I have a stomach virus.
Luckily, you too can suffer nausea by reading the summary of the RedState Morning Briefing.
Repeat After Me: Tax Increases Are A Bad Idea
"Repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth ..."
— usually credited to Dr Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister of the Third Reich.
I guess the "repeat after me" idea is appropriate for the venue.
I have no problem using taxes as a way to get rid of certain, discrete negative externalities, but anything beyond that is asking for trouble. So it is more than a little bizarre to find out that there are Florida Republicans behind a $1 per pack increase in cigarette taxes. Cigarettes are nasty things, but if you are trying–as these Florida Republicans are–to raise revenues via cigarette taxes, then you are bound to be disappointed in a big way.
Sometimes when you raise taxes enough, people stop buying the taxed item. This doesn't apply when the product is highly addictive.
Liberals Laugh at Tax Flight Threat
New York state - under the leadership of Governor David Paterson - is getting ready to dramatically raise taxes on those earning greater than $250K. And faced with the threat that people earning this kind of money might move themselves or their businesses to lower-tax jurisdictions, liberals seem completely unconcerned. Indeed - if you take Rush Limbaugh as symbolic of the rest of these high-earners, they seem positively giddy.
First of all, there isn't going to be any mass exodus of rich people and businesses. Not even Rush Limbaugh is going to leave, because he probably can't get the really kinky prostitutes in Peoria. We're laughing because (once again) Rush Limbaugh said something ludicrous and we're daring him to go through.
If Rush Limbaugh is symbolic of anything, he's symbolic of the bubble that privileged Republican scumbags live in. Much like RedState, only with more people paying attention.
Beijing, Teheran, Building Bridges to Latin America
I frequently complain about Barack Obama not paying enough attention to Latin America. The region affects our security directly, yet the Obama administration gives little sign of recognizing the efforts of China, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and others to build alliances against our interests. Two recent articles help illustrate the dangers. The first deals with Iran’s ongoing efforts to strengthen supporters in Latin America’s large Arab population.
The Axis of Brown People!
Online Left Blames Talk Right and Conservatives For Recent Shooting
This weekend, three Pittsburgh police officers were gunned down in cold blood by a disturbed gunman during an hours long standoff in what is an otherwise quiet suburb. You probably wouldn’t normally think that’s a source for clever one liners, but then, you aren’t a DailyKos kid are you?
Remember RedState's call last week for revolt over laundry soap? Well, they should be giving this guy a medal. He fought back. I guess they can't take credit because he didn't shoot the cops over laundry soap.
Methinks that we hit a nerve and we hit it hard.
Iowa court decision may affect 2012 GOP primary
According to the Votemaster, the recent decision by the Iowa Supreme Court striking down a state law which defines marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman, "immensely complicates" the 2012 race for the GOP...
The Iowa Caucus is one of the first events in primary season and now the Republicans have an issue! That's complicates things because without opposition to gay marriage, they got nothing. NOTHING.
Obama: standing between bankers and pitchforks? Really?
Yes really. Let's see RedState sqirm out of it by repeating the "Democrats authorized the AIG bonuses" lie:
Oh, I know that Americans are "outraged" over this issue: Gallup told us so, after all. Gallup also told us that there’s no consensus on how to get that money back, not to mention the fact that the Democratic Congress got almost a low a grade on how they handled this as AIG did. Which is fair, because it’s because of the Democrats - and President Obama - that those bonuses were distributed in the first place. Still, you can look at that and at Rasmussen and conclude that the American people want the money given back. Fine.
Actually, the bonuses were perfectly legal. The Democrats introduced a measure to stop bonuses in future bailouts (i.e. ones not architected by Bush) but that wouldn't have stopped the AIG bonuses. Idiots.
American President thinks ‘Austrian’ is a language
President Barack Obama made a world-class gaffe in front of the entire planet’s press during his news conference in Strasbourg, France. He said he didn’t know what a particular word would be in "Austrian."
Actually, the Austrian dialect of German has a lot of its own unique idioms. Nevertheless, Obama did probably misspeak. Remember, though, that the guys who are attacking him for this "world-class" gaffe supported a guy who thought that people in Latin America speak Latin. Really.
McCain to Amnesty Backers: You’re On Your Own (Scroll to bottom for article)
In a broader sense though, this is nothing more than just desserts, right? McCain upset most conservatives with his pursuit of immigration reform. He certainly devoted more political capital to the goal than Barack Obama - whom many latinos fear is giving nothing more than lip service to the cause. Now that Obama has all the levers of power, the hispanic community can hold him accountable. And whatever effort he makes, it’ll likely be with no Republican help to speak of.
That "no Republican help to speak of" is why Hispanics voted for Barack — they knew that whatever McCain might be doing, his party just saw them as a mass of dirty immigrants who should all be deported at gunpoint.