Burn it down. Modern GOP Domestic Policy.

               Really, guys? You actually think this is a viable policy?

In the 2012 Presidential election the Affordable Care Act and President Obama's Domestic policies were front and center. Mitt Romney had his ass handed to him. It seemed that the American Electorate had rejected the GOP's regressive vision of The United States.One would think that there would be the realization that elections have consequences. Well, one would be wrong.

Due to extreme gerrymandering (Ohio is a prime example) many State Governments wound up with extremest legislatures.Also the US House maintained a slimmer Republican majority and grew to be more far right Tea Party dominated. That is what happens when you have ironclad safe seats. Just look at the House Districts in Ohio. There is a District that stretches along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland. At time it appears to be about six inches wide along the Lake in places.

Anyway, these Republicans saw the election results differently than rational people. They represent the true Americans. The election was lost because Mitt was not a REAL conservative. It was stolen by a coalition of community activists, Union thugs, liberal mainstream media, minorities looking for freebies and socialist Democrats. Because Mitt was not conservative enough the true American Majority of American conservatives stayed home allowing the Kenyan to stage his coup.

Starting in January we saw a two pronged attack on modern America. States under the control of reactionary, theocratic activists went after voting rights and women's reproductive health. The US House went after anything supported by the President. They continued to feel voting no on everything was leadership. They also went after Obamacare. After all it is socialism and a sign of the end times. They also continued to fixate on non-existent scandals making Benghazi the new Beetlejuice along the way.

The House embarked on Broadway try outs of their political theatrical production called Repeal. After more than forty performances they decided to open on Broadway. Of course, as is the tradition, there were script tweaks and some new production numbers added.

The backers of the show decided not to replace the director, Speaker John Boehner, they just ignored him. Although it was unusual the script consultant, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is starring in a related production being staged in the Senate Theater.

Cruz, rewrote the script, giving himself a predominate off stage House Theater role.  The new plot line is rather than just stage Quixotic repeal votes let's hold the Nation hostage.  A Sopranos spin off. A decision was made to bypass the stage and go direct to a feature production.

Like most of the entertainment industry they are ignoring the last time a show like this opened in 1995. It was quickly cancelled amidst devastating reviews. With the popularity of sequels, TV shows moved to the big screen and reboots original ideas are not pandemic, so let's reboot.

Thus the GOP has decided to reboot the failed '95 shutdown franchise. They hope with a new director, producers, screenwriting team, bigger budget, promotion and cast this can be a game-changer.

This flick has decided to rely on a lot of improv in the script.  Every time the Director Boehner tried a new scenario he is bombarded by off script performances that alter the story arc. Now we have the action packed budget thriller, "Shut It Down" On opening it was savaged by friendly critics and even cast members. It also received glowing reviews from other critics and many cast members said how proud they were of their work. This blockbuster is doing good box office, in spite of ending with a cliff hanger. In a couple weeks we'll see the sequel, "Default". It has the same cast, crew and production team.

As the House blockbuster was opened, the Senate produced DVD extras with Ted Cruz. This acted as an extended trailer and a bridge between projects. Like the films the reviews were mixed but ratings were good on cable.

So let's sit back and hope the ending to these blockbusters actually make sense. A happy ending is so needed. It would be nice to see this reboot crash and burn. I see no emmys or Oscars coming for this. It won't play in Peoria.

Descent into madness. Ted Cruz, The Republicans and the ACA

               I believe Albert Einstein, a smart guy, once stated the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result. The House of Representatives voted 41 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Each time they knew it would not pass the Senate. Or if by a miracle it did it would be vetoed before the ink on the bill dried. In spite of that they held 41 votes to repeal. Did they actually expect a different result or was it cynical political theater or a combination of both? And dies it really make a difference?

Along comes the junior Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz. By all reports, this is a smart guy. It does appear though he may suffer from the smart guy syndrome. "I'm the smartest guy in the room. I am sure I know better how a couple hundred year old institution should be run. It doesn't matter I've only been here less than a year but trust me. I know what we should do and how to do it. You experienced politicians take is wrong. I am right."

Since he is a smart guy he knows what buttons to push to inflame the Tea Party into a frenzy. OBAMACARE!! DEFUND!! Let's hold the country hostage. Trust me, the Dems will blink and defund the President's signature accomplishment. No problem. And is it a bad thing to shut down the Government? Naw. After a summer of beating this drum the Crazy Caucus of the House signed on. The fact that the Heritage Foundation is running ads, holding rallies in favor of defunding the ACA at all costs helped. Carrot and stick. Sarah Palin and other groups weighed in implying primary challenges on no votes. The prospect of an actual campaign scares incumbents to death.

Now hard as it is to believe there are still some political realists in the GOP. You know things are weird when Karl Rove is a voice of reason. There are conservative Republicans in the Senate who realize extortion is not a good move.Some actually remember what happened in '95. The GOP shut down the Government. They suffered major losses in the House, though still maintained a majority, and an embattled Democratic President was resoundingly reelected. Oops.

Now Ted Cruz is toying with a Presidential bid in 2016. Were I a cynic, I would think he is simply building a mailing list and raising cash for political groups that buy his rhetoric. I'm pretty sure he wants these groups on board should he tilt at windmills in a POTUS bid.

This Quixotic fight has exposed divisions in the Republican Party. It seems the Establishment has been turned on by their creation. When you embolden zealots and put them in positions of power you invite disaster. By their nature true believers are hard to control. Once you aim them at a target they go all tunnel vision and will not stop until their goals are reached. If they have to burn down the House to stop something they vehemently oppose, they'll turn a flame thrower on a fuel tanker to accomplish their objective. And then block the firetrucks.

Things are hostile between the factions we are seeing the acrimony leak out into the public arena. Senator Cruz has called the Senate GOP Caucus,"The Surrender Caucus" which will only endear him to them.  You have Senator John McCain saying this defund/shutdown plan isn't rational. Karl Rove said Cruz launched this strategy without telling the party. They only find out his plans when he goes public. Senator after Senator has called Cruz's plan ill advised which is the nice way to say bat shit crazy.

Former Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) has gone after Cruz and his cohorts. "The political babble of a few has become has become the mainstream of Republican political thought." He goes on to say they're playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded revolver. Also you never take a hostage you can't shoot. Which it seems they have, Senator Gregg.

Senator Rand Paul has backed off recently after being gung-ho on the extortion plan. He says he supports it but it won't succeed. Last week Cruz said the same thing as he also told the House to stand firm. This set off a fire storm in the House as Members said, rightly so, Cruz was hanging them out to dry. That got the Senator from Texas's attention. He vowed a filibuster to delay action by the Senate. He is also calling for the Majority Leader to suspend rules to make it easier to delay action. That'll happen. So what he wants to do is filibusterer a Republican bill to prevent a Republican bill from being considered. The Surrender Caucus recognizes this is absurdity. There may not be the support there Senator Cruz is counting on.

For when the CR gets stripped of the defund language and is sent back to the House Cruz announced Plan B.  The House should pass small spending resolutions and attach ACA defunding to them one at a time. Starting with military spending. He wants to have this done over and over till the Senate caves and force a veto. So, Senator Cruz wants the House to hold the military hostage while we have troops in harm's way. Because it's the patriotic thing to do. Now, should they decline to participate in this scenario I expect to see a lot of Primary battles. The Heritage Foundation, Freedom works, Sarah Palin and others will use a sane vote as a cudgel to gin up the rabid base in an attempt to push the Party even further right. Purity tests will be the norm.

This civil war is being played down in public. Mostly. Chris Wallace received opposition research from Republicans to, wait for it, hammer Ted Cruz. So, I am stocking up on popcorn and sitting back. This is going to get interesting.

Cut the break-lines! Hit the gas!! There's a cliff ahead! GOP policy?

This is written early morning on the day the Continuing Resolution comes up for a vote in the House Of Representatives.

On Thursday the House voted to cut SNAP by 40 billion dollars over 10 years. The House ignored a veto threat from President Obama. Surprising no one the arguments were this is a burden on working middle class families A polite way to say those on SNAP are lazy and picking your pocket?. If the tax code didn't coddle the wealthiest the burden wouldn't be as great. Had the House not obstructed the recovery there would be less need for SNAP. Compassionate Christians that they are the House decided cutting food aid is a political winner. That is why is was separated from the Farm Bill. That way SNAP can be gutted while maintaining the massive farm subsidies for corporate farms which are collected by many House Members. It is good they take so much vacation time as they do incredible harm during the limited time they are in session.

Since returning from recess the House has held two symbolic votes to repeal the ACA. This brings the total to 41.Today, Friday the 20th day of September they plan vote 42. They're ready to hit on 20. Any gambler that plays Blackjack will tell you that's a loser.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH-08), is between a rock and a hard place. As a politician he knows the chances of defunding or repealing the ACA. He has allowed more than forty meaningless votes to repeal to placate the reactionary, rabid right members of his Caucus. These votes let them go home and rail to the base they are stymied in repeal by the Socialist Senate and the Muslim Kenyan will veto it anyway. It's a fundraising tool and a way to ensure there will be no attack from the right come primary season

Egged on by a few Senators who are positioning themselves for a Presidential bid in 2016 more than 80 House Members demanded that a vote on the Continuing Resolution have a provision to defund the ACA. The leadership in the House and inside the beltway knew this is a loser. The idea the Democratic Senate and a Democratic President would sign on to this is, to say it kindly, fucking crazy.

