Adelson, the Left and The Lobby

Man,... if Adelson keeps it up, he may end up owning the GOP.

[AP source: Adelson giving $10 million to aid GOP | Fox News]

The left is trying hard to make him look bad by playing up the [Chinese connection] but again, Adelson doesn't care about buying influence for China, he only cares about one thing,.. full US support of all things Israeli. Complete, full, unquestioned US support for Israel which leads to more US tax dollars to Israel which leads to more hatred of the US by Muslims around the world.

The left is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they don't stop the Adelson money flow they may loose the election but they can't push too hard or risk offending "The lobby".


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Investing for the Future

In America we invest in the future of corporations.

Comic found here:  Dangerous Minds | WTF America: ‘When is enough going to be enough for you?’:

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US Health Care

US Health care compared to the rest of the planet.
























Supreme Court set to Take US Health Care in Direction of Sub-Saharan Africa (Map) | Informed Comment:

Originals here [Wikipedia]

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Supreme Court Humor

A little humor from Balkinization on what promises to be a heavy, Supreme-Court-news day.

Balkinization: Supreme Court Strikes Down All Laws Signed By Barack Obama:

Supreme Court Strikes Down All Laws Signed By Barack ObamaJB
Associated Press, Wednesday, Jun 27th 

WASHINGTON (AP)-- In a suprising announcement, the United States Supreme Court assembled one day earlier than expected and announced their decision in the highly contested health care litigation.
In a 5-4 decision, the Justices struck down not only the entire Affordable Care Act, but all legislation signed by Barack Obama since he became president.
Departing from Supreme Court tradition, Justice Antonin Scalia published his concurring opinion on his new blog, It's Nino's Law: Get Used to It. In his opening post, Justice Scalia explained:
Not to be outdone, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg published her dissenting opinion on Twitter:

Having held that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, we next consider whether the mandate is severable or is inextricably related to the rest of the Affordable Care Act. Upon further reflection, it appears to us that all of President Obama's efforts since his election have been part of an elaborate scheme to foist European-style socialism on an unsuspecting public. See generally, Fox and Friends (collecting examples of Obama's socialist agenda); The Rush Limbaugh Show (same). Like the ACA itself, none of these acts contains an explicit severability clause stating that if one law is held unconstitutional the others should remain standing. We therefore conclude that all laws signed by President Obama during his term in office are void.

Since my recent opinion in Arizona v. United States I've finally realized that what I've really always wanted to be is a conservative pundit. Therefore from now on all my opinions will appear as blog posts. Oh, and by the way, why does Barack Obama hate America?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg @ruthiebg

OMG! WTF!

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Anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan

Survey: Anti-U.S. sentiment on the rise in Pakistan - latimes.com:

In the last couple of years, Washington has tried to earmark a bigger chunk of its aid to Pakistan for civilian projects that would engender goodwill with the country’s intensely anti-American populace. The latest polling suggests the step-up in aid isn’t doing any good.

Do you think maybe all those [Drone Strikes] might be pissing them off?

Also, I'm not sure what flag is burning here but its not the Start and Stripes.

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Government Waste?

Looks like more US tax dollars headed to Israel.

Co-chair of Bipartisan Policy Center to Congress: Israel needs bombs, refueling tankers for strike on Iran - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper:

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Foreign Money in US elections.

[McCain says foreign money influencing US elections, sneaking in through super PACs - The Washington Post]

"McCain, the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee, suggested casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s $10 million contribution to a pro-Romney super PAC was a conduit for Adelson to use profits from properties in Macau to shape American elections."

Though the article states that Adelson's money came from Macau, leading readers to believe that Macau is trying to influence the US election, that money has nothing to do with Macau. In reality, Adelson's money has one goal, to buy US support of Israel but no US media outlet would dare print that.

A few links: [Adelson 1] - [Adelson 2] - [Adelson 3]

The Tax-Deductibility of Horse-Related Expenses

From: [The Tax-Deductibility of Horse-Related Expenses - Matthew Yglesias]

The Romney campaign hasn't spelled out what kind of tax deductions it wants to close in order to pay for lower headline income tax rates, but perhaps something related to horses could do the trick:

As millions tune into the Olympics in prime time this summer, just before Mr. Romney will be reintroducing himself to the nation at the Republican convention, viewers are likely to see “up close and personal” segments on NBC about the Romneys and dressage, a sport of six-figure horses and $1,000 saddles. The Romneys declared a loss of $77,000 on their 2010 tax returns for the share in the care and feeding of Rafalca, which Mrs. Romney owns with Mr. Ebeling’s wife, Amy, and a family friend, Beth Meyers.

It's of course true that curbing the deductibility of expenses related to the care and feeding of dressage horses might inhibit investment in the critical dressage sector of the economy. But I'm skeptical that incentivizing capital formation in this particular area is all that vital to the long-term prosperity of the country.

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The Middle Class

Households making between $250K and $1M a year are not ‘middle class’ | Economic Policy Institute:

87% of US households make less than $100,000, yet our media and political elites fail to act on taxes because they can't agree if an annual income of  $250,000 a year is middle class. Let me help them....

If 87 out of 100 US families make less than $100,000, then  $250,000 a year is NOT "the middle class". 

