The Conservatard

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that if you spend more money than you can take in, you are headed for trouble. Ever since the Conservatard in Chief stole the oval office, the President and his rubber stamp “conservative” congress have gone on a spending spree that put the Reagan presidency to shame.

Buried among the sex scandals, illegal wars, degradation of the constitution and general Republican skulduggery the truth about their fiscal actions sees the light of day. The Comptroller General of the United States has somehow been courageous enough to point out exactly how fiscally foolish the conservatards have been.

An article on the ABC news page called GAO Chief Warns Economic Disaster Looms, reports on Comptroller General David M. Walker speaking on his “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour“. The name of the tour alone should be enough to shake most Americans out of their conservatard induced slumber.

What they [the politicians] don’t talk about is a dirty little secret everyone in Washington knows, or at least should. The vast majority of economists and budget analysts agree: The ship of state is on a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it.

…Their basic message is this: If the United States government conducts business as usual over the next few decades, a national debt that is already $8.5 trillion could reach $46 trillion or more, adjusted for inflation. That’s almost as much as the total net worth of every person in America Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and those Google guys included.

A hole that big could paralyze the U.S. economy; according to some projections, just the interest payments on a debt that big would be as much as all the taxes the government collects today.

And every year that nothing is done about it, Walker says, the problem grows by $2 trillion to $3 trillion.

…Why is America so fiscally unprepared for the next century? Like many of its citizens, the United States has spent the last few years racking up debt instead of saving for the future. Foreign lenders primarily the central banks of China, Japan and other big U.S. trading partners have been eager to lend the government money at low interest rates, making the current $8.5-trillion deficit about as painful as a big balance on a zero-percent credit card.

(more…)

The New York Times reported that the current commissioner of the IRS, Mark W. Everson has decided to delay collecting back taxes from Hurricane Katrina victims until after the fall elections. From what the article says delaying tax collection because of an election is unprecedented.

The commissioner, Mark W. Everson, who has close ties to the White House, said in an interview that postponing collections until after the midterm elections, along with postponing notices to people who failed to file tax returns, was a routine effort to avoid casting the Internal Revenue Service in a bad light.

…the tax agency has broad discretion to change filing deadlines in the case of disasters and has traditionally eased off tax collections before the December holidays.

But four former I.R.S. commissioners, who served under presidents of both parties, said that doing so because of an election was improper and indefensible.

…We just spoke with commissioner on the enforcement issue in the gulf,” wrote Beth Tucker, the I.R.S. executive in charge of dealing with Hurricane Katrina victims, in an e-mail message to her team obtained by The New York Times. “He prefers that we do not resume any enforcement actions until after Dec. 31 due to the upcoming elections, holiday season, etc.”

…Former Commissioner Jerome Kurtz, who served under President Jimmy Carter, responded, “Never, never, never,” when asked if he would have considered delaying broad-based enforcement actions like sending notices because of any election, national or local. “Oh my God, that is unthinkable,” Mr. Kurtz said.

Charles O. Rossotti, the commissioner under President Bill Clinton and President Bush, said, “That’s not appropriate.” Mr. Rossotti added that “given the culture of the Treasury and the I.R.S., I just can’t imagine anyone would even bring anything like that up.”

Sheldon S. Cohen, the Johnson administration tax commissioner, said it was wrong to delay any broad-based enforcement actions because of a pending election. Mr. Cohen said, however, that delay might be appropriate in a matter involving a specific politician.

David Cay Johnston
Published: October 27^th, 2006. New York Times

(more…)

Mr. C. saw this video of Henry Rollins earlier today and feels that it is worth commenting on. Young Mr. Henry, in his usual laid back manner, gives his opinion on how the Glorious Bush regime is attempting to stifle freedom of speech by allowing the large Telco’s to restrict internet neutrality and monitory all online activity.

Editors Note: Keep the volume down or use headphones. Henry can sometimes be a little graphic in his choice of words.

Mr Conservatard is outraged, nay appalled at the cheekiness of this rapscallion. How dare he say that net-neutrality is a good thing? Mr. Conservatard thinks that we have way too much freedom of speech in American Media. In fact being ranked 53^rd in the world is not good enough for Mr. C. believes that we should be rated at 169^th place for freedom of the press.

If you are a disabled person on Medicare and you need a new wheelchair, you better purchase it before November 15^th, 2006. In an article the Associated Press called Cuts in Medicare hurt wheelchair users sheds a little light on the whole conservatard affair.

