BP latest Lake Michigan Oil Spill more than twice as large as first reported, Republicans love Pollution

BP's oil spill from their Whiting, Indiana processing plant into Lake Michigan doubled in size. BP raised the "estimated" amount of oil spilled up from 600 gallons to well over 1600 gallons. But, in reality, this latest estimate is just a guess by BP, as well, and the final total and damage is sure to increase.

Lake Michigan, as one of the Great Lakes the repository of 21% of the World's Fresh Water, is the primary source for drinking water used by 7-12 million people.

Initially, BP claimed the cold conditions and ice on the water allowed them to collect the waxy oil spilled, which was characterized as small. However, Illinois Senators Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin made several public declarations and vowed to investigate the spills causes and effects.

Mark Kirk's refusal to slander Dick Durbin and his non-deference to BP has greatly angered the Illinois Republican Party and Conservatives, in general. Over at the fetid Hotair, Ed Morissey declares Kirk is a coward who won't go Nuclear on Durbin while commenters declare Kirk is a "crap weasel" with "no testicles". Meanwhile, the Illinois Republican Party is looking to implant Jim Oberweis another Corporate scumbag who will vote to eliminate regulations and unchain Corporations.

Just last week, US House Republicans voted to allow Coal Mining Companies to dump Coal Ash into lakes, rivers and streams. In 2011, US House Republicans passed H.R. 2018 to eliminate the Clean Water Act of 1972 and allow Polluting Corporations to do so with total impunity and immunity.

The vote last week by the Republicans was in response to President Obama's decision to empower the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to protect and defend 20 million acres of wetlands and river sheds from the Pollution Industry. So, the Republicans decided to look out for their constituents.

The Pollution Industry is a big money maker so, of course, Republicans will look out for the Corporations Interest and harm Americans because their job is to defend and empower Corporations at the expense of America.

US House Republicans love Pollution, vote to make dumping Coal Ash and mining waste into streams "Legal"

Faced with the massive toxic coal ash spills into waterways, US House Republicans decided to make the dumping of toxins into rivers, lake, streams legal. After all they won't be drinking, bathing or fishing in the toxic water. John Boehner called it a "pro-jobs growth bill". Because Fuck the EPA and all Regulations!

Congressional Republicans are evil. While an argument could be made the Republican Party contains some good people, any Republican you may have the misfortune to run into in Washington DC, is a villain worse than a mustache twirling caricature of evil. 

Throughout the Misadministration of George W(orst President Ever) Bush, Federal agencies ignorned the criminal polluting by Coal Mining Companies and in the December of 2008, Bush snuck through regulations giving them freedom to dump coal ash and other toxic waste products into nearby rivers, lakes and streams. Because Regulations are job-killers and the word Jobs is magic.

This last year has seen a number of Massive Toxic Coal Sludge Spills into Rivers rendering them not only undrinkable but untouchable.

Duke Energy followed dumping of 82,000 tons of coal ash and 27 Million gallons of contaminated water into the Dan River with another spill because Fuck the EPA and all Regulations! Duke Energy dumped 61 million gallons of coal ash wastewater into the Cape Fear River Basin from its coal plant in nearby Moncure, in Chatham County North Carolina. The vote by House Republicans would simply legalize these spills because Republicans are evil.

This vote is nothing more than a campaign promise Eric Cantor and Congressional Republicans has made to Corporations, 

"Whether it’s the EPA, the FDA, the FCC, the SEC, the CFTC, you name it, there is an acronym for a federal agency causing harm right now. We’re trying to pull that in." - Eric Cantor.

Republicans run this Nation for their Corporate Overlords. They don't care what happens to the Country so do you think they're going to care if your home's drinking water is contaminated? No, Republicans and their Moneyed Masters aren't going to be affected and they know their conservative base can be easily prodded into ignoring Republican Evil by yelling about President Obama's mom jeans or Benghazi!!1!11! who can be reliably counted upon to attack Liberals because condemning Pollution and the criminal negligence of Coal Companies is evil liberals/democrats punishing success.

The Pollution-Industry is making huge profits and Republicans are working to make sure any costs they incur while raping the Nation and Planet will be passed onto the taxpayer and Working Class. Because Republicans job in Government is to ensure Profits and Privatized while Losses are Socialized.

Additionally, 2013 saw the amount of oil spill surpass the last 40 years combined;

Altogether, 800,000 gallons spilled from US railroads in the years from 1975 to 2010. That data, which comes from the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, does not include records of Canadian spills, some of which are thought to surpass one million gallons spilled on their own. 

In part because of major derailments in Alabama and North Dakota, over 1.15 million gallons of crude oil seeped from train cars.

So, it should come as no surprise that BP at Whiting Indiana is back to polluting Lake Michigan again. Because Fuck the EPA and all Regulations. BP confirmed their plant, newly renovated to process Canadian Tar Sands, dumped a huge unknown amount of oil and tar sands sludge into Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan water is the primary source for drinking water for 12 million Americans in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

But, while all this is occurring duped and ignorant conservatives across the Nation are busy deriding President Obama for not doing something, something, something about Crimea instead of focusing on the Terrorists, Koch Industries, Duke Energy, BP, Murray Energy and so many others, in our midst. Just as their Republican Handlers and Plutocratic Masters intend.

