Manhattan Diary
by Cahir O'DohertyRSS 
Recent Posts
- Will New York Senator Chuck Schumer ditch gay couples for an immigration deal?
- If nobody's happy, it's working – the abortion debate and Irish politics of stalemate
- Conservative news entertainment complex claim Barack Obama leader of Al Qaeda
- Why Irish grudges are passed on - a long tradition of never forgetting
- Boston man confronts Infowars conspiracy nuts over 'false flag' claim
Archives
On hearing this Donald Trump decided he had reason to be proud of himself for forcing the president's hand. In fact, he said he was 'honored' by it.
But in contrast, some longtime black civil rights workers - after they stopped being angry about this absurd circus, openly wept. Because they understood what the media and the public is only starting to grasp: that this "conspiracy" took hold because some people will never see a black man as a legitimate anything: neither president, head of state, or American.
Just as the majority of Americans have finally grasped that tax cuts that benefit the superrich never benefit anyone else, it seems like America's seniors have figured out the GOP's plan to fundamentally restructure Medicare and cut social safety nets like food stamps and Medicaid will most likely leave them exposed and out of pocket.
The GOP plan passed by the House this month intends to gut deficits by a total of $6.2 million over the next ten years. One deficit reducing shell games will be to "transform" Medicare in a voucher-like system where private insurers and not the government pays the medical bills.
Read more: Donald Trump likely knows Gaelic language from his mother
If you want the Republican Party nomination nowadays, you better be prepared to throw tens of thousands under the bus.
Just pick your minority carefully: Latino's, gays, immigrants, Muslims, single parents - the list goes on.
It was, too, for a long time, a universal symbol of hope and promise for immigrants coming to America.
On the inner walls of the statue there's a bronze plaque that to this day includes the following lines:
I know what you're thinking: the top income tax rate is 35 percent, so how can people who make so much pay so little in taxes?
Well, the nation's tax laws are packed with breaks for people at every income level - but the rich have access to vastly more significant tax breaks than people with lower incomes. In America, after all, the amount of taxes you pay is often determined by the kind of accountant you can afford.
Why? Because Donald Trump looks like the man who fired your Dad.
Match him up with Mitt Romney and it's the man who fired your Dad and the man who voted against raising the minimun wage. It's Mr. Potter and Mr. Burns for President.
The Church is being unfairly attacked and demonized by the media, the survivors of abuse groups, victims rights groups, and of course the gays, Donohue says.
In fact, Donohue claims, the Church hasn't had a pedophilia problem at all - they have a homosexual one.
Yesterday we learned that Bristol Palin, Sarah's single mom daughter, made an absolute fortune representing the Candie Foundation - a group that promotes sexual abstinence to teenagers.
Palin's 2009 tax return from the group were reported on by several media organizations - and now we know the going rate for an abstinence promoter these days: $262,000.
A fundamentalist Christian, she often says the most hateful things you could ever concieve of in that sweet little lady voice of hers.
This week Jacob's is suggesting that God may have killed tens of thousands of men, women and children in Japan with an 9.6 earthquake and a terrifyingly powerful tsunami's after that because the Obama administration repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
A fundamentalist Christian pastor in Florida recently burned a Koran to provoke Muslims around the globe. His cheap theatrics worked of course, leading to widespread violence and multiple murders, including the killings of UN staff last week.
And despite irrefutable evidence that his actions led to the unrest, the minister - Terry Jones - said this week that he was completely unrepentant.
But that doesn't mean that I can't lament the abject buffoonery of the campaign he's decided to run. I'm not sure that his scatter shot accusations and allegations even deserve to be called a campaign.
Instead we should probably call it what it appears to be: a series of increasingly reckless dog whistles to the ultra-conservative, seemingly designed to create public stir - and possibly even incite some useful hatred? Would that be more accurate? And is that what must pass for a conservative political campaign nowadays?
