The Hollywood Liberal

Keeping it classy
I guess the idea of bombing people is a real knee slapper for the “serious” people.

pic via iasfmedia at flickr.com

You’d think a few days after having to apologize for bombing nine young boys to death, and after a decade of dealing death from the skies we’d have acquired the ability to not be so glib about such things:

“Welcome back, sir,” Petraeus said to Gates. This is Gates’ 13th trip to Afghanistan as Secretary of Defense.

The two men began walking.

“You returning to normal, you gonna launch some attacks on Libya or something?” Petreaus joked to Gates.

“Yeah, exactly,” Gates joked back.

But then there’s no real price to be paid for laughing about the deaths of others so a few Americans can feel better about themselves.

?

The American Inquisition of 2011
Rep. Peter King is about to convene hearings whose premise offends our nation’s founding ideals and whose targets are law-abiding members of a religious minority. King has decided to investigate Islam. By Eugene Robinson

Rep. Peter King is about to convene hearings whose premise offends our nation’s founding ideals and whose targets are law-abiding members of a religious minority. King has decided to investigate Islam.

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O’Reilly’s Gas Price Conspiracy Theory Is Just Hot Air

Bill O’Reilly pushed speculation that President Obama may be conspiring to keep the price of oil high in order to receive more federal revenue from “taxes at the pump.” In fact, the federal fuel tax is assessed at a per-gallon rate regardless of the price at the pump.

O’Reilly Suggests Federal Government Receives More “Taxes At The Pump” When Prices Increase

O’Reilly: Obama May Want High Gas Prices In Order To Receive More Revenue From “Taxes At The Pump.” From the March 7 edition of The O’Reilly Factor:

O’REILLY: The higher gas at the pump is, the more federal dollars, yeah, the more money the feds get. So I mean they’re — so I mean some cynical people are going, look Obama doesn’t want the price to go down because Washington is getting more money from the taxes at the pump. [Fox News, The O’Reilly Factor, 3/07/11]

In Fact, Federal Taxes At The Pump Do Not Increase When Prices Rise

EIA: Federal Motor Fuel Tax Is 18.4 “Cents Per Gallon” For Motor Gasoline. The Energy Information Administration’s chart on current “Federal and State Motor Fuels Taxes (Cents per Gallon)” lists the Federal tax rate for “Motor Gasoline” as 18.40 Cents per Gallon. [U.S. Energy Information Administration, March 2011]

Federal Excise Tax Is The Same “No Matter The Price At The Pump.” From FactCheck.org:

Federal taxes are a flat 18.4 cents per gallon of regular gasoline, no matter the price at the pump. [FactCheck.org, 4/11/08]

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One of the lawmakers we spoke to, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), gave a robust defense of corporate tax dodgers. Asked why so many corporations avoid paying any taxes, Gohmert refused to believe the well-documented phenomenon. He later said that some businesses gain favorable tax treatment using political donations. We pressed Gohmert on that point, asking if he would open a congressional inquiry into the subject. He demurred, and repeatedly explained that he would “rather” just “get rid” of corporate income taxes altogether:

FANG: This weekend is actually the start of what some liberals are calling the progressive Tea Party […] one of their key concerns is that corporations, in this time of austerity, aren’t paying their fair share. What they’re saying is, ExxonMobil, Bank of America, CitiGroup, GE, they aren’t paying any corporate income taxes. They’re using offshore bank accounts. Like for example, Bank of America in 2009 paid nothing in corporate income taxes. What do you think of that?

GOHMERT: Well I think when it comes to corporate income tax, people have been misled into thinking that corporations actually pay those. If you find a corporation paying income tax, they either pass those onto their consumers, whoever buys their service or product. If a corporation doesn’t pass that cost onto people like us, they can’t stay in business. So one of the things I’ve been advocating is completely doing away with the income tax […]

FANG: ExxonMobil isnt very friendly to Obama, but they paid nothing in corporate income taxes in 2009. Do you think that’s too much?

GOHMERT: Well I think it’d be fair if all corporations didn’t have to pay that. […] So I haven’t looked at Exxon’s income tax. If they aren’t paying what they’re supposed to, then I’m sure Eric Holder, who doesn’t mind avoiding enforcing the law if it helps his people support him, then he goes after people tooth and nail who don’t, he’d go after them.

FANG: Would you call for inquiry into some of these corporations that are paying nothing, like GE, like Bank of America, like ExxonMobil, using loopholes–

GOHMERT: The Justice Department will do anything they can to help GE–

FANG: Can’t you counter that? Your party is in power in Congress, can’t you force […] Well at least in the House, can you call for hearings to force these corporations, GE, Bank of America, ExxonMobil, to pay their taxes, to pay their fair share?

GOHMERT: What I’d rather do is get rid of corporate income tax so that we can bring back all those manufacturing, steel, rubber, all these things that have gone to other countries because of a 35% corporate income tax.

Watch it:

Approached with a similar line of questioning by ThinkProgress, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) echoed Gohmert and called for less corporate taxes. However, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), a staunch conservative attending the same event, said that CitiGroup “broke the law” by refusing to pay corporate income taxes.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Scott Brown Begs David Koch For Money

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BROWN: Your support during the election, it meant a ton. It made a difference and I can certainly use it again. Obviously, the –

KOCH: When are you running for the next term?

BROWN: ’12.

KOCH: Oh, okay.

BROWN: I’m in the cycle right now. We’re already banging away.

Watch it:

Brown then lavished praise on the Kochs and MIT president Susan Hockfield for establishing the research center with $100 million, about 0.5 percent of Koch’s toxic petrochemical fortune. Koch’s Tea Party politicians in the House are working to negate his contribution by cutting $1.6 billion in federal funding for the National Instititues of Health.

Brown has been a good Koch foot soldier, voting to protect Koch’s carbon pollution and complaining about the “onerous” estate tax.

Transcript:

BROWN: Your support during the election, it meant a, it meant a ton. It made a, it made a difference and I can certainly use it again. Obviously, the uh . . .

KOCH: When are you running, uh, for the next term?

BROWN: ’12.

KOCH: Oh, okay.

BROWN: I’m in the cycle, I’m in the cycle right now. We’re already banging away. But you guys should all be very proud. I mean this is amazing. I’ve actually taken the tour and uh just the things you aim to attack this issue is, is huge.

SUSAN HOCKFIELD, MIT PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator.

BROWN: Thank you, for your leadership.

KOCH: Susan was the main uh uh person who created the idea of combining the uh the bioengineers with the cancer researchers and then uh, so she’s a brilliant lady and a leader here.

HOCKFIELD: Hi, David. David’s enthusiasm, Tyler’s [Jacks, Koch Institute director] genius, and I just said, sure, let’s do it.

KOCH: Ha ha ha!

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