Wisconsin: It’s About Republicans And Plutocracy

If you haven’t seen this video yet, you should take the time to watch, because what’s going on now in Wisconsin and may play out in other states as well is not about state deficits or budget cuts. It’s about union-busting and the power that goes with it. Breaking the unions is a stepping stone to that “permanent Republican majority” that the GOP have been working towards for years. It’s also about the money that the Citizens United ruling allowed to flow directly to the Republicans, and the corporations that are throwing it at them. And they’re not going to stop. It’s about plutocracy.

Just look at what Republicans are doing now. Redefining rape, de-funding health care, draconian laws against women, abortion, pushing for laws that make the killing of abortion doctors “justifiable homicide,” guns in schools, churches and bars, deregulating everything like big polluters, oil companies, repealing laws from the FDA, EPA, FAA, and these are just a few. Do you really want Republicans who are puppets to corporate rule to have a permanent majority? Look what happened in Arizona. They’re willing to do just about anything to get there, and trashing the country is of no concern to them. Just like John Boehner shrugged off job losses, they’re willing to trash the very Democracy they claim to love so much:

“So be it.”

They. Don’t. Care.

Watch this video below from Rachel Maddow and pass it along.

You can also read this piece for more background on what Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is really doing from Ezra Klein. Pass it along too.

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Rachel Maddow Debunks The GOP Election Narrative

Rachel Maddow debunks the Republican’s election narratives one by one. Every argument they’re making is covered and Ms. Maddow does an excellent job of steering you through all the smoke and shattering every last mirror.

If you haven’t seen it by now, do yourself a favor and watch it.

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Richard Nixon Meets Dolores Umbridge?

By now just about everyone has seen the ridiculous campaign ad from the Christine O’Donnell that begins with the now infamous words:

“I”M NOT A WITCH”

Of course, if you haven’t seen the ad, you can take a look at it below, along with a “rebuttal.”

Ms. O’Donnell says “I’m nothing you’ve heard, I’m you.” (Uh, no, you’re not “me” or anyone I’ve ever come in contact with quite frankly.)

I hate to tell her, but we’ve “heard” because she’s said as much herself on video. We’ve not only heard, we’ve seen her say she was a witch, among other things. She’s a “deep” sort who believes that mice have been cloned with human brains, her dad was “Bozo,” and were it not for her love of meatballs, she’d be approaching us in an airport somewhere with pamphlets instead of running for the U.S. Senate. But here we are.

Here is O’Donnell in all her “glory,” all dressed up in black along with her pearls, sans magic wand and “psst!” no flag pin!

Now below we have a “rebuttal” of sorts to the Christine O’Donnell ad:

(H/T The Maddow Blog)

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Reality Bites Off More Than It Can Chew

This morning after downing the pre-required four-plus cups of coffee, I turned on the Saturday MSNBC morning “news” because like everyone else along the Gulf Coast, I wanted the latest “Today In Oil” update.

Anyone who watches MSNBC on the weekends knows that they’re in for a whopping double dose of “Not Ready For Prime Or Any Other Time Buchanan.” Pat’s like a well known old fossil, or barnacle that they apparently can’t quite chisel off the studio chairs. Now, he’s not to be confused with that other ever-ready fixture-fossil Mike Barnicle, who is actually more like a fossil than a barnacle in that he does actually move around on occasion. But I digress.

Getting back to the point. Pat. He’s ALWAYS there, double on the weekends. This morning was no different. Last time I saw him, there he was in all his bigoted glory complaining that there might be too many “Jews” on the Supreme Court. That was the last I heard before – Click!

This time what was the complaint? “Big Government” of course. Except not for the reasons you might expect. He wasn’t whining about too much government interference in (fill in the blank), no, no. He was complaining that there wasn’t enough government. In Pat’s mind the government (I think we all know he means Obama) just hasn’t done enough about the oil spill. “Where are they?” “Why aren’t they doing more?” “Why aren’t they cleaning up this mess?” “WHY??”

