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Thursday, October 3, 2013

Don’t Cry For Me, John Boehner

"A second flood, a simple famine, plagues of locusts everywhere, or a cataclysmic earthquake, I'd accept with some despair. But no, You sent us Congress! Good God, Sir, was that fair?"
       - John Adams to God, 1776

 

It’s not just me, right?

It can’t be.

You feel it too, don’t you?

Sooner or later the extremists are going to start shooting hostages and chucking their bodies out the front door of the Capitol Building.

I expect to turn on the news and see the National Mall covered in police cars, flashing lights, and SWAT teams. With an FBI negotiator shouting through a bullhorn, “Okay, just come out with your hands up and nobody else has to get hurt!” And the Tea Party shouting back, “You’ll never take us alive, Copper!”

And then the shooting starts.*

About the only thing they haven’t done yet is demand a suitcase full of money in small unmarked bills and an airplane fueled and waiting at Reagan National.

Do you want to know just how ridiculous the GOP has become?

You don’t have to look any further than this:

image

Click on the image for a larger version.

That’s a screen capture from the Google News Aggregator for “Republican Party.”

The top story about the Republican Party out of thousands is, yes, that’s correct, a satire by The Onion. 

And it’s been that way for more than 24 hours now.

The best professional Information services in the world can no longer tell the difference between the actual republican party and a fucking joke.

And frankly, neither can I.

Party of Lincoln, my hairy white ass. 

Abraham Lincoln gave his life to hold the Union together, his drooling incestuous political descendants are hell-bent on ripping it apart.

 

These people aren’t the party of Lincoln, they’re the party of Jefferson Davis.  

 

The nuts aren’t running the asylum, folks, nobody is running the asylum. The loons have locked the doctors in the dayroom and they’re capering up and down the hallways covered in their own excrement smashing the windows and lighting the furniture on fire.

Republicans know that their party has gone insane, they just don’t care.

Yesterday, on the National Mall in Washington DC, Texas Tea Party congressman, Randy Neugebauer, in a disgusting display of fake outrage and blatant abuse of congressional power, berated a park ranger in front of TV cameras and made her apologize for the government shutdown that he is personally responsible for.

Neugebauer yelled at the ranger because the Park Service had closed the WWII Monument in accordance with government shutdown requirements. Neugebauer demanded to know how the ranger could turn people away.

"It's difficult," the unidentified park ranger responded.

"Well, it should be difficult," sneered Neugebauer.

"It is difficult," the ranger repeated, and then added, "I'm sorry, sir."

"The Park Service should be ashamed of themselves," said Neugebauer.

"I'm not ashamed," the ranger retorted.

"You should be," snapped Neugebauer.

That’s right, a US Congressman told a federal employee that she should be ashamed for doing the job that he, the congressman, forced her to do

Then, when confronted by the angry crowd, Neugebauer ran away like the simpering coward that he is rather than face his own hypocrisy.

The truly ironic part of this pathetic exchange is that the ranger, in defiance of the shutdown, had actually been letting vets into the memorial even though it was technically illegal for her to do so (the Park Service is allowing folks into the moments under the umbrella of the First Amendment, and good on them. They should be commended, not used as a punching bag by grandstanding politicians).

But, she should be ashamed of herself according to Neugebauer.

If I was her, I’d sue this asshole into the poorhouse for creating a hostile workplace.

Here’s the thing, should the WWII memorial be closed?

Yes.

Absolutely yes.

And there should be a sign on the locked gate that says, “Screw you, America.”

And the old veterans denied access should have to stand there in the rain and suffer, with the TV cameras broadcasting it all live and in color.

You don’t get to have it both ways.

Either the government is shut down, or it’s not. 

You don’t get to pull an asshole stunt like this and then avoid the consequences. 

Neugebauer is one of the principal architects of this idiocy, if he wasn’t the puffed up pusillanimous coward that he is, he would have faced that crowd of veterans and owned up to his goddamned responsibilities as a member of the US government.  Sorry fellas, but fuck you, go home and die. My partisan principles are more important than you old geezers getting into the memorial.  

If he thinks a government shutdown is such a fine idea, let him face a crowd of veterans instead of sending the Park Service to do it.

Instead, he ran away like the seditious cowardly son of a bitch that he is.

Insanity I said, and insanity it is. 

These people are stark staring nuts. 

And they know it, they know they’ve gone insane, they just don’t care.

“We’re not going to be disrespected,” declared conservative Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind). “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

We’re not going to be disrespected.

We don’t know what we want, but Goddamnit, we want something!

Anything. Please, Mr. President, give us anything. Anything at all. Please? Please?

Fah.

I’ve got news for you Congressman, respect is earned. You get respect by being worthy of respect. Period. There are no shortcuts. You earn respect by every action, every word, every thought and deed.

If you see only disrespect, then you need only take a look in the mirror. There’s your problem, right there and nowhere else.

If you wonder why you’re seeing only disrespect, take a look at your fellow congressman, Randy Neugebauer.

Despite the Tea Party’s herculean efforts to focus blame anywhere but upon themselves, the vast majority of Americans aren’t buying it.

Now, I think we all know what Republicans think about polls, but reliable running polls right now show that 44% of American voters directly fault the Republicans for the shutdown, while 35% fault President Obama. That’s a huge delta. Huge.

One thing to note, even if Obama was taking the blame for this mess full on, which he’s not, he doesn’t have to worry about being voted out of office in 2014 and 2016.  Republicans are busy right now signing their own death warrants. And they know it. They know it, but they refuse to change course. They can’t, because their hatred of Barack Obama, their utter insane hatred of Barack Obama, is so all consuming that it drives them forward beyond all rational bounds.

That said, an overwhelming 72% of Americans right this very moment strongly disapprove of holding the entire budget hostage over the Affordable Care Act and that includes more than 50% of all Republicans surveyed.

There is no way, no goddamned way, that the extremist lunatics currently holding us at gunpoint can claim to represent the will of the American people.

The day before he was caught harassing a Park Ranger for doing her job, Congressman Randy Neugebauer went onThe Chad Hasty Show and declared that he will keep the government shut down for "as long as it takes.” 

He claimed it was the will of the American people.

The man is either lying or he’s deluded, there are no other options. It’s not the will of the American people.  Provably so.

It’s the will of a small band of extremist lunatics who’ve taken America hostage and are blackmailing the Speaker of the House into doing their malevolent bidding.

In the words of their Patron Saint, they’ve gone rogue.

Literally.

Rogue is literally what you called it when an elephant goes insane. A rogue bull elephant becomes antisocial, vicious, murderous, starts trumpeting wildly and attacking the other members of the herd, biting at its own tail, before rampaging through villages and across the savannah oblivious to the carnage in its wake.

A rogue elephant, could there be a more appropriate metaphor here? 

In 2010 these lunatics took over the House. They read the Constitution out loud before the TV cameras and declared in solemn somber tones that they, they, weren’t going to engage in business as usual. 

Apparently what they meant by that was they weren’t going to allow any business to get done, at all.

Even if they had to destroy the country’s economy to do it.

These people deserve no respect whatsoever, none, they are shrieking loons who need to be strapped to a bed and pumped full of chlorpromazine before they start eating their own feces.

Again, don’t think that they don’t know it either.

In recent days, so many Republicans have acknowledged the cancerous insanity growing malignantly within their own ranks, that the extremists were forced to admit their lunacy or double down on it.  Predictably they did the latter. The Tea Party Express, the hard festering tumor at the center of the diseased Republican Party, sent out a desperate appeal for funds like cancer cells leaking into the bloodstream, declaring of the more moderate members of their party, "With Republicans Like These, Who Needs Democrats?" 

Indeed.

With the government shutdown, the Tea Party cancer has metastasized and unless it is cut out immediately and in total, it will be only a matter of time until these rogue mutant alien cells kill the GOP host. 

And the surgeon elect is the Speaker of the House, John Boehner.

That’s his job.

To cut out the cancer.  To throw himself on the hand grenade for the good of the country. To stand between the village and the charging elephant.

Bringing this to a conclusion is exactly what John Boehner gets paid for, no more, no less. That’s the Speaker’s sworn duty.

Boehner has the votes to override the lunatic fringe within his own party.  By a wide margin.

He knows it. 

They know it.

We all know it.

He’s got more than half of his own party behind him.

He’s got the will of an overwhelming majority of the American people behind him.

The only thing holding him hostage is his own craven cowardice.

It may cost him his job as Speaker, but that’s the goddamned price of doing what’s right, of choosing country over insanity, of choosing duty over self interest, of choosing the actual will of the people over the insanity of a small rogue cadre of suicidal lunatics.

All it takes is for John Boehner to find his tiny withered balls, stand up, turn, face the charging elephant head on, take aim and calmly put the rogue beast down with a single shot right through its malignant heart.

Boehner’s choices are between a small band of extremist Conservikazis and the majority of Americans from both sides of the political aisle.

Where he stands tells you everything you need to know.

Here’s the bottom line, it never ends well for the rogue elephant. Never.

Just as it never ends well for the hostages takers.

If Boehner is unable or unwilling to muster his courage, well then maybe it is time for him to take that flight out of Reagan National.

I hear Argentina is nice this time of year.


 


* About the time I typed that line, the shooting actually did start in DC.  I’d like to chalk it up to my astounding powers of precognition, but given the number of shootings lately, it’s really not that much of a coincidence, is it?

121 comments:

  1. If only Boehner has the cojones to actually lead, but he has proven himself incapable again. Thinking that he is second in line after VP Biden should anything happen to the President is a mighty scary idea. This position in government should always be filled by a good strong person who actually puts his/her country first because that is part of this job! The actions of the GOP the last two days has been despicable and cowardly.

    If America defaults on its debts, and there are no SS, Medicare, or Medicaid payments made, the country will be in a world of hurt. People will lose their lives, homes will be lost, people will starve, all so the GOP can continue to pretend that they count and that they care about their fellow Americans. They don't. I pray for all of us that someone, somehow will get through to them that they are destroying their country, not saving it! Stupid, stupid people.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Not only your country will be in a world of hurt, most of the world will be on a planet of hurt.
      And sadly, I think this is the goal of the Conservikazes, cause a financial Armageddon, in hopes that it will trigger a real one.

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    2. Just remember the stated goal of the republicans was to see Obama fail. They are still working toward that goal even if it means wrecking our Country. Idiots they are bringing down their own house. Or as some have put it pooping in their own mess gear.

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  2. I don't know how you manage to sort through all the idiocy and keep your own sanity, Jim but we are very grateful that you do.

    Terri

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  3. In the end what this boils down to is that a single house of Congress wants to repeal Obamacare, don't have the votes in the Senate or the White House to do so, and are trying to do an end-around around democracy to force their minority view upon the majority of the representatives in Washington. As a believer in democracy I find the notion of a minority attempting to impose their minority view upon the majority by holding a gun to their heads and saying "you agree with me or I kill the government" to be offensive. I have my own issues with what happens in D.C., but every single one of the people there got elected by the majority of American voters in his or her district or state (or nation, in the case of Obama, and yes the majority of American voters voted for Obama in 2008 and thus for Obamacare). We have a word for a minority attempting to override the will of the majority, and that word isn't "democracy".

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    1. They don't even have the votes in their own House to repeal it, They've tried, something like 40 times.

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    2. 42 times to date.

      If only they'd put that much effort into an actual budget, eh?

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    3. Or a jobs program.

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    4. BadTux: More tellingly, the President got re-elected overwhelmingly in 2012 after signing the ACA into law, against an opponent who publically promised to cancel the law on his first day in office.

      R P Davis: Actually, the ACA repeal bill did pass the House. The GOP/TP has a slight majority which votes in goosestep lockstep on most bills, no matter how crazy or bad for the country. (Party uber alles.) The ACA repeal was dead on arrival in the Senate, so it never even had to receive a Presidential veto. The GOP knew it had no chance to override a veto, so they knew it was a waste of time. But it played well to their marching morons and appeased the Tea Baggers (but I repeat myself).

