Tuesday, January 31, 2012

No commentary required 1/31/12

I was really busy today and didn't have much time to write anything. So to catch up - here's some things I found interesting.

If you haven't already read BooMan's article titled Sitting it Out Isn't an Option, go do so NOW.

I mean, even if the president wasn't the best, most effective, least ethically challenged president we've had in over half a century, he'd still be the only thing standing between us and an administration that would make Bush and Cheney look moderate. Did they not do enough damage in eight years to convince you that there's a difference between the two parties? Really? You need more proof?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is rolling!

In the first six months of its existence, the CFPB fielded 13,210 complaints from consumers via its phone line and online submission forms, as well as referrals from other regulators, the report said. Of those complaints, 9,307 were tied to credit cards, with another 2,326 pertaining to mortgages...

So far, a little over half of the complaints received have been settled between the company and the consumer "with relief." Another 30.6 percent have been settled without a mutually agreed upon remedy, while companies are still reviewing another 11.9 percent.

And health care reform isn't doing so bad either.

Yet surprising even to many advocates of health care reform, evidence is emerging that the ACA is already improving life for millions of average Americans. It is promoting long-overdue fundamental changes in our dysfunctional medical system. Moreover, because those reforms are starting to directly address heightened economic insecurities of average families - the personal financial conditions that will largely determine this year’s election outcomes - President Obama would be wise to more forcefully and more specifically explain how his health care bill is already helping millions of vulnerable families and the country as a whole.

The authors then go on to identify 5 ways ACA is already having an impact.

Chauncey DeVega also has a list...of the 10 most racist moments of the GOP primary (so far). Here's his introduction:

One cannot forget that the contemporary Republican Party was born with the Southern Strategy, winning over the former Jim Crow South to its side of the political aisle, and as a backlash against the civil rights movement. This is a formula for a politics of white grievance mongering and white victimology; a dreamworld where white conservatives are oppressed, their rights infringed upon by a tyrannical federal government and elite liberal media that are beholden to the interests of the “undeserving poor,” racial minorities, gays, and immigrants.

In keeping with this script in order to win over Red State America, the 2012 Republican presidential candidates have certainly not disappointed. Both overt racism and dog whistles are delectable temptations that the Republican presidential nominees cannot resist. With the election of the country’s first African-American president, and a United States that is less white and more diverse, the GOP is in peril. In uncertain times, you go with what you know. For the Republican Party, this means “dirty boxing,” digging deep into the old bucket of white racism, and using the politics of fear, hostility and anxiety to win over white voters by demagoguing Obama.

Perhaps that explains why this is a pretty good representation of the relationship between African Americans and the Republican Party.



Finally, just to ramp up the "awwww" factor - lets close with this.

1 comment:

  1. Bo will never have to ride on a roof rack.

    ReplyDelete

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