By the Power of Comstock I, hereby, disband the FDA And outlaw Mifepristone No Vaccines either
Republicans have nothing to offer the American people.
In many regards the Republicans have to outlaw Abortion, for over 40 years Republicans have been telling their conservative drones give us power and we will ban Abortion in the United States. Now this was originally a cynical power grab by the Reaganite criminals but, multiple generations have grown up being fed this rightwing agitprop and expect payment for their work.
The Republican Party is eliminating Abortion. The Republican Party is going to do away with birth control. The Republican Party will outlaw gay marriage. The Republican Party is going to make Interstate travel illegal for pregnant persons.
Legal concepts like standing, statue of limitations, settled law, precedent are of no consequence to the Rightwing agenda. None whatsoever. All that matters is pushing through the Republican agenda of oppression.
Nullification is a concept rightwingers never truly abandoned. They tried to nullify and repeal President Obama's tenure, especially Obamacare. Rightwingers tried to nullify President Biden's election. Now, Mullah Kacsmaryk choose to Nullify the FDA.
But, these things get lost in the fine grain, day-to-day political writings by which the Corporate Media blob and pundit class can blissfully ignore the metastasizing threat of the Republican authoritarianism. And act as though bad faith Republican arguments had merit and Republicans really did have a Healthcare Option to replace Socialist Obamacare, for instance.
Instead of pointing out the festering cancer which grew slowly at first and now has accelerated to warp speed the savvy pundit class engaged in bad faith Both Sides Do It rhetoric and there is no difference between the parties hand-wringing. But, despite the media's worst efforts election after election constantly demonstrates the simple fact: Republicans Hate You.
Kacsmaryk's ruling was not even a joke but, a QAnon blog post. It took blog comments as evidence and the 5th Circuit Court's deeply disingenuous save attempt was little better.
This April and actions of petulant Republicans in Wisconsin, in Tennessee, in Idaho and everywhere else in this great Nation demonstrate the abject, visceral hatred Republicans have for America and humanity in general.
Idaho passed the first step in restricting women's freedom of movement, under the guise of protecting the girls.
They pass these laws because they know, like the Comstock Act, that even 150 years later they can call upon them again when needed. Republicans have passed the Event Horizon and now a fully-fascist organization. At this point the physical violence is barely constrained but, they have no problem with bureaucratic violence, as we witnessed in Tennessee where Bigoted Racist White Republicans threw two young black male Representatives out of the Congress for the crime of Uppityness. Of course, in the spotlight all manner of ethical violations, rank bigotry, and crimes by those self-same Republicans have been revealed but they face no prospect of being expelled from the Congress.
But, understand right now Republicans are barely able to constrain their violent impulses and desires by these lawless "judicial nullifications" and state laws but, the time is coming soon when such pale fair won't satiate the blood lust that every Republican is aching to sate by rounding up and murdering millions of Americans.
"If they are going to start this, they cannot expect us to sit silently while they try to strip our Second Amendment rights," In response to the latest Gun Massacre in America, Florida Republican Representative Randy Fine justifies threatening to assassinate President Biden as Republicans continue to descend into Pure Fascism.
The Copaganda Narrative of Uvalde has fallen apart. The timeline of events does not correspond at all with the bullshit narrative Police, Authorities, and Texas Republicans first presented. This whole thing is fucking unbelievable. The shooter was outside firing rounds for 12 minutes prior to entering the school. The Officers saw him enter and followed but were repulsed by superior firepower. At this point once you have eyes in the shooter or once you know his location from the gunfire you are receiving you must maintain contact to keep his location fixed. Yes, I'm sorry Boys you're going to get shot at with rifle rounds. But! Don't fret! I hear from gun nuts on-line all the time that an AR-15 is just a 22! A pea-shooter!
Instead the Officers retreated, lost containment and waited an hour for the more heavily armed QRF to respond. A fucking hour!
The entire incident appears to be a mixture of sheer incompetence and pure cowardice. The stories coming out of dithering, of handcuffing parents, of other Texas Deputies going into the school and retrieving their children, of incompetent attempts to reach students hiding and exposing them to the school shooter.
David Simon said in the film The House I Live In, that the War on Drugs and the Police State associated with it, could claim to be worth it if, we also had safety and security but, we don't. So, instead we get the dehumanization of America from the War on Drugs in addition to the tyrannical authoritarianism of a fascist internal police.
The same is true with the bloated Police budgets and obsequious fealty Police Departments demand. It might be worth it, to bow and scrape, and pay police exorbitant overtime pay for safety and security but, instead Police Budgets take away from other more vital services which can better address the issues facing society and because of the Republican policy of flooding the Nation with 400,000,000 easily obtainable firearms we have no safety and no security.
And I'm not even talking about the payouts for egregious violations of law and misconduct just the amount of money dedicated to keep the precious feeling of The Cowardly Thin Blue Line from being hurt when Police are criticized for gross misconnection, law breaking, and violations of rights.
40% of Uvalde's city budget goes to the Police Department. They have a SWAT equivalent team. This would be a great time to talk about Defunding the Police, but right now rightwing media would love nothing more than to change the subject to violence in Democrat Run cities and disgusting Republican slobs like Sarah Suckabee Sanders could get on Faux News and say Chicago Chicago Chicago!!!
"I think if you look to Chicago, where you had over 4,000 victims of gun-related crimes last year, they have the strictest gun laws in the country. That certainly hasn’t helped there." Suckebee Sanders after the Las Vegas Mass Shooting in 2017
And I haven't even mentioned the concerted conservative on-line disinformation campaign by Candeath Owens and other rightwing influencers. using random pictures of innocent Transgender women "Sam" from Georgia and others to deflect, distract and, delay in order to run out the clock on gun control efforts and stoke the fires of anti-trans bigotry which conservatives will employ for the next mass shooting.
I know Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, John Cornyn are shameless and have no compunction about giving these petulant interviews oozing bad faith and uncaring sarcasm but how can Texans, tough talking, god-fearing, giant belt buckle wearing, self-reliant frontier folk vote for these slimy fucks? Has the non-stop GOP rhetoric and propaganda worked that fucking well? That these doughy, wide-waisted, flabby-assed, cowards are the epitome of Texas? How can you look at Ted Cruz and go Yep! that's who I want as a Senator!
