Senator Honey Badger, Labor Vs. Management – Part Infinity, the GOP pokes the IRS, the coming gay marriage victories, you’ve got some Mitt on your face, the Tea Party is at it again, someone owes Janet Napolitano an apology, and like we are most of us potheads, man.
Welcome to the Daily Sausage.
First up: Harry Reid does not give a shit. He’s going to douse the Senate, Mitch McConnell, and Mitt Romney in gasoline and flick a lit cigarette over his shoulder as he walks away and sets the whole lot of them on fire as he retires, as he well should.
Next up: Labor Versus Management – Part Infinity. Ever since Reagan broke the air traffic controller’s union, the playing field has been tilted vastly in favor of management. Moreover, I have yet to see an example of union mismanagement driving a company into the ground. There are, however, many many examples of companies being bankrupted by management even after rank and file employees begged them not to do things, on the grounds that it was really, really stupid.
Senate Republicans threatened the IRS today, telling the IRS they should back off anonymous 501(c)(4) organizations, or else. If you’re wondering why the GOP is so anxious to protect these big anonymous money organizations, I have one name for you: Karl Rove.
Karl Rove is the head of two groups: American Crossroads, and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Solutions (Crossroads GPS). American Crossroads is a 527 organization, which is defined by the IRS as a group created primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment, or defeat of political candidates at any level. The problem with 527s is that they have to register with the IRS and publicly and periodically disclose a list of their donors, contributions, and expenditures. Given the backlash against companies like Chick-fil-A over their political contributions, some individuals prefer to remain in the shadows, but still wish to use their vast wealth to influence elections.
Enter 501(c)(4) organizations. If 527’s and “SuperPACs” were the headliners of Citizens United-apalooza, 501(c)(4)’s are the opening act that’s better than the main act.
501(c)(4) organizations are defined as tax exempt groups operating exclusively for the promotion of “social welfare”. Unlike 527’s, 501(c)(4)’s are not required to reveal their donors; an individual like Sheldon Adelson can donate billions of dollars to Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS 501(c)(4) and no one would ever know. There is a caveat: using funds for advocacy of a political candidate in an election makes those funds taxable. Consequently, groups like Crossroads GPS can only be against things, not for them.
The reason that Senate Democrats asked the IRS to investigate 501(c)(4)’s is that they’re being used to attack the President and other Democrats in what is certainly a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. Consequently, Senate Republicans have no interest in seeing their dirty money being dragged into the light, so they, especially Mitch “I Never Met A Campaign Finance Law I Liked” McConnell.
Of course, threatening the IRS with an implied “or else” was probably a bad move, unless the GOP has REALLY good accountants.
Next up: four moderate-to-liberal states; Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington, look likely to legalize gay marriage this November, reversing the trend of years past. Along with Democrats adding marriage equality to the national platform, the long arc of history continues to bend towards freedom and equality for all, if perhaps a little slower than we’d all like.
And now, it’s time for your daily Mitt Romney Poop Pun: you’ve got some Mitt on your face.
Former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman (R) called Mitt Romney out for refusing to confront the extreme wing of the GOP, after he ducked opportunities to rebuke Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, and any of the other exceptionally embarrassing conservative figures that will almost assuredly say something stupid between now and November.
Of course, were Mitt Romney to actually rebuke any of these individuals, his base would freak the fuck out and probably hoist him by his own petard, because Mitt Romney’s base is comprised of crazy people whose last tenuous grips on reality are being slowly eroded every time they listen to Hannity.
Don’t believe me? One of the Republican architect’s of welfare reform said Mitt Romney’s attacks on President Obama’s use of waivers for states was crap.
Also, a Tea Party group (who unsurprisingly still use an AOL.com address) passed around another stupid email depicting the Founding Fathers beating President Obama for being a “radical, socialist leader”.
I don’t know why that’s news; it’s probably easier to find a Tea Party group that DOESN’T pass around something like that. Not only that, but it’s not even original: Robin Williams did the 72 Virgins/Virginians bit many, many years ago.
Back in 2009, Republicans freaked out when the Department of Homeland Security reported that white supremacy was the biggest threat to US domestic terror, titling the report “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”, and specifically called out white supremacists, radical anti-abortionists, and disgruntled veterans as being the most susceptible to recruitment.
The report also went on to note that right wing extremists are responsible for more instances of violence every year with the exception of 2001 in the United States than Islamic extremists.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was forced to withdraw the report and apologize to veterans after being viciously attacked by Congressional Republicans and the conservative media.
Wade Michael Page, the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooter, was a former veteran with ties to white supremacy groups.
So, anytime that Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), who called the report “offensive and unacceptable” would like to apologize to Secretary Napolitano for being wrong, and being a real jackass about it, that would be great.
Finally, in drug news (which is, like, your opinion, man), we have this chart on how many people have smoked pot in their lifetime and how many have smoked in the last year. Pot will be legal in our lifetimes, probably the next five to ten years. When 50%+ of the population is doing or has done something, it’s pretty clear that making it illegal didn’t do anything.
