Meta tags:
description= Eclectic ramblings of an idle mind.;
Headings (most frequently used words):
the, in, discourse, behind, it, isn, on, political, looking, for, something, posts, minor, death, of, marie, colvin, more, rape, related, word, parsing, newt, gingrich, man, moon, sense, buffet, rule, gabrielle, giffords, will, resign, from, congress, envy, mr, romney, and, war, capitalism, either, humor, style, logic, vice, president, clinton, meme, negative, ads, done, right, she, follow, me, twitter, tweets, still, top, recent,
Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (379), and (188), that (144), for (96), this (54), they (52), not (49), her (45), with (40), would (38), are (38), you (35), have (33), was (32), but (32), from (31), politics (31), has (31), more (30), about (28), she (27), political (27), there (27), his (27), like (25), #clinton (25), because (24), what (23), those (22), people (22), their (22), just (21), 2012 (21), some (21), all (20), elections (19), can (19), who (19), right (18), one (18), will (17), money (17), rape (16), new (16), president (15), romney (15), out (15), when (15), good (15), tax (15), comments (14), women (14), something (14), own (14), had (14), same (14), then (14), obama (13), don (13), income (13), time (13), work (13), campaign (13), any (13), them (13), make (13), also (13), which (13), how (13), rate (13), now (12), job (12), leave (12), been (12), were (12), running (12), very (12), country (12), year (12), colvin (11), serious (11), much (11), could (11), even (11), our (11), candidate (11), why (11), way (11), should (11), capital (11), gains (11), comment (10), ads (10), nobody (10), brand (10), liberalism (10), biden (10), hillary (10), bill (10), looking (10), republican (10), categories (10), tags (10), these (10), over (10), being (10), most (10), business (10), note (9), left (9), state (9), never (9), know (9), election (9), someone (9), think (9), say (9), get (8), sense (8), marie (8), isn (8), noble (8), joe (8), warren (8), made (8), end (8), too (8), makes (8), well (8), primary (8), around (8), class (8), might (8), government (8), pay (8), paul (8), buffett (8), taxed (8), com (7), rule (7), negative (7), many (7), power (7), barack (7), american (7), between (7), secretary (7), place (7), run (7), since (7), administration (7), best (7), process (7), democrats (7), kind (7), every (7), against (7), such (7), times (7), economic (7), see (7), argument (7), off (7), company (7), discourse (6), minor (6), giffords (6), congress (6), newt (6), gingrich (6), done (6), either (6), mental (6), wanderings (6), policy (6), great (6), whom (6), day (6), workers (6), whether (6), wouldn (6), without (6), house (6), come (6), years (6), yet (6), part (6), week (6), thing (6), idea (6), going (6), after (6), let (6), economy (6), other (6), little (6), taxes (6), investment (6), already (5), behind (5), man (5), moon (5), vice (5), war (5), capitalism (5), wtf (5), funny (5), world (5), battle (5), party (5), again (5), decisions (5), abortion (5), wish (5), vote (5), middle (5), long (5), republicans (5), question (5), maybe (5), want (5), attack (5), take (5), far (5), goes (5), down (5), find (5), bit (5), presidential (5), did (5), lot (5), away (5), your (5), whole (5), mitt (5), general (5), anyone (5), enough (5), into (5), though (5), problem (5), guy (5), ever (5), potential (5), show (5), rest (5), news (5), ron (5), particular (5), warfare (5), last (5), video (5), didn (5), things (5), few (5), companies (5), here (5), asking (5), paying (5), rates (5), wrote (5), woman (5), life (5), wordpress (4), website (4), gabrielle (4), resign (4), related (4), death (4), posts (4), humor (4), envy (4), foreign (4), admirable (4), still (4), vilifying (4), demonizing (4), dummies (4), reagan (4), opinion (4), democrat (4), elizabeth (4), massachusetts (4), york (4), today (4), lower (4), put (4), post (4), hampshire (4), everyone (4), him (4), doesn (4), point (4), heard (4), both (4), governor (4), another (4), become (4), support (4), got (4), else (4), risk (4), before (4), white (4), once (4), took (4), corporate (4), seen (4), needed (4), different (4), ago (4), taken (4), than (4), later (4), discuss (4), mind (4), common (4), jobs (4), creation (4), person (4), wealthy (4), making (4), profits (4), invest (4), higher (4), pass (4), honest (4), victim (4), syria (4), required (3), write (3), sign (3), blog (3), buffet (3), word (3), parsing (3), logic (3), meme (3), top (3), uncategorized (3), twenty (3), rant (3), quest (3), issues (3), laughing (3), perhaps (3), books (3), moments (3), modern (3), violence (3), admire (3), tea (3), ronald (3), gordon (3), george (3), bush (3), old (3), live (3), husband (3), able (3), announced (3), states (3), 2011 (3), obviously (3), message (3), next (3), daisy (3), history (3), information (3), couple (3), return (3), back (3), says (3), goldwater (3), role (3), america (3), working (3), close (3), candidates (3), look (3), themselves (3), completely (3), certainly (3), unlikely (3), ticket (3), foundation (3), involved (3), big (3), specifically (3), play (3), rather (3), wife (3), two (3), short (3), second (3), conflicts (3), press (3), prove (3), worth (3), where (3), happen (3), takes (3), increase (3), net (3), democratic (3), taking (3), doubt (3), fact (3), hurt (3), coming (3), four (3), given (3), number (3), form (3), lost (3), almost (3), found (3), brought (3), its (3), story (3), places (3), treated (3), alone (3), night (3), piece (3), matter (3), talk (3), subject (3), fun (3), fandom (3), level (3), chosen (3), economics (3), couldn (3), needs (3), quiet (3), thought (3), age (3), decide (3), rules (3), context (3), yes (3), system (3), profitable (3), program (3), runs (3), won (3), incentives (3), really (3), while (3), pretty (3), trying (3), apparently (3), proof (3), claims (3), wonder (3), employer (3), applicant (3), questions (3), days (3), definition (3), opponents (3), choice (3), home (3), investors (3), theory (3), further (3), investing (3), pro (3), journalist (3), site (2), name (2), view (2), log (2), subscribed (2), subscribe (2), create (2), free (2), style (2), tales (2), wandering (2), soccer (2), feminist (2), thinking (2), dubya (2), creativity (2), unleashed (2), unhinged (2), strength (2), review (2), reality (2), public (2), school (2), self (2), international (2), everything (2), culture (2), civility (2), campaigning (2), tweets (2), august (2), senate (2), desire (2), said (2), financial (2), clear (2), fight (2), confirmation (2), service (2), gave (2), answer (2), only (2), luck (2), candidacy (2), senator (2), advertisements (2), williams (2), leaving (2), representatives (2), texas (2), effectively (2), opponent (2), decades (2), source (2), underway (2), early (2), occasionally (2), share (2), hear (2), told (2), barry (2), played (2), voting (2), known (2), morning (2), bid (2), interests (2), paid (2), dishonest (2), frankly (2), speculationville (2), saying (2), cover (2), conjecture (2), entirely (2), bogus (2), christie (2), surrogate (2), cool (2), calm (2), partisan (2), issue (2), mate (2), office (2), elder (2), statesman (2), par (2), numerous (2), annual (2), global (2), initiative (2), interested (2), significant (2), written (2), present (2), conflict (2), line (2), feeling (2), sort (2), during (2), former (2), conference (2), trail (2), fdr (2), weighed (2), options (2), decided (2), switch (2), possible (2), domestic (2), doing (2), guess (2), mentioned (2), effect (2), afternoon (2), raised (2), always (2), realm (2), does (2), coverage (2), head (2), bad (2), desperate (2), fighter (2), conservative (2), likable (2), tough (2), figure (2), problems (2), criticize (2), herself (2), quite (2), per (2), match (2), parties (2), searching (2), hope (2), shifted (2), eighties (2), greed (2), remarkably (2), gekko (2), wall (2), 2010 (2), dialogue (2), anywhere (2), excised (2), resulting (2), change (2), feel (2), earth (2), average (2), national (2), case (2), start (2), forgotten (2), politically (2), except (2), dog (2), bumbling (2), comes (2), longer (2), ridiculous (2), monday (2), discussed (2), mean (2), debates (2), human (2), merely (2), wrong (2), means (2), possibly (2), disagree (2), true (2), clip (2), rich (2), msnbc (2), sorry (2), discussion (2), anti (2), rooms (2), brings (2), meet (2), private (2), clubs (2), worked (2), male (2), etc (2), corporations (2), analogy (2), beyond (2), cost (2), minimum (2), hour (2), call (2), tell (2), necessary (2), keep (2), predatory (2), practice (2), example (2), outsource (2), set (2), supporters (2), using (2), practices (2), painting (2), talking (2), actions (2), businessman (2), whatever (2), references (2), interview (2), floating (2), himself (2), reason (2), speech (2), actually (2), career (2), stops (2), arizona (2), representative (2), congresswoman (2), recovery (2), course (2), love (2), stuff (2), taxation (2), investments (2), millionaires (2), hours (2), taxable (2), paycheck (2), according (2), others (2), may (2), whose (2), earn (2), current (2), twice (2), unfair (2), thus (2), aren (2), promotion (2), deductions (2), position (2), through (2), million (2), 2000 (2), blockquote (2), proposal (2), sounds (2), currently (2), imovie (2), went (2), choose (2), congressman (2), body (2), violated (2), begin (2), girl (2), crime (2), less (2), victims (2), crimes (2), within (2), mandated (2), child (2), forcible (2), incest (2), protecting (2), mother (2), topic (2), limb (2), reporting (2), covering (2), eclectic (2), ramblings (2), idle (2), started, design, email, loading, collapse, bar, manage, subscriptions, reader, report, content, privacy, account, recent, multicultural, whatnot, familial, eccentricities, epic, fail, tony, blair, cup, hall, awesome, ideas, psyche, ers, silvio, berlusconi, shameless, indulgence, sarah, palin, research, recipes, rahm, emanuel, protests, hyperpole, high, overambitious, nicolas, sarkozy, nancy, pelosi, cynical, stop, please, joke, john, mccain, sucks, ideological, bullshit, grrr, brown, gold, star, geekery, nerditude, embarrassing, diplomacy, david, miliband, plate, angela, merkel, discourseinc, follow, twitter, feb, 2026, previous, entries, cousin, used, aunts, lives, appeal, tonight, lived, cast, formally, advocate, architect, newly, created, consumer, protection, bureau, nominated, agency, together, connecticut, alas, link, elizabethwarren, bother, defend, united, agree, characterization, admit, clever, cute, snarky, across, pondering, politicos, leaning, individuals, kept, reading, roger, seems, enters, race, vilifies, referenced, poli, sci, classes, writings, geeks, unpalatable, invading, poor, souls, iowa, thankfully, amid, allegations, insinuations, aimed, rick, perry, chuckle, wanted, everybody, hates, attacks, studies, shown, remembered, results, father, remembers, lyndon, johnson, 1964, lbj, insinuated, bomb, friendly, attitudes, lead, iii, itchy, trigger, finger, control, red, button, defined, 1984, came, define, lose, inevitable, season, cannot, stand, obnoxious, whack, group, prior, practically, raining, internet, radio, unless, personally, lies, dirty, deals, hatched, cheating, morons, visiting, amateur, uninformed, armchair, analysis, likely, appearing, sports, illustrated, swimsuit, edition, inside, sketched, jersey, chris, collected, veteran, fights, iron, lady, thinks, need, hinged, traveling, circus, constructs, familiar, excellence, charitable, endeavors, event, deal, hold, assembly, convenient, attendees, anyway, undergrad, graduate, students, ngo, daughter, named, special, envoy, haiti, decimated, earthquake, appeared, several, agenda, proven, seeming, learned, mistakes, interest, nominee, changes, order, imagine, operations, hands, addition, getting, rid, perceived, trial, organization, operate, retires, prepared, legacy, opposed, pet, project, surprise, globe, trotting, held, heaped, praise, upon, headed, skills, handy, asset, eleanor, roosevelt, sake, pretend, department, swap, law, pretext, due, difference, retirement, announcement, months, rally, beautiful, rose, garden, immediately, concerned, mechanics, deeper, unsubstantiated, guessing, games, noting, removing, drawbacks, replacement, chief, staff, daley, exponentially, foggy, bottom, rarely, positive, demote, loyal, hardworking, member, spun, hail, mary, defensive, default, incumbency, unfulfilled, rounds, hill, pundits, flinching, strike, regardless, necessarily, tenacity, throughout, spouse, instance, gubernatorial, races, crashed, holding, mrs, handle, folk, rumor, popular, shaping, smackdown, worthy, cage, respective, prize, fighters, defender, cuts, champion, smaller, protector, programs, vital, mellow, professorial, affable, everyman, field, vain, nominees, longed, pine, past, mood, idealistic, search, cries, earlier, fat, cats, versus, shrinking, growing, assistance, leading, insinuate, lazy, similar, era, arguments, welfare, queens, hostile, takeovers, types, rise, culminating, butt, kicking, flipped, balance, entire, moderates, alike, favor, deadlocked, count, shut, six, remember, 2008, nation, weary, increasingly, unnerved, steepening, decline, fresh, optimistic, persona, drama, however, downside, scripted, foil, approachable, quality, chronically, gaffe, prone, delaware, ask, punditry, fields, hire, imagination, stroll, pushing, truly, incumbent, unchallenged, remark, pony, ultra, conservatism, suppose, boredom, mostly, blame, latest, incarnation, points, renditions, tune, playing, began, decidedly, reaction, notion, switching, crazy, floated, diehards, highly, fans, basis, cable, spite, degree, seriousness, albeit, prefaced, type, truth, scenario, ban, contraception, washington, suzi, parker, yesterday, keller, published, happy, childishness, fall, myself, rupaul, confused, devotion, build, myth, disappointed, elected, sooner, realize, believed, flawless, compromise, possession, begun, laugh, signs, fandoms, sigh, ton, infatuated, debate, sensibly, shouting, caps, conversation, online, 100, perception, jealousy, 1992, image, touch, understand, facing, least, somebody, knock, door, room, likes, remind, visit, breaking, http, www, msn, 