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Friday, December 7, 2012

Welcome To the Party, Bob Dole

 

“It isn’t Bob Dole’s Senate anymore.”

It isn’t Bob Dole’s Senate anymore, that’s what Meredith Shiner said over on CQ Roll Call.

Boy, isn’t that the goddamned truth?

It’s not Bob Dole’s Senate anymore.

Senate? It’s not even Bob Dole’s Republican Party anymore.

And it hasn’t been for a long time.

Unfortunately, nobody told Bob.

A frail and infirm Bob Dole returned to the Senate on Tuesday and spoke to the conservatives there as if they were the republicans he remembered, the mostly reasonable ones who, with maybe a little cajoling, could usually be counted on to do the right thing. 

Unfortunately for Bob Dole, a while back the GOP suffered a corporate buyout and was taken over by fervent religious extremists and their band of drum beating jingoists. These goons have been in the process of right-sizing conservatism ever since. Reasonable republicans got the pink slip and their positions were outsourced to the lowest bidders.

That’s what happened to Bob Dole – and he wasn’t the only one.

Reasonable conservatives got marginalized, then they got downsized right on out of the organization and replaced with the CEO’s weak-chinned idiot nephew.

Speaking of which…

“We did it!” Rick Santorum tweeted triumphantly after his fellow Senate republicans successfully scuttled a vote on the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities.

We did it. We won.

Yay.

You ever notice that whenever Rick Santorum wins, everybody else loses?

Including his own disabled daughter?

Ask yourself something, what exactly did Rick Santorum win? The right for disabled people to be treated as second class citizens in foreign countries? Is that what he won? Because it sure looks that way from where I’m sitting.

The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) is a treaty already ratified by more than a hundred nations. By signing the treaty, nations agree to treat the disabled in a manner similar to that mandated here in the United States through the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

The CRPD is directly modeled on the ADA. In fact, the George W. Bush Administration drafted the treaty and brought it to the floor of the United Nations in 2006.

That’s right, George W. Bush.

Yeah, that guy.

 

I’ll pause for a moment so you can wrap your head around the super-sized colostomy bag full of watery brown shitty shit shit you’d have to be in order for George W. Bush’s international human rights record  to look good in comparison.

 

It’s ironic that the man conservatives honored before the CRPD vote, Bob Dole, was one of the principal sponsors of the ADA and a vocal supporter of the CRPD.

It’s ironic, given just how much conservatives hate both the ADA and the CRPD.

Conservatives can’t stand it, can’t stand that bleeding heart crap, can’t stand that anybody would put people before business or before nationalism.

Because apparently treating the disabled in a respectful manner and providing sissy liberal cripples like former Republican Senator Bob Dole – who was disabled in the service of his country while fighting for America in WWII no less – with equal access to, well, life is somehow downright un-American. 

In a stomach turning display, Republican senators, each in turn, stopped to pay their respects to Dole before the vote as he sat there weak and shrunken in his wheelchair on the Senate floor, and the malignant disgusting hypocrisy of it all just completely escaped them.

See, if it wasn’t for the ADA, they wouldn’t have been able to roll Bob Dole into the Senate chamber in the first place.

Republicans stopped to shake Dole’s hand and speak kind words to the elder statesman.

That’s bullshit.

What they should have done, each and every one of them, was to step right up and punch Bob Dole right in his crippled arm.

Yes, that’s right, Republicans should have struck Bob Dole right in his withered arm, they should have mocked his infirmity, his age, and lorded their physical fitness over him. 

They should have looked him right in the eye and told him that he was a communist, a socialist, and a fucking Nazi.

Then, Rick Santorum should have stepped up and spoken for tea swilling, powdered wig wearing, flag waving patriotic American conservatives everywhere and told Senator Bob Dole to get out, just take his unAmerican crippled ass and move to Canada.

That’s what they should have done.

At least that would have been honest contempt.

Instead the hypocritical contemptuous craven sons of bitches looked upon Bob Dole in his wheelchair, they shook his hand and touched his shoulder and mouthed the empty words of their selfish bankrupt ideology and the hollow platitudes of their selfish diseased religion – and then after Elizabeth Dole rolled her husband from the floor, Republicans took their seats and when the roll was called they unzipped their flies and pissed on Bob Dole.

They pissed on every disabled American veteran, including me.

They pissed on every disabled American, on every disabled person in the entire world.

They pissed on the disabled who haven’t yet been born, but may be one day.  Those tiny babies that they claim they care so very, very much about.

They pissed on those that are not yet disabled – but someday will be, as happens to all of us who live long enough. Including themselves, I hope.

And they did it because in their tiny fevered minds, they have come to believe that equal access for the disabled somehow diminishes the rights of able bodied Americans like themselves, like Rick Santorum. The truly ironic part is that these same people, this exact same list of smugly pious hypocrites, trumpet their Christianity at every opportunity – people just like Rick Santorum who wears Jesus on his sleeve like some kind of shiny diamond encrusted Rolex watch that he waves around to impress others.

Christianity. Pardon me while I roll my eyes.

That’s what Jesus said, right? Screw the sick and the lame! Life, liberty, happiness – those things are only for the people God made whole (and made wealthy and American, but I digress). Sure, that’s it. Just ask the head of Rick Santorum’s church, Pope Benedict. 

See, his Holiness won’t sign the treaty either.

The head of the Catholic Church, the guy who is supposed to represent his loving and compassionate God on Earth, the guy who claims a direct spiritual connection to Jesus himself, yeah, that guy won’t endorse a treaty that gives equal rights and access to disabled people. 

Boy, sure wouldn’t want the Church onboard with something like that, eh? 

Sure wouldn’t want to have to justify that one when your holiness stands in front of ol’ God, would we?

You what? You supported equal rights for the disabled? The fuck, Benny? Feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the poor? Who the hell told you to do that? Well? Answer up, before I give you a good smiting!

(You may, if you like, insert a gratuitous pedophilia joke here).

Somewhere up in that pristine white biblical heaven that these pompous self-righteous jackasses claim to believe in, their lord and savior is screaming in appalled outrage and throwing breakable things at the wall.

The level of assholery displayed here is beyond mindboggling, it’s downright sickening.  And, you know, I’d be almost willing to believe in the long delayed Second Coming – if it meant I got to watch angry raging Jesus give these sanctimonious hypocrites what they all so righteously deserve. I don’t need to see these idiots dropped into boiling pitch, but little would give me greater pleasure than to watch Jesus shove his crown-O-thorns right up Rick Santorum’s ass and twist.

But I digress.

So, what’s the big deal anyway?

Why won’t the majority of Republican Senators ratify the treaty?

Let’s start with Senator Jim Inhofe, the Republican from Oklahoma:

"I do not support the cumbersome regulations and potentially overzealous international organizations with anti-American biases that infringe upon American society."

Exactly, because if disabled people have the same access as everybody else, it’ll infringe on American Society – because obviously disabled people aren’t actually part of American society.  Inhofe is nothing if not predictable, this is the same logic he uses to deny everybody equal rights under the law, it’s just too much paperwork, fellas. Sorry.

Note the word “potentially.”

Not actually. Not definitely. Nothing we can actually prove. Potentially.  Potentially, as in some unspecified manner that maybe could potentially happen sort of some time in the undefined future. Potentially. The conservative Heritage Foundation agrees. Ratification of the treaty could lead to unspecified problems by unspecified means from unspecified agencies hostile to unspecified conservative principles.  Potentially speaking.

Wouldn’t that mean there’s an equal potential for the treaty not to infringe on American society? Especially since we wrote it?

“It’s a treaty to change the world to be more like America!”

That’s what Senator John Kerry, Democratic Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the same guy republicans want to be the next Secretary of State, said to the Senate prior to the vote. 

It’s a treaty to make the rest of the world more like America.

Seriously?

Didn’t anybody tell Kerry that we make the rest of the world more like America by invading their countries, bombing the shit out of them, and killing a couple hundred thousand brown people, not through diplomacy. Jesus, who the hell is this guy?

Rick Santorum was outraged:

“This is a direct assault on us and our family!”

Yes, signing a treaty that obligates the United States to do exactly what it’s been doing for the last twenty three years since the passage of the ADA and will require no changes in our laws whatsoever is a direct assault on Rick Santorum and his family.

Santorum was particularly wary of the CRPD’s “Best Interest of the Child” verbiage.

"It may sound like it protects children, but what it does is put the government, acting under U.N. authority, in the position to determine for all children with disabilities what is best for them. In the case of our 4-year-old daughter, Bella, who has Trisomy 18, a condition that the medical literature says is 'incompatible with life,' would her 'best interest' be that she be allowed to die? Some would undoubtedly say so."

Some would undoubtedly say so about Rick himself.  Some people like me, potentially speaking.

 

I’ll just pause again, so you can take another moment to contemplate the sheer size of the shitbag that is Rick Santorum.

 

Seriously, Rick Santorum is concerned that somebody is going to tell him what’s best for his family?

You’re kidding me, right?

Aren’t these the exact same people, the exact same people name for name, that keep telling us what’s best for our families?

Aren’t these people the same ones that want to decide for us when to have children or when to unplug our brain dead family members or even who we can love and marry?

These are those exact same assholes, are they not?

I honestly don’t know how people get this damned twisted. I really don’t. I don’t understand how you can get this full of crap, this bugshit insane, and somebody doesn’t see you out on the street covered in crusty dried snot and smelling of week old piss mumbling to yourself about the children and tilting at invisible windmills, and not drop you with a tranq dart and haul your goofy ass off to Crazyland (Ok, Congress. Same same. You got me there).

How the hell do you get from “Best interest of the child” to “OMFG! They’re coming to kill my disabled kid?”

Probably the same way you get from “Hey, let’s make sure every American has access to healthcare” to “OMFG! Death Panels! Death Panels!”

Just, damn.

The boundless hypocrisy of modern conservatives never ceases to amaze me. The difference between what was, in republicans such as Bob Dole, and what is, in modern republicans such as Rick Santorum, is horrifying and depressing. But then, I feel the same way about most prominent Christians – at least the ones who have their own TV shows and wear Jesus on their sleeve like a fancy watch.

Meanwhile, Mike Lee, the honorable Republican from Utah was worried about homeschooling:

"I and many of my constituents who homeschool or send their children to religious schools have justifiable doubt that a foreign body based in Geneva, Switzerland, should be deciding what is best for a child at home in Utah”

Yeah, Mike, I doubt it too.

Honestly, Mike Lee voted against civil rights for disabled people all over the world because he’s afraid that that somebody in Switzerland might laugh at the fact that he and his inbred constituents in Utah are teaching their handicapped kids how ol’ Noah rode velociraptors around the deck of the Ark.

Obviously even Mike Lee must think that’s a form of child abuse, otherwise he wouldn’t be worried about it, would he?

Both Lee and Santorum couldn’t actually point to any provision in the treaty that would actually allow the Swiss to confiscate homeschooled kids in Utah and put them into a UN Reeducation camp, but both were afraid that “somebody” somewhere might use the courts to do something unspecified to prevent homeschoolers from doing something else unspecified. This, of course, despite the fact that Congress itself included language in the treaty that specifically forbade its use in American courts.

Frankly I’m a hell of a lot more concerned about these homeschooled goofs than I am about the Swiss. Take Michael Farris, a home-schooling activist who was invited to speak against the bill before the Senate:

“The other thing that everybody in America will be living under is socialism as an international entitlement. We're signing up now for our first economic, social, and cultural treaty which means as a matter of international binding law that goes to the supremacy clause in our Constitution, we're signing up to be an official socialist nation, cradle-to-grave care for the disabled."

Now there’s a hell of an endorsement for homeschooling right there. 

Just for fun, see how many things you can find wrong with Farris’ statement, you can start with his definition of socialism and work your way up to “international binding law,” whatever the hell that is.

Cradle to grave care for the disabled.

Boy, wouldn’t want to sign up for that, would we?

I mean, Jesus Haploid Christ, what kind of civilized country takes care of its disabled? Maybe we should just gas them like they did in Nazi Germany … or we could take them out back and shoot them like they do in Utah.

And then, of course, there’s…

What? Would you like me to pause again for a moment?  No? Well then what is it?

Oh, riiiiight.

Good catch.  Rick Santorum campaigned against the CRPD because it would kill disabled people instead of caring for them while Mike Lee voted against it because it forces us to care for disabled people instead of just letting them die.

Well, at least the republicans got together beforehand and talked it over.

So anyway, where were we?

Oh, yes, abortion.

Because when you’re dealing with conservatives, every conversation always, ultimately, works its way around to abortion.

Always. Every single conversation. Every. Single.  One.

These people have abortion on the brain.

The global community could force America to sanction sterilization or abortion for the disabled at taxpayer expense!"

That was Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council. Tony got all soggy and hard to light over a clause in the treaty that requires signatories to provide disabled people with health care in the areas of reproductive health. And you know what “reproductive health” means, don’t you? Abortion! We’ll be funding abortion across the globe for disabled people! That’s what reproductive health means, not pre-natal care, or contraception, or disease prevention and treatment, or any of the myriad medical things associated with human reproduction – all of which can be enormously complicated with disabled folks in third world countries – nope, reproductive health means abortion, abortion and only abortion. Abortion. Abortion. Abortion. Also, Nazis.

Note, this was the Pope’s beef too. The Holy See was convinced that he’d be signing up for contraception and baby killin’ and dammit, well, it’s all about keeping the children safe for Jesus.

(You may, if you like, insert a gratuitous pedophilia joke here).

It wasn’t just the Senators, the average conservative weighed in as well.  As always, Yahoo! News provides a good representative sample:

WE have the ADA and we enforce it. We do not need the UN getting involved with our country period. The UN is a disgusting mixture of despots and thieves that WE SUPPORT with our Tax Dollars and that needs to END ! I have a disabled family member and he is not descriminated against and never has been to my knowledge. This UN crap must be stopped people, demand we get the hell out of it ! The EU and the rest can kiss this americans rear end.[sic]

Another sterling product of Utah homeschooling no doubt.

Let’s hope this silly yahoo’s disabled relative never has to travel to a foreign country, shall we?

Most other countries are failed societies. Why should we heed the people who made them fail?

I’m sure this will come as a surprise to most other countries.

Also, the people that made most other countries fail were the ones who signed up to a treaty we drafted so that disabled people in their countries weren’t discriminated against? Did I get that correct?

It’s no wonder most of the world, including our friends and allies, hates our damned guts.

It's how they will tax the U.S. and redistribute the US citizens wealth to 3rd world countries. Obama's dream..

Yes, I’m sure that Barack Obama lays awake at night scheming how to make sure disabled Americans who visit, live, and work in foreign countries can enjoy the same access and non-discrimination there as they do here. Why that wily bastard!

Do the disable in the USA have equal rights without this treaty? YES!! Why then do we need to sign on to this treaty? Such an action implies that the UN has sovereignty over us. It does not. Thumbs up to those who voted against the treaty. Thumbs down to those voted for it, and double down to those alleged Republicans who supported the treaty. Hopefully, the same wisdom will prevail in the new Senate next year. [sic]

By far and away that’s the most common sentiment expressed by Yahoo! commenters.

I read over a thousand comments that said pretty much the same thing.

We’ve got the ADA, why should we sign the treaty? I don’t know, maybe for the same reason we sign treaties regarding international police cooperation even though we’ve got our own police forces, or for the same reason that we sign international standards agreements even though they use the metric system and we use some antiquated measurement based on furlongs per fortnight times the number of barleycorns it takes to equal the length of some long dead king’s index finger, or maybe we should sign it for the same reason we signed the international conventions against torture and mistreatment of POWs … OK, that’s a bad example but I think I’ve made my point here.

When do we get out of the UN. It is the most Socialist org. ever. And send them packing from New York ASAP. They are working for the New World Order. And it will take away Americans free Rights. Truth, Google it, if you do not believe me. And for you Liberal just stick it. You are the party of taking away freedoms. Just look at all your against. Against American energy independence, gun control, free speech, on and on....

Oh noes! Not the New World Order!

I forget, is the One World Government the same as the New World Order? Or is that a completely different clinical diagnosis? Are they both run by the Illuminati or the Masons or Bilderbergs.  As the commenter suggested, I Googled it, but that just made it worse.

 

Honestly, at this point I’m starting to think that Conservative should probably be classified as a disability, right between Orly Taitz and those people who think Ben Stein is actually funny – or actually an economist.

 

Meredith Shiner was right, it isn’t Bob Dole’s Senate anymore.

And America is far worse for it.

161 comments:

  1. Above, in reactions, I checked 'Whoot!' for the whole article, but seriously, for Mr Dole and all that his presence represented there, it was "I cried".

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  2. There are insufficient words to describe how fucked up this is. These guys are starting to make the Taliban look like sloppy liberals.

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  3. Jim, great stuff. One quibble - I think it's a touch unfair to create the impression that the Catholic church is equally as unhinged as the Republicans on this particular issue. From what the Holy See have said, they see the treaty as a great thing, but its position on abortion leaves them unable to assent to the whole thing.

    I think that's a different category of opposition (it is, at least, consistent and based on recognisable principles) to the variety of crazy non sequiturs coming from the mouths of Republican representatives.

    Oh, I note that Iran have ratified the treaty (with massive reservations). This may not, of course, further endear the thing to Republicans...

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    1. I don't let the Catholic Church off easy on this. It is their irrational beliefs which cause a lot of suffering in this world (condoms in Africa as example).

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    2. The catholic church has no feeling for anyone or anything other than the catholic church. Birth control and abortion have caused much less harm to the world around us than the unhinged and intolerable behavior of the "Church". It is never unfair to call out so called Christians for their unchristian acts.

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    3. I agree that it's right, proper and damn well necessary to call out the church for falling down on the job. But that wasn't my point.

      It was: if you are giving the impression that the Catholic church and the Republican party are equally repugnant on this particular issue ur doin it rong.

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    4. I think sibusisodan's point is the Catholic Church is one kind of crazy and the Republicans are ALL kinds of crazy.

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    5. I think sibusisodan's point is the Catholic church is one kind of crazy and
      The republicans are All kinds of crazy.

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  4. "Give me the child, and I will mould the man."

    I have always felt that a great deal of education takes place at home, so why does home schooling seem to be working out so poorly? Is it the socialization that takes place with all of the unionized liberal teachers?

    We all talk and wring our hands in horror about the state of "education." Seems to be poor for a lot of different reasons, in a lot of different places. I am not sure what it takes to be educated anymore. Our elected officials lament the state of our education on many different occasions but given some of their statements how would they know?

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    1. Education is only limited by those who educate. Leave a child home alone with cult zombie with three ideas (all proven wrong by simple science) and that child will learn, guess what, three stupid ideas.

      Of course the child may well have the sense and the brains and the balls to revolt, and look beyond the zombie cult. Or the child may value obedience and loyalty and fear a beating.

      Garbage in, garbage out.

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    2. It's because the majority of the people home "Schooling" aret he same batshit crazy people who support the GOP and watch Fox "news". Low information people who not only don't know HOW to educate (Theres a reason people go to school to become teachers, not everyone can do it.), they don't really even try. making your kid read a bunch of bible nonsense and religious based books is NOT teaching,its programming.

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    3. Education funding in the U.S. is run locally at the county level. My county (100% GOP run) cut school funding to the point that teachers no longer get any money for classroom supplies. (It was never enough, but now they get zero.) The county commissioners also mailed a $100 property tax refund check to every homeowner. Yes, they spent extra money to print and mail a paper check instead of direct deposit. Yes, they said we could not "afford" $250 per classroom, but refunded taxes anyway. The stupid, it hurts. This is why it is vital to vote in all elections, down to local and allegedly nonpartisan, not just the big years. This is why it is critical to pay attention to what the GOP is messing up locally. The next underfunded under-educated generation will be running the country.
      (Our kids will pick our nursing homes, if we're lucky, or the less fortunate among us get to pick a cardboard box under a bridge. Still think readin' writin' etc. is the only job for a teacher and talking about compassion in schools is funny?)

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    4. I homeschool due to bullying issues regarding my son- who by pre-teen standards is "an overweight geek-kid." However-since I have a graduate degree my son is learning things that public schools do not have the time or money to teach. I am no religious fanatic- the subjects are secular. Yes- we have covered evolution, the big bang, civics, and economics, along with the other subjects one thinks of as "school based." Since he is advanced he takes a few classes at a community college- Chemistry, Computer Science, Architecture, and Robotics for example. My son is active in game tournaments, technical theater, and loves going fishing with his dad. He may not like sports, he may not fit in at public school, but he tests out above his peers due to our homeschooling. Thus not every homeschooling parent is a crazed right winger. My husband and I are liberal democrats, my voting age children lean left- by their choice. I never inflicted my views on my children- they have always had to make their own choices and back those choices with logic and reason.

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    5. If I read this correctly:

      You have a preteen son.

      Among other things he is taking community college classes in architecture and robotics.

      That is so awesome.

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    6. Well Done, Kimberly. I also homeschooled my son, and am very happy with the results. I don't have the degree, but I was able to find the resources needed for him to develop good critical thinking skills and intellectual curiosity. He is in college now, doing well. We live in Massachusetts, so the resources were easier to find than many other states.

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    7. Beth and Kimberly, Kudos. But you ahve to admit you're in the minority of homeschooling parents, and not the majority.

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  5. "Unfortunately, nobody told Bob." And all I could think about was my Pop, cut from similar Republican cloth as Bob. WWII, Army Air Corps, loyal to the end. First Generation Italian American.

    I think if the moderates in this country, especially those right leaning ones, don't bite off their diseased tail at some point that we're all going to be held hostage to more and more of this unbelievably sad and serious sick shit.

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    1. Actually, someone DID tell Dole. It was Barry Goldwater during the campaign back in 1996 when Goldwater said to him, "We're the new liberals of the Republican party. Can you imagine that?" Goldwater was openly contemptuous of the extremist anti-conservative religious elements that had hijacked political control of the Republican Party, which is one of the many reasons he became deliberately marginalized at the end of his career.

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  6. Jim, one typo: 'wouldn't have been able to role Bob Dole'.

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    1. How is that a typo?

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    2. Oh, think it was already corrected, that's how! :-)

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  7. ....and apropos timing as well, coming on the eve of the 71st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which became our means of ingress into WW II where - as you pointed out Bob Dole suffered the crippling injury to his arm.

    I find it a bit depressing that the behavior of the Santorums of the world continues to prompt a reaction of outrage in my gut....but never surprise.

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  8. I worked it out: you are a shaman. Like the shamans in Lapland, or in the Amazon basin, for instance, who eat the toxic mushrooms, bark, whatever, and have the visions (and of course do all the vomiting) for everyone else, and then pee in a bucket so the next guy can drink the pure (unmetabalised) alkaloids straight up, without all the other poisonous shit, and then pass the vision along in the same way.

    You do the hard work. If I had to think about all the above hypocrisy myself, in one go, concentrated like that, without the benefit (and release) of seeing it skewered on the page like that, I'm pretty sure my head would explode. I'm pretty sure your head almost explodes when you write this stuff, too, but you have the strength to stand it.

    And we thank you for it. Or I do anyway. Well done, sir.

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    1. This is the truth... Jim is my hero... and you know... I do send him loving prayers of protection. Jim your social consciousness and compassion are powerful and a fire that burns brightly. Courage is there, personal sacrifice is there and we are all in your debt.

      No many in this nation willing to be real and straight forward, calling the insanity what it is. Compassion and balance, are what this side of our government lack. I notice that the worst are the Christians... why have they so missed the point?

      The psychiatrists have just come out with a new 'rule book'. I do not think much of it, since, according to them, if you loose the love of your life, go into morning and do not snap out of it in two months, you are considered mentally ill... total idiots... However, they also should have found a name and treatment for these mad egocentric men, who feel they can rule everyone elses lives, with no inward reflection, of the absolute sickness of their own mental processes... maybe call it... Repub Insanity Complex. Is there a pill that can solve that?

      My one question... is why did so many people vote them into office... We are a really sick bunch, but it goes back to the fear in your last article!

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    2. No, no, it USED to be two months. It is now two weeks. Same thing if your child or other loved one should die.
      Dewey

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    3. "However, they also should have found a name and treatment for these mad egocentric men, who feel they can rule everyone elses lives, with no inward reflection, of the absolute sickness of their own mental processes... maybe call it... Repub Insanity Complex."

      They already do have a name for it. Malignant Narcisism. (In the GOP case accent on the malignant.)

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  9. One of your best, Jim. I wish I could see a solution to these 'people' who vote against things like this treaty. Unfortunately, the Capitol building is pretty impressive, and I wouldn't want it blown up.

    I'm going to go puke my guts out now from sheer disgust.

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  10. Jim, unfortunately the sentiments you are so aghast over are not the far end of the fringe. If you had stayed in the panhandle of Florida for a Christmas parade, you would have seen this. Please note, the man is a 'Student Minister'.

    Danny

    excuse the long link line, I am not sure how to hide it...
    http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local-news/christmas-parade-organizers-mull-ways-to-curb-public-disapproval-1.60166

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    1. Hmmm, who's waging war on Christmas?

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    2. Hmmm, who's waging war on Christmas?

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    3. I used to live in the South, I've seen crap like this many, many times.

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  11. Jim, Actually Santorum had no vote on the matter because as of right now he holds no public office. The people of Pennsylvania voted him out last cycle.

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    1. Thank you for mentioning this. And let's not forget that the Republican Senators are now taking marching orders from this pipsqueak who lost his Senate seat by an unheard of 18 points....
      talk about out of touch with voters and clueless.

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    2. I'd wondered about that but didn't get my brain organized enough to Google it.

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    3. The good people of Pennsylvania ditched Santorum in 2006, electing in his stead the rather colorless but well-connected Bob Casey. Casey (son of a former PA governor) was just re-elected to a second-term. In 2010, Arlen Specter (a Republican who would be recognized by Dole, but who changed parties after the party left him) lost the Democratic primary to ret. Vice-Adm. Joe Sestak. Unfortunately, that was the year the Republicans won a lot of Congressional seats, and teaparty darling (and Santorum-lite) Pat Toomey beat Sestak, by a slim margin (80,000 votes out of 4 million). This was after Citizens United and there was mucho big RW PAC money poured into the race, with money on Toomey's side something like triple what was spent for Sestak!

      We won't get a chance to kick Toomey out until 2016, but I'm hoping that Pennsylvania will take that opportunity! Of course, Toomey was one of the "no" votes on the treaty.

      Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Mississippi in the middle.

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    4. Ur, didn't mean to imply that Santorum did have a Senatorial vote in this. I've more some minor editors to make that more clear.

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  12. Hi Jim,

    As the disabled Navy veteran daughter of a disabled WWII and Korean Marine combat veteran, you have my special thanks and support for this one. I truly do not understand how these Senators can justify their stupidity and ignorance on this subject (or many others for that matter, but I digress...). Oh and the comment on the inherent conflict of thought (that may be the wrong word to describe their brain burps) -- Rick Santorum voted against the CRPD because it would kill disabled people instead of caring for them while Mike Lee voted against it because it forces us to care for disabled people instead of just letting them die.....truly, it makes me want to weep that these people are in the forefront of our government, voted in by fellow Americans who presumably agree with the garbage they spew....

    Just a few typos since I seem to have gotten here early...most seem to be homonyms, so I think the auto word completion of your word processing gets most of the blame for these.....

    Principle should be principal in this line:
    It’s ironic that the man conservatives honored before the CRPD vote, Bob Dole, was one of the principle sponsors of the ADA and a vocal supporter of the CRPD.

    Role should be roll in this line:
    See, if it wasn’t for the ADA, they wouldn’t have been able to role Bob Dole into the Senate chamber in the first place.

    Role should also be roll in this line, where an "of" is also missing between "platitudes" and "their":
    Instead the hypocritical contemptuous craven sons of bitches looked upon Bob Dole in his wheelchair, they shook his hand and touched his shoulder and mouthed the empty words of their selfish bankrupt ideology and the hollow platitudes their selfish diseased religion – and then after Elizabeth Dole rolled her husband from the floor, Republicans took their seats and when the role was called they unzipped their flies and pissed on Bob Dole.

    I think you meant inbred rather than inbreed here:
    Honestly, Mike Lee voted against civil rights for disabled people all over the world because he’s afraid that that somebody in Switzerland might laugh at the fact that he and his inbreed constituents in Utah are teaching their handicapped kids how ol’ Noah rode velociraptors around the deck of the Ark.

    Thanks again, shipmate, for saying what so many of us wish would be said on national media loudly and clearly enough to change lots of minds....

    Old Navy Comm O

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do not care at all about typos! I honor Jim's Passion, truth and any brain that can create the clear images of truth, in this powerful a way ... well... writing in such passion would be diluted if he had to worry about every letter... artists just can not stop the flow, to be that grammatically correct... the passion and purpose are the key!! Keep letting the power flow.. who cares about a small typo!!! here and there... !

      Delete
    2. I absolutely agree!! I know quite a few folks think of it as a joke or just being funny, or even maybe that they're "helping", but really, for some of us out here who just enjoy Jim's writing, the critiques do get annoying. Just sayin'.
      Carry on Oh Fearless Leader!!

      Delete
    3. Actually, as (somewhat of) a writer myself, whose best stuff comes rolling out insistently, of its own will, in a great galloping stampede, I must point out that the next step, once one has caught one's breath, is to go back over the opus and tidy it up. This doesn't dilute the work but it does fix the inevitable typos and tighten the phrasing, refine the thought, here and there.

      The reason typos survive despite post-creation editing is that when one reads over one's own work, the eye insists on seeing what it expects and tends to gloss over what should be there but isn't. That's why having another set of eyes proofread one's work is so helpful, no matter how brilliant the author is.

      Of course, there's also the gleeful part of Jim's fanbase that says "New post! Wicked cool! Let's go have some fun typo-hunting!" knowing that their gamebag will never return empty.

      Delete
    4. Typos don't bother me. Too perfect might. We are human, after all. :)

      "That's why having another set of eyes proofread one's work is so helpful, no matter how brilliant the author is."

      As an author (not necessarily brilliant) by trade, I can honestly give this two thumbs up.

      Delete
    5. "That's why having another set of eyes proofread one's work is so helpful, no matter how brilliant the author is."

      As an author (not necessarily brilliant) by trade, I give this two thumbs up. Besides, typos prove we're human. :)

      Delete
    6. Aha! Rox, I daresay you only intended to post your thoughts once, but thanks to a computer glitch or sumpin, you wound up with your first draft and edited version both posted. Both well-expressed, but with sufficient alteration in expression that the ostensible points made, while in the main the same, are nonetheless not quite identical in overall impression.

      Or, to rephrase, they read different. ;D

      Delete
  13. Jim, you're right up there with Bubba in my book when it comes to Explainer in Chief. You untangle the massive mess of the matter and weave it into a coherent tapestry, giving me a better perspective on the big picture and a clearer articulation of my own thoughts. Then I share those thoughts with my elected representatives and family and friends and colleagues and neighbors. Also. Too. (lucky them, eh?)

    Time to give my Senators another piece of my mind:
    Bill Nelson (D Florida)for representing me,
    and Marco Rubio (Neo-R. Jeb'sFlorida) for getting it So Wrong. Thanks for giving me plenty of fodder, Jim.

    Here's a link to the voting results if anyone else is inspired to contact any senator:

    http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00219

    Tikkun Olam Shalom,
    thatcrowwoman








    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great googley-moogley, both of MT's senators voted for the treaty? Be still, my beating heart.

      Delete
  14. Thank you Jim!
    Could almost hear my friend Buddy Tabor's deep gravelly laugh while I read this.
    Now, because Buddy died this year, someone, somewhere, needs to set this post to music and make a trilogy of

    "Jesus loves me more than he loves you "

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

    with Buddy's "Brand New Jesus"

    and your "Oh noes! Not the New World Order!"



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wasn't familiar with Buddy Tabor, but Brand New Jesus was as sad as the first song was funny. Thanks for sharing your friend's legacy.

      Delete
  15. Jim, my favorite quote of the day, maybe the week or the month is:

    I don’t need to see these idiots dropped into boiling pitch, but little would give me greater pleasure than to watch Jesus shove his crown-O-thorns right up Rick Santorum’s ass and twist.

    Thank you for that. I will have that mental picture for the time being, and it will make me smile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I must admit...this was my very favoritist (spelled wrong on purpose you grammar nazis!) part as well. I could, however, do without the actual image staying in my mind for too long. It does hurt the inner eyes after a while, and may be the cause of a growing headache even?

      Delete
  16. For the record, I checked that "I hate you so much" because I try to keep my blood pressure down and not get worked up about more stupidity from the GOP ... Not working here.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for sharing. That was the perfect song to comment on another conversation elsewhere as well...

    ReplyDelete
  18. One more correction; others have already mentioned the others.

    Where you wrote "...kind of shiny diamond crusted Rolex watch that..." it should be "...kind of shiny diamond-encrusted Rolex watch that...", with the hyphen being optional.

    Great post, as always!

    ReplyDelete
  19. "Somewhere up in that pristine white biblical heaven that these pompous self-righteous jackasses claim to believe in, their lord and savior is screaming in appalled outrage and throwing breakable things at the wall."


    I think that all the time...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Again, the moving and controlling force of these GOP senators is FEAR!! They have subscribed so long to the UN being the bad guy, that they can not support anything the UN promotes.


    On a side note, the Georgia Speaker of the House, Chip Rogers who arranged the tin-foil hat meeting of elected GOPers over the UN and its Agenda 21 (Obama's secret mind control plot) first resigned as speaker of the house and has now resigned from the legislature to take a job with Georgia Public Broadcasted Network.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look out, Georgia PBN.

      SW WA Skeptic

      Delete
  21. James! You missed a perfect chance to mention that Pope Ratzo actually WAS a real live gen-u-wine Nazi!

    Yer slippin!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He was in the Hitler Youth. As I understand it, criticizing him for that would be like criticizing kids in Boy Scouts because the folks who run it want to shelter child abusers.

      I'd normally be right alongside you in criticizing Pope Palpatine I, but let's be fair. You can't blame kids for the monstrosity of adults.

      Delete
    2. Also, at that time *not* being in the Hitler Youth had a good chance to result in serious-faced men asking your father "Vould you be so kind, Herr Ratzinger, as to explain vhy your son is not in ze Hitler Youth?"... And giving the wrong answer would be very bad for your father's health.

      Delete
    3. As both Drakvl and Rens have mentioned, a lot of teenagers in Nazi controlled territory were in the HY. You either joined or suffered the consequences. I won't hold that against the man.

