Three-Dot Thursday
A few recent news items caught my eye today, so I thought we'd combine them here for a revival of the "Three-Dot Thursday" concept. As always, these are presented as an homage to the late, great Herb Caen, pioneer of "three-dot journalism." So without further ado...
... There's apparently a new effort to repatriate the bodies of some U.S. Navy men who died in the line of duty... over two centuries ago. For those who have always wondered why "...to the shores of Tripoli" is a line in the Marine Corps theme song, it goes back to the Barbary Coast pirate days. For decades, relatives of those killed in this battle have been trying to get the bodies exhumed and shipped back home, but with Ghaddafi in charge of things in Libya, the effort never went anywhere. Now that he's been overthrown, a new push is on to bring the bodies back. Senator John McCain seems to be blocking the effort for now, but still the story is an interesting one, if you're in the mood for some history...
... Frank Luntz is not someone I agree with on virtually any issue. However, I do respect the man because he is good at what he does: provide spin for Republicans. Luntz is now reportedly worried about the sea change in the way Americans are talking about pet Republican issues like low taxes and letting Wall Street do whatever it pleases. So Luntz is attempting to lessen the impact of the "99 Percent" theme. Now, I don't care whether you say "middle class Americans agree that taxes should go up on the rich" or (as Luntz is suggesting) "hardworking Americans want the government to take more from the rich," either way the core idea is overwhelmingly popular with the public at large. In other words, Luntz and the Republicans have a steep hill to climb on this one. But I do still have a healthy respect for Republican wordsmithing, so I thought I'd point it out for those interested in keeping tabs on such things...
... and finally, in a bit of delicious irony, a Republican talking point may become neutered by the efforts of... a Republican. The standard line for why the GOP doesn't want to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires is, of course, "we can't tax the job-creators!" Senator Susan Collins of Maine, however, just came up with an excellent idea that Democrats would do well to support: use the tax code to separate true small-business "job creators" from the idle rich.
"What I've been looking at is can you carve out those businesses from the surtax, and you can," says Collins. "I think that's the answer to this dilemma. I do not want to impose additional taxes on the employers at a time when our economy is very fragile and we want to encourage them to hire. On the other hand, I do believe that multimillionaires and billionaires who are not running businesses could pay more of their income to help us deal with the deficit. ... What we've been hearing over and over again is that the reason Republicans are opposed to the surtax is because of the concern of its impact on job creation. Well, if you carve out employers, you take away that argument."
Collins is, I remind everyone, nominally a member of the Republican Party. She's right -- this could defuse a major talking point for Republicans, and do it in a very elegant way. As I said, Democrats should be beating a path to her office door, to quickly work this idea up into legislation that Democrats can support. It is one of the best ideas I've heard all year, and it deserves serious consideration not only because the idea itself is so workable, but also for the sheer politics of it all -- this could take away a big GOP talking point, right before election season begins. Democrats: take note! Please....
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
this is just what i've been saying, that it's insane to pretend all rich people are the ones who create jobs, any more than all poor people are lazy and sit on the couch all day. we need to reward those who work hard (or at least keep trying) and tax the idle who sit at home all day - not base tax policy only on whether one is rich or poor.
nypoet22 -
The thing I'm left wondering is why some Democrat didn't come up with this... oh, well, more power to Collins!
-CW
The thing I'm left wondering is why some Democrat didn't come up with this...
Simple...
Democrats want to protect THEIR millionaires and billionaires, just like Republicans want to protect THEIR millionaires and billionaires..
I hope this legislation DOES go somewhere..
As long as it's not presented as forcing the rich to pay "their fair share", I won't have a problem with it..
Michale
049
Collins can afford to say things like this because the TP in Maine has already listed her to be primaried and 3rd partied. Which, from all I can see is going to do nothing but piss off the mosquitoes.
here
and BTW, Newt asking congress to require insurance or a bond for all making > 50000:
pointer page
original page
I have no idea how the reference from yesterday got screwed up. I don't believe I've ever seen the page it referenced before....
Ok, NOTE TO CHRIS: Is there anyway to get a preview button on this site? Mis-spellings and missed html codings are driving me nuts and most would be found with a preview button.
