Was our military crippled in 2007

Even with a few less of these, we'll be all right.Pentagon Budget: (.XLS file)

2011: $712.655 billion

With the failure of the Super Congress, the Pentagon is facing a $600 billion cut over 10 years, or $60 billion per year. That would be a $662.655 billion budget.

Republicans and Pentagon officials are freaking out, claiming the cuts would "cripple" the agency.

In 2007, the nation spent $603 billion on the Pentagon and the nation's wars. Adjust that for inflation, and the total is?

$669.41 billion

Was the nation's military crippled in 2007?

No?

Then they need to shut the f' up.

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Obamas Concession on Bush Tax Cuts Bites Again

There is no substitute for political courage. In 2010, citing the frail economy, the president made the choice to extend even the cuts he had promised to fight. The White House claimed victory at the time, pointing to GOP concessions in the same[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/taylormarshcom/~3/XonLZeQDkjo/

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Who is November's Scoundrel of the Month

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, but here in Washington, the turkeys have been on parade all month. We?ve caught politicians gobbling up corporate dollars, others cooking up lies, and even a presidential candidate offering a half-baked attempt to subvert our election laws. Thankfully, you can call out this boorish behavior by naming one of them CREW?s Scoundrel of the Month!
November?s nominees: Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH):
One of the Most Corrupt Members of Congress, Rep. Schmidt accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in free legal services from lawyers hired by a special interest group. She also may have lied to congressional investigators about the matter. [ VOTE ]

House Committee Leaders:
More pay-to-play games in Congress. Our research revealed that chairs and ranking members of many House committees are raking in campaign cash from the very industries they are supposed to be monitoring and regulating. How often do you think these members bite the hands that feed them? [ VOTE ]

The Super Committee:
The brief three month existence of the super committee turned out to be a boon for its members and a bust for Americans. Committee members? PACs saw a 62% increase in contributions when compared to 2009. Americans saw a 0% increase in the effectiveness of Congress. [ VOTE ]

Herman Cain:
He may want to be a different kind of candidate, but he still has to play by the rules. We caught Mr. Cain?s presidential campaign taking in $40,000 in illegal corporate contributions from the Wisconsin-based Prosperity USA, Inc. We've asked the FEC to take a closer look. [ VOTE ]

FEC Commissioners:
And speaking of the FEC, there?s yet another scandal at the already dysfunctional agency. This time we uncovered how the three Republican commissioners are working in conjunction with right-wing activists. It?s time for President Obama to step in and clean house at this thoroughly inept agency. [ VOTE ]

Who will earn a place on the wall of shame alongside the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Sen. David Vitter, et al? Cast your vote between now and noon eastern time Monday the 28th and we?ll announce the winner on our Twitter feed (so make sure you?re following us).Thank you for your support,

Melanie Sloan

Read The Full Article:
http://thepoliticsofjamiesanderson.blogspot.com/2011/11/who-is-novembers-scoundre
l-of-month.html

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Privatize the VA Who Me

Romney walking away fast from his proposal to privatize the VA. [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/uaWc467yqHQ/privatize_the_v
a_who_me.php

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Superfail! 7 Amazing Supercommittee Headlines
You'll Never See

Discussion of the "Super Committee" debacle continues to misguide and misinform the public in an all-too-familiar way. Once again the consensus in the media and among political leaders reflects the misperceptions of an insular Washington culture, rather than the economic or political realities of most Americans.

The Republican and Democratic co-chairs said today that "we end this process united in our belief that the nation's fiscal crisis must be addressed." That's how this exercise in misplaced priorities ends: With a "bipartisan" statement about the urgency of our "fiscal crisis" - deficits - rather than our massive and much more immediate economic crisis of jobs and stagnating wages. And with that, the media onslaught begins. Now we'll see hundreds of new headlines screaming that the Committee "failed."

What we won't see are headlines explaining what really happened: That this failure was inevitable; that it reflects the wishes of most people, Republicans as well as Democrats; that Occupy Wall Street played a large part in the outcome; that Republicans never intended to compromise and Democrats shot themselves in the foot; that this "failure" will be good for most businesses - and for the rest of us too; or that a misguided and right-leaning consensus turned leaders of both parties into cheerleaders for ill-timed budget cuts even as the economy continued to burn down all around them.

Here are seven more accurate - and more eye-catching - headlines you won't see in your major media outlets.

OCCUPY MOVEMENT WINS MAJOR VICTORY
Unpopular 'Supercommittee' Deal Stymied by Popular Opinion

Democrats tried. They really tried. They were ready to accept deal points that the polls - and their hearts - should have forced them to refuse: Benefit cuts to Social Security and Medicare. A permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. A deal that was heavily weighted toward spending cuts, rather than revenues, even during an economic crisis.

They might have done it, too, except for one thing: The Occupy movement has changed the subject from the Washington-driven theme of deficits to the economic hardships faced by most people in this country. Sure, the Tea Party is getting credit (yes, I said "credit") for killing a disastrous deal, and it's true that it played an important role.

But so did the Occupy movement. There was talk of occupying Congress, and even occupying the "Super" meeting's meeting space in the now-infamous Room 200. A march and rally is scheduled for tomorrow, and an Occupy group walking from Wall Street to Washington is scheduled to arrive the day after tomorrow.

Democrats who signed on to this deal were going to feel the wrath of the 99%, and there's no way they couldn't have known it. People who have spent the last two years wishing that they had a Tea Party of their own, one that would pressure Dems the way the Tea Party pressures Republicans, can now rest easy. It's here. And it's changing things.

The moral for Democrats? Embrace jobs and growth, not cuts and austerity. You'll thank yourself next November. And some Republicans will probably thank you, too, as you'll see from the next headline.

GOP VOTERS HOLD "EXTREME" VIEW OF CUTS - EXTREMELY "LIBERAL," THAT IS
"Left" Anti-Supercommittee Views Supported by Almost 3 Out of 4 Republicans

We're already hearing that the unwillingness of some Democrats to sign on to cuts in Social Security and Medicare - the few, the proud, the real Dems - is a sign of "ideological rigidity on the extreme left." Pundits are referring Senators like Bernie Sanders and Representatives like the members of the House Progressive and African-American Caucuses.

Extreme left? Their position is supported by three out of four voters - Republican voters, that is. A new poll confirms what previous polls have shown: Once voters have these proposed deals explained to them, they hate them.

Nearly three out of four voters are against changing Social Security's cost of living adjustment (COLA), as the White House and some Democratic supercommittee members were prepared to do. That includes 70 percent of Republicans and 78 percent percent of seniors, who turn out to vote in larger numbers than other age groups.

The next time somebody says these Democrats were being too ideologically rigid, ask them what's wrong with representing the party's rank and file. Especially when that includes other party's rank and file too.

GOP 'COMPROMISE' HOAX SPREAD BY PRESS, PUNDITS
Supposed "compromise" was actually more extreme than ever

It seems almost unkind to point to this piece by Ruth Marcus, who said last week that she was "uncharacteristically optimistic" that the Committee actually would reach a deal. Then we're reminded that she writes for the Washington Post, newspaper for the Federal government's "company town."

Why was Ms. Marcus optimistic? Because, as her headline reads, "Republicans were (making) room for tax increases after all." Why? Because far-right Sen. Pat Toomey and far-right Rep. Jeb Hensaerling were rhetoric from their "no new taxes" rhetoric and offering, in her words, "a deal that included -- gasp! -- a net increase in tax revenue from the current level."

She added: "I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, but pigs are flying here, folks."

Flying? No. Squealing? I wouldn't say that - too disrespectful. But why the enthusiasm from Ms. Marcus? Because, she says, "he once-sacred principle of not raising taxes -- any taxes, ever -- has been breached."

But it hadn't been. As she herself is fair enough to point out, Republicans were still offering a tax cut, given that Bush's cuts are due to expire. And the deal they offered wasn't a cut for most Americans - only for the wealthiest among us. They were actually proposing another slashing of the high-end rate, which is scheduled to go back to 39+%, down to 28%. In return they were offering "revenues" - by eliminating tax deductions the middle class depends on, especially in these difficult time.

Ms. Marcus and dozens of other commentators have successfully pushed the idea that "both sides were willing to compromise," but were stymied by "extremists" in their own party. Not true. Extremists run the Republican Party. And as for the Democrats ...

DEMS DEMAND TO GO ON RECORD AS EAGER TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE
Party Leaders Deny Defending Popular Programs, Insist They Were Prepared to Gut Them

There's a great narrative for the Democrats here, if they're willing to take it: We said 'no' to cutting your benefits to protect rich people. Instead they're insisting on making it clear to the American people that they did no such thing.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that it was Republican intransigence on taxes, not Democratic willingness to bend on these programs, that scuttled the deal. Combined with Carney's past statements supporting that unpopular COLA cut, that means the Administration is still on record as saying it wasn't prepared to defend these benefit from cuts that the public despises. Instead, Carney bemoaned the GOP's refusal to sign on to a 'grand bargain' that would have done exactly that.

