I’ll See Your Demagoguery, and Raise You a Revolution

Tags

demagogues, Right wing douches, Sarah Palin, teabaggers

If you ask your average Merikan about demagoguery, you’re probably going to hear about Stalin and Hitler and Mussolini. If you are specially lucky, you might hear reference to Joe McCarthy. A significant number of Merikans, perhaps most, won’t have a clue what you refer to, beyond a vague sense of “bad” floating in the air.

It’s no secret that American youth are fairly poorly educated in this country. While there are plenty of reasons and excuses for this, top of the heap is probably because they are taught lies. 

Such is underway in Texas anyway, where new textbooks will play down slavery as a cause of the Civil War, and emphasis a lie–states rights–as being its motivation. Now states rights had something to do with the Civil War, but not in protecting states rights–in actuality it was  the states rights of northern realms that they despised and set out to separate themselves from. In fact, up until the 60’s there were specific “southern” textbooks on these issues, not used in the rest of the land. We are returning to that era, when again, Southern kids will be taught a different “history” than the rest of the country.

A demagogue is one who through resort to fear and prejudice, appeals to the common people, in an attempt to manipulate their approval to gain personal power and influence. Lies are a common vehicle used to gain the support of lower socioeconomic classes which is then used to gain the ends (usually hidden) of the demagogue.

Americans think they are smarter than the average demagogue, and always have. We look at people such as Hitler, Stalin, and others of that ilk with a certain disdain, sure in our adolescent minds, if not our later adult ones, that such a thing could not happen in the good old USA, because we are “on to them” sorts. And the slightly smarter among the great unwashed will use Joe McCarthy as an example. Sure we toyed with demagoguery for a bit, but in the end we censured Joe and sent him packing, destined to go down in history as a rather sinister chap who in the end was admonished, “Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

So, we sit in smug superiority.

We of course were and are wrong. We are no better at ferreting out demagoguery than your average Athenian was when Cleon was stirring the people to behaviors we normally don’t associate with Athens in the classical period.

We live in a soup of demagoguery with any number of suitable candidates lined up to become the populist hero of the day. Fox Noise serves as the propaganda disseminator with plenty of minions named Rush and Ann and Rich and Sean ready and willing to spout the memorized script of why “they” are destroying America, and “we” must get out our guns and show them we will not tolerate their warped secular world.

We finally, at long last, sat down and watched Game Change the other night.  Sure, it was filled with lots of giggles and nodding, as we saw our Sarah entering the national stage. We saw the almost comical cluelessness on anything beyond the demagogue’s rhetoric. We watched as she puzzled over basic European history, attempting to take notes (on paper in the beginning, precursor to the famous hand writing), and figure out who was who, and what was what.

And we saw the debacle of interviews that broke open the wisdom of hirin’ Sarah wide open finally, and exposed what McCain referred to as the “dark side” of Populism–the degree to which it is based not on facts and well-thought out logic, but rather instilling and promoting fear and anxiety regarding “others”.

Sarah is pictured as sitting mesmerized listening almost spellbound to the criticism of her. Yet, either through brilliant acting, or truth, one sees a startling revelation. Sarah is not studying her detractors to learn what she is doing wrong, so much as she is carefully examining her detractors for weakness, and how she might better exploit it.

She studies, not foreign policy position papers, but what makes people smile or frown, what makes them cheer, what makes them nod in approval. She is all about one thing–how best to sell Sarah, and reap of course the benefits–fame, and more importantly fortune.

Sarah, as we have come to know, is really only about becoming wealthy. She forcefully and loudly proclaims that “they are boxing her in”, preventing her from doing what she does best–talk to the common folks. She ends up in a long and exhausting war with her handlers over who will control the agenda.

And of course, we have seen the fine results. After the election, Sarah made all her own decisions and she’s managed in six years, to not be the “new young leader of the GOP” that McCain predicted, but rather she has become a cipher in the conservative movement. A few thousands still shout her name, but largely the great uber right wing has moved on.

But the not surprising popularity of Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Scott Walker remind us all too well, that there are more than one ready to take over the mantle from Ms. Palin.

Cruz, following the SCOTUS decision regarding marriage equality enters the arena with the lie: a few people who were never elected by us have dictated to the rest of us how we must live. Now of course, Cruz leaves out that this is exactly how our constitution intended.  It is what was established in Marbury v. Madison.  Trump contends that Mexico is sending us criminals, and then sets out to find an example to make his case.

