Bumper stickers spotted today on a vehicle in Harrisonville, Missouri:
The full effect. Yep, that’s an NRA sticker on the upper left.
Well, no, you’re not paying for a number of people who do have insurance. Yes, there is Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Administration. But since you were at an event today in support of veterans I’d say you were at least good with the VA part, right? And, since the United States has the highest per capita cost of health care in the industrialized world, are you good with all those uninsured people who get their health care when it’s the most expensive? Yes, those who do have health insurance pay for those who don’t right now – in higher insurance rates.
Despite the fact that the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not ensure that all its citizens have health care coverage, the United States spends a (much) higher percentage of its gross domestic product on health care than its peers. It also spends (much) more per person on health care than its peers….
That’s an International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) sticker on the left. It’s rather ironic considering that the IAFF is interested in health care reform (mostly):
As both consumers of healthcare and the nation’s primary providers of pre-hospital emergency medical care, professional fire fighters know first-hand the shortcomings of our current health care system.
The cost of health care has risen dramatically in recent years, and fire fighters have been forced to give up wage increases and other benefits in order to maintain their health care coverage. And fire fighters witness the problems of the uninsured on a daily basis, as Americans without coverage increasingly rely on the 911 emergency response system as their primary health care provider.
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is intended to expand access to health insurance and reduce the cost of health care.
The IAFF supported certain parts of the legislation, but strongly opposed provisions that sought to reduce spending on health care by taxing the value of high cost insurance plans. The IAFF succeeded in limiting the scope of the tax and delaying its implementation for several years.
[emphasis added]
As for the bumper sticker on the right? Oh, I get it.
There’s nothing new in these type of “jokes”. Yes, it’s protected by the First Amendment, which is ironic considering where the vehicle was parked today at a large public demonstration about the First Amendment.
….Perhaps I am overly optimistic, but I do not believe there are very many people in our country–or anywhere else for that matter–who laugh or find it remotely funny when broadcast pundits stoop to the level of making jokes about killing an elected leader. It does not feel funny. It feels like someone spitting in our faces….
Two years later, evidently not.
That secession thing didn’t work out so well the last time, did it? And I’m not so sure Texas (that is a Texas bumper sticker, right?) would like to secede since they’re a leading beneficiary of federal dollars:
By BENNETT ROTH Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
Oct. 9, 2007, 10:07AM
WASHINGTON – Texas has long viewed itself as a conservative bastion, but the Lone Star State ranked third in the nation between 2000 and last year in receipt of federal dollars, raking in aid and contracts worth more than $1.2 trillion….
….And the greatest irony of all? This rally would not have been possible during the Bush administration. That’s because it was Democrats who helped pass, and Obama who signed, a new law that went into effect in February allowing people to carry guns in national parks….
In an October 23, 2001, Office of Legal Counsel memo released today, the Bush Administration concluded that “the Fourth Amendment does not apply to domestic military operations,” including “intercepting electronic or wireless communications” by “employing surveillance methods more powerful and sophisticated than those available to law enforcement agencies.” See Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States at pp. 4, 18, and 25 (emphasis original).
When news of this memo first surfaced in a footnote to another memo, we wondered if it meant that the Administration’s lawyers advised that the National Security Agency (a component of the military) could spy on Americans with impunity and face no Fourth Amendment claim.
Turns out that the Bush Administration did think it could spy on Americans in the U.S. without regard to the Constitution….
Where were those bumper stickers from 2001 to 2009? Just asking.
The God part probably doesn’t apply to people born in Kenya who won’t produce their Hawaiian birth certificate.
…To most people, Virginia Thomas is not a well-known figure. But as the wife of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas she has the capacity to make news – whether she wants to or not. And she certainly is making news these days.
Ms. Thomas recently left a voice mail for Anita Hill asking Ms. Hill “to consider an apology…and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband….”
It’s been almost twenty years and he got the job for life.
On the other hand, we got two wars, massive debt, redistribution of wealth upward, an expanded national security state, a near depression, and an idiot puppet. That was a fair trade, right?
@murshedz only if Clarence Thomas ever called Vice President Gore to apologize for stealing the election in 2000 #ginnythomas about 4 hours ago via web
And we’re supposed to be losing to the republicans, right?
….Sajak asks that question that’s been on no one’s mind: “Should state workers be able to vote in state elections on matters that would benefit them directly?”…
…Social Security is a well-run, fiscally responsible program. People earn retirement, survivors, and disability benefits by making payroll tax contributions during their working years…
….Every year since 1984, Social Security has collected more in payroll taxes and other income than it pays in benefits and other expenses. (The authors of the 1983 Social Security reform law did this on purpose in order to help pre-fund some of the costs of the baby boomers’ retirement.) These surpluses are invested in U.S. Treasury securities that are every bit as sound as the U.S. government securities held by investors around the globe; investors regard these securities as among the world’s very safest investments.
Investing the trust funds in Treasury securities is perfectly appropriate. The federal government borrows funds from Social Security to help finance its ongoing operations in the same way that consumers and businesses borrow money deposited in a bank to finance their spending. In neither case does this represent a “raid” on the funds. The bank depositor will get his or her money back when needed, and so will the Social Security trust funds.
