Republicans, Full of Gas

So, now that Bin Laden's with the fishes, unemployment is down, and the Dow is up, the talking point du jour is the price of gas. You know, Republicans are full of it, so they know what they are talking about. And since a vast number of Alabama and Mississippi Republicans now believe that Obama is a Muslim (45 and 52% respectively), they might as well keep lying.

The Dishonesty and Hypocrisy of Republican "Stars"

I am often appalled by the idiocy and the hypocrisy of mediocre Republican figures. but when the idiocy and the hypocrisy come from one of the supposed "rising stars" of the Republican party, I find it even more appalling. Take the example of Gov Chris Christie.

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In vetoing a bill that legalized same-sex marriage in New Jersey, Gov. Christie made the following statement: "I am adhering to what I've said since this bill was first introduced – an issue of this magnitude and importance, which requires a constitutional amendment, should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide." If that statement does not bother you, think again: it should.

We live in a nation that established representative democracy as a form of government: We elect representatives to legislate and execute laws on our behalf. If we do not like what our representatives do, we can vote them out, and someone else in, at the next election. By this measure we judge everything our representatives do: Increasing or lowering taxes, enhancing or reducing social services, strengthening or . weakening law enforcement powers vs. the protection of individual rights, and so forth.

It really bothers me when some politicians think that some things are too sacred to be decided by legislators and sent the back to voters for further approval: The majority of the people already voted you in, so do you fucking job, which is to make a stand on principle from time to time, call an issue as you see it, and make decisions on our behalf, without making pitiful excuses.

Often, appeals to voters are made by reactionary politicians who want to maintain the status quo, and know that it is easier for 30-40 somewhat enlightened representatives (or 3, 4, or 5 judges) to repair a wrong, than it is for millions of voters that often include a majority of backward-thinking, religiously-motivated dullards who think that (their) God's view of morality be driving their vote, instead of rational, humane considerations. Do you think we should have patiently waited for the majority of Americans to eliminate racial segregation, antimiscegenation laws, or to decide whether Genesis or the theory of evolution by natural selection should be taught in science classes? If so, you need to live in a gated community of like-minded freaks. It's better for all of us if you do.

Referenda are the means that voters can use to right what they perceive to be a wrong perpetrated by a minority (their elected representatives or a handful of judges) after a decision has been made that is contrary to their general sensibilities. And courts have the final say because they are supposed to be composed of individuals of above average intelligence and education (and hopefully, some sense of impartial justice), who can recognize when a law goes against constitutional principles.

What bothers me even more is that referenda are often called into play with the excuse that the issues they are meant to decide are of foremost importance and consequence, but which in reality are fairly trivial, like gay marriage, the legalization of pot, the legalization of gambling, and so on, when compared to things that are hugely consequential in people lives. I would like to be called to vote on whether corporations are "people", in the sense that they should enjoy the same privileges that individuals do, without suffering any of the ill effects (like being sentenced to death when they wreck the world economy.) I would like to be called upon to decide whether we should have a national health care system, with a good deal of government intervention, versus a fragmented one in which the influence that power players exert (health care corporations, insurance companies, and Wall Street) greatly exceeds the ability of individuals to oppose them. I would also be liked to call to decide whether the water that I drink, or the food that I eat, or the drugs that I take, should be safe, whether the fuck the politicians want them to be or not. But that's not what happens as a matter of routine.

As a matter of routine, we let politicians represent us in the hope that they will weigh the public interest versus the private, and that they will legislate in good faith. And if, and only if, we disagree with the decisions they make, do we then have recourse to the courts or to undo what they did via referenda. For a number of reasons that make eminent sense,  that's the way things should work and that's the way, for the most part, they have worked. I am sure that Gov. Christie knows that; which is why he is both a hypocrite and dishonest when he says that "an issue of this magnitude and importance... should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide." But if there is no dishonesty or hypocrisy in his statement, that might be an even worse fault, because it would be a sign that the governor does not understand how representative democracy works. If so, he is not fit to be a leader in one, and the people of New Jersey would do well to replace him as soon as they get a chance. And the rest of us should so hope that he never ascends to higher power than that of Governor, if that's his idea of how politics should work.

Cain's Jobs Plan

"Some people will pay more, but most people would pay less is my argument... Who will pay more? The people who spend more money on new goods. The sales tax only applies to people who buy new goods, not used goods. That's a big difference that doesn't come out." (Republican presidential aspirant Herman Cain, on last Sunday's Meet the Press.)
Yes, because what better way to create employment and jump start the economy out of a recession than to encourage people to stop buying new shit and trade in used shit instead? You know what else doesn't come out? A lot of people will pay zero tax, because they will rob the grocery store instead of paying for the stuff they used to buy. And as an added bonus, if you are caught stealing and go to jail, not only will you pay no income tax; the government has to feed you, too.
It amazes me that these Republican buffoons are even taken seriously.

They Might As Well Call It "The 999% Plan"

The Tax Policy Center's review of the 9-9-9 plan is in.

Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan would raise taxes on 84 percent of U.S. households, according to an independent analysis released Tuesday, contradicting claims by the Republican presidential candidate that most Americans would see a tax cut.

The Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, says low- and middle-income families would be hit hardest, with households making between $10,000 and $20,000 seeing their taxes increase by nearly 950 percent.

Since the difference between 950 and 999% is actually petty, in the general scope of things, I hope someone renames Cain's evil/idiotic idea the 999% plan, to signify the increase in income tax that the poorest would be subjected to. But this is America, so there are plenty of people who should be protesting this evil tax reform plan who are actually rooting for it.

Michele Bachmann: Liar, Ignorant, Manipulative or All of the Above?

Via Think Progress:
Bachmann Claims Wall Street Reform Is ‘Killing The Banking Industry’ As Banks Post Record Profits

Michele Bachmann on HPV

Via the Daily Kos.

"Okay, so what I'm hearing here is that there is a disagreement in the scientific community on this issue [of HPV vaccinations]. On one side you have the full weight of the medical and scientific establishment, and on the other side you have Michele Bachmann citing studies in the New England Journal of Some Lady I Just Met."
---Stephen Colbert

How California (And Government In General) Wastes Tons Of Our Money

Mendocino Marijuana Raid.

Think about it: Add to the value of the marijuana seized ($800 million) the cost of running the operation, the cost of jailing the perps, the loss of revenue from money that could have been earned by California through other productive endeavors, and the cost of trying and jailing people for possession and/or distribution of the stuff, and you will see that the war on drugs is sheer insanity, particularly in a country that tried Prohibition and passed an amendment to repeal it.

On the DOJ Ban on Online Poker in the USA

Ed Brayton of Dispatches from the Culture Wars, and a poker player to boot, has a post about Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) position on the DOJ's strike against online poker sites operating within the U.S.A. Frank ridicules the DOJ's effort with typical wit. One highlight: he mocks the DOJ for wanting to protect the public "from the scourge of inside straights." You can read Ed's post here.

Photos Of OBL Not To Be Released

President Obama has announced that photos of dead Osama Bin Laden will not be released. Good for him.

If you believe the U.S. has killed Osama, good for you. If you do not, then no photo is ever going to convince you otherwise. You will claim that the photos have been doctored, that the men killed by the Navy SEALs was a lookalike or a human-clone. Whatever. If you are the Orly Taitz type who believed for years that the President is a Kenyan-born Muslim and still do, no matter what the evidence to the contrary is, no amount of visual evidence will convince you.

But in order to believe that OBL is still alive, you would have to also believe that the Navy SEALs are an incompetent bunch, and a lying one, too. So then don't go around calling yourself a patriot who supports our troops. Short of finding OBL yourself, nothing will convince you. So go ahead, go look for him in the caves of Tora Bora. And don't come back.

Jon Kyl's Factually Depressing Behavior

Jon Kyl is the moron from Arizona, a U.S. Senator no less, who less than a couple of weeks ago entertained millions of discerning Americans with his naked lie or error (not intended as factual statement, according to a spokesperson) about the percentage of Planned Parenthood's business which is categorized as abortion: 90% according to Sen. Kyl, 3% if you let boring things like facts bog your rhetoric down.

