Why We Need Texas

Wouldn't you love to have Gail Collins living next door, so you could have coffee with her every morning?

Ms. Collins reports that Peter Morrison, treasurer of the Hardin County (Texas) Republican party and a former textbook committee member for the State Board of Education (which screens textbooks for their appropriateness for the tender, impressionable minds of Texas youth) has declared it is time for Texas to secede from the Union. And he anticipates a fight from those nasty carpet bagging Yankees who can be anticipated to swarm down to the Lone Star state, in hordes, the way they did the last time a Southern state tried to walk out. 
 "We must contest every single inch of ground," he said, echoing the famous Churchillian call to fight the Nazis on the beaches and in the fields.  Well, Texas doesn't have all that much in the way of picturesque beach, but you get the idea. 

Resist! "Delay the baby-murdering, tax-raising socialists at every opportunity," he said. "In due time, the maggots will have eaten the rotting corpse of the Republic, and therein lies our opportunity."  

Apparently Mr. Morrison learned something from reading all those textbooks.

Ms. Collins must have a subscription to a variety of Texas newspapers to find such stuff, and Mad Dog is thinking of paying for a subscription, if he can only find out where the best Texas tirades are printed.

Mad Dog admits he has advocated expelling Texas along with Arizona (or at least Maricopa County) South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi from the Union, but now he has to re think.  Where else can we get such distilled clarity of the thinking (if we can be that generous, to describe it as thinking--frothing might be a better word) of the lunatic right? 

And if we threw out Arizona, we'd lose John McCain, who, as Ms. Collins points out, provides such wonderful comic relief, complaining bitterly the Administration has stone walled and refused to tell him what happened at Benghazi even as the briefing at the White House was going on--the briefing McCain skipped, having been truant so he could hold a press conference at which he could complain nobody tells him anything. Now that is chutzpah! That really is the boy who murders his parents and then pleads for leniency on the grounds he is now an orphan.

No, if we simply kept the Blue States, we would be the poorer, for the loss of all those wonderful clowns who control the Red States. 

It would be like purging the Police Log from the Portsmouth Daily Herald.  There you see people in their most revealing state.  My personal favorite is the report, as always given straight faced and without comment, "Called to home on Islington Street, eleven A.M. Female resident complains her neighbor called her 'Obese.'"

Try To Stop Smiling

Mad Dog has had a very serious talk with himself.  He has pointed out, to himself, that his life has not substantively changed since November 6. He still goes to his day job, every day, still arises at 5 AM, still gets back home at 6 PM. His salary is unchanged. He drives the same car with no prospect for a new one. His house is still the same color. His lawn is unraked, and leaves still need raking.

But, as the song goes, I have often walked down this street before, but the sidewalks always stayed beneath my feet before.

As David Remnick says in this week's New Yorker, the joy of seeing the brothers Koch and Sheldon Adelson failing to buy this election, of knowing that despite the Supreme Court's best efforts to hand the election to the Republicans with their Citizens United ruling, they failed and the delight of seeing  Donald Trump, that epitome of buffoonery,  sputtering impotently, and that wonderful exchange between Megyn Kelly and Karl Rove--"Is this just the math that you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better or is this real?"--all that was sooo satisfying. 

To see those haters, like the guy in Albany, New Hampshire who owns the Kawasaki motorcycle dealership, who put up the sign shown above at the gateway to the White Mountains--to see them vanquished is oh, so sweet.

But the really sweet part is not just seeing the scoundrels lose, but to see a really fine man prevail.

But then there is the question of what we are facing now.

For Remnick, the biggest issue is not the fiscal cliff, but global warning.  

As Mark Twain (or possibly it was Charles Dudley Warner) said, "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." The question remains, not so much whether man has changed the climate but whether or not he can do anything to fix it. 

There is the old saw about throwing a frog into a pot of boiling water--he jumps out. But put him in a pot of cool water and gradually turn up the heat and he stays in and boils--that applies to humanity in a gradually heating planet: It all happens so slowly, we hardly notice and take no action to save ourselves.

