The Democrat-led Senate passed a two month extension to our current payroll tax cuts, and then went home for Christmas.

The Republican-controlled House chose NOT to vote on it, and then went home for Christmas.

Not voting means the tax will increase effective January 1.

The new-age GOP plays zero-sum politics. All of their efforts, on every topic, are designed to defeat the president, or at least to make him look bad.

They won control of the house in 2010 by promising jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs.

All of their efforts in the two years hence have been to further limit access to abortions, to limit health care to only those who can afford it, and to give tax breaks to the already-wealthy.

They have done nothing, made zero effort, to create jobs. So the ‘jobs’ talk was all smoke. All lies.

More jobs would probably reflect well on Obama, so no effort is made to create jobs.

It has come to the point where the GOP cannot even vote for a tax cut.

Anything that President Obama supports must be defeated, even a proposal to support lower taxes on working Americans.

This is a payroll tax.  This means that people who work for a living will be getting a tax increase.

A tax increase.  Dictated by the Republican party.

Who is the ‘never raise tax’ party?

Correction: Who CLAIMS to be the ‘never raise tax’ party?   Republicans.

If this tax cut was designed to benefit millionaires and billionaires, the Boehner-led Republicans would have stampeded everything in their path to pass it.

In the October 5 W-L post I tried to explain why President Obama is not Hitler, and governor Rick Perry is not a racist.

A reader felt obligated to respond, by forwarding something from the conservative blogosphere. The ‘surprise’ ending is that all the below info is really about Hitler. HITLER !!!

Feel free to spot-check for factual errors. I changed none of the wording, but emphasized the more obvious slanted comments by making them bold, and added question marks after one weird analogy.

Again with the ‘birth certificate’ thing…

But I do love the ending … “be very scared!”

Note: Many of the below statements could be applied to ANY political candidate, including Republicans, unless no politician has EVER said …

”together we could change our country and the world” or “I have a really good plan on how we could do better”…

The whole thing reeks of Glenn Beck, and it wasn’t sent to me to share a laugh. It was sent in all sincerity, to alert me….

Enjoy….

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I was born in one country, raised in another.

My father was born in another country. I was not his only child.

He fathered several children with numerous women.

I became very close to my mother, as my father showed no interest in me.

My mother died at an early age from cancer.

Although my father deserted me and my mother raised me, I later wrote a book idolizing my father not my mother.

Later in life, questions arose over my real name.

My birth records were sketchy. No one was able to produce a legitimate, reliable birth certificate.

I grew up practicing one faith but converted to Christianity, as it was widely accepted in my new country, but I practiced non-traditional beliefs and didn’t follow Christianity, except in the public eye under scrutiny.

I worked and lived among lower-class people (1) as a young adult, disguising myself as someone who really cared about them.

That was before I decided it was time to get serious about my life and embarked on a new career.

I wrote a book about my struggles growing up.

It was clear to those who read my memoirs, that I had difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.

I became active in local politics in my 30′s then, with help behind the scenes, I literally burst onto the scene as a candidate for national office in my 40s.

They said I had a golden tongue and could talk anyone into anything.

I had a virtually non-existent resume, little work history, and no experience in leading a single organization.

Yet I was a powerful speaker and citizens were drawn to me, as though I were a magnet and they were small roofing tacks. (????????)

I drew incredibly large crowds during my public appearances. This bolstered my ego.

At first, my political campaign focused on my country’s foreign policy…

I was very critical of my country in the last war, and seized every opportunity to bash my country.

But what launched my rise to national prominence were my views on the country’s economy.

I pretended to have a really good plan on how we could do better, and every poor person would be fed and housed for free.

I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess. It was the free market, banks and corporations.

I decided to start making citizens hate them and, if they became envious of others who did well, the plan was clinched tight.

I called mine “A People’s Campaign”. That sounded good to all people.

I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside the traditional path of politics and was able to gain widespread popular support.

I knew that, if I merely offered the people ‘hope’, together we could change our country and the world.

So, I started to make my speeches sound like they were on behalf of the downtrodden, poor, ignorant to include “persecuted minorities”.

My true views were not widely known and I kept them unknown, until after I became my nation’s leader.

I had to carefully guard reality, as anybody could have easily found out what I really believed, if they had simply read my writings and examined those people I associated with. I’m glad they didn’t.

Then I became the most powerful man in the world.

And then the world learned the truth.

Who am I?
ADOLPH HITLER (2)

If you were thinking of SOMEONE ELSE, you should be scared, very scared

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(1) I love the comment about ‘lower class’ people, presumably meaning the poor.
(2) Can I add a “dun-dun-dun!” sound effect here?

Can we stop with the name-calling already? This is seventh-grade stuff…

On ‘Fox and Friends’ Hank Williams Jr. recently called President Obama ‘Hitler.’