Well, now Kyl has expunged his not-so-factual statement from the Congressional Record. Jason Linkins of the Huffington Post explains how, and what it says about lawmakers.

Bipartisanship Is Where the (Republican) Heart Is

Mitch McConnell (KY-R), Senate Minority Leader: "If the president is willing to do what I and my members would do anyway, we’re not going to say no." In other words, the art of Republican negotiation. Sadly, President Obama seems to be an admirer.

As Bill Maher said in last week's Real Time (and I am paraphrasing), Democrats can find common ground where Republicans are already standing. One of these days, Democrats will catch on just as surely as the sun rises. Right?

Gleeful Republican Idiots: the WSJ's Very Own Stephen Moore

Last Friday, Stephen Moore, member of the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, appeared--again!--on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. I consider Stephen Moore as a fairly typical pro-establishment, pro-corporate rule Republican, only with a much higher ability to be annoying than the average representative of that group, which makes Moore the recipient of my very own first Gleeful Idiot Award.

In quick succession, Moore stated that Americans don't like "Obamacare" because it is a "government takeover" of the system. Challenged by host Bill Maher and guest Rachel Maddow about that claim (which was selected by Politifact as Lie of the Year in 2010), he corrected himself and said that well, it is leading to government health care.

Then he forcefully denied that the individual mandate requirement was originally a Republican idea, until Maddow pointed out to him that it was part of the Republican's response to Bill (and Hillary) Clinton's health care reform plan in 1994.

Next, Moore expressed his support for President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, and idea which deserved all the ridicule it ever got, and continues to get to this day.

The last idiotic statement he made before I stopped keeping score of the idiotic things Moore said, all in the space of roughly 25 minutes, was the claim that the Reagan tax cuts benefited the people at the bottom more than the people at the top, which Maddow promptly debunked, WITH FACTS (the number of poor increased under President Reagan, and the tax cuts overwhelmingly favored the top 1% of earners, with measly benefits for average Americans--well-below inflation). David Stockman, former Budget Office Director-under Ronald Reagan,no less--offered his own rebuttal to Moore on the goodness of Reagan's tax cuts, saying that the United States has yet to recover from the disastrous deficit consequences they caused.

It looks like the number of "expert economists" who still believe the kind of crackpot ideas that Stephen Moore believes in is so small that the WSJ had to ask, well... Stephen Moore himself to be on the WSJ's Editorial Board. Keep that in mind when anyone recommends to you a "good read" from the WSJ, particularly if penned by Stephen Moore.

Duelling Idiots

This man's an idiot,



just like this woman.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

This is really funny news in the "law of unintended consequences" department.

It's what happens when people are so cocksure about their superiority and blinded by their prejudice and hatred that they end up shooting themselves in the foot.

They Won't Be Happy Until They Have Completely Repealed The New Deal

A couple of days ago, I wrote a post titled They Won't Be Happy Until They Have Completely Destroyed The Middle-Class, in which--among other things--I wished for the death (of natural causes) of Rush Limbaugh, spewer of hatred, peddler of deceit, and enemy of every American who thinks America should belong to the people and not to corporations.

I have to admit, a couple of days on, that wishing evil people dead may be a human and understandable gut-reaction to hatred directed at us, but it does not solve the problem, simply because the number of people who should drop dead for things to improve is so large it would boggle the mind.

Unfortunately, thought, it seems that wishful thinking is the last recourse of the sane man in America, because the powers at work to literally destroy what remains of a middle-class that made American and the world great are relentless, well-financed, and overwhelmingly represented in the rooms where decisions are made. In other words, the little people (whereby I am not referring to people of modest physical stature, but of insignificant economic means) are going to be hopelessly crushed by those who profess to act in the interest of Main Street but are acting on behalf or on the orders of Wall Street.

Latest among the despicable schemes to repeal the accomplishments of the New Deal (and the Great Society) is the drive to privatize Social Security, and to axe the benefits that working Americans of all beliefs, political convictions and walks of life, were promised by people greater than the current ilk.

