No More Politics for Awhile

You leftists are killing me.

I'm taking a break from politics for awhile. We'll be going with some bourbon, shooting, BBQ, and clothing items here at Permanent Press Mission Control for the foreseeable future. Maybe some legal stuff...maybe.

Enjoy your day.

BREAKING: Lying Politicians Lie

The Democratic Senate Report on CIA's methods is just politicians lying about what they knew, what they authorized, and what everyone wanted in the aftermath of 9/11.

CIA didn't conduct this program on some kind of wild notion - they didn't just make this up because they were bored.

CIA did this at the specific request of the American people's elected representatives in Congress and the White House. The Department of Justice was kept in the loop on the program and issued legal opinions on it. Congress was repeatedly briefed. CIA did all this...because we asked them to.

And now, these same spineless politicians want to squirm out of the fact that they asked CIA to these things.

It makes me sick.

Pardon me, but these politicians are lying sacks of shit. CIA does difficult stuff. The easy stuff gets handed off to other agencies. We asked CIA officers to do things, and now we're throwing them under the bus? Well, good luck getting CIA officers to go do anything remotely controversial in defense of the country in the future.

As Usual, Obama is "Madder than hell" About the VA Scandal

So what?

Apparently, he's "madder than hell" about this scandal. Whatever happened to "no drama Obama" by the way? I haven't seen that guy in a long time.

Ever notice how Obama is always mad as a hornet about some scandal that eventually disappears down the memory hole? When the IRS targeting of tea party groups came to light, he was angry about that, too. Until he decided not to be. The failed rollout of his signature domestic policy? Yeah, he was angry about that also. You know, the convenient thing about being angry or "mad as hell" is that you don't have to say that you're sorry. Being mad shifts the blame to someone else - the people you are mad at. It's obviously not your fault - it's the fault of your anger's target.

Scandal Crisis Management from Obama.

Step 1: When confronted with a scandal, show outrage. Demand accountability and punishment.

Step 2: Initiate investigation. During the investigation, no comments are made about the scandal, so as not to prejudice the ongoing investigation.

Step 3: After awhile, respond to all questions about the scandal as "old news".

Crisis solved. Seriously though, has he ever gotten to the bottom of anything that he's madder than hell about? The buck stops nowhere.

If you didn't know any better, it's almost like Obama isn't really participating in his administration, but he's just a detached observer, who comes in after the fact and gets upset that everything is being messed up. Charles Krauthammer made this same point.

“He acts as if––it was the same with the IRS, eavesdropping on the AP, and all the other scandals, the Obamacare launch––he stumbled upon the presidency and discovered all this horrible stuff is happening. He’s in charge of these departments. At some point, you’ve gotta ask, ‘Where has he been, and where is the competence, the elementary competence, he promised when he ran in 2008?’”

OUT: I have competence in governing.
IN: I'm mad as hell about incompetence I had nothing to do with and just found out about in the newspaper.

Senate Expected to Vote Down a Minimum Wage Hike

Looks like the Senate won't be working with the President to raise the minimum wage.

The Senate is scheduled to take a test vote at noon Wednesday in whether to raise the minimum wage--and it's expected to fall short.

Sixty are needed to continue considering the measure. Democrats control 55 of the Senate's 100 votes, and virtually all are expected to back the increase to $10.10 from the current $7.25.

While some Republicans are seeking a compromise, others are balking. "Those who are being hurt the most in the Obama economy are the most vulnerable among us – young people, Hispanics, African-Americans and single moms,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during Tuesday's debate.

Being a classical liberal myself on such issues, I'd prefer that the minimum wage be $0. (If that makes your head explode, go read this.)

My guess is that this will be a main issue of the upcoming midterm elections. That, racism, and #WarOnWomen, I suppose. Excuse me while I go gouge my eyeballs out.

Bostic/Sanford Debate Highlights, Guns, and Easter

I didn't follow this debate last night for several reasons. First, I was doing something actually enjoyable - watching the Gamecock Baseball team come from behind to beat the Aggies 3-2. Second, I don't watch debates between people who I'm not eligible to vote for. Third, debates are pretty boring. I'd almost always rather watch Olympic women's curling. (The Swedish women aren't bad.)

In any event, if you're interested in the Sanford/Bostic race, check it out. If you're not interested in politics, you can enjoy some chicks with guns here.

Happy Easter

Ten Thoughts on the Fiscal Cliff Deal

Ok, so we know that the fiscal cliff was averted....well kind of. Here's the shorthand of what's actually in the fiscal cliff deal. Good news! It's not all bad.

1. Marginal Tax Rates Locked In. The much debated and demagogued "Bush Tax Cuts" hit their ten year sunset and expired on 12/31/12. In the fiscal cliff deal, Congress permanently locked in the same tax rates for everyone, unless you made make than $400k (or $450k as a family). If you make more than that, your rate goes from 35% to 39.6%. Oh, and exemptions and deductions start getting phased out for individuals at $250k and families at $300k.

This is really a mostly good thing. Basically, for 98% of the country, the "Bush Tax Cuts" are now the "2013 Obama Tax Rates". Note, these are the same tax rates that democrats have been blaming for the housing crisis, the recession, etc...and now these rates are permanent - and Obama says this is a "win". Ok, guy. Whatever you say...I just don't want to hear the word "Bush" from a democrat anymore. Ever again.