As far back as 1938, independent advisors to Social Security firmly endorsed the investment of Social Security surpluses in Treasury securities, saying that it does “not involve any misuse of these moneys or endanger the safety of these funds….”
What is it with right wingnuttia and exclamation points? Spotted on a vehicle in eastern Jackson County:
Yes, yes, let’s reject change because everything was running so swimmingly from January 2001 to January 2009. As for keeping your money, blame someone else:
In numerous polls, the public has voiced their displeasure at the much maligned bank bailout, but most don’t know which president signed the controversial act into law. Only a third of Americans (34%) correctly say the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was enacted by the Bush administration. Nearly half (47%) incorrectly believe TARP was passed under President Obama….
NEW YORK – A newly disclosed secret memo authored by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in March 2003 that asserts President Bush has unlimited power to order brutal interrogations of detainees also reveals a radical interpretation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure. The memo, declassified yesterday as the result of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, cites a still-secret DOJ memo from 2001 that found that the “Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations.”
The October 2001 memo was almost certainly meant to provide a legal basis for the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, which President Bush launched the same month the memo was issued. As a component of the Department of Defense, the NSA is a military agency….
Well, at least the Obama Administration hasn’t started confiscating our personal firearms. Yet. Though they are keeping track of people with a miniature chip embedded in NRA stickers.
Right wingnuttia has started their air campaign against Representative Ike Skelton (D). I saw this particular ad on television this evening:
Announcer: Thirty-four years ago Rocky was in movie theaters, Missouri’s economy was humming along, and Ike Skelton first went to Washington. Today Skelton supports the Pelosi agenda ninety-five percent of the time. Under their control spending has skyrocketed, the defecit has tripled, and nearly one in ten Missourians are unemployed. Now they want to pass a new energy tax which could cost a Missouri family thousands. Tell Skelton he works for Missouri, not Nancy Pelosi.
[Paid for by Americans for Prosperity]
Apparently, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) is the personification of evil.
Uh, I was around for the Reagan and Daddy Bush administrations. All hype, no substance, and the economy sucked (except for people in certain tax brackets). It took Bill Clinton to turn it around.
And who was the President from January 2001 to January 2009 who left the big mess? Just asking.
“Americans for Prosperity” filed [pdf – click on “Filed Documents”] paperwork with the Missouri Secretary of State’s office on March 26, 2010 as a “Foreign Nonprofit Corporation”. The officers and board, as reported in the filing:
Art Pope, Chairman
Frayday Levy, Director
James C. Miller, Director
Jim Stephenson, Director
Tim Phillips, President
John Flynn, Secretary
John Flynn, Treasurer
I tried scraping around to find an IRS 990 form and have had no luck yet. Chalk that one up to my Internets searching skills.
Principal Name/Address/Phone Status Date Added Date Deleted
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY AND FOUNDATION
912 EAST BROADWAY
COLUMBIA MO
D 11/9/2007 7/3/2010
That’s interesting. And what happened on July 3, 2010?
An “Americans for Prosperity Foundation” filed [pdf – click on “Filed Documents”] an annual report with the Missouri Secretary of State’s office on September 11, 2009. The officers and board:
David Koch
Art Pope
Richard Fink
Walter Williams
Debra Gail Humphreys
Tim Phillips, President
John Flynn, Secretary
John Flynn, Treasurer
Well, there are a few names in common.
The 2008 IRS 990 [pdf] form for the Americans for Prosperity Foundation is chock full of interesting information:
1 Briefly describe the organization’s mission or most significant activitiesEducate citizen leaders on ensuring economic freedom and opportunity.
19 Revenue less expenses. Subtract line 18 from line 12
Prior Year-1,072,849.
Current Year-684,765.
4a (Expenses $ 3,048,529. including grants of $ 0)National office – educate citizens in support of restraining federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits.
4b (Expensses $ 3,870,879. including grants of $ 0)State chapters – educate citizens in support of restraining state government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. State chapters are located in Kansas, Texas, North Carolina, California, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Arizona, Louisiana, and New Hampshire.
Schedule A, Part II, Support Schedule for Organizations Described in Sections 170(b)(1)(A)(iv) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)
1 Gits, grants, contributions and membership fees received. (Do not include ‘unusual grants.’)
(a) 20041,140,151.
(b) 20053,349,739.
(c) 20063,954,449.
(d) 20075,476,046.
(e) 20087,500,059.
(f) Total21,420,444.
Schedule M, Non-Cash Contributions
4 Books and publications14,078. Fair market value
9 Securities-Publicly traded260,614. Fair market value
Schedule O, Supplemental Information to Form 990
Pt VI-A, Line 2 One board member is an employee of a company owned more than 35% by another board member.
[emphasis added]
I wonder, has anything in Representative Ike Skelton’s (D) political career ever not appeared to be all about following the Constitution? Just asking.
Published: Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Pérez have asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to open an investigation into a tiny Missouri nonprofit organization that has pumped nearly $500,000 into a voter initiative to suspend the state’s landmark climate change law.
