Letter From Diaper Dave

I got this email today from Diaper Dave:

Dear Friend,

            Last week, President Obama visited a Chrysler plant in Ohio to congratulate himself on his “tough decisions” to extend $60 billion in bailouts to American automakers General Motors and Chrysler.

            It’s a pretty outrageous move for the president to claim credit for bailouts that, even according to White House estimates, will result in a loss of at least $14 billion for American taxpayers. 

            Not only are $14 billion of your tax dollars gone – forever – but the Obama administration gave GM a special deal that will save the company billions of dollars in taxes that GM would have owed if they had gone into regular bankruptcy. Even more outrageously, much of Chrysler’s bailout money was used to pay for gold-plated union pension packages, instead of going to more deserving creditors. 

By stepping in and giving special treatment to the failing automakers, the Obama administration sent a message that if a company is large enough, they don’t have to worry about being held responsible for their mistakes.  It’s the same old “too big to fail” mentality that puts taxpayers on the hook for the irresponsible decisions of other out-of-control businesses.

That’s why I opposed the initial automaker bailouts under President Bush and the dramatically increased bailouts under President Obama.  The automaker bailouts are just one example on a long list of wasteful spending that has led America $14.3 trillion into debt.  I’ve fought hard to get the federal government out of the bailout business and will continue fighting to end these dangerous policies that have cost billions upon billions of dollars in taxpayer money. 

Sincerely,

It is typical of Vitter to characterize the return of 77% of the Auto Bailout as a loss of $14 billion. He ignores the fact that had GM and Chrysler gone bankrupt, some 2.5 million jobs would have been lost, cutting nearly $100 billion in wages; He also finds it outrageous that some of the bailout for Chrysler went to shore up pension plans, pensions that were part of legal contracts that Chrysler entered into and is obligated to pay. He ignores the fact that the bailout saved the economies of Michigan, Illinois and Ohio.

He is blissfully ignorant of the changes that GM and Chrysler have made; they are now producing smaller, more energy efficient vehicles-- and Chevy's plug-in, the Volt, has been named Car of the Year.

Vitter sees investing $14 billion in our economy as a huge waste of money--no wonder he voted for the Ryan "budget".

Drill, Idiot, Drill

Ready to drill in the increasingly less frigid North? Heard about the Ontario oil spill? I thought not.

This is what is FUNDAMENTALly wrong with nut-case right-wingers: they rely on code words (see Fundamental) and sound bites; they ignore science and facts. Even stupid politicos slowly see through the bullshit--witness the reaction of our astonishingly inept LA Congress to Jindal.

Nice job, boys, but we still need a Charity System, and we still need Public Education, so you have a long way to go.

The End of the World, Again

Harold Camping, president of Family Radio, has used "Bible Math" to calculate that the Rapture will occur on the 21st of May 2011, and that mean ole god will destroy earth 5 months later, 21 Octobre. Why the delay? It must be to allow us "Unraptured" to repent; that or else to give us time to have a great party with all the stuff the Raptured leave behind. I'm betting there won't be much alcohol or good music, so BYOB. Also, if you are expecting to pick up a good car, don't expect to find any hybrids or Smart Cars.

Now the flooding Mississippi gives fresh perspective to this 'End of Days" crap, for it is surely not unlike the end of the world for 30,000 or so folks who live in path of the flooding Atchafalaya River. It might be a good time to read--or reread--John McPhee's great article about the subject, Atchafalaya, published by The New Yorker in February 1987. He is a brilliant stylist and a man who thoroughly researches his material.

We should all be thinking of how we can help our brothers and sisters displaced by this calamity.

You can bet Sugar Ray Nagin is cogitating mightily to turn this to his advantage. Maybe the Rapture is his Get Out Of Jail Free Card.

Nagin's Impending Book and Trial

Anyone can write a book and get it published and that is what C. Ray Nagin has done. His real talent was to get amazon.com to sell it--we'll see how that goes. He released an excerpt that gives a good indiction of what a worthy tome this book will be, but the real question is: who is the publisher?

I'll wager a sack of berled crawfish from KJean's that it is a vanity press job, for even the smallest publisher would be parading this book all over town.

And how could the timing be better? The trial of Mark St Pierre is in full, lurid swing (read American Zombie's account of a day in the trial, it is a thing of beauty) as Meffert spills his guts (as per his agreement with the Feds), and you can't buy that kind of publicity. Nearly every witness implicates Ray-boy in all sorts of illegal activity and he is sure to be featured in own trial soon, and won't that sell books? With all that free publicity, it must be self-published.

But maybe Nagin will be saved yet because he has pull with the Big Boy upstairs (read that excerpt above). If Divine Intervention saved the National Guard from being overwhelmed by the Gangs in the Super Dome in the days following the Federal Flood, why wouldn't it happen again for Ray?

A Real Budget

Does anyone still think the GOP is good for us? They are, with few exceptions, greedy, selfish, hateful, sexist, racist, demagogues, phony religionists, and they just don't like anyone but the rich. Just look at the latest Republican darling "Intellectual" (and for once I am not speaking of Lil' Bobby) Paul Ryan. His ludicrous budget proposal would add 7 trillion or so to the national debt and would destroy Social Security and Medicare and National Healthcare (which does not come into full force till 2014).

And what is the alternative? Obama's proposal is much better, as it restore taxes on the wealthy and corporations, but it would increase the debt almost as much as Ryan's plan would. But there is a plan that would actually balance the budget by 2021 and preserve Social Security and Medicare and would improve the Healthcare Law. It is from  the “People’s Budget” from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. 
Their budget would toss the Bush Tax Cuts and trim the obese Military budget. It would also raise the cap on SS taxes, which would affect about 6% of the work force (you know, the people who are paid more than $250,000).


Time to call your elected douche bags?

The Glenn Beck Sham

I am sure that no thoughtful person thinks Glenn Beck is anything other than a farce, but in case you think he has any credibility, watch this from Crooks and Liars.

Jindal Does it Again

The Gov announced his new job program: pay Halliburton a ton of money after cutting their tax rate, and we get new jobs worth a pittance. This used to be called 'bait and switch', now it is job creation.