Lindsey Graham is Lying Again

Think Progress catches Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SuCk) lying.

"Well, all i can say is the commander-in-chief thought — came up with the idea of sequestration, destroying the military and putting a lot of good programs at risk."

Obama did not come up with the idea of sequestration. And the sequester will not destroy the military.

It's like they have to start off with the scariest bunch of BS they can think of to get all the wingnut ears to perk up. Er? Destroy the military? Take my guns? Wind up like Greece? Smoking gun might be a mushroom cloud?

Keep talking, wingnuts.

Man Who Shot World in Face is Sad Someone Took His Gun

"I think the President came to power with a worldview that's fundamentally different than mine. The sense that he wanted to reduce U.S. influence in the world. He wanted to take us down a peg."-- Former Vice President Dick Cheney

Well, Du-Uh-uH-uh-UH...

Jesus on a pogo stick, Dicky, if you haven't figured out that that is precisely the point yet, then I wonder how you ever got as far as you did in life? Oh, wait, I almost forgot about Wingnut Welfare, which is why Dick Cheney still appears in public to actually say things, and why a man with a list of deferments longer than his heart lasted was put in charge of the Pentagon, and then in charge of GW Bush.

Just for the record, here are some of my favorite Dick Cheney quotes:

• I think Barack Obama is a one-term President. 
• I had other priorities in the sixties than military service.
• My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.
• We know he's been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.
• I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.
• Go fuck yourself.

Yeah, Dick, I'll give you this: you helped convince a majority of Americans that the whole idea of increasing America's influence on the world by lying us into a multi-trillion dollar war that killed and maimed millions of innocent people is precisely the kind of thing we need to take down a peg. And I hope sucking on that at least gives you a little agita until the day you die. 

In the mean time, please, keep talking while the rest of us try to find peaceful, lasting, and moral ways to increase our influence in the world. You know, things that people will thank us for, instead of shooting back.

Step Right Up and Get Your Shiny New Infrastructure

Steel Mill in Bethlehem, PA, photo by S Supak

What part of buy low don't you "conservatives" get? Invest now, while it's cheap! Borrow at real negative interest, and you pay less than tax and spend later. Hire unemployed workers now and you don't crowd out private construction later. Stimulate growth now, increased revenues lower deficits later. Duh.

It comes as we may be approaching the end of a five year period in which investing in the nation’s physical infrastructure has been something close to a free lunch. With interest rates near all-time lows and millions of construction workers unemployed, the last few years have been a time that it would have been a historical bargain for the United States to do upgrades to roads, bridges, and airports that will eventually need to take place anyway. It has been a political breakdown—in particular conservatives’ view of almost any non-defense federal spending as wasteful—standing in the way.

The American Society of Civil Engineers says we need to spend $2.2 trillion over 5 years to fix what's falling apart. Whole city blocks have exploded from leaking gas mains. Bridges have collapsed and killed people. One third of all traffic fatalities involve poor road conditions. If terrorists were killing as many people as our decrepit infrastructure is, how Keynesian would you "conservatives" get on defense spending?

And just look what we can fix with the money (from the ASCE):

Americans spend 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic at a cost of $78.2 billion a year--$710 per motorist. Roadway conditions are a significant factor in about one-third of traffic fatalities. Poor road conditions cost U.S. motorists $67 billion a year in repairs and operating costs--$333 per motorist; 33% of America's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition and 36% of the nation's major urban highways are congested. The current spending level of $70.3 billion for highway capital improvements is well below the estimated $186 billion needed annually to substantially improve the nation's highways.

Neil Irwin goes on in his post to Ezra Klein's blog to mention the politics of it. Seems Republicans are concerned we'll just use their money to build bridges to nowhere. Interestingly, the President's JOBS bill, up on Capital Hill, has funding to start an infrastructure bank, a bi-partisan idea that eliminates a lot of the politics from infrastructure investment, to avoid just such a thing. But maybe the "conservatives" have forgotten that they once liked that idea?

Very Little Left in Their Body or Soul Worth Protecting

Jim Carey leapt into the gun controversy with a couple of tweets that are worth repeating here.

Any1 who would run out to buy an assault rifle after the Newtown massacre has very little left in their body or soul worth protecting. ;^\
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) February 2, 2013

Yes, i agree with the ppl who argue that cars can be as deadly as guns but a car is a lot harder to get through the door of a classroom. ;^]
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) February 5, 2013

I love it when famous people have the balls to speak up.

I briefly met Jim Carey once, when he had taken a bunch of kids from the Make a Wish Foundation to see Lion King, and he brought them backstage after the show for a tour. All I could think to say as I shook his hand was, "What a great thing to do."