The Truth is Greg Abbott and the Texas Republicans don't care. They don't fucking care. They don't fucking care about this latests mass shooting with Kids and Teachers blown to pieces. Just like they didn't care about the last mass shooting in Texas. And just like they won't fucking care about the next mass shooting in Texas. And why should they? Playing tough guy, helping to flood Texas with guns, and ignoring gun violence has made them rich and powerful. They get to talk tough and scream at Beto O'Rourke and then laugh at Liberal Tears because of Guns.
The sad truth is I expect the Faux News spun propaganda and righting on-line discourse to turn to those cowardly Cops failed to do their job! If those Cops had done the easy brave thing, this never would have happened, and our theory of Guns making people safer would still be 100% correct. Also anyway the Democrats are to blame!
Additional:
I understand why Republicans like Randy Fine, threaten the President of the United States in service to their masters the NRA (the need the power, influence, and money of the NRA to win elections) but why does Mitt Romney with his bullshit holier-than-thou sanctity of life not break with the Gun Lobby? He doesn't need their money. Why doesn't Susan Concerned Collins break and support Gun Control? She doesn't need the rightwing propaganda machine to win elections. No, what the lock-step Republicans deference and obedience to the NRA shows is there are NO Moderate Republicans. The Republican Party is a wholly Fascist Organization which rapidly advancing on the prospect of subjugation and wholesale murder of millions of Americans.
The long term dream of the Republican Party has been the elimination of the social safety net and the crushing of the American people.
A key pillar of Republican agenda to remove the hope of retirement and crush the American Dream has been stealing Social Security. George W(worst POTUS Ever) Bush tried to roll the entire SSI into the Stock Market in 2005, this would have been a brilliant move because the 1% would have managed to steal the entire Social Security fund and stave off his Great Recession while simultaneously sending millions of Americans into penury and early deaths.
Republicans want Americans to work until they are too sick, too old, or injured and then die. That's the reason Republicans loathe Obamacare so much, it ensures people will receive at least some medical care instead of losing their entire life savings and then dying quickly as Republicans prefer.
Senator Joni Ernst is apparently the new face of Republican mendacity. Republicans rolled out Joni during the Bart O'Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings to talk about her sexual assault. Ernst then dutifully voted to confirm Justice Bart I Love Beer & Rape. Now, Ernst seems to be floated as the new face of the Republican Path to Penury.
"How do we sustain Social Security for some of our younger workers? We know that there is a point in time when we as Congress will have to address the situation, and I think it’s better done sooner rather than later, to make sure that we shored up that system. So, it’s a broader discussion for another day. But I do think as various parties and members of Congress, we do need to sit down behind closed doors so we’re not being scrutinized by this group or the other, and just have an open and honest conversation..."
One of the brilliant tactics used by the Republican Party is to inflict pain right now and not worry about the long-term fallout or electoral pushback. Because Republicans know whatever damage they do Now will be forgotten when Election Day rolls around.
Once Republicans get Americans to give up Social Security, it will be gone forever as Republican push their agenda of Oppression, Intolerance, and crushing the American worker into a life perpetual Corporate Bondage and wage slavery.
Make America Great Again - Donald Trump's Red Trucker Hat
"Why would I want to say no to the circus? I like circuses," - Newt Gingrich May 2016, auditioning to be the Dick Cheney to Donald Trump's W(orst President Ever).
I began this post last August, and it's sat in my drafts for 9 months. I thought Trump was running to promote himself and his "brand". Being a shrewd and crafty grifter Trump correctly deduced the Republican nominating process was a windfall of free 24 hour media coverage and publicity. I wasn't convinced he'd do better than Rudy Giuliani in 2012. Now, I wonder if we'll ever find out what Trump's real plan was or as his Grand Illusion became reality if he decided to take the Republican Nomination.
Donald Trump successful campaign says a lot about conservatives in America. Besides, validating everything the Left has been saying about the misogynist, racist, bigoted right it shows how easily they've been swayed time-and-time again by grifters, carnival barkers, moral hypocrites, and devious Vulture Capitalists. Additionally, as the Republican Party has begun their traditional summer march to fall in line behind their candidate it once again proves the Republicans place Party over Principle and the Plutocratic Agenda over the American People.
Donald Trump is the Vox of the Monstrous Conservative Id. Whether he believes what he says doesn't matter. He's simply tapping into the Right-Wing Populist angst of the white working class. Some of this angst is a self-inflicted delusion and some of it comes from being cast aside by Cut-Throat American Capitalism. But, the white male conservative wants a government which specifically, harms people who are non-white, immigrants, female, LGBTQ, Unionized worker, or simply poor.
Whites (predominately white males) long ago allowed themselves to be bought by the 1%. The wealth of Europe and the United States (the so-called 1st World) stemmed from robbing other Nations, Peoples and citizens of their wealth. In order to turn a blind eye to the atrocious evils perpetrated purposefully by Plutocrats and to believe the utter falsehood that Cut-Throat Capitalism raised living standards, white men allowed themselves to be bought cheaply.
Even today Vulture Capitalists play fancy numbers games on balance sheets and call themselves financial wizards. And if you think such crushing dehumanization of other peoples ended during the reign of Belgian King Leopold II and his monstrous slave farm in the Congo you are fooling yourself. Paul E. Singer, staunch member of the Plutocracy often engages in debt repayment schemes to "make money". But, while his PR firm states, "He believes deeply in the rule of law and that free markets and free societies depend on enforcing it," in reality Singer like all modern day Vulture Capitalists is a Viking. He raids foreign lands, pillages and burns everything, makes off with their goods and calls it Capitalism.
The names and organizations have changed but the IMF and other international Agencies exist for the express purpose of stealing money from poor people and consolidating it in the hands of the Plutocracy.
