Howard Dean and Fox News

Dean: Government Should Pick Guests on Fox & MSNBC Because Ignorant Americans Don’t Know What’s Going On

The scary part is that Dr. Dean is correct on some things. Many if not most Americans are ignorant of what the Constitution says. Dr. Dean will mention the 14th and 17th amendments so here's a refresher:

14th Amendment: 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
The 14th Amendment was passed in 1857, right after the Civil War, to make sure that former slaves and their progeny would be citizens.

These days the 14th Amendment is used by proponents of illegal immigration as a way for illegals to have a baby in the USA, which is declared a US Citizen for being born in the USA, and then they have an Anchor Baby and a legal excuse to stay. 

This concept ignores the "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" phrase, but, hey, what do intention and true meaning count for when there is a political objective?

17th Amendment: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. 

Sounds reasonable, right? What's the big deal? Well, prior to this amendment, the State(s) (usually the Governor(s)) selected the Senators. Changing it to an election was a huge step away from States Rights and towards centralized, nationalized government.

For the record, there are a lot more liberals making regular contributions on Fox News now than there ever will be on MSNBC.

For those keeping score at home, Dr. Howard Dean is the Chairman of the Democrat National Committee. NewsBusters did a great article on this topic here.

Heeeeerrrsss HOWARD!!! 

This is the full text of the audio in the video:

What would I do about the Media? Oh, God, I don't know. We have a strong First Amendment which has served us well in this country. Um, you know, what I think I would do, the first thing I would do is I would bring back the Fairness Doctrine so you couldn't have a Fox flooze which makes stuff up and is a propaganda outlet you would actually have to have some sentient human beings talking to the other side. And MSNBC would have to do the same they would have to have conservatives on there too. I think that's much better for the country. I mean this business, this division, where you can pick your poison and then poison yourself in the media, it's not so good for the country. So I would bring back the Fairness Doctrine. The level of ignorance about what is in the Constitution is just appalling. It's just incredible. I got such a kick out of the Tea Party that wanted us to enforce the Constitution, then when somebody pointed out what the 17th and 14th Amendment said, well, we can get rid of those.People, Americans don't know what is going on and therefore the Media can have their way with them intellectually.

Tax Cuts for Millionaires and Billionaires

I blame Mark Levin for this post. It is all Mark Levin's fault. I was reading his wonderful book, "Liberty and Tyranny". On page 64, in the chapter "On the Free Market," he clearly wrote out who paid what in taxes. But it didn't really click. So I followed the footnote to the reference in the back of the book, which conveniently listed the web page where the data was obtained. Great stuff, but I am not a numbers guy. So I wondered if it was possible to graph it out and get a better understanding.

When politicians talk about how they won't approve tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, it is doubtful they have a clear picture of the tax code.

In the graph on the right, there are 4 shades of green. All of the green together represents the top 20% of earners. Notice that all of the green in the right hand column shows that the top 20% of earners pay 86% of the taxes. Hmmm . . .

The top 1% of earners earn 18% of the money and pay 39% of income taxes.

A point of interest is that the Tax column adds up to 104%. It is the way the data is presented in the Tax table. It is because the red part of the graph, the bottom 40% of earners earn 13% of the income and pay no taxes, but instead get money out. Interestingly, what they get out is about the same as what the middle 20% of earners put in.

Another interesting fact is that the middle 20% of earners earn 13% of the income. The 20% above them earn 20% of the income. Looking at that, it would seem that "The System" is pretty fair and equitable.

Whoopi on Terrorism

I wanted to put this up because no matter how many times I watch it, I still can't quite parse out what Whoopi is trying to say about Radical Islam Terrorist Attacks.



Tim McVeigh did a despicable thing. Once. Radical Muslims keep hitting us. Check out the Frontline article about how many times we were hit between 1979 and 1988. That list leaves out the attack on the Cole, the 1993 WTC attack, and 9/11.

Taxes and Revenue

For those who have wondered, if more taxes raise more money, then is 100% the ideal tax rate, here are some answers.

It was hard to believe that, in all the years that the government has been collecting taxes and trying to balance budgets, that someone had not looked in to what might be the ideal tax rate. It turns out that someone did. Artur Laffer developed something called the Laffer Curve which seeks to define the ideal tax rate. Before writing this post, I did a Google Search for "Laffer Curve". Not surprisingly, there are people who think it is accurate, and people who think it is bogus.

On the Conservapedia site, there is a great quote from JFK. President John F. Kennedy explained the principle behind the Laffer Curve in his address to the Economic Club of New York on December 14, 1962: “In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now.” 

There is a great web page that attempts to define the ideal point on the Laffer Curve. On it there are three great videos describing the Laffer Curve. Kudos to Dan Mitchell for seeing the need and making the videos. Dan Mitchell is a member of the Cato Institute.

Part One: The Theory of the Laffer Curve:



Part Two: Reviewing the Evidence.



Part Three: Dynamic Scoring.



Big Government Is Not Stimulus: Why Keynes Was Wrong

Charles Krauthammer on Election Night

Charles Krauthammer offers some views on Election Night before the polls closed.

Why does your vote count?

Your vote counts in so many ways and says so many things.

Should we laugh or cry?

I confess. When I saw this video for the first time, I kept yelling at the TV, "Keynes was an economist !!!"

Well, it seems that at least some of the folks at the John Stewart "Restoring Sanity" rally are not the most informed people around. Heck, even the guy who 'got it' didn't quite get it. For the record, President Obama is definitely a Keynesian Economist. On steroids.

Are these the same people who look down their noses at the Tea Partiers?

O'Donnell has trouble airing 30-minute TV ad in Delaware

It seems that Christine O'Donnell produced a 30-minute documentary campaign ad. The public access station forgot to air it - twice.

Clck here for the Washington Post Article