This is how deficits happen

If we want to help eliminate the federal budget deficit and make a liberal down payment against the national debt, we can start by ending the failed War on Drugs - which has made criminals of even the most sober Americans and has propped up violent drug gangs.

And it's cost the taxpayers dearly. The wasteful practices of the town of Eaton, Ohio, could be a microcosm for what goes on nationally.

Recently, Eaton police spent taxpayer dough producing and posting wanted posters at pharmacies of people who allegedly purchased too much allergy drugs. Keep in mind that there wasn't even a limit on how much you could buy until the drug lord Bush and his minions in various state legislatures passed laws on this. (In 2006, the Bush regime also required Alka-Seltzer Cold to remove pseudoephedrine - in the name of fighting drugs. Many consumers report that this has made the product ineffective.) The police department has also vowed to post these wanted posters on its website and Facebook page.

Since laws went into effect limiting how much allergy medicine you could buy, meth labs have increased exponentially. Gee, never saw that coming!

In short, no real laws were broken by the people on the posters, but the city is spending resources going after them. I've seen no evidence that any of these alleged scofflaws have any connection with meth.

Methamphetamine is deadly business. Nobody wants a single molecule of this stupid poison polluting their community. Nobody, that is, except the drug warriors. Clearly, they like forcing us to be around the stuff, since they keep backing laws that only intensify this scourge.

All this from "small government" conservatives.

If the Super Congress that was formed to cut the deficit wants to be taken seriously, it should defund the failed drug war. The War on Drugs ranks right up there in wastefulness with the Bush border fence and the ongoing abuses by the Department of Homeland Security.

(Source: http://www.registerherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=129742)

Cult leader gets life in prison

Well, it looks like this guy's finally off the game board.

Fifty-five-year-old Warren Jeffs - leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist cult that broke away from mainstream Mormonism - was sentenced to life in prison today for sexually assaulting 2 underage followers who he took as brides. One of the victims was only 12.

Jeffs is the eighth man from this cult to be convicted since their Texas compound was raided. But I'd thought Jeffs was off the hook once the Utah Supreme Court overturned his conviction for being an accessory to rape. Leave it to the right-wing government of Utah to support a sex offender.

But now Warren Jeffs is finally going to the clink for good.

Yet another Snack Break

+ Here's a story that proves the states can set ownership caps for radio and TV stations. The state of New York has just joined Florida and New Jersey in criminalizing pirate radio broadcasts. (Unlike the prison states of New Jersey and Florida, a first-time offense is only a misdemeanor in New York.) If a state can outlaw pirate stations, it damn well can reinstate ownership caps for big corporations that own licensed stations. End of story.

+ Here we go again! Now Republicans in Congress are talking about a government shutdown for the end of September. Their reasoning? They said it's part of their jobs plan. No, I'm not making this up. Hope you're not planning any trips in October to the national parks that your tax dollars pay for!

+ Education Secretary Arne Duncan is widely considered one of President Obama's most questionable appointees, but this time he's doing something right. Duncan is waiving proficiency requirements in Bush's disastrous No Child Left Behind law - unfunded mandates that were designed as an excuse to shut down schools. Duncan is doing this because Congress has been derelict at reforming the law. The New York Times reports that Duncan's act "could inflame relations with Republicans in the House who want to reduce, not expand, the federal footprint in education." Um, if the GOP wanted to reduce it, why did they support No Child Left?

Bad news about the 2012 election

I know you're unspooling on the floor in uncontrollable laughter at the field of possible Republican presidential nominees. They are a funny bunch, aren't they? And part of me says Obama has little if anything to fear from these right-wing clowns.

But here's a warning just to make sure you keep an eye on whoever becomes the GOP standard-bearer.

Nothing says loser like George W. Bush. Look where it got him.

That observation got your ears to perk up, didn't it?

Another Snack Break

+ If you haven't already, it's time to shed the notion that Mitt Romney is some sort of moderating influence in the GOP. The Boston Globe reports that Romney plans to speak in New Hampshire in favor of authoritarian, job-killing "right-to-work" laws. But I guess that's to be expected from a guy who made his living shipping jobs to China. Not a good man.

+ Here's another story that highlights that America truly is better off now than in 2008: The Labor Department said today that employers added 117,000 jobs last month - an unexpectedly bright report. Romney's not President, you see.

+ The FAA was shut down a couple weeks ago because of a Republican tantrum. The GOP got mad when Democrats refused to support a right-wing measure that would have made union representation elections operate under undemocratic guidelines. Because of the Republicans' politically retaliatory shutdown, the FAA also could not collect taxes on airline tickets - depriving the government of $200,000,000 that could have been used to put towards the debt crisis. This was also a backdoor bailout for airlines, because airlines charged the tax and simply pocketed it. But now, the teagaggers have been outmaneuvered: President Obama has just signed a bill to put the FAA back to work.

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "YouTube's Official Language"

On YouTube, like, nobody knows how to speak English? They speak Valspeak? And, like, they attack everybody else for not knowing English? Have you ever noticed that.

Seriously, it seems that most folks on YouTube who purport to have been born and raised in the U.S. and A. are not fluent in the English language. Rather, they speak Valspeak. Meanwhile, they assail everybody else's English skills. They complain about immigrants not learning English - and they lambaste Americans too. All the while, they have yet to prove that they even know English themselves!

Our latest 'LCQ' explores this hypocrisy...

Right-wing Oregon politician convicted of tax evasion

You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why: Another giant of right-wing politics is going to The Big J! Oregon's Bill Sizemore - a onetime Republican gubernatorial candidate known for his authoritarian anti-worker activism and goofy referendums - is going to jail for 30 days for 3 counts of income tax evasion.

Bye, tax cheat.

Snack Break

We're gonna use this feature as a fast and furious rundown of assorted items of interest. So hang on to your hats, cuz they're gonna go plumb quick...

+ Not every Democrat is a Tea Party follower - just the ones who approved the debt ceiling bill. Even in rural Kentucky, condemnation of the Tea Parties has been swift. The head of the Grant County Democrats likened the teagaggers to "terrorist suicide bombers." Well, that's true. Now that we know the Grant County Democrats may still have a glimmer of gumption, maybe it's time they retire their state representative.

+ If you want a job, go to Detroit! Construction jobs in the Detroit metropolitan area have just attained an 11-year high - even while the rest of Michigan has begun slumping. Translation: The recession is over just as long as you're in a town with leaders who aren't on the extreme right.

+ In New Jersey, a Democratic county politician was forced to resign for doing pretty much the same thing Anthony Weiner did. The explicit photos were posted on the Internet by some Republican loudmouth who helped set up the pol. But the Democrat in this story was already separated from his wife (unlike Weiner), so why does anybody even give a shit?

More later...

Grandma's looking for a nice park bench

What a disgrace.

The debt ceiling bill just passed Congress, and it gives the Tea Parties every last thing they wanted.

Every. Last. Fucking. Thing.

What's worse is that the Tea Parties didn't even have to fight for it. Everything they asked for was added without hesitation. "Hey, we want this." "Well, then you got it."

And that's despite the fact that Republicans only control the House. As you know, Democrats control the Senate and the presidency. Democrats have the mandate from voters. So what did they do with it? Squander it. The Democrats have teabaggers too.

There's lots of backslapping going on in uptown Teabaggia right now. This is an unprecedented victory for the extreme right. And they didn't even need an election for it, considering the Republicans only have the House. In the course of mere days, they've likely achieved what's been one of their Holy Grails for years: abolishing Social Security.

This bill establishes an unconstitutional Super Congress (no, I'm not making this up) to slash any program it chooses. The Constitution doesn't allow a Super Congress, because its framers expected regular Congress to be smart enough to do its job right. But this Super Congress will be appointed by Congress and will not be subject to a vote of the people.

Social Security and all related programs are probably done for. Gone. History. That includes disability insurance as well as benefits for seniors. You paid for it, and now it's gone. I truly believe Super Congress will cut it all off. For one thing, they'll be appointed by Congress (who secretly wants this), and for another thing, nobody can vote them out if they do cut it off.

So I do believe this theft will occur. Prepare for it. This isn't hyperbole either, because who ever expected other extremist ideas like the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to come about?

This despite the fact that Social Security doesn't even add to the national debt! It's paid for from a separate fund. That shouldn't matter anyway, because it's been cut twice in the past 2 years when Congress withheld the cost-of-living increase. Every time Congress needs to cut the budget, Social Security is always one of the first targets.

