Boehner, The Bagger's and Bad Government

Kenny O'Donnell: What did you think Congress was gonna do?
President Kennedy: Well, I, you know...
Kenny O'Donnell: Offer you unconditional support? Kiss your Catholic ass? They don't think we even deserve to be here.
Kevin Costner - Thirteen Days (2000)

There isn't a Republican Party. I wish there were. I wish there was a Republican Party; I wish there was one person you can sit across the table from, make a deal, make a compromise and know when you got up from the table it was done. That's what political party's, that's what Nancy's (Pelosi) able to do...All you have to do is look at the response to the State of the Union, what were there 3 or 4? No I'm not being facetious.
Vice President Joe Biden - FEB 2014 - Democratic Party Retreat

"Well, Bob, we should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal. We've got more laws than the administration could ever enforce."
Speaker John Boehner - July 2013 - Face the Nation

“Listen, this is a problem of the president’s own making. He’s been president for five and a half years. When is he going to take responsibility for something?”
John Boehner - July 2014 - Response when asked by a Reporter if Republicans would feel the heat for not acting quickly to stop the influx of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

That last quote was from a month ago where the Tan Man exhibited the patented Right Wing Hissy Fit™ in order to cover is failure to do any meaningful legislation since January. And with the Congress critters gone on recess a week ago, that record will remain unbroken.

Imagine what would happen if the people of a major city like LA or New York decided to fire every police officer (40,000 sworn officers) and replace them with cronies, friends and relations that knew nothing about police work. Under the label of the TEA Party Caucus, this is what we have controlling half of the Federal Legislature and a significant part of the other  half. Check out five random picks from the list of the active members:

• Michele Bachmann (R-MN) Occupation: lawyer. Prior experience: One 2 year term as a State Senator. Received her JD degree from Oral Roberts University. 
• Vicky Jo Hartzler (R-MO) Occupation: Home Economics Teacher. Prior experience: 6 year term as a State Representative. Served as state spokeswoman for the Coalition to Protect Marriage which supported barring Gay Citizens from even entering into Civil Contracts. 
• Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) Occupation: Banker/Insurance Agent. Prior experience: 6 year term as a State Representative. Luetkemeyer co-sponsored the statewide constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman
• Louis B. "Louie" Gohmert, Jr (R-TX) Occupation: lawyer/Judge. Prior experience: None before federal election. From Jan 2005 to Oct 2013, Gohmert missed 551 of 6,900 roll call votes, which is 8.0%. This is more than most members of congress; the median number of such votes missed is 2.3%
• Thomas Edmunds Price (R-GA) Occupation: Orthopedic Doctor. Prior experience: 8 years in the Georgia Senate. Voted against a bill prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation (Nov 2007).

OK, Bachmann and Gohmert are fish in a barrel.  But consider the latest clueless fool the TEABAG R's elected to replace a Cocaine Cowboy from Florida:

Republican Congressman Thinks Senior State Department Officials Are Visitors From India

First things first. This article is NOT satire. On Thursday, during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Curt Clawson (R-FL) spoke to two senior officials from the State and Commerce Departments as if they were government representatives from India. The two government officials, Nisha Biswal and Arun Kumar, had already been introduced to the panel by Rep, Steve Chabot (R-OH), the chairman of the subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. Despite the introduction by the chairman, Clawson spoke to them at length as if they were representing the country of India.

A FRAKING amateur.  A clueless fool with zero political experience who's only claim is a bidness man of the Ferengi Model. This collection of conservative talking points is suppose to help write legislation that will impact millions of Americans? Seriously.

