Shameless Republicans
[W]hile the four Republicans in Congressional leadership positions are attempting to hold the increase hostage now, they combined to vote for a debt limit increase 19 times during the presidency of George W. Bush. In doing so, they increased the debt limit by nearly $4 trillion.
DUHbya said: “At the end of those 10 years, we will have paid down all the debt that is available to retire. That is more debt repaid more quickly than has ever been repaid by any nation at any time in history.” [liar-idiot]
Of course, the opposite occurred, with debt held by the public increasing from $3.5 trillion to nearly $6 trillion and gross federal debt going from $5.6 trillion to nearly $10 trillion. In fact, conservatives argued in 2001 that the very existence of a budget surplus was a valid reason to enact large, regressive tax cuts. But this is precisely what happens when you have an administration that believes “deficits don’t matter.”
A new report by Public Campaign examines how these major corporations have influenced Congress to craft a tax code that lets them get away with making so much money and paying so little taxes in return. In its report, “The Artful Dodgers,” Public Campaign juxtaposes the limited tax liability of dozen major corporations with the companies’ campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures, which amount to more than a billion dollars over the last decade: [read the list at the following link]
150 Years Later, The Civil War Reverberates
E.J. Dionne Jr. – Don’t spin the Civil War
After the war, in one of the great efforts of spin control in our history, both Davis and Stephens, despite their own words, insisted that the war was not about slavery after all but about state sovereignty. By then, of course, slavery was "a dead and discredited institution," McPherson wrote, and to "concede that the Confederacy had broken up the United States and launched a war that killed 620,000 Americans in a vain attempt to keep 4 million people in slavery would not confer honor on their lost cause."
Why does getting the story right matter? [T]here is to this day too much evasion of how integral race, racism and racial conflict are to our national story. We can take pride in our struggles to overcome the legacies of slavery and segregation. But we should not sanitize how contested and bloody the road to justice has been.
Stepped outside at 10:47pm with the dog and it is *raining* with a bit of snow or ice.
Average last freeze date is Tax Day.
Jade Warrior (4.7 stars)
OMG. Holy cow. What an amazing movie. Somebody called it, “A cross-cultural martial arts epic.” Oh, yeah. Takes place in Finland and ancient China. Features some of the most-beautifully filmed martial arts fighting I’ve seen – and I’ve seen a lot of good stuff. Also, an interesting story, although it requires some patience and focus. I expect to watch this one again. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in myth, fate, and beautifully choreographed fighting (not particularly violent). Wow.
Daybreakers (0 stars)
I was interested in the futuristic vampire flick, Daybreakers, in part for the premise, in part for the appearance of Ethan Hawke. I made the mistake of watching this during dinner. Yet, I did not turn if off when one character spewed chunky vomit on another. However, a few minutes later, when a character exploded and threw gallons of blood all over the set, I did turn this off and remove it from my queue. And, reluctantly, return to my steak dinner.
BTW, the poster shows the rip-off of the Matrix, only instead of aliens storing humans for energy, vampires store humans for blood.
Sunshine Cleaning (3+ stars)
Be aware this is NOT a comedy. It has funny moments and quirky characters. It was entertaining.
Because this was filmed in Albuquerque, we spent part of the film trying to identify locations.