But just think, with the latest bill, you don't even have the Republicans entirely to blame! Every damn thing the Tea Parties asked for (without exception), the Democrats gave them.

So - unless you actually enjoy them cutting off important programs like Social Security - what are YOU gonna do about it?????

Huh??????????

Your idea may be to wait until a glass-encased copy of this teabagger debt ceiling bill is placed on display in Cincinnati so Tim Brown can protest it. But no. We cannot do that. Time is up. Sitting on our hands until this happens is not good enough.

The teagaggers are out of control, and we have to act. You don't even want to know what I'd like to do right now. But I'll temper it by instead endorsing rioting in the streets. It works in every other country, so what are you waiting for? (Yeah, I know: Let someone else go first, right?)

Right-wing group caught illegally mailing phony ballots

More indictments are needed, I guess.

Americans for Prosperity - a right-wing group bankrolled by the Koch brothers - is now mailing phony absentee ballots to Democratic voters in Wisconsin. The ballots tell voters to return them by August 11 - even though the recall elections in question are on August 9. And they're not even real ballots anyway, so they wouldn't count.

Instead of wasting time on a debt ceiling bill that pleases only the Tea Parties, maybe the government needs to conduct a surprise raid on Americans for Preposterity (sic).

(Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0811/AFP_Wisconsin_ballots_have_late_return_date.html)

Democratic Blunderground strikes again

Now DU is censoring any user who opposes the latest version of the debt ceiling deal. You know, the version that gives the Tea Parties every last thing they wanted.

Sometimes you can't write crazier fiction than the facts!

It's "buy, buy, buy!" at PBS

A key purpose of public broadcasting is to free the airwaves of corporate influence and censorship. But unless the government acts, PBS will soon be indistinguishable from corporate TV and the loudmouths who populate it.

For years, PBS has violated FCC rules that prohibit advertising on noncommercial stations. A network that was once free of ads began including commercials between shows a long time ago. I was disheartened one day to find one of our local PBS member stations displaying foodstuffs swirling in a mixing bowl (much like a flushing toilet) as a corporate logo flashed on the screen. It was as if I was watching the commercial break in a bad sitcom. It's a fact that such ads on PBS run afoul of FCC regulations, as member stations are designated for strictly noncommercial use. Not like the FCC does anything about it like they should.

But it's about to get a whole lot worse! (That's been the story of the past 30 years, hasn't it?)

Now PBS has announced that soon they're going to start including commercial breaks during shows - not just single brief ads between shows.

And the FCC and Congress refuse to do shit about it.

Yet the do-nothing Congress can't understand why they only have a 12% approval rating.

I hope Mister Rogers comes back to life and mails a used piece of toilet paper to PBS.

(Source: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/471758-TCA_PBS_Still_Testing_Commercial_Breaks_During_Programs.php)

Suspicious fire destroys Democratic HQ

Yesterday, a suspicious fire consumed the We Are Wisconsin office in La Crosse, Wisconsin. We Are Wisconsin is a Democratic organizing group involved in upcoming recall elections.

The fire burned all day and threatened nearby buildings.

I don't even need to tell you this is almost certainly arson. There's a story like this every few years that always turns out to be arson - without fail - like when the antiwar activists' house burned down in Virginia.

The Republicans don't care about the ballot box. They go straight to the match box. We've seen it before.

College GOP hogged vans to keep students from voting

So when are the indictments gonna come?

It's now been revealed that the College Republicans chapter at the University of Maine at Farmington suppressed the vote in the 2010 election. The group reserved university vans on Election Day and then parked them in a Wal-Mart lot so they couldn't be used to take students to the polls.

Who is claiming this? Why, the chairman of the Maine Republican Party is! Maine GOP head Charlie Webster bragged to the press that the college GOP goon squad misused the vans. "Guess what happened in 2010?" Webster gloated to a newspaper. "The buses didn't run on Election Day because we had the College Republicans reserve them early and on Election Day we took them over and parked them in the Wal-Mart parking lot."

Meanwhile, Webster is suppressing the vote himself by gathering lists of college students who voted in Maine and demanding that the Maine Secretary of State investigate them for voter fraud just because they voted. This despite the fact that the Symm v. United States ruling and other federal laws give students the right to vote where they attend school.

You know something? All the Democrats need to do in the next election is run on the fact the Republicans regularly suppress the vote, and they've probably won. Not like it matters, as long as they keep compromising with the GOP on everything else - but that's another story.

