Lies and the GOP...Goebbels would be impressed

Lies...they're all the GOP has left. I am referring to the most recent foray by Trump and the GOP into their alternate universe with regards to  claims about HRC being behind the "birther" movement and the RNC's and Trump campaign's monotonous repetition of the meme. On an historical note, Joseph Goebbel's would be impressed by the efficacy of the GOP spin machine given that the GOP and Trump campaign are masterfully employing his techniques.

"Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology." - Joseph Goebbels

"Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitive. In the long run basic results in influencing public opinion will be achieved only by the man who is able to reduce problems to the simplest terms and who has the courage to keep forever repeating them in this simplified form, despite the objections of the intellectuals." - Joseph Goebbels

"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly – it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over." - Mein Kampf

Politics is No Game

There are more than a few people I know for whom politics appears to be nothing more than a game. A game played by those already in positions of wealth and power. A game whose consequences will, at best, have a minimal impact on their lives. For these people, I have a question...

Have you ever seen one of these?

I have, and I've known people who had them. They are a reminder of just how serious politics can be. This, and others like them are born by fewer people every year as the number of those who survived the Holocaust and Nazi death camps grows ever smaller. They are grim reminders of just how serious politics is. It was politics, that ultimately gave rise to the horrors of the Third Reich. Through the use, and abuse of the political system and the democratic process, a right-wing, demagogic, charismatic figure appealed to the fears, prejudices, anger and disaffectation of  German voters to overthrow the Weimar Republic and establish the Third Reich. This is how serious politics is.

We stand at that same threshold now, as  a right-wing, demagogic, charismatic figure appeals to the fears, prejudices, anger and disaffectation of American voters to secure the highest office in the land. The stakes couldn't be higher.

  

 

More Conversations With My Congress Critter

Dear Mr. Schrider,

Thank you for your recent communication regarding Planned Parenthood. I appreciate this opportunity to correspond with you.

By way of background, Planned Parenthood receives federal funds through Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grants and programs. Title X of the Public Health Service Act and Medicaid provide a considerable amount funding to the organization for family planning and women's health services. Planned Parenthood is prohibited from using federal funds for abortion services.

Recently, several videos have been released that show healthcare workers at Planned Parenthood discussing and arranging the sale of organs from unborn children. Employees in the videos also explain how they alter abortion procedures to obtain specific requested organs and body parts which they then sell to companies that specialize in procuring fetal tissue for research purposes. I am deeply disturbed by the footage and find it abhorrent that doctors and senior employees at this organization have engaged in their barbaric process and may have blatantly curtailed federal law.

Congresswoman Diane Black (R-TN) introduced H.R. 3134, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, on July 21, 2015. This bill would place a year-long moratorium on all federal funding to Planned Parenthood unless the organization and its partners certify that it will not provide any money for abortions. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 3134 by a vote of 241-187. I voted in favor of this bill, and I am sorry that we do not agree on this issue.

There are many alternative locations where women can receive family planning and women's health services. For every Planned Parenthood facility there are 20 federally-funded comprehensive care clinics, known as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) or Rural Health Centers offering women 13,000 alternatives. In Ohio, there are 204 different FQHC service sites that serve more than one-half million women. They offer emergency medical care, mammograms, radiological services, child wellness services, health screenings, and a full spectrum of family planning care. They do not provide abortions.

I have been pro-life my entire lifetime and oppose the use of U.S. tax dollars to fund abortion services in any capacity. Cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is endangered are the only exceptions I can accept. Through education and increased awareness, the number of unwanted pregnancies can be reduced. In addition, we must encourage alternatives to abortion such as programs that promote adoption. Through this approach, we can alleviate many of the circumstances that contribute to the distressingly high number of abortions in this country.
Again, I appreciate the time you have taken to reach out to me. I am sorry that we do not agree on this issue. Please do not hesitate to contact my office should you have any additional questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Patrick J. Tiberi
Representative to Congress
_________________________________________________

Representative Tiberi,

Thank you for your response, rife with inaccuracies as it was.

First, the Hyde Amendment already explicitly prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion services. So, Planned Parenthood does not use any federal funds in providing abortion services.

Secondly, the videos you and your fellow travelers cite as the source of your disgust and ire with Planned Parenthood have bee thoroughly and completely discredited. Any legislation written or passed on the basis of these videos is legislation based on a lie.