Now, you can agree or disagree with him on whether they’re doing enough. Knock yourself out. But what bugs me here is this: All these right wingers, GOP-Tea Baggers, or in other words: Pat can’t have it both ways. You can’t sit there and say “Keep Big Government Out Of My Business” or “Hands Off My Medicare” or “NO TAXES!” and then turn around when there’s a disaster (or in the case of taxes, a road to drive your pickup on), and scratch your head and say “Where is the government when I need them?” Pat can’t sit there and whine 24-7 about how bad government is, or pound his fists and say “Free market!” or “What’s wrong with capitalism?”

They want their “free market!” Well, last time I did my research, BP was a darned good example of everything Pat and his winger pals define as “Free market” and then some. Look at their profits. You can’t take a huge oil company, give them free rein without the burden of regulations, and when they blow up a rig and spew enough oil and gas to fill up the Gulf Of Mexico (maybe two, we’re still counting) and then turn around and say “When will the government arrive to suck up this mess?” and then turn a deaf ear as that company leaves the mess for the government and its taxpayers to fix and pay for (oops, there we go again, “TAXES BAD!”) and walks away whistling a happy tune as they hand out bonuses like drunken sailors in an oil tanker. Wrong. It makes no sense, unless you’re not too bright.

And while we’re on the subject of “stupid,” the same goes for the two newest “Male Palin Makeovers” Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. Last week Rubio took off his suit jacket in order to pose for pictures with fishermen in the Panhandle whose business is suffering from the oil spill. What was his “pronouncement” in less than 140 characters? (good for him that’s all Twitter-torials allow, because he doesn’t have a whole lot to say) “Fed Govt has made life miserable for them.” Uh, no. Those companies that blew up the rig? Those are the guys that made life miserable for them. More than miserable in fact, as they might well go out of business. Then they’ll really need your help. But again, as we’re all learning now: “No Government Handouts!” “Free Market!” Rubio probably didn’t mention that part to them I guess.

That brings us to Rand Paul. (And don’t confuse him with Pat Buchanan. He’s the younger one with more hair. Oh, and he doesn’t appear on MSNBC. Anymore. Ha! Yay Rachel!) I really think he and Palin compare palms, because he’s nearly as dim. His reaction to the whole oil spill problem was….what was the term? Oh yes, stupid:

1. That Obama was Un-American for his criticism of British Petroleum.

2. “Accidents happen.”

3. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Rachel Maddow scared me, so I’m off to cancel my “Meet The Press” appearance.”

When you’re prone to making idiotic and easily challenged statements Rand definitely is pulling a Palin. Unfortunately, he also has an ego bigger than both their heads, so you just know he’ll do it again.

That leaves one more player from the “Government Is Evil” crowd. Bobby Jindal. Those of us who watched his painful Republican response to Obama’s State Of The Union Address know him as “Kenneth.” Now he’ll be known for, among other things, crouching amid a big slick of oil on the Louisiana Coast in a picture from AP. He blew off Big Government when the cameras were rolling, and then went all over his state handing out stimulus checks like he was Santa Claus when he thought the cameras were off. He’s also the guy who mocked volcano monitoring (pshaw!) and then an actual volcano blew. But hey, they don’t have any volcanos in Louisiana, so no worries! And then way before he even had to care one way or another if another hurricane hit the Ninth Ward, boom! There goes an oil rig. First he cried wolf on “Big Government,” now he’s crying for the wolf to bail him out.

Unfortunately for those living in Louisiana, and the entire Gulf Coast, “Kenneth” and his “Free Market” pals have gotten us all into quite the predicament. They’ve really screwed things up royally this time. They deregulated themselves right into a bigger mess than they OR the government knows how to fix.

I suppose you could call it Karma for those wing-nuts who want to have it both ways. For the rest of us though it’s reality.

And reality bites. Be sure and reward them a bit of “reality” at the polls this November.

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A Note To The “Media”

I am getting so sick of turning on the television and waiting for the so-called “media” to start doing their job.

Because so few of them do anymore, when it comes to cable “news” I have stopped watching most of it. I have NEVER watched FOX for obvious reasons. I gave up on CNN long ago, and I hear it’s just as bad as FOX these days, more recently when they hired a right-wing blogger who I’ve read spoke of his ideas about dealing with Census workers that involved guns.

The only cable “news” I watch anymore is MSNBC, and with a few exceptions, they aren’t much better. I’ll mention those exceptions here because I think they deserve credit for standing up and doing the right thing rather than selling out for ratings, or whatever the reasons the others have, or that motivates their rhetoric. (I’m only mentioning those that I watch, so if there are other examples who I’m leaving out it’s because I’m unaware of them.) The MSNBC hosts with standards and morals are: Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz.

That being said, again, is it too much to ask that the others start doing their jobs? Specifically I’m talking about the recent incidences where people are out there inciting violence. Instead of calling them out on it, these members of the “media” are all but glorifying it. When is enough, enough for these people?

I’ll give you a mild example. Last night I turned on Hardball. Here were Chris Matthews and his “BFF” Pat Buchanan (why Buchanan is still given a voice on MSNBC is beyond me, but that’s another post entirely) singing the praises of Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin who were campaigning together yesterday. Matthews was absolutely giddy as he described them as “dazzling” and kept repeating over and over again that they were the “new faces of the GOP.” The two of them were in such a celebratory mood that I half expected them to pop the cork on some bubbly before they were finished.

But that champagne wasn’t the only thing that was missing. Did Matthews make any mention that, as a “new face of the GOP” Michele Bachmann says things like she wanted the people of Minnesota “armed and dangerous” to “fight back” over President Obama’s plans to reduce global warming? No?

Or how about when Palin once again repeated her don’t retreat, “reload” comment while fully aware that members of Congress have been threatened and arrests have been made in some cases, at least one of which was listed on her SarahPAC map of “targets.” You know, the one with the crosshairs on each targeted office. Did Matthews mention this, or any of her other countless hateful comments that hint at violence? No?

Mind you, these aren’t Tea Baggers holding up signs in protest while wearing funny hats with tea bags hanging from the rims. These are former and current elected officials making these comments. Granted, Palin did quit to become a performer on FOX, but that didn’t stop Bachmann from introducing her as “Governor Sarah Palin” and Palin is still holding herself out as a person of authority, and of course these members of the “media” are only too happy to oblige, enabling her along the way as she rolls out her campaign of hate.

Does Matthews condone hate speech and threats of violence? Is this what he wants as ‘the new face of the GOP?” Sure sounds like it.

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The GOP And The “Liberal Media Rag” (with Video)

For those of us who were counting on hope and change after our last Presidential election, the past year has been a big disappointment. We’ve come to the sad realization that some things may never change.

Of course I’m talking about the farce of the “Liberal Media” and their continuing role as the enabler of the GOP. The role they played with the Bush Administration for eight years, including rolling over while Bush and Cheney moved ahead with their war of choice (and profits) being one of the worst examples, sadly has continued since the election. In my opinion, it’s gotten even worse.

There are a few exceptions. There are still a few members of the media who call them out, like Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann to name a couple, who aren’t afraid to call out Obama and the Democrats as well when they see fit, and rightfully so. We could use a LOT more like them. Instead, we get more of the same.

Instead of pointing out what progress was made in the past year, what are we getting from the media? Just a parade of GOP talking points, and the infamous “blame game” that we weren’t allowed to play when Bush was in charge, which is now up and running again at warp-speed. Everything bad that has happened in the last nine years is now magically all Obama’s fault. As for the positive things he’s done in the past year? “What positive things?”

Crickets……

The most recent evidence of this nonsense has been the stimulus. The GOP, courtesy of the “media” tell us that it was very bad, created no jobs, and was a complete failure bordering on the apocalypse! Unless you were watching those exceptions to the media rule, you would have missed the part where all these GOP hypocrites were busy little beavers writing letters asking for the very same funds for their states, while happily skipping back home to their districts just in time for a photo-op with a giant check presentation, and taking all the credit for jobs saved. But make no mistake, the stimulus didn’t work!