It's also telling that Kentucky became more Republican right after The Media launched a crusade that ended the practice of transporting folks to polls in Democratic areas. This campaign, however, was not targeted at right-wing churches transporting voters. So we need to hold The Media responsible for its share of vote suppression.

(Source: http://www.sunjournal.com/state/story/1066818)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Private Property"

Ever notice how little public property there is left?

In my day, it wasn't like this. But after the nationwide hard freeze of 28 years of tyranny and greed, it seems like hardly any public land remains.

Our latest 'LCQ' explores the greed-driven land run that shuts out the working poor...

Tea Party leader arrested over pirated software

When you see stories like this, not only does it set the bar even higher for what right-wing stupidity even gets noticed, but it also calls into question how they're funding their activities.

The president of the Grand Strand Tea Party in South Carolina was arrested Tuesday for selling pirated software ranging from Photoshop to Rosetta Stone language packages. He was caught when somebody purchased Rosetta Stone programs from him on Craigslist only to discover they were counterfeit. The Tea Party dude then refused to refund what the buyer paid.

Oops.

So the Tea Party movement isn't just a fascist cult. It's also being bankrolled by criminal activity. I bet most of what they do that isn't being paid for by the Kochs, the taxpayers, or the Republican National Committee is being funded by scams like selling bogus software. Authorities should now be on notice to keep an eye out for Tea Party expenditures and to follow the money trail to see where it leads.

(Source: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/sc_tea_party_leaders_arrested_for_selling_pirated.php?ref=fpb)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "It's Itching Powder!"

No time for a big description of this 'LCQ' installment. The lighting is poor and the air conditioning is too loud, because it had to be recorded in the living room due to the heat - but I'm sure you'll get a few laughs out of these recollections of a time-honored sitcom prank...

Have no fear, ish #462 is here!

There can be only one Last Word!

MSNBC may have a show now called 'The Last Word', but when you mention The Last Word in Campbell County, Kentucky, everybody knows you're talkin' about the fanzine of freedom that utterly beginned 18 years ago.

The Last Word has now published issue #462, which gives insightful commentary about these timely topics...

• The hypocrisy and decadence of Osama bin Laden and his American counterparts in the Tea Party movement.

• Serial scamming by a major electronics merchant.

• Ron Johnson's humiliation.

• Rejection of bailout dough for a local developer.

• A right-wing politician who vandalized a legislative chamber's ornate furnishings.

• And more!

So peep, weep, and oggle-beep...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw110720

Harkin's home run

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) finally went there.

Now, I was a Harkin man in the '92 primary for Leader of the Free World. The Tom Harkin of 1992 was tough: He called Republican policies "bullshit", and he was big on trying to pull funding from illegal wars. If Harkin was the nominee then, I might not have ever been forced out of the Democratic Party. Just think, the Democrats might still be the Democrats!

Evidently, the Tom Harkin of 2011 is no wimp either. Today, he said that the Republicans have become a "cult driven by a singular fixation and obsession: preserving tax breaks for the wealthy at all costs."

He said it, not me. A "cult."

One of the most durable and loved public figures in this fine land just called the Republican Party a "cult." It wasn't a poorly funded blog or some nobody walking down the street who said this. It was 5-term Sen. TOM HARKIN who said this!

I'd already started to believe the GOP might be a cult. But if I'd said it, it wouldn't have the same impact as a U.S. senator saying it, right? So what woulda been the point in me saying it?

Are the Republicans a cult? Well, they do have their own lingo. And they're not allowed to trust anybody outside their elitist fold. They pretty much all listen to the same right-wing radio and TV shows that reinforce their ideas. It's not much less of a cult than Jonestown or Pathway Family Center was.

What other conclusion can we make when somebody supports harmful candidates and public policies just because a talk radio station told them to support them? The GOP today isn't built solely on mob rule by the rich. The Republicans wouldn't have the support they have if they didn't at least get SOMEBODY to vote for them who would be hurt by their policies. Hell, I was afraid to leave my high school even when I knew it was harming me, so think what a whole political party can do.

I think Tom Harkin just hit a home run by calling the GOP a "cult." What he said needs to be repeated.

When recession Presidents get reelected

An interesting thought about electoral politics occurred to me today.

