I wish I knew

According to a recent report by the Institute for Policy Studies, American taxpayers are subsidizing CEO compensation to the tune of $14 billion dollars a year through tax deductions, accounting schemes, and tax deferrments.  One of the authors of the study notes that this comes to $46 for every man, woman, and child in America, and that it is comparable to all of us buying a CEO lunch.

I'd love to know where they're eating lunch, because in the emaycee household $138 would buy us lunch pretty close to ten times at the local Taco Bell, and maybe even more if we ate the $5 pizza at Little Caesar's a couple of times.

That being said, just who the fuck decided that allowing loopholes for uber millionaires and uber profitable corporations to write off even more of their riches was a good idea?  And can we make sure that the fucking idiot (s) is never let anywhere near the U.S. tax code again?

I mean, fucking really.  "Free" enterprise, indeed.

Peace,
emaycee

Yakety-yak, don't come back

Blah, blah, blah, old Nolan, blah, blah, blah, it's not about tax cuts, it's about spending, blah, blah, blah, skip to my lou, who cares if there's no empirical evidence that tax cuts create jobs, cock-a-doodle-doo, cut spending, cut spending, never mind the failure and human toll of austerity measures, put the needle to the record, yo, cut it....

Yawn.  In fact, double yawn.

And try feeding that bullshit to the mobs in Spain.  Or else pay careful attention to them--because if such brutal austerity measures are ever enacted here in the States (where we're raised from birth to believe that we we have a God-given right to live like millionaires) the Spanish protests are going to seem quite tame compared to the Mansonesque circus you're going to see here. 

You never know when you just might need some useful tips on dumpster diving.

Peace,
emaycee

It's a madhouse, a madhouse!

Seems republicans are convinced, now that it appears their brutally bad Presidential nominee is headed for defeat (and barring an economic collapse, it appears President Obama is going to cruise to victory), that those pesky polls are skewed with too many Democratic voters.

Goethe once wrote that "The illusions which exalt us are clearer than a thousand noble truths."

emaycee isn't nearly as prosaic as Mr. Goethe, but he thinks you couldn't convince the modern republican party that the sky was fucking blue if it upset their worldview that consevatism is God's gift to mankind, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Peace,
emaycee

Daddy, what does gall mean?

Well,  my son, a good example would be this:

Seems one Harvey Golub, an investment banker (cue roll of the eyes) and one-time chairman of AIG  ($182.3 billion U. S. government bailout, AIG that is) thinks that President Obama violated every principle of bankruptcy proceedings because he gave too much to the UAW (those moneybags auto workers) and disregarded the bondholders when the U.S. government bailed out the auto industry with one-third what they gave just to AIG, $63.4 billion.

What is it with the wealthy that any time the working man catches a piddling break it just busts their buttons?  And what part of "free enterprise" don't they get?  Isn't investing in a company always a bit of a crap shoot?  I mean it's not enough that the rich catch and can buy every break possible, they want us to load the dice when they invest, too? 

For fuck's sake, Francis.

By the way, son, in case you were wondering what delusional means, check out Mr. Golub's prediction at the end of the article that Mitt Romney will win the Presidency by "five or six points" and have a mandate.  Maybe in Backwater, U.S.A., but the rest of us live in Realityville and we'll be giving President Obama a comfortable victory come November 6th.

Peace,
emaycee

Hello darkness my old friend...

What a long, strange month it's been....

So I've been doing a lot of driving this month and been getting my share of nasty gestures (man, those republicans are horrid fucking losers--really courageous, too, the way they drive beside me, honk their horn, give me the finger--or a thumbs down--and then zoom away, like I'm packing fucking heat, or going to risk an accident to chase them down and get their license number so I can call the police and say the mean old man flipped me the bird)--it ought to be a whole hell of a lot of fun when Romney gets his ass kicked on November 6th.

Anyhoo...I happened to walk out into our parking lot to check for carts while at work the other night, when I saw this bumper sticker (somewhat surprisingly because I work for a non-profit, running a thrift store, and we cater to two kinds of customers:  poor and poorer) that said, "I'm Voting for the Mormon, not the Moron."

Those republicans are so fucking clever--regular Dane Fucking Cook's they are.

So...my question is this:  when did holding a differing opinion become, uh, stupid?  I mean for the life of me, I might consider Mitt Romney to have mistaken beliefs, I might not think much of him as a man or a human being, but I would never believe a man who has achieved what he has in life is stupid.  Greedy, yes.  Self-serving, yes.  Patronizing?  Definitely. An egotistical prick?  Yup.  A moron?  Nope.

But his followers?  You betchum, Red Rider.  Because anyone who believes that a man who graduated from Harvard, became a U. S. Senator, and then President of the United States is a moron is stupid.  Frighteningly so, and one can only hope that their idiocy will spare us the possibility of their breeding and infesting the country with more idiots.

Peace,
emaycee

It's good to be king

My two favorite comedic lines from this week's triumph:

1) "Fun Fact: Joe Biden is the only American Vice President in eleven years who hasn't shot a friend in the face."— @LOLGOP via TweetDeck
2)  ""I'm a sixth-generation Iowan, an Eagle Scout, and I was raised by my two moms, Jackie and Terry. People want to know what it's like having lesbian parents. I'll let you in on a secret: I'm awesome at putting the seat down."---Zach Wahls

It was a great week--even the non-marquee speakers (John Kerry, Sandra Fluke, Julian Castro, Ted Strickland, et al) were fantastic.  We'll be screaming in a year because they'll have broken our hearts again, but at least we'll be screaming while eating, having a place to live, and working. We can't say the same about Daddy Warbucks and Jughead.

For now, I'm just going to enjoy the glow.

Peace,
emaycee

Yup, I belong to the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party

"No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters. That matters because we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people. And that's why we need Barack Obama."

Amen, Mrs. Warren, a-fucking-men.

Peace,
emaycee

42,000,000

Of all the statements President Clinton made in his speech tonight (excellent, if a wee bit long) this is the one we should hammer on for the next two months:

Since 1961, republicans have occupied the White House 28 years and created 24 million jobs; Democrats have controlled the White House for 24 years and created 42,000,000.

That is an ass whuppin', like the New York Yankees versus the Little League World Champions. Four less years and almost twice as many more jobs.

Republicans want to make this election about the economy?  Bring it on, mother fuckers.

Peace,
emaycee

Michelle, my belle

You know the best part about Michelle Obama's otherworldly speech tonight?  That we have Bill Clinton giving the nomination speech tomorrow night followed on Thursday by another fellow who's quite good at orating--our President, Barack Obama.  Don't know if it will make a shit's worth of difference on November 6th, but it's going to be a fun week to be a Democrat.

And this from a man who wasn't even going to watch the DNC Convention (what for?  like they're going to say something to make me vote for Romney?).

Keep your fingers crossed for Mrs. Warren tomorrow night....

Peace,
emaycee

Today's numbnuts award...

...goes to Eric Cantor for this bit of utter tone deafness on Labor Day:  "Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success."

What the motherfucking fuck?  No, we fucking don't.  We celebrate the people who do the backbreaking, dirty, low-paying work for the overpaid, ignorant, and arrogant buffoons who run far too many businesses in this country.  It's not bad enough that low-lifes like Cantor spend their lives fellating these people every day to enrich themselves at the expense of ordinary Americans for the power to make ordinary Americans lives even worse, but he wants us to celebrate them on the one day that's ours?

In the words of Cee-Lo Green. "Fuck you-ooh-ooh."

Peace,
emaycee

We gotta take the bastards down

With a tip of the hat to the Dropkick Murphy's ("Take 'Em Down") for today's post title on this fine--and have I ever mentioned, my favorite holiday?--Labor Day....

While there is indeed much to be thankful to Labor Unions for--the weekend, employer provided healthcare, an end to child labor, higher wages, vacation pay, sick pay--there is still a strong need for them to fight the ills we still face:

1.  The middle class is sinking fast:  In 1971 61% of Americans were defined as middle class (income between $39,000 and $118,000); today that number has dropped to 51%.  In 1970, 62% of earned income went to the middle class, and 29% to the wealthy.  Today those numbers are 45% for the middle class and 46% for the wealthy.  Who else but labor unions will fight for more money for us?
2.  The middle class is losing hope:  85% of people who consider themselves middle class say it's getting harder to maintain their standard of living (never mind actually increasing their net worth).  In the last ten years, the number of middle class people who think their kids will be better off has decreased from 51% to 43%.  The number who think their kids will be worse off has increased from 19% to 26%.  Anybody think corporations or the wealthy are going to give the middle class a shoulder to lean on or a leg up on better wages?
3.  The (republican) man who would be Vice President has devised a budget that would cut food stamps, gut Medicaid, end Medicare as we know it, and significantly reduce Pell Grants to needy students--just for starters.  Who else is going to stand up for the poor and the elderly?  Wall Street?  Hedge Fund Managers?  Corporate CEOs?  Fuck no--it's Labor Unions, you know.

Robert Kennedy once said, "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

And that's exactly what Labor Unions do--for all of us.

Peace,
emaycee

Pandering, pathetically

I'd be the first to admit I'm not a fan of Mitch Albom--I don't think much of him as a man, as a writer, and even less of him as a sports authority.  In all honestly, I stopped reading his columns years ago after an exceedingly self-serving piece he did on the estate tax (for which he was rightfully excoriated in the letters to the editor a week later, including mine) which showed that he didn't work for the Free Press, they worked for him.  The piece was as bad as any piece I have seen written, showing a complete lack of understanding of the issue, being chock full of inaccuracies, and  frankly, insulting and disrespectful to 99% of the paper's readers.

But in fairness, a lot more people read Albom's pap than my reality.

Still, I found today's interview with Albom concerning his new book, The Time Keeper (and with what baited breath I'll be awaiting that one's release) to be just a bit on the pathetic side.  I understand the Free Press running ads promoting his work, using his best-selling status to tout their newspaper, but an ass-kissing interview with zero in the way of relevance was just appalling.

It had all the journalistic gravitas of a piece on AOL News.

You'd think they'd at least humor us that they're not Albom's subordinates.

Peace,
emaycee

A pop-up caught in foul territory

Apparently in the fantasy world of the Free Press' Stephen Henderson (Editorial Page Editor, no less) a mediocre speech with very little in the way of explanation of exactly how Mr. Romney is going to do a beter job for all of us than President Obama is considered "knock[ing] it out of the park."

Sigh.  Mr. Henderson, whose political sensibilities would be what we used to call a moderate republican (liberal on social issues, fiscally conservative) but what passes for a Liberal in the Free Press (trust me, if Mr. Henderson's political views were Liberal, I wouldn't fucking be one), thinks if only Willard was campaigning like the Governor he was in Massachusetts, all of our problems would be solved.

In a word, bullshit.  Romeny is a chameleon--he was a left-leaning republican in Massachusetts because he had to be to survive in a solidly blue state and he didn't run for re-election because he had as much chance of winning as I did and I wasn't even in the fucking race.  Mr. Romney will be completely beholden to the radical right and the Antoinettes, and if Mr. Henderson believes otherwise he is an idiot (from reading his columns he's not naive).

Funny how the Free Press never once mentioned--not fucking once--that economists are predicting that we'll create 12 million jobs by 2016 regardless of who is in the White House, and Mr. Romney promised us 12 million jobs by 2020.  Talk about things that make you go hmmmm.

If Mr. Henderson truly cared about his readers, the city of Detroit, or the state of Michigan, he would be wise to educate his readership via this piece by Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi.  It's a piece written of facts and it doesn't give a shit what republicans think of it and it doesn't give them a chance to falsely spin it.  It portrays Willard Romney for what he is:  a vulture capitalist who preys on others and offers nothing in the way of good jobs and financial security for ordinary Americans. 

We may be disappointed with the level of progress from President Obama's administration, but we will be utterly devasted economically by a Romney administation--think Bush the Lesser on steroids times two.

Peace,
emaycee

What a difference a day makes

This was the Detroit Free Press on Friday morning, trumpeting Clint Eastwood's  speech at the RNC Convention the prior evening.

This was the Detroit Free Press on Saturday morning, letting us know (about 24 hours too late) that, well, maybe, after all, it wasn't received all that well outside of mainstream republicans.

Fucking seriously?  It took the Free Press 24 hours to figure this out?  For fuck's sake, I was on the web all night Thursday and the speech was almost universally panned.  Twitter had dozens of negative comments just on the couple of sites I was following that night.

I appreciate that their readership continues to fall and that they're trying to swing a little to the right to garner more republican subscribers (and good luck with that), but Jesus H. Christ this was like a man with a tin ear trying to play a guitar.  Just brutal.

Peace,
emaycee