Alan Grayson lists 10 myths of the Republican Party

At Reader Supported News, Alan Grayson lists 10 myths held dear by the modern Republican Party:

  • The government can't create jobs. (Tell that to FDR, who created four million jobs in three months.)
  • Tax cuts reduce the deficit. (Doesn't it bother them that a man named "Laffer" came up with this one?)
  • A fetus is a baby.
  • The poor have too much money.
  • Cutting the federal deficit will end the recession.
  • The rich are incentivized by tax cuts, while the poor are incentivized by lower wages, no
  • benefits, an end to the minimum wage, and unemployment.
  • An unwanted child is God's will.
  • Everyone who wants health insurance has it.
  • The problem with education is the teachers.
  • The "free market" satisfies every human need.
  • There is no discrimination in America anymore.
  • The distribution of wealth and income are irrelevant.

Continue ReadingAlan Grayson lists 10 myths of the Republican Party

Coming GOP Meltdown

I considered writing something about the recent primaries in Michigan and Arizona, in advance of Super Tuesday, but things have become so mind-numbingly bizarre I’m not sure I’d have anything relevant to say, at least not about this particular election cycle.  As a personal observation, I’d like to say that…

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Wikileaks exposes “shadow CIA”: Stratfor

See this new report on the most recent revelation by Wikileaks:

Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks today started to publish more than five million confidential emails from the global intelligence company Stratfor. . . . Among the allegations to emerge is that Stratfor's claim to be a media organisation providing a subscription intelligence newsletter is a front for 'running paid informants networks' and 'laundering those payments through the Bahamas, through Switzerland, through private credit cards'. Stratfor 'is monitoring Bhopal activists for Dow Chemicals, Peta activities for Coca-Cola', WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed at a press conference in London today. However, what could cause the greatest embarrassment for the U.S. government is his suggestion that information is also being gathered by paying contacts from agencies including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
It appears, then, that a for-profit enterprise engaged secret shady dealing is being exposed by the non-profit Wikileaks, whose mission is to make harmful information public. Many more stories are expected to emerge based on the release of five million emails from the private intelligence firm, Stratfor. Until today, I had never heard about Stratfor. That's about to change, big time, based on the Wikileaks releases. The suggestions that Stratfor has numerous ties to paid U.S. government sources is extremely troubling. We'll see what happens to those profiteers. As I recall, Bradley Manning never made a penny when he released U.S. cables, but he has been imprisoned ever since, and often tortured by the U.S. government.

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To understand American politics, understand the halo effect – e.g. Hitler loved dogs and children

Consider the kinds of things we see and hear on the campaign trail:

"Vote for me because I have a square jaw, because I support the troops, because I'm tall, because I wear denim like you, because I wear a flag on my lapel, because I read rousing speeches and because I believe in God. I also stay in shape, I can recite the pledge of allegiance."

Notice that politicians are doing all kinds of things to show us that they are capable and likeable. Lost in this commotion is that none of them are showing us that they are well-informed people who know how to lead a country. They don't know how to show us that they are good leaders--that would be an expensive signal in order to be reliable, and very few politicians could pass this Zahavian test. Instead, they are engaged in a beauty pageant, showing us a lot of things that might impress us and resonate with us, hoping that we assume that they are also good at governing. In their efforts to get elected, politicians are heavily relying on the "halo effect." In his excellent new book, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), Daniel Kahneman describes the halo effect:

Continue ReadingTo understand American politics, understand the halo effect – e.g. Hitler loved dogs and children

Matt Taibbi: GOP gets what it has coming

Matt Taibbi sums up what the GOP has been offering to America:

[W]hile watching the debates last night that it finally hit me: This is justice. What we have here are chickens coming home to roost. It's as if all of the American public's bad habits and perverse obsessions are all coming back to haunt Republican voters in this race: The lack of attention span, the constant demand for instant gratification, the abject hunger for negativity, the utter lack of backbone or constancy (we change our loyalties at the drop of a hat, all it takes is a clever TV ad): these things are all major factors in the spiraling Republican disaster. Most importantly, though, the conservative passion for divisive, partisan, bomb-tossing politics is threatening to permanently cripple the Republican party. They long ago became more about pointing fingers than about ideology, and it's finally ruining them.

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