Thirdly, the fact of the matter is that while there may be alternative sites for women to seek healthcare, the system lacks the capacity to take in the number of patients that would be cut adrift with the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Again, you and your fellow travelers are legislating on the basis of misleading information.

Finally, defunding Planned Parenthood would shutdown one of the best programs available to reduce the number of abortions. The patient education, access to contraceptives, and counseling...all serve to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies, thus reducing the number of, and need for, abortions.

Mark Schrider MSN, RN, CCRN

Conversation with My Congress Critter

Press release by Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH) today (9/18/2015):

“I watched the horrifying videos showing clinicians coldly talking about selling baby body parts and they made me sick. I am proud of my pro-life voting record and join my House colleagues today to vote to prevent federal dollars from going to Planned Parenthood. I hope the Senate promptly takes up this legislation so it can go to the president’s desk to be signed into law. Congress will continue to investigate this matter fully. Taxpayers should not be forced to fund organizations that participate in these barbaric practices. There are plenty of clinics that provide comprehensive women’s health services without offering abortions that would be helped by this funding.”

Representative Tiberi and his fellow travelers in Congress are legislating on the basis of a lie. They are fixated on a non-issue while the very real, clear and present issues this nation face are ignored. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

My response to the Representative:

 Representative Tiberi,

I read your press release regarding the the videos released by the misnamed "Center for Medical Progress" (CMP).I am simply amazed at the disingenuousness of you and your fellow travelers on the "Defund Planned Parenthood" bandwagon. The videos released by CMP have beeen shown to be utter frauds, but that seems to carry little weight with you and your fellow travelers. Rather than take stock of the situation and adjust your response in accordance with the facts, you continue on.You ignore the facts for no better reason than they are not in accord with your ideology.

There are greater issues this country must come to grips with...the widening income gap, crumbling infrastructure, climate change. But rather than deal with these issues, you and your fellow travelers prefer to pursue non-issues, like defunding Planned Parenthood on the basis of outright fabrication and prevarication...Yes, a lie. Perhaps you find it easier than dealing with the hard issues, the issues you were elected to address. If you are unable to take up these more difficult, pressing and REAL issues before us as a nation, Perhaps you should resign your office in favor of someone who will.

Respectfully,

Mark Schrider

So, You Wanna Vote Republican?

So, you’re worried about your job and money worries keep you up at night? Why, then, do you want to vote Republican? Never mind that working folks voting for Republicans is like mice voting for traps because of the cheese.

The GOP budget would more appropriately be called “wealth care” because the benefits of that budget fall, chiefly, to the wealthiest Americans. Nearly 62% of the cuts under the GOP budget would fall on programs designed to help low income individuals and families…SNAP, Pell Grants, AFDC, Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid, and the list goes on (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [CBPP], 2012). All this, while 40% of the benefits of the budget go to those earning $1 million a year or more, a staggeringly tiny fraction of the total number of American citizens…less than 1%.

As for jobs, well, much as the GOP has touted the miraculous benefits tax cuts have for economic and job growth, after more than ten years of Bush Era tax cuts we have yet to see any of these ballyhooed benefits. In fact, the US economy was hemorrhaging more than 700,000 jobs each month by the end of the Bush administration. It wasn’t until President Obama pushed through an anemic economic stimulus package, heavier on tax cuts than stimulus money, that we began to see the picture reverse itself. More than 4 million private sector jobs were added as economic stimulus money began to percolate through the economy. The proposed GOP budget, if enacted, will create a drag on job growth to such an extent that nearly 4.1 million jobs will be lost by the end of 2014 (MediaMatters, 2012). This would very nearly eliminate the jobs gains under the Obama administration.

If you work for a living, live paycheck-to-paycheck or are unemployed, if you think the GOP has your back, you’re wrong. The current vision the GOP has for the budget is simply the trickle-down economics of Ronald Reagan and, later, George W. Bush taken to their logical extremes. Trickle-down economics is nothing more than the GOP and the insanely wealthy few backing them collectively pissing on our backs and telling us the warm feeling trickling down between our shoulder blades is “prosperity”.

