Braggarts,Bullies, Blowhards and Bigots

The GOP in their new mood of cooperation pledge not to vote of any of the "democratic agenda" until their tax cut plans are accepted and the government is paid for. Once moderate, Lamar Alexander proclaims that this is the people's will, something that the GOP has studiously ignored for a decade, and that this is all that should be accomplished in the Lame Duck session.

Senator Jon Kyl claims there will be no vote on the New Start Treaty unless Obama agrees to the Bush era tax cuts by Monday nonetheless!

Congressional Republicans have blocked the extension of unemployment benefits because of concern about the deficit, although their tax cut plan would exceed the money spent on the stimulus package. Every known "real" economist--conservative, moderate, liberal, progressive and the CBO--agrees that unemployment benefits are more stimulative to the economy than tax cuts for the wealthy and less expensive. Of course, another way to look at this is the morality of helping those Americans down on their luck. Conservative reporter Bryon York claims that unemployment insurance is the "dole", which in another era would have been called welfare.

Little Ricky Cantor supports the Repeal Amendment,a new constitutional amendment, which would allow states to override federal law. We once had an episode over such an idea called the civil war and a legal idea about nullification, which has been resolved--until completely unless it comes again before the Roberts Court,Inc. The idea was generated by a Georgetown University professor who works for the CATO Institute. Even he is stunned that anyone took him seriously since it was an intellectual game. Maybe the ERA should be revived so the GOP can campaign against mandated unisex bathrooms.

How many ways can you say the "N" word? Rep. King of Iowa said that our "very, very urban Barack Obama" thought up the Pigford II case to compensate black farmers as part of reparations over slavery. King went on to say that the thousands of claimants are "city-dwelling drug addicts." He asserted that there are fewer black farmers than there are claimants. Yes, indeed, thousands of blacks lost their farms because the USDA refused to grant them the same loans as white farmers. Michelle Bachman piped up for real, rural America by saying the Pigford claims were a "pure and complete fraud". For the record, of the 15,000 claims in Pigford I the FBI investigated and only found that 3% were fraud. In other words, the level of fraud was noticeably less than any defense contract. Oh, I forgot to tell you Rep. King is a "proud Christian".

Just for the record, the United States never, ever has paid reparations over slavery. It even reneged on the promise of 40 acres and a mule for freed slaves after the civil war.

Also among the bill compensating the Pigford farmers was the settlement for the Cobell Indian Trust case. Both cases go back to the Carter years. I remember when Jimmy Carter tasked Andy Young to plead with the black community to be patient over the delay in settling the claims of the black farmers. The Cobell Indian Trust case, for some reason, met with hardly any GOP criticism, even though the Bush Administration officials had been held in contempt of court for failing to produce the accounting of the Indian Trust. Maybe the Congress realized that the Obama Administration finally settled the case in the government's favor by paying 10cents on the dollar owed the Indians. Tragically, several of the Indian claimants have died since the DOJ agreed to settle and Congress passed the money.

County Last McCain claims he is no bigot as he said today at the hearing on the repeal of DADT. He just acting as one. The Pentagon Survey of the serving armed forces found that over 70% said they didn't think repealing it was a big deal and no it would not affect the combat readiness of the military. 92% of those who said they knew they served with gays had a high regard for their professionalism and service. The Pentagon's report claimed that racial integration of the armed forces was a much stiffer proposition. Bob Gates put the Republicans into a corner by suggesting that he wanted it repealed by Congress this term or he would face court decisions that would overrule DADT. Senator McCain lashed out at Gates accusing him of being a civilian political appointee, who never served in the armed forces. Gates served in the Air Force, something reporters brought up with the McCain office, which simply muttered the Senator misspoke. McCain also accused President Obama of trying to placate the leftwing of his party and not having served in the military--despite, it should be observed, serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces for the last two years, which is an honorary military position, I think.

Since the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Obama Administration are all for repealing DADT, conservatives have come up with an ingenious new argument for keeping DADT. They suggest that the Wikileaks leaker, the military analyst now held in prison in Virginia, is Gay. Ann Coulter is mainstreaming this tidbit , which first appeared on World Nut Daily. The key clue was that Wikileaks man smuggled the computer files out on Lady Gaga CDs, a definite clue as to his gayness.

A key clue to understand the radicalism of the New Republicans is to take their rhetorical attacks on Obama and see how they themselves are implementing the policies they accuse him of. A prime example is the notion of Death Panels. Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer has cut off Medicare funding for life-saving procedures like bone-marrow and organ transplants and subsequently people have already died. A new Texas congressman finally admitted that he was for cutting off Medicare, something Texas Governor Rick Perry wants to do, so this would "put people out in the streets."