The Democratic supercommittee members were even more flatfooted. "If we fail to do this it will define 2012 going forward," Sen. John Kerry said last week. That's insisting on defining a victory - "We defended your benefits from the party of the rich!" - as failure.

If Dems had any illusions that Republicans wouldn't use this against them, they should already have been dispelled. ""It is another example of failed leadership," said Mitt Romney. "(Obama) has not taken personal responsibility to get the super committee to find ways to balance the budget and cut spending."

Which gets us to our next headline.

WASHINGTON MOURNS MISSED CHANCE TO ENSURE A 'LOST DECADE'
Leaders lament lost opportunity to inflict ten years of economic misery

From CNBC: "The austerity measures being rolled out in countries across Europe will have a devastating effect on the living standards of its population, an economist told CNBC Friday. These reforms are going to be devastatingly impacting (sic) on the population in these countries. We are looking at a decade of lost living standards across most of Europe."

The economist, James Shugg from Westpac, added that austerity measures, while "part of the solution," will only "deepen the downturn." Here's the problem: They're only "part of the solution" because no one in Washington seems willing to address our real economic problems in a genuine way.

And the fact is, they won't work. Savvy business people know that.

BUSINESS LEADERS CELEBRATE SUPERCOMMITTEE FAILURE
They're grateful that cuts won't be enacted and make things worse, say executives.

We keep hearing that "business" wants these cuts, but that's only true for the mega-corporations and billionaires that dominate the Washington conversation. What do the other businesses say, the ones that hire people and help to grow the economy?

As Business For Shared Prosperity reports in a new press release, some savvy business leaders are celebrating the "defeat."

"Demand drives business, not tax cuts," said Lew Prince, said the managing partner of a St. Louis music store, who is quoted in the press statement. "I hire more workers if I think I'll do more business." Austerity cuts means a stagnating economy. That means people don't buy as much as they once did at Lew Prince's store. And that means fewer jobs.

Frank Knapp, President and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce and Vice Chairman of the American Sustainable Business Council, was even more blunt: "I'm sick of people who wrecked the economy and their defenders in Congress blaming others for killing jobs. The high-end Bush tax cuts are a big part of the problem ... We need revenue for real job creation and economic renewal, not more job-killing budget cuts, job-killing corporate tax dodging and job-killing millionaires and billionaires not paying their fair share of taxes."

Real business leaders know what's needed in their world, the real world: investment in growth and jobs. Both parties chose to focus on the secondary problem of deficits once again, and they did so knowing that the GOP's primary goal is to sabotage Obama, not solve problems.

Which gets us to our last headline:

IN SURPRISE DEVELOPMENT, TERRIBLE IDEA NOT WORKING OUT WELL
Pundits, Washington leaders express shock and dismay at failure of unpopular committee to agree on widely-hated cuts

Some stories just write themselves.

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‘Family’ Leader Gives
Gingrich’s Divorces A Pass

The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins has joined Bob Vander Plaats and other social conservatives in downplaying the consequences of Newt Gingrich’s multiple divorces while regularly trumpeting that marriage equality undermines the family. In an appearance yesterday on Fox News’ Geraldo at Large, Perkins told Geraldo that Gingrich’s three divorces could be “problematic,” but they’re “known” and clearly not holding him back in the polls. Rather than addressing the integrity of Gingrich’s values, Perkins attacked Mitt Romney multiple times as being untrustworthy. Watch it:

(HT: Equality Matters)

Update

During an appearance with Chris Matthews this afternoon, Perkins — who is very generously described as an “honest conservative” — seemed to walk back his statements, suggesting that some conservatives will object to Gingrich’s affairs:

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You Can Buy The Tear Gas Used On UC Davis
Students On Amazon.com

You, too, can repress students with tear gas thanks to Amazon.com.

The irony of such a powerful crowd control weapon being available to buy on a consumer website is not lost on a group of reviewers, who have written comedic reviews of the product, praising it for being the best to repress students:

Lest you might be worried about the ramifications of selling brutal crowd control weapons on Amazon.com, the site does also offer pepper spray reliever (through an outside link to Sierra Post).

