lost $600 billion breaks.

lost 600 billion is OK.

Thanks again for all of your good work!

As we all know by now, in 2011 certain ignoramuses at the IRS flagged groups with "Tea Party" or "patriot" in their names for closer scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status.

The IRS has, of course, apologized. And at today's press conference, the President said that, if true, the IRS's actions were "outrageous and there's no place for it." Those responsible will "be held fully accountable."

Thanks goodness! A breath of fresh air!

Now some of you with lower IQs might be thinking things like "Hey Manny, isn't it against the law for non-profits to have some types of political agenda? And isn't there a pretty good chance that an organization with "Tea Party" or "patriot" in its name has a political agenda? Doesn't it make sense to take a closer look at outfits like that, just in case?"

For those types, who are trapped in a "reality-based" world, let me explain:

Haven't you noticed how much our President has done for you people? Well-off Americans have gained a full 5.6 trillion dollars since the start of the Obama recovery! $5.6 trillion is one hell of a lot of money, don't you agree?!

And those who aren't rich have only lost 600 billion. You little people should be damned grateful!

What's Obama's secret? His secret is that he's not trapped by "reality". He knows that by being obsequious to the fringe right, while bashing people who insist on Democratic values, he can get the Republicans to do his bidding. As he has.

So instead of whining, please join me in thanking the President for his thoughtful actions?

Huzzah!

Regards,

Third-Way Manny

but it seems inconceivable that a Golden Retriever could kill anyone. There are other dogs with similar temperaments that are very, very unlikely to cause mayhem under any circumstance. (Dogs should always be kept well clear of unattended tiny children, of course).

Other dogs clearly have dispositions that are not warm and cuddly. Growing up, my friend had a Malamute. It was the opposite of the Golden Retrievers I've known - very aloof and wary. Scary. I was encouraged to stay away from that dog. It ate many animals in the neighborhood, we were pretty sure.

All of this tumult over whether Pit Bulls love babies better for hugging or for eating has me thinking: what's so wrong about encouraging the ownership of dogs breeds that have phenomenal track records when it comes to maulings? And discouraging the ownership of dogs that have other-than-phenomenal track records?

Why take chances?

I like to walk a few miles each day. A while back (probably 20 years ago), it was suddenly fashionable in my area to own Rottweilers. That scared the hell out of me, I did not want to run into one unleashed while out for a walk. It seems like the owners had issues, too, because after a couple of years all the Rotties seemed to disappear.

Yes, I know that most Rottweilers are lovely dogs. But they are enormous, powerful, and not always lovely.

For a while, there were signs posted around my neighborhood for a lost Rottweiler, answered to "Satan". That felt really good, hoo boy! Each walk was an exercise in containing my anxiety.

If it had been a Golden Retriever named Satan, I would have felt much different. I think most others would, too.

At this point, there can really be no doubt as to the mistakes made by the Obama Administration regarding the Benghazi situation.

How bad is it? To put it in perspective, we should look at another crisis, one that the Administration has handled flawlessly: the Social Security crisis.

Like Benghazi, Social Security is a fully-fake crisis: if one uses "math" and "reality" as those things are typically understood, Social Security is fine for as far as the eye can see. Of course, our friends in the Republican Party don't understand "math" and "reality" - they claim that Social Security is a giant bureaucrat-run Ponzi scheme.

God bless President Obama. Rather than shove "math" and "reality" in the face of our close friends, he's met them half way from the start. Even a month before his first inauguration, Obama called for the need to cut Social Security benefits. Shortly thereafter, he convened a blue panel "debt commission" led by the two most virulent haters of Social Security, who dutifully called for a 22% cut in benefits over time. He had Timmy Geithner and the other "Trustees" of Social Security create dubious models to "prove" that Social Security was fucked. And so forth.

He's even made a good-faith effort to spew Republican talking points about Social Security: for example, did you know that FDR never intended Social Security to be for retirees? That's a great one, well played Mr. President!

Meet 'em half way! Increase the peace! That's the way it's done!

The fact that we know Obama can do the right thing is what makes the Benghazi catastrophe so vexing. Instead of making up bullshit in an effort to appease Republicans, he stubbornly sticks to the line that his administration was not responsible for the deaths, and did not engage in a frantic cover up.

Did you see the disappointment on Darrell Issa's face? The blood vessel pulsating in John McCain's forehead? The slightly-less-murderous-than-usual spew from Lindsey Graham? These are good men, patriotic men, men who deserve Presidential Medals of Freedom, and not a whole pickup truck full of truth.

Now I realize that the comparison isn't perfect: Social Security is about food, shelter and heat for tens of millions of little people, while Benghazi is about Obama, Hillary and other people with real money and real connections to bankers. I get that. And I understand why any important person's initial instinct is to protect themselves and their fellow swells. But this is America, dammit! We are all equal!

