Bound to Happen

Focus on the Family: Anti-Bullying Efforts Are A Gay Front

Wow. That's sort of out of left field. Just as with most bizarre anti-gay ranting there's usually a fair bit of gayness behind it. We figure somebody else is about to be outed.

Keep'n em Stupid

Speaking at a forum for the right-wing Steamboat Institute last week, Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle effectively declared that public schools should cease to exist. Early in her speech, Angle reiterated her belief that America should abolish the federal Department of Education.

Whether vouchers, attacking science, or abolishing the Department of Education, a cornerstone of Republican party public policy has been to de-fund education. We figure the dumber people are the easier it is for the GOP to get folks to forget about economic meltdown, massive oil spills, and fraudulent wars. That, and well educated, well informed people don't generally vote against their own best interest.

Insane

Newsweek poll: A majority of Republicans believe that President Barack Obama "sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world," according to a survey released on Monday.

And one out of four Republicans believe he may just be the anti-Christ. You can't reason with people like this but you don't have to vote with them either.

Like He Cares

Last month, Alaska GOP U.S. Senate candidate and Tea Party favorite Joe Miller said that unemployment benefits are unconstitutional. “The unemployment compensation benefits have gotten — first of all, it’s not constitutionally authorized,” he said, adding, “I think that’s the first thing that’s gotta be looked at.” This morning on Face the Nation he declared Social Security and Medicare unconstitutional as well.

These days the GOP thinks half of the constitution is unconstitutional. In recent months they have demonstrated open hostility to the fourth amendment, the fifth amendment, the eighth amendment, the 14th amendment, the 16th amendment, the 17th amendment, Article VI, the Civil Rights Act, the establishment clause, posse comitatus and due process. The Democrats should take this as another opportunity to point out just how anti-constitution the Republican party has become.

Blood Money

Headline: Health Insurers Backing Republicans By 8:1 Margin

Blood money. The top people at these companies make tens of millions of dollars a year. In some cases hundreds of millions of dollars. That's your health care money paying for their mansions, Lear jets and private petting zoos. And this is the Republican party being paid to keep it that way.

Don't Need To Look Far

The Plumb Line: In an interview with a conservative talk show host yesterday, Sharron Angle was given two clear chances to disavow the claim that there are "domestic enemies" within Congress, an assertion she previously expressed unequivocal agreement with. Both times, Angle refused.

Actually given the historical results of her public policy, if Bin Ladin was eligible to vote in Nevada, he would vote the GOP ticket. People who advocate for the policies that bring these terrible results are a clear and present danger to the United States of America. If Sharon Angels wants to find a domestic enemy all she needs to do is look in the mirror.

Crusaders

Appearing before the Republican Women of Bossier with Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) cast the November elections as a choice between godlessness and Christianity. He also called bipartisanship impossible. "We have two competing world views here and there is no way that we can reach across the aisle -- one is going to have to win," Fleming said. "We are either going to go down the socialist road and become like western Europe and create, I guess really a godless society, an atheist society. Or we're going to continue down the other pathway where we believe in freedom of speech, individual liberties and that we remain a Christian nation. So we're going to have to win that battle, we're going to have to solve that argument before we can once again reach across and work together on things."

Sounds like he's about to throw some people to the lions. These views are a threat to our religious freedoms and an assault on the separation between church and state. People who hold these views should be disqualified from holding public office. Unfortunately, far from that, they're fast becoming the standard for the Republican party. We do however like the choice to appear with Sen Shitter. Now somebody buy this ridiculously ignorant tool a ticket to Rome so he can go tell the Vatican about their "godless society."

Picture This

With most of the votes counted Joe Miller (R-AK) is poised to knock off Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska Republican senate primary. Among other things he wants to eliminate the Department of Education, believes the government shouldn't pay for unemployment insurance and says of climate change on his campaign site that it "may not even exist." He says he would cut welfare; eliminate health care for the poor by scrapping Medicaid; and the Anchorage Daily News reported that he has has called for sweeping cuts to Medicare and Social Security with a goal of phasing them out entirely in favor of total privatization.