Walker advises he will do to the Middle East problems exactly what he did with unions in Wisconsin–destroy them. Santorum suggests that the rights of every real Christian are at risk if gays marry. Jeb, not quite as capable as demagogues go, wrings his hands and mutters the code words, but doesn’t exactly know how to utter them convincingly.

We need not fear that demagogues will become extinct. We must fear that we are perhaps more susceptible to them than we thought.

Look, we live in a busy world. As has always been the case, the vast majority ignore politics and worry about paying the electric bill and getting packed for that fishing trip to the lake. But while you sublimely watch fireflies at water’s edge, back in the recesses of taverns and game rooms in fancy townhouses and estates, grifters like Sarah are busy trying to figure out what will scare you into voting for them.

I’m not expecting you to spend two hours a day reading what’s going on in the world. It would be nice if you took that interest in the now and future, well mindful of the past, but that’s asking too much. Half  aren’t mentally up to the task, and half of the rest are just too bored by anything that doesn’t speak to the World Federation of Wrestling.

But I ask you to remember one thing. The better it sounds the more likely it is to be not true. 

You do not need guns to prevent the government from overreach. If the government wants to stop you from mouthing off, it will kill you, and no weapon you have will make a difference.

You’re way of life will not end because gay people can marry each other. I’m quite sure almost none of them will want to marry you and with good reason.

ISIS is not plotting to blow up your neighborhood. It is quite more likely that you will die from a bee sting or be blown up by your neighbor’s arsenal when it goes off in a house fire.

You are not being attacked as a Christian. Nobody has ever stopped you from reading the bible you want, interpreting it the way you want, and going to the church you want. There is no war on Christianity, and as much as you want to think of yourself as a martyr, you aren’t. You would piss your panties should the feds show up and demand you become a Sikh or Buddhist, and all to many of you would bow and ask for the rules of proper worship.

If it sounds good, and makes you feel vaguely selfish–it’s a lie and you are being selfish. Don’t fall for it, even though it would mean a cut in your taxes and some sort of wispy comfort that your way of life is being protected. It isn’t and won’t be. We are becoming both NON-white and NON-Christian. It’s a fact. Learn the word ameliorate and learn it well.

If in doubt, don’t vote. A stupid vote is worse than no vote at all. Remember the demagogue is not looking for a smart vote, but a stupid one. Don’t take the bait. There is really nothing in it for you. EVER.

But keep an eye out for Sarah. She’ll be opening a supermarket near you.

Hold Your Prayers, God is Busy in the Southwest These Days

Tags

immigration, religious right, right wing, teaparty

See, God is a little bit busy these days. If you hadn’t heard, a lot of children have been making their way to Merika these days, fleeing, you know, violence. Although nobody seems to talk much about that, the violence that is.

A vocal if hopefully small herd of mean people call them “illegals” and scream at the kids, telling them to “go back home”. Some have suggested that a well aimed firearm at the border might do the trick just fine, and no one of course should think they are meaning anything violent by that call to arms.

While not going quite this far, but *nudge nudge, wink wink* maybe they are, a couple of our pious types have ‘splained to us, the spiritually lacking, that this is all part of God’s plan. Brian Fischer, blasphemer-erradicator in charge of American values said thusly:

“Our southern border is there by God’s design. To disregard it, to treat it as if were not there, to regard it as something not worth respecting and defending, is an insult to the God who put it there for our benefit.”

Just forgettabout that “bring the little children unto me”. You missed the damn footnote: “unless they are from another country and *ick* brown or black, and are entering unto me illegally”.

 

Nodding in agreement is Texas *cough* Pastor Robert Jeffress who points out that God wants a fence between them and us, because, God was always clear about boundaries:

 

“Yes, Jesus loved children, but he also respected law. He said, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” Jeffress clarified for the faithful on Fox News. “So, we need to do both. Show compassion, but secure the borders.”

 

Just forgettabout that stuff in the early part of the bible, about welcoming the stranger and hospitality and so forth. All that, we know, is made irrelevant by Jesus, oh except for that little part about not suffering men who lay with men to live. And maybe that part about witches too. That might stay in too.

 

What the religious right who pushes this vile push back against children, is that it was one of their own, George W., that “compassionate conservative” who signed into law the requirement that these kids can’t be returned to their country of origin without proper legal proceedings.