Get ready for of the same this week with the upcoming health care summit, no doubt they will just pick up where they left off before the bill stalled. While you may think you want health care reform, you are wrong! Really! The Grand Obstructionist Party will be all over the airwaves this week telling you that you DO NOT want health care reform! What you DO want is tort reform. You also have no interest in health care reform because you want jobs! Of course, when it comes time to work on a jobs bill, then you will want something else. You are just so demanding, and yet so needy! Rest assured, the GOP will help you just as Bush did before, just as soon as you put them back in control three years from now! Help is on the way!

Below is a preview of what I think we will probably see more of this week. The GOP will play the media this way, just like they always do. For those of you who watch Morning Jackass Joe and his parrot Mika, I know this could almost be mistaken for a clip from that show (except that this “Joe” is attractive). I suppose it could be, but this is just what I think of when I see just about any daytime cable “news” show along with their GOP “guests and experts” on any given day. This week it’s health care. Next week, who knows.

So without further adieu, I give you the GOP and the “Liberal Media Rag”:

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Rachel Maddow On GOP Hypocrisy: The Stimulus

Rachel Maddow as always does a fantastic job of illustrating GOP hypocrisy, here using the stimulus as an example.

For all the grandstanding the Republicans have done, saying “Stimulus: Bad! Not working!”, she methodically illustrates numerous examples where, while the GOP maintains their “Party Of No” talking, they also shamelessly line up for their share of stimulus money, “Publisher’s Clearing House” style.

Bottom line? They are shameless hypocrites, they don’t care that you know they’re shameless hypocrites, and they will continue to say no to anything the Obama Administration tries to do, while reaping whatever advantages they can out of whatever they oppose, no matter what it is.

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Election Nightmare Prevention Tips

It isn’t just the Democrats who need, or are probably getting a wake up call right about now after yesterday’s election. I think there are a lot of them to go around. So here, in my opinion, are a few more random wake up calls. Who knows, perhaps they’ll help prevent future post-election headaches.

Wake Up Call For The Republicans:

• (And this is my personal favorite) Today you’re probably sitting there on your imaginary pedestals and thinking that all of us Democrats, liberals and progressives are now going to just form a line, fold up our tents and go home, only to slit our wrists when we get there. NO. WE’RE NOT. The majority of us don’t give up that easily and you ain’t seen nothing yet, so enjoy that fantasy while it lasts.

For the voter who votes for a Republican believing that they will fix things right up, just like magic:

• NO MEANS NO. Or to put it another way: What part of “no” don’t you understand? The Republicans don’t have a plan. Seriously. If they did, don’t you think they would have presented it and saved you by now? The best plan they had was to sit around doing nothing more than planning how to get back in power so they could pillage the country again after the Democrats cleaned up the mess they made. But here’s the thing. What they fail to grasp is that Dubya messed things up so badly for eight years that there is no precedent for complete and utter Bushclusterf-ication of this magnitude. They are magical thinkers who seem to believe if they get that power back, they will merely blink twice, open their eyes and all will be better, shiny, and new. Uh…no. When they open their eyes, they will still have to dig around looking for that pony because Bushclusterf-ication takes a lot more than eight years to clean up. Most sane people realize that. THEY DON’T. THEY ARE STUPID. THEY HAVE NO PONY FOR YOU, BUT EVEN IF THEY DID THEY WOULDN’T SHARE IT WITH YOU BECAUSE THEY ARE REPUBLICANS!

