News Flash--Rick Santorum Won't Attend Same Sex Marriages

++Is this a response to his nickname "Frothy Mix" created by Dan Savage? Or is this a masterstroke to catch Marco Rubio off guard? Or is this to neutralize Bobby Jindal who seems hellbent on passing his own Religious Freedom Act?

Wag The Wingnut

++ Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly re-discovers three-time presidential candidate and President Obama's 2004 opponent, Alan Keyes,lurking at World Nut Daily.

++It seems Alan wants to run again but he fears that President Obama will trigger a nuclear war and declare martial law so he can remain in office. 

++Kilgore "Wag The Wingnut" explores Alan's pseudo candidacy.

++Kilgore must divide the GOP candidates with Josh Marshall. Both are must reads as GOP candidates launch their bids for the nomination.

++Josh Marshall has been on the Rand Paul beat the last two days sharing all the conspiracies Paul has supported over the years and the strange cast of characters who is affiliated with.

++Of course, today was the video of Rand Paul cutting an interview with the Guardian short.

++Josh says that Bobby Jindal claims that the "Radical Left and corporate America" are teaming up to defeat discriminating against gay bills.

++Ted Cruz says that the "Rainbow Jihadists" are after Christians. 

++The Washington Post says that Hillary Clinton's Sunday announcement was to undercut Marco Rubio's  announcement.

++Mark Halperin and others say this will put in contrast generations and should work to Rubio's benefit. Wanna bet? Rubio is nowhere.

++As Rick Perry told the NRA, 2016 will be the "show me" election where the resume matters.

++Ed Kilgore also points out that Rick Santorum ,ole "frothy mix" looks like he will run again and he's in Iowa campaigning among the evangelical Christians. 

Tehran Tom Is Circulating The Letter

++Rick Perry has signed on and Carly Fiorina intends to.
++Ole "Frothy Mix" Santorum is signing on as an act against the "Obama-Clinton-Kerry" foreign policy.

++Bobby Jindal says that Tehran Tom earns our respect, not our ridicule. He also says that any deal with Iran will change with the next President.

++Mike Malloy went off on the right pushing their neo-fascist agenda as far as it can go and there will be a reaction. 

++I can't wait for the GOP's platform on the Middle East. They have already confused themselves.

++By the way where is the authorization of military force.

He Said If The Other Guy Would Run He wouldn't , Now He Won't

++Paul Ryan, he of "dynamic scoring" and Medicare vouchers, said that if Willard "Mitt" Romney ran again for President he wouldn't. Today Paul Ryan announced he wasn't running for President.

++Meanwhile Willard said he was certain to run and would run to the right of Jeb Bush on immigration and taxes.

++Rick Santorum decried Rand Paul and Ted Cruz' lack of experience and lampooned their thoughts of running for President. "They are bomb-throwers." And "Frothy Mix" doesn't know anything about that.

GOP Presidential Politics

++The McClatchy-Marist poll released today shows the following as GOP presidential contenders:
Romney--19%
Bush    -- 14%
Christie--  9%
Huckabee-9%
Carson--  8%

++If Romney doesn't run:
Bush --16%
Huckabee--12%
Christie --10
Carson -- 8

++Jeb Bush looks ready to launch as he is releasing over 230,000 e-mails from his time as Governor of Florida. 
++Frothy Mix, Rick Santorum is running.
++Rick Perry wants to give a final farewell speech before he runs again.

No Intelligent Design in the Palmetto State

The first Republican debate was sponsored by Daddy Koch's John Birch Society and the Oathkeepers--which should tell you everything you want to know. The teabaggers held a rally beforehand where they accused Senator Lindsey Graham of being a pinko or some equivalent.

The Mad Sikh Nikki Haley, the female Luv Gov, was joined at the debate by the more famous Luv Gov Sanford, who had made it in from the Appalachian Trial for the occasion. Haley warned the candidates who stayed away that they would have to explain themselves to the voters. You see whoever wins the South Carolina primary wins the whole shooting match.

Buddy Roemer wasn't allowed to participate and Freddie Krueger, the openly gay candidate, was forced to tweet the debate from the balconey. The audience was fairly empty except for the Paultards, the boisterous supporters of Ron Paul's Love Revolution. Chris Wallace often looked behind him as he was moderating with annoyance.

Gary Johnson, the libertarian former Governor of New Mexico, lost the Gong Show becaue he is pro-choice and argued for legalizing marijuana. He also wanted to end all corporate taxes, which he said would create millions of jobs instantly. Gary also lost out because he was anti-torture.

