madness of the GOP is the central issue of our time

[Infinite_limit]

Chelsea married a Jew. Unfortunate.

[Wild Cobra]

Chelsea married a Jew. Unfortunate.
Only bigots care...

[Infinite_limit]

Only bigots care...
More Israeli bias in American Politics

[boutons_deux]

How Hypocrisy Is Simply Not a Factor in the Right-Wing Mind

Warren recounts a story of her meeting with Tea Party Republican Michael Grimm (R-NY). Grimm is the guy who threatened to throw a TV news reporter off the Capitol building’s balcony after this year’s State of the Union address. “I’ll throw you off this f---ing balcony. I’ll break you in half like a boy,” he threatened. And last month, Grimm was indicted by the U.S. attorney in New York on 20 counts of mail, wire and tax fraud. Irony, anyone? Warren writes of Grimm:

“He told me all about himself.

He’d joined the U.S. Marines when he was 19, and

he had been decorated for his service in Desert Storm.

He got a degree from Baruch College, a public university in New York,

went to law school, and

joined the FBI, where among other things,

he was part of the Financial Fraud Squad.

He talked in animated terms about the great work he’d done with the FBI and the terrific training he’d received. Then he launched a small business before running for office."


Despite being aligned with the Tea Party, Warren was hopeful Grimm was someone she could work with. “I didn’t care about his Tea Party ties. He’d been in law enforcement and dealt with Wall Street corruption. I was sure that someone like him would really appreciate the importance of having a watchdog like the consumer agency.”

Warren’s optimism was quickly crushed. After providing Grimm with an “enthusiastic description of what we were trying to get done at the agency, the congressman looked surprised.”

With a clenched jaw, Grimm cut Warren off. He told her,

“I don’t believe in government.” :lol

Warren thought she had misunderstood him. “What?” she replied. He repeated that he didn’t believe in government. “I asked him about the FBI, and he amended his statement to say yes, he believed in the FBI, but not other forms of ‘big government’ and certainly not a consumer protection agency.”

The meeting didn’t last much longer, but afterward Warren couldn’t stop thinking about Congressman Grimm’s remark: He didn’t believe in government.

“I thought about the congressman’s life,” writes Warren:

“A tour of duty in the military. A degree from a public university. Eleven years working in a federal government agency. Government training. And now a seat in the House of Representatives. Heck,

he had even been quoted as saying that he wanted the government-paid health insurance when he joined the Congress,

because 'God forbid I get into an accident and I can’t afford the operation. That could happen to anyone.' It seemed to me that he ought to be the poster boy for someone who understood all the good things that government can do.”

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/how-hypocrisy-works-right-wing-mind?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

Repugs are ridiculous, laughable assholes, because they know that's what their ignorant, red neck, old, white, male base want them to be.

[boutons_deux]

Karl Rove stunned a conference when he suggested Hillary Clinton (http://nypost.com/2014/05/12/where-was-hillary-giving-boko-haram-a-pass/?_ga=1.114552967.1015551980.1398432810) may have brain damage

http://pagesix.com/2014/05/12/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-may-have-brain-damage/

the greasebag is also a scumbag

[boutons_deux]

Arab Spring?

Let's do like the Muslims and have an American Spring!

Tens Of People Descend Upon The Capitol To Drive The Obama Administration Out Of Office (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/05/16/3438826/american-spring/) :lol


http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/OAS_WhiteHouse-638x478.jpg\\

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/OAS_WashMon-638x405.jpg

The “second American revolution” got off to a slow start in Washington, DC on Friday, falling roughly 9,999,950 people short of their goal of 10 million angry, constitution-weilding participants. (That was the low-end estimate. They were prepared for upwards of 30 million).

The few who did make it to Washington, D.C came with a laundry list of grievances, ranging from

Benghazi, to

Obamacare, to

President Obama’s birth certificate, to

general lawlessness.

“Our main goal is to return our government to the constitutional government,” said Marty Church, a protestor who traveled to Washington, D.C from the Maryland suburbs. “The whole administration is based on lies,” added Fred Lachance, another protester from Maryland.

“Benghazi’s a lie and a cover-up,” said Church. “And if you’re lying about something as stupid as that, what else are you lying about?”

Wiley Drake, a pastor and talk radio host from California, knows the truth behind the Benghazi coverup.

“What caused Benghazi was a kidnapping gone awry from Barry Soetoro,” :lol he said, referencing the name Birthers have ascribed to Obama based on a widely-circulated (and hastily photoshopped) Columbia University student ID).

“He was going to kidnap Mr. Stevens, :lol and he got killed in the process. That’s what really happened, that’s the truth.” :lol

When pressed to cite other breaches of the constitution, one protestor referred us back to Operation American Spring’s website (http://operationamericanspring.org/), which offers little more than an outline of the group’s three-phased mission (Phase 2 calls for 1 million of the 10 million gathered to camp out in Washington, D.C. until their demands are met).

Those demands — removing Obama, Biden and Nancy Pelosi from the federal government — are not achievable ones even according to many of the attendees. “It’s a good goal, but it’s not a realistic goal,” said Lachance. :lol Others, though, were more optimistic.

“The Obama administration is lawless, and we want him out,” said Carrie “Beth” Koncar, who led a small group up from Georgia. :lol

“And basically that is the goal here, for the resignation of Obama, Biden, Pelosi.

The Lord God is behind this, :lol

the Lord is the breath in this. :lol

He puts kings and kingdoms in their places, and he takes them down.” :lol

As for the paltry turnout, several attendees could barely contain their dismay at the low-key affair. “I took a day off from work to come down,” said Art Skillman.

“Where they are, I don’t know.” :lol

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/05/16/3438826/american-spring/

Ignorant right-wing, red-state, bubba, tea baggin assholes, stumbling around in their echo chamber of fantasies :lol

Looks like The Lord God decided to stay home, out of breath! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Tea Party backed Ben Sasse, a candidate running for the U.S. Senate.

On his website he writes: "Government cannot force citizens to violate their religious beliefs under any circumstances."

Sasse says any act committed as a religious act is beyond legal control... any act.

[boutons_deux]

GOP House Candidate: Democrats Commit "99 Percent" of Mass Shootings (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/18/1300232/-GOP-House-Candidate-Democrats-Commit-99-Percent-of-Mass-Shootings)

“If you look at all the fiascos that have occurred, 99 percent of them have been by Democrats pulling their guns out and shooting people,” Kiehne said. “So I don’t think you have a problem with the Republicans.”


This ridiculous line of thinking, if it can be called that, began (http://clashdaily.com/2013/01/the-5-worst-mass-murders-in-the-usa-with-a-firearm-came-from-democrats/) after the Newtown shooting by Roger Hedgecock, a conservative radio talk show host. Last night, Kiehne recycled that message and delivered it from the podium of a political debate. With a straight face.And then, with an equally straight face, he went on to claim that:



He owned more guns than any of his competitors.

Obama wanted to create a gun registry to track all gun owners so that the government could take them all away.



Except, apparently, from all those Democrats committing mass shootings.

No, Obama will let those gun owners keep their firearms.

Because Republican logic.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/18/1300232/-GOP-House-Candidate-Democrats-Commit-99-Percent-of-Mass-Shootings?detail=email#

AZ :lol

Repugs :lol

gun fellatin marans :lol

[boutons_deux]

In Georgia, You Can Carry a Gun, But You Need a Prescription for a Vibrator
Giving out prescriptions for vibrators seems more like a doctor's bad pick-up line than good public policy. But in Sandy Springs, Georgia, you really do need a medical reason – and a doctor's prescription – to buy a sex toy.

her doctors still won't write her a prescription.

http://www.alternet.org/sex-amp-relationships/georgia-you-can-carry-gun-you-need-prescription-vibrator?akid=11830.187590.RI0aC0&rd=1&src=newsletter994539&t=7

[boutons_deux]

Oklahoma to pay $300,000 in legal fees after ‘preemptively’ banning Sharia law

The state of Oklahoma has been ordered to pay more than $300,000 to the plaintiffs who sued (http://newsok.com/state-of-oklahoma-owes-303333-in-plaintiffs-legal-fees-over-sharia-law-case/article/4835274)after the “Save Our State Amendment” banning Sharia law was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2010.

Defenders of the amendment claimed that it was intended to prevent Islamic Sharia law from being used in Oklahoma courtrooms. :lol :lol

Muneer Awad, the director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), claimed that a law specifically banning Sharia law would violate the First Amendment’s prohibition on the government favoring one religion over another.

He argued that the “Save Our State Amendment” would prevent his will from being probated because it contained references to Islam and Islamic law, and the courts agreed with him (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/10/court-oklahoma-cant-enforce-sharia-law-ban/).

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/21/oklahoma-to-pay-300000-in-legal-fees-after-preemptively-banning-sharia-law/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

:lol

[boutons_deux]

Florida Lawmaker Stands By Claim That Common Core Turns Kids Gay (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/05/21/3440007/van-zant-common-core-response/)

A Florida lawmaker who garnered controversy this week after ThinkProgress reported (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/05/19/3439163/state-rep-common-core-gay/) his claim that new educational standards are a secret plot to turn children gay is standing by his comments.
During an anti-Common Core conference in March, State Rep. Charles Van Zant argued that the group implementing Florida’s new education program are sectrely trying to “attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can.” He told the crowd that he was “sorry to report that” information “but you need to know.”

Appearing on News 4 (http://www.news4jax.com/news/Van-Zant-responds-to-homosexual-remark/26082088) in Jacksonville on Tuesday, Van Zant (R) didn’t back down from any of his claims. He reiterated that the American Institutes for Research, responsible for Florida’s Common Core policies, is “supportive” of “the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender agenda.”

“I don’t believe that that has any place being introduced into Florida’s schools,” Van Zant said. He called for Florida’s curricula to only teach courses like history and civics, subjects which he seems to believe are wholly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo) devoid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci) of (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_wilde) gay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman) people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Stein).

VAN ZANT: If you just go look on their website, AIR.org, you see that they’re very much in support and say on their website that they’re supportive and provide all sorts of research data and things regarding the LGBT agenda, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender agenda. I don’t believe that that has any place being introduced into Florida’s schools. I further do not believe that we have a place to make that a part of Florida’s curricula. If they’re of that mindset, then I believe we need people that are going to major on what’s real in education, what the child should be learning, the basic three R’s, learning history, learning American history, learning civics, and doing those things that a parent expects to be able to send their child to school to learn.


http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/05/21/3440007/van-zant-common-core-response/

[boutons_deux]

GOP Congressman: Limit Right to Vote to Property Owners

Recently unearthed footage of Rep. Ted Yoho speaking at Berean Baptist Church in Ocala, Florida, during his candidacy for Congress in the 2012 election cycle shows the Republican politician suggesting that only property owners (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkrR85tDCJA&feature=youtu.be) should have the right to vote.

“I’ve had some radical ideas about voting and it’s probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a property owner to vote,” he said to applause.

He also called early voting through absentee ballots “a travesty” and hailed Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s move — since rescinded (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/rick-scott-early-voting_n_3318776.html) — to significantly reduce early voting (http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/political/governor-rick-scott-ignores-pleas-and-signs-sweeping-voter-law-slashing-early-voting) from 14 days to eight, saying Scott’s plan didn’t go far enough. “I think it needs to be cut less than that,” he said.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/gop-congressman-limit-right-vote-property-owners?akid=11835.187590.1dEE4N&rd=1&src=newsletter994927&t=23

[boutons_deux]

Joe Scarborough Calls Twitter Members of MSNBC’s Dwindling Audience Hatemongers and Extremists

I could just take people who use hashtag Unite Blue and make a sweeping condemnation about America’s labor movement if I wanted to, but I don’t because I know that these people are on the fringes; they’re freaks; they’re hate ‘mongerers’ [sic]; that there are a lot of people who are in America’s union movements that are good, decent, hardworking people who actually would agree with me on a lot of issues.

I mean we could all pick and choose, but should Jay Rockefeller say that with Ron Johnson in the room and then not bend over backwards to say: ‘

I’m talking about people on the margins.’ I don’t think that’s constructive at all.

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/26/joe-scarborough-calls-twitter-members-msnbcs-dwindling-audience-hatemongers-extremists.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

[xrayzebra]

Joe Scarborough Calls Twitter Members of MSNBC’s Dwindling Audience Hatemongers and Extremists

I could just take people who use hashtag Unite Blue and make a sweeping condemnation about America’s labor movement if I wanted to, but I don’t because I know that these people are on the fringes; they’re freaks; they’re hate ‘mongerers’ [sic]; that there are a lot of people who are in America’s union movements that are good, decent, hardworking people who actually would agree with me on a lot of issues.

I mean we could all pick and choose, but should Jay Rockefeller say that with Ron Johnson in the room and then not bend over backwards to say: ‘

I’m talking about people on the margins.’ I don’t think that’s constructive at all.

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/26/joe-scarborough-calls-twitter-members-msnbcs-dwindling-audience-hatemongers-extremists.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Well that isn't that unusual. At one time that was the law when voting on municipal bonds.

[boutons_deux]

Christian host on transgender rights: ‘Liberals demand public access to rape your girls’


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/pijn_transgender_140515g-2-615x345.jpg

“‘Transgenders’ want your children,” he wrote in the email obtained by Right Wing Watch (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gordon-klingenschmitt-claims-liberals-demand-public-access-rape-your-girls). “Liberals demand public access to rape your girls, at least visually in public bathrooms, or to expose themselves to your girls at school, without parental consent or protection of any kind.”

Klingenschmitt advised parents in Maine to “immediately remove their children from public schools, and teach them at home.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/27/christian-host-on-transgender-rights-liberals-demand-public-access-to-rape-your-girls/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

5 Craziest Laws Passed by GOP Legislators, Just This Month

1. Missouri Legalizes Shooting People for Being in Your Section

Unfortunately, McGaugh didn’t write his bill very carefully, and the Missouri House ended up passing a law that endorses use of deadly force by anyone pretty much anywhere. The bill allows for force by “occupants” of “private property"— conditions written so loosely that occupants could refer to a diner or a baseball game attendee or someone watching a movie, while invasion could mean anybody they feel intruding on whatever property they happen to be on.

As Think Progress explained (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/05/07/3435145/missouri-house-passes-bill-that-could-authorize-the-babysitter-the-bar-patron-and-the-grocery-shopper-to-use-deadly-force/), the bill is basically Stand Your Ground, except it replaces the threat of immediate physical harm with the feeling of invasion.

2. Florida City Tries to Make it Illegal for Homeless People to Own Stuff

The city of Ft. Lauderdale recently took up a resolution that would make it illegal for homeless people keep their possessions anywhere on public property. The resolution would allow police to confiscate any property stored on a public ground, provided twenty-four hours notice is given; confiscated property may be retrieved, if the person pays a “reasonable” fee for storage and transportation.

The city claims the ordinance is due in part to an “interest in aesthetics,” but as homeless people have no alternative method for hanging on to their belongings, the resolution effectively criminalizes their only possessions.

3. Oklahoma Bans Increases in the Minimum Wage

not only is Oklahoma not considering a statewide increase, but it banned individual cities (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/15/oklahoma-minimum-wage_n_5152496.html) from even considering such a raise on their own.

4. Oklahoma Punishes Solar and Wind Power Producers

Oklahoma wasn’t done. Unhappy with people who install their own solar panels or wind turbines, an action that helps the utilities by easing the pressure on the companies during peak hours, the state is now penalizing private energy producers through a surcharge (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/16/3427392/oklahoma-fee-solar-wind/).

The extra charge applies to those who sell excess energy generated by the panels or turbines back to the grid, known as net metering. It was snuck in as a rider on another bill at the last minute, catching lawmakers and alternative energy groups off guard. It passed without a single dissenting vote.

It didn’t take long for Oklahoman owners of small businesses to point out the absurdity of a law that punishes in-state producers of energy.

5. Tennessee Outlaws High-Speed Mass Transit

A proposed high-speed bus system in Nashville got on the bad side of the Tennessee legislature last month. But rather than fix or alter the suggested plans, Tennessee senators solved the matter by passing a bill against high-speed mass transit altogether.

The Amp was designed as a 7-mile high-speed bus line connecting various parts of Nashville, which would make it Tennessee’s first mass transit system (http://www.salon.com/2014/04/01/why_are_the_kochs_trying_to_stop_a_transit_project _in_nashville/), and had the support of the business community. With Nashville’s congestion getting worse and a million residents expected to move to the city over the next twenty years, the plan seemed like a no-brainer.

That’s when the Koch Brothers got involved. Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee sprung into existence, staffed entirely with lobbyists and blessed with an undisclosed budget. Shortly thereafter, a bill appeared in the Tennessee legislature making it illegal “for buses to pick up or drop off passengers in the center lane of a state road”—effectively outlawing the Amp and any transit system like it.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/5-craziest-laws-passed-gop-legislators-just-month?akid=11860.187590.MbhTjV&rd=1&src=newsletter997565&t=8&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

[boutons_deux]

This Week In Crazy

Genuinely crazy (http://www.nationalmemo.com/would-rep-steve-stockman-pass-a-firearms-background-check/) Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) returns to the list at number five, for suggesting (again) that President Obama is a secret Muslim, and a terrorist sympathizer.

“This guy, the president, apparently has a grudge against the military and the American people,” Stockman said (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/steve-stockman-suggests-obama-secret-muslim-and-terrorist-sympathizer) during an appearance on the Steve Malzberg show.

Obama has a “propensity to fall again and again on the side of terrorists,” Stockman later added. His explanation? “A lot of people say he’s not something…we can’t say it on the radio, but if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, I think it might be a duck.”

4. Joni Ernst

Once it became apparent that state senator andhog castrator (http://www.nationalmemo.com/watch-republican-senate-candidate-threatens-castrate-congress/)Joni Ernst was going to be Iowa’s GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, Republicans did everything possible (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/30/mitt-romney-joni-ernst-_n_5419122.html) to push back against the narrative that Ernst is a Tea Party extremist.

There’s only one problem: Joni Ernst.

On Thursday, the Iowa Democratic Party shared video (http://www.iowademocrats.org/2014/06/iowans-still-have-a-lot-more-to-learn-about-agenda-21-conspiracy-theorist-joni-ernst/) of Ernst vowing that, if she is elected as senator, she will finally put a stop to the United Nations’ evil Agenda 21.

In reality, Agenda 21 is a non-binding, voluntarily implemented UN resolution meant to promote sustainable development. In right-wing fever derams, Agenda 21 is actually a conspiracy through which the UN will abolish all property rights (and, according to Senator Ted Cruz, ban golf (http://www.nationalmemo.com/the-peoples-choice-only-not-really/)).

“The United Nations has imposed this upon us, and as a U.S. senator, I would say no more,” Ernst said. “No more Agenda 21.”

3. Gordon Klingenschmitt

Gordon Klingenschmitt, who recently exposed liberals’ devious plan to visually rape (http://www.nationalmemo.com/week-crazy-harry-reid-mass-murderer-rest-worst-right/3/) America’s daughters, took the logical next step on Tuesday: Mind rape! (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/klingenschmitt-teaching-kids-about-gay-marriage-mind-rape)

While discussing the debate (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/10820811/NHS-chiefs-face-backlash-over-gay-marriage-lobbying.html) raging in Scotland over whether teachers and students should be able to opt out of classes that discuss gay marriage, Klingenschmitt got choked up over the children who will be “recruited into perversion.”

“So in other words, every child has a right to be raped,” Klingenschmitt said. “At least in their mind, by somebody who is going to pervert them and recruit them into sexual immorality. This is how liberals think.”

2. Kevin Crow

Politicians often invoke the founding fathers to illustrate whatever political point they are trying to make at the time (with occasionally hilarious results (http://www.nationalmemo.com/this-week-in-crazy-may-24th-edition/4/)). In these analogies, the founders are usually the heroes, paragons of virtue whose legacies we are failing to honor.

Dr. Kevin Crow, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Oklahoma, decided to go in a different direction. According to Dr. Crow, the founding fathers actually caused the Rwandan genocide (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/12/ok-gop-senate-candidate-all-men-are-created-equal-doctrine-led-to-rwandan-genocide/).
Crow made his strange charge during a debate on Friday.

“The job of America is not to be the exporter of liberty. That’s not our job. Our job is to look after ourselves. Let me explain what happens when you become the exporter of liberty,” Crow said. “Jimmy Carter tried that in Iran, and remember the brutal Shah? You saw where that got us. The Belgians tried that when they pulled out of Rwanda.”

1. Scott Esk

It says a lot about Oklahoma that Dr. Crow is not the Sooner State’s craziest politician of the week. That honor goes to this week’s “winner,” state House candidate Scott Esk.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma magazine The Moore Daily reported that last summer, Esk endorsedstoning gay people to death (http://firebrandprogressives.org/oklahoma-tea-party-candidate-calls-for-homosexuals-to-be-stoned-to-death/).

“I think we would be totally in the right to do it,” the Tea Party candidate wrote on Facebook. “That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realize, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.”

The Moore Daily reached out to Esk for clarification, and found that he really has no misgivings about the stoning plan.

“That was done in the Old Testament under a law that came directly from God and in that time there it was totally just. It came directly from God,” Esk said.

“I have no plans to reinstitute that in Oklahoma law,” he added. “I do have some very huge moral misgivings about those kinds of sins.”

As The Raw Story points out (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/11/ok-gop-candidate-let-cities-decide-whether-gays-should-be-stoned-to-death/), Esk says that “if it helps any,” he believes that states should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to stone gay people to death.

“I would hope that libertarians who don’t think perversion should be punished in any way between consenting adults would be open-minded and look at the different results between a state that ignores it and [one] that punishes it severely,” he said. “And within a state, cities and communities may well have different policies, and I cheer that. That way, people can decide for themselves whether they want to live in a particular community based in part on how things like this are dealt with.”

http://www.nationalmemo.com/week-crazy-gay-people-stoned-death-rest-worst-right/

marans, all! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Republican Maine state Representative Lawrence Lockman

“If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman?

At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/17/1307761/-GOP-Rape-Advisory-Chart-How-the-hell-did-this-one-escape-my-attention?detail=email

[boutons_deux]

Bible-waving MN GOP Supreme Court nominee places God above U.S. law


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/mcdonald2.jpg

Michelle MacDonald, the Republican nominee for the Minnesota Supreme Court who neglected to disclose her upcoming trial for a DWI (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/13/mn-gop-unaware-its-supreme-court-nominee-faces-dwi-resisting-arrest-charges/), is coming under fire for promising GOP officials that she would base her opinions on Biblical principles.

During a speech she gave at the Minnesota GOP convention in Rochester on May 30, 2014, she told the delegates that “when judges used to enter the courtroom, they would hold a Bible over their head, like this,” and then held a Bible over her head.

“In the words of George Washington,” she continued, “it is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” According to Mount Vernon Library (http://www.mountvernon.org/educational-resources/encyclopedia/spurious-quotations), that spurious quotation is “frequently misattributed to Washington, particularly in regards to his farewell address of 1796.”

She concluded her speech by saying, “God bless you, God bless your children, God bless your families, and let’s all ask God to bless America again.”

The Friendly Atheist blog compared (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/06/19/minnesota-gop-nominates-bible-waving-drunk-driving-david-barton-loving-lawyer-for-state-supreme-court/) her to Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who recently made dubious legal claims (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/02/alabamas-chief-justice-buddha-didnt-create-us-so-first-amendment-only-protects-christians/) based on his interpretation of the Christian Bible.

After MacDonald’s speech, the state GOP chair asked if anyone supported her candidacy, and many of the delegates applauded. No one rose, however, to object to it, so she was made the nominee despite her upcoming trial for suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/20/bible-waving-mn-gop-supreme-court-nominee-places-god-above-u-s-law/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Fuck these "Christian" Taleban religious extremists and the assholes who nominate/elect them.

[boutons_deux]

PA school director wants kids to learn the Tea Party ‘science’ of global warming denial

A school director in Pennsylvania is demanding that an environmental science textbook used in high schools be supplemented with a pamphlet about the “true science” of global warming.

Saucon Valley School Director and Tea Party Republican (http://lvtp2009.powweb.com/committee-leaders-contact-info/77-action-committee-leaders/6-bryan-eichfeld.html) Bryan Eichfeld claimed (http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2014/06/saucon_valley_school_directors.html) “there’s a lot of clear propaganda…based on bad science” in the chapter, the point of which “is to teach our students to fear the future and to hate our modern industrial economy.”

He urged his fellow school directors to reject the textbook.


In a letter (http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/231211348?access_key=key-GY9XDpcNPVZPv9DruZDv&allow_share=true&escape=false&view_mode=scroll), Eichfeld claimed thatEnvironmental Science “utterly fails to present the well-founded science of man-made Global warming skeptics,” and urged them to adopt “an attachment to the book that provides students with the excluded scientific evidence and data that challenge the global warming claims made in the book.”

The supplement would be prepared by Paul Saunders, “a local expert on the deceptions of global warming alarmists” who does not live in the district.

In a presentation of his eleven page report on the topic, Saunders said that the textbook’s assertion that carbon-dioxide emissions were driving global climate change was mistaken. “The temperature is driving [carbon dioxide] emissions, not the other way around,” he testified (http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-lehighvalley/textbook-adoption-spurs-climate-debate-in-saucon-valley/26648988). “The Environmental Science textbook does not adhere to the scientific method. It delivers one-sided advocacy.”

Superintendent Sandra Fellin reminded Eichfeld that “the books here match our curriculum,” and that the textbook in question had been vetted by the science department. She also stated that the board was voting on textbooks, not issues.

Fellow school director Sandra Miller was taken aback that a board member would attempt to directly shape the curriculum based on a his own beliefs. “It’s not appropriate for us to be going down this road,” she said, before reminding Eichfeld that the textbook aligns with state standards and district educational policy.

“I trust our science department to maintain our department and to do the right thing,” Miller said. “The science curriculum has been reviewed by the curriculum committee. I believe we have to rely on our experts and our school to provide that curriculum.”

http://news.crowdignite.craveonline.com/v/31841/645429233/0/1/52739441?ltype=0&wtype=0&user_id=e90eccf1d03c6452ba8f64f64105daad&slot=1&referp=644573809

Kock Bros should this ignorant fucker a few $000s

[boutons_deux]

‘Private attorney general’ tells Bundy ranch gathering that most laws don’t apply to them

The continuing standoff at the Bundy ranch has exposed the militia members, gun enthusiasts, survivalists, and sovereign citizens drawn there (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/10/jerad-miller-cried-hysterically-when-he-was-asked-to-leave-bundy-ranch-candidate-says/) to one another’s ideas in kind of an extremist incubator.

Videos posted online (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mtKXrZ4-rQ) show the scofflaw rancher’s supporters explaining their ideologies in lengthy lectures, such as one posted earlier this month that shows “private attorney general” Jeff Ball explaining that laws don’t apply to individuals if they understand how to rebut them.

“I want to give you guys the basic chain of command, all right?” said Ball, of the Citizens Action Network (https://www.facebook.com/Citizens.Action.Network). “Up at the top of this tree is the creator, whoever your creator is, that’s where the creator’s at. The one below that is you, okay? So your original contract was with the creator.”

Ball’s lecture mingles “sovereign citizen” rhetoric with conspiracy theories promoted by perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche.

“The earth is our inheritance, OK, but what these guys are trying to do is third-party their way into it,” Ball said. “So here’s how they want you to believe the chain of command goes: God, the Vatican, Washington, D.C., the city of London.”

Ball claimed London controlled the world’s finances, while Washington created war and kept slaves in line by “taxing them to death,” and he argued that the Vatican interfered with an individual’s contract with the creator.

“You guys have a contract with the creator and this earth is your inheritance,” he said. “That’s it; there is no more. You’re not subject to anybody, as long as you don’t hurt anybody.

If you create injury on somebody, ( ??? he's really got idiomatic English down pat :lol ) then that’s a different story.”

Ball argued that the state could not be a claimant under common law, but he said government prosecutors unlawfully did so in nearly every criminal proceeding.

“There’s no claimant,” he said. “The state’s not allowed to be a claimant, yet they do that every day. If you don’t rebut it, then that means you consent to it, and they move forward with it and they subjugate you to it.”

Ball argued that Americans had loaned out their sovereignty to public servants, but they reserve the right to take it back.

“So when that governor, that sheriff, doesn’t do his job, we can go take them out of office,” he said. “We don’t have to wait for an election.”

He didn’t explain how that worked, but in another video posted online (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC1u1iFNx6o), Ball argues that individuals can escape police questioning by insisting officers fill out a form.

As the Eagles’ 1979 Al Green pastiche, “I Can’t Tell You Why,” plays in the background, Ball explains that sovereign citizens can hold public officials accountable for violating their oath with the Public Servant Questionnaire (http://www.patriotnetwork.info/aps_7-pubservquest.htm).

Ball claims the document, which asks for identifying information and explanations of the officers’ intentions, must be filled out by public servants before they question citizens.
He argues the questionnaire is authorized by the Privacy Act of 1896.

“We gave our power to them – loaned it to them – to do their job, and most of them don’t do their job,” Ball argued. “So the next time they try to order them around, know that they’re just a corporation, they have no authority on you. You have the authority. Why? Because God and you is the original contract. Nobody can come in between that, period.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/25/private-attorney-general-tells-bundy-ranch-gathering-that-most-laws-dont-apply-to-them/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Boehner Will Sue Obama For Stuff He Thought Was Totally Fine Under George W. Bush (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/06/25/3453244/boehner-executive-order-suit/)


House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) confirmed Wednesday (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/24/boehner-considering-lawsuit-against-obama-over-executive-orders/) that he will file a federal lawsuit challenging the executive actions of President Barack Obama, despite supporting President George W. Bush’s extensive use of executive authority.

Boehner said at a news conference, “You know the constitution makes it clear that the president’s job is to faithfully execute the laws and in my view the President has not faithfully executed the laws.” He added that the suit was “about defending the institution in which we serve” because “what we’ve seen clearly over the past 5 years is an effort to erode the power of the legislative branch.” He refused to say (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/06/25/boehner-to-sue-obama-over-executive-orders/) which specific actions he believes to be illegal.

President Obama has issued about 180 executive orders (http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/executive-orders) — a power that has been utilized byevery president (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/orders.php) since George Washington except for the brief-tenured William Henry Harrison — and taken other executive actions. A Boehner spokesman denounced these (http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/obama-lawsuit-boehner-house/) as “a clear record of ignoring the American people’s elected representatives and exceeding his constitutional authority, which has dangerous implications for both our system of government and our economy.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/06/25/3453244/boehner-executive-order-suit/

Fucking asshole Repugs and you fucking assholes who elect them

[Cry Havoc]

"We need to defund the executive branch."


This is lunacy.

[boutons_deux]

lunacy.

.... aka, Repugs' philosophy of government.

And many many thanks to all you right-wing Repug tea bagger libertarian assholes on ST who elect Repugs.

[boutons_deux]

Fox's Ablow Is "A Little Suspicious" That The World Cup Craze Is Designed As A "Distraction" To Help Obama


http://mediamatters.org/video/2014/06/26/foxs-ablow-is-a-little-suspicious-that-the-worl/199895

[boutons_deux]

Virginia's Republican legislators broke into Governor's office to block ACA coverage for poor (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/25/1309586/-Virginia-s-Republican-legislators-broke-into-Governor-s-office-to-block-ACA-coverage-for-poor)

In their fervor to ensure that the least amongst their citizens keep getting kicked in the teeth, the Republicans of Virginia have stooped to breaking and entering an executive office in order to block Medicaid expansion.

There is a time limit between delivery of documents and the Governor's need to authorize them. So the Republican House Speaker William J. Howell authorized security to illegally enter the Governor's office during a holiday break to ensure the clock started ticking before the Governor even knew the bill was delivered.

Is there anything the Republicans won't do to harm the 47%?


“This letter is to inform you that under no circumstances are you or any of your officers authorized to allow employees of the General Assembly to enter the secure areas of the governor’s office without my express permission, or the express permission of Suzette Denslow, the governor’s deputy chief of staff,” Reagan wrote in the letter to Pike, dated June 18.“What occurred here Sunday is unacceptable,” the letter continues. “Two employees of the speaker of the House of Delegates were given access to an area of the governor’s office where sensitive files and materials are kept. (http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/what-occurred-here-sunday-is-unacceptable/article_bf0d759e-fbde-11e3-932b-001a4bcf6878.html)

Howell’s office says the two employees work for the House clerk’s office and not directly for the speaker.

Reagan’s letter adds: “For good reason, it is an area that is surrounded by three security perimeters. Even on a normal business day, very few people — including members of the governor’s Cabinet — can gain access to this suite of offices. We certainly do not expect to have agents and employees of the General Assembly roaming through these offices on weekends.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/25/1309586/-Virginia-s-Republican-legislators-broke-into-Governor-s-office-to-block-ACA-coverage-for-poor?detail=email#

[TheSanityAnnex]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/26/supreme-court-obama-senate-appointments/8528059/


WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court dealt a blow to the powers of the presidency Thursday, ruling decisively that President Obama violated the Constitution by going around the Senate to name key labor relations watchdogs.
Resolving a long-standing battle between the two other branches of government, the justices declared invalid key "recess appointments" made by Obama in 2012 when the Senate was holding only pro-forma sessions every three days.
But the majority opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer did not go further and limit recess appointments to remote periods and circumstances, as a federal appeals court had ruled last year. It said simply that three days is not long enough to qualify as a recess; 10 days, it said, would qualify.
"Because the Senate was in session during its pro forma sessions, the president made the recess appointments before us during a break too short to count as recess," said Breyer, the lone justice to have worked for the Senate. "For that reason, the appointments are invalid." He was joined by Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
SUPREME COURT: Justices strike down abortion clinic buffer zone (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/26/supreme-court-abortion-clinic-buffer-zones/6698787/)
Press secretary Josh Earnest said the White House was "deeply disappointed" by the ruling but pleased by the court's recognition of executive authority in general. He said Obama "remains committed to using every element of his executive authority to make progress on behalf of middle class families."
While the ruling against Obama's appointments was unanimous, four conservative justices would have limited future presidents far more broadly and implicated thousands of previous appointments dating back to George Washington. That would have represented a more sweeping victory for Congress over the White House.
Still, the court's decision effectively tilts the balance of power toward Congress, because either the Senate or House of Representatives can refuse to go into recess. Only when both houses are controlled by the president's party can it push through its nominees — and in those circumstances, the recess appointments power isn't needed.
IMPACT ON OBAMA, REPUBLICANS
Cast in the hyper-partisan environment of 2014, the battle pit Obama's brazen appointments against Senate Republicans' unprecedented efforts to block or stall his nominations. It lost its immediate relevance last fall when Democrats changed the Senate's rules to deprive the Republican minority of its ability to block nominations with just 41 of 100 votes.
"More than anything, today's Supreme Court ruling underscores the importance of the rules reform Senate Democrats enacted last November," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
If Republicans take control of the Senate in November, however — and anytime in the future that the White House and Senate are controlled by opposite parties — the high court's ruling will prevent presidents from sidestepping the Constitution's confirmation process during similar three-day recesses.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell hailed the ruling. "The president made an unprecedented power grab by placing political allies at a powerful federal agency while the Senate was meeting regularly and without even bothering to wait for its advice and consent," he said. "A unanimous Supreme Court has rejected this brazen power-grab."
While agreeing with the result in terms of the National Labor Relations Board appointments, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the remaining four justices that a president's recess power should be limited far more than the court allowed. If an appointment must be made, he said, the Senate always can be called back into session.
"The majority practically bends over backward to ensure that recess appointments will remain a powerful weapon in the president's arsenal," he said. "That is unfortunate, because the recess appointment power is an anachronism." He said the new rules calling for 10-day recesses "have no basis whatsoever in the Constitution; they are just made up."
But Breyer's majority ruling said presidents must retain some leeway to go around the Senate. He said the historical practices engaged in by the executive and legislative branches -- a series of "compromises and working arrangements" going back centuries -- must be given "significant weight."
"The Constitution empowers the president to fill any existing vacancy during any recess -- intra-session or inter-session -- of sufficient length," he said. "Justice Scalia would render illegitimate thousands of recess appointments reaching all the way back to the founding era."
Peter Shane, an expert on separations of powers law at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, said the ruling is about the best Obama and future presidents could have hoped for. "A lot of deference is owed to Senate rules," he said. The court majority gave proper weight to a history of "the elected branches working it out among themselves."
'FRICTION BETWEEN THE BRANCHES'
The recess appointments clause of the Constitution reads: "The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session."
After being frustrated by three years of Republican opposition to some nominees, Obama opened 2012 by naming three members to the quorum-starved National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was gaveling in and out every 72 hours, usually without conducting any business.
Obama said the Senate, for all intents and purposes, was in recess. Under the Constitution, presidents can fill vacancies during recesses for up to two years without Senate confirmation.
Enter Pepsi bottler Noel Canning of Yakima, Wash., which contested a 2012 decision of the labor board dominated by Obama's recess appointees. It won more than it bargained for at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which ruled that such appointments are constitutional only when vacancies occur and are filled during the annual break between congressional sessions.
That's a more literal reading of the Constitution, one that Scalia endorsed in his opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Had their view prevailed, future presidents would have been far more limited in making recess appointments.
Stiill, the high court's ruling means that hundreds of decisions made by the labor board while dominated by Obama's recess appointees will be called into question. The new five-member board, including four members since approved by the Senate, may have to revisit those cases.
Ronald Reagan made 232 recess appointments during his eight years in office. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush each made well more than 100. In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt made more than 160 recess appointments during one short break between congressional sessions.
To date, Obama has made only 32 recess appointments. But in this case, he did so to get around the Senate's intransigence rather than its absence — something both liberal and conservative justices frowned upon during oral arguments in January.
"The recess appointments clause is not designed to overcome serious institutional friction," Breyer said. "Friction between the branches is an inevitable consequence of our constitutional structure."

[boutons_deux]

"while the Senate was meeting regularly"

You Lie, Bitch.

the Repugs were BAD FAITH perverting the concept of "in session"

[TheSanityAnnex]

"while the Senate was meeting regularly"

You Lie, Bitch.

the Repugs were BAD FAITH perverting the concept of "in session"


Go cry to the Supreme Court pussy.

[boutons_deux]

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/recess-graph.png

[boutons_deux]

“You want [free] speech when it comes to powerful people? No, no, no, get in the f*cking cage,” Uygur said. “Get in the go*damn cage. We don’t give a damn about your First Amendment rights. You want to harass a woman trying to exercise her rights — her constitutional rights, by the way — have at it, hoss.”

By comparison, Uygur said, the court currently enjoys a much bigger buffer zone instituted (http://www.vox.com/2014/6/26/5846680/how-can-the-supreme-court-have-a-protest-buffer-zone-if-abortion) by its marshal last year. And “free speech zones” set up for protesters at major political conventions have often been placed far enough away from the event sites so as to render demonstrators out of sight.

“Can you tell I’m a little mad about this?” Uygur asked. “Go*dammit, man, I’m in favor of free speech — of course, that’s the most fundamental right that we argue for every day on this show.

But at a bare minimum, you have to be fair about it. You have to be equal about it, okay?”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/26/cenk-uygur-blasts-supreme-court-for-forcing-political-protesters-into-a-fcking-cage/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

So political REPUG (white) activists can now descend on polling stations and harass, harangue, insult, intimidate voters of the DEM (black, brown) party, up close, no buffer zone?

And with Open Carry guns?

[boutons_deux]

5 RED States Gunning to Make Their Kids As Scientifically Illiterate As Possible by Teaching Creationist B.S.

The British government dealt a strong blow to creationists last week when they clarified and extended their laws banning creationism in the classroom to not only free schools, but to academies as well.

Academies, including free schools, are the UK’s version of the charter schools in the US, and there were concerns that, since academies are often run by religious organizations who taught and endorsed creationism in the classroom, kids who attend them were not being taught actual science.

The scientific community put heavy pressure on the British government to extend a similar law passed in 2012, which did not apply to free schools nor all academies and allowed some older schools already teaching creationism to grandfather their questionable curriculum in.

With this new ruling, "[…] The Government has extended such an explicit rule to all new Academies and Free Schools and made it clear that it believes that existing rules mean that no Academy or Free School can teach pseudoscience," said Pavan Dhaliwal, The British Humanist Association’s Head of Public Affairs explained in the press release.
In the US however, the battle to bring creationism and intelligent design into the classroom is alive and well. Ever since the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial in which the teaching of evolution was found to be a violation of Tennessee law, banning the teaching of human evolution in any publicly funded school.

The battle finally came to a head in 1987 when the Supreme Court heard Edwards v. Aguillard, in which Don Aguilard took the state of Louisiana to court over a law that required that creationism be taught in public schools.

The case, which made it all the way to the Supreme Court dealt a massive blow to the religious right when the court ruled that teaching creationism in publicly funded schools was unconstitutional because the original law was specifically intended to promote a particular religion.

A similar blow was dealt decades later when in 2005 when a US District Court ruled that intelligent design was not scientific and even encompassed creationism and teaching either to be unconstitutional.

So one would think that since both creation myths that are endorsed by the religious right have been struck down in the highest courts in the country that this debate would be settled. How one earth could we still be fighting the creationist proponents when they have been dealt solid deathblows?

According to the National Center for Science Education (http://ncse.com/) (NCSE), an organization that tracks anti-science bills around the US that deal with evolution and global warming, almost every southern and bible-belt state in the US has at the very least attempted to pass education bills that either remove evolution from the curriculum or make it legal for teachers to offer alternative theories to human origins.

The states fighting to pass these laws are predictable if you pay attention to any national politics, the more red a state votes, the more it fights to remove science education from its schools or at the very least, replace science classes with a form of Bible study.

So what states and bills have been the worst to science education? Here are five examples of states either enacted or relentlessly fighting to pass anti-evolution and or anti-science bills to change their educational standards to appease the Christian Right.

1. Louisiana

Louisiana seems to be trying harder than any other state to produce the most scientifically illiterate students it possibly can. Governor Bobby Jindal has overseen most of these bills and has endorsed them all.

Jindal even pushed and won to get a voucher program installed in the state that would allow public funding to be used for private education, including religious schools that taught creationism.
A 2008 proposal that was approved in the state allows teachers to, “[…] Supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner,” according the language drafted in the law.

The law clearly had evolution and climate science in its sights when allowing teachers to use other sources of information to critique scientific theories.

A repeal effort has been made under Senate Bill 175, in April 2014 it went in front of the Louisiana Senate Education Committee and the repeal was voted down 3-1, meaning that teachers could still skirt the federal law and use their own materials in the classroom against well understood scientific theories.

The failure to get SB 175 passed has continued to ensure those with religious power in the state control science education.

2. Missouri

Missouri recently advanced a bill, House Bill 1472, to its House that would allow parents to opt their children out of class during lessons about evolution.

According to NCSE the bill's sponsor Rick Brattin (R-District 55) told the Kansas City Star (February 6, 2014) that requiring students to study evolution is "an absolute infringement on people's rights" and that evolution is "just as much faith and, you know, just as much pulled out of the air as, say, any religion."

Bills being written by politicians who know less about the scientific theory of evolution as the students they believe they are protecting, cannot be a good thing. States like Missouri are turning to politicians and not scientists when drafting this type of legislation.

Missouri even looks to take this one step further and has another bill, House Bill 1587, that is currently with the House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education that would remove the ability of school administrators to prevent teachers from miseducating students about "scientific controversies" around evolution. No date has been set for the committee to discuss this proposed legislation.

3. South Carolina

South Carolina republicans want to “teach the controversy.” This creationist gem, a much laughed at and discarded argument was brought back into the limelight when Senator Mike Fair (R-District 6), a member of the states Education Oversight Committee (EOC) and long time opponent of evolution told the Charleston Post and Courier that, We must teach the controversy ... There's another side. I'm not afraid of the controversy."

The proposal he was advocating at the time was supposed to revise the states science standards and require that students, "Construct scientific arguments that seem to support and scientific arguments that seem to discredit Darwinian natural selection"

The proposal passed the EOC with a 7-4 vote and went to the states board of education, which held a meeting on June 11, 2014. A number of scientists came to oppose the proposal and the only advocates who came to speak in the proposals defense were two speakers affiliated with the Discovery Institute, an anti-evolution organization that supports intelligent design as an explanation for life.
Thankfully the state board of education saw through the religious fog and rejected the proposal.

4. Oklahoma

Oklahoma faced not one, but two anti-evolution bills this year. The first brought forth in February, Senate Bill 1765, would have made it impossible for school administrators to mislead students about “scientific controversies”. The first bill died in the hands of the Senate Education Committee.

Shortly after, a second and similar bill, House Bill 1674, was proposed and even passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 70-6, sending the bill to the states senate. This new bill specifically mentioned "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" as subjects which "some teachers may be unsure" about how to teach, according to NCSE.

HB 1674 however never made it to vote in the senate and expired. One can only assume a third attempt will not be far off.

5. Virginia

Another bill put forward to tie the hands of school administrators is House Bill 207. Like the bills in Oklahoma and Missouri HB 207 would allow teachers to challenge scientific theories and offer other alternatives and not face any punishment for violating educational laws that prohibit religious alternatives.

The bills only sponsor, Richard P. Bell (R-District 20), acknowledged to the Washington Post (January 29, 2014) that HB 207 would apply to such scientific theories such as evolution and climate change. Bell also admitted to another local paper The Recorder that he himself was a creationist.

The Recorder later publicly came out against the bill and said they believed it was a threat to the states scientific educational standards.

The bill however died when the House Educational Committee did not vote on the issue before the bill expired.

These five states are some of the top examples but they are not the only five, and in the US were evolution is not widely accepted this hurts the countries scientific future.

A recent poll conducted by Gallop (http://www.gallup.com/poll/170822/believe-creationist-view-human-origins.aspx) showed that 42% of Americans believe in the creation myth as to the origins of life on earth. There is glimmer of hope though, because the same poll conducted in 2012 showed that 46% of Americans believed in the creation myth.

The biggest threat to the US education is the Republican Party’s refusal to accept scientific evidence as fact and turn every scientific claim into some form of liberal conspiracy.

While 42% is an improvement over two years ago it still shows just how far behind the US is to the rest of the developed world. Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and France all poll in over 80% acceptance of the theory. In fact, when a poll (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/21329204.html) was conducted of European countries that included Turkey, the US fell behind every country except Turkey that happened to poll at 25% acceptance.

Both Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson have spoken out about the dangers of not teaching evolution, seeing as how evolution is one of the foundations of science, especially life science.

Nye’s video criticizing creationism and scolding those who refuse to teach their children about evolution lead to a nationally publicized debate between himself and Ken Ham of the creationist organization Answers in Genesis.

So while federal laws make it clear that the teaching of creationism and intelligent design are unconstitutional and are clear religious endorsements, it is obvious that the struggle to teach actual science across the US is an ongoing battle.

National science standards such as the Next Generation Science Standards (http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards) need to be adopted across all fifty states and put an end to GOP controlled states creating their own religious based science curriculums

http://www.alternet.org/education/5-states-gunning-make-their-kids-scientifically-illiterate-possible-teaching-creationist?akid=11961.187590.FmCxDw&rd=1&src=newsletter1007321&t=12&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

[boutons_deux]

The Rise of a Right-wing Quack: Faux Historian David Barton's Shocking New Influence


http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/barton.png

Back when Glenn Beck was one of the most admired men in America (http://www.gallup.com/poll/124895/Clinton-Edges-Palin-Admired-Woman.aspx) and Fox News’ No. 1 celebrity, he introduced to the nation at large a “historian,” well known among the Christian right, by the name of David Barton, who claims to have documentary evidence that the founders based the Constitution explicitly on the Bible. Beck often referred to a group known as the “black-robed regiment,” which was composed of priests and clergy who were revolutionary sympathizers, comparing today’s conservative preachers to what he implied were clergymen-soldiers in the secular liberal war on the Constitution.

Beck called upon David Barton to head what he called Beck University, an online course for those who wanted to educate themselves in the Beck school of thought. Let’s just say it wasn’t the curriculum you’d find at most schools of higher learning. (You can hear one of David Barton’s “lectures” (http://mediamatters.org/video/2010/07/07/beck-u-barton-credits-preachers-for-ideas-behin/167388)here, where he tells the Beck U students that American exceptionalism springs from its Christian theocratic principles.)

Barton quickly became the toast of Wingnuttia (http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/barton-s-bunk-religious-right-historian-hits-the-big-time-tea-party-america). He was invited to participate in Tea Party events all over the country and even held a constitutional seminar for the 2010 incoming freshman class at the invitation of congresswoman Michele Bachmann. The New York Times featured him in a glowing profile (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/politics/05barton.html?ref=us&_r=0) that only mentioned in passing that his alleged scholarship was, shall we say, controversial:

[M]any professional historians dismiss Mr. Barton, whose academic degree is in Christian education from Oral Roberts University, as a biased amateur who cherry-picks quotes from history and the Bible.

“The problem with David Barton is that there’s a lot of truth in what he says,” said Derek H. Davis, director of church-state studies at Baylor University, a Baptist institution in Waco, Tex. “But the end product is a lot of distortions, half-truths and twisted history.”

And as religious right observer Sarah Posner adroitly observed (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/oct/12/tea-party-religious-right):

[T]o understand why the Tea Party resonates with the religious right and vice versa, one must understand how the anti-government rhetoric of the Tea Party movement is driven by a fundamental tenet of Christian reconstructionism: that there are certain God-ordained spheres – family, church and government – and that government has exceeded the authority God gave it, to the detriment of church, family and the individual, whose rights, both Tea Partiers and religious right-ists maintain, are granted by God, not the government.

This notion that the federal government – not only godless, but in flagrant violation of God’s will – is “tyrannical” and needs to be overthrown resonates from militias to the John Birch Society to the podiums of religious-right gatherings where Republican presidential hopefuls jockey for the support of the faithful. To fail to see the religious roots of the Tea Party mantra – or the ways in which it reverberates as a divine imperative – is to blind oneself to a fundamental feature of American conservatism.

Jay Bookman at the Atlanta Journal Constitution tells us (http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/jay-bookman/2014/jun/23/first-amendment-only-christians/):

“Although Islam has a religious component, it is much more than a simple religious ideology,” Hice wrote in his 2012 book. “It is a complete geo-political structure and, as such, does not deserve First Amendment protection.



“I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forced–forced at gunpoint no less–to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish it’d happen.” – Mike Huckabee

Sen. Ted Cruz: (http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/david-barton-historian-right-christian-96443.html#ixzz35az9IC2W)

“I’m not in a position to opine on academic disputes between historians, but I can tell you that David Barton is a good man, a courageous leader and a friend,” Cruz told POLITICO.

“David’s historical research :lol has helped millions rediscover the founding principles of our nation and the incredible sacrifices that men and women of faith made to bequeath to us the freest and most prosperous nation in the world.”

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/rise-right-wing-quack-faux-historian-david-bartons-shocking-new-influence?akid=11959.187590.jq90ew&rd=1&src=newsletter1007169&t=3&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark




Cruz went to Harvard? He's shit stain on Harvard's academia. He is smart mofo, knows exactly how to sucker tea baggers, libertarians, Christians into screwing themselves and enriching/protecting the 1% and corps.

You tea baggers, libertarians, "Christian" Taleban are all fucking ignorant, duped assholes

[boutons_deux]

a total trashing of Barton:

Barton’s Bunk: Religious Right ‘Historian’ Hits the Big Time in Tea Party America

http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/barton-s-bunk-religious-right-historian-hits-the-big-time-tea-party-america

[Wild Cobra]

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/recess-graph.png

The numbers don't matter. They legality of them do however. this was a valid complaint when it happened. I'm glad Obomba got his hands slapped on this one.

[Wild Cobra]

5 RED States Gunning to Make Their Kids As Scientifically Illiterate As Possible by Teaching Creationist B.S.

The British government dealt a strong blow to creationists last week when they clarified and extended their laws banning creationism in the classroom to not only free schools, but to academies as well.

Academies, including free schools, are the UK’s version of the charter schools in the US, and there were concerns that, since academies are often run by religious organizations who taught and endorsed creationism in the classroom, kids who attend them were not being taught actual science.

The scientific community put heavy pressure on the British government to extend a similar law passed in 2012, which did not apply to free schools nor all academies and allowed some older schools already teaching creationism to grandfather their questionable curriculum in.

With this new ruling, "[…] The Government has extended such an explicit rule to all new Academies and Free Schools and made it clear that it believes that existing rules mean that no Academy or Free School can teach pseudoscience," said Pavan Dhaliwal, The British Humanist Association’s Head of Public Affairs explained in the press release.
In the US however, the battle to bring creationism and intelligent design into the classroom is alive and well. Ever since the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial in which the teaching of evolution was found to be a violation of Tennessee law, banning the teaching of human evolution in any publicly funded school.

The battle finally came to a head in 1987 when the Supreme Court heard Edwards v. Aguillard, in which Don Aguilard took the state of Louisiana to court over a law that required that creationism be taught in public schools.

The case, which made it all the way to the Supreme Court dealt a massive blow to the religious right when the court ruled that teaching creationism in publicly funded schools was unconstitutional because the original law was specifically intended to promote a particular religion.

A similar blow was dealt decades later when in 2005 when a US District Court ruled that intelligent design was not scientific and even encompassed creationism and teaching either to be unconstitutional.

So one would think that since both creation myths that are endorsed by the religious right have been struck down in the highest courts in the country that this debate would be settled. How one earth could we still be fighting the creationist proponents when they have been dealt solid deathblows?

According to the National Center for Science Education (http://ncse.com/) (NCSE), an organization that tracks anti-science bills around the US that deal with evolution and global warming, almost every southern and bible-belt state in the US has at the very least attempted to pass education bills that either remove evolution from the curriculum or make it legal for teachers to offer alternative theories to human origins.

The states fighting to pass these laws are predictable if you pay attention to any national politics, the more red a state votes, the more it fights to remove science education from its schools or at the very least, replace science classes with a form of Bible study.

So what states and bills have been the worst to science education? Here are five examples of states either enacted or relentlessly fighting to pass anti-evolution and or anti-science bills to change their educational standards to appease the Christian Right.

1. Louisiana

Louisiana seems to be trying harder than any other state to produce the most scientifically illiterate students it possibly can. Governor Bobby Jindal has overseen most of these bills and has endorsed them all.

Jindal even pushed and won to get a voucher program installed in the state that would allow public funding to be used for private education, including religious schools that taught creationism.
A 2008 proposal that was approved in the state allows teachers to, “[…] Supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner,” according the language drafted in the law.

The law clearly had evolution and climate science in its sights when allowing teachers to use other sources of information to critique scientific theories.

A repeal effort has been made under Senate Bill 175, in April 2014 it went in front of the Louisiana Senate Education Committee and the repeal was voted down 3-1, meaning that teachers could still skirt the federal law and use their own materials in the classroom against well understood scientific theories.

The failure to get SB 175 passed has continued to ensure those with religious power in the state control science education.

2. Missouri

Missouri recently advanced a bill, House Bill 1472, to its House that would allow parents to opt their children out of class during lessons about evolution.

According to NCSE the bill's sponsor Rick Brattin (R-District 55) told the Kansas City Star (February 6, 2014) that requiring students to study evolution is "an absolute infringement on people's rights" and that evolution is "just as much faith and, you know, just as much pulled out of the air as, say, any religion."

Bills being written by politicians who know less about the scientific theory of evolution as the students they believe they are protecting, cannot be a good thing. States like Missouri are turning to politicians and not scientists when drafting this type of legislation.

Missouri even looks to take this one step further and has another bill, House Bill 1587, that is currently with the House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education that would remove the ability of school administrators to prevent teachers from miseducating students about "scientific controversies" around evolution. No date has been set for the committee to discuss this proposed legislation.

3. South Carolina

South Carolina republicans want to “teach the controversy.” This creationist gem, a much laughed at and discarded argument was brought back into the limelight when Senator Mike Fair (R-District 6), a member of the states Education Oversight Committee (EOC) and long time opponent of evolution told the Charleston Post and Courier that, We must teach the controversy ... There's another side. I'm not afraid of the controversy."

The proposal he was advocating at the time was supposed to revise the states science standards and require that students, "Construct scientific arguments that seem to support and scientific arguments that seem to discredit Darwinian natural selection"

The proposal passed the EOC with a 7-4 vote and went to the states board of education, which held a meeting on June 11, 2014. A number of scientists came to oppose the proposal and the only advocates who came to speak in the proposals defense were two speakers affiliated with the Discovery Institute, an anti-evolution organization that supports intelligent design as an explanation for life.
Thankfully the state board of education saw through the religious fog and rejected the proposal.

4. Oklahoma

Oklahoma faced not one, but two anti-evolution bills this year. The first brought forth in February, Senate Bill 1765, would have made it impossible for school administrators to mislead students about “scientific controversies”. The first bill died in the hands of the Senate Education Committee.

Shortly after, a second and similar bill, House Bill 1674, was proposed and even passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 70-6, sending the bill to the states senate. This new bill specifically mentioned "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" as subjects which "some teachers may be unsure" about how to teach, according to NCSE.

HB 1674 however never made it to vote in the senate and expired. One can only assume a third attempt will not be far off.

5. Virginia

Another bill put forward to tie the hands of school administrators is House Bill 207. Like the bills in Oklahoma and Missouri HB 207 would allow teachers to challenge scientific theories and offer other alternatives and not face any punishment for violating educational laws that prohibit religious alternatives.

The bills only sponsor, Richard P. Bell (R-District 20), acknowledged to the Washington Post (January 29, 2014) that HB 207 would apply to such scientific theories such as evolution and climate change. Bell also admitted to another local paper The Recorder that he himself was a creationist.

The Recorder later publicly came out against the bill and said they believed it was a threat to the states scientific educational standards.

The bill however died when the House Educational Committee did not vote on the issue before the bill expired.

These five states are some of the top examples but they are not the only five, and in the US were evolution is not widely accepted this hurts the countries scientific future.

A recent poll conducted by Gallop (http://www.gallup.com/poll/170822/believe-creationist-view-human-origins.aspx) showed that 42% of Americans believe in the creation myth as to the origins of life on earth. There is glimmer of hope though, because the same poll conducted in 2012 showed that 46% of Americans believed in the creation myth.

The biggest threat to the US education is the Republican Party’s refusal to accept scientific evidence as fact and turn every scientific claim into some form of liberal conspiracy.

While 42% is an improvement over two years ago it still shows just how far behind the US is to the rest of the developed world. Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and France all poll in over 80% acceptance of the theory. In fact, when a poll (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/21329204.html) was conducted of European countries that included Turkey, the US fell behind every country except Turkey that happened to poll at 25% acceptance.

Both Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson have spoken out about the dangers of not teaching evolution, seeing as how evolution is one of the foundations of science, especially life science.

Nye’s video criticizing creationism and scolding those who refuse to teach their children about evolution lead to a nationally publicized debate between himself and Ken Ham of the creationist organization Answers in Genesis.

So while federal laws make it clear that the teaching of creationism and intelligent design are unconstitutional and are clear religious endorsements, it is obvious that the struggle to teach actual science across the US is an ongoing battle.

National science standards such as the Next Generation Science Standards (http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards) need to be adopted across all fifty states and put an end to GOP controlled states creating their own religious based science curriculums

http://www.alternet.org/education/5-states-gunning-make-their-kids-scientifically-illiterate-possible-teaching-creationist?akid=11961.187590.FmCxDw&rd=1&src=newsletter1007321&t=12&paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark




Don't you believe in States Rights? You know... The 10th amendment?

[TheSanityAnnex]

“You want [free] speech when it comes to powerful people? No, no, no, get in the f*cking cage,” Uygur said. “Get in the go*damn cage. We don’t give a damn about your First Amendment rights. You want to harass a woman trying to exercise her rights — her constitutional rights, by the way — have at it, hoss.”

By comparison, Uygur said, the court currently enjoys a much bigger buffer zone instituted (http://www.vox.com/2014/6/26/5846680/how-can-the-supreme-court-have-a-protest-buffer-zone-if-abortion) by its marshal last year. And “free speech zones” set up for protesters at major political conventions have often been placed far enough away from the event sites so as to render demonstrators out of sight.

“Can you tell I’m a little mad about this?” Uygur asked. “Go*dammit, man, I’m in favor of free speech — of course, that’s the most fundamental right that we argue for every day on this show.

But at a bare minimum, you have to be fair about it. You have to be equal about it, okay?”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/26/cenk-uygur-blasts-supreme-court-for-forcing-political-protesters-into-a-fcking-cage/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

So political REPUG (white) activists can now descend on polling stations and harass, harangue, insult, intimidate voters of the DEM (black, brown) party, up close, no buffer zone?

And with Open Carry guns?






http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s679/thefuzzylumpkins/BlackPantherVoterIntimidation2008_zps89be9bfb.jpg (http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/thefuzzylumpkins/media/BlackPantherVoterIntimidation2008_zps89be9bfb.jpg. html)

[boutons_deux]

http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s679/thefuzzylumpkins/BlackPantherVoterIntimidation2008_zps89be9bfb.jpg (http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/thefuzzylumpkins/media/BlackPantherVoterIntimidation2008_zps89be9bfb.jpg. html)

right-wing and cops freak out if they're black, but if they're white and armed for war, no problem

If (armed) whites can harass, point guns at, intimidate, yell at people, why can't blacks?

[Wild Cobra]

right-wing and cops freak out if they're black, but if they're white and armed for war, no problem

If (armed) whites can harass, point guns at, intimidate, yell at people, why can't blacks?

Wasn't this picture taken outside a polling place?

[TheSanityAnnex]

right-wing and cops freak out if they're black, but if they're white and armed for war, no problem

If (armed) whites can harass, point guns at, intimidate, yell at people, why can't blacks????

[Wild Cobra]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX4dcvIYk9A

[boutons_deux]

Wasn't this picture taken outside a polling place?

Probably, and if so, no doubt Fox, Limbaugh, Beck, and the right-wing hate media went crazy.

I remember Repugs and Repug scumbag bullies screaming outside the 2000 FL Pres vote counting office and at FL vote counters ("Get off my sidewalk"). I'm sure there will be plenty of armed bubbas and rednecks all over the South and red state scaring black and brown voters.

[boutons_deux]

The numbers don't matter. They legality of them do however. this was a valid complaint when it happened. I'm glad Obomba got his hands slapped on this one.

