A Teachable Moment

Daily Kos: Burn this lesson into your brain, or at least into 20 or so top-notch Washington lawns: The Republican Party is nothing more than a cult:

Republicans want to limit the number of bullets federal agencies can purchase so American gun owners can buy more.  

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. Frank Lucas have introduced a bill that would prohibit every government agency — except the military — from buying more ammunition each month, than the monthly average it purchased from 2001 to 2009.

You'll probably recognize what Inhofe is spouting here as one of the biggest running conspiracy theories in the far-far-right, aka the militia crowd, aka people who shouldn't be trusted with scissors but who are still allowed to have guns, aka Glenn Beck's base. The theory goes that the federal government is buying up huge amounts of ammunition so that their federal agents in, for example, the Treasury Department, are well prepared for the coming military dictatorship in which those agents, e.g. the Treasury Department, will start rounding up all good far-right crackpots and putting them into FEMA camps.

We believe people who try to peddle such garbage should be addressed this way.

Just Like Back Home

ICELAND — The first major victim of the 2008 global financial collapse—isn't in as dire straits as Greece. But that distinction is of scant comfort to people in Reykjavik ahead of Saturday's parliamentary election.

Despite the fact that Iceland's unemployment rate is under 5 percent, voters are expected to send a strong message to the political establishment: The economic data doesn't reflect the ongoing pain, the banks are still skimming far too much off the top and the status quo isn't working.

The government—the first center-left coalition since Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944—has earned praise both at home and abroad for averting a total disaster after the banking collapse by imposing controls on outgoing capital flow and attempting to resist deep austerity. It is, nonetheless, expected to give way to a rightwing coalition after the votes are counted and the dust settles. Polls are indicating that the next prime ,inister will come from either the Progressive or Independence Parties—right and center-right parties that ruled Iceland from 1995 until 2007 and oversaw the corrupt banking privatizations that brought the country to the brink of ruin.

Read that last sentence again.   Sound familiar?  Not just in this country do right-wing parties oversee corrupt banking practices that bring the country to the brink of ruin.  People here, there, and everywhere else would do well to remember that.

Devils

Think Progress: As communities across the nation struggle with the consequences of sequestration cuts to pre-school programs, school aide, unemployment benefits, and jobs, some Republicans in Congress are trumpeting the automatic reductions as sound fiscal policy. 

Appearing on KHTE’s “The Alice Stewart Show” Friday, Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) argued that sequestration is “actually working” and compared the agencies who are complaining about the spending reductions to spoiled children:

BOOZMAN: I really think the FAA and many of the other agencies are trying to figure out how they can make things as painful as possible to the public. And it reminds me of a spoiled brat kid. You take away some of his stuff and, you know, he starts screaming. They don’t want want any cuts period. [...]

I think that you have to have some kind of a spending cap in place. You know, you can knock sequestration or not knock it, but it’s worked in the sense that hit has forced reduction in spending. And I’ve been here 11 years and this is the first time I’ve seen it in this manner, in the sense that it is something that’s actually working.

Sure.  If you think dumping poor cancer patients from their treatment in order to give tax cuts to billionaires and transnational corporations is a great thing, the sequester is definitely working. Of course that makes you a total asshole, but whatever.

We'll See Your Three and Raise You 50,000

Washington (CNN) – Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Thursday the administration is to blame for not preventing last week's terror attack at the Boston Marathon finish line. 

Not nearly to the extent the Republican party was responsible for 9/11 and the tens of thousands of Americans who ended up dead or maimed because of the Iraq lies.  

Deregulation Uber Alles

WEST, Texas — A week after a fertilizer plant explosion killed 14 residents, injured more than 150 others and leveled scores of homes, one emotion is notably absent here among citizens and officials alike: outrage. 

"Water under the bridge," said Steve Vanek, West's mayor pro-tem, referring to decisions that allowed homes and schools to be built near the plant.

"It was an accident, and accidents do happen," said Jean Smith, 66, whose home lost most of its roof and sustained structural damage. 

The attitudes of local residents partly reflect the character of a small Texas town. "I mind my own business, and that's what a lot of people do around here," said Jeanette Karlik, who writes a column for a local newspaper.

