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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Welcome To The Revolution

 

Sinclair Lewis famously said, “when fascism comes to America, it’ll be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.”

It’ll be wrapped in the flag all right.

And toting a cross.

And wearing a powdered wig.

And probably waving a misspelled sign to boot, while singing Yankee Doodle Dandy and shooting bottle rockets out of its ass.

You know, every single time I write something like the previous post, Conservikazi, I get comments and messages from angry people telling me that I’m painting with too broad a brush, that I’m wrong, that they’re not really the insane frothy lunatics that I’ve made them out to be.

Typically, they then proceed to act exactly like insane frothy lunatics.

On the Conservikazi post, a commenter calling himself Daniel Belef showed up to tell me I was wrong, that extremists like him are reasonable folks, patriots one and all, with the blood of the Founders surging red, white, and blue in their veins. I let him make a couple of increasingly insane frothy posts before I shut him down. In his final published comment, in less than a paragraph, this “reasonable” self-identified American patriot called me a: dumb fuck, a dumb shit, a coward, a fuckhead, a joke, dipshit, a racist, a slavemaster, an asshole, a dipshit again, and an asswipe. He also, predictably, couldn’t help but engage in the usual conservative tactic of swiftboating my military service – and the best part of that was his concept of how the military actually works, it being pretty obvious that he, like most of these raging libertarian hard-ons, has never himself served a single day in his miserable life. But that’s another essay altogether (in his next comment, which I didn’t publish, he demanded that I join the military so I could learn proper American values. Yep).

The real takeaway, however, and the reason I mention it, was this priceless gem:

Im telling you, that THIS is how America was formed, by SUICIDAL people doing what they thought need to be done you fuckhead. [sic]

America, Folks, it was formed by suicidal people.

You know, that just might explain a few things. In fact, it might explain a lot of things. But I digress.

Okay, Jim, sure, I hear you say in that concerned tone you use when you think I might be attempting to plot a curve from one point. Obnoxious Dan The Frothy Crazy Man is obviously the kind of guy who wears his underpants on the outside and spends a lot of time shouting at passing cars, sure, but he’s just one commenter.

Yeah. I wish.

Here’s a nice bit of conservative wit from another commenter I didn’t allow to post:

2016! coutn your days libtard traiter pussys. 2016. the 2nd AMERICAN REVOLUTION is coming then all communist nigger muzzie lovers are going to HANG! 2016. Kill yourself!

Man, it makes your heart go all pitter patter, doesn’t it? Libtard traitor pussies. Communist nigger muzzie lovers. Why, it’s just like hearing the educated erudite words of Benjamin Franklin himself. Makes you want to stand up and sing God Bless America!

The Second American Revolution, forsooth.  The Second American Revolution.

One wonders if this new America will also be formed by suicidal people?

It also makes you wonder if they couldn’t maybe just put their pistol barrels into their own mouths first, before their little revolution, and save us all a bunch of trouble. But I suppose that would be too much to ask.

So, anyway, where was I? Oh yes, libtard traitor pussies.

Okay, Okay, Jim, settle down, I hear you say in that placating tone you use when you’re afraid that I might just be right but you don’t want to believe it. So, that’s two, or maybe three or four or five given that I just read the rest of the comments under that post. But hey, did you ever think that it’s you? That maybe you attract these daffy nutters? Maybe that’s your magical superpower, you ever think of that?

As a matter of fact, I have.

However…

Meet David Marsters, Republican running for selectman in Sabbatus, Maine.  Dave seems like a nice conservative candidate for office from a nice conservative New England town, on the high end of middle-aged, grey hair, twinkling eyes, winning smile.

Last month he posted a picture of President Obama on his Facebook page with the caption “Shoot the nigger.”

Isn’t that sweet?

Isn’t it great that we live in a country where a guy running for public office in the 21st Century can post something like that without a shred of shame? God bless America.

Needless to say, Marsters made the Bangor Daily News and thus earned himself a visit from the Secret Service. He was outraged, of course, because what God fearing, Jesus loving, all American patriot wouldn’t be, right?

He took to Facebook again to protest his persecution:

“They [The Secret Service] didn’t see no pictures of Obama with bullet holes in his head. It’s not a threatening statement in my opinion. People take it out of context as a threat. I didn’t say I was going to shoot the president or kill. Shoot the nigger. Shoot the nigger, that’s what I said. I’m pissed off at the system, OK? We’re about to lose our benefits because of this asshole.”

Boy, there’s the guy you want for town selectman, right? Oh, and he’s a Birther too, just in case you couldn’t figure that part out for yourself. (Of course, it being rural Maine, Marsters probably is exactly the guy they want for selectman. I used to live there, rural Maine isn’t exactly a hotbed of diversity).

People took it out of context. Shoot the nigger, that’s what Marsters said, but it’s not a threatening statement.

Which of course makes you wonder in exactly what context “shoot the nigger” isn’t a threatening statement? Cleavon Little’s use of the phrase in Blazing Saddles was the only thing that comes to mind, but in retrospect that was a threat too, so you’ve got me.

Marsters defended his use of the racial slur, by saying he would have called Mitt Romney the same thing:

“I would say, ‘Shoot the nigger’ because white people are niggers, too.”

Marsters said that back in Massachusetts where he comes from, black people call white people “nigger,” so it’s not really a racist thing, more like a universal label to describe all people you fear and hate and despise and want to see shot dead.

That’s right, using a vile racist slur for black people to label white people you don’t like in order to equate them to black people who you see as less than wholly American specifically because of skin color and perceived culture is totally not racist. It’s also totally not ignorant. Or an asshole thing to do. It’s also fairly useless as an insult unless you do, in point of fact, intend the word to be offensive and obnoxious in the extreme. That’s sort of the whole point.

Marsters’ idiotic excuse doesn’t make use of the term less racist, it makes it even more so.

You may, if you like, insert a liberal socialist Nazi facepalm here.

I’m sure after the glorious Second American Revolution, David Marsters will be remembered right up there with Thomas Jefferson and George Washington in the patriotic annals of patriotic American patriotism.

Hopefully future generations won’t quote him out of context like they do Ben Franklin.

And speaking of the revolution, have you met “The People’s Prosecutor” yet?

No?

Well then, you’re in for a libertarian treat:

…the great usurper, Barack Hussein Obama, after having been indicted by an Ocala, Florida citizens’ grand jury, was convicted by a people’s court of defrauding the American people and Floridians by proffering them with a fake birth certificate. See www.citizensgrandjury.com. As readers of this column and www.wnd.com know too well, Obama is not a natural born citizen…

Readers of World Net Daily.

World Net Daily, one of the angry anonymous commenters under the aforementioned Conservikazi post used World Net Daily as a reference. I laughed so hard, I blew beer through my nose. World Net Daily. Talk about a waste of good beer.

I didn’t know this, but apparently in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, you can just get a bunch of your big-bellied white-haired flag-waving libertarian pals together, convene a made-up court complete with pretend judges and fake prosecutors and make-believe “witnesses” and convict anybody you like (I picture this “citizen’s court” as a bunch of overweight senior citizens in a powdered wigs sitting on milk crates behind plastic lawn tables in a garage somewhere, with Lee Greenwood playing in the background).

Oh yes, and when fascism comes to America, it’ll no doubt have a copy of World Net Daily tucked under one flabby white arm.

The above “court” was convened by one Larry Klayman. 

According to his website, Klayman founded Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch (ironic misnomers if ever there was one) and he claims that he once obtained a court ruling proving that Bill Clinton committed a crime (supposedly “the first lawyer ever to have done so against an American president”) . Klayman once ran for the Senate as a Florida republican (because, obviously, right?), he didn’t make it past the primaries.

I suppose it goes without saying that he’s a weekly columnist for World Net Daily.

He also claims to have been the inspiration for the Tea Party Movement.

 

I’ll just pause for a moment so you can savor the frothy libertarian Tea Party patriot that is Larry Klayman.

 

Earlier this month, Klayman penned a piece entitled “Obama, come out with your hands up” in which he called for all true Americans to rise up in insurrection against the government and to send Obama to “72 Virgins.”

Klayman says he’s not really calling for violence per se but, on the other hand, it’s important that Obama knows that he and his buddies mean business.  And how exactly Obama is supposed to receive his virginal reward without being killed first, Klayman leaves as an exercise for the reader. Wink, wink.

According to Klayman’s article, he’d already convened his little “people’s court,” and when President Obama did not in fact accept the Tea Party’s gracious offer to “get off his knees and come out with his hands up” and be lynched, Klayman then declared a conviction in absentia.

His proclamation, posted on RenewAmerica (basically a clearing house for all things Obama Derangement Syndrome, supported in part by the likes of Alan Keyes), goes on to say:

The day of reckoning has come. Obama, having failed to plead in response to the indictment that was served upon him, waived his right to a jury trial. […] As a result, the citizens’ judge found him guilty on two counts of falsifying information to federal and state election officials. He was thus sentenced to the maximum prison term for these offenses of 10 years, and ordered to immediately surrender himself into the custody of the citizens of the United States and Florida.

Gather your torches and pitchforks, folks! To the castle!

Because that’s how we do it in America.

Rule of law? We don’t need no stinkin’ laws! People’s court! Mob rule! To the castle! To the castle!

You know, every time I lately hear the phrase “we the people,” I feel like Tonto in that old Lone Ranger joke: what you mean we, White Man? 

Seriously, did I miss the meeting? You know, the one where we, all three hundred million of us the American people, all got together and decided to lynch the president? Because last time I remember polling we the people, well, we reelected President Obama. So, what does Klayman mean when he’s says “we?”. 

How come whenever Tea Partiers say “we the people,” the people they’re referring to are limited to themselves and their angry pinch-faced friends and the rest of us people don’t count? Why is that?

These people keep using the word “Constitution,” frankly, given the evidence, I don’t think the word means what they think it means.

And honestly, did I also miss an election? Who exactly appointed these Tea Party dolts to speak for me?

Of course, Obama will not willingly obey the law of the people.  He will attempt to hide behind the iron fences of the White House, perhaps cowering under his desk for fear that the people will rise up and demand his ouster.

You want to guess what fantasy Klayman dreams about each night? Telling, that line, isn’t it?

Obama won’t willingly obey some bullshit court of delusional old white hairs from Florida? Geez, you think? Rather than cowering under his desk, I suspect Obama will get a good chuckle at the Tea Party’s expense … and then go golfing. I sure hope so, the guy could use a little down time about now.

Then, to bring this libertarian wet dream home, here’s the money shot:

On November 19, 2013, […] I call upon millions of Americans who have been appalled and disgusted by Obama’s criminality – his Muslim, socialist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-white, pro-illegal immigrant, pro-radical gay and lesbian agenda – among other outrages, to descend on Washington, D.C., en masse, and demand that he leave town and resign from office if he does not want to face prison time.

And there it is.

Revolution.

They couldn’t win legally in the courts.

They couldn’t win politically at the polls.

They couldn’t win constitutionally in the legislature.

They couldn’t win the hearts and minds of the public despite their claims of “we the people.”

So they’ve decided on overthrow of the government.

I forget, who are the criminals again? Who was it that believes in the Constitution?

Klayman mentions Gandhi, Paine, Reagan, and Kennedy.  He calls for those “singularly severely harmed” by President Obama to rally in Lafayette Park across from the White House and “give testimony” to their misery. He calls Republicans “inert and castrated” for their inability to overthrow the government without his, Klayman’s, personal help. He opines that Russia is the leading world power under an evil “communist KGB leader Vladimir Putin” while the US is a mere shell of it’s former glory.

Our Founding Fathers pledged their sacred honor, fortunes, and lives to form a new nation under God […] the nation has come full circle to the tyranny that has been imposed by a new despot, one far more evil than King George III. King George III may have been a greedy “control freak,” but at least he was a Christian.

But the Tea Party, they’re not bigots, they’re not racists. It’s not about skin color. It’s not about religion.

Isn’t that what they keep telling us?

In the words of one of our great Founding Fathers and an architect of our Constitution, “we must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Deal!

These seditious suicidal lunatics can all hang together or they can all hang separately – or they can go hang themselves – I’m good either way.

I mean they can hardly complain if I convene a people’s court right here on Stonekettle Station and pack it with folks just like me. I’ll convict Klayman and his band of nutters all of treason in absentia when they fail to appear before me.  And then we can hunt them down with a rope in hand.

That’s the world the Tea Party wants to live in, right?

That’s exactly what these frothy lunatics are demanding. Mob rule. No Constitution, well not no Constitution per se, but rather a Constitution that only applies to “real” Americans – with the Tea Party deciding who qualifies. No rule of law, or rather the kind of law where the mob decides. Vigilante justice. No more long drawn out trials, no more pesky proof or forensic evidence, no more innocent until proven guilty.  We’ll have summary executions and public hangings just like in the old libertarian West. But instead of executing people for horse thievery, we’ll hang them for their political beliefs.  So it’ll be more like Bosnia than the Old American West, but hey, whatever. We’ll have stocks in the town square and maybe some public floggings. How about some public slut shaming. Scarlet letters. No more diversity, Christian white people rule and everybody knows their place as God intended, eh?

Get the townsfolk together boys, we’ll have a “fair” trial and a fine hanging! Shoot the nigger!

Forgive me, but at this point I’m having a hard time seeing the difference between Klayman’s Kangaroo court and a mob of fundamentalist Muslims stoning a rape victim to death or a group of Puritan Christians burning suspected witches at the stake – or, for that matter, a mob of Southern rednecks circa 1930 lynching a black man in his own front yard while the crowd cheers them on.

But then again all religious fanatics look pretty much the same to me.

As I sit here today, and watch these same conservative Tea Party fanatics blow up the government and push us ever closer to national suicide, I can’t help but think that if these people really want to convince me that I’m painting with too broad a brush, they’re not doing a very good job of it.

I’ve seen the world these people think they want to live in.

And I want nothing to do with it.

140 comments:

  1. Thank you for bringing sanity and levity to my otherwise surreal and depressing day. I am a federal worker and just watched most of my coworkers go home without pay because a bunch of lunactics have hijacked the Legislative Branch and are holding the entire country hostage until they get their way. I thought it was a dream but when I pinched myself I didn't wake up.

    I consider myself fortunate because my position is paid through non-appropriated funds, therefore I get to stay on the job (when I will be paid again is another story). I'm really tired of federal workers being a punching bag for the right. We've had to deal with shutdown threats every few months for the past few years, we've been called names, have been the subject of much misinformation (no, we are not "exempt" from any laws), and now we are actually shut down. I'd stay and rant some more but I have work to do.

    Thanks again, Jim, for being a voice of reason.

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  2. I wonder what the tipping point will be, beyond which these violence-advocating yahoos will be treated like members of the "sovereign citizen" movement? Will they actually have to personally try to overthrow the government with armed resistance, or is it enough that they advocate such an overthrow? I'm fully as tired as you are of these toxic clowns, and for all of the same reasons. - a former Marine

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  3. Obama turned me into a newt!

    ...I got better.

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    1. I hope not a Gingrich Newt- those are the crazy kind.

      I wonder why CNN insists on giving Newt air time to talk, he was the one responsible for two previous stoppages in the 90's, so he's far from a voice of reason on this particular subject.

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    2. Newt still hasn't gotten any better, but I'm willing to bet he does float. Also he is definitely heavier than a duck.

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    3. Hats off to you, my friend. That was the best comment in the history of comments, lol!

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    4. *snerk*

      Still have your eyes intact?

