Visual source: Newseum
ZOMG! A policy discussion broke out in the Washington Post!
Perhaps no one has more at stake in this year’s presidential election than the ultra-wealthy.
If Republican front-runner Mitt Romney reaches the White House, he will push for the top 1 percent of American earners to save an average of $150,000 in taxes, according to an analysis of his tax plan by the Tax Policy Center. In a second Obama administration, these Americans would pay about $83,000 more than they do now.
Cue the fake mommy wars. We need a distraction from all this policy talk about the ultra-wealthy.
Kathleen Parker:
Rosen vs. Romney: A faux girl fight
Stay-at-home moms (SAHMs) allegedly were insulted. Working mothers who allegedly envy SAHMs recoiled from the blinding truth of Rosen’s observation. Single moms with mouths to feed and no jobs allegedly were furious at the Romneys’ apparent cluelessness.
Regular folks, meanwhile, who know better than to argue about “women issues” when the political masses are engaged, somehow managed to get through another night without pondering whether the gender gap can ever be bridged.
NY Times on a NYC housing rebound:
Even though the most recent market reports show Manhattan real estate prices holding steady, as they have for more than two years, other signs indicate that the New York City market may finally be willing to stop flirting with recovery and commit wholehearted.
Don't choke on your coffee when you read about the prices. it's a different world in NY.
Charles Blow:
This is a moment when America should be proud. The wheels of justice are finally turning. The State of Florida has taken up the cause of the dead boy. His life is no more, but his legacy will live forever.
The state will vigorously prosecute, and Zimmerman will be vigorously defended as is his constitutional right.
NY Times editorial notes the one-sided politics at the NRA:
Polls show Republicans enjoy heavy support and donations from gun owners. In return, the gun lobby has had steady success in weakening gun laws — especially in the two dozen statehouses that followed Florida in enacting new self-defense laws to allow the instant use of deadly force in a confrontation rather than retreat from danger. These laws are fostered by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, with heavyweight business supporters like Walmart, a major gun retailer.
Adam Winkler:
But if gun control is dead politically, it remains alive and well in the courts, despite a few high-profile Supreme Court rulings. For all the talk of America’s gun culture, we also have a gun-control culture. Gun control is as much a part of America’s DNA as the Second Amendment and the six-shooter.
Chris Mooney tries to make sense of it all:
“Open people everywhere tend to have more liberal values,” said psychologist Robert McCrae, who conducted voluminous studies on personality while at the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health.
Conservatives, in contrast, tend to be less open — less exploratory, less in need of change — and more “conscientious,” a trait that indicates they appreciate order and structure in their lives. This gels nicely with the standard definition of conservatism as resistance to change — in the famous words of William F. Buckley Jr., a desire to stand “athwart history, yelling ‘Stop!’ ”
I call myself a liberal, so this description of openness resonates with me. But I think it’s vital for everyone to understand, and it needn’t be seen as threatening or a put-down; it seems to be part of the nature of politics.
Chris' new book,
The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science — and Reality will be reviewed Sunday by DarkSyde.
Don't forget to clean out the freezer before you go on vacation.
With the clock ticking down to Tax Day, money is on the minds of many Americans. When it comes to the “mad” money they keep in their homes, where do they like to stash it? More than one in four Americans — 27% — reports they hide their money in the freezer. 19% of residents “sock” their green away while 11% sleep well at night with their cash stuffed under their mattress. One in ten — 10% — buries their dough in the cookie jar while 9% leave their loot in some other household location. 17% say there is no good place in the home to hide their money, and 7% are unsure..
Atrios: WANKER OF THE DECADE - Runner Up #3 Joe Klein.
He's a fairly typical Democrat who hates Democrats, liberal who hates liberals, the real problem with the Democrats being unions, hippies, people who hate the military, people who vote for Democrats, the Democrats they vote for. The usual.
He spent years being America's Concern Troll when it came to Iraq. He opposed the war except, you know, he didn't really bother to tell anybody. He wasn't all that much of a fan of how things were playing out, but the real problem, of course, were the Democrats who were trying to kill off all of our troops by cutting off funding.
Wankers 4 thru 9 are
here.