32545640, rachel, maddow, thursday, mention, embed, somewhat, bodily, functions, derided, surrogates, images, gilded, titans, industry, among, citizens, voters, belong, supposed, century, naive, buy, influence, social, robots, sued, basically, computers, hello, binary, analyzes, circumstance, emotions, productivity, ratio, angry, having, feelings, empathy, machine, behavior, alter, wage, dollar, robot, robocorp, robocorps, large, small, basic, engage, changing, laws, changed, nothing, examining, routine, maintenance, moving, vibrant, competitive, allowing, game, outsourcing, stripping, organizations, lobby, accepted, until, send, overseas, eliminated, bring, continue, bled, greatest, profit, criticism, compliment, math, condemn, deem, rhetoric, waging, front, labeling, consider, unethical, destroy, absolutely, everywhere, becomes, crystal, use, outside, art, engineer, demise, book, crusading, literature, eat, brussels, sprouts, yuck, vegetables, pseudo, reasoning, quickly, easily, identifiable, heap, bullfunky, tantamount, heresy, particularly, whats, wants, regarding, leveraging, debt, mass, layoffs, shrewd, profiteer, envious, vetting, sir, happens, fabulous, yeah, give, squirm, hedge, try, explain, nice, excuses, hide, applying, depth, under, banner, anything, questionable, application, likened, cagey, supplying, misrepresenting, prospective, boss, bode, open, bane, capitol, round, scheduling, listed, clashed, grad, courses, lunch, break, closely, resembled, dare, raise, jealous, absorbed, sound, byte, movie, street, presentation, pointing, experience, governing, sector, creator, often, describes, winning, victory, bypassed, blasted, engaging, wednesday, nbc, host, matt, lauer, asked, phrase, bitter, gabrilelle, sure, shot, mentally, ill, january, focus, join, continued, speed, embedded, below, ponderings, wonderings, side, taxing, works, farce, simultaneously, lamenting, individual, 700, 350, begrudge, success, pain, millionaire, majority, closer, collect, irs, therefore, investor, gentle, illogical, pays, revenue, complains, provide, supply, contributions, wages, earned, contribution, extrapolate, gets, beforehand, critics, subdivided, double, arguing, grossly, indeed, principle, equation, refuses, looked, stub, saw, calculated, each, grumbled, associated, salary, opportunity, draw, refuse, nor, percent, 1976, shy, sensible, gain, scared, argue, nearly, added, 1980, happened, 1980s, 1990s, percentage, pack, sometimes, thrown, fit, refused, elevated, dividends, broken, factions, increasing, discourage, split, uncle, sam, suggest, downturn, market, grow, hiring, stagnation, unemployment, painful, wiz, addressed, grandfatherly, ukulele, ceo, berkshire, hathaway, inc, fellow, secret, supported, recently, publicly, matters, media, attention, main, folks, meaning, lowest, spectrum, showed, ran, eventually, crafting, establish, earning, dollars, resurfaced, tuesday, union, address, yay, satire, posted, technical, late, plans, resist, adieu, space, oddity, panderbots, real, statement, limiting, pattern, seeing, sole, dominion, personal, autonomy, telling, criteria, powers, medical, wasn, accept, befallen, blissfully, preparing, forced, motherhood, sexual, assaults, qualify, terminate, unwanted, pregnancy, sentencing, rapist, dissect, degrees, insisting, cases, somehow, hate, statements, incidents, groups, acceptable, patriotic, disparage, segments, population, taboo, voice, prejudice, views, compelled, deserve, decision, bodies, itself, expressed, biological, facts, conception, reasonable, lifer, expect, obstetrician, regarded, dishonorable, pandering, raped, warrant, bear, first, rep, parse, existence, implied, blaming, ways, senseless, act, seem, deserved, punishment, baseless, archaic, notions, finally, cultural, hoped, locked, society, exiled, beliefs, contract, signer, discouraged, turn, pursuing, tending, children, whims, silly, tried, failed, legislation, restricting, federal, funding, abortions, low, exceptions, hyde, amendment, three, separate, allow, involving, recommendation, films, instead, fiddling, 1958, skilled, dedicated, volatile, areas, face, fitting, commentary, republic, georgia, indiscriminate, shelling, area, staying, risks, faced, combat, reporters, value, factored, discussing, horrible, situation, reports, watching, die, shrapnel, wounds, tribute, warning, graphic, correspondent, sunday, covered, balkans, chechnya, east, timor, israel, palestine, iraq, blowing, cnn, libya, tons, biographical, profiles, journalism, daily, stays, copy, 1999, sri, lankan, civil, incident, reads, gone, recognition, british, award, eye, five, article, admired, march, month, killed, slaughter, humble, authoress,
Text of the page (random words):
anted pregnancy would that then have an effect on the sentencing of the rapist if we can begin to dissect the crime of rape into degrees what stops someone from insisting that some domestic violence cases should also be treated as less of a crime because the victim or victims somehow had it coming what about hate crimes given some of the statements and incidents on the campaign trail i would wonder if crimes against groups that some find it acceptable even patriotic to disparage would be treated the same as those against other segments of the population which it is more taboo to voice a prejudice against in short it isn t congressman paul s views on abortion that compelled me to write about his comment but this idea that not all rape victims deserve to make decision about their bodies comments leave a comment tags 2012 2012 elections abortion attack of the panderbots elections honest rape political politics pro choice rape right to choose ron paul the battle between left and right wtf categories elections feminist thinking 2 0 my own brand of liberalism on a serious note politics rant the noble nobody women wtf newt gingrich the man in the moon 28 01 2012 i ve posted a lot of long more technical posts as of late but i could not pass this up this is what went through my head when i heard about newt gingrich s plans for the moon and i couldn t resist working in out in imovie so without further adieu i present to you newt gingrich space oddity comments 3 comments tags 2012 2012 elections funny moon newt gingrich political politics satire yay for imovie categories great moments in modern politics creativity unleashed perhaps unhinged elections funny just for fun laughing at those with power my own brand of liberalism politics quest the sense behind the buffet rule 26 01 2012 that grandfatherly guy with ukulele in the video is warren buffett the ceo of berkshire hathaway inc and he is a very wealthy fellow he s also never made a secret of who he supported politically most recently president barack obama last august he publicly weighed in on matters of policy when he wrote an op ed in the new york times which got him a lot of media attention in it he made the argument for a higher tax rate on the capital gains currently taxed at 15 which are the main source of income for many wealthy folks meaning that many of those who would be paying the top rate end up paying a rate that is more on par with those at the lowest end of the taxable income spectrum the white house took the idea which they had also showed support for and ran with it eventually crafting the buffett rule a proposal which would establish a minimum tax rate of 30 on all those earning over a million dollars no matter how they earn their money this idea resurfaced at tuesday s state of the union address like any other proposal made by anyone at any level of government it s something to fight over the argument against the buffett rule is broken into two factions some feel that increasing the rate on capital gains for wealthy investors from 15 to 30 would discourage investment because people wouldn t invest if they had to split their profits 70 30 with uncle sam they also suggest that the downturn in investing would hurt the job market because if people aren t investing in companies then those companies can t grow and that means no job creation no hiring and a stagnation of unemployment at our current painful level i m not an economics wiz but i think that sounds a little off and i m in good company mr buffett addressed this in his op ed blockquote back in the 1980s and 1990s tax rates for the rich were far higher and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack according to a theory i sometimes hear i should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends i didn t refuse nor did others i have worked with investors for 60 years and i have yet to see anyone not even when capital gains rates were 39 9 percent in 1976 77 shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain people invest to make money and potential taxes have never scared them off and to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation i would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000 you know what s happened since then lower tax rates and far lower job creation blockquote to put into an average american context nobody refuses a promotion because they looked at their pay stub saw all of the deductions that are taken out every week and calculated how much more would be taken out if they took a higher paying position certainly each of us has grumbled about those deductions from time to time but in the end we would rather make more money and so we would take the promotion and the associated increase in salary why would someone who makes money through investing be any different why pass up a profitable investment opportunity because of a 15 increase in the tax rate on that investment they will still be making money and that is the draw of investments other opponents of the buffett rule are opponents of the capital gains tax in general and these critics are further subdivided some say that it is double taxation arguing that people invest their money after they pay taxes so to