"The Naughty List", 2010 Edition

Hi!

Remember me?

I'm the guy who used to post new entries to this blog everyday......and then a funny thing happened. It's called "Christmas". From Thanksgiving until about 9PM last night (Happy Belated "Festivus", BTW) I've been running a 30 day sprint, trying to get things done before The Big Day. And finally, when I got up this morning, I looked around....and EVERYTHING IS FINALLY DONE!

Free at last! Now I know many of my fellow bloggers have been keeping up with current events, politics, and pop culture while I was making myself hysterical for the past three weeks. So why go through a rehash of everything that's been said already? Those guys know what they're talking about....I'm just a wise guy from Jersey.....no, not THAT kind of "wise guy".....maybe I should say "smart ass" instead.


But I will touch upon some of the people who deserve coal in they're stocking this Christmas.....there is a list, you know. Trust me. It does exist. I found this video on the internet that proves it.

Elf - Naughty List | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Walter Hobbs is not alone, Buddy.....and as for New York, we'll I'll talk about that later.

But first.....here's a list of those who've made Santa's Naughty List. Some should remain on it for years.

(1). Senator Mitch McConnell- The Republican minority leader from Kentucky has earned this description from MSNBC's Chris Matthews; ".....a character from Charles Dickens.". It's hard to tell what he's for, and much easier to talk about those things he's against, like the START treaty, the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", The Dream Act, the bill for medical aid for the 9/11 first responders.....oh yeah, he is FOR the giving of billions of dollars in tax breaks to billionaires when the money could be used to aid municipalities around the nation on the brink of default.

(2). Senator John McCain- probably the biggest political sellout of the early 21st century. The Republican who ran for the presidency on the motto "Country First" opposes START, was a leading voice to kill the repeal of DADT, has swung way right on immigration issues, and called the Zadroga 9/11 First Responder's bill "fooling around" in a speech on the floor of the US Senate. The once proud maverick has morphed into The Angry Old Man of the Senate

3). Governor Chris Christie- the guy blows a $400 million government grant to education, then tries to blame the Obama Administration for the New Jersey delegation's error, and when that doesn't work he throws his education chief under the bus. His personal war on the teacher's union has led to referring to New Jersey students as "drug mules", carrying information from teacher union leadership home with them, and his allying himself with conservative gonzo filmmaker James O'Keefe. There's a lot more to say about this guy, but time is limited. The governor, who's personal style reminds me of Billy Martin at his worst, is finally starting to have some veneer wear off of his once somewhat (by GOP standards in New Jersey) lofty status. Recent polls have shown his job approval dropping 5% in the past month, while disapproval in New Jersey shot up to 48%.

4). Sarah Palin- much can be said why she belongs on the naughty list. But this year it's because Santa is afraid the former half term governor of Alaska will shoot one of his reindeer.

5). BP- It's not cool to pollute our waters....and even worse when some of our political leaders, like Texas Congressman Joe Barton apologized to BP's CEO when President Obama took the company to task for the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010.

6). Oh yeah....Joe Barton. You're on the list, too.

7). The New York Giants. You guys were beating the Eagles by 21 points (31-10) with less than eight minutes to play.....and lost 38-31! C'mon, man! All of you belong on the list after that one.

8). The NCAA- the governing body of college sports has decided to punish five Ohio State football players for selling personal items, trophies, and awards by suspending them for the first five games of the 2011 season. OK, the "student athletes" bypassed the rules laid down by the NCAA. But all five players remain eligible to play in next week's Sugar Bowl game. So when is a suspension not a suspension? When it impacts the showcase of a BCS bowl, and the big bucks a BCS game generates. Shame on you, NCAA.

9). LeBron James- to paraphrase Michael in GODFATHER II, "You broke our hearts, Fredo......I mean, LeBron". So speaketh the hurting sports fans of the city of Cleveland. But this video says it better than I ever could.


And finally.....

10). Rex and Michelle Ryan- the head coach of the New York Jets and his wife have been making some news lately......is it naughty?


Actually...it's not THAT naughty. Maybe even kind of nice.

That is, if you're into that kind of stuff.

I wonder if they exchange argle socks for Christmas?

McConnell- Defeating Obama Is Top Priority

So much for bi-partisanship. It lasted less than 24hours after the House was retaken by the Republicans in an old fashioned "shallacking', in the words of President Obama.

Today at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) admitted to the audience what anyone with an ounce of sense knew from Day One of the Obama presidency.........the priority of the GOP was to deny Barack Obama a second term in the White House.

The following passage is from TPM.

Over the past week, some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office. But the fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill; to end the bailouts; cut spending; and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things is to put someone in the White House who won't veto any of these things."

Do you think he was misquoted? OK, check this out....



OK, now I'm not a violent or angry person by nature......but when I saw the very smug Senator McConnell say that the priority of his party is to insure the defeat of Barack Obama while a staggering 9.6% of the population is unemployed and the economy is still in the early stages of recovery after the worst economic calamity in 80 years......my Inner Sipowicz came out.

You remember Andy Sipowicz, the tough talking cop Dennis Franz played in NYPD Blue? Andy had a way of getting people tell him what he wanted hear. And after hearing McConnell lay it out about the GOP's priority #1 was beating Obama when almost 10% of America can't pay their bills, feed their kids properly, or pay their mortgages.....leading to more foreclosures, more blighted neighborhoods, possibly to more bank defaults.....I thought maybe McConnell deserves the Sipowicz treatment.

I'm not saying smack him around (God forbid)....just scare the living crap out of him until old Mitch gives the right answer,which should be......

Priority #1 for America's leaders must be job creation. Period and end of story. What McConnell said today was politicking as usual and was a disgrace. Any words about working together with the President the previous day was a sham, or to be blunt, a lie.

But I suppose I'd better get used to it.....and give my Inner Sipowicz a rest. It doesn't take a soothsayer to read the leaves. It's going to be, to put it mildly, a very interesting couple of years.

Richest Americans Will Save Tax Cuts Rather Than Spend It (Moody's)

For weeks and months the American public has been told time and time again by Republicans that letting the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens lapse will only do additional harm to an economy that has been been struggling. In theory the richest Americans would spend the money or reinvest it in America.

But in a report appearing at Bloomberg.com there appears to be evidence that most of the money the rich save in tax cuts never channels back to the economy. Instead, as Moody's Analytics Inc has determined, the money from those tax cuts will be saved rather than spent.

The following appears at Bloomberg.com.

Tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 under President George W. Bush were followed by increases in the saving rate among the rich, according to data from Moody’s Analytics Inc. When taxes were raised under Bill Clinton, the saving rate fell.

The findings may weaken arguments by Republicans and some Democrats in Congress who say allowing the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to lapse will prompt them to reduce their spending, harming the economy. President Barack Obama wants to extend the cuts for individuals earning less than $200,000 and couples earning less than $250,000 while ending them for those who earn more.

So, when Mitch McConnell and John Boehner and the rest of the Republican leadership in Congress go before the cameras and wag their fingers telling all who will listen that the extension of these tax cuts for the wealthy are necessary for economic recovery.....that may hardly the case.

More from Bloomberg

When the first Bush tax cuts were signed into law in June 2001, pushing the top rate down to 35 percent, the wealthy boosted savings. The saving rate climbed to 2.8 percent in the first quarter of 2002 from minus 2 percent in the second quarter of 2001. The increased savings coincided with a 1.1 percent decline in the S&P 500 index.

Second Round

After the second round of Bush tax cuts in May 2003, the rich also increased their saving, with the rate climbing to 7.6 percent in the first quarter of 2004 from 2.2 percent in the second quarter of 2003, the Moody’s data show.

The analysis found some similarities across income levels in the 2001 and 2003 data. The wealthy and the remaining 95 percent of Americans both saved more of their incomes after the Bush tax cuts. The saving rate is defined as personal savings as a percentage of after-tax income,

Read More...........

GOP- "Maybe We Should Amend The 14th Amendment"

In 1868 the Republican Party led the fight to grant "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" full citizenship. It was passed during Reconstruction and assured all persons born within the borders of the United States who were formally slaves that they were, indeed, American citizens. The amendment mandated that any and all persons born within the borders of the United States were born American citizens.

In 2010, some of the leadership of that party in the senate are pushing to examine the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship, spurred on by illegal immigrants who have children born in the United States. Among those senators are Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (KY), Lindsey Graham (SC), John Kyl (AZ), and former Republican Presidential candidate John McCain (AZ).

Jeff Sessions(AL) said the following........

"I'm not sure exactly what the drafters of the (14th) amendment had in mind, but I doubt it was that somebody could fly in from Brazil and have a child and fly back home with that child, and that child is forever an American citizen,"

Point taken Senator Sessions. But let me ask you this; if these children born in the United States of illegal immigrant parents have citizenship denied through a repeal of the 14th Amendment, then what nation are they a citizen of?

Or.....if I, an American citizen, were to father a child of an undocumented woman and our child were to be born here in good old New Jersey.....what half of him is a citizen, and what half ain't?

And there are other legal ramifications as well.....check out this video from MSNBC and COUNTDOWN.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So one could extend the question out a bit regarding Republican favorite Mitt Romney's father George, who was born in Mexico of Mormon Anglo parents in 1907 after leaving the United States to join a polygamous Mormon colony since they believed in the principle of plural marriage. So we ask....was George Romney (who later became Chairman of American Motors, Governor of Michigan, and a member of the Nixon cabinet) really an American citizen? His parents initially left America with no intention of returning, but eventually did come back during the Mexican Revolution. And that being the case.....is Mitt Romney the son of one illegal immigrant parent?

If the Republican leadership wants to open this can of worms regarding the 14th Amendment, be my guest. But be careful- the next illegal you might find could be someone in your own family.

(For the record.....family legend has it that my Irish great-grandfather jumped ship in New York in 1888. Whether it's true or not I might never know....but it makes for good storytelling).

READ MORE.....by Ben Evans, AP.

THe DNC Strikes Back!

In the wake of the massive March (Eric) Massa Madness- and Republican attempts to cash in on the bizarre behavior of the former New York Democratic congressman- the Democratic National Committee has released a new ad (found on the YouTube DemRapideResponse channel) starring GOP leaders Michael Steele and Senator Mitch McConnell, as well as Senators David Vitter and John Ensign.....and cameos at the very end (if you look closely) by Tom DeLay and convicted felon Jack Abramhoff, currently in a federal facility and scheduled to be released this year.



YES!!!

They have discovered a spine....