Remnick does his cause no service by saying the European heat wave of 2003 left 50,000 people dead.  This is Mad Dog's Law of Big Numbers, as soon as you hear somebody throwing around big numbers, you know he's wrong, or at the very least bogus and doesn't know where those numbers come from.  So we hear this disease costs the American economy $5 billion a year, and so does that one and by the time you add up all the thousands of diseases which cost that much you have a number which exceeds the gross national product.  It's a number, so it must be authoritative and correct. The fact is, few of us really understand the numbers and the evidence which support the idea of global warming--we have read about it and we choose to believe the sources we choose to believe. Mad Dog believes in global warming and believes it is prudent to do what we reasonably can to ameliorate it, especially since we are talking windmills, solar power and stuff that are likely a good idea even if we are wrong about global warning. 

The fact is, Mr. Obama is doing what his constituents will allow--he's investing in green energy and this week NPR informed us the United States is likely to become energy independent within the decade, and we import only 10-20% of our oil from the Middle East today, most of our oil coming now from Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the rest of South America and from our own drilling in the USA. The boom in natural gas production apparently has made a game changing shift. While all the politicians were posturing, some scientists were actually solving the problem of providing sufficient fuel for this nation, at least for the next decade or so. This strikes Mad Dog as under reported good news. 

From Mad Dog's perspective, the big agenda item ought to be health care, which Obamacare began to address, but did not come close to actually solving. We can tweak and try the Massachusetts solution, but if we see it falter, we ought to be ready to offer Medicare for all. Don't have the votes for it yet--but come 2014 there are a lot of seats in the House up for grabs.

But, for now, we can rejoice. There is a season for all things. For crying and for laughing. This is the laughing part.

We must be on guard however--remember it was less than a week after Lee surrendered at Appomattox that an assassin slipped past a drunken guard and shot Lincoln dead. All of our joy could turn on a dime, if we cannot keep Mr. Obama safe. That is the disquieting part. So much of what has brought the joy coalesces around one man. Joe Biden has his virtues, but he is no Barack Obama.

And those haters are still out there. Mad Dog has  not been back to Albany, New Hampshire, but he is willing to bet that banner is still unfurled up there. There are plenty of little men with big guns out there, just looking for their chance to show how important they are.

The Unpatriotic Right

Mitch McConnell  stood on the Senate floor answering a question about his resistance to The American Jobs Act.  "Why would I vote for that? It might help re elect the President. And my first priority is making sure the President is not re elected."  

Here you have a United States Senator, the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, saying he would rather see the country flounder than see Mr. Obama re elected. Put another way, he would burn the house down, if it meant Mr. Obama would burn with it.

And, at the time, he saw nothing wrong with that sentiment. Had you asked Mitch McConnell,  just then, if he considered himself a patriot, he would have looked at you bewildered.  

He could see nothing unpatriotic about wishing the nation ill. He would have likely said, "Well, short term pain for long term gain." 

But we all know what he meant, when he said it the first time. He was so focused on getting one man, he did not care about collateral damage. 

Thoreau made the important point: a man serves his country best with his mind. The man who is willing to serve in Congress or to serve as a "wooden soldier, " marching to the orders of others is not a good citizen or a patriot.   Democracy demands thought and critical thinking. The citizen who simply echos catchy one liners, like,  "He's had his chance: Next man up," is not thinking. He's emoting.  A patriot has to stop and analyze what is contained in that sentence. To extend the football analogy contained in that phrase, you have a quarterback who is brought in during the 4th quarter, with his team behind 63 to 0, and he manages to bring his team back to tie the game. You say, "But that is only recovery, not winning.  He's not a winner. Next man up."  

It doesn't take 4 years of college, or even high school, to see the flaw in that analysis. And yet, many people who claimed to be patriots could not think that through. 

Fortunately, just enough people could do it. We had 3 million more patriots, 3 million more solid citizens than the 50 million who were not.