This guy would have Americans dying in the street. And make no mistake, people like Joe Miller, Sharon Angle and Rand Paul are the here and now of the Republican party. Any vote, for any Republican, anywhere, is a vote for this agenda.

Taking It Back

Glenn Beck: My rally will 'reclaim the civil rights movement'

Fresh off calling Obama's America Planet of the Apes and admiring Nazi's, Beck is out to reclaim the civil rights movement. Of course, this would be impossible because Beck and his followers never had the civil rights movement in the first place. In fact they were using their "The Southern Strategy" to fight against the civil rights movement. Beck's daily demagoguery makes clear they still are.

Knew That

Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman: I'm gay

The Gutter Truth: No shit

Look, everybody knew that Ken. What we want to know is how you could bash gays for political gain your entire career while being gay yourself. But hey, at least you came out on your own and didn't wait until you got busted trying to hook up in a public bathroom or going to Rentboy.com or something like that. Now what's up with your boy Lindsey...

Rights

The American right-wing: They have a right to build the Cordoba House community center two blocks from ground zero but that doesn't mean they should do it.

Perhaps... What's also true is that the American right-wing has a right to be a bunch of shameless bigots, but that doesn't mean they should do it.

Common Cause

Think Progress: Right-Wing Christian Militia Vows To Protect Florida Church Burning Qurans On September 11

That's one hell of a headline. It's amazing the right-wing is not only going to get away with ginning up religious division just before the election, but they're going to benefit politically from it. In fact, only two groups are happy with this situation, Bin Ladin and his ilk, and the American right-wing. Voters would do well to note that in November.

Viva Las Vegas!

QUESTION: The only repository for nuclear waste planned or conceived or developed for this country is Yucca Mountain in Nevada, and it is stopped dead in its tracks by Harry Reid. If the Republicans can take back Congress, what position would the party take on opening Yucca Mountain so our nuclear reactors have someplace to put their waste?

BOEHNER: Most Republicans have supported Yucca Mountain for the twenty years that I've been here and the American people would be shocked to know how much nuclear waste is laying just miles from their home. It's laying at every nuclear plant in the country and why? Because we can't get Yucca Mountain finished because it's not politically correct. We've invested tens of billions of dollars in a storage facility that's as safe as anything we're going to find.

You hear that Nevada? For the last 20 years the GOP has wanted to turn your state into a nuclear waste dump. They want to take this ridiculously dangerous material from just about every state in the union and bury it all in your backyard. You vote GOP and they will do exactly that.

Bring It On

A U.S. district court today halted the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, saying it involves the destruction of human embryos, potentially re-igniting a longtime cultural hot button issue just in time for the fall elections.

Brand the GOP as dangerously anti-science, cruelly anti-cure, and needlessly wasteful (as the embryos would just be destroyed anyway). Ask them if they were in a burning room and could save only one person or one petri dish containing 6 stem cell embryos about to be discarded, which would they save? Put sick people up on the screen and tell the American people who is holding us back from the cure. Time to toughen up. The election cometh....

The New Gay

Statement on the Cordoba House from Rand Paul's (R-KY) campaign: "While this is a local matter that should be decided by the people of New York, Dr. Paul does not support a mosque being built two blocks from Ground Zero. In Dr. Paul's opinion, the Muslim community would better serve the healing process by making a donation to the memorial fund for the victims of September 11th."

It's amazing how the Republican party can conjure up a bigoted wedge issue that riles up their base before every election. Of course it's made easier by the fact their base is built with bigots. We also note that when the issue was the Civil Rights Act Rand Paul defended the property owner's rights to do whatever they wanted on their property, including their right to refuse to serve black people. Seems that come election time only white, straight, Christian people have rights.

The Inquisitors

Last Friday, a Republican National Committee woman Kim Lehman, responding to an article about the polls in Politico, accused the publication of trying "to protect Obama" by denying his true religious heritage. "BTW he personally told the muslims that he IS a muslim," wrote the Iowa RNC member. "Read his lips."

What is this, the Inquisition? We suppose people call them the American Taliban for a reason. This is your Republican party. And they don't belong anywhere near public service.

More Bob McShameless

Virginia Gove Bob McDonnell (R): We can’t keep adding a trillion and a half dollars to the national debt every year with this deficit, you’ve got to be fiscally prudent and incentivize the free enterprise system so you don't have more government bailouts and more dependence of people on government.

It was the unregulated free enterprise system which helped cause the economic meltdown that made the bailouts necessary. And it wasn't the people who became dependent on the government, it was the leaders of finance and industry that came begging to the government after they looted the financial system. As for the shameless Mr McDonnell, the people would be better served by somebody who wasn't lying to them constantly and trying to bring back the policies that led to the meltdown.

Shameless

Shorter Think Progress: Virginia is “feeling flush” after turning a $1.8 billion deficit into a $403.2 million budget surplus at the close of the fiscal year. In a celebratory speech before the Virginia legislature Thursday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) credited higher tax revenue, state agencies’ fiscal responsibility, and serious budget cuts for the state’s ability “to balance the books.” No mention of the $2.5 billion in stimulus relief he got from the federal government provided in part specifically to “help close the state’s budget shortfall in 2010-2012.”

It takes a person of special rottenness to politic against something and then after it works, ignore it while claiming responsibility for its success. Thankfully this time we have simple math to show what disingenuous jerks these people really are.

Unanimous

Every single Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) is a global warming denier. Appearing at a debate hosted by the Seacoast Republican Women in Portsmouth, NH on Wednesday, the six candidates — from millionaire businessmen Bill Binnie and Jim Bender to former attorney general Kelly Ayotte — were unanimous in their denial of man-made climate change.

It's become the GOP standard to deny science no matter the issue. This should disqualify them from public office. It's impossible to provide responsible leadership when you reject the Socratic method.

"A Constant Humiliation"

An influential Muslim GOP donor is at the end of her tether, and tells TPM she may eventually have to leave the Republican party over its opposition to the Cordoba House project and anti-Muslim positions.

Used to be if you were a non-white, non-Christian rich person, the GOP could put away their racism long enough to take your money . No longer.

Nazis, Skinheads, and Muslims

KARL ROVE: The vast majority of the American people believe there is freedom of religion in our Constitution and that right of freedom of expression would be best exercised by not building it here. Look, in that same first amendment there’s a right to freedom of speech. Who believes that skinheads should show up at a Black sorority convention and scream bigoted remarks? Who believes there’s a right of freedom of assembly. Who believes Neo-Nazis should show up at the B’nai B’rith hotel and have their meeting in the next meeting room?

First of all comparing American Muslims to Nazis is sick. But the Republican party has been a haven for racists and bigots for the last 50 years, so to be honest we're not really sure where Rove is going with this.

Somebody Should Look Into That.

Headline: Does News Corp’s Donation To The Republican Governors Association Violate Its Own Company Policy?

We're not sure we care. But the Saudi Royal Family is part owner of Fox News Corp.
And it's damn sure illegal to have a foreign government, much less one that's been accused of being a state sponsor of terrorism, buying government officials.

The Company You Keep

Think Progress:  This past weekend anti-immigrant activists staged rallies in three different locations: “anti-amnesty” protesters gathered in Farmers Branch, TX, Tea Party members rallied at the border in Arizona, and neo-Nazis marched down the streets of Knoxville, TN. The three separate, but related protests illustrate how the white supremacist movement has latched onto the immigration issue.

Examples of the Republican party making common cause with Nazis and racists are so prevalent it's hardy a surprise anymore. But still, it's outrageous and dangerous. The Democrats need to make it an issue.

Running On The Constitution

President Barack Obama stepped forcefully into the debate over the "Ground Zero mosque" Friday with an impassioned defense of freedom of religion. One Republican senator says the president has now made this an election issue. Sen. John Cornyn told Fox News' Bret Baier that voters would "render their verdict" in November.

We hope so. The Republicans need to be punished for standing against the Bill of Rights.

Killers

A survey carried out by Right Wing News sampled 43 mostly conservative bloggers as to whom they see as being the worst of the "gangsters, serial killers, mass murderers, incompetent and crooked politicians, spies, traitors, and ultra left-wing kooks,"in American history. The winner? Jimmy Carter.

And yes, Timothy McVeigh was an option. Perhaps he didn't win because in addition to being a mass murderer he was a right-wing kook, which as you can see, wasn't among the criteria.

Pinochet

Sharon Angle on privatising Social Security: Chile's done it

Uh, yeah... ok, see the guy that did it was a brutal dictator. A psychopath. A mass murderer. Could be worse though. At least she hasn't praised any of Hitler's policies. Not yet anyway.

Tools

The Hill: Tea Party groups out against net neutrality

Rather than have the government keep the internet free and open they would rather have it turned over to the for-profit corporation. From the death panels on the tea baggers have been stooges for the corporation. One wonders if any of them even know it.

Stormfront Babies

On CNN Anderson Coopers 360 state Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-TX) argued that pregnant foreign women are having babies in the U.S. “with the nefarious purpose of turning them into little terrorists, who will then come back to the U.S. and do us harm.” The next day, Cooper spoke with Tom Fuentes, the FBI’s former assistant director in the office of international operations, who affirmed that “[t]here was never a credible report — or any report, for that matter — coming across through all the various mechanisms of communication to indicate that there was such a plan for these terror babies to be born.”

It's possible that's somebody's idiotic plan. It's also possible some white-Christian-right-wing-racist parents are having babies right here with the same hope. Call them Tim McVeigh babies. Anyway, what was her point again?

Since You Brought it Up

A new billboard on Highway 71 in Missouri shows the President alongside ruthless dictators Adolph Hitler and Mao Tse-Tung. It reads "In troubled times, the fearful and naive are always drawn to charismatic radicals," the billboard reads, showing Obama as a symbol of "Democratic Socialism," Hitler as an agent of "National Socialism" and Mao as a purveyor of "Communist Socialism."

Despite what it says on this billboard we can't think of any credible association between Obama and Hitler. We can however quite easily show the deep relationship, past and present, between the American right-wing and Nazis/white supremacists. First of course, the Bush family got rich underwriting the Nazi war machine. Then the GOP used the self described "Southern Strategy" to build their base with racists. And to this day the GOP and white supremacist organizations make common cause. They really shouldn't have brought it up.

Spokesperson

We're not in the business of hitting Democrats but this guy is terrible. He's got to go. And not just because he's never heard of a power tie.

Well, Yeah, There's That.

Conservative Radio host Mark Levin: "Clinton used to pander to the Jews in New York so she could get elected.

Perhaps... but at least the base of her party doesn't believe the Jews killed Jesus and because of it they will all burn in hell forever.

-R(OI)

The title of this graph is Wall Street Contributions by Party. The story of this graph is: GOP policy destroys economy. Democrats gain power. Wall Street gives more to the party in power. Democrats try to use their power to regulate Wall Street and fix the regulatory defect in GOP policy that contributed to the destruction of the economy. Wall Street gives all their money to the GOP. GOP goes to the mat to try and stop the Democrats from regulating Wall Street. Great for the GOP. Terrible for the country.

Psychopath

Headline: Paul Denies ‘Kidnapping’ Anyone, But Won’t Deny He Forced A Woman To Bow To Aqua Buddha

Rand Paul is dangerous. Not because of what he was into in college but because he's is a big fan of mountain top removal mining, he thinks corporations should regulate themselves, he doesn't think the government can tell business they can't discriminate against black people, and he has common cause with people who want to replace the constitution with the bible. And a big swath of the GOP agrees with him on pretty much all fronts. Any voters who are not deranged themselves should consider that when they cast their lot in November.

To Know It Is To Hate It

Over the weekend, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was in Homer, Alaska, to film her TLC documentary series Sarah Palin’s Alaska. Alaskan teacher Kathleen Gustafson decided to welcome Palin with a banner reading “WORST GOVERNOR EVER.” Upon seeing Gustafson’s handiwork, Palin walked over to talk with her. Gustafson told Palin that she was angry that the former governor quit to become a “celebrity.” Palin tried to defend herself, claiming that she’s working to “elect candidates who understand the Constitution,” but the teacher was unmoved, insisting that if Palin really wanted to help the people of the state, she would not have quit her post. At one point, Palin asked Gustafson what she did for a living. When Gustafson responded that she is a teacher, Palin visibly rolled her eyes.

Palin may well be helping to elect candidates who understand the constitution, but they damn sure don't like it. Her brand of Republican is showing open hostility to large parts of our basic system. They are fans neither of our constitution or our democracy

Teh Gay

Florida Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum is telling Florida Baptist News that he wants to expand Florida’s discriminatory adoption laws to prohibit gay people from serving as foster parents:

MCCOLLUM: I don’t believe in gay adoption. I don’t believe in involving the government in enforcing or encouraging the lifestyle of gays and homosexuals. I just don’t believe that. [...]

Since McCollum personally made the decision to give over $100,000.00 of taxpayer money to a guy who promptly ran off to Europe with a gay male prostitute, he's obviously full of shit. Since it seems for all the world the more these people discriminate against gays the more they actually turn out to be gay themselves, somebody should investigate McCollum's personal life. We think he doth protest too much.

Feeding The Base

On his Fox News show on Thursday Glenn Beck compared President Obama's America to Planet of the Apes.

Republicans know their base will respond to racist messages because they deliberately built their base with racists.

Half Right

JIM DEMINT (R-SC): The decisions that have been made about our economy over the last couple of years have brought our economy to its knees. This is no longer something we can blame on President Bush. In fact, the Democrats have been in control of policy making, economic policy spending, for four years now. This is not Bush’s recession. This is the result of Democrat economic polices. This nomination will continue our move in the wrong direction.

We actually agree with Demint that we can't blame this on Bush. Bush was just an empty vessel stuffed with standard GOP public policy. It was that standard GOP fiscal, economic and regulatory policy that caused the economic meltdown. Implement it again and we will suffer the same result.

Don't Need No Stinkin Federal Law

The Roanoke Times reports that in response to a question at a town hall meeting Wednesday Virginia Gov Bob McDonnell (R) declined to say whether he backed "nullification," the idea states can ignore federal law.

So we know the Republican party doesn't like the the fourth amendment, the fifth amendment, the eighth amendment, the 14th amendment, the 16th amendment, the 17th amendment, Article VI, the Civil Rights Act, the establishment clause, posse comitatus or due process. McDonnell is now another Republican in the anti-Article VI column. Democrats all over the country need to be asking the question: do Republicans stand with the constitution or against it.

Special Interests

Yesterday, the Senate finally overcame a Republican filibuster to approve $26 billion in funding to bolster state budgets, including $10 billion to prevent massive teacher layoffs. Police and firefighters would have also been cut. The bill is paid for by closing some tax loopholes for multinational corporations that offshore.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) on the bill this morning: "The American people don't want more Washington 'stimulus' spending - especially in the form of a pay-off to union bosses and liberal interests."

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) responded: "Incredibly, the Republican Leader John Boehner disparagingly referred to those who teach our children, protect our homes, and keep our streets safe as ‘special interests.’ Washington Republicans are opposed to supporting our teachers, firefighters, and policemen at home in order to protect corporate tax loopholes that promote the export of American jobs.”

We have nothing to add. Rep. Van Hollen did well. Everybody should run with that.

Priorities

Today, the Senate invoked cloture on a jobs bill that provides states with $26 billion in funding for Medicaid and to prevent mass layoffs of teachers. It decreases the deficit by $1.3 billion over ten years through cuts to food stamps and closing corporate tax loopholes. Two Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — voted to invoke cloture and end the ongoing filibuster. The rest of the Republican caucus, however, voted no. That’s 38 Republican senators who voted against a deficit reducing jobs bill.

So basically the entire GOP senate caucus tried to kill a bill that would give desperately needed medicaid money to the states and prevent mass layoffs of teachers, police officers and firefighters, because it paid for itself by closing some tax loopholes for companies that offshore. Even after they demanded the Democrats cut the pittance that was in there for food stamps. Unreal.

Pretty Serious

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told WHMI, a Michigan radio station, that Pfc. Bradley Manning should be executed if he did, in fact, leak classified documents and video to WikiLeaks. [...]

"If they won't charge him with treason, they ought to charge him with murder," Rogers said yesterday. [...]

"We know for a fact that people will likely be killed because of this information being disclosed," he said. "That's pretty serious."

Cheney First. Valerie Plame ran a decades in the making spy network that tracked nuclear material and technology with the aim of keeping it away from people who would use it to attack the United States. It was one of most important national security assets in the history of this country. The Republicans burned it on purpose. And we could all get vaporized as a result. Somebody should hang for that.

Raped

Ken Buck, who is running in the Colorado Republican Senate primary, has surged in recent polls due in large part to tea party support. In a video obtained by the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, Buck stakes out a position on abortion that is likely to appeal to his far-right base, saying that even in the cases of rape and incest, abortions should not be allowed:

BUCK: I am pro-life, and I’ll answer the next question. I don’t believe in the exceptions of rape or incest. I believe that the only exception, I guess, is life of the mother. And that is only if it’s truly life of the mother.

So if a girl is raped by her father and gets pregnant, this guy wants to force the girl to have her fathers baby. Sound extreme? It is. It's also a plank in the Republican Party platform.

What They're Thinking

Rand Paul to Details Magazine: “The bottom line is: I’m not an expert, so don’t give me the power in Washington to be making rules,” Paul said at a recent campaign stop in response to questions about April’s deadly mining explosion in West Virginia…“You live here, and you have to work in the mines. You’d try to make good rules to protect your people here. If you don’t, I’m thinking that no one will apply for those jobs.”

Let coal mining companies and other corporations make the rules for themselves because if they don't do it responsibly people wont apply to work there. That's what he's thinking. We're thinking Paul is just espousing standard Republican regulatory philosophy. And we're thinking that philosophy kills people.

Corporate America (R-US)

LA Times: Reporting from Washington — Driven by increasing anger at Democratic policies and by recent Supreme Court decisions unshackling corporate contributions, business and conservative groups are preparing a flood of campaign money to try to wrest control of Congress from the Democrats. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest collection point for corporate contributions, has increased its spending for the congressional election in November from $35 million in 2008 to a projected $75 million this year. Officials say it may go even higher.

Corporate money is flooding into the GOP. Should the GOP take over in November the corporations will get what they paid for. If the American people want government by the corporation they should vote GOP.

Don't Need Facts

This morning on Fox News Sunday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), claimed he doesn’t need to listen to economists or consider economic data when putting together his policy agenda:

WALLACE: Congressman — a number of top economists say what we need is more economic stimulus.

BOEHNER: Well, I don’t need to see GDP numbers or to listen to economists. All I need to do is listen to the American people, because they’ve been asking the question now for 18 months, “where are the jobs?”

Perhaps their refusal to consider things like data, facts, experts, history, or reality is one reason their public policy always brings such horrible results. And jobs? Why would anybody listen to a Republican about jobs?

Last 34 years of jobs created per month:

Carter 218,000
Reagan 166,000
HW Bush 53,000
Clinton 239,000
GW Bush 37,000

Crib Notes

This morning on Fox News Sunday Chris Wallace asked former half-term governor Sarah Palin about letting the Bush tax cuts expire. He pointed out that “the Republicans keep talking about being deficit hawks. This is $678 billion you are not going to pay for.” Palin responded “no, this is going to result in the largest tax increase in U.S. history. Again, it’s idiotic.” Wallace proceeded to let Palin spend the next minute reading from notes on paper that she had written down. He interrupted her just for a moment to ask if she had anything written down on her hand, to which she responded that she did.

We respectfully suggest Ms Palin might be better suited to a career as a spokesmodel instead of President of the United States. But what does it say about the Republican party that they would vault this woman all the way to the top just because she's a MILF?