 

Just before leaving office, on Dec. 23, 2008, George W. Bush signed into law the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. This bipartisan measure, named for a 19^th century British abolitionist, was aimed at extending and beefing up efforts to prevent and prosecute human trafficking and protect the victims of trafficking.  More importantly, it described exactly how unaccompanied children crossing the border must be treated.

 

The crazies on the Right have of course ignored their own complicity in this legislation, and find it more profitable to insinuate that the President has in fact invited these kids from their violence-wracked homelands to America for some nefarious purpose:

 

I have to believe that when you don’t respond in any way that you are either inept or you have some ulterior motive of which you are functioning from,” Perry said during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”

 

Ricky (I can’t believe these glasses haven’t made me smart yet) Perry actually said that, although what the conspiracy is for or about, is beyond his meager brain power to discern.

 

Meanwhile, the Right continues to live in cognitive dissonance which prompted one comedienne to suggest that the children should paste the name “fetus” on their forehead. That sounds harsh, but these are the same people who are willing to go to extreme lengths, i.e., Hobby Lobby, to protect the rights of a “fertilized egg”. To turn children away who are fleeing violence and possible death in their own country, seems a interesting juxtaposition to say the least. 

 

To say nothing of our sanctimonious lip service paid to all those poor Syrian children who are living in makeshift tent cities all over the Middle East, having fled the murderous bombardments of Bashar Al-Assad. No finer example is John S. McCain and his wringing of hands at the “humanitarian tragedy” that is going on. Yet we hear nothing from the old fart when it comes to protecting these poor children arriving frightened and alone because their families believe that the trek to Merika is far safer than allowing them to remain at home.

 

No, in fact McCain says no to authorizing money to the President to deal with the crisis, finding it:

 

“It would cost us very little to fly them back, as compared with the cost of taking care of them while they were here,” he said.

 

Mostly McCain has whined about not being allowed to take his cell phone with him in viewing the detainment camps in Arizona. His Senatorial rights, he claims trump these kids right to privacy. Change the policy, he bellowed.

 

We in America are again caught in that position we so often find ourselves in–telling the rest of the world how to behave, all the while doing the in-opposite at home. Another shaming moment in the US of A.

 

Eric, My Dude, Wha’ Happened to Ya?

Tags

Eric Cantor, GOP, John McCain, men with no brains, stupid party, teabaggers, when old men need to lie down

Frank Luntz really got one thing right. “The GOP is lousy when it comes to doing polling.”

By all accounts, Eric was blindsided by his rather convincing loss to a third-rate “economist” called Brat. He dinna see it cummin’ as they say.

As all politicians do, they manage to put on a thin smile as they stumble to the podium to admit their loss and congratulate the nobody who was somehow good enough.

The punditry is all awash in ‘splainin’ how this happened.

Some say it was his flirt with immigration reform. Other’s his watering down of a bill that would have but a stop to insider trading by congress people, who are as you know, so danged overworked and unpaid that it’s only fair that they should be able to do what nobody else can do without going to jail.

Some say Eric was just a total shit, arrogant and dismissive, failing to act, ya know, like one of his constituents, on those “hanging out  in the district” times. He was in a word, (words actually) full to the brim with the sweet smell of his own poo.

He will likely be replaced by an even more odious (ideologically speaking) commodity, the Brat guy. Who is some sort of economist, but apparently not much of one, who when asked what his position was on minimum wage increases, said he hadn’t had time to work out a “fully crafted statement” on that yet, or some such bullshit. What freakin’ economist doesn’t have a thought on a subject that, ya know, DEALS WITH ECONOMICS?

But I guess one shouldn’t wonder since his economic philosophy seems to be “Brat believes in free-markets as run by some curious amalgam of Presbyterian theology and Ayn Rand’s economic sociopathy.” If that don’t make your head spin I don’t know what will. The atheist Rand married to a dude who claims that his win was a “miracle from God”. I can’t wait to see how it pulls that off.

It is however, most comforting to know that there are plenty of GOP tenderfeet waiting in the wings for their chance on the national stage.

As well as some old has beens who are still trying to be relevant to something that passes for significance in this political world.

Enter one John S. McCain. A meme last week on Facebook asked commentors to sum up Johnny in three words. My favorites were “still not relevant”, “still not President”, and “Sarah Palin, seriously?”. Fresh off his flopping like a dead flounder all over the Bergdahl mess, he ‘s moved on to utter more stale bullshit to an increasingly deaf audience.