Patricia Meier, a 63-year-old quadriplegic and Medicare recipient, needs to replace the wheelchair she has used for five years. Normally, Meier could simply use her Medicare benefits to replace the power wheelchair, which adjusts her position to prevent sores, with another one from WestMed Rehab Inc., a medical supplier near her home in Box Elder, S.D. But WestMed, along with several other suppliers across the country, says it will no longer provide power wheelchairs to most Medicare recipients after Nov. 15, when cuts in Medicare reimbursements go into effect.

… The Medicare changes are intended to eliminate widespread fraud identified by the Health and Human Services Department, which oversees the program.

… If Meier were to replace her chair without using Medicare, it could cost her between $17,000 and $20,000. With Medicare, she would pay only 20 percent of that.

“When I was able-bodied I bought cars cheaper than that,” said Meier, who was injured in a car accident 20 years ago. “I don’t know how I would be able to afford it.”

With other suppliers saying they, too, won’t be able to provide mobility equipment to many of their customers, those living with multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries and other conditions could be without the wheelchairs they need to get around.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 19, 6:38 AM ET

Well it’s good to know that the Bushtard administration is so concerned about fraud and waste of American taxpayer dollars. It’s good to know that in its infinite wisdom and “compassion” the Bush administration has decided to start playing hardball with the services that directly benefit the sick and the poor. (more…)

Mr. C. just finished reading a nice report out of Oklahoma where a Republican candidate is proving how “concerned” he is about children’s safety. In a bizarre online article from local Oklahoma news station called Candidate: Use Textbooks As Shields From School Shooters. A Republican named Bill Crozier who is a nominee for state superintendent of education has come up with a jim-dandy ideal to help protect children from school shootings.

 

Bill Crozier, a Union City Republican going against incumbent Democrat Sandy Garrett, said he believes old textbooks could be used to stop bullets shot from weapons wielded by school intruders.

If elected, he said he would put thick used textbooks under every desk for students to use in self-defense.

He gave Eyewitness News 5 a videotape showing he and others shooting weapons, such as an AK-47 and a 9 mm pistol, at books in a field near Minco. They conducted the experiment to see how far bullets would penetrate the books.

“We are doing this as an experiment because at Fort Gibson, many young people were shot in the back,” Crozier said in the videotape, referencing a December 1999 middle school shooting in eastern Oklahoma, in which a student wounded four students with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.

Crozier’s experiment began with shots fired at a calculus textbook from an AK-47 Russian-style assault rifle. The shot penetrated two textbooks at once.

“We need to look at protection of young people that sometimes people may think you are a little smarter than everybody else or a higher IQ or whatever. They need to look at what the end result would be,” Crozier said.

http:.www.koco.com

Holy friggin sheep dip Batman! Why didn’t I think of that? In fact why didn’t the US Army think of doing something like that? All those solders in Iraq and Afghanistan that were ill prepared for those nasty IED’s. The troops could have been wearing calculus and evolutionary science books to make up for the lack of body armor that Rumsfeld didn’t deem important enough to put in the defense budget. In fact even the truck drivers that Halliburton hire to drive unarmored trucks in combat zones could just stuff their truck cabs with science books.

Mr. Conservatard whole heartedly supports the use of thick science books to stop bullets. In fact using science books in this fashion kills two birds with one stone. First it protects easily expendable people with body armor at little or no cost. Second it is a great way to get rid of all those pesky books that tout non-Christofascist ideals like evolution, global warming and genetics.

It is good to know that true conservatards like Bill Crozier of Oklahoma are using the philosophy of God, guts and guns instead of their brains to look out for the welfare of the children. It is good to know that you don’t need some fancy Yale or Harvard edumikashun to be elected to a post as important as the superintendent of Oklahoma’s education system. In fact Mr. Conservatard feels that if Mr. Crozier is elected and works closely with senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the great state of Oklahoma and even America has a bright future to look forward to. A future perhaps even brighter than a thousand points of light.

Mr. Conservatard Note:

Mr. C. read the following article which comes directly from truthdig.com. The post has been reproduced here because Mr. C. feels that it is a must read for everyone. If after reading this piece, you don’t have a lump in your throat like Mr. C. did then you had better start rethinking what you really value.

[Truthdigg.com] Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

After Pat’s Birthday
By Kevin Tillman

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

(more…)

Are you still thinking of voting Republican this fall? Do you still think that the Republicans represent American democracy as our nation’s forefathers intended? If you answered yes to either of these questions then might Mr. C. suggestyou read this month’s Rolling Stone magazine?

This month’s Rolling Stone magazine’s cover story is called The Worst Congress Ever - “How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts — in five easy steps.” Writer Matt Taibbi reviews how the Republicans have made what is supposed to be a system of checks and balances and turned it into a single party dictatorship.

(more…)