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    5. But it's estimated that every one of those 42 votes cost $1 Million in taxpayer dollars.

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    6. Is there some sort of secret points system for House republicans when it comes to introducing ACA repeal bills? Do they get an upgrade on their franking privilege after 15 co-sponsorships or what? Do they believe it actually looks good in their re-election campaigns to say "I introduced the same bill 20 times, even though you & I both knew from the get-go they had no chance in the Senate or on the President's desk"?
      Or are they just taking turns introducing this stuff so that each of them can claim they did so to their base?
      I am truly confused about this - what is the payoff of doing something that you KNOW beforehand will not be successful?

      Bruce

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    7. This country isn't a democracy. It's a democratic republic. Majority rule, by design, is necessary but not sufficient for government. The Constitution by design has many places where the minority can assert itself. The Senate can stop the House, the House can stop the Senate, the President can stop them both, unless they gang up in which case they can stop him and the Supreme Court can stop everyone. Effective leadership means taking the minority position into account. Obama didn't do that with the ACA; he used some dodgy procedural tricks to get it passed over Republican objections. As a hacker I commend him and his allies for their ingenuity but as it turns out leading a country can't be done by hacking the rules. It requires actual leadership. You have to win the argument, not just the vote. The result is our current situation. The system is working exactly as it's supposed to.

      That doesn't mean I agree with the shutdown, even though I'm a Republican. I think the House caucus has chosen a battle that will cost them more than they can possibly get. I think they clearly don't have any real strategy in place (cf. "we have to get something but we don't know what"). Before going to war you need to define your victory conditions and have an exit strategy in place in case of defeat and I don't think they have either. But I understand how and why this came to pass, which as far as I can tell puts me head and shoulders over Obama. He doesn't seem to realize he did something wrong.

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    8. "(D)odgy procedural tricks", huh? Which ones were those? Reconciliation. That is what you're trying to to blame on hackery, right? The same hackery used to end run two budget busting tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. You know the cuts that blew up a budget surplus left over from a balanced budget negotiated by both political parties during the previous administration. That's the same hackery you are referring to, are they not? Now please explain how that was hacking the rules. But before you try, don't, You can't and probably won't.

      Rep. Alan Grayson explained it very well in 2010 during the debate over extending those same tax cuts:
      "There's nothing in Senate rules that prevents reconciliation. It's been used 22 times overall and 14 times by Republicans. If it's good enough for tax cuts for the rich twice under Bush, it's good enough to provide health care for all Americans."

      So, can the "it's OK when one party does it but hacking when another one does it" whine. Anybody with any knowledge of history buys it when you make up your own facts to support an obsurdity like "The system is working exactly as it's supposed to." Shutting down the federal government over a temper tantrum because children can't get what they want within the system as it is shares nothing with normal or working properly.

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    9. Venture,

      I can't tell you how much I appreciate your comment. I appreciate that you took the time to articulate your thoughts and that you expressed them in a reasonable and polite manner. Thank you, and I mean that sincerely. It's a refreshing change from those who can't seem to disagree without trolling or resorting to personal attacks. Again, thank you.

      My reply to your comment is incorporated into the next post here on Stonekettle Station: Deadlock.

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    10. I guess that there are quite a few people in Congress, especially House Republicans that should look up the definition of Insanity - (my paraphrase) Performing the same action repeatedly, yet being surprised when getting the same results. 42 votes in 3 years, and losing in the Supreme Court, hmmm, sounds like a winner!

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  4. I so hope that you are right about 2014. But I fear that the districts are so horribly gerrymandered that the lunatic republican base will vote these insane turds right back into office.

    Like you, I have served in our military (I am a former part timer - Army National Guard) and I consider myself to be patriotic. But lately, it's been getting harder and harder to be proud of my country, because it is turning rapidly into a nation I want no part of. It is hard not to get despondent about what is going on here. Thank you, Jim, for putting my anger and frustration into words more eloquent than I can come up with.

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    1. I'm with ya, Tikidoc. I live near DC and there are days I don't recognize the country I grew up in. It's been depressing.
      M from MD

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    2. I think the only hope would be if the women get so pissed off that they vote them out gerrymander or not.

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    3. I'm in Virginia, and we are voting for a new governor in November. The women's vote appears to be a big factor here in recent polls, with Democrat McAuliffe leading over Ken "vaginal probe" Cuccinelli by over 20 points with women. So I hope you are right. But the gerrymandering nationwide has resulted in a unprecedented level of extremism in many districts, allowing them to vote in increasingly extreme candidates. We need independent commissions (aided by party-neutral computer programs) to do the redistricting, and unfortunately the maps are not re-drawn until the next census in 2020. We appear to be stuck with this kind of crappy politics for the foreseeable future.

      And we have yet to address the debt ceiling issue. The government shutdown is small potatoes compared to what will happen if we default on the national debt.

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    4. Also in VA, and the intervals between redrawing the maps seem to have varied widely and without any regard for previous custom or "rules" over the last few years. Conveniently.

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    5. Bush gave us 911 & his NAZI/PATRIOT Act began implementation of the police state, inc unconstitutional NCAA. Daily news today shows we are being conditioned to police brutalizing us. When police look like robo-cops & drive IME proof vehicles, being militarized, know that WE are the enemy.
      I blame tis on NWO & regard Obama as a puppet Manchurian Candidate.
      We stopped Bush from becoming the dictator, but the job was handed to a more likeable guy. We must call, tweet, write our reps; stage peaceful protests - because they are ready to shoot us, and engage in massive state level petitions to stop malignant ALEC laws.
      Repugs have stolen our state legislatures not just by gerrymandering, but also by Repug built & secretly programmed "voting" computers. Demand verifying bean count or restore paper ballots. Our actions determine the fate of this nation, as powerfully as our inaction.

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    6. Chy_369,

      You had me at I blame tis on NWO ...

      This is a deliberate poe, right? You're just trying to sucker my commenters into a flame war, right? Which is an asshole thing to do, unless you're 14 and on 4-Chan, but I at least understand the motivation. However if it's not a poe, well then you need to talk to the nurse about doubling up on your medication, because it's not working.

