gop

With all the chest thumping over "runaway spending" and the growing deficit, you would think the party that claims to be the fiscal hawks would look at cutting spending in all areas of the budget. Well that's not the case. It turns out the Republicans want to add an additional $17 billion to the defense budget over what President Obama had requested.

But that isn't even that troubling. What really gets me is this:

Legislative language withholds three-quarters of the funds until the Defense and State Department come up with a report to Congress on how the money is being used and what metrics are being used to measure progress by Pakistan in rooting out terrorist and Taliban elements inside its borders.

The requested report would include a discussion of “United States strategic objectives in Pakistan” and a “listing of the terrorist or extremist organizations in Pakistan opposing United States goals in the region and against which the United States encourages Pakistan to take action.”

The administration would be asked to spell out “the gaps in capabilities of Pakistani security units that hampers the ability of the Government of Pakistan to take action against the organizations” and what standards will be used to measure progress by the Pakistan in “combating the organizations listed in clause.”

Does this sound familiar? Well it should. Democrats used to try this same thing when Bush was President. They wanted the details of what the plan was and where the money was going in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tiffany's isn't the only place Newt Gingrich can get some bling. He also can get the poor man's bling by just attending an event:

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista were hit with glittery confetti by a protester Tuesday during the couple’s appearance at a book-signing.

The man approached the Gingriches during the signing at a downtown Minneapolis hotel, dumped a cracker box full of confetti on the pair and said, “Stop the hate!”

Two Associated Press reporters witnessed the event. The man was quickly pushed out of the room by an event organizer as the Gingriches brushed confetti out of their hair and laps. The glittery material covered the table they were using for the signing.

Hopefully this guy won't face any charges, since throwing trash at people is constitutionally protected free speech. Just ask Mike Huckabee.

I guess not:

A top House Republican is planning to propose that Internet service providers be required to store information about their customers to aid police in criminal investigations, CNET has learned.
But a recent draft has one huge exception: wireless companies aren't included.

That appears to be the result of lobbying from wireless providers, which don't want to have to comply with any new governmental mandates. But the exemption has already drawn the ire of the U.S. Justice Department, which says it doesn't go far enough and is likely to attract strong opposition from cable and DSL providers that would be the ones singled out for regulation.

CTIA, the wireless trade association, declined to answer questions about its involvement in drafting the exception, saying through a spokesman only that "we are committed to working with the committee on the legislation."

The committee preparing the bill is the House Judiciary Committee, headed by Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who has previously expressed support for mandatory requirements governing the retention of user data. The bill will be part of a larger measure dealing with strengthening criminal sanctions against child pornography.

Yesterday John Boehner said there would be no debt ceiling increase without cutting trillions in spending:

“Without significant spending cuts and changes to the way we spend the American people’s money, there will be no debt limit increase,” Mr. Boehner told members of New York’s business and finance community. “And cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority the president is given.” Mr. Boehner said those cuts should be in the trillions of dollars, not billions.

So what should be cut? Well short of trying another push on the Ryan Medicare plan, something that Republicans are even souring on, Boehner gave no details.

Boehner did say everything “except tax hikes” is on the table. Would that include defense? Somehow I doubt it.

This really opens up a chance for President Obama to take lead on the issue. The President should do a speech and ask the Speaker exactly what he wants cut. Start pushing this, force John Boehner to lay out an actual plan instead of a talking point.

Of course talking points is all that John Boehner has. Remember back during the healthcare battle, when Boehner and company had this “much better plan”. They held a big press conference and released the “plan”, which turned out to be nothing but a glossy 8 1/2x11 talking point. When Boehner was pushed on the lack of details his response was “well we aren’t in charge, so we won’t do that”. Well Mr. Boehner, you are in charge now – where’s the details?

Paul Ryan has admitted that his Medicare plan is nothing more than a mandate for seniors. This is from a townhall Ryan held in Racine, Wisconsin:

Q: If Medicare becomes a voucher program, would you require seniors to purchase private insurance and if so isn’t that an individual mandate? If you will not require them to purchase insurance how do you propose to prevent a situation where the costs of uninsured seniors is very expensive and gets passed on to me as a private policy holder? [...]

RYAN: Its mandate works no different than how the current Medicare law works today, which is you just select from a wide range of different plans. It literally would be like Medicare Advantage…

Now how can mandates be unconstitutional for everyone but seniors? That just doesn’t make sense and it blows a big gapping hole into the GOP argument over the mandates in the healthcare reform bill passed last year.

But this isn’t the only problem. This is being billed as a way to financially save Medicare. This is from a GAO report done in 2008:

Though it was originally envisioned as a potential way to save the Medicare program money, the government pays on average 13 percent more to care for a Medicare Advantage enrollee than it would if that person were in traditional Medicare.

So the plan to save us money will actually cost our country 13% more? Here we go with the fuzzy GOP math again, and with forcing every senior into the program, costs will really skyrocket. Keep in mind that this isn’t some prediction from the OMB, this is based on the actual numbers from the existing program, as computed by the GAO.

Only dozens showed up to hear Tea Party darlings Michele Bachmann and S.C. Governor Nikki Haley speak at a rally in Columbia, SC.

While the media tries to talk up the significance of the Tea Party, the showings at recent rallies have told another story. Yesterday was a prime example of this, as the Taxed Enough Already rallies the Tea Party holds on tax day saw dismal turnout.

Yesterday was tax day and as in previous years, Tea Party activists rallied across the country on the movement’s most significant organizing day since it exploded on tax day 2009. But as observers wonder if the movement is waning in popularity, a ThinkProgress analysis found that in many cities, turnout was significantly lower at this year’s rallies than those on tax days in 2010 and 2009.

The Economic Policy Institute has released a chart showing the average overall tax rates in 1979, 1992 and 2007. The picture isn’t pretty.

While the tax rate for you, me and the other 99% of this country has remained pretty much the same over the years, the tax rate for the top 1% has seen a nice decrease in their tax burden and the top 400 households have seen a reduction that leaves them paying less a share than the rest of the country.

How is this fair?

To answer that question, we must throw out everything we know about math and enter the world of GOP economics. You constantly hear the GOP say that these poor rich people have to pay the most in taxes. Of course they do because they also earn the biggest chunk of the money in this country. But for things to be fair, we mustn’t look at total amounts, but rather shares. You and me haven’t thrived off the American dream, but we are paying a bigger share than those who have. The people who need the money the most and would be more out to spend any extra money, which would boost our economy, see a bigger percentage of their earnings go to taxes than the ultra-rich.

Rep. Scott Randolph (D-FL) is in trouble with Florida House Republicans for saying a new dirty word on the House floor:

At one point Randolph suggested that his wife "incorporate her uterus" to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions. Republicans, after all, wouldn't want to further regulate a Florida business.

Apparently the GOP leadership of the House didn't like the one-liner.

They told Democrats that Randolph is not to discuss body parts on the House floor.

"The point was that Republicans are always talking about deregulation and big government," Randolph said Thursday. "And I always say their philosophy is small government for the big guy and big government for the little guy. And so, if my wife's uterus was incorporated or my friend's bedroom was incorporated, maybe they (Republicans) would be talking about deregulating.

"It's not like I used slang," said Randolph, who actually got the line from his wife. He said Republicans voiced concern about young pages hearing the word uterus.

How dare we talk about lady parts! They are nasty!!!!

And in memory of the late and great George Carlin, I leave you with this classic.