CPAC 2015 Conservatives and Republicans are destroying the Nation because they Hate America

"Oh, the naive Obama State Department. They say we can't kill our way out of war. Really? Tell that to the Nazis. Oh wait, you can't. They're dead. We killed 'em" -Sarah I read all of 'em Palin.

Gather round while I sing you of Wernher Von Braun
A man whose allegience
Is ruled by expedience
Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown
'Ha Nazi-Schmazi,' says Wernher Von Braun - Tom Lehrer

It's always good to start of the Conservative Clown Car cavalcade of cowardly chickenhawks with a pig-ignorant Sarah Palin quote and link (warning The Blaze) to the right-wing buffoons who know nothing of history.

As we watch the Republican Congressional Circus fail to fund The Department of Homeland Security and Clowns at CPAC 2015 the big takeaways are the mounting evidence that Conservatives and Republicans are destroying the Nation they profese to love so dearly, in service to their Plutocratic Masters.

Because Conservatives don't love the real America they love Imaginary America. Their Imaginary America is even more of a mockery than Ronnie Raygun's Shining City on a Hill because it's a Plutocratic Neo-Feudalist Wage Slavery State in which trickle down economics works, conservative icons like Bullshit O'Lielly, Racist Limpballs and Sean Insannity are Icons of Veracity and dogmatic truth-tellers, where the Iraq War was a massive success, where skin color, gender, and sexual orientation are not used against people ever, where poverty is totally the fault of the child born into it, where everyone could be rich if you were just willing to work harder, and everyone can get healthcare coverage sans the Government.

It's a Total Fantasy. But, conservatives also demand everyone publically swear fealty to Imaginary America. And woe be unto anyone who does not for the 1% will sic their Conservative Media and Republican Attack dogs to destroy that person.

For the Plutocracy knows that with their Media and Government they can destroy any challenges to their hegemony, which is why they've spent the last 50 years buying them both up.

At CPAC, Wisconsin (a subsidiary of Koch Industries) Governor Scott Walker proclaimed Wisconsin Liberals and Union Employees are exactly the same as ISIS terrorists. Because to the Koch Brothers, Walker's owners, anything which threatens their total domination and creation of a Neo-Feudalist America is a threat.

The Rich destroyed Occupy Wall Street, they destroyed the Anti-Iraq War Protests, they've stolen Voting Rights away from thousands, they've bleed Unions, they've methodically enacted Right-to-Work for Less laws but, they won't be satisifed until every American is shackled into Corporate Bondage and ground down into penury and crushing poverty.

For the Plutocracy sees no Nation, they respect no Flag, or National Borders; what they see in the United States is a labor force which is too expensive.

And Conservatives are their New Pinkertons, the new strike breakers ready to beat liberals, shoot minorities, murder homosexuals, put unchaste women in their place and destroy America and replace it with Imaginary America.

Sleeping Truck Drivers and Fatal Accidents are another gift from Capitalism

A Semi-Truck accident from 2014 is back in the news and it highlights the problem of sleeping truck drivers but not the underlying cause.

Last January 27th in the Chicagoland area, a truck driver Renato Velasquez fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a State Police Crusier and an IDOT assistance truck which had stopped on I-88 near Route 59 to aid a stranded motorist. The IDOT worker Vincent Petrella was killed and the State Trooper Douglas Balder was severely injured.

Velasquez' trial has begun and he is being charged with operating a commercial motor vehicle while fatigued or impaired and making a false report of his record and duty status.

Prosecutors stated Velasquez frequently, falsified his in-cab log books to indicate he was abiding by federal rules that require truck drivers to sleep for 10 consecutive hours after driving for 11 hours.

In Illinois, the only change to Highway Traffic Laws passed recently was State Senator Jim Oberweis speed limit increase, which he pushed through in order that his delivery truck drivers could go 70+mph to make him more money on his Dairy Empire. Safety of truck drivers and everyone else in Illinois be damned.

Truck Drivers are rountinely given timetables which require them to either: 1) Speed or 2) Eschew Sleep in order to get their loads on schedule.