Here is a citizen from Colorado, who saw the problem clearly:

During the campaign, Romney has accused Obama of being responsible for partisan gridlock in Washington. However, in 2010, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated: “Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term.” Not create jobs. Not balance the budget. Not end the wars. But to make Obama a one-term president.

And Congressional Republicans have been extremely unified in this endeavor.

Take, for instance, the American Jobs Act that President Obama proposed. A majority of the law is tax cuts and support for small business, issues that Republicans normally would strongly support.

But Republicans in both houses filibustered it. They didn’t allow the bill to even come up for debate, let alone come up for a vote.

Even when Obama split the bill into 16 parts, giving Republicans the opportunity to vote for favorable parts and stop parts that were only tax cuts, they still refused to allow a conversation on the bill, passing only the part to help veterans.

Obama urged the Republicans to allow a discussion over “genuine ideas and policies,” convinced that eventually “we will have a vote to decide the issue.” However, the Republicans didn’t allow a debate or a vote on the bill. Even during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Republicans have not been willing to put country over party...

Bill Johnson,

Fort Collins

(From The Phantom Speaks blog)

Jolting the Job Creators

Mad Dog admits to being mystified:  The Republicans keep citing a Congressional Budget Office "study" which estimates we will lose 700,000 jobs ( out of 4 million expected to be created over the next 10 years) if taxes on people making over $250, 000 are raised from 35 to 39%. 

What Mad Dog cannot figure out is why this should happen.

Mad Dog ran his own small business with 2 employees for over two decades and never once did his calculations about how many more employees to hire have anything to do with what his income tax rates were going to be.  

The calculations had to do, primarily, with how much business we could expect to come through the door, projections of income based on insurance company payment levels,  and most importantly, on how we could make the employees we had more efficient.  My partner and I invested $10,000 in a computer system which made hiring another employee unnecessary.  What made employees expensive was: 1. Salary  2. Health Insurance  3. Pension plan payments 4. Unemployment and disability insurance required by the state government 5. Training. 

During years when personal income tax rates were high Mad Dog did not fire employees and when the Bush tax rates cut tax rates, we did not hire employees.  The fact is, we always paid employees far more than Mad Dog's change in tax rates. The difference between the two rates amounted to $10,000, and we typically paid our employees $40,000.  If I hired a new employee it was with the projection she'd bring in an additional net $60,000--if the tax rate was higher then it would be $50,000, still worth it.

And, the fact is, some years, Mad Dog made less than $250,000 and so Mr. Obama's changes this time around would not have affected anything, which is said to be true for over 90% of employers.

What made a significant difference was deductions:  When Mad Dog could deduct the cost of health insurance for his employees, that made a huge difference.

So Mad Dog fails to see why any tax increase on people making over $250,000 would turn them from "job creators" to abstainers. 

Can someone explain this to me? I mean, how does the CBO know what the 4% higher tax rate on income above $250,000 would do to thinking of these taxpaying job creators? How did they do this study? What were the questions asked?  I mean, if you had asked me, "If we made you pay more tax, would you hire fewer employees?"  Would I not say, "Oh, of course. If you do that, I'm firing everyone," knowing what effect that might have on your decision?  I mean, how do you factor out the effect of gaming the system when you ask questions like that?

Just asking.

The President I'd Like to See: Press Conference Blues

Here's the press conference I'd like to see today:

Reporter:  Mr. President what does the Petraeus affair tell us about the culture at the national security institutions of this country?

Mr. Obama: Culture is defined by values, what we hold out as ideal behavior. Behavior often deviates from this, where individuals are concerned. If you mean by that question do we have a culture which allows for powerful men in high positions to trade on that power to intimidate women into sexual relationships, nothing in what I've learned thus far about this particular affair would suggest anything of the sort occurred here or exists as a background in general.  There is no issue of "sexual harassment"  in this case, as far as we know now.  As for values, they are embodied in the military legal code, which forbids married officers from having extra marital affairs and which forbids any officer, married or unmarried from engaging in a sexual relationship with an officer of lower rank.  The fact General Petraeus resigned speaks to his own assessment of his own behavior, that he betrayed a trust, and having done that in his previous job, he apparently concluded he could not command trust in his present job. All of us in highly visible jobs, jobs which command some power are exposed to temptation daily: Power is attractive to many people. Some of us are better than others at resisting temptation. 