References

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2012). Ryan Roundup: Everything You Need to Know About Chairman Ryan’s Budget. Retrieved 08/22/2012, from http://www.offthechartsblog.org/ryan-2/

MediaMatters. (2012). No Matter How Right-Wing Media Spin It, Millions Would Feel “Sharp Effects” Of GOP Budget. Retrieved 08/22/2012, from http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/05/02/no-matter-how-right-wing-media-spin-it-millions/184992

Adventures with Aetna or, "Why Aetna Sucks"

I have been taking Benicar for nearly eight years, with excellent control of my blood pressure. It was covered by Aetna last year. Now, however, I find that it is not covered under this miserable excuse for an insurance plan. Denied for no better reason than I have not tried two other approved medications, losartan and diovan, before being prescribed Benicar, never mind that I had been taking Benicar for years
I was told...by an Aetna representative...that all I needed was for my physician to send in a pre-certification stating I have been taking this medication for years and the prescription for Benicar would...be...approved. I was assured...by an Aetna representative...that the prescription would be approved. Today (February 16th), I found out that the prescription was denied. I was not informed of this by any party, either my physician's office or Aetna.
In the phone calls to Aetna following this revelation, I was told by and Aetna representative that my physician need only submit a pre-certification to Aetna, which his office did…twice. Furthermore I was told, explicitly, by the Aetna representative that the prescription would be approved. In the phone calls that followed, the customer service supervisor denied all culpability on the part of Aetna for the misleading statements to the effect that the medication would be approved with no further ado. Secondly, Aetna, nor any other insurer for that matter, has any business questioning or inserting itself in the decisions regarding treatment options as discussed between a physician and a patient.
I have been taking Benicar for years with no side effects and effective control of my hypertension. Changing medications at this point is unwarranted from a medical standpoint and would require a period of dosage adjustment and titration to effect which could have consequences for my health and well being. But my health and well being are, apparently, of no importance. Aetna’s policy in this matter poses unnecessary burdens on physicians in that Aetna representative state the matter can be resolved by a fifteen minute phone call to Aetna’s pre-certification department. As you may well know, given the volume of patients primary care physicians see on a daily basis and the added burden of meeting the documentation requirements of multiple insurers, this is completely unrealistic. The process seems designed to serve as an impediment to patients seeking redress for these unjustified denials of coverage than to address the patient’s needs.

Highway to hell

I have been thinking for a while that the other shoe is about to drop on the US economy. Seems some other folks have too. Meredith Whitney seems to think the same thing. You remember her, she was sounding the alarm about t imminent collapse of the housing bubble in the US as far back as 2007.

State and local governments have been limping along on funds from, according to responsible economists, the far too small stimulus package passed at the beginning of the Obama Administration. Well, those funds are about to run out. And while states have the federal governemnt to fall back on, local governments have no cushion, as many of them depend on state funding for a third, or more, of their annual budgets. And as the stimulus dollars dry up, state funding to local governments is drying up as well. This loss of state funding, as well as shrinking tax revenues will likely force a significant number of local governments into default. And you thought the recession was over. The fear of this already has financial markets, where huge amounts of muni bonds are held, nervous. The fear alone could be enough to tip the US economy into a tailspin which made the collapse of the housing bubble look mild in comparison.

During the economic turmoil and devastation of the Great Depression, America managed to avoid sliding into full blown fascism, as much through dumb luck as anything else. After all, you had industrialists...like Henry Ford...and politicians and financiers...like Prescott Bush...making nice with Hitler and Mussolini. Oh, and in 1934, a group of American industrialists approached retired Marine Corps General, Smedley Butler with the hopes that he would help them overthrow FDR.

Given the recent economic turmoil and the lingering after effects of 9/11 on the American psyche, it won't take much more to push America down the particular highway to hell known as fascism. Thanks to the Bush administration, and now the Obama administration in its failure to roll back the worst excesses of the Bush administration, we're already half way there. Another serious economic downturn could provide just the impetus needed to push an already nervous citizenry the rest of the way there.

We were lucky we dodged that bullet during the Great Depression. We're not likely to be so lucky again. Especially given the number of lunatic fringe right wingers about to flood into Congress. Incidentally, these lunatic fringers were mainstreamed by wealthy industrialists and financiers who can, now anonymously, funnel millions of dollars of untraceable money into groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS and other right wing political money laundering operations. Money which, in this last election cycle went overwhelmingly to right leaning GOP candidates. The further right the better, as we saw with so many Tea Party candidates.