But, while in the 1940's and 1950's the American Plutocracy made common cause with white men in order to quell dissent from blacks, hispanics, women, and liberals however, time and demographics have blunted the power that white conservative males exert. Thus beginning in the 1970's, and rapidly proceeding since then, the Plutocracy has broken their Social Contract with white conservative males and been treating them the same way they treat workers from everywhere else; cattle and chaff.
Trump is a member of the Plutocracy, but has always been an weird outlier amongst a group made up entirely of weird outliers. Trump's whole campaign is based on tapping the deep well of anger bubbling up in various groups of white America, fomented by decades of conservative media lies about President Obama (or President Clinton or LBJ before him) helping blacks by screwing over whites.
"We are enslaving future generations, our children and grandchildren to debt that we are irresponsibly putting on their credit card," Arkansas State Senator Terry Rice said, arguing that accepting federal funding as part of the expansion would add to the national debt.
Update:
Time Magazine has dutifully put out the right-wing Fear the Debt by claiming every American owes $43,000. Over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money the correctly identifies why Time has done this, in the post The Real Motivation of the Pain Caucus
Time Magazine made the smart decision to put its dumb cover story about the national debt behind a paywall. The premise — the national debt is like household debt and should be considered as if it’s apportioned equally to every U.S. resident — is stupid on its face. But Matt O’Brien has read the thing because nobody else will, and it’s even worse than its premise. When you’re considering a flat tax, it’s not because you care about the national debt, it’s because you think wealth needs to be massively redistributed upwards, with the debt as the tissue-thin pretext.
From time to time Republicans trot out Fix The Debt but, like the 3-card Monte Dealers they are, Republicans never worry about debt when they are in charge of Government. Debt is a shell game Republicons use to distract their duped drones in order to continue their plans of slashing the social safety net and transferring Trillions of Dollars of future Americans Wealth upwards to their Plutocratic Masters.
This is not a new weapon but, like all the Moldy Chestnuts/ Zombie Lies the Republicons promulgate, a new batch of vicious conservatives emerges to pick up the torch to burn the Social Contract.
Back in 2010 as President Obama submitted his plan to help the country escape the Republicon Recession of 2007, the House GOP got together and trotted out the same old sky is falling, Fix The Debt chicanery,
These unsustainable debt and deficit burdens were not imposed upon us by some outside force, they are created by the choice to grow the federal government and spend at unprecedented levels.
Reflecting on his own coming of age in a time of economic turmoil, Ronald Reagan said, “To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that's a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again.”
Today, our leaders are again making the tragic choice to mortgage our children’s future. But there is an alternative, and over the next two days we will share with you how controlling spending, reforming our social safety net programs and lifting the crushing burden of debt will spur job creation and put us back on a sustainable fiscal and economic path.
Invoking the rotted corpse of Zombie Reagan and his Voodoo Economics is a given but, always worth laughing at, since Ronnie Raygun and Daddy Bush ran up $4 Trillion dollars of National Debt in the 1980's, which famously hamstrung President Bill Clinton, and along with the 1994 Republicon Contract on America gave us the worst elements of the Clinton Economy; i.e. The Budget Surplus.
When the Republicons stole the 2000 election, they made their first order to run the deficits back up, steal the Surplus, and pile more Debt upon the American People. Shadow President Dick Cheney in 2002 observed, "Reagan proved deficits don't matter."
Of course, by 2010, Jeb??? Henserling and Paul90X Ryan conveniently left out wherein they and the Republicon Party ran up Trillions in Debt with their foolish and callous taxcut-and-spending and military adventurism. Most dramatically illustrated by the 5 Trillion dollars of debt the Republicons added to National Deficit with their criminal misadventure in Iraq, the open-ended burden treating our wounded Veterans and their families will cost in the next 25-50 years under the dunder-headed leadership of W(orst POTUS in History) and the evil, criminal agenda of War Criminal Shadow President Cheney.
But, Republicons never take responsibility for their actions, they Just Do and let future generations sort out the mess. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality," - Karl Rove.
Thus, when Republicons are in power massive deficit spending is undertaken usually focused on the military and overseas adventurism, but when the Democratic Party is elected to the Congress or Presidency Fixing theDebt! and slashing Spending for the Social Safety Net becomes the only thing a responsible government can do.
It derailed President Obama during his struggle with the Domestic Terrorists in the Republicon Party. The vicious use of Fix the Debt! to crush the American People was vividly illustrated by Paul90X Ryan's Path to Penury budget during the 2012 election, correctly called Ludicrous and Cruel by Paul Krugman. Of course, as with every action by the Republicon Party the Fix the Debt rhetoric serves their overarching agenda of stealing Social Security, defunding Medicare, and transferring wealth up their Plutocratic Owners, the 1%. It's the raison d'etre for the modern Republicans.
Much of this is predicated upon the fact that the holders of debt are always incredibly wealthy members of the 1%. "Some people call you the elites... I call you my base," - W(orst) addressing his Moneyed Masters.
As such, according to Republican Orthodoxy, Debt Holders must be made whole before the business of government can continue. If this means using the IMF to extract blood money from impoverished Nations to Vulture Capitalists who buy up their debt on the global market, fine. If it means bailing out Casino Hedge Fund Managers who made bad bet upon bad bet in the rigged housing market, building up towers upon foundations of shit until the whole edifice collapsed then so be it.
The Rich need always to be made whole and the Republicons stalk and slice up the Poor and Working Class in order to accomplish it. This is what the Republicons always do when they assume office. Ronnie Raygun's massive deficit spending, W(orst)'s blundering and destabilizing of the Middle East, and his scheme to swindle Social Security right before the Republican Recession of 2007 are designed to build up massive levels of Debt which the Republicans fully intend to extract from the American People.
As the horrific mass shooting in San Bernadino was ending, Republicans once again offered up their "Thoughts and Prayers". And do you know why?
Because that hollow statement amounts to literally nothing. Go into your pharmacy and pay for your prescription with your "thoughts and prayers" and see how many pills you get. After eating at Ruth Chris Steakhouse tell the manager he has your "thoughts and prayers" and leave. Buy Bill O'Reilly's latest dreck-filled fact avoidant book Killing-Jaysus with your thoughts and prayers and see how long it is before Bill-O calls his Faux News secret police on you.
