Most jaw-dropping story of the day:
“We Built This” (the GOP’s “Call Me Maybe”), is the catchphrase of the season, and it’ll be a major theme of the Republican National Convention at the end of this month. The irony? They’ll be holding that convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, formerly the Tampa Bay Ice Palace, which was publicly financed. The Daily Dolt, a humor/politics site pointed out the irony first and according to the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law School, 62 percent of the funding that built the Tampa Bay Times Forum a.k.a. The Tampa Bay Ice Palace in 1996 came from public funds to the tune of about $86 million. Kind of kills that idea that it doesn’t take a village, right?
(Actually, counting property tax breaks and other public costs, taxpayers put up $167 million towards the arena, or 103% of the construction cost, according to Judtih Grant Long’s figures.)
This promises to be so awesome that I almost hope the Republican convention isn’t creamed by a hurricane that leaves GOP leaders having to try to explain how this has nothing at all to do with fossil-fuel-induced climate change. Almost.