Really Hank, Hitler? Do you know who Hitler was? What he did?

Pull your head out.

You have the right to free speech, Hank. You won’t go to jail for saying ‘Obama is Hitler.’ You have to understand, though, that people will see you for the moron you obviously are.

————–

Similarly, it was recently discovered that, long ago, Texas governor Rick Perry leased a hunting ranch with a racist name…a very racist name.

There is no other indication, anywhere, that Rick Perry is racist. People who have known him a very long time, even political opponents, say they have never seen Perry give any racist views.

It is an overreach, and morally wrong, to try to paint him that way.

There are plenty of racists out there, and racism is alive and strong, but we can’t be flippant about branding people that way. The charge is significant enough that you really need to gather a lot of facts before you apply the ‘racist’ label.

‘Chicken-Little’-type idiots do it regularly, which devalues the term. We need to preserve the term ‘racist’ and be willing to apply it for the truly despicable, not just as a ‘close enough’ moniker for those we happen to disagree with politically.

————–

C’mon people, stop throwing around these names. Hitler was a horrendous monster. His actions led to tens of millions of deaths. Feel free to compare Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot to Hitler. Those are apt, but precious few people alive today would fall into that category…

We at the Winkest Link were stupid enough to believe that the House of Representatives would eventually see the light and just pass raising the debt ceiling. To all presidents of both parties this has always been a formality in the past. But now morons run the House, so we at W-L will have to delay the follow-up to our ‘Voter Fraud’ article to make time to beg for two-cents worth of maturity from the GOP. Here goes….

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Dear GOP: (I will address the GOP directly, and not the teabaggers, because teabaggers are to thoughtful discussion what Neanderthals are to aeronautics…. “Ugh… me not get joke”) This is so stupid. Just raise the debt ceiling already. Don’t attach anything to it, just pass it.

This is not a budget bill, this is just (to paraphrase Ronald Reagan) ‘housekeeping.’

Raise the debt ceiling already, we can argue about the budget later.

The debt ceiling is arbitrary and should be totally non-controversial. Only one other country on the planet even has one. It is a made-up number.

For this stupid “principle” you would trash the U.S. economy? Especially when we are trying to recover from this last recession?

The only reason it is controversial is because the teabaggers want all conflicts to go nuclear. They control about 80 of the 535 House seats, but they have John Boehner’s private parts in a vice. He cannot breathe without their approval.

Boehner must be the weakest speaker in modern times. He knows additional taxes are needed to help the budget, but he dare not whisper that….

Teabaggers don’t know and don’t care about our responsibilities to maintain our standing in the world/financial community. Don’t know, don’t care.

Interest rates will rise on everybody, including you and me and the small businesses the GOP so often claims to care about.

This is the REAL job-killer. If a business can’t afford to borrow money, they can’t grow the company, or hire people.

Raising the debt ceiling should be perfunctory. We must pay our bills. This is not the same as passing a budget, it is simply paying our bills.

Teabaggers want every issue with Obama to be nuclear war. That is not real governance. Certainly not MATURE governance.

Raise the debt ceiling already. And raise it to at least 2013 so we don’t have to go through this B.S. again during election year 2012.

——————-

Additional Comments

By Kasson

Ostensibly (I like that word), the reason for Republican’s insistence on balancing the budget is to prevent economic and financial collapse in the future.  This is a noble goal, and that is why it works in the polls.But if the purpose is to prevent economic collapse, why would they flirt with it now?  Neither side is willing to take a bitter pill.

I think of it this way.  The United States has a cancer (the national debt).  Everyone agrees that in the short, medium, and long terms we need to deal with it to prevent it from metastasizing at least any worse than it has.  But I don’t feel the solution is to go on a murderous, suicidal rampage, taking out the global economy.  Sure it would “fix” the problem of debt.  But it is like curing an ice cream headache by shooting yourself in the head.  Solves the pain, sure, but it isn’t forward looking.  You need to look ahead and plan for the future.  Think of the consequences of your choices.

I am confident something will get passed, albeit it wont be a solution anyone likes.  They punted on the problem for too long, and now have to accept a less than desirable outcome.  You know it’s bad when NFL owners are laughing at the inability of congress to come to some sort of deal.

The GOP talking point to regain the House in 2010 was the following mantra: “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.” Nothing else…just ‘jobs.’

It worked fabulously. They took complete control of the House and narrowed their deficit in the Senate.

What have their objectives been SINCE the election?

• Embarrass President Obama.
• Protect the extremely wealthy from a massive two-percent tax increase (back to what they paid in the 90’s)
• Embarrass President Obama.
• Cut Budgets (on social programs, and anything else that helps the poor)
• Embarrass President Obama.

Notice what is missing? Jobs.

