken, put the children in public schools and buy a MetroCard. But more than a few of the New York-based financial executives who would have their pay limited are men (and they are almost invariably men) whose identities are entwined with living a certain way in a certain neighborhood west of Third Avenue: a life of private schools, summer houses and charity galas that only a seven-figure income can stretch to cover.Boo Hoo Hoo! Executives don't like rules. They certainly don't like the new rules that would limit their pay at companies that accept government bailout money. Vacation homes, chauffeurs, personal trainers, private schools and tutors. They may have to cut back. Maybe Bob Geldof can organize a benefit concert.
Just a couple of months ago the case was made not to bail out the ailing Big Three automakers. Labor costs were out of control we were told! Those union auto-workers -- with all those perks like health-care and pensions -- were earning close to $80 an hour! Except it was all misinformation. In 2006 a typical UAW-represented assembler at GM earned $27.81 per hour.
Sometimes I get the distinct feeling that arrogant, under-worked executives think they're better than everybody else. Who wouldn't feel superior when you're better off than royalty of old?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)