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Over 60 New York Solar Companies Say They Can
Help Fox’s Bill O’Reilly Go Solar — Will He Live Up to His Word

Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly likes to say he operates in a “no spin zone.” So when O’Reilly proclaimed recently that he wanted to install solar on his Long Island home, dozens of solar companies in New York took him at his word.

Speaking on his show to Alan Colmes last week, O’Reilly said he was ready to buy a solar system, but that he couldn’t find anyone in the area to do it: “There’s nowhere, no one,” he exclaimed.

Well, today, his predicament is solved. A group of 60 New York-based solar companies have signed an open letter to Mr. O’Reilly explaining that they’d be more than willing to help him make an investment in solar:

Dear Mr. O’Reilly,

We hear you are ready to go solar pending your ability to locate a solar provider. We represent some of the hundreds of solar companies currently operating in New York State. We would be happy to help you get started with your investment in solar so you can join the many New Yorkers who are already saving money on their monthly utility bills by generating their own power.
Signed,

Clean Power Finance
Community Energy
EcoOutfitters.net
Energy by Choice
ETM Solar Works
Innovated Energy Solutions
KPS Solar
Mercury Solar Systems
One Block Off the Grid
RH Innovation Inc
SolarCity
Sungevity
Sunrise Energy Concepts
SunRun
Suntech America
Trinity Solar
Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY) ? representing 20 companies with solar operations in New York.
Long Island Solar Energy Industries Association (LIPA) ? representing 25 solar electric contractors on Long Island.

Dave Llorens, CEO fast-growing solar company One Block Off the Grid, says he could draft a quote for O’Reilly in minutes:

“There are tons of solar installers that work on Long Island. We can show him the economics of solar (and they are strong there) by whipping up a quote for his house in 10 minutes. If Bill is serious about actually installing solar, we’d be delighted to help him understand the investment.”

So there you have it: Can we take Bill O’Reilly, the self-proclaimed master of “no spin,” at his word? With the cost of solar continuing to fall and dozens of companies to choose from, this is the perfect opportunity for him to invest in a system.

If you want to see O’Reilly back up his word, we suggest sending him this tweet:

Over 60 NY #solar companies can help Bill O’Reilly of the @oreillyfactor install a system. Will he live up to his word? http://bit.ly/tjdR1B

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Open thread and Sunday review: Religious liberty,
Jim Crow and propaganda

What you missed on Sunday Kos ?.

• Matt Wuerker's comic was It's good to be Supreme.
• Catholic bishops are mounting a campaign to demand "religious liberty." Hunter didn't think the phrase means what they think it means.
• In "Backsliding into Jim Crow," Denise Oliver-Velez examined Alabama's racist anti-immigrant law HB 56, its impact and the coalition of civil rights activists working against it.
• For 46 million Americans, poverty is a lived reality. With no shortage of Republicans blaming the poor for poverty and trying to slash the safety net, Laura Clawson asked if thought experiments in poverty by religious and political leaders or by the working non-poor have any potential to change the debate.
• Meteor Blades showed that, even in the age of Facebook and YouTube, the printed propaganda poster still has political impact and echoes its ancestors of a century ago.
• Income inequality is the cause, the result, and the goal. Mark Sumner wondered if we'll escape the plutocracy death spiral.
• From luxury Greek cruise to fact-finding mission on the plight of the working class: Georgia Logothetis examined Newt Gingrich's latest campaign spin and other attempts by the ruling class to "connect" with ordinary Americans, just in time for election season.
• Laurence Lewis explored the larger meanings behind the circulating rumors about the crackdown on the Occupy movement's encampments.
• Kids may not learn much labor history in school, but there are some wonderful books and movies telling stories of what working conditions were like in the past, and the struggles to change them. With the holidays coming up, Laura Clawson suggested some of these that would make good gifts.

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House Republican Budget Cuts Could Force Markets
Watchdog To Lay Off 8 Percent Of Its Staff

Last week, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee released a bill that would provide far less funding to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission than the Obama administration requested for 2012. The CFTC — which polices the nation’s commodities markets, including the oil market — was given broad new responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, so the stingy budget offered by the House GOP may force the agency to lay off up to 60 workers, which is 8 percent of its workforce. ?Right now, the math doesn?t work,? Bart Chilton, a CFTC commissioner, told Politico. ?Instead of powering up to meet a mandate from Congress, we could be powering down.?

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