Political Ruminations

Americans for Prosperity, Koch-backed Tea Party group, hands out fake eviction notices

The arrogance of these people is astounding. The Detroit Free Press:

The state director of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity offered no apologies today for papering homes in Detroit’s Delray district Monday with fake eviction notices.

Bearing the words “Eviction Notice” in large type, the bogus notices told homeowners their properties could be taken by the Michigan Department of Transportation to make way for the New International Trade Crossing bridge project. The NITC is the subject of debate in Lansing, and Americans for Prosperity is lobbying heavily against it.

“It was meant to startle people,” Scott Hagerstrom, the group’s state director, said today. “We really wanted people to take notice. This is the time that their opinions need to be heard. We wanted people to read it.”

The fake eviction notices sparked outrage in Southwest Detroit, with State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents the area in Lansing, complaining that the tactic has created chaos among the district’s residents.

Seems to me that a few days in a Detroit jail would do these psychos a world of good.
As for the Koch brothers, well, they need to be run out of the damn country.

H/T Ashby

Constituents Verbally Attack Republican Legislators at Town Halls Over Ryan Budget & Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

Really, I feel like jumping up and down for joy because there has been so little indication over the past 2 years that the average voter even pays an iota of attention to what’s happening in our politics. 

But last night, after I watched the clips from the town hall meetings, I felt something distinctly strange…..I think it might be….hope - even if it is an infinitesimal amount. Why? Because it seems that people are finally starting to get it.

Watch:

Still, knowing how Republicans operate, we can probably rest assured that they will find a way to spin this to their advantage.

Let’s not let them. 

GOP Priorities Exposed

Once again, the GOP tells the American people that we don’t matter.

But tax cuts for milionaires, big oil subsidies (going to the same industry that loves to bilk us for every dime), and tax breaks for offshoring companies…….these things matter. To the GOP.

All this, even as almost every single House Republican voted to end Medicare as we know it, making 165 billion in cuts under the Ryan plan. 

Pitchforks and torches anyone?

Chart via DCCC

Chart of the Year (Seriously)

'Chart of the Year'...so far, but it is the most enlightening chart I've seen in a while, contrasting the cost of tax breaks for the wealthy and the cost of the draconian spending cuts the 112th Congress is trying to push through. 

From the Center for American Progress:

The chart below compares the 10 safety-net programs slated for deep cuts with the cost of the tax breaks that should also be considered for reduction or elimination to bring the budget into balance. The column on the left is a list of safety-net programs that have already been targets of the House leadership’s budget ax. The column on the right is the cost to specified tax breaks (see bottom of page for sources).

Could the Republican agenda be any clearer?

Via Bob Cesca