The Democrats in the Senate have the votes to strip the defunding language, pass the CR and send it back to the House.At the moment Boehner and Cantor seem to have no plan B. The Caucus sees plan B as a shut down of the Federal Government. Always a good move.

So, why now?

On October first, enrollment in the State Insurance Exchanges starts. Much of the law kicks in in 2014. This is seen as the last chance to stop it. The right realizes time is running out. Under time constraints and pressure bad decisions are routinely made. The decisions are even worse when they are ideologically driven. You are willing to do anything when God is on your side.

The political pressure being brought from the reactionary right is intense. The most far right leaning groups are being vocal. During the recess these groups ran ads on Republican Districts as a reminder of possible consequences. We've seen Sarah Palin weigh in and imply there would be Primary Challenges on those who vote no on defunding.

These groups include The Club For Growth, Heritage Action the action arm of the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks to name a few. Heritage Action held rallies in several cities across America in an attempt to gin up the base. The assorted groups are pouring money into ads and outreach to whip the fringe into a frenzy. The ire is directed at Republicans who aren't vocal about wanting to be a lemming.

These groups and the Rabid Right Members of the House see the previous votes as what they are, A sham. The push now is to do anything to stop the implementation of the ACA. Since many see the Government as the problem shutting it down is actually a good thing to them.The action is directed at those who fail the purity tests. Those who have caved to keep the Nation working. Some see any cooperation as heresy. So any GOP member that exhibits any political sanity will be metaphorically burned at the stake.

They do realize the future of the Republican Party is at stake. The far right see this as an opportunity. A chance to purge the Party of non believers. They see this as the last best chance to reshape the GOP into the reactionary force they actually believe America craves. This is their Fort Sumter against the Establishment GOP who they view as sell outs and no better than the Democrats.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Minority leader of the Senate, is facing a Primary challenge from the right. He is taking flack from The Heritage Foundation and others for not coming out for defunding.

Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) mentioned there weren't the votes in the Senate to defund. He did this after months of declaring this as a goal and a glorious last stand for freedom. He called on the House to stand firm.  He was immediately slammed by House Members as surrendering without a fight. The House doe not want to go all Kamikaze all alone. They want the Senate GOP to crash and burn also.

Many of these people see the shutdown in '95 as a moral victory. Usual Right Wing revisionism as far as history is concerned. The truth is there were huge losses in the House in '96. A Democratic President was convincingly reelected. Speaker Gingrich was replaced in a Palace Coup. Yeah, it all worked out so very well.

You know there is division and things are bad when Karl Rove is a voice of reason. He and others are saying this is a massive mistake. They say the best thing to do is take the Senate then repeal. In the poisonous atmosphere on the Hill these pleas for reason are falling on deaf ears.

The very policy of extortion as political strategy has led them here to the abyss. The previous impasses resulted in limited compromise. This disappointed the the far right who were willing to disobey a Constitutional mandate to protect the full faith and credit of The United States.  They have decided no more compromise of any kind. They will burn down the country to get there way.

The most likely scenario is when the CR with the defunding  passes the House today the Senate will face a filibuster. That will cause a minor delay until the more sane GOP Senators jump ship and vote for cloture. The defunding language will be stripped and the resolution will be sent back to the House. Boehner and Cantor will have a choice. Shut the Government down until the voters storm the chamber with torches, pitchforks, tat and feathers. Or, more likely, pass it using a coalition of still sane Republicans and Democrats.

I am sure Boehner also knows he will face a mutiny that will likely cost him his position as Speaker. To avoid this he may try damage control by doing it over with the Spending Limit. That too is doomed to failure.

In the coming days we will see who the real patriots are. Claiming yourself as one as you work to attempt to stage a coup isn't the way. Good people will stand up and get us past this extortion. Only to do it again. Perhaps next time with one of the inmates running the asylum.

American Exceptionalism. How the Right is destroying it.

              Our numbering system uses Arabic Numerals. Algebra is an Arabic word, as is algorithm. 2/3 of the named stars have Arabic names. Why?

From 800 C.E. til around 1100 C.E. the Islamic Caliphate was centered in the great city of Baghdad. This city was the crossroads of civilization after the collapse of the classical Roman Empire and the decline of the Eastern Empire. It brought together China, Persia, North Africa and Europe in an intellectual stew.

The collapse of Rome left Europe in disarray. With the lack of traditional nation states far too much power was ceded to the Church. They controlled education. The tomes that were salvaged from Rome were transcribed by monks. In Europe the Catholic Church was the gatekeeper of education and existent knowledge for all practical purposes.

With their dogmatic views the conditions in Europe were not conducive to unfettered research.The major advancements in Europe were related to the construction of Cathedrals and other religious edifices. Architecture, engineering and related mathematics.

Baghdad however saw the mixing of ideas and cultures. The classical knowledge and ideas from the Greco-Roman era. Ideas and knowledge from India and China. Muslims, Jews and Christians mingled freely exchanging insights.

The result was an explosion of scientific knowledge and preservation of the earlier scientific gains threatened by the collapse of Rome.

Astronomy flourished hence the Arabic star names. Mathematics was expanded. Algebra and the adoption of the Arabic numerals.Those replaced the use of the cumbersome Roman numerals eventually in the West. The use of zero as a mathematical concept was refined.

Books from all over the world were translated into Arabic. Knowledge was saved, shared and preserved for the future.

Science, arts and literature flourished for around three hundred years then stopped.

Why?

The rise of Islamic fundamental thought where knowledge was seen as the work of evil put an end to the intellectual dominance of the Caliphate. It showed scientific thought and discovery can not exist in an atmosphere of fundamental rejection of human knowledge as evil and ungodly. This fundamentalism effectively killed progress and innovation in the Arab world. A thousand years later it still hasn't recovered. Who knows what advancements were sacrificed on the alter of a point of view that sees everything in religious terms.

Now we hear a lot about American Exceptionalism from conservatives. The irony is they may be killing what they are extolling.

American exceptionalism isn't a myth. The explosive emergence of The United States onto the world stage was fostered and fueled by intellectual freedom. A refusal to take "I can't understand this" as a limit to progress. Americans have always sought answers.

Freed from religious hegemony and the resulting intellectual shackles by the Enlightenment, America was born. The men who founded this great nation were steeped in the intellectual, philosophical and scientific revolutionary thought of their time. Secular Humanism was replacing Dogmatic Religion as the driving force in human advancement.

When faced by a problem in science answers were sought and the default position of "Known only to God" was rejected and a solution was found.

Americans took European ideas and made them distinctly ours. From the founding of this nation Americans rose to the front of the wave of modern science. We blazed the paths that severed our bonds to the Earth as we learned to fly. We took the British Industrial Revolution and showed the world what it could be.

Americans in the 19th and 20th Centuries took scientific advancement in stride seeing it as a birthright.
Science and technology made the United States the Arsenal Of Democracy during the Second World War. It enabled the defeat of the Nazis and the Japanese Empire in years rather than decades.

The American dominance in science is seen in the Nobel prizes accumulated. There are a lot of elements that have uniquely American names. We opened up the Solar System. Americans expanded the size and scope of the Universe. We've explored the building blocks of reality. Only Americans have walked on another celestial body.

Science gave us hope for the future. History taught us about our past. Intellectual freedom made us what we are today. Both disciplines were seen to be neutral as fact based education should be.
So why do modern conservatives feel that science and history is a la carte? Pick and choose what's true. One from column A and one from column B?

The only reason I can see that makes any sense is the unholy marriage between social conservatives and what once was fringe Evangelical churches. There has been a disturbing growth in the literalist, Fundamentalist, Evangelical Christian worldview.

Due to opportunistic political decisions made in the 70's, 80's and 90's the Christian Right and the willfully ignorant have gained positions of power. They control school boards. They are in State Legislatures and Congress. Think Tanks are pushing anti-science and history agendas. PAC's, Churches and other organizations back up these policies with money. There are people seen as so-called experts extolling these views in the media as rational positions. They are aided by cynical outlets promoting a reactionary agenda.
I realize many hold these positions as a matter of true belief. Zealots are extremely resistant to differing points of view. Many reject it as blasphemy.

Others hold these views as a bedrock political position and compromise is seen as weakness.
Many though have adopted these beliefs as simple political expediency. Simply taking money and support to hold power.

Combined, these movements are deadly to America's future.
Most of a persons core beliefs are formed in childhood. This is how America's future is threatened.
Since our manufacturing base has been decimated by shortsighted corporate and Government policies our economic future rests on technological advances and innovation. This is not possible without a scientifically literate population. Policies that are being adopted preclude that future.

How?

It's a cascading effect. When a cornerstone of scientific thought is denied, other scientific truths must also be denied.

The two most reviled scientific principles are Climate Change and evolution.

Evolution. Where to start?

Intelligent design is being touted as a legitimate scientific alternative. This is simply creationism dressed up in a gown and mortarboard to avoid church/state issues.

First off, Intelligent Design does not hold up to the basic scientific process.

The rap against evolution is it's "only" a theory. Well, so is gravity and I don't see them jumping off tall buildings to test it. The basic premise of Intelligent Design is not measurable in a lab or the field like the well
tested theory of Evolution.

Evolution is the bedrock of modern biology and medicine. You want to see evolution? Antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Intelligent Design does not explain our sharing a majority of our genome with the great apes. It also doesn't explain shared genes with lifeforms that aren't mammals.As a scientific position Intelligent Design is a nice fairy tale.

There is a school of thought in Creationism that because something wasn't witnessed it didn't happen. This applies to evolution and the creation of the Universe. That is as ludicrous as it sounds.

Creationism also has spawned the "Young Earth" movement. This embraces the idea Earth and the Universe is only 6,000 years old. This rejects multiple sciences.

Astronomy has determined the age of the universe by measuring the Doppler shift in light from distant objects.This is applied physics. This is explained by young earthers like this. We know the speed of light here. Since we haven't visited other stars to measure we don't know the speed of light for that star. Thus, it invalidates the idea the Universe is around 15 billion years old. A variation on if you did not witness it it didn't happen.

Geology is rejected along the same lines when pegging the Earth's age as 4.5 billion years old. We can't know for sure decay rates have always been constant.
Since we didn't witness how fossils are made we can't know their age. Thus Adam rode a Dinosaur like Alley Oop.

So, basically all science and history is rejected if it contradicts the idea that anything is more than six thousand years old. The Bible as text book.

If all this accumulated scientific knowledge is flawed the technology the world runs on couldn't exist.
As this view spreads into our educational system America will slide into irrelevancy. Discovery and innovation will move to more enlightened environments. As will the intellectually curious.Say good bye to a proud tradition of discovery.

The right is so worried about creeping Sharia Law(which doesn't exist) they are blind to their own imposition of religious law here. One is reviled. One is revered.

Without innovation we are doomed as a civilized nation. Teaching Creationism is tantamount to intellectual child abuse.

We are about to recreate the fall of the Caliphate into superstition and divine law.

To survive we must reclaim American thought from extremists that wish to enforce Bronze Age views as all that's needed. There are those in power who call science lies from the pits of Hell. We need to reestablish the founders faith in rationalism or just hand off our future to whomever will take it.

If we fail, this great experiment is a failure.

We can't allow that.

The future is now. We need to save it.

Let's base 21st Century Education on a Roman Era Text.That'll work.

               Some days I feel so old before my time.

When I went to school science was celebrated. We had put humans on the Moon. Vaccines were on the way to making deadly diseases a thing of the past.Our understanding of the Universe and our place in it was expanding. New ideas were becoming reality. Computer science was evolving. We were learning our origins. Amazing discoveries and inventions were everywhere.

Science was respected. Research was funded. Actual science was taught in schools. We led the world in education. We led the world in scientific innovation.

History was history. It was taught. The teachers used the current research. They felt no pressure to make things up to serve a political and religious agenda.

Teachers were respected and not branded as union thugs bent on indoctrination.

That was then. This is now.

Ohio. Again.

Since 2010 the reactionary Republicans who seized power in Ohio have been busy.Union busting, voter suppression, charter schools and abortion. With the cascading crazy it is easy to miss something. I was appalled earlier when I discovered Ohio passed a law requiring the teaching of the "Original Founding Documents". Here we go.

The law requires the teaching of the original texts of The Declaration Of Independence, The Northwest Ordinance, The US and State Constitutions.

This legislation will highlight those documents of freedom and enumerated rights so that the next generation can carry the torch of liberty that these documents represent." This was from Chris Long, the head of the Ohio Christian Coalition.

Part of the law requires supplemental readings to place the documents in their historical context. If this material is actually written by accredited, mainstream historians, they may not like the results.

The context is the Enlightenment and the rise of rationalism. The rise of secular humanism. The rejection of religion as basis for law and as a test to hold office. The prohibition of the establishment of a State Religion.
I am going to try to find some of these readings. There is no way to factually ignore these influences on the well educated men who founded this nation.

The Ohio Christian Coalition I feel sees this as a chance to push the myth America was founded as a "Christian" nation, otherwise they would not be on board with praise.
State Representative John Adams (R-Sidney) said of the law, "If the founding fathers documents would be adhered to and taught. we wouldn't be in the particular situation we're in at the Federal level with the expansion of government."

That, to me, sounds like the desire to teach history in a way that conforms to a rigid ideological view not supported by current accepted norms. It appears, that like in medicine, election to the Ohio Legislature makes you a prominent scholar. Thus you may over ride scholarship with indoctrination and a political agenda.

Many saw this as a back door to teaching Christian revisionist history.
So the Springboro Ohio School Board decided to offer a continuing education course devised by David Barton. A person with no history credentials and the author of a book on Jefferson pulled due to massive errors.

The course was to be taught by volunteers and promoted Barton's unfounded views of America as a Christian theocracy. Following outcry it was canceled. This of course raised the hackles of the reactionary right in Southwestern Ohio a bastion of right wing crazy.

Springboro also tried to add creationism to it's science teaching. That too was shelved following outcry. The school board is again looking at it.

Simply put we can not survive as a nation if we permit teaching to be pushed into presenting ignorant beliefs to be taught as fact. Knowledge is not ala carte. Facts are facts and it doesn't matter that you disagree.
If we are to compete in this world we can't allow science be defined by religious zealots who don't believe in it. The purpose of history is to teach us who we are and why we are.

Ohio wants to out crazy Texas. We are getting there.

Submitted For Your Approval: GOP in the Twilight Zone?

Rod Serling showed us what it is that that you only see out the corner of your eye.He showed us bleak and terrifying futures. He shined a light on the darkness in the heart of mankind. Were I not sure I would think he was showing us a most terrifying tomorrow. The Republican Party.
Buckle up. We're going to wander around in the Republican reality. I know it's scary.

Texas. Again.
In the Lone Star State there has been a spate of women being cavity searched on the side of the road after traffic stops. In most civilized States these searches are done at a Police station or a jail, not on the side of the road, in front of God and everyone. The Texas Department of Public Services and the Legislature has not seen fit to deal with this. It's only women, after all. Had they been home where they belonged this wouldn't have happened.   http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/05/lawyers-illegal-body-cavity-searches-of-women-standard-policy-at-texas-traffic-stops/

Oh, Michelle, Michelle, Michelle. What will we do when you're not in Congress any more?
As usual Rep. Michelle Bachman(R-MN) feels there isn't enough Jesus in our foreign policy. She is standing with the Egyptian military lauding the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. She manages to call them terrorists. She conflates them with Al Qaeda and 9/11. Now I wonder if she's going to go all Tail-gunner Joe McCarthy again and demand a search of Federal Agencies for the Muslim Brotherhood deep infiltration?
She is also sure if the Republicans come to Jesus and pray hard enough a righteous God will smite Hillary's 2016 Presidential aspirations. She is the gift that keeps on giving.

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX). OK. That is usually enough for a head desk or face palm. What's he up to this time?
Well, even as a Measles outbreak sweeps an area of Texas just outside of FT.Worth and his district he had a chat with Allen West about vaccines. They both seem to agree that vaccines are a liberal plot to thin the herd of undesirables. Usually one would think those two would be on board with ridding us of undesirables. Well, they are sure people like them are the target. If only we could get them out of the gene pool. The problem is vaccinations tend to save lives. Oops. By the way, that Measles outbreak? It's among the flock of an Evangelical church the feels that prayer is better than vaccinations.
Gohmert also has compared the Egyptian military leaders to the founders of the United States because they went after that pesky Muslim Brotherhood.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). Dear God, why is it always Texas? He feels if there is an American strike on Syria we will be acting as Al Qaeda's Air Force. The Syrian debate is distracting us from serious threats like Benghazi. Also, since Senator Cruz is such a staunch defender of the United Nations, he feels The President needs to take the Syrian issue back to the Security Council. Really, Ted? Careful. You're sounding like a Canadian.

Ohio. Again. Ohio is still trying to out crazy Texas and doing a bang up job.
In July Ohio slipped extremist abortion regulations into the State Budget as an end run around the citizenry's ability to oppose the regs as a Ballot measure. Governor John Kasich (R-OH) in a move to bolster his anti abortion street cred prior to a Presidential run in '16, declined to use the line item veto on these reprehensible regulations. He waived his pro life banner proudly and let them stand. He also dodges taking a stand on The Heartbeat Bill which is too extreme even for Ohio Right To Life. That bill has an excellent chance of passing in Ohio's Taliban Legislature.
The Ohio State Medical Board licenses and disciplines medical providers in the State. You would think appointments to the board would be rather straightforward. Appoint qualified medical professionals with no political ax to grind, right? Not in Ohio.
Kasich is loading the board with anti abortion advocates. That is more important than overseeing Ohio's medical environment.
The Governor has appointed to one of the consumer seats the head of Ohio Right To Life. To another of the consumer slots he appointed a former board member of Ohio Right To Life. These two will stay right on top of those budget regulations .
He also appointed a surgeon who is concerned that genetic counselors will advocate and perhaps trick Ohioan's into having an abortion. As a physician he seems to have no grasp that medical ethics require a Doctor to provide patients with factual information to make reasonable informed choices. Ohio is no longer a good place to be a woman.

A simple sampling. The modern Republican seems to be living in some alternate universe where facts, science and rational thought is non existent. Or a sin.
There are mid terms coming. We need to take back our country from theses theocratic, repressive people and restore rationality to the political process.
Get mad.
Get loud.
Confront the lies.
VOTE!!
Got it?

Ohio: Right to work. Deja vu, all over again.

          Ohio. 1958. A right to work ballot measure was decided here.
Now, this was the Fifties, the heyday of Union power in America. Ohio was a manufacturing powerhouse. Right behind Michigan in auto production. The home of the tire and rubber industry. In Columbus Ohio you had North American Aviation, a major Defense Contractor employing about 16,000 people building military aircraft. My Father worked there. There was steel and about anything you could imagine.
The anti union Republicans felt they could get a ballot issue passed in a major State with a large unionized workforce. It seems a disconnect with reality is not a modern GOP phenomenon.
The ballot measure was crushed by a 63%-37% margin. Oooops.
The idea of right to work for less resurfaced occasionally over the following decades but gained zero traction.
Fast forward to 2010.
The Tea Party phenomenon and major rise of extremism in the Ohio GOP gave the State to the far right. They immediately pushed a regressive agenda targeting unions and women's reproductive rights.
The Ohio House passed a so called Heartbeat bill to effectively ban abortion after six weeks with no provisions for rape, incest or the health of the mother. It died in the State Senate. However they did pass a twenty week limit. This was done in a political circus which made Ohio a national laughingstock, again.
The House and Senate passed a union busting bill that stripped collective bargaining rights from Public Sector Unions. This was done during massive protests at the Statehouse. They were the largest I had seen there since the anti Vietnam war days. Since Law Enforcement unions were also targeted one did not see tear gas and clubs the State Police were so fond of using on anti-war protesters. Everyone knew the Private Sector was next.
The Republican majority was not completely in lock step on this bill. The Senate leader had to resort to political chicanery. A Republican Senator on the Committee, who had listened to all the testimony, was a No vote. To ensure it made it to the Floor, this Senator was removed and replaced, at the last minute with a sure yes vote.
Senate Bill 5 passed along party lines and was signed into law by Governor John Kasich.
Kasich, even before he signed the bill used it to fundraise, touting it as a victory for workers and taxpayers over unions killing city budgets.
Unions, Democrats and others opposed to the bill immediately moved to put a repeal referendum on the November 2012 ballot.
There was a fight by the GOP to break the repeal into three separate issues which they lost in a decision by Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted.
Nearly 1.3 million signatures were submitted, a record in Ohio.
In August of 2011 the Governor tried to start negotiations with We Are Ohio, the ballot measure sponsor to rework SB5 and pull the repeal attempt. The response from opponents was a heartfelt no. They reminded the Governor and Legislature the time for discussion was before the bill was passed and signed into law.It was pointed out opposing voices were run roughshod over during committee hrarings. The Governor and Legislature was told to repeal the bill and the ballot measure would be dropped. They refused while denying this was a move in response to very bad poll results.
Kasich stumped for Senate Bill 5. It was endorsed by Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, both 2012 GOP Presidential hopefuls. The attack on unions was also backed by Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. It also received positive support in the Right Wing Blogosphere and on Fox News.
On Election Day in 2011 the repeal passed 61%-39% mirroring the right to work rejection in 1958.
Always one to learn their lessons, the Right To Work crowd announced, within days of Issue 2 going down in flames, they would attempt to get a Right To Work measure on the 2012 ballot. Didn't happen.
They keep trying, saying they will try for the 2014 ballot. So far the drive has been an abysmal failure.
Now, with a rabid extremist majority in both Ohio's Houses it is rearing it's head again.
The Legislators have been told to cease and desist by the Kasich Administration until after the Governor's reelection campaign. Kasich, after 2011 does not want to have this adding to his labor woes. He knows there is a push after Issue 2 and his repressive anti-abortion budget regulations to defeat him. Kasich is dealing with a threatened Tea Party revolt and does not want to hyper energize the opposition of sane Ohioans by picking another fight with labor. He is trying to project a reasonable image as he readies a 2016 run at the White House.
So the best way to stop this is to hammer Kasich at the polls in 2014.
It will stop right to work in it's tracks and badly hamper his Presidential ambitions.
Kasich, one and done for Ohio's future.
Get on board.

THE GOP: So much crazy, so little time.

                With the debate over a strike on Syria heating up, we see our friends in the Republican Party, as usual, taking their responsibilities seriously. Fox News had former Field Marshall Von Rumsfeld on waxing eloquent after his brilliant managing of the invasion of Iraq and our welcome as liberators. His magnificent handling of the conflict makes his input on Syria invaluable.
Representative Joe Wilson(R-SC)usual reasoned, insightful questioning of Secretary of State John Kerry was a revelation.
Speaking of revelation, the eerie resemblance of current happenings to the "End Times" needs more exposure and deep, serious discussion since it is indisputable fact.
The actions of the Republican officeholders and supporters gives such hope to the rest of the world that we will behave as they have come to expect.

Former Sec Def Rumsfeld went on Fox and Friends to share his insights on how to run a successful military operation in the Mideast. The astute trio of hosts tossed softball questions to him to slam the President.
Donald Rumsfeld did praise Secretary of Defense Kerry for a forceful, passionate presentation to the Senate Committee. He then cited American support for the clear policies of the Bush Administration. He slammed President Obama for playing Golf not mentioning the guy that threw him under the bus spent most of his tenure as POTUS on vacation. He said the GOP version of Beetlejuice, Benghazi. He called the President weak and indecisive.
The blonde guy Steve Douchey noted that Senator Obama and Senator Biden opposed the Iraq war while The President is being supported by the GOP in Syria. Douchey's grasp of nuance never ceases to amaze me. The Spokes-model chimed in teeing up shots at the POTUS for Von Rumsfeld. Kilmeade added his usual inane questions and comments undercutting President Obama. All in all it was an average Fox News hatchet job masquerading as hard hitting journalism. It had the depth of a saucer of milk and was as classy as bringing a hooker to your Mother's funeral.

The Honorable Joe Wilson of South Carolina. Still a piece of work.
During the House Committee questioning he postulated the President was using Syria as a sequel to "Wag The Dog".  Wilson noted there was a gas attack in April. So, he wondered did the President wait till now to divert attention from the Administration's many scandals. Such as the NSA, IRS, the failure of Obamacare enforcement, the White House drafted sequestration and the upcoming Debt Limit debate. Kerry, rather than call Wilson a raving, meth snorting gas bag, answered the query about April and ignored the batshit crazy part. John Kerry, as always is a classy guy. Wilson, not so much.

For what seems like forever the Evangelical end of timers have drawn on the similarities to the Middle East today and 2000 year old prophecies concerning the war that triggers The Second Coming will be fought there. They have been preaching fire and brimstone sermons, raising mountains of cash, hammering this view home for decades. With the drumbeat for war with Iran pounding last year in the GOP Primaries it resurfaced with a vengeance again. Now with Syria, it is being treated by some in public life as viable historical and current insight concerning the region.
Not being a member of the faith based community, I prefer the reality based community,hus when someone mentions Isaiah:17 I gaze at them with a blank stare.
That's when I am told about "The Burden Of Damascus". To which I reply, huh?
It seems this is a prophecy penned a couple thousand years ago. So of course I must take it seriously since all the other prophecies have proved so accurate. So what is it and why would any sane person not hallucinating their ass off even care?
OK. A Middle Eastern war will leave Damascus, Syria's ancient capital city, destroyed. The result will be a move closer to the conflagration that will bring the Second Coming. Naturally this confluence of unrelated happenings have the Televangelists and the end of the world is yesterday fans buzzing. They may also be stocking up on canned goods and burning porn to DVD.
It seems the destruction of Damascus is a precursor to the very last war. The expected US action may be the match to set off said war.
There is an author named Joel Rosenberg who as written a series of books dealing with the end of the world as postulated by Revelations. Somehow they wound up on the NYT Best Seller List. Fine. At least it's sold as fiction so no one will mistake him for an expert on nukes or the Middle East or anything.
When he appeared on Fox, Rosenberg was introduced an expert on nuclear policy and a modern day Nostradamus. He has appeared on Rick Sanatorum's radio show. Rick also penned a blurb on one of Rosenberg's books. He has also met with Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Louis Gohmert in Austin. Gohmert presented a copy of one of Rosenberg's books to the Israeli PM.
With a Congress full of Biblical literalists, this may cause issues as we try to find any kind of sensible solution to the Syria issue.
These guy are expecting Iran and Russia to team up to strike Israel. This will set up the final showdown at Megiddio and Armageddon.
It is reassuring their worldview is shaped by a Roman era text that has absolutely no relevance to today's pressing Geo-Political issues. However, our weapons are based on science, not magic, so will we get our asses handed to us when Obama the Anti-Christ leads his Gay/Lesbian/ Secular/ fornicating army into battle on the Megiddo plain.
What's next, I wonder.
Where's the popcorn and pass that peyote tea.

GOP Domestic Policy: Brinksmanship, extortion and ignorance

                   Speaker Of The House John Boehner (R-OH) is in a quandary. His Caucus seems to be beyond his control. At times it resembles herding cats.
The Republican House Caucus has a plethora of avowed Tea Party aligned members and those pushed to the extreme right by fear of a primary challenge. Many are Freshman or on their second term having been elected in the weird frenzy of 2010. So, many are inexperienced in the way politics and governing actually works. They are also proud of that.
These Republicans came to office after vowing to burn down the House if necessary to undo the socialism and secularism that has in their view ruined America. Compromise, the lifeblood of American politics, is surrender. Everything seems to be a test of ideological purity.
Speaker Boehner, who stumbled into the position after Hastert left the House, seems uniquely ill suited to reign in these maverick members.
The apparent weakness may be that he has a Caucus that rejects politics as usual. Previous Speakers had a caucus that actually attempted to accomplish something. This has been the least effective Congress in history. The Speaker has said success should be measured by how much they repeal not what they pass. By that metric they are an abysmal failure.
Republican policy has been extreme to say the least. They annually pass a budget that has zero chance of clearing the Senate. They have, to date, passed a bill repealing The Affordable Care Act forty times. They have done this knowing it would not even hit the Senate floor and if by some miracle it passed the Senate would be vetoed in a heartbeat. This can only be simple political posturing. These votes are cited at home as proof of their conservative bonafides. The evil Washington Establishment is thwarting the will of the people.
The conservative movement seems to have devolved to the point any theory or conspiracy is treated as a serious issue. Statements that would have sent previous politicians home in ridiculed humiliation are now commonplace. It seems the more ignorant, xenophobic, sexist, racist and absurd the better. And this Speaker allows it.
Rep. Michele Bachman and others send a letter to assorted Federal Departments like the DOJ, Department Of State and Homeland Security, among others, demanding an investigation of deep infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood. This was reminiscent of what Senator Joe McCarthy used to do. They did this with no repercussions from the Speaker. Used to be if a Member embarrassed the House or Party they could expect to be disciplined. Boehner seems loathe to exert any authority based on fear of repercussions. So, they all say anything they want no matter how ill conceived.
We are seeing what unbridled House Members will do or say. I admit at times I find it amusing anyone could be in a position of responsibility and say or even think some of these things. Then I remember these people are in power and cringe.
There are members of The House Science Committee that basically don't believe in science. One decried Evolution and the belief the Earth is over four billion years old, "Lies from the pits of Hell". Others feel climate change is a liberal conspiracy to get grant money and is scientific fascism.
They also are politicizing the peer review grant awarding process by wanting to make sure no money wasting grants are funded. One area they deemed worthless was Social Sciences.
They are ignoring how science actually works by putting a cost/benefit slant on research from the onset.  This is what happens when people who are hostile to science are put in charge of funding research. Had they been in power there would have been no funding for research into things like lasers, robotics, chip design, archeology, climate, biology and a myriad of other discoveries. Luddites on the Bridge of the Enterprise.
It seems ignorance is now considered a career path and is worn like a badge of honor. They are going after women's reproductive rights(denying basic biology as they do it) equal rights for LBGT, voting rights and the biggies. Social Security and Medicare. They are taking the entire social safety net along for the ride.
The goal seems to be who can make the deepest, most draconian cuts.
Unemployment compensation causes unemployment so cut it. After all it is just a paid vacation and all these lazy slackers are partying their asses off on that big money.
SNAP is used to buy drugs and high priced food poor working stiffs can't afford.
Women have more babies just to get more benifits and not work. So, let's cut off contraception. That'll do it. Poor women having babies and not working is one reason for the decline of America. Get a job.
Abortion is a direct challenge to the will of God. Make these women stay home and have babies. Women working and not being stay at home mothers is one reason for the decline of America.
Social Security is a ponzi scheme. It needs cut because we can't afford it.
Medicare creates dependency. Why should there be government run healthcare. That's socialism.
The list goes on and on. Now the big idea is defunding the ACA.
Speaker Boehner received a letter from eighty members of his caucus demanding no funding for it in the continuing budget resolution. Basically, shut down the Government to stop Obamacare. They are being egged on by presidential hopefuls and others in the Senate. Also conservative groups that donate lots of money to campaigns and Sarah Palin are chiming in. Expect any votes not to defund to be used as a reason for primary challenges. Again, any compromise is surrender.
The Speaker and other leaders in the not quite batshit crazy wing of the party see this as a mistake.This is one time the are right. The voices are strident though. The zealots see this as a last stand. They may mutiny and the Speaker will be helpless to deal with it without relying on Democratic House Members.
Boehner is trying to get them on board to forget this extremely bad idea. He is going with a promise of a whale of a battle over raising the debt limit to mollify them.
So, shutting down the government over the ACA is a bad idea in a chamber that has cast forty meaningless repeals of the law. It may be 50/50 he can pull that off.
However tanking the economy, crashing a fragile recovery, ruining the credit of the United States with a default is a wonderful idea.
Boehner is going back to the well again in his strategy to gut the social safety net and also cut programs the not rich benefit from. He feels that the House version of negotiation which is give us everything we want or we'll wreck the Nation is viable. President Obama has already said he will not negotiate to have the House do their Constitutionally mandated job. protect the full faith and credit of The United States Of America.
The Republicans feel however if push comes to shove the Dems will fold. Or, if they stand firm and we default America will blame the President for not giving in to blatant extortion. Somehow they have developed the view if they act like Tony Soprano they will be well liked and seen as heroes. They will take us to the brink and beyond to get their venal view of spending to happen.
The Caucus may take Boehner off the cliff over defunding the ACA and seem gleeful as they shred what's left in the Debt Limit fight. Seems reasonable to me.
Good luck with this plan, Mr. Speaker.
The Senate was devised as a more temperate counterbalance to the House. It's purpose is to slow things down. To basically tamp down a House led plunge off a cliff. Unfortunately this time several of the cliff divers are in the Senate.
Right now three possible GOP Presidential contenders are the ringleaders of a glorious last stand to stop the ACA by defunding it. The plan is defund ACA or shut down the Federal Government. There is enough support for this bit of extortion to give the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-KY) heartburn.
Mitch has a Tea Party challenger in the Primary. He also has a formidable Democratic opponent ready to go after him in the general election. McConnell is already catching heat for not being on board for a defund based hostage crisis. He's being painted by the rabid right as a sell out. Not a strong enough foe to the liberal, socialist, UN backed, secular attack on God and Country.
So, with an insurrection at home and a high profile possible mutiny in his caucus he is trying to walk a thin line between madness and absurdity.
Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) has already called those not on board the Surrender Caucus. Conservative groups are cranking up the pressure to force this doomed gesture into being. The Republican Senators are looking at attacks by well funded groups that can make their political life dangerous.
Senators Cruz, Paul, Rubio and Lee are willing to grind America to a halt to throw their temper tantrum. They see this as the last chance to stop the law from going into effect. The opponents believe the President will sign legislation crushing a major accomplishment before it takes effect. These Senators are quite comfortable with extortion.
With the arcane rules of the Senate they may be able to delay action well past the deadline. They are pushing the extreme members of the House to sign on and defund or shut down the Federal Government.  Patriots all.
This backfired in the 90's when they did this to President Clinton. They expect a different result this time. One must remember though you can't reason with zealots.
This is another example of Republicans refusing to accept election results they don't like. Some are trying to figure out how to impeach the President, which worked out so well for them the last time.
Here we go.
Two cliffs. Two chances to be responsible and take care of a couple bookkeeping issues with no muss, no fuss. No. Let's turn it into the Alamo instead. Why be reasonable when you can act like Sonny Corleone and put a horse's head in America's bed. Go to the mattresses. After all this is why you ran, right?

Why I stand with women.

             I've been asked by men I know who have occasionally read these posts or talked with me. They usually ask a question. Why do you say what you say about the so-called war on women? "Are you gay, one of the girl's?" I've been asked. No, not that it matters. "Are you doing this just to get laid?" No, I'm not doing this to get laid.

I am doing this because I believe equal means equal.

I do this because I have a daughter.

She is a beautiful, brilliant, nineteen year old Sophomore at a well respected, small Liberal Arts College in Ohio.

When she finishes her education I want her to be able to do whatever she wants. And to be paid the same as a man with equal credentials and talent.

I want her to have full and equal access to the justice system if the unthinkable happens.

I want her to have full and equal access to the healthcare system without conservative religious views codified as law to prevent that. Having a uterus is not a pre-existing condition any more than having testicles is.

I want her vote to be counted and not discarded because she's a student.

I want her to live in a nation where she is not a second class citizen, condemned to a state of socio-economic slavery simply because of gender.

I want her to live in a Nation where a Violence Against Women Act is not used as a political football and is unnecessary.

All I want is a Country where she is a citizen first and a woman, second.

Apparently this is too much to ask.

Ninety-three years ago this week the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. That finally gave women the right to vote.

During those years the fight for women's rights has made significant progress. We have a long road to travel yet but we were always moving in the right direction. I knew this would be a better world for my little girl.

It seems I may have been too hopeful and naive.

Both of us are in Ohio. Not a woman friendly State anymore.

Ohio, through most of it's history was a powerful political State. It was a hotbed of the Abolition movement. Major lines of the Underground Railroad went through the State. 

Many of the stations are still standing as private homes. The owners are proud to point out the history of their house and the hiding places for escaped slaves to visitors. 

Lincoln carried Ohio twice.

During the Civil War Ohio produced more troops per capita than any other State in the Union. Many of the Generals were Ohioans also. Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Harrison, Hooker and Custer to name a few.

Ohio continued as a political powerhouse. Senator Sherman of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was a progressive Senator from Ohio.

During the Progressive era Ohio helped those progressive laws pass in the House and Senate.

Ohio produced six Presidents following the Union victory. Two of them were assassinated.

What I am trying to show is Ohio has a tradition of being a moderate, yet powerful force in American politics. A defender of liberty. Sadly in the last decade that has changed.

Now Ohio is a leader of a different kind. The reactionary Republicans that have seized the State are determined to support and champion the rejection of history, science and women as an equal citizen.

In 2011 the lizard brained psychopaths in the Ohio House passed the Heartbeat Bill. They did this in the center ring of the National Political Circus. 

These venal, theocratic rat bastards, in the pocket of the Tea Party and the Westboro Baptist wing of the Party gave us a bill banning abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, About six weeks, pror to most women even knowing they are pregnant.

In committee, a woman undergoing an ultrasound so her fetus could testify made a joke that a transvaginal probe would work better. The compassionate men on the committee chuckled over that witty bon mot.

The Ohio Senate, after having their asses handed to them by the people of Ohio on Union Busting, buried the heartbeat bill.

The Republicans in 2011 came up with gerrymandered political districts.They appeared to be drawn by Strom Thurmond on acid. So even as Mitt Romney's Presidential dreams were gutted like a trout in Ohio, a more rightwing batshit crazy Legislature was elected.

Thus in their wisdom the Republican Legislators in the Great State of Ohio, after seeing Ohio reject the GOP social stances in the Presidential election, acted. 

With clear logic they came to the conclusion the most pressing issue facing the State was abortion. So, they went after women. They acted with the glee of frat boys spiking drinks at a party.

In order to avoid a ballot repeal by the sane, they put their demented views into the Budget. 

As believers of input from the public they are supposed to represent, these regs were slipped into the budget at the last minute to avoid public hearings. No point turning over a rock to expose these creepy  slimy slugs to the light of day.

They doubled the waiting period to forty-eight hours. An ultrasound must be performed with a voice over of what's going on. 

A woman must be told the chances of carrying the child to term. Healthy or not.

Since being a member of Ohio's Legislature automatically makes you a de facto OB/GYN they redefined pregnancy. It now begins at conception. After all what does the AMA know?

There is a script healthcare providers have to read that links abortion to increased chances of breast cancer. It doesn't matter the American Cancer Society says there's no correlation. A bunch of liberals. 

Fetal pain, something that has never been established as fact must be mentioned as if it's an accepted medical concept. Any MD that doesn't lie to his patient can be found guilty of a felony and fined $1,000,000.(not a typo)

The redefinition of pregnancy makes some forms of birth control abortion agents . So to get the pill, an IUD or Plan B, you get the lecture, ultrasound and waiting period.

The GOP says this is for the health and safety of women. That would be why any women's healthcare clinic that even mentions abortion as an option goes to the end of the line for funding, including rape crisis centers. A child of rape is a gift from God, you know.
 

This puts the anti-abortion fronts known as pregnancy crisis centers to the fore. They routinely lie to women about the effects of abortion. 

In other states they've been caught saying abortion created antibodies that will induce miscarriages in future pregnancies. 

They've tried to link abortion to mental health issues, falsely. 

They say the pill causes abortions, again contradicting the AMA. 

Also, condoms are naturally porous so they don't work. 

The only  way acceptable way to avoid pregnancy is the ole rhythm method or abstinence.

The sole reason for these regulations undoing decades of progress is to force women to give birth. They want to humiliate unmarried women who have sex. Basically codifying slut shaming.

Since women are wilful, sinful creatures they need to be shown the sonograms. Obviously they don't realize that is a baby, not an undeveloped clump of cells.

We all know they blithely seek abortion as an easy, convenient form of birth control. They are too stupid and hormone addled to make these decisions anyway. After all they refuse to accept the consequences of their sinful, wanton desire to have sex outside of marriage.

The very best way to keep these feminazis out of public life is to control their reproductive options. 

Because of the hippies and commies in the Sixties, women have decided they should no longer be subservient to men. They have this absurdist notion they are as intelligent as and equal to men. The girls think they deserve equal pay also.

The Nineteenth Amendment was a mistake. Ask Ann Coulter.

The best way to remove these pesky women from business and politics is let's keep them pregnant through most of their reproductive years. If they can't plan their life they have to settle for women's work. They'll stop taking jobs from men. We'll quit wasting money and time educating them. After all how much education does a walking life support system for a fetus actually need? 

The girls need to go back to their God ordained role in the family. An incubator and child rearer. They need to be obedient to their husband.

To these views being passed off as helping women I say, are you fucking crazy? This is the Twenty-First Century for Christ's sake. We can not treat women like we are still a bronze age nomadic tribe.

I respect women as the individuals they are.

I respect women as equal in all ways before the law and in society.

I want my Daughter to live a long fulfilling life seeking her happiness, not some preacher's view of that.

I do this for my daughter's better tomorrow.
Who do you do it for??

Again the Ohio Gop is ready to ban Abortion in a heartbeat

                  Same old story. The same old song and dance.
In the last legislative Session the Ohio House of Representatives decided a major problem that faced the once moderate State of Ohio was Abortion. So they acted.
After passing their version of Senate Bill 5, gutting Public Sector Union rights and passing a draconian budget, they turned their attention to women. As attention was directed at trying to stop the union busting bill in the Senate the House went to work.
In 2010 the GOP gained control of both Ohio Houses. As I remember the election cycle in '10 was the GOP slamming Democrats for losing jobs in Ohio during the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression. The litany was job,jobs, jobs, mirroring the National Party's strategy to retake the US House of Representatives.  If abortion was mentioned I don't recall it being a front and center promise by the Republicans.
Republican Rep Danny Bubp cited the 2010 Election as a vote for change which the Caucus sees as a green light to go after abortion rights in Ohio. Thus the Heartbeat Bill was introduced. The bill's primary purpose was to ban abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. That occurs at about six to seven weeks, before most women even know they are pregnant.
The bill was written as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade which permits abortion, as a woman's right, until fetal viability outside the womb, commonly seen as 24 weeks. Everyone knew the bill would not stand judicial scrutiny as to its constitutionality. Speaker of the Ohio House Bachelder   even said they were writing bills for the courts. After slashing the Ohio Budget to the bone saying education, safety nets and safety services were unaffordable at pre-2011 levels an expensive court fight was reasonable. Because, you know......FREEDOM.
The bill garnered forty-eight Republican co-sponsors. It contained no provision for rape, incest or the mental health of the mother. Janet Folger Porter the former legislative Director for Ohio Right To LIfe called the bill the most "protective" in the nation. Opponents called it the most restrictive.
This bill was called unconstitutional by Ohio Right To Life and they urged the House not to pass it. They saw no point in a protracted, expensive court fight on a loser of a law. They were also concerned a loss on this fight could roll back the restrictions Ohio had passed and were planning.They were ignored as the House opened a mortifying example of political theater. Ohio was about to take center stage in the National theater of the absurd.
In committee the GOP had fetal testimony via ultrasound to have the heartbeat heard and the fetus seen on a big screen. One woman who was nine weeks along, when they had trouble finding a heartbeat quipped if a vaginal probe was used there'd be no problem. This witty comment drew chuckles from the men on the committee. A classy bunch, these Republicans.
An attorney said many women who are raped want to carry that child to term as a form of victory over their rapist. This elicited gasps from women in the audience. Surprising since who knows how a woman feels about rape better than a man. He also mentioned had Romeo been able to detect Juliet's heartbeat he wouldn't have committed suicide and would have saved Juliet from that fate as well. When your reasons to push a bill are mostly fictional you may as well cite a play.
The only comment Ohio Governor John Kasich had was the bill may not be a good for attracting new businesses to Ohio.
The Heartbeat bill hearings and vote were the caliope for the political circus that was Ohio during 2011. It passed along a party line vote and went to the Senate. The Ohio GOP was in the process of being bitch slapped by voters over the Union busting bill and The Senate Majority Leader quashed the abortion bill in the Senate. It never made it out of committee before the session ended in 2012.
Since the Republicans controlled all the Statewide offices and both Houses of the Legislature they gerrymandered the State to within an inch of it's life. The result was a larger, veto proof, more extreme GOP Legislative majority.
When the new Legislative session began Ohio was under the gun for a new biennial budget. They prohibited Medicaid expansion. Also because it is an important budgetary issue, they passed extremely restrictive abortion regulations and redefined pregnancy in the budget. For good measure let's slide these provisions in at the last minute to prevent public hearings.
Many observers felt since these regulations were so restrictive Governor Kasich would use the line item veto to remove them. He got the budget on Friday afternoon. Over the weekend he reminded everyone within earshot of his pro life credentials. Every chance he got and the media gave him numerous chances. On Monday, surrounded by only men, he declined to veto those measures.
This was celebrated as a victory by the pro lifers. They were giddy with self righteous joy.
At this time Texas was hogging the headlines with their own abortion extravaganza so Ohio didn't receive the outrage it should have. Once more this is portrayed as a Southern attitude as Ohio tries to out crazy Texas. Which they have since Texas hasn't redefined the definition of when pregnancy starts. Yet. The North has proved this isn't a regional issue. It is a Republican Priority to appease the base.
Since to the Ohio GOP the provisions of the budget didn't restrict abortion enough they decided to revisit the issue. The Heartbeat Bill is on a comeback tour.
The anti-abortion group Faith2Action sponsored the presser to announce the CPR on the Heartbeat Bill. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar,along with seventeen of their nineteen children, attended and endorsed the bill. The circus is putting the big top back up.
One should expect the absurdities once more as the Republicans posture and proclaim their pro life credentials prior to the 2014 elections. Red meat galore will be thrown around the State House. Political theater masquerading as thoughtful debate in committee. After all being a Republican officeholder in Ohio make you a de facto OB/GYN and qualified to direct MD's in the proper, moral way to practice medicine.
Once more into the breech.
Our voices need to be raised.
The bill will pass the House. It may pass the Senate. I believe Kasich, as he positions himself for a run at the White House will sign it. There is no better way to prove you are a champion of marginalizing women than signing a bill that won't survive a court test. You tried but those activist judges thwarted the will of Ohioans.
We need to yell, NO! Reasonable Buckeyes need to make this an issue. Force the GOP to proudly show how they feel about women in this State.
We need to get out the vote and try to overcome the gerrymandered districts and take back the State from the Taliban.
Make it loud.
Make it local.
Make it Statewide.
Make it National.
Make Kasich a one term Governor.
Stop his Presidential hopes here and now.
JUST SAY NO.

Rand Paul:We all shrugged.

          The biggest problem I feel facing the Republican Party in 2016 is 2012.
Remember the Debates? Thoughtful, compassionate crowds in attendance. One booed an active duty, deployed service member for being Gay. Another booed Ron Paul as they cheered "let him die" concerning a hypothetical thirty year old stroke victim that was uninsured.
As it looks now the potential candidates will make the 2012 crew look thoughtful, reasoned and statesmen like.
Let's look at the Freshman Senator from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Dr. Rand Paul.
He is the son of Ron Paul, the darling of campus Libertarians(Mostly on his stance on legalizing Marijuana)
Rand was elected in 2010 during the Tea Party wave.
He immediately went on the Rachel Maddow show and stuck his foot in his mouth. He postulated that the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional because it forced businesses not to discriminate. It was a Federal Government intrusion into the ownership and use of private property. Newly elected Senator Paul felt the free market was better suited to ending segregation than Government fiat. He said that people who didn't agree with banning African Americans from public establishments would cease supporting those businesses. This would force free market adjustments ending the practice to maintain profitability. This was going so very well in the Sixties. If Woolworth's was still in business we could ask how that was working out. Those lunch counters were the picture of progressive America.
Senator Paul has made it a point to push his brand of Libertarianism into the workings of the Senate, a place where change is not a very welcome visitor.
Paul did an actual 13 hour talking filibuster(which made the GOP nervous in case it created a new precedent). It was sort of about the nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director. He used this to also push his opposition to domestic use of drones on US citizens. As a politician he exaggerated the effect.
Rand Paul is an opponent of Foreign Aid and expounds an isolationist view of the American role in the world. This has caused clashes with more militarily aggressive Republican Senators like John McCain(R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham(R-SC). It has also attracted support from the Unicorn /Emo wing of the Left.
Senator Paul has been visiting the early primary States lately building support for a possible 2016 run. He is hoping to draw on and solidify his father's 2012 base and fundraising channels.Yes, I know it's early. Hell we just had an election last November. It appears the silly season of Republican Presidential hopefuls has started extremely early. This may have the benefit of an early self immolation of nascent GOP hopefuls.
Now he has joined the Senate reactionary push to shut down the Federal Government over defunding the Affordable Care Act. Like his Senatorial cohorts he feels the Democrats and The President will take the political heat for GOP extortion.
There are downsides to Rand Paul's chances.
Only one sitting Senator has been elected President since John Kennedy did it in 1960. That's right it was Senator Barack Obama. After a forty eight year hiatus it may not be extremely likely to happen again so soon.
Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Dem nominee. It is hers to win or lose. Her debate skills are well known. As an Opthamologist Senator Paul's debating skills are suspect. Smart money would be on him getting hammered by Hillary.
His anti immigration stance will likely hurt him with Hispanics. His free market civil rights stance may increase turnout in a general election by concerned African Americans.
His dislike of Social Security and Medicare as they currently exist may hurt his chances with Seniors. He is also not a fan of the safety net. That and his not viewing Women's issues as freedom issues won't help close the GOP's gender gap.
Senator Paul is being touted as a strong candidate by pundits right and left even though he has only won one election. This only helps candidates remaining in the background. Guy's like Governors John Kasich and Scott Walker.
Both are experienced Executives of large States. Both are honing their national images as pro life, union busters to appeal to the rabid right base.
The next three years wil be interesting. Like the Chinese curse interesting.

Ted Cruz: A basket full of crazy. Bless his heart.

                 I am sorely conflicted about Texas.
Some things I love about Tejas.
Friendly people abound.Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, ZZ Top and the music in general. South By Southwest is on my bucket list. Food, You know, texmex and BBQ. Mmmm. Their love of imbibing. Is Pearl still around? Texans also know how to party. The great State of Texas is also known to have a lot of stunningly beautiful women.
I've been to Texas and enjoyed myself immensely.
Now the flip side of the coin.
The politicians who garner national attention by saying stunningly stupid shit. Their extremist views on women, minorities and America in general. This isn't a recent development. Unfortunately, at the time, many in America thought if John Kennedy were to be assassinated, it would be in Texas.
For decades Texas was an extreme outlier in American politics. (has LBJ been disowned by Texas yet?) There were a lot of right wing wackos with money railing about commies under the bed, civil rights and not nuking the Ruskies or Chinese. Or both. The Hunts come to mind.
So Texas since Nixon unleashed the covertly racist, reactionary Republican "Southern Strategy"is not a surprise.
That election strategy has unleashed the worst of racial fears and attitudes, not just across the South, but throughout The United States as well.
Where Texas was once a political outlier they are now a leader of extremism. States like Ohio are in a competition to see who can out Texas, Texas.
Rick Perry embarrassed Texas throughout his 2012 run at the White House. As Governor he has drawn amazed disbelief of sane people for his policies. The man's explanations of said policies are confusing at best. He has raised a lot of money for Democrats nationally.
I could list the extreme Texan policies and politicians but I don't have days to devote to it. So, as an example, let's talk about Senator Ted Cruz.
Oh dear God, where to start?
Birthers seem to be OK with Ted Cruz. A white man, born in Canada. Sure, his mother was an American citizen. His father? A Cuban who fought with Castro. A Cuban who didn't bother to become an American citizen until less than a decade ago. Senator Cruz discovered recently he may have dual citizenship. Ooops. He renounced it this week. Just in case anyone thought he may be a Canadian Manchurian Candidate. He needed to reassure Texans he wasn't going to impose Hockey, Curling, Canadian Football, Gay Marriage and universal health care on them.
Obviously this man is eligible to run for President, unlike Our current President. That mixed race man, born in Hawaii to a mother who was an American citizen is blatantly ineligible.
After winning an expensive, even by Texas standards, primary runoff, Cruz has been anointed the intellectual leader of the Tea Party. I would say that is a dubious distinction. Somehow intellectual and Tea Party seems a contradiction in terms. Just sayin'. Though by all accounts he is said to be a very intelligent man. Princeton . Harvard Law. Like the President. Oops, again.
As a well educated attorney he seems to hold Constitutional beliefs not supported by precedent or Judicial cannon. Another case of a conservative saying I am right though everybody else and American history is wrong.  I wonder about his feelings on Marbury v. Madison?
As a matter of policy Senator Cruz(R-TX)has decided not to play nice with the Senate Republican Caucus.The Freshman Senator has broken ranks with the party repeatedly. He has declined to endorse Minority leader McConnell in his Primary in Kentucky. This could cause Senator Cruz problems should McConnell be reelected to the Senate and as Minority Leader in the next Senate. Or, God Forbid, Majority Leader.
Ted has staked out a position that defunding the ACA should be the Republican Party's stand in upcoming Continuing Funding Resolution talks. He says fund everything except the ACA. Pick a fight over this with the Democrats and the President. Republican leadership in both Houses see this as a loser. Shutting down the Federal Government didn't workout so well the last time.
Cruz has been ripped by other Republicans for pushing a shutdown to build his mailing lists and support for a 2016 run at the Presidency. His response? Calling the Senate Republicans the Surrender Caucus. A good idea to alienate people whose support you may need if you do run for POTUS.
Senator Cruz opposes abortion rights. He voted no on The Violence Against Women Act. He has said unemployment Compensation creates unemployment. Marriage Equality will end free speech. Funding birth control is an assault on our liberties.Ted felt the Newtown families were props as he opposed background checks.
A Harvard Law educated Attorney said that the only reason the President hasn't been impeached is a Democratic controlled Senate. Shh. Ignore there is no impeachable offense. He truly thinks that the public will give the Republicans a pass on shutting down the government over the ACA if Dems don't cave.
All in all, even for Tejas, this man is a special kind of crazy. He masks it well. He tries to appear reasonable as he says something beyond the pale.
With Cruz, Paul and the usual suspects lining up for a '16 run, they will make the '12 field look reasonable and thoughtful. It seems the GOP has bought the myth that had they run someone far right the would have beat a left/center Democrat.
Good luck with that idea. Go for it.

You can't fix stupid.

          I've been known to sit back and relax at times. I'll fire up the blu-ray and watch a whole season of a favorite show. Fringe. SG-1. Doctor Who. Sometimes I do it with movies. A bit of Film Noir. The Duke. Star Trek and numerous others. A wonderful way to enjoy the small pleasures of life.
Then I will turn on the news or hit a news site on the web. Perhaps a link on Twitter. My calm is then seriously damaged.
All it takes is hearing the latest GOP attack on voting or women or any other insanity du jour.
Ron White is right. You can't fix stupid.
What I try to do is decide how much is stupid, how much is simple willful ignorance and how much is planned political partisanship. A chance to gain power through intimidation and fear. Unfortunately I think it's all of the above.
There are extremist evangelicals who have won seats in Congress, Statehouses and Legislatures. There have been Tea Party members elected with them. So, we have reactionary ideologues in power. Single issue zealots. People who would burn down the house rather than fix a leaky pipe. People who believe women are the reason for the so-called destruction of the traditional family. People who believe their version of God needs to be inserted into American life by law. Some because they dislike or disagree with history and feel it didn't happen that way. It is some kind of conspiracy to hide the truth.
There are others who reject science on religious grounds. They feel they have a right to impose their vision on everyone.
So let's take a trip through their alternate reality.
Since the Eighties we have seen an unprecedented rise of a strain of conservatism that would appall William Buckley and Barry Goldwater. The intellectual conservatives that founded the American Conservative movement knew that the extreme fringe were antithetical to the American values
Buckley and others were espousing. Thus the Ku Klux Klan, The John Birch Society and the American Nazi party were pushed out and banished from mainstream conservatism.
As the thoughtful leaders of the movement died they were replaced by men without the intellectual discipline needed to maintain the right's integrity as a viable, sane political power. So without an ideological standard the movement started to splinter into assorted factions. Some stayed true to the Buckley/Goldwater view of America. Others wandered off into the weeds of single issue or uninformed, reactionary views of what America should be.
These splinter groups mostly fell into two categories.
1) Reactionary evangelicals. Those who believe The United States was founded as a Christian Theocracy favored by God to spread our way of life.
2) Single issue and extremist reactionary political ideologues.
Down the rabbit hole we go.
Both are the result of Nixon's play to the so-called "Silent Majority" in the 1968 election. It was a blatant attempt to woo Southern voters angry about the Civil Rights Act. By claiming the mantle of "traditional American" values they fostered an us versus them mentality. Us being white men and them being everybody else. George Wallace went after the same voter and was far less subtle in his appeal to racism and the anti youth/Peace movement sentiment.
After Lyndon Johnson decided not to run there was a bloody Democratic Primary fight between Bobby Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy.
In April of 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. in Indianapolis, Indiana Robert Kennedy heard the news right before a scheduled campaign stop in the African American area of town. Local police said they couldn't protect RFK in the heart of the Ghetto. His aides urged him to leave. Kennedy refused and gave what many feel is one of the best speeches in modern political history. The speech lasted four minutes and fifty-seven seconds and was given off the back of a flatbed truck. Bobby spoke of King's vision and told the crowd he could understand their grief and anger since his brother had been gunned down in Dallas. This was the first time he had referred to John's murder in a public forum. Kennedy quoted the Greek playwright Aeschylus, he called for peace, wisdom and compassion.
Cities across America burned that night. Indianapolis was not one of them.
Bobby Kennedy may have clenched the Democratic nomination that night.  Two months later RFK fell to an assassin himself in Los Angeles after winning the California primary.
The Days of rage turned the Chicago Democratic Convention into a war zone on TV. Humphrey won the nomination in a bruising floor fight with the Kennedy delegates. Even with this baggage Humphrey barely lost.
Nixon decided to go after the older, angry white voter. "The Silent Majority". The Southern Strategy. This was the first openly racist campaign waged by the modern GOP. Us vs. them equaled Black and young vs. white and angry. It was worse in '72. Almost overt. Code words flew every time Nixon or Agnew opened their mouth.
After Nixon was kicked to the curb Ford ran a rather clean campaign. It was about the last.
Southern Dixiecrats and many Dems became Republicans. In the North the same thing happened as white voters felt threatened by black political and social gains. The Southern Strategy had matured into a solid generational Republican voting block.
The Evangelicals and extreme conservatives were used as ground troops in knocking on doors and getting out the vote.
In popular culture these people were derided as hillbillies and holy rollers. As I've said before many looked at "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Hee Haw" as documentaries.
In the movie "Oh God", God got snarky with the Televangelist.
In the anger over how they were treated and lack of political power in a country they saw slipping away the GOP solidified this population.
Ronald Reagan used his folksy charm to wage a campaign of covert racism. He also demonized the Democratic opposition. They made the word liberal an insult. Anyone who disagreed was smeared as being Un American A socialist bent on destroying traditional American values and waging war on Christianity. Even reasonable moderate voices were tarred as Liberals.
During the papacy of St. Ronnie a war on Unions was declared. Corporations and the rich were vaunted as the basis of the American post war economic miracle. Union workers were lazy and overpaid. Taxes were cut. Deficits exploded and taxes were raised.
The cultural war against secular life was heating up. Hollywood was destroying American life. Homosexuals were plotting to take over America. Women were abandoning their traditional roles upsetting the natural order of things.
The Robertson's and Falwell's were being taken seriously. The expert use of Television was spreading their word, filling their coffers and growing their political clout. These preachers were frequent guests  at the White House. Political endorsements were sought and turned elections. Fewer people
identified as members of the traditional Religious denominations and were calling themselves Born Again.
Evangelical conservatives railed against the secularization of the United States. Hollywood and Collegiate elites were condemned for destroying American values. Women no longer stayed at home. They wanted careers.They enjoyed sex. African Americans no longer knew their place. They were uppity and wanted equality. Homosexuals were plotting to convert everyone and let their pedaphile prolictivities loose. Lesbians were going to beat up men and take their jobs in construction, law enforcement and the military.
The nation had fallen from the path of God and there would be dire consequences if the Almighty wasn't restored to daily life
The political conservatives were natural allies of the evangelicals. They both distrusted change. So they joined forces.
Both groups felt the GOP was simply paying lip service to their causes and taking advantage of them. They were right. The Republicans were not about to turn the party over to zealots. So, the insurgents took it. They ran against incumbents in primaries and won.
Since the late 90's we have seen moderate voices driven out of the party. The result is as they came into power they were lurching farther to the right. With no moderate power structure to keep them in check they reveled in their newfound ability to legislate to their heart's content.
There were no old warhorses to teach them how to govern. These neophytes saw the lifeblood of government(compromise) vilified as selling out. There was no one to tell them their concept of the Constitution was flawed at best, completely wrong at worst. Most fell over themselves running to the worst case scenario.
This coalition has decided to undo all the progress made over the last century plus. They are fed validation by media sites that would have been laughed out of existence a generation ago. The Fox news model of disinformation, half truths and lies has been adopted and expanded. We are deluged by a tsunami of willful ignorance, lies and hate, 24/7.
The audience that receives most of their information from these sites are deluded into believing we are on the verge of civil war. They are convinced they are under attack.
This has gone from people not understanding how governing works to wanting to destroy what they see as a monolithic, secular government wishing to establish a godless, socialist utopia.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups. Even more so if they are frightened. They latch on to anything that makes them feel safe.
I lived through the sixties and I have never seen division and hatred the way it exists here today.
Rather than make fun of the Militias we should be concerned at their explosive growth. How many McVeigh's are out there?
Rather than make fun of these extremists we should be concerned. There are likely people North and South who would love to fire on FT. Sumter again.
We need to out work them.
We need to out vote them.
We need to out evangelize them.
Too long have we let the right control the message. We need to fight back against the the lies with cold hard facts.
We can no longer be concerned with hurting their feelings. We've been punching bags for too long. Time to punch back.

Tony Soprano is a Senator now? GOP: Sure, extortion will work.

         Just when you think you've seen it all a Republican House Member or Senator steps up to the Mic and presents a whole new vista of visionary violation of political sanity. If all else fails turn to Tony Soprano for guidance. It seems some feel extortion is a viable option.
Once again the GOP threatens to take their ball and go home if they don't get their way. Lets hold the American people Hostage over Affordable Care Act. After all stripping Americans of the Act's positive results is a very good Idea. Denying coverage due to age or preexisting conditions is a good expression of American compassion and ideals. Making having a uterus a preexisting condition justifying higher insurance rates.is also a winner.
The current wonderful extremist GOP/Tea Party idea circulating in DC is hey let's defund the ACA or we'll shut down the Government. This is being led by the shining intellectual lights of the right.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY). The very idea they will vote no on important Senate bills is in itself not surprising. It's been a staple of GOP policy since the inauguration of President Obama.What makes this different is the defunding of the ACA or shutting down the Federal Government is seen by most GOP politicians as a lose/lose scenario. If RedState thinks it's a good idea you should not walk, but run away from this idea at full speed.
Hill staffers are admitting this is only a political ploy to put Democrats on the defensive in 2014. They actually believe they can win the Senate and hold the House by blaming a shutdown on Dems for not abandoning ACA and submitting to GOP extortion.
Knowing it is a lost cause these guys feel if they can create an optic showing them as staunch idealists it can help the potential Presidential bids of Paul and Rubio. Somehow they have come to the belief that shutting down the Government over something that has no chance of becoming law or policy is an excellent move. Stopping Social Security checks, Pension Payments, Military pay and expenditures while troops are in harms way is the best way to show they are Patriots.
You have the rabid right saying do it. They feel any voice of caution is the advice of the people who gave them Mitt Romney and a not conservative enough Senate Minority. These extremist voices who unfortunately believe had the GOP fielded an reactionary right candidate they would have taken the White House in '08 and '12 for sure. Is it delusional to believe this? After the right wing ideology was rejected twice in the election of President Obama.
Americans are not idiots, Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck not withstanding. It is one thing to pick a major ideological fight with far reaching consequences if there is a remote possibility of winning. It is quite another to do so in a lost cause to simply score political points posturing for future perceived possible partisan positioning.
These ideologues need to step back and accept, in the Senate at least, that as long as there is a Democratic Majority in the Senate and Barack Obama is President the ACA is going to be the law of the land. The House where they continue to have votes over and over in a hopeless quest to repeal ACA, is an entirely different world.
For wonks and pundits this exercise in political theater will be entertaining. Our political thought and process has become the "Toddlers And Tiaras" of the developed world. Dante's "Inferno" as policy. Reality TV as the norm.
Will the GOP step back from the brink? Is a US default and destruction of our debt rating really a viable plan? After the intransigence of the GOP in 2011 it appears to be yes. Lemmings in expensive suits following deluded leaders off the cliff into an abyss of absurdist futility. Ask Newt Gingrich how it worked for him in the Nineties.
God help us all.