Wisconsin Republicans, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, are ready for Business

One of the key components of the Reactionary shift in American Politics has been the push by Republicans, from "business supporting" to servile kow-towing lackeys of the 1%, who deceitfully utilize their public office to ensure private business is supported on the backs of the Working Class.

In Wisconsin, the election of Governor Scott Walker was just the cherry on top of the Neo-Feudalist Republican push to crush the regular Wisconsinite and transfer land, property and money to the Rich.

The Koch Brothers consider the State of Wisconsin their Feudal Domains. Scott Walker is their paid lackey, ready and willing to enforce the will of the Koch Brothers at every turn. But, they aren't satisfied with merely controlling Walker. Americans for Prosperity, the Koch Brothers think-tank propaganda arm, is spending millions in order to control the local government of Iron County in Northern Wisconsin.

The Koch Brothers see the natural resources of the American People as theirs, to do with as they wish and the ramifications be damned.

If the Koch Brothers succeed in Iron County a mining operation under Gogebic Taconite will devastate Northern Wisconsin. But, who cares because the 1% will make a boat load of cash while the effects of their putrid mining operation won't affect them or theirs!

The Koch Brothers support the Republican Party because once Republicans are in office they use the Awesome Power of Government to enact blatantly unfair laws because Businesses, like Koch Industries no longer succeed in America by innovation or efficiency, but by ensuring public tax dollars are transferred to them, public domains are seceded to their control and by getting governments to undercut labor at every turn.

Last December, Wisconsin Business representatives demanded special tax incentives and tax-payer funded corporate welfare from Lt Governor Rebecca Kleefisch.

The meeting of Public Office holders was closed to the media. This meeting was recorded by the Lt Governor's office but, her office declared the unknown number of Scott Walker specially directed "Tax Reform Roundtables" since last December were not be recorded so Business Reps could "speak freely" i.e. demand the Scott Walker administration give transfer the tax dollars of Wisconsin citizens to them.

Two weeks ago, a bill in the Wisconsin Legislature which would have required health insurance providers cover chemotherapy drugs equally was blocked by state Senate Majority Leader Republican Scott Fitzgerald.

The bill would have eliminated the cost difference between Chemo pills and intravenous drugs, Health "Insurers" opposed the bill and coincidentally, Scott Fitzgerald's brother is a lobbyist for the Health Insurance Industry.

Now, despite the bill having enough support to pass, two weeks ago, Fitzgerald called a special committee to prevent any vote.

Much like, Mitt Romney's infamous things only discussed behind closed doors, Corporate America has spent decades secretly meeting with their operatives the wholly owned Republican Party and Pro-Business Democratic members in order to use the power of government to undercut Labor and enforce a stratified society in which the vast majority of American workers are shackled forever in the chains of Corporate Bondage.

GM's Ignition Switch is a direct result of Republican beliefs in the Myth of Self-Regulation

General Motors has revealed (or had exposed) a flaw in their ignition system affecting the following models; Chevy Cobalt and HHR, the Pontiac G5, and Saturn ION mainly between the 2005 to 2007 models. The ignition flaw known to GM engineers and officals, possibly as early as 2002, and which underwent a quiet in-house redesigning in 2006, was not announced for recall until February 10, 2014.

Currently, 34 traffic crashes and 12 deaths are linked (albeit not yet conclusively) to the flaw which causes the ignition to turn off under heavy jarring as in an impact or while driving on bad road conditions.

Government Regulations require Corporations report flaws to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as soon as they become reasonably aware of the flaw or defect, but under George W. Bush, General Motors, as illustrated with the 2006 quiet redesign, and other Corporations in the United States felt utterly secure in not reporting or following any regulations.

Like all Republicans, The Bush Administration cultivated an Air of Neglect and assured Americans that Corporations would Self-Regulate. The Myth of Self-Regulation is that Companies would never defraud, negligently or maliously harm consumers because by doing so they would, in fact, be harming themselves. So since it's in their self-interest Corporations will correct problems and not engage in criminal activity. What actually happens is Corporations routinely flout regulations because they know No Republican will ever prosecute them for their criminal negligence.

Part and parcel of their absolute devotion to the Myth of Self-Regulation, Republicans often hamstring Regulatory bodies by underfunding and slashing their budget or neutering their enforcement powers, but even worse Bush and other Republicans often place people who are explicitly hostile to Regulatory Bodies in positions of authority over those organizations.

Under Bush and his Republican brethren, the NHTSA, the EPA, the MHSA, the SEC and every other Governmental Regulatory body were neutered so that Businesses could engage rapacious profiteering and whatever criminal activity they desired.

Because Republicans want a Corporate Plutocracy controlling the Nation while the 99% are shackled in perpetual Corporate Bondage and Wage Slavery.

Unzip the Real Mitt, send Romney and his Clairvoyance to Crimea

"Well, you know, I guess we better unzip him and let the real Mitt Romney out..." Ann Romney April 2012.