Every thing is pointing to us being in for a long, rough ride. Tell ya what. If you're living within your means, pay off whatever debt you have and start living below your means. When the crash comes you'll be acclimated. If you're living beyond your means, get ready to take it in the shorts. We're on the highway to hell boys and girls.

I hope I'm wrong.

Billo the HYPOCRITE

Whilst you claim to be a Christian, and spout a few Christian aphorisms completely out of context, it makes you no more a Christian than going to a garage for a couple hours a week makes you a mechanic. The message of Jesus was not what you, and your right wing fellow travelers, seem to think it is. Giving aid and succor to those less fortunate was, and is, the very heart and soul of Jesus' message. Yet, you would besmirch that message for such base purposes as your own self aggrandizement and promulgating a misguided political ideology.

Being the good Christian that you are, Bill, pick up your Bible and turn to the Book of Matthew. In Chapter 19, verses 23-24...

"23Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

And then to Matthew 25: 34-46...

"34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

But being the good Christian you are, I shouldn't need to remind you of this...Should I. And me not even a Christian.

Small Businesses...Really?

The GOP is making much about American small businesses, and the impact on them of letting Bush era tax cuts lapse. Well, guess what...They're not talkin' about the Mom & Pop store around the corner.

The SBA defines as a small business, any business which meets the following criteria:

- 500 or fewer employees for most manufacturing and mining industries (a few industries permit up to 750, 1000 or 1,500 employees)

- 100 or fewer employees for all wholesale trade industries

$6 million per year in sales receipts for most retail and service industries (with some exceptions)

- $27.5 million per year in sales receipts for most general & heavy construction industries

$11.5 million per year in sales receipts for all special trade contractors

- $0.5 million per year in sales receipts for most agricultural, forestry and fishing industries (Source: Federal Access)

The GOP is talking about something else entirely. They are talking about Chapter S corporations. These corporations are defined by the following criteria:

* Must be an eligible entity (a domestic corporation, or a limited liability company which has elected to be taxed as a corporation).
* Must have only one class of stock.
* Must not have more than 100 shareholders.
o Spouses are automatically treated as a single shareholder. Families, defined as individuals descended from a common ancestor, plus spouses and former spouses of either the common ancestor or anyone lineally descended from that person, are considered a single shareholder as long as any family member elects such treatment.
* Shareholders must be U.S. citizens or residents, and must be natural persons, so corporate shareholders and partnerships are generally excluded. However, certain trusts, estates, and tax-exempt corporations, notably 501(c)(3) corporations, are permitted to be shareholders.
* Profits and losses must be allocated to shareholders proportionately to each one's interest in the business. (Source:Wikipedia)

These corporations are also known as "pass through" corporations, as corporate income or losses pass through to the share holders.

The real focus of GOP tax policy was made clear in a September 12 interview (5 minutes in) on "Face the Nation" with House Minority Leader John "The Boner" Boehner(R-OH). Boehner admits that only 3% of small businesses would benefit from continuing the Bush era tax cuts. This 3%, however accounts for around half of all "small" business income. H&R Block has some 1.5.million small business customers, yet only about .005% of them would benefit from extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans...Tax cuts Boehner and the GOP are fighting tooth-and-nail for.

Some of the corporations that meet this loose definition of a "small business" include Koch industries...which is busy funding the pseudo-populist tea-bagger movement, Bechtel, the Chicago Tribune, and the list goes on, with some 20,000 S corps with more than $ 50 million in receipts in 2008. Small, not in terms of income, or number of employees, but in the number of owners.


And it is this 3% of "small businesses", which account for 50% of small business income that John "The Boner" Boehner and Mitch "McChinless" McConnell are interested in benefiting. Sound familiar? It should. The Bush era tax cuts...The same ones the congressional GOP leadership want to extend...saw the greatest benefit go to the top 2-3% of income earners in this country.

SO when you hear The Boner or McChinless talk about "small business"...It's not the small business owner who come to fix your plumbing or do your landscaping, or owns the diner down the street where you meet your neighbors for coffee. They're talking about, as usual, the wealthiest Americans who hold more of the national wealth than at nearly any time in US history.

Wealth, Income, and Power

Why do they hate the troops?

