Republican Heaven 2020
July 30, 2007
Link: Republican Heaven, The Year 2020
by Patrick McGann
Welcome back from your little nap. Here’s America. How do you like it?
Having achieved a "Permanent Majority" under the architecture of Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove, Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress and the White House for two decades.
Economy booms!
Driven by a robust demand for U.S. flag lapel pins (now mandatory by law), and by highly profitable private prisons, where the pins are made, Republicans are crowing this year! The nation’s largest prison provider, Halliburton, announced its 20th consecutive year of record profits. And after a prolonged period of consolidation, book publishing is rebounding as Bible production ramps up to comply with the replacement of all school text books with the King James version. Most economists, still employed, credited tax cuts.
Final phase of tax reform completed!
The last phase of tax reform has been completed. Itemized deductions are now allowed on the national sales tax for qualified individuals who spend more than $100,000 on selected items, including jewelry, furs, German and Italian automobiles over $75,000, boats over 25 feet long, real estate, stocks and stock options, certificates of deposit, limited partnerships, oil paintings by the masters, and small, medium and large businesses. Going the way of the income tax, eliminated in 2012 — in order to spur investment — property taxes have been eliminated on first, second, third, fourth or more residences valued over $500,000 each. Said Senator Riley Stickem, R- Utah, "Now the tax burden is more fairly placed on those who cause the costs."
The Real Meaning of Patriotism
July 29, 2007
James Spader of Boston Legal gives a masterful performance as a lawyer giving a summation of the case against the GOP’s vision for America:
Giffords Gets $30 Million in SCAAP Funding Restored
July 28, 2007
Link: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords gets SCAAP Funding Restored. SCAAP is the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which reimburses local law enforcement agencies for the cost of imprisoning undocumented aliens. You may remember the flap that Gov. Napolitano created by sending overdue bills to Washington for over $300 million in unpaid SCAAP reimbursements. Well, Gabby scored
Mitchell Seeks Cuts to Wealth Taxes
July 28, 2007
Link: Mitchell co-sponsors bill that aims to cut capital gains and estate tax. WTF is Mitchell thinking? Cutting Capital Gains and Estate taxes overwhelmingly benefits the wealthiest Americans, who need it least. Mitchell prattled about the ways in which these cuts would benefit the average person selling stock or a house, but completely ignored the
Andrew Thomas’ Hasty Pudding
July 28, 2007
Link: Thomas seeks faster process for death row appeals. The Maricopa County Attorney, Andrew Thomas, likes to play by Red Queen’s rules: he yells, "Off with their heads!" and every one had better jump to it. Now he’s written to AG Gonzales seeking to implement stream-lined appeals for the 113 death row inmates in Maricopa
Al Gore’s Assault on Irrationality
July 28, 2007
I was going to write my own review of Al Gore’s book "The Assault on Reason" but I found this and simply see no reasonable prospect of improving upon it:
Pullen Your Leg
July 26, 2007
Randy Pullen, the Arizona State Chairman of the GOP, whom I dearly love and revere as a wise and powerful leader for the opposition party, recently published a very amusing opinion piece about what it means to him to be a Republican. I have taken the liberty of correcting (parenthetically) the many mistakes in Randy’s
Medicaid Documentation Requirement Disproportionately Harms Non-Hispanics
July 25, 2007
Link: Medicaid Documentation Requirement Disproportionately Harms Non-Hispanics, New State Data Show: Rule Mostly Hurts U.S. Citizen Children, Not Undocumented Immigrants, 7/10/07. In yet another example of how Republican policymaking turns out to be just dumb-fuckery in disguise, a new study shows that new requirements to prove citizenship in order to obtain Medicaid benefits are actually
