Time to Choose: Democracy or Slavery

"Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I'm elected governor," Billionaire Religious Bigot Dictator Wannabe Tim Michels, who is running to be Governor of Wisconsin.

All across the Nation, Republicans are broadcasting their Authoritarian intentions, with the prime goal of establishing permanent oppressive, intolerant Republican Rule.  The Corporate Media won't say anything about this; except to run their standard storylines of BothSidesDoIt and Democrats in Disarray.  It's up to Us too slow, stop, and reverse the Vile and Murderous Actions of the Crypto-Fascist Republican Party.

And yes there are structural rules and undemocratic traditions deeply embedded in the Nation which makes this a heavy lift, besides the perfidious back-stabbing of the likes of Kyrsten Sinema. 

And realize before you claim it's hyperbole or that's just what everyone says about the current election; understand that Republicans in numerous States, in the Federal Government, and all the way up to the Supreme Court have already begun to restrict rights, impose oppressive burdens, ensconce undemocratic methods, and are resolved to go further and further and further.

They've already begun with Abortion, which, if the GQP wins majorities, will quickly be made unlawful across the country.  Along with a host of other medical procedures because the GQP are coming for Contraception.  Bodily Autonomy. Same-Sex Marriage.  Social Security.  Medicare.  Your very Right to Vote at all.

Everything is on line.

And yes when the Republicans underperform tomorrow November 8, 2022, they will scream and shout and cry Fraud, lie about their Stolen "Victories", and incite their Rightwing Domestic Terrorists to further actions which make Jan 6th seem like a picnic on the Capitol grounds because that's what Rightwing political thought is these days violence and lies.

So go and vote while you still can but, also get ready to fight for your very lives afterwards because Republicans and Rightwingers are coming for them.

How to Combat Gun Violence

Let's get the sadly Ridiculous out of the way first. Having to train school children to rush a rampaging gunman shows how deeply and thoroughly Guns have broken our Society. But. If you find yourself near a Mass Shooting you have two basic options: Fight or Flee.

Unfortunately, what many do is the third F; Freeze.

Understand that you are at a severe disadvantage. The Gunman has already decided on a course of action and you are reacting. Action trumps Reaction. Nonetheless, a general rule to apply is your distance to the Gunman.

If you find yourself within 21 feet of the Gunman attacking might be your best option. It's called the Tueller Drill. Your attack should be brutal, swift, and encompass everything at your disposal; pens, teeth, knee strikes, whatever. Close, Dominate, Finish.

If you're further away locate cover and move to it. From that position of cover locate new cover and move. Continue until you're far enough away.

Now, I am sickened that having to explain, teach and practice your response to a Mass Shooting Incident is necessary but, because of the evil efforts of the NRA, ALEC and the bad faith of Right-Wingers it is necessary.

Yes, I know name calling isn't going to help. But, we need constant rhetorical cracks to the mouth to maintain the focus on this issue. 30,000 Americans die each year because of Guns from Homicide, Suicide, and Accidents.

So, while we'll create an entire New Cabinet and Federal Department (Homeland Security), pass sweeping invasive Federal Laws (Warrantless Wiretaps approved for another 5 years) and blow 10 Trillion Dollars on Wars of Choice we won't or can't do anything about the Self-Inflicted Gun Violence which plagues Our Society.

This isn't an Emotional Appeal it's an Appeal to Reason and Humanity.

The NRA has quietly with ALEC backing spent the last 10 years rolling back Gun Legislation. Not through referendums but going to Courthouses to ensure that any and all Gun Laws are struck down. 

The NRA and Gun Owners of America are not Lobbying for the rights of regular Americans to own Guns but for Corporations to continue flooding our Nation in Weapons and for the profits to keep finding the Rich executives Cayman Islands and Swiss Bank Accounts.

In 2005 George W(orst President Ever) Bush backed by the Republican Controlled House and Senate passed Legislation making Gun Manufacturers immune to Lawsuits for their Negligence.