      (note: being silly)

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  4. "...but at this point, but I’m having a hard time seeing the difference between klayman’s Kangaroo court and a mob of fundamentalist Muslims stoning a rape victim to death – or a group of Puritan Christians burning suspected witches at the stake."

    This! Thankfully we still have a government to uphold the rights that we the people earned through the efforts of our forebears and which some of us still wish to maintain. Is there any question that is places with no effective government or a theocratic one that folks like klayman would live out their version of "real American" porn? Theirs is truly the kind of "patriotism" that is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

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  5. Sad that this is not *NOT* in any way hyperbole. I've been trying to screen out the noise of the political clown show recently because I have some serious work I need to tend to, but no, the tantrum throwers will not let anyone ignore it. Step one. Real campaign finance reform. Step two. redistricting reform - no more undemocratic gerrymandering. Problem solved, let them disappear up their own asses in their backwoods holdouts.

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    1. I just wish that in order to do the things you recommend, it didn't have to pass through the legislators that would be affected by the changes. It would be nearly impossible to get a state or Federal legislator, however stupid and vain, to cut off his gravy train or reverse redistricting if that was the horse he/she rode in on.

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  6. Thank you. This is the best condemnation of the frothing insanity of the Tea Party that I've seen yet.

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  7. >whew< YUP! That about covers it. I should have bought stock in Reynolds Aluminum. Here come the party hats!

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  8. Though I've not heard them talk the way those you mention do, I do know several of these nut cakes! I could expound on how they act and what they say, but you do so much better a job of it. BTW, many of them are living well on Federal pensions...since they're not "active" military, I guess they won't get paid right away. I wonder what they will say about that? Of course, it will be our President's fault. That goes without saying.

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    1. Goodness! I read ...living well in Federal prisons...eyes are seeing what they want to see I guess. Too bad I misread it, sorta like all those repubs "misspeak" so many times :)

      Thanks, Jim, for this excellent rant. It is truly appreciated. I read about Klayman earlier and was disgusted and sad that any American would feel this way.

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  9. I think the folks we elect as our representatives in the government are a reflection of who we are as a culture. There wouldn't be a Tea Party anything if there wasn't a culture of ignorant, angry, bitter white bigots out there. We hear and see and read their vitriol in every form of media. For every one you know about, there must be dozens or hundreds, perhaps thousands you don't hear about because you aren't one of them. For every one of those, there bust be hundreds or thousands more who sympathize but don't necessarily "join up" with the movement. This, oddly, gives me hope.

    Their angry talk about revolution and taking back the country identifies them as what they are. I don't remember where I picked up the phrase, but I'm fond of the Rule of Triple-A....Assholes Always Advertise. Let 'm get out there and rant. Let 'm work each other up into a frothy fever. And let them revolt. Let them take that step into anarchy, sedition and treason. If they succeed, maybe the thinking folks of the country are wrong. I doubt it severely, but let 'm have their chance at a Second Revolution. Hell, I'd actually LIKE to see a state try to secede. Why would I like to see chaos, potential for great loss of life and property and a threat against the existence of our country?

    Shit like this needs to come to a head. You aren't going to make these people happy. You aren't going to make them go away by proving you are right. The headpoint gets reached one of two ways. The first is proving to be less likely each day... generational attrition. As the older, more bitter, more vocal types die off there isn't anyone to take up their mantle. We've already seen that isn't happening, so what's the other? Let them advertise how criminally minded they are and let real justice come down on them with both feet. When they make those first violent moves, they refuse their rights under law and become criminals, and can be treated as such. Put 'm in prison. Take 'm down if they prefer to go down in a blaze of glory. Either way, let them make their stand so they don't become our own version of the IRA.

    I'd love to know if anyone has a better idea of how to purge our culture of these pustules, but letting them hang themselves by their own rope works for me until something better comes along.

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    1. I live in an area of the country dominated by these types of people. What I find interesting is that the Tea Party/KKK types seem to thrive in areas where there is little mixing of race and culture. But the "others" are there. And they are becoming more numerous. As people get to know other people, and see that each is treating the other with respect (harder to be disrespectful to someone's face, after all), hearts and minds can be changed. I sincerely hope it happens this way; we don't need 600,000 casualties from another Civil War.

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    2. I'm of the opinion that if a state wants to secede, we should let them... AFTER they've repaid the federal government any back taxes they owe, and have bought from the United States all equipment and infrastructure in their borders that is owned or being operated by some branch of the federal government. With the exception of Texas and a few other donor states, most red states wouldn't be able to afford this frankly reasonable price of freedom.

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    3. I agree. I was so upset this morning, but while driving work I thought that maybe it was best that the shutdown happens because it's the only way the critical mass is going to see how evil and destructive these vampires are. Lord knows the MainSlime Media do not provide any meaningful context; they instead proffer air time and make them the new bright shiny objects and utter their "both sides" BS. So America needs to see beyond what the media has been presenting.

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    4. On the other hand, that coming-to-a-head thing kind of already happened (at least) once, in the 1860s, and boy, it's a good thing that once that was over, it was all behind us and those issues never troubled us again, right?

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    5. Most people who dream about secession in some way depend on federal benefits: Social Security, VA, Medicare, etc. Politicians such as Rick Perry know that and toy with secession to pander to the base, but they don't really mean it.

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    6. Scott, you are almost right. Governments that hold and thrive are those that reflect the culture of the people governed. The culture of the USA is diverse, our people encompass every culture of the modern world, and some of the cultures of the ancient.
      Our diversity is our strength, and within it the seeds of our weakensses.

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  10. Mr. Wright, I think your comments are very well stated. What I think the problem with these people is that they have narrowed their viewpoint out of fear. They are afraid of those "different" than themselves, and fear that in a world where conservative white Christians are a minority, they will be treated as they historically have treated the "others". This is sad-if they could overcome fear, they would find out that few are as vindictive as they are. (Oh, and BTW, no witches were burned at Salem. Those condemned to death were hung; one man was pressed to death as they tried to get a confession. I know. I'm a direct descendant of Anne Foster, one of the "witches".)

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    1. They haven't narrowed their viewpoing out of fear. They are feeding off of it and using it to work themselves up. Without fear they would have no one to blame for their lot in life.

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  11. I think we need to find you an illustrator (like the one on 'Straight Dope', but Bloom County in style). When I read this line

    "I picture this “citizen’s court” as a bunch of overweight senior citizens in a powdered wigs sitting on milk crates behind plastic lawn tables in a garage somewhere"

    I pictured something out of a Bloom County strip. I wonder if Berke Breathed is available.

    If only Milo and Opus were here...

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    1. I volunteer. I have ~6 years' experience as a cartoonist.

      https://sites.google.com/site/frontier2170
      http://kireikasumi.deviantart.com/

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    2. Oh Sean, what a wonderful idea. I love that Mangaka2170 has volunteered, he has a sharp style, if not as loopy as Bloom County or Underworld. I can picture the "citizen's court" Bloom County style.

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  12. You just caint fix stupid can you?

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  13. I found you via Facebook. After reading your column...

    1. Thank you for your service to your country.
    2. Wow. Just....wow.

    With all of this blowing up, I can't help but think Aaron Sorkin was right...

    The Tea Party = The American Taliban

    Just terrifying.

    And here's another touch of irony...Election Day in 2013 is on November 5th.

    "Remember, remember, the Fifth of November...."

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  14. Just a minor point, but if he called you a "slavemaster", he may have been more right than you would like to believe.
    Do you own stock? I do, through mutual funds.
    The Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision reaffirms that "corporations are people, too, my friend".
    Therefor, you & I partially own people.
    Yes, the Supremes have made slave owners of us all.

    Bruce

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  15. I want an illustration of a liberal socialist Nazi facepalm. Or a gif.