In my lifetime, EVERY President of the U.S. and A. who's been reelected has done so during a recession. Every single one. That's 3 times, for those of you who are counting.

Reagan was reelected in '84 during the recession he caused. Clinton was reelected in '96 during what turned out to be the early stage of the recession that Bush later worsened. Dictator Bush even won in '04! All 3 elections were won by a guy who had some role in causing or worsening the recession - though Clinton's role was defined largely by him caving to everything Congress wanted and paying heed to unreliable pollsters and self-serving consultants. It's hard to say the same of Obama, because his stimulus package created more jobs in 2 years than were created in the previous 14 years.

A more worrisome difference is that The Media generally denied there was a recession in 1996 and 2004. These days, they're making damn sure we know there is one - as if we can't figure it out ourselves. Fact is, however, that things are better in America now than they were 3 years ago.

Surely, Obama is beatable - but I think he'll win again. I won't guarantee it, of course. And after the polls were so far off in 2010, I can't place even a speck of faith in them even if they had him ahead by 30%. But the Republican field is uproariously weak. Every major candidate the GOP has is a known quantity, and people don't like them. With the Republicans lately bonded by their intent to place the government in default, they're just digging themselves in deeper. Regardless of electoral performance, the truth of the matter is that the Republicans have not gained actual public support in years. You know it as well as I do, so let's not kid ourselves here.

I don't know how that will affect elections in 2012. With the Citizens United ruling still not repealed, it's questionable whether we even have free and fair elections. And there's lots of politicians who have very little actual support, but they still get elected. Isn't that right, Geoff Davis?

I also don't know what effect the current media scandals - such as Fox's hacking of 9/11 victims' phones - will have. The Media likes to build narratives to favor Republicans, but I can't imagine that the News Corp scandal would actually help their cause.

The biggest enemy might not be the GOP nominee - but The Media.

Tea Party assaults Oregon activists

The Media won't cover this story. So we must.

The violent criminals who compose the Tea Party movement committed yet another assault - this time in Roseburg, Oregon. When a peaceful group of locals gathered at a park a few days ago for a MoveOn-sponsored rally, they were met by teagaggers who promptly began disrupting the event.

When the MoveOn folks left, the teagaggers then followed them home and trespassed on their property. Police had to be called, and now there may be legal action against the assailants.

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/20/996640/-Tea-Party-Thugs-Disrupt-Peaceful-Rally-in-Roseburg,-Oregon)

Reporter who exposed News Corp found dead

The title of this entry is all you need to know about how the right-wing media machine takes care of those who blow the whistle on them.

Sean Hoare - a London-based journalist who first exposed the illegal phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (which owns Fox News) - has just been found dead in his home.

The body count comprised of those who challenged the right-wing order expands. Meanwhile, the murder of anti-Bush author J.H. Hatfield is still unsolved. In fact, Hatfield's murder took place 10 years ago today.

(Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/18/reporter-who-blew-whistle-on-murdoch-found-dead)

Town suppresses "new organizations"

Town officials in Gould, Arkansas, don't seem to have received the memo that the era of a Bush-style command state enforced at the end of a battering ram is supposed to be over.

The town has now approved a law that bans the formation of "new organizations" without city council's consent. You read that correctly: If you want to start any type of organization, you must get the city's permission first. The ordinance reads, "'No new organizations shall be allowed to exist within the city of Gould without approval from majority of the city council." It also bans unauthorized meetings between townspeople and the mayor.

The mayor vetoed the measure because it is of course unconstitutional - but city council plans to override his veto. Plus, when the city attorney warned that the law was unconstitutional, city council tried to fire him.

So if you want to form an Elks chapter or a Pablo Cruise fan club in the town of Gould, be forewarned. City council is watching you.

This law likely will be ruled unconstitutional, but lately the right-wing establishment has admitted that they think the Constitution is expendable, so they don't really care. News Corpse (the folks behind the ongoing hacking scandal) helped get these extremists "elected", so what do you expect?

(Source: http://gawker.com/5822031/is-arkansas-town-now-the-least-democratic-in-the-usa)

Want to hold a convention? Then pay for it!

Isn't the country supposed to be broke?

Then why is the Republican Party demanding $55,000,000 in federal taxpayer money for security at their 2012 convention in Tampa?

