Winter Storms--but the Crazies still keep on

Good news. The Virginia House of Delegates meeting in this snowstorm passed a bill outlawing the inplantation of computer chips in your body by private corporations. The winning argument was not the right of privacy but that computer chips would represent the "mark of the beast" from Revelations. The last time this happened it was bar codes.

Glenn Beck, who is writing a 100-year plan for America, is about to show us all that we have the separation of church and state all wrong. He will be showcasing a leading Christian nationalist "historian" to make the case. He promises you that we will be suprised about James Madison and Thomas Jefferson's views on religious freedom. I will be especially suprised by his Madison since the real one was an atheist. Will Beck quote us George Washington, who wanted religious organizations "severely regulated" and "prevented from influencing politics"? I bet not. This is the new rightwing version of history much like the Discovery Institute tries to create a science to explain away evolution.

Sarah Palin brought cheers to the crowd when she mentioned hearing Texas' governor Perry's desire to secede from the union. The teabag candidate, now running 3rd, is all gung-ho even citing such old racist notions as nullification. Unfortunately, she is also a 9/11 truther. I guess she felt George W. bombed the Twin Towers. He just wasn't competent enough to do it.

The New Republic accuses their former editor Andrew Sullivan of being anti-semitic for his views on the Israeli actions in Gaza. At this rate, anti-semiticism is going to lose its force as an epithet. When pressed, their writers admit that Andrew isn't quite anti-semitic. It's just that he let his emotions get the best of him in his take on Gaza. Michelle Bachman told a meeting of Republican Jews in Los Angeles that the United States must support Israel or else we will be cursed. I actually believe that but I don't buy Abe Foxman of the ADL claiming that the Obama administration insulted Jerusalem. The Obama Administration has provided more aid to Israel than any other administration in history. A little restraint on the extension on settlements would have been an appropriate sign of some gratitude to the United States and would have helped advance the peace process.

Meanwhile in the Midwest, Iowa just doesn't seem to buy into the idea that Western civilization is threatened by gay marriage. The Republicans tried to introduce a bill outlawing gay marriage after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in favor of same sex marriage. It just didn't fly. The same happened in New Hampshire with the same results--no dice.

The San Francisco Chronicle outed Judge Wagner of the Prop 8 trial. He never hid his identity or did he make a big deal out of it. As I've been following the trial, his active engagement in the arguments have been quite interesting and bodes well for the decision in the case. But his "outing" will be used by the anti-gay lawyers in their appeal. It really doesn't matter what the facts are in the case the anti-gay lawyers are already making the noise that their witnesses were intimidated and afraid. In a former post I pointed out how these witnesses under cross-examination admitted that they had no factual basis for opposing gay marriage. Former Senator Rick Santorum, notorious for Dan Savage naming the excreta from anal sex after him, has decided to lead the calls about the intimidation. Expect to hear this line from Fox News and the conservative columnists as we head to the Supreme Court.

Republicans believing that Brown's victory in Massachusetts came from voters who believed Obama was weak on terrorism have opened up a new offensive against the Administration's handling of the Christmas bomber. Newt Gingrich appearing on the Daly Show was crossed up when it was pointed out that the Shoe Bomber received the same treatment under Bush. He claimed he was an American citizen which wasn't right either. Padilla, the American citizen, was sent to military prison and never told the authorities anything. Republicans such as Senator Kit Bond blasted the Administration but NSC adviser Brennen blasted back that the Republicans were fully informed of the FBI's role in the case through briefings on Christmas. When it was pointed out that over 300 terrorists have been convicted by American courts under Bush, the Bush people tried to deny it even though it was noted in their Department of Justice budget request for the last year. In fact, so far there has only been one trial of a terror suspect by military courts--the preferred option of Republicans.

While public opinion still favors Obama over Republicans in the treatment of terrorists, Republicans believe they have had a monopoly over national security for so long that they are willing to play politics with this. After being "mirandized" the gonad bomber did go quiet until the Obama family delivered his family to him and then he has been talking non-stop.

The best attack on the Obama Administration's terrorist policy was penned by former Helms staffer Marc Thiessen, who argued in Foreign Policy, that Obama was killing terrorists too quickly and in such quantity that it might spoil our ability to discover their future plans. He argued against the predator attacks because they are too effective and that we should really send our men into battle against the terrorists because after capturing them through "enhanced interrogation" we can gain more knowledge. I kid you not.

Bin Laden's son says that Osama's successor will be more terrible. The son also gave a lengthy interview to Rolling Stone magazine where he said Bush was a perfect foil for his father, who just wanted to suck the United States into a war in the Middle East and make the country go bankrupt. He also said that most of those followers in Bin Laden's camp are laughable and act like Mini-Me's.

Talk about gratitude. The libertarians created the Tea Party idea several years ago. The Ron Paul "Love" Revolution used this gimmick to create an authentic grass-roots organization that raised millions of dollars for Paul's presidential race. Paul keeps his campaign for liberty alive by talking to college campuses where he is warmly welcomed for his anti-war statements. This year, however, he faces a primary challenge for his house seat--a challenge by the ersatz tea-baggers who must have morphed into neo-conservatives.

The press are in their dogpack mentality again saying that Obama has been rebuffed in his first year in office. See my post below for my take on his first year.

Has anyone figured out Arianna Huffington's latest posture? She seems to be morphing back to her old self when she enthusiastically backed Newt Gingrich in the 1990s. She has also become a fan of the teabaggers--maybe she supported the Greek military junta in the old days. Or she hasn't gotten enough sleep--her latest New Age fad.

It looks like the Jobs Bill after the Republicans get ahold of it will not create many jobs. At least the Democrats are going to highlight congressional and senate Republicans who blasted the stimulus package and joyously informed their districts all the wonderful things it has done. This is good politics but it won't matter to those who think politicians are like this anyway. The general plan of the GOP is to create widespread cynicism about Government and the Government's ability to help the American people. When states requested FEMA funds for snow-removal from this historic storm, the Republicans blocked it. While Bush oversaw the greatest expansion of the federal government in history--some 33% larger than Clinton's government, if the Republicans can not benefit financially from it, they are against it.

The House Republicans are gung-ho for gutting Medicare and Social Security as the way to end government deficits. It's as if they want a re-do of the Great Depression but with their policies triumphing. If anyone tells you Social Security is a financial problem, they are flat out lying. The two deficit busters in the federal budget are the National Security Expenditures and Medicare. The first no Republican will touch and the second will be mitigated by health care reform if Obama succeeds. The Republicans actually want the deficit to become crippling so that they can make the case for ending the whole social welfare net.