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  16. They firmly believe that should they get their wish and society unravels at the seams and we live in a self-governed and self-policied state that somehow they would be at the top of the food chain. I believe this would not be the case and they'd be the first to be eaten.

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    1. Given the size of their guts, as they ride around on their mobility scooters, I'd think they'd be a little greasy.

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    2. Many of them are quite well armed. And some show little reluctance to kill.

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  17. Thanks for taking the brunt of the ire from those who are two beers short of a six pack Jim.

    Reading through your post I was especially tickled with the section about Mr Klayman and his special citizens court. One part in particular caught my eye and caused me pause. The quote from his site:

    "On November 19, 2013, […] I call upon millions of Americans who have been appalled and disgusted by Obama’s criminality – his Muslim, socialist anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-white, pro-illegal immigrant, pro-radical gay and lesbian agenda –"

    Can one really be Muslim AND socialist at the same time? I understand one is a religious belief and another a political belief, but i just don't see those two belief systems getting along. Or is that just me? Or maybe Klayman was just throwing out all the ugly un-American sayings he has in his list of insults.

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    1. Or, for that matter, Muslim and pro-radical gay and lesbian, since Islam condemns homosexuality about as feverishly as Christianity does (so, it depends on which flavor of your religion you belong to).

      The thing I think is ironic to say the least is that sharia law is exactly the sort of thing these people want, but they're against it because a group of people they don't like practice it. Actually, this seems to be the case with a lot of things these people want...

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    2. They frequently use phrases such as "Nazi commie liberal fascist". I am sorry that I am unable to properly misspell that, but you get the idea. They have no idea what these terms actually mean, they just know thems are bad.

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    3. It seems either they are playing some Conservative Name-calling game and they get bonus word scores for the most catch words and phrases they can chain into a comment or some Right Wing Think tank is putting them up to post nonsense and they pay by the word.

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    4. Mad libs, with extra emphasis on the "mad".

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    5. Whoops missed the Muslim pro-gay mix there. Thanks Mangaka2170, you get triple points. I need to get my conflicting ideology Bingo card out when I read their posts just to keep up.

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    6. I tend to think it's all just dog whistles....these haters are just covering all their bases to get every possible insulting, abusive thing listed to offend as many people as possible. Ya know....blah-blah-blah....

      Elsie

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  18. Can anybody tell me what the significance is of November 19? Is it some sort of anniversary?

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    1. My brother's and a good friend's birthdays, other than that, haven't a clue?

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    2. I'll be at Sutter's Fort (Sacramento, CA) with a class of 4th graders. I'll be running the wood-fired bake oven (yummy bread, cinnamon rolls, & cookies!) for them. And it will be the day after my birthday. Other than that, I don't know what significance could be attached to the day.

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    3. My guess is it is the day of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but make your own choice.

      http://www.historyorb.com/events/november/19

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    4. 1863 - Lincoln delivers his address in Gettysburg; "4 score & 7 years..."
      1919 - US Senate rejects (55-39) Treaty of Versailles & League of Nations
      1932 - Shaft & Thyssen demand Hitler become German chancellor
      1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
      1965 - Kellogg's Pop Tarts pastries created
      1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

      Life as we know it....

      Delete
    5. I knew it! I knew they were after my Pop Tarts!

      Delete
  19. If this were the old days in the Colonies, these people would be the Southern Tories.

    And the real revolutionaries? Perhaps they are us. Because the Second Civil War is surely upon us.

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  20. Well said. You speak for a lot of us. It is time to have some of these extremists answer for the sedition they are perpetrating. They can hide behind the 1st Amendment and call on the 2nd Amendment, but in the end they must answer for the crime of inciting Americans against their legitimate government.

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  21. "King George III may have been a greedy “control freak,” but at least he was a Christian."

    Holy. Freaking. Crap. Well, that just sums it up right there, doesn't it?

    Oh, and by the way: I think you misspelled "annals" up there. I think, in the context, it should only have one "n."

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  22. The Gloves Are Off - November 19, 1863 was when Lincoln delivered his address at Gettysburg.

    I think there's no small sense of irony that that address ends with the proclamation that "...government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." yet I think they mean a government of their people.

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  23. I get a lot of stuff from the Right Wing Watch feed on my Live Journal. When I read some of the stuff these people come out with, I find myself flip-flopping between not wanting to live on the same planet of these people, and being convinced that I already don't. I also sometimes wish I had lots of spare cash so I could buy lots of dictionaries. They would have to be nice big, heavy ones, of course, so they could be dual-purpose. If they can't be persuaded to look up the meanings of some of the words they bandy about in the dictionaries, then said volumes would make a nice, satisfying thunk (or possibly hollow thunk) when they are slapped upside the head with them.

    Keep on writing Jim, keep on writing. Can we get you on the radio or TV too?

    And thank you for your public service. The more time the frothy wingnuts are foaming into your inbox, the less time they have to do harm elsewhere. The EPA should be paying you for this service.... oh, wait...

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  24. Cancel my subscription to the revolution.

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  25. GUILTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I accept my duty on the jury!

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  26. The interesting thing I have always found in my discussions with this group is that it seems not a one of them has actually read the Constitution. Certainly not the whole thing from beginning to end. I had one guy who kept saying Obama wasn't doing his Constitutional duty because he hadn't proposed a budget in his years in office. When I pointed out to him that it wasn't the president's responsibility but that of the congress and that if he actually read the entire constitution he would find no mention of that he finally shut up about it. Never said he was wrong, mind you, he just stopped talking about it. I had another who swore that nowhere in the constitution were blacks (i.e. Slaves) said to only equal 3/5 of anyone else. Nowhere! That is until I quoted him the actual paragraph on that minor issue of the times. I can't figure out if they are all illiterate, whether they purposely misread anything they want to or, oh yeah they actually never read any of it because they cheated on those tests in school about it.

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    Replies
    1. Actually Daniel, the President does propose a budget-in fact there is a White House Budget Office. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget
      Also : http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/a11_current_year/s15.pdf
      Obama's budgets have been defeated every year with no votes for them from Democrats or Republicans.
      http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/may/16/obama-budget-defeated-99-0-senate/

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    2. ethiessen1,

      President does propose a budget-in fact there is a White House Budget Office.

      That's true, but it's not a Constitutional requirement. It's just something that we've gotten into the habit of doing relatively recently.

      Delete
    3. As Jim said, the president has the option to present a budget, but nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the president must present one. And since my comment specifically was about how they don't actually read the Constitution I think I'm still pretty much on the money. And thanks, Jim.

      Delete
    4. It's not a Constitutional requirement, it's a legislative requirement, first dreamed up by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921. Codified in excruciating detail in US Code 31 USC § 1105.

      But I agree -- people who claim to worship the Constitution seem to be pretty darn fuzzy on what's actually there. I had someone today insist that exempting Congress from Obamacare violates the 28th Amendment and therefore Obama should be impeached.

      Delete
  27. These people are Christians, democrats, Constitution and Bible lovers...IN NAME ONLY!!

    As soon as Christianity, democracy, Constitution or the Bible doesn't go their way, they simply ignore it...

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    Replies
    1. Oh my??? CHristians in Name Only??? Does that make them CHINOS?

      Delete
    2. No, dungarees, with the emphasis on the dung.

      Delete
    3. Unintentional nasal lavage. My keyboard thanks you. No, maybe it doesn't.

      Delete
    4. My first laugh-out-loud moment of the day. Thank you to all three of you!

      Delete
  28. Awwssssummmm!! Tear it down MOTHERFUCKERS!! These mouth breathing, knuckle dragging 'children left behind' pray for the destruction of the federal gov't. Sure, shut down the parliament of whores! Throw out all the gov't employees sucking on the tit of the taxpayer's largess! All we need to get by is Old Glory and the cross of Jesus!