      My beef with the Pope and his Church is this: He's the leader of an organization that tries very hard to dictate morality to the rest of the world. This organization feels it has both a right and a mandate from on high to do so. And yet this same organization has made absolutely no real effort to clean up the horrifyingly egregious and pervasive immorality within its own ranks. The Pope continues to protect and shelter child abusers, rapists, and pedophiles.

      When the Church, as publicly and forcefully directed by the Pope, finally stops hiding the pedophiles and abusers within its own ranks, and then actually escorts them to the appropriate police station, I'll stop bashing Joey Rats. Until then, he and his church are fair game.

      As I've said numerous times before, I've walked among the dead and dying children, the starving, and the diseased of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa - and I've walked through the gold plated halls of the Vatican too. The Pope would leave all of those children to suffer and die so that one woman somewhere doesn't have an abortion or that some man somewhere doesn't use a condom? Fuck him and the Popemobile he rode in on, I sincerely hope that he rots in that Hell he's so fond of, him and his asshole predecessor. I stop bashing him the day that he steps up and does the right thing, the day he does what Jesus would have done.

      Delete
    4. An organization that tries to dictate morality to the rest of the world? You mean like one that votes in favor of this UN resolution?

      Delete
    5. No, that's not what I mean at all. This treaty has nothing to do with morality.

      Try again, try harder.

      Delete
    6. All good points gentlemen, and I agree. I should have qualified my statement to reflect it was the Hitler youth. That said, he certainly seems to have taken certain tenets of his programming to heart. He was also head of the CC's department of Inquisition, for whats thats worth.

      Still, it's not a Jim without a mention of Nazi's somewhere.

      Delete
  22. Jim, the New World Order.... isn't that the point of the PNAC crowd? Or do I have my crazy wing nut organizations mixed up?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lets not forget the first person who publicly (AFAIK) mentioned "The New World Order" was President George H.W. Bush.

      Delete
  23. Besides the likes of Santorum and other 'pompous, self-righteous jackasses' in the Republican party, we have the ignorant citizens that don't/won't do their homework before jumping on the bandwagon with them. They are herded so easily into this state of fear by the GOP. In this case all they hear is "UN" and they are against it.

    They should ALL be ashamed. They have pissed on us all. Thank you Mr. Wright.

    bd

    ReplyDelete
  24. I have a bunch of people in my family who support the kind of ridiculous bullshit spouted by Santorum, Lee, and the like. They think rights and liberty are a zero sum game.

    Disabled people don't get discriminated against? But then I lose my right to discriminate against them!

    Everyone gets access to medical care? But then I won't feel superior for having insurance when they don't!

    Gay people get married? But then that makes my marriage less super-awesome Jesusy special!

    Liberty and justice are not finite resources, and you can't run out of them. They are like love, the more you give, the more there is to be given. But tell the average conservative something like this, and then watch their head explode to shrieks of "Socialism!"

    The rapture needs to come. Like yesterday. It will be so much better here when those idiots are gone

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had an odd thought...what if the right-thinking people (herein defined as ourselves, lol) were raptured, leaving behind a rather confused and sordid bunch of "Christians" to inherit the earth, as it were.

      Random thought over, back to the Jim Channel...which rocks, by the way.

      Delete
  25. The thing is - its not funny. Not even remotely the way our Congress has been highjacked by these people who are incapable of rational, logical thought.

    And our own House Rep? Mr. Dungus Youngus? I don't think he believes half the crap he spews, he just likes to spew it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it's not funny, and I know (at least for me) that although the smile and chuckle does happen, as it often does with Jim's writing, the absolute horror and disgust I feel for these idiots is in no way lessened by them. These republicans and all who think like they do are a disgrace to every American and THEY are what makes me ashamed to admit I'm an American, a country I used to be so very proud to be a member of!

      Delete
  26. There is evil afoot and thy name is the 38 who voted against the treaty.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Oh, where to start? First, thank you for bringing perspectives to the discussion that simply would not have occurred to me. This, more than anything, is why I have become a devoted reader.

    The UN? Wasn' t that OUR idea, just like this treaty?

    You have made me, too, look forward to the Second Coming. Want front-row seats. Also want good seats for thr Rapture, when all the gay married couples are whisked to Heaven first. I want to be standing right next to Santorum or Limbaugh when that happens!

    Because I must mock: the Yahoo commenter got even the word ' thieves' right, but then came up with 'descriminate'. I think if I found myself scriminated, I would want to be de-scriminated ASAP.

    Putting people before corporations or nationalism. Isn't that the definition of socialism? (And communism and fascism? )

    Finally, didn't I read that one Republican dissed the treaty because it had no enforcement provisions? Dovetails nicely with the whole UN-takeover-of-America fearmongering, eh? Like you said, good thing they got together first to get their stories straight.

    Bruce

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Bruce, that so takes me back... My poor aged mother somehow turned into a wingnut, but very confused. The poor thing was tottering around our living room reviling Clinton and the commies that got the US into the thing. I took the encyclopedia out and showed her the history. I also explained to her that to the best of my knowledge the UN functioned as an arm of US policy. Ah the bubbles burst. I think it was better for her blood pressure, but I am not sure.

      Delete
    2. Hey, if the Retardlicans will filibuster their own bills in the Senate why is it a surprise that they'll vote against a UN treaty that was proposed by one of their own?

      Delete
  28. Waitaminnit. Final commenter quote in the post: liberals are against gun control?

    Bruce

    ReplyDelete
  29. We're also against "on and on". Which surprises me. It sounds like fun.

    Bruce
    (I'll stop now)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like shooting fish in a Wal-Mart aquarium, isn't it?

      Delete
    2. Yeah, I'm a lazy liberal so-and-so, taking the easy way out, getting by on government- funded sarcasm!

      Bruce

      Delete
  30. I saw that this got shot down and I just couldn't figure out why. Not sure I'm any any further to an answer after reading this but you give a voice to all the confusion and frustration I was feeling over these idiotic choices made by our elected officials.

    Thanks Jim.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It would have been fun if the VP, the head of the Senate, had kept a running tally of the excuses given to reject the treaty and made comments on them as they came by. It would have made it very clear just how idiotic their opposition was.

      Delete
  31. Wonderful post.

    I had tears when I watched Dole sitting out there and seeing this go down. I am sad for him and for America.

    As to the Yahooo commenters, I usually cannot bear to read them - the hate is so ignorant and over-whelming.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Sigh. Terrific article, and so timely ( for me, at least) My husband was a disabled vet and my uncle was on the Arizona 71 years ago today. He spent 11 hours trapped in the hold and was never healed from that experience.
    I did want to talk about home schooling just a little. I began home schooling my son when he finished 2nd grade ( the last grade available in the small school he was attending in Washington state where he did very well). I should mention here he has Asbergers and although it doesn't affect him intellectually, it was difficult for him to get past the distractions of public school classrooms and process the information he needed in order to learn well. He wasn't doing well in 3rd grade public school, so I took him out of school and put together a program that would allow him to indulge his intellectual curiosity/ambition, learn from a larger pool of teachers and mentors, and help him to achieve sound critical thinking skills. We joined an organization of secular home schoolers and he was able to take classes from Harvard, the local community college, MIT Splash ( Technology based workshops sponsored through MIT), Mock Trial ( where kids put together a team of 'lawyers' and go through the whole process of trial lawyers in a competition with schools), act in a Shakespearean play ( the _whole play_, original language, mind you), camps (NOT religious based), clubs for gaming and sports, to name just a few of the things he did. He had a lot of freedom to direct his interests. The organization we belonged to had about 100 families, was non-profit with its own facilities, where we met for additional classes in every subject normally taught in schools, as well as support from other home schooling families and social activities. Today my son is in college studying for his environmental science degree and doing very well. We never sat at home in isolation reading the bible. I know there are home schoolers out there that do (the 'fundies'), but we never had much to do with those people. We were out for a better education, to allow my son's processing skills time to develop to be more inline with his intellectual capabilities, not to retard his development intellectually or socially.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sounds like you did exactly the right things for your son. If more homeschoolers were like you, the country would be in better shape.
      Thank you for setting a good example.

      Delete
    2. Homeschooling can work well, as your case is an example. However, too many parents seem to think they can teach EVERYTHING to their children and they are not equipped to do that. Especially if their particular bent is against what they are supposed to be teaching. The evolution/science vs creationism thing, among others.
      Good job.

      Delete
    3. Good for you. Especially in the "military/industrial" model of schooling today, schools simply can't meet the needs of every student--for many reasons--and students who don't fit the model are very fortunate to have home schooling organizations like this. You did exactly the right thing, as have several friends of mine who have been able to take advantage of similar options. I've been a public school teacher for 40 years, and I think this is great. I think applying some of the approaches of these groups could move public schooling forward, too.

      On the other hand, too many folks who keep their kids out of school because they are afraid of what the kids might learn are, sure enough, mostly just indoctrinating, and their efforts (like those of too many charter schools) are just sad to see.

      Delete
  33. I tried Thesaurus.com in vain to find the right word to describe the cretins in charge of today's Republican party.
    Nothing fits.
    Jim, please create a new word foul enough to give us a picture of these asine twits.

    ReplyDelete
  34. "Conservatives can’t stand it, can’t stand that bleeding heart crap, can’t stand that anybody would put people before business or before nationalism." You forgot Party Purity, Party before people, country, nationalism, oath of office. That vote made me sick to my stomach and you explained it so well, gotta post to my facebook page.

    ReplyDelete
  35. (You may, if you like, insert a gratuitous pedophilia joke here). Clearly this is another typo- shouldn't it be a 'required' pedophilia joke?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Kudos for you for so "eloquently" speaking your mind. I enjoyed every word of it and agree with almost all of it. One little objection...please don't rap home schooling. It is not all as you described. I know an intelligent couple who live in a VERY rural area and chose to home-school their two daughters to keep them OUT of the local schools run by conservative nut-jobs. The girls are well-rounded, sociable and are now both attending college. One, who was drop-dead gorgeous, worked a stint as a fashion model in NYC. Can't say how that went but she made good money for awhile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, I had a friend who was home-schooled as a kid because she had the courage to speak out against Bible-induced bigotry at her school, and her parents had to pull her out because of retaliation from the teachers.

      Delete
  37. One of the ultimate ironies is this. The modern GOP claims to be wholly opposed to the United Nations for its overreaching power. The GOP had rock-solid control of the White House, the Congress and the Supreme Court for six years from 2001-2006. Why didn't they withdraw as a signatory during that time? The Democrats had neither the political will nor the numbers in Congress during those years to stop it. It could have been done. So, the question that needs to be asked is "Why didn't they do it? Why didn't the Republicans, when they had the political power to do so, withdraw the US from the United Nations?"

    I don't know the answer but it is long past time we started asking the question.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Yes. YES. Thank you. I never thought I would feel sympathy or empathy for Bob Dole, but I do. A little bit.

    I wonder sometimes why we continue to consider the opinions of people like Rick Santorum (let alone listen to them in the first place). Is it just their ability to both influence thousands of poor schmucks and cater to wealthy schmucks? Is it some sort of religious bond that people might feel with a similarly religion-ed politico? Is it the fact that Rick Santorum looks like a Kebler elf?

    But all electronic existentialism on my part aside, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  39. McCain actually voted for this.

    ...and so did Lisa.

    ReplyDelete
  40. I hate to admit it, but I usually don't even bother to write my US Senators from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, since I consider it a complete waste of my time, and it just makes me angrier. Yes, I'm ashamed about that. But Wednesday, I DID email them both about their votes against this UN matter, and the next day, I received a response back from Hutchison. (Cornyn, of course, has made no effort, thus far, to respond to my criticism, since I didn't grease his palms with gold and silver.)

    Just for the hell of it, here's what I sent Hutchison:

    ***
    I am seriously disappointed in your voting against the disabled in your UN Treaty vote.

    You say:
    "The Convention on Rights for People with Disabilities Treaty wrongly attempts to impose standards on other nations through the United Nations and might well have unintended consequences here at home."

    Really? Could you please expound on that? Otherwise, it simply seems that you have a complete disregard for those among us who need the most help, whether in this nation or in the world of nations.

    You even had poor old Senator Dole there, as well as Senator McCain's support, and still that didn't move you to support the disabled?!

    REALLY?

    I'm extremely disappointed in your vote against the disabled population in this country when you chose to vote against supporting the UN treaty.

    ***

    Interestingly enough, some flunky from the senator's office responded to me with the following, in her name, of course:

    ***
    Dear Friend:
    Thank you for contacting me regarding the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). I welcome your thoughts and comments.

    I have always supported the principles embodied in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This law is the foundation for our country to provide the highest standards of protections and considerations on behalf of those with special needs.

    During my nearly 20 years in the Senate, I have also worked to ensure that we provide the very best care and assistance to our disabled veterans through a variety of federal laws and resources.

    Although the principles embedded in the U.N. Convention on Rights for People with Disabilities are worthy, I believe it is a mistake to seek to impose standards on other nations through the United Nations. Not only do such U.N. initiatives lack force of law, they could have unintended consequences, including in our own country.

    I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

    Sincerely,
    Kay Bailey Hutchison
    United States Senator

    284 Russell Senate Office Building
    Washington, DC 20510
    202-224-5922 (tel)
    202-224-0776 (fax)
    http://hutchison.senate.gov

    ***
    How do you spell "Texas Senators"? The best way I know is "d-o-u-c-h-e-b-a-g-s".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhps Sen. Hutchinson could explain how an initiative that "lacks force of law" could have any kind of "consequences" -- unintended or otherwise!

      Delete
    2. The proper way of imposing standards on other nations is when the USA pressurizes them in to lowering oil prices, or when US-based fundie christians "consult" with national leaders to adopt the death penalty for "aggravated homosexual acts", or...

      ... I'll stop ranting, I think.

      Delete
    3. We don't seem to have any qualms about imposing our standards for anything else on other countries, and are frequently prepared to intervene with military or paramilitary force to see to it they do things our way or suffer the consequences. That we should shrink from doing so in the matter of treatment of the disabled seems bizarre in the extreme.

      Delete
  41. Life was simple for the wingnuts when they had the Soviet Union to hate - now they have to turn on their own.

    As for forcing someone, through medical means, to live with the worst quality of life imaginable - to further your own political ends - or make you "feel good" - that is inconceivable to those who value life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They never hated the Soviets. They wanted to BECOME them.

      Delete
  42. Thank you for expressing so eloquently the utter stupidity of that vote. The 3 basic motivators of human behavior are fear, greed and love and unfortunately the greatest of these is not love. The current day republican party has perfected the appeal to fear and greed and there are enough deliberately ignorant and/or bat shit crazy people out there to vote the craven bastards into office where they do nothing but F*** up the world. I am glad I am in the final 3rd of my lifetime but I pity my nieces, nephews and younger friends and the world they will live in.

    I enjoy reading your posts and wish I could clone 50 of you and have you run for Senate in each and every state!!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Dave- haven't you noticed that Burr never listens to constituents that don't agree with his agenda. I seethe at reply letters telling me that my opinion, as a constituent he is supposed represent, is wrong. So much for of the people, by the people!

    Jim - Another brilliant post! I join the line of those who worship your ability to take what is in my heart and mind and give it voice.

    ReplyDelete
  44. So I've spent a while thinking about this, and it occurred to me why they REALLY needed to vote this down. And I don't think it had anything to do with any of the blather they spewed. Let's look at the basic facts. Nothing in this resolution would change anything in the US. It would, in fact, encourage the rest of the world to adopt the practices we already mandate.

    The rest of the world.

    i.e. countries with really cheap massive factories that are wholly owned by US corporations. US corporations that do not want to spend one penny more than they have to in order to reap massive profits on whatever soul killing widget they are producing to sell at WalMart. This resolution might have introduced restrictions on THOSE factories. Maybe. I mean, in the end the UN really only suggests, but still.

    So the GOP got its usual marching orders from its usual overlords, "Kill this. We don't care what you say, just kill this."

    ReplyDelete
  45. Maybe they were reading "Profiles in Cowardice" eh ? (as usual)

    ReplyDelete
  46. You know, Jim, I would never enter a skeet shooting contest against you because I can tell that you hit Every. Single. Target.

    And also Nazis.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Jim,

    Great piece from start to finish.

    "Welcome to the party," indeed. And "goodbye Mr. Dole," as well.

    ReplyDelete
  48. I made the choice at age 10 to become an Atheist. I was shown both sides, from my Methodist mother and my Agnostic father and was allowed to make a choice and I chose Atheism, although I was told by my father to always say I was Agnostic so as not to upset the evangelical relatives. I chose never to talk about religion with any of my relatives, just to be happy being an Atheist and leave it at that; they are living a lie and I am a realist. I must say that Sunday school was sometimes cool; we did crafts and played on the jungle gym. That's all I know of god, yarn and popsicle crafts and hanging in the playground. None of the brainwashing ever stuck.

    That being said, you hit another one out of the park Mr. Wright. I am ever so happy to live within a 15 mile radius of your brilliance, and your caring concern for our Country, and the sane-minded societal values that might actually allow us to someday find some common ground and make this Country all that it can be and more.

    ReplyDelete
  49. My father is a Vietnam vet, fortunately not disabled, who goes to church every Sunday, and always votes Republican, but I once heard him say, "These congressmen who claim to be Christian don't act like it." So there is hope.

    ReplyDelete
  50. I am thinking of a word that can describe the absolutely sickening distillation of bullshit, that these craven republicans represent,
    a word that encapsulates their utter disregard for their fellow man, their abysmal contempt for the disadvantaged and the apparent lack of any christian charity the word would also have to convey my complete antipathy towards the republican right. Oh wait I got it Fuck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have a word, thoughtfully supplied by Google, Santorum, a mix of faecal matter and sperm!

      Delete
    2. Frothy. It's a frothy mix...

      Delete
  51. But, but ... sovereignty.
    But, but ... abortion.
    But, but ... who knows what?

    Unfortunately, it's not only the bought-and-paid-for GOP that has their knickers in a twist over this treaty. For example, there is a deaf advocacy group that is exercised because the treaty speaks only to sign language education and does not mention lip reading and speaking. They may have a point, but it doesn't affect things in this country, and I think learning sign is preferable to not being able to communicate at all.

    The demons are where you find them, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Whaaa!!!! Whaaaaa! They wouldn't pass a meaningless UN treaty that's the SAME thing as what we've already had for more than two decades. Whaaa!!! Whaaaa!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heh heh.

      Meaningless, right, and yet you still felt compelled to troll this post - and do it like a snotty twelve year old kid on 4-Chan. And that's just exactly what I've come to expect from commenters like you.

      This country deserves a better class of conservatives.

      Delete
    2. I bet the troll also believes America is a "shining example" to the rest of the world.
      Here, kiddies, THIS is how you do hypocrisy!

      Bruce

      Delete
    3. Sovereignty: A word in the dictionary between sober and sozzled. RAH

      Delete
    4. Jim,

      I only felt "compelled" to comment on how ridiculous your point is. You point out right off the bat that the UN tripe is modeled after the ADA, and then proceed to disclocate your shoulder reaching for a point that doesn't exist just to score political points. Typical partisan behavior - party over country at all times.

      And yes, the country does deserve a better class of conservatives - that's why we need to eradicate the republican party.

      Delete
    5. Party over country at all times.

      Right. Before we go any further, which party are you accusing me of identifying with in my partisanship? The party that created the bill in the first place? Or the one that shot it down?

      And just so I'm clear here, Mr. Galt, you're an Ayn Rand conservative who hates the GOP. You'd be a Ron Paul Libertarian then? Is that correct?

      Delete
    6. Yes, it's based on the ADA. They are being asked to support encouraging other countries to grant their disabled citizens the level of consideration we have given the disabled in this country (which is so, so basic and should be expanded and better enforced, but I digress...). I am baffled why anyone would be against that. It should not be about political affiliation but rather basic human decency. Apparently, that simple notion is beyond this anonymous commenter.

      Delete
    7. RR,

      Correct, it should not be about "political affiliation." Sadly, republicans and democrats - and their Stockholm syndrome voters - have completely pissed on that. None of them have a clue as to what "human decency" even is.

      Delete
  53. Jesus Jones Jim, why did you read "over a thousand comments at Yahoo"??? Is this some secret government test of a new form of torture?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can't plot a curve from one point, Service.

      If I'm going to write an essay about what conservatives like the childish troll who commented right before you actually think, then I have to have a fairly large sample. So I go to where they hang out and I listen to what they're saying - so that when they claim that it's not racism or sexism or ignorance, I've got a something to back up what I'm saying.

      Delete
  54. Good grief... this makes me want to weep.
    How can we let these idiots into a position of power? Why the hell were they invited in?.."Hi there- come on in and let me wipe that dribble of brains, that appears to be leaking out of your ears, off your shoulder" Because that makes sense?
    I've given up talking to them. Unless I'm saying something they want to hear, I may as well be bouncing my head off a brick wall!
    The Waaaaaaa, waaaaaaaa comment sums up the mentality nicely! *sigh*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Storm,

      How can we let these idiots into a position of power? That's an easy answer - republicans and democrats keep voting for them.

      Delete
  55. As usual, Jim, you manage to say all I feel on this matter and do not have the articulacy to say. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  56. These people have been indoctrinated to see conspiracies EVERYWHERE, but were never taught to be able to use logical assessment. Heck, in Fundyland the ACLU is a 4-letter word!!

    I don't recall the numerous reasons that the UN is 'scary' and untrustworthy - I did not listen long when I lived in Tennessee and this talk started. It was so insane, my eyes would glaze over and I would tune out. Yes, 'One World' domination is in there....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's willful ignorance. In some cases it might be just plain old ignorance, but in most cases its entirely willful.

      Case in point:
      A family member of mine is going to 'Glen Becks University'. No shit. Really. The first thing she was told was not to read any one else on the subjects he was presenting lectures on. This was so she would not become confused. This is not education, but indoctrination. But she refuses to see it. The latest lesson she saw fit to share was how the pilgrims 'Our Founding Fathers', had dealt justly with the local Native American population. Really. Because they hung a white person on the Boston common on the testimony of said Native American testimony.
      "Wow", I said (being familiar with that particular period in history AND the incident spoken of), "Was it justice 6 months later when the same folks who 'dispensed justice' surrounded a native settlement, cut off all escape, then burned it to the ground, killing over 600 people, only 75 of them men?"

      We don't speak nowadays. She has wished me 'All the best, because Atlas has Shrugged and God Help Us All'(direct quote)

      You can't fix stupid.

      Delete
    2. Everybody has someone in their family like yours. It is a cross to bear I guess, but I work hard to make sure the stupid doesn’t infect my children.

      Delete
  57. I have three adult children who were all homeschooled, using christian curriculum for most of the 24 years I taught. But things do change. All three of my children are Atheists and proud of it. They were taught to make their own choices with intelligence. I am almost an Atheist, just some minor differences. Homeschooling and unschooling can teach children to use their own minds. It's NOT always bad thing.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Just happy that I stumbled and landed smack on Stonekettle Station.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Sorry Jim, I must be a bit slow here, but I am having serious difficulty getting my head around the objections by certain people to both the UN in general, and to the UN ‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ in particular. Furthermore, as somebody who got hurt in the defence of her Nation and who bears the scars - to whit a disability - I’ve had all W/E to develop a head of steam so I am rather in rant mode just now.

    So, just for the uneducated tosspots who may stumble across your Blog, in-between downing their Miller Lites and Line-Dancing to their Shit-Kicker muzak, let us have a short discussion of UN History:

    (For the average, sane, reader of Jim’s Blog I apologise reservedly – take it as a re-cap of what you already know.)

    Firstly, wasn’t the formation of the UN (on 24 October 1945) the DIRECT result of sponsorship by the USA? Indeed was it not President Franklin D. Roosevelt who first coined the phrase ‘UNITED NATIONS’? Was not the USA one of the original 5 member states to ratify the Charter of the UN, and is it not a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council (along with those 4 other states, ie The UK, France, Russia, and China), which, thus, gives it a veto?

    So how in the name of all that is holy can American Citizens be so fucking stupid as to be scared of the UN for crying out loud? Unless, of course, said people are ill-educated morons, or redneck idiots, or both? Or maybe they are just nutters that have been (or need to be) frontally lobotomised?

    Secondly, given that the USA has the ‘Americans with Disabilities Act’, and given that this was the model for the UN Convention, and given that it was the USA that sponsored the Convention in the FIRST place, how in the name of Christ on a Stick, would said Convention be a method by which the UN would remove the Sovereignty of the USA (even if it wanted to, or could – reference my above point as to the USA having a VETO). I mean, dear Little Baby Jesus, you’d have to be TOTALLY incapable of independent rational thought to believe THAT! How do these people even manage to walk and breathe at the same time?

    Furthermore, how is the Convention ever likely to impinge upon the USA? Surely, if the USA were to be found to breaking the rules WRT the ADA (and, hence the Convention) then surely the UN would not NEED to get involved (to enforce the Convention) because the US Courts already WOULD have, ie to enforce the ADA! Logic Bomb anyone?

    Hello? Hello? Yes I do understand that if you try to move whilst breathing you might pass out from lack of Oxygen.

    Dear gods this just beggars belief.

    The ONE (semi) cogent argument I have seen against the Convention was that it would cause extra layers of bureaucracy such as forcing Walmart to increase its number of Disabled Parking Spaces from 6 to 8 (oh no!), or Target to have to raise its Disabled Access Ramp by 2 inches (OMGs it’s the END of the World as we know it!).

    Of course, if you actually READ the Convention, it says no such things. It does NOT deal in specificities (in all their minute attentions to detail), but in GENERALITIES.

    For the hard of understanding (the uneducated tosspots I referred to earlier) here is a link to the Convention:

    http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml

    Although I doubt the hard of being educated will understand all those long words.

    So, to those Right-Wing heads-up-arse-cretins, it appears, YET AGAIN, this is a case of: ‘I-follow-the-crowd-because-I’m-too-Goddamned-stupid-to-think-for-myself. I'm-gonna-love-him-an-hug-him-an-call-him-George.’

    Or, more likely, it is a case of: I’m all right Jack so fuck you and the horse you rode in upon.’



    And breathe…….

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deborah,
      I fear that "Frontally Lobotomized" may become a badge of honor among these folks, to be proudly worn next to their flag pins on their lapels.

      Bruce

      Delete
  60. If anything, the actions of our elected leaders in Congress should make us realize that the election in 2016 is as important as this past election. As women spoke in Missouri and other states in response to position statements by GOP candidates, we need to let the candidates running in 2016 know where we stand on this issue and the Job Act for Veterans. Too many stayed home in 2010 and look what happened.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not just 2016. 2014 is going to be rather important too. The more of the idiotic Tea Party dolts we can get out of Congress the better.

      Delete
    2. Every election is important, just ask President Dewey.

      Bruce

      Delete
  61. I read about this in yesterdays paper, and was amused that the same people who spoke to Bob Dole, shook his hand and told him we're going to do the right thing, then turned around at vote time, and either waved their hands or whispered their vote, afraid to vocalize how they voted.

    The politics of everything we do, has to come to an end sooner or later, right? Right? No! Well shit! We're doomed now!

    ReplyDelete
  62. Just found this in a piece on the movie, "Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?" It is narrated by Thom Hartmann, and in an interview article on truth-out.org, I noticed this, which alludes to the fear of the UN:(link is http://truth-out.org/progressivepicks/item/13166-the-corporate-heist-of-the-united-states-government-began-with-a-memo-in-1971)

    'Mark Karlin: Given the growth in global corporations, reinforced by international trade agreements favorable to businesses and not workers, isn't the pressure on national governments such as the US coming from, in some ways, a shadow corporate power base that transcends international boundaries?

    Thom Hartmann: Yes, absolutely. For four generations conservatives have been hysterical about the loss of American sovereignty because of first the League of Nations and then the United Nations. But the real threat to American sovereignty comes from transnational corporations who have assembled themselves into transnational institutions like the World Trade Organization, and can now overturn laws passed by federal and state legislatures.

    This is one of those areas where even the conservative base, the middle-American "Joe six-packs," know that transnational corporations and unfettered free trade are destructive to the interests of the United States. But you'll never hear a word of it in our corporate media, which is largely owned by those same transnational corporations.'

    ReplyDelete
  63. I do want to say that, as a product of conservative fundy homeschooling, I ended up being a liberal intellectual who is currently working on her degree in psychology on scholarship at a very respected school. Yeah, there was plenty of bullshit involved, but I can honestly say that in certain areas, the public education, even though it's secular, is just plain crappy. Just because my parents tried to brainwash me doesn't mean it worked and it doesn't mean they taught me badly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure, homeschooling can be excellent, depending on who's doing the teaching. It's the idea that public institutions are by their nature toxic and oil the slippery slope to communism and homosexuality that underlies much homeschooling rhetoric that tends to undermine our good-faith efforts to provide a decent education and, by extension, quality of life for all citizens. Once that intellectual prion sets up shop in the brain, a lot of other damage tends to result, producing crazy conservatives (actually not conservatives at all but reactionaries, since they don't conserve anything but only destroy progress)with brains like Swiss (god forbid!) cheese.

      Delete
  64. Sorry. Sensitive iPad. Touched the "hate you" box by accident. Love your work!

    ReplyDelete
  65. Great post, Jim. Makes me want to send a nice card to Bob Dole. I'm wit' you all the way, except for the part about Ben Stein. He was hilarious on "Win Ben Stein's Money". He's an entertainer, no?

    ReplyDelete
  66. I don't know about you, but I see a clear linkage between the former Hitler Youth activist known now as Pope Benedict and a disinclination to support protection for disabled persons. After all, Hitler had a perfectly straightforward policy regarding "defectives", and he implemented it to a fault.

    ReplyDelete
  67. The grotesque fear "conservatives" exhibit regarding the UN amazes me. There was a time when people thought UN membership meant handing over our sovereignty to some overarching socialist world government. Now, however, it is clear that the only power the UN possesses is what WE give it. Practically speaking, it is a useful forum for debating disagreements among member states. It is also a useful agency for international cooperation in the establishment of standards: practical things like measurements and railroad gauges, and moral ones, such as how to treat the disabled. Anyone who feels imperiled by endorsing a treaty to extend our own standards throughout the world is simply searching desperately and without regard for consequences for something to fear.

    ReplyDelete
  68. I suddenly find myself troubled by the thought that the only imaginable reason why the rebiblicons would vote down this treaty is that they plan to get rid of the ADA at the first opportunity and are planting the seeds in anticipation of that move. See, once they take this position, their "base" (so aptly called!) start the slow grinding of cognitive gears by which they bring themselves to the doctrinaire conclusion that accommodating the disabled is creeping socialism and must be suppressed.

    ReplyDelete
  69. could another reason for voting against the treaty be corporate pressure to do so? Because corps have so many factories overseas, and to date do not have any regulations against worker standards. So if a worker became injured and disabled while on the job, if the treaty passed then the corp might have to pay money to the disabled ex-employee. No treaty = no potential extra cost to the corp.

    Or, and I can't quite connect the dots on this one...think of all the disabled people there must be in Iraq and Afghanistan, or in all those countries that where there are still land mines, or depleted uranium weapons lying around. Could there be a connection there to some entity in the US not wanting to be required to be legally liable if the treaty were passed?

    ReplyDelete
  70. could another reason for voting against the treaty be corporate pressure to do so? Because corps have so many factories overseas, and to date do not have any regulations against worker standards. So if a worker became injured and disabled while on the job, if the treaty passed then the corp might have to pay money to the disabled ex-employee. No treaty = no potential extra cost to the corp.

    Or, and I can't quite connect the dots on this one...think of all the disabled people there must be in Iraq and Afghanistan, or in all those countries that where there are still land mines, or depleted uranium weapons lying around. Could there be a connection there to some entity in the US not wanting to be required to be legally liable if the treaty were passed?

    ReplyDelete
  71. Jesus Haploid Christ?? WWJHCD??
    MTC

    ReplyDelete
  72. Good thought, California Girl. They can get away with stuff now that wouldn't fly under this sort of international accord. You're probably right. But I'm afraid I may be, as well.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Anyone but me think Benedict's rejection of this treaty is entirely consonant with philosophy left over from his old Hitler Youth days when "defectives" were to be gotten rid of, thereby tidying up the gene pool?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It may, or he may just be a cold hearted bastard. Notice you never see him and Emperor Palpatine in the same room together.

      Delete
  74. The GOP just gets more and more foul as time goes on. Anyone who can be against a bill such as this, U.N. bill or no, is morally reprehensible and doesn't deserve to govern a small town, much less be in charge of United States policy, foreign or domestic. When will people vote these cretins out of office?

    By the by, I'm pretty new here, and I love your articles. I've been reading some of your earlier stuff as well, and your political views are a breath of fresh air. Thanks for being you, and doing what you do Jim. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  75. As a disabled veteran who is sick of the BS and the self-serving, conniving, Washington DC hoo-hah, I can say this... if something doesn't change soon, we may just about have a full-fledged second civil war on our hands. Every day those pencil-dicked weasels think of new ways to F@#$ us over and take away what we've earned. I, for one, have had about enough of it. They speak of Social Security as an entitlement when everyone I know has paid into the system for years in the hopes of getting back what they were told they were earning with their hard work. They spoke of the low cost of sending military forces to war in Iraq, but never mentioned the veteran--each and every one of whom is injured in service to this country must be paid something, however small a pittance, for the rest of his or her natural life--until they change the rules. See, and that's what angers me the most... these rat-bas@#$@s act ignorant up front, knowing that it's some other poor sucker that will get the blame and the brunt of the blow. They knew then what they were doing but failed to mention it knowing that by the time the cost forced the government to say, "Well, it's for the good of all Americans that we now pay less and less to veterans." The hypocrisy of it all!!! They were the rat-bas@#$s who chose to send all those boys to war knowing that the cost would be borne by all the veterans collectively later on after the damage was done.

    And to top it all off... this month the VA compensation was moved from it's previous pay date to the first of the month in alignment with the retirees' pay schedule. That was a fine how-do-you-do when all of us were expecting to get paid today.... and to be made to wait until the first of the month with no prior warning... just a recording at the 1-800-827-1000 number.... what a slap in the face! Next time at least do us the favor of grabbing a little Vaseline before you bend us over, M(&(*F(I&(ers.

    ReplyDelete
  76. They cannot vote these cretins out of office because the alternatives almost always appear just as bad if not worse. The system is broken. We need another party to replace the two f)(*ed up ones we're stuck with, but that would be too easy and shift the balance of power too much. No, the wealthy and corrupt will remain in power for as long as the present age continues.

    ReplyDelete

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