Tag Archive for Ron Paul

Republicans: “Fuck the middle class.”

by John T. Schmitz • March 29, 2012 • 0 Comments

Poor old Newt Gingrich just doesn’t want to give up and admit that his campaign is over. Even after laying off a third of his staff, cutting back on travel, and meeting with the only ten people who have endorsed him (and hearing their doubts about the viability of his campaign), he is unwilling to…

by John T. Schmitz • March 14, 2012 • 0 Comments

It seems that the federal government is once again throwing away money on shit that no one needs—this time they are doling out billions of dollars in grants for small rural towns to purchase tanks and other armored vehicles … “just in case.” In case of what? In case a fight breaks out at the…

by Shane Lindemoen • March 4, 2012 • 2 Comments

I must get something off of my chest and in print before I spiral into another six month non-productive, contemplative state. It wasn’t until I recently finished the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins that I allowed myself time again to examine the state of affairs in fantasy fiction. What I found is entirely solipsistic, but…

by John T. Schmitz • January 26, 2012 • 0 Comments

The City Pages hit newsstands yesterday; in it is an article entitled “Tea Party Princess,” a profile of former Saturday Night Live “star,” Victoria Jackson. Apparently—and I didn’t know this—Jackson’s signature bubble-brained act that she put on was just her being herself. It really is worth checking out. Jackson, whose career has been in a…

by John T. Schmitz • January 22, 2012 • 0 Comments

Surprise, surprise … Newt Gingrich won yesterday’s South Carolina primary, trailed by Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and finally poor old Ron Paul, who finished a dismal fourth. There were some people—over 2,500 of them—who insisted on voting for candidates who are no longer in the race; whether this is because they haven’t been keeping up…

by John T. Schmitz • January 12, 2012 • 0 Comments

Well, so much for Rick Santorum’s surge. He came in a dismal fifth place in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, behind even Newt Gingrich. Mitt Romney won, of course, followed by Ron Paul and … Jon Huntsman? Weird. Now, at least, we know who the new “flavor of the week” is—and this latest development…

by John T. Schmitz • January 9, 2012 • 0 Comments

Watching yesterday’s Republican debates on Meet the Press made it even more obvious than it already was who the nominee will be—namely, Mitt Romney. He was the only man on stage who I could even picture running in a general election, while Newt Gingrich only interrupted his sulking long enough for short, fiery bursts of…

by John T. Schmitz • January 8, 2012 • 1 Comment

I was somewhat amazed during last night’s presidential debate to see Newt Gingrich blow his stack and start raving about “anti-Christian bigotry” when the moderators asked a series of questions regarding whether or not gay couples should be allowed to marry. Never mind. This doesn’t surprise me at all. Every one of those six yahoos…

by John T. Schmitz • January 6, 2012 • 0 Comments

The City Pages reported on Wednesday that overall, our elected officials are much better off financially than we are—particularly Republicans (Minnesota’s four House Republicans have an average net worth of $1,413,752; in comparison, the four House Democrats have an average net worth of just $292,999). Yes, members of Congress are worth over nine times what…

by John T. Schmitz • January 2, 2012 • 0 Comments

Okay, now the holidays are finally over. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, but we’re officially into 2012 and we can begin to look forward to spring and tax season. Not everyone gets excited about taxes—in fact, many loathe the April 15 deadline—but I’m married and have two children, so I always feel a…

by Amir V. Drissi • December 31, 2011 • 0 Comments

On May 28, 2011, a flash mob appeared at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. Their goal was to dance there as a tribute to the founding fathers, who gave Americans the First Amendment, which protects citizens’ right to freely express themselves. Ironically, the flash mob was met by aggressive park police, who ended up arresting…

by John T. Schmitz • December 30, 2011 • 0 Comments

There are a lot of weird stories in the news today. Sometimes, I guess, things are like that. For instance, a 99-year-old man is divorcing his 96-year-old wife of 77 years because he just discovered that she had an affair in the 1940s; a man in China spent $16,000 on a virtual sword for a…

by John T. Schmitz • December 28, 2011 • 0 Comments

Well, another busy Christmas season is over. We still have New Year’s Eve to grapple with, but we’ll worry about that later. As usual, my children did very well for themselves and my wife and I got some nice things, too. I took a couple of days off from writing my column and worrying about…

by John T. Schmitz • December 24, 2011 • 0 Comments

I have to admit that I’m surprised. The way Congress has been behaving for the last year, I thought for sure that they would just go ahead and let the payroll tax cut expire—but apparently John Boehner decided that he didn’t want to see his approval rating slip from an already dismal 9% into negative…

by Shane Lindemoen • December 21, 2011 • 1 Comment

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg…

by John T. Schmitz • December 20, 2011 • 4 Comments

I would be amiss in my duties if I didn’t report on the death of Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s portly communist leader, who never failed to get a kick out making the rest of the world nervous. Sources close to the dead despot have confirmed that he “died with his sunglasses on.” He will…

by John T. Schmitz • December 6, 2011 • 0 Comments

Thousands of people are converging on our nation’s Capitol; those who can’t make it all the way to Washington D.C. are showing up at the doors of their representatives’ local offices for discussions and sit-ins. “We came to tell members of Congress that they should represent the 99 percent not just corporations and the 1…

by John T. Schmitz • October 9, 2011 • 0 Comments

The Minnesota Vikings actually won today, beating the Arizona Cardinals 34 – 10. Amazing. Recently, I’ve been saying things like, “Sorry I can’t come over—I’m gonna stay home and watch the Vikings lose.” It’s five o’clock and the house is quiet. There’s a pot of coffee on, a fridge full of beer, and sports on…

by John T. Schmitz • September 18, 2011 • 0 Comments

The Vikings fooled us again: they were ahead until the bitter end—and then in the last minute of the final quarter, they were beaten stupid by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, losing 24 – 20. So, I changed the channel and checked on the Twins, who were leading the Cleveland Indians 3 – 1. I told…

by John T. Schmitz • September 16, 2011 • 0 Comments

Rick Perry talks a good game, but let’s get down to brass tacks: according to one of his own state agencies, the Texas unemployment rate increased to 8.5% in August—the highest level in more than 24 years and more than twice the rate when Perry took office in December 2000. It’s hard to argue with figures…

by John T. Schmitz • September 15, 2011 • 0 Comments

Well, the Republicans pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of winning special election seats in Nevada and New York on Tuesday. Anthony Weiner’s vacancy went to Republican political novice Bob Turner, while Republican Mark Amodei won in Nevada. Many view this as a preview of the calamity that is looking more and more likely next…

by John T. Schmitz • September 2, 2011 • 0 Comments

I watched Collapse yesterday, a film by Michael C. Ruppert—it was spectacularly informing and I’d like to thank Brent Kyle, who turned me onto it. I posted a link to the film on-line; unfortunately, it was broken. I ended up watching the thing on Netflix’s instant player, but if you’re not a subscriber I’m sure…

by John T. Schmitz • August 17, 2011 • 0 Comments

Something that I forgot to mention yesterday in my column: billionaire Warren Buffett’s piece in the New York Times on August 14; it is called “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich” and it’s a real screamer. Mr. Buffett’s opinions on this are nothing new—he’s been saying this kind of stuff for some time now—but this particular article…

by John T. Schmitz • August 16, 2011 • 0 Comments

What a weekend; it may have been the first really good weekend that I’ve had this whole miserable summer, which mercifully is drawing to a close. It’s raining outside, my Internet connection is spotty at best, but I have my memories. I haven’t posted anything in a few days because my wife and I took…

by John T. Schmitz • August 13, 2011 • 2 Comments

Iowa is practically bursting with news today. The GOP debate was held last night, with all of the major Republican players attending. Sarah Palin was in Iowa, too—but she is still not a candidate and never will be. She wandered around the Iowa State Fair in a daze for about ninety minutes, telling anyone who…

by John T. Schmitz • August 11, 2011 • 0 Comments

Today is a big day in politics—the Republican hopefuls are debating in Iowa, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. The so-called “front-runner,” Mitt Romney, has been having all kinds of problems. For one thing, he was heckled mercilessly at the Iowa State Fair today, which reminds me a lot of…