Since Conservatives love Putin why are they pushing for War with Russia?

Right-Wingers have been pining away waiting next to the red phone waiting for the 3am call from Vlad Putin, where he promises to ride into their lives, take command and be the Dom they've always wanted.

That's why they want war! When a sado-maschocist is denied their pleasure they lash out. Conservatives and Republicans are authoritarians who yearn to be treated like slaves and who yearn for the strong-man to tell them what to do.

Besides Rudy 9/11 Giuliani gushing over Putin's ability to tell his Parliament to get things done, Sarah Palin's longing for Putin to wrestle her down and drill for her oil as he does with bears, and Senators Bob Corker and Lindsey Graham petulantly stamping their feet that President Obama doesn't degrade them the way Putin would, we now have Emperor of Thwarted Aristocracy Mitt Vulture Romney chiming in.

"I think effective leaders typically are able to see the future to a certain degree, and are able to take actions to shape it in some way. That’s, of course, what this president has failed to do. And as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton as well. There’s always the potential that we could have kept them from invading a country and annexing it into their own." Vulture Mitt Romney on Face the Nation

Well, then Mister Romney why weren't you sharing your ability to see into the Future with the American People? And, more importantly why weren't you sharing it with the Ukrainian People?

Was your clairvoyance the reason you went to France instead of French-Indochina back in the sixties? Did your visions account for your five sons decision not to enlist or accept commissions and take part in the GWoT, the war in which conservatives said our very way of life was facing existential threat yet which they took no part in the actual fighting?

"One of the ways my sons are showing support for the nation is helping me get elected. Because they think I'd make a great President." Mitt Romney 2007

 As usual, from failed former Presidential Candidates to the conservatives who get paid to write despicable crap for the right-wing toxic commentary, all sorts of blame is thrown on President Obama with ZERO details of what the right-wingers would actually have done.

But, besides offering up nothing in terms of a real foreign policy, except Vulture Mitt's "potential", it's frightening to see the Domination/Subjugation Mindset which controls the American Conservative on display.

Jim Oberweis the next Senator of Illinois... or Flordia!

Republican Jim Oberweis, another Plutocrat who made his fortune off of legerdemain, is running to oppose Dick Durbin for the US Senate. Oberweis will have to win the Primary this March 18th in order to face Senator Durbin in November.

Oberweis is currently an Illinois State Senator having previously run for the US Senate, US House, Illinois Governor and finally winning office in 2012.

Thus far, the only policies State Senator Oberweis has backed is increasing the speed limits on Illinois Highways so his milk and dairy products can reach their destinations faster; accidents, damage to streets and traffic deaths be damned those costs will be borne by society and Illinois Taxpayers, and Pension Theft from Illinois Teachers.

Oberweis voted to steal Teacher Pensions and violate the contracts signed by other Illinois Public employees. Oberweis called the Pension Theft a "step in the right direction" but was worried, "There is no guarantee that the money saved by these reforms will actually be used to pay down debt, instead of being used for new programs." Paying down the debt means transferring taxpayer money to Corporations via pay-to-play tax incentives and special water and power rates for businesses.

Well, now the interesting thing about Oberweis being so worried about Illinois debt is the Oberweis' primary residence is in Bonita Springs, Florida, which coincidentally is where Jim has spent (some? most? all?) the terrible Chicago winter.

This winter in Chicago has been the coldest, when measured by sub-zero degree days, and the second snowiest behind only the infamous blizzard of 1979.

Ah the best of both worlds! Jim's current wife, Julie is a native of Florida and is registered to vote there and she's also registered to vote in Kane County Illinois! In fact in 2010, she voted in both states.

But, it's not Voter Fraud because Julie Oberweis registered to vote in Florida as a precursor to taking a homestead tax exemption for the couple's "primary residence" a $1.3 Million dollar mansion, most likely the one Jim Oberweis spent the better part of this winter relaxing in and soaking up the Florida sun.

Oberweis surfaced in Chicago yesterday (the high was 54 degrees), 4 days before the Republican Primary to give an interview to right-wing toxic talk radio station WLS 890, in which he said, "I never saw the beach, was not there. I did play golf with my wife though."

Awww... Oberweis is going to win the Republican Primary and surely he's just what we need in the US Senate; another Plutocrat Vulture Millionaire who can ensure the poor are punished, the needy are shamed, the hungry are humiliated, and the sick are denied care.

How the battle over Overtime, Minimum Wage, Obamacare, Paul Ryan's wistful longings for Slavery illustrate the Republican Plan to Oppress Americans

"The measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need, those who have nothing apart from their poverty" - Pope Francis

President Obama stated this week, he intends to use his Executive Authority to direct the Labor Department to revamp its regulations to require overtime pay for several million additional fast-food managers, loan officers, computer technicians and others whom many businesses currently classify as executive or professional employees to avoid paying them overtime, according to White House officials briefed on the announcement.

