Saturday, August 9, 2014

Boehner, The Bagger's and Bad Government

    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
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:
    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.