It's a legality problem when Dem pres is appointing.

[Wild Cobra]

It's a legality problem when Dem pres is appointing.

No you idiot.

It was the way he did it.

Congress was not in recess, yet he made recess appointment.

[boutons_deux]

Don't you believe in States Rights? You know... The 10th amendment?

GFY

federal laws make it clear that the teaching of creationism and intelligent design are unconstitutional and are clear religious endorsements

[Wild Cobra]

GFY

federal laws make it clear that the teaching of creationism and intelligent design are unconstitutional and are clear religious endorsements



Bullshit.

Federal law does not trump the constitution.

Do you understand the first amendment?


Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

[boutons_deux]

How Republicans Made Congress Stupid

...

In fact, had the Republicans’ desired language passed, congressional personnel would have become the only employees in America whose employer (in their case, the federal government) was explicitly forbidden from contributing to their health care—a blow that, in all likelihood, would have caused most of the best and brightest staffers, and perhaps some lawmakers, to simply hightail it for the door. Some quite conservative members even said as much. Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, in a candid moment later, called the move “political theater” that would do nothing more than catalyze a rapid “brain drain” in Congress.

While Sensenbrenner was right, one must appreciate the irony. A debilitating brain drain has actually been under way in Congress for the past twenty-five years, and it is Sensenbrenner and his conservative colleagues who have engineered it.

A quick refresher: In 1995, after winning a majority in the House for the first time in forty years, one of the first things the new Republican House leadership did was gut Congress’s workforce.

They cut the “professional staff” (the lawyers, economists, and investigators who work for committees rather than individual members) by a third.

They reduced the “legislative support staff” (the auditors, analysts, and subject-matter experts at the Government Accountability Office [GAO], the Congressional Research Service [CRS], and so on) by a third, too, and killed off the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) entirely.

And they fundamentally dismantled the old committee structure, centralizing power in the House speaker’s office and discouraging members and their staff from performing their own policy research.

(The Republicans who took over the Senate in 1995 were less draconian, cutting committee staff by about 16 percent and leaving the committee system largely in place.)

Today, the GAO and the CRS, which serve both House and Senate, are each operating at about 80 percent of their 1979 capacity. While Senate committee staffs have rebounded somewhat under Democratic control, every single House standing committee had fewer staffers in 2009 than in 1994.

Since 2011, with a Tea Party-radicalized GOP back in control of the House, Congress has cut its budget by a whopping 20 percent, a far higher ratio than any other federal agency, leading, predictably, to staff layoffs, hiring and salary freezes, and drooping morale.

Why would conservative lawmakers decimate the staff and organizational capacity of an institution they themselves control? Part of it is political optics: What better way to show the conservative voters back home that you’re serious about shrinking government than by cutting your own staff? But a bigger reason is strategic. The Gingrich Revolutionaries of 1995 and the Tea Partiers of 2011 share the same basic dream: to defund and dismantle the vast complex of agencies and programs that have been created by bipartisan majorities since the New Deal. The people in Congress who knew those agencies and programs best and were most invested in making them work—the professional staffers, the CRS analysts, the veteran committee chairs—were not going to consent to seeing them swept away. So they had to be swept away.

Of course, all of this slashing and cutting has done nothing to actually help shrink the federal government.

Real federal spending has increased 50 percent since 1995, in line with the growth of the U.S. population and economy.

At the same time, as political scientist Lee Drutman of the Sunlight Foundation has noted, both the government and the issues it has to deal with have grown more complex.

There are more contractors to manage, more stakeholders to liaison with, more technologies to adapt to, more industry-funded research studies to take account of. That, in turn, has made the jobs of congressional staffers, of keeping an eye on government and sorting through the ever-growing amount of information coming at them from lobbyists and constituents, far more difficult, even as their numbers have not remotely kept pace with the growth of government and K Street.

In 2010, the House spent $1.37 billion and employed between 7,000 and 8,000 staffers. That same year, corporations and special interests spent twice as much—$2.6 billion—on lobbying (which excludes billions spent on other forms of influence) and employed 12,000 federally registered lobbyists, according to Sunlight Foundation.

Instead of helping to shrink the government, the gutting of congressional expertise and institutional capacity—what New America Foundation scholar and former congressional staffer Lorelei Kelly refers to as a “self-lobotomy”—has had two other effects, both of which have advanced conservative power, if not necessarily conservative ideals.

The first effect is an outsourcing of policy development. Much of the research, number crunching, and legislative wordsmithing that used to be done by Capitol Hill staffers working for the government is now being done by outside experts, many of them former Hill staffers, working for lobbying firms, think tanks, consultancies, trade associations, and PR outfits. This has strengthened the already-powerful hand of corporate interests in shaping legislation, and given conservative groups an added measure of influence over Congress, as the shutdown itself illustrates.

The second effect of the brain drain is a significant decline in Congress’s institutional ability to monitor and investigate a growing and ever-more-complex federal government.

This decline has been going on quietly, behind the scenes, for so many years that hardly anyone even notices anymore. But like termites eating away at the joists, there’s a danger of catastrophic collapse unless regular inspections are done.

While Congress continues to devote what limited investigative resources it has into the fished-out waters of the Internal Revenue Service and Benghazi “scandals” (thirteen Benghazi hearings in the House alone, with a new select committee launched in May), just in the last year we’ve witnessed two appalling government fiascoes that better congressional oversight might have avoided: the botched rollout of the health insurance exchanges and the uncontrolled expansion of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs.

(Fun fact: while annual federal spending on intelligence has roughly doubled since 1997, staff levels on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have actuallydeclined.) Debacles like these, by undermining the public’s faith in government, wind up perversely advancing the conservative antigovernment agenda—another reason why many Republicans don’t worry much about the brain drain on the Hill. But the rest of us should.

The organizational capacity that conservatives began attacking in 1995 had been painstakingly built up by their liberal and moderate predecessors over the previous quarter century. In the late 1960s, there was a general sense in Congress that the institution needed to upgrade its ability to understand and confront the challenges of a more technologically and socially complex country. Meanwhile, with the Vietnam War heading south and the Richard Nixon administration resorting to such high-handed moves as the secret bombing of Cambodia, many liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans became convinced of the need to counter the power of the White House and of the hawkish southern Democrats, who, because of seniority and other rules, treated the major congressional committees like personal fiefdoms. The result was a series of major reforms in the early to mid-1970s that changed the institution in two fundamental ways.

First, recognizing that information is power in Washington (the first standing committees in the House were established in the 1790s as an independent source of information to counter that of George Washington’s powerful but controversial treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton), Congress enhanced its internal data-gathering and analytical capacities. It bulked up the staffs of committees and member offices. It expanded its in-house think tank, the Legislative Reference Service, renaming it the Congressional Research Service. It overhauled the rules of the budget process and created the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to produce nonpartisan fiscal information and projections. And it formed the Office of Technology Assessment to provide timely analyses of the promises and pitfalls of cutting-edge science and technology developments. This expansion of expertise changed the very landscape of Capitol Hill. Congress built the vast Madison Building on Pennsylvania Avenue to house the expanded CRS. It bought the Congressional Hotel to accommodate the growing ranks of committee staff and appropriated an old FBI fingerprint records warehouse for the new CBO.

Second, congressional reformers took on the committee chairs and their ironfisted control over everything from the hiring and firing of staff to which lawmakers got to sit on which subcommittees. A series of rules changes in the House allowed chairmen to be deposed via a secret ballot of committee members; some were, and subcommittees won more control over their budgets, staff, and agendas. The minority party was guaranteed a set percentage of resources and staff. As power flowed down and out, it also flowed up, with the speaker of the House garnering the authority to, among other things, refer bills to committees, privileges once reserved for committee chairs. In the Senate, where individual members always enjoyed more freedom of action, various reforms decentralized power even further.

The result was a great spike in congressional policy development and oversight. A rough but useful measure of both is the number of committee meetings. These rose by half in the Senate and 80 percent in the House from the late 1960s through the ’70s. In the 1980s and mid-’90s, they plateaued, at about 5,000 to 6,000 per year. (Then, with the GOP takeover in 1995, the number of hearings plummeted by nearly 50 percent in the House and by a quarter in Senate. To put it in perspective, in 1958 congressional committees met almost three times more often than they did in 2010. Those numbers rose again, if only briefly, under the Democrats from 2007 through 2010, the latest years for which figures are available.)

The 1960s and ’70s marked one of the great eras of congressional oversight, with the Church and Pike committees investigating intelligence abuses and the Watergate hearings exposing the crimes of the Nixon White House. The latter investigations not only made a bipartisan group of committee members household names (Sam Ervin, Howard Baker) but also employed staffers who would themselves become famous (Fred Thompson, Hillary Rodham).

It was also an important era of policymaking. In his book The Last Great Senate, former Senate staffer Ira Shapiro details how lawmakers of that period—George McGovern, Bob Dole, Charles Mathias, Jacob Javits, Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy—used their mastery of subject matter and process to move complex, politically gnarly legislation, from the successful bailouts of Chrysler and New York City to the Panama Canal Treaty. He recounts, for instance, how Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson made himself so knowledgeable on defense issues that he became a thorn in the side of Nixon and Henry Kissinger, whose policy of détente he deplored for, among other things, ignoring the Soviets’ human rights abuses. Aided by brilliant and well-connected staffers who shared his hawkish views—people like Richard Perle and Dorothy Fosdick—Jackson passed the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which denied most-favored-nation trading status to communist-bloc countries that restricted emigration. The amendment ultimately led to the emigration of millions of Soviet Jews and was used by Soviet dissidents as a vital tool in mobilizing support for the overthrow of communism.

The House, too, became a bastion of professional expertise. In the early 1970s, for instance, Representative Henry Reuss, a diligent conservation-minded Wisconsin liberal, and his staff on the Subcommittee on Conservation and Natural Resources, discovered a dusty old piece of legislation, the Refuse Act of 1899, that required anyone who pollutes a lake or stream to have a permit to do so from the Army Corps of Engineers. Reuss then got the U.S. attorney in his home state to successfully sue four major polluters—actions that, Reuss later recalled, “convinced industry to stop fighting federal antipollution legislation and instead accept the reasonable federal regulatory system created by the Clean Water Act of 1972.”

Similarly, in the early days of the effort to pass tax reform in 1984, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski organized a retreat on an Air Force base in Florida where twenty committee members of both parties and ten committee staffers spent three days, with no lobbyists or reporters around, listening to fifteen experts, both liberal and conservative, lecture on how tax reform might work. A year later, when the tax reform legislation was on the ropes, Rostenkowski organized another retreat in rural Virginia between members and top Treasury officials. This kind of deep, bipartisan engagement in the complexities of the tax code (almost inconceivable in today’s House) helped lead to what is still seen as one of the great legislative achievements of the decade, the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

That’s not to say that the 1970s and ’80s were some golden age of evidence-based legislating. The era saw its share of ill-advised government programs, like the Synthetic Fuels Corporation, launched by a Democratic Congress during the 1979 energy crisis despite prescient warnings from the GAO that it would turn out to be a boondoggle. The bipartisan willingness to work together on substantive issues also frayed in the late 1980s and early ’90s when, among other things, a pair of hard-core conservative judicial nominees (Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas) received especially rough treatment by Senate Democrats. Meanwhile, in the House, as the ranks of confrontational antigovernment conservatives grew, Democrats responded by arrogantly exploiting their majority control. Republicans were especially incensed when Speaker Tip O’Neill orchestrated the seating of a Democratic candidate in a contested election for an Indiana House seat and his successor, Jim Wright, used parliamentary maneuvers to limit the GOP’s ability to affect legislation. The leader of the Republicans’ restive House conservatives, Newt Gingrich, rose to power in part by decrying the Democrats’ tactics as “corrupt” in front of C-SPAN cameras. The requirement that all House floor speeches be televised was, ironically, one of the democratizing reforms liberals put in place in the early 1970s.

When Newt Gingrich became speaker of the House in the fall of 1994, he set about almost immediately creating “the most controversial majority leadership since 1910,” according to longtime Congress watchers and political scientists Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein in their 2006 book, The Broken Branch. Under his leadership, backed up by seventy-three conservative Republican freshmen who swept to power that year, the goal was not to reform, but to destroy; not to compromise, but to advance a highly conservative agenda no matter the means. The shift in culture was palpable almost immediately, with freshman lawmakers eschewing bipartisan freshman orientations in favor of partisan ones, and the vast majority joining what’s known as the “Tuesday-Thursday Club,” flying in on Tuesday evening and out Thursday afternoon so as to reduce the likelihood of contracting “Potomac fever.” “There was a total contempt for the institution,” said Scott Lilly, who served as a high-level staffer in Congress for thirty-one years before joining the Center for American Progress in 2004. John Dingell, who will have served in the House for fifty-nine years when he retires this year, said it succinctly: “The place just got meaner.”

Gingrich’s strategy, as he explained it to Mann and Ornstein, was simple: Cultivate a seething disdain for the institution of Congress itself, while simultaneously restructuring it so as to eliminate anything—powerful chairmen, contradictory facts from legislative support agencies, more moderate Republicans—that would stand in the way of his vision.

Gingrich’s first move in 1995 was to dismantle the decentralized, democratic committee system that the liberals and moderates had created in the 1970s and instead centralize that power on himself. Under his new rules, committee chairs were no longer determined by seniority or a vote by committee members, but instead appointed by the party leadership (read: by Newt himself, who often made appointees swear their loyalty to him). Subcommittees also lost their ability to set their own agendas and schedules; that too largely became the prerogative of the leadership. At the same time, Gingrich imposed six-year term limits and required chairs to be reappointed (by leadership) every two years. Finally, Gingrich protected, and in some cases bulked up, the staff leadership offices and increasingly had those offices write major pieces of legislation and hand them to the committees.

[boutons_deux]

...

These rules, taken together, essentially stripped all congressional Republicans, especially those in previously senior positions, of power; instead, whether or not they advanced in their careers—whether they were reappointed or on which committee they were appointed—would be determined by party leaders based on their loyalty and subservience. (Two years after the Democrats took the majority in the House in 2007, they eliminated the term-limits rule; Speaker John Boehner reinstated it when the Republicans regained control in 2010.) “If you were thinking about the next stage in your career, you did what you were told to do,” observes Scott Lilly. The point of this centralization of power was to give the leadership maximum control of the legislative agenda and to jam through as many conservative bills as possible. That, it achieved: the Gingrich House passed 124 measures in 1995, more than double the 53 that Tip O’Neill’s House passed in 1981. But over time it also had the effect of dumbing down the institution.

After the first round of term-limit expirations rolled around in 2001, for instance, Republican Representative Ralph Regula was termed out of his chairmanship of the Interior Subcommittee, a position he had held off and on for twenty-six years, during which time he had become the chamber’s de facto expert on public lands and natural resources. Regula was famous in environmental circles for his relentless interest in the unglamorous issue of national park infrastructure maintenance. (At one point his committee uncovered a $330,000 outhouse complete with a slate roof, picture windows, and a twenty-nine-inch-thick earthquake-proof foundation.) His detailed understanding and thrifty instincts helped Regula win support in his caucus for increased funding to reduce the backlog of national park maintenance projects. But that knowledge and clout went with him when he was termed out.

It’s worth noting, of course, that term limits do, in theory, have an upside. They sweep away lawmakers who, over the years, have been captured by the agencies they oversee and the special interests they interact with. And they bring new blood into the committee leadership. In the 1970s, many liberal reformers advocated for term limits for these reasons, and as a means of limiting the power of long-serving southern Democrats who then dominated the chairmanships of the powerful committees. But in order to work, limiting committee chairs’ power and hard-won knowledge needs to be offset by enough staff who have sufficient institutional memory to educate the new members and explain, for instance, when they’re being lied to by the agencies and the special interests. Gingrich, of course, cut the staff, too.

And anyway, the problem with term limits in the mid-’90s was not only a loss of experience in a given subject; it was also a decline in the motivation to learn a subject in depth in the first place. After all, members who know they will move to a new committee in a few years are sometimes hard-pressed to really dig into a subject matter. That natural inclination has been greatly exacerbated by the fact that, beginning in 1995 and continuing to the present day, the leadership often dictates to committees what it wants bills to look like or drafts them outright. So instead of learning deeply about a given subject, debating various policy options, engaging in the nitty-gritty of a topic over the course of years and sometimes decades, committee members nowadays are often asked either to reverse-engineer a piece of legislation based on party leadership’s description of what kind of bill they’d like to see or to simply vote on a bill they did not write to begin with. Is it any surprise that, under those circumstances, deep policy knowledge, curiosity, and innovation have gone out the window? “What’s the payoff for doing a good job? If you take your job seriously as a chairman, who gives a shit?” says Bruce Bartlett, who worked as a congressional staffer in the 1970s and ’80s for Representative Jack Kemp, Representative Ron Paul, and the Joint Economic Committee.

In the past, members angled for committee assignments in part based on their personal backgrounds and the interests of their states or constituencies—another factor that favored the accumulation of subject-area knowledge—but under the new rules, leadership made the choices based more on political calculation. Seats on the “prestigious” committees began to go most often to members who were likely to face a strong challenger in the next election, so that they could brag to constituents about their powerful role or, more to the point, position themselves for corporate campaign contributions. “There was an immediate atrophy of the professional qualifications of the committees,” said Mike Lofgren, a former Republican congressional aide who has since been publicly critical of the Republican Party. “Knowing anything about the committee’s jurisdiction just didn’t factor in.”

Of course, it’s hard to learn much about the substance of the issues if you’re spending four hours a day “dialing for dollars” to raise campaign funds, as both parties recently instructed their members to do, in addition to another hour or two of attending fund-raisers. Compare that to the three to four hours per day members spend on average attending hearings, voting, meeting with constituents, studying, debating, and legislating. But while both parties are equally aggressive in hunting for money, Democrats have repeatedly tried to pass public financing bills to lessen the fund-raising burdens on incumbents and challengers alike. Republicans have just as frequently (and successfully) fought those bills. That’s an indication of how the parties differ philosophically on the role of private money in politics. But it’s also a fair gauge of how much weight each party gives to the importance of lawmakers knowing the substance of the issues they are legislating on.

Gingrich’s second move in 1995 was to go after the pooled funding that paid for the so-called professional staffers, who worked for the institution itself. Professional staff, most of whom were not explicitly partisan, were often deeply knowledgeable not only about policy issues within their expertise but also about the institution itself. They knew what had worked in the past, what members’ preferences and personalities were like, and how to draft a bill that would pass. As one member described it to me, professional staffers are “legislative lubricant,” often acting as referees or liaisons during committee debates. Within months, Gingrich had laid off about 800 of them. All told, he cut the total population of professional staffers by more than a third—a wound from which Congress has never recovered. In 1993, Congress employed nearly 2,150 professional committee staff; in 2011, there were just 1,316, according to the most recent data.

The professional staff also helped to run legislative service organizations (LSOs), informal study groups where members, often of both parties, would discuss specific issues, debate, share information, build trust, and “gain expertise on ‘big-picture’ national issues outside the jurisdiction of committees,” notes the New America Foundation’s Lorelei Kelly. The LSOs vanished along with pooled funding and shared staff in 1995.

Those professional staffers who were there at the time remember the atmosphere changing. “After Newt put the kibosh on shared staff, the whole place began to work more like Politico,” said one former senior staffer who worked on the Hill for two decades, referring to the website’s 24/7 attention to scandal, intrigue, and political strategy over deeper policy discussions. “No one was asking, What kind of legislation will this be? How can we make it better? Where do we need to go to get a compromise? They were asking, What kind of political fallout will this have? Who will look good? Who can we make look bad?”

Gingrich also cut the number of staffers working directly for House members. While those numbers later rose, they did so in a way that further reflects the intellectual hollowing out of the institution. Nearly all of the net increase in member staff since the late 1990s has been not in Washington, where the actual legislating happens, but in district offices, where the main jobs are handling constituent complaints, shuttling members around to local events, and getting them press—in short, ensuring their reelection. Not surprisingly, in the past decade, members have moved roughly 33 percent of their staff capacity away from policymaking and toward communications roles, according to a recent Congressional Management Foundation report.

Keeping good staff, professional or otherwise, is also a struggle considering the pay scales. While it’s difficult to compare salaries—the direct equivalent of a “legislative assistant” in the private sector is hotly debated—a measured 2009 report by the Sunlight Foundation concluded that Hill staffers are paid roughly a third less than they could make in the private sector. The on-the-job knowledge and connections staffers accumulate become exponentially more valuable over time to the lobbying shops on K Street, and the opportunity costs of staying become hard to ignore. According to a 2012 Washington Times analysis, 82 percent of Senate staffers and 70 percent of House staffers hired in 2005 had left the Hill by 2012.

The one thing that has traditionally kept at least some Hill staffers from leaving for the private sector is the heady nature of the work on Capitol Hill—the ability to fight for issues they believe in, to be in the room when the big decisions are being made, to put their personal stamp on legislation that will change history. But even that motivation has been undermined by the Tea Party-inspired gridlock that has blocked most major legislation in both houses since 2010 and squandered staff energies in pointless budget standoffs. “Those who are nourished by accomplishment are starving,” observes former Senator Byron Dorgan. “People who come highly motivated, they want to feel good about their challenge, their work, what they’re doing for the country. When they’re not getting that, they start looking around.”

The third target of Gingrich’s attacks was the legislative support agencies. The Government Accountability Office, Congressional Budget Office, Congressional Research Service, and now-defunct Office of Technology Assessment operated on a bipartisan basis, offering measured reports on topics suggested by members themselves. Sometimes, these agencies act as helpful librarians, and sometimes they’re more like referees, carefully adjudicating among the competing quantitative claims of various members and outside groups.

Gingrich, perhaps not surprisingly, viewed them all as potential rivals to his singular narrative. He particularly despised the OTA, as did many other conservatives, despite its evident usefulness. For instance, Congress saved hundreds of millions of dollars by incorporating OTA recommendations when the Social Security Administration moved to replace its old-school mainframe computers with a new computer network in the mid-’90s. (One wonders how things might have been different if the OTA had been around when the health care insurance exchanges were being built.) But over the years, the OTA had also cast doubt on some conservative ideas—a mortal sin as far as Gingrich and his followers were concerned. For example, an OTA report raising serious questions about the feasibility of Reagan’s Star Wars project was later used by Democrats to help defund the program.

Within a few months of taking the helm in 1995, Gingrich eliminated the OTA entirely and cut roughly a third of the staff in all the other congressional service agencies. According to the Brookings Institution’s Vital Statistics of Congress, those agencies have never recovered. The GAO lost more than 2,000 staffers between 1993 and 2010. CRS staff lost about 20 percent of its capacity. All told, in 1993 Congress employed 6,166 researchers; by 2011, that number was down to just over 4,000.

How has the brain drain affected Washington? To begin with, just look at all the construction cranes that dot the city’s skyline. The ongoing migration of talent out of Capitol Hill has helped drive the building boom in downtown D.C. as surely as the Pentagon’s contracting-out craze, which also took off in the 1990s, gave rise to the corporate office towers of Northern Virginia.
You can see the effect in the shabby, politicized work product coming out of many committees. In May, for instance, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a survey conducted by its GOP staff purporting to show that only 67 percent of people who signed up for health insurance on the federal exchange had paid their first premium—a number that, if true, would have embarrassed the administration. In fact, the survey gave a false impression by counting as nonpayers people who hadn’t yet been billed. Insurance company executives later testified in public to the committee that their estimated payment rate was 80 percent. “Republicans were visibly exasperated,” reported The Hill, “as insurers failed to confirm certain claims about ObamaCare, such as the committee’s allegation that one-third of federal exchange enrollees have not paid their first premium.”

You can see it in the recent string of surprise retirement announcements from House GOP committee chairman who will be term-limited out of their positions next year. That includes Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, whose committee (which has miraculously retained some level of bipartisan competence) labored to put together a credible tax reform plan. The GOP said the plan was one of the party’s top legislative goals, but John Boehner tabled the measure in an effort not to muddy the midterm elections with substantive issues. “It used to be that the chairman would call the speaker up and say, ‘I want this bill on this floor at this time,’” explains Dingell. “Now it’s the opposite.”

You can see it in frequent little dustups meant to undermine the legitimacy of the findings of congressional service organizations, like the one that engulfed the Congressional Research Service in 2012, when its economics division published a report surveying the effects of tax cuts going back decades and concluding that they do not generate sufficient new tax revenues from economic growth to pay for themselves—the main tenet of supply-side economics. A firestorm of anger from Senate Republicans led the CRS to pull the report.

You can also see the effects in stories like the one that appeared on the front page of the New York Times last May about a House bill that would exempt broad swaths of derivative trades from new Dodd-Frank Act regulations. The bill, which passed the House 292 to 122 before dying in the Senate, was written not only at the behest of lobbyists from Citigroup but by Citigroup lobbyists:

In a sign of Wall Street’s resurgent influence in Washington, Citigroup’s recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee’s 85-line bill. Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word. (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.)

[boutons_deux]

It’s true that both parties have outsourced much of their policy development over the years. Groups like the Center for American Progress to some extent do for Democrats what Heritage does for Republicans (or did prior to Jim DeMint’s takeover), and plenty of lawmakers from both parties take their policy instructions from Wall Street lobbyists. But whereas for Democrats the outsourcing of policy has happened more by necessity, for Republicans it’s been by design. Newt Gingrich began the process in the 1990s with his attacks on in-house congressional expertise. Leaders like Tom DeLay in the House and Rick Santorum in the Senate advanced that process in the 2000s with the “K Street Project,” an organized effort to place GOP Hill staffers in key jobs in the most important D.C. law firms and trade associations.

As Nicholas Confessore explained in these pages (“Welcome to the Machine,” July/August 2003), the K Street Project tried to harness the muscle and campaign cash of a fractious lobbying community behind the specific legislative agenda of the George W. Bush administration with the ultimate aim of creating a permanent GOP majority. While it failed in that larger goal, it did succeed in providing GOP congressional leaders with something they needed: an alternative to the in-house legislative expertise Gingrich had decimated. With the leadership’s own former employees now in charge of D.C.’s biggest lobbying shops and all the research and other resources they commanded, K Street became, in a sense, the new permanent staff of the GOP Congress. (Democratic leaders have since attempted to place more of their former staffers on K Street, but have yet to catch up to Republicans in terms of numbers and clout.)

In addition to the outsourcing of policy development, the other big effect of the brain drain has been the atrophying of congressional oversight. Good oversight requires teams of educated, detail-oriented staffers who have the time to cull through documents, review thousands of line items in a budget, read budget justifications, and then follow up with federal agencies or local programs to determine what is really happening in government programs on the ground. Those teams have traditionally resided in the committees, buttressed by permanent staff and long-serving members, and in the legislative service agencies like the GAO. As we’ve seen, both were greatly downsized in the 1990s and remained profoundly understaffed and under-resourced.

Of course, good oversight has always been more the exception than the rule in Congress, in part because it has never been a particularly sexy part of a Congress member’s job, and in part because voters don’t generally reward members who excel at it. Rare are the headlines congratulating Congress for catching disasters before they happen.

Even today, valuable oversight still happens on occasion. In the run-up to the 2010 census, for instance, the GAO identified fatal flaws in the handheld computer devices the Census Bureau was planning to use as a cost-saving measure. Thanks to the GAO’s reports, major fixes to the devices were made, the officials originally in charge of the project canned, and a possible disaster with the decennial census averted.

Still, there has unquestionably been a massive falloff in congressional oversight. In the decade after the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994, the number of Senate oversight hearings dropped by a third, and House oversight hearings fell by half, according to the Brookings Institution. And even these numbers probably understate the problem. A lot of oversight hearings today are almost strictly for show, especially in the House. And even those that are meant to be serious suffer from the ignorance and poor preparation of many lawmakers. “In the old days, the member used to know more than any witness from the outside that came before the committee,” Dingell said. “Today, they don’t. Members don’t even understand the issues. They don’t even ask questions that are relevant. Sometimes they just want to give a political speech.”

Congress’s failure of oversight is perhaps least obvious but most critical on the appropriations committees and subcommittees. These entities control the purse strings for every government program and agency. It has traditionally been their job—and they once took it seriously— to ensure that dollars were being spent on programs that were doing what they said they were doing. That sort of line-item oversight takes time and a dedicated staff that is paying an inordinate amount of attention to detail. “It was never a thrilling process,” said Scott Lilly, who served as a clerk and staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, “but it was vital.”


And it has all but ceased to happen in the past decade or so, as staff numbers have dwindled and the passing of sweeping, omnibus budgets have become the norm. Even when they do try to look, appropriations subcommittees are snowed under by literally thousands of pages— “multiple tomes,” as one staffer put it—of oversight reports that no one has the time to read. “Agencies just fill up these budget justifications with all sorts of meaningless metrics, which is a convenient tool to overwhelm a handful of staffers, who are stretched so thin they don’t have the time to find out anything that’s going on,” Lilly said. The result, Republican Senator Tom Coburn pointed out in a 2012 report, is wasted money, uncontrolled government programs, and a panicky sense of “fire-alarm oversight” in which members of Congress don’t ask questions until a scandal breaks and there’s a mad scurry to assign blame.

This widespread, decades-long congressional brain drain could be fixed overnight. Members of Congress, after all, control the national budget. All they need to do is allocate a couple hundred million bucks—chump change in the $4.8 trillion budget—to boost staff levels, increase salaries to retain the best staff, and fill out the institutional capacity of the body. This wouldn’t necessarily mean recreating precisely the infrastructure of the 1970s—hundreds of guys in white short-sleeved shirts sitting in cubicles in some building on South Capitol Street. As New America’s Lorelei Kelly has observed, technology now allows for any number of ways to create distributed networks of expertise. Congress could place policy and oversight staff in district offices, for instance, where they’d be closer to the ground, or create research and advisory partnerships between Congress and universities.

Regardless of how it’s organized or what new technologies can be brought to bear, what’s clear is that members of Congress need the institutional capacity to help them make sense of it all. As the issues facing members of Congress become increasingly intertwined and technological in our complex global economy, what we need is not fewer people in government who understand the implications of, say, the international derivatives market; what we need is more. And we need them, whether they be knowledgeable committee chairs or long-serving professional staff, to be experienced, well paid, and appreciated so they want to stick around for a while.

The problem, however, is that conservatives as a rule don’t see this lack of expertise as a problem. Quite the contrary: they’ve orchestrated the brain drain precisely as a way to advance the conservative agenda. Why, when your aim is less government, would you want to add to government’s intellectual capacity?

The answer, as some conservatives are beginning to realize, is that making Congress dumber has not, in fact, made government smaller. As the conservative but independent-minded Senator Tom Coburn wrote in his 2012 report, cuts to the GAO budget and declines in Senate and House committee oversight activity have resulted in billions of dollars in unnecessary, duplicative, and wasteful government spending. In another sign of dawning awareness, last year the House leadership, having been led astray one too many times by the Heritage Foundation and its Heritage Action lobbyists, barred those lobbyists from attending the Republican Study Committee’s weekly meetings.

At a press conference in the aftermath of last fall’s pointless government shutdown, a dazed and incredulous Speaker Boehner squinted into the cameras and proclaimed that groups like Heritage had “lost all credibility.” You’ll recall, he noted, that “the day before the government reopened, one of those groups stood up and said, ‘We never really thought it would work,’ ” Boehner said, his eyes bugging theatrically. He waited a beat or two for dramatic emphasis before his voice crackled with dismay: “Are you kidding me?”

It’s a long way from these glimmers of recognition that outsourcing Congress’s thinking ability may not be such a good idea to a willingness to do something serious to reverse the brain drain. The Republicans are nowhere near even considering that (which means the best hope for now may be a Democratic takeover of both houses). But it’s a start.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/how-republicans-made-congress-stupid?akid=11958.187590.FU4ZdO&rd=1&src=newsletter1006812&t=8&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

[boutons_deux]

http://www.dccc.org/page/-/POTUSQuote_Email_ToldBoehner_20140627.jpg

The Negro becomes The Crazy Pissed Off N!GG@ ?

[TeyshaBlue]

Go cry to the Supreme Court pussy.

Don't bitch when your shoes get all sticky after a stroll thru boutons' masturbatorium.:lmao

[baseline bum]

SRS question boutons. Do you think anyone here reads your walls of text?

[boutons_deux]

SRS question boutons. Do you think anyone here reads your walls of text?

of course not. Right-wingers are sadistic, not masochistic.

short version: VRWC, through proxies like Gingrich, Repugs tea baggers, "Christians", have really fucked up Congress, fucked up govt, fucked up America. The history is fascinating, esp if one has any interest in how America got so fucked up and why it will stay fucked up, AND to counter the right-wing LIE, esp by the simplistic fact-free right-wing assholes on ST, that Dems and Repugs are indistinguishable.

[boutons_deux]

TX Rep. Gohmert: Obama should send U.S. military into Mexico to stop immigrants


“If he wanted to, he could do what Woodrow Wilson did — and he’s certainly not one of my favorite presidents,” Gohmert said on Tuesday. “But after Pancho Villa’s gangs came across, I believe in Arizona, and killed some American families, he said, ‘That’s it.’ He sent John Pershing with troops into Mexico. And you can read some different versions. Tens of thousands of National Guard were put on the border. And Dan, nobody came in that we didn’t want to come in.”
Gohmert was likely referring to a March 1916 attack by Villa and his supporters against a detachment of the Army’s 13th Cavalry Regiment in Columbus, New Mexico. The Mexican revolutionary leader carried out the attack in order to gain supplies for his military campaign against the country’s U.S.-backed president, Venustiano Carranza.

Eighteen U.S. residents were killed in the attack. In response, Pershing and 5,000 Army troops pursued Villa’s forces in Mexico for nearly a year, to no avail.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/08/tx-rep-gohmert-obama-should-send-u-s-military-into-mexico-to-stop-immigrants/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Repugs LOVE invading foreign countries.

[boutons_deux]

MN Republican bases economic agenda on theory that sperm enzymes in anus causes AIDS


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/10257675_1437312433180929_6458170274237434288_n-615x345.jpg

A Republican candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives repeated a false theory this week that AIDS was caused by sperm enzymes entering the anus of another male.

Bob Frey, who cites his work in helping Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to defeat a “profiles in learning” education program as a major accomplishment, told the MinnPost (http://www.minnpost.com/party-politics/2014/07/minnesota-house-candidate-makes-aids-gay-agenda-campaign-issues) that his opposition to the “gay agenda” was about the “financial impact of that agenda.”

“It’s more about sodomy than about pigeonholing a lifestyle,” he explained. “When you have egg and sperm that meet in conception, there’s an enzyme in the front that burns through the egg. The enzyme burns through so the DNA can enter the egg.”

But Frey said that it was a different story when the “sperm is deposited anally” because “it’s the enzyme that causes the immune system to fail.”

“That’s why the term is AIDS – acquired immunodeficiency syndrome,” he opined.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/10/mn-republican-bases-economic-agenda-on-theory-that-sprm-enzymes-in-ans-causes-aids/

ok, now y'all right-wingers give us the Dem equivalent of this guy (and all the other nutters in the Repug/tea bagger nuthouse)

[boutons_deux]

works every time! :lol

Republican ‘Abstinence-Only’ Crusader’s 17-Year-Old Daughter Is Pregnant (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/10/republican-abstinence-only-crusaders-17-year-old-daughter-is-pregnant/)

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/10/republican-abstinence-only-crusaders-17-year-old-daughter-is-pregnant/?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com

[Wild Cobra]

works every time! :lol

Republican ‘Abstinence-Only’ Crusader’s 17-Year-Old Daughter Is Pregnant (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/10/republican-abstinence-only-crusaders-17-year-old-daughter-is-pregnant/)

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/10/republican-abstinence-only-crusaders-17-year-old-daughter-is-pregnant/?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com
Another lie from the brain-dead lemming heard mentality boutons...

It is not abstinence only.

Text of bill:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s13/text

How many times do I need to tell you libtards to verify the lies your puppet masters tell you before regurgitating them?

[boutons_deux]

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s13/text

aka, ABSTINENCE FIRST, LAST, ALWAYS, ONLY :lol

[Wild Cobra]

MN Republican bases economic agenda on theory that sperm enzymes in anus causes AIDS


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/10257675_1437312433180929_6458170274237434288_n-615x345.jpg

A Republican candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives repeated a false theory this week that AIDS was caused by sperm enzymes entering the anus of another male.

Bob Frey, who cites his work in helping Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to defeat a “profiles in learning” education program as a major accomplishment, told the MinnPost (http://www.minnpost.com/party-politics/2014/07/minnesota-house-candidate-makes-aids-gay-agenda-campaign-issues) that his opposition to the “gay agenda” was about the “financial impact of that agenda.”

“It’s more about sodomy than about pigeonholing a lifestyle,” he explained. “When you have egg and sperm that meet in conception, there’s an enzyme in the front that burns through the egg. The enzyme burns through so the DNA can enter the egg.”

But Frey said that it was a different story when the “sperm is deposited anally” because “it’s the enzyme that causes the immune system to fail.”

“That’s why the term is AIDS – acquired immunodeficiency syndrome,” he opined.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/10/mn-republican-bases-economic-agenda-on-theory-that-sprm-enzymes-in-ans-causes-aids/

ok, now y'all right-wingers give us the Dem equivalent of this guy (and all the other nutters in the Repug/tea bagger nuthouse)



I'll bet if i were to check, there is no credibilty to this story either.

Shazbot...

Why do you repeatedly link such stories without verifying the accuracy?

Any idea how your credibility sits with people?

[boutons_deux]

I'll bet if i were to check, there is no credibilty to this story either.

Shazbot...

Why do you repeatedly link such stories without verifying the accuracy?

Any idea how your credibility sits with people?

http://www.minnpost.com/party-politics/2014/07/minnesota-house-candidate-makes-aids-gay-agenda-campaign-issues

:lol, bitch

[Wild Cobra]

Cool.

You finally looked something up, and got lucky. It was an accurate article. Now if you do check the facts, AIDS is not nearly as easily contracted by a woman through normal sex. It has nothing to do with the sperm, but the resiliency of vaginal walls vs the colon.

Now maybe next time you will verify the accuracy of these lies you chronically post.

[boutons_deux]

Cool.

You finally looked something up, and got lucky. It was an accurate article. Now if you do check the facts, AIDS is not nearly as easily contracted by a woman through normal sex. It has nothing to do with the sperm, but the resiliency of vaginal walls vs the colon.

Now maybe next time you will verify the accuracy of these lies you chronically post.

:lol I don't get lucky, don't need no luck, I bitch slap you right-wingers.

You talkin about MY credibility??? :lol

Kiss my infallible boots.

[Wild Cobra]

:lol I don't get lucky, don't need no luck, I bitch slap you right-wingers.

You talkin about MY credibility??? :lol

Kiss my infallible boots.
Are you aware you have delusions of grander?

[spurraider21]

aids is more "successfully" transferred through the bloodstream than any other point of entry, and this is more common in cases of sodomy than any other sexual act, which explains why its more frequently seen in gay cases. a straight couple practicing anal sex would have the same probability of aids transfer than a gay couple.

[cantthinkofanything]

aids is more "successfully" transferred through the bloodstream than any other point of entry, and this is more common in cases of sodomy than any other sexual act, which explains why its more frequently seen in gay cases. a straight couple practicing anal sex would have the same probability of aids transfer than a gay couple.

probably more so because the butthole wouldn't be as stretched out as that of a chronically gay man

[spurraider21]

probably more so because the butthole wouldn't be as stretched out as that of a chronically gay man
i'm assuming a woman's butthole and a man's butthole are similar as far as stretching/tearing tbh :lol... i could be wrong i'm not experienced in that shit

[cantthinkofanything]

i'm assuming a woman's butthole and a man's butthole are similar as far as stretching/tearing tbh :lol... i could be wrong i'm not experienced in that shit

It seems like a gay man would have been sticking more stuff up his butt for a longer amount of time.

[spurraider21]

It seems like a gay man would have been sticking more stuff up his butt for a longer amount of time.
good point

[baseline bum]

nm

[boutons_deux]

Congresswoman Urges GOP To Bring Policy Discussion ‘Down To A Woman’s Level’ (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/07/15/3460382/renee-ellmers-talk-down-to-women/)ELLMERS: Men do tend to talk about things on a much higher level… Many of my male colleagues, when they go to the House floor, you know, they’ve got some pie chart or graph behind them and they’re talking about trillions of dollars and how, you know, the debt is awful and, you know, we all agree with that. …
We need our male colleagues to understand that if you can bring it down to a woman’s level and what everything that she is balancing in her life — that’s the way to go.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/07/15/3460382/renee-ellmers-talk-down-to-women/

holy shit, the Repug women, esp those oh-so-dainty Confederate belles, are as dumb and dumber than the Repug men. :lol

[cantthinkofanything]

good point

thanks...it's science

[boutons_deux]

It seems like a gay man would have been sticking more stuff up his butt for a longer amount of time.

your seems seems like anti-gay prejudice, but we should ASSume you're an expert in gay men's butts, and perhaps less so on women's butts.

[cantthinkofanything]

your seems seems like anti-gay prejudice, but we should ASSume you're an expert in gay men's butts, and perhaps less so on women's butts.

why do my assumptions seem prejudicial? Don't you think that a man who's been gay all his life has probably stuck more stuff in his butthole than a woman?

[boutons_deux]

Congressional Candidate: Most Energy Problems ‘Are Caused By Environmentalists’ (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/15/3460398/congressional-candidate-environment/)In the eyes of one candidate running for office in Washington, environmentalists aren’t the ones looking to solve the country’s energy problems — they’re the ones at fault for them.
George Cicotte, a Republican candidate for Washington’s fourth congressional district, said at a candidate forum (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZhlAy9MvjA#t=68m30s) Saturday that if environmentalists hadn’t “stopped nuclear in its tracks” in the 1970s, there would be a lot less greenhouse gas pollution today.
“Really, when we talk about energy problems, most of the energy problems are caused by environmentalists,” he said.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/15/3460398/congressional-candidate-environment/

Tons of nuclear waste have more brains than this Repug greasebag.

[boutons_deux]

same guy! :lol

MN Repub candidate with weird ideas about AIDS also thinks dinosaurs ‘lived with man’

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/15/mn-repub-candidate-with-weird-ideas-about-aids-also-thinks-dinosaurs-lived-with-man/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[cantthinkofanything]

Still no answer. That figures Boutons.

[boutons_deux]

why do my assumptions seem prejudicial? Don't you think that a man who's been gay all his life has probably stuck more stuff in his butthole than a woman?

no, I don't estimate/care if a gay man or straight woman has more, or less, dicks, etc up his, her rectum.

That you even THINK about it shows your pre-occupation, bias against gays.

[boutons_deux]

Wyoming Gubernatorial Candidate Calls For Drilling In Yellowstone National Park (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/16/3460799/drilling-yellowstone/)


http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/shutterstock_125026373-638x425.jpg

Yellowstone National Park’s days as a pristine ecological retreat could be numbered if Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Taylor Haynes (R) gets his way.

Haynes, a physician and former trustee at the University of Wyoming, wants all national parks and federal lands in Wyoming to be turned over to the state. According to the Casper Star Tribune (http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/if-elected-haynes-would-open-entire-state-to-drilling-/article_6361bee5-9196-52d1-88d2-2afa9728c073.html), Haynes wants to allow all lands in Wyoming, including Yellowstone, to be leased for drilling, mining, and grazing. “We will manage every square inch of Wyoming,” the gubernatorial hopeful said.

The chance that there could soon be drilling in Yellowstone, which in 1872 became the first national park in the world (http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13284&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html), is exceedingly slim. Haynes is challenging incumbent Gov. Matt Mead (R), who opposes drilling in Yellowstone, in the August 19th primary. Election analysts expect Mead to prevail handily.

Still, Haynes is not the only politician who wants to sully national parks by letting oil and mineral companies in. Others, including Reps. Pete Olson (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/26/3419368/congressman-drilling-national-parks/) (R-TX), Michele Bachmann (http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/08/29/306803/bachmann-drill-everglades/) (R-MN), and Rob Bishop (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/10/28/354492/congressman-rob-bishop-says-he-favors-mining-in-the-grand-canyon-in-an-area-merely-the-size-of-new-jersey/) (R-UT), also want to open up public lands for drilling. Bishop, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, downplayed his plan, telling ThinkProgress that he wanted to allow mining around the Grand Canyon in an area merely the size of New Jersey.

Even as drilling in national parks is favored by many Tea Partiers, polling shows that the vast majority of Western voters, including Republicans, actually prefer conservation. The Center for Western Priorities recently surveyed (http://westernpriorities.org/winningthewest/) voters, finding that two-in-three Western voters were more likely to support a candidate who wanted to enhance protections for public lands, including 59 percent of Republicans. Three-quarters of Western voters said they opposed proposals to sell off public lands.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/16/3460799/drilling-yellowstone/

so the "state-ize/drill the national parks" is pandering for BigOil contributions, against the wishes of Human-Americans.

my bet: BigOil will win, eventually.

[cantthinkofanything]

Wyoming Gubernatorial Candidate Calls For Drilling In Yellowstone National Park (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/16/3460799/drilling-yellowstone/)




Yellowstone National Park’s days as a pristine ecological retreat could be numbered if Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Taylor Haynes (R) gets his way.

Haynes, a physician and former trustee at the University of Wyoming, wants all national parks and federal lands in Wyoming to be turned over to the state. According to the Casper Star Tribune (http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/if-elected-haynes-would-open-entire-state-to-drilling-/article_6361bee5-9196-52d1-88d2-2afa9728c073.html), Haynes wants to allow all lands in Wyoming, including Yellowstone, to be leased for drilling, mining, and grazing. “We will manage every square inch of Wyoming,” the gubernatorial hopeful said.

The chance that there could soon be drilling in Yellowstone, which in 1872 became the first national park in the world (http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13284&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html), is exceedingly slim. Haynes is challenging incumbent Gov. Matt Mead (R), who opposes drilling in Yellowstone, in the August 19th primary. Election analysts expect Mead to prevail handily.

Still, Haynes is not the only politician who wants to sully national parks by letting oil and mineral companies in. Others, including Reps. Pete Olson (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/26/3419368/congressman-drilling-national-parks/) (R-TX), Michele Bachmann (http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/08/29/306803/bachmann-drill-everglades/) (R-MN), and Rob Bishop (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/10/28/354492/congressman-rob-bishop-says-he-favors-mining-in-the-grand-canyon-in-an-area-merely-the-size-of-new-jersey/) (R-UT), also want to open up public lands for drilling. Bishop, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, downplayed his plan, telling ThinkProgress that he wanted to allow mining around the Grand Canyon in an area merely the size of New Jersey.

Even as drilling in national parks is favored by many Tea Partiers, polling shows that the vast majority of Western voters, including Republicans, actually prefer conservation. The Center for Western Priorities recently surveyed (http://westernpriorities.org/winningthewest/) voters, finding that two-in-three Western voters were more likely to support a candidate who wanted to enhance protections for public lands, including 59 percent of Republicans. Three-quarters of Western voters said they opposed proposals to sell off public lands.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/16/3460799/drilling-yellowstone/

so the "state-ize/drill the national parks" is pandering for BigOil contributions, against the wishes of Human-Americans.

my bet: BigOil will win, eventually.




Seems like more energy for human Americans.

[boutons_deux]

Seems like more energy for human Americans.

but no savings for Americans.

The inane Drill Here Drill Now has saved Americans NOTHING in gas prices, and as soon as BigOil starts exporting LNG, domestic NG prices will rise to world level, just like oil prices. 3x, 4x more expensive than now.

but, at least we will have raped Yellowstone, etc to enrich BigCarbon.

[cantthinkofanything]

no, I don't estimate/care if a gay man or straight woman has more, or less, dicks, etc up his, her rectum.

That you even THINK about it shows your pre-occupation, bias against gays.

No it doesn't. The original comment was that gays and hetero couples having anal sex would have the same AIDS transmission rate. I suggested that the hetero couple might have a higher rate because there could potentially be more tearing in a less stretched out butthole. I assume that a gay person that likes anal sex would probably have stuck more things in his butt over time than the hetero woman.

[cantthinkofanything]

but no savings for Americans.

The inane Drill Here Drill Now has saved Americans NOTHING in gas prices, and as soon as BigOil starts exporting LNG, domestic NG prices will rise to world level, just like oil prices. 3x, 4x more expensive than now.

but, at least we will have raped Yellowstone, etc to enrich BigCarbon.

How do you know it's "saved nothing"?

[boutons_deux]

How do you know it's "saved nothing"?

I know from what I pay at the gas station. something like 40% of US oil is from US holes, but the gas price keeps rising, not decreasing.

[cantthinkofanything]

I know from what I pay at the gas station. something like 40% of US oil is from US holes, but the gas price keeps rising, not decreasing.

Just think how high it would be if we didn't expand drilling.
You know a candy bar used to cost 10 cents? Why don't you complain about that.
Or better yet, how about the cost of a college education?

[boutons_deux]

"Just think how high it would be if we didn't expand drilling."

you tell us, please.

I assume all big Corporate-Americans, esp the cartels with 2 or a few members, even 1 in some regions, are fucking, wealth-draining Human-Americans.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx

http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1947.gif

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS1&f=M

[cantthinkofanything]

I assume

I agree.

[boutons_deux]

Rich Lowry: Boys killed on Gaza beach should have gotten out of the way of Israeli explosion


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/fox_ff_lowry_hamas_140720a-615x345.jpg

National Journal Editor Rich Lowry asserted over the weekend that Israelis were not at fault for the deaths of four boys who were killed while playing on a Gaza beach last week because Hamas should have told them to move out of the way.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/20/rich-lowry-boys-killed-on-gaza-beach-should-have-gotten-out-of-the-way-of-israeli-explosion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Rep. Louie Gohmert: Israel’s invasion of Gaza means ‘it is time to bomb Iran’

“Mr. Speaker, in Israel right now, there is a battle for peace,” he said Tuesday on the House floor.

“They are being embattled by a group who teach their children, in the educational materials we help pay for, to hate Jews, to hate Israelis.

They teach the people to hate Israelis as well.

They name streets and holidays after people who kill innocent people.”

“It is time to cut off every dime of American money going to anyone who has any kind of relationship with Hamas or those killing in the Middle East, and especially in Israel,” the congressman continued.

“It is time to bomb Iran’s nuclear capabilities,”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/23/rep-louie-gohmert-israels-invasion-of-gaza-means-it-is-time-to-bomb-iran/?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com

Texas really is "special", as in "special needs" :lol

Louie's east Texas is very special :lol

[boutons_deux]

red states just doing the shit that red states do

Mississippi Cuts $1.3 Billion from Schools, Gives $1.3 Billion to Nissan

http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-M.jpgississippi has proved to us all that austerity, or the political ideology of “government living within its means,” is a farce. All austerity means is taking money away from public services, and giving it to private business. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and the GOP-led legislature illustrated that perfectly in two ways.

Since 2008, Mississippi has violated a constitutional mandate to adequately fund the state’s public K-12 schools. The Mississippi Adequate Education Program (http://www.msparentscampaign.org/education-funding/maep), or MAEP, was established in 1997 to make sure a proper portion of taxes went to fund schools. A community’s ad valorem taxes will cover up to 27 percent of the cost, while the state covers the rest. The state’s contribution is essentially the base student cost times the daily attendance in a certain school district. The mandated amount would be readjusted every five years for inflation. Mississippi has spent $648 less per student (http://mepconline.org/mississippis-school-funding-cuts-among-the-nations-deepest) than it did in 2008. Currently, Mississippi has underfunded its public schools by at least $1.3 billion (http://mepconline.org/mississippis-school-funding-cuts-among-the-nations-deepest).
In May of last year, the United Auto Workers released a study showing that Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, plant was getting $1.33 billion in tax breaks (http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-business/2013/05/uaw_study_says_mississippi_nis.html) from the state in return for Nissan’s promise to provide Mississippians with good-paying, full-time jobs. $850 million in tax breaks would be spaced out over a 30-year period, with $400 million in cash aid. Mississippi would even pay $90 million in interest on the debt incurred to reward Nissan with its lavish tax breaks. Mississippi has already given $378 million to Nissan, which paid for its access roads, water usage, and worker training. Nissan also gets to keep $160 million in income taxes from workers over the next 25 years, which would normally have gone to Mississippi’s public programs. No employer has gotten that sweet a deal from any state government.

However, out of all 5,200 workers at Nissan’s Canton plant, most of them are employed by temp agencies (http://dobetternissan.org/2013/06/by-relying-on-temp-labor-nissan-fails-to-live-up-to-expectations).

Regular, full-time employees are paid over $23 per hour and have benefits,

but the temp workers at the Canton plant are often hired for just half that amount, given no healthcare, retirement, benefits, or paid time off, and have very little job security.

The automaker has even issued a 5-year wage freeze (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/business/at-a-nissan-plant-in-mississippi-a-battle-to-shape-the-uaws-future.html?pagewanted=all) for its Mississippi workers even as the company pocketed $3.3 billion in profit last year. Nissan likes to brag that it never lays people off, yet they don’t count temp workers who have been let go. While many other Nissan plants have unionized workforces, Nissan has indirectly threatened (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/business/at-a-nissan-plant-in-mississippi-a-battle-to-shape-the-uaws-future.html?pagewanted=all) to close its Mississippi plant for good and move out of state if its workers organize.

While Mississippi is paying for a giant chunk of Nissan’s subsidies with the exact amount of money it cut from schools in the last six years, the state is actually following a nationwide trend.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank, most states are funding schools even less than they used to before the global recession (http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=4011), which officially ended in 2009.

Out of the 35 states following this trend, ten of those states have cut education by more than 10 percent.

And despite modest increases in their tax revenues, 15 states are providing less funding per student than they did last year.

Nor is Nissan alone in their greed-inspired quest for huge tax breaks without fulfilling their promises to create jobs.

A New York Times database from 2012 shows that over 150,000 state-based tax handouts to private businesses amount to $80.4 billion each year (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/01/us/government-incentives.html).

Many of these corporations, like General Motors, took these handouts, and then shuttered operations (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/us/how-local-taxpayers-bankroll-corporations.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) a short time later.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie has awarded over $2 billion in tax incentives (http://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-new-jersey-tax-incentive-payoff.html) during his tenure. That’s more under just one governor than in the combined tenures of all of New Jersey’s governors since 1996.

But despite the handouts to corporations, New Jersey’s job growth is still lagging behind the rest of the nation. As of December of 2012, New Jersey had only restored half of the private sector jobs lost since the start of the recession.

States all over should have already realized that since globalization has sent manufacturing jobs overseas, real job growth lies in highly-skilled, technical industries. And to attract those employers, a state needs to have an educated workforce ready to take on those jobs. Unless states stop the disturbing trend of cutting education funding in favor of giving big tax breaks to any corporation that asks for them, their economies will only get worse.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/24931-mississippi-cuts-13-billion-from-schools-gives-13-billion-to-nissan

[boutons_deux]

this asshole knows his Conferate, Christian, redneck, red dirt constituents in gun crazy Georgia,

GOP congressional candidate wants Americans to fight government tyranny with bazookas

“It is my belief that any, any, any, any weapon that our government and law enforcement possesses ought to be allowed for individuals to possess in this country,” said Jody Hice, a religious right activist, talk radio host, and Georgia congressional candidate.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/24/gop-congressional-candidate-wants-americans-to-fight-government-tyranny-with-bazookas/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

she's STILL significant, a speaker at many Repug conferences, and is honorable member of Repug grifting industry sucking $10Ms from suckers

Sarah Palin Says God Told Her President Obama Should Be Impeach (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/21/sarah-palin-says-god-told-her-president-obama-should-be-impeached-video/)ed


http://www.addictinginfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/palinlaughing.jpg

Her previous calls for Republicans to impeach President Obama failed, so now Sarah Palin is invoking God to advance her extremist cause.

During a speech at the Western Conservative Summit, Palin continued to open her mouth against the wishes of most Americans (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/09/dear-sarah-palin-this-poll-shows-americans-want-you-to-shut-up-the-most/) and repeated her demand that Obama be impeached.

But this time, Palin put a new spin on it by claiming that God agrees with her.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/21/sarah-palin-says-god-told-her-president-obama-should-be-impeached-video/?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com

She'd do even better if she showed lots of cleavage from the old, liquid tits.

[boutons_deux]

Florida Lawmaker Drafts Bill To Require Every Student To Watch Documentary Explaining Why Liberals Hate America (http://thinkprogress.org/media/2014/07/25/3464290/florida-dinesh-dsouzas-america-every-florida-student/)
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2014/07/25/3464290/florida-dinesh-dsouzas-america-every-florida-student/

convicted felon, soone jail bird, and grifter Dinesh da Souza as some kind of "conservative"/Repug intellectual and leader is exactly why Repugs and ALL Y'ALL right-wingers so :lol :lol :lol

[boutons_deux]

Ted Cruz blames DC gridlock on Dems days after he placed a hold on all Obama nominees

“Serious questions were asked about the nature of a decision that handed Hamas a public relations victory and will cost Israel billions of dollars,” he said in a statement.
“Until the State Department answers my questions, I will hold all State Department nominees.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/27/ted-cruz-blames-dc-gridlock-on-dems-days-after-he-placed-a-hold-on-all-obama-nominees/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Millions Pay for Rare Opportunity to Hear Sarah Palin Speak

NEW YORK – Sarah Palin’s online video service starring herself had a hugely successful launch on Monday, as millions of Americans paid $9.95 for the rare opportunity of hearing the former Alaska Governor speak.

The Web site for The Sarah Palin Channel reportedly crashed several times during the day, as it was overwhelmed by subscribers seeking a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of the reclusive Palin sharing her opinions.


At the corporate headquarters of the Palin Channel, the marketing director Tracy Klugian attributed the site’s mammoth success to “the simple law of supply and demand.”

“The Governor is a very private person who chooses her words very, very carefully,” Klugian said. “When someone like that finally decides to speak out, millions of people will pay to hear what she has to say.”

Harland Dorrinson, aged sixty-two, of Flint, Michigan, was just one of the millions of Americans who jammed Governor Palin’s channel on Monday, only to find that the site had frozen under the weight of traffic. “I’ll keep refreshing the page until I finally get through,” he said. “Hearing Sarah Palin talk isn’t something that happens every day.”

Media experts said Monday that the stunning launch of Palin’s Web site bodes well for the upcoming video channel from another rarely seen personality, Donald Trump.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/millions-pay-rare-opportunity-hear-sarah-palin-speak?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(111)&spMailingID=6827300&spUserID=MjczNzc0Njk0NDAS1&spJobID=482979759&spReportId=NDgyOTc5NzU5S0

[Wild Cobra]

Cool...

At least one thing the Humor section of the New Yorker said is correct. I doubt any of the rest of the article is true...

She has launched her own internet channel for $9.99/month, or $99 annual.

Now I think that is pricy, and I won't pay that much.

I would pay say... $35 annual...

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/themargin/2014/07/28/direct-connection-with-sarah-palin-can-be-yours-for-9-95-a-month/

[DarrinS]

Millions Pay for Rare Opportunity to Hear Sarah Palin Speak

NEW YORK – Sarah Palin’s online video service starring herself had a hugely successful launch on Monday, as millions of Americans paid $9.95 for the rare opportunity of hearing the former Alaska Governor speak.

The Web site for The Sarah Palin Channel reportedly crashed several times during the day, as it was overwhelmed by subscribers seeking a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of the reclusive Palin sharing her opinions.


At the corporate headquarters of the Palin Channel, the marketing director Tracy Klugian attributed the site’s mammoth success to “the simple law of supply and demand.”

“The Governor is a very private person who chooses her words very, very carefully,” Klugian said. “When someone like that finally decides to speak out, millions of people will pay to hear what she has to say.”

Harland Dorrinson, aged sixty-two, of Flint, Michigan, was just one of the millions of Americans who jammed Governor Palin’s channel on Monday, only to find that the site had frozen under the weight of traffic. “I’ll keep refreshing the page until I finally get through,” he said. “Hearing Sarah Palin talk isn’t something that happens every day.”

Media experts said Monday that the stunning launch of Palin’s Web site bodes well for the upcoming video channel from another rarely seen personality, Donald Trump.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/millions-pay-rare-opportunity-hear-sarah-palin-speak?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(111)&spMailingID=6827300&spUserID=MjczNzc0Njk0NDAS1&spJobID=482979759&spReportId=NDgyOTc5NzU5S0




Wgaf?

[Clipper Nation]

Wyoming Gubernatorial Candidate Calls For Drilling In Yellowstone National Park (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/16/3460799/drilling-yellowstone/)


http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/shutterstock_125026373-638x425.jpg

Yellowstone National Park’s days as a pristine ecological retreat could be numbered if Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Taylor Haynes (R) gets his way.

Haynes, a physician and former trustee at the University of Wyoming, wants all national parks and federal lands in Wyoming to be turned over to the state. According to the Casper Star Tribune (http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/if-elected-haynes-would-open-entire-state-to-drilling-/article_6361bee5-9196-52d1-88d2-2afa9728c073.html), Haynes wants to allow all lands in Wyoming, including Yellowstone, to be leased for drilling, mining, and grazing. “We will manage every square inch of Wyoming,” the gubernatorial hopeful said.

The chance that there could soon be drilling in Yellowstone, which in 1872 became the first national park in the world (http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13284&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html), is exceedingly slim. Haynes is challenging incumbent Gov. Matt Mead (R), who opposes drilling in Yellowstone, in the August 19th primary. Election analysts expect Mead to prevail handily.

Still, Haynes is not the only politician who wants to sully national parks by letting oil and mineral companies in. Others, including Reps. Pete Olson (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/26/3419368/congressman-drilling-national-parks/) (R-TX), Michele Bachmann (http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/08/29/306803/bachmann-drill-everglades/) (R-MN), and Rob Bishop (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/10/28/354492/congressman-rob-bishop-says-he-favors-mining-in-the-grand-canyon-in-an-area-merely-the-size-of-new-jersey/) (R-UT), also want to open up public lands for drilling. Bishop, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, downplayed his plan, telling ThinkProgress that he wanted to allow mining around the Grand Canyon in an area merely the size of New Jersey.

Even as drilling in national parks is favored by many Tea Partiers, polling shows that the vast majority of Western voters, including Republicans, actually prefer conservation. The Center for Western Priorities recently surveyed (http://westernpriorities.org/winningthewest/) voters, finding that two-in-three Western voters were more likely to support a candidate who wanted to enhance protections for public lands, including 59 percent of Republicans. Three-quarters of Western voters said they opposed proposals to sell off public lands.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/16/3460799/drilling-yellowstone/

so the "state-ize/drill the national parks" is pandering for BigOil contributions, against the wishes of Human-Americans.

my bet: BigOil will win, eventually.



Drill, baby, drill! :hungry:

[baseline bum]

Drill, baby, drill! :hungry:

Why are you cheering shitting on our national parks?

[Th'Pusher]

Why are you cheering shitting on our national parks?

:cry because the constitution doesn't authorize the federal government to nationalize recreation :cry

[boutons_deux]

Congressman Compares EPA’s New Climate Rule To Terrorism (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/28/3465030/house-republican-climate-rule-terrorism/)


http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/AP500254679841-638x452.jpg

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly (R) had choice worlds for the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule on power plant emissions Monday, moving beyond the usual “war on coal” language and likening the proposed regulations to an act of terrorism.

Kelly delivered his remarks at an event at the conservative Heritage Foundation, a think tank that opposes the new rule.

“You talk about terrorism — you can do it in a lot of different ways,” he said (http://thehill.com/regulation/213514-lawmaker-coal-is-obamas-kryptonite). “But you terrorize the people who supply everything this country needs to be great — and you keep them on the sidelines — my goodness, what have we become?”

When asked to clarify what he meant by that, Kelly said he used the word “terrorism” broadly, E&E News reports (http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2014/07/28/stories/1060003625).

“When a government can level on you taxes and regulations that makes it impossible for you to compete, then you’re going to stay on the sidelines,” he said.
Opponents of the rules should continue fighting them, Kelly said, because if critics give up, the EPA has “effectively won.”

Kelly is the author of the Coal Country Protection Act (http://kelly.house.gov/press-release/rep-kelly-introduces-%E2%80%98coal-country-protection-act%E2%80%99-house), legislation which would halt the EPA’s new carbon rule and any regulation that aims to limit carbon from power plants until various criteria are met, including certification from the Secretary of Labor that the regulation won’t cause job losses.

“The Coal Country Protection Act will defend hardworking Americans from the EPA’s extreme overreach by stopping unfair, job-killing regulations in their tracks,” Kelly said (http://kelly.house.gov/press-release/rep-kelly-introduces-%E2%80%98coal-country-protection-act%E2%80%99-house) in a statement. “The ideological ambitions of a few in Washington must never be allowed to force economic pain on families across our country.”

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/28/3465030/house-republican-climate-rule-terrorism/

"job-killing regulations" ??

BigCoal, Kelly's paymaster/ower, has already destroyed 50% of coal jobs since the 1980s.

What about all miner-disabling, miner-killing accidents and lung disease?

[boutons_deux]

Oklahoma Candidate Says Gays Should Be Stoned (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/06/11/3447597/oklahoma-candidate-says-gays-should-be-stoned/)


http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Scott-Esk-638x349.jpg

Oklahoma state house candidate Scott Esk wrote on Facebook last summer that gay people are “worthy of death (http://kfor.com/2014/06/10/oklahoma-political-candidate-expresses-extreme-views-on-homosexuality/)” and should be stoned, later claiming that violence against gays is “in the old testament under a law that came directly from God.”

The messages originated as Facebook commentary on a story about Pope Francis asking “who am I to judge (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/who-am-i-judge-popes-most-powerful-phrase-2013-f2D11791260)” gay priests. Esk responded by posting Old Testament scripture that allegedly condemns homosexuality. After a commenter asked, “So just to be clear, you think we should execute homosexuals (presumably by stoning)?” Esk answered in the affirmative.

“I think we would be totally in the right to do it,” he wrote.

“That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realize, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.”

“If men wink at such perversions, God may have no choice than to judge such nations with calamities.”

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/06/11/3447597/oklahoma-candidate-says-gays-should-be-stoned/?icamp=recirc&iref=gravity&imed=rr1x4

fucking batshit crazy red-state Christians and their hate-pandering politicians who know how to sucker them.

[boutons_deux]

63 Texas Lawmakers: Marriage Equality Is Comparable To Polygamy, Incest, And Pedophilia (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/08/06/3468086/texas-lawmakers-marriage-brief/)

The Texas Conservative Coalition (TCC), a caucus of 63 state Republican lawmakers, has submitted a brief to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that it should uphold the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Among their arguments, as Lone Star Q has pointed out (http://www.lonestarq.com/63-tx-legislators-sign-court-brief-linking-sex-marriage-pedophilia/), is that same-sex marriage is comparable to incest, pedophilia, and polygamy.

When Judge Orlando Garcia overturned Texas’s ban (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/02/26/3335161/federal-judge-rules-texas-ban-sex-marriage-unconstitutional/) back in February, he wrote that the “right to marry” includes the right for individuals to “select the partners of their choosing.” Thus, when the Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that banning interracial marriage was unconstitutional, they did not create a new right to interracial marriage; they ruled that individuals could not be restricted from marrying on account of their chosen partner. The same is true of same-sex marriage, he wrote. The ban on same-sex marriage “denies homosexuals the ‘existing right to marry,’” which violates due process just as anti-miscegenation laws did.

The TCC argues (http://www.scribd.com/doc/235959859/Texas-Conservative-Coalition-marriage-brief) that this interpretation is a “distortion” of Loving that “problematically opens the definition of marriage to a variety of unions that society has deemed unacceptable and does not include under the umbrella of the fundamental right to marry.” If Garcia’s criterion is used, they wrote, “then marriage restrictions on age, polygamy, and consanguinity [incest] are also ripe for challenge.”

To uphold the ban, the state has to demonstrate that there is a rational reason for the law other than blatantly discriminating against same-sex couples. The TCC argues that preventing a slippery slope that “could lead to the recognition of bigamy, incest, pedophilia, and group marriage” is just such a reason the court should reconsider.

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/08/06/3468086/texas-lawmakers-marriage-brief/

Texas! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Another CATHOLIC extreme right winger spewing bullshit

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says Republicans voted against him because Obama (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/07/1319840/-Kansas-Gov-Sam-Brownback-says-Republicans-voted-against-him-because-Obama)

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has an interesting theory on why nearly 40 percent of his fellow Kansas Republicans voted against him in his primary this week. It's not because his interesting tax "theories" are cratering the Kansas budget (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/06/usa-kansas-ratings-idUSL2N0QC1MO20140806) and doing no favors (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-17/kansas-governor-brownbacks-lab-for-steep-tax-and-budget-cuts) to the state economy, it's because people hate Obama (http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/08/07/brownback_blames_obama_for_poor_showing.html).


"I think a big part of it is Barack Obama. That a lot of people are so irritated at what the president is doing, they just, they want somebody to throw a brick."


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/07/1319840/-Kansas-Gov-Sam-Brownback-says-Republicans-voted-against-him-because-Obama?detail=email

[boutons_deux]

As wingnut Alan Keyes tries to put his impeachment genie (http://crooksandliars.com/2014/02/alan-keyes-wants-michele-bachman-lead) back in the bottle, he hands the impeachment microphone at his website RenewAmeica to one Dan Popp who announces thatGod wants Obama Impeached. (http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/popp/140802)


Barack Obama deserves to be impeached. He deserves to be tried. And in my opinion he deserves to be removed from office. (So do many of the folks who would be impeaching and trying him, by the way.)...

What if Moses had thought better of defying his Obama, knowing that the consequence might be a more severe slavery for his brethren, rather than freedom? What if David had come to a reasonable conclusion about his prospects of victory over the nine-foot-tall Obama before him? :lol


Is that crazy enough for you?Now we've had plenty of food fights here about how strong or weak President Obama is, but thankfully, Mr. Popp has resolved the issue by proclaiming:

If there is no ultimate moral Authority, then there is no morality. That means that there are no rights to be respected or abused, only power to be wielded. If Barack Obama has the power and the will to grind you into dust, you will lie there and die like a sheep. :lol

You may be shrugging your shoulders and dismissing this as just some nut on some nutty website sounding off into the empty darkness. I don't think so. I personally know a Tea Bagger who would believe every word of this, and my guess is the vast majority of Tea Baggers would buy into it. We shouldn't underestimate the degree of craziness we are up against, and the danger to our society it represents.Well, if that's too nutty for you, how about we take a look at what one of the leading potential Republican presidential candidates said just this last Monday, Obama 'Acting Like God,' 'Worthy Of Impeachment' (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-obama-acting-god-worthy-impeachment)


Mike Huckabee appeared on Monday’s edition of Iowa-based Steve Deace’s radio talk show, where he said President Obama “absolutely” deserves to be impeached but cautioned that Republicans should not pursue impeachment at this time since the GOP doesn’t have the votes to convict him in the Senate....

“There’s no doubt that he has done plenty of things worthy of impeachment,” Huckabee said.
...
"There’s a big difference between what we owe God and what we owe Caesar, and right now we’ve got Caesar acting like God.” :lol

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/07/1319622/-God-Wants-Nine-Foot-Tall-Egyptian-Roman-Obama-Impeached-Oh-Yeah-They-re-Crazy-Alright?detail=email





Holy shit, you rednecks, bubbas, tea baggers, Christians really run with some fucked up cretins.

[boutons_deux]

GA candidate: Black female opponent can’t win by ‘dusting off copies of The Color Purple’

Then, in what many perceived to be a knock on his Democratic opponent, former Decatur school board chairwoman Valarie Wilson, Woods said that “[t]hey may dust off their copies of their VHS copies of ‘The Color Purple,’ but it isn’t going to happen, all right? We are going to remain Republican red in our state, and we’re going to move this state forward so that we can do the very best, and again, I look forward to being your next state school superintendent of schools.”

she had “no idea what VHS tapes or The Color Purple or anything has to do with bettering education for our children. To bring The Color Purple in, it makes me wonder: ‘What are you alluding to?’ Are you alluding to you want things to be back the way they were where slavery was dominant? Are you alluding to the fact that you don’t want diversity within your state where there was a separation of what African- Americans could do and could not do? I don’t know.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/10/ga-candidate-black-female-opponent-cant-win-by-dusting-off-copies-of-color-purple/

"We Repugs are not racists. We Repugs are not misogynists wagin' a War on Wimmens"

[boutons_deux]

That Great Repug shitbag of a Thinker, a lawyer of course, and of course as big a fraud as Ayn Rand, spews her vile shit, and the xenophobe, racist, nativist right-wing sucks it down like Gospel

Ann Coulter refers to Africa as “disease-ridden cesspool” in victim-blaming Ebola rant

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/06/ann_coulter_rips_apart_american_ebola_patient_for_ going_to_disease_ridden_cesspool/

[boutons_deux]

Republican solution to fighting wildfires: Don't pay for 'em, just cut down the damn trees (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/06/1319625/-Vilsack-Money-allocated-to-fight-wildfires-will-run-out-by-end-of-August)


Remember how the Republican House melted down (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/01/1318457/-House-Republicans-ready-to-try-again-on-pointless-border-nbsp-bill) last week over a pointless border bill that was also supposed to include emergency funding for other stuff, and Republican obstructionists in the Senate halted most action (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/01/1318313/-Senate-Republicans-block-action-border-bill-wildfire-nbsp-funding) on emergency funding in that body? That included emergency funding to respond to a wildfire season in the West that started early and is becoming massive. Well, here's the result (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/money-allocated-suppressing-fires-run-out):


Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday that about $400 million to $500 million in projects will have to be put on hold in what has become a routine exercise toward the end of the fiscal year. He predicted that the money set aside strictly for firefighting will run out by the end of August."When we begin to run out of money we have to dip into the very programs that will reduce the risk of these fires over time," Vilsack said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.


There are about 30 large fires (http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/lg_fire2.php) raging now in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Thunderstorms this week threaten to touch off more every day. There are at least two months left in this fire season. In remote areas in the Mountain West, fires often burn until the first snow in late October. Republicans being Republicans, spending money on the science of, and activities for, preventing wildfires doesn't matter. Because they have a much simpler plan: Cut down all the trees.


The House Budget Committee, led by Rep. Paul Ryan, has said it would be better to work within existing spending caps to fully fund both the firefighting efforts and prevention work.That would mean finding savings through other Department of Agriculture and Interior programs.

House Republicans also argue that a bill they passed last year requiring greater timber harvesting on federal lands could help reduce the amount of money needed for fire prevention efforts. :lol

The administration opposed that bill saying it undermined several laws and rules established to protect the environment.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/06/1319625/-Vilsack-Money-allocated-to-fight-wildfires-will-run-out-by-end-of-August#

Forest products companies buy Repugs to cut down (virgin) forests.

Thanks, Repugs! all y'all are assholes.

[boutons_deux]

GOP Obstructionism Is Holding Up Funds to Catch Rapists

For weeks, Republicans in the Senate have held up an $180 billion spending bill (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/reid-pulls-spending-bill-after-spat-gop) that would direct money to several federal agencies, from the Justice Department to the Department of Transportation. Funding for all kinds of measures—from rent subsidies for the poor, to a new NASA rocket, to transportation projects—has been left in limbo. But one specific provision that's being held up has victims' advocates particularly worried: a $41 million grant to help states and localities go after rapists by funding jurisdictions to process backlogs of rape kits (http://www.endthebacklog.org/backlog/where-backlog-exists), the samplings of biological evidence that are taken after a sexual assault and used to identify attackers.

The kits, which contain semen, blood, saliva, hair, and other DNA evidence from rape victims, can be held in storage for decades (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/us/28ttkits.html?pagewanted=all), allowing rapists to roam free. Experts estimate that there are over 100,000 untested kits (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/opinion/sunday/rape-evidence-backlog.html) sitting on shelves at scores of police departments and crime lab storage facilities around the country, partly because states and localities lack the money needed to process them.

http://www.motherjones.com/files/rapeKitBacklogPubCE.jpg

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/rape-kit-backlog-senate-republican-spending-bill

Thanks, Repugs!

Wimmen get raped because they want it, they asked for it, they can just "shut down" the biology stop pregnancy, right?

Raping wimmen is what good ol' boys do, nothing to see here.

[boutons_deux]

:lol

After the dumb-as-a-shrub and disastrous dubya, here's what TX offers as Pres wannabes:

Cruz/ Perry Rivalry Warms Up


http://www.texastribune.org/2014/08/11/brief-aug-11-2014/

GoodHair/no brains vs LexLuthor/evil brains

Thanks, Texas!

[boutons_deux]

meanwhile is 100% Thunder-land

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/drunk-teacher.jpg

Oklahoma high school teacher arrives to first day of school drunk and removes her pants

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/07/oklahoma-high-school-teacher-arrives-to-first-day-of-school-drunk-and-removes-her-pants/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Repugs, VRWC, 1%, Fox, and right-wing media been lying to all y'all rednecks

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3839/14676483740_c8936e4e30.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5594/14676632427_ba747ca113.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3884/14860706214_1472bfdb85.jpg

Actually This Reduced Spending And Lower Deficit Have Hurt The Economy

Government spending is literally, by definition, the things that government does to make our lives better. People have been tricked into thinking that government spending is somehow bad. The billionaires and giant corporations spread this nonsense around because they are greedy and just want their taxes lower. The top income tax rate used to be more than 90 percent and the top corporate tax rate used to be more than 50 percent. That was back when we built this country's great infrastructure, had good schools and defended the world against the Soviet Union. We also had higher economic growth and a growing middle class.

Government spending does not "take money out of the economy." In fact it puts money into the economy, creates jobs and lays the foundation for future prosperity. The decline in government spending shown in the charts above is the reason that the economy remains sluggish and jobs are still hard to get. Just look at that chart showing what the stimulus spending did for the job situation. But since the stimulus ended, Republicans have obstructed every effort to continue to use our government to help our economy.

For example, this chart from The Atlantic, "The Incredible Shrinking U.S. Government (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/the-incredible-shrinking-us-government/255519/)," shows how government spending to create government jobs helped us get out of the 1981, 1990 and 2001 recessions. But since the 2007 "Great Recession," we instead have laid off hundreds of thousands of government employees, obviously making unemployment even worse.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5570/14883043033_caa0815fd1.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/14883043033)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/08/1320193/-Three-Charts-to-Email-to-Your-Right-Wing-Brother-In-Law-Updated?detail=email

[boutons_deux]

Repug thought dictator whom dickless Repug wouldn't dare cross

Rush Limbaugh: Robin Williams killed himself because of a ‘political leftist’ attitude

“What is the left’s world view in general?” Limbaugh asked his audience the day after Williams’ death was announced. “If you had to attach, not a philosophy, but an attitude to a leftist world view. It’s one of pessimism, and darkness, sadness. They’re never happy, are they?”

“They’re animated in large part by the false promises of America because the promises of America are not for everyone,” he continued, pointing to a Fox News report that suggested Williams had struggled with financial issues, and survivor’s guilt after the deaths of entertainers like Christopher Reeve, Andy Kaufman and John Belushi.

“Robin Williams felt guilty that he was still alive while his three friends had died young, and much earlier than he had,” the conservative talker explained. “He could never get over the guilt that they died and he didn’t.”

“Well, that is a constant measurement that is made by political leftists in judging the country.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/12/rush-limbaugh-robin-williams-killed-himself-because-of-a-political-leftist-attitude/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[spurraider21]

That Great Repug shitbag of a Thinker, a lawyer of course, and of course as big a fraud as Ayn Rand, spews her vile shit, and the xenophobe, racist, nativist right-wing sucks it down like Gospel

Ann Coulter refers to Africa as “disease-ridden cesspool” in victim-blaming Ebola rant

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/06/ann_coulter_rips_apart_american_ebola_patient_for_ going_to_disease_ridden_cesspool/



i didnt read the article, but that description isn't terribly inaccurate

[boutons_deux]

GOP Lawmaker: Fracking Is Fine, Because ‘Indians’ Used Methane-Filled Water For Warmth


http://nationalmemo.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/baumgardner.png YEEE HAW!!!

On right-wing activist Gordon Klingenschmitt’s Pray In Jesus’ Name show, Baumgardner argued (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/co-state-senator-explains-fracking-poses-no-danger-because-having-high-amounts-methane-water)that fracking must be okay for the environment, because having methane in water is totally normal.

He knows this because apparently “Indians” used this water for warmth, and because he’s gone to “fracking seminars” that left him feeling very educated on the topic.

“I’ve been doing a lot of the fracking seminars, and if people haven’t been, then they really don’t understand it,” he said. “They talk about methane in the water and this, that, and the other, but if you go back in history and look at how the Indians traveled, they traveled to the burning waters. And that was methane in the waters and that was for warmth in the wintertime.

But this is far from the craziest moment on Klingenschmitt’s show. In the past, Klingenschmitt, who is a Colorado state House candidate, told (http://www.nationalmemo.com/week-crazy-ted-nugent-saves-independence-day-rest-worst-right/4/)his audience not to worry about same-sex marriage bans being struck down, because Jesus has the power to overrule the Supreme Court and send all gay men straight to Hell.

Klingenschmitt is also convinced that people get high because of demons (http://www.nationalmemo.com/this-week-in-crazy-demons-are-in-your-weed-and-the-rest-of-the-worst-of-the-right/5/).

http://www.nationalmemo.com/co-state-senator-says-fracking-fine-indians-used-methane-filled-water-warmth/

[boutons_deux]

Congressman Who Voted Against Minimum Wage Hike Complains He Hasn’t Gotten A Raise Since 2008 (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/08/13/3470616/lee-terry-salary/)

Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) is fighting pressure to agree to a pay cut for members of Congress, instead complaining that the $174,000 annual salary was already frozen.

On Monday, Terry’s Democratic challenger, State Sen. Brad Ashford, proposed (http://www.jrn.com/kmtv/news/Ashford-Wants-Congressional-Pay-Slashed-Terry-says-no-so-fast-270823951.html) that congressional salaries be cut 10 percent and promised to do so unilaterally if elected. Terry, in response, took umbrage at the notion that congressmen are overpaid.

“What he’s not telling you is that Congress hasn’t had a cost of living increase since 2008, when I led the charge for a freeze,” Terry told KMTV (http://www.jrn.com/kmtv/news/Ashford-Wants-Congressional-Pay-Slashed-Terry-says-no-so-fast-270823951.html). Members of Congress last voted for a raise of $4,700 (http://www.legistorm.com/member_of_congress_salaries.html) in 2009.

In calling for the pay cut, Ashford invoked Congress’ abysmally unproductive (http://www.npr.org/2014/08/02/337401275/congress-in-recess-after-a-notably-unproductive-session) session. “To leave Congress in the state that it was left last week, in my view, is not serving the needs of the people,” the state senator said (http://www.jrn.com/kmtv/news/Ashford-Wants-Congressional-Pay-Slashed-Terry-says-no-so-fast-270823951.html).

This is not the first time Terry has complained about his salary. In 2013, during the Republican-led government shutdown that furloughed (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/government-shutdown-furloughed-workers-nervous-pay-checks/story?id=20438572) up to one million American workers, many members of Congress gave up their paychecks as a symbolic gesture. Terry refused at first.

Despite voting (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/10/04/2735331/renee-ellmers-shutdown-paycheck/) to prolong the shutdown, Terry explained (http://www.omaha.com/article/20131004/NEWS/131009431/1685#forgo-their-pay-during-shutdown-midlands-lawmakers-split-on-the-idea) to the Omaha World-Herald why he especially needed to keep collecting a salary. “I’ve got a nice house and a kid in college, and I’ll tell you we cannot handle it,” Terry said. “Giving our paycheck away when you still worked and earned it? That’s just not going to fly.” The comments blew up, forcing Terry to backtrack (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/06/lee-terry-salary_n_4054283.html?utm_hp_ref=politics) and agree not to collect his salary until after the shutdown ended.

Even as Terry complains about his own recent lack of pay increases, it’s a reality the middle class has lived with for three decades. Median household income was flat during the 1980s and 1990s, and it actually dropped (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/08/30/776201/5-charts-middle-class/) nearly $4,000 in the 2000s. What’s more, when Terry had multiple opportunities to give minimum wage workers a raise, he repeatedly voted “no,” most recently in 2013 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/gop-minimum-wage-increase_n_2884912.html).

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/08/13/3470616/lee-terry-salary/

[boutons_deux]

Tea Party leader asks God to “be violent against” GOP establishment in opening prayer

When it comes to saying crazy things, it’s pretty hard to beat Mississippi Tea Partyer Tricia Raymond’s claim that controversial right-wing journalist Charles Johnson was sent by God to save the United States. Unfortunately, Mississippi Tea Party chairman Roy Nicholson proved on Monday that he was more than up to the task.

According to a report in the Jackson Free Press (http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/12/god-gave-us-charles-johnson-blogger-speaks-tea-par/), at the start of a speaking event in Flowood, Mississippi, hosted by Johnson, Nicholson delivered an opening prayer in which he asked Almighty God to do what Almighty God apparently does best: To “be violent against” establishment Republicans who disagree with Tea Partyers over how best to achieve their mutually agreed upon goals.

“We ask for your blessing upon the conservatives in this state, that they might stand strong and firm,” reportedly (http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/weblogs/jackblog/2014/aug/12/the-tea-partys-prayer/) began Nicholson’s prayer. “Father, we even ask for you to bless our enemies, and Lord they are truly our enemies that head the Republican Party and the whole political establishment.”

Nicholson’s idea of “blessing” one’s enemies, however, is a bit strange. He continued:

We’re asking, Father, for two things. We’re asking, Father, that you would expose them, set division amongst them, set them one against another, bring confusion and fear into their camp, into their thinking, for the purpose of pulling them down, for casting them down out of their high offices and reducing them, Lord, to having no power in this state. So, Lord, that you might raise up and seek the righteous in the positions of power that this state might once more be a state that honors you in all that it does.

Father, we’re asking that in all of the tribulations were asking you to bring upon them, that it would work change in their heart — that you would use it to bring true Godly sorrow, that they might truly repent for their iniquity and their wickedness, for that they would be restored to you, that you would have honor in the state of Mississippi for the great works that you’ve done in correcting and purifying the government and rescuing and saving the worst of us.


http://www.salon.com/2014/08/13/tea_party_leader_asks_god_to_be_violent_against_go p_establishment_in_opening_prayer/

red state! :lol

Confederacy! :lol

Christian love! :lol

scrotum sucking red neck tail wagging the Repug dog! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Former Interior Secretary Slams GOP Effort To Seize And Sell America’s Public Lands (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/14/3471491/republican-sell-public-lands/)

Former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar called out the Republican National Committee (RNC), the national organization of the Republican Party, on Thursday for endorsing efforts in some Western states to seize or sell-off of America’s parks, forests, and public lands.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/14/3471491/republican-sell-public-lands/

All y'all rednecks, bubbas, Christians, tea baggers, Texians tell me again all the wonderful things the Repugs have done for Human-Americans! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Do y'all think he was trying to get out the vote for The Negro's party? was he wanting to Turn Texas BLUE :lol

Texas ‘sovereign citizen’ describes ambush on cops: ‘This is a get-out-the-vote campaign’

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/TX-sovereign-citizen-suspect-Doug-Leguin-KXAS-TV.jpg


A 60-year-old Texas man accused of setting up an ambush against police and firefighters (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/12/texas-sovereign-citizen-sets-dumpster-fire-reports-self-missing-to-set-up-police-ambush/) said he set up the attack as both a protest against police shootings and a way to encourage people to vote.

“This is a get out the vote campaign,” Douglas Leguin told KXAS-TV on Thursday. “You have to do something big to get attention in this country.”

Leguin spoke to the station from Dallas County Jail, where the self-identified “sovereign citizen” is being held on $350,000 bail. He is charged with seven counts of aggravated assault against a public servant for allegedly setting fire to a dumpster near a North Dallas home, then allegedly shooting at firefighters with an AK-47 during a brief standoff.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/15/texas-sovereign-citizen-describes-ambush-on-cops-this-is-a-get-out-the-vote-campaign/

yawn, yet another old white pissed off white guy, red state of course, with facial hair (can't tell if he has a outlaw pony tail).

[boutons_deux]

RNC's Chad Connelly: 'God's Got A Home' In Th GOP

RNC faith director Chad Connelly said during a recent interview (http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2014/08/15/only-on-brody-file-gop-faith-outreach-director-on-republican.aspx) with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network that Republicans aren’t moving away from conservative stances on issues like marriage equality.

In fact, Connelly said that (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-went-70-71-shaping-gop-platform) the (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-gays-have-hope-perkins-has-power) GOP (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-righting-republican-platform) adopted (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tony-perkins-takes-victory-lap-over-republican-party-platform-changes) “the most pro-faith, pro-family, best platform ever put in in Republican Party or political party history down in Tampa in 2012.”

“The Republican Party is the natural home for people of faith,” he said (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtNYQ6lVigw&feature=youtu.be). “This is the place where God’s got a home.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rncs-chad-connelly-god-s-got-home-gop

iow: Give us your money, even if it means you can't give to your money-grubbing pastor, you old white redneck suckers, and we'll HATE LGBT, blacks, browns, for you all over USA, and keep trying to kill your social security, your post office, destroy you medicare and medicaid, take away your Obamacare, and kill your food stamps that millions of you live on.

[boutons_deux]

Tea Party of Louisiana: Common Core turns kids gay, and this parody website proves it

“Common Core is Total Federalized Control of Education, Indoctrination and Socialism,” the Tea Party group warned on its website. “Don’t believe us then just Do a Little Homework and see for yourself. Check these out and then tell us how you feel about Common Core being implemented in your schools and with your children.”

The Tea Party of Louisiana listed five links to support its claims, including the story on Broken World News – which includes the disclaimer (http://brokenworldnews.com/about/): “If you believe any of the sh*t you read here you are a freaking moron.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/19/tea-party-of-louisisana-common-core-turns-kids-gay-and-this-parody-website-proves-it/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

RNC Official Claims Child Migrants Are Trained ‘Warriors’ And Will ‘Rise Up Against’ Americans (http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/08/22/3474640/tamara-scott-claims-children-arrivals-trained-warriors/)

A Republican National Committeewoman claimed on her radio show Thursday that kids who are arriving in waves unaccompanied at the U.S. southern border could be “warriors” and would likely “rise up against” Americans. In an interview with a Tea Party leader, RNC committeewoman Tamara Scott said that children could be coming from countries where they are highly trained as soldiers and may harm Americans, according to Right Wing Watch (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-committeewoman-warns-child-migrants-highly-trained-warriors-who-will-rise-against-us-ame).

Scott said, “When we see these kids, you and I think young kids, we think maybe 12-year-olds …middle-schoolers, But we know back in our revolution, we had 12-year olds fighting in our revolution. And for many of these kids, depending on where they’re coming from, they could be coming from other countries and be highly trained as warriors who will meet up with their group here and actually rise up against us as Americans.”

http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/08/22/3474640/tamara-scott-claims-children-arrivals-trained-warriors/

Repugs got shit for brains but at least they know their voters do, too.

[boutons_deux]

Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review and Fox contributor, said during an immigration panel discussion on Thursday that Republicans who say Americans won't do certain jobs, should be "shot" and "hanged."

His statement on how to handle such Republicans was met with applause and laughter.

"The next time I hear a Republican strategist or a Republican politician say that there are jobs that Americans won't do, that person should be shot, he should be hanged, he should be wrapped in a carpet and thrown in the Potomac River," Lowry said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rich-lowry-republicans-shot-hanged?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

National Review and Fox Rabble Rousing Network are true journalistic endeavors.

[boutons_deux]

Fox pundit: Images from Foley beheading video are ‘perfectly fair’ for GOP campaign ads

Conservative radio host Lars Larson told Fox News on Tuesday that it was “perfectly fair” for Republican candidates to use images from a video of an American journalist being beheaded in campaign ads attacking President Barack Obama.

A campaign video advertisement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTG3NacV9co) released on Monday by New Mexican Republican Senate candidate Allen Weh includes a frame from a gruesome video which showed the beheading of American photographer James Foley. The ad crops out Foley so only the disturbing image (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/08/25/foley-killer-featured-in-republican-campaign-ad/) of the masked killer holding a knife is visible.

The ad goes on to slam President Barack Obama for playing golf, and tries to link Weh’s opponent, Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, to the administration’s foreign policy.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/26/fox-pundit-images-from-foley-beheading-video-are-perfectly-fair-for-gop-campaign-ads/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Did the Dems campaign using dubya's bombing of Afghani wedding parties? :lol

[boutons_deux]

Confederate macaca madness

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gov-bobby-jindal-via-gage-skidmore-on-flickr.jpg

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal filed suit on Wednesday against the Obama administration, arguing that it has coerced states into adopting Common Core education standards. :lol

The move by the Republican governor comes amid a backlash against the multistate standards that aim to boost critical-thinking skills and apply consistency to a patchwork of state guidelines.

“Common Core is the latest effort by big government disciples to strip away state rights and put Washington, D.C., in control of everything,” Jindal said in a statement. :lol

While the standards were developed and implemented by states, the Obama administration encouraged their adoption through a competitive-grant program called Race to the Top, which gave money to cash-strapped states.

Louisiana was among 45 states that passed Common Core into law in 2010, with Jindal then a supporter of the standards. Several Republican-led states have dropped the standards this year, including Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Jindal announced in June that he was moving to scrap a set of key student tests associated with Common Core. The move was opposed by Louisiana’s top education official – a Jindal appointee – and has since been blocked in court.

Jindal’s new suit was filed against the U.S. Department of Education in federal court in Baton Rouge.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/27/louisiana-governor-sues-obama-administration-over-common-core-education-standards/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

All y'all fucking Repugs, tea baggers, rednecks, bubbas, gun fellators are fuckin nuts

[boutons_deux]

Repug Presidential candidate speaks!

Herman Cain Uncovers Obama's Secret Plot To Get Impeached

Herman Cain took the conservative rhetoric of "impeachment bait" to the next level on Thursday by theorizing that President Obama is actually trying to get impeached in order to "laugh at the Republicans."

"I believe that he'll do it, and here's why," Cain explained in a radio interview (http://www.trunews.com/thursday-august-28-2014-herman-cain-raymon-ibrahim/). "First, it's going to stimulate some lawsuits and he knows that it'll take time for those lawsuits to make their way through the court system."

"So they'll play upon the slowness of the justice system," he said. "The whole reason that he would do that is to try and get the Hispanic vote of November of this year."

"They are padding Democrat votes for this upcoming election," he added.

The former presidential candidate and current radio host delivered the remarks in an interview with Trunews, which touts itself as "the only newscast reporting the countdown to the second coming of Jesus Christ."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/herman-cain-obama-impeachment-plot?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

:lol you Repugs, you Christians, what a bunch stupid, ignorant assholes! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Krazy Kruz was spawned by this religious, racist, lying asshole

Ted Cruz's Dad: 'The Average Black' Does Not Know The Minimum Wage Is Bad

Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) father said that African Americans "need to be educated" about Democrats, adding that "the average black does not" know that the minimum wage is bad.

"I said, as a matter of fact, ‘Did you know that Civil Rights legislation was passed by Republicans? It was passed by a Republican Senate under the threat of a filibuster by the Democrats,'" Cruz said. "'Oh, I didn’t know that.’ And then I said, ‘Did you know that every member of the Ku Klux Klan were Democrats from the South?’ ‘Oh I didn’t know that.’ You know, they need to be educated."

Cruz might be referring to the bloc of Southern Democrats that opposed the Civil Rights Act. (who are either dead or switch to Repug in Tricky Dicky Nixon's Southern strategy)

Cruz went on to tout Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder For Blacks To Succeed by Jason Riley, a member of the Wall Street Journal's editorial board who is African-American. Riley, Cruz said, talks about how "all the handouts to blacks have kept blacks in the poorhouse."

"Jason Riley said in an interview, Did you know before we had minimum wage laws black unemployment and white unemployment were the same? If we increase the minimum wage, black unemployment will skyrocket. See, he understands it, but the average black does not."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rafael-cruz-average-black-minimum-wage?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Meanwhile is nasty, toxic spawn (thanks, RX Repugs!):

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is preparing for the 2016 presidential race by managing to move even further to the right. At a weekend summit hosted by Americans for Prosperity (the Koch brothers’ 501(c)(4) “dark money” group), Cruz introduced a new plank of his foreign policy: bombing the Islamic State “back to the Stone Age.”
“America has always been reluctant to use military force, but we have never shied away from defending the United States of America,” Cruz said (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/08/cruz-invites-obama-to-border-calls-for-bombing-isis-back-to-the-stone-age/)on Saturday. “ISIS says they want to go back and reject modernity, well I think we should help them. We ought to bomb them back to the Stone Age.”

http://www.nationalmemo.com/ted-cruzs-new-foreign-policy-suggestion-bomb-back-stone-age/

Macho Man, making America the most hated, most feared, most destabilizing, most murderous country in the world!

[boutons_deux]

GOP congressman unmoved by slain migrant kids: Send them back, anyway


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Robert-Pittenger-Facebook-615x345.png

A North Carolina Republican said Americans should have the right to smoke in privately owned businesses and fire LGBT employees (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/09/08/3564205/pittenger-fire-gay-people-smoking/).

“It’s the most egregious, awful crime and a pity, what has happened to these young children,”Pittenger told ThinkProgress (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/09/03/3478194/pittenger-migrant-children-deportation/).

“But do you want to open up America’s doors to the entire world? (strawman!)

We can’t handle the healthcare and education today for our own population! (because of VRWC/Repug tax cuts!)

We have to be sensible about what we our system can manage. So you put them on planes and you send them back.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/08/gop-congressman-unmoved-by-slain-migrant-kids-send-them-back-anyway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[Ignignokt]

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11111/111113893/3731758-2289556139-Didn'.png

[boutons_deux]

Louisiana Senate Candidate: U.S. Senate Is Run ‘Like A Plantation’ (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/09/09/3565302/bill-cassidy-senate-plantation/)

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/12_years_a_slave.jpg

In an interview published Tuesday (http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060005440), Representative Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “runs the Senate like a plantation,” a comparison that has angered voters and lawmakers from both parties.

Fellow Louisiana Republican Rob Maness, who is running against Cassidy for a seat in the US Senate, tweeted (https://twitter.com/RobManess/status/509384409342943232) that he “should apologize now,” saying: “The Party of Lincoln is better than what Congressman Bill Cassidy said. The language he used included a term that is incredibly offensive to many Americans.”

Cassidy has so far defended his remarks saying he made the analogy between a slave plantation and the US Senate under Harry Reid’s leadership because, “Instead of the world’s greatest deliberative body, it is his personal, sort of, ‘It goes if I say it does, if not it stops.’”

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/09/09/3565302/bill-cassidy-senate-plantation/

your racist Confederate Repugs really elect some total losers :lol

[boutons_deux]

there's more! :lol

Fear of the Black Vote

Georgia Republican says Sunday voting in DeKalb County must stop (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fran-millar-dekalb-county-sunday-balloting) since it's "dominated by African American shoppers and it is near several large African American mega churches."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/fear-of-the-black-vote?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

[boutons_deux]

Santorum: Call Secularism A Religion So We Can Ban It From Public Schools

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/santorum-call-secularism-religion-so-we-can-ban-it-public-schools

[boutons_deux]

Cruz Open To Using Government Funding Bill To Deport Dreamers

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), notorious for pushing the federal government to shut down in 2013, seems open to doing so again this year.

Cruz on Tuesday said he would consider attaching a measure to deport young undocumented immigrants to a bill keep the government open.

"I think we should use any and all means necessary to prevent the president from illegally granting amnesty. Certainly I think it would be appropriate to include in the [continuing resolution] but I think we should use every tool at our disposal," Cruz said,

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cruz-shutdown-deportations-immigration?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Thanks, TX Repugs!

[boutons_deux]

PA evangelical Christian Taleban news:

Penn. Dem vows to veto evangelical ‘In God We Trust’ bill ‘imposing Christianity’ in govt.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said this week that he would veto a measure that would force county council members to display “In God We Trust” in their chambers.

“This has been a movement by the right-wing evangelical Christians across the country basically to impose Christianity only in courthouses and schools buildings,” Fitzgerald explained to KDKA (http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/09/09/fitzgerald-pledges-to-veto-in-god-we-trust-bill/#.VA8KAKJCSOk.twitter) radio on Tuesday. “And there’s one on county council, Sue Means, that’s pushing this.”

He pointed out that people did not need to be a “right-wing evangelical Christian” to be welcomed in Allegheny County.

“We welcome Hindus and Jews and Muslims and atheists,” he said. “This would not be the signal that we want to send as a community, that we’re exclusionary and not inviting to people of all stripes.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/09/penn-dem-vows-to-veto-evangelical-in-god-we-trust-bill-imposing-christianity-in-govt/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Fitzgerald is "persecuting" those poor Christian Taleban.

[boutons_deux]

there's more! :lol

Fear of the Black Vote

Georgia Republican says Sunday voting in DeKalb County must stop (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fran-millar-dekalb-county-sunday-balloting) since it's "dominated by African American shoppers and it is near several large African American mega churches."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/fear-of-the-black-vote?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29



There's more from the Confederate Rupug racist!

Georgia Republican: I prefer ‘educated voters’ to an influx of ‘African-American shoppers’

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Georgia-state-Sen.-Fran-Millar-R.jpg

“I would prefer more educated voters than a greater increase in the number of voters,” state Sen. Fran Millar (R) wrote on his Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/millar.ga/posts/718236501557052?comment_id=718266534887382&offset=0&total_comments=57) “If you don’t believe this is an efort [sic] to maximize Democratic votes pure and simple, then you are not a realist. This is a partisan stunt and I hope it can be stopped.”

“I defined educated as being informed on the issues,” :lol Millar wrote. “Finally Mr. Porter is welcome to look at my DeKalb NAACP award, so don’t try to accuse me of trying to suppress the African-American vote.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/09/georgia-republican-i-prefer-educated-voters-to-an-influx-of-african-american-shoppers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

As if ignorant backwoods GA inbreds and Bible-thumpers who vote Repug are "informed" :lol

[Ignignokt]

There's more from the Confederate Rupug racist!

Georgia Republican: I prefer ‘educated voters’ to an influx of ‘African-American shoppers’

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Georgia-state-Sen.-Fran-Millar-R.jpg

“I would prefer more educated voters than a greater increase in the number of voters,” state Sen. Fran Millar (R) wrote on his Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/millar.ga/posts/718236501557052?comment_id=718266534887382&offset=0&total_comments=57) “If you don’t believe this is an efort [sic] to maximize Democratic votes pure and simple, then you are not a realist. This is a partisan stunt and I hope it can be stopped.”

“I defined educated as being informed on the issues,” :lol Millar wrote. “Finally Mr. Porter is welcome to look at my DeKalb NAACP award, so don’t try to accuse me of trying to suppress the African-American vote.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/09/georgia-republican-i-prefer-educated-voters-to-an-influx-of-african-american-shoppers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

As if ignorant backwoods GA inbreds and Bible-thumpers who vote Repug are "informed" :lol





http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/264/393/d6b.gif

[boutons_deux]

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/264/393/d6b.gif

magnificent PEARLS before right-wing SWINE. Keep turning your snouts up and wallowing in your deep ignorance.

[boutons_deux]

AZ GOP vice-chair calls for sterilizing poor women: If you want a baby, get a job


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/12/az-gop-vice-chair-calls-for-sterilizing-poor-women-if-you-want-a-baby-get-a-job/

[angrydude]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/facing-dem-attacks-could-new-gop-strategy-end-birth-control-wars/article/2552987

GOP tries to expand women's access to birth control. Left's brains explode.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rVPbcLNjDo

[TheSanityAnnex]

OP displays more madness than the GOP. Lol boutons 99% of total posts. 1 reply every 30 posts.

[boutons_deux]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/facing-dem-attacks-could-new-gop-strategy-end-birth-control-wars/article/2552987

GOP tries to expand women's access to birth control. Left's brains explode.



In a new TV ad, Gardner calls himself "a new kind of Republican." His mission, however, is an old one: To circumvent the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) mandate that insurance policies cover birth control without a co-pay.

Gardner claims over-the-counter access to the pill would be "cheaper and easier" for women. But women already pay for those pills as part of the health care coverage they purchase through employers. Why would we want to pay for them twice?

In fact, the ACA makes all forms of FDA-approved birth control available without co-pays — including more effective long-acting contraceptives like IUDs and implants.
What happens, however, if birth control pills are sold over the counter? Insurance companies will likely stop covering them. That means women will keep paying health insurance premiums, plus an additional out-of-pocket fee for pills that could cost up to $600 a year.

And free doctor visits to discuss birth-control risks could also be replaced with fee-based pharmacy consults to determine whether women have risk factors like smoking, hypertension or migraines that prevent safe use of the pill, reports the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

That's hardly a "cheaper and easier" alternative — which is why Politifact rates Gardner's claim as "mostly false."

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_26515886/gops-underhanded-push-over-counter-birth-control

Repug's OTC b/c is just another LIE, a fraud in their Repug War on Women, and of course it SCREWS women while increasing revenues for BigPharma.

[boutons_deux]

Senator: ‘We All Get Killed Back Here At Home’ If Obama Doesn’t Send Combat Troops Back Into Iraq (http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/09/14/3567248/senator-we-all-get-killed-back-here-at-home-if-obama-doesnt-send-troops-back-into-iraq/) :lol

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/09/14/3567248/senator-we-all-get-killed-back-here-at-home-if-obama-doesnt-send-troops-back-into-iraq/



and then the other Confederate SC joke recently is Mark "hiking the Appalachian trail down in Argentina Christian-values" Sanford:

Mark Sanford calls off engagement, says he was forced to choose between Argentinian gal pal or his children

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1937941.1410555894!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/1st-district-primary-runoff.jpg?enlarged

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/mark-sanford-calls-engagement-blames-bitter-wife-article-1.1937944

[boutons_deux]

Repug hero picking up a few $100 appearance money for bullshitting on Fox:

Ben Carson tells Bill O’Reilly: ‘Ben Carson tells Bill O’Reilly: ‘I’m not sure’ that domestic violence is widespread


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Ben-Carson-091114-youtube-800x430.jpg

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/blog/2014/09/11/ben-carson-tells-bill-oreilly-im-not-sure-that-domestic-violence-is-widespread/

[boutons_deux]

Arizona GOP official resigns after saying poor women should be sterilized
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/blog/2014/09/15/arizona-gop-official-resigns-after-saying-poor-women-should-be-sterilized/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[Ignignokt]

In a new TV ad, Gardner calls himself "a new kind of Republican." His mission, however, is an old one: To circumvent the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) mandate that insurance policies cover birth control without a co-pay.

Gardner claims over-the-counter access to the pill would be "cheaper and easier" for women. But women already pay for those pills as part of the health care coverage they purchase through employers. Why would we want to pay for them twice?

In fact, the ACA makes all forms of FDA-approved birth control available without co-pays — including more effective long-acting contraceptives like IUDs and implants.
What happens, however, if birth control pills are sold over the counter? Insurance companies will likely stop covering them. That means women will keep paying health insurance premiums, plus an additional out-of-pocket fee for pills that could cost up to $600 a year.

And free doctor visits to discuss birth-control risks could also be replaced with fee-based pharmacy consults to determine whether women have risk factors like smoking, hypertension or migraines that prevent safe use of the pill, reports the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

That's hardly a "cheaper and easier" alternative — which is why Politifact rates Gardner's claim as "mostly false."

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_26515886/gops-underhanded-push-over-counter-birth-control

Repug's OTC b/c is just another LIE, a fraud in their Repug War on Women, and of course it SCREWS women while increasing revenues for BigPharma.




http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/645/757/395.gif

[boutons_deux]

Jon Stewart trashing the old lesbian from SC:

Nightmare On Graham Street

http://crooksandliars.com:8080/cltv/2014/09/tds-nightmare-graham-street#start=8xMLrKgw|76

[Ignignokt]

Jon Stewart trashing the old lesbian from SC:

Nightmare On Graham Street

http://crooksandliars.com:8080/cltv/2014/09/tds-nightmare-graham-street#start=8xMLrKgw|76





http://rs1img.memecdn.com/stormtroopers-didnt-read-lol_o_438990.gif

[boutons_deux]

he probably greatly increased his re-election chances!

Oklahoma state Sen. Bennett: American Muslims are a ‘cancer in our nation that needs cutting out’

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/oklahoma-state-sen-bennett-american-muslims-are-a-cancer-in-our-nation-that-needs-cutting-out/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Cliven Bundy Republicans Campaign To Seize and Sell Off Federal Land

there is a serious movement among Republicans who embrace Bundy’s claim the federal government is forbidden from owning land and the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Colorado is actively campaigning on a promise of seizing all federal land. His plan, like those in several other (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/09/03/3478573/13-bundys-buddies-on-the-ballot/) Republican states, is confiscating national parks, national forests, and all public land from the federal government and selling them off to the Koch brothers for mining, drilling, and logging. As private land owned by the Kochs, federal regulations and environmental protections become null and void and America’s National Parks, wilderness areas, and waterways become dirty energy wastelands.

The Republican candidate, Bob Beauprez, openly called for seizing all federal land in Colorado because he claims “this is a fight we have to wage.” Like Cliven Bundy, Beauprez claims that all federally-owned land in the state is private Colorado land that means “we can cancel their (federal government) lease like they are tenants.” Beauprez is one of several Republicans running for office who agree with Bundy that states have the right to sell off federally-owned land to the highest bidder primarily because they do not acknowledge any federal government authority. For his part, according to his campaign document (http://www.bobbeauprez.com/docs/LibertysPromise-MyPlantoProtectFreedom.pdf), “Liberty’s Promise: My Plan to Protect Freedom and Constitutional Rights,” Beauprez intends on “reestablishing state rights and duties” primarily “by taking control of land from the federal government” and selling it to mining, oil, and logging interests.
Like most 10th Amendment, state rights extremists, Beauprez’s claim to protect constitutional rights by seizing federal land misses the important point that seizing federal land is patently unconstitutional (http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/GoadLandsReclaimBrief-1.pdf).

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/09/16/bundy-republicans-campaign-seize-federal-land-sell-kochs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

[boutons_deux]

he probably greatly increased his re-election chances!

Oklahoma state Sen. Bennett: American Muslims are a ‘cancer in our nation that needs cutting out’

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/oklahoma-state-sen-bennett-american-muslims-are-a-cancer-in-our-nation-that-needs-cutting-out/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29



Liberty Counsel: Ban Religious Practices If They 'Offend Other Faiths' -

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/liberty-counsel-ban-religious-practices-if-they-offend-other-faiths

"Other faiths" meaning ban practices that are by non-Christian faiths.

[boutons_deux]

more Confederate/Christian Taliban redneck news from deep RED South Carolina!

Public university required students to submit sexual history or face disciplinary action


Clemson is requiring students and faculty to complete an online course through a third party website that asks invasive questions about sexual history.

“How many times have you had sex (including oral) in the last 3 months?” asks one question.

“With how many different people have you had sex (including oral) in the last 3 months?” asks another.

“We believe you’ll enjoy the assignment,” the email, provided to Campus Reform, reads.

“It is an engaging and informative online course, created with students for students. It will provide you with useful information regarding sexual violence and relationships. The course promotes a healthier and safer campus environment.”

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=5923

[boutons_deux]

Wisconsin Republicans worry about the rights of their apparently very stupid voters (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/18/1330647/-More-on-idiotic-Wisconsin-Republican-ballot-lawsuit)

Yesterday (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/17/1330382/-Idiotic-Wisconsin-Republican-lawsuit-ballot-placement-is-only-fair-when-they-re-on-top) we looked at the Wisconsin's GOP's legal temper tantrum over a state law that gives top-ballot position to parties who won the previous election.


Republican legislative leaders filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking changes to the newly redesigned ballot for the November election, claiming the one drafted by the nonpartisan elections agency unfairly benefits Democrats [...]The ballot design is unfair because Democratic candidates are listed first under the name of the office being sought and Republican candidates are separated by a line, the lawsuit said.

Democrats are listed first, per state law, based on results in the 2012 election where President Barack Obama won Wisconsin. Republican candidates were listed first in 2012 because Gov. Scott Walker won election in 2010.


There's more, though. Check this out:


The new ballot design is "extremely likely to violate the right to vote of thousands, if not millions of Wisconsin electors," the [Republican] lawsuit said.

Got that? Placing Democrats on top, just like Republicans were on top in 2012, will violate the rights of millions of Wisconsin voters.

But draconian voter ID laws (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/13/1329351/-This-week-in-the-war-on-voting-WI-gets-greenlight-on-ID-law-Brennan-s-Student-Voting-Guide-ready)? Nope. No rights violated. Move along. Nothing to see.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/18/1330647/-More-on-idiotic-Wisconsin-Republican-ballot-lawsuit?detail=email1#

Repugs! :lol A non-stop insult to even the low intelligence of average Americans! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Alan Keyes: Violent Conflict May Be Necessary If Congress Doesn't Oust Obama -

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/alan-keyes-violent-conflict-may-be-necessary-if-congress-doesnt-oust-obama#sthash.gFPl7daJ.dpuf

[boutons_deux]

Tucker Carlson: Smoking in children’s cartoons is a ‘symbol of freedom and masculinity’

"... smoking a pipe, a symbol of freedom and masculinity in America itself, the reason this country exists, tobacco, that’s like, ‘Oh, that’s outrageous. That’s a major sin.’”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/tucker-carlson-smoking-in-childrens-cartoons-is-a-symbol-of-freedom-and-masculinity/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Holy Shit! :lol

Kashkari portrays GOP as a champion of minorities and the poor

http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-kashkari-20140922-story.html

[boutons_deux]

Holy Shit! :lol

Rick Perry Claims Texas’ New Abortion Restrictions Could Have Saved Joan Rivers’ Life (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/09/22/3570215/rick-perry-joan-rivers-abortion/)http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/09/22/3570215/rick-perry-joan-rivers-abortion/

RickyBobby's abortion restrictions will CAUSE deaths of TX women from backroom abortions, and increasing TX abortions from 80K to 100K due to contraception unavailability.

Thanks, Repugs!

And of course, admitting privileges is a total bullshit LIE.

[boutons_deux]

Shady Wisconsin militia ‘targets’ Dem voters for arrest on open warrants in black districts


Self-proclaimed militia group plans to confront (http://chippewa.com/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/wisconsin-poll-watcher-militia-plans-to-confront-scott-walker-recall/article_23db66b9-3492-5d7d-9d15-418a7eaeb0c6.html) likely Democratic voters at Wisconsin polls Nov. 4 over outstanding warrants or tax defaults.

The Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia clams it will check names on the 2012 recall petition for Republican Gov. Scott Walker and confront those voters who they believe are wanted on warrants.

The group posted on Twitter that members would be “targeting heavy democrat districts, so it is doubtful” any Republicans would be reported.

“We prefer our people be armed,” the self-described militia posted on Facebook. “Some will be heading to some of Milwaukee, Racine, and Beloit’s worst areas. We will be armed with a list of people to look for at each location.”

The group asked Facebook users to privately send names of active voters who were wanted on warrants to they could have them arrested.

“We can get our agents to watch their polling location, identify the individual, and then follow them to their residence,” the group posted, promising to call the police and have the would-be voter “picked up for processing.”

“The group admits that they are targeting Democrats,” wrote Jason Easley, of Politicus USA. “They aren’t exactly subtle in making it clear that they are targeting African-American voters. The scheme is an attempt to intimidate African-American voters while getting around the Voting Rights Act. The point of this campaign isn’t to get felons off the streets. The ‘poll watchers’ are trying to keep African-Americans away from the polls.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/shady-wisconsin-militia-targets-dem-voters-for-arrest-on-open-warrants-in-black-districts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Freedom! :lol ( but not for non-Repugs )

[boutons_deux]

Scott Brown says America is about to be destroyed by 'radical Islamic terrorists' (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/23/1331836/-Scott-Brown-says-America-is-about-to-be-destroyed-by-radical-Islamic-terrorists)


“Radical Islamic terrorists are threatening to cause the collapse of our country,” Mr. Brown says. “President Obama and Senator Shaheen seem confused about the nature of the threat — not me.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/23/1331836/-Scott-Brown-says-America-is-about-to-be-destroyed-by-radical-Islamic-terrorists?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29#

[boutons_deux]

Asparagus-aspersioned Louie ALWAYS reliable

Tea Party Congressman: Holder’s Resignation A Ploy To Distract From Horrors Of Obamacare (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/26/3572693/tea-party-congressman-eric-holders-resignation-is-a-ploy-to-distract-americans-from-the-horrors-of-obamacare/)


http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Louie-Gohmert-e1392653749394-638x331.jpg

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) speculated on Thursday that Attorney General Eric Holder was resigning from office to distract attention from Obamacare and “the world falling apart.”

“Because of the timing, I can’t help but wonder if this is the president’s attempt to change the subject from the horrors that Obamacare has caused people’s health care and the dismal economy and the world falling apart because of this president’s foreign policies or the lack there of,” the Texas Congressman said during an interview (http://dateline.radioamerica.org/?p=14062) with Radio America.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/26/3572693/tea-party-congressman-eric-holders-resignation-is-a-ploy-to-distract-americans-from-the-horrors-of-obamacare/

:lol TX Repugs, y'all got some reel gud reps, yessirree! :lol

[Fabbs]

Tucker Carlson: Smoking in children’s cartoons is a ‘symbol of freedom and masculinity’
wow.

[boutons_deux]

Mortdick's right-wing trashy toilet paper rag:

http://crooksandliars.com/files/imagecache/node_primary/primary_image/14/09/nypost_chelsea.jpg

[boutons_deux]

A vid from John Oliver's Last Week Tonight, trashing the heroine of Rand,Paul Ryan, Paul Ryan, Mark Cuban, Krazy Kruz, etc, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9mJpVf4dkc&

[boutons_deux]

Rick Perry: My Security Detail Would Knock An Intruder 'Dead Down'

The White House is clearly on Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) mind.

Perry took a break from discussing his presidential aspirations Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" to issue a warning to would-be intruders at the Texas governor's mansion.

The governor talked about being unprepared for his 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign and his efforts to bone up on policy as he mulls another White House bid.

"You know, getting knocked down and beaten up, we've always talked about it," co-host Joe Scarborough said. "Every time we go out and give speeches to young people, they say 'what's the best thing that could happen to you?' And we always say, you know what, get the left hook that you never see coming. Because the next time you get knocked down you'll see it coming."

“Speaking of getting knocked down,” Perry interrupted. “Let me tell you, Texas governor’s detail -- do not try running through the governor’s mansion, okay. Shannon O’Neil, the lady that’s on our detail --”

“She will knock you down,” Joe Scarborough chimed in.

"Dead down,” Perry said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rick-perry-white-house-intruder?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

:lol Macho Man!

"dead down" Is that some bubba, redneck phrase?

Repugs prefer their Useful Idiot Presidents to be as stupid as you are.

[Ignignokt]

Rick Perry: My Security Detail Would Knock An Intruder 'Dead Down'

The White House is clearly on Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) mind.

Perry took a break from discussing his presidential aspirations Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" to issue a warning to would-be intruders at the Texas governor's mansion.

The governor talked about being unprepared for his 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign and his efforts to bone up on policy as he mulls another White House bid.

"You know, getting knocked down and beaten up, we've always talked about it," co-host Joe Scarborough said. "Every time we go out and give speeches to young people, they say 'what's the best thing that could happen to you?' And we always say, you know what, get the left hook that you never see coming. Because the next time you get knocked down you'll see it coming."

“Speaking of getting knocked down,” Perry interrupted. “Let me tell you, Texas governor’s detail -- do not try running through the governor’s mansion, okay. Shannon O’Neil, the lady that’s on our detail --”

“She will knock you down,” Joe Scarborough chimed in.

"Dead down,” Perry said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rick-perry-white-house-intruder?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

:lol Macho Man!

"dead down" Is that some bubba, redneck phrase?

Repugs prefer their Useful Idiot Presidents to be as stupid as you are.





http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/632/664/b61.gif

[m>s]

Fuck off kike, no one cares about your shitty articles

[RandomGuy]

A vid from John Oliver's Last Week Tonight, trashing the heroine of Rand,Paul Ryan, Paul Ryan, Mark Cuban, Krazy Kruz, etc, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9mJpVf4dkc&

Oliver has made a very good show so far. Sort of like what the daily show would be, if it didn't have to whore out so much of its time slot to commercials.

[RandomGuy]

Fuck off kike, no one cares about your shitty articles

http://sale.images.woot.com/Iron-Ef5yDetail.png

Everybody pretty much thinks the same about your fascist schtick.

[Ignignokt]

http://sale.images.woot.com/Iron-Ef5yDetail.png

Everybody pretty much thinks the same about your fascist schtick.

Random Cuck plz go

[m>s]

random cuck just go BTFO!!!!!

[boutons_deux]

Scott Brown: People Don't 'Care About' Contraception, Equal Pay

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scott-brown-contraception-equal-pay?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

... just clarifying the Repug official positions (not America's) on behalf of Christian Taliban who hate women having sex and BigCorps who hate paying men's salaries when women are 30% cheaper.

[boutons_deux]

Pandering to the TX Christian Taliban. In Texas, gory gun violence is the preferred entertainment, esp "in Christ's name, for the glory of God Almighty"

Texas GOP Lawmaker: Secularism Is Like Nazi 'Bullet Through The Throat'

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/texas-state-sen-holocaust-comparisons?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

... and the Christian Taliban are as radical, extremist, oppressive as the Muslim Taliban.

[RandomGuy]

Random Cuck plz go

I'm sure your bruised ego could use the break, but sorry, not happening. :nope

[boutons_deux]

Mich GOP goes to the gutter, mailer asks people to call Dem candidate's mother who is in hospice (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/01/1333740/-Mich-GOP-goes-to-the-gutter-mailer-asks-people-to-call-Dem-candidate-s-mother-who-is-in-hospice)

This story is beyond disgusting. The Michigan Republican Party has mailed out a hit piece on John Fisher the Democratic candidate for Michigan's 61st House district. The mailer asks the recipient to call a phone number to complain about Fisher's support of the Affordable Care Act.The number they give rings at the bedside of Fisher's mother, 91-year-old Isabel Marie Kramb, who is in hospice care with congestive heart failure.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/01/1333740/-Mich-GOP-goes-to-the-gutter-mailer-asks-people-to-call-Dem-candidate-s-mother-who-is-in-hospice?detail=email

all y'all Repugs, teabaggers, right-wingers are really, really regnant assholes for being the audience the asshole Repug candidate target with this crap.

[boutons_deux]

How To Lose A Senate Election: Joni Ernst Wants to Discuss Privatizing Social Security

http://edge2.politicususa.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Screen-Shot-2014-10-02-at-11.22.54-AM-1-485x250.jpg

Republican Iowa Senate Candidate Joni Ernst, whose castration of the swine in DC ad (http://www.politicususa.com/2014/03/25/republican-washington-big-spending-boys-squeal-castration-tricks.html)earned her a devoted conservative following, thinks “we all need to sit down” in a bipartisan manner to discuss privatizing Social Security.

That alarm bell ringing in your head is warning you that “we need to sit down” is the equivalent of “It’s not you.” It is you, and by sit down and talk, they mean they have already made up their minds.

In 2010, Tea Party Koch Republicans ran as “moderate” Republicans, and then when elected set about in a Great Collective Heist to steal from the poor to give to the rich.

They went after unions, poor babies, unwed mothers, the elderly, the Veterans Administration, they shut down the government after wildly and irresponsibly slashing budgets – but they always had more money to give to big business.So when someone like that says we need to “talk” about privatizing Social Security, it should bring about the same reaction as Ernst’s proud castration ad did for sane people. Especially after the debate against her Democratic opponent is Bruce Braley in which she repeated Tea Party talking points like a broken record. (http://www.politicususa.com/2014/09/30/joni-ernst-independent-leader-recites-tea-party-talking-points-personhood-zygotes.html)

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/10/02/joni-ernst-thinks-discuss-privatizing-social-security-funded-20-years.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29 (http://www.politicususa.com/2014/10/02/joni-ernst-thinks-discuss-privatizing-social-security-funded-20-years.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29)

fits in with Repug strategy that "everything, EVERYTHING, is on the table" including cutting/privatizing medicaid, medicare, social security, etc, etc.

[boutons_deux]

TEXAS! Rep. Randy Weber: Can't Trust Obama On Ebola Because Of Benghazi -

“I don’t want to sound alarmist and we don’t want people to get cast into a panic but this administration, as you well know, has a real serious credibility gap on a whole lot of things when it comes to taking things serious. Whether it’s ISIL or ISIS, whether it’s IRS, Benghazi, you can go right down the list and so it doesn’t foment faith in people to think that our administration’s on top of things when they’ve got such an abysmal track record.”

“This guy has a record of doing things from a political standpoint, whether it’s putting off the amnesty order he wants to do after the election, there’s a lot of things he does from a political standpoint,” he said. “The denial, you know, whether it’s guys jumping the fence at the White House and they’re saying their agents acted with restraint, the denial that comes out of this administration, I mean nobody getting fired. I don’t know if he’s playing golf, I don’t mean to totally disrespect the president :lol because he’s got his job to do, but I think he needs to sit up and take notice on some of these things.”

Weber said Obama must arrive at the “day when he finally wakes up and realizes he’s not the smartest man in the room on every topic of interest there is and he should listen.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rep-randy-weber-cant-trust-obama-ebola-because-benghazi

holy fuck, you redneck Texans RILLY RILLY RILLY elect pure dumbasses

and yeah, dubya and dickhead had great "credibility non-gap" for being on top of things like OBL attacking US soil! :lol

I mean, I don't wanna disrespect those guys, because they had a lot of tax cutting, Iraq invasion planning, and vacationing to do. :lol

[boutons_deux]

GOPer Ernst Backed Arresting Feds Over Obamacare In 2012 Survey

State Sen. Joni Ernst, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Iowa, once said she would support legislation that would allow "local law enforcement to arrest federal officials attempting to implement" Obamacare.

Ernst voiced her support for that, as well as supporting legislation that would "nullify" Obamacare in a Iowa State Legislative Candidates survey for Ron Paul's libertarian-aligned Campaign for Liberty in 2012. It can be viewed here (http://www.campaignforliberty.org/surveys/iowa-state-legislative-candidates/).

The question was: "Will you support legislation to nullify ObamaCare and authorize state and local law enforcement to arrest federal officials attempting to implement the unconstitutional health care scheme known as ObamaCare?"

Ernst answered that question as "yes."

Campaign for Liberty Communications Director Megan Stiles told TPM on Friday that the "yes" answer is what the group is looking for in candidates.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/joni-ernst-obamacare-arrest-law-enforcement

red states! :lol

[boutons_deux]

George senate candidate David Perdue told a local radio (http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/10/03/david-perdue-on-accusing-michelle-nunn-of-terrorist-ties-thats-what-it-says-in-their-plan/) station on Friday that his Democratic opponent Michelle Nunn may be associated with terrorist organizations though he later admitted that his campaign did not investigate the charge.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/10/04/3576086/georgia-senate-candidate-accuses-opponent-of-associating-with-terrorists/

[boutons_deux]

TEXAS! Rep. Randy Weber: Can't Trust Obama On Ebola Because Of Benghazi :lol

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rep-randy-weber-cant-trust-obama-ebola-because-benghazi#sthash.xLbAr27h.dpuf

[boutons_deux]

Ted Cruz Loses It Over SCOTUS Ruling: 'Judicial Activism At Its Worst'


Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) ripped into the Supreme Court for refusing to review (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-gay-marriage) the seven same-sex marriage cases before it on Monday, calling the move "judicial activism at its worst."

"The Supreme Court’s decision to let rulings by lower court judges stand that redefine marriage is both tragic and indefensible,” Cruz said in a statement (http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1777). “By refusing to rule if the States can define marriage, the Supreme Court is abdicating its duty to uphold the Constitution. The fact that the Supreme Court Justices, without providing any explanation whatsoever, have permitted lower courts to strike down so many state marriage laws is astonishing."

"This is judicial activism at its worst," he added, accusing the justices of "imposing their policy preferences to subvert the considered judgments of democratically elected legislatures."

Cruz argued that no language in the Constitution, nor the 14th Amendment, gives the court the authority to redefine marriage. He further vowed to introduce a constitutional amendment to bar both government and the courts from overturning state marriage laws.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-loses-it-scotus-gay-marriage?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

and

Ted Cruz Will Fix Constitution So Judges Can’t Gay Us Anymore (http://wonkette.com/562637/ted-cruz-will-fix-constitution-so-judges-cant-gay-us-anymore)

Cruz will try to amend the Constitution so that the judiciary will no longer be allowed to interpret the Constitution. We like to think even Antonin Scalia managed to force a smile to crack open that cast-iron frying pan he calls his face when he read about Cruz’s plan. Assuming that crabby barrel of spite is capable of even a fleeting moment of joy.

http://wonkette.com/562637/ted-cruz-will-fix-constitution-so-judges-cant-gay-us-anymore

Thanks, TX Repugs! All y'all got a real dickhead for UNITED STATES SENATOR

[boutons_deux]

scumbag Repugs!

GOP’s Newest Fun Campaign Prop: Veterans’ Graves

http://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Cramer-Ad.jpg

Sometimes, when a candidate loves his country very much, the higher purpose of serving that country and the great men and women — the heroes! — requires him to overlook petty things like rules. Consider North Dakota congressweasel Kevin Cramer, (http://watchdog.org/175335/north-dakota-11/) who cares so much about honoring the veterans that he didn’t bother asking for permission to film this campaign ad in the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery in Mandan:

If he had bothered to ask permission, he’d have been denied, according to North Dakota National Guard spokesman August Honeyman. When political blog Watchdog.org asked whether filming political ads was allowed in in the cemetery, Honeyman said, “The answer is no, they cannot do it … We never got a call asking permission.”

http://wonkette.com/562659/gops-newest-fun-campaign-prop-veterans-graves

[boutons_deux]

http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs14/014129-mcconnell-mitch-100714.jpg

Mitch McConnell Is the Cancer of the U.S. Senate

http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-N.jpgever before in our history has the U.S Senate been as unproductive as the U.S. Senate post-2008. Even the staunchly obstructionist Republicans during FDR’s tenure got more done than our current Senate. Most Americans, by and large, regardless of party affiliation, agree that we need more jobs (http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/186877-senate-blocks-obamas-447-billion-jobs-plan); that veterans need better healthcare (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/republicans-va-funding_b_5395698.html); that the current minimum wage is insufficient (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/04/30/senate-republicans-block-minimum-wage-increase-bill/); that our infrastructure could use some upgrading (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-11-03/obama-infrastructure-bill/51063852/1); that politicians are too beholden to their benefactors (http://www.occupy.com/article/united-republic-poll-72-americans-want-anti-corruption-laws-and-money-out-politics); and that there’s too much bickering instead of legislating (http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140717/ARTICLE/140719495/1131). One man has continuously denied the necessary progress to the American people out of sheer political bitterness, and that one man alone can take all the credit for the complete lack of action on all of those fronts – Mitch McConnell.

Mitch McConnell is the shittiest Senator in the history of Washington. And there are numbers to back that up.

Since he became the Republican leader in the Senate, McConnell has filed more than a quarter of all cloture motions ever filed (http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/cloture_motions/clotureCounts.htm) as long as the Senate has existed.

To put that in perspective, this means McConnell, in just his most recent term, is responsible for over 25 percent of all the Senate filibusters since 1787.

McConnell is literally a cancerous tumor on the Senate, collecting a six-figure paycheck while depleting all hope of progress as long as he’s in office.

On the flip side, McConnell is quite productive if you’re willing to write him a fat check. One week after Amgen, a pharmaceutical multinational, hosted a fundraiser (http://politicalpartytime.org/party/34028/) for McConnell in December of 2012, one of their lobbyists, who was in charge of monitoring the “fiscal cliff” negotiations, wrote a $3,000 check to McConnell’s campaign. By the time the negotiations were finished, McConnell had secured a $500 million Christmas present for Amgen (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/us/medicare-pricing-delay-is-political-win-for-amgen-drug-maker.html?hp&_r=0) that came directly out of Medicare. But even that wasn’t McConnell’s foulest moment of corruption.

This past July, McConnell took time out of his busy day to have a breakfast date with Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta Airlines, in the exclusive Senate dining room. Just a day after the breakfast, Anderson and his wife wrote over $10,000 worth of checks to McConnell’s campaign (http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/mitch-mcconnell-treats-executive-to-breakfast-in-capitol-big-donation-follows-20140820). McConnell’s spokespeople of course denied the allegations that McConnell solicited the donations in the Senate dining room, which would be a felony.

Nevertheless, the donations to McConnell’s campaign could be easily interpreted as a quid pro quo in a relationship where McConnell will likely return the favor by continuing to block closing unfair corporate tax loopholes (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/06/06/2116181/senate-gop-puts-corporate-tax-loopholes-over-student-loans/) that cost U.S. taxpayers billions each year. Delta Airlines has used an accounting loophole called “deferral,” which allows them to carry their losses forward for several years. This means that despite making billions in profit, Delta Airlines pays $0 in taxes on those profits (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-21/why-delta-with-huge-profits-wont-pay-taxes-for-years), and is likely to continue dodging all U.S. income taxes for several more years, at least. If McConnell keeps his job after November, the tax dodging will continue, as will the checks Delta’s CEO writes to McConnell’s campaign.

Mitch McConnell’s position as a politician who puts out depending on how much you’re willing to put in is a far cry from what he used to stand for. Ironically, McConnell used to be a proponent of full disclosure when it came to campaign donations several decades ago (http://www.reid.senate.gov/press_releases/2014-09-09-reid-remarks-on-banning-dark-money-in-politics).

“What we ought to do is eliminate the political action committee contributions, because those are the ones that raise the specter of undue influence. And those can be gone tomorrow. We can pass a bill tomorrow to take care of that problem,” McConnell was quoted saying in 1987.

"We Republicans have put together a responsible and Constitutional campaign reform agenda. It would restrict the power of special interest PACS, stop the flow of all soft money, keep wealthy individuals from buying public office," McConnell said in 1988.

Now, McConnell is the personification of the insidious culture that exists among Washington politicians and their big donors. Thanks to Lauren Windsor’s surreptitiously-recorded audio (http://ladylibertine.net/2014/08/26/mmky/) of McConnell’s address at a Koch Brothers-funded gathering of GOP politicians and corporate oligarchs this past summer, the Senate minority leader’s deference to big money is well-documented. McConnell, who has received over $41,000 from Koch Industries (http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cid=N00003389&cycle=2014&type=I&newMem=N&recs=100) in this campaign cycle, shamelessly genuflected to the oil barons in front of the entire audience, acknowledging their role in keeping the Republican Party well-funded.

“I want to start by thanking you, Charles and David [Koch], for the important work you’re doing,” McConnell said. “I don’t know where we’d be without you.”

...

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/26275-focus-mitch-mcconnell-is-the-cancer-of-the-us-senate
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/26275-focus-mitch-mcconnell-is-the-cancer-of-the-us-senate

As always, thanks, Repugs!

[boutons_deux]

GOP’s Georgia mess worsens: David Perdue “proud” of career spent outsourcing


http://media.salon.com/2014/10/david_perdue2.jpg


The Republican Business Robot, David Perdue,apparently went on the record some years back describing (http://www.salon.com/2014/10/06/gops_outsourcing_mess_in_georgia_could_this_juicy_ piece_of_oppo_be_david_perdues_undoing/) how he’s spent “most of [his] career” outsourcing. This was in response to a direct question asking him, “Can you describe your experience with outsourcing?” It’s unambiguous and it reinforces the central attacks (http://www.salon.com/2014/10/06/gops_outsourcing_mess_in_georgia_could_this_juicy_ piece_of_oppo_be_david_perdues_undoing/) on both Perdue and Republican economic priorities. It is the sort of thing on which a late-stage move can be made.

We wondered how Perdue would try to wriggle out of this one, and the answer is… he’s not, really. Asked how he’d “defend” his comments in the deposition yesterday, Perdue responded, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/06/david-perdue-senate-_n_5941668.html) “Defend it? I’m proud of it.” Did you see that part about how David Perdue is “proud” of his record outsourcing? Make another 10000000 ads of that.

Perdue is going all-in on defending the sacred spirit of outsourcing, and how all the complaints and literature about it over the years misunderstand the process.

“This is a part of American business, part of any business. Outsourcing is the procurement of products and services to help your business run. People do that all day.”

Perdue attempted to draw a distinction between the federal government’s policies and his own decisions as head of the company.

“I think the issue that people get confused about is the loss of jobs,” he said. “This is because of bad government policies: tax policy, regulation, even compliance requirements. It puts us at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world. Even today, right now this administration has policies going on that are decimating industries today.”


Outsourcing: it’s the American way — everybody does it! But not everyone, like David Perdue did as a management consultant, helped apparel companies relocate their manufacturing operations to countries with cheap labor and poor regulatory standards. The most creatively David Perdue can think, given his background, is to reduce wages, standards and regulations to better bring the United States workplace in line with that of Malaysia.

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/07/gops_georgia_mess_worsens_david_perdue_proud_of_ca reer_spent_outsourcing/

yes, it's the govt's fault that forced Perdue to help destroy 100s or 1000s of American jobs, esp low-wage redneck jobs.

[DarrinS]

Does anyone read these articles posted by boutons_copy_paste_bot?

[TheSanityAnnex]

Does anyone read these articles posted by boutons_copy_paste_bot?
You'd be hard pressed to find another thread on the Internet displaying the madness of the OP.

[boutons_deux]

I appreciate all y'all right wingers' reticence to be bitch slapped by reading about all the PURE SHIT your Repug/tea baggers visit on the country, including on their own voters.

[DarrinS]

I appreciate all y'all right wingers' reticence to be bitch slapped by reading about all the PURE SHIT your Repug/tea baggers visit on the country, including on their own voters.



Lol, dingbat

[boutons_deux]

Tom Cotton: ISIL Working With Mexican Drug Cartels To Attack Arkansas


http://a3.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/fzywg2ny9frmc0zbdfy7.jpg

Tom Cotton has a new theory that melds Islamic State terrorists, Mexican drug cartels and illegal immigration into a fiery ball of paranoia.

In a recent tele-town hall, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate attacked Sen. Mark Pryor (D) as weak on national security, telling constituents that Muslim extremists from ISIL are working with Mexican drug cartels to infiltrate the U.S. border and attack Arkansans, as first reported by the Washington Post's Greg Sargent (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/10/07/tom-cotton-terrorists-collaborating-with-mexican-drug-cartels-to-infiltrate-arkansas/).

"Groups like the Islamic State collaborate with drug cartels in Mexico who have clearly shown they're willing to expand outside the drug trade into human trafficking, and potentially even terrorism," Cotton said. "They could infiltrate our defenseless southern border and attack us right here in places like Arkansas. This is an urgent problem. And it's time we got serious about it.

And I'll be serious about it in the United States Senate." :lol

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/tom-cotton-isis-mexican-drug-cartels-illegal-immigration

Cotton could be right. St Ronnie and his gang of criminals certainly had great success working with Central American drug cartels

[boutons_deux]

Louie Gohmert: Obama thought ISIS beheading victim would die from climate change first


The Texas Republican said that it wasn’t surprising that the president was putting America at risk from Ebola because he believed that climate change was a bigger threat to the country.

“More deadly to this country than Ebola is climate change, more deadly than the Islamic state to [beheading victim] Thomas Foley is climate change,” Gohmert said. “So what you’re talking about being common sense in Washington, in the Washington area, is only sense.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/louie-gohmert-obama-thought-isis-beheading-victim-would-die-from-climate-change-first/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

AGW is a much bigger threat to USA than ISIS, my dear Louie, the turdbrains from Tyler TX.

[boutons_deux]

Louie Gohmert: Obama thought ISIS beheading victim would die from climate change first


The Texas Republican said that it wasn’t surprising that the president was putting America at risk from Ebola because he believed that climate change was a bigger threat to the country.

“More deadly to this country than Ebola is climate change, more deadly than the Islamic state to [beheading victim] Thomas Foley is climate change,” Gohmert said. “So what you’re talking about being common sense in Washington, in the Washington area, is only sense.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/louie-gohmert-obama-thought-isis-beheading-victim-would-die-from-climate-change-first/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

My dear xenophobe, Muslim-hating Louie (the turdbrain from Tyler TX), AGW is a much bigger threat to USA than ISIS.

[tlongII]

Rep urges White House to ‘come clean’ over Colombia prostitution scandal

A Republican congressman on Thursday urged the White House to "come clean" after claiming to have received "very credible and very specific allegations" that a member of the White House team was "intimately involved with a prostitute" while on assignment in Colombia for a presidential visit.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also questioned whether a double standard was at play, considering many Secret Service and military personnel were disciplined on that trip for seeing prostitutes and other inappropriate behavior.










"The White House needs to come clean," Chaffetz told Fox News. He separately has written a letter to White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough seeking "all documents" from a White House counsel internal review of the incident.

The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that the White House team member in question is Jonathan Dach, then a 25-year-old Yale student and volunteer on the advance team. His father, Leslie Dach, is a prolific Democratic donor and currently works in the Obama administration, in the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the Post, Jonathan Dach himself ironically now works, on contract, as an adviser in the State Department's Office on Global Women's Issues.

Chaffetz questioned how Dach has been treated, compared with other personnel who were disciplined -- calling it "offensive to the morale" of the Secret Service, which is facing a raft of controversies over everything from the Colombia scandal to recent security failures.

"The concern is that when it came to the White House and the White House taking care of its own personnel, a totally different standard," Chaffetz said. "And perhaps some misdirection and some cover-up to make sure that that story never saw the light of day before the 2012 elections."

Allegations that a member of the White House advance team may have been involved have surfaced before. And the White House has adamantly denied them.

After The Washington Post reported overnight that White House senior aides had information about these allegations and never thoroughly investigated them, White House spokesman Eric Schultz downplayed the claim.

"As was reported more than two years ago, the White House conducted an internal review that did not identify any inappropriate behavior on the part of the White House advance team," he said.

Schultz said the White House counsel asked the Secret Service for information at the time, which turned up a hotel log -- according to the Post, the log showed Dach had a woman registered to his room shortly after midnight on April 4, 2012.

But the White House previously has claimed the volunteer was wrongly implicated based on inaccurate hotel records.

Schultz also said "there was no White House interference with an IG investigation."

This was in response to an allegation from David Nieland, the lead investigator into the scandal who, according to the Post, told Senate aides that he was directed to delay the release of the report until after the 2012 election.

He reportedly said that he was instructed by his superiors in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general's office to "withhold and alter certain information in the report of investigation because it was potentially embarrassing to the administration."

Nearly two dozen Secret Service agents were disciplined or fired as part of the scandal, which began when Secret Service agents brought prostitutes into their hotel in Cartagena, Colombia ahead of President Obama's trip to the Summit of the Americas in April 2012. The Post reports that the Secret Service twice shared the findings of its own internal investigation with top White House officials, who concluded that the advance team member had done nothing wrong.

Charles Edwards, the Department of Homeland Security's acting inspector general at the time of the investigation, told the Senate staffers that any changes to the report were part of the editing process, a statement that was backed by Schultz.

"As the bipartisan Senate investigation found ... changes made to the IG Report were 'part of the ordinary process of editing the report' and found that allegations that changes were made because they were embarrassing could not be substantiated," Schultz said in a statement late Wednesday.

The Post reported that Dach repeatedly has denied bringing prostitutes to his hotel room. Prostitution is legal in parts of Colombia, including in Cartagena.

Richard Sauber, an attorney representing Dach, denied the allegations in a statement to Fox News and said his client was not even standing with the woman in question when she presumably put down her information in the hotel log. He said his client did not sign the paper with the woman's information on it.

"The allegations about any inappropriate conduct by Jonathan Dach in Cartagena are utterly and completely false. Anyone who knows Jonathan knows how ludicrous these allegations are," Sauber said.

"The Post bases its allegations almost exclusively on a hotel log with the name of a prostitute and a room number. Yet neither Jonathan Dach's name nor his signature appears on the hotel log or any piece of paper with a foreign national," he said.

The DHS inspector general's office conducted its own investigation into the scandal at the request of a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Nieland told staffers that Edwards had asked him to remove references to Dach in their report after Edwards had briefed then-Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano on the advance team member's possible involvement. A spokesman for Napolitano denied that she had asked for the report to be altered or delayed.

Nieland and two other members of the office later claimed that they were put on administrative leave for questioning the changes to the report, claims that The Post reports their superiors denied.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/09/investigator-says-was-told-to-delay-secret-service-prostitution-report-until/

[lefty]

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225735&page=25

[tlongII]

Senate math seems impossible to some Democrats


Washington (CNN) -- Four weeks away from the 2014 midterm elections and even some Democratic operatives struggle to imagine a scenario where they retain control of the U.S. Senate. The terrain and current momentum seem all but overwhelming and against them.

A new CNN/ORC poll out Thursday morning suggests a Republican lead over a Democratic incumbent, this time in Alaska, and does nothing to calm Democrats' nerves.

"If you put a gun to my head, I guess I'd say that we're going to lose the Senate," one Democratic consultant told me in a moment of anonymous candor.

It's not even so much that President Obama is an Ancient Mariner-esque Albatross around their necks, though he is.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/09/politics/senate-democrats-math-control/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[boutons_deux]

Conservative conference: Vote Christian or face ISIS beheadings and sodomy-based marriage

“Christians are being beheaded in the Middle East, Israel is being attacked from all sides,” the video says. “And back home, many of our religious freedoms are under severe legal restriction.” :lol

The video asks for voters to take a stand against the “wicked” :lol and against the “evildoers.” :lol

Some of those legal restrictions include the Bible being “banished from our public schools :lol and our public squares,” according to a description that’s included with the video.

And the iPledge Sunday website also points to (http://ipledgesunday2014.com/about-2/) abortion, court decisions on same-sex marriage, Common Core curriculum in the schools, and rules against pastors politicking from the pulpit.

“The bottom line: If the Church will rise up and vote, we can elect government leaders who will defend the unborn and the persecuted, support freedom of conscience :lol and speech, limit the role of the federal government in education, and appoint judges who support traditional marriage,” the website warns. “The choice is ours.”


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/conservative-conference-vote-christian-or-face-isis-beheadings-and-sodomy-based-marriage/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Fucking Christians, what a bunch assholes, iow, IDEAL Repug voters.

"freedom of conscience" code: We want to impose our morals and ethics ON YOUR CONSCIENCE.

[boutons_deux]

Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly: Obama allowing Ebola into US so we can become more like Africa


Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly thinks that President Obama wants Ebola on American soil so the U.S. can become more like Africa.

Schlafly made the assertion in an interview (http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/mystery-virus-found-where-illegal-alien-kids-sent/#Tpi5JI1JSAdGFyFz.99), flagged (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/phyllis-schlafly-obama-intentionally-bringing-ebola-make-america-more-africa) by Right Wing Watch, with far-right website WorldNetDaily. The interview centered on baseless right-wing claims (http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/10/08/conservatives-falsely-blame-undocumented-childr/201071)that migrant children from Central America are responsible for the outbreak of a respiratory virus in the U.S. Schlafly — who rose to prominence with her campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s — pinned the blame for Ebola and the respiratory virus squarely on Obama.

“Obama doesn’t want America to believe that we’re exceptional,” Schlafly asserted. “He wants us to be just like everybody else, and if Africa is suffering from Ebola, we ought to join the group and be suffering from it, too. That’s his attitude.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/09/conservative_activist_phyllis_schlafly_obama_allow ing_ebola_into_us_so_we_can_become_more_like_afric a/

[boutons_deux]

Scott Walker says $7.25 an hour is a living wage (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/08/1335139/-Scott-Walker-says-7-25-an-hour-is-a-living-wage)


http://images.dailykos.com/images/31152/large/Scott_Walker_Gage_Skidmore_3.jpg?1367864337


Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has treated the idea of raising his state's minimum wage with about the tact and seriousness you'd expect from a man who made his name attacking workers. Walker's administration has rejected the request of a group of low-wage workers to use an unusual Wisconsin law saying that the state's minimum wage has to be a living wage (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/24/1332135/-Low-wage-workers-say-Wisconsin-law-requires-Scott-Walker-to-raise-the-minimum-wage). The reasoning for refusing to raise the minimum wage? They'reclaiming $7.25 is a living wage (http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/walker-administration-denies-complaint-seeking-to-raise-minimum-wage-b99366456z1-278373931.html):


"The department has determined that there is no reasonable cause to believe that the wages paid to the complainants are not a living wage," Robert Rodriguez, administrator of DWD's Equal Rights Division, wrote in the denial letter.

No. Reasonable. Cause. Remember that $7.25 an hour is below the poverty threshold for a family of two. A minimum wage worker would have to work 81 hours a week (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/03/24/minimum-wage-rent-affordable-housing/6817639/) to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Wisconsin.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/08/1335139/-Scott-Walker-says-7-25-an-hour-is-a-living-wage?detail=email

Walker just got bitch slapped, his voter suppression I.D. law.

[boutons_deux]

GOP Candidate: Single Moms Are 'Automatically Democratic Because Of The Benefits'


New Jersey Republican Senate candidate Jeff Bell said Monday that he is unpopular among women voters because of a rise in single mothers who "need benefits to survive," the Asbury Park Press reported (http://www.app.com/story/news/politics/new-jersey/2014/10/09/bell-booker-gender-gap/16970885/).

Bell, who is lagging 20 points behind (http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/new-jersey/release-detail?ReleaseID=2089) incumbent Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) among women voters, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll, told APP that his socially conservative views are not to blame for the gender gap.

"I've done a lot of thinking about this and looked at a lot of different polls, I think it has more to do with the rise in single women," Bell said. "Single mothers particularly are automatically Democratic because of the benefits. They need benefits to survive, and so that kind of weds them to the Democratic Party."

Single women without children, Bell continued, are "also that way," while married women "aren't that different from married men. So it's really a problem with the decline in marriage rates. The Democrats do benefit from that."

It's true that unmarried women tend to favor (http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/stumbling-into-the-marriage-gap-110156.html) Democrats, while married women favor Republicans. And Democrats are fighting for a range of policies that they believe would particularly benefit women, such as equal pay laws, pregnancy discrimination laws, paid family leave, affordable childcare and universal birth control coverage.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/09/jeff-bell-single-moms_n_5960964.html

yeah, right, a huge majority of women voting has NOTHING to do with the Repug War On Women, is the brilliance you get from a Repug who "does a lot of thinking" :lol

[boutons_deux]

Colorado AG Candidate Promises Legal Fight To Seize America’s National Forests And Public Lands (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/10/3578488/colorado-ag-candidate-national-forests-public-lands/)

Colorado Republican attorney general candidate Cynthia Coffman can be seen telling supporters that she intends to lead a legal fight against the U.S. government to seize America’s national forests and public lands for state ownership and control.

The video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfHDxOMmkWk) appears to have been posted publicly by the Independent attorney general candidate David Williams in July. It shows Coffman describing her plan to attend the annualConference of Western Attorneys General (https://www.cwagweb.org/ParkCity/index.html) this summer with a “mission” to build support for taking over America’s public lands. Coffman says public land “has been taken from us” and that “it is time that the Western attorneys general join together and fought back against the federal government, and we took back that land.”

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/10/3578488/colorado-ag-candidate-national-forests-public-lands/

Nothing but the VRWC/Repug strategy to use the states, (state by state politicians easier, cheaper to buy than Congress), to loot and destroy America, for profit.

[tlongII]

Obama Hits a New Low for Leadership, With Criticism on ISIS & Immigration Alike


Barack Obama’s rating for strong leadership has dropped to a new low in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, hammered by criticism of his work on international crises and a stalled domestic agenda alike. With the midterm elections looming, Americans by a 10-point margin, 52-42 percent, see his presidency more as a failure than a success.

Just 38 percent now approve of Obama’s handling of international affairs, down 8 percentage points since July to a career low; 56 percent disapprove, a majority for the first time. Fifty-two percent say he’s been too cautious in dealing with Islamic insurgents in Iraq and Syria. And the public is ahead of Obama in support for a military response to that crisis, with 65 percent in favor of extending U.S. air strikes to Syria.
...

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/09/obama-hits-a-new-low-for-leadership-with-criticism-on-isis-immigration-alike/

[boutons_deux]

Obama Hits a New Low for Leadership, With Criticism on ISIS & Immigration Alike



http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/09/obama-hits-a-new-low-for-leadership-with-criticism-on-isis-immigration-alike/

The Repugs Break the Middle East, it's Obama's fault?

The Repugs OBSTRUCT EVERYTHING the Dems propose (House Repugs obstructed the passed bi-partisan Senate immigration bill), it's Obama's fault?

Americans are so fucking stupid, so disengaged from civil life and politics, just where the VRWC wants them so they are suckers, dupes for Repug/VRWC/right-wing hate media/corporate-media propaganda, lies, slander.

[boutons_deux]

Parent upset teacher not fired for attacking evolution, comparing public schools to Nazi death camps (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/ULByGFqETAI/)


A parent in North Carolina :lol is upset that a high school biology teacher who compared public education to Nazi death camps and attacked the theory of evolution will be allowed to continue teaching.

Krista Bennett, a parent of a senior at Fuquay-Varina High School, told the News & Observer (http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/10/4222238_fuquay-varina-teacher-who-compares.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1) that she’s disappointed with the Wake County Public School System’s decision not to fire Ray Fournier over an article he published in a home-schooling magazine.

In the article, Fournier wrote that the public school system (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/teachers-job-threatened-after-he-compares-his-school-to-lesbian-creating-concentration-camp/) was like “a concentration camp dedicated to the spiritual death of those imprisoned behind these walls.”

The biology teacher also complained about the teaching of evolution, claiming it discredited “the reliability of the Bible” :lol and got “rid of God as Creator,” :lol and he said public education could turn straight kids into gay kids.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/parent-upset-teacher-not-fired-for-attacking-evolution-comparing-public-schools-to-nazi-death-camps/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Confederacy! :lol

Repugs! :lol

Bible-thumpers! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday called for President Obama to nominate an Ebola "czar" to coordinate the administration’s response to the deadly virus.“I’d like to know who’s in charge,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” [...]

In the past, McCain had been critical of Obama's use of so-called "czars" to name lead officials on particular matters. In 2009, McCain tweeted that Obama had "more czars than the Romanovs — who ruled Russia for 3 centuries."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/13/1336301/-John-McCain-joins-Republican-demands-for-an-Ebola-czar?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

[spurraider21]

http://www.thelookingspoon.com/tlsimages/blog/2012/reelected_obama_inherits_a_mess.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Two guys who are ALWAYS FATALLY wrong, jerk each other off:

Dick Cheney: World More Dangerous Today Than Before 9/11

Dick Cheney: World More Dangerous Today Than Before 9/11 :lolhttp://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/dick-cheney-dangerous-world-911/2014/10/13/id/600381/?Dkt_nbr=12289-1&utm_source=Raw_story&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=542&utm_campaign=widgetphase2

and of course, the REPUG-BROKEN and REPUG-OWNED Middle East is The Magic Negro's fault :lol


Bill Kristol joins Twitter, greeted with joyous tidings of swears, suggestions about what he can do to himself
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/bill-kristol-joins-twitter-greeted-with-joyous-tidings-of-swears-suggestions-about-what-he-can-do-to-himself/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

:lol

McConnell Wants To Keep Obamacare 'Website' But Repeal Obamacare

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on Monday night he wants to repeal Obamacare "root and branch" but keep the law's state-based insurance exchange in Kentucky, called Kynect.

"I think it's fine to have a website. Yeah," :lol he said during the first and only scheduled Kentucky Senate debate with Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, pressed on whether he wants to keep Kynect.

Kynect is the portal which funnels the Obamacare subsidies that have insured some 500,000 Kentuckians in the last year on the private insurance market or Medicaid expansion.

Kynect is well-liked in the state even though Obamacare polls poorly. :lol

"The website can continue but in my view the best interests of the country would be achieved by pulling out Obamacare root and branch," McConnell said. He declared Kynect a "state exchange" and argued that the state of Kentucky "can continue it if they'd like to." He said Medicaid expansion was also "a state decision."

If Obamacare is repealed, then the federal subsidies for the coverage expansion would disappear and Kentucky would either have to strip that insurance for recent recipients or foot the large bill through the state's budget.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/mcconnell-grimes-debate-obamacare?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Maybe KY is as hilariously DUMB as their asshole Senator. :lol

[boutons_deux]

Republican Missouri official: I meant ‘no ill will’ calling Obama ‘our domestic enemy’

A local official in Jefferson County, Missouri was backtracking on Tuesday after remarks she made seemingly supporting a military coup against President Barack Obama were shared online.

On Friday, Progress Missouri posted a screenshot of Dunnegan’s post (http://www.progressmissouri.org/content/jeffco-recorder-asks-why-military-hasnt-ousted-obama-yet) directed toward friends who have served in the military.

“I cannot and do not understand why no action is being taken against our domestic enemy,” she wrote. “I know he is supposedly the commander in chief, but the constitution gives you authority. What am I missing?”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/republican-missouri-official-i-meant-no-ill-will-calling-obama-our-domestic-enemy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

If she were (a Missouri) black ...

[spurraider21]

Is climate change destabilizing Iraq?

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/06/isis_water_scarcity_is_climate_change_destabilizin g_iraq.html

:lmao

Why Air Pollution Is A Racial Issue (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3427918/why-air-pollution-is-a-racial-issue/)
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3427918/why-air-pollution-is-a-racial-issue/

:rollin

Colorado University Advises Students to Urinate, Vomit to Stop Rapists
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/colorado-college-advises-students-to-urinate-vomit-to-stop-rapists/

:lol

Female-named hurricanes kill more than male hurricanes because people don’t respect them
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/06/02/female-named-hurricanes-kill-more-than-male-because-people-dont-respect-them-study-finds/

:cry war on women

[boutons_deux]

The "Repug Rape Caucus", always good for re-run :lol

The Bangor Daily News reported (http://thetippingpoint.bangordailynews.com/2014/10/17/state-politics/rep-lockmans-rape-comments-at-issue-in-house-race/) on the mailers, noting that the statement made by Lockman is from a 1995 article (http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1914&dat=19951028&id=kqZGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yvMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4438,5394392) quoting the lawmaker.

“If a woman has the right to abortion, why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman?” Lockman said.

“At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t in most cases result in anyone’s death.”

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/10/17/maine-republican-apologized-comparing-abortion-rape/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

Hey, I raped her, but didn't kill her. What's the problem? :lol

[boutons_deux]

GOP Lawmaker: Congresswoman Will Lose Re-Election Because She Is ‘Ugly as Sin’

State Rep. Steve Vaillancourt (R) wrote in NH Insider a long post (http://www.nhinsider.com/rep-steve-vaillancourt/2014/10/10/if-looks-really-matter-where-does-that-leave-kustergarcia-ra.html) about how “looks matter in politics,” and so Kuster, who was first elected in 2012, will surely lose to her GOP opponent, Marilinda Garcia, who he says is “truly attractive.”

“Let’s be honest,” he wrote. “Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as ugly as sin? And I hope I haven’t offended sin.”

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/10/16/gop-lawmaker-congresswoman-will-lose-re-election-ugly-sin/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

"but we Repugs aren't ASSHOLES!" :lol

[spurraider21]

Is climate change destabilizing Iraq?



http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/06/isis_water_scarcity_is_climate_change_destabilizin g_iraq.html

:lmao

Why Air Pollution Is A Racial Issue (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3427918/why-air-pollution-is-a-racial-issue/)


http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3427918/why-air-pollution-is-a-racial-issue/

:rollin

Colorado University Advises Students to Urinate, Vomit to Stop Rapists


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/colorado-college-advises-students-to-urinate-vomit-to-stop-rapists/

:lol

Female-named hurricanes kill more than male hurricanes because people don’t respect them


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/06/02/female-named-hurricanes-kill-more-than-male-because-people-dont-respect-them-study-finds/

:cry war on women

[boutons_deux]

Congressional Candidate: Supreme Court Is Conspiring To Prevent Scott Walker From Becoming President (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/10/19/3581630/wisconsin-republicans-have-some-theories-about-voter-id/)http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/10/19/3581630/wisconsin-republicans-have-some-theories-about-voter-id/

[boutons_deux]

Ted Cruz: Obama’s surgeon general pick isn’t a ‘health professional’ because he’s ‘anti-gun’


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/ted-cruz-obamas-surgeon-general-pick-isnt-a-health-professional-because-hes-anti-gun/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[spurraider21]

Is climate change destabilizing Iraq?



http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/06/isis_water_scarcity_is_climate_change_destabilizin g_iraq.html

:lmao

Why Air Pollution Is A Racial Issue (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3427918/why-air-pollution-is-a-racial-issue/)


http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3427918/why-air-pollution-is-a-racial-issue/

:rollin

Colorado University Advises Students to Urinate, Vomit to Stop Rapists


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/colorado-college-advises-students-to-urinate-vomit-to-stop-rapists/

:lol

Female-named hurricanes kill more than male hurricanes because people don’t respect them


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/06/02/female-named-hurricanes-kill-more-than-male-because-people-dont-respect-them-study-finds/

:cry war on women

[boutons_deux]

Louisiana mayor who promised never to ‘embarrass this community’ arrested on child porn charges

The former mayor of Sorrento, Louisiana faces 40 counts of possession of child pornography after he was unable to dispose of the material while police were raiding his home, The Advocatereports (http://theadvocate.com/sports/10604181-32/former-sorrento-mayor-arrested-on).

investigators with a multiagency child pornography task force raided his home and discovered 40 videos depicting children between the ages of 3 and 14 engaged in sexual activities.

Longanecker, Jr. attempted to destroy the material while the investigators were collecting it, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office said, so he will also be charged with at least one count of obstruction of justice.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/louisiana-mayor-who-promised-never-to-embarrass-this-community-arrested-on-charges/

[boutons_deux]

Rep. Steve King: ‘I don’t expect to meet’ any gays in heaven
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/rep-steve-king-i-dont-expect-to-meet-any-gays-in-heaven/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

And the Bible-thumpers went wild!

[boutons_deux]

Fox News to young women: Don’t worry about voting, just focus on your Tinder profile

On Tuesday’s edition of “The Five,” Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle suggested that young women, who apparently lack important conservative wisdom, should just go ahead and excuse themselves (http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/10/21/right-wing-media-discourage-young-women-from-vo/201259) from voting in the midterms. According to Guilfoyle and her co-hosts, females of a certain age just “don’t get it,” which should probably disqualify them from serving on juries, or from exercising a crucial constitutional right they gained less than a century ago.

“It’s the same reason why young women on juries are not a good idea,” Guilfoyle said. “They don’t get it. They’re not in that same life experience of paying the bills, doing the mortgage, kids, community, crime, education, healthcare. They’re like healthy and hot and running around without a care in the world.”

According to Greg Gutfield, “with age comes wisdom” and “the older you get, the more conservative you get.” So the message is … women should only vote when they’re more likely to vote conservatively? Thus followed Guilfoyle’s logical conclusion to prevent young women from casting all those uninformed, naive, liberal votes:

“I just thank and excuse them so they can go back on Tinder or Match.com.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/22/fox_news_to_young_women_dont_worry_about_voting_ju st_focus_on_your_tinder_profile/

Fox, Repugs, right-wingers, tea baggers, ALL misogynists.

[spurraider21]

Is climate change destabilizing Iraq?



http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/06/isis_water_scarcity_is_climate_change_destabilizin g_iraq.html

:lmao

Why Air Pollution Is A Racial Issue (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3427918/why-air-pollution-is-a-racial-issue/)


http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/04/17/3427918/why-air-pollution-is-a-racial-issue/

:rollin

Colorado University Advises Students to Urinate, Vomit to Stop Rapists


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/colorado-college-advises-students-to-urinate-vomit-to-stop-rapists/

:lol

Female-named hurricanes kill more than male hurricanes because people don’t respect them


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/06/02/female-named-hurricanes-kill-more-than-male-because-people-dont-respect-them-study-finds/

:cry war on women

[boutons_deux]

are these DEMOCRATIC political/policy positions?

Sysria's revolt was stoked by a horrible drought and crop failures, eg, very possibly global warming

air pollution IS a racial issue since poor blacks and browns often live in cheap neighborhoods near factories, agriculture, where white's refuse to live, so they do suffer more than whites from air pollution .

[spurraider21]

'Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs.'
http://news.yahoo.com/hillary-clinton-says-businesses-don-t-create-jobs-155608850.html

[boutons_deux]

'Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs.'

http://news.yahoo.com/hillary-clinton-says-businesses-don-t-create-jobs-155608850.html

That's the kind of "video snipping" that Fox does to Obama. Snips one sentence out of speech, feeds it as red meat to the rabid assholes in their choir.

The overwhelming majority of job creation is by small businesses, not large corporations.

tax cuts and unemployment cuts, and austerity, don't create jobs. That conservative economists still say trickle down works is hilariously dishonest.

Exactly the same type of weak, typically dishonest shit the Repugs played with "You didn't build that". Works for the weak-minded/shit-for-brains right-wingers, but otherwise a total failure, as Bishop "Mr. 47%" Gecko found out.

[RandomGuy]

Ted Cruz: Obama’s surgeon general pick isn’t a ‘health professional’ because he’s ‘anti-gun’


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/ted-cruz-obamas-surgeon-general-pick-isnt-a-health-professional-because-hes-anti-gun/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Ted Cruz. SMH.

Symptomatic of the insanity in the OP title.

[boutons_deux]

GOP Senate Hopeful: "Less Than 2,000" Women Sued My Company For Pay Discrimination

Shortly after Perdue stepped down as Dollar General's CEO, hundreds of female managers sued the company for pay discrimination that allegedly took place during Perdue's tenure (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/georgia-senate-david-perdue-gender-pay-discrimination-lawsuit). Nunn's campaign (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTHlO7HSkLU&feature=youtu.be)and EMILY's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJaqpxrf-Sc) List (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EFpIkeFbJw) have both aired millions of dollars' worth of negative ads describing the class-action lawsuit. The moderator urged Perdue: "Talk to those women in particular."

Here's how Perdue responded (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9m6jnN4bko): "If you look at Dollar General as an example, there was no wrongdoing there," he said. "That lawsuit, or that claim, or that complaint was settled five years after I had left…And it was less than 2,000 people. We had upwards of 70,000 employees in that company."

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/10/gop-senate-hopeful-less-2000-women-sued-my-company-pay-discrimination

[boutons_deux]

Conservative dad threatens ‘sh*tstorm’ if daughter’s world history class includes Islam

An angry father has been banned from a Maryland high school’s campus after he made vague but ominous threats against the school because his daughter’s history homework mentioned the Islamic faith.

BayNet.com reported (http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/1014/parent-of-student-banned-from-la-plata-high-school.html) that La Plata High School in Charles County, Maryland has issued a No Trespass order after parent Kevin Wood — a former U.S. Marine — called the school and threatened to disrupt classes if his daughter’s world history class continued to study the religion and its impact on human history.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/conservative-dad-threatens-shtstorm-if-daughters-world-history-class-includes-islam/

you conservatives are really some crazy motherfuckers!

but but but

He's A Man because ... He's A Marine!

[boutons_deux]

GOP Fearmongering Jumps The Shark

But in the final days of the race, the GOP has rallied around another unifying theme:

Vote Republican, or you’re going to die.

That’s the basic message that many Republican candidates are pitching, to varying (http://www.nationalmemo.com/ebola-scott-brown-confuses-political-correctness-actual-correctness/) degrees (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/10/07/tom-cotton-terrorists-collaborating-with-mexican-drug-cartels-to-infiltrate-arkansas/) ofridiculousness (http://www.nationalmemo.com/week-crazy-dr-chaps-ruins-ice-bucket-challenge-rest-worst-right/2/).

“ISIS gaining ground.

Terrorists committing mass murder.

Ebola inside the U.S. Americans alarmed about national security.

What’s President Obama doing?

Making plans to bring terrorists from Guantánamo to our country.

Ignoring the Constitution, Congress, and the American people,” the narrator darkly warns over dramatic music.

“November 4th, Obama’s policies are on the ballot. Vote to keep terrorists off U.S. soil.

Vote Republican.”

According to the RNC, the ad will run in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Louisiana, and Virginia — almost every swing state that will decide which party controls the 114th Senate.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/watch-gop-fearmongering-jumps-shark/

Repugs running on their record, running on their policies! :lol

BE VERY AFRAID!

[boutons_deux]

Georgia GOP candidate blames Penn State sexual abuse on taking Bible out of schools

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/georgia-gop-candidate-blames-penn-state-sexual-abuse-on-taking-bible-out-of-schools/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

red state! Bible humpers! Confederacy! Hice!

[boutons_deux]

Scott Walker Campaign Ad Dismisses Equal Pay Protections For Women As ‘More Opportunity To Sue’ (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/10/29/3585912/scott-walker-ad-against-equal-pay/)


http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/KleefischAd-638x359.jpg

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), locked in a tight re-election battle (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/governor/wi/wisconsin_governor_walker_vs_burke-4099.html), has come under fire (http://elections.wispolitics.com/2014/10/greater-wisconsin-tv-ad-accuses-walker.html)during the campaign for repealing Wisconsin’s Equal Pay Enforcement Act in 2012. His response: a new television ad featuring his female lieutenant governor, dismissing the protections as nothing more than “more opportunity to sue.”

In 2009, Wisconsin enacted the enforcement law to give employees more power to challenge unfair pay practices in state courts, rather than having to go through the complicated and expensive federal judiciary. After its passage, Wisconsin women gained significant ground (http://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/taylor/pressreleases/Pages/Statement%20on%20the%20Repeal%20of%20Wisconsin's%2 0Pay%20Equity%20Law.aspx), according to supporters, rising in gender earnings parity (from 36th in the nation up to 24th), though they still earned an estimated $0.78 (http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/capitol-report/capitol-report-short-lived-pay-equity-law-appears-headed-for/article_ebe6f858-7a9c-11e1-903f-0019bb2963f4.html) for every dollar a man earned.

But, in 2012, Walker and the Republican-controlled state legislature repealed the protections (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/06/460038/scott-walker-gender-pay/). The state senator who pushed through the repeal (http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/related/proposals/sb202) explained at the time that women only earn less than men do because “money is more important for men (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/09/460917/wisconsin-state-senator-money-less-important-wome/).” Walker’s Democratic opponent, former Trek Bicycle executive and Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce Mary Burke, has vowed to reinstate the equal pay law.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/10/29/3585912/scott-walker-ad-against-equal-pay/

WI is the model state for VRWC/Kock Bros/ALEC war on 99% and environment.

Repug War on Women? :lol

[boutons_deux]

War on Women in Repug PA

Pennsylvania May Drop Birth Control Coverage For Thousands Of Low-Income Women (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/29/3585491/pennsylvania-family-planning-program/)

As the year draws to a close, women’s health advocates in Pennsylvania are concerned that the governor will allow a family planning program to lapse (http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/10/24/90-000-in-Pa-may-lose-women-s-health-coverage/stories/201410240037) without ensuring that low-income residents can maintain uninterrupted access to their birth control. An estimated 90,000 women are currently at risk of losing the free reproductive health coverage they get through that special Medicaid program (http://www.selectplanforwomen.com/), which is set to expire on December 31.

The program, called SelectPlan for Women (http://www.selectplanforwomen.com/), is essentially an experiment in putting Medicaid dollars toward women of reproductive age, hoping that preventing their unplanned pregnancies will ultimately lower health costs. The program offers (http://www.selectplanforwomen.com/what-services-are-covered/) birth control, emergency contraception, breast exams, Pap smears, and STD treatment at no cost to women whose incomes fall below 214 percent of the federal poverty line.

Since 2007, Pennsylvania has had a special waiver from the federal government to operate SelectPlan. But the waiver expires at the end of this year, and it’s not clear whether Gov. Tom Corbett (R) plans on applying for an extension. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/10/24/90-000-in-Pa-may-lose-women-s-health-coverage/stories/201410240037), women’s health groups in the state have been told to prepare for SelectPlan’s termination.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/29/3585491/pennsylvania-family-planning-program/

[boutons_deux]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/nbc_mtp_graham_putin_140720a-800x430.jpg

http://www.flag.com/prodimages/confederate-flag.jpg

“I’ve tried to help you with your tax status,” Graham can be heard saying.

“I’m sorry the government’s so f—ed up. If I get to be president, white men in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/lindsey-graham-white-men-in-male-only-clubs-will-do-great-if-im-president/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Confederacy, "old times there are not forgotten" :lol

War on n!gg@s? yep, "white men" clubs! :lol

War on Women? yep, "male-only" :lol

War on Poor? yep, "white men in male-only clubs" aren't free to join.

Repugs, politicians for ALL Americans! :lol

and the govt is "fucked up" in the sense that there's still some taxes on the wealthy white men and their businesses, and not enough taxes, yet, on the non-wealthy, non-white people, but Repugs are working hard to unfuck the govt (see Ryan's fucked up budgets that don't pass) :lol

[boutons_deux]

Governor Refuses To Say Why He Signed A Rape Gag Rule Into Law (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/10/29/3586097/governor-refuses-to-say-we-he-signed-a-rape-gag-rule-into-law/)
http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/AP557967063641-638x434.jpg

Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) repeatedly refused to answer questions about why he signed into law a budget that included a provision prohibiting (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/06/06/2112481/womens-health-attacks-ohio-budget/) state-funded rape crisis counselors from referring women to abortion services.

The measure, described by critics as “a gag rule,” also strips (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/01/us-usa-ohio-budget-idUSBRE96003A20130701) funding from Planned Parenthood, “blocks public hospitals from arranging transfer agreements with abortion clinics and requires abortion providers to provide ultra sounds on women seeking abortions,” Reuters reported. Clinics that do refer patients to abortion doctors will have their public funding suspended.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/10/29/3586097/governor-refuses-to-say-we-he-signed-a-rape-gag-rule-into-law/

... and we Repugs will do everything we can to punish you pregnant ladies, ESPECIALLY, MAINLY you poor ones, and SUPER ESPECIALLY you non-Euro-Americans, and your foetuses, newborns, to deny perinatal care, foodstamps, housing, etc, because, ggoddammitt, we are the PRO LIFE party, the party of the ALL-LOVING CHRIST!

[boutons_deux]

the abomination of judicial elections (ie, judges beholden to, owned by their donors)

Ohio Supreme Court Justice: Vote For Me Because ‘I Am A Republican’ Who Will Uphold GOP Laws (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/10/31/3587321/ohio-supreme-court-justice-vote-for-me-because-i-am-a-republican-who-will-uphold-gop-laws/)

“Whatever the governor does, whatever your state representative, your state senator does, whatever they do, we are the ones that will decide whether it is constitutional; we decide whether it’s lawful. We decide what it means, and we decide how to implement it in a given case.

“So, forget all those other votes if you don’t keep the Ohio Supreme Court conservative,” French said.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/10/31/3587321/ohio-supreme-court-justice-vote-for-me-because-i-am-a-republican-who-will-uphold-gop-laws/

then there's the appointed SCOTUS5, put on the bench to protect/enrich the VRWC/1% and fuck America and Americans

same as abomination of politicians rather than non-political commissions defining legislative districts.

America, you are so fucked, let me count the ways...

[Uriel]

Actually, global warming is the central issue of time, but the GOP's scientific illiteracy and denial of fact and reason is further compounding the problem.

[boutons_deux]

Ann Coulter tells Fox News: Democratic pro-women voters are ‘bottom 51 pecent in terms of IQ’
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/fox_ff_coulter_141102a-800x430.jpg

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/ann-coulter-tells-fox-news-democratic-pro-women-voters-are-bottom-51-pecent-in-terms-of-iq/

iow, more evidence for the Repug War on Women.

[boutons_deux]

Sharia Fell on Alabama

It is one of the great pillars of American democracy that ignoramuses and douchebags are able to propose and place before the people for a vote new laws which are either stupid, awful or in some cases merely ridiculous. Then the people, perhaps first agreeing to the proposition, see through the nonsense and vote the measure down, thus vindicating the great, silent non-jackass majority and reconfirming the virtuous cycle of democratic self-government.

Of course, the system does not always work perfectly.

Or rather the first part works better than the second. But here and there, you see a case like this one that is both comical and inspiring and redeems our confidence that the long arc of the moral universe bends toward wisdom rather than derp.

Just after discussing the rise of constitutional fishing movement (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/fundamental-right-to-fish), I was alerted to the fact that adding

fishing and hunting as rights enshrined in the constitution was getting a vote in Alabama as well as Mississippi. And if that weren't enough, Alabamians were also getting a chance to vote on barring the imposition of Sharia law in their state.

The ballot initiative is the work of Eric Johnston (http://www.aericjohnston.com/members.htm) of the Southeast Law Institute (http://www.southeastlawinstitute.org/index.asp) and state Sen.Gerald Allen (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/senate/senators/senatebios/sd021.html) (R - No Shit). An earlier amendment proposed by Allen to keep Sharia out of Alabama never got to the ballot because it explicitly evoked Sharia law and was considered demonstrably unconstitutional. This latest effort is more carefully written.

Where this gets interesting though is that quite a few of the people who you might think would be supporting this effort - conservative evangelicals - are standing up and saying,

'We know you're trying to appeal to people us and get us jazzed up about the threat to Christianity. But, no, this is a stupid idea and we'd like you to please go home.'

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/sharia-fell-on-alabama?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

fucking Confederate Christian Taliban dunces! :lol

and did all y'all see the AL slave descendants beat the MS slave descendants last night?

I remember a few years ago a coach saying blacks couldn't be quarterbacks 'cause they wuzn't smart enuff. :lol

[boutons_deux]

Laura Ingraham crosses the line from mean spirited to batshit cuckoo with suggestion that Ebola volunteers are props.

Should we be worried about Laura Ingraham’s sanity at this point? She’s been coming up with some doozies lately, like conspiracy theories about dark-skinned children crossing our borders in order to infect us with diseases.

Now, she is questioning the existence of health care workers.

This week, President Obama addressed (http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/president-obama-speaks-american-health-care-workers-fighting-ebola) the country’s response to Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, and was joined by several health care workers who have recently returned from relief operations and others who are about to embark on some. It’s worth noting that, after getting a slow start in Ebola response, Obama has been fairly exemplary in his leadership on the disease, heeding science (when did this become controversial? Ugghh, nevermind) and refusing to bow to hysteria. Witness his hug with nurse Nina Pham, who actually was diagnosed with Ebola and recovered, compared, say, with Chris Christie’s locking up a nurse who was NOT infected.

Also present was Dr. Kent Brantly, who became infected while volunteering in Liberia and was the first Ebola patient treated on American soil (http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/02/health/ebola-outbreak/index.html). Dr. Brantly, it somehow needs to be said, is a real person. Really.

But Ingraham thinks all these people may have been stunt doubles, questioning whether or not they were employees of the pro-Obama political group Organizing for America disguised in "white coats."

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/6-right-wing-disasters-week-bill-oreilly-drops-accidental-truth-bomb

[DarrinS]

the central issue of our time
the central issue of our time
the central issue of our time
the central issue of our time
the central issue of our time
the central issue of our time

[boutons_deux]

:lol right wingers have NO response when bitch slapped with their own side's insanities and inanities. :lol

[z0sa]

spam thread is spam

[boutons_deux]

spam thread is spam

ya got shit for brains

[z0sa]

ya got shit for brains

you spamming and never ever giving literally any conservative any credit proves it. not all conservatives are idiots, not all liberals are idiots either. at some point, we all need to meet in the middle and say, let's work around our differences and fuck over the establishment.

[boutons_deux]

you spamming and never ever giving literally any conservative any credit proves it. not all conservatives are idiots, not all liberals are idiots either. at some point, we all need to meet in the middle and say, let's work around our differences and fuck over the establishment.

no Repug politicians nor their enablers deserve credit. so fuck them all. While some conservative PEOPLE might be reasonable, they keep re-electing Repug assholes/destroyers, so they deserve all the shit I throw at them.

Repugs and tea baggers absolutely refuse compromise, have driven moderates out of Congress, have taken over statehouses with extreme right wingers, and have obstructed EVERYTHING the Dems have proposed since Jan 2009, and even much worse since Jan 2011. Why does ANY Repug deserve my credit?

[boutons_deux]

Newspaper Roots For Michael Grimm To Win Reelection Then Go To Prison

http://a1.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/j39ckj8zyh8c6szyoi44.jpg

One of New York's biggest newspapers wished for two things in an unusual political endorsement (http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/editorial-grimm-choice-article-1.1995032) this weekend: that Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) would win reelection and that he would then be convicted of a federal crime.

In an editorial headlined "Very Grimm choice," the New York Daily News quipped that the race for New York's 11th district was a bleak one. Grimm's Democratic challenger, the newspaper said, was an even worse choice than an incumbent who's been indicted on federal charges (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/michael-grimm-indicted) and recently threatened to toss a reporter off a balcony (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ny-representative-michael-grimm-italian).

"In Domenic Recchia, the Democrats have fielded a candidate so dumb, ill-informed, evasive and inarticulate that voting for a thuggish Republican who could wind up in a prison jumpsuit starts to make rational sense," the Daily News wrote. "At least Michael Grimm can string three sentences together."

The Daily News also saw an upside if Grimm ends up winning and then going to prison: a do-over.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/michael-grimm-daily-news-endorsement?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Semper fidelis to adolescent machismo! :lol Violence is ALWAYS the solution! 'murica, hell yeah!

[boutons_deux]

Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan Are So Scared Of Jon Stewart That They Won’t Go On The Daily Show

Is there any politician you really want to have on who hasn’t agreed to do the show?



No one, really.

It’s not that people don’t refuse all the time.

Like Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, they won’t come on.

We’ve asked them a million times.

Marco Rubio has been on a couple times. He generally likes to mix it up.

The truth is, I’m not particularly hankering for a conversation with those guys. :lol

I always find it interesting how guys come on this show and they soft-pedal their beliefs.

They’ve written a book called Liberals Will Fuck Your Dead Grandmother.

You ask, “Why would you write Liberals Will Fuck Your Dead Grandmother?”

“It’s not about that. We’re not that far apart.” Right.

But then why would you write that they’re necrophiliacs?

“Did I?”

They completely back away.

Jim DeMint writes a book that says, “This is a battle between socialism and free enterprise.”

He comes on the show: “Oh, so you want to get rid of Social Security?”

“No, that’s a great program.”

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/03/ted-cruz-paul-ryan-scared-jon-stewart-daily-show.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

[boutons_deux]

Theocrat And GOP Candidate Mike Peroutka Explains Jesus Is The Football For Your Rights

http://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/jesus-football.jpg

On this Election Day, Michael Peroutka — theocrat, (http://wonkette.com/544647/wingnut-constitution-expert-explains-how-teaching-evolution-makes-you-disloyal-to-america)neo-confederate, (http://wonkette.com/555925/racist-gop-county-council-candidate-cant-understand-why-everyone-is-so-mad-at-him-for-singing-dixie) and Republican candidate for county council (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2014/11/03/decision-day-for-michael-peroutka-and-republicans-in-maryland-tomorrow/) in Ann Arundel County in Maryland who has also flirted with the Constitution Party because CONSTITUTION — would just like to remind you (http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2014/11/rights-without-jesus-christ/) of the Reason for Election Season: It’s Jesus!

Just as you can’t win a game of football without your team possessing the ball, you can’t win Democracy without recognizing that all our rights come from Jesus, exactly like the Founders said precisely nowhere in the Constitution, but which is obvious because a slaveholding deist used the word “Creator” in a whole ‘nother document that does not actually have the force of law:


[If] we try to argue for our rights to life, or for our liberties, or for the right to be free in our pursuit of happiness — including our right to own and enjoy private property, and including our right to worship, and to speak freely, and to assemble, and to protect and defend ourselves and our family — and we try to make these arguments and defenses without acknowledging that their origin is a Divine one, we are trying to score without the ball.


Read more at http://wonkette.com/565254/theocrat-and-gop-candidate-mike-peroutka-explains-jesus-is-the-football-for-your-rights#pAguwcxrgf7Tk1ko.99

Jesus has done wonders for Tim Tebow's pro career! :lol

[boutons_deux]

And of course, an oldie but goodie:

Poll: Louisiana GOPers Unsure If Katrina Response Was Obama's Fault


http://a2.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/vdu5vb3xlwlwzyltglg8.jpg "Heckuva job, Brownie!" :lol

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-louisiana-gopers-unsure-if-katrina-response-was-obama-s-fault

[Spurminator]

Hey bouts, maybe take a break from posting and go vote?

[Uriel]

Gonna be so funny watching America crumble now that Republicans control the entire legislative branch of government. :lol

:lol America
:lol Electing people who want to impede social and economic progress
:lol Voting for the anti-science, anti-fact, anti-reason party
:lol Supporting anti-intellectualism
:lol World's "last remaining superpower"
:lmao America

[spurraider21]

Gonna be so funny watching America crumble now that Republicans control the entire legislative branch of government. :lol

:lol America
:lol Electing people who want to impede social and economic progress
:lol Voting for the anti-science, anti-fact, anti-reason party
:lol Supporting anti-intellectualism
:lol World's "last remaining superpower"
:lmao America
i'm not a GOP guy but you come off like you read Democrat talking points off flashcards tbh

[Uriel]

i'm not a GOP guy but you come off like you read Democrat talking points off flashcards tbh
I'm not ashamed of my liberalism. Read the comments section over at The New York Times. You'll basically get the same reactions.

[Uriel]

i'm not a GOP guy but you come off like you read Democrat talking points off flashcards tbh
Besides, everything I said is true. Republicans are the party that denies evolution, denies climate change, subscribes to a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible, and believes in the existence of the Judeo-Christian God. That's anti-science, anti-reason, and anti-intellectual. Don't you agree?

[Spurs 4 The Win]

i'm not a GOP guy but you come off like you read Democrat talking points off flashcards tbh

Dont talk to Uriel, he is a liberal troll and stereotypes everything from his high horse

[spurraider21]

Besides, everything I said is true. Republicans are the party that denies evolution, denies climate change, subscribes to a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible, and believes in the existence of the Judeo-Christian God. That's anti-science, anti-reason, and anti-intellectual. Don't you agree?
every democrat in congress believes in god, and outside of a few handful of jews they're all christians who believe in the judeo-christian god.

i dont think anti-evolution is on the official republican party platform though

[spurraider21]

I'm not ashamed of my liberalism. Read the comments section over at The New York Times. You'll basically get the same reactions.
its not about being ashamed of it. but you just parrot a lot of generic headline-esque talking points