A quick perusal will find dozens of news stories of sleeping truck drivers and several spectacular crashes caught on video. The underlying cause for all of them is the Capitalist System which has placed Profit over every other concern.

Do not fret though because the system is safe. After these accidents happen Capitalism will never be charged, will never be questioned, the individual truck driver will be punished for Capitalism's systemic flaws and disregard for the safety and well-being of those affected.

The Shocking Profligate Nature of Republican Congressman Aaron Schock (updated)

Dude? Do you even legislate, Brah?

Aaron here's a mini-tractor and a million dollar check 

for your house in thanks for your impartial House Votes!

Congressman Aaron Shock (R-Illinois 18th District), another of the young Republican Males seeking to exert their Dudebro ideas on the Nation is in trouble for yet another Ethics Violation and misuse of Taxpayer dollars.

First and Foremost, IOKIYAR. Now that's out of the way, Wonkette is rereporting,

Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., has repeatedly spent taxpayer and campaign funds to rent aircraft that are not certified charter services, despite House rules and federal law that generally prohibit the use of private aircraft for official and campaign use. 

House rules have some exemptions, such as an Ethics Committee waiver that allows a lawmaker to use a private plane. Neither Schock nor his representatives, however, replied to repeated e-mails and calls about whether he obtained permission for the flights.

This comes after revelations that Schock spent over a $100,000 U.S. Taxpayer dollars getting his D.C. Congressional Offices completely renevated in a DownTown Abbey motif and it was uncovered that Schock sold his home for a whopping $925,000 to former Caterpillar executive Ali Bahaj, also a Schock donor, during the Housing Crash and Republican Recession.

Schock's Congressional Homepage, proudly proclaims how he worked to weaken EPA regulations as payback for the money given to him Caterpillar. It also unironically states, it was discovered that a federal agency spent over $800,000 for a 2010 conference held in Las Vegas. This type of lavish spending is unacceptable and as a result, I supported legislation in both the 112th and 113th Congress that seeks to bring transparency to the process...

Lavish Spending is Unacceptable... for thee NOT for me, the personal Dudebro lifting mantra of the unethical and lawless Aaron Schock. The Party of Personal Responsibility Strikes Again.

Update:
Since I wrote this post there have been more revelations of the Party Dude lifestyle Congressman Aaron Schock has been leading. Including using Taxpayer Money for deep-tissue massages, Katy Perry Concerts, Super Bowl Tickets and tickets to the Country Music Awards. Must be Fabulous to be a young white Republican because you get to jet to Aspen for the weekend all the while being free to slash food aid to sick and poor while never having to worry about criminal prosecution because IOKIYAR.

Illinois has a Measles Epidemic but Governor Rauner only cares about giving Big Government Salaries to his Cronies

Another Measles case has been confirmed at the Palatine Kindercare. This is the 14th case in Illinois since the outbreak began less than a month ago.

But, don't worry Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner is making sure Illinois Tax Payer Dollars are going to the Right People these days!

In between being "liberated" to impoverish Illinois Workers, Bruce Rauner has been steadily rewarding his Cronies and their families with lucrative, high paying Government Jobs;

• Rauner gave 25 year old Emily Clamp a $70,000 job at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency just days after declaring a State Employee Spending Freeze. Clamp just happens to be the sister of his Senior Campaign Political Advisor Sarah Clamp who helped with Rauner's campaign "Tactics" of attacking Governor Pat Quinn for Patronage hires.
• Now, Rauner has hired through a no-bid contract process a Piss-Down-Your-Back and Tell-You-It's Raining Reaganomics Superstar Donna Arduin to help him with the Budget Process of screwing over the Working Class. Arduin will take in a cool $120,000 USC for her "work" of shifting the burden of the Illinois Budget onto the backs of the Working Class while helping the Land of Lincoln become a 1%er's Paradise.
• Multiple members of Rauner's Staff have been given salaries far higher than those under Governor Quinn's Office. A longtime friend and business associate of Rauner's was installed with a salary twice that off his predecessor.
• And to top it off, Rauner hired a $100,000-a-year Chief of Staff Sara Wojcicki Jimenez for his Wife Diana Rauner in her Official First Lady Duties of Nothing.