After the 2010 elections, the GOP’s first act when taking office was to ensure continued tax cuts for the very most wealthy. Priority number one.

Was anyone surprised?

In the ensuing 20 months they have done nothing to create jobs. Not a single bill. Do you know why? Because cutting tax for the wealthy is their only ‘jobs program.’

They keep beating this drum and it keeps NOT WORKING.

It didn’t work when the economy spiraled out of control under Bush, and it isn’t working now, after the GOP majority in the House forced Obama to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Giving money to the wealthy does not create jobs. Didn’t then, doesn’t now. (Ironically though, it DOES increase deficit spending)

Know what would create jobs? Fixing things, like our roads and bridges. These would be real jobs, not the minimum wage jobs the GOP is so fond of.

Republicans will oppose any real jobs program, no matter how desperate our economy, no matter the crumbling state of our infrastructure, if an upsurge in jobs might make Obama look good. Republicans would do anything, including tanking our economy, rather than make Obama look good.

Balancing budgets is normally a great idea, but not when jobless rates are high. Excessive fiscal tightening does not create jobs, it slows job growth or, worse, creates more unemployment.

Budget cutting is not a solution to all problems, but the GOP (which is being driven by the tea-baggers) is laser-beam focused on budget cuts.

Tea-baggers know nothing, and care nothing, about economics or creating jobs, they just want to pay less tax. What this tells you is that most tea-baggers have jobs, and don’t give a damn about those that don’t.

Wanna know what the newest GOP legislative goal is? Jobs? Don’t make me laugh. They now want to repeal the law requiring government use of energy-saving light bulbs. Republicans are pro-choice when it comes to which type of light bulbs we use. God-forbid we should save millions of dollars in energy costs.

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If the budget is ever lowered to the satisfaction of the tea-baggers (and it never will be), then their next priority will be helping the jobless.

Ha!!! Just kidding! The only concern for these loons, after tax, is abortion.

They don’t care about the unemployed, and the ‘Highway and Bridge Fairy’ will probably take care of those problems.

But when election season comes around, they will TALK about jobs, like they did in 2010. And morons will buy it again….

The press seems obligated to report a certain number of ‘happy stories’ every day. They search and search for these, because they know that war stories and cancer stories become a bit of a buzz-kill, and after a while people will tune you out.

Some days the ‘happy story’ comes easy. Every Thanksgiving the President will ‘pardon’ a turkey. This always makes the local and national news.

Boring. Stupid. Happy.

Same with Easter. The President and his wife invite some kids over. The kids scramble around the White House lawn scooping up eggs.

It turns out that these are ceremonial, wooden, Easter eggs. This is not new, but I probably didn’t know about the wooden eggs because I DON’T CARE. The ‘happy stories’ bore me.

Fox cares. Fox cares about everything the Obama’s do.

Every day the Fox writers are assigned one duty: Find any story and turn it into a way to rip the President and his wife.

Even a stupid, boring, Easter story.

Conservatives love to say all other networks are simply liberal mouthpieces. When “W” was president, did NBC/CNN/etc. ever do anything like this? http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/fox-news-takes-serious-issue-with-the-white-house-easter-egg-roll-event-video

Likewise, did Fox complain about Laura and George Bush when they held 8 consecutive Easter egg events, also with wooden eggs? Hint….no, they didn’t.

If you care (and I don’t know why anyone would care), here are the facts surrounding this years’ Easter Egg hunt at the White House…..

1. The eggs were certified hardwood, not particle board. Certified hardwood is just like any other wood, but comes from sustainable forests.
2. The ‘particle board’ mentioned is the cardboard box that the eggs come in, which is still not really particle board, but it isn’t normal hardwood either. (The box is also certified wood.)
3. The 85,000 eggs were NOT signed by Michelle and Barack Obama, The names were just stamped on them. (It would be a little time-consuming to sign 85,000 wooden eggs.)
4. The White House egg-rolling event actually uses hard-boiled eggs, so yes, there were real eggs there. The wooden eggs are given as souvenirs to the families who attend the event, and also sold online with proceeds going to the National Park Foundation.

But Fox does continue to validate the “We Report – You Decide” motto. The full motto is …

“WE REPORT 50% fact and 50% bulls**t, YOU DECIDE which is which.”

Apparently, Rep. Michele Bachmann made a misstatement about early American history.  She claimed that of New Hampshire, “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord.” We all know that happened in Texas with T. Boone Crockett exclaiming “Remember the Armadillo.” I don’t remember why the Armadillo was so important, but I guess Mexico wanted it or something.

I only heard of this mistake, when she said that the reporting of her mistake shows and obvious bias in the media. It must be news to her that I, a self-proclaimed follower of the news, had not heard of her mistake, until she used it to claim the bias.

