Super-Rich Hiding $21+ Trillion In Tax Havens; GOP Says Obama Focus Too Much on Middle Class

To listen to Mitt Romney and his GOP brethren one would think that things are really rough for the 1% and the super wealthy.  Hence why  the GOP wants to give these folks each over $250,000 in tax cuts.  Meanwhile, most of us are struggling to hold on to what we have - much of which has been seriously devalued given the collapse of the real estate market and the performance of the stock market.  A new study shows that many of these hard put super wealthy have followed Romney's example and stashed assets in tax havens and overseas accounts.  How much have they stashed?  At least $21 trillion.  Think Progress looks at the massive tax avoidance scheme used by the ultra-rich while the GOP seeks to throw grandma off of Medicare and reduce many of the lower and middle class to poverty.  Oh, and did I forget to mention that the GOP claims to be the party of Biblical values - even thought the Gospel message of helping the poor, the sick, the homeless and the hungry has apparently been ripped from their Christianists issued Bibles.  Adding to the hypocrisy is Mitt Romney's new line that Barack Obama is too focused on the middle class - a section of society Romney seems to want to wipe out.  First, here are some story highlights from Think Progress:

According to a new study, the world’s super-rich are shielding at least $21 trillion in secret offshore tax havens. Using data from the Bank of International Settlements, IMF, World Bank, and national governments, the Tax Justice Network found that an astonishing 100,000 people worldwide hold nearly $10 trillion of offshore wealth, equivalent to the size of the Chinese economy. According to the study:

1. Big banks manage the wealth. The three private banks handling the most assets offshore are UBS, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs.
2. Offshore wealth is creating a global economic “black hole.” If the $21 trillion in offshore earned a conservatively-estimated 3 percent rate of return, and that income was taxed at just 30 percent, this would generate tax revenues of nearly $200 billion — roughly twice the amount OECD countries spend on international development assistance.
3. High impact on developing countries. In the 139 developing countries highlighted in the report, the richest citizens had amassed $7.3 to $9.3 trillion of unrecorded offshore wealth that is beyond the reach of local tax authorities. The report reveals that many developing “debtor” countries are actually quite wealthy, but the money is held by a few individuals.
4. Huge tax haven growth in the last few years. In 2005, the world’s top 50 banks managed $5.4 trillion in offshore money. By the end of 2010, the figure is over $12 trillion, representing an average annual growth rate of more than 16 percent.

Obviously, the USA's portion of these lost revenues could go a long way to shore up budget gaps and rebuild the nation's crumbling infrastructure.   Meanwhile, the GOP is complaining that Obama is too focused on the middle class.  Here are highlights from another Think Progress article:

President Obama’s plan to allow the Bush tax cuts for incomes above $250,000 to expire at the end of the year has revived the Republican talking point that he is waging “class warfare” against the wealthy, a point Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl (R) drove home in an entirely new fashion today.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Kyl claimed that the president’s usage of the phrase “middle class” is “misguided and wrong and even dangerous.” Calling for an end to rhetoric about classes, Kyl blasted Obama for “incessantly” talking about class, “particularly the middle class”:

KYL: Most prominently, we have a president who talks incessantly about class, particularly the middle class. Maybe you’ve noticed that. He defines class strictly by your income. In the president’s narrative, someone who makes $199,000 a year is a member of one class and someone who makes $200,000 belongs to another class. Does that make sense? Indeed, each day the president’s out on the campaign trail championing himself as the great protector of what he calls the middle class and pitting these Americans against their fellow citizens by arguing that the wealthiest class is victimizing them through the tax code.

Excuse me, but the wealthy with the help of the Republicans ARE victimizing  the rest of us. 

More Monday Male Beauty

Sally Ride - RIP

As numerous media outlets are reporting, Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, died today after a battle against pancreatic cancer. She was 61. Ride was truly a trailblazer in many ways and in her post astronaut days she continued her work to inspire young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science and engineering.  One thing in the CNN coverage jumped out at me:

Ride's office said she is survived by Tam O'Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years; her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear, a niece and a nephew. 

Yes, that's right, Ride was apparently a member of the LGBT community albeit this aspect of her life was surprising to many - myself included.  Ride is another example of why our history instruction needs to feature accomplished LGBT Americans.  Actually, accomplished LGBT individuals of all nationalities.  It is a critical tool in ending religious based bigotry against LGBT people and destroying the stereotypes peddled by the far right virtually every day.  Here are more details from the CNN piece on Sally Ride's remarkable life that ended all too early:

Ride died at her home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, said Terry McEntee, a spokeswoman for her company, Sally Ride Science. She was a private person and the details of her illness were kept to just a few people, she said.

Ride rode into space on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 when she was 32. After her flight, more than 42 other American women flew in space, NASA said.

"Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," President Barack Obama said in a statement. 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, said Ride "broke barriers with grace and professionalism -- and literally changed the face of America's space program."  "The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers," he said in a statement.

Ride was a physicist, writer of five science books for children and president of her own company. She had also been a professor of physics at the University of California in San Diego.

Ride flew in space twice, both times on Challenger in 1983 and in 1984, logging 343 hours in space. A third flight was cancelled when Challenger exploded in 1986. She was on the commission investigating that accident and later served on the panel for the 2003 Columbia shuttle accident, the only person on both boards.  She also was on the president's committee of science advisers.

One of Ride's last legacies was allowing middle school students to take their own pictures of the moon using cameras aboard NASA's twin Grail spacecraft in a project spearheaded by her company.  "Sally literally could have done anything with her life. She decided to devote her life to education and to inspiring young people. To me, that's such a powerful thing. It's extraordinarily admirable," said Maria Zuber, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who heads the Grail mission.

What an amazing legacy.  May she rest in peace.  I hope she will continue to be a role model for and inspire youth.  The Washington Post also has a good article here.

"Godless Europe" Versus Gun Owning "Christian America"

The Christian hate merchants of the far right and a number of the knuckle dragging commentators that pander to them have been lamenting that the carnage in Aurora, Colorado and making bombastic statements that the killings are the result of America losing its Christian heritage and, god forbid, exhibiting increased tolerance towards gays (a small majority of Americans, in fact, support gay marriage and civil unions).  These claims make for good sound bites, especially when targeted at the simple minded sheep - cretins candidly would be a better description - in the pews.  But if a nation's level of religiosity and its willingness to keep religion from shaping the civil laws are indicators of moral degradation and attendant growing gun violence as claimed by the Christianists and their sycophants, then western Europe ought to be a veritable war zone with victims of gun fire littering the streets.  After all, the level of religiosity and adherence to far right Christian dogma is far lower than in the USA.  But such is not the case.  

Indeed, we see vastly lower levels of violence and gun violence in particular in what the Christianists like to call "godless Europe."   What's the explanation?  It's called gun control and a much reduce number of guns in the hands of those who should not have them.  How big is the difference?  The European nation with the highest level of guns per 100 people (i.e., Switzerland) has roughly half (1/2) the number of guns that are on the streets in America.  And in most European countries, the number of guns per 100 people is closer to one third (1/3) that in the USA.   And the result is that gun violence is much more of a rarity in Europe.  Yes, there was the horrific massacre in Norway, but even then some of the weaponry and ammunition was purchased in the USA and shipped to Norway in contravention of Norway's strict laws.

Thus, the real answer to the problem of gun violence isn't a "return to God," returning prayer to the public schools, or driving gays back into the closet.  No, the real answer is serious, common sense gun control which takes automatic assault rifles and any number of military style weapons off the streets.  Crooks and Liars has some telling quotes from Piers Morgan (who I don't typically follow) on the issue.  Here are highlights:

When you have a young man like this able to legally get 6,000 rounds of ammunition off the Internet, to buy four weapons including an assault rifle, and for all of this to be perfectly legal in modern America, allowing him to carry out the biggest shooting in the history of the United States, that, I'm afraid, means it's too late for this debate, for those people that lost their lives.

So don't patronize me about when we should be talking about the gun control debate. You tell me a good reason why we should not strengthen the law now to stop another young man like him going into a store tomorrow, buying four more weapons, 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet, and killing and shooting another 70 people in America.

[W]e now know this young man legally purchased these weapons in the last two months, and purchased this staggering amount of ammunition -- he purchased a hundred-round drum magazine, allowing him to fire off 50 to 60 rounds in one minute in that movie theater, which is what has led to this mass slaughter and mass gun attack.  Given what has happened today, do you think there is now legitimate cause to press politicians for tougher gun control in America?

It's way overdue. And let me reclarify what I said at the start of this program. I respect the Second Amendment. I respect the average Americans' right to defend themselves in their own homes with a firearm, if they need to. This is a totally different issue that we're talking about today. It's got nothing to do with that right whatsoever.

Christianist Hate Goup Attacks Eric Cantor For Referencing Tolerance Towards Gays

I noted the other day how Eric Cantor - who is not coincidentally faced with a re-election challenge by a credible opponent - recently made statements to the effect that the Republican party needs to become more tolerant of opposing view points and on issues of cultural diversity, including gays.  While I don't believe that Cantor was the least bit sincere in his statements, its informative to see that the Christofascists have already leaped to attack Cantor.  More specifically, Family Research Council - a registered hate group monitored by the SPLC which also monitors the KKK and white supremacist hate groups - came out loudly condemning Cantor and by extrapolation, everyone in the GOP, that tolerance and respect for gays will not be tolerated by the FRC hate merchants and modern day Pharisees.  Here's a sampling of the FRC railed against Cantor mere mention of tolerance:

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) focused on the issue of tolerance. The majority of his remarks focused on how culturally we need to be tolerant – a position I certainly agree on. But tolerance should not mean acceptance. The “politically correct tolerance” attitude that is followed by too many in our establishment society allows for embracing of individuals who attack Christians with vile and, in the case of the left’s poster boy for tolerance Dan Savage, with literal spit and bile. This same tolerance then seeks to demonize those who embrace that marriage is between one man and one woman .  .  .  . 

It is Rep. Cantor remarks on his own party though that seems to indicate it is the wrong kind of tolerance he is supporting.  .   .   .   .   A party needs to stand for something or it stands for nothing. Is Rep. Cantor saying that if a Member of Congress was an avowed socialist they would embrace them? One would hope not. Party platforms need to mean something and should be guidelines for anyone wishing to join or work for that party. If your ideas and stances are good ones and you are consistent in your beliefs people will embrace you – otherwise your majority will go away even quicker then the last one did.

I noted recently about the sharp decline of the California GOP and how even GOP strategists moan  that the state party is spinning towards irrelevance and how it's become a cult rather than a political party.   The trend is now moving to the national level.  Cantor and other cynics in the GOP national leadership willingly prostituted themselves and the Party to the lunatic Christofascists.  They have created a Frankenstein monster - or monsters if one includes the Tea Party - and now are held hostage by the insane patients in the insane asylum that the GOP has become.  

It would be nice if Cantor and others of his stature called out FRC and called the organization what it is in fact: a hate group.  Better yet, Cantor could state that he will not bow to a hate group that knowingly and deliberately disseminates lies and falsehoods virtually every single day.  Will that happen?  I'm not holding my breath.  Thus, hopefully, the GOP will continue to kiss the Christianists' ass and in the process rapidly become even more out of the mainstream and be forced to either die or cast the Christofascists back into the political wilderness. 

Monday Morning Male Beauty

Feel the Love - Lesbain Attacked in Home Invasion

The Christianists continue to produce a constant stream of anti-LGBT propaganda that ranges from depicting all of us a diseased, alcoholic drug users just waiting to prey on children to a threat to marriage and western civilization itself.  It's not surprising, therefore, when some unbalanced or particularly hate filled individuals decide to take matters into their own hands and attack those depicted as such a menace to society.  Based on initial stories coming out of Lincoln, Nebraska, this is what occurred in the early morning hours of yesterday morning.  Fortunately, the victim survived, although the psychological damaging will likely last forever.  To me, it's yet another example of the foul fruits of conservative Christians' feigned religiosity which relies on hatred of others for self-definition.  First highlights from the Journal Star:

Hundreds of people gathered with rainbow flags and candles outside the Capitol for a nighttime vigil sparked by a woman's account of a violent, hate-fueled attack that spread rapidly over the Internet on Sunday.

The woman said she was attacked early that morning by three masked men who barged into her house, bound her wrists and ankles with zip ties, cut her all over her body and carved homophobic slurs into her skin before dumping gasoline on her floor and lighting it with a match, said a friend who spoke to the Journal Star.

The friend said the woman crawled from her house, naked and bleeding and screaming for help before reaching the doorstep of a neighbor's home.

Police Chief Jim Peschong declined to comment further on the status of the investigation or its findings. No arrests had been made as of late Sunday.

The woman's account of the attack drew outrage from a gay and straight-allied community already galvanized by this month's Star City Pride Festival as well as debate over the city's so-called fairness amendment, a proposal to ban discrimination in housing and employment based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Then there's these further details from the Omaha World Herald:

The woman called police around 4 a.m. Sunday, saying men wearing black ski masks had broken into her home, according to Lincoln police.  She told police the men assaulted her — binding her hands and carving words into her skin with a knife — and then set fire to the house.

Davidsaver said the victim’s description of the suspects was limited because of the masks.

When police arrived, the house was still on fire, the captain said. He said it caused about $200 in damage.

Davidsaver would not say what words the men carved into the woman’s skin. “We need to maintain the integrity of the case,” he said.  But Erin Thompson of Lincoln, who described herself as the victim’s best friend, said she got a call from her friend about 6:30 Sunday morning. The friend asked Thompson to pick her up from the hospital.  “They carved on me,” Thompson said her friend tearfully told her.  Thompson said three epithets, including the word “dyke,” were carved on the woman’s arms and stomach.

Thompson said the victim is openly lesbian.

She read a statement on behalf of the victim, who thanked those attending the vigil, her neighbor for summoning help, the police and fire department for their quick response, and the paramedics, nurses and doctors who helped her at BryanLGH Medical Center West in Lincoln, as well as an advocate from Voices of Hope who sat with her.

Thompson said she and her friend “always get harassed here and there.” She said they have only suspicions about the possible identities of the assailants.

Events like this remind ever LGBT individual that there are those out in the world who literally hate us.  Worse yet, they are encouraged and justified in their hate literally daily from pulpits across the nation and from the broadcasts and propaganda of the professional Christian set.  It's disingenuous that the Christianists claim that they are being persecuted, yet they are never the victims of violence.   Instead, it's always those they spew hatred against that end up as the victims.

The California GOP - A View of the GOP's Future?

As I have noted many times, I was once a Republican and even served on the Virginia Beach City Committee for eight years.  But that was before the GP became totally insane and irresponsible under the control of the Christianists.  The rise of the so-called Tea Party has only made things worse.  Along with me, my entire family has for the most part fled the GOP because of it's down right nastiness on many issues and its fusion of hate and fear based religion and politics.   Things are to the point where the only thing that may turn the party around will be successive massive electoral defeats.  That has not happened yet, but the fate of the California GOP may hopefully reflect the future of the Party elsewhere and at the national level.  An article in the New York Times looks at the political suicide of the GOP in California.  Here are highlights:

[T]he state party — once a symbol of Republican hope and geographical reach and which gave the nation Ronald Reagan (and Richard M. Nixon) — is caught in a cycle of relentless decline, and appears in danger of shrinking to the rank of a minor party. 

Registered Republicans now account for just 30 percent of the California electorate, and are on a path that analysts predict could drop them to No. 3 in six years, behind Democrats, who currently make up 43 percent, and independent voters, with 21 percent. 

“It’s no longer a statewide party,” said Allan Hoffenblum, who worked for 30 years as a Republican consultant in California. “They are down to 30 percent, which makes it impossible to win a statewide election. You just can’t get enough crossover voters.” “They have alienated large swaths of voters,” he said. “They have become too doctrinaire on the social issues. It’s become a cult.”

 

Republicans said their problems were made worse this year by the emphasis during the Republican presidential primaries on social issues, particularly tough immigration measures and opposition to abortion rights. That focus could make it tougher to win independent voters who are crucial to any Republican resurgence in California. 

“The national party is becoming a party of very enthusiastic social conservatives driven by Southerners,” said Bill Whalen, a fellow with the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University. “It’s a problem if you’re an independent voter in California. If you think about the Republican Party, what national figure comes to mind? George W. Bush or Newt Gingrich.” 

“The institution of the California Republican Party, I would argue, has effectively collapsed,” said Steve Schmidt, a Republican consultant who was a senior adviser to Mr. Schwarzenegger. “It doesn’t do any of the things that a political party should do. It doesn’t register voters. It doesn’t recruit candidates. It doesn’t raise money. The Republican Party in the state institutionally has become a small ideological club that is basically in the business of hunting out heretics.”  “When you look at the population growth, the actual party is shrinking,” Mr. Schmidt said. “It’s becoming more white. It’s becoming older. “

Kimberly Nalder, a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento, says Republicans in California are still too closely identified with socially conservative positions — on immigration, the environment, abortion and gay rights — that have put them outside the mainstream in a changing electorate.   “They’re just blind to the future,” she said. “We’re passing the tipping point now, and they are not realizing that.” 

This year in San Diego, Nathan Fletcher, a Republican state assemblyman, quit the party to run, unsuccessfully, as an independent for mayor. “There are a series of issues where I am just fundamentally out of line with the current Republican Party in California — reasonable environmental protection, equal rights and marriage equality, immigration,” he said. “And it’s not a party that is welcoming of dissent on those issues.” 

The same mindset holds sway in the Virginia GOP.  The question is when will enough Virginians wake up to the fact that the state GOP's efforts to revert back to the 1950's or even much earlier offer no plan as to how to deal with the future and a changing world and changing society.  Hopefully, voters begin to wake up to reality.

More Sunday Male Beauty

Eric Cantor's Disingenuous Call for a More Tolerant GOP

Lest there be any mistake about my views, I view Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor to be a lying, sleazy, disingenuous snake.  Indeed, he's a down right embarrassment to the Commonwealth of Virginia.   I believe that Cantor will stoop to any levels to further his own ego maniacal ambitions.  Now, apparently because he is facing a credible challenger in his re-election effort, Cantor is bizarrely making statements that the Republican Party needs to be "more accepting of diversity."   Not that his past actions are even remotely consistent with his current song and dance which I suspect is aimed at making him look less extreme to voters who may be tiring of someone out of even the run of the mill GOP main stream in Virginia.  Think Progress looks at Cantor's newly found faux concern about "accepting diversity."  Here are excerpts:

As the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says he values religious and personal liberty.

 But Cantor also happens to have a long, anti-gay record. And through that lens, his newly-announced support for broadening the Republican party to be more religiously and LGBT inclusive is surprising, and not quite believable.

Despite the fact that Cantor wrote a book saying the “bigoted and intolerant” Republican Party was a “myth,” in a recent interview with BuzzFeed, Cantor said that he thinks Republicans, as the party of freedom, need to have more “acceptance of diversity”:

“I think an even bigger issue than that, from a cultural standpoint, is the acceptance of diversity. And the acceptance of diversity of opinion,” Cantor said, explaining that while he may have is own personal opinions on morality or religion, “at some point we’re all here as Americans and we all have to be appreciative of other people’s views.”
“And it’s that tolerance, I think that that tolerance is something that enables people to be passionate about their positions. And if you’re for gay marriage, this country allows you to express your views. Some states support it and allow it, and others don’t. But its ok to have that difference of opinion in that,” he said.

When asked if the Republican Party specifically needs to do a better job of accepting opinions on gay marriage and other cultural issues that do not align with party orthodoxy, Cantor said “absolutely.”

[Cantor] has not supported any major legislation that would have made the lives of gay people in any way less challenging: He voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, he voted not to protect LGBT employees from discrimination in the office, and he voted against extending hate crimes protections to include LGBT victims.  Two pieces of legislation Cantor did support: Defunding needle exchange programs that reduce the spread of HIV and adding an amendment to the constitution banning same-sex marriage.

Actions speak louder than words - especially in an election year where Cantor's views are more extreme than all bu the Tea Party and the Bible beating Christofascists in the Virginia GOP.  Cantor needs to win over some moderates and independents and I believe these statements are nothing more than attempts to dupe such voters into supporting him.  I'd also add that among my Jewish friends not a one of them agrees with Cantors positions on any subject.