But, Illinois Conservatives you can rest comfortable that those people are going to have the minisule aid slashed by Pharaoh Rauner. So, just remember to thank your Pharaoh when your kid contracts Measles because you had to put your child into cheap daycare to work an extra job to make up for the money Rauner took from your paycheck to pay for his Wife's Chief of Staff.

Governor Bruce Rauner's continuing Quest to Impoverish Illinois, Crush Unions, Raise Taxes on the Poor, and Lower Taxes on the Rich

Well I've got a little somethin'
Guaranteed to ease your mind
It's called Snake Oil y'all
It's been around for a long, long time - Snake Oil, Copperhead Road Steve Earle (1988)

Illinois Governor Pharaoh Bruce Rauner was handed an Executive set-back last Friday the 13th when his hand-picked Comptroller Leslie Munger, based on advice from Attorney General Lisa Madigan's Office, ruled Pharaoh Rauner's Imperial Order on Union Dues was not legal.

So, Pharaoh Rauner, in his goal to Impoverish Illinois, simply ignored the ruling of Comptroller Munger and ordered State Agencies to withhold "Fair Share" fees from Unions in escrow accounts. The escrow accounts, in and of themselves are also illegal under Illinois Law but, who cares we've got an Plutocrat here who wants to screw workers and Unions over!

Rauner is constrained by the 1947 Taft-Hartley act which allowed for the creation of Right-to-Work For Less Laws but, specifically enumerated only in States or Territories. Bruce Rauner will never get Right-to-Work For Less passed in the Illinois Legislature so he's trying to set up a Supreme Court fight going by allowing local municipalities break their local Unions themselves.

Rauner is a despicable thief and Vandal Capitalist, therefore he will never be dissuaded from his Quest to crush the power of workers and impoverish regular Illinois citizens.

What's clear is Bruce Rauner wants to impose Austerity on Illinois and make Illinois "favorable" for Business. The details of Rauner's New Budget are still shrouded in secrecy but will be revealed in his Budget Speech on 02/18/15. He gave a closed-door preview to House Speaker Mike Madigan today.

Madigan didn't pull any punches on the so-called "tough medicine" Rauner is peddling,

"I said 10 days ago, I don’t think you can cut your way out of the problem. I think you need some additional revenue, and that’ll be my position tomorrow."

Rauner isn't peddling "tough medicine" but the typical Republican Brew; Snake Oil. 

It's indisputable Rauner's New Illinois Budget will include; Higher Taxes on the Poor, Lower Taxes on the Rich, Taxes on Pensions, new taxes on services, food and medications and dramatic reductions to Social Services for those most in need.

So... Get Ready for Republican Governance, Illinois. Get Ready for Economic Zones in which Corporations pay less than 1/100th of 1% in Taxes while your taxes go up.  Get Ready for Austerity. Get Ready for Pharaoh Rauner's Right-Wing Snake Oil.

Vicious Conservatives have broken the Social Contract in order to shred the Social Safety Net

The Guard Dogs of the Plutocracy, the Republican Party in the 114th Congress are tasked with destroying the Holy Grail of the Social Safety Net, Social Security. Thus, they immediately took up the task of swindling the 99% out of their earned benefits by setting disabled Americans against elderly Americans.

By the end of 2016, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, which benefit 11 million disabled Americans, will be facing a budget hole, so of course, the Republicans are using this opportunity and their Congressional control to change the way funds are transferred between Social Security to SSDI. The Republican changes demand any transfers to Disability funds must be accompanied by benefit cuts or tax increases.

Republicans have no problem using Legerdermain and chicanery to accomplish the goals of their Rich Masters. Vicious Conservatives are out to swindle Social Security in order to remove any hope of help for poor retired Americans or those unable to work due to injury and illness.

