Category Archives: NADA – New American Dark Ages

New American Dark Ages

loco, NADA - New American Dark Ages, WTF?!

It takes all kinds to make mixed nuts

During the Bush Error, Darren White showed his fascist side, particularly when he snarled “let me at ‘em” about lawful protestors marching in Albuquerque’s streets to protest a war any thinking person knows was a colossal mistake. He kissed Duhbya’s ass while corralling protestors in barb-wired “Free Speech Zones” miles from His Excremancy. Don’t forget those hostile times, because the angry, ugly, small-minded tight-fists rule the Republican Party now and, amazingly, have national clout far beyond their small members (sic). Consider the following:

ABQJournal Online » Blame White’s Departure on Socialist Unions

By Jean-C. Guenette / Albuquerque resident on Mon, Jul 25, 2011

If he is anything, [Darren] White is a bold, unabashed, proud anti-socialist. Now that will get you enemies because our country is filthy with socialist, communist-inspired unions. …

Let’s not pussyfoot around this; unions are employee gangs formed to extort money, favors and special conditions from their employer. They threaten harm to the employer and the business if the employer does not comply. This is pure socialist class extortion.

White is a declared opponent of socialism and that, of course, means anti-union. …To White, I say that I’m not satisfied with his expressed reason for stepping down. To my socialist union employees, I say “you’re fired.”

ABQJournal Online » Blame White’s Departure on Socialist Unions

Seriously, “socialist, communist-inspired”? What century does this person live in? Surely, Jean-C. means unions are “elitist politically-correct Islamo-fascists.” Time to buy the latest “Sound Conservative without Thinking” (Forward by John Boehner).

Side note: Although abqjournal.com’s redesign is a huge improvement, I’m puzzled that items from today’s edition don’t appear under the various top menu categories. To find this Letter to the Editor, I had to go to the home page to the letter’s link there. When I went straight to the Letters to the Editor page, I found letters from days ago.  This letter will appear on the  appropriate page in a few days, but its URL won’t have changed. Huh? Is there intent in the delay, other than to make more work for the reader?

NADA - New American Dark Ages

Raygun is too liberal for today’s GOP

Best line of the day | NewMexiKen

“Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations.”

President Ronald Reagan
September 26, 1987

[hat tip to Best line of the day | NewMexiKen]

media, NADA - New American Dark Ages

“[T]he idea that if families are tightening their belts, the government should do the same, is as deeply intuitive as it is deeply wrong.” Paul Krugman

I wasn’t surprised the Albuquerque Journal gave so much space to Mike Frese, “Corrales resident”, to repeat the hoary nonsense about the national debt as a ‘family problem.’ Family is the metaphor for conservatives – especially, Christian conservatives – because father knows best. Feel free to read Frese’s column in its long-drawn-out, ham-handed entirety, if you need your invalid metaphors spelled out in detail.

Be sure to read Winthrop Quigley’s entire column – as usual, he explains things quite clearly.

ABQJournal Online » Flirting With Federal Debt Disaster

By Winthrop Quigley / Journal Staff Writer on Tue, Jul 19, 2011

It is possible some of these politicians really don’t understand what we’re dealing with. Every time one of them compares federal finances with household finances – arguing we should tear up the credit card and balance the checkbook and live within our means, just like families do – the intellectual dead end has been reached.

The federal government is nothing like the family household. It is a very large, poorly run business with a micromanaging board of directors (Congress) and a weak CEO (the president).

The business is failing. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling is the equivalent of pre-bailout General Motors reneging on its commitments to pay its steel suppliers and fund its employees’ retirement plans. …

If the prospect of suddenly unemployed federal workers in every state and unpaid military personnel under fire in Afghanistan doesn’t impress Congress, perhaps this will: In September 2008, the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy filing cratered the global economy because suddenly no one knew if the institutions making up the world’s financial systems could or would honor their obligations.

Lehman Bros. had $639 billion in assets, about as much as it takes to run the government for slightly more than two months. It had debts of $619 billion. The failure of a firm that was in the black to the tune of $20 billion nearly destroyed the global financial system. You don’t want to see what happens if Uncle Sam becomes the next Lehman Bros.

ABQJournal Online » Flirting With Federal Debt Disaster

 

[hat tip to Line of the day | NewMexiKen for the Krugman quote]

NADA - New American Dark Ages

Republicans Gone Wild (and Stupid)

Getting to Crazy – NYTimes.com by Paul Krugman

There aren’t many positive aspects to the looming possibility of a U.S. debt default. But there has been, I have to admit, an element of comic relief — of the black-humor variety — in the spectacle of so many people who have been in denial suddenly waking up and smelling the crazy.

A number of commentators seem shocked at how unreasonable Republicans are being. “Has the G.O.P. gone insane?” they ask.

Why, yes, it has. But this isn’t something that just happened, it’s the culmination of a process that has been going on for decades. Anyone surprised by the extremism and irresponsibility now on display either hasn’t been paying attention, or has been deliberately turning a blind eye.

And may I say to those suddenly agonizing over the mental health of one of our two major parties: People like you bear some responsibility for that party’s current state. …

Recently, however, all restraint has vanished — indeed, it has been driven out of the party. …

So there has been no pressure on the G.O.P. to show any kind of responsibility, or even rationality — and sure enough, it has gone off the deep end. If you’re surprised, that means that you were part of the problem.

Getting to Crazy – NYTimes.com

[hat tip to Pat Lyford]

media, NADA - New American Dark Ages

“In Obama’s, Dem’s View, Success Must Be Punished” – WTF?!

The headline over Calcified Cal Thomas’s recent column represents a ruinous, poisonous ignorance. Taxes are NOT punishment. Taxes are what most of us pay for the common good. Moreover, some of the Founders argued for progressive taxation, under which those who can pay more do so. That view is mocked by the smarmy “you can write a check anytime you want” drivel (DUHbya – spit on the ground). These tight-fisted, cheap, selfish dimwits serve the megacorporations and ultra-rich. Let the sacred market do anything but don’t let the nation do anything – except buy war-toys. The tight-fisted refuse to recognize that the rich benefit from the commonwealth and owe something in return. The Republicans have exploited the Starve the Beast mentality for a generation. That mentality will destroy the nation.

NADA - New American Dark Ages

“Reporters have the time to find out … Readers generally do not.” [from NewMexiKen]

Best line of the day | NewMexiKen

“It is irresponsible to run a story with a statement from one politician saying it is sunny and warm in Alaska and another saying that actually the temperature is below zero and it’s snowing. There are real conditions in Alaska that the reporter should know and be able to tell readers. This information will let readers know that one politician is being largely truthful, while one is not. Reporters who have a job reporting the news have the time to find out about the actual weather conditions in Alaska. Readers generally do not.”

Beat the Press

Best line of the day | NewMexiKen

NADA - New American Dark Ages

Move The New Hampshire Primary To Massachusetts | ThinkProgress

Move The New Hampshire Primary To Massachusetts | ThinkProgress

Massachusetts is substantially bigger than New Hampshire, but it’s only a bit larger than Iowa or South Carolina. What’s more, campaigning effectively in New Hampshire already required buying TV ads in the Boston media market in order to reach people in Nashua.

If Massachusetts replaced New Hampshire as New England’s entrant into the primary campaign sweepstakes, then we’d probably see candidates saying something about traffic jams, mass transit, regional planning, etc. instead of all farms all the time.

Move The New Hampshire Primary To Massachusetts | ThinkProgress