Teabaggers In Action - Volume Three

Today's teabagger is South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley:

 
Seen here practicing her "adorable child" look.

Firswt of all, she spells her name "Nikki." Generally, that spelling is reserved for sex industry workers and the  bass player of Motley Crue.



But that's not the real issue. I'm pretty sure spelling doesn't count for much in South Carolina conservative circles.

But here's a fun story about Gov. Haley:

Gov. Nikki Haley replaces Darla Moore

I know, I know, who's Darla Moore?

Well, up until recently she was a member of the board of trustees for the University of South Carolina.
Go, Cocks!



Not only was she a member of the board, she was also a major patron of the school. In fact, their business school is named the Darla Moore School of Business. So, it's probably safe to say she was comitted to the University and felt pretty passionately about it.

But don't take my word for it:

Miles Loadholt, chairman of the board, said Moore's contributions to the university have been priceless.

"The importance of Darla Moore's philanthropy cannot be overestimated," he said in a statement. "Her constant push for excellence not only at a state level, but in a global context, will be a standing legacy and among her many contributions to the university."

 

 So why replace her? Well, there are two reasons. The first is that Ms. Moore hurt the governor's wittle feelings. (sideways frowny-face)
 

 

As Haley explains events, Moore lost her seat basically because she didn’t express sufficient interest in keeping it. She didn’t return Haley’s calls, as the governor tells it, and when Haley tried to meet with Moore, there was a three-week wait.



The governor told me she couldn’t wait. She has only one voting member on the board and, says Haley, “I have to pick one who will report to me and return my calls.” (source)

 

How very mature of you, Madame Governor!

The second reason? To reward a campaign donor.

Haley tapped Lexington lawyer Tommy Cofield to replace Moore,
Cofield and his sister Amy Cofield donated a combined $9,000 to Haley's gubernatorial campaign, according to the State Ethics Commission. (source)

So, sure it's fine to be an extremely generous donor and an asset to the University for over a decade, but how does that enrich me personally?
 
So much for the teabaggers getting in there and cleaning out corruption, eh?
 
By the way, here is Ms. Moore's response to her removal:
 

Her response to Haley’s insult was to offer the university another $5 million for an aerospace research center to be named for fellow Lake City star Ronald McNair, an African American astronaut who died in the Challenger explosion in 1986.

Yeah, I could see where you'd feel like you needed to get rid of her!

Nice work, South Carolina Teabaggers!



Lazy Reposting

from Crooks & Liars:

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March 31, 2011 10:00 AM

The video the Wisconsin GOP doesn't want you to see! - *gasp*



.This complete video, once on YouTube and then on the Talking Points Memo website, has been yanked from both, simply because of the heat a rookie republican congressman (and former reality tv star) got for daring to mention he's having trouble getting by on "only" $174,000, partly due to higher health care costs because of worse federal coverage than he was used to from Wisconsin as a District Attorney.



Evan McMorris-Santoro at TPM details the farce controversy.



GOPers Demand Sean Duffy Salary Tape Be Pulled From The Internet



First the Republican Party in Polk County, Wisconsin, pulled the tape of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) fretting about making ends meet on his $174,000 a year salary from its own website. Now they want it gone from the whole Internet.



For a couple hours, the local county GOP was successful. But we've put an excerpt of the video back up.



A day after TPM posted the video we obtained of Duffy talking about his salary at a Polk County town hall meeting earlier this year, the Polk County GOP contacted the video provider we used to host the video, Blip.tv, and demanded the video be taken down.



The tape caused a stir for Duffy, a first-term conservative best known for his past as a reality TV show star on MTV's The Real World. Democrats flagged the comments about his taxpayer-funded salary (which is nearly three times the median income in Wisconsin) and criticisms began to flow Duffy's way.



In the clip, Duffy is asked whether he'd support cutting his own salary. Duffy says he would, but only as part of a plan where all public employees' salaries would be cut. He then said that the $174,000 in salary (not including benefits) he receives is a squeeze for his family of seven to live on:



I can guarantee you, or most of you, I guarantee that I have more debt than all of you. With 6 kids, I still pay off my student loans. I still pay my mortgage. I drive a used minivan. If you think I'm living high on the hog, I've got one paycheck. So I struggle to meet my bills right now. Would it be easier for me if I get more paychecks? Maybe, but at this point I'm not living high on the hog.



No doubt Crooks and Liars will receive a similarly sternly worded cease-and-desist letter, and the clip will be pulled from here also. But for now, here is the clip the Wisconsin GOP are so scared of being seen. (Can this story get any more pathetic?)



Tags: Polk County, Rep. Sean Duffy, Republican Party, Wisconsin

Teabaggers In Action - Volume II

Good job, American electorate! These are the guys you put in charge!

Florida Governor Rick Scott:

 

For one thing, look at the guy! Who votes for something that looks like this?


I know, it shouldn't matter what he looks like, but come on! there's got to be some limit.

But anyway, Governor Rick Scott has introduced a plan to subject both welfare recipients and all state employees to mandatory drug testing because, you know,

FREEDOOOOOOOOM!!!!