      New World Order. For crying out loud. Do me a favor and show yourself out now. Alex Jones' site is down the hall, take a left at Crazyland and keep on going until you hit One World Government. If you get lost, ask any Bilderberg with an Illuminati nametag for help.

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    7. Who is this "we" and how did "we" do it?

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    8. Unfortunately, the representatives responsible for the shutdown are in very safe districts where they only have to pander to the evangelicals and the Tea Party and their biggest fear is a Koch-fueled challenge from the right.

      That's how ~10% of them managed to bully a bunch of other Republicans into going along with their shutdown scheme, threatening primary challenges from the right, paid for with big corporate money.

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  5. Thank you ... after reading that I now feel somehow "cleansed"!

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  6. I don't often disagree with you, Jim, but you're wrong about respect when it comes to Texas politicians. In Texas respect it purchased.

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    1. I stand corrected.

      Can you buy it off Craigslist?

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    2. Oh right, highest bidder, I should have seen that up front but I live in Alaska where it's bought an paid for by the oil industry, single source supplier so to speak

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    3. I don't think Texas has the monopoly on that.

      Bruce

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    4. Article just came out where Iowa Republican Senator Sorenson was selling his Republican Candidate endorsement to the highest bidder.... first it was Bachmann, then when not paid enough he went to Rand Paul.
      We cant have one twit like Steve King can we?
      http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/10/02/politics/investigator-bachmann-camp-paid-key-iowa-backer

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    5. remember the gov from Best Little Whorehouse in Texas??? that about sums up TEXASS POLITICS

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  7. Thanks for putting a coherent face on my obscene ramblings, such as &#&%%#$@!!. No one really knows what I'm on about, but suspect it has something to do with Conservikazis...funny how that rhymes with Nazis.

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  8. As you state, it is becoming more obvious that the majority of Americans, of the Senate and even now of the House want the government shutdown to be OVER. It is up to Boehner to call for a vote. It is up to the US voters to clog Boehner's website and demand a vote. For a program the "nobody wants, was forced down our throat" to be so popular and overwhelmed on the first couple days of offerings to shut down the website, that gives lie to these statements from the Gutless Obstructionist Partiers. Call or Email Boehner and tell him to bring a clean bill up to vote and let the votes fall where they may!

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    1. We can only email our congress person if we live in their district, since that is all they give a damn about, reelection. Not sure how we can clog their email, but I guess we could clog their voice mail.

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    2. Search out an address in their district and if you don't really care about misrepresenting yourself give an identity. Mike Smith usually lives everywhere. According to spokeo.com, there are even 116 of them in the Springfield, Ohio area. That is part of Boner's district.

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  9. Very well stated. Thanks

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  10. Boehner serves his corpoRAT masters every day he messes up the economy, and the rest of us get poorer so the rich can buy more stuff up, and he knows it. He's an honest man, he stays bought when he's bought.

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  11. Wait. There is a difference?

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  12. Actually, it was not illegal for the park ranger to let in members of the honor flights. They are allowed in as the Park Service has not curtailed First Amendment activities on the mall and honor flights fall into that category. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=228551352

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    1. But, you are right in that Randy Nuegabauer is sorry excuse of a human being. I have no use for him or any of the other flying monkeys on the right who have turned the WWII memorial into a political football.

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    2. It's a technicality.

      Legally, the memorial should be closed as it is non-essential to national operations, however the park service is deliberately looking for an excuse to keep things running without funding. Which is commendable, which makes Nuegabauer's self-serving hypocrisy all the more egregious. .

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    3. No argument from me. The man is a grandstanding loon.

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    4. I love that Biden called that Park Ranger to tell her he was proud of her!
      M from MD

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    5. The biggest problem with leaving the memorial open is that there is no longer any trash or sidewalk sweeping service (the people to do that are "non-essential" and are now on unpaid leave), meaning that it's going to get trashed and the sidewalks are going to become covered with rubbish and unsafe. When somebody slips and falls on a banana peel they're going to sue the NPS and no NPS unit head wants to be sued, aside from the fact it sucks his budget dry and takes up his staff's time on legal BS, it's a black mark on his record that means he's going to be assigned someplace close to hell on earth like Death Valley in summer or Grand Teton in winter as his next posting. I'm really surprised that anybody is being let through, given the legal risks involved.

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    6. A very good friend of mine, one of my photography teachers, lives in Red River Gorge National Park. She's a wedding shooter and runs her own business shooting and arranging weddings in the Gorge (with her husband the officiant). According to her last report, all of the service roads are closed but the main roads are open. And after only 2 days the litter is overwhelming the trash cans. A nation of litterbugs like ours can't afford to not pay the garbagemen.

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    7. "A nation of litterbugs like ours can't afford to not pay the garbagemen."

      I know $174k per year is a lot to pay garbagemen, but since they're just sitting around why not give Neugebauer, Stutzman et al bags and pointy sticks and turn 'em loose ?

      They can poke themselves in the foot instead of having to shoot.

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  13. My sincere condolences to the state of Ohio. When he does go home they're going to have to deal with the stink.

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    1. As an Ohio expat, I've always wondered why we had so many astronauts--what is it about Ohio that makes people want to be shot into space? Now I know.

      (Oh, and Jim Trafficant. We do grow our idiots on all sides of the political spectrum.)

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    2. Condolences humbly and gratefully accepted. Come November 2014 we will be looking for a place to dispose of our accumulated elephant dung. Any takers?

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  14. I emailed Boehner last night and pretty much said the same thing as you did Jim. Of more interest is the Business Week article shown in your google screen shot which said that for every week this goes on the GDP loses .02 %. So if it goes on for 5 weeks the GDP this quarter loses a full 1%. That's not millions of dollars or even hundreds of millions we're talking about. We're getting up into the billion dollar range. Republicans-- the party for business? I think not.

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    1. Party of giving you the business, maybe.

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    2. Greg - ETC(SW) USN - RetiredOctober 4, 2013 at 10:32 AM

      Just a quick math correction. Five weeks of .02% GDP loss represents a total of 0.10% (one decimal place off in OP), but we're still talking billions, instead of millions - to the original point. 0.1% of $15.7 trillion (with a T) of 2012 annual GDP is still $15 billion - so $3 billion per week. My $15.7B number pulled from a Wikipedia article about GDP, since the government site providing GDP numbers is shut down (imagine that). But you can just move take any figure you get from any source and move the decimal place over three places to get the resulting $$ impact. Also, this impact is "average" and will likely be less initially, and get worse the longer it lasts as secondary impacts are felt.

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    3. Greg - ETC(SW) USN - RetiredOctober 4, 2013 at 8:46 PM

      Whoops, the 15.7B should be 15.7T (to stay consistent) and NBC News is reporting about half my estimate, per week, but that's still not chump change. http://www.nbcnews.com/business/money-nothing-government-shutdown-costs-12-5-million-hour-8C11308802

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    4. THEY will do ANYTHING to make Obama "look unsuccessful". It is a sad state of affairs we have come to.

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  15. A nice bit of irony--I went and read that Onion story, and when I reached the end of the "Help me" section there was an ad for "Matt Bevin for Senate" right below it. Bevin is the Tea Party backed challenger to Mitch McConnell in next years Repugnican primary here in KY.

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  16. I find it interesting the media is so pin-drop silent that in fact just a few rabid republican tea bag Ass hats are holding the country hostage. ....... Crickets...............

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    1. Well, I think it depends on what media you read. I've seen this exact thought expressed in numerous places in the mainstream media, both liberal and conservative.

      It's not exactly a tidal wave, but it's not exactly crickets either.

      Of course, I read a lot of different sources, so maybe it looks different to me.

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  17. Brilliant, as usual Jim. Don't know about you, but I often wonder how John "GET OFF MY LAWN!" McCain feels about unleashing the palinistas onto the 'Murikn' people...for shame for shame for shame...

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    1. "John McCain Owes America An Apology for Sarah Palin"

      http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/john-mccain-owes-america-an-apology-for-sarah-palin/

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  18. Great post Jim - you put it all so well. Keep up the good work!

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  19. Contrast Boehner with Pelosi, who lost her position by pushing The Affordable Care Act. Boehner has yet to learn that leading is not determining which way the crowd is moving, and then running to the front.

    Danny

    Danny

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  20. I am not sure I like the ACA, but it is the law, and it is absurd to shut the government down over a futile protest. In the end, if ACA really won't work, it will become apparent very quickly and then it can be fixed.

    I would observe, however, that some of the "shutdowns" appear to me to be mean spirited. Shutting down amenities that actually cost money to maintain is one thing, but closing an open air monument or a turnabout lane or any of the other things that have been shut down where it costs more to implement the shutdown than to let things be seems to me to be completely counter productive.

    Personally, I am for "government that works" and not government where both sides seem afraid to make the honest effort that is needed to keep it working.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Why do folks (not you Jim) continue to misuse "respect" as a verb ??? One shows disrespect - - it ain't a fuckin verb !!
    As for Congresscritter Marlin: idlehandsdept.blogspot.com.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The OED shows that 'respect' is listed as both a noun and a transitive verb.

      Delete
    2. Correct. However, "disrespect" has been turned into a verb.

      Delete
  22. I have been aghast for the past five years or so (and that is hard on a body, let me tell you) at the fact that this knee-jerk minority called the Tea Party has been able to wield so much influence. Even though I know that this particular grass has its roots deep in the Koch brothers' fecund asses, I am still amazed at how they are able to whipsnap the majority of the Republican party into their line.
    They got way too much media coverage to start, and as Donnabella points out above, John McCain thrust the Idiot Governor into the national spotlight. This inflated perception of their influence made everyone in the Republican party afraid to cross them. I am surprised, though, that this attitude has not faded in the past few years.
    Yes, John Boehner is culpable for being unable or unwilling to lead his party away from the edges of extremity, but so are the reasonably semi-sane majority of Republicans who are too cowardly to try to take their party back.
    If the Tea party were actually a third party, they would wield only very minimal influence on our government.
    My hope is that the pendulum has just about completed its swing, and that the country will start to pull back from this type of insanity. (Really, this is getting old and we need a new type of insanity.)

    Am I wrong? Tell me why.

    Bruce

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    Replies
    1. They know it's not exactly what they want, but it's close enough to let them latch on to it and ride it.

      Delete
  23. I think now would be a good time to to use one of my favorite insults, and call the teabaggers the bunch of moon-faced assassins of joy they are.

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  24. I think the decades long Republican crusade of dumbing down its voters is finally paying off. Too many people are too stupid and too apathetic towards politics to do anything about it. And because there are also too many "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" the GOP keeps getting the votes to stay alive, even though it has been brain dead for years now.

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  25. Craven. What a fabulous word. I am TOTALLY using this word in my next tweet to that ASSHAT Boehner. Excuse me while I go yell at him. Thanks for the great post. I'll tweet this.

    a4alice

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  26. Oh Jim, it's gotten so bad. At least with a shooting war we'd KNOW things were nuts. This is like psychological or emotional abuse of a child in a sick family setting. I wanna relocate to Norway permanently but I don't have a passport, and now I can't get one. You think I can apply for refugee status?

    ReplyDelete
  27. As an aside to your last comment: anyone notice that the only ones shooting were cops? I'm really curious to see what the story is on this one. Not too many "lone gunman" types take a one year old baby with them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robert Segrest, You are aware aren't you that she was using her vehicle as a weapon and she had zero regard for the safety of anyone around her? And that includes her child who was put in danger by the mother. The child is unhurt thankfully and nobody else was killed. THAT is probably the best outcome anyone could hope for in the situation. Of course it's sad the woman was killed, but it was a dangerous situation brought upon by her. The debate at this point, in this case, should be about access to help for people with mental health issues and not the actions of the officers protecting the public and themselves.

      Cindy G

      Delete
  28. We are indeed in the Crazy Years, and this may be the Year of the Jackpot, Know-Nothings and all.

    *sigh*

    Thanks for placing my thoughts into words.

    NaluGirl

    ReplyDelete
  29. "the party of Jefferson Davis" -- oh so spot on, in SO many ways. Tragically.

    Just as a small example of the Repulsivcans' deep, sincere concern for small business we keep hearing about, national park closures not only give us a sickening opportunity to see such slime as Rep. Neugebauer on show, not only cost the government revenue, but they will likely put a boatload of companies out of business. Look at places like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite which draw visitors from all over who have planned for years to bring money (from places with functioning governments) and who are currently saying "Fuck this, we can never tell when the USA will even be open." And where they would spend it is in towns like for example Sonora which do not see much outside money except from people coming to Yosemite. Places that were hit by the Rim Fire last month and now the Hell Fire of the Mad Hatters' party. And yes, the D.C. hotels etc. which are laying off and closing like crazy because OMG, there is No Business. Um, what were they saying about jobs?

    And this all in the interest of "fairness to the Amurkan People" in Boners' (sic) words. Phooey.

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    Replies
    1. One of the concessionaires at Death Valley National Park is a Hispanic family from New Mexico. This is a huge hit to them. Another hotel/restaurant further out, Panamint Springs, is a family owned and operated restaurant/hotel/campground. They have to generate their own electricity and treat their own water out there, and they burn 7 gallons per hour of diesel fuel to do that -- that's over $4,000 per month just to keep the lights on. If there's no tourists because Death Valley National Park is closed, their lights go off fairly rapidly, the few locals who stop by aren't going to pay the freight. It's going to be an even bigger disaster than the invasion of Iraq was, at least that just shut off the flow of foreign tourists, which hurt, it hurt bad, but they could survive that, unlike a shut off of *all* tourism.

      The park employees on unpaid leave in some sense are the lucky ones. At least they get unemployment compensation while out on unpaid leave, unlike the small concessionaires who are getting royally screwed.

      Delete
    2. two links to republican small business.
      http://desertbeacon.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/republican-mythology-small-business-facts-and-fantasies/

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/23/olbermann-small-business_n_736418.html

      john

      Delete
    3. The Republicans keep spouting that small businesses are job creators. Well, I own a small business and my husband owns a small business and our customers are the job creators. We're in the Washington, DC suburbs, and right now a lot of our customers have had their income cut off. It's worth noting that the essential personnel who are reporting for work are not getting paid, and have no guarantee they will get paid when this is over.

      Deb S. in Northern Virginia

      Delete
    4. "These people aren’t the party of Lincoln, they’re the party of Jefferson Davis. "
      My thought also. Pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

      Delete
  30. I think what is the absolute worst thing about Boehner's cowardice is that all that's at risk is his job as Speaker. He would still HAVE A JOB. A pay cut, but still a job. So many people losing pay, kids not going to pre-school, poor going without food all because he doesn't want to lose what last grasp he has of what's left of his speakership.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Here, and in other commentaries, insane, crazy, WTF, and other such pejoratives are used predominately in describing the repubs and the tea baggers in particular. I'm not so sure this is accurately assessing the problem. Once in a while, the koches, et al, are mentioned. Would you comment on the opinion that Obamacare, abortion and the rest of the crises you mentioned previously are a feint, diversion, to keep the eye off of the pea-containing shell where the real objective is the subversion of this country by those wealthy few since attempts of taking over the world by these same kind of people has a long history?
    To do this requires a lot of money to buy people into power. Most of these people have made a conscious decision to sell their souls which does not in all cases make them insane, etc. If so, then does it not make sense that these people are doing their job, what they are paid to do? Of course, how does the long-standing racism not only perseveres but thrives today since it seems to be one of the main ingredients of the voters that elect these miscreants?
    So, your rant is great but is it addressing the causative problem ( a likely redundancy)?
    van from Houston and ain't bragging on it.

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    Replies
    1. pejoratives are used predominately in describing the repubs and the tea baggers in particular. I'm not so sure this is accurately assessing the problem.

      Perhaps, but it accurately describes the 'Baggers.
      As far as the Kochs go, their grandfathers' generation of Evil Rich Bastards got this whole thing rolling when the Income Tax was first proposed.
      http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/today-s-tea-party-reminds-us-why-we-passed-an-income-tax-in-the-first-place
      This shit has been going on for a long time.

      Delete
  32. "Neugebauer is one of the principle architects of this idiocy ... " (Should be 'principal.' ; )

    ReplyDelete
  33. Another reason you close outdoor parks and monuments is because not only aren't there maintenance, but security is also understaffed. What if someone climbs on something and vandalizes it because those who are trying to protect it can't keep things in order?

    There are support staff as well who do maintenance work. If a step gets chipped, or someone spills something on it, there's someone who does quick repair to keep things from getting out of hand. That's not a ranger's job to do. Those people have been furloughed. In national parks, there are doubtless those who periodically go through campsites to check up on campers and clean up trash and food-strewn campsites and cabins so that bears and other wild critters don't get too close to people. If an overflowing bag of trash attracts bears to a campsite because those people are on leave, and the bears eat someone, people would be complaining about that.

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    Replies
    1. Maybe we can put a bunch of garbage the same way Republicans have shut down the government.... then invite them to the park with a photo op say... veterans, children, or women... they haven't done women yet... okay. Then when they get their the bears eat them and solve some of our problems... a win win situation, where the American people get something out of the shutdown :)

      My list would be Steve king, Bachmann, Ted Cruz, Allen West, Mitch, the idiot who tried to shame the ranger, bohner, cantor, ryan, rand paul... the bears will sleep well and we can point out why leaving garbage at a camp site, or in the capitol is dangerous.

      John
      John

      Delete
  34. There has always been a voice in the dark crevasses of this country advocating armed rebellion against majority rule. The thing that scares me is that this rhetoric. seems to be welling up into the mainstream Teabagger talking points
    .
    People think it can't happen here while forgetting
    it already has.