Yesterday, the GOP, on a party line vote, along with two Blue-Dog Democrats, voted to block DEBATE on the defense authorization bill. Why, because it contains language to repeal DADT. The repeal of DADT is supported by the head of JCS and the Secretary of Defense. Also contained therein is the DREAM Act which would provide a road to citizenship for immigrants who serve in the US military. This also has support from the Pentagon.

Senator Scot Brown(R-MA) justified this pointless filibuster on the grounds that these amendments were "politically expedient legislation entirely unrelated to the defense authorization". Bullshit. Let's look at amendments to defense authorization bills by THE GOP.
- Banning internet gambling
-Opening ANWR to oil drilling
- Concealed weapons amendment
-Increased indecency fines
- Campaign reform amendment
- Immunity for vaccine companies

Really? Does ANY of this have anything to do with defense funding? No.

GOP protestations aside, the GOP can add amendments to the bill.

Despite GOP protestations, the head of JCS and the Secretary of Defense, THE MILITARY, supports repealing DADT and the Dream Act.

The GOP, as it has been doing since day one of the Obama administration,have been blocking debate on the issue...DEBATE. They do this because they know that, open to debate, their objections and amendments would be tossed aside, like a trailer park in a tornado, by the facts. Cuz, ya see, it's not about the political window dressing enumerated above. It all boils down to the "culture wars". It's about continuing to deny a segment of American society the constitutional rights that they are willing to put their lives on the line for.

Why does the Senate GOP hate the troops?

The mainstreaming of idiot America

Attempting to talk out of both sides of one's mouth, usually involves inserting one's foot and chewing vigorously. Such is the case here. Mr. Fischer states there shouldn't be a backlash against Muslims in America yet, in the next breath, cheerfully proclaims Muslims shouldn't be allowed to serve in the US military or emigrate to this country...Yeah...No backlash.

Now, picture this...at the Values Voter Summit in Washington this week, Mr. Fischer...with visions of holy war against Islam dancing in his head...will be sharing the stage with GOP leaders and presidential wannabes. People like Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, Michele Bachman, Jim Demint, Mike Huckabee, and other luminaries of the GOP. Really? Is there ANY political accountability on the right for those actively embracing this formerly fringe rhetoric? So far as can be seen, no. The red meat base of the GOP is actively embracing this message. Never mind that Obama's plea on Friday echoed the sentiments of George W. Bush on the matter...We are not at war with Islam, we are at war with terrorists disguised as Muslims.

What we see here is a group of ideologues for whom Islam is a convenient scapegoat...A different religion which they have differences with. So rather than keep the debate within the theological realm, where it properly belongs, they (by they I mean Limbaugh, Beck, Gingrich, et al) drag the issue kicking and screaming into the political arena. This in order to inflame the emotions of those, and their number is legion, lack the intellectual and emotional wherewithal to see this xenophobia as nothing more than scaring white people for fun and political profit.

Corporations are people...Really?

If corporations are people, as the current right loaded SCOTUS asserts, then corporations...like BP...need to understand some very fundamental principles of BEING a person.

Firstly, in any society, it is incumbent upon persons to be good neighbors. Good neighbors do not destroy the property of of their neighbors...they do not shit on their neighbors dining room tables or in their water supply. A principle which BP has clearly violated in its attempts to maximize profits at the cost of the safety and livelihoods of its neighbors and employees in the Gulf states.

Secondly, being a person in a society entails a degree of responsibility for one's own actions, unless one has been determined to be non compos mentis. In this latter case, the state appoints a guardian for the individual in question. This is not the case with BP. Memos from BP shown that, in the days and weeks leading up to the catastrophe, BP was more concerned with cutting costs than in the safety and well-being of its neighbors and employees. Now, I'm no lawyer, but it would seem to indicate premeditation on BP's part. And, thus, it would seem to be a clear case of maleficence on the part of BP.

It is also a given that a person accepts, not only the benefits of living in a society, but also accepts the responsibilities it entails. Failure to accept these responsibilities is immature at best, and criminal at worst. BP falls into the latter category with its obvious and callous disregard for its responsibilities as a corporate "person".

Similarly, neither corporations nor persons cannot accept the profits accrued through capitalist enterprise without accepting the risks that accompany those profits. It is the attempt to reap these profits while shifting the risk, and the costs accompanying that risk, to the public sector...the tax-payer...you and me...that corporations and their political whores are attempting to institutionalize.

