Calling Rabbi Boteach, show us the way

In case you have not gotten the news yet, the Republican Party is going to have a very hard time winning a national election until they take to heart the words of Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of New Jersey;  "Republicans are getting fixated with abortion, contraception and gay marriage."  
Until the Republican Party turns its back on the socio-sexual psychosis of the Christian right I think they are doomed in national elections.  Get back to true conservative values and the party might save itself, otherwise we need a viable conservative/small government 3rd party.   Read about the good Rabbi here - http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/06/after-winning-republican-primary-rabbi-takes-moderate-tone/

The 3 Stooges go to Washington

Just when you thought the 3 Stooges that run the Romney campaign could not come up with anything more pathetic then they already have we have the new ad using an old (and heavily edited) Obama clip that we have all seen already (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/4-pinocchios-for-a-truncated-14-year-old-obama-clip/2012/09/20/9b40f4b8-0330-11e2-91e7-2962c74e7738_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics).  Now that I think of it I am going to have to stop referring to the Romney campaign advisers as the 3 Stooges, they really are not as smart as Moe, Larry & Curly! 

The Taxman Givith and the Taxman Takethaway

I would remind Mr. Romney that the same tax code that allows 47% of Americans to pay no income taxes is the same tax code that allowed him to pay (on average) 17.5% on his $21.5 Million dollars in adjusted gross income in 2010.  The 47% did not write their own tax laws anymore then you did, they are just abiding by them, same as you.  I think you might wish to turn your ire on Congress, they are the ones that write the tax laws.

Mitt Romney and the 47% Solution

In light of the latest Romney debacle, I think the proper question Mr. Romney should be asking American citizens today amid all the media mewing about the "47%" might be: “how do you run a democracy when almost half of its citizens do not pay income taxes?”  Let us be clear this IS NOT a question of whether Governor Romney “understands” or “relates to” the American electorate it is a basic question regarding citizenship in our country.  I would be interested in hearing Mr. Obama’s response to that question.

The media is no help on this matter, I know taxes are in my blood but I expect intelligent adults to know that there is a difference between income taxes and “payroll”/FICA taxes.  There are 2 elements to “payroll” taxes, Social Security and Medicare.  These amounts are used to fund the benefits/entitlements of these 2 programs that many Americans enjoy.  Income taxes are the county’s “general fund” (so to speak) that pays for everything else.  While I have had this argument with some very intelligent people I see these as 2 different taxes and as such I do not think that “payroll”/FICA and income taxes should be lumped together.     

But a serious question remains: how do you engage an electorate on important issues regarding the country’s finances and economy when they have no “skin in the game?”  Whey should they even care about treasury draining wars and entitlements, they aren’t paying for them (of course to a frightening degree nobody is paying for them as they are funded by the U.S. Treasury printing and borrowing money – but that is another story).

How does a democracy function effectively in such as corrupt and disconnected economic environment; as we seem to prove every day, it does not. 

The US Constitution turns 225 years old today

Suggestion, everyone running our Government today must celebrate this birthday by being forced to read it!
http://constitutioncenter.org/programs-events/the-constitutions-225-anniversary/

News Flash - Romney Loses the Election

Well actually this is probably not really news, as I (and many others) have noted Mr. Romney was a structurally weak candidate from the beginning, in fact, in both Romney and Obama you have candidates that are historically unelectable; Romney for being unlikable and Obama for the state of the economy under his watch, specifically the unemployment rate.

When Governor Romney loses to Barak Obama in November the Republican Party is really going to have to think hard about the control that the wacked out right wing of its party is exerting.  This socially conservative fringe does not hurt in state elections where the right wing candidate IS representative of the electorate (i.e. they are both wacked out) but is clearly killing the party in this presidential race.  As I have said since the beginning of this sorry campaign, Mr. Romney is the Republican Party’s John Kerry.  Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, opined recently that if the Republican Party cannot defeat Barak Obama they need to “shut down the party.”  GEE, this sounds hauntingly familiar to what many Democrats said about the John Kerry, George W. Bush contest!

The issue here is NOT conservatism per say, it is the weird Christian right morality agenda centered on abortion, sex, immigration, school prayer, gun laws, etc.  You have such nauseating charades as the Republican debate when the candidates debated the role of sex in and out of marriage!  You had Mr. Santorum stating that even in marriage you only have sex with your spouse for purposes of procreation.  ANY party that even considers such a candidate seriously must desire failure in a nationwide general election; this shit is just too frightening to normal people. 

When Mr. Romney’s advisor Eric Fehrnstrom, made the infamous “etch-a-sketch” analogy about the pivot to the general election, he missed the fact that said candidate has an opponent that is going to beat you to a pulp replaying all the stupid shit you said when you were busy kissing the ass of social conservatives. 