Everyone who works knows the day upper management comes to you and says we'd like to put you on the management ladder and make your position salaried is the day you start doing double the work for the same amount of pay. One way Corporations have slashed the income of their employees is by engaging in a duplicitous game of Salaried vs. Hourly Wage workers. Salaried workers can be compelled, coerced, cajoled and cornered into working 60, 70, 80 or more hours a week, without being compensated for the extra work they are doing. And why would any company hire another employee when they cam get you to Work for Free...

"This is a vast expansion of the Government's power to dictate income in the private sector. This is redistribution by Executive Order. I don't think it helps the economy at all. Oh, I just exceeded my 40 hours, I’m due overtime. And if I don’t get it, I’m going to sue." - Stuart Varney, Faux News resident Upper Class Twit of the Year.

Listen to his three minutes of Tory Nonsense; Actually paying people for their labor is Redistribution, workers don't equal the economy and 'Obama's a Dictator'!

Businesses have tasked Republicans with lowering the pay and benefits of the American Workers and the Right has lustfully embraced this task. For 35 years the Reactionary Right has steadily undermined American labor, reduced the standard of living and pushed more and more Americans into poverty.

The Modern Republican Party has one purpose; to grind down 99% of Americans into unbreakable poverty under the control of Undying Corporate People. The Republican Party has undertaken a journey to re-enslave the American People.

Everything Republicans do is to bring about a Ultra-Reactionary Neo-Feudalist Slave State, whether they are aware of it or not, in which the Middle Class is stripped of their wealth, health and future, the Working Class and Poor is made to know that Government will never help them and an Era of Unbreakable Corporate Bondage is enacted.

Anything which ameliorates this condition is anathema to them and must be fought eternally, no matter the cost.

Obamacare, flawed and sabotaged by Republican villains and Democratic quislings, nonetheless has helped millions and placed the Nation towards modern healthcare coverage.

Which is precisely why the Republican Party and their Plutocratic Masters has engaged in the despicable campaign of deceit and villainy to destroy it.

With the collapse of all their Obamacare Horror stories, like Bette from Cathy McMorris-Rodgers SOTU response, the Koch Brothers financied Americans for Prosperity rolled out Julie Boonstra a cancer sufferer. Boonstra explicitly stated Obamacare and her Representative Gary Peters was going to kill her by making her Leukemia medicine unaffordable. Julie Boonstra was paying $13,200 a year plus non-covered co-pays, prescription drugs and other out-of-pocket expenses.

When Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan crunched the numbers for Julie Boonstra's new plan adding up to $11,900 including the previously uncovered put-of-pocket expenses Boonstra said the idea that it would be cheaper, "can’t be true. I personally do not believe that."

Julie Boonstra and American Conservatives illustrate is the Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Conservatives have sought or allowed themselves to become "Sub-oppressors",

"the oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors, or "sub-oppressors". The very structure of their thought has been conditioned by the contradictions of the concrete, existential situation by which they were shaped. Their ideal is to be men; but for them, to be men is to be oppressors. This is their model of humanity." Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970 pg. 27)

Some GOPers appear to be just ignorant of their Party's true goals, like Deb Sanderson of Maine who thinks taking healthcare away from people "maybe it will incentivize some folks" to pick up extra work and earn more money.

They nonetheless follow along while the evil, vindictive villains of the Republican Party, like Paul Ryan, who after hiding with his tail tucked following his butt-whopping by Mighty Joe Biden and President Obama, has roared back to the forefront of his vicious racist Party,

"We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with."

What Paul Ryan is alluding to is his and the Republican Party earnest desire a return to the America of the Idyllic Days of 19th century. To put "Y'all back in Chains."

Reduce the minimum wage, allow business owners the ability to dictate what you can and can not purchase with your salary, stealing your pension, limiting you medical care options, ensuring businesses need not compensate you for hours of labor; Republicans have steadily been moving the Nation towards Slavery. 

While the Upper Echelons of the Republican Party are on par with members of the Plutocracy, the evil, vicious Oppressors, the rank and file conservative and Republican Party member is someone who has internalized the thinking of his controller and is as oppressed as those whom they seek to shackle with the chains of slavery.

"This, then is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their  oppressors as well. The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by the virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves. Only the power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both. Any attempt to "soften" the power of the oppressor in deference to the weakness of the oppressed almost always manifests itself in the form of false generosity; indeed, the attempt never goes beyond this. In order to have continued opportunity to express their "generosity", the oppressors must perpetuate injustice as well. An unjust social order is the permanent fount of this "generosity", which is nourished by death, despair, and poverty. This is why dispensers of false generosity become desperate at the slightest threat to its source. True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity." Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970 pg.26).

True Freedom cannot come from a Top-Down system. The Democratic Party despite being exponetianlly better than the Republican Party is not the savior. If the working class is to free itself from the Oppression by the Koch Brothers, Bruce Perkins, Foster Friess, Sam Zell, and their Reactionary Vulture Capitalist System, much like the Labor Movement of the 19th and early 20th century we'll have to overcome them by Ourselves.

Eliminating paid sick leave, another front in the Right-Wing War on Americans

As I posted about Paul Ryan's plagiarized fact-free CPAC speech, an overlooked element lost amongst Ryan's another aspect of the Right-Wing's insatiable quest to reduce Americans to wage slaves shackled in Corporate Bondage.

Ryan told the overwhelmingly crowd Obamacare's implementation will cost jobs. But, the Jobs Hosannahs Paul Ryan was signing are not the panacea for America's woes. The Rich are creating jobs, it's just they are creating jobs in which the worker has little rights, for less pay and no benefits. The Plutocracy would no doubt have 100% in America if they could pay us nothing.

Starting in Ryan's backyard of Wisconsin in 2011, right-wingers pushed through State Legislation prohibiting local governments from adopting Sick Leave Legislation. Wisconsin became the second state in the Nation behind Georgia. Following Scott Walker's lead 9 other States adopted similar legislation in 2013 and now nearly 40 million private sector workers can look forward to zero paid sick days

Of course, every state which has adopted this legislation is a so-called Right-to-Work State. Right-to-Work is more accurately known as Right-to-Work-for-Less and it gives Businesses inordinate power over workers and employees. Which, of course, is exactly what Business want and what Republicans time-and-again seek to provide them.

Time and again we are confronted by the fact that Republicans love Big Government intrusion into people's lives.

But, when Republicans attempt these maneuvers on the National Stage, using the Federal Government, they receive pushback, so they have perfected the art of Oppression in the so-called "Laboratories of Democracy", the States. The States are regressing quickly, far from being beacons of Democracy and Freedom, Republicans are turning State Government's into bastions of Tyranny and melting-pots of Bigotry.

But, pointing out Republican hypocrisy isn't the main point here. Republicans love to use the awesome power of the government to restrict and control people it's just they use and put the emphasis on State Power, where they can get away with their Ultra-Reactionary goals enslaving the American Worker into unending Corporate Bondage.

"How did we do it in Wisconsin? The simplest way I can tell you is we had total and complete unity between the state party, quite frankly, Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party groups, the Grandsons of Liberty. The 9/12ers were involved. It was a total and complete agreement that nobody cared who got the credit, that everyone was going to run down the tracks together." - Reince Priebus lays bare the Republican Agenda of Wage Slavery and a return to Feudalism.

The Modern Republican Party's message to 99% of Americans is; You have No Friend in Government. 

Have you ever seen a map of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages? It's a mash-up of Imperial free Cities, minor Baronies, tiny Principalities, Bishoprics and conglomerations of disjointed Duchies. Each of these tiny Fiefdoms was dominated by a noble or bishop or headman.

That is what the Plutocracy wants in the United States. The Koch Brothers, the DeVos family, Duke Energy, the Wall Street Wealth "Managers" want to bust up the current Nation-State and replace it surreptitiously with little fiefdoms controlled by the modern Nobility, the Capitalists. 

While they claim to support the United States, they merely want the shell of the Nation to exist while in these small enclaves the Rich rule; resting comfortably knowing the Republican Party and Pro-Business Democrats fight to ensure their campaign of Rape (of the Natural World), Theft (of People's Lives) and Murder (of the American Dream) is protected under the auspices of the Federal Government

Update:
I forgot to add in the other historical oddity of the Holy Roman Empire, which the Plutocrats want to emulate, the Electors.

The Koch Brothers, Paul E. Singer, Stpehen A. Schwarzman, Tom Perkins, Sam Zell and the other despicable Plutocrats aren't going to be satiatied with merely dominating their small piece of the country, they also want the power to choose the Next President as the electors of the Empire had the power to choose the Emperor.

Plagiarist Paul Ryan is back to crush the poor and starve children

Ah, P90X Ryan, the poster boy of everything wrong with the Republican Party is back to his Lyin' Ways.

While Representative Paul Ryan has been anointed the Republican Budget Whiz... because... just because... he's also still one of the young up and comers in the Party, even with that Big Loser Donut hung around his neck from the 2012 Presidential election.

If Ryan had managed to weasel his way into the White House the Romney/Ryan Plan would have raised taxes on millions of Americans and transferred the burden of supporting the government onto the backs of the middle class and poor.  From the Tax Policy Center Urban Institute and Brookings Institution August 1, 2012 Report

However, on average, after-tax income for taxpayers earning less than $200,000 would need to decrease by 1.2 percent, an effective tax increase of $500 per household.

95% of Americans, everyone who earned $200,000 or less, would have seen their taxes go up 1.2% under the Romney/Ryan Plan, but those Americans earning $1,000,000 or more (like R-Money himself) would have enjoyed an average tax break of $87,117.

But, what about the Top 0.1%? Ah! Those "earning" more than $3,000,000 in income would have seen $725,000 transferred to them from the increased tax dollars taken from the poor.

Thankfully, America was spared the a Romney/Ryan Presidency which would have accelerated the Plutocracy's Goals of eliminating the Middle Class and shackling the working class with the chains of Wage Slavery and Corporate Bondage.

But, election defeats does not mean Republicans give up the goals of their Moneyed Masters or the conservative principles of Oppression, Intolerance and Adulation of the Rich.

