The Noise Machine (07/13/10)

On the matter of scoring.....



It's going to cost a little more to leave the country starting today. (Which is OK because the poor rarely get to leave America anyway which, oddly enough, is proof for some that they are inferior and need to be controlled.)


It's CHAOS I tell you, CHAOS!!! That being said, I'm OK with the 2-terms of 4-years proposal. (If nothing else for the fact that it means fewer terrible City Council commercials on the radio.)


Ooops. (I do like the characterization of Rick Perry as a "target-rich environment". It's just that no one the Dems have put up against him have been able to "shoot straight" enough to hit the target.) Politifarce is still terrible FWIW.


No matter your political leanings, this should disgust you.* I understand that many (most?) Republicans hate jobless benefits fine, that's something you bring to the electorate in your party platform and try to get overturned. But the fact that a State agency is giving employers advice how to skirt their legal obligations should give you a moments pause. (If it doesn't then you need to reconsider what prism you're shooting your conservatism through. Unless dishonesty and corporatism are the new conservatism. The ends don't justify the means.)


It's not good when small businesses are losing faith. Often termed the "engine of our economy" by pandering politicians, that engine seems fit to blow a rod.


The rise of Ft. Bend County? What's this? Jobs are moving out to the suburbs? Granted, a lot of that is school district growth (i.e. non-producing employment) but their are also examples of companies increasingly deciding to set up shop in environments far more conducive to doing business than in the rapidly-developing new urbanists' Utopian metropolis. (Jobs go where the workers are after all)


Is Manor Downs the canary in the Texas horse-racing coal-mine? The sad thing is, Texas has some beautiful facilities. Lone Star and Sam Houston are first rate racing venues.


The Texas Teachers' pension fund goes shopping. Insert punch line here.


Texas Democrats learn the old adage: "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." (It's called political Karma)


Confidence in President Obama is at an all time low. His point of comfort is that he's polling better than both Congressional Democrats and Republicans. (Eventually the frog realizes that he's in a pot of boiling water, typically though he figures this out too late.)


In the debate over what caused the deficit, the two camps battle over "spending vs. tax cuts" to no avail. The correct answer is BOTH. When Reagan slashed the tax-rate in the 80's he lacked the political will to tackle middle-class entitlements at the same time. Just as Clinton increased entitlements but lacked the political courage to increase tax rates. Bush suffered from the same flaws as Reagan, and now Obama is proving to be pushing incomplete policies as well. If you cut taxes you have to cut entitlements, and if you raise entitlements you have to raise taxes. (The final result is a tax code that's designed for political, rather than functional, ends. The only answer is a total re-boot of the system, but that would take foresight, intelligence and courage, something our elected officials (for the most part) are lacking.)


On that note.... (Agree or disagree with the suggestion, it's an idea that needs to be in the discussion.)


Rick Perry vs. World: 20 Questions with Marc Campos (A pretty good back n' forth between two actors on opposite sides.)


and finally....


Keep the Tea Party out of our Churches! Left unsaid was that Saul Alinsky needs to keep his communist behind out of them as well. (We all believe in the Separation of Church and State for the other guy.)




*And yes, the world is spinning off it's axis. I have to side with the Apple Dumpling Gang on this one.