So would it kill our President to admit that he had his extremist Muslim buddies in Kenya hire the guys that attacked our embassy? Or to proclaim that Hillary couldn't be bothered to respond to a cable asking for help, because she was disposing of some evidence from Vince Foster's murder? These are simply common-sense steps that would calm our good friends down.

And after such a show of good will, who knows what great things could happen? Perhaps Republicans will finally learn to trust us again, and agree to work together to Grand Bargain the little people back into the state of serfdom that they desperately desire to achieve self-actualization, even if they're too stupid to know it yet.

C'mon Mr. President! Yes we can!

Regards,

Third-Way Manny

EDIT: I am a nitwit. Unbelievably, I missed that this story had already been posted in the EW group. So go kick, rec, or damn that one.

(Now I have the distinct privilege of locking my own post...)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------



EDIT: I am a nitwit. Unbelievably, I missed that this story had already been posted in the EW group. So go kick, rec, or damn that one.

(Now I have the distinct privilege of locking my own post...)

Papa Goldstein is visiting this weekend. We were BSing about stuff last night, and he told me something that I was sure was wrong: he heard on Bill Maher's show that in all of 2011, German police fired a total of 85 bullets against people.

80 million people, 85 bullets in a year. No way.

Yes way.

Wow.

Soon after we spoke, I read here on DU about some folks from the Florida Sheriff's office who got their man, a suspected car thief. Got him good. Real good. He seems to have been unarmed and had his hands in the air, but the cops fired 137 rounds at him anyway. More bullets in one place, at one person, in one moment than the entire German police fired in a whole year.

And then this afternoon, I watched a brutal video of an individual who felt compelled to fire 33 rounds at some police who'd stopped his car. Fortunately the cops were able to save themselves.

My cousin lives in Newtown, where so many children were recently mowed down like weeds.

What the Hell is wrong with this country, that we need to shoot at each other so much? What is it with our cult of the bullet, that ends almost 100 lives each day?

It is a sickness that runs deep. So many dead. We don't need all of these bullets, all of these guns.

Gun laws help: Here in Massachusetts, and in other places, strong gun laws greatly reduce the number of gun deaths.

But deeper than gun laws, there is a spiritual cancer here that needs attention. Why do so many have such fear, that they need such firepower?

We have a lot of work to do in fixing laws, and fixing hearts.

I vaguely knew something about this, but looked it up tonight. Nasty, nasty, nasty.

On Starbucks' web page, their fantastically-rich CEO Howard Schultz writes:


Fix the Debt, the organization that Schultz refers his readers to, is of course the far-right fringe group of uber-wealthy CEOs who want to become uber-wealthier through further federally-sanctioned pillaging of the 99%. They have proposed that Social Security payments be reduced by 22% to the average recipient over time.

22%.

22%.

Makes The Sequester look like a flea fart in comparison.

FTD's two leaders, Captain Bullshit and his young ward Darth Bowles, are shown below in my sig below paling around with their buddy, Middle Man.

Over the winter holidays, Schultz even asked his Washington DC area employees to lobby the locals to "fix the debt". Marvelous.

I guess Schultz figures his vast wealth is more important than seniors experiencing little joys in life, like "eating enough" and "not freezing". Perhaps they've run the numbers, and he'll make even more moolah if oldsters can't afford to visit his stores, the aging process might scare off the hip young people with more disposable income.

In any case, I think this sucks and I wanted DUers to know about it if they don't already. Think about it when you think Starbucks: because Starbucks is thinking about *you*, and they're not thinking nice thoughts.

Kudos to the Obama Administration for getting this one right.

This move will go a long way towards re-establishing trust with our friends on the far, far right after so many years of our not doing absolutely every last thing they want.

Regards,

Third-Way Manny

Well that's one @#$%ing strange experience, to see a fraternity buddy on the TV being highly responsible. My favorite memory of him as a pledge is when we [strike]made him[/strike] suggested he listen to Brian Eno cranked on headphones for an hour. Here Come the Warm Jets, IIRC. Ah, the look of revelation on his face! Or maybe disgust, couldn't tell for sure. I hope that didn't compromise his ability to ensure a fair defense. And we drank many adult beverages, and were slightly mean to our slightly-mean next-door neighbor, Carl Sagan.

Other frat buddies are captains of industry, run charities, have high government positions, ... and more than a few are unemployed. It's a savage time to be middle aged if you make a single misstep.

Earlier today, on a whim, I looked up my junior high school nemesis on the 'net to see what became of him. He was a belligerent youth, I was telling my middle-school son yesterday about how the fellow was always trying to cause me harm although I didn't cooperate. Turns out he's dead. A little more searching, found out some other folks I knew from junior high and high school are dead.

A very, very strange day. Life is short, and the world is small.

This started out as bombing related and went all melancholy on me. Somebody kick my butt if this belongs in the Lounge.

First Elizabeth Warren, now Ed Markey!

Time for the rest of you to do *your* jobs!

(Sorry about Romney and Brown. We were drunk. Never vote drunk. Hopefully all is forgiven.)