Month: August 2014

QOTD: plutocratic crisis edition

by digby

This is from a WSJ article about visa delays:

In Washington, D.C., Mira Edmonds said her au pair’s arrival from France, which was scheduled for last Sunday, has been indefinitely delayed. Ms. Edmonds, who is a lawyer, and her husband work full-time and depend on child care for their two children, ages 3 and 6. “I don’t know how we’re going to cope if she isn’t here soon,” Ms. Edmonds said.

Well, like millions of other mothers stuck without adequate child care, she’ll probably get fired from her job. Not.

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What keeps rich libertarians up at night?

by digby

I’ve got a piece up today at Salon about the Koch Brothers and Richard Stephenson, extremely wealthy plutocrats who describe themselves as hardcore, committed libertarians. And yet they are backing theocrats and war hawks for office. Hmmmm:

Earlier this week, ace researcher Lee Fang did a little digging and found that for all their alleged commitment to libertarianism, the Koch Brothers are helping to elect a whole lot of right-wing theocrats and national security hawks, which seems just a little bit hypocritical. After all, everyone says that this libertarian influence in the GOP is bound to create a new and different party which will inevitably become more socially tolerant and less given to imperial ambition. Fang lays out example after example of Koch groups backing conservative extremists whose idea of freedom and liberty consists of a strong commitment to ensuring that gays and women are denied full human rights. And many of these fine folks aren’t too concerned about due process for “certain” people who don’t deserve all those human rights to which Real Americans are entitled. (And foreigners always deserve what they get. Especially the French.)

This should not be too surprising to anyone who’s been following the rise of the Koch brothers since they burst on the scene in the 1970s. They were at that time, as much younger men, committed to forming a viable Libertarian Party, and created the Cato Institute as its philosophical and ideological home base. David Koch ran for vice president on the Libertarian ticket in 1980 and campaigned for full abortion rights and the decriminalization of drugs, homosexuality and prostitution, while calling Ronald Reagan nothing more than a liberal squish. But no one should be shocked to find out that these billionaires really had one big priority: themselves. Charles Koch spelled it out as early as 1974 when he was formulating the rationale for a Libertarian party:

“The development of a well-financed cadre of sound proponents of the free enterprise philosophy is the most critical need facing us today.”

I actually think they do believe in libertarianism. There’s no evidence that they are secret theocrats or care about who someone sleeps with. They haven’t been big backers of the MIC or military adventures overseas. But that’s not what what keeps them up at night. Individual rights are really neat and I’m sure they genuinely believe the government shouldn’t intrude on them. But they decided to take over the GOP rather than the Democratic Party where all those ideas are valued and where there already exists already a large coalition that agrees with them on those issues. No, they chose to take over the Republican Party because that’s where the low tax, low regulation, pro-business, anti-environmental coalition exists. That’s what they really care about.

The question is whether they will fight for anything they believe in when the other members of this cozy coalition they’re building in the GOP decides it might like something they really care about. I’m going to guess that as long as these Big Money Boyz get what they want, they’ll go along. They certainly have shown themselves willing to do it so far.

Read on … 
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In case you doubted who Republicans really work for…

by David Atkins

They’re just brazen at this point:

Republican senators blocked an election-year bill Wednesday to limit tax breaks for U.S. companies that move operations overseas.

The bill would have prohibited companies from deducting expenses related to moving their operations to a foreign country. It also would have offered tax credits to companies that move operations to the U.S. from a foreign country.

The Senate voted 54-42 to end debate on the bill, six short of the 60 votes needed to advance it. The White House says President Barack Obama supports the legislation.

“Today in the United States, any time an American company closes a factory or plant in America and moves operations to another country, the American taxpayers pick up part of that moving bill,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “Frankly, a vote against this bill is a vote against American jobs.”

Republicans called the bill an election-year stunt. They noted that Democrats tried to pass a similar bill two years ago, right before the last congressional elections.

Of course Democrats bring the bill forward in an election year. That alone doesn’t make it a stunt. That makes it good politics and a good effort.

It’s important to remind voters that even when Republican electoral prospects are on the line, they’re still more than happy to defend corporations that ship jobs overseas. That’s just who they are. They couldn’t care less about American workers. They only care about Wall Street profits.

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Capybara blogging


by digby

The most normal thing I’ve seen all day:

Zoo Berlin recently welcomed five baby Capybaras to their South American exhibit! Born just several weeks ago, the five pups, along with mother, Lucia, explored their enclosure for the first time! Careful to stay close to mother and each other, they enjoyed their time investigating various aspects of their home at the zoo.

Native to South America, the Capybara is classified as the largest rodent in the world. They have a distinctly large, blunt head and a pig-like appearance. Capybaras are capable of running as fast as a horse. However, they enjoy a semi–aquatic lifestyle and prefer habitats in lowlands, close to water. They can be found in greater numbers on flooded grasslands, where water, dry ground, and pasture are readily available. Capybaras possess physical traits that aid their love of swimming. Their ears, eyes and nostrils are positioned high on their heads, enabling those features to remain above water as they swim. Their bodies contain large amounts of fatty tissue, which provides buoyancy. Also, they have partially webbed feet.

Capybaras are herbivores and quite efficient grazers. Their diet mainly consists of grasses, aquatic plants, fruit, and tree bark. Adults can grow to a length of nearly five feet and can weigh over 140 lbs. Like their cousin, the Guinea Pig, they lack the ability to synthesize vitamin C, and they require supplements in captivity to prevent scurvy.

Capybara are highly social and typically live in large groups of 10 to 30, comprised of a dominant male and several females, as well as their young of various ages. They prefer to mate in the water. After a gestation period of about 150 days, they average a litter of four babies. Baby Capybaras are born on land. Their mother will resume normal activities soon after the arrival of newborns. Generally, within a week after their birth, baby Capybaras are able to venture out with their family and graze for grass. They will continue to nurse till 16 weeks, and from any female in their large family!

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