Zardoz LaPierre stated the Republican and Bush 2005 law was the "No. 1 legislative priority of the National Rifle Association". Of course, the NRA "lobbied lawmakers intensely for it". Sickeningly 59 Democrats joined in the House to pass it a vote of 283 to 144.

George W(orst President Ever) at the behest of his Moneyed Masters hailed the law, "further our efforts to stem frivolous lawsuits, which cause a logjam in America's courts, harm America's small businesses, and benefit a handful of lawyers at the expense of victims and consumers." 

Republicans care more about Guns and the Holy Second Amendment than they do about Children. It's been so plainly obvious that the sheer horror of their evil actions should cause a complete rejection and utter revulsion of Republican Policies, if Americans weren't finding ways to rationalize their behavior.

Gun Bans work, when they are enforced. Enforcement and a Culture Change are the keys.

In the aftermath of Jovan Belcher's murder of Cassandra Perkins and suicide, 7 NFL players turned in Guns.

In the aftermath of the Newton CT Mass Murder, sales of AR-15 skyrocketed with weapons selling for 3 to 5 times their normal price. One business sold the equivalent of 3 years worth of Banana Clips and Hi-Capacity Mags in the course of 2 weeks.

A company which designed and markets bullet-proof backpacks for children (Princess Pink for girls and GI Green for boys) saw a massive spike in sales.

This is not the way. This response is the Culture we Must Change.

We are awash in Guns. And there is no evidence an Armed Populace is a Polite Populace.

As for the Firearms' Lobby; No other industry enjoys blanket protection for the murderous results of their products intended use. 

In Illinois Law, laws exist which can be a model to make Guns Manufacturers and Arms Dealers responsible if they don't do due diligence to ensure Guns aren't ending up in the hands of Mass Murderers.

Every person who is injured within this State, in person or property, by any intoxicated person has a right of action in his or her own name, severally or jointly, against any person, licensed under the laws of this State or of any other state to sell alcoholic liquor, who, by selling or giving alcoholic liquor, within or without the territorial limits of this State, causes the intoxication of such person. (235 ILCS 5/6-21)

Eliminating that despicable Bush-backed, NRA-crafted 2005 Legislation should be the first step. Next, re institute the Assault Weapons Ban. Additionally, if you own a Firearm it should be incumbent upon you to prove you have positive and safe control of said weapons at least yearly. 

We as a Society need proof that your guns won't go missing and end up in the hands of some Southside gangbanger.

Then making the Manufacturer, Dealer, and Owner potentially liable should be next. Of course, further Legislation might be needed to curtail the production of certain weapons, ownership duties, and so forth. 

But, by putting the Onus onto the Firearms Industry to police themselves and ensure their weapons of Mass Murder don't end up in the wrong hands we can make a good effort at stopping the Hemorrhaging.

Jerome Corsi and Heather Childers want to Lynch President Obama

“Though the colored man is no longer subject to barter and sale, he is surrounded by an adverse settlement which fetters all his movements. In his downward course he meets with no resistance, but his course upward is resented and resisted at every step of his progress. If he comes in ignorance, rags and wretchedness he conforms to the popular belief of his character, and in that character he is welcome; but if he shall come as a gentleman, a scholar and a statesman, he is hailed as a contradiction to the national faith concerning his race, and his coming is resented as impudence. In one case he may provoke contempt and derision, but in the other he is an affront to pride and provokes malice.” Frederick Douglass September 25, 1883

"The noose is tightening for Obama," - Jerome Corsi explains how his book Where's the Birth Certificate? is the essential primer for all conservatives who want to lynch President Obama for the crime of Being POTUS While Black.

The Birthers and the Punk Ass Bitch Right-Wingers have been hyping their lies and "racialist" propaganda campaign for so long against President Obama that they have no where left to turn other than to call for his murder, which is now the point we have reached.

