Arguing With Signposts

Check out this New York Times interactive graphic - “The Pay at the Top” - see if you can spot the minorities and women.

And people complain about SCOTUS nominee Sonya Sotomayor as an “affirmative action” pick?

This should piss off quite a few people.

From the article:

Banks are not required to publicly reveal how much money they make from penalty interest rates and fees, though government officials and industry consultants estimate they constitute a growing portion of revenue.

The question is “Why not?” These are publicly-traded companies that took down the entire economy. They should understand how little sympathy there is in the broader world for their “woe is me” pity party. Nobody pities the loan shark. And these folks are just wearing nicer suits.

When the government was talking about limiting executive pay, everyone was up in arms about the “sanctity of contracts.” Of course, when the contract basically says, “Screw you, I’ll do what I want,” I guess that’s sacred too.

Well, that swine flu stuff didn’t last long, did it? The media have already moved on to the latest breathless speculation, now that David Souter has announced his resignation from the Supreme Court.

My advice: Elections have consequences. Of course, Supreme Court picks don’t always turn out the way you want them - at least, they didn’t *used to* before Reagan. I hope Obama picks someone who throws the Republicans into a tizzy and turns out to be a reliable progressive voice on the court.

That is all.

Sadly, No! reports that Dick Armey and Steve Forbes are pushing the flat tax these days, including the 10 reasons why the tax code should be scrapped.

Now let’s be honest: I hate the tax code. I pay good money to have taxes done each year because it’s so complex. Would I like a simpler tax code? Sure.

But the rest of those “10 reasons” are pure plutocratic spinspeak.

Even if it’s simpler, it’s still got to be progressive. Because fat cat rich types don’t pay near most of their total income in taxes (speaking of sales tax, etc.), or for bare necessities.

The simple equation is this: Any time a multimillionaire is telling you the tax code should be “fairer,” that’s a cue that you’re about to get something other than “fair” taxes.

Period. DougJ at Balloon Juice is much more kind than I am.

Today, Sullivan posts this:

The new cultural divide will not be on guns, gays and God. It will be between the makers and the takers, the producers of wealth and the recipients of redistribution. And it will be about tempering the over-reach that the Democrats will be unable to resist. But that means the critique should not be undermined by mindless partisanship now, and it should be based upon clear and constructive policy proposals to advance individual liberty and restrain the cold, clammy hand of the state. That’s the medium term challenge for the sane, imaginative, serious right. It requires discipline and thought. And it also requires time. (emphasis added)

And then, he promises the person who dissents from his claim “I’ll clarify in the a.m. But calm down. It’s not as bad as it sounded.”

Sorry, Andrew, but no. I’ve read your blog for YEARS. You, of all people, a gay man with AIDS who can’t get married keeps defending conservative ideology even while it denies your civil rights and yet you claim there are “makers and takers.”

Sorry, no. I don’t care how you spin this, you are full of shit. You don’t *make* a damn thing. You take. You take electrons. You take attention. You dismiss people who actually *make* things, who actually work for a living and denigrate them as if they have no value.

Fuck you. Seriously. I don’t know what else to say but “Fuck You.” I’m not waiting until the A.M. to find your lame-ass answer to the “dissent of the day” like it’s some kind of game.

I know too many people who work *hard* every day - harder than your happy ass - for a helluva lot less money - sometimes minimum wage. They sweat their jobs, they worry about healthcare, and they are smart people. That’s the rub, really, Andrew. They are smart people. They aren’t dumb shits. They aren’t slackers. Some of them actually fought for this country and *killed* people to make sure it stayed safe and secure. But the real problem was they weren’t born into the right families, see. They didn’t get to go to Yale or Harvard or Oxford. They don’t know anyone. They try to do their job and keep their “small” lives rolling along.

And yet they get screwed by the Masters of the Universe. And people like you who tell them they should just work harder. And you and Rush Limbaugh and others spin bullshit and tell them that if they’d just try a little harder, they’d be able to be where those Masters of the Universe are. They’d be able to be their own small business people.

But you know it doesn’t work that way, Andrew. You know there are two Americas. Your silver spoon was bought for you long ago. You have a degree from Oxford. Spare us your sanctimonious bullshit, or just buy into the Rush Limbaugh train.

Seriously, just get off the fence. Stop pretending there’s some middle ground. Either there’s a way for the workers to earn a share of the wealth through unions or other means, or you’re full of shit. Pick your ground, Andrew.

You know, the sad thing is, I share your disgust at the torture that has occurred in the name of the United States.

But I will NEVER read your Shite column again until you develop a coherent approach to the problem of the real America. The one that doesn’t sit in front of a computer every day reading RSS feeds.

I wish the American media would take a great look at the sanity of the people in Congress. Oh, teh stupid. It burns!

So many have already scrutinized and slapped down the GOP’s “Republican Road to Recovery” “budget,” that I can’t really think of anything funny to say about this:

GOP Road to Recovery - Free Legal Forms

Just check out this FARK thread. Here’s Sadly, No! And John Cole. The front pagers at the Great Orange Satan have been having a field day. I like Ezra Klein’s editor’s take: “It looks like they’re building a budget molecule.”

Look, when even James Joyner and Steven Taylor find this “embarrassing,” it’s a clear sign the party of “no” has become the party of “no new ideas.” (BTW, is it possible for one to be a “life-long” Republican? I would suspect that there is an age, perhaps until say 3 or 4, when one has no political leanings, unless stomping one’s foot and saying “no” qualifies at that early stage)

Again with this crap.

The guy just doesn’t know what to say. He can’t connect. Emotions are here, he’s over there. He can’t get the words to match the situation.

This began, I’d argue, from the first moment. He punted on the inaugural. Everybody ran around like crazy trying to praise it because if Barack Obama couldn’t give a speech then what?

But now, at week 11, we’re face-to-face with the reality, the man can’t talk worth a damn.

ORLY?

Must I pull that pollster.com graph out again?

Shocking, I know. A man with approval ratings in the 60s is being lectured by a journalist whose claim to fame is a biography of Rupert Murdoch.

I’m beginning to wonder if Obama’s genius isn’t the sheer fact that he’s showing the beltway/New York media crowd up for what they are - disconnected dumbasses who don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the country.

Newsflash: The world doesn’t revolve around you, Mr. Wolff. And people don’t care about the laugh (we understand gallows humor out here in the heartland). We damned sure don’t care about the teleprompter. And we’re willing to give the new president the benefit of the doubt for a while. He’s been in office for 60 days!

A bore? Really? A president who speaks in complete sentences. A president who fills out March Madness brackets? Give me a break, Wolff. You’re a link whore for writing this kind of crap. Journalists should do better, man.

via Sadly, No!

This was just hilarious.

Via Dave Price at Dean’s World, I see that the idiots who listen to Rush Limbaugh and think Atlas Shrugged is some sort of modern Ecclesiastes continue to whoop it up over the president’s use of a teleprompter. Case in point.

Look, if people can’t grasp the fundamentals of delivering a speech through teleprompter, or the fact that tv news people do it every freakin’ day, or the fact that George Bush and Saint Ronald Reagan used the same tool to make sure they kept to their prepared statements, there’s no hope for them.

Grow up, people.

And, as long as we’re talking about fake press outrage, why is Laura Bush’s former press secretary given legitimacy as a political journalist? Especially when he’s spinning b.s.?

BTW, I’ll say the same about all the other former flacks who occupy network news chairs like George Stephanopolous or even Chris Matthews.