Example:
I found out why the original link to Newt's individual mandate didn't work >>> I didn't have a chance to test the address I put in the href.
the actual site address:http://www.healthtransformation.net/cs/opeds_news?pressrelease.id=33
the address I left on the comment: http://www.healthtransformation.net/cs/opeds_news?pressrelease.id=33 Its at the end of the 4th paragraph.
Note the difference? I was using the "a href=...." link format and got part of the comment included in the reference.
Actually its too bad. I had already concocted a bizarre conspiracy theory involving moving the page around the site by using a random linkage chain in a desparate attempt by the Newties to keep the page a secret. Damn, I was so enjoying myself ...
Looking up the Tripoli bodies thing, I found this
The comment about "fallen sailors resting where they fall" is true in the Navy. After all, where are you going to find the bodies after they go down in 2 miles of water? Makes sense.
It is not true for Marines, oddly enough. Traditionally, Marines were equally as likely to serve aboard ships as sailors. In the wooden army, there were no land based Marine efforts (Civil War Marines).
I know from personal experience that while older marines consider it BS, young marines (generally in the first enlistment) quite literally consider themselves better human beings than sailors. This plus a taught attitude of never leaving behind a marine is the genesis of the "bring 'em home" feelings common to the Corps.
Not so much the Navy tho, and in this one, I think its the Navy traditions that should be upheld. Perhaps the Navy could buy the cemetary where the bodies lay and provide for the proper care?
Kudos to Susan Collins. Fantastic idea which not just Democrats, but I think Republicans or anyone for that matter could get behind.
(With the exception of a few wealthy non-job creators.)
Nick Hanauer, one of the early investors in Amazon, recently posted this article about the topic of "job creators". It's one of the best I've seen.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/raise-taxes-on-the-rich-to-reward-job-creators-commentary-by-nick-hanauer.html
-David
"If the average American family still got the same share of income they earned in 1980, they would have an astounding $13,000 more in their pockets a year. It’s worth pausing to consider what our economy would be like today if middle-class consumers had that additional income to spend." - Nick Hanauer
"Cracks are starting to emerge in the Republicans' wall of opposition to asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share," said a spokesman for Senate Democrats in a statement.
Grrrrrrrrrr
Looks like Democrats are simply going to play fact-less partisan games with Collins' legislation...
WHY am I not surprised??
Michale.....
051
I'm getting scared. I found a blog about LAUNDRY! No kidding. This blog celebrates the household arts (esp laundry) and goes off in raptures about getting underarm yellow out of camisoles.
There are things no man was meant to see.
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/
...So the ultra-liberal Sue Collins wants to take the money of the rich because they do not directly hier people with their money?
Rich do buy things with their money, that employes sales people, to sell, transportation workers to move, and others to produce.
It is THEIR money!!...
...If she wants to raise revenue GET rid of ALL Deductions except a small personal deduction to provide a safety net that the very poor dont have to pay Federal Income Tax.
No deductions for yachts, solar panels, green cars, Mortgages, farm subsidy etc.
A straight percentage for each bracket.
None of us is really taxed based on income we are taxed based on how many of the tax loopholes of which we can take advantage.
Why do wont politicians not do this? because it takes away their Power. ...
14
DerFarm -
I had just fixed your link when I read this. You're right, some text got caught up inside the href tag.
What I'm wondering is how you're managing to post multiple links without being auto-held for moderation. How did you sneak [4] by?
As for preview, I will look at it over the holidays, but I cannot promise anything. It is programmatically very hard to do, so it's not an easy fix. But a lot of people have begged for the feature, so I will at least make the effort, I promise (no guarantee of success...).
-CW
ultra liberal Sue Collins??? That is so wrong on so many levels that words fail me.
DerFarm [4] -
My readers in Maine agree with you on the Collins thing. And that "just piss off the mosquitos" is dead-on accurate, I think. They voted a Tea Party governor in, and they haven't been very happy with him so far, from what I hear.
-CW
None of us is really taxed based on income we are taxed based on how many of the tax loopholes of which we can take advantage.
Why do wont politicians not do this? because it takes away their Power
Ding, Ding, Ding.....
We have a winner!!!
That's why I say it's ridiculous to ask politicians to take money away from themselves...
It's an exercise in futility...
Michale...
052
As a work-around, paste the comment on a site that does have a preview button, and preview it there. It's not going to work 100%, because different forum software handles HTML differently.
Would it be easier to do a delete button than a preview button? Probably not: a preview button is nothing but a delete button that goes away later.