There is something especially pernicious in the unprecendented amount of disrespect and utter contempt shown for the first black President by Right-Wingers. At the same time we have puke white Republicans showing a level of vitriolic classlessness as when Joe Wilson shouted, "You Lie!" during the State of the Union, or when House Leader John Boehner declined to make Congress available for the President's speech, or when Jean Schmidt is overheard secretly agreeing with a constituent that President Obama doesn't have a birth certificate, or when Pat Buchanan and Donald Trump declared that Obama only got into Harvard because of affrimative action, or when Joe Walsh said President Obama only won because he was black, or any of the thousands of bigoted anti-Obama e-mails Republicans send to each other yet they claim President Obama is divisive one.

Meanwhile, totally post-racial conservative think tanks, like the North carolina based John Locke Foundation email out images of President Obama dressed in chains and a bondage outfit with a bucket of KFC between his legs...

Meanwhile, Faux News Host Heather Childers tweeted that Barack Obama threatened a white woman.

Meanwhile, Glenn Reynolds claimed President Obama is "a racist hate monger".

Meanwhile, the Conservapedia page for President Obama lists his country of birth as "Kenya" and his religion as "muslim". While 52% of Mississippi Republicans believe President Obama is a muslim.

It's part of the Right-Wing bullying tactics where they start a fight with vicious bigoted slander and smears and then retreat to the 'Oh, I though liberals were supposed to be tolerant....' when we fight back. Conservatives only love tolerance when they can use it as a club to hit liberals.

The Republican Party is made up of shameless race-hustlers and the Modern Conservative Movement is made up of nothing but, cowards, chicken hawks, bigots and racists.

Fortunately, President Obama and the First Lady have handled the unprecedented deluge of racist smears from the Republican Party and Conservatives with grace, charm and aplomb. But, it's going to be a rough 8 months until the election.

Then after President Obama's decisive victory over Mitt Romney I'm not sure what the Racist Conservative Domestic Terrorists are going to do. It's quite possible the Right-Wing will transition their Planned Parenthood center bombing campaign to blowing up more Federal Buildings and attempting to assassinate President Obama or more Democratic Congress Members.

Clothes Make the Man and No Harm No Foul / Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman

A Roman Maxim and An American Maxim

Geraldo Rivera offered up the 'If the hoodie fits, you must convict' verdict that by wearing a hoodie Trayvon Martin was guilty or looked guilty enough and thus George Zimmerman was absolutely within the law to murder him.

Thomas Sowell offered up support for Rivera in his column over at the despicable NRO. There is no point in dressing like a hoodlum when you are not a hoodlum, even though that has become a fashion for some minority youths... Sure thing Thomas, just like all these scary men who shop at this Thug store.

But, Daddy Zimmerman offered up a ludicrous fairy tale account of what happened that night,

“At that point, he was punched in the nose, his nose was broken and he was knocked to the concrete. Trayvon Martin got on top of him and just started beating him. In the face. In his nose, hitting his head on the concrete. After nearly a minute of being beaten, George was trying to get his head off the concrete, trying to move with Trayvon on him, in the grass. In doing so, his firearm was shown. Trayvon Martin said something to the effect of, ‘You’re going to die now,’ or ‘You’re going to die tonight’ or something to that effect . .”

Except video surveillance of the Sanford PD car port and lock-up was released and after getting his nose broken and having his head bounced off the concrete for "nearly a minute" Zimmerman, apparently, has no visible injuries or blood stains.

But, really all the evidence in the world isn't going to convince Right-Wingers. If Martin had shot Zimmerman their reaction might have been different. They would be calling for an arrest for murder.

But, instead what has been most important to conservatives in this case are the shockingly lengths they got to smear and slander Martin, to find post hoc and hearsay evidence which proves he was a bad kid, like pictures of a tattoo or his school suspension records, and the out-right lies and false information (crafted by the white supremacists at Stormfront) they are willing to uncritically resend and fervently believe it because it fits their pre-conceived narrative.

