Day: July 18, 2013

After Two Years of Whining about it, Senate affirms appointment by 2/3 majority

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And in the end, what do Republicans have to show for their two-year fight? Pretty close to nothing — which raises questions about why it took so long to strike a deal and highlighting how poisonous the debates over presidential nominations had become in the Senate leading up to this week.

(Also on POLITICO: Richard Cordray confirmed to lead CFPB)

“This shows the danger of overplaying your hand,” said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with Guggenheim Partners who has followed the debate closely. “By not dealing when they had a hand to play, the Republicans get nothing out of this.”

via Richard Cordray vote leaves GOP at a loss – MJ Lee and Kate Davidson and Kevin Cirilli – POLITICO.com.

Seriously…the guy got enough votes to overcome a Presidential Veto…but for some reason the GOP still feels justified in blocking him for two years.

It’s obstruction for obstruction’s sake.

Bernanke to GOP: GOP Fiscal policy is Hurting Recovery

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Yet growth in 2013 has been soft, hurt by weak export growth and manufacturing. Despite the stronger job market, the unemployment rate, now at 7.6 percent, remains much higher than normal. The sequester, the huge cuts in federal spending that took effect in March after Congress failed to reach a deal on fiscal policy last year, is also restraining economic activity.

Bernanke has cited fiscal drag repeatedly in his comments on the economy, and did so again today. “The risks remain that tight federal fiscal policy will restrain economic growth over the next few quarters by more than we currently expect or that the debate concerning other fiscal policy issues, such as the status of the debt ceiling, will evolve in a way that could hamper the recovery,” he said.

via Bernanke: Fiscal policy is stunting the recovery – CBS News.

GOP Response:  Nuh-uh.

The main reason we’ve had QE for so long is because Congress is doing the wrong things.  If we had a Congress that actually wanted to try and create jobs (as they said in 2010…then went on to try to ban abortion and repeal health care and end Medicare and Medicaid) we wouldn’t need QE.

But because we have the Know-Nothings in Congress, the Fed has to act to keep them from screwing everything up…or at least keep them from keeping everything screwed up.

HYPOCRISY: Climate Change Deniers Mock Jenny McCarthy’s Anti-Science Views

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McCarthy’s advocacy isn’t just a silly, innocent belief; it is actively harmful to public health. A recent University of Michigan study found that 1 in 4 parents trusted anti-vaccine advocates like McCarthy at least somewhat on the matter. Fewer parents vaccinating their children against infectious diseases can be quite dangerous, leading to an increase in whooping cough deaths in California and measles cases in the United Kingdom.

Among those lambasting The View for giving McCarthy’s anti-science theories a platform, though, are prominent conservatives who deny scientific consensus in another realm: climate change.

Here are four examples:

via HYPOCRISY: Climate Change Deniers Mock Jenny McCarthy’s Anti-Science Views | ThinkProgress.

And then they go on to list a number of prominent blow-hard who have zero self-awareness or an understanding that science, in general, doesn’t give a fuck about your political rationalizations.

So your conspiracy theories denying climate change are actually on a *lower* level than McCarthy’s take on what caused her child’s autism….which is already pretty low.