During CPAC 2014, that right-wing parade of mean-spirited charlatans, wild-eyed lunatics, and shifty grifters Paul Ryan let the audience know his party would be the Party of Ideas. But, turns out Paul Ryan, like all Republicans, is an intellectual property thief and the Chief Republican Idea appears to be thievery. Excerpts from Ryan's Speech;

"Take Obamacare", the estate of Henny Youngman the King of the One-Liners called for his check, please.

"What they're offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul."

This line was stolen from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Chain of Command II, a very famous episode because of the prescient way it anticipated the Bush/Cheney Regime ideas and use of Torture.

In the scene, Captain Jean-Luc Picard is being held as a terrorist by the Cardassians who have been  torturing him for military intelligence but, also for sadistic pleasure. Picard has been broken physically, but is still fighting his chief antagonist Gul Madred, the two debate on whether Militarization was good or bad for the Cardassian people,

Gul Madred: What do you know of Cardassian history? 

Picard:I know you were a peaceful people that you had a rich spiritual life --- 

Madred: And what did peace and spirituality get us? People starved by the millions. Bodies went unburied, disease was rampant. The suffering unimaginable... 

Picard: Since the military took over hundreds of thousands more have died --- 

Madred: BUT, we are feeding the people. We acquired territory during the wars. we developed new resources... we initiated a rebuilding program... we have mandated agricultural programs. That is what the military has done for Cardassia. Because of that my daughter will never have to worry about going hungry.

Picard: Her belly may be full, but her spirit will be empty.

But, the biggest theft happened to be Ryan's anecdotal story of Brown Bag Lunch Boy. 

"This reminds me of I story I heard from Eloise Anderson. She once met a young boy from a very poor family, and every day at school, he would get a free lunch from a government program. He told Eloise he didn’t want a free lunch. He wanted his own lunch, one in a brown-paper bag just like the other kids. He wanted one, he said, because he knew a kid with a brown-paper bag had someone who cared for him. This is what the left does not understand."

Well, it turns out this "story" was stolen from Laurie Schroff's book An Invisible Thread, and apparently originated from a television interview with Maurice Mazcyk, a young homeless boy featured in book.

Meanwhile, while Ryan is pushing the Republican Goal of eliminating assistance for hungry children  it's fine for Ryan to be swilling $700 worth of free Pinot Noir while on a romantic dinner date with Hedge Fund Manager Clifford S. Asness because Ryan is one of the elected.

Every one of these anecdotal stories Republicans find which conveniently conform to their bigoted, intolerant, oppressive worldview always fall apart under the slightest investigation. It's a conservative axiom; If the evidence doesn't exist, Then just make it up.

So, we understand you and the Republican Party, Paul Ryan. You want the working class to work themselves to death. You hate when the Government does anything to aid the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden. How stupid of Obamacare to offer Americans the chance to stay at home and raise their children or taking time from work to care for a loved one or elderly parent instead of working themselves to exhaustion for bare bones medical care.

So, we understand you Paul Ryan. The Republicans have nothing to offer 99% of Americans. Their ideas and goals are to further enrich the 1%, cement income inequality, and shackle the working class with the chains of unbreakable Corporate Bondage.

Senator Lindsey Graham is correct, Benghazi did embolden Vladimir Putin

Putin knew that Republicans and Conservatives will side with America's Enemies against President Obama everytime. Listening to the 18 months worth of lies, which Republicans continue to spew forth about Benghazi, emboldened Putin. He knew that his actions would be defended by Republicans who would seek to blame Putin's actions on President Obama.

Because siding with America's Enemies is what Republicans and conservatives do.

For right-wingers History began on Jan. 20, 2009. But, even before that date right-wingers choose to aid the enemies of America when Republicans became enamored and beguiled by a godless Communist Soviet Agent Orly Taitz, who was born in the the Moldavian SSR.

Taitz paraded ridiculously childish Kenyan Birth Certificate forgeries, outlandish lawsuits and garnered a staunch following amongst right-wingers whose every legal defeat merely served to strengthen their hatred, harden their resolve and inflame their fanaticism. 

In 2009, when Somali Pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama and captured Captain Richard Phillips conservatives immediately sided with the pirates and tried to undercut President Obama as the Navy SEALs were waiting for the order to free Captain Phillips.

In 2010, when the BP's Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig exploded killing 11 and dumping massive amounts of crud oil into the Gulf, Republicans not only sided with BP against America but apologized to BP and declared President Obama and the US Government responsible for BP's negligence.

"I think the people responsible in the oil spill--the federal government--should take full responsibility for what's happening there," John Boehner.

"I apologize," Republican Joe Barton told Tony Hayward. 

As the so-called Arab Spring revolutions got underway in Egypt and Libya, conservatives suddenly found out their values aligned perfectly with Hosni Murbarak and Muamar Gahdaffi. So they began to pretend those two dictators were staunch American Allies.

As the Syrian Civil War intensified (which it clearly did whether or not Assad used Chemical Weapons) President Obama and John Kerry engaged in a display of masterful global diplomacy, Republicans could not wait to declare President Obama was weak for setting a red line and raved President Obama was leading from the rear by not getting US involved militarily even as Syria dismantled its' chemical weaponry.