You may not have heard, but Iraq is being overrun at the moment with Al Qaida–you know–the crazies who came into Iraq when George W, following orders from Cheney and Rummy, decided to invade it, because they wanted to? That war. The war that we sorta fought to a tie, which gave us our escape window? And we escaped. And like everyone on the planet knew that chaos (or more chaos I should say) would ensue until the damn country became a bloodbath? And a few hundred people have died in that country every month, but Syria was worse, so we didn’t notice? Until the deaths started being several hundred a week? Now ya remember?

Yeah, well, now Johnny, setting aside his blatant memory loss, has declared that we won that war, (more specifically George did after following John’s instructions), and now Obama has gone and lost it, and his entire group of foreign security advisors should be fired, and replaced by the old crew from George’s tenure, and hell, while you’re at it, let George take over, cuz God we all felt so much better and more secure when he was at the button. Such is the way John sees things, or forgets things.

Meet Jeff Miller, (R-FL).

Look carefully since Jeff, is a zombie. Not walking dead, but walking brain-dead. He is shown holding on to his head, for it would float off to the ceiling if he didn’t. It’s full of nothing but helium.

Florida, as you may know, if one of those areas of the country that will soon lose half its sovereign soil when the oceans rise due to climate change. It is of some minor concern to its residents not all of whom are ready to trade their land based homes for boats.

So in their brilliance, they, in part at least, elect this fool.

Jeff, make no bones about it, is a fool, in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Frank has that wonderful ability to hold lots of facts in his empty brain that are in utter conflict.

First, Frank says that scientists are not agreed about who is causing this particular climate change. That’s not true, of course, for they are, to a degree of more than 97%; the rest being dismissed as owned and paid for by Koch brother enterprises and others in the fossil fuel industry.

Frank chooses to side with the paid-for deniers, and of course reminds us that “the climate is always changing”, as indeed it is. The planet we call home has, over billions of years, undergone plenty of change, most of it taking millions of years to build up. No doubt Frank doesn’t believe this because he must stay on the good side of the funny-gelicals who don’t believe the earth is more than 6,000 +/= a few hundred years old. But, for purposes of this argument I guess he believes that climates change over time.

His proof? Oh the dinosaurs. How in the heck could the dinosaurs have been axed if climate change wasn’t a “natural thing”. After all, he says, man wasn’t there (oh no screams Ken Ham–he’s an atheist!), and they weren’t driving around cars and such.

So the fact that the dinosaurs disappeared means that climate change isn’t man made. (Get the ropes and pinions, that jump across that chasm of logic is mighty wide!)

What Jeff doesn’t have a clue about is that the climate was rolling merrily along in old dinosaur land, when a comet or asteroid hit the planet and threw up so much dust and dirt, that the climate changed massively in a very short time (hint, hint like today’s human activities), and produced an unlivable situation for the dinos quickly. (purists note that this is the Alvarez theory to which I generally adhere or the catastrophic extraterrestrial theory. There are other serious theories which we aren’t going to get into here, suffice it that it has no effect on the argument.)

In other words, there is climate change which is normal and then there is that which is abnormal. What is happening to the earth today is abnormal, proceeding much too rapidly, and is demonstrably man-made.

The point is, there is no connection between the dinosaurs and the reality of man-made climate change. Never was, never will be.

And so we end, “Your week in GOP shenanigans and really stupid stuff.”

 

The Shaming of the GOP

Tags

Bergdahl, GOP, hypocrisy, tea party

I mean ya gotta hand it to the GOP and their corp of clowns. I swear the term chutzpah must have been invented just for them.

Given all the back-walking going on within the GOP ranks on this issue of Sgt. Bergdahl, it still remains stunning the degree to which folks like Fox Noise continue to look down their noses at the drooling sycophants that pass as the usual Fox viewer.

Case in point, is one Ollie North, criminal/traitor extraordinaire who was recently on Newsmax to give us the benefit of his wisdom on the negotiated release of Sgt. Bergdahl from the hands of the Taliban.

You remember Ollie. He participated along with candidate Ronald Reagan, in a secret deal with Iran (terrorists) to sell them missiles and then turn that money over to the Contras in Nicaragua (more terrorists). In return Iran was supposed to turn over  hostages, but not until the election was over, so Carter couldn’t get the benefit of it. This was not only negotiating with terrorists, it was downright treason.

Yet, Fox figured Ollie was a good choice to weigh in on the matter of the Bergdahl release. I mean seriously!

From there we move to Johnny McCain who just cannot to this day live with the fact that he is not the President.