But it can only happen if "...We, the people..." abdicate our responsibilities as neighbors...as members of this society. We cannot expect to enjoy the benefits of living in a free and open society if we fail to accept the responsibilities it entails. We can take the easy path and let the punditocracy...the Limbaugh's...the Beck's...the Rove's...the Cheney's of this country tell us what to think and do. Or we can take the path less traveled...think for ourselves...educate ourselves on the basic issues involved in securing our liberty and prosperity in the face of corporate fascism. It is only this latter course which will allow us to maintain and protect a free and open society. The alternative is despotism.

Democrat in Chief?

The problem lies, not just with the Democrats, Republicans or even President Obama. Until each and every corporate lobbyist is whipped naked and howling into the wilderness...Until big money contributions have been eradicated from political campaigns (An no, money does not equal free speech. The SCOTUS has its head waaaay up its ass on that one) and ALL political campaigns are publicly funded, nothing will change.

And therein lies the rub. Politicians don't want the system to change. They get their gerrymandered districts which assure little, if any electoral competition...and when they leave office they can become "consultants" for their corporate pimps and johns until the restrictions on lobbying Congress expire. Then, they go back and spread corporate cash around Washington like the all pervasive cancer corporate lobbying is.

Until "We the People...' wake up and take our responsibilities as citizens of this nation and the ultimate arbiters of how our government conducts its business in our name, Nothing...Will...Change...Ever. It is one of the cornerstones of this Republic that the Republic derives its powers from the "consent of the governed". Did we REALLY consent to this level of dysfunction in our government?

Repeal of DADT and the "...impurification of our precious bodily fluids..."

The right wing seems awfully het up about what goes on in barracks showers and fellatio performed by those depraved homosexyuls on their straight comrades in arms whilst they sleep. Gotta wonder what they're all doin' in their spare time...Hmmm.

I spent more than a few years in the navy, with the bulk of them spent on ships at sea, and I never awoke in my rack to find a homosexyul fellating me in my sleep. And yes, there were gay crew-members...many gay crew-members. By and large nobody but the knuckle-draggers and slack-jawed mouth breathers really gave a shit if they were gay as long as they were there when the shit hit the fan, and they were. Come to think of it, the knuckle-draggers and mouth-mouth breathers would have had trouble getting laid in a brothel if you stuffed their pockets full of C-notes.

And then there are the nut-bags at "America's Survival" who are doing a fair impression of General Jack D. Ripper in expressing their concerns over homosexyuls "impurifying the precious bodily fluids" of our men an women in uniform. Talk about bat-shit crazy...Kincaid's picture serves as the ostensive definition of the phrase.

To all those straight, right-wing, true-blue super patriots gettin' all het up over the possibility of getting hit by the super-duper-ultra-top-secret gay ray developed by the homosexyul movement in America...Can you say "Freudian slip"? I knew you could

GOP comes to rue Paul

Since his electoral victory in Kentucky Tuesday, every time Rand Paul meets a microphone, bad things happen...To him. So much so that the GOP seems to rue Paul.

One cannot fault Paul for speaking his thoughts, but philosophically speaking, his views are as flawed as they are naive. They are naive and flawed in their utter reliance on absolutes. His views on Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 completely ignore the historical facts regarding Jim Crowe laws, the context in which they were applied, and their consequences to African-Americans in the South of that era.

"Accidents happen..." in his defense of BP and laissez-faire capitalism
ignores that company's history of legal and ethical violations and habit of putting profits before employee and environmental safety. Capitalism is not an inherently evil system, so long as its limits are respected and safeguards are in place, by means of government regulations, to protect those who might be harmed through the mindless pursuit of profit...Employees, persons living around corporate facilities, the environment.

The preamble to the Constitution states that the purpose of the government is to "...establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty...". Failing to adequately regulate industries which have the potential to cause grave financial, personal and environmental harm, or allow social injustices such as racism to go unchecked, would be an abdication of those goals.

Will the grown ups take over the GOP leadership?

Now that the long slog on health-care reform is over and the fight over financial reform is about to start...Will the GOP continue it's unprincipled opposition to ANYTHING proposed by the Democrats in Congress?