Torture has become the new Republican wedge issue, separating the men from the boys. Ron Paul lost on this issue, saying he wanted to do away with the secret prisons as well as torture.

After the debate, Frank Luntz, the author of the GOP's talking point memo against healthcare reform, held a Focus Group, where the clear winner was Herman Cain, the creator of Godfather Pizza. Only 1 of his Focus Group went into the debate a Cain supporter. Luntz exclaimed that the results were the most remarkable in his 35 debates for Fox.

The Focus Group liked Herman Cain because he was articulate, had a well-defined plan and was not a politician but a straight-shooter. Sounds interesting, heh?

This is what Herman Cain actually said. On Afghanistan, he would consult with his experts and do whatever they told him. On DOMA, he said that not defending it in court was tantamount to treason. He would eliminate the IRS and place the United States back on the Gold Standard. He said that Government should get off the back of businessmen because business creates the jobs. He was interested in ending entitlement programs and adopting the Fair Tax. Now that's a plan.

Ron Paul, who just showed up in a CNN poll as the most competitive Republican against post-bin Laden Obama, argued to great cheers for a withdrawal from Afghanistan and the legalization of marijuana,cocaine and heroin. He argued that the role of government was to protect business from unions. he also would adopt the gold standard.

Number 2 in the Focus Group was Ole Frothy Mix Santorum. Santorum got the largest response on the applause-o-meter when he said that "Obamacare is the end of Freedom." In fact, it represented the greatest threat ever to our national security.

Asked by Chris Wallace about his remarks earlier in the week that Obama was making the United States less secure, Rick said that Obama's foreign policy only worked when he followed George W. Bush's master plan and when he was "on his own" like in Egypt and Libya, he failed.

Santorum said that eliminating all corporate taxes would create 10 million jobs instantly. He blamed feminists for women working and not staying home. And he took a shot at Mitch Daniels about a "truce on social issues" by saying that anyone who believes that just "doesn't understand what America is about."

Then Sean Hannity's favorite and the secret conservative favorite, Tim Pawlenty, Mr. Electric. Pawlenty has to introduce himself as a two term governor of Minnesota and had to explain ad nauseum about his many, many trips throughout the Middle East. He was trying to come off as Presidential by saying he would only torture on select, special occasions and he would invade Libya and overthrow Qaddafhi.

Chris Wallace ran an ad from year's past when Pawlenty supported Cap and Trade. Pawlenty apologized for having taken that position, which commentators said showed courage.

Pawlenty said that intelligent design could be taught in schools but this decision rested with local school districts and when asked whether he believed in evolution, he said it wasn't for him to say. He was asked to take a shot at Romneycare--which drew big Boos from the audience--but he wouldn't comment because Romney wasn't there to defend himself.

So we now know a couple of other constants to the new GOP's platform--eliminate corporate taxes and explictly adopt a program for torture. So we have anti-choice,anti-evolution,anti-women,anti-gay marriage and anti-taxes as the new mainstays.

Why do we think the debates will get any better when Newt and Callista enter the fray next week? Fox News has allegedly given Mike Huckabee to shit or get off the pot by the end of May.

The GOP pundits are sensing that Romney is doomed because of his healthcare in Massachusetts so you'll see Pawlenty's name gratuitously show up in columns on anything. He's the escape hatch for formerly mainstream Republicans. But what happens when conservatives recall that all those foreign trips were with John McCain, who is not exactly the darling of the teabaggers and now the most unpopular Senator?

Matt Taibibi has written about Pawlenty that he has heard Pawlenty speak several times and still doesn't know what he believes or remembers a word he has said. Some say that is precisely his strategy.

One last note--during the disasterous townhall meetings Republicans were having over recess, the John Birch Society was out in force, especially in the Northeast, putting out fliers that Communists and Move-On were disrupting them. Communists? Really.

Let's Play--Let's Pretend Our Politics Are Normal

Rumors have President Obama already with a $1 billion in the bank with another $1 on the way for his $2 billion presidential campaign. So let's accept President Obama will be the Democratic nominee.

Now let's focus on the Republicans.

Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have natural advantages because the GOP always votes for someone who has run before. Both were Governors, which is a big GOP plus.

Now we've heard a slew of Republicans announce they would not run. So far we have the sense that former Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty and former Senator Rick Santorum will run. Newt Gingrich is acting all authoritarian recently suggesting mentally he's running but physically I can't imagine it. Sarah Palin recently told Ann Coulter that Newt told her to suggest she's running for President so her speaking fees would be larger. Even though Andrew Sullivan and David Brooks salivate at the idea that Mitch Daniels would run,he has too many blackeyes against him from the Princeton drug