"Our preference has always been that the depletion of the DI trust fund become the impetus for comprehensive Social Security reform," Ed Lorenzen, senior advisor to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Vicious Conservatives, their Libertarian "intellectuals" and Republican Masters seek nothing less than the return of the Feudal System in which Corporate Monsters like Duke Energy, AmWay and Koch Industries are in charge of huge swaths of the Nation-State beholden to no government, constrained by no regulations and free to crush the working class under the iron heel of wage slavery and corporate bondage.

Right-Wingers readily go along with this because they no longer see a compact with their fellow Americans. They've been conditioned to view 47% of their countrymen as moochers. They've been lead to believe Republicans will stop "those people" from stealing Social Security. They'd rather Let'em Die.

But, Republicans can not tell their duped right-wing drones that they are actually out to destroy Social Security entirely, including for them, so they lie about saving it and return to the tried and true method of warning them of "fraud".

Congressman P90X Ryan who benefited from Social Security as a teenager, when his father died, wants to pull the Ladder Up and make sure it isn't there for poor Americans but, doesn't want to be known as the Granny-Starving Congressman, so the Ways and Means Chairman sent his sub-chairman Republican Representative Sam Johnson to proclaim SSDI is "fraud-plagued",

"This program cannot afford more fraud. It is only a matter of time when Congress may be asked to bailout this program with the retirement side having to come to the rescue. If that is the case then all taxpayers and beneficiaries will shoulder the crime wave."

The crime wave? Ridiculous. What Republicans think is a crime is that Poor and Working Class people have protections from Vandal Capitalists. So, they are fervently working to remove that protection.

Without any Government protection, you and your fellow working class members will have No Shield from rapacious capitalists who see no country and no countrymen. To them there are only assets and liabilities.

So what are you going to do when Koch Industries dumps 4000 tons of Petcoke on your doorstep? Whom will you turn to for assistance when a pipeline bursts and floods your drinking water with sweet, sweet crude oil? How will you eat when Social Security is declared insolvent after the next Wall Street implosion? What hopes for redress will you get when Obamacare is repealed and you're denied medical care for your pre-existing condition?

You will have none; just as the Republican Lap Dogs of the 1% intend. Getting rid of Social Security and having their duped vicious Conservative drones aid them will help the Republican Party shackle Americans with the chains of Wage Slavery.

Governor Bruce Rauner says it's time to Break Illinois

In his State of the State Address, Bruce Rauner laid out his vision for Illinois Workers; Wage Slavery and Corporate Bondage.

"It is make or break time for the Land of Lincoln," Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.

As always Rauner was short on specifics, he nonetheless let the Public Employee and Private Sector workers in Illinois know that he'll not stand for them making so much money.

Rauner declared his intent to destroy Unions (both Public and Private) and Public Sector Bargaining and he'll do so by whatever means available. Bruce Rauner issued an Executive Order declaring "Fair Share" employees Union dues should be held in a Trust until he can get his "Employee Empowerment Zones" established.

Rauner's Employee Empowerment Zones are the newest attempt to undercut Unions by allowing local muncipalities to create Right-to-Work Zones without the State of Illinois passing the necessary legislation.

Right-to-Work laws are best known as Right-to-Work for Less. Once passed these laws transfer all bargaining power to Business, which immediately enact cuts to pay and benefits.

Rauner claims these Orwellian-titled Empowerment Zones are needed because of the broken economic situation in Illinois. Of course, it was Bruce Rauner and his Hedge Fund Wealth Manager buddies who broke Illinois Public employees pensions.

By Rauner's own estimate 2/3rds of the funds for his Hedge Fund Firm GTCR were supplied by Public Pensions. In Illinois, GTCR "mismanaged" money for the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) and the Illinois State Board of Investment, the state's largest and third-largest, respectively. Additionally, GTCR had access to state and municipal pension plans from the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System to the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board.

For this "work" GTCR, takes 20% or more plus consultation and management fees. Rauner got his compensation no matter what the funds he "managed" did.