If you voted for the Republican version of Scott Brown because you’re still under the impression that Republicans are the “Party of Family Values”:

• That’s just adorable! Sadly though, you are quite naive, but you know that now because this morning you woke to find that you elected someone who POSED NUDE IN COSMO AND ALL BUT AUCTIONED HIS DAUGHTERS OFF TO, WELL….JUST ANYONE ON NATIONAL TELEVISION WHILE MAKING HIS VICTORY SPEECH! Because I sympathize and realize this is probably a lot to take in all at once, I suppose it’s probably best not to bring up the curling iron. Maybe later…

For “Tea Baggers”

• If you voted for the “Tea Party” version of Scott Brown because he owns a truck and therefore he must be just like you? Good for you! But I would venture to guess that his other truck is probably a Mercedes, Lexus, or something along those lines. Or he has a whole fleet of trucks of the luxury persuasion, the likes of which you could never dream to afford. But as I said, good for you! I’m afraid the only wake up call you will receive is this: YOU DRIVE A TRUCK.
• If you vote for a “Tea Party” candidate because, in addition to owning and loving your truck as much as your Mom, AND you don’t like to pay taxes, even better! You’ll need that truck because those roads won’t build themselves! (Please see the previous wake up call, in bold, above, and add the word: “CONGRATULATIONS!”)
• If you voted for the “Tea Party” side of Brown because he ran on the promise that “as God (or Cosmo) is my witness, I will protect you from evil affordable, Government run health care!” and you said “Don’t want none of that! Oh Yeah!” as you popped your ballot into that magic Diebold machine, well than I have a bonus wake up for you, because guess what? Thanks to your vote, your candidate now has FREE GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE ALL THANKS TO YOU! AND YOU GET THE BILL, ALONG WITH YOUR OWN, WHICH YOU’RE WORKING THOSE TWO JOBS TO PAY FOR, SO IT’S A WIN WIN! I’m sure he’ll be forever grateful.
• If your situation is identical to the voter above with the exception that you don’t have health insurance? Ooh, bummer. But look on the bright side: HE DOES!

These aren’t really tips or wake up calls, they’re just things I want to get off my chest.

For The “Pun-Ditz:”

• Chris Matthews, (oh where to begin?) and this has nothing to do with politics, but the former “Cheers” is the place “where everybody knows your name.” Since you were broadcasting from the very same last night, aren’t you just a bit ironically embarrassed that you didn’t know the name of the candidate when the cameras came on? You’ve been blithering about him for days as if he were your latest man crush without taking a breath, and the name B-R-O-W-N really isn’t all that tough. Chastising others for their Teleprompter use can come back to bite one, can’t it?
• Chris Matthews Part Two: About being “schooled” so brilliantly by Rachel Maddow last night: it’s best not to get into an intellectual discussion on a topic you only pretend to be an expert on unarmed. If I may borrow a term from Ms. Maddow, it exposes one as being “divorced from reality.” Stop embarrassing yourself. It’s not pretty to watch.
• I was thinking there were other “Pun-Ditz” to mention, but I only watched MSNBC last night, so Chris Matthews was about it since Joe and Mika aren’t “Ready For Prime Time Election Coverage” and weren’t there. Not to leave them out altogether, because let’s face it, those two are about as bad as it gets. But there’s enough material on them for an entire post all to themselves, so maybe another time…Thank goodness for Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann or MSNBC would be completely unwatchable!

And finally, there is one more wake up call that I’ve just got to mention. That would be the one Sarah Palin is probably pretty angry about today. Who knew there was another candidate out there who is just as attention grabbing and tacky, if not more so, than Caribou Barbie? Poor little Sarah is quite possibly eating the “trucks and guns” dust that Brown left behind in his rush to be crowned the “King Of The Tea Party” and she never even became “First Runner Up.” Of course she’ll still get that hefty speaking fee at the “Tea Party” rip-off conference, unless it’s followers find out what a rip-off it is before it’s to late for a refund. Oh well. Now clueless little Sarah is just yesterday’s news and she can’t “quit” her endorsement of Scott Brown. She’ll get to live with her new role as “has been” every time her coworkers on FOX drool while they talk about him with her nonstop.  So to Sarah I say: MEET THE SHADOW OF YOUR 15 MINUTES IN THE LIMELIGHT….. Next?

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