Update: Gawker has an story of White Supremacist Hackers Klanklannon claimed to have hacked Trayvon Martin's email, twitter and facebook accounts and posted them. Gawker states Klanklannon made clear their intention was to smear Trayvon and probably knew Erick Erickson or Dana Loesch would repeat their bigoted smear job on National Media, "Today / pol / Tomorrow CNN."

Sadly, besides their efforts to defame the dead, conservatives have no other concerns about the dead young man or the too vague/too subjective Stand Your Ground Law, which contributed to his murder at the hands of George Zimmerman, but have focused their ire and hatred towards, as every right-wing bigot puts it, the professional race-baiters, which to them includes the President of the United States.

That's whom conservatives are really mad at in this case. It's a realization that for conservatives everything always and forever will be about Race. And now anything they think they can use to harm Barack Obama they are going to use.

Related:
Stonekettle Station: Trayvon Martin: License to Kill

We are respectable negroes: Smearing Trayvon Martin: The True Lie that Black Men Commit More Crime than Whites

The Incessant Whining of the Rich - Don't Blame Yourself Edition

"Guess what? I've made a lot of money." - Mitt Romney

You can't be a Rich Person in America without a False Sense of Entitlement and a conscience unladen by blame.

The Wall Street Hedge Fund Managers and Bank Executives knew they were "pulling a fast one" but, instead of stopping their negligent gambling all involved thought, 'Just let me pull off one more rigged hand, let me swindle one more million before the bottom falls out. Let the other guy get stuck with the bill. Let the little people clean up the mess.'

And that's what happened.

Remember the size of the mess the Deregulating Republicans and their Wall Street Masters left us with,

Add up guarantees and lending limits, and the Fed had committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year. It dwarfed the Treasury Department’s better-known $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

After crashing the economy, the one thing no Wall Street Executive would do was take blame.

Well, Greg Smith, a former Goldman Sachs mid-level executive, revealed the inner-workings and attitude of the Criminal and Evil Bankers,

Today is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.

To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money…It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail….These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, “How much money did we make off the client?”

Wall Street is already figuring out how to smear Smith for pulling back the curtain. Conservatives are rapidly ignoring any news of this revelation because it's coming from the Lame Stream Media and doesn't fit the bullshit narrative they absorbed from Republican propagandists.

Wall Street and their Republican dogs tried the Reagan tactic of "Blame the Government". Too bad fuckers, it didn't work this time. People know the Right-Wing push to deregulate Wall Street and the Republican hands-off approach to financial crime was what allowed Wall Street to accomplish the biggest theft from Hundreds of Millions of Americans. There's a club. You're aren't in it.

I'll never understand how Reagan got away with his whole government sucks rhetoric when he was president of that government.

However, this isn't the case of just one bad division or even one bad firm (Goldman Sachs) butis the pervasive culture of the entire Modern Banking/Wall Street Industry

JPMorgan Chase & Co. took procedural shortcuts and used faulty account records in suing tens of thousands of delinquent credit card borrowers for at least two years, current and former employees say.

The process flaws sparked a regulatory probe by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and forced the bank to stop suing delinquent borrowers altogether last year.

The bank's errors could call into question the legitimacy of billions of dollars in outstanding claims against debtors and of legal judgments Chase has already won, current and former Chase employees say.

It's disgusting the malfeasance, chicanery and outright fraud Banks got away with during the Republican Deregulating Era.

Bankers are to blame? Who us??? But, you can bet conservatives are still swallowing the Big Lie that Poor people, Fannie & Freddie and Barney Frank are responsible for the Republican Wall Street Recession. Even though private sector loans were responsible,

During those same explosive three years [2004-2006], private investment banks — not Fannie and Freddie — dominated the mortgage loans that were packaged and sold into the secondary mortgage market. In 2005 and 2006, the private sector securitized almost two thirds of all U.S. mortgages, supplanting Fannie and Freddie, according to a number of specialty publications that track this data.

