Foreign policy blasts from the past

.
From the UN-bashing neo-con John Bolton, to “the flies on eyeballs” Cofer Black – the GOP Presidential hopefuls are receiving their foreign policy advice from some quite questionable characters. RT’s Anastasia Churkina reports.

Jennifer Granholm talks to Sen. Carl Levin about offshore tax havens

.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) criticizes Mitt Romney‘s stance on defense spending and pushes for an end of offshore tax havens that allow shelters for many wealthy Americans. Jennifer Granholm (former D-Governor of MI) asks, “Should Mitt Romney be able to hide assets in Swiss Bank accounts?” No, Levin replies, “Tax avoidance by using these tax havens should be made illegal.”

How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich

Preacherlike, the president draws the crowd into a call-and-response. “Do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes than the bus driver,” he demands, “or less?”

The crowd, sounding every bit like the protesters from Occupy Wall Street, roars back: “MORE!”

The year was 1985. The president was Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Today’s Republican Party may revere Reagan as the patron saint of low taxation. But the party of Reagan – which understood that higher taxes on the rich are sometimes required to cure ruinous deficits – is dead and gone. Instead, the modern GOP has undergone a radical transformation, reorganizing itself around a grotesque proposition: that the wealthy should grow wealthier still, whatever the consequences for the rest of us.

Modern-day Republicans have become, quite simply, the Party of the One Percent – the Party of the Rich.

“The Republican Party has totally abdicated its job in our democracy, which is to act as the guardian of fiscal discipline and responsibility,” says David Stockman, who served as budget director under Reagan. “They’re on an anti-tax jihad – one that benefits the prosperous classes.”

via How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich | Politics News | Rolling Stone.

Congressman Barney Frank: Mitt Romney Doesn’t Know Anything About The Poor!

.
February 02, 2012 MSNBC

#GOP candidates dumbing down America?

.
The GOP debates have given the American people many things to make fun of – and worry about. Bill Maher, along with other comedians, have poked fun at the things the GOP candidates have said regarding foreign policy. Many believe that the stance of some members of the Republican Party could be dangerous to America. Abby Martin, journalist and founder of Media Roots, joins us for more.

Beyond the Buffett Rule

Imagine you didn’t know anything about President Barack Obama’s potential opponents, and someone asked how Obama would do facing a former private-equity baron who made a fortune buying and selling companies, sometimes ruthlessly so. Also, this candidate hasn’t held a job in five years, yet he still manages to “earn” around $20 million a year, on which he pays less in taxes than most Americans who work for a living. At a time when the country has become concerned about increasing inequality and the lack of opportunities for Americans who don’t start life at the top, that candidate would seem like just about the ideal opponent.

And it wouldn’t hurt if that candidate were also stiff and robotic and had gone through so many changes of position in his political career that it was apparent to all that he was the most craven and opportunistic of politicians. Put this all together, and I have little doubt that as long as the economy continues to improve—even if that improvement is slower than we’d like—the Obama campaign will not have much trouble beating Mitt Romney to a pulp. What may be more worrisome, however, is whether they’ll squander the opportunity to do so in a way that sets the stage for some meaningful economic change in a second Obama term, particularly on the subject of taxes.

via Beyond the Buffett Rule.

Markos Moulitsas on SOPA, PIPA and the battle for control of the Internet

.
“Countdown” contributor and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas reveals why the Daily Kos joined the roster of sites protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Moulitsas salutes Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) for being “the first person in Congress basically to stand up against this and fight [PIPA and SOPA] the way he has” and explains how the bills would threaten the future of the Internet.

Lawrence Lessig Supports Plan to Get Money Out of Politics as States Take on Citizens United

.
democracynow.org — California and New York City lawmakers are introducing measures today calling for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United, the controversial 2010 Supreme Court ruling that characterizes political spending as free speech and opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. Similar measures have passed in Los Angeles, Oakland, Albany and Boulder. Democracy Now! speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, author of a new book that examines how money buys results in Congress and fuels campaigns that put the powerful in office. Lessig argues that both Democrats and Republicans suffer from the undue influence of corporate lobbying and unlimited campaign financing, and lays out a strategy to fight it, including a call for a constitutional convention that could propose an amendment for publicly-funded elections.

National Review’s ‘asinine’ cover-up of Romney’s bailout past

“Countdown” guest host David Shuster calls out the National Review, a leading conservative publication, for praising Mitt Romney‘s profitable past at Bain — without mentioning the bailouts that contributed to the private equity firm‘s success. “All news publishers, even [the National Review], have an obligation to be honest and truthful,” says Shuster.

Laid Off Steelworker: Mitt Romney, Bain Capital Profited By Shutting Down Kansas Steel Plant

Democracy Now! : As Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney comes under fire in New Hampshire for touting his business experience, we look at how his private equity firm, Bain Capital, drove a Kansas City steel plant into bankruptcy, leading to some 750 layoffs and a federal bailout. Bain still walked away with millions of dollars in profits. We speak with Reuters reporter Andy Sullivan who covered the story, and with Joe Soptic, a steelworker who lost his job at Kansas City’s Worldwide Grinding Systems steel mill after 28 years. “The first thing I noticed after the company was bought out … they became very union non-friendly. They started looking for ways to eliminate jobs,” says Soptic. “In my department, they actually offered to buy our jobs out from underneath us. They cut back on safety equipment.” Regarding Romney’s business acumen, Soptic adds, “If he runs the country the way he ran our business, I would not want him as president.”