When the NRA endorses a Republican candidate for Office do they send them their "Thoughts and Prayers"? No, the NRA sends them money. Because the NRA knows "Thoughts and Prayers" are worthless and they want something from the candidates they buy.
The NRA has a Golden Ring of Freedom,which are Corporations who have contributed at least $1 million to the NRA, Gun Makers the Freedom Group, Smith & Wesson, Ruger, and Springfield Armory, as well as 6 Firearm related Corporations are in the Golden Ring of Freedom.
And so, the Gun Makers have been funneling massive amounts of blood-soaked money to the NRA and the Republicans get the blood-soaked money from the NRA and they dutifully vote to allow guns anywhere and everywhere. Go see how much the NRA paid for your Congressman because the Republicans have been bought and bought cheaply.
What Republicans have been doing in exchange for the Golden Ring of Freedom money has been to systematically weaken gun regulations, offer protection to the Gun Industry and ensure that gun makers can enjoy massive profits of the death of 30,000 Americans every year with no fear of retribution.
The NRA and Firearm Manufacturers are feeding the money they make off the deaths of thousands back into the political machine to make deaths by guns more likely. In 2005, George W(orst President Ever) Bush backed by the Republican Controlled House and Senate at the behest of their NRA masters, passed Legislation making Gun Manufacturers immuneto Lawsuits for their Negligence.
Wayne LaPierre stated the 2005 law had been 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.
Over at Think Progress, Igor Volsky has catalogued how much the NRA paid the Republican Party to do literally nothing about the flood of guns and the unsurprising resultant mass shootings in America.
We have let an insane hard-core of gun worshiping fanatics, egged on by a blood-soaked Industry fronted by cowardly chicken shit cynical Lobbyists* in the NRA control the gun debate in this Nation. Hence we are flooded with firearms and we have daily mass shootings.
And the Republican Party with their hollow thoughts and prayers constantly let's the American People know they have nothing to offer them and will do nothing about it.
*- Here's some neat facts about Wayne LaPierre and David Keene. LaPierre spent the late 60's and early 70's going to college. As soon as he got his Master's he went to work as a DC Lobbyist. David Keene started work in Washington DC in the late 1960's working for noted Republican criminal Spirio Agnew. The Leaders of the NRA are Typical Conservatives. They never had a real job. Never worked for a living. Never served a Day in Uniform. Chicken Hawk Cowards who skirted Vietnam to spend 40 years as lobbyists in Washington DC. Just your Average American Conservative.
Update:
Fortunately, the shooting in San Bernadino might motivate Republicans because these gun-wielding killers have scary names Sayeed R. Farouk and Tashfeen Malik, unlike gentle-loner and conservative hero Robert Lewis Dear. So, the only gun control we might get in this country will come in the form of making it illegal for brown and black people to have guns just as the Founding Fathers intended.
Update 2:
On MSNBC Morning Joke, Republican Congressman Max Thornberry of Texas, whose been in office for 20 years, pounded home that Republicans aren't going to do anything about Guns. Eventhough they are the common element in 355 mass shooting in 2015 thus far. Thornberry played the game about the term "assault rifle" and semantics about gun parts that gun nuts bust out to confuse the situation and offered up the canard that Laws won't stop gun violence. As we all know since Laws can't stop crime therefore the only option is to abolish all laws.
What is needed, and what has always been needed, is the Will to Act. The Will to enforce Gun Laws. It's not that the Will is Lacking or that a large segment of Soceity is opposed, it's that the Will of the American People is actively being thrwarted by the Republican Party, who are wholly owned by the blood-soaked NRA.
Sadly, because of the mendacity of Republicans and insanity of the firearm humping gun nut fanatics the best advice we can offer, in the face of gun violence, daily school shootings, and rising mass shooting incidents, is to rush the gunman.
Gun Nuts have brought America to such a murderous state that when I'm asked on the street by residents or by family and friends I do tell them, your two options are fight or flight.
Unfortunately, many people when confronted by such a situation freeze. Freezing in the face of danger is not cowardly or unmanly it is a natural bodily reaction of facing a life-or-death situation. It takes training to overcome this response. Hiding is not an improper response but it is a holding action until one of the two prime options (Fight or Flight) becomes available or necessary. So, yes if running away is not an option because of some factor then attacking the gunman, and I mean an all-out attack; screaming, clawing, stabbing, biting, kneeing, throwing things, becomes your best option.
Now, contrary to Conservative bluster no Nation can call itself the Greatest if we have to advise school children to run at a gun wielding madman because "he can't shoot all of us". If, we were such a great Nation, Americans would be able to move about their daily routinues without the fear that today is the day some aggrieved white mysognist is going to Run Amuck or some errant gang bangers rounds will kill you in your bedroom or a Right-Wing Domestic Terrorist is going to gun you down for the crime of supporting Obamacare.
Republicans and their Moneyed Masters in the Gun Lobby, would have you believe this is the best we can do, until that glorious day when everyone in America is armed with a Gun and the Kingdom of Gun Nut Heaven descends upon the Nation and creates Firearm Utopia. It's actually a strong indicator of a sick Nation ready to collapse in upon itself.
Guns are, in fact, a blight upon Us and are almost certain to lead to the downfall of our country. I don't state this as hyperbole but, as a fact. Most Empires are brought low by internal divisions, sometimes outright and sometimes by weakening that Nation so much as to allow some other peoples to conquer it.
Each mass shooting, has the effect of hardening the zealotry of the gun nuts, makes the gun humping maniacs cling tighter to their guns, and drives other gun cultists to purchase more guns. And the Gun Manufacturers further hype and enflame the situation because the more blood of Americans that is spilled the more money they make.
Despite the facts that more guns has not made America "safer" nor that stricter gun control, regulation and enforcement has worked in other Nations. We now have a hardened kernel of gun fanatics who want no restrictions of any kind on firearms, who want no prosecutions of negligent discharges, who want no enforcement of gun laws, who ensured legislation was passed in 2005 under a Republican Congress and W(orst POTUS in Histroy) to perpetually indemnify Gun Manufacturers from all lawsuits, who champion wild west style gun fights under the euphemism Stand Your Ground, and who are implictly and explicitly declaring that any such "infringments" will be met with murderous gun violence.