    OK. Let's give that a try. I spent much of 1990 in and offshore of Liberia while that country descended into anarchy, social and economic breakdown, and uncontrolled mass murder, rape and mutilation by Chuck Taylor's rebel "army" gaining control of the country. The population starved. Hundreds of bodies littered the country side, capital streets, airport, etc. One big killing field of drug and tribal fueled violence. Our ships offshore passed sharks nibbling on many headless corpses washed downstream.

    Jim says that some readers push back that "things just can't be that bad." I'm here to tell you how bad it can become when societies unravel. Good order and discipline disappears when police and army choose to defend their own families over the public. Regional commerce comes to a stop. Food runs out, disease takes hold and then some charismatic nutcase can gain power by appealing to the basest urges of human cruelty.

    Will the US ever get to the point that a Tea Party rebel army marches on DC, and the new boss assumes the Presidency while consuming pieces cut off of the incumbent? Probably not. But, what the fuck do these idiots actually want in crippling critical gov't functions and support services? Gov't shutdown and debt limit failure do not equate with an African civil war. But, it's a good first step.

    Some of my family are preppers and gun nuts. Spending more on hoarding guns and ammo than on food. They hate the President. They hate the ACA and everything else that the Muslim, Commy, Nazi black man has done. They would rather see the whole gov't stop running than any success by Obama and Dems. They think that all they need to be able to do is defend there own small patch of property. At least until the tinned food runs out and it starts to snow. And the phones, TV and internet die. And people start murdering each other for tins of dog food.

    Are we destined for a Mad Max future? Probably not 'destined'. But we could get closer by error and the active, growing, uncorrected stupidity of low information Americans. They have gone from noise, to nuisance to becoming an actual danger to the republic. I am fully behind these "rebel" morans test firing their precious piece of freedom by looking down the pointy end to make sure it works. Sort of a 'self-cleaning' Tea Party. Nuf said - Tommy D

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  29. Jim -- A Forest Dweller thanked you for your public service. Public service is not always performed in uniform -- although you've been there and done that. It's not always done through elected office -- and our Congress doesn't seem to be serving anybody at the moment. Sometimes public service is done by challenging your fellow citizens to think. Thanks to you (and all of your thoughtful contributors) for that.

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    1. Well said, Parrothead.

      ***
      I thought about responding here with a brief little "Ditto", but I didn't want to be mistaken for a "dittohead". Ugh.

      Additionally, is it my imagination, or has there been less media coverage recently of the spewing vitriol of ol' Rush?

      Elsie

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    2. These days Elsie ol' Rush is starting to look tame. There are far more extreme people for the media to feature as the Big Bowl O' Crazy du jour.

      Carmen T

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  30. Thanks, Jim, for taking one (actually, lots and lots) for Team Sanity. I don't know how you put up with all the 'frothing insanity' that gets pitched your way. I still don't know what came over me after reading an article on Real Clear Politics, but I unwisely decided to make a comment (or two) on an article about Obamacare. Just state my case, I thought. Make a few valid, logical points, I figures. Ha! Next thing I know I was being called a libtard feminatzi and told to go "frig my leathery **** in front of my Obummer posters." And that was one of the nicer replies....You just can't reason with most of these people and their response is to tell you to go "drink more of the Kool-aide" or once they realize you are a woman, make remarks about either being loose or a lesbian. I don't know how you wade knee deep in this crapola on a daily basis and still manage to come out with a post that makes me laugh out loud! I find myself wishing they'd storm the white house with pitchforks and torches just so the secret service could relieve us of a few.

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  31. I’ve seen the world these people think they want to live in. And I want nothing to do with it.

    Indeed. These insular yahoos have never been exposed to a place where rule of thug is the law, where blood in the gutters is a regular occurrence and bullets a common cause of death. Otherwise they wouldn't be welcoming that as the future of America. They don't read, they've never been stationed overseas in the world's hellholes, their only experience with violence is watching fictional dramas on TV and that's fiction, real life isn't like that at all or else people would be vomiting on their living room floors due to nausea caused by exposure to the reality in those kinds of hellholes. Especially if we had smell-o-vision. I think a nice ripe carcass would send them into such a state that they'd stroke out or have a massive heart attack on the spot.

    But these people have never smelled a ripe carcass. Never, Otherwise they wouldn't be inviting it as the future of America. Yes, I too have no desire to live in the nation these people want to live in. I've smelled it. Nevermind seen it. And it's not a smell I want to smell again.

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    Replies
    1. Amen. And you know, BT, that is not a word that often crosses my lips.

      Delete
  32. The Revolution will not be televised.

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  33. Thank You Jim! You showed yet again that the Tea Party idiots are just the flip side of Al-Qaeda. They want the same thing – government shutdown, subservient women and mob violence. They are really anarchists, so why don’t they say so?

    I do not understand why they dislike Obama. He is for the 1%, just like all the Presidents from Regan to the present day. Skin color does not matter. The stimulus was all for Wall Street – not for the working stiffs.

    Lawmaking in Washington (and in most of the States) has become a PR function. Nothing changes and everything gets worse for the 99%. The Right Wing will not fix this. The Left Wing will not fix this. Only reasonable compromise will work. Reasonable is a swear word in the isles of power – so I will not hold my breath for any movement towards a solution.

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  34. Melissa, it took me a while to learn to refrain from trying to engage asshats using logic, truth, or facts. Seeing as these people are living in a self-created reality, I am done feeding their delusional fantasies by acknowledging to any degree that it exists outside their own twisted little minds. I'm with you; I don't know how Jim wades through the nutjob pasture. Probably armed with a pitchfork of his own, tossing the mouth-breathing trolls back under the bridge from which they crawled. Hypocritical, hate-filled, heartless stupidity for stupidity's sake. Holy Jeebus, most of these morons can't even compose a proper sentence and they think they know better than the rest of us what this country needs?? And when someone calls them on their bullshit, they either become rabid or they softpedal their actions-"oh, I didn't mean someone should SHOOT the president; sorry if YOU took it the wrong way". (Because of course everything is our fault, useless libtards that we are.) I'm going to search for a picture of David Marsters to put on my Facebook page so I can label it "Shoot the Asshole".
    Jim, you can count on me for the People's Court of Stonekettle Station. I will certainly travel for that one; just the thought fills me with unbridled joy.
    Excellent post-what you said.
    Pam in PA

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    1. I don't know how Jim wades through the nutjob pasture. Probably armed with a pitchfork

      Not a pitchfork, a thick tip Sharpie marker as described in Unreasonable People.

      Delete
  35. This government shut down is exactly what the GOP has been driving at for years. It's been their actual goal. Think about it; how many of the departments that they wanted disbanded are functioning right now? Just like with the Sequester, they wanted major cuts to the Federal Budget and they got it. They have no intention of ever reversing what they've caused.

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  36. Thanks for this. Frankly, what's going on in DC has me angry and depressed.
    M from MD

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  37. Gods, I love reading your blog! It gives me hope that there are people out there that may just be able to save America after it implodes from the insane imbeciles trying to "save" it! Thanks!

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  38. Jim, thanks for the rant, I really needed it after today. Oh, I think I found another typo, shouldn't it be World Nut Daily?

    Smiles,

    NaluGirl

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    Replies
    1. Close.....it's Wing Nut Daily.

      April (Not Anonymous....I just don't have any of those accounts, or my own Url.)

      Delete
  39. Basically it boils down to this IMO Basically, Boehner and Company despise minorities, particularly black people, gays, and the disabled. They won't stop until Obama is gone, the LGBT community is dead, Latinos are gone, the disabled are either dead or left to fend for themselves, and most importantly, the Jim Crow laws are back in effect, and black people are back in slavery. That's their idea of patriotism, in a nutshell.

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    1. Unfortunately, I think it is even simpler. They are against anyone that will not vote for them. If there was a major population of dung beetles that had money and would vote for them, they would be all in favor of opening new National Parks, and importing elephants. Their stated rationale would be preserving an endangered species, and their party symbol. Follow the money.

      Danny

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    2. The country is moving in the opposite direction though when you consider the demographics. Increasingly, Repubs are focusing on getting the White vote, which is shrinking. Eventually their racism is going to bite them in the butt.

      Delete
  40. Jim -- I see you've discovered the crunchy goodness that is Larry Klayman and his fantasy grand jury. Over at TheFogbow (anti-Birther headquarters), we've been following this cretin for quite a while. He's one of the Birther lawyers. He has had a long sordid legal career, including suing his own mother. His latest is here, with snark and legal discussions of his many attempts at lawsuits: http://www.thefogbow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=4594&start=375 (and much more earlier in that thread.)

    We also keep track of the Maricopa County Cold Case Posse and their Quest for The Birth Certificate, Birther Queen Dr. Orly Taitz, ESQ, some of the nuttier anti-Obama morons such as Walter Fitzpatrick, and more. Reference pages here http://www.thefogbow.com/ , the addictive forum here: http://www.thefogbow.com/forum/index.php

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  41. "Seriously, did I miss the meeting? You know, the one were we" You have a 'were' where you wanted a 'where'.

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  42. A light-hearted take on the shutdown from some government employees. (who happen to be white, grey haired men)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42XjjsMfTFI&feature=player_embedded

    Danny

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  43. My retired parents live in Ocala, and I've passed this billboard several times. I-75 is a great example of the insanity found in the rural south; dozens of "Abortion is murder" "Prayer: it's God's Long-term Healthcare Plan" and "Christians! Your vote: USE IT or LOSE IT" billboards line the highway between Gainesville and Tampa (and into Orlando as well).

    It's interesting to note though that this is very much divided between rural and urban areas; remember, Florida's electoral and popular vote swung for Obama in 2012. But look at an electoral map, and what counties went blue? Only the ones with cities (except for Jacksonville, the 10 largest cities in the state voted majority Democratic in 2012). Thankfully, two things are limiting these groups' influence; their age (let's face it, they're dying off), and the fact that most "immigrants" to Central Florida are northern retirees with more liberal values. Get Out the Vote initiatives don't hurt either, as there are plenty of people who just don't vote right now.

    -Paul in Tampa

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    Replies
    1. It's the same way in Texas. People from outside the state envision us as a homogenous mass of knuckle-dragging rednecks with Austin as a lone oasis of sanity. In reality, all major cities are blue. Wendy Davis is from Fort Worth (Cowtown), not Austin, and the Castro twins are from San Antonio. All Texan cities are multicultural and diverse, Austin being the whitest of the bunch.
      What has been keeping this state red is the areas in between the cities: small-town "Real America."
      Even though I live in San Antonio, my Congressman is not Joaquin Castro but Lamar Smith -- not because the North Side is so conservative but because we share our creatively drawn district not with fellow San Antonians but with wingnutty New Braunfels.

      Delete
    2. It is worth mentioning that the Rio Grande Valley also swings blue. Everyone always forgets about us, we are not /really/ northern Mexico...even if we do joke about it sometimes.

      Delete
  44. If they were to get their way on this, if Obama was to cave, it would negate our entire constitutional system of government. Don't like a law? Just threaten to crash the economy to get it repealed. Hold the country hostage. There is more at stake here than just the ACA. Our democracy would be negated if the Republicans win here.

    And what makes me especially crazy is how the so-called "liberal media" is covering this. Making this sound as if this is two-sided. Neither side willing to compromise. No. This is a hostage situation, pure and simple. This is not a two-sided discussion or stand-off. And showing a room full of 8 old white men in suits sitting at a table does not change that. The Dems offered to sit down with these traitors over a dozen times over the last 6 months, and the Republicans refused. Until an hour before shutting down the country. But the media just shows the table with the Republicans waiting. No. Tell the whole story.

    If you negotiate with terrorists, they will continue to terrorize you.

    Traitors. Terrorists.

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    Replies
    1. It's the same thing as during the elections- the mainstream CORPORATE media doesn't have a side except it's own. Therefore, they have to keep people watching by making things seem close or failing that, give airtime to make the extremists have just as much time spouting easily disproved points as the reasonable side of an issue.

      Ted Cruz and his invisible financial supporters were constantly advertising for the shutdown on CNN somehow. How does a junior Senator from Texas get the hundreds of thousands to do afford this? CNN doesn't care, it's all money to them. Getting the truth told is not profitable today, money pretty much decides what gets shown to the people as news.

      Delete
    2. Cruz's ads were running on MSNBC during Rachel Maddow's show as well. I can't imagine one of her viewers picked up the phone to call the number but you never know. Seemed like a huge waste of money to me.

      Delete
    3. "If you negotiate with terrorists, they will continue to terrorize you."

      Once again, a lesson that could have been learned long ago. In this case, a thousand years ago: "Once you have paid him the Dane-geld, you never get rid of the Dane." http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/dane_geld.html

      Delete
  45. Amazing Jim! Thank you!

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  46. As always, wonderful appraisal of our current situation. I'm thinking it's a much simpler problem than we may think, those "nutters" must have stopped taking their medications, we merely need to encourage them to increase their doses.

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  47. I am SO glad you mentioned "sedition" because that is exactly what is happening here.

    "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague." - Marcus Tullius Cicero

    These Tea Party fanatics are the enemy within. They are doing more damage to the US than al Qaida. They are al Qaida's wet dream! Hey! We don't have to die to hurt the US, we'll get them to commit suicide! We win! Woohoo!

    And the Republican establishment doesn't have the courage, or the cojones, to stand up to 30 or so nutcases. The lunatics are running the asylum. And we gave them the keys. Damn.

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  48. I think this guy is promoting "sedition", but maybe it's really treason. Regardless, I wonder why this guy isn't getting his butt handed to him for advocating a military overthrow of the government?

    http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/christian-tv-host-asks-god-military-takeover
    "Christian TV Host Asks God for 'Military Takeover' of Obama's Presidency"

    A couple of comments that follow that article:

    (Comment:)" ...there might be a viable argument here that Mr. Joyner's attempt to foment a military rebellion against the federal government constitutes treason, if only he weren't beseeching an imaginary being to fire the first shots."

    (Response:) "Interesting. I think the only logical way for that defense to fly would be for a court to rule that god is indeed imaginary. That's a conundrum that might make a conservative mind explode."

    How delighted I'd be to see some conservative minds explode. Like, today -- right this moment.

    Elsie

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  49. "I believe there are noble leaders in our military that love the republic and love everything we stand for. And they could seize the government."

    Ummm.... that is the last quote from this "Christian" t.v. mouthpiece looking for the overthrow of the government here. It's either sedition, or it's treason. I just know that advocating the overthrow of our government, ONCE UPON A TIME, was against the law. I wonder whether our laws have been diminished today to allow such talk to go unchallenged in the courts?

    If some of these nutjobs were arrested, prosecuted, and sent to prison for advocating the overthrow of the government, do you think that maybe they'd finally learn to shut the hell up?

    Elsie

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    1. Unfortunately, if they were arrested by the government, it would absolutely prove to the rest of these nutters that the government really was out to get them. Then you'd get the violence that the original nutter was going for in the first place.

      They want to be arrested. They want to be martyrs. They think that a few martyrs will stir up the populace against the government and start la revolucion for which they've been longing.

      Delete
  50. "... the Republican establishment doesn't have the courage, or the cojones, to stand up to 30 or so nutcases. The lunatics are running the asylum. And we gave them the keys. Damn."

    DesultoryPhilippic -- In my state here, Texas, Tom DeLay, while a U.S. Congressman, pushed his buddies back in the state legislature to enforce the gerrymandering of districts to restrict Democrat voters and secure Republican enclaves. That's how Texas went so ridiculously red. And yet most of the urban areas voted Democrat in the most recent elections.

