Can Nash Play in Arizona?

Phoenix Suns star (and Canadian)Steve Nash might have to make sure that his papers are in order or face jail time since the passage of Arizona's strict new immigration law.

More Taxes or Less Spending

One of the groups I belong to on Facebook found a gem of an article. It’s from the Seattle Times and written by Danny Westneat. Here’s the link if you’d like to read the full article:



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2011635002_danny18.html


Westneat contends that the Tea Party, while well intentioned, is living “in an alternate universe.” He systematically picks apart each of the group’s arguments and complaints about the current administration. Each is logical and very well presented. One contention Westneat makes is that the biggest three expenditures we have, Social Security, Medicare, and Defense, add up to more than the money the government takes in from taxes. I thought that was a pretty bold claim so I decided to verify his work.

In the graph below, the United States took in $2.105 trillion in revenue in 2009.



In that same year (referring to the U.S. Spending graph) the government spent $3.518 trillion.



What’s interesting (and Westneat is correct) is that if you add the three biggest expenses (Security, Medicare, and Defense) the total is $2.136 trillion, a deficit of $31 billion. Therefore, even if the government cuts every other expense (NASA, National Parks, Energy, etc) it will still run a deficit.

I’ve spent a great deal of time reading the Tea Party’s positions and I have never read anyone from that group advocating cutting spending in the big three. Bottom-line, until we as a nation are ready and willing to make those cuts, taxes will have to go up or the debt will continue to grow.

Phrase of the Day: The Macaca Moment

Last week Sue Lowden, a Republican candidate challenging Majority Leader Harry Reid for his Nevada Senate seat, made the assertion that Americans should consider bartering with their doctors for healthcare services.

"Before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor," Lowden spoke on news show Nevada Newsmakers "They would say I'll paint your house."

The comment immediately drew fire from the democrats and media commentators. Even Jay Leno added his two cents worth on what seemed like a silly idea in the 21st century. One would expect Lowden to back off from the comment and explain why she made it. Instead, Lowden is standing by her recommendation that Americans without healthcare coverage should look to barter with doctors. The criticism poured in. One blogger wrote that it was her “macaca moment.” Her what? I had never heard of this phrase before so I looked it up.

Macaca, according to Wikipedia, is a racial slur meaning monkey. The macaca moment that the blogger was referring to was from the 2006 Virginia Senate race between Democrat Jim Webb and Republican incumbent George Allen. Allen had a comfortable lead over Webb going into August. Then on August 11, 2006 in Breaks, Virginia, Allen pointed out a Webb supporter who was filming the event.


“This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent... Let's give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.” Allen said as the camera rolled.



S.R. Sidarth, born and raised in Virginia, is of Indian descent where the phrase is considered a racial slur. The film went viral and Allen issued an apology a few days later.

In November he lost his bid for reelection and many analysts point to this incident as the cause, thus creating the phrase “macaca moment.”

Sue Lowden has a comfortable lead over Harry Reid in test elections. But could her suggestion that Americans try to barter with doctors be her macaca moment?

"We're Not Racists!" The Tea Party in Pictures

Lately the Tea Party leaders (I use the term "leaders" loosely because, according to their own statement: [teapartypatriots.org] they have no leaders) having been shouting to anyone that will listen that they are not a racist organization. Many of my friends that are involved in the Tea Party are shocked and amazed at this perception. I believe the old maxim "a picture is worth a thousand words" would be appropriate at this time. I've logged onto several Tea Party sites and looked at what pictures they have posted. Let's take a look.






This is probably one of the most infamous pictures of the Tea Party's racism. Dale Robertson was at one time the self-proclaimed leader of the Tea Party. After this picture came out Tea Party leaders (they're who again?) distanced themselves from him. Robertson claimed the picture was doctored ...... six months later.



Obama as an African Witch Doctor. There's nothing wrong with that, right? Right?



A white guy with black face? I wonder how my black friends would feel about that if I showed up for dinner dressed in this.



Remember to buy souvenirs from the "rally."



Do I even need to comment?



Wow!



Somebody should have told this guy his sign may not play well on the evening news.



African Americans love it when you call them monkeys. Isn't that kid cute? His mom must be washing his hood.

Tea Party Wouldn't Welcome Reagan

I'm always amazed with the reverence that Ronald Reagan gets from conservatives. especially the Tea Party. During my research I can trace the group's affection for our 40th president back to the words of Sean Hannity. Mr. Hannity waxes poetically about how the Republican party has lost it's way and needs to return to Reagan's ideals. But what I've heard from him is a selected reading of history. Mr. Hannity ignores Reagan's record on taxes and government spending.

First of all, let's get this straight. If Reagan were alive and running for president I would vote for him in a second. I liked Ron. He was known as the "Great Communicator" and he really was. I loved the way he stood tall against the Soviets, Khadafi, and the Cubans in Grenada. To steal a line from Lee Greenwood, I was proud to be an American. That surge of patriotism led me to join the military. Probably the best years of my life.

So what did Reagan really do? After taking office he cut government spending by $39 billion and taxes by 25% over three years. This was his "trickle down" theory. Unfortunately Reagan didn't cut government enough but cut taxes too much This lead to the recession of 1982. To counter this, Reagan repealed some of the tax cuts and began spending mostly on military programs to stimulate the economy. It worked. The US had six plus years of economic growth. But that had a cost. The national debt went from $700 billion to over $3 trillion during his administration.




As for taxes, in 1982 Reagan reversed course when his 1981 budget was too optimistic. He repealed around a third of his previous tax cuts. In 1983 he raised FICA tax. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 removed the deductions from the middle class, which, in effect, raised taxes.

As for social programs, Reagan increased spending by 18% during his administration.



As President, Ronald Reagan raised taxes, engaged in deficit spending, and spent money on social programs. This is a no-no by Tea Party standards. While he definitely would never be called a liberal, Reagan would fall into the RINO (Republican In Name Only) group. Besides Democrats, RINOs are the other group that the Tea Party is trying to remove.

Taxes have Declined Over 2% Under Obama

Tax Freedom Day, the day that the average worker has paid his/her federal, state, and local taxes, has come earlier this year than it has in the past 40 years.



The year with the longest period was 2000 when the day was May 1. The tax burden that year was 33%. In 2008, the last year George W Bush was in office the day was April 16, the day after federal taxes were due. The tax burden that year was 29%. Since President Obama took office the tax burden was 26.6% in 2009 and 26.9% this year.