Cenk tells it as it is

I am a big fan of Cenk Uygur, even though (or perhaps because) he ticks me off sometimes.  As you may know, a while back he had the 6pm eastern time slot on MSNBC.  Then he lost it.  I just ran across this video by Cenk explaining the whole saga.  It is truly fascinating and well worth 11 minutes of your time.  I guess there is a “Part 2” around, but you don’t need it – Part 1 stands alone on its own.

I’m really enjoying Cenk these days on the Young Turks on Current TV.  His take on all of the election news is very enlightening and often genuinely hilarious.  I wish there were more like him.

I can’t suppress my worry

Damn.  Just when I was starting to really feel good about the upcoming election, I ran across this sobering article by the savvy Elizabeth Drew.   I’ve made many posts on this blog wherein I  worry about voter suppression.  I guess I gotta keep worrying.  Here is one little excerpt from the article that really scares me:

In a close election, the Republican plan could call into question the legitimacy of the next president. An election conducted on this basis could lead to turbulence on election day and possibly an extended period of lawsuits contesting the outcome in various states. Bush v. Gore would seem to have been a pleasant summer afternoon. The fact that their party’s nominee is currently stumbling about, his candidacy widely deemed to be in crisis mode, hasn’t lessened their determination to prevent as many Democratic supporters as they can from voting in November.

The Real Redistribution of Wealth

Romney, the right-wing, and Fox News have made a lame attempt to counter Romney’s “47%” fiasco with a sound bite from the President spoken 14 years ago wherein he dares to utter the word “redistribution” approvingly.  Of course this an example of Fox News’ usual false equivalency ploy.  But aside from that, if we want to discuss  “redistribution” we should turn to today’s  Forbes release of the list of the 400 richest Americans.  Consider the following from today’s San Francisco Chronicle:

“Generally speaking, it’s never been a better time to be filthy rich, as Forbes points out in its overview story.

The combined net worth of the 2012 class of the 400 richest Americans is $1.7 trillion, up from $1.5 trillion a year ago. The average net worth of a Forbes 400 member is a staggering $4.2 billion, up from $3.8 billion, and the highest ever, as two-thirds of the individuals added to their fortunes in the past year. Another factor: the gap between the very rich and the merely rich is widening.

Those poor “merely rich” souls. Meanwhile, the gap between the rich and poor has, of course, hit an all-time high.

“There was no relief for the average American,” the Los Angeles Times wrote earlier this month. “The median household income, after adjusting for inflation, dropped 1.5% in 2011 from the previous year to $50,054.”

To put that in perspective, you’d have to multiply the median household income by 1.3 million to get to Bill Gates’ net worth.

That figure is also 8.1 percent lower than in 2007, when the reckless gambling of the country's incredibly wealthy plunged the nation and huge parts of the world into the Great Recession.”

You can read the entire article here.

In a saner era …

One of the factoids that has rattled around in my brain for a while is that until Bush and his cronies came into power no major political party has ever sought to cut taxes for rich people when the nation is at war.  I wondered why the Dems aren’t pounding that drum every chance they get.  It turns out that Matt Miller has entertained the same thoughts and lays them out beautifully here.  He notes that such tax cuts for the rich are “grotesque” and “obscene.”  I heartily agree.

Pulling coats to Martin Bashir

A while ago I was waiting for a Comcast tech to show up to fix our cable because there were about five or six channels that weren’t coming in.  In anticipation of his arrival I was flipping through all the channels to confirm that the offenders were still not working and to make sure no new ones had cropped up.  It was about 1:00 pm, a time I don’t generally watch TV.  In the process I came to MSNBC and hit upon this guy with an English accent who was laying down some devastating Romney/Ryan criticism, but who was also erudite and funny all the while.  So I stopped flipping and watched the rest of his show.  His name:  Martin Bashir.  I watched the rest of that program and now am an avid viewer when I have a chance to watch at 1:00 in the afternoon. 

If you haven’t seen or heard this guy you really should check him out.  He is also a great interviewer and really doesn't let the right-wing tools get away with falsehoods or even spinning.   I know that he has been controversial in the past, particularly concerning a 2003 documentary based on a series of interviews he did with Michael Jackson, but that doesn't stop me from digging what he is doing now on his MSNBC daily show.

Here is one of his takes on Paul Ryan that I actually saw on his show.  Love it.

Give him a try…

A fun linguistic tool

You know I dig stuff like this.  It’s actually better than a thesaurus in many ways.  Try the word “choice” and you will see what I mean.  Hint:  You can move the results to view entries that are “off screen”  by clicking and dragging the red center dot. 

Have fun…