    There's hope for us here, but it may take a couple more election cycles. I'm encouraged because of San Antonio's mayor, Julian Castro, and his brother, Joaquin Castro, a U.S. congressman, and other signs of hope.

    Tomorrow, it's expected that Texas State Senator Wendy Davis will announce her candidacy for governor. Greg Abbott is the GOP's presumptive heir to The Dick Perry; A-Butt's like Perry, only meaner and more devious, so Wendy's got her work cut out for her, and then some. She may not make it, but it moves the Texas Democratic Party forward like it hasn't done in decades.

    Elsie

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    1. Hello, fellow Texan!
      "Greg Abbott is the GOP's presumptive heir to The Dick Perry; A-Butt's like Perry, only meaner and more devious, so Wendy's got her work cut out for her, and then some. She may not make it, but it moves the Texas Democratic Party forward like it hasn't done in decades."
      Exactly. Unlike in past gubernatorial elections, people inside and outside of Texas have heard of Wendy Davis and know what she looks like. She will actually have a campaign rather than just perfunctorily run. The Democratic party may not win this time around, but it is no longer resigned to forever losing. The fact that there are now "Keep Texas Red" web ads is saying something.


      Delete
  51. The Smith Act hasn't been used in a while...maybe it's time to dust it off and see if it can be applied to some of these deranged idiots?

    "The Smith Act set federal criminal penalties that included fines or imprisonment for as long as twenty years and denied all employment by the federal government for five years following a conviction for anyone who:
    ...with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or...organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof."

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    1. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is currently stacked to the right, and they'd probably rule it unconstitutional if it came back.

      Delete
  52. I always ask them what they hate more...that the twice elected PRESIDENT Obama is a Democrat (he's hardly a liberal) or that the twice elected PRESIDENT Obama is Black? I've never gotten an answer from them. Hummm.

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  53. Stray thoughts:

    Excellent post (as usual)!

    Sign me up for the Stonekettle People's Court -- have brain, will travel!

    Perhaps the single good thing to result from the shutdown is that the KKK rally at Gettysburg National Park (yes THAT Gettysburg -- the one that was the turning point of the Civil War where the South LOST) was cancelled!

    The gerrymandering of Congressional Districts MUST be stopped! This unsavory (though not illegal in most places) practice has allowed more and more Republicans to draw their own lines around groups of voter to ensure that their seats are secure!

    One little correction: "How about some public slut shaming. Scarlett letters." I think you mean "scarlet" (one t = the color red) unless you have that grand Southern belle, Scarlett O'Hara, in mind.

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    1. *ahem* Why, I declare...!

      *cough* Sorry, couldn't hold the straight face any more. =D

      Delete
    2. You said it, sister. Yep, the KKK takes aim at Gettysburg; looks like the Congressional conservatives aren't the only ones who won't accept that they lost. I admit I'd be curious to see if a KKK member setting foot on the battlefield would just spontaneously combust like a vampire stepping into the sun. Doesn't that picture just warm your heart?
      Pam in PA (just down the road from Gettysburg)

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  54. I think some of these Tea Party Patriots are missing their first calling....when called on their language (shoot the nigger, etc) they back-pedal with such speed that perhaps they should try out for Cirque du Soleil? Oh, wait...multi-national, multi-cultural cast, that won't work, will it?

    Yes, they are ALL about revolutionary fervor, until they are likely to be in the line of fire. Didn't we DO this once already....wasn' that WHY there was a Gettysburg Nat'l Park for the KKK to schedule a wee outting at...oops, shut down!?

    Sometimes, I think the first time any of them said 'secede' we should have rolled up our Army posts and let them....oh, and yes, the Federal pocket book shuts at that moment on the Red States standing with their hands out while screaming about Liberal welfare queens.

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  55. The comment above about Gerrymandering is astute: that practice has a lot to do with our current problems governing ourselves. Like our system of campaign finance, it is one of the major flaws in the American experiment. When you stand back and look at the root causes why things work, or fail to work, those two factors stand out. Changing either will probably involve a constitutional amendment or two, assuming you could get enough people to take the time to think it through and see the need for changes. In the meantime, we keep voting in politicians who don't represent anything that most of us actually believe in.

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    1. Gunner Goz, on the Gerrymandering no Constitutional Amendment is needed, it is already explicitly there, no current Congress has used it.

      Art I Sec 4

      "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of Chusing Senators."

      I would put Campaign Contributions under the Commerce Clause, but I don't get to parade in fancy black robes.

      Delete
  56. Nut jobs come from both sides of the spectrum. You could have easily posted liberals making similar inflamatory comments if you wanted to. The Tea Party isn't Libertarian. It is a attempt to co-opt it. We Libertarians used to be called Liberals. That was co-opted by the left. True Libertarians advocate for INDIVIDUAL freedom and don't put people in groups, so no Libertarian would ever rant against "blacks", "gays" or any other group, because groups don't exist for us. Similarly, a real Christian would never advocate for murder. Anyone who does is a phony.

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    1. Uhm, anonymous, the difference is that liberals don't make the nutjobs the leaders of their political party. Quote a single liberal political leader anywhere in America who has made racist statements like the guy Jim quoted. There isn't one.

      Delete
    2. And like clockwork, there it is.

      The one thing you can always, always count on with libertarians is that they're absolutely convinced that nobody else is a "real" libertarian.

      Just like Christians.

      And without fail, they go straight to the fallacy of false equivalence.

      Every single time.

      Thanks for chuckle, Anonymous, it's an old joke, but you told it well.

      Delete
    3. It's a real easy test, Jim. Do they believe in individual liberty and natural law? If so, how can they castigate an entire group? No individual is a as simple as some group affiliation. No black person is exactly like or believes exactly like another. There are plenty of Christian denominations, and not unanimous consent even within them.

      I will say that posters should treat you with more respect. I'm glad you allow opposing opinions, but it doesn't help anyone's cause to be so crass.

      Delete
    4. I suspect that you are a reasonable and astute fellow. The saddest outcome of vile personal attack posts is that they incite you to strike back in kind, and your ability to engage in civil debate is lost. I would encourage to see them as individual nut jobs rather than attaching the nut job moniker to whatever group they lay claim to. I doubt that the recognized leaders of the Tea Party movement would lay claim to any of the people you mention, so let's take it with a grain of salt.

      Delete
    5. Heh heh, goddamn but you make me laugh.

      You chastise me for painting with too broad a brush, then in your comment below you lump all navy folks together as lazy conniving bastards stealing your tax dollars because you supposedly met one guy that doesn't live up to your expectations.

      Mote, beam, eye, Anonymous. Take your own advice.

      Delete
    6. I don't blame soldiers. I believe you join the military honorably and with the best intent. And the military offers what appears to be attractive career paths as well. I believe people go to work for the HUD, EPA, Fannie Mae, the park service and the innumerable other government entities honorably as well. Most of these entities shouldn't exist at all or bloated far beyond their usefulness. You drank the cool aid long ago, so I don't expect you see yourself as extraneous, but if you are honest, from your insider perspective, you could tick off a laundry list of abuses and waste you have observed.

      Delete
    7. Oh? You don't blame us, do you? You just think we're all deluded fools, and only you have the inside scoop.

      That's mighty white of you, Anonymous.

      Delete
    8. Nice attempt at redirection. Have you witnessed extensive fraud and abuse in your military career? Useless unneeded hardware and weapons systems? Civilian contractors who show up with no apparent work to do? Permanent bases where no threat exists? Soldiers paying warlords and jihadists in c-notes not to kill each other? Navy vessels rushing to some third world backward nation to show them we mean business? We all know military people, so you aren't going to fool anybody. Fess up sailor.

      Delete
    9. Redirection?

      It's like you just can't help yourself, isn't it? It's like you're determined to hit every single logical fallacy in the book.

      Just for the record, Anonymous, let's walk line by line through your comments and count the number of times you've moved the goal posts. Redirection, you're the master of it.