Thankfully, she provided an example. She mentioned that during the 2008 campaign Barrack Obama, had claimed “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.” Again, we all know there are 52 States, excluding Canada (that’s a Province). She claimed this wasn’t reported in the media. First of all, how did she hear about it if it wasn’t reported? Second of all, I heard it many times when it happened. Yet, I didn’t hear her statement.

Where is the bias now?

To be forgiving to Bachmann, I know when it is you that make a mistake it feels if the whole world is closing in and making notice of the error, but the bias here doesn’t lie in the media’s hands, the bias is you perceiving yourself as more important than you really are.

The rest of the world could care less about that quip, there are many more telling quotes.

President Obama took an elbow to the mouth playing basketball. It must have been a bloody mess because it took sixteen stitches to fix it up.

And those 16 stitches cost you, the U.S. taxpayer, over ONE BILLION DOLLARS. If my math is any good, that is around $100 million per stitch.

You and I both know this cost has something to do with all this health care reform.
————-
Another true fact: Obama’s Kenyan aunt recently said she sincerely hopes he converts to become a Muslim.

She must be insane or stupid, because Barack Obama is already a Muslim. I have heard it thousands of times in the last few years. The guys who said it, and repeated it, and repeated it, and repeated it, could not possibly be wrong. What would be their motive?

But maybe she means he should become a ‘born again’ Muslim. That would make him TWICE the Muslim he is now. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Or maybe she is NOT insane. Maybe she is part of the ‘cover-up.’ You know, part of the conspiracy to hide his already-Muslim heritage. What better cover could there be than to say you WISH he were a Muslim.

Most assuredly, everyone at FOX wishes he was a Muslim…..

Did you hear about President Obama’s $200,000,000 per day trip to India? You didn’t? That’s because it is not true.

Some guy threw that little tidbit out as a guest on a mostly-liberal radio talk show the other day.

Of course, to me, $200,000,000 per day seemed like an insanely high number. So I rolled it around in my head for about five seconds…. Let’s see… that would make a five day trip cost the U.S. taxpayers $1 billion.

Sorry Charlie, I could tell, without any research, that somebody made up the whole thing.

And it’s funny. The guy on the radio didn’t sound stupid, so why is he just throwing around stupid phony ‘facts’ like that?

Why? Because he has a political axe to grind, and doesn’t care about facts.

‘I read it on the internet’ or ‘I saw it on Fox’ are statements with equal credible value…. Zero.

And that is where he heard it, on Fox and on the internet… so it MUST be true.

For God’s sake people. Don’t you EVER question what you hear or read? Ever?

If you are ever tempted to spout some random info like that, and don’t want everyone to think of you as a total moron when it turns out you were wrong, LOOK IT UP.

Here is your chance…to look it up on Snopes. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/india.asp

You can also look these types of things up on Politifact.com.

Eighteen percent of Americans think Obama is Muslim. Another 43% don’t know WHAT religion he is. This totals 61%.

These numbers are mind-blowing. Are these people just hopelessly, blindingly ignorant?

Can’t they at least remember back to Obama’s controversial (Christian) preacher? Don’t people remember FOX telling us that Obama has been going to the same church for years and years and years and never quit, even though this preacher is blah-blah-blah…..

Where do lunatic ideas, like ‘Obama is a Muslim’, come from?

Almost entirely from political gamesmanship. But what games are being played?

Democrats play beanbag: “Your candidate (not mentioning any names here Mrs. Palin) is a dunce. A charismatic dunce, but a dunce nonetheless. Now that I think about it, your previous candidate/president was dunce too.”

Republicans play the scorched earth/hired assassin game: “Your candidate hates America, hates our troops, is communist, is a Muslim, was not born in this country.”

Scorched earth/hired assassin was pretty much perfected by Karl Rove. The idea is just to make up s***, the more scurrilous the better, and a certain percent of people will believe it, regardless of ANY amount of counter-evidence.

Rove was the mastermind of the George W Bush campaigns. In the 2000 primaries Rove arranged for a “push-poll” in South Carolina, auto-dialing thousands of people, telling them John McCain had a biracial child out of wedlock. (McCain does have a ‘biracial’ child, an adopted daughter from Bangladesh.)

It worked. South Carolina Republicans bought into the racist message, voted for Bush, and McCain’s campaign donations dried up.

Ever since, Republican strategists have decided no tactic is too low.

So 18 percent of Americans now believe Obama is Muslim. Most of these people surely believe (a) Muslim = evil, and (b) Obama = evil.

What are we to make of the other 43% who don’t know what religion he is? I am guessing 8% of these are clueless and don’t know what day of the week it is. The other 35% probably know he talks about being a Christian, and goes to Christian churches, but that maybe that is just posturing, to win votes.

For the historically impaired, there has never been a non-Christian U.S. president, and this still holds true.