While the Republicans have their hands out asking for dough for the convention, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn (supposedly a Democrat) is of course happy to oblige. "Without that money, we would have almost an impossible task trying to put this on," he warned.

Then don't. If the Republicans aren't willing to pay for their own convention, then they shouldn't have one. Simple as that.

Why would you even want a Republican convention in your town? Every GOP convention leaves its respective city a wreck. If the town isn't littered with vomit and discarded signs with state names on them, it always ends up having to pay for the lawsuits that result when the city inevitably arrests anybody who dares to exercise their free speech by protesting the convention.

There's no money for Medicare or veterans benefits, but there's enough money to provide $55,000,000 in security for some has-been politicians to go on TV and talk about "Smash Mouth politics"? I guess since the Republicans think they're "messengers of God", they think they can make the rest of the country pay for everything they do.

Then again, taxpayers already pay for everything they do as it is.

(Source: http://www.politicususa.com/en/gop-convention-mooch)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "The 5 Scowl"

Allow me to introduce something I call the 5 scowl - from the board game Trouble (or any other game that uses a single dice).

We all knew sore losers growing up. When they appeared to be losing at a game, they always accused opponents of cheating.

I'm talking about kids who threw the game across the room when their opponent rolled a 6. But when their opponent rolled a 5, the 5 scowl was often seen.

Here's how it worked: Player A rolls a 5. Player B whines that they cheated. Player A then scowls at Player B after being accused of cheating. I know the 5 scowl and the bogus cheating accusations are as pointless as arguing over misheard lyrics in a long-awaited music release, but some peeps had strange priorities in my day.

These sore losers are grown now. They're called Republicans...



I'm sure the Republicans prefer Headache over Trouble though - because the pieces in Headache are shaped like the pointed cowl of their hoods.

Newt says Supreme Court isn't mentioned in Constitution

"The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." --U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 1

It's not even dusk, and this is already today's second "Did they really say that?" moment - after bubble gum connoisseur Mitch McConnell criticized the concept of elections.

Newt Gingrich - the elder statesman of GOP fascism - now says the Supreme Court isn't even mentioned in the Constitution. At a speech in Iowa, the egotistical asshole proclaimed, "There is no Supreme Court in the American Constitution."

Yes there is, Newt, you idiot. It says in plain English that the powers of the federal judiciary "shall be vested in one Supreme Court" in addition to lower courts. Read the Constitution sometime, Newt.

Gingrich's larger point though was that Congress can and should bar the Supremes from reviewing laws passed by Congress. Um, no. It doesn't work that way. It's called separation of powers, dumbass.

He also falsely claims that the judicial branch is supposed to be the weakest of Uncle Sam's 3 branches. Wrong again. The 3 branches are supposed to be coequal. Since 1995, the legislative branch (largely because of Gingrich) has been by far the most corrupt in aggregate. Why would the Constitution give it more power than other branches?

Gingrich's proposal for unchecked legislative activism isn't sparkling new. GOP presidential frontrunner Michele Bachmann has backed it too, and it goes at least as far back as the '80s when Jesse Helms proposed it. Despite not being a member of Congress, right-wing former Alabama Chief Justice and serial laughingstock Roy Moore ghostwrote a 2004 bill that would have gutted judicial review in church-state separation cases. This bill would have even overturned existing laws and impeached judges who backed separation of church and state.

I think the even larger issue is the phenomenon that seems to be almost unique to modern America: mob rule by elites. Money has corrupted our electoral system so thoroughly that the outcome of elections often moves us further and further from the ideals of democratic republicanism. The system is largely one of right-wingers yelling, claiming to represent us (although they don't), and not giving up until they get their way.

Newt and his Republican revolutionaries of the '90s are the Tea Parties of today - mob rule by the rich.

Elections won't become elections again until money gets out of the system. We can start by ending corporate personhood.

(Source: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/12/266219/gingrich-supreme-court)

Those big, mean elections are scaring Mitch McConnell

How did my state manage to elect this idiot - 5 times, no less?

Senate GOP head honcho Mitch McConnell said today that we should rewrite the Constitution because elections haven't worked. He feels we should amend the Constitution to force outcomes favorable to conservatives, because the people keep electing folks who aren't right-wing enough for him.