      Honestly, you what? Expect me to take you seriously? You've been reduced to insinuating that I'm part of some vast conspiracy, hell you even managed to work in the standard "kool-aid" accusation.

      You're right on track, running right down the middle of the conspiracy nutter rut with your "heard from a friend of a friend of a friend" rumor mongering is somehow just as valid, knowledge wise as actual military service. What's next? You gonna tell me how you play paintball on the weekends, so you know what real combat is like?

      Your amusement value is running thin, Anonymous, so let's wrap this up. There's absolutely nothing I could say that would change your mind, is there? Your sad little conspiracy theories keep you warm at night and make you feel important. You're welcome to them, but you're done here. Don't comment again.

      Delete
    10. Oh, my! "True Libertarians ...don't put people in groups...because groups don't exist for us". The comedy is almost too subtle. Blink and you could miss it.

      Because "us" are not a group.

      Hey, Jim, maybe that's why " nobody else is a "real" libertarian". They just don't see groups! (Well, except for the military, and HUD, and government employees in general)

      Bruce

      Delete
  57. Met a Navy service person recently. Get's up every morning, puts on the uniform, and ... does nothing. Occasionally hangs out at a Native American hospital because of some obscure 70 year old agreement that was supposed to last three years. Retires in a few years at 45. Nice pension for life. Guessing you have a similar arrangement? What exactly should I be thankful to Navy service people for when my tax dollars are squandered like this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Snort. Predictable to the bitter end I see.

      He moves the goal posts from one logical fallacy to another, creates a strawman and goes for the swiftboat attack.

      Well done, Sir, well done indeed.

      Delete
    2. So this is an rare exception? I suspect not. Do you defend it? Can you give any national security reason for this? Are you capable of debate or just broadsides (I think that is a Navy term).

      Delete
    3. Apologies, I'm having trouble distinguishing your personal attacks and innuendos from actual questions.

      What exactly are you asking? Do I defend what? You want me to render an opinion about the alleged questionable duty status of some unidentified supposed Navy sailor told to me third hand by some anonymous internet commenter who just happens to think this supposed sailor isn't living up to the proper expectations?

      Is that it?

      Or did you expect me to address that nasty little insinuation about how my own military service is some kind of supposed sham - because, hey, obviously if you've met one alleged sailor whose duty states you don't really know anything about, you've met them all, eh?

      Please be more specific.

      Delete
    4. I'll pose this question: Do you expect Americans to revere you for your military service? As best I can tell, most military service is a sham. We send a few dozen thousand soldiers actually into harms way in places we have no actual national interest. The rest are stationed in perfect safety supposedly defending us from threats that either don't actually exist or are being provoked our very presence coupled with our bellicose rhetoric and hegemonic policy of projecting power. I've spoken to many people who's relatives served or served in Afghanistan. To a soldier, they candidly have no idea why they are there and feel betrayed by their country. 90% of our vast military expenditure is either a complete waste or counterproductive to our peace and security in the world.

      Delete
    5. Do I expect Americans to revere me personally? No. Do I demand respect? No. Do I expect you to kiss my ass because I served? No.

      And nowhere have I ever said or implied otherwise. In fact, I've been quite specific about it.

      Don't flatter yourself, Anonymous, you're just some random jackass from the internet. It should be glaringly self evident that I don't, in fact, give much of a fuck one way or the other what you think of my military service. Your contempt amuses me, as does the fact that your opinion in this matter and the ones you've expressed above are all based on third-hand friend of a friend accounts. You want to have an opinion that I'll respect on this subject? Put your money where your mouth is, join up, serve a couple of years, earn your rank and the respect of your peers, go overseas into the meat grinder, then get back to me.

      Delete
    6. Better yet, you put your money where your mouth is, get a civilian job where you make something useful to someone else, and let the goat herders kill each other until they get tired of it. They are going to anyway. My service to my nation is vastly superior to yours. I create. You destroy. I work closely with an ex-soldier who was stationed in both the Middle East and South Korea. Enjoyed his time there. Says it was a complete waste of resources.

      You used the F word first, so I win! I'm okay that you don't care what I think, but I do appreciate you taking the time to engage in the debate. Your blog entries, though completely misguided, are a useful service, as are your willingness to engage detractors. For that, you have my respect. I hope you will grant that not everyone who disagrees with you is a nut job. Libertarians can be rational and, I think, persuasive. Last word to you.

      Delete
    7. Oh for fuck's sake, you really are deluded sanctimonious ass, aren't you?

      You really have no idea what you're talking about do you? You know absolutely nothing about me, nothing at all, and you didn't bother to find out. You claim to have read my "blog entries" but you're lying. You read this one, nothing else, otherwise you'd maybe know something about me.

      Not everybody who disagrees with me is a nutjob, but you damned sure are.

      You're done here. Don't comment again. Anything further from you will be removed without comment.

      Delete
    8. Jim,

      He's mad at the Navy because he offered his sexual services and was declined... now hes mad at the wasted Tax Dollars.. he didn't get any as a overpaid contractor that he's been dreaming about.

      Delete
  58. I believe that the possibility of Larry Klayman finding his way to Washington D.C. (or even on a map) is quite remote.

    Couldn't locate his own asshole on the best day he ever had.

    Superbly done as usual. Thank you and my fellow posters of comments (Yes, I know it sounds stupid but Merriam-Webster says "commenter" is not a word.).

    ReplyDelete
  59. I doubt that the blog software supports this, but it would be nice for those of us over here eating popcorn if the anonymice were differentiated from one another in some way. I would like to be able to distinguish at a glance the difference between AnonymouseFrothyLibertarian666 and AnonymouseReasonablePerson420. A simple numbering system would suffice, just to tell the Anonymooses apart.

    -Alicia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I doubt most bulletin board software would normally do that- they'd have to sort by individual IP addresses and and trolls can easily avoid that by changing their PC's IP or just using another computer. Once they've made themselves annoying enough to ban, Jim can block those IP's from comment, but the board itself likely won't presort by IP, nice tho that would be.

      Delete
  60. You people cannot be from this world. You are in outer space.

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  61. Jim,

    Enjoy your commentary and handling of asshats in extremeis with much exuberance!

    ReplyDelete
  62. Now that was entertaining Jim. I haven't yet met a self-proclaimed "libertarian" who, when asked to give details, didn't base his entire economic ideology on theft of public property by individuals and corporations. Modern libertarianism is the other side of the coin as communism. In communism, the economy exists by the state forcibly seizing control of already existing private assets for the personal profit of those in authority. In modern libertarianism, the economy exists by individuals and businesses forcibly seizing control of existing public assets for the personal profit of those in authority. Both are rigidly totalitarian in practice. Modern libertarians simply cannot exist without seizing an already existing infrastructure that they neither built nor owned. We know this because if they had either the intellectual, technical or moral capacity to build and own an infrastructure they would have already done so. But they have not, not because they're not motivated, not because they're not dedicated but because they're not competent.

    ReplyDelete
  63. other than that the 'witches' convicted at Salem were hanged, not burned at the stake, another excellent article .... (and I sure hope Obama doesn't turn me into a Newt like that other commenter ... newts are amphibian, Newt is amphifacial)

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  64. I will have to wisper Jim, coming to you from Pensacola and you know how they are here. I LOL at the Lee Greenwood line.
    thanks JIM
    RAW

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  65. Thanks for the most enjoyable read...and saying what I've been thinking, except in my head, there's a lot more profanity.
    Thanks again, and keep it up!

    ReplyDelete

Comments on this blog are moderated. Each will be reviewed before being allowed to post. This may take a while. I don't allow personal attacks, trolling, or obnoxious stupidity. If you post anonymously and hide behind an IP blocker, I'm a lot more likely to consider you a troll. Be sure to read the commenting rules before you start typing. Really.