But the views are also part of a long political tradition in Texas of shunning heavy government regulation despite some of the worst industrial accidents in the nation's history.

Forget about party over country, these conservatives pick party over family, friends and neighbors. George Orewell said this:

"We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, is possible to carry this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield"  

Basically he's saying once people around you start dropping the bullshit comes to an end. This may be true of people who are not psychopaths.  But not, it seems, Republicans.  Some kind of red state psychosis.  They will sacrifice everything, including themselves, for the movement. Kim Jong Un over there in North Korea would be proud.

Like Minds

WASHINGTON — Alex Jones is not surprised that the media is reporting that Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a fan of his Infowars website, he told BuzzFeed on Tuesday. 

Neither are we.  Older brother Boston bomber, Republicans in congress, Republicans at the state level and rank and file Republicans all get their information from the same place.

People who broadcast bullshit are a danger to our democracy.  The people who listen to them sometimes turn out to be bombers, sometimes not.  But either way, it's not a good idea to vote with them, for them, or for anything they are in favor of.

Jewing em Down.

Americablog:  Rank and file GOP lawmakers continue to take the term “re-branding” to mean affirming their party’s unique brand of sexual, racial, religious and cultural intolerance.

Yesterday, the co-majority leader of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Dennis Johnson (R-Duncan), casually tossed out an anti-Semitic slur - to “Jew down the price” – during a debate over a bill that would outlaw big-box retailers from selling their products at a loss in order to bankrupt local small businesses

If you follow the link and watch the video you will see Boss Hog and his audience laughing about it afterward.  In addition to being racist, the base of the Republican party is also anti-Semetic. And they have a thing for Nazis.  As a matter of fact, conservatives make common cause with Nazis, have candidates that like to dress up and behave like Nazis, pose for pictures with Nazis, deny the Holocaust was carried out by Nazis, and accept endorsements from Nazis, have Nazis working for them overseas, former officials that were Nazis, current officials that are Nazis, senators who are supported financially by Nazis, commentators that praise Nazis, supporters that are fascists, and administrations that employ "Jew Hunters."  And oh yeah, whose preeminent political family got rich underwriting the Nazi war machine. 

No Souls

WASHINGTON -- Patricia Maisch, a hero of the Tucson shooting that left six dead and another 13 wounded, including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), was escorted by police out of the Capitol Wednesday for telling senators that they should be ashamed of themselves for blocking a provision requiring background checks for gun sales. 
...
Outside the Senate chamber Wednesday, Maisch was surrounded by reporters. "When I was told it was done, I decided that I could not stay still any longer, that they need to be ashamed of themselves," she said. "They have no souls. They have no compassion for the experiences that people have lived through ... [having] a child or loved one murdered by a gun. They say that it's not the gun, it's the man. I'm here to tell you ... The man and the gun become intimate and they cannot do the act without each other. So the gun is part of the problem."

No souls for sure.  But a boat load of money from the gun industry they represent.   What do you do with people who trade the lives of children for gun industry profits?

Terrorist Farm Workers

TPM: Rep. Steve King (R-IA) speculated Tuesday that given certain details related to the Boston marathon attacks, lawmakers should be more cautious in their effort to reform the nation's immigration system.

Not sure why.  The vast majority of terrorist attacks in this country come from right-wing, Republican types.    

Thanks For The Confirmation

Think Progress:  During the long fight to end apartheid in the American South, defenders of segregation would frequently dismiss civil rights workers as nothing more than “outside agitators” intruding on communities that did not want them. Nearly 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, little appears to have changed in the Georgia governor’s mansion. In response to a request to support students in Wilcox County, Georgia seeking to integrate their high school’s still-segregated prom, Gov. Nathan Deal (R-GA)’s office channeled the spirit of George Wallace:

Gov. Nathan Deal won’t take sides in the controversy over some Wilcox County teens’ efforts to integrate their prom.

By email, his spokesman, Brian Robinson, said Deal would have no response to a liberal group’s call for state officials, including the governor to speak out.

He wrote, “This is a leftist front group for the state Democratic party and we’re not going to lend a hand to their silly publicity stunt.”

Better Georgia asked Deal and others “to publicly support the students of Wilcox County who are fighting to end a ‘separate-but-equal’ high school prom.”