2. Obama owns all this tax policy - no one forced this upon him. He agreed, and he's going to sign it. For the rest of his term (that he hasn't even started), he can't really push to raise more taxes, so look for him to focus on non-monetary issues (guns, immigration, global warming climate change) in order to avoid doing anything on entitlements. I have a feeling the GOP would like to have "a serious national conversation" about government spending, though.

I know that raising taxes on higher incomes won't solve the deficit or debt problem, but having permanent tax rates is a good thing. One of the best things that legislators can do is to make their laws permanent - especially taxes. Tax rates that have "sunset" provisions and expire after a certain amount of time are lunacy. Have a tax rate. If you don't like the rate, change it. But give folks some kind of permanency so they can plan their lives and businesses.

3. Capital Gains Taxes Go Up for High Earners. Again, I don't like this one on principle, because the higher income earners are the folks who have spare money to invest in equities. There aren't a lot of folks making $65k buying lots of stocks. If you're in the top income bracket, your capital gains taxes are going up to 20% from 15%. Meh.

4. Unemployment Benefits Continue. This was a big priority for the Democrats, and they got it. I can understand why. With all the unemployed people out there, ending their benefits would create a lot of pain. Folks would have to go get jobs. I think some people have been on unemployment for more than 100 weeks now, so I'm not sure where the end of this is. Will unemployment benefits be lifelong now? I guess we'll find out at some point.

5. One Year "Doc Fix". This is a classic example of Congress temporarily fixing a problem. Under current Medicare law, doctors would be paid 27% less than they are now. Each year, Congress passes a law that basically says "Don't worry about that part of Medicare." Why not fix this permanently?

6. Milk Cliff Averted. Again, this is classic. Congress temporarily fixes a stupid-ass problem they created. The farm bill was extended for 9 months. So there you go. See you in September, milk cliff.

7. AMT Permanently Fixed. For years now, Congress has passed one year "patches" to index the AMT to inflation. Apparently, they got into a frenzy of productivity and decided to go ahead and just permanently fix this. Attaboy Congress! Permanent solutions.

8. Estate Tax. It starts at $5Million now, and it takes 40%. Oh well. At least it's not temporary. If you have that much money, you've probably already started planning for the estate tax.

9. Payroll Taxes Going Back Up. The temporary payroll tax holiday is over. It hits every single person who makes any money at all. Did you enjoy your payroll tax "holiday"? Good, back to work.

10. The Sequester Is Finally Averted. Just kidding. It's only been delayed for two months. Guess what? We get to do this all over again in March!

Notably absent was anything remotely resembling restraint on government spending. Oh well, one problem at a time, right? There's probably lots of other smallish stuff in the fiscal cliff deal, but if Congress doesn't have to read the bill, I sure don't have to.

Don't Our Legislators Have Anything Better to Do?

As a threshold matter, the requirement that our state employees say "It's a great day in South Carolina." is silly. I understand the idea behind it, but honestly, it's style over substance. In any event, I would be annoyed at this requirement if I were a state employee. However, work (and life) is full of stupid rules that don't make a practical difference. Accordingly, I wouldn't waste my time arguing with the Governor about it if I were an employee, and I certainly wouldn't waste time on it if I were an elected official. The issue is entirely non-substantive.

However, two of our esteemed legislators (representing York and Charleston) have decided they have nothing more important to do. Here is what they propose:

Democratic state Reps. John Richard King and Wendell Gilliard have filed legislation saying no state agency can force its employees to answer the phone with, "It's a great day in South Carolina," as long as state unemployment is 5 percent or higher. Their bill also would prohibit requiring the greeting as long as all South Carolinians don't have health insurance.

This is a colossal waste of time and legislative resources. They're not arguing that our Governor can't make state employees say silly greetings. They want to put certain quantifiable benchmarks in place before silly greetings are spoken. This is not a serious legislative idea - it's the political version of schoolchildren calling each other names during recess.

Figure out something better to do, guys. You're an elected member of the South Carolina legislature, not a third-grader. Act like an adult. Get something substantive done.

TPM Compares the Tea Party to the Godfather

Thomas Lane at TPM has an article comparing the Tea Party to the Godfather. Specifically, Lane alludes to the scene in which Woltz wakes up with his racehorse's head in his bed after he refuses to do a favor for the Don. (Relevant video here.) Basically, I guess Lane's point is that the Tea Party was so extreme, they were willing to default (cut off the racehorse's head) if they didn't get less government (Johnny Fontane's movie deal). The movie producer - Woltz (the Democrats) first refuses to deal, but after he sees the extent the other side is willing to go to, he relents. As someone with a PhD in movie metaphors, I analyze below the jump:

"We're trying to save life on this planet as we know it today".

So says Nancy Pelosi. What could this be in response to? Alien invasion? Zombie apocalypse? Global warming? You would be wrong on all three. The threat to "life on this planet as we know it today"? The House Republican Budget Control Act.

Run for your life! It's a budget! It's going to eat us all!

(Permanent Press has obtained an artist's rendering.) Below the jump: