What else can one expect from the Party of Intolerance, No, Never, Hate, Ginned Up Warfare, Obstruction, Torture, Tax Cuts for the Rich, and Whores for the Fat Cats?
Thanks to the Republican jackasses in Austin and Washington, the video clip below gives us a glimpse into how the people of Texas are perceived.
I watched the U.S. Senate debate on the stimulus package on and off on Saturday. Bored, frustrated and disgusted, I finally had enough. I've seen this old washed up rerun before. It has been playing in a crumbling 50-year-old movie house that should have been condemned a very long time ago. As if in a black and white movie with scratched and uneven sound, the Republicans, bad actors that they are, droned on and on, spouting their old failed ideologies and dark aged policies. The Party is mired in centuries old mindsets and technologies and it seems unable or unwilling to see or move past the mid 20th Century.
Where energy is concerned Republicans want to continue to drill for an economically and globally volatile and finite resource. It should be glaringly apparent, thank you, that we needed to develop new, less finite and green energy resources, e.g. capture it from the wind and sun, at least 30 years ago. Somehow Republicans forgot about the 1973 energy crisis and oil embargo. They obviously fail to recall the long lines at the gas stations.
The Republican whacko trickle down economics does not work and yet Republicans continue to consult its 101 textbook. The reality of the trickle down voodoo magic that failed during the Reagan Administration and has proved a catastrophe under W., is now on a rampage, wielding a devastating wrecking ball throughout the U.S., and other countries, too, destroying jobs, homes and retirement accounts 24/7. 600,000 jobs were lost last month alone. There is no is in sight for the relentless wrecking machine. It is on an almost unstoppable and insatiable roll.
(Title changed becawse I loved the one Libby used on DailyKos. A lot. - promoted by boadicea)
Why is it that Texans get stuck with gawd awful lawmakers who are completely out of synch with the majority of sentiments and beliefs held by the American people? Why do they continue to serve as endless sources of shame, ignorance and embarrassment to those they supposedly represent? Why do they continue to bring the scorn of the rest of the nation into our living rooms on an almost daily basis? Tom Delay, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales and George W. Bush, Phil Gramm,Harriet Miers and Karen Hughes comprise the short list of Texas jackasses. It will take at least four Presidential Administrations to clean up after them. We will endure very hard times in the process, thanks to the brilliance of the Texas Brigade of Douche Nozzles.
W. & Co. may have left Washington but tragically we have other jackasses who are serving there. One of the biggest, John Cornyn, held up the nomination of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this week. Of course he voted for Clinton when it was all said and done. Cornyn's intentions were merely a typical douche nozzle style political stunt. He and his right wing nutjob buddies are gunning for Hillary just like they went after Bill during his Presidency. While the right wing extremists railed against Clinton over inane silliness, Osama bin Laden busily plotted and schemed against us. Washington was too tied up in knots over Monica to notice.
Obstructing Clinton's confirmation did not satisfy Cornyn. No folks, he is doing another douche nozzle dance that brings us more scorn. The jackass became yet a bigger jackass by throwing a road block into the path of Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder, too. It seems that Cornyn doesn't have a problem with torture. Holder does. So do the majority of the American people.
First step: Stop believing in the myths and the lies. Think of the zealots who embrace faith based free markets as the embodiment of the host of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire show in Slum Dog Millionaire - a complex film that covers the spectrums of fantasy, hope, love, renewal, abject poverty, cruelty, hate, murder, evil, greed, torture, lawlessness, corruption and suffering. Fast forward to the great gambling houses of Las Vegas, Monte Carlo, to name just two of many. Do not forget about Sarah Palin who squandered 200K of other folk's money on her personal spending sprees. And the crowning jewel of free market insanity, Bernard Madoff, gets the prize for one of the worst spawned by the ideologues who extol the virtues of Republican voodoo economics.
Second Step: Stop being stupid.
In a New York Times editorial entitled
Stop Being Stupid Bob Herbert reminds us of just how downright brainless and clueless we have become over the last several years.
In July I posted a diary series about Senator John Cornyn's deep ties to big money and corporate interests. Because we are facing a potentially impending financial 9/11, or so we've been told, this may be a good time to reexamine John Cornyn's record.
John Cornyn has voted with President Bush at least 97% of the time, despite the President's approval ratings that range from 23-30%.
We know from his record in the Senate that John Cornyn will predictably vote for legislation that is favorable to corporate and special interests. Both of our U.S. Senators will unfailingly vote against any legislation that ensures any kinds of oversight or regulation of corporations and special interests, even if oversight means protecting the interests of the people of Texas.
At the same time, John Cornyn consistently votes against legislation that will do anything to improve the quality of Texans' lives whether it is an increase in the minimum wage, a cleaner environment, or affordable heath care insurance, both of which would yield a far healthier population here.
I felt it was high time for me to pay a call to our esteemed U.S. Senators to inquire about the recent financial melt down on Wall St. Since as a taxpayer I will be expected to step up and bail out a bunch of corrupted greed mongers I believe I deserve an explanation from those who got us into this unbelievable mess in the first place.
Dear Senator,
In the past two weeks I feel as if I have been hit by two devastating hurricanes. Many residents in the Houston and Galveston areas are still without power and most continue to struggle with Ike's aftermath. The nation's fourth largest city and its surrounding areas have taken a tremendous beating.
Just when we were beginning to think we could see the light at the end of Ike's tunnel we now find ourselves suddenly blindsided by another hurricane. This one did not sweep in from the Gulf. This unexpected monster came hurdling down from Wall St. and its aftermath could prove far more cataclysmic than Ike.
What is this business about a financial bailout using the taxpayer's money? It seems to me that a group of greedy and corrupted fat cats on Wall St., with the blessings of their supporters and cheerleaders in Congress, raped and pillaged the United States and now taxpayers are being asked to pay for the carnage. And we're supposed to turn over nearly $1 trillion and say "we trust you to clean up after yourselves."
Please.
See what Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine has to say about the Wall Street debacle.
As we learn more and more each day about Governor Sarah Palin, more than a few comments have been percolating in the blogosphere about how her style of governing shares much in common with that of George W. Bush. This thought is a darkly disturbing one to those of us who honestly believe W. is quite frankly the worst nightmare to happen to the United States of America and its people in a long time. Certainly, over 70% of Americans believe this to be true.
If Sarah Palin is all that the GOP could come up with as its Vice Presidential candidate one must wonder what these people have in mind for a future United States. Does it intend to completely dismantle civil liberties,constitutional rights and democratic principles altogether? Will it privatize and politicize every governmental agency? Will it sell off our social security funds to Enron Kenny boy types so they can steal and squander it? Will it set up an even more authoritarian kind of presidency in which he or she is accountable to no one?
This morning I read a starkly revealing piece on Salon.com by Glenn Greenwald, "The mighty, scary press corps" in which he wrote:
If I were a McCain adviser and wanted to have Palin sit with someone who is perceived as a "journalist" while knowing that no damage could possibly occur, I'd pick Charlie Gibson, too. There are many, many other equally good alternatives, but when it comes to wretched passivity and sycophantic establishment worship, the former "Good Morning America" host -- whose career was built on oozing amiability and inoffensiveness -- is as good as it gets.
Greenwald's article lit a fire under my derriere and so I blasted off a letter to Gibson in an attempt to demand that he address the issues and not the "sizzle" surrounding W.'s clone, Palin. I hope others do the same.
Dear Mr. Gibson,
I understand that you will hold the first interview with Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In a spirit of fairness and balance I trust that you will subject Governor Palin to the same grueling and relentless grilling that you and George Stephanopoulos afforded to Senator Barack Obama during the Democratic Presidential debates.
I guess he has no choice. Like W., McCain has always believed war and force are major and viable options to face down an enemy, any enemy, really, whether real or imagined. Indeed, Pat Buchanan of all people said Dick Cheney seems like Ghandi when compared to where McCain stands on the use of force. This is a rather horrifying notion. Certainly the last thing the United States needs is another war monger President and reckless, perilous and irresponsible cowboy diplomacy.
Check out the chilling clip where Pat Buchanan made his alarming observation.
Endless wars will most certainly require a military draft.
(If your wallet feels unaccountably lighter-here's one reason why. - promoted by boadicea)
According to a piece written in The Huffington Post U.S. military contractors in Iraq have charged the American taxpayers $85. billion for services rendered.
It should come as no surprise to any informed person that these outsourced services are not any less costly than those that could have been provided by the U.S. military.
Worse, these military contractors are responsible for the accidental deaths and shootings of more than a few of our U.S. military.
Are the hired contractors typically incompetent Republican heckofajob brownies or are they simply outright criminals?
It is hard to tell the difference between ineptitude and crime under W. rule.
One must understand the ideology that drives the Republican Party's quest to wage war and, at the same time, enable contractors who are given a free ride to rob our nation's piggy bank.
In Part I of this series I strongly asserted that the voting records of Texas Republican lawmakers, both in Austin and Washington, have demonstrated their collective dismissive and egregious disregard regard for their average Texas constituents. I argued that this group of sorry excuses for leaders are motivated by greed and greed alone. In Part II I disclosed the cozy relationships John Cornyn shares with his donors in big oil, insurance, banking and super lobbyists such as Jack Abramoff. Part III ( http://www.texaskaos.com/showD... went a step further in attempting to unveil the potential sellout for bucks where our national security is concerned by a super global lobbyist Texan, Stephen Payne. Texas Republicans George W. Bush, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn are deeply in love with Stephen Payne's money and influence.
Senator Cornyn's willing and relentless obedience to the Bush Administration and to his big moneyed corporate masters have dealt a lethal blow to some very basic, everyday needs and interests of hard working Texans and our families. Issues critical for the health, educational and/or financial well-being of our troops, veterans, consumers with regard to energy costs, first time home buyers, homeowners who struggle to hold on to their homes, college students, children, elderly patients and the doctors who treat them, have been systemically, if not criminally neglected by John Cornyn.
Following is John Cornyn's unprincipled record of desertion from his obligation, as an elected U.S. lawmaker, to serve the people he has sworn to represent.
(You sure you wanna try the "transparency argument, Junior John? - promoted by boadicea)
(Cross posted on The Burnt Orange Report.)
Now why would our distinguished junior Senator from the great state of Texas want to examine the military records of the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Lt. Col. Rick Noriega?
For what purpose?
I think we all can guess at the reason. Let's put it this way. Cornyn dodged the Vietnam War when he could have served in the military, but he instead actively sought a way out. Lt. Col. Noriega, on the other hand, enlisted in the National Guard in the 1980's in response to the Iranian hostage crisis. He later served in Afghanistan as a result of 9/11 and the war on terror.
But this is an election year and it obviously has dawned on Cornyn that he had chosen to shirk his walk while Lt. Col. Noriega has walked his. And so now we have a threatened and scared Republican Senator who will fabricate smear for the sole purpose of saving his own scared and sorry derriere.
As I mentioned in my diary Why Texans Deserve Far Better than John Cornyn, Part I, I asserted that rubber stamp for W. and war hawk Cornyn shirked military service during the Vietnam War when he had every opportunity to serve. While a college student, he had drawn a very low draft lottery number and yet he somehow managed to hide behind a student deferment when such were not supposed to be available at the time. Senator Cornyn likes to talk big and tall about a global war on terror as long as he and his don't do the fighting.
Part II discloses information on draft dodging Cornyn's rather interesting rise to political power in Texas. The way I see it, Cornyn's candidacies were essentially both enabled and purchased by a group of the Texas GOP rich, politically connected and very powerful people.
Now that some of the Texas Taliban in DC, specifically Rove and Delay, got their slimy butts kicked out of DC, consequently and most unfortunately for Texans, the GOP Taliban are back at home in Texas to raid our Constitutional rights, freedoms and resources. I am telling you folks, these people are a national disease. They are desperados who realize their national gravy train has gone over the cliff and now they are fleeing back to their nesting place in order to find new venues to satisfy their addiction to money, power and greed. There is never enough money to satisfy these vultures' lust for cash, power and control.
The American voters got it and tossed the GOP majority out of our Congress in 2006. The corrupted and incompetent GOP have racked up close to a trillion bucks in the unnecessary and immoral human calamity called Iraq. Yesterday we learned that W. and Cheney have been lying about and misleading us on Iran's nuclear weapon program, knowing all along that Iran scrapped its weapons program years ago. And under the Bush Administration's brilliant leadership our national debt now grows at $1 million per minute. As Dennis Kucinich has recently observed "We're borrowing money from China to finance the war in Iraq."
I read this on Helium.com and posted this as my opinion:
So a woman looses her freedom to be President just because she was married to a former President. The way the constitution reads now any person over the age of 35 years old who was born a citizen can be President. Women have struggled for to many years to count just to get half the respect these some 231 years of pasty white men needs to end. So what is really being said here is lets come up with a amendment to the constitution to keep Hillary Clinton from being President. Also what is being said is women can't think for themselves they let their husband think for them so they should not be able to be President, if their husbands have been before them. This is ridiculous. Nepotism is favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power. President Bill Clinton can not be President again. Hillary Clinton is running for this office on her own merit and to put this type of amendment into Law, you would need to include Sons, Daughters, Nephews, Nieces, Friends, Brothers, Sisters, Fathers, Mothers, and even Cousins into the amendment in order to be fair. So basically Mr. Bush has committed this harmful act many times over. Does that mean he will need to be impeached if this becomes law? Oh! And that would mean his Daughters could never run for President or his brother Jeb it would have to stop with him. Okay I'm game if it keeps the Bush's from ever being in the white house again let's do it. Just remember when stepping on the toes of democracy remember it is the people who's feet get bruised. Where was this amendment before Hillary Clinton decided to run for office? It's was not in existence. It was not needed and why should we ask because, no woman before has ever has come as close to being The first Female President in the United States History. This is shameful that they need to call it out of its name this isn't Nepotism, this proposed amendment is nothing more then sexism of the worst kind. This would not even be a issue if Hillary Clinton was his Brother, Male Cousin, Son, Male Friend, Nephew, or Father. This is plan and simple, she is a woman and she is roaring toward the White House at full speed and the "Men" are shaking in their boot's. I say Hillary you go girl blaze that trial so someday my daughter may follow in your brave footsteps. Men have run this country into the ground for 231 years its time for a woman to lead us into a brighter future. So Hillary blaze away!
(Let's make 'em wish they'd stayed home. - promoted by boadicea)
As if Dick Cheney's fundraising visit wasn't enough to prop up the flagging campaign fortunes of Bush rubber stamp Sen. John Cornyn, we are about to be treated to one better.
George W. Bush is also coming to Texas to reward the loyalty of one who was so willing to put his interests above those of average folks like myself.
More below.
If you haven't heard Keith Olbermann's excellent special comment on the Iraq war today, it's well worth more than just a listen.
There was one section of Keith's commentary that quoted a passage from Robert Draper's newly-published book, "Dead Certain," which struck me greatly.
Here's part of what Keith said:
"I'm playing for October-November," Mr. Bush said to Draper. That, evidently, is the time during which, he thinks he can sell us the real plan, which is "to get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence."
Is this REALLY want Texans want, an indefinite presence in Iraq supported by a senator who's been Bush's strongest supporter on the issue?
More below.
(Cross-posted in Blue Texas)
The New York Times is reporting in its editions a Bush White House attempt to "make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families."
This is the same program that Sen. John Cornyn has fought tooth and nail both as Texas Attorney General and now in the U.S. Seante.
More below.