Reporter: But are you saying Ms. Broadwell was attracted to General Petraeus because of his power? 

Mr. Obama:  I am saying I feel like the school m'arm who has an important math class to teach and I am confronted by a bunch of giddy teenagers who want to talk about nothing but sex. Now I can dismiss this class if you refuse to talk about the important concerns of this country of 300 million people, who face a fiscal cliff, or we can talk about matters which affect the average citizen.

Reporter: Are you willing for us to go over the cliff?

Mr. Obama:  The Republican Party insisted on this cliff.  And now, because so many Republican Congressmen and Senators have been foolish enough to take some pledge, like a bunch of college sophomores, eager to get into some fraternity, they are steering the country over a cliff.  It's as if we are all in a boat headed toward a waterfall on our right. To the left is a clear and safe line, but the Republican leaders, who are at the stern, with the steering paddle have refused ever to steer the boat left; right is the only direction they will steer us. So they'd rather send us all over the waterfall than ever admit they have taken a foolish pledge.

And Miles To Go, Before We Sleep

Mad Dog awakens smiling. The virtuous have triumphed and the vacuous and mendacious have been vanquished.

But Mad Dog is aware of history.  Lincoln won re election in 1864  and two nights after Lee's surrender, he stepped out on a White House balcony and spoke to a celebrating crowd and said he would leave the question of Negro voting to the states, but he hoped that "very intelligent" colored men who had served the Union as soldiers would be permitted to vote. In the crowd below, John Wilkes Booth said to his companions, "That means nigger citizenship. Now, by God, I'll put him through."

So Mad Dog is wary, especially at the moment of joy and victory, and remembers there is work yet to be done.

Mitch McConnell is still the leader of the Republicans in the Senate and still insists there will be no tax hikes for billionaires. John Boehner is still the Speaker of the House and he still says the deficit has to be cut by cutting spending, not by increasing revenue.

The Republicans still control the House and slightly less than half of the country voted for Mitt Romney.

What is joyful is the knowledge there really was a silent majority this time--and it was a liberal, thoughtful majority, not fooled by the prevaricating Republican money machine of super PACs. 

We can hope for a more resolute, less accommodating President, one who has learned from this campaign, and from the first debate: you get nowhere by politeness in Washington. You have to go on the attack. You have to demonize, diminish and throttle McConnell and Boehner, by name and personally, if you want to move forward.  

Mr. Obama has won the election. He now needs to lead.

The First Debate: Maybe A Good Thing

Mad Dog luxuriates in the afterglow of an election rightly won, and well fought.

And one of the many good things to come out of it, Mad Dog dearly hopes is a new, more combative President Obama. 

Many's the time Mad Dog, being a froth at the mouth type himself, howled at the timidity of Mr. Obama when faced with intransigence from Mr. McConnell and Mr. Boehner.  No, we will not raise taxes on the rich.  Oh, okay, well, if you don't like that, maybe we could just let the tax cuts we have expire and then we won't have to call it a tax hike. Would that be all right, Mr. McConnell?  Would that offend you, Mr. Boehner?

Hopefully, Mr. Obama heard from enough of his supporters, after the first debate to drive that point home, not just for the next two debates, when he finally, came out swinging and landed combinations, and showed no fear of appearing like an angry Black man.  

"Well, Mr. Romney, yes we do have fewer ships on the water now, but we also have fewer horses and bayonets because we've got these things called aircraft carriers and  these ships that go under the water."

Mr. President, if you feel the need, come up here to New Hampshire and Mad Dog will give you growling lessons.