But, being a Rich Plutocratic Job creator means never blaming yourself.

Capitalism at it's Finest! $7.77 TRILLION for the Banking Criminals

Yeah, you suckers thought the $700 Billion TARP was bad. Turns out the Federal Reserve decided to funnel 11 times that amount to the Wall Street Criminals!

It dwarfed the Treasury Department’s better-known $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Add up guarantees and lending limits, and the Fed had committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year.

Plus, over the last few years, the Fed and the Big Banks have been fighting to keep it hidden from the Public. In fact 3 years ago today Decemeber 5th 2008, the Federal Reserve allocated $1.2 Trillion to the Too-Big-To-Fail Banks.

Bankers didn’t disclose the extent of their borrowing.

$7.77 Trillion USC. This ridiculous sham is the Free Market? They call this massive amounts of Taxpayer Welfare Capitalism? The Banks then had the temerity to foreclose on injured veterans? The Bankers continued to claim that poor borrowers were the problem? And as the best and brightest these 'Job Creators' deserved the millions they've gotten as bonuses? Of course, the shameless Banks and their Criminal CEOs turned around and fought any and every effort to place any regulations upon them. American Capitalism is Feudalism.

A fresh narrative of the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 emerges from 29,000 pages of Fed documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and central bank records of more than 21,000 transactions. While Fed officials say that almost all of the loans were repaid and there have been no losses, details suggest taxpayers paid a price beyond dollars as the secret funding helped preserve a broken status quo and enabled the biggest banks to grow even bigger.

The US Government has been transformed into the private slush fund of the Plutocracy. The 1% are not bought off anymore with the mere raiding of foreign lands, they want it all. And thanks to the tireless efforts of the Republicon Party and Corporate-Friendly Democrats they are going to steal the entire wealth of the United States.

Madison Protests far larger than any Weak Tea Party

The protests by We, the People in Madison are far larger than any Tea Party Protest. And to no one’s surprise the Media isn’t covering them. But, every time some racist grabbed his tri-cornered hat, slung his Ar-15 over his shoulder, and declared “I want my country back” an MSM reporter was there to broadcast it.

The protests in Madison, which have been going on non-stop for weeks, and the associated protests in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and New Jersey garner no attention because it is a genuine rising up of Real Americans angry over the Republican theft and oppression of the workers.

Republicans and conservatives serve Moneyed Interests. They seek nothing less than the creation of a Neo-Feudal state, so they collude to strip away anything which will aid Main Street while abetting Wall Street in heinous financial crimes. To wit: in 2010, the Republicans pulled their classic strategy of bait-and-switch; Proclaiming they were running on a platform of Jobs for Americans when their plan all along was the destruction of Unions, elimination of anything designed to aid the Poor and the subjugation of the Middle Class.

This plan of slowly chipping away at our Rights, of sowing racial discord, of pitting worker against worker is intended make Us accept working longer hours, for less money, without any healthcare coverage, no pension and no hope when we are old or broken by our labors. At which point the Neo-Cons will send us to FEMA Camps to die.

Here is a rundown of the things the Republicans planned to cut. And everyday a Republican reiterates their desire to defund the EPA or OSHA, or swindle Social Security or put childern to work.

But, a funny thing happened on the way to Wage Slavery; the American People began to see the collusion between the Republicans and the Plutocracy and began to protest for their Rights.

This infuriates the Rich because they have hired the GOP to eliminate the Middle Class and the Rich do not tolerate failure. And thus the protests are ignored or receive Faux News treatment.

For simply put, the modern GOP is allied against the American People. So expect more and more draconian “laws” abolishing our rights and enforcing slavery to be passed by the Republican Hit men.

President Obama (R) Duping America

"The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier." ~ George Bernard Shaw

President Obama, has fooled the American people. But, not in the way the rabid Republicans have accused him of doing. He's not a secret kenyan radical destroying America for Socialism. President Obama isn't a Progressive, he's not a Liberal, heck he's not even a Democrat. No, President Obama is a Republican.