Sure $250,000 in New York City is not the same as $250,000 in Bumfuck, Kansas but who cares? You're just not talking about that many households. 87 out of 100 households make way less than that. A tax increase on those over $250,000 is not going to touch most Americans.

Raise the damn income tax on those making over 250,000 and do something positive with the money.

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Good Stuff in this rant

Manifesto Joe's Texas Blues: 10 Biggest Lies Of The Right Wing:

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Debunking economic myths

A good, clear, short post explaining three economic myths that most non-economists believe and are promoted almost daily in the media.

myth No. 1: Firms are job creators. 

myth No. 2. It's the idea that governments should work by the same budgetary rules as families, typified by balanced budget requirements. 

myth No. 3: Federal deficits are the scariest problem the economy faces.

[Debunking economic myths, or the trouble with what you think you know | OregonLive.com:]


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Jonik Editorial Cartoons

Here's just a few of many great cartoons found here: Jonik Editorial Cartoons:

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A Cartoon with a Question...

For the people who watch the Propaganda Network.

Found here: [Faux News & Patriotism (Jamiol Cartoon) | Informed Comment]:

from here: [jamiolsworld.com]

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Big Government...

.. is really shrinking, with over 600,000 government jobs lost since August 2008.

Found here:

Off the Charts Blog | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | The State and Local Drag on the Recovery:

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Other Peoples Money

from [In Jail for spending other peoples money]

A 22-year-old Bensalem Township man who found an extra $69,300 mistakenly deposited into his bank account surrendered today on charges he spent most of the money.

He should have invested it in some risky financial instrument, then he could have kept his job and got the government to bail him out.

tnb

American Royalty

Mike Pence lives in Virginia, politics in Indiana.

[Residency complaints target Pence | Palladium-Item | pal-item.com]:

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Indiana's 500M Mistake

Well, I guess we know where that "found" money will be going.

[Indiana hires Deloitte to assess $500M mistakes - CBS News]:

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Running for Office in the US

You're not really a valid candidate unless you've been given the thumbs-up by Israel.

[Netanyahu vets possible Romney VP]:

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Divide and Conquer

This ... found here: [Dangerousminds.net]

A CEO, Tea Partier, and a union organizer sit down at a table, on which there is a dish of 12 cookies. The CEO takes 11 of the cookies and says to the Tea Partier, “That union guy wants part of your cookie.

is a shorter version of this... [Resentment - Lawyers, Guns & Money]

tnb

Young cannabis users 'do not realise the huge danger to their health' - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent

The headline...

[Young cannabis users do not realize the huge danger to their health - The Independent]

but buried in the story ....

Two long-term studies of the drug involving more than 100,000 people in Sweden and the US found no increase in deaths. Unlike tobacco, cannabis does not contain nicotine and so is not addictive.

So why is it illegal? "because we said so"...

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Hypocrites

When the Syrian military killed some civilians the we wanted their leaders to step down.

'Afghan civilians killed' in NATO airstrike - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English:

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Improving a Cartoon?

Found here: Political Irony › Too Much Information:

I think this cartoon would have been more effective if the last panel had been a Tea-bagger saying something like "Yeah!... get government out of the way"

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Drone Attacks

Didn't we used to be the good guys?

[CIA revives attacks on rescuers in Pakistan (Woods) | Informed Comment]:

[Glen Greenwald: U.S. again bombs mourners]

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Kasich - Ohio

Kasich now blaming job numbers on Obama?:

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Believe!!!

You really just shouldn't believe a thing you hear on corporate media. They're all spinning the story to make themselves or a buddy a little more cash. All marketing, all the time.

Yeah! The Housing Bottom Is Here! (PWBC™) | The Big Picture:

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Bloomberg vs Large Sugared Drinks

I thought Bloomberg was one of those "Get-the-government-out-of our-way" folks? I guess he's only for getting the government out of the way of the rich and powerful so they can make even more money. He doesn't seem to have a problem putting government on the little people.

Bloomberg Plans a Ban on Large Sugared Drinks - NYTimes.com:

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Indiana Roads

Many things wrong here..

[Daniels fights to keep state's Toll Road perk | The Journal Gazette]

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels sold off Indiana's toll road for some quick cash but now wants the privately owned highway to count as an Indiana highway when the federal government doles out it's highway funds. The feds say it's private and shouldn't be counted for funding purposes. I'd have to agree. Its a private enterprise now, why should the feds have to send money to cover it? I thought Mitch was against government spending.

Also, this....

Asked whether the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package had made a difference in Indiana transportation projects, Daniels replied: “Well, some, yeah. We were the fastest state to use them because we had a program” in place that assigned money to highways according to economic, safety and congestion factors.

or a shorter version.... "The Obama stimulus helped us but only because we're so damned good"

Also,....

Indiana roads generally suck. I just returned to Indiana from a trip to the Gulf coast. We drove I65 from Florida to Seymour Indiana. By far the worst section of that road was in Indiana from the Ohio river to Seymour. Its narrow,.. other states have 3 lanes in high traffic areas, Indiana has two lanes most of the time. There is a constant "thump, thump, thump" as you hit the bumps they've designed into the road every 40 feet and then additional thumps as you hit the many potholes. A terrible section of road. Again, the worst of the trip by a wide margin.

Great job Mitch.

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