A New Post Over at Recap Attack, by Yours Truly

A new podcast is posted at RecapAttack, and I'm guesting again, so go on and check that out here.

To go along with it, I've cooked up one of my usual blog-essays especially for Recap Attack. Here's the teaser:

I skew to the left on most political issues, from your garden variety hot-button issues on down. I believe in a woman's right to choose if her body will carry a pregnancy to term; I believe that guns should be legal but tightly regulated; and I believe that taxes are the bread and butter that keeps my roads paved, food fecal-matter free, and my house from burning down or getting burglarized -- generally, I wholeheartedly support paying them.

Not everyone feels the way I do, and I can accept that. Hell, I can even embrace it -- this is a complex world, and it takes more than one viewpoint to create a rich and varied culture like that of our U.S. of A. What I cannot accept is the level to which our intolerance of opposing viewpoints has risen in recent years. More specifically, I cannot believe that in the pantomime of our soundbite-ready political system, we actually permitted ourselves to come to the very brink of default. Funny money or not, there were real people with real paychecks and our credibility as a nation at risk, and our elected officials could not manage to step down from the grandstand long enough to do what had to be done -- at least not soon enough to save us international embarrassment and a whole lot of freaking out -- and raise the debt limit so our city on a hill could pay the electric company and keep the beacons lit.

Read the rest on Recap Attack's page, here. And check back on this blog on Monday - there will be a piping hot post, fresh out of the oven just for you.

Behind the Pantomime, A Genuine Possibility for Change

I skew to the left on most political issues, from your garden variety hot-button issues on down. I believe in a woman's right to choose if her body will carry a pregnancy to term; I believe that guns should be legal but tightly regulated; and I believe that taxes are the bread and butter that keeps my roads paved, food fecal-matter free, and my house from burning down or getting burglarized -- generally, I wholeheartedly support paying them.

Not everyone feels the way I do, and I can accept that. Hell, I can even embrace it -- this is a complex world, and it takes more than one viewpoint to create a rich and varied culture like that of our U.S. of A. What I cannot accept is the level to which our intolerance of opposing viewpoints has risen in recent years. More specifically, I cannot believe that in the pantomime of our soundbite-ready political system, we actually permitted ourselves to come to the very brink of default. Funny money or not, there were real people with real paychecks and our credibility as a nation at risk, and our elected officials could not manage to step down from the grandstand long enough to do what had to be done -- at least not soon enough to save us international embarrassment and a whole lot of freaking out -- and raise the debt limit so our city on a hill could pay the electric company and keep the beacons lit.

Everything is Terrible, Part One

Welcome to the first installment of my "Everything is Terrible" series, where I discuss something that's really getting on my nerves. Don't worry, I'll keep it fun.


Driving home today, listening to the elitist liberal propaganda radio station otherwise known as NPR, I was struck by a general irritation with politics. Now don't get me wrong, usually I love politics (truly, I do, just ask any of my friends who are sick and tired of hearing me promote the latest cause or express my complete outrage with some miserable situation -- I live and breathe for political discussion, right after cute shoes and a giant English manor house with a limitless decorating budget).


But here's what's sticking in my craw: why the HELL can't the Republican party come up with some other solution for our national debt besides cutting taxes and spending?? I'm sorry, but if I notice my household finances are out of whack, of course I cut back on spending in order to get out of debt, but I never, ever, not in a million, trillion, bazillion years also decide to cut my revenue. I mean, honestly -- if I'm in debt, I'm looking around for some other ways to make money, like dealing suger-laced baked goods to the kids or selling domestic-themed lap dances or something. Maybe a striptease involving irons and a lacy apron . . . hmm.

Borrowed from MadPhotog

My future money-making aspirations aside, I know that Republicans very rarely cut taxes the way they claim to want to. GOP god Ronald Regan actually RAISED taxes considerably during his presidency: after his big cut in 1981, he increased taxes twice, resulting in the lower- and middle-class actually paying a greater percentage of taxes than they had in 1980. That's right, Ron raised taxes - because it was the right thing to do, in order to rectify budget mistakes that had been made when calculating his initial tax cut, and then again to help sustain Social Security and Medicare. And he had bipartisan support! (source) 
  
This is to say, I'm not asking Republicans give up their "make less, spend less" platform when it comes to government budgeting, but could we please ratchet the dedication to the rhetoric down a couple notches? This country is in a major mess, money-wise, and while I agree we need to eat out less, now is hardly the time to quit the second job so we can have more free time. Let's go find that lacy apron! 


In other words, now is the time to urge your congresspersons to let the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthy expire -- continuing to lose that revenue is a luxury for the few that we cannot sustain. Check out these sites after the jump for ways you can make your voice heard in this debate and get involved: