Breaking with the extreme right

Micheal Fumento details his history in the echo chamber.  As well as how he walked out that door.  Here are some quotes:

All of today’s right-wing darlings got there by mastering what Burke feared most: screaming “J’accuse! J’accuse!” Turning people against each other. Taking seeds of fear, anger and hatred and planting them to grow a new crop.

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Limbaugh pulls down a stunning $38 million annual salary. Leaked Heartland Institute documents revealed it’s gotten over $14 million in the past six years from a single individual. RightMarch.com accompanied the Obama-cum-tyrant message with an offer to “Blast Fax” every member of Congress for $139 – for a profit of about $139. Surely these people have their fingers crossed that President Obama is reelected. 

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But while the new right screams the most about big government, it nonetheless supported President George W. Bush as he presided over the largest expansion of government spending since uber-liberal FDR and left us with a massive debt before President Obama was sworn in. Why? Silly rabbit! Because the left opposed him. 

Spent fuel at Fukushima Daiichi

Combating the bad information that is going around, the spent fuel at Fukushima Daiichi is safer, much safer than the hysterics would have you believe.

Obama Backs Gay Marriage

Aaaaat Laaast!

Useful Charts

Republicans get elected by talking fiscal restraint.  But when in office, they find all kinds of excuses to spend on their pet projects.  These charts expose that cognitive dissonance.

George W. Bush and torture

George Bush and his gang really are responsible for our recent era of torture.  Still waiting for his military tribunal.

The Netherlands Model for Health Care

The Netherlands provide health care at a much better cost than the U.S.  How do they do it?  By using as system that requires everyone to buy insurance similar to the ACA.

Can Oregon fix health care?

Governor Kitzhaber is a pretty savvy guy whom I respect.  I look for great things from the Oregon model of health care.  If anyone can pull this off, Kitzhaber can..

Better Ways to Measure

Vermont considers better ways to set governmental benchmarks. The idea is to measure what really matters instead of less relevant things like the GDP.

Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity

I'm sure he doesn't mean to, but when it comes to telling whoppers, Romney is setting a new standard.

Self-sustaining stimulus

Brad DeLong and Larry Summers have written a paper in which they argue that if the economy can be sufficiently stimulated, with today's economy, the long-term debt will be countered by real growth.  This what happened in the post-war era. Perhaps the planets have now aligned.

The Nonprofit 1 Percent

Non-profits doesn't mean they don't have much money. Sometimes the
people at the top really rake it in.

Capital gains and taxes

Does cutting taxes on capital gains really help the economy? Nope. No correlation.  Whatever else lower taxes on capital gains do, they don't create economic growth.  That's been proven.  Let's move on now.

Government Jobs Buoyed Bush’s Economy

When they say there was a massive expansion of the government under Obama, they are wrong (chart). The expansion was under Bush.  And yet Bush was able to gut the regulation of food, oil, and banking.

Vacant houses

Vacant houses owned by the Federal Home Finance Agency should be destroyed.  To stimulate the economy, we need to eliminate that inventory and rebuild with homes appropriate for tomorrow's market.

Gore and the Internet

For those who care about lies and damn lies, Gore deserves a bit of credit for the internet.

At the Internet Society’s Global INET 2012 conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the description of Gore states: 

“Al Gore, the 45th Vice President of the United States, was a key proponent of sponsoring legislation that funded the expansion of and greater public access to the Internet. Instrumental in helping to create the ‘Information Superhighway,’ Gore was one of the first government officials to recognize that the Internet’s impact could reach beyond academia to fuel educational and economic growth as well.”

The Case Against Arizona Was Settled in 1874

In the Case of the 22 Chinese Women the Supreme Court set the precedent for how it should handle the Arizona Immigration Law.  In this case, the Court struck down the power of states to any immigration policy other than that of the Federal government.  If the states had the power to make their own policies, our international standing and relationships could be hurt by the independent actions of a state.  This has been the settled law since 1874.  The Arizona Legislature needs a history lesson.  Let's see if the current court needs one as well.

Oil Drilling Ads

Sometimes you can take the measure of a man by the enemies he has.