So, it's time we Fight. The Gun Lobby, the Gun Humping Madmen, and the Republican Party are the Gunmen that we face. They are the threat. They are the ones who profit off the deaths of Americans. Thye are the phony good guys with guns, until they get cut off in traffic, or until their girlfriend dumps them, or until Wayne LaPierre and Alex Jones convince them to kill Police Officers because of the Sandy Hook Hoax and Obama's Coming Gun Ban. But, until We, the People stand up and fight we will be held hostage to the Cult of the Gun.
Noted aphasia sufferer Republican Kevin McCarthy stated today, "Let’s be very clear: Benghazi is not political. It was created for one purpose and one purpose only: to find the truth on behalf of the families of the four dead Americans. Period."
Well, as we all know the current Benghazi Committee was created for the express purpose of hurting Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary R. Clinton. As McCarthy accidentally admitted last week,
"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable right? But we put together a Benghazi Special Committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Cause she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen."
Ignoring the fact, that McCarthy has this odd Michele Bachmann speaking impediment, as with Mitt Romney's 47% speech and so many other Republicans, McCarthy spoke out loud that which Republicans must never say, that the entire Republican Party is nothing more than a tawdry collection of ghouls, bigots, lunatics, and plutocratic hatchet men, whose only goals are to get as rich as possible and advance the Conservative Agenda of Oppression, Intolerance and Adulation of the Rich.
Benghazi is nothing more than a Political Witch Hunt. 4 Americans lost their lives and this is terrible, but they were engaged in a CIA operation, working at the Tip of the Spear, in a hostile environment and literal warzone.
30,000 Americans die every year from Gun Violence on U.S. soil, with spectacular Mass Shootings taking more American lives more and more frequently, every year.
If, McCarthy and the Republican Party cared about American lives and were not just using the dead to advance the evil Conservative Agenda, then every Mass Shooting in America would receive 13 special investigations and have 3 years of non-stop Faux News coverage and now have a special sub-committee expending millions of dollars to investigate the deaths of 4 Americans.
But, none of the Mass Shootings are being investigated in this manner. It puts paid to the lie that Republicans care about American Lives. The Republican Party does not care about American Lives and has no interest in protecting the American People but, will instead use (in every sickening sense of the word) Americans to enrich their Political Owners.
Just note that after every shooting, every Republican rushes forward to declare this is not the time to discuss Guns and offers up their worthless 'Thoughts and Prayers'. They literally do nothing about the deaths of Americans.
After a week or so passes, Republicans declare the problem is the murdered victims are to blame for their own deaths and blame Mental Health problems in the country. Then the Republicans proceed to do absolutely nothing about Mental Health and empower no one to do anything about the mentally ill.
And Conservatives greedily lap up the Kabuki theater, the Republicans Stage as they wed themselves more and more to a cadre of Rich Guard Dogs whose goal is to enshackle the entire populace into Wage Slavery and Corporate Bondage, while We, the People live in a state of abject terror wondering if this is the day, some Right-Wing Domestic Terrorist is going to run amuck and gun us down.
"Socialism, communism, whatever you want to call it, is never the answer." - Hank Steinbrenner, who received $1,200,000,000 Billion Dollars from the taxpayers of the City and State of New York to pay for the building of his baseball stadium.
Here's how Capitalism works in America. When a "private" business wants huge wads of taxpayer "relief" to finance some project, the discussion becomes a lofty, Grandiose debate on Utilitarian Principles and the greatest good for the greatest number; Highlighting the vast network of ancillary benefits to businesses, the community, the neighborhood, and the government. Therefore, it's only good and proper the Rich receive help. Also this is not Socialism. But, under Vulture Capitalism when were are talking about helping poor people with food assistance? Well, then the howls of lazy moochers and the mean-spirited tired cliche of 'feeding wild animals makes them too dependent' are trotted out. Also this is Socialism.
Scott Walker's entire governorship has been the forcible theft of Public Lands, Resources, and Monies for redistribution upwards to the Rich. That he feels free to do this so brazenly during the run-up to the 2016 Republican Nomination shows, that Walker would steal Billions from the American people writ large and transfer those monies up to the Plutocracy using the Awesome Power of the Federal Government.
The Letter from the 47 Traitors was a shot across the bow of Iran. However, it wasn't a warning but, a promise that as soon as they can the Republican Party will declare War on the Iranian People. Well, to be clear, the Republicans plan to send other Americans' children to war.
The Right-Wing Warmongers feel they have the perfect poster boy in Senator Tom Cotton, who despite being so stupid that he doesn't know that Tehran is the Capital of Iran, is leading the charge.
Tehran Tom is a true believer. He still believes the George W(orst POTUS Ever) Bush Administration Big Lie that Saddam was involved in 9/11, that Iraq still has WMDs, and the Iraq debacle was a Great and Noble Crusade. Senator Cotton is now calling for a ramp-up of Military spending to match the 1980's because he is a full-fledged member of the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Complex.
First, of the high-ranking Republicans leading this Crusade, all but perhaps one or two will have no family members anywhere near the War. The Young Republicans on college campuses will again beat the War Drum from the safety of their Quads. It'll just be working class Americans suffering and Republicans love when Poor people suffer.
Second, the Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rich. The Rich used the Iraq War to steal at least 3 Trillion Dollars from the American People. A New War in Iran will be a windfall for the Rich while also providing the a crushing debt which the Rich will use to steal Social Security.
You see the Bush's Iraq War and the Huge Deficits associated with it have been used by Conservatives for over a decade to slash spending for the Social Safety Net and hamstring President Obama.
So, not only do the Rich get Richer, the Poor get Poorer. And when the Republicans launch the War on Iran a New Generation of Veterans will come home damaged and broken to be spit upon and left to suffer and die by the Republican Party.
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.
