Pitchfork Politics

The political world is going nuts. We have two wars still raging across the globe with a gay advocate for gays in the military leaking troves of US secrets (as if to point out how great things will be if it's repealed) to a globetrotting hacker nerd with power never before seen from his ilk. The cables point out how deceitful everyone is, including those who usually call us the enemy (we suspected), while his supporters (cough Ron Paul cough) demand total transparency for everything government, perhaps to include online access to the nuclear football.

And now the recent coup de grace--the Democratic Party, with a straight face, trying to call a tax increase a tax cut.

In support of this chicanery (other than the usual media figures) we have one of their own, a US Senator from Missoura, threatening that if this tax increase called a tax cut doesn't pass it will justify the taking up of 'pitchforks'. Presumably she means storming the capitals or storming the subdivisions or gated communities, or the Tea Party.

But let not your heart be troubled--in this wacky world we have someone who'll save those evil rich from the pitchforks!

SPEAKING OF SECRETS.. 12/4/10

Should sunshine principles also apply to Presidential visits to war zones? Maguire wonders whether some media outlets had other motives, but he sometimes likes to be facetious in making his points. Worth noting:

In fact, according to TVNewser, Fox News Channel was the only major news outlet to strictly honor the Obama security embargo, reporting the president's arrival in Afghanistan two minutes after White House press aides gave the official OK.

Oh, the humanity.

MORE 12/5/10

The New York Times piles on:

The approximate amount that extending the Bush tax cuts on income above $250,000 a year — which Congress seems on the verge of doing — will cost a year, in inflation-adjusted terms. On average, the affluent households that benefit from these cuts will save $25,000 annually. What else might that $60 billion a year buy?

Of course, they could have phrased it as "what will a 60 billion tax increase buy us", but why mess up a perfectly good device, especially with added benefit of "Bush" in it? Never before has the prospect of a MASSIVE TAX INCREASE gotten such favorable cover. No matter what happens, it's Bush's fault!