The Orange County Register just released
"Petitioners conned voters into switching to the GOP". So, how did these "voters" get "conned"? Under one of the very humorous photos of ticked-off libs is this: "Melissa Healy, 24, says she has voted for Barack Obama and John Kerry, but ended up on the voter rolls as a Republican because a signature gatherer at UC Irvine told her to mark herself as a Republican when she was signing some papers on campus." She really must be a dope to actually do as she is told without questioning the intentions of the person telling her to do something. Melissa must be the sort of person Mother warned you about, "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?" Melissa might, if you told her to. But in the interest of giving Melissa some benefit of doubt I have to ask what the circumstances were behind the "petitioner" who told her to mark herself as a republican. Was she somehow intimidated? Was he a good-looking guy who had her in some sort of trance? What happened? Surely the "petitioner" didn't force her to do it or there would be a police report on her incident.
So, why did all of these people switch to the GOP? Were they stupid or were they conned? We find the answer to our questions in the 5th paragraph:
"All of the voters identified by the Register are listed as under 28 years old; many said they knew little about politics or voting. A few, when told they were listed on the county voter rolls as a Republican, asked, 'What is a Republican?'"
As I suspected: Stupid! Read every word and understand it BEFORE you sign ANYTHING! Didn't your parents or teachers ever tell you that? Sometimes, you get what you deserve.
The answer to your question is yes. Fox news reinforces that stupidity.
ReplyDeleteTake for instance the fact that people today protested against their gun rights being taken away in Washington D.C. They couldn't do it in D.C. because it is not a state and has their own rules. Those that did protest did it from a park and the reason they were allowed to take their arms into a park to protest was because Obama allowed them to do it. Guns are allowed in all National Parks now thanks to Obama.
Consider the tea party patriots that hate Obama's tax policies even though most of them got tax breaks in 2009, I got one. What did they expect? A tax increase? What did they want? Fox news tells them what they want.
Yes, people are indeed stupid.
They want to go back to the 1950's. They forget that then, Eisenhower cut the top tax rate to 51 percent. Today is is less than 17 percent. WTF? Before that the richest 400 richest families in the country paid over half the federal income taxes. Now they don't and we are almost bankrupt.
Consider that our governor Arnold cut the car tax ( registration fees) to pander to the conservatives right after he was elected.. That has cost the state of California about 30 billion dollars to date. What is the states deficit? Enron and Pete Wilson had much to do with it but Arnold just added to the problem by cutting taxes.
Even Bill Clinton knew that before you cut taxes, you need to reign in spending.
"Fox news reinforces that stupidity." As does MSNBC and numerous other media outlets.
ReplyDelete"Guns are allowed in all National Parks now thanks to Obama." I suppose Congress had nothing to do with it?
From MSNBC (another bastion of fair and balanced reporting) who re-reported an AP story:
“updated 3:02 p.m. PT, Wed., May 20, 2009
WASHINGTON - In a stinging defeat for gun-control, the U.S. Congress has voted to allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. The House approved the measure, 279-147, on Wednesday, one day after the Senate acted. A total of 105 Democrats in the House joined 174 Republicans in supporting the gun measure, which essentially restores a Bush administration policy that allowed loaded guns in national parks for two months earlier this year. A total of 105 Democrats in the House joined 174 Republicans in supporting the gun measure, which essentially restores a Bush administration policy that briefly allowed loaded guns in national parks earlier this year. The measure, which is included in a bill imposing new restrictions on credit card companies, allows licensed gun owners to bring firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges as long as they are allowed by state law. "The NRA is basically taking over the House and Senate," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., a leading gun-control supporter. "If the NRA wins, the American people are going to be the ones who lose. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., disputed that. "The fact is American gun owners are simply citizens who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights without running into confusing red tape," Hastings said. Hastings and other Republicans said the bill merely aligns national parks and wildlife refuges with regulations governing the national forests and property controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.”
That was it took to pass the Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights which contained the compromise between Senators Dodd and Shelby. So, I wouldn’t get too carried away with thanking Obama; yes he signed the law into effect but he had little or nothing to do with the including guns in the national parks. Left to his own devices Obama would have made certain all firearms were outlawed in contradiction to the 2nd Amendment.
