Who fired that shot?

By Capt. Fogg

Another Malaysian plane goes down, but this time we know why. We don't know who, because Putin denies it, the Russian separatists say it wasn't them and the Ukrainian government says it was. All of them are wrong however and we can be sure our friends the Republicans will soon let us know that this crisis, like all crises can be charged off to Barack H. Obama, the Kenyan born, Madrassa educated, communist Muslim jihadist demon.

What did you think? After all he didn't invade and his sanctions were either too little or too much and that's impeachable. Just as George Bush's decision to allow minor immigrants to have a hearing before deportation was Obama's fault -- just like The Republicans refusal to beef up security at the Benghazi embassy was Obama's fault and the deplorable conditions in Central America have never had anything to do with any Republican administration or policy.

Isn't it amusing -- or perhaps disgusting, but we can be sure that our Republican Congressional hostage takers will take precious time out from doing nothing but Obamabashing to bash Obama, but hey -- at least we'll know whose' fault it is.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

If you had told me this appeared on the Federalist website....

By Carl

…I would have laughed in your face. But it did:

Why abandon K-Street, and acknowledge, then reject, the Big Business perception of the GOP? They’ve had the Republican Party’s back for some time, right? In the past, the largest companies favored one party over the other because they understood a pro-capitalist, low-regulation government benefits them.

However, in recent years, especially since the 2007-2008 recession, many have turned to viewing government as a revenue source, a competition crusher, an error-eraser, and a partner in padding their bottom line. Their interest in cheap labor, bailouts, and selectively-favorable legislation has led to a flood of dollars into the Democrat Party, or into political action committees (PACs) that attempt to move Republican congressional votes away from their bases’ expectations, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s push for amnesty. Meanwhile, a mix of bad deals and worse legislation left taxpayers and shareholders on the hook for trillions, millions lost their homes and jobs, and the senators and corporate heads responsible are laughing all the way to the bailed-out bank.

Christ, you’d almost have thought that I, a dyed-in-the-wool leftist, a Marxist of the Adam Smith school, wrote that and not Brandon Finnigan.

And it’s true. This corporatocracy that the United States has become, where corporate bribes have made it nearly impossible for the average citizen to exercise his freedom without being drowned out in a chorus of “Me too” from the corporations, a place distinctly unfriendly to human beings.

Take the last big bipartisan initiative: the TARP program and it’s immediate antecedents. Everybody jumped on board because “too big to fail.” And now, they’ve gotten even bigger and we’ve become even more diminished and the next big bubble is here, Right now. In front of our eyes. You want to know the glaring warning sign?

Corporate mergers.

Mergermania has forecast nearly every single economic downturn since, well, downturns began in America and certainly every one since the 1800s.You can trace the curves almost perfectly. After all, these are the business leaders who have their fingers on the pulse – and thumb on the scale – of the American economy.

In this instance, mergers aren’t happening because there’s a lot of spare money on the table (there is, but it’s not the primary reason). They are happening because Big Business knows that the tax haven that they’ve banked on for decades, even centuries – America – is about to go all pitchforks and tumbrels, and start soaking the rich.

And the rich aren’t Americans. They are Dollaricans. They will flee this nation in a heartbeat if we raise taxes even a fraction of a percent and this is evident from the wave of mergers overtaking the nation.

Of course, liberals and their progressive progeny have been all over Corporate America since long before Occupy Wall Street, long before the G8 Summit protests, long before the NAFTA. So welcome to the party, Finnigan! Pity you waited until it was too late.

(Cross-posted to Simply Left Behind.)

Todd Akin deserves as much sympathy as Joe McCarthy

By Richard K. Barry

You remember Todd Akin. Think hard. He was the 2012 Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Missouri who said that women who were victims of "legitimate rape" could not get pregnant because, you know, the "female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Nearly everyone with an opinion, on both sides of the aisle, distanced themselves from the jackass and he went down to well-deserved defeat. 

He's baaaack!

In the latest he argues that what was done to him was exactly what they did to poor old "Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy" who, Akin says, was "assassinated by the media."

You've got to give Akin credit. Who else would attempt to defend himself by association with one the most despicable monsters in the history of American politics?

Not only is Akin a creep, but he continually shows himself to be an irredeemably stupid creep.

Sure hope the GOP has a few more of these types kicking around for future elections.

Elizabeth Warren's charm

By Richard K. Barry

I fully understand why Hillary Clinton is still playing hard to get. Though we all know she will be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, she has to roll out that fact on her own timetable in order to minimize her exposure as a target for her opponents. 

Elizabeth Warren will not run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, and though I think her "economic populist" message is one of the most important recent themes in American politics, Ms. Warren is not ready for prime time. 

Still, she is a hot ticket, especially on the fund-raising circuit. As per Huffington Post:  

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is quickly becoming a top Democratic fundraiser and campaign powerhouse, hitting the road on behalf of candidates in key races the party will need to win to retain control of the U.S. Senate in November.

Since March, the Massachusetts Democrat has stumped for candidates in Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Kentucky and has trips planned this week for West Virginia and Michigan. It's a hefty schedule for a freshman senator who not long ago was teaching law at Harvard.

Campaigning in Kentucky with Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes, Warren had this to say about Senate Republican efforts to scuttle a bill that would let college grads refinance their students loans at lower rates: 

When you've got a choice between billionaires and students, Mitch McConnell says it is more important to protect the billionaires.

Not that this is overly incendiary stuff, but it is the kind of stuff I'd like more of those in the Democratic leadership say. I'd really like Hillary Clinton to beat this particular drum, though I'm not holding my breath.  She and Bill are simply too close to the boys and girls on Wall Street and wouldn't want to suggest that the wealthier sort are a great part of the problem, not the solution.  In the words of Bush '41: 'Not gonna happen."

Yes, Hillary is the best way to ensure the GOP doesn't get its grubby little hands on the White House. For that reason alone I'm on board. Sad that American politics has come to this.

As for Elizabeth Warren, it's probably too late for her ever to run for the presidency, though she can do some fine work in the Senate. And if, in the longer run,  she encourages a few on the left to understand that you don't fundamentally change a corrupt system by begging the wealthiest in the land for table scraps, we could do worse.

Are you listening, Hill?