tax capital gains is to tax the same money twice and that is grossly unfair it would indeed be very unfair if that were the case but it s not because capital gains are just that gains profits new money income and thus subject to taxes the principle investment is not a part of the equation so they aren t being taxed on the same money twice just on the money their investment brought in others say that because capital gains have already been taxed as part of that company s income and therefore should not be taxed once it goes to the investor there is no gentle way for me to say this that argument is completely illogical the money that company pays the people who work for them also comes from corporate revenue which is subject to corporate income tax yet those workers are taxed on that money and nobody except the ron paul supporters who want no taxes i guess complains a bit about it investors may not work for these companies per se but they do provide a service they supply capital so why should the profits they make from their contributions to the running of a particular company not be taxed while the wages earned by the person whose contribution to that same company earn them a paycheck when it s all paid out of the company s taxed profits if you extrapolate this theory out further almost no person or business would ever pay any taxes in our current system our money gets taxed when it s our income whether or not it has been someone else s income beforehand sorry i side with warren buffett taxing the investments of millionaires at the same rate as the income of a person who works 40 hours a week and takes home at most 17 in taxable income an hour is ridiculous it makes the whole class warfare argument a farce when some of the very wealthy are simultaneously lamenting the top tax rate and not paying it they pay at most the same rate as an individual making between 8 700 and 35 350 a year according to the irs i don t begrudge them their success but i m certainly not feeling their pain a millionaire making the majority of their annual income from capital gains should pay a tax rate closer to the rate millionaires who collect a paycheck are paying how is that class warfare and not just common sense comments leave a comment tags capital gains class warfare economics economy taxation taxes the battle between left and right the buffett rule vilifying and demonizing for dummies warren buffett why isn t this stuff common sense categories economic ponderings and wonderings mental wanderings my own brand of liberalism on a serious note politics the noble nobody why isn t this stuff common sense wtf gabrielle giffords will resign from congress 24 01 2012 i m sure you ve already heard gabrielle giffords the arizona congresswoman who was shot by a mentally ill man last january has announced that she will resign from congress this week to focus on her recovery i m going to join in with everyone else and say that i wish her continued speed in that recovery in her video which i have embedded below she says she will return that is of course entirely up to her but i would love to see it happen good luck representative giffords comments leave a comment tags arizona gabrilelle giffords political politics categories admirable women my own brand of liberalism on a serious note politics it isn t envy mr romney and it isn t a war on capitalism either 14 01 2012 mitt romney is the former governor of massachusetts but you wouldn t know that by looking at his campaign presentation rather than pointing out his experience in the actually process of governing mr romney has chosen to campaign on his career in the private sector as a conservative businessman and job creator as he often describes himself at campaign stops and in debates after winning the new hampshire primary he gave a victory speech that bypassed his primary opponents and blasted the president for engaging in the bitter politics of envy on wednesday morning nbc s today show host matt lauer asked specifically about that choice of phrase so if you dare to raise questions about mr romney s business decisions it s just because you re so jealous of him can you possibly get a more self absorbed sound byte it made me think of gordon gekko s greed is good speech from the movie wall street no mr romney everyone who whats to see proof of your claims of net job creation and wants to know whether your decisions regarding the leveraging of debt and the mass layoffs were the actions of a shrewd businessman or a corporate profiteer is not envious of you they are vetting you sir that is what happens in a campaign you make claims that you ve done fabulous things people say oh yeah prove it and then you either give them the proof they re asking for or they will go off and find it on their own also the more time it takes you to prove your claims