While we wouldn't call  desegregation efforts - then or now - a publicity stunt (we would actually file that under 'basic human rights'), Deal is absolutely correct that it's progressives who are fighting his conservative movement in this struggle.  And it's always been that way.  Liberals freed the slaves, got women the right to vote, fought for the worker rights and protections that created the American middle class, and continue to lead the struggle against segregation, racism, and exploitation.  And conservatives continue to fight them every step of the way.  And while history is clear on these matters, it's always nice to have a conservative come along every once in a while and publicly agree. 

Fascists

Huffingtonpost: Tea party Republicans in New Hampshire want to press criminal charges against state legislators who voted to repeal the state's Stand Your Ground law and kick them out of office. 

So much for democracy.  Hitler would be proud.  

What's That All About?

Americablog:  Sandy Rios, the former head of the Concerned Women for America, and now a radio host for the American Family Association, is worried about Jews.

In a discussion with birther and Swiftboater Jerome Corsi, who has made some odd comments about Jews before, Rios delves into her concern that “powerful Jewish forces” are behind the ACLU:

Rios: I know that there are powerful Jewish forces behind the ACLU; can you just say a word about that very briefly, what’s that all about?

And of course the AFA is big time in the GOP.  So not only is the Republican party racist but they're also anti-Semetic. Seriously anti-Semetic.  As a matter of fact In this country conservatives make common cause with Nazis, have candidates that like to dress up and behave like Nazis, pose for pictures with Nazis, deny the Holocaust was carried out by Nazis, and accept endorsements from Nazis, have Nazis working for them overseas, former officials that were Nazis, current officials that are Nazis, senators who are supported financially by Nazis, commentators that praise Nazis, supporters that are fascists, and administrations that employ "Jew Hunters."  And oh yeah, whose preeminent political family got rich underwriting the Nazi war machine. 

Not Their Responsiblity

Huffington Post: Oklahoma state Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-Oklahoma City) told fellow lawmakers last week that they have no responsibility to ensure students have access to a college education.

Nor do Republican elected representatives think it's their job to make sure the food supply is safe, or that the financial system is stable, or that the infrastructure is solid, and on and on.  Republicans think of government as nothing more than a means to get rich and transfer wealth from the taxpayers to their super-rich political supporters.  Hand a couple of trillion taxpayer dollars to the military-industrial complex for a bullshit war, great.  Spend a tiny fraction of that to invest in the future competitiveness of the country?  Not their responsibility. 

The Bloody 13

TPM: The number of GOP senators pledging to filibuster any gun control bill has grown to 13.  The original supporters of a filibuster, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), have now swelled their ranks, according to Politico.

In addition to Paul, Lee, Cruz, Rubio and Moran, the Republican [sic] who have signed the second letter are Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Jim Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho, Dan Coats of Indiana and Pat Roberts of Kansas.

They should show up to work drenched in the blood of those children killed at Newtown. We need to do what we can to make folks see them as such.

Since He's Not Sure

Think Progress:  Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), one of four remaining Senate Democrats who have not come out for marriage equality, told a local Arkansas news station on Friday that he is “undecided” on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry and is unsure if being gay is a choice.  

Well then we're going to let him off the hook.  Not because he's a Democrat, but because we would like to give Mr Pryor a little more time to come to terms with the fact that he feels he could possibly make the choice to become sexually aroused enough by another man to have sexual intercourse with another man.  We hope that once he accepts the fact he's most likely gay or bisexual his position on same sex marriage with come around. 

State Religion

Think Progress: The Constitution “does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal courts the power to determine what is or is not constitutional” according to a resolution sponsored by North Carolina House Majority Leader Edgar Starnes (R) and ten of his fellow Republicans — a statement that puts them at odds with over 200 years of constitutional law. In light of this novel reading of the Constitution, Starnes and his allies also claim that North Carolina is free to ignore the Constitution’s ban on government endorsement of religion:

SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.
SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools, or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

Let's put aside for a moment the fact the Republicans are again spitting all over the constitution by ignoring the supremecy clause.  Let's also ignore for now that conservatives already betrayed the country in the civil war, using states rights (to keep slavery) as the justification for their treason.  Let's just say for now that if Republicans want to live in a theocracy they should move to a country that has one.  We suggest Iran. 

Cancer

Americablog: Thousands of Medicare patients are being turned away from cancer clinics, that were previously conducting their chemotherapy, because of the sequester’s cuts to Medicare.

Well, at least the billionaires and transnational corporations can still get all their tax breaks. It's very important to the Republican party that Mitt Romney and Exxon Mobile pay little or no federal income tax.  Important enough to let people die. 

Voter Suppression With a Cherry On Top

Daily Kos  North Carolina Republicans have filed a bill that would penalize parents of college students who vote in the town where they go to college. Students would still be allowed to register to vote in their college town—but if they did, their parents would lose a tax deduction of up to $2,500. The same bill would also force people to have their car registered and be registered to vote in the same place, again targeting college students who are likely to register their cars in their hometowns but vote where they attend college.

House Minority Leader Larry Hall said the bill "would raise taxes on middle-class families who are trying to put their children through college.”

“I refuse to believe the Republican leadership has become so desperate to limit voting for partisan gain that they would be willing to support tax increases to achieve that goal," said Hall, D-Durham. "It is the definition of arrogance to penalize parents with new taxes just because their children want to exercise their right to vote in the community they live in.”

Wow.  So this is not your typical Republican voter suppression/voter intimidation scheme.  This one comes with the added bonus of a tax increase on the parents of kids already struggling to send their kids to college.  How low are these people going to go?

From Near Collapse to Booming.

AFP/Raw Story: General Motors (NYSE: GM – news) , Ford (NYSE: F – news) and Chrysler (Xetra: 710000 – news) reported their best US sales performances since 2007 on Tuesday amid booming overall auto demand following the US industry’s near-collapse five years ago.

Such is the difference between Republican and Democratic Party public policy.

Sick

Raw Story: Officials in Florida on Monday said that an elected Florida Republican Party committeeman had been arrested on multiple charges of possessing and transmitting child pornography. 

Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson confirmed to The Northwest Florida Daily News that Lane Rees, a former Walton County Commissioner, was taken into custody around 5 p.m. on Monday after a month-long investigation. 

There does seem to be a very high incidence of child molestation in conservative circles. We figure it's the repressive nature of the fake morality in the movement.  It makes people hide and suppress their normal adult urges until they explode in fits of criminal perversion. 

You Go Gary

Booman:  We continue to hear arguments from the Republican establishment that the party is too socially conservative, particularly on gay marriage and immigration reform. But the social conservatives have a pretty decent rebuttal. Take this, from Gary Bauer:

Social conservatives are particularly — and understandably — bothered that the elites rarely want to discuss the elephant in the room: that the party’s economic policies don’t necessarily appeal to the the rank and file, who vote Republican because it is the party of traditional values.

“If we gave our voters an accurate portrayal of our ideas, that we want to cut the rate of growth on Social Security, give tax cuts to billionaires and then the values issues, the values issues would be more popular than the economic agenda of the current Republican Party,” said Bauer, citing particularly those Mass-attending Roman Catholics who have fled the Democrats.

Bauer added, “I would caution the donor wing of the Republican Party that is driving a lot of this: If they think social conservatives are the only thing preventing Republicans from winning, they’ll learn that their economic agenda will go down the tubes along with the Republican Party’s prospects.”

That's a pretty astonishing admission on Gary Bauer's part, if you stop and consider the implications of what he's saying. If you just read between the lines there a little bit, he's saying that the Republican Party's leaders (including Mr. Bauer himself) are not giving an accurate portrayal of their economic policies to the rank-and-file. He's saying that he basically gives the party a pass on economic policies that don't serve his value-voters' interests. He's saying that he and other socially conservative leaders are basically in on the hoax, and that they'll tell the truth about the GOP's economic plans if their social interests are no longer represented in the party. 

He's saying the only way Republicans get poor and middle class whites to stab themselves in the throat economically is God, guns, and gays.   That's something we all know but it's rare indeed to have one of their own articulate it.  In any case, it's a truth that if widely accepted would decimate the Republican party and the conservative movement.  Here's to the truth no matter who's telling it.