The Republican Party needs to figure out that this right wing Christian conservative social agenda is NOT actually/necessarily conservative.  The parties nominees have NO business opining on their view of sex whether in or out of marriage, these issues are largely none of governments business.  The social conservative agenda is out of step with many Americans feel on a number of issues.  I have noted a number of times when young Ron Paul supporters are asked by interviewers who they are gong to vote for in the general election now that their candidate is not running they invariably say Obama.  The reason these libertarian voters end up in the seemingly unlikely Obama camp is the scary and intrusive social conservative agenda of the current Republican Party. 

Until the Republican Party can embrace a truer conservative/libertarian agenda, and focus on economic conservatism and drop some of the unnecessary social issues (or kick them down to the state level) they are not going to win a national election.        

Romney and his tax Fantasy-land

OUCH, read this from the current issue of Business Week - http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-13/mitt-romney-and-the-fantasy-budget.  Gee, Mitt you can't name ONE tax break you would consider ending, hey I got a few for ya:

1. Carried Interest - (Sorry Mitt - this one affects you) this is the tax break for venture capital and fund managers that allows them to take compensation at the 15% capital gains rate instead of ordinary rates.
2. The myriad of special rates and credits for oil companies and their investors such as credits for intangible drilling costs and deductions for depletion and 
3. The deduction for domestic manufacturing  
4. The IC Disc
5. ALL refundable credits for both corporations and individuals, you know those credits that cause the IRS to send refunds greater then the taxes that were withheld or paid 
6. Orphan drug credit 
7. R&D credit
8. Limiting mortgage interest deduction to $500K of indebtedness (from the current $1.2 million) 
9. Alcohol Fuel Credit 
10. Section 179 depreciation deduction 

These are just 10 quickies that I can think of and you can't (on a national TV interview) name one!! 

The Marathon Man

I have seen Bruce Springsteen probably somewhere between 20 and 30 times over the last 35 years.  That might sound impressive but in the Springsteen world that makes me a piker, as it is fairly easy to find folks that have seen him over a 100 times (like N.J Governor Chris Christie).  This year I decided I was going to see all 3 Boston Shows, the 2 at Fenway Park as well as the one at Gillette Stadium.  Based on what I was reading about the recently completed European tour as well as the superlative new CD “Wrecking Ball” I felt like this was a time to go all in.

Bruce has from the first moment I saw him on stage been “the boss.”  That was always clear; the E Street Band was never a “band” like The Beatles, for instance.  These days that is even more distinct, Bruce leads the band thru drummer Max Weinberg who seems to virtually never take his eyes off Springsteen, all on stage cue’s seem to move from Bruce to Weinberg and then out to the rest of the band.  Even Bruce’s old pal “Little” Steven never steps to the microphone to sing with Bruce unless invited, same with the horn players, they only come down to the front of the stage when called.  The tradeoff is, of course, the entire stage is in the hands of music’s greatest showman and performer.  

In all 3 Boston shows, especially the monumental 2^nd night at Fenway Park, Springsteen was able to infuse a show with a stunning sense of purpose.  The second night at Fenway Park was a 3 and a half hour show that possessed an amazing continuity given the wide ranging musical styles covered.  It shifted from the opening tune, a quiet and serious duet with pianist Roy Bitten on “Thunder Road” to a “summertime hits” set of 4 party songs before settling into a handful of tunes from the new LP.  The middle of the show was a series of true rarities (“Does This Bus Stop on 82^nd Street”,”Thundercrack” and a magical “Frankie”) as well as a killer cover of Eddie Floyd’s Memphis soul hit from 1967 “Knock on Wood.”  Next was an audience request that sent the Springsteen main-liners into rapture; “Prove it all Night” with the long, tortured guitar intro famous from the 1978 tour, this was followed by a gut-wrenching “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” at which point Dave Little leaned over to me and stated that we had just witnessed “the greatest 15 minutes of live music we had ever heard” AND there were still 6 songs to go in the main set as well as an 8 song encore!

Somehow Bruce Springsteen is able to move thru his own vast catalog as well as select covers that traverse the American music landscape of rockabilly (Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues”), soul and R&B (Mitch Ryder’s “Detroit Medley” and Gary U.S. Bond’s “Quarter to 3”) and have it all hang together as a coherent whole.   This is done with the force of his personality as well as the masterful E Street Band that can turn on a dime and (seemingly) play material that they have either never played or have not played in many years (the last time they performed “Knock on Wood” was 1976, for instance).

It is an amazing history that the 62 year old Springsteen shares and represents to us fans.  As the original band members passes away (the only E Street Band member now onstage that played on Springsteen’s first 2 albums is bassist Garry Tallent), Springsteen himself remains ebullient, focused and committed and by my estimation he may, in fact, be better than he had ever been as a performer and that is (as the song goes) really saying something!