In a letter to Holder on Tuesday, Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Pérez, D-Los Angeles, asked the Justice Department to determine whether the Adam Smith Foundation is illegally funneling campaign contributions from third parties to support the rollback measure, Proposition 23….
Our good friends at Fired Up have even more detail.
Our question in April:
Where did that $498,000 that the Adam Smith Foundation contributed come from? Just asking.
There’s got to be a really interesting answer somewhere.
State of Missouri Primary Election – 2010 Primary Election
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
U.S. Representative – District 4 – Summary
Precincts Reporting 417 of 417
Steinman, Leonard DEM 6,264 19.5%
Skelton, Ike DEM 25,914 80.5%
Scholz, James REP 4,259 4.8%
Madden, Arthur John REP 2,483 2.8%
Hartzler, Vicky REP 35,853 40.5%
Viessman, Roy REP 3,702 4.2%
Riley, Brian REP 3,196 3.6%
Stouffer, Bill REP 26,570 30.0%
Clark, Brian REP 2,655 3.0%
McElroy, Eric James REP 1,928 2.2%
Parnell, Jeff REP 7,968 9.0%
Braun, Jason Michael LIB 165 50.6%
Holbrook, II, Thomas LIB 161 49.4%
Cowan, Greg CST 296 100.0%
Total Votes 121,414
[emphasis added]
An understated (single color!) campaign sign – apparently there just weren’t enough of them.
When right wingnuts collide, the results aren’t always pretty, though the ice cream imagery is greatly appreciated during the current heat wave. Bill Stouffer (r) tried to use direct mail to paint Vicky Hartzler (r) as one of those tax raising politicians.
31 Flavors Of Ice Cream
Good
31 Tax Increases
Not Good
State Representative Vicky Hartzler’s record on taxes is Not Good.
You hear that, Ike? Vicky Hartzler is a tax and spend liberal. Go figure.
Right wingnut rhetoric on any government revenue has gotten so extreme that anything greater than 0% is a grievous affront to their orthodoxy.
State Representative Hartzler served up 31 ways to scoop your money into big government.
Can You Believe…
…now she wants you to send her to Congress?
Higher Property Taxes
Senate Bill 348
New Sales Taxes
Senate Bill 193
A New Farm Tax
House Bill 1207
Even A Tax On Pets
House Bill 1099
August 3rd say No to Higher Taxes! Say No to Vicky Hartzler for US Congress.
Republican
Bill Stouffer
Farmer.
Small Businessman.
Conservative.
I guess we can be thankful that it wasn’t fifty-seven ways, otherwise there’s be ketchup splatters all over the mailer.
Given the results of the primary 40.5% of republican primary voters wanted those 31 taxes and weren’t willing to join the fight. Either that, or there were 35,853 Democratic voters with a sick sense of humor who crossed over to vote in the republican primary.
That would have been awesome.
The second mailer:
Bill Stouffer
Republican U.S. Congress
“Our children should have the freedom to prosper and enjoy a quality of life comparable to our own. I refuse to let the tax-and-spend liberals force our families, economy, military and nation into a position of weakness. If you’re willing to join the fight and ensure our nation’s best days are ahead of us, I ask you to join my campaign.” – Bill Stouffer
Priorities –
Restore fiscal discipline in government
Make private-sector job creation a priority
Streamline the tax code and cut income taxes
Reduce regulations and bureaucracy for businesses
Reduce regulations and bureaucracy for businesses – because bad things wouldn’t have happened if we had left British Petroleum alone. Oh wait, we did.
Bill Stouffer
Conservative Republican For Congress
Bill Stouffer is running for U.S. Congress because Washington is failing to hear our concerns and leading our nation down a dangerous path. Bill is a son of the soil, former school board president, and graduate of the University of Missouri College of Agriculture. As a father and a grandfather, he refuses to let government jeopardize our children’s future with more debt and reckless spending.
As a citizen legislator, Bill Stouffer heard your calls for fiscal responsibility and delivered on his promise to cut spending and lower taxes. Widely recognized as one of the most conservative members of the Missouri Senate, Bill lead the fight to cut more than $450 million dollars in spending and balanced the state budget. As our conservative problem solver in Washington, Bill will continue working hard for the results we expect.
Conservative Republican – because there are just too damn many moderate and liberal republicans in Missouri. You know, like Vicky Hartzler.
Poor Bill Stouffer. He wasted part of his mail plan on a Democratic Party household. We didn’t get any of Vicky Hartzler’s mail (if there was any). Even at that, Vicky Hartzler only beat him by ten points. Interesting.
Ike, have you been listening to Vicky’s opponent? He’s laid out your game plan for the general election.
A question, though, for Bill Stouffer – where were your complaints about fiscal discipline and economic policy in the federal budget from 2001 to 2009?
Well, no, you’re not paying for a number of people who do have insurance. Yes, there is Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Administration. But since you were at an 
That’s an International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) sticker on the left. It’s rather ironic considering that the IAFF is interested in health care reform (mostly):
There’s nothing new in these type of “jokes”. Yes, it’s protected by the First Amendment, which is ironic considering 
Guns:
