Part three . . .

Here's the third in Chris Hayes's series on tea party politicians, who thinks there are four branches of government and that you can detect welfare fraud just by looking at who's getting help.

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Here's another . . .

Yes, indeed, lets not feed the poor . . . but keep giving me the farm subsidies that help make me rich.  Here's another of Chris Hayes tea party profiles:

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Republican right, not the brightest candles on the cake . . . .

Here's part of a series demonstrating that, indeed, the lunatics are running the asylum:

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Cruz, the Anti-Republican?

Increasingly I've been suspecting Ted Cruz of not being what he seems.  He's clearly a smart guy, with degrees from Princeton and Harvard.  So how can he be so ridiculously right-wing?  Maybe he's not!  Perhaps he has developed a very clever plan to destroy the Republican party from within by pushing their irrational views to their logical conclusion!  That would even make sense of his reading "Green Eggs and Ham" during his mock filibuster.  It is clearly about someone coming to like what they have insisted they didn't.  Perhaps that is his goal.  He has certainly shown that he is very good at getting the attention of the media.  Just a thought . . . .

The Big Lie . . .

I've increasingly come to see the Republican right as having mastered Hitler's concept of the  big lie--telling an outrageous lie so often and with such conviction that people come to believe it.  They claim to be pro-life, but everything points to them actually being pro-death.  They favor wars at the drop of a hat--like the war in Iraq that killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians.  (They're just Arabs and Muslims, so who cares?)  They favor capital punishment, which too often kills the innocent.  They favor no controls on guns and legal access to assault weapons so we can have mass shootings.  They favor no welfare programs that can protect the poor from starvation.  They don't want affordable health care that can keep people from dying needlessly.  They are very clearly pro-death.  Why is this so hard for people to see?  Because they have bought into the Big Lie!

Congressional Malpractice

What’s going on in Washington?  Why won’t the Democrats negotiate?  The simple fact is that the President is correct.  Republicans are attempting political extortion.  They lost the election in November because the public rejected their agenda.  Now they are trying to force that agenda down our throats by refusing to pass a simple continuing resolution to keep the government going without also attaching their failed agenda to it.  They are way out of line.  They are trying to subvert the political process.  And it is clear that a significant number of them really are enthusiastic about shutting down the government.  They simply don’t care how much harm they are doing, because they are intent on getting their way even though the majority of Americans don’t agree with them.  Negotiating with them is exactly the wrong thing to do. 

What can we do about it?  Unfortunately, not much.  But we can email them to let them know just how much we disagree with their actions.  If enough of us do this, maybe, just maybe, they will begin to realize that they are unlikely to win the next election.  And they certainly don’t deserve another term.  They have not done the job they were sent to Washington to do.  They have not made any serious attempt to deal with our problems, because they have been too busy playing politics.  The Senate passed a budget weeks ago.  They also passed an immigration reform bill.  But the House has chosen to not even consider these.  Instead they have spent their time making more than forty totally unnecessary and doomed to failure attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  We are paying these people very generous salaries that they have done nothing to earn.  We all need to let them know that this is unacceptable and that they will be held accountable.

Republican gerrymandering, again . . .

I've talked about it before, but it's worth taking another look at the way the Republicans have destroyed our democracy by making it far harder for a Democrat to be elected.  This is, without any doubt, totally against everything this country stands for.  Our electoral process is broken.  It has to be fixed.  Here are some statistics:

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Republican goal: shut the government down at any cost

It seems clear that the Republican party has wrecking the government as its ultimate goal.  Since taking control of the House of Representatives they have accomplished essentially nothing, on purpose.  They don't care who they hurt.  Bottom line?  They are out to destroy the country.  These people should never have been let near Congress, and we can only hope that in the next election they are all sent home.  Here's Rachel Maddow letting them tell us about their goal in their own words:

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How about exercising our second amendment rights . . .

Now that the Republicans in the House of Representatives have established beyond a reasonable doubt that they’re a bunch of thieves, liars, and ignoramuses, I, for one, wouldn’t be terribly upset if all the folks they’ve put out of work decided to drag them out into the streets and lynch them.  This sure looks like a good time for one of those armed insurrections the far right are so convinced the second amendment guarantees us the right to.  (said with my tongue only partly in cheek)

Republican hypocrisy . . .

Repeatedly Republicans have claimed people don't need Federal help, only to clamor for it themselves and their constituents.  It's okay if other people are hurting, but we're special . . .

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On Republicans . . .

I used to divide my votes fairly evenly between Democrats and Republicans.  I began to doubt the wisdom of that during the Cheney-Bush administration, with its foolish belief that warfare is good for the American economy and relentless push toward a Soviet-style police state.  

When Republicans nominated that nitwit Richard Mourdock for senator over Richard Lugar, I really began to suspect the party had lost its way.   

And with the more recent stupidity and obstructionism in Washington, it’s quite clear that the party no longer has anything whatsoever to offer most of the American people.  It has become the party of ignorance, prejudice, and privilege.  

 I’m a good bit less than happy with Obama’s policies, but he and his fellow Democrats are far more intelligent and concerned with doing the best for Americans than the Republicans currently in Washington.  I, for one, will never again vote for a Republican.   

What this country needs is a new conservative party that has no room for the extreme right. 

And the GOP thinks all sorts should have and carry guns

The NRA, partnering with the GOP, has managed over the past few months to make owning and carrying guns even easier for people that common sense suggests shouldn't be allowed access.  In some states this includes felons, child molesters, and even the blind.  They want them to be carried on playgrounds.  They also don't want police to destroy guns.  These people are flat out nuts.

Here's a look at some of these laws:

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Should the House be charged with ghost employment?

It seems to me that it's time we charged the members of the House of Representatives with ghost employment.  Instead of doing their job--dealing with immigration reform, fixing the problems created by the sequester, working to reduce unemployment, reduce the growing gap between rich and poor, and seeking solutions to all the problems facing this country--they are giving themselves extended vacations and repeatedly voting to repeal Obamacare.  They are NOT doing their jobs.  But they are continuing to accept their salaries.  That, from my perspective, constitutes ghost employment. They are not doing the work we are paying them to do.  And that is illegal.  They need to be reminded of this.  Write your members of the House and tell them what you think.

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The Radical Right--from the obnoxious to the ridiculous . . .

Now the radical right is advocating migrating to Russia.  If only they would.

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A GOP intent on self-destruction . . .

One can only wonder at the Republican party's continuing advocacy of views that, in the long run, can only increasingly marginalize them. Is it possible to create a conservative party that isn't hateful and exclusionary? Among the issues where they really need an attitude adjustment is that of racism. Here's the latest on that front:

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The rich get richer . . .

I've been quiet too long.  Let's take a look at just one of the major issues facing the country at the moment, the continuing concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands.  This is a predictable consequence of "trickle-down" economics.  Economies grow because those at the bottom and in the middle create demand by buying things, not because those at the top have money that could be used to produce things.

In any case, here's one take on the problem, from Chris Hayes:

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Republican disenfranchisement campaign marches on . . .

Well, they just keep at it. Here's an update on recent efforts by the Republicans to take away voting rights:

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Another look at Republic antirationality . . .

Here's a nice listing of Republican stands that simply make no sense: 

 http://www.forwardprogressives.com/the-republican-fight-against-reality/

GOP revisionist history . . .

Before we invaded Iraq, I was telling people what a bad idea it was and why, not that anyone listened. Bush, Rumsfeld, Chaney, and company were too determined to do it and were willing to tell lies to justify it. Someone in the media even reported at the time that there was a Republican position paper arguing that it was good for the US economy for us to be always at war. These people were fools then, and they're fools now.

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The GOP conspiracy . . .

If one looks at all the evidence, it is hard to resist the conclusion that the Republican party is out to destroy representative democracy in America.  They have absolutely no interest in fairly representing the desires of the majority of the American public.

One has only to look at the way their gerrymandering of Congressional districts has effectively robbed millions of Americans of their votes by requiring far more Democratic votes to elect a representative than Republican votes.  This has happened in state after state.  

And now they want to extend this to Presidential elections by basing Electoral College votes on the same unfair system.  

Then we have the matter of voter suppression, both by making it harder to register to vote and by making it harder to vote if registered, expecially if you are a Democrat or member of a minority.  

And finally we have the Michigan law effectively giving the governor dictatorial powers that allow him to take away the duly elected representative governments of millions of Michigan voters, again overwhelmingly minority voters. This was done even though the Michigan voters overwhelmingly voted against it.

This isn't even to mention the Citizen's United decision that gave corporations the right to try to buy elections.

Our republic is under attack from within.  The Republicans are determined to undermine the system to turn this into a one-party state and, if one looks carefully at the laws passed with Republican backing, a police state at that.  Further, it's a state that would be totally controlled by the wealthiest, and damn the rest of us.

What will it take to wake up enough of the American public to get them to turn the tables on these people and vote them all out of office??

More GOP Anti-Democracy

Michigan Republicans continue their path to dictatorship:

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Wealth in America . . .

How is wealth distributed in America today?  Unbelievably lopsidedly:

Once again, the deficit is NOT getting worse . . .

Here's another look at the state of the deficit:

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The latest on GOP election rigging . . .

Well, it looks as though the Republicans in Michigan and Pennsylvania haven't yet been sufficiently embarrassed by their plans to rig elections.  Here's the latest:

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/25/michigan-gop-backs-electoral-college-rigging-scheme/

And then there are the Michigan Republicans . . .

Perhaps nowhere in America are the Republicans so blatantly attacking democracy as in Michigan.  The governor as dictator:

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And on the women's rights front . . .

Indiana Republicans are now trying to double-up on those in Virginia:

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The latest on Republican election rigging . . .

Here's where we stand at the moment on the ongoing efforts by the Republican party to rig elections.  They are continuing, but the President is making sure the spotlight stays on them.

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The plunging deficit . . .

Once again Republicans have chosen to ignore, or pervert, the facts.  The deficit is rapidly shrinking:

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/13/16951837-a-conversation-ending-chart

On Gun Control . . .

Here's one citizen's view on gun control:  

 I see no reason why any private citizen needs to own a military assault weapon or the high-capacity magazines that go with them.  I urge that these be outlawed.  Certainly, stringent background checks are also required.  And it wouldn't hurt to require that those whose mental problems include threats of violence, particularly threats against the general public, be tracked in some manner.

I have nothing against gun ownership as such.  My first gun was a ninth birthday present, and at one time I owned over a dozen, but burglars stole most of them, which goes to emphasize the need for gun owners to be sure their weapons are kept in secure storage when not in use.  That, too, might be part of any gun control legislation. 

As Colin Powell recently reminded us, the actual wording of the second amendment is as follows: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”  He pointed out that it is clear from this that those who framed the amendment felt that it was necessary to regulate that militia, which undoubtedly includes regulating the types of armament available to them.  The amendment doesn't specify what types of armament the militia are allowed to keep, so without regulation, the general public would be free to own rocket launchers, atomic bombs, or any other kind of armament they can get their hands on.  I simply can't believe that any responsible member of Congress wants that. 

So, I have strongly urged my senators and representative to support legislation that puts meaningful controls on access to weapons, particularly those that might be used in massive assaults such as the school shootings that have become increasingly common in recent years but also taking into account the fact that handguns play a role in most gun-linked homicides.

And yes, I do have a military background, having served on active duty in the Pacific in the mid-1960s and retired with the rank of lieutenant commander from the U. S. Naval Reserve in 1979.

A little progress . . .

Maybe a growing bad press will stop the Republican plans for election rigging. Maybe . . .

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Another Republican vote rigging scheme . . .

Just like their gerrymandering efforts and plans to apply that to Presidential elections as well as elections to the House of Representatives, Republican voter ID laws and other voter suppression tactics are meant to rob Americans of their votes.  We need to fight them on every one of these fronts.

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Antirigging progress . . .

Maybe there's hope.  As the press shines light on Republican plans to rig elections so they can't lose, regardless of the popular vote, some appear to be backing down:

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Republican vote rigging, part VI

Here are some more details on the Republican plan to rig elections:

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/01/27/dem-vote-worth-three-fifths-of-gops-in-va-voting-rigging-scheme/

Another Republican perversion of the Constitution . . .

A filibuster system that requires a supermajority for any business to be conducted in the Senate is far from what was intended by our founding fathers:

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Rigging elections, part V

Surely the courts will find this kind of nonsense unconstitutional.  It is clearly designed to rob Democrats of their votes.

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Rigging elections, part IV

Here's another look at Republican plans to rig elections so the popular vote becomes meaningless:

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More on Republican theft of elections . . .

My recent blogs have dealt with the way in which the Republican stole control of the House of Representatives through gerrymandering--getting a significant majority of seats in several states while losing the popular vote. Now they're hoping to steal the Presidency in the same way. Here's the story: 

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