Archive for August, 2011

Enter Rick Perry

I’m back from my two-week hiatus, which I spent traveling around the east coast. Nearing the end I had to cut my vacation a day short, under threat of Irene, and I headed back to Syracuse on a last minute train ticket. But, I’m back now, and during the last two weeks one of the [...]

Are they admitting that they are fake?

Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks has gone into crisis mode overnight. After cultivating the Tea Party’s “brand” over the past three years as an organically spawning libertarian movement, they now have to deal with Mitt Romney stepping on their (astro)turf. Romney plans on attending a Tea Party rally this weekend in New Hampshire to begin his new [...]

Michele Bachmann on Causality

It seems that it is all too common these days for conservative politicians to claim disparate events such as natural disasters as evidence to back up their political ideology. The latest offender was Michele Bachmann who decided to link weather patterns as the will of God affirming conservative economic policy. This weekend during a campaign [...]

Six Years After Katrina

  For about two years after Hurricane Katrina, not a day would go by without memories of the protracted nightmare interfering with my daily thoughts. I had grown up in New Orleans, and in a horrific four days spanning from August 29th to September 1st, 2005, most of what I knew about life had crumbled [...]

Reality and its Discontents

The Idiots at the Daily Beast decided to headline commentary pieces titled “Apocalypse When?” and “A Hurricane of Hype,” both decrying the media’s supposed overblown and unwarranted coverage of Hurricane Irene while simultaneously refusing to grasp the irony that their actual news Cheat Sheet had  “Blackout: 4.5 Million Without Power” and “Casualties: At least 14 [...]

Tax Policy: Eric Cantor versus Eric Cantor

 Eric Cantor on the need to extend the Bush Tax Cuts (9/20/2010): Republicans unequivocally oppose any impending tax increase. House Republicans have called on Speaker Pelosi to allow the House to vote on legislation that would freeze all tax rates for the next two years. It’s a vote the taxpayers of this country deserve before [...]

Mitt Romney Wins The Lottery

  Seems like Mitt Romney has Hurricane Irene to thank for saving face. It was only a week ago that Romney decided to take a swipe at President Obama for vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, even though he himself had a $2,500-a-plate fundraiser scheduled on Martha’s Vineyard this coming weekend. Romney, speaking of Obama, remarkably said: [...]

Republicans, Responsibility, and Natural Disasters

  As we approach the six year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, funding for disaster preparedness and response has become somewhat of a non-starter for congressional Republicans. Leading the pack is Eric Cantor of Virginia who has previously demanded that congress offset spending for disaster relief in the wake of the deadly tornados in the Midwest [...]

Politicians for Sale

From ThinkProgress: A Republican committee in Minnesota has been caught creating an eBay-style auction site to sell access with politicians, including top lawmakers like Rep. John Kline (R-MN) and Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN), as well as State House Speaker Kurt Zellers (R-MN). With bidding starting at $250, the committee offered opportunities to “get up close [...]