Happy 2011-Don't Let The Insanity Throw You

If President Obama doesn't go Big and dictate the terms of the debate over the next year, we will be treated to wall-to-wall House insanity. The rules I wrote about the other day are actually even stranger and Congressman Ryan will assume more power than any other Budget Chairman in history. The pledge of Gentleman John Boehner is to get federal funding back to the 2008 levels--without any cuts to defense, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The genius tasked with accomplishing this is Ryan. Also, add the proviso that there can be no tax increases of any sort. And even throw in the new condition that Republicans do not have to accept the figures from the CBO, which dictated the limits on Democratic legislation for the past two years.

Progressives should throw some spanners in the works in the House. Since every bill is supposed to be evaluated in terms of its constitutionality and that criteria is determined by the doctrine of original intent, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul should team up and question the constitutionality of defense appropriations for a standing army,(which was not envisioned by the Founding Fathers), appropriations for the CIA and the intellgence community, and, of course, funding for the FBI. I would love to see the Tea Baggers argue their way out of those objections.

Congressman King from Iowa vows to investigate the "reparations" of the Pigford II settlement. This could turn out to be educational for the American public to learn about how black farmers were disenfrancised. Luckily for the administration, the FBI has the accounting of Pigford I, which showed only 3% fraud, a remarkable record for a government program. King also wants to hold hearings on ACORN because a large percentage of teabaggers really believe ACORN stole the election for Barack Obama. I wonder if King will investigate ACORN man of the Year in 2008--Senator John McCain. Also, King is hung up about the New Black Panthers and why the DOJ threw out the voter fraud case against them. I get the sense that King has a thing about blacks. Of course, the secondary target in these investigations is Eric Holder, who has been very nonchalant about the prospects of testifying everyday. He cites his experience during the House's impeachment attempts against Clinton.

The other Congressman King from New York vows to investigate radicalism among American Muslims. This is sure to have wall-to-wall coverage on Fox News. I guess King has a thing about Muslims.

Rep. Issa wants to start his investigations into the Countrywide Mortgage scandal. The conservative view is that the sub-prime mortgage fiasco was the fault of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank and encouraging mortgage lending to minorities. He vows to move on from there. One of the key objectives for House Republicans is to "prove" Republicans were not responsible for the economic collapse of 2008. What's so interesting so far is that the GOP has not suffered any consequences for their very real role in the economic collapse.

Rep. Issa and his GOP cronies also want to investigate the vigor with which the Obama DOJ defended the DOMA Act, which had been declared unconstitutional by a Reagan-appointed judge--which never gets mentioned by the new GOP. The House Republicans believe this will buy off the anti-same sex marriage crowd. We should have a decision soon on California's Prop 8.

There will be a Battle Royale over the EPA regulating green house gases and carbon emissions. The House Energy Commmittee has already vowed to not only challenge the EPA but also will hold hearings to debunk the science of climate change. This is a payback to the Koch Brothers, who fund every climate change denial program in the United States, without exception.

One of the coolest sleights of hand of the new GOP leadership is that they don't have to account for the increase in the deficit if they modify any of Obama's plans like healthcare. This gets them off the hook. The Republican plan proposed during the healthcare debate actually increased health costs in general and the government deficit specifically and covered considerably millions less people. In the new regime, they don't have to account for this.

For those who remember separate bathrooms in the pre-civil rights days, this year will see a return to that time when teabaggers propose separate bathrooms in the military for straights and gays. There has already been a trial balloon sent to the Pentagon on this. To their credit, they shot it down. But this should be interesting.

On Foreign Affairs, we should expect the new House to be seditious. There will be an attempt to actually pressure the Obama Administration to stay in Iraq longer than this summer. Also any pressure put on Israel to move to a two-state solution will be roudnly denounced by the House. Also, we should expect a full-court effort to strip the budget of foreign aid at the levels requested by the Administration and any funding for multilateral efforts of cooperation.

2011 will also see a wholesale attack by states on pensions and the social welfare system and educational systems. Even Jerry Brown has said he has to cut California's educational budget another 25%. The new Republican governors already have launched their initiatives to cut government employees, end pensions and to cut ties to federal government programs like Medicare. At least Jerry Brown is going to ask for tax increases, has launched an effort to form the new health insurance exchanges mandated by the new law and embraced the high-speed rail efforts of the Obama Administration.

The states will provide more nonsense than one can imagine. Arizona's new immigration law has over 24 new copies being introduced around the country. Unfortunately, handicappers believe at least six of these will pass. Also,the anti-abortion crowd believes their last chance is to introduce "Personhood Laws", which would severely restrict abortion and contraception. One such law lost in Colorado but a slew of them are being introduced in the South. Also several states are introducing laws not to participate in the federal healthcare reform. On the other hand, states like Vermont are actually moving to expand healthcare coverage.

Two days ago, CNN conducted a poll on whether you want the Obama policies to succeed or fail. 67% of Americans want them to succeed. 67% of Republicans want them to fail. The contrast is stunning. It seems that Obama has started to get independents back into the fold.

Even on things like healthcare,it has been widely touted that only 43% of Americans support the new healthcare program, while 57% oppose. Sounds great until you see that 13% who oppose didn't think it went far enough. So we will have to see how the House monkeying around with the bill affects public opinion.

The new House doesn't start with enormous support. Today, Congress has an 8% approval rating and Obama is still in the high 40s. President Obama is still at least 3 times more popular than Gentleman John Boehner.

In the freakshow department, Andy Martin, anti-semitic Birther, has announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President. Meanwhile, Neil Abercrombie, the new Democratic Governor of Hawaii, vows to silence the Birthers. He finds their treatment of the President outrageous and wants to fight them. Why? Well,he was in Hawaii when President Obama was born and he knew both his parents and is mad as hell about the birthers' insult to Hawaii.