Growing up in the 60's with men (almost no women sadly. It was the age before feminism) such as Rayburn, Johnson, Rockefeller, Kennedy and Humphrey; I always assumed that those whose job it is to make law were professionals who understood that decisions made at the city, state and federal government have real world consequences that will effect their lives, even if the effects are too subtle to be noticed immediately. Consider the Wikipedia entry for Speaker Rayburn:

...As Speaker, he won a reputation for fairness and integrity. In his years in Congress, Rayburn always insisted on paying his own expenses, even going so far as to pay for his own travel expenses when inspecting the Panama Canal when his committee was considering legislation concerning it, rather than exercising his right to have the government pay for it. When he died, his personal savings totaled only $15,000, and most of his holdings were in his family ranch...

We now live in the age of the Randian fool,  It is a sad fact that The majority of Congress Critters see their time in office (after they have a chance to put their crackpot theories into practice) as a stepping stone to a well paying Lobbying job.

Like the majority of people who visit Daily Kos, I'm a political groupie. Politics was my major in collage and the actions of day to day government, boring to most people are my meat and potatoes. And on the one hand part of me is fascinated by the election of these amateurs that the MSM has dubbed Tea Party Republicans. Watching history as it unfolds is a poli-sci majors dream.

On the other hand, the damage these sociopaths will end up doing to America is a nightmare.

Romney. Racism and Reality

While I had faith in the mathematical genius of my half Jewish brother Nate Silver:

 

 I also realized that the Adelsons and Koch Brothers invested a lot of money to try and buy the election.  And there were enough crooked partisan politicians in Ohio and Florida to try and make Lord Romney Emperor of the United States by making sure only the white, excuse me the right people voted (It didn’t work).

GOP voter suppression fueled black turnout

By Roland Martin, CNN Contributor

updated 1:03 PM EST, Fri November 9, 2012

 But as you said, it is ultimately a matter of demographics. The United States is changing, and the WASP who use to run the joint can no longer pull that Dog Whistle Racial BS and expect to win Federal elections. Lord Romney and his backers threw every mean, dirty, nasty, underhanded innuendo against the “O” Man and it did not work.

As you might say in Vegas, it was the last roll of the dice, all their money was on the table…

And they crapped out.

Romney, Racists and Removing the a Man

It is the day after the Republican Convention of 2012. Much talk in the social media (There is no news. There is only the truth of the signal. What I see...) and the Corporate media (...And, there's the puppet theater the Parliament jesters foist on the somnambulant public.) about whether Governor Romney managed to connect to the common people. Much less talk about the strategy the Gov has decided to employ in order to kick the current occupent out of the White house.

Observing the dog whistle politics...

Forced Rape vs. Phoney Baloney Jobs

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Richmond, Virginia the American Taliban were all set to roll Women's Rights's back to the '40s ( approximately 1540 to 1740. H/T to Feministe).

AS Del. C. Todd Gilbert said during the floor debate:

“in the vast majority of these cases, these [abortions] are matters of lifestyle convenience.” (He has since apologized.)

The bill’s sponsor in the House of Delegates, Del. Kathy J. Byron,insisted that:

“if we want to talk about invasiveness, there’s nothing more invasive than the procedure that she is about to have.”

As Ms. Dahlia Lithwick stated in her article in Slate: "Decoded, that means that if you are willing to submit to sex and/or an abortion, the state should be allowed to penetrate your body as well."

Well, all systems go. The forced birthers in the GOP had "Muscled through" the bill in the House, and the Senate had passed it a few weeks earlier. The Governor said he would sign it as soon as the House voted for final version.

At this point from the Commanders observation, Governor Bob McDonnell was either delusional or an idiot. Remember that less then 2 years ago he confronted the "Asses of the Masses" when he waged a war against Gays. Now he and his band of theocrats were going to start a war against women? Well guess what Bobby Mac:

On eve of abortion bill vote, hundreds protest

By Harry Minium
Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 21, 2012

As state lawmakers prepared to vote on a bill to require women to undergo an ultrasound exam before having an abortion, several hundred people gathered at the State Capitol on Monday to protest that and other anti-abortion proposals from Republican legislators.Many of those at the morning protest made their point without speaking...Some wore duct tape over their mouths with the word "Choice" written on it. One woman displayed a metal coat hanger, intended to evoke memories of back-alley abortions from the days when the procedure was illegal.

The Asses



Of the Masses

So once again the ruling class gets scared. They really did want punish a woman for exercising her rights (As Digby says, the little sluts needed to learn their lesson). But it seems they valued getting reelected even more:

Abortion bill falters as Virginia governor backs away

By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 23, 2012


A Republican effort to require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion is in serious jeopardy after Gov. Bob McDonnell backtracked on the issue and the author of the Senate version of the bill asked that her legislation be stricken...Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier County, told the Senate that she will ask that her bill be stricken...In an interview after the session, she said, "I have a lot of sensitivity to all those issues" being raised by opponents. "I didn't believe I could continue to carry the bill with all the current questions out there."

Bull pucky. Their were only two things Ms. Forced Rape was "sensitive to":

1. It was an Election Year
2. She wanted to keep her phoney baloney job.

Harumph!

Davis, Dead Letters, and the Death Penalty

The Commander supported the death penalty most of his adult Life, on the assumption that some criminals:

deserve the final sleep when there is no doubt about their guilt (In my home state I would have volunteered to pull the lever on this individual.)

Recent results by the Innocence Project have soured my feelings on Capital Punishment, ex specially when the only evidence is eyewitness identification:

•Seventeen people had been sentenced to death before DNA proved their innocence and led to their release.
•The average sentence served by DNA exonerees has been 13 years.
•About 70 percent of those exonerated by DNA testing are members of minority groups.
•In almost 40 percent of DNA exoneration cases, the actual perpetrator has been identified by DNA testing.
•Exoneration's have been won in 34 states and Washington, D.C.

The Supremo's are in the process of the deciding the fate of Cory R. Maples and even Johnny the Robber baron, by no means a Friend of the Defendant; is troubled by this capital case.

Alabama does not provide taxpayer-funded legal assistance to death-row inmates seeking to appeal their sentence (South Carolina felt the same way in 1944, even for a 14 year old), so Mr. Maples found a couple of layers from New York, however:

..18 months nothing happened with his appeal, during which period his young lawyers left their firm without notifying Maples or the court. They did tell the mailroom. So when the Alabama court sent a ruling to his two lawyers indicating that his appeal had been denied, the mailroom stamped it “Return to Sender” and sent it back to Alabama. The county clerk stuck it in a file and Maples—who knew nothing of any of this—missed the 42-day deadline for filing another appeal. Maples’ local counsel, John Butler Jr., also received a copy of the ruling, but because he believed he was Maples’ lawyer in name only, he did nothing with it.

Sorry dude, you missed the appeal because of a postage stamp. See you at the Gurney (Yellow Mama was retired).

Voter Suppression, Voter ID, Vote not free

Voter Suppression rearing it's ugly head in Wisconsin. Ever since Johnny the Robber Baron and his conservative posse nullified the 24th Amendment by allowing voter ID laws, my Republican opponents have been doing their level best to make sure only the White, excuse me right people vote.

Brad Friedman has a video that shows how easy it is to get a 'Free' ID in the cheese head state so you can exercise the sovereign franchise (NOT!):


This ties in with a post I did 3 years ago when. I've reprinted it below. As Ms. Digby says in the end, Republicans, like all aristocrats, know that if enough average people vote, they will lose. Period.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Supreme Court handed Johnny Mac a major victory today by upholding the voter suppression laws in Indiana (excuse me, voter ID laws):

WASHINGTON — By a 6-3 vote in a closely watched election-year case, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld Indiana's strict voter-identification law, rejecting the claims of Democratic and civil-rights challengers that the law infringes on the right to vote.
The decision by Justice John Paul Stevens, one of the most liberal members of the court, emphasized that the challengers had not presented sufficient evidence that voters were kept from the polls or otherwise hurt by the law Indiana says prevents fraud.

As noted by the blogger dday:

This is, as we know, a solution in search of a problem. Voter fraud is a made-up conservative issue, backed by no evidence. While Stevens suggested that there are no "excessively burdensome requirements" imposed on voters who must show ID at the polls, he's answering an unknowable question. We simply have no idea how photo ID centers (if there will be any outside the DMV) in Indiana or anywhere else would be managed, whether the same groups that truck elderly and poor voters to the polls on Election Day will be able to do the same to get people their IDs, and so on. If they require the same documentation that the DMV does, many poor and elderly people simply don't have them. If it requires an application fee, how is that not a poll tax?

The Republican sheet heads who passed this modern version of Jim Crow had to add a provision that IDs would be issued free of charge to people without driver's licenses (can't have any appearance of a poll tax because of that pesky 24th Amendment). However, these are the combination primary and secondary documents needed for a "free ID":
This list the definition of what is an acceptable primary document:

I won't even bother listing the acceptable secondary documents. Bottom line is you need a birth certificate unless your military. Is a birth certificate free and easy to obtain in Indiana? You have got to be kidding:

Birth records in the ISDH Vital Records office begin with October 1907. Prior to October 1907, records of birth are filed only with the local health department in the county where the birth actually occurred. Fees are established by law (IC 16-37-1-11 and IC 16-37-1-11.5 ). Each search for a record costs $10.00. The fee is non-refundable. Included in one search is a five-year period; the reported year of birth and, if the record is not found in that year, the two years before and after. One certified copy of the record, if found, is included in the search fee. Additional copies of the same record purchased at the same time are $4.00 each. Amendments made to the record are an additional $8.00.

Oh yeah, did I mention that you will need to show some ID to purchase a birth certificate:

But what the heck, it is not like any of this is a real burden to those that wish to vote. And if you believe that, I got a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.

The Master blogger Digby sums it up:

First of all, let's not forget that this may be the biggest political land mine the Bush administration has set for Democrats. "Voter fraud" was, you'll remember, at the bottom of the US Attorney scandals and one of their main tools for suppressing the Democratic vote. This is the realization of a very long term plan to chip away at the Voting Rights Act. Republicans, like all aristocrats, know that if enough average people vote, they will lose. Period.

Special Elections, Suprise Openings and Stupid Reporters

Headline from AP reporter Michael Blood on 12 July 2011:

Tight finish possible in Calif. US House race

MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP Political Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A special congressional election Tuesday in California has given Republicans a surprising opening to seize a House seat in a Democratic stronghold and send a powerful message nationally going into 2012.

Democrats hold a commanding 18-point registration edge in the district where Barack Obama notched a 31-point win in 2008, but the likelihood of a meager turnout, combined with widespread voter anxiety over the economy, could make for a tight finish.

Headline from AP reporter Michael Blood on 13 July 2011:

Democrat Janice Hahn wins Calif. US House race

MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP Political Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democrat Janice Hahn has defeated Republican Craig Huey in a bitter contest for a Southern California House seat, preserving her party's hold on the district and surviving an unusually tough race in a longtime stronghold.

With all reporting, Hahn, a Los Angeles city councilwoman, had 41,585 votes, or about 55 percent, to 34,636, or about 45 percent, for Huey, who owns marketing and advertising companies and largely bankrolled his campaign with nearly $900,000 in personal funds.

Yeah, she crushes him by 10 points, a real tight finish. The new AP editor Liz Sidoti has a history of kissing ass to Republican Candidates:




Liz Sidoti and "Sprinkles" McCain
so it is not surprising that her reporters would continue the narrative; insisting that since Hahn only beat Huey by 10 points instead of 18, it was far from impressive.

Far more interesting is the collective amnesia over the racist, sexist ad run by a group called Turn Right USA (Crooks and Liars has the details). The Huey campaign was shocked, shocked and weakly disavowed it, but as C&L stated, all the usual suspects from the right wing noise machine are connected.

Expect the failure of the press to cover Super PACS with super money as the 2012 races approach. It does not fit The Village narrative of the serious people.