Perhaps. Sen Bob Corker (R-TN), openly lamented the failure of the GOP to make any meaningful input to the financial reform legislation that passed out of the Senate Banking Committee. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) And Jim Webb (D-VA) ignored GOP leadership when if forbade a hearing on the military health system. Maine's Senators, Snowe and Collins broke from the GOP herd on same gender marriage. Does this mean that the grown-ups have finally stood up and re-asserted their control? In a word, no.

With David Frum, former Bush speech writer being sacked from his position at the American Enterprise Institute for suggesting that the GOP leadership basically stepped on its collective dick, would indicate otherwise. This for saying that the GOP stance on the health-care reform, now the law of the land, was Waterloo...for the GOP. Oh, and let's not forget, in his interview with ABC, Frum said that the GOP was working for FOX News.

Ideological purity trumps realistic assessment. In their silent acquiescence to the vitriolic rhetoric from the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of the country, the GOP has painted itself into a rhetorical corner. The GOP can't be seen as negotiating with the born-in-Kenya, communist/socialist/nazi, isn't-really-president Barack Obama. To do so would result in an immediate backlash from the right wing-nut noise machine...which is following an agenda that has more to do with ratings than the good of the country...And its equally rabid audience. Never mind that the audience has been misinformed by the same RWN noise machine.

Instead of doing the right thing and working for the American people, the GOP is going down the rabbit hole with the red-meat, lunatic fringe...now mainstreamed by American media outlets, including FOX Noise...And reflexively opposing anything offered up by the Obama White House or congressional Democrats. The scorched earth politics of the GOP will continue. The GOP leadership will continue to take its direction from the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of the American right. The grown ups will remain seated quietly in the background whilst the children run amok.

Healthcare Reform...The Long View

I know folks on the right wing side of American politics don't have much concern for the long view...Especially when it conflicts with their slash-and-burn style of politics and their thirst for power...But we'll take a quick look anyways.

Health insurance companies are all about the bottom line. Their profits come from denying payment for health-care. In a report by Goldman-Sachs, Steve Lewis, a broker for one of the world's largest insurance companies, stated that health insurers were more than comfortable pricing people out of the market to maintain their bottom line. But, like the robber barons of old, they...and their supporters...fail to look at the long term consequences. But that should come as no surprise to anyone. The same attitudes led to the ongoing mortgage crisis.

SO let's look at a long term consequence that will devastate the American middle class as well as everyone else further down on the economic food chain.

Health insurers are willing to raise their rates which, in turn, will force more and more people off of insurance roles. The result of this will be n increasing number of people using emergency departments as primary care providers. And this trend will only worsen as more and more people join the ranks of the uninsured. The upshot of this is that emergency departments, and the hospitals which support them, will face increasing demand for services from a growing pool of uninsured patients using them for primary care. These patients often wait until their condition becomes intolerable before seeking health care, thus arriving at the hospital in worse condition and often requiring a more complex course of treatment including longer hospital stays than their insured counterparts. The increased financial burden this creates for a hospital or a local/regional health-care system can force them to close their doors. St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City is a prime example of this. Faced with $75 million annual operating deficits, St. Vincent's was sold to a for profit health chain which will turn the hospital into an outpatient center. Thus closing a major source of health-care not just for the uninsured, but for everyone in Lower Manhattan for more than 150 years.

Now, imagine this repeated across the country in growing numbers...Hospitals and health care systems closing...fewer and fewer sources of health-care for the growing number of insured and uninsured alike, as more and more are forced into the ranks of the uninsured. Until only the very wealthy can afford to have their health care needs attended to at a few private, cash-only centers. Sounds fantastic...? It can never happen here? It can, and will, if meaningful and substantive reform of America's health care system is not passed. And it is how health-care works in many third world countries now. Imagine that...America reduced to third-world status by a short-sighted health-insurance industry and its equally short-sighted backers in Congress.

The Death of Democracy

Let's look at the decision of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission with a critical eye and consideration for the consequences. I know you on the right aren't very good at either of these, so I'll use small words and short sentences.

