Republican Economic Mistakes Meme

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Christie asked Cuomo to back off investigating Fort Lee. In mid-December

By: chrississippiFollow

In what seems like ages ago in the Chris Christie / Gina Close #bridgegate scandal saga, the WSJ reported something that looked exceptionally fishy at the time; that Christie had talked with Andrew Cuomo and asked him to get Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to back off investigating the Fort Lee bridge closure.

"Mr. Christie, a Republican, complained in a private phone call to Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, that Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was pressing too hard to get to the bottom of why the number of toll lanes onto the bridge from Fort Lee, N.J. was cut from three to one in early September, according to this person. The lane closures occurred without notice to local authorities, officials have said, and snarled traffic for a week in the small borough on the Hudson River bluffs."

According to the WSJ story, that phone call was the week of December 12. Yeah. Kind of makes Christies little press "performance piece" this morning look like the firehose of lies that it actually was.

Among the mounting stream of evidence that shows Christie knew damn well what was going on, this one would seem to be the final nail in the coffin.

And it's very easily proven ... if Governor Cuomo has the backbone to be a proper partisan and put his boot on Christie's neck.

He doesn't have to do it personally. Heck, the WSJ would be HAPPY to report the facts if they just got the nod ... they're the ones with the connections to "a person familiar with the matter," which by the sound of it has to be someone in Cuomo's office anyway.

Ball is in your court, Andy. End Christie's political career.

UPDATE (1 pm PST): H/t to Catte Nappe below ... our own Jed Lewison saw the same story when it happened way back in December and put up dKos diary then. Daily Kos---like seeing the future before it happens!

 

You Should Take a Look at This

When I heard the news last night that we received over 1,000,000 online donations to win a Democratic House, I have to admit -- I was speechless. But by now, I really shouldn't be surprised. Your activism throughout all of 2013 was nothing short of extraordinary. You should take a look at this:

 

For the last ten years, we've been calling for an end to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. During the "fiscal cliff" talks, over 576,000 of you stood with us and forced Speaker Boehner's hand.

 

You may remember that House Republicans refused to take up the Violence Against Women Act. For over 500 days, you pushed and petitioned and demanded a vote. And then -- boom! Your grassroots pressure made it too hot to handle.

 

 

You demanded that Speaker Boehner stop wasting taxpayer money defending the discriminatory "Defense of Marriage Act." He didn't listen... then he lost.

 

 

When Republicans shut down the government, you organized online and held #DemandAVote events in your communities. In total, over one million of you demanded a vote to stop the GOP shutdown.

 

 
And finally, I've lost count of how many times Republicans have tried to dismantle, defund, and destroy the Affordable Care Act. Today, January 1st, 2014, millions will receive access to affordable, quality health care -- some for the first time in many years.

 

Let's not kid ourselves: There's still a lot of work left to done in 2014: extending unemployment benefits for Americans looking for work, passing the Paycheck Fairness Act to expand equal pay for women, raising the minimum wage for mothers and fathers across our country, expanding access to pre-school education... just to name a few.

But today, I hope you'll take a second to think about all of the victories you made possible that are changing people's lives for the better. I'm so proud of that -- and I hope you are too.

Happy New Year!

Nancy

P.S. Now that we're in the New Year, you should claim your free Dems 2014 bumper sticker >>

Something To Ponder by George Carlin

George Carlin's wife died early in 2008 and George followed her, dying in July 2008. It is ironic George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent and so very appropriate. An observation by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.

George Carlin

Right-Wing Group Seeks Help Rewriting the Bible

December 20, 2013  |  Alternet.org | NPR

 

 

Liberal bias in the media pales in comparison to what you’ll find in your standard-issue Bibles, according to Conservapedia.com, a kind of Wikipedia for the religious right. The King James Bible, not to mention more recent translations like the New International Version (NIV), are veritable primers of progressive agitprop, complains Andy Schlafly, the founder of Conservapedia.com. (His mother, Phyllis, is an activist best known for her opposition to feminism and the Equal Rights Amendment.)

But not to worry. Andy Schlafly’s group is on the case, and they have invited you to pitch in. Well, maybe not you, exactly, but the "best of the public,” whose assistance is solicited in proposing new wording for left-leaning Bible verses.

Don’t know Aramaic, Hebrew or ancient Greek? Not a problem. What they are looking for is not exactly egghead scholarship, but a knack for using words they've read in the Wall Street Journal. They have a list of promising candidates on their website— words like capitalism, work ethic, death penalty, anticompetitive, elitism, productivity, privatize, pro-life—all of which are conspicuously missing from those socialist-inspired Bibles we’ve been reading lately.

In the several years since their translation project was inaugurated, all of the New Testament and several books of the Old have been thoroughly revised. But lots still remains to be done. If you've got a soft spot for Leviticus, the Book of Amos, Lamentations or Numbers, they are all still available for rewrite, so get cracking! 

To give a sense of how to go about your own retranslation, here are some examples of changes the editors have already made.

Take that story where the mob surrounds a woman accused of adultery and gets ready to stone her, but Jesus intervenes and says, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone" (John 7:53-8:11). It might have been a later addition that wasn’t in the original Gospels, according to some right-thinking, or rather right-leaning scholars. So the editors have excised this bleeding-heart favorite from the Good Book, and they've also removed Jesus’ words on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

“The simple fact is that some of the persecutors of Jesus did know what they were doing,” Schlafly points out, proving that, “Jesus might never had said it at all.” 

Another thing Jesus might never have said at all is, “Blessed are the meek.” Change that one to, “Blessed are the God-fearing,” the translation’s editors advise, which is far less touchy-feely than the King James version.

Where Jesus teaches that, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:24) our mentors at Conservapedia recommend that we scratch the word “rich” and replace it with either "fully fed and entertained" or, if you prefer, "idle miser," which have none of the Occupy Wall Street-ish sour grapes of the better-known translation.

When Jesus greets his disciples with the blessing, “Peace be with you” (John 20, 26), the editors cleverly change the wording to, "Peace of mind be with you," so that nobody gets the wrong idea and thinks Jesus was some kind of lilly-livered pacifist.

Likewise where Jesus says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but to save it” (John 3, 17), they change “world” to “mankind,” so it is clear the Christian savior is not advocating environmentalism here. Hey, you can’t be too careful!

Finally, when Jesus admonishes hypocrites to, “Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye,” the conservative Bible replaces the word “hypocrite” with "deceiver," since hypocrite is often “misused politically against Christians.” Good point!

 

Once you start tweaking the Bible, the possibilities are endless. One smart aleck on the Internet has suggested an alternate rewrite for the one about the rich guy who wants to become a disciple: "It is easier for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than a poor camel driver." Brilliant! You know, it still kind of sounds like the original, but with a far more capitalist-friendly takeaway message.

Be creative. Include some brand new commandments of your own such as, “Thou shalt not ... raise taxes on the rich, regulate the financial industry, permit gay marriage, take climate change seriously, feed the poor, clothe the naked, heal the sick...."

Richard Schiffman is an environmental journalist, poet and author of two books. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Atlantic, Reuters, NPR and the Guardian, among other outlets.

Right-Wing Group Seeks Help Rewriting the Bible Because It's Not Conservative Enough