This push to cut benefits, which has the ultimate goal of moving the bulk of Social Security savings into the rapacious hands of Wall Stree investment fund managers, is particularly insane because it comes in the wake of a worldwide financial crisis that has crippled the savings of people the world over. Imagine if, instead of being deposited into a guaranted Social Security benefit fund, you had been forced to invest your lifetime savings into stock or any kind of fund subject to the fluctations of a market managed by greediest, soulless, immoral people on the planet.

Alas, I have no faith in the American people to rise against these evil raiders of the social good, as they should if this was a country populated by rational human beings, and not fattened, mesmerized, lifeless drones. If this were France, England, Germany, or anywhere where people understand that unity is what wins these battles against pure evil, people would have taken to the streets at the first whiff of cuts to Social Security, present or future. Unfortunately, this is the country where people like Rand Paul get elected, who feel no shame in declaring that there are no rich and poor, that we are all united in the economic bloodstream of the nation and that taxing the least of us more (in proportional terms) than those who have amassedd huge wealth in no small part thanks to idiots like Rand Paul is the logical thing to do.

Who will help us if we cannot help ourselves?

Rick Perry Advocates Ending Social Security As We Know It

Rick Perry, the guy who will run to become fear-mongerer in-chief (i.e. the Republican nominee for the White House) in 2012 wants to end Social Security as we know it. Think Progress points out the insanity of the plan. This guy is truly, truly dangerous for the future of this country.

Poll Respondents

I am no die-hard fan of President Obama, but I know the difference between a disappointment and a complete failure made possible by evil and idiocy. Unlike 41% of the CNN poll shown above.

This Is One Fucked Up Country

If you want proof that this is one really fucked up country, and that some of the people who inhabit it are indefensible morons, all you have to do is ready the following two articles from Think Progress:

National Review Writers Defend County Whose Subscription-Only Firefighters Watched Home Burn Down.
All I have to say is: If we have to subscribe to firefighting services, what on earth are we paying taxes for: corporate welfare and wars? In that case, I might add, sign me in for opt-in corporate welfare and opt-in military. I loath the former, and on the latter you don't even want to get me started.

The second article should be all you ever need to convince your Republican, Libertarian and teabagging friends that voting Republican is, in essence, like kissing your money, jobs, and freedom away. It describes the fact that Mike Pence, a contender for the 2012 Republican nomination for the presidency, believes that the way to fix the economy is to keep gays from marrying.

Just so we're clear, the problem is not that there are people who promote stupid ideas, such as that you should opt-in for firefighting services or that preventing gays from marrying is as much of a national priority as fixing the economy. The problem is that there is quite a large number of people who vote for candidates who promote those ideas. In any country that was not a Banana Republic, such candidates would be laughed out of debates, and kicked out of political parties.

It's getting increasingly harder to feel any pride for being Americans.

You're Gonna Hear About It Anyway, So Here's The Real Story

The NY Times has recently reported that Democratic candidate Richard Blumenthal, who is in the running to fill the Senate seat which will be vacated by Sen. Christopher Dodd at the end of his term, has lied about his service record, as evidenced by a video clip from 2008 in which Blumenthal said "We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam." When confronted with the excerpt from the video, Blumenthal said he "misspoke."

Nevertheless, news anchors and pundits from all over the political spectrum went on to accuse Blumenthal of intentionally lying and declared his campaign all but finished. Too bad, for Blumenthal and for us, that the NY Times had gotten it wrong and that none of the unprofessional figures that amplified the original report bothered to check its accuracy. Kos at the Daily Kos has more.

Spill, Baby, Spill!

This one goes out to the idiotic and pernicious "Baby Drillers", like Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, John McCain, Sean Hannity, Steve "Douchy" Doocy and all the idiots that ever uttered the Repuglycan mantra with a smirk on their face.


(video via mediamatters.org)

Unfortunately, as Stephen Colbert pointed out with classic wit in last night's episode of the report, others have gotten on board the offshore drilling juggernaut of idiocy.

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