Mitch the Glitch endorsed the proposed balanced budget amendment - because he thinks it's still 1989 when people still gave a shit about it. He seethed, "No more games. No more gimmicks. The Constitution must be amended to keep the government in check. We've tried persuasion. We've tried negotiations. We've tried elections. Nothing has worked."

"We've tried elections"??? Did he really say that???

In other words, he's mad because elections prove that the public doesn't want his balanced budget amendment. Doesn't he grasp that?

Why doesn't the public want it? Well, every so often - and on an increasing basis as long as Republicans are in charge - there's a little thing called a recession. It's an economic emergency that requires the government to spend more of our money than it takes in. Besides, over the past 21 years, America has been at war just as often as not. These wars were entered into by Republican regimes. Wars cost money.

When the GOP dominated everything in the 2000s, I don't think they'd have cut war spending if we had a balanced budget amendment. They'd have slashed other programs for sure.

On the other hand, if we had a balanced budget amendment, the Republicans would be the first ones to violate it. They've become synonymous with fiscal mismanagement, as deficits have always worsened under their watch. The only time we might appear to need this amendment is when they're running things!

We want a balanced budget - not an amendment. Unfortunately, the Gingrich/Bush recession has made deficit spending a necessary evil.

Government in default? Are they really this crazy?

An observation about the debt ceiling talks...

Is the Republican Party of today actually crazy enough to allow the government to go into default? Remember, a default would not only be unconstitutional, but it would also cost seniors and others their Social Security payments for at least a month. And it would cost veterans their benefits.

Yes, I do believe the GOP has become that crazy. Just look at the rise of Michele Bachmann. She's leading in the Iowa caucus now!

The Republicans are now crazy enough that they think everybody else - not them - is crazy.

It's just like Brossart sending kids to CPH for challenging them when actually Brossart is who's crazy. It's exactly like that.

If the government goes into default, it may turn out to be the last thing the Republicans ever do. That may well be the end of their history as a major party.

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Just For Mitt"

If I was a gambler, I'd wager that Mitt Romney uses Just for Men.

Maybe Just for Men should be renamed to Just for Men Who Don't Understand the Economy. Romney - the embattled Republican presidential hopeful - has proven he has no better understanding of the economy than John McCain had. That says a lot, for McCain is the man who hired PHIL GRAMM as his economic adviser.

PHIL FREAKIN' GRAMM, of all people!!! Hiring Phil Gramm as an economic adviser is like hiring Rush Limbaugh as drug czar.

Memo to my readers: Do not vote for a party whose presidential nominee hires Phil Gramm for any position related to economics (or anything else).

If a touch of gray means experience, then Mitt Romney shouldn't have a single gray hair. Honestly, what has Romney done in life, before he became an unpopular one-term governor? I've been a writer, a librarian, a cartographer, and computer programmer. What's Romney been? I sure as shit don't know!

GOP candidate wants to bar homeless from voting

The Republicans have completely lost it. They don't say anything with a damn bit of smarts or sense anymore.

A man who gave me free firewood (i.e., his campaign literature) while I was monitoring a laughably feeble Tea Party rally now wants to prohibit the homeless from voting.

Bill Johnson - a Tea Party-backed race-baiter who is now the Republican nominee for Kentucky Secretary of State (and is trailing in polls badly) - has shared with the press his wacky ideas on electoral republicanism.

For decades, Kentucky has had a process for allowing the homeless to vote. Indeed, the U.S. Constitution guarantees the homeless the same right to vote as everybody else. In Kentucky, if the homeless can't provide a fixed address, they are registered in the precinct where the county clerk's office is. Makes sense, since the homeless are most likely to live in central cities.

But Bill Johnson grumbled, "If an address cannot be determined, then a person should not be allowed to vote. It's that simple."

Um, state law and the Constitution say they have a right to vote, Bill. IT'S THAT SIMPLE. If I become homeless between now and November, do you honestly think I'd stay home from the polls? I'm an American, and I will vote. I fought too hard for my rights to have Bill Johnson take them away.

This is the Republicans' next step towards instituting a property requirement for voting. Tennessee has almost done exactly that. I'll be damned if I'm gonna let anybody take my right to vote away just because I'm not enough of an aristocrat to actually own any real property. I work too hard to lose my rights. If they want to take me to jail for daring to vote, let them.

Damn. The Republicans are just completely batshit.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/dpps/news/ky.-sees-increase-in-homeless-voters_6509346)