Schock the Maximum Douchebag

It's getting boring almost keeping up with GOPer malfeasance. Consider, Aaron Schock, a GOPer representative who drew fire when he had his office decorated in a "Downton Abbey" theme. The decorator worked for free, which raised some ethical questions. Schock, who is barely 33 years old, is apparently vain about his looks, and posed for a shirtless pic of himself on the cover of "Men's Fitness" back in June 2011. Which shows what a douchebag he is. But it also turns out he's a crook. According to USA Today and ABC News Schock "... spent over $100,000 in government funds on office decorating and renovations between January 2009 and late 2014, mostly during his first term.[113] Other media reported Schock had charged thousands of dollars for private flights, legal expenses, new cars, tickets to the Super Bowl and Country Music Awards,[114] as well as cufflinks, massage, "gold equipment" and cigars[115] to his government-funded office account. The Associated Press accessed the location metadata on Schock's Instagram photos and correlated it with private flight records to identify flights that did not correspond to his campaign finance disclosures."

Schock, who couldn't stand the heat, has now resigned.

Schock is really only a symptom of the problem. Since the GOP believes that government cannot play a useful role in public life, it appears that GOPers only seek public office in order to line their pockets. The GOPer mentality inevitably leads to corruption. Public corruption has reached levels, just as bad, if not worse than the "Gilded Age"(late 19th century.)

Here Comes Emperor Netanyahu

The GOP controlled congress, in order to embarrass the Obama administration, has invited Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to address the US Congress. The objective is to stir up a war between the US and Iran. No other leader from any other country in the world would be allowed to interfere in American politics in this way. Not to mention that a war like that would be a disaster not only for the US and Iran, but for the entire world. The same mob of chickenhawk warmongers and professional Islamophobes are exploiting the recent terrorist in France to push their twisted agendas. This is reminiscent of the thinking of the Bush II administration. The warmongers used the attacks of 9/11/2001 to urge the invasion of Iraq, even though Iraq had nothing to do with those attacks. The odd thing about the warmongers is that they never learn anything, but keep pushing this country into wars without thinking of the consequences.

As for Netanyahu, the administration should tell him that given security concerns, it would be best for him not to visit the US at this time. That would be a "diplomatic" solution to the problem.

Rock and Roll is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself

The Repub primary campaign is effectively over with Mitt Romney the winner. Surprise!
Attention is now shifting to the Repub sideshow, which includes various freaks like Ted Nugent. Nugent was a third tier rock musician from the 70's who became a gun nut after his career fizzled in the 80's. Lately he's emerged in a series of reality shows and most recently spoke at an NRA convention urging acts of violence against President Obama.

I like free speech as much as everyone else but even I draw the line at making violent threats against people. Some would argue that Nugent is showing the effects of too many mind altering drugs back in the 70's. In any case he's a bigger embarrassment than Ozzy Osbourne and Steven Tyler put together.

The sad part about this is that young people are getting the impression that rock and roll is the music of middle aged white reactionaries. Tempus fugit and all that I guess.

Horror and Disgust

It's not my intention to keep documenting the crimes of the Roman Catholic Church (herein referred to as RCC). But new information has surfaced the can't be ignored.
It turns out that back in the 1950's ten boys were castrated at a Catholic boarding school in the Netherlands. The castrations were apparently done to "cure" the boys of homosexuality, but they were actually done to cover up sexual abuse by a Catholic priest.

The RCC has always operated by secrecy and deception, so it comes as no surprise that it should have committed so many disgusting things. It seems that the RCC knows no limits of evil. You wonder, should a religion like RCC be banned? Maybe if it has such a history of criminal behavior.

What Are You Doing to Yourself America?

That's what people began to say around 1970. It was about the time that the sordid reality of the My Lai massacre came out in public. Also it was becoming clear, after the invasion of Cambodia that any attempt to pursue "victory" would only result in more carnage. Prolonging the war was futile and it damaged this country in ways that have never been repaired.

Recently a US army Sgt. named Robert Bales went on a killing spree in Afghanistan, murdering 16 civilians. Bales was stationed at the Lewis-McChord base outside of Tacoma Wa. Lewis-McChord has been the site of several crimes.

*In 2010 three members of the Stryker Brigade were convicted of committing "thrill killings" of Afghan civilians.

*In January 2010 a soldier named Benjamin Colton Barnes was involved in a shooting, fled to Mount Ranier National Park where he shot and killed a park ranger. Barnes himself later died of exposure.

*Nov. 30. 2011 Pvt. Dakota Wolf murdered 19 year old Scarlett Paxton outside of her Kirkland Wa apartment by stabbing her to death.

*Feb. 2009 16 year old Leah King died after ingesting Xanax and oxymorphone by soldiers at the base.

*2010 Staff Sgt. Nathan Ryan Smith was convicted of raping two women.

It's time we asked. What are you doing to yourself America?

And Who Are You Claiming To Be?

Part of the fall out from the kerfuffle over contraception coverage is that Timothy Dolan, the obese buffoon who calls himself the Archbishop of New York is now calling for a "freedom of religion battle." Which sounds funny considering how the Roman Catholic Church itself has always been one of the biggest enemies of religious freedom. In fact considering that the RCC has a pretty squalid record of intolerance, torture, murder--genocide actually-- and of course pedophilia you'd think they would just shut up and not draw attention to themselves.

But the Catholic bishops now seem to be taking the position that "religious freedom" means that they only have to obey the laws that they agree with. These clowns need to understand that religious freedom is the right to worship and nothing more. Religious freedom doesn't give anybody the right to commit human sacrifice and cannibalism any more than the Fundamentalist latter day saints have the right to conduct marriages with underaged girls. Unless the RCC is going back to the position that they don't have to obey any "earthly" authority which is what got them into trouble in the first place.

The GOPer Apocalypse?

In an article published in New York magazine (2012 or never) Jonathan Chait writes how Repubs are warning that this year is the last chance to prevent America becoming a socialist, multicutlural state. The Repubs have so thoroughly identified themselves with white racism that they don't what to do with a country that is increasingly less "white" but also less Conservative. In the process, the Repubs and the whole Conservative "movement" have degenerated into a howling mob that must not be allowed to gain power.

The Clinton Paradox

PBS is running a 4 hour documentary on Bill Cliton. The biggest problem I have is that it's giving to much attention to the Monica Lewinsky imbroglio as if that were the significant even of his presidency. I never saw the big deal about it. So he fooled around on the side big woop. Consider too that the campaign to impeach Clinton was headed by philandering fakers like Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde, the whole thing was nothing more than a Repub power play.

The real problem with the Clintons is that they were caught in the central misconception of the 90's; that we had reached "The End of History" one of whose corollaries was that politics had entered a "Post Ideological" age where politics would revolve around personalities. Given that mood it was perhaps inevitable that the political discourse would slide into mere tabloid scandal mongering.

We can now see that all this talk about "The End of History" and the "End of Ideology" was utterly wrong. Yet at the same time the 1990's may well be remembered as the last happy time in American History. Is it ironic or merely sad?

Mr. One Percent

Mitt Romney has taken to wearing flannel shirts in an unconvincing attempt to look like a "common man." It's hard for Romney to do the "regular guy" look. Unlike the Bushes he never learned to hide his arrogance and complacency behind a mask of faux folksiness.

Romney has lately taken to attacking the Obama administration's bail out of GM and Chrysler. Most of his argument is just warmed over Friedmanite dogma. It's reavealing however, that he complains how Chrysler's secured creditors were given as he puts it "short shrift" at the expense of the UAW trust fund. That shows what Romney's priorities are; Wall Street speculators, like himself, should always come first. Romney represents the One Percent of corporate fatcats and swindlers who have enriched themselves at our expense.

Let's Tell It Like It Is

The Susan G. Komen Foundation decided to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, until a public outcry forced them to change course. The instigator of all this was Karen Handel, the VP for Public Affairs and a long standing right-wing anti-abortion nut. Handel has since resigned from the Komen foundation but that leaves us wondering why they would have hired a speciment like her in the first place.

Anyway Handel is now making herself out to be the victim and the right-wing media has taken up her "cause." In fact Handel herself pressured the Komen Foundation to break with Planned Parenthood by scaring them with a right wing backlash. This just shows what specimens these anti-abortion fanatics are; liars, manipulators, terrorists, and murderers. They have no right to call themselves "pro-life." That is a grotesque misuse of language since the Nazis began to put "Arbeit Macht Frei" over then entrances to the death camps.

Pumpkinhead Resurgent

Newt Gingrich beat Mitt Romney in the GOP South Carolina primary. He's now posing as a "populist" bashing Romney for having money in Swiss bank accounts and other sins. Of course Gingrich himself has benefitted from influence peddling. Only he hasn't made quite as much money as Romney.

On the deeper level, it's getting harder for the GOP to claim that they stand for the "little people" while they push an economic agenda that only benefits a small class of speculators--like Romney and Gingrich.

Insanity or Stupidity?

There's a fashionable definition of insanity as "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Personally, I think that's more indicative of stupidity. But in any case it does show a misguided stubborness, an unwillingness to learn, and to maintain that "It's going to work because it has to work."

The result of the recent elections in Egypt, in which the Islamist parties came out ahead, are frankly alarming. An Islamist regime in Egypt would not be terribly friendly to the US or Israel and would further destabilize the region. In fact the upshot of the "Arab Spring" has merely resulted in the demise of two pro-Western governments (Egypt and Tunisia) and the collapse of one regime (Libya) that for geographic reasons was especially vulnerable to Western pressure. Other than that it has only produced more violence and instability.

It seems that our foreign policy pundits don't get it that we shouldn't be messing in the internal affairs of other countries. The delusions of the Neo-Conservatives who dragged us into the mess in Iraq should have shown us that. These days nobody will admit to being a Neo-conservative, but the Foreing Policy elite still continue to act as if we can somehow control events in the rest of the world.

The only way we should "promote" democracy is by setting a good example in our own conduct. In that sense we are failing miserably.