D.C. is not a state which means they were not granted any of the rights which were afforded to the United States. Instead, it is governed by Congress who makes ordinances for the District. Keep in mind the U.S. Supreme Court said that D.C. could NOT ban the ownership of firearms within the District’s jurisdiction because such a ban violated the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.
You no longer have a few families with all the money. It is spread out with the top EARNERS still paying the most money. That's a redistribution of wealth that, when pushed to far, is likely to inspire massive revolt similar to the Tea Party leading up to the Revolution.
Unfortunately, the governor of California has very little power. In fact, the primary function of our governor is to sign laws into effect or veto them. He cannot "cut" spending on his own; that is the job of the legislature. It is our state assembly which controls the budget process with the governor either executing the budget or vetoing it.
You sir are wrong. There are more billionaires in this country than at any time before. The top 400 families used to pay over half the taxes and now that has been transferred to the rest of us work a day people. From 92 percent to less than 17 percent for the rich and from 17 percent to less than 14 percent for the rest of us, means the rich have a 75 percent tax reduction from the time before Eisenhower to now. The rest of us have a 3 percent decline. Who's getting the better deal? Do I need to get out my small violin?
ReplyDeleteOh and one more thing, give me an example of MSNBC making people stupid. Mostly what I hear from them are corrections to the lies and falsehoods of the right winged media, Fox news and talk radio.
Fox admits that they are just an entertainment ratings driven media. GE, and Microsoft don't admit to that.
Fox news has been given the right to lie in their news casts by the Florida Supreme Court because of said argument. They are just entertainment and they are making people stupid.
Show me a situation on MSNBC where people are purposely being misinformed or lied to. Where they take footage from one event and say it is from another. Fox does it all the time. I don't see Fox pointing out MSNBC lies on a regular basis. Check Media Matters dot org for more on that. I'm not saying MSNBC is perfect, they just spend more of their time pointing out the lies of the right than lying themselves, unlike Fox news.
Make no mistake, this country is run by the people with the most money. Not the most votes. It has almost always been that way here and in most other countries. Warren Buffet said that there is a class warfare going on and his class is winning. Read what Grover Norquist had to say about what happens when there is a big voter turnout in this country. He hates it and said it is bad for republicans.
You make a good point: MSNBC spends way too much time even talking about FOX News. The more time they give Fox, the better for Fox and the Right. They are simply adding fuel to the fire. I stopped using MSNB as a news source when they went off the liberal deep end just like this OC Register story that blames everyone else with no mention of personal accountability. Like it or not, people believe what they hear, read, and see in the media whether the information is biased, correct, corrupt, or partial. I take issue with bloggers who take money and slant their stories in proportion to the revenue they receive. People read some blogs and take the information to be from a vetted media source when it clearly is not. I stopped using Fox as a news source for similar reasons. They are ALL SHOWS. If you want real news, go out and experience life firsthand; there is no substitute.
ReplyDelete"There are more billionaires in this country than at any time before." Of course there are and their billions are worth less now more than ever. What philosophical doctrine makes it ok for a government to redistribute the wealth of the People? There is none. We should have a flat tax; that would be fair and equitable. As it is, the harder you work, the more you are taxed. I had more "disposable" income 10 years ago when I was living in poverty (I actually met the federal and state standards) and qualified for all sorts of government aid. The only aid I did use was on our telephone service and a first-time home-buyer program. As the years rolled by and I earned more, worked more, earned more, I actually saw a significant decline in my net income. I was able to live in a nice tract home in a nice neighborhood but nothing to get particularly envious over. I saw my taxes go from about 20% in 2000 to about 47% in 2009. That doesn't include property taxes, sales tax, gas tax, air tax, sewer tax, and all of the other burdens placed on all of the citizens.
So, you may want to cite a statistic from some report cooked up by someone with a stake in the content (i.e. financing through "donations" from "political think tanks" and politicians) or you could look no further than my situation to know that I am over taxed. And I'm not a billionaire or a millionaire - not even close.