So what would make this libertarian, small-government teabagger decide to drug test everyone? Hmm, I don't know. Unless it's because he owns a chain of clinics that do drug tests?

Gov. Rick Scott’s drug testing policy stirs suspicion

By Stacey Singer / The Palm Beach Post, Fla. (MCT)

One of the more popular services at Solantic, the urgent care chain co-founded by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, is drug testing, according to Solantic CEO Karen Bowling.
Given Solantic’s role in that marketplace, critics are again asking whether Scott’s policy initiatives -- this time, requiring drug testing of state employees and welfare recipients -- are designed to benefit Scott’s bottom line.

Hmmm. . .  nothing suspicious there!

In his defense, Scott has divested himself of his Solantic holdings. He gave them to his wife. Seriously.

The Palm Beach Post reported in an exclusive story two weeks ago that while Scott divested his interest in Solantic in January, the controlling shares went to a trust in his wife’s name.

 

What? No Good?

And this isn't the first time Scott has proposed a Solantic-friendly state policy:

. . . This raised a groundswell of concern and questions about his health policy initiatives, especially his push to move Medicaid into private HMOs. Solantic does not take Medicaid but does business with private Medicaid HMOs.

It really shouldn't be surprising. When you elect someone to run the government whose core belief is that government is bad, it's not all that shocking that they would see no problem with using their position of power to swindle the government. After all, they've been very clear about their complete lack of respect for government, why would you not expect them to see a government position as a giant grifting opportunity?

So, good job, Florida teabaggers. You asked for it, now you got it. Enjoy.

How Many Ways Can You Be Wrong in an 18-second Clip?

Well, let's see:



1: "most studies show"
     If you're going to make a claim backed up by "studies" you really have to cite at least one. Otherwise, I gotta think you might just be making this up. I could claim that most studies show that I am awesome. Wouldn't you ask "what studies?" And then I would answer: "a survey of my five-year old niece, and 100% of the respondents agreed that I am awesome." Now who looks foolish?

2: It doesn't take "supernatural powers" to survive. Ordinary, not super-powered people survive things all the time. Do you think that Chilean coal miners have super powers? I survived a very treacherous fall down the side of a mountain. Do you think I have. . .well, that's a bad example. Obviously, I do have the kind of powers that you can't imagine. The kind of powers of which most men dare not dream.

Like math. I'm pretty good at math.

3: Believing that you do have supernatural powers is probably going to be detrimental to your survival. If you're trapped in a collapsed coal mine and you convince yourself that you can use your super-human strength to tunnel out instead of waiting for the rescuers, you're probably not going to make it.

4: Even if by "supernatural powers" she's referring to the great feats of strength sometimes accomplished by people who get a surge of adrenaline in perilous situations, you don't have to be religious to believe in that. Atheists know about adrenaline.


5. That hairstyle. That is all kinds of wrong.

I Guess I Had A Pretty Good Year in 2010

Because I paid more taxes than General Fucking Electric.

And so did you, assuming you paid more than zero.

(from the NY Times)

G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI

Published: March 24, 2011 

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.
Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

 

Where's an angry mob when you need one?

 How much money does GE get from government contracts? How much do they get paid to build weapons to knock down Iraq, and how much are they getting paid to participate in Iraq's "reconstruction?" I don't know, I don't have time to research it, but obviously, it's way too much. If this company is unwilling to pay a cent towards making the US a strong nation, why the hell should it get to profit off of us?

Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore.

And yet, according to Think Progress:

This year, 14 unions representing more than 15,000 workers will negotiate a new master contract with General Electric. Among the major concessions GE has signaled that it will ask of union workers is the elimination of a defined contribution benefit pension for new employees, a move the company has already implemented for its non-union salaried employees. Likewise, GE is signaling to the union that it will ask for the elimination of current health insurance plans in favor of lower quality health saving accounts, a move the company has already implemented for non-union salaried employees as well.

In addition, General Electric may ask some workers for a wage freeze. Since the recession began in 2007, GE threatened to close plants in Schenectady, NY and Louisville, KY unless workers took wage concessions and adopted two-tier wage structure.

Otherwise, how could they afford to pay all those accountants and lawyers to help them cheat on their taxes?

G.E.’s giant tax department, led by a bow-tied former Treasury official named John Samuels, is often referred to as the world’s best tax law firm. Indeed, the company’s slogan “Imagination at Work” fits this department well. The team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress.

Oh, and it's probably going to get worse:

Such strategies, as well as changes in tax laws that encouraged some businesses and professionals to file as individuals, have pushed down the corporate share of the nation’s tax receipts — from 30 percent of all federal revenue in the mid-1950s to 6.6 percent in 2009.
Yet many companies say the current level is so high it hobbles them in competing with foreign rivals. Even as the government faces a mounting budget deficit, the talk in Washington is about lower rates. President Obama has said he is considering an overhaul of the corporate tax system, with an eye to lowering the top rate.

Oh, boy! Hope and Change!

And Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE, the man whose company stiffs the taxpayers while screwing its workers? That guy? He's the chairman of the president's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

 

You're doing a heck of a job, Jeffie!