Republicans threatened Impeachment for the military aid we provided in Libya which led to Gahdaffi's defeat, capture and killing. Our involvement in Libya would have been near-perfect except for the tip of the spear CIA mission in Benghazi which went awry and cost the lives of 4 Americans.

Benghazi is the feather in the cap of the conservative chicken hawks in their effort to undermine the US and aid our enemies now and right-wingers will never stop lying about the events which transpired on Sept 11, 2012.

The bodies of Ambassador J. Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty weren't even cold before a smirking Mitt Romney bounded up to a podium to give a press conference pledging his support and siding with the Libyan Terrorists. Romney gleefully thought he could build the foundation of his Presidency on the bodies of dead Americans.

But, the hundreds of hours devoted to expanding the right-wing lies, dozens of Congressional Hearings, thousands of fact-free articles are all distortions of what actually happened, and all that effort by right-wingers told America's enemies that Republicans will side against the US because of their vicious hatred and desire to recapture the White House in order to use the Awesome Power of Government to crush the Working Class and succor, defend and transfer Trillions to the Plutocracy.

Sarah Palin, one of the leading lights of the Pro-Putin conservatives, last year marched with Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz Tea Party Commissar Larry Klayman and 100 Neo-Confederates to raise the Southern Flag in front of the White House. Palin and two sitting US Senators marched on the White House under the banner of the worst arch-traitors in American History.

No matter the issue, conservatives find a way to side with those who hate America and oppose We, the People. Fortunately, conservatives are cowards who they lack the courage of their convictions. 

However, I have no illusions the American people will see how despicable the Republican Party has become and cosign the anti-american traitors to the dustbin of history.

The Sochi Games End and the Ukrainian War Game Begins

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul. He's a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country and I appreciate very much the frank dialogue and that's the beginning of a very constructive relationship," In 2001, President Bush saw a kindred spirit in Vladimir Putin.

Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively annexed the Crimea and prepares to reclaim the Eastern Ukraine after the Russian Parliament Authorized the Use of Military Force, the right-wing crafted lie that Ronald Reagan defeated the Soviet Union and won World War III becomes more and more ludicrous.

On Saturday afternoon, 10 troop carriers, accompanied by armored jeeps, arrived at the Ukrainian coast guard base in the resort town of Balaklava and took up positions inside and outside the installation. 

Russian Orthodox priests stood among the troops and sang hymns. Large crowds gathered to wave Russian flags wherever the troops appeared.

The Crimea regional government, dominated by pro-Russia deputies, announced it would hold a referendum March 30 to decide among three choices: “to retain its current status as an autonomous republic within Ukraine, to become an independent state, or to become part of Russia.” according to the Russian news agencies.

There's been much speculation that pro-EU and very hard right Fascist factions which began protesting the Russia supporting former Government of the Ukraine of plotting a Coup d'Etat. If true, the plotters made a major miscalculation. From Edward Luttwak's, Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook, 

A coup is not worth attempting if a Great Power has significant military forces in the country concerned.

The Ukraine and Crimea have been soldily in the Russian Sphere of Influence since Peter the Great and have had a "Russian" influence going back 1200 years when the Kiev Rus sent Traders, Raiders and the Varangian Guard down the Black Sea to Byzantium.

The Acting Ukrainian Government is mobilizing forces, but the amount of Russian troops, Armor and Naval assets in and around the Crimea would make actual fighting an overwhelming Russian Victory while it's clear the people of Sevastopol and the region consider themselves to be Russian.

Of course, it's most likely that Putin will be able to pull this off and the Crimea will be become Russian territory and that's what is so attractive to the American Right.

This is, of course, because Conservatives love a strong-man dictator. They crave when a powerful man tells them what to do. Vladimir Putin, just like Dick Cheney, is going to exert his will upon the world and they swoon over him.

Over the last few months leading up to and during the Sochi Games we had the privilege of hearing conservatives gush about Putin's masculinity and his leadership skills, as evidenced by his bare-breasted horse riding, vicious anti-gay campaign and for having musicians who criticize him beaten and arrested.

It's why conservatives react so virulently against President Obama. They have cultivated an image of President Obama as an effete snob, a bike-riding, mom-jeans wearing, cerebral egg-head, a squish whose non-swagger invites the Putin's and Cheney's of the world to disrespect America. Oddly, they believe this while simultaneously ascribing to him the powers of a tyrannical, vicious Nation of Islam Black Panther Chicago-Style Politics Thug who terrorizes those who oppose him.

Russian Military Expert Sarah Palin declared the Russian annexation of Crimea and President Obama non-Bushian response a vindication of her 2008 observations that she could see Russia from her house.

"President Obama needs to do something." Senator Lindsey Graham said on CBS Sunday Morning. While Senator John McCain declared "We are all Ukrainians now."

So, what "something" would you recommend Senator? What do Senators McCain and Graham and conservatives want in response? Military Action?