First, Congress passed laws restricting corporate spending in elections to ensure the debate was more equitable. The basic premise being to prevent the side with the most money from dominating debate for no other reason than it has the deepest pockets. But let's look at the big picture something the Right Wing Nuts, Tea-baggers, and their ilk are loathe to do

Neither corporations nor labor unions are people. They are artificial entities created by the government in order to acquire the massive amounts of money needed to operate efficiently in the markets and economy in general. They were not established with the intent that they over-run the political process. Neither corporations nor labor unions are people. Indeed, in many other ways, they do not receive the same constitutional rights as people. For example, they have neither the right to vote nor hold elected office. But that's neither here nor there. McCain-Feingold was a freakin' sieve that let all sorts of corporate money into the political process. We need look no further than the political contributions to both Democrats and Republicans made by the health-insurance industry and Pharma in order to kill any real or meaningful health-care reform.

Again, that's the least of our worries at this point. Consider...What if ARAMCO, or "New Order" fashions...owned by the People's Liberation Army and producing clothes for Wally World...or The Bin Laden Construction Company...Flood US politics with the billions of dollars at their disposal. China alone OWNS some $2 trillion in US debt...largely run up by the Bush administration...It would be just a drop in the bucket for one of their state owned companies or a US based shell corporation, to dump a billion or so dollars into the campaign coffers of anyone running for office who would support THEIR interests.

Before the ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Corporations could give tons of loot to PAC's, but you could go online and find who who gave what to whom. Oh, and every contributor MUST be a U.S. citizen. Now, however corporations can give as much money as they want to to support candidates for office here in the US. This means that some Burmese junta owned shell corporation can buy a US congressman with the money they've made off of the slave labor of their people. Or perhaps UBS, which is facing criminal prosecution and a billion, or so, in fines for for fraud might find it cheaper to buy a couple of congressmen than to face the costs of a trial and possible fines. In the face of this pool of money, all the PAYPAL political donations every American could make would dwindle to irrelevance.

That's just a little glimpse of the big picture kids. Now maybe you can polish this turd a little by saying the SCROTUS (Supreme Court Republicans of the U.S.) were trying to force Congress to deal with the matter of political campaigns by passing a constitutional amendment mandating public financing of political campaigns. I somehow doubt it though. More likely, Chief Justice Roberts, always a friend to corporate America, simply wanted to secure their strangle hold on US politics. He, and the rest of the RWN's on the bench obviously failed to take into account the door now opened to unlimited foreign capital now being allowed to openly flow into the campaign coffers of US political candidates.

Left unchecked...this decision will be the death of democracy in the US, as well as the Republic, in a relatively short time. You can count on it. Sieg Heil y'all.

Shameless Dickheads...

There's never any justification for attempting to make hay from a tragedy. Let's look at El Rushbo, with a brain pickled in hillbilly heroine. Never one to let tragedy stand in the way of his ignorance or self-righteousness he says...

LIMBAUGH: Yes, I think in the Haiti earthquake, ladies and gentlemen -- in the words of Rahm Emanuel, we have another crisis simply too good to waste. This will play right into Obama's hands -- humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their -- shall we say -- credibility with the black community, in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community, in this country. It's made-to-order for 'em. That's why he couldn't wait to get out there. Could not wait to get out there.

This isn't about politics...it's about a response to human tragedy on a scale that will dwarf anything we have seen in this hemisphere in decades.

And then there's this gem...

LIMBAUGH: I want you to remember it took [Obama] three days -- three days -- to respond to the Christmas Day Fruit of Kaboom bomber. Three days. And when he came out after those three days, he was clearly irritated that he had to do it. He didn't want to do it. He comes out here in less than 24 hours to speak about Haiti.

As if there is any equivalence between the crotch bomber, where the greatest danger was being hit my fried scrotal shrapnel and the human tragedy of Haiti. A tragedy which will likely result in the death of hundreds of thousands of people. One can only wonder where the sanctimonious bitching of the right regarding the sanctity of human life in regards to abortion, goes in cases such as this. Especially when the victims are less than lily white.

But let's not forget Pat Robertson. His senile babbling on a deal with Satan for the independence of Haiti has led to this tragedy was a mockery. It was nothing more than another exercise in blaming the victim. An exercise which is so very popular on the right.

ROBERTSON: And, you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you will get us free from the French." True story. And so, the devil said, "OK, it's a deal."

And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.

This was when "Kristi" should have simply guided "Reverend" Robertson off camera, removed his mike, and sent him to the nursing home where he could get his daily aricept, zyprexa and depakote and listen to "God" speak to him to his hearts content.