Wait, is that an image of John Evrett Millais’ Ophelia that we’ve posted in announcing the arrest of Rupert Murdoch lackey Rebekah Brooks? Our bad. We thought it was portrait of the former News of the World editor relaxing at the local hot-springs. We certainly didn’t mean to imply that Ms. Brooks should bring any harm to herself now that it is becoming clearer by the day that she headed up what can only be described as a criminal enterprise in journalistic guise. And at any rate, it would certainly be premature for the henchwoman to drown herself while the criminal mastermind still walks the earth. And we suspect he will, for some time yet. As long as somebody, somewhere, is still practicing honest journalism, as long as an independent newspaper still rolls off the presses, Murdoch’s voracious appetites will remain unsated.

And when Rupert Murdoch saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no proud journalistic institutions left to debase and destroy.

“We’ve been down this road before, and Republicans will not go down it again. In 1990, Congress and the President struck a deficit reduction deal that combined spending cuts with tax increases. Unfortunately, while the tax hikes remained, the spending restraint did not, and our debt has only marched higher.”

–Republican Senator, Orrin Hatch

Apparently, being a Republican means you can re-write history any which way you please, and not be called out on it. This morning, as I watched CNN, the 24 Hour News network ran a segment on President Obama’s call for a debt limit/long term budget compromise position that would involve spending cuts and tax increases at a ratio of about 5 to 1. CNN then quoted Hatch above, but for some reason saw no need to point out that Hatch’s statement is a bald faced lie, seemingly suggesting that the Clinton era tax increases (which left the nation with a $200+ billion surplus when the Democratic president left office) are still with us today, when in fact they were undone by his Republican successor, President Bush, who pushed through massive tax cuts that immediately plunged the nation into deficit. Hatch is correct that massive spending increases also followed, but conveniently fails to note that the spending increases, too,  were the result of Republican policies, such as unnecessary wars and a poorly conceived prescription drug benefit for seniors that was not balanced by either tax increases or spending cuts and which specifically excluded the government from using its purchasing power to negotiate better drug prices.

Christianity Today recently interviewed a well known conservative personality and author about her personal views and her latest book. Can you guess who this person is, based solely on the following exchange?

Cristianity Today: In your book, you described premarital sex as a sin. Do you worry that by calling it a sin, it might distract non-Christians?

Mystery Author: You know, it might, but for me I do think of it as a sin. And, if that distracts other readers then I’m sorry, but that’s what I believe.

Is the author in question:

A) Dr. Laura Schelssinger
B) Bristol Palin
C) Ann Coulter
D) Christine O’Donnell

Click the “Read more” link to see the answer.

Read more »

The extent to which Republicans are willing to damage the country’s long term health to protect the assets of the moneyed classes is truly astonishing (and sickening). Howard Kurtz, writing for The Daily Beast, reports that even as the GOP stands in absolute opposition to any tax increases that might form part of a budget package to reduce the national debt, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Viginia representative Eric Cantor have identified one area of potential revenue increases they are willing to consider. Student loans:

As Monday’s White House budget talks got down to the nitty-gritty, Eric Cantor proposed a series of spending cuts, one of them aimed squarely at college students.

The House majority leader, who did most of the talking for the Republican side, said those taking out student loans should start paying interest right away, rather than being able to defer payments until after graduation. It is a big-ticket item that would save $40 billion over 10 years

That Republicans are willing to make higher education even more unaffordable than it is now to shield their wealthy patrons from tax increases is simply astonishing and betrays a degree of irresponsibility that is difficult to fathom. As our economy becomes more and more focused on high technology and innovation and as the nation faces ever mounting challenges from emerging econmies around the world, the GOP is promoting policies that would hamper the educational prospects of our next generation of scientists, businessmen, entrepeneurs and innovators. It’s mind boggling. It’s a dagger, thrust directly into the heart of the middle class. How these people still command legions of angry followers simply defies explanation. GOP voters need to get back on their meds so they can see the world as it really is, and not as the screetching voices echoing in the hollow spaces of their paranoid minds tell them it is.

 You know that $500,000.00 Tiffany’s line of credit that everyone’s favorite joke of a presidential candidate, Newt Ginrich, spent the last few weeks playing down? Well apparently there’s another Tiffany’s line of credit he totally forgot to mention, and this one was good for a cool million. So gone are the days of Pat Nixon’s “respectable cloth coat.” $30,000 diamond tennis bracelets are what the smartly dressed Republican wife is wearing these days.

…so you don’t have to.

Here’s a taste of what Hitch has to say:

Propagandistic writing of this kind can be even more boring than it is irritating. For example, Mamet writes in “The Secret Knowledge” that “the Israelis would like to live in peace within their borders; the Arabs would like to kill them all.” Whatever one’s opinion of that conflict may be, this (twice-made) claim of his abolishes any need to analyze or even discuss it. It has a long way to go before it can even be called simplistic.

…and also:

 [Mamet] shows himself tone-deaf to irony and unable to render a fair picture of what his opponents (and, sometimes, his preferred authorities, like Hayek) really believe. Quoting Deepak Chopra, of all people, as saying, “Our thinking and our behavior are always in anticipation of a response. It [sic] is therefore fear-based,” he seizes the chance to ask, “Is it too much to suggest that this quote contains the most basic prescription of liberalism, ‘Stop Thinking’?” On that evidence, yes, it would be a bit much.

The entire review can be found here.

Nine Republicans Myths
that Every Progressive Should Be Able to Counter:

U.C. Berkeley economist Brad DeLong has been daily bumping and updating a post on his blog that provides counter-arguments to a growing list of Republican talking points. He keeps the list so he won’t be caught off guard by an unexpected question the next time he’s asked to appear on TV alongside a conservative opponent. Personally, I think it’s a great idea that progressives be familiar with counter-arguments to common conservative talking points, and develop some talking points of our own. To that end, I am presenting a list of rebuttals to nine very common, but very misleading, or outright false, GOP talking points. Read more »