Park Forest Police Officer Craig Taylor is on trial for killing 95 year WWII Veteran John Wrana during a July 2013 incident at the elderly man's retirement home.
During the incident, Taylor used Less than Lethal shotgun beanbag rounds when Wrana brandished a knife. Taylor fired 5 rounds and the autospy reported two rounds struck Wrana in the abdomen and one in the chest. Wrana died five hours later of internal bleeding from the blunt force trauma.
Now, Taylor wasn't the only Officer present, four other Park Forest officers responded as well. During testimony, two of the others stated they were in fear of their lives during the incident, with the on scene Surpervisor testifying, "I thought deadly force was authorized and we were using reasonable force under the circumstances."
However, a use of force expert and former Secret Service surpervisor Francis Murphy, referred to the 5 officers' tactics as "officer-created jeopardy", criticized their decision making, and offered up several alternatives they should have used,
"They didn't start by giving it a cooling-off time. They kept going into his room and agitating him."
Murphy did testify trying to shield rush Wrana or using pepper-spray could have jeopadized the officers or caused serious injuries to Wrana as well.
Do the facts that Wrana was a white 95 year old WWII veteran and Taylor is an African-American have anything to do with the decision to prosecute? I don't know.
I do know something about this type of incident, having responded to several near exact situations. In a recent one, I responded to a call out to an Hospice/Elder Care building.
At 2 in the morning an elderly, confused, angry and frightened man had somehow gotten an old claw hammer (not an Estwing) which he had hit a nurse in the shoulder and was outisde his room pounding on doors and furniture.
My on duty sergeant and another officer showed up. While my Sergeant chatted up the old man I moved to his side and out of his perherial vision. Several pieces of furniture had been moved around the man by members of the staff. He absent-mindedly brandished the hammer and at one point raised it up over his right shoulder. At which point I grabbed the hammer and yanked it from his grasp.
The man turned at me and demanded I return his hammer calling me a "little sneak thief". While the gentleman refused to go to his room, he sat down in a nearby chair and quickly fell asleep.
So, what should be lesson and take away from this and other Use of Force incidents?
I'm not sure. What I do know is I and other Police Officers are being counted upon more and more often to respond to incidents which really require trained medical personnel or Social Workers. But, because right-wingers have thrown in with the Guard Dogs of the Plutocracy, funding for those people and programs has been slashed mercilessly.
And now Republicans are coming to steal Social Security and working on rolling back even the modest gains from Obamacare.
The only Veteran a conservative loves is a Dead One. As we see by the actions of the Republican Party, Veterans are seen as a useless drain on the Plutocracy. Thus, once again as Conservatives disrespect Veterans and use the Awesome Power of Government to ensure Veterans receive sub-standard shoddy care when they come home in the hopes the Veteran commits suicide.
Republican Senator Tom Coburn used a procedural maneuver to block a vote on the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act because The Republican Party doesn't care one whit about Veterans. Republicans view Veterans in the same light as any other American; only useful if they advance the interests of the Plutocracy and the Conservative Principles of Oppression, Intolerance and Adulation of the Rich.
By and large, since Vietnam Conservatives have studiously eschewed Military Service. The soft, flabby Republican chickenhawks haved cited all sorts of other priorities for why they couldn't seem to serve, whether it was seeking 5 or 6 deferments, rotten luck because too many minorities had filled the spots, numerous cases of college football knee injuries and asthma, or they choose to "serve" in France instead of French-Indochina. And in at least one case, a Conservative Hero literally shit his pants to avoid Vietnam so he could stay stateside instead and rape little girls.
But, like White Privilege conservatives rest on unearned laurels and consider themselves Pro-Veteran because of jingoistic flag waving, Toby Keith and Bruce Greenwood "songs", and their unwavering support of the Military Industrial Complex.
Republicans don't care about Veterans. Republicans love War. Republicans bask in the glow of waving the Bloody Shirt and talking about Freedom while seated on their expansive derrières from the comfort of their offices. Republicans love the Trillions of Dollars and thousands of lives they feed the rapacious War Machine. Republicans could not care less for individual military members and Veterans,
"I didn’t use the word troops, I used the word military, and I think [giggles] they refer to the same thing." - The Military-Industrial-Complex are people, my friend! - Mitt Romney
In reality, Republicans are grave robbers and fakes who have no right to speak for the dead. - Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo.
Lauten served as press secretary to former 8th District U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh from January to August 2011.
Joe Walsh is famous for chastising American Jews for not being pro-Israel enough and taking credit for electing President Obama, "it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there's nothing racist about this."
While Walsh outed himself this past June when he took to his Right-Wing Hate Speech Radio Show to shout Ni-[clang] Ni-[Clang] Ni-[Clang] Lauten jumped congressional ship, after Walsh's 2012 defeat, to become a staffer for Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee.
Lauten is, predictably, a typical Right-Wing grifter. Because Republicans don't do real work they jump from cushy Government position to cushy Government position. Congressman Fincher has personally received over $3.5 million in Welfare in Government Farming Subsidies.
Lauten's original post then segued into the obligatory everything is President Obama's Fault!!!
"Then again your mother and father don't respect their positions that much, or the nation for that matter."
Everyday, whether it be the State of the Union, a Rose Garden Address or Thanksgiving, is a day to assault President Obama and blame him for all the problems caused by the seditious Republicans, who place Party over Principle and are wholly owned by the 1%.
It's a brilliant ploy. By throwing a petulant fit and inventing all manner of faux scandals; Umbrella-Gate, Marine Corps Hat Gate, Latte-Salute Gate, Dijon Mustard Gate, and then actively working to subvert the Nation and ensure Government doesn't represent or help everyday Americans they know enough Americans will relent and allow them to regain control of the Presidency as they did when W(orst President Ever) was appointed in the stolen 2000 election.
One would be hard pressed to find a single Man responsible for more pain and damage to the American People and the Nation than Dick Cheney; Tojo and Robert E. Lee come to mind.
Cheney and his daughter whose only credentials are she's ridden Dick to further her political career and of being 1/5th of Dick's Deferments wrote an Op-ed in the Wall Street Journal which is a case study in projection and holds the key to the entire Conservative Mindset.
Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many.
This one sentence encapsulates the entire pathological evil which drives the chicken hawk cowardly warmonger criminals who infest the Republican Party. Republicans are everything they claim they hate and are the antithesis of everything they claim to support.
"In the last five years America has receded from leadership in the world. And into that vacuum has stpeed Nations like Iran, like Russia, like China. As we abandoned our allies the consequences has been to make the world a much less safer place."
Chicken Hawk Senator Ted Cruz, proposes what exactly? The US military should have invaded Russia to defend Crimea? Does Senator Croooze think we should station soldiers on micro-islands in the South China Sea? Does he propose we back the Sunni Insurgents agains the Iranian back Maliki Government? Ted Cruz is an unserious boob who wishes he could have voted for the AUMF in 2002 because that's when brave tough REMF could tell libtards to suck on this.
The Bush/Cheney Crusade in Iraq has resulted only in the destabilizing of the region. Everything which has happened in Iraq, happened because of deliberate lies and ignorant fantasies, from W(orst POTUS Ever) and his staff of NeoCon war criminal buffoons stated Casus Belli (Smoking Gun=Mushroom Cloud, Saddam's connection to Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden), the ever rotating reason for remaining, all the lies of progress we were making, all the fallout, the loss of American lives, the destruction of thousands of families, a million dead Iraqis and $5 Trillion stolen.
Of course, as Dick Cheney would say, "So?"
President Obama announced today that the US would be providing 300 advisors and established JOC (Joint Operation Centers) in Baghdad and Northern Iraq. Additionally, surveillance elements would be dispatched and re-tasked to provide US additional intel on the situation involving the ISIL/ISIS.
The President also declared he would make Congress take the lead in determining a further course of action. Congress, of course, wants nothing to do with Iraq and will demagogue hoping President Obama will choose an official course of action which, either way they can attack as wrong.
The Bush/Cheney Crusade was naught but a massive list of monstrous crimes against Humanity which continue to this day.
The Nations of Iran and Turkey now must turn a large amount of their attention and resources towards containing the violence unleashed by Cheney's Evil.
The continuing Civil War in Syria will create a stable of potential fighters. Additionally, thousands of displaced innocent people are in a humanitarian crisis.
If the Kurdish People begin a push for an independent state, the Turks and the Persians aren't just going to let the areas of their countries slip away. As late as the 1990's the Turkish Government made the Kurdish language, Kurdish names and Kurdish newspapers and radio illegal.
In Iraq, families haven't yet recovered from Bush's War of Lies and now they face a tripartite Civil War, which will eventually end a mess of semi-functioning states. So, the Middle East will be a cauldron of Death and Mayhem. All thanks to the despicable evil humanoid creature Dick Cheney.
He lied his way into an illegal war, profited off that war, and shredded the Constitution. He's a war criminal and has the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on his hands.
Dick Cheney should be rotting in a prison cell at The Hague, not writing editorials for the Wall Street Journal.
"Tragically, all we’ve fought for in Iraq, all that 4,500 American lives were shed to gain, is on the cusp, potentially, of vanishing." - Mitt Romney 6/13/2014
The Big Loser Romney likes to talk all about War and Sacrifice but, those are for other Americans. Profiting off of the Iraq War that's what Romney and his ilk know.
Via Crooks and Liars comes a demand for More War in Iraq by Tyler Cowan, Chairman and General Director of the Koch-financed Mercatus Center, in order that the Koch Brothers and other Plutocrats may profit.
An additional explanation of slow growth is now receiving attention, however. It is the persistence and expectation of peace.
The world just hasn’t had that much warfare lately, at least not by historical standards. Some of the recent headlines about Iraq or South Sudan make our world sound like a very bloody place, but today’s casualties pale in light of the tens of millions of people killed in the two world wars in the first half of the 20th century. Even the Vietnam War had many more deaths than any recent war involving an affluent country.
Counterintuitive though it may sound, the greater peacefulness of the world may make the attainment of higher rates of economic growth less urgent and thus less likely. Rather, the very possibility of war focuses the attention of governments on getting some basic decisions right — whether investing in science or simply liberalizing the economy. Such focus ends up improving a nation’s longer-run prospects.
War is the Health of the State, especially when the Rich run the Government and profit mightily when the Poor are sent of to die. As Cowan points out it's just the poor dying so he doesn't care.
So, Mitt Romney continued at his at his Utah gathering, "I lost the election, but I will continue to fight." Now you have to understand that when Romney talks about fighting he doesn't mean himself or his sons. It means other, less Rich Americans.
Mitt protested in favor of the War in Vietnam and the Draft, "served" Overseas in Paris, France instead of French Indochina.
His five sons obviously inherited Romney's tough guy, We like to Talk the Talk but, we won't Walk the Walk,
"You know, I, ah, wanted to rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him. But you know you can’t do that because, well, first there’s a lot of secret service agents between you and him…" - Tagg Romney, talked about wanting to Punch the President at the second debate in 2012.
Listening to the Romney's is like watching a beer muscle guy at the bar tell his friends to hold him back. He isn't going to fight but he sure wants to appear tough and strong! Tagg is a chicken hawk coward. Just like his father before him and just like his younger brothers,
Combined Days of Military Service for Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben, and Craig Romney = 0
The 5 Romney "Boys" were born between 1970 and 1981. When their father is added in they have a combined total of Zero Days of Military Service. When asked in 2008 why his sons weren't serving in the military, Mitt stated his dandified sons were too important,
"One of the ways my sons are showing support for this nation is by trying to get me elected. Because they think I'll make a great President."
Republicans and Conservatives are by and large Chicken Hawks. They will gladly pontificate about the necessity of War while seated on their expansive posteriors, but when it comes to taking the Oath and putting their ass in Danger? Well that's for other people.
Chris Matthews: "Would you like to enlist in this war [Iraq]?"
Jason Mattera: "No."
Matthews: "What kind of people should fight in this war, if not you?"
Mattera: "Those who want to."