    I don't really think it will get beyond talk as one of the underlying traits I think these people posses is a morbid fear of change. Thus the panic over the A.C.A. or for that matter of President Obama being elected.
    But I also fear the fringe elements who want to tear everything down. They sometimes seem to be the tail wagging this dog.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I can't say i literally cried, but that last line about the shootings is poignant beyond words

    and...

    on the subject of why the "reasonable" GOPers won't vote with the donkeys:

    http://www.theage.com.au/comment/republicans-to-struggle-with-crisis-they-created-20131003-2ux7m.html

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  36. I've said for years that there's been a rot that taken over the tree of Freedom in this country, and now we're seeing the rot make itself manifest in the form of Tea Party "patriots", no more interested in actually making government work than they are removing government from their lives. Rather than working with the system, they want to blow it up, remove it completely, in the clearly warped viewpoint that doing so will make their lives better. Naturally, when you ask them about other people's lives, they have no answers and no interest in such; just as long as they get what they want, they're happy.

    And that's why we have our current situation in Congress, where the GOP has succumbed to this rot, and is holding the US Government hostage unless they get what they want. It's a classic hostage-taking scene, and we all know what happens to the hostage taker in the end. Only they have one more hostage they plan to take, the American economy.

    I at least can honestly say that I did not vote for these clowns who represent my district and my state (Texas), and still believe in the greatness of this country to come through anything, even if it is self-inflicted by indifferent voters not paying attention to who they are electing.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Thanks for delivering another well written and insightful piece.
    There are two points that come to mind in which we may differ...first, how's about replacing 'son of a bitch' with 'son of a gun'. Women/moms always seem to get the blame. Seems to me that it's (more than) time to hold the men/dads responsible as well..we can start in this small way.
    Also, while I agree that these traitors hate president Obama, they also went after Clinton and would do the same with Hilary...or any Democrat. They're just haters of anyone or thing that they oppose. The stakes are high...money, power, ego, etc. They'll do whatever they believe it takes to retain their piece of the pie...be it hypocrisy, lies, gerrymandering, etc. We the people are the least of their concerns. Thanks for letting me rant, Roz

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  38. The dialogue between Neugebauer and the park ranger reads just like a page out of Catch-22. It could have just as easily been a conversation between Yossarian and Major Major.

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  39. The actions of those in charge of the Republican party are classic addictive behavior responses. It is ALWAYS someone else's fault or responsibility, never their own actions or choices. Their drug of choice is power and they will do absolutely anything, no matter how immoral or degrading to retain or acquire it. Sickening to those who choose to free themselves by making the alternative choice. Personally, I would have to be drafted without any other option to become a politician in todays America. Cleaning toilets and pumping septic systems would at least wash off at the end of the work day.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hi Jim,
    A thought struck me. The Tea Baggers haven't asked for "a suitcase full of money in small unmarked bills and an airplane fueled and waiting at Reagan National." because (a) what they want is to kill the hostage- they promised that in their campaigns, and (b) they already *have* the suitcase full of money and a plane waiting at National. Most Representatives are pretty well off (see opensecrets.org for their net worth), and I believe Tea Bagger Reps. are well above average even for that fairly wealthy body. When they leave Congress, they're assured of even better income as lobbyists or front-men of right wing "think tanks". When they engineered the sequester, they passed a law exempting the FAA flight controllers, so they wouldn't be inconvenienced by flight delays on their frequent vacations. They're the only full time six-figure income federal employees who work at most 3 half-days a week, with lots of extra recess. (Yet they complain about teachers having summers off!, the hypocrites. Well, what's one more hypocrisy among so many?)

    ReplyDelete
  41. <>

    That's what a street gang member says when he is about to go do a drive-by shooting in response to some perceived slight . . .

    ReplyDelete
  42. Correcting previous post:

    "We’re not going to be disrespected."

    That's what a street gang member says when he is about to go do a drive-by shooting in response so some perceived slight . . .

    ReplyDelete
  43. I keep having a terrible feeling that the woman in the black car in D.C. just punched the wrong numbers into her SATNAV, followed the voice blindly, turned into the drive of the White House, and then flipped out when all those men with guns started yelling (and then shooting) at her.

    Can't blame them too much -if that is how it went down- they must be so far out on the edge these days, just waiting for the wrong vehicle to show up and vaporize them and everything around them.

    But we can all blame the Boehner, all the way down. One supposes he is looking for a solution that also solves the debt limit business, but there is no way this is the way to run a government that doesn't run on bananas and graft, and even though we have a long history of idiots in Washington, and graft, to sink this low is really all about the idiot wing of the so-called Republican party 'disrespecting' the United States of America. To the max.

    And oh yeah, if you are going to shoot a charging elephant, you had better put a bullet just about dead center between his eyes, or you are gonna get dead yourself pretty quick. A heart shot ain't got high odds of stopping him, not when he's coming straight at you.

    On the other hand, if you tried that with any of the Teaheads, it would probably be like shooting at a shark. Brain shots don't even seem to bother a shark very much.

    BB

    ReplyDelete
  44. I'm curious to know how many of the tea partiers have a German background...they seem so willing to choose to drink the koolaid just like the Germans did when they fell in line behind 'he who must must not be named' prior to WWII. I am half German myself and I have noticed a strong tendency amongst my relatives to fall in line behind whoever they perceive to be a strong leader without trying to understand the problems.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Jim, you and Mz "Juanita Jean" are my favorite writers, and today, she's just pointed out something wonderful at http://www.juanitajean.com/2013/10/04/at-the-very-least-someone-should-sink-his-yacht/

    She's reporting that "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington" (CREW) is standing up for the park ranger and going after that asshat. Today, CREW "filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) for conduct that reflects discreditably upon the House." Here's the link:
    http://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-filings/entry/crew-calls-on-oce-to-investigate-rep.-neugebauer-for-berating-park-ranger

    Elsie

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  46. A couple of my friends were reading Republican comments regarding the shut-down. "Wow" was the only word one of them could use to respond.

    For my part I have given up reading their puerile bile. I don't need to seek out that source of aggravation. Trying to find logic or reason in their screeching rants is tantamount to seeking 'romance' in the memoirs of a serial rapist.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Just went to Neugebauer and Stutzman's Facebook page. The constant stream of derision and contempt over the last 36 hours is hil-AR-ious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, it probably spurs them on to more blatant acts of stupidity since their only likely takeaway from the derision is that their opponents are so upset at what they have already 'accomplished' that they _need_ to continue. I wish there was some way to hit them in the pocketbook or something tangible or REAL, since nothing gets to them otherwise.

      Delete
  48. I see The Onion article headlining as the result of a critical failure in our education system. It appears the word "satire" has is not being taught.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's because satire requires critical thinking. And you *know* they're not allowed to teach that.

      Delete
  49. One sits in wonder at the rampant stupidity that turns up in news stories these days, and while I'd like to think there's a declining number of crazies when they see how foolish these stances are, a friend of mine who's been an engineer/missionary in Haiti for 30 years visited the other day. After exchanging the obligatory 'how's the families', he says, with a straight face: "You know Obama's got people out there looking for anybody they can find to sign up for food stamps" to expand the pool of potential Democratic Party leaning voters. When I told him "You know that's not true" he replied, "Oh, no, it's Acorn and those others," I was not near a computer to give an exact rebuttal, but as Acorn ceased to exist after 2010, I asked him how an organization that was no longer there could still be doing anything. "They just want you to believe they're gone," he said... This is a man who walked away from a good living working for Boeing to provide clean water for the poverty striken mostly potable waterless for 30 years and even he has gulped down the Koolaid...apparently you can still have your own facts and that's what seems to be driving this anti-Obama, anti-Liberal bullshit...

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    Replies
    1. I felt pretty depressed after I found out my best friend, ex-Navy and I've known him since junior high school, basically started saying that the 'gridlock was good', and sometimes 'obstruction is best'. I tried to talk with him, but quickly I felt it was a lost cause. Some people buy into the authoritarian BS for some reason and it seems to have NOTHING to do with intelligence.

      Delete
    2. I am afraid I have lost a lot of respect for intelligent friends who continue to be delusional and buy the cool-aid, and probably lost them as friends, as well. Even people whom I would have considered to be compassionate.

      Delete
  50. I was introduced to this blog a few days ago. I could not agree more.

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  51. It seems to me that the Tea Party faction that was elected beginning in 2010 on the premise that government was too big and spent too much, etc., is finally getting what they wanted: the perfect opportunity to really show us all that we don't need a Federal government. The effects of the sequester have been so overlooked by the media that the appearance is there were no effects at all. Best of all, *they* still get paid!

    These guys are heroes back home, and as long as they continue to be heroes, why shouldn't they keep things shut down? They're WINNING! Too bad their constituents are on the losing end (with the rest of us).

    ReplyDelete
  52. What's the difference between the Tea Party and Al Qaeda?

    Al Qaeda doesn't pretend to love America.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Rep. Neugebauer is Exhibit A in support of my position that Americans everywhere should sign the Petition that was posted sometime last year (I think) on the White House web site granting Texas permission to secede from the United States. An utterly contemptible human being.

    ReplyDelete
  54. But... but... but...

    THE SOUTH SHALL RISE AGAIN!

    Which is not to say that Southern revanchism is not a powerful element of the current standoff; it most certainly is. Rather, it illustrates the larger point that the GOP in its current incarnation, in throwing this massive tantrum, is refusing to accept the political and demographic changes sweeping them toward oblivion -- they cannot, they just can't bring themselves to admit THEY LOST. To do so is to deny the entire structure of the bizarre reality they've built around themselves for decades. This shutdown is the Confederate flag emblazoned on the pickup truck of their very souls.

    Hell, to surrender to Obama at this point would be to cut their Truck Nutz off.

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  55. So,lemme get this straight. Congress, out of some commitment to fiscal responsibility & elimination of government waste that only they apparently can see, block passage of a budget - or at least a CR - on money *they'd already voted to spend* and shut down the government. Then, today they vote to pay furloughed workers. We've been spending money by the trillions on wars that the American People didn't want us to be in, have been sending hundreds of Abrams M1 tanks to Egypt, tanks that the Egyptian military has told us on a number of occasions that they *don't even want* and now we're paying Federal workers for doing absolutely nothing. The Affordable Care Act. An Act which, not incidentally, the CBO has estimated actually saves the government money, and welfare reform; they're worried that single moms trying to make ends meet on Burger King wages might not actually need the food or housing assistance, all while we've got a Middle Eastern country whose second new government in as many years has not even finished deciding whether they like us or not telling us to stop, pretty-please stop, fucking sending us tanks, for the love of Allah, thank you; we're not invading Soviet Russia anytime soon.

    What drugs do I need to take to comprehend this brand of logic?

    ReplyDelete
  56. Hey, Kenneth. Here's something to cleanse your palate and rest your brain, I hope:

    http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/25/107-words-bernie-sanders-obliterates-ted-cruzs-21-hour-fake-filibuster.html

    I just watched this short video and read the basic truths that come along with it. Bernie Sanders breaks down the jumble of GOP nonsense to the essence of the ACA law today:
    "Healthcare is a right."

    Elsie

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  57. I'm sad to say my representative, Greg Walden, has caved to the crazy. Maddow Blog quotes him:

    Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, fielded questions from wealthy supporters.... "Listen," Walden said, according to several people present. "We have to do this because of the Tea Party. If we don't, these guys are going to get primaried and they are going to lose their primary."

    Awwwww, we have to do everything the bullies say or they will beat us up and steal our lunch money, so we HAVE to trash the country we are supposedly serving or supposedly trying to serve!

    I find this more reprehensible than the craziness, because it is deliberate and it is craven.

    Jan

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  58. Meanwhile all those unemployed public employees should march on the capital and demand the congress get their shit together and let them get on with their jobs

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  59. Great commentary...Love the Rogue Elephant analogy and image....I hope this gets picked up on.

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  60. I just found this website today. Amazing. And perfect analysis!

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  61. I'm late to the party, but mark me down as a fan for your telling it like it is in no uncertain terms. Unfortunately, the Republican Party's hard turn to the Right created a vacuum that sucked in a lot of Democrats. Where or where have all the Liberals in Washington gone?

    ReplyDelete

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