The GOP Leadership Defecit

It seems that Mitt "I Like To Fire People" Romney has virtually locked up the GOP nomination for President. His narrow win in Iowa and New Hampshire have given him the momentum. The other contenders--Gingrich, Santorum-- might claim they still have a chance but they don't have the staying power to beat Romney. Most Repubs may not like Romney but he is the least objectionable candidate, if only because he's neither a kook or a crackpot. At the same time it's clear that Romney can only win the Presidential election if there's an economic downturn and/or a foreign policy debacle.

The GOP has been having a Leadership defecit ever since the late 80's. They have become the Bush dynasty party (word is that if the Repubs lose this year's Presidential race Jeb Bush will become the GOP front runner for 2016). Their crude anti-government ideaology has not only left them without policy ideas, it has also turned them into flunkies of corporate interests.

Give Us A Break!

So as this ugly year winds down, what of the political scene? Herman Cain has dropped out of the race hounded by allegations of infidelity and sexual harrassment.
Looks like the Repub race is going to come down to Romney versus Gingrich. Except that many purist conservatives and Tea Partiers don't like either one of them because they are both "insiders." Many Repubs are now taking a second look at John Huntsman who's running as the Republican with a brain. While it's true that Huntsman is not as crazy as the other Repubs, his economic program is pure trickle down dogma; let the rich get richer, devil take the hindmost.

I think I'll take a break from this ugly show.

Big Bad Mitt Romney

It turns out that Mitt Romney, the presumptive Repub nominee, has a checkered past specifically an arrest record. Back in 1981, Romney tried to launch a motorboat at a Massachussetts state park. Said boat, apparently lacked a registration number, and when a park ranger tried to give Romney a citation he bacame belligerent. The upshot was that Romney was arrested and handcuffed in bathing suit (too bad there was no Youtube back in '81). The charges were dropped but there's another little skeleton in Romney's closet dating back to the 1960's. Romney and his future wife Ann Davies apparently used blocks of ice to go sliding down the slopes of a golf course.

These might seem like trivial incidents but there are growing rumors that Romney, in spite of his cool cucumber public persona, actually has a very bad temper. But giving right-wing media bias we haven't heard much about it. Only a Repub, GWB, could've become President after spending his early life getting drunk and stumbling from one failed venture to another.

New Stupidity Epidemic

The County Commission for Pinellas Florida has recently voted to end water flourination. The reason is that the local Tea Partiers have, in addition to all their other stupid notions, are now launching a war against flourination. Back in the 1950's ultra-right crackpots were fond of claiming that flourination was some kind of "communist" conspiracy to turn "our brains to jelly." The real "jelly brains" are the old paleo-conservatives and their Tea Party successors, who exhibit a stubborn and aggressive ignorance. An ignoramus with a cause is a dangerous thing.

Dare We Hope?

Last Tuesday's elections brought some good news for Progressives. Voters in Ohio repealed at GOPer plan to break public sector unions. In Mississippi voters rejected a proposal to declare that "life begins at conception." Mississippi is supposed to be the "reddest" state of all. I guess this shows that the American people are not all right-wing Tea Party yahoos. But can we build on this momentum for the next years elections?

The Goper Follies

It's funny how in just a couple of months Rick Perry has gone from the Great White Hope of the right to the bottom of the standings. I guess he overdid the anti-intellectuailism bit: it's one thing to show contempt for learning and education and quite another to come across like a dumb-ass. Herman Cain is being dogged by multiple accusations of sexual harrassment; he should complain about a "high tech lynching" (it worked for Clarence Thomas.) Michelle Bachmann has antagonized even her former supporters.

It seems that the GOP establishment has lined up behind Mitt Romney. Not that I'd want to see him in the White House; he wants to cut taxes and go on a military spending spree, and he claims he's going to "balance the budget." This is how we got into the mess we're in today. In any case the Fundamentalists and the Tea Partiers are going to learn that it's the big corporate interests that are really in charge.

Rubio the Phoney

Marco Rubio, the new Senator from Florida, has emerged as one of the New Darlings of the right wing. Many Gopers even refer to him as "Our Obama," the thinking being "Let's find a youngish guy with an ethnic immigrant background and promote the hell out of him." Some are even making him a potential Veep candidate. I don't find Rubio that impressive. With his plastered down hair, shifty eyes, and shrill tone he looks like one of the guys you see promoting dubious get rich quick schemes on infomercials.

It turns out that Rubio has been lying about his family history. Rubio has been making a big deal about his parents being political refugees from the Castro Regime. But in turns out that his parents actually came to the US in 1956, i.e. before Castro came to power. Unbelievable that someone could think they could get away with a lie like that.

Looking for Mr. Far Right

It seems that Rick Perry supposed walk to the GOP nomination isn't a done thing after all. Many Tea Partiers have gotten the impression that he doesn't hate illegal aliens with as much passion as they do. Establishment Repubs on the other hand, are more put off by Perry's cluelessness on foreign policy. Is Mitt Romney still in the game? Romney could win but he's neither a Reagan or a Bush; he doesn't generate much in the way of enthusiasm or offer anything new in terms of ideas.