Force Projection into Crimea is a simple matter for the Russians. Currently, the Crimea holds the Russian Black Sea fleet. Russia landed their military cargo planes at the behest of the regional government and now have enough forces and armour in and around Simferopol and Sevastopol to seize both cities and enough military power mobilizing on the border to seize the peninsula.

A military response by the U.S. is not only unwarranted it would be incredibly foolish. Unlike Senator Graham's experiences during the Patriotic Iraq War, the Russian Military can respond to US military action. Unlike, Iraq or Afghanistan, Russia has a trained, battle-hardened military with modern weaponry.

And while conservatives might be prepared to lose the 101st Airborne, the 10th Mountain and whatever MEU that gets sent to Crimea I am not. Nor do most Americans care to see American soldiers bombarded by thousands of "Katyusha" rockets from Russian mobile rocket arty while Russian paratroopers, marines and tanks encircle and obliterate them.

But, as with Iraq what Putin's invasion of the Crimea provides conservatives is another avenue of attack on the Homefront. Because that's the only "battleground" right-wingers ever set foot upon.

This invasion affords conservatives and Republicans the chance to engage in the only fighting they ever see; Political Gamesmanship. The Right-Wing Internet Fart Bubble bloggers who write about this don't know any more about real battle than they do about fornicating.

Whatever happens rest assured that Faux News and the Right-Wing Internet Fart Bubble will proclaim President Obama to blame.

Arizona's Gay Jim Crow Law and other States efforts are about using religion to enforce Bigotry

"Freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from religion." - Rick Perry, current Governor of Texas, 2012 Republican Presidential Primary Candidate and 2016 Presidential Hopeful. 

"I think this administration has a very narrow view of the First Amendment, that first freedom, the freedom of religion. I think they see religious freedom as fine with it as long as it’s in the four walls of a church. But if it comes into workplace, the marketplace, if it comes into the public square, it’s not welcome." Family Research Council Tony Perkins complained in 2013. Of course, this is entirely correct, what you do in your church or home is fine but, forcing your religion onto someone in the public arena is not welcome or lawful.

Homosexuality is an abomination before GOD and man.  The Bible states this in plain English! - (emphasis as in the original) standard comment by a conservative in response to the pushback of right-wing efforts to get Discrimination codified into law as well as, highlighting Tea Party ignorance.

I wasn't going to address the Arizona Gay Jim Crow Law, but after Jan Brewer vetoed the bill the Right-Wing Wurlitzer of Outrage kicked into gear.

Ben Shapiro, the inheritor of Breitbart's Empire of Lies and Bigotry, wrote indecipherable tweets which all culminated in a cry of Fascism.

Racist Limpbaugh blathered something or other about bullying on his odious radio program. Bryan Fischer and other rabid right-wingers complained of the "Homo-Fascism" using the power of government to make the faithful engage in sin. The conservative reaction is predictable because these bills speak to the very core of what it means to be a Conservative.

Judson Phillips, of Tea Party Nation, warned of the incoming tyranny of Penis cakes. But, Judson did hit upon the key issue at play;

The issue can be boiled down to one word: Freedom.
A free man or woman controls their labor. A slave has no control over their labor. A free man or woman decides who they will work for and under what conditions. The slave cannot.

As did Eric Erickson,

In December of 1865, the several American states ratified the 13th amendment, constitutionally ending involuntary servitude in the United States. In the 21st century, Americans are coming full circle. In a number of states, a black man can again be forced by the government to work involuntarily for a white man.

The Arizona SB1062 Law along with the other legislation proposed by rabid Right-Wing Legislatures are fundamental extensions of two core components of conservative ideology; Oppression and Intolerance. While also being tangentially related to the third core component, Adulation of the Rich.

These laws are very much about Freedom. They are designed to give conservatives the freedom to impose their religious beliefs on you, while also granting them the freedom to openly discriminate while operating in the public sphere.

But, they don't want you to know that's what their doing so they couch their bigotry under the guise of religious liberty.

These laws are backed by the same people that want to give business owners the ability to decide what medical care you are allowed to receive and how you spend your earned wages.

Recall they made the same bogus "religious liberty" argument during their evil struggle against the PPACA. So, if a Business Owner doesn't believe in blood transfusions or antibiotics because of his sincere religious beliefs conservatives want to give them the right to deny you that medical coverage. If a Business Owner doesn't consume pork, conservatives want to give them the right to ensure you aren't spending your wages on bacon.

Because conservatives believe in and want a return to Slavery. Republican voters are comprised of Bigots and Billionaires, Misogynists and Millionaires so Corporate Bondage and Oppression brought about by the awesome power of government euphemistically crouched under the guise of religious liberty suits both demographics.

Of course, the only reason Brewer vetoed this law and Republicans in Arizona began to back-track was financial. Apple and several other businesses voiced concerns over doing business in Arizona and the NFL not so discretely implied the 2015 Super Bowl would be moved from Arizona if the law was adopted.

So, Conservatives are inadvertently being honest when they claim this issue is actually about Freedom. Conservatives hate Freedom and what they seek is nothing less than an abolition of Freedom, Democracy and Liberty and an enshrinement of the Ultra-Reactionary Neo-Feudalist Wage Slavery State.