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NYT: 'Big Storm Requires Big Government', Not Katrina Redux

The New York Times editorial board, on the day Hurricane Sandy wreaks havoc in the Big Apple, aims at Mitt Romney's crotch and gives him a good, hard kick. Good! I'm tired of so-called "news" organizations that treat the crap that spews from right-wing zombies as if it's worthy of intelligent consideration. Let's kill the Romney/Ryan/Cantor Randian wet dream once and for all:

Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of “big government,” which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it. At a Republican primary debate last year, Mr. Romney was asked whether emergency management was a function that should be returned to the states. He not only agreed, he went further.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.” Mr. Romney not only believes that states acting independently can handle the response to a vast East Coast storm better than Washington, but that profit-making companies can do an even better job. He said it was “immoral” for the federal government to do all these things if it means increasing the debt.

It’s an absurd notion, but it’s fully in line with decades of Republican resistance to federal emergency planning. FEMA, created by President Jimmy Carter, was elevated to cabinet rank in the Bill Clinton administration, but was then demoted by President George W. Bush, who neglected it, subsumed it into the Department of Homeland Security, and placed it in the control of political hacks. The disaster of Hurricane Katrina was just waiting to happen.

The agency was put back in working order by President Obama, but ideology still blinds Republicans to its value. Many don’t like the idea of free aid for poor people, or they think people should pay for their bad decisions, which this week includes living on the East Coast.

Over the last two years, Congressional Republicans have forced a 43 percent reduction in the primary FEMA grants that pay for disaster preparedness. Representatives Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and other House Republicans have repeatedly tried to refuse FEMA’s budget requests when disasters are more expensive than predicted, or have demanded that other valuable programs be cut to pay for them. The Ryan budget, which Mr. Romney praised as “an excellent piece of work,” would result in severe cutbacks to the agency, as would the Republican-instigated sequester, which would cut disaster relief by 8.2 percent on top of earlier reductions.

Does Mr. Romney really believe that financially strapped states would do a better job than a properly functioning federal agency? Who would make decisions about where to send federal aid? Or perhaps there would be no federal aid, and every state would bear the burden of billions of dollars in damages. After Mr. Romney’s 2011 remarks recirculated on Monday, his nervous campaign announced that he does not want to abolish FEMA, though he still believes states should be in charge of emergency management. Those in Hurricane Sandy’s path are fortunate that, for now, that ideology has not replaced sound policy.

"Give it to the states"? The "reconstruction" of New Orleans was a feeding frenzy for politically-connected Republican sharks. Ridiculous profits, often for work that was never done. Illegal destruction of properties that were than handed over to the developers. And the work that was done, was done selectively -- as in, how well connected are you?

No. No, no, a thousand times no.



New Herman Cain Ad Features Murderous Chickens

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Herman Cain released yet another "Sick of Stimulus" commercial Friday, and it's as bizarre as the first two.

In the commercial, a farmer is feeding his chickens and is attacked by the birds in a scene that could be straight out of a Hitchcock movie. The farmer is then pecked to death.

"This is the average American taxpayer feeding big government," says the same little girl who appeared in the previous two commercials.

It seems the metaphor is to liken "Big Government" to the chickens, with the government's need for taxes as ravenous as the chickens' appetites.

I'm sure sick of Republicans complaining about "Big Government" when it comes to raises taxes on the rich and then "crickets" when asked if legislation requiring trans-vaginal ultrasounds isn't also big government.

As in previous Cain commercials, the young girl closes out the commercial by asking, "Any questions?" A macabrel depiction of the farmer's corpse raises his bony hand.

The first Sick of Stimulus spot was released in February and showed the same little girl throwing a goldfish on the ground.

"This is the economy," the young girl says. As the fish flops around on the ground, the girl then throws water on the fish and says, "This is the economy on stimulus." The commercial also ends with the girl asking, "Any questions?" Cain stated the goldfish was not harmed.

In the second commercial, the girl places a bunny into a straw bed and says, "This is small business under the current tax code." The rabbit bed then hurls the bunny (now replaced by a fake bunny) into the air. Similar to skeet shooting, the fake bunny is then shot by an actor dressed in a suit.

This spot also ends with the girl asking, "Any questions?"

All three commercials close with a shot of Cain standing on a bluff, staring out over an animated barren rocky landscape, head turned away from the camera.

These are not the first unusual commercials Cain has released. Campaign manager Mark Block ended a spot by puffing on a cigarette and blowing smoke toward the camera in a now much-parodied commercial.

The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, who withdrew from the presidential campaign after allegations of infidelity, is also organizing an event called "Cain's Revolution on the Hill" in Washington on April 16 to protest the tax code.

Cain has endorsed fellow Georgian Newt Gingrich for president.