Back in February of this year, Johnny suggested that he could probably get behind a trade of Taliban Gitmo detainees in exchange for Sgt. Bergdahl, though he would “have to see the details”. This seems in line with the information that this negotiation has been in the works since 2011, and that the appropriate members of Congress were informed of both the negotiations, AND the subjects of any exchange.

John was enraged when this was pointed out to him. He sputtered, accused journalists of “lying” and then abruptly changed his tune, and suggested that it was a done deal, and we should move on. Then the next day, he was back on the bandwagon, screaming for “his head”.

Joined at the hip, Kelly Ayotte just on Memorial Day was calling on citizens to “remember Sgt. Bergdahl in their thoughts and prayers” and declaring that she was pushing the military to do everything possible to return him to his family. Of course now she’s singing a different tune.

Ayotte, is of course, no different from Lindsey Butchmeup Graham, who get their marching orders from Johnny, came to lately McCain, and both can be forgiven their turnabouts, since it’s all just too confusing to them in the first place. Lindsey of course is facing a primary next week, and so he’s desperately trying to remind everyone in his state that he has a mighty big job in just zipping up his trousers over that massive load of junk he’s carrying.

Their story is not singular as it were. A host of those who were congratulating America on having brought back a prisoner, quickly scrubbed their congratulations from their Twitter feeds when advised that the GOP was tacking once again. At least six Republicans have done so, advised by party leaders apparently that things “had changed”.

This all falls into place when one realizes that the rabble of the Tea People are making their anger heard throughout the faux news blogs that cater to the trailer brigade. Facebook pages, and the usual stories rebound around the likes of WorldNetDaily, Breitbart and Fox Noise, all attesting to the fact that Bergdahl was “probably a traitor”, “probably a deserter”, whose father “looks like a Muslim” and on and on. Impeachment echoes through the halls of crazy land.

None of this has anything to do with the decision of course, but in the usual fear of upsetting the grossly ignorant, GOP politicians run scared. The mill around the Capital, asking each other what to do, after all, elections are at stake, and NOTHING is as important.

The degree to which the GOP jumps when the fringe furrows it’s collective Neanderthal brow, is stunning. Just last week, the NRA after having declared that the crazies in Texas wandering around cheap food establishments with assault-type rifles and camouflage, should just go home, was met with an uproar from these thugs, and beat a hasty retreat, claiming “we made a terrible mistake”.

Such is the state of the GOP that they are drug around by the nose by a band of motley ill-educated morons who have basements full of canned goods, and lockers full of assault weapons, all ready for the coming revolution. However shaming this is to them personally doesn’t excuse the selling out of their soul in exchange for a greasy fingered vote.

The bottom line is quite simple. There are few facts that are known, other than the following.

1. Prisoner exchanges have always been part of a President’s duties, going back to George Washington.
2. Prisoner exchanges are done by most countries, including Israel with Palestine. In fact one of their more famous exchanges involved 1 Israel for over a THOUSAND Palestinians. Both sides call the other side terrorists.
3. This negotiation has been going on since 2011. There seems to be evidence that some Congressional leaders of the appropriate committees were aware of the negotiations, and the general parameters of those discussions.
4. Sgt. Bergdahl has been charged with no crime. And even if he were, that is no reason whatsoever by any military standard not to secure his release.
5. The exchanged Gitmo detainees were Taliban, not Al Qaeda. There is a serious difference.

This smacks, as so much of GOP opposition usually ends up being, as nothing more than, whatever the Black guy does, we hate it. Note that as usual, the GOP prior to this event, demanded the release of Sgt. Bergdahl, but as usual offered NO concrete terms of how that should be done. (See Syria, and the Ukraine for similar demands without specifics). So they demand action, refuse to specify what that action should be, and then when ANY action is taken, it’s the wrong action, and still there is no statement of what right action would look like.

This is a pattern of opposition. This is not governance, it is pure mean-spirited obstinate opposition. It is in truth a pandering to the fringe crazies which now seem to run the GOP. These people are satisfied with nothing other than venomous denial to everything this President presents. Of course they have no alternatives. Do you expect to get alternatives from seven-year olds?

Perhaps someday, normal men and women will pick themselves up from the mud, wash themselves off, and decide to reclaim the GOP as a party worthy of listening to. Not today however, not today.

 

With My Nose Pressed Up Against the Glass

Tags

crap I didn't learn, GOP, Sarah Palin, teabaggers, teaparty, Ted Cruz

Seriously, these people are just crazy.