See, as Mattera explains in the above linked video, the modern young conservatives are, "Fighting the War for Ideas". The Idea being that other Americans need to die to advance the Right-Wing Agenda of Oppression and Domination by the Rich.
But, it's clear why right-wingers are pushing for a new Iraq War. They will again make Big Money off of Death and Destruction.
George W(orst POTUS Ever) Bush used the Iraq War to funnel Trillions of dollars into the Bank Accounts of the Plutocracy, the super rich and Corporations. His base as he called them. It's another part of the Monstrous Crimes Bush perpetrated which we've lost sight of in recent years and which the American people need to be reminded about. W(orst POTUS Ever), his Republican Guard Dogs, right-wing drones and conservative chicken hawks engaged in a War Crime similar to the Genocide of Native Americans.
Now, President Obama has deployed 170 forces into Baghdad to support the US Embassy, in the old Green Zone. There are an additional 100 waiting in reserve. And apparently there was discussion of inserting Special Forces Operators into the New Iraqi Army to provide support and bolster their flagging morale. Sadly, this has the smell of advisors all over it.
Of course, I'm glad he did it before Republicans Benghazi'ed the President again. For you see Republicans have this nasty habit of undermining the Troops and underfunding security for Agencies and then blaming the President for their despicable misdeeds.
NeoCon Frank Gaffney:"It is regrettable that they had to die, but I believe they did have to die... I'm still delighted that we did what we did."
Sure, under the George W(orst President Ever) Bush Administration Republicans repeatedly lied and claimed they cared about Veterans when the truth was the Republican Party was trying to get as many Veterans kill themselves as possible while Bush and Cheney used Veterans and active duty military members as props in their re-election campaign.
Throughout his mis-administration W(orst President Ever) repeatedly cut the budget to the VA and eliminated benefits and medical care for Veterans.
Because the only Veteran Conservatives love is a dead Veteran. Then Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity or any number of chicken hawk professional commentators can stick their perverted inhuman right-wing ideology onto the lips of the dead Veterans, as they did with Pat Tillman.
And when it turns out Pat Tillam was anti-war, was against every part of W(orst President Ever) decisions and regularly read Noam Chomsky. Right-Wing Garbage Ann Coutler can simply say, "I don't believe it." Chicken Hawk Hannity gleefully concurs, "I don't believe it either."
"The amounts have gotten to the point where they are hurtful. They are taking away from the nation's ability to defend itself."
So, the Republican Party under the direct leadership of Bush and Cheney began undercutting funds for Veterans.
In 2007, the Mainstream Media could no longer cover for the Criminal Bush and Cheney Regime when it revealed soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq,"fallen heroes," were being warehoused in Building 18, a rat- and roach-infested satellite of the Army's Walter Reed Medical Center.
In 2008 when CBS News revealed the Department of Veterans Affairs and Doctor Ira Katz the VA's head of Mental Health deliberately withheld critical information about the true suicide risk among veterans.
Additionally, in 2008 NPR reported Army officials pressured the Department of Veterans Affairs to stop helping wounded Veterans with their paperwork so Veterans wouldn't get their proper disability rating or benefits.
But, none of this absolves President Obama. I expect despicable evil from Republicans I expect better from President Obama.
The problem is America has a long and cherished history of casting aside the Veteran after the War is over.
After the Revolutionary War, Veterans found themselves at the mercy of corrupt Capitalists, who like the Hedge Fund thieves of today, swindled them out of the land grants and the promissory notes allocated specifically for Veterans. Perhaps 2000-3000 Revolutionary Veterans received a Pension. Post Civil War homeless Union Veterans were in such abundance that in 1868 NY Governor Reuben E. Fenton claimed they "numbered in the thousands". It wasn't until the Dependent Pension Act of 1890, pushed for by Widows, Children and Veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic that every Union Veteran was eligible for a Pension. Southern States had been providing Pensions, despite terrible economic hardships, for wounded Confederate Soldiers from at least the 1880's since traitors weren't eligible for Federal Pensions.
As a percentage of the federal budget, expenditures for Civil War veterans greatly exceeded those for veterans today (1989) which consume less than 3 percent of that budget. In 1893 veterans' benefits to former Union soldiers or their dependents constituted more than 40 percent of the overall federal budget.
In 1932 the Bonus Army, Veterans of World War I, peaceably assembled to petition the US Government for a redress of grievances but Republican President Herbert Hoover first sent the Washington Police and when they failed dispatched General Douglas MacArthur and his aide-de-camp Dwight Eisenhower along with George S. Patton and 6 battle tanks to forcibly disband the Veterans.
Much like Occupy the Bonus Army was attacked, driven out of their camp sites and had their tents and possessions burned.
Herbert Hoover's policies created the First Republican Depression, in a similar way that W's policies have created the Second Republican Depression.
While the World War 2 Veteran, received praise, understanding and was cherished for his knowledge and experiences, especially in the creation of the GI Bill many WWII vets still fell through the cracks in society. Of the survivors from the Iwo Jima Flag Raising, USMC hero Ira Hayes drank himself to death in 1955. As a Pima Native American, Hayes also faced the bigotry of his era.
But, Rene Gagnon another of the 3 Flag raising survivors died in 1979 at only 54 years old an alcoholic as well. Broken, bitter and nearing the end of his life, Gagnon reportedly said,
"When someone who doesn't know me is introduced to me, they say 'That was you in The Photograph?' What the hell are you doing working here? If I were you, I'd have a good job and lots of money.'"
It took a Veteran the stature of Audie Murphy speaking out about his post-traumatic struggles, previously known as Battle Fatigue or Shell-shock, for society at large to take note.
Nowadays, Hollywood can trot out any number of cliched movies with the homeless veteran cast aside by society or the self-medicating Veteran drinking a case of beer a night or the adrenaline junkie Veteran pushing the envelope to reenact the rush of combat, but these stereo-typed cliches exist because those Veterans exist.
The main issue concerning Veterans is Money. Whose going to pay for the wounded Veteran? Or provide the food and shelter so a psychologically scared Vet slowly re-acclimate into society?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Generationepisode 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.