So, in a sense he is destroying America but it is by acquiescing to the demands of the Republicans and agreeing to Republican Piss Down Your Back and tell you it's Raining trickle down political and economic views which have enriched the Plutocrats and sewn the destruction of the Middle Class and Poor in this nation.

He removed the Public Option without a fight. He preemptively agreed tp Freeze the Pay of hard woking middle class Federal workers. And now President Obama has caved monumentally on Taxes agreeing to retain the monstrous Transfer of Wealth to the Rich Bush Rates, including setting the Estate Tax Rate at it's lowest in history, keeping Capital gains taxes at a mere 15% and failing to close the Corporate tax loop holes which allow American Companies to keep firing Americans and moving jobs to other countries.

President Obama appears to be a Corporate toady. I didn’t want to believe Obama was a lackey but the caving to everything the Republicans and Wall Street demand, expanding the War in Afghanistan, fighting to continue DADT and the working with the Republicans to quash and prevent any investigations of Bush and Cheney make it obvious. Obama not only isn’t the Progressive Superman we hoped for, he isn’t even a Democrat.

The entire Right, which only a few years ago said it was treason to question a sitting President during wartime, has called him terrorist-loving, marxist-muslim-hitler on the house floor, blamed him for President Bush's debt and for the malfeasance of BP and the actions of Wikileaks, insulted his birth, his parentage, his family and religion everyday. Yet, not only does he not fight back he ensures from his position to hamstring and geld the rest of the party as well.

He capitulates to everything they want and more.

How did it come to this?

The Democratic Party needs to Stop Whining and Start Fighting

"We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant." ~ Karl Popper

Republicans are obstructionists, Republicans are not helping us, Republicans just say no to everything, Republicans this, Republicans that; every Democrat in DC laments. Yes. Yes. Yes we know. 80% of the American people know. What the American people also want to know is; what are the Democrats going to do about it? When will Democrats stop tolerating the intolerant Republican menace?

Yes, we know that John Kyl and the Republicans are holding up the START treaty with Russia, endangering every American life, for the sole purpose of making President Obama look bad.

Yes, we know that Mitch McConnell, Jim Bunning, Richard Shelby and every Republican will block all legislation and nominations by the Obama's Executive branch, no matter what, for the sole purpose of making President Obama look bad.

Yes, we know that Republicans will never accept homosexuals as people let alone in the military no matter how many polls show the current military members don't give a damn, no matter if a hundred retired Generals and Admirals say it's time to let people serve openly, and no matter how many times Bush appointed Secretary of Defense Gates says it's time to change the policy.

Yes, we know that conservative Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have diligently done their duty to their Moneyed Masters in the Citizens United SCOTUS ruling and are now busy collecting their kickbacks and payoffs.

Yes, we know that Republicans use their position in Federal Government to funnel Billions of Taxpayer dollars to corporations, which then, give them consulting jobs and speaking engagements as bribes and kickbacks.

Yes, we know that Republicans would eliminate all regulations on Business allowing Brown & Williamson (now Reynold's American), BP, Halliburton, Massey Energy to sell deadly products to Americans and work employees in dangerous or deadly conditions.

Yes, we know that Republicans champion the continuation of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan just as staunchly as they refuse to serve in them.

Yes, we know that Republicans are immune to reason when their blatant partisan hypocrisy is highlighted by Rachel Maddow or Jon Stewart.

Yes, we know that the vast majority of Republicans, like Tom DeLay, are convicted criminals who brazenly use campaign money to buy influence and steal elections.

But, what we progressives and liberals want to know is when are you going to stop trying to make friends with the Republican bullies who keep making you look foolish in your outreach efforts? We want to know when you are going to stop turning the other cheek and start meeting Republican lies and intolerance with truth and strength? When are the Democrats going to Fight Back against the Republican Menace?