Business Leaders Need to School Tea Baggers

If we are going to have a debt ceiling and default crisis —with all of the havoc it may well entail —it may well be because Republican voters want such a crisis, even if it causes serious economic harm.

No, really. That’s what a new poll shows.

The new Washington Post/ABC News poll on the debt ceiling tells us something remarkable: Among Republicans who believe that not raising the debt ceiling would cause serious harm to the economy, a majority of them wants Congress not to raise it anyway. By contrast, Americans overall see it in the opposite way.

This is a complicated one, but it’s worth it. The new WaPo poll asks two questions on the debt limit. It finds that 46 percent of Americans want Congress to raise the debt limit “so the government can keep paying its bills and obligations,” while 43 percent want Congress “not to raise the debt limit and let the government default on paying its bills and obligations. "

That’s roughly an even split; the debt limit tends to poll that way.

Meanwhile, the poll also finds that 73 percent think not raising the debt limit would “cause serious harm to the U.S. economy,” versus only 22 percent who say it wouldn’t. How to explain the divergence?It turns out it’s largely driven by Republicans.

I asked the Post polling team for a breakdown. Here’s the upshot:

*Republicans are far more likely to oppose raising the debt limit than anyone else; they say don’t raise it by 61-25. By contrast, Dems say raise it by 62-31, and independents split by 48-46 on raising versus not raising it.

*Republicans, however, also believe overwhelmingly that not raising it would cause serious economic harm —by 66-27. (Dems and indys tilt the same way.)

*How to square that?
Simple: Among Republicans who believe not raising it would cause serious economic harm, a majority say don’t raise it by 53-32.

By contrast, among Americans overall who say not raising it would cause serious harm, they tilt in favor of raising it by 54-35. Independents who say not raising it would cause serious harm also tilt in favor of raising it by 58-36.

And there it is: Republicans want Congress not to raise the debt ceiling, even if it would cause widespread economic harm.

I don’t really know how to explain this. Perhaps it’s confusion about the debt limit (not raising it, of course, would only cause default on debts already incurred), or maybe it’s an expression of generalized hostility towards something Obama wants. Or perhaps it’s that Republican lawmakers have been telling these voters for years now that spending under Obama is the leading threat to the survival of American civilization (even though the deficit is falling and there just isn’t any near term crisis to speak of), and that standing up to Obama in these epic spending confrontations is the only way to arrest the republic’s slide into total ruin. Apocalyptic intervention is required to salvage what’s left of our country, no matter how much harm it causes in the process.

Greg Sargent, Washginton Post

Miley Cyrus, Twerking, Is This the End Times?

It's the talk of the entertainent world, Miley Cyrus, AKA, Hannah Montana, "twerking" at the Video Music Awards, wearing a nude colored bikini, demonstrating the versatility of her posterior and her tongue while singing her latest, and possibly her biggest hit. Some are shocked, some are revolted, I even read an article that claimed this performance signaled the end of Western civilization. In actuality, the performance was about a 20 year old billionaire shaking her booty and singing a decent enough tune, which will probably go platinum, thanks in part to the shock factor. Miley Cyrus has talent, she did a superb cover of Dylan's "You're gonna make me lonesome when you go" recently, which attracted little attention and therefore, encouraged her to go in a different direction. As for all the fuss..it too will pass, and Miley will either concentrate on her considerable vocal abilities or not.
Life will go on.

The war is over

OK, The "drug war" isn't over, but President Obama has taken significant steps, with AG Holder, to curtail some of the most egregious and damaging aspects of
the government's drug prohibition policies.
The AG has begun a process to reduce the harm caused by mandatory sentencing for minor drug offences.
As Holder pointed out, the harsh enforcement of drug prohibition policies has mainly impacted minority communities.
It was suggested that rehabilitation would be more beneficial for non-violent offenders than prison.
It would be more cost effective, as well.
Apparently this shift in attitude is shared by both parties.

This is change you can believe in.

Texas GOP Unleashes Political Quackery on Women's Reproductive Rights

A few years ago, during consideration of a bill being pushed by a Republican elder in the Texas Senate, first-term Sen. Wendy Davis asked him a question about it. Rather than respond to this Democrat, this woman, the old bull replied dismissively, "I have trouble hearing women's voices." No more. Even a stone-deaf old bull would've been jerked to attention by the clarity of Davis' voice on June 25. Starting at 11:18 a.m., she literally stood tall for more than 11 grueling hours, filibustering a mean and demeaning attempt by extremist Republican leaders to put the state government in charge of the most personal right women have: controlling decisions about their own bodies. Davis' principled stand — in Texas, no less — rallied over 2,000 mothers, grandmothers, girls and others to come to the capitol from all over the state, packing the gallery in quiet witness. Quiet until 10:04 p.m., that is, when GOP leaders tried to silence her by unilaterally ruling her filibuster over. Suddenly, the ruling solons were startled by a high-decibel reprimand from their subjects — the gallery erupted in citizen outrage, causing chaos on the floor. Then, when the "leaders" tried to force a vote, the "followers" took charge, with jeers so loud that senators couldn't hear themselves. With the session set to expire at midnight, panicky leaders tried to push the clock back, which led to deafening chants of "shame, shame, shame," ultimately blocking the GOP's brutish ploy. Texas Republicans have already re-rigged the rules so they can get their way on another day, but they can't escape the huge significance of this defeat. As Davis rightfully noted, while she was the one standing on the floor, "it was the 'people's filibuster' that stopped (the bill)" and awakened a new movement in Texas that won't be stopped. Texas has long experience with animalistic approach to public policy. In 2007, a local school superintendent rejected any need for sex education classes in his district. Noting that many students there live on farms, he said, "They get a pretty good sex education from their animals." Guess which state is No. 1 in teen pregnancies? Yes, Texas. And who should be the ones to make medical decisions about pregnancies? Not women and their doctors. They might choose "wrong" over the doctrine of certain religious groups. Rather, the macho Republican autocrats and theocrats who now reign over state government say they are the ones to decide such deeply personal matters. How embarrassing for these political bullies, then, to have had their repressive, extremist and dangerous anti-choice legislation derailed by ... well, by women. " An unruly mob," cried the lieutenant governor as he fled the capitol. One GOP lawmaker tremulously tweeted that Davis, the opposition leader, was a "terrorist." And Gov. Rick "Oops" Perry ran away to Dallas, where he whimpered that the people's assertion of citizen's authority was a "hijacking of the democratic process." Odd concept: The people "hijacking" democracy. All this from "leaders" who blatantly hijacked the rules to shut down Davis' gutsy filibuster. In 2011, these same wimps even tried to hijack Davis' Senate district by illegally shoving more than half of her minority precincts into neighboring districts — a racist ploy that federal judges overturned. And now Perry is trying to hijack reality, huffing and puffing that he'll slap down the women's opposition to his assault on their rights, because that's "what the people of this state hired us to do." Get a grip, Rick. In a June poll, 63 percent of registered Texas voters said we already have plenty of anti-abortion laws on the books, and nearly three-fourths of the people (including six out of 10 Republicans) say such personal medical decisions should be made by women and their doctors, not by political quacks masquerading as Talibanic moral arbitrators. And 81 percent say the legislature should focus on basic economic issues wracking the majority of Texans. Davis pointed out that far from helping the economic plight of women in the Lone Star State, he vetoed the equal-pay-for-equal-work bill recently passed by the legislature. How rude of her!