So, it's not surprising that Illinois and other Public Pensions began to go into insolvency once Rauner and other Vandal Capitalists got their hands on the funds. In fiscal year 2009, TRS lost $4.4 Billion (22% of its' value) in 2008 TRS lost 5% of it's value because of the Management of their Portfolios by Rauner-types.

Rauner made his fortune through "coin-clipping" he and his Vandal Capitalists clipped points off of Worker's Pensions to make their fortunes. Additionally, in keeping with his Transfer of Wealth Upwards, Rauner wants to lower taxes on the Rich and Corporations and expand sales taxes because those taxes hit the Working Class the hardest.

Rauner and his aides know exactly what Employee Empowerment Zones, his Reverse Robin Hood Tax Rates and Theft of Pensions will do to Illinois during interviews with the Chicago Tribune; how to improve the state's business climate as companies move out of state in search of a cheaper workforce.

So yes, Rauner wants to bring jobs here, the kind of jobs where you work 40 hours a week for wages which barely get you over the poverty line, with no prospects of being able to retire and no pension, working until the day you die.

Muslim Terrorism Strikes Chapel Hill, North Carolina

"[W]hen you take Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, whatever, their combined killings in the name of religion -- well, that would be zero." - Eric Bolling, Faux News

But, you won't hear about this latest incident of "muslim terrorism" on Faux News because the Muslims are the victims. The murderer is a Southern White Male Gun Nut. While the three murdered muslims were college age students.

Prior to the murders the killer, Craig S. Hicks, allegedly posted photos of his .38 in a holster and wrote, "When it comes to insults, your religion started this, not me. If your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would I" on his facebook account.

So immediately, the white privilege defense mechanisms kick into high gear to absolve a white killer and Whiteness in General of the crime.

Whenever a murderer is white we are treated to an overall media silence coupled with built-in rationalizations, e.g. "The killer was a lone wolf", "The killer is mentally unstable". As always the Conservative Media Apparatus engages in this blatant hypocrisy of downplaying White Mass Murderers because it benefits their narrative and helps them to continue grifting.

Already we've seen conservatives take to their computers to declare, This wasn't terrorism but an argument over a parking spaces, while a reversal of the victims and perpetrators would have had Sean Hannity and the entire Right-Wing Internet Fart Bubble screaming for President Obama to declare this Islamic Extremism while they cross-contaminated their blogs which incestuous amplification of the noisome emissions that President Obama secretly aided the killers.

So, as with Adam Lanza or James Holmes or when a Jimmy Lee Dykes murders a bus driver and kidnaps a 6 year old, holding the boy hostage for 8 days in his underground bunker, this latest mass killings is by definition not an Act of Terror because the shooter is a white male.

And there's a built in defense because Hicks is reportedly an atheist. So once more the right-wing criminals who have hammered the drums that Muslim=Terrorist can wash their hands and proclaim they had nothing to do with a southern white gun nut domestic terrorist murdering 3 young muslim students.

So, don't expect a rally attended by World Leaders. Don't expect Bill O'Reilly to question his morality. Don't expect NC Troopers to turn their backs on White Male Gun Owners and declare them responsible en masse for these deaths. Mass Murderers, when the perpetrator is a White Male, are coddled in this Nation. And just like Right-Wing Violence it is thus encouraged.

Update:
Crisis Averted!

Hicks isn't a Bundyist Right-Wing Domestic Terrorist like Jerad Miller but is instead a "Looney Liberal" with the small incongruity of being a Gun Humping Fanatic. Talking Points Memo is reporting Hicks is vehemently anti-theist, being especially critical of American Christian Dominonists, and was a fan of Dogs Against Romney facebook page.

So, any twinge of doubt which might have momentarily plagued Conservatives can now be safely jettisoned and the NRA can proclaim what was needed here were more guns especially in the hands of young muslim males. Of course, it will be oddly shameful for Conservatives to villify Hicks for doing on a small scale exactly what Chris Kyle did on a large scale.

The 2015 National Prayer Breakfast highlights Conservative Values of Murder, Slavery and Genocide

Intolerance and Oppression are the core building blocks of the modern Conservative. Unless one swears allegiance to genocide and slavery one can not be an American Right-Winger today. To be a Conservative in America today means to be devoid of historical knowledge, secure in righteous ignorance and an active proponent of afflicting the afflicted and harming the innocent.