The last Republican Christian, former Senator John Danforth has come out publically saying that the Republican party may have now really gone around the bend. He was referring to the attacks by sitting Republican Senators on Dick Lugar of Indiana. A moderate conservative Dick Lugar persuaded the Reagan Administration that they had to persuade Marcos to step down in the Philippines after the fraudulent election and he pressured Republicans to denounce apartheid. A staunch advocate of democracy programs abroad, Dick Lugar acquired a reputation in foreign affairs over his staunch stance against nuclear proliferation, an issue the young Barack Obama used to consult with him on. His open support for the New Start Treaty, something endorsed by every living Republican Secretary of State, has earned him sharp criticism by Senate Republicans, who are simply interested in defeating another Obama accomplishment. The Teabaggers already have vowed to primary Lugar, when he faces re-election. Somehow I think the threat will not fly in Indiana.

Through a procedural vote, House Republicans managed to delay, if not kill, nutritious meals for thousands upon thousands of poor children. The key word here is nutritious. This is the program that is Michelle Obama's initiative, so it must die. Conservatives like the porcine Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have railed against the food police and Michelle Obama involvement in the program. Mike Huckabee was savaged for treating Michelle Obama courteously on his show,when they both discussed this program. Meanwhile, over at the Pentagon, there are complaints that over half of the young men volunteering for service have to be rejected because they are obese. Maybe this is part of a new right-wing movement--Fatties for World Peace.

The anti-gay gay marriage crowd are crowing over the defeat of the Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled for same sex marriage. Heady with victory, they are demanding that one of the three judges who will rule on the Prop.8 case in California should recuse himself from the case because his wife is a member of the ACLU. Can we play the same card when healthcare comes to the Supreme Court by asking Clarence Thomas to step aside because his wife is a teabagger and on record as saying healthcare reform was unconstitutional?

The National Organization for Marriage(NOM),one of the prime supporters of Prop.8, accuses the Southern Poverty Law Center for being like "Joe McCarthy" in placing faux Christian groups on a list of hate groups because of their homophobic agenda. But, now what about the accusation that a judge's wife is a member of the ACLU? Am I missing something brilliant in NOM's logic here?

A bunch of conservatives want Julian Assange of Wikileaks to be assassinated. This isn't the due process crowd. The DOJ wants to prosecute him on the Foreign Espionage Act, which lawyers claim will actually be more difficult to do than the Administration belives. While Sweden still wants to prosecute Assange for rape, he is in the U.K. and the police know his whereabouts, despite the Interpol arrest warrant. The actual facts of the Swedish "case" make Assange out to be a prig and totally obnoxious but not a rapist, alas. The sex was consensual. Even the state prosecutor admitted about a month ago that the case was weak. This has led Assange's supporters to suggest this was all a CIA set-up to get to Assange physically.

Child Car Thief Rep. Issa now wants to expand the investigatory powers of several House committees other than his own and wants more of Congress to have subpoena power. After all he says Obama is one of the most corrupt Presidents ever--an amazing achievement in 20 months.

As I wrote during the election, several of the new incoming Republican House members already have serious ethical issues because of the sources of their campaign funding.

Arizona's Trent Franks says Obama is weakening the United States because of his "ideology". (I expect being a serious follower of William James might put you in real hotwater.)

The House Republicans are eliminating the subcommittee on climate change--because it was a Democratic idea. I'm sorry. I was looking forward to the show trial of climate scientists and Galileo. This notion that ideas are to be judged not on value but on party affiliation could lead to some interesting things. How about Christian fundamentalists arguing against evolution? Do they argue that modern scholars of evolution are atheists? Is that the basis of their objection? Or was Darwin's deep Christian faith a heresy? Newton actually was naughty so we have to suspect Gravity.

BP Barton from Texas calls himself the General Patton of House Republicans and plans to attack Obama on every front. It seems Barton doesn't remember how Patton ended up. But Barton's remarks should be recorded because it is the first time in years that a Republican mentioned Eisenhower, who has been ostracized by the party. Barton claims Tan Man Boehner is the Ike of House Republicans. But he meant this in a military, not political way. IKE still has a long way to go to be rehabilitated.

Progressives claim that Republican congressmen are simply serving the rich by advocating for the extension of the tax breaks for the top 2% earners. It's not true. They are more selfishly giving themselves a raise. The average net worth of Congress is $990,000. Over a majority of our Congress are millionaires. In the Senate, I believe only Tom Harkin of Iowa remains the only one not in the millionaire category. I'll check on the new Congress. So Kyl,McConnell and others are simply trying to get an additional $120,000+ for themselves this year. Democrats bemoan this overt linkage between tax breaks and things like the New Start Treaty. They shouldn't--it is a direct request to President Obama for a six-figure bribe per vote. No wonder Senate Republicans are trying to ban earmarks. They are no longer necessary of you write your own tax laws.

Think of it like this--Republicans will allow votes to proceed in the Lame Duck session if every one of them receives personally the equivalent of three times the income of the average American family. Pretty cool for a month's worth of work.