Let me put it this way. If the rapture comes, Washington D.C. will never know. They won’t realize anything is wrong until they leave the halls of Congress and find the streets empty.

They ain’t gettin’ raptured. No way God would bring them up to the heavenly garden. Not with their penchant for stupid is as stupid does. And they be doin’ stupid most all the time now.

I can’t keep crying wolf, heck, it’s beyond that.

You just sit in fascination reading one account after another of people gone wild. The lunatics from gerrymandered red state districts tell us that their constituencies tell them to HOLD THE LINE. Even if that means that the country is destroyed? Wellllllllll, nobody ever thought past HOLD THE LINE!

It gets back to that old debate–as an elected representative, do you take a poll and vote the majority, or do you use you “independent” judgment under the theory that you know more than they do? It seems that they do pretty much both, whichever is convenient at the moment. Vote against a Syrian military action because the “folks back home are unilaterally against it.” Vote against background checks for weapon buyers because “hey, that’s my source of campaign funds” and the folks really don’t get all the fine points that I’m privy to.

To hear them tell it, Republicans in Congress hate Ted Cruz. Hate him. Think he’s a total jerk. Yet he seems to be running the show, as the country slides into the turlit. Unless it doesn’t. Like I said, crying wolf is getting old, and people are starting to yawn and ignore the entire bunch of clowns.

Until.

Until the shit hits the fan. I’m not sure what shit will hit what fans, but I bet it will.

I started reading a book about a guy who teaches math at the college level. He started reading about creationists and got intrigued and went to a homeschooling convention. It became a hobby of sorts and has written a book of his experiences with these strange folk. An example will suffice:

A speaker was giving all the rip-roaring good reasons why it was important to home school and keep the kiddies from learning about all the evil out in the real world in the form of evolution, that atheistical concocted nonsense, and homosexuality which is the devil’s joy. During the question and answer, our writer asks,

“Given that eventually your children will be going out into that world, do you ever think that it might be better to let them experience it now when they are young, and you still have some control over them, and can guide them along, rather than them getting all the worldly stuff when they leave home and you have no such control?”

The answer?

“NO! Next question.”

I mean these folks are dogmatic, and unable and unwilling to even consider alternatives to their own very weirdly structured world view.

That seems about where we are when it comes to the Tea Birchers. They have mind blocks that prevent them from even hearing the question let alone considering any alternative. If the Black guy is for it, I’m against it! Heck, I’m against it if he is neutral, that’s just a trick! The black ops are coming any day, Lord let me just get to the gun store in time to buy another Beretta, or Tank, whichever I can get.

I can sit with a bowl of popcorn, but I end up dribbling the popcorn into my lap, I’m so mesmerized by the perfect craziness of these people. This is way beyond opposition, this is infants in control of the nursery, holding the wet-nurse by the tit and demanding chocolate or they will rip it off.

I live with dry mouth as a constant condition since I can’t keep it closed long before it pops open again in disbelief and I stand there mouth agape at ANOTHER statement by another joker. Sarah is back in the mix, and somebody yesterday said it best when they realized that the reason she always has that big gulp with her everywhere is that is the only thing big enough to carry all the vodka she guzzles on a daily basis to keep beating the drums of stupid. She is stupid, she defines it, she smothers it with Wasilla grins and Moosilini winks. She’s beyond stupid, she a blinking caution light stuck on yellow.

She would pick her nose in public if she could find it. She reserves most of her “speechifying” for Facebook where she culls the followers to only those who approve, and has ghost writers correct her world salad leaps of logic and syntax before hitting the “post”.

Harvard is busy trying to figure out who let TED into their hallowed halls and made them the laughing-stock of the Ivy League.

Texas is tipping into the gulf with so many weird ass representatives that it’s only fair to send life rafts to its citizens before they fall in the drink.  They make Arizona’s governor SEEM sane by comparison.

And it is all about comparison. If you line up Cruz, Gohmert, Perry, Bachmann, Lee, Stockman, King, and half a dozen others up in a line, they are proof positive that everybody in a mental institution should be released immediately. Again by comparison. Doesn’t that make you shiver when the crazy fool who hears voices and sees green people eaters and is thinking of getting a gun, figures he MIGHT be crazy, but then sees that bunch and says, “nah, I’m fine and heads off for the gun store?

I mean I wanna dig a hole and crawl in, and let me know Jesus when you are returning so I don’t miss your arrival to straighten all this mess out.

So how is your day going?

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Tags

abortion, economic theory, economy, GOP, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, school prayer, teabaggers

The jobs numbers came out this morning. Everything is on the uptick. The upturn in the economy continues unabated. This in spite of the naysayers who of course claim that things would be even better if we would do things their way (the business way). They offer no proof of this, but they assure you that if you would just lower corporate taxes to zero and remove all regulations, boards of directors across the country would be voting to “hire as many as will fit in the building” and things will be rosy in no time.

This engenders the usual arguments between Keynesians and Hayekians. If you are not so sure you know who these men are, or what they stand for, well, I have a good place to start.

I am not sure when this came out on PBS, but it is based on the book of the same name written by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. That came out in around 2003 I believe.

It is not for the faint of heart. It’s a six-hour committment. But on the upside, it’s well done and satisfies all the usual desires of one watching a documentary. You can get the DVD or you can watch the entire thing online, and I’ll provide the links at the bottom.

Let me caution you that I don’t at all agree with much of what they say, or at least the inferences they, I think deliberately, urge you to draw. They have a very definite point of view and they avoid a few facts that might cut against their opinion. (Pay especial attention to who is promoting the show at the beginning). That said, it provides a pretty good explanation of what Hayek believed and what Keynes believed. It provides a good foundation to understanding the basics that you will need should you choose to really try to get a handle on what the Krugman’s of the world believe is best for the economy versus the now deceased Milton Friedman.

We’ve only watched the first part, so I’m leaving off any further comments lest I influence your viewing. I’ll post a piece on my views in a couple of weeks or so. So if you are interested, put your feet up and grab a beer or cuppa joe and begin watching. It is entertaining and informative, just not accurate in all respects in my view. Links at the bottom of the page.

Ø

Republicans continue to waste taxpayer money on crap that has nothing to do with economic recovery. Over the Governor’s veto, Arkansas just passed a law making it illegal to abort a fetus after twelve weeks. That’s of course unconstitutional on its face and seems destined to offer the SCOTUS an opportunity to either overturn Roe or restrict it. Idaho’s twenty week law was just struck down by a federal district court.

Meanwhile, in Mississippi, another bastion of free thought, the senate has just passed a bill that would allow school prayer again, most especially before classes start (during morning announcements) and before athletic events. Students would also be allowed to freely discuss religious faith issues during class time. This is also unconstitutional on its face.

What is ironic here, is that the very people who support this crap are the same folks who are hellbent to tell you that Democrats and the present administration have no faith let allow adherence to the Constitution and are violating it every day. Of course, they are not. They are just redressing their grievances that the damn document doesn’t say what they want, and making sure that it’s altered to accomplish that.

It all depends, is their answer to “do you believe we should follow the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court?”

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The water pressure dropped severely yesterday in Washington D.C. as John McCain and Lindsey Graham both spend a long time washing off the icky after finding themselves supporting the black guy in the White House against the strange man from Kentucky, Ru Paul, I mean Randy Paul on the drones issue. Two finer hawks were never born than McCain the man who continually drove planes into the ground, and the Lindsey, a man who one can’t begin to imagine in a uniform except as part of a sexual liaison in the bedroom.

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The best response to anyone who tries to tell you that homosexuality is a “choice” is to ask them what was the date when they “chose” to be heterosexual. What them sputter and try to get out of that dilemma.

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I think Romney’s the right choice for speechifying at CPAC. After watching his interview with Wallace the other night, it appears he’s still living in the delusions that caused his defeat. That should be right up the alley of the teabibbers doncha think?

Ø

This just tickled me. John McCain was quoted as saying this:

“It’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.”

I mean I hear the Oxford Dictionary calling to get that photo of John to place next to the word: IRONY.

Ø

From Don of Massachusetts:

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.

– The Buddha

This seems a good place to say, HAVE A GOOD DAY!

Commanding Heights Pt 1

Commanding Heights Pt 2

Commanding Heights Pt 3

Related articles

• IT’S WAR: John McCain And Lindsey Graham Are Tearing Into Rand Paul Right Now On The Senate Floor (businessinsider.com)
• Conservatives Are Now Flipping Out At John McCain And Lindsay Graham (businessinsider.com)
• RINO Senators McCain, Graham Charge At Paul (personalliberty.com)
• Would Hayek Have Approved Obamacare? – Reason.com (politicalcrazyness.tumblr.com)

 

A Rolling Stone Gathers Whatever Is In Its Way

Tags

budget, deficit issues, gas prices, GOP, Israel, John Boehner, Middle East, Obama, teabaggers, welfare

Sir Boehner of Orange is not a man who is cozy with the truth. He, like so many of his cohorts, believe it is a most malleable thing to be twisted and pulled into whatever shape is necessary to feed the agenda they are pushing at any given time.

As most of us know, the sequester is looming on the horizon, and the GOP chatter seems as usual to ignore facts and create a new reality as needed. Thus the sequester is the “president’s idea” as if he designed it as the solution to our fiscal ills.

The Grand Bargain that Boehner continues to claim fell through because the President “changed” the offer at the last minute, is a total lie. In fact Boehner made the deal only to discover that he could not control the crazy element in his own caucus. Because of the Hastert Rule (thou shalt not bring to the floor a bill not already approved by a majority of your party), Boehner knew the deal could only pass with Democratic help. That he was not prepared to do, so he created the myth that the President changed the offer.

Given that time was short and the GOP was threatening to destroy the economy unless they got their way, the President proposed a draconian alternative that would come into play in six months. This was supposed to ensure that a meaningful debate and agreement would ensue to avoid the awfulness of the sequester. The President originally offered a 50/50 deal–there would be a sequester that consisted of half tax increases and half budget cuts. Boehner refused that deal and insisted that all be cuts.

Moreover, at the conclusion of the sequester deal, Boehner bragged to the press and anyone else that would listen that he had gotten “98% of everything he had been asking for” so he declared himself and his Party the winner.

Those are the real facts.

What the GOP continues to miss here, is that we are not so gullible nor so stupid that we don’t know these facts. So, his little attempt to hijack the truth in favor of his new reality only elicits nods and uhuh’s from his own stupid base. The rest of America sees it for the series of lies it is, and of course, realizes that the GOP is still the party that protects corporate interests to the detriment of the rest of us.

No lessons yet learned. The GOP continues to wallow in the mire of lies. It will remain a party that can’t win the big one. It will continue to try to figure out ways to steal elections. It will continue to be the best comedy routine in town.

•

You have heard no doubt that the President is heading to Israel? And when he is there, he’s going to get a Presidential Medal of Distinction. And the Right wing reactionaries are livid. They just cannot understand why the vast majority of us cannot see that this man is a horrid, vile, Commie, Islamic lovin’ Israel hater. I mean they cannot fathom this as it is SO obvious that he has a “visceral hostility toward Israel.”

Their answer is of course that the person giving him the medal, Israeli President Shimon Peres, is just a figurehead, who is not liked by most of the population.

It makes me laugh. And then I read their shock and dismay again, and I laugh a bit louder and longer.

The circus continues.

•

I do so appreciate a Republican who wants to help the poor. Jeff Sessions is ready to do just that. His method? Cut welfare of course. I mean really, it just breeds dependency doesn’t it? At least that’s what Newt said back in the 90’s when he pushed through the welfare reforms that resulted in tens of thousands losing their benefits. (hint: you might find some of these folks among the homeless today.)

Anyway, Sessions is bristling at the idea that the GOP is being called the party of the rich. And in a memorandum, he made it clear that they shouldn’t tie this deep desire to help out our poor by tying it to deficit reduction–that looks bad. Instead cuts in food stamps and such should be tied to helping business get healthy so those jobs become available. As everyone knows giving stuff to the poor just breeds more grabby people. Everyone knows that.

Boy, I feel ever so much better knowing the GOP really has a heart.

•

If you have been wondering why the price of gas has gone up sharply, well, yes you guessed it, you can blame the neo-cons. They pushed sanctions against Iranian oil, making Europe and others refuse to buy any. The neo-cons were sure of course (they always are) that this would not impact American prices.

They were also sure that Saudi Arabia would pick up the slack. (That now seems unlikely).

West Texas oil is selling at $100 a barrel, which is not good either.

All this causes prices to rise (and Iran gets the benefit of that for what oil it does sell).

Thank your nearest Republican today!

Related articles

• PowerPoint Presentation Shows Boehner Selling The Sequester To His Members In 2011 (tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com)
• The sequester slideshow that may haunt the Speaker (maddowblog.msnbc.com)
• GOP lawmakers don’t fear political impact of sequester taking effect (thehill.com)
• Boehner pushed the sequester that he now blames on Obama (dailykos.com)
• Setting the Record Straight About the Sequester (whitehouse.gov)