The two recent right-wing poutrages over American Sniper and the President Obama's comments at the 2015 National Prayer Breakfast serve to show the despicable nature of the American Conservatives.

First of all, the United States of America should not have a National Prayer Anything as the United States "is not, in any sense founded on the Christian religion" and the US Constitution specifically forbids the establishment of religion by the Federal Government. Of course, the National Prayer Breakfast was created in the 1950s (akin to the under god addition to the Pledge of Allegiance) in response to the godless Soviet Union to prove Gott Mit Uns.

Secondly, responding to right-wing outrage is a ridiculous task. Whether they are foaming at the mouth over Dijon Mustard, Umbrellas, Dan Daly's USMC Cover or Lattes no group in the history of the world is as wimpy, thin-skinned, petulant, actively ignorant or violently stupid as Conservatives.

Now, American Sniper has become a purity litmus test for Conservatives. For years conservatives have gnashed their teeth; as they've been champing at the bit to declare the Iraq War a Noble Crusade and Glorious Victory and beatify anyone who reveled in murdering Muslims. Since 2003 and dozens of time afterwards, Conservatives declared Iraq "Won" culminating in the Right-Wing Blog-o-sphere declaring Victory in Iraq Day (VI Day) on 11/22/2008.

The Iraq War was a miserable failure, a war crime, resulting in the murder of thousands of innocent Iraqis, a complete waste of American lives and money, which utterly destabilized the region, created ISIS and has in no way made US or anyone else in the world safer.

But, when Obama dared to point out, at the 2015 National Prayer Breakfast, the history of Christianity being used by the powerful to justify heinous crimes well that's just too much.

Conservatives believe Slavery is justified because it exposed the slaves and their descendants to the light of Christianity and the "freedom" of America. Conservatives believe the genocide of Native Americans was justified because genocide is a staunch conservative value. Just as they believe the slaughter of more than a hundred thousand Iraqis is justified because Iraq is "free" now thanks to George W. Bush and Chris Kyle.

So when, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore has a temper tantrum and pouts,

"This goes further to the point that Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share." 

He's absolutely correct. President Obama does not share the American Values of Conservatives because those values are; Oppression, Intolerance, Fawning Adulation of the Rich, Slavery, Murder, and Genocide.

Finanical Criminals only get punished when they Steal from the Rich

"There is only one crime among Vampires; Kill your Own Kind." - Stephen Rea, Interview with the Vampire (1994)

Eric Bloom, the former head of the Northbrook, Illinois based Hedge Fund Sentinel Management Group, was sentenced last week for convictions on18 counts of wire fraud and 1 count of investment adviser fraud.

During the 2007 Republican Recession, Bloom's thievery cause Sentinel to implode and go bankrupt in a Billion Dollar vanishing of investors assets. But, as far back as 2003 Bloom began secretly using his clients funds to make high-risk investments and as collateral for multi-million dollars loans for his, his fathers' and his associates benefit.

Bloom was sentenced to 14 years for defrauding his clients of at least $665 Million. Bloom has been free on bond since the trial began last year has until April 30th to turn himself in. Bloom begged for leniency and declared, "I am not a thief". He reportedly also wrote a letter expressing his fear about his prison sentence and its' effect on his wife and daughter.

Awwww...

Charles Mosley, the head trader for Sentinel and a long-time friend of Bloom, plead guilty in October 2013 to Investor Fraud but, wasn't sentenced till last month. Mosely got 8 years.

It sure pays to be a rich white criminal.

For some reason neither Bloom nor Mosley received a death sentence, of course they didn't steal a $50 pack of Swisher Sweets. But, as with Bernie Madoff we see criminals like Eric Bloom only get jail time when they swindle Rich People.

Thieves like Bruce Rauner and Mitt Romney, who steal from poor people and "make" their fortunes robbing Working Class Pensions, get elected Governor.