Showing posts with label Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Show all posts
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
Dear Mr. Mayor Bloomberg
YES, you are correct, Mr. Mayor! Obesity is a public health issue that harms our nation, and costs us a LOT of money. But NO, you are not quite on target with your proposed changes to New York City sales of sugary beverages. Jon Stewart has probably lampooned that idea into oblivion already, but it can be re-envisioned and reintroduced.
Tax sizes of beverages incrementally. Put a tax per ounce on oversized products, with an escalating surcharge as sizes go up above a certain level of large. Yes, it amounts to putting a 'sin' tax on it, as we do with other items, notably cigarettes and alcohol. But it does have the realistic utility of making the product purchase contribute to the resultant product costs, which I would argue is a legitimate form of accounting and accountability in a taxation system, akin to user taxes through the gasoline tax for maintenance of roadways and bridges. Once that is accepted and not something on which there is a sharp oppositional focus you can consider expanding the concept of that kind of 'sin' taxation to the other contributors to the obesity problem. But I would hope that there are more pro-active -- emphasis on 'active' solutions proposed as well, because if there is not a more comprehensive approach to this public health problem, nothing you do, either ban or tax, is going to solve the problem, it will only complicate it. But the idea of combining portion control part of tax regulation standardization, now that's legislative genius, a double public benefit.
You are correctly identifying part of a larger, if you'll pardon the pun, problem Mr. Mayor, but you under-geniused the concept solution.
Here is Jon Stewart pointing out the fallacies in your premise.
and
Tax sizes of beverages incrementally. Put a tax per ounce on oversized products, with an escalating surcharge as sizes go up above a certain level of large. Yes, it amounts to putting a 'sin' tax on it, as we do with other items, notably cigarettes and alcohol. But it does have the realistic utility of making the product purchase contribute to the resultant product costs, which I would argue is a legitimate form of accounting and accountability in a taxation system, akin to user taxes through the gasoline tax for maintenance of roadways and bridges. Once that is accepted and not something on which there is a sharp oppositional focus you can consider expanding the concept of that kind of 'sin' taxation to the other contributors to the obesity problem. But I would hope that there are more pro-active -- emphasis on 'active' solutions proposed as well, because if there is not a more comprehensive approach to this public health problem, nothing you do, either ban or tax, is going to solve the problem, it will only complicate it. But the idea of combining portion control part of tax regulation standardization, now that's legislative genius, a double public benefit.
You are correctly identifying part of a larger, if you'll pardon the pun, problem Mr. Mayor, but you under-geniused the concept solution.
Here is Jon Stewart pointing out the fallacies in your premise.
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Drink Different | ||||
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and
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Drink Different - Pick Your Poison | ||||
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Friday, May 4, 2012
Michele Bachmann, Principled Flip Flopper!
The daily show puts the latest example in sharp focus:
The hypocrisy of Bachmann on R-money, er, Romney, is on a par with Bachmann's rants on fiscal responsibility, in comparison and contrast, with her role in spending MORE than any other member of Congress from Minnesota - while providing arguably the least service, and having the worst attendance, turning in the worst performance of any legislator from Minnesota in federal government.
NONE, absolutely NONE of Michele Bachmann's factually flawed crackpot statements are any more reliable, consistent, or ethical than the one above.
Bachmann's endorsement is marginal at best, and far more likely to be worthless, or even a detriment to R-money.
The hypocrisy of Bachmann on R-money, er, Romney, is on a par with Bachmann's rants on fiscal responsibility, in comparison and contrast, with her role in spending MORE than any other member of Congress from Minnesota - while providing arguably the least service, and having the worst attendance, turning in the worst performance of any legislator from Minnesota in federal government.
NONE, absolutely NONE of Michele Bachmann's factually flawed crackpot statements are any more reliable, consistent, or ethical than the one above.
Jon Stewart on the Insanity of Guns and Gays in Missouri
The right likes to give mindless repetition to claims about wanting smaller government. In theory concepts like reducing redundant programs and streamlining laws to be simpler and less intrusive, including eliminating them entirely where they are unnecessary is an excellent one.
If the right ever, even remotely, put actions to their words, I would join them. They don't. They say one thing, do another. (Anyone remember that whopper lie assuring us they would focus on jobs, not waging culture wars?)
In practice, what the right does is the opposite. The only laws and regulations they repeal are those which give more money to big corporate interests who are their donors and supporters, at the expense of public policy and citizen interests. At the same time they enact overreaching and intrusive laws which make our citizens less free, less independent, and a whole lot less affluent. Examples would be requiring that medically inaccurate propaganda be forced on women making reproductive decisions, or intrusive and expensive vaginal probe ultrasonography confirming what they already know.
The political right does NOT want FREEDOM. They want FREE-DUMB, they want people to be ignorant and conformist. No critical thinking, no trusting people to make their own decisions with accurate information for the right!
This segment by Jon Stewart's Daily Show is one of their most brilliant examples of right wing bigger government, stupid government, less free and equal government in action.
Guns are not overly regulated; given the gun violence and the desperate need we have to change our gun culture in this country to something more safe and more sane, the following clip makes a very strong point against both the rights Gun Manufacturer driven NRA promoting lethal stupidity and hypocrisy. This is brilliant, simply and purely brilliant.
If the right ever, even remotely, put actions to their words, I would join them. They don't. They say one thing, do another. (Anyone remember that whopper lie assuring us they would focus on jobs, not waging culture wars?)
In practice, what the right does is the opposite. The only laws and regulations they repeal are those which give more money to big corporate interests who are their donors and supporters, at the expense of public policy and citizen interests. At the same time they enact overreaching and intrusive laws which make our citizens less free, less independent, and a whole lot less affluent. Examples would be requiring that medically inaccurate propaganda be forced on women making reproductive decisions, or intrusive and expensive vaginal probe ultrasonography confirming what they already know.
The political right does NOT want FREEDOM. They want FREE-DUMB, they want people to be ignorant and conformist. No critical thinking, no trusting people to make their own decisions with accurate information for the right!
This segment by Jon Stewart's Daily Show is one of their most brilliant examples of right wing bigger government, stupid government, less free and equal government in action.
Guns are not overly regulated; given the gun violence and the desperate need we have to change our gun culture in this country to something more safe and more sane, the following clip makes a very strong point against both the rights Gun Manufacturer driven NRA promoting lethal stupidity and hypocrisy. This is brilliant, simply and purely brilliant.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Jon Stewart Harpoons Right Wing Hypocrisy about Killing bin Laden
Thank you Jon Stewart for shining your sharp light on the right wing bullshit, the ass-holier than thou attitude. George Bush and Dick Cheney do NOT deserve the credit for getting bin laden. Their stupid insistence on the use of torture despite the advice of the overwhelming majority of experts in interrogation made that clear; they obstructed their own efforts through vicious ignorance.
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney made us less safe, in terms of getting bin Laden, in terms of intelligence gathering generally, and in terms of wasting the nation's good will with the world. Their efforts so much further antagonized Islamic extremists that they are themselves in part responsible for the intensity of our wars, for the extreme opposition and hatred towards the U.S. It is at their feet for doing the same things that made Nazis war criminals.
The reality is, the right HATES it that President Obama, WITHOUT USING TORTURE, gained the intel to get Osama bin Laden. They hate every success, they try to obstruct every action to improve and change, in order to try to cause him to fail ---- even when it hurts other Republicans, even when it is detrimental to the nation as a whole. THAT is unpatriotic, however much they try to obscure that disloyalty to the nation and our history.
WHY is the right - the right wing media, the right wing blogosphere, and of course, right wing political figures - so chronically factually inaccurate? Don't they realize that most of us live in the world of objective, factual reality where people fact check their assumptions? Because, when they simply spout crap so very often where the evidence is clear they are wrong, apparently maliciously wrong, it erodes their credibility (except with the right wing fantasy crowd of extremists). Here is Stewart with those too-often absent facts for this.
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney made us less safe, in terms of getting bin Laden, in terms of intelligence gathering generally, and in terms of wasting the nation's good will with the world. Their efforts so much further antagonized Islamic extremists that they are themselves in part responsible for the intensity of our wars, for the extreme opposition and hatred towards the U.S. It is at their feet for doing the same things that made Nazis war criminals.
The reality is, the right HATES it that President Obama, WITHOUT USING TORTURE, gained the intel to get Osama bin Laden. They hate every success, they try to obstruct every action to improve and change, in order to try to cause him to fail ---- even when it hurts other Republicans, even when it is detrimental to the nation as a whole. THAT is unpatriotic, however much they try to obscure that disloyalty to the nation and our history.
WHY is the right - the right wing media, the right wing blogosphere, and of course, right wing political figures - so chronically factually inaccurate? Don't they realize that most of us live in the world of objective, factual reality where people fact check their assumptions? Because, when they simply spout crap so very often where the evidence is clear they are wrong, apparently maliciously wrong, it erodes their credibility (except with the right wing fantasy crowd of extremists). Here is Stewart with those too-often absent facts for this.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Right Wing Oppressive Tyrannical PuNanny State part 2
And for another installment, THANK YOU Jon Stewart, for pointing out the intolerable hypocrisy, the fundamental reason that it is the political and religious right that is eroding and violating our freedom and our bodies.
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Punanny State - Virginia's Transvaginal Ultrasound Bill | ||||
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Thank You, Jon Stewart
On behalf of women, Jon Stewart shows himself to be morally correct.
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Punanny State | ||||
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Jon Stewart NAILS IT!
I nearly always find Stewart hilarious, but also on a different level, very serious. This was clearly from the heart as well as the head, and not only comedic, but also sincere. I particularly share his sentiments that there is NO war on religion, not by the Obama administration or anyone else in this country. And we appear to have triggered 'Godwin's Law' to come into effect as well, underlining the stupidity, and the deliberate manipulation of the situation for political traction, no matter how ludicrous. Faux news triumphs again for being factually inaccurate while being at the same moment hideously and hilariously biased.
From the February 13, 2012 edition of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart (click on the link to play the episode on the Daily Show site, if you have trouble playing the video here):
and
From the February 13, 2012 edition of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart (click on the link to play the episode on the Daily Show site, if you have trouble playing the video here):
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