the more you squirm and hedge and try to explain why no proof should be needed because you re such a nice guy or whatever your excuses are the more people will start to wonder if you re trying to hide something from them running for president is after all a candidate applying to the american public for the job of running the country asking for more in depth information on the business practices of the man running for office under the banner of the business guy is not anything i see as questionable to return to my job application analogy it can be likened to a potential employer asking for references at a job interview the more cagey an applicant about supplying the references the more the employer will no doubt wonder if there is something that this applicant might be misrepresenting does the scheduling conflict they listed as their reason for leaving company x really mean that it clashed with their grad school courses or could it be that this person s definition of lunch break more closely resembled the rest of the world s definition of afternoon off the prospective boss might think and questions like those floating around in potential employer s mind doesn t bode well for the bumbling applicant the best thing mr romney could do for himself right now is open up about his bane capitol days it s not like democrats won t be asking these questions in the general election if he makes it to the next round my other issue with mr romney and his supporters is that while they condemn those to there left for using what they deem to be the rhetoric of class warfare they are waging a pretty good battle on that front themselves by labeling those who would criticize predatory capitalism what most would consider unethical bad business practices as trying to destroy capitalism in general that argument make absolutely no sense at all and yet it is everywhere this becomes crystal clear if you use this logic outside the realm of election year economic policy for example if i say that i don t like a particular painting then using this thought process i am against painting as an art form and trying to engineer its demise if i don t like a particular book then i am obviously crusading against all of literature if i eat brussels sprouts and say yuck then i am really saying down with vegetables in every other context this line of pseudo reasoning is quickly and easily identifiable as a heap of bullfunky but apparently if you re talking about how big money people make big money when one of them want to be president such talk is apparently tantamount to heresy in this country and particularly in this country s republican party there is nothing wrong with examining our economic system to see if it is working effectively and doing a little routine maintenance when it s needed to keep the country moving you can have vibrant and competitive capitalism without allowing it to become predatory it s all in how the game is played and what the rules are many people have a problem with the practice of outsourcing for example and it has been stripping the country of jobs since the eighties yet there are tax incentives for companies that outsource and business organizations support this practice and lobby to keep it as an accepted way to do business in america but not really in america until the incentives to send jobs overseas are eliminated and perhaps there are even incentives set up to bring jobs back here we will continue to be bled of every job it is possible to outsource because that makes these companies the greatest profit that s not a criticism or a compliment it s math that brings me to another point corporations are not people the best analogy i can come up with is that corporations are like robots they have a few things in common with people they can be sued etc but they are basically computers running on a yes no system hello binary which analyzes whether or not a given circumstance is profitable if the answer is yes that options chosen that s it there are no emotions involved workers don t matter beyond their productivity to cost ratio you can t be angry about it not having feelings or empathy it s just a machine after all so if you want to change its behavior you have to alter the program it runs on we have a minimum wage so even though it would be more profitable to pay american workers a dollar an hour the robot of an american business let s call it robocorp won t do that because the program it runs on tell s it that it can t robocorps large and small run off of the same basic program the rules our economy runs on we have to engage in a national discussion about the economy to decide if changing laws is necessary and if so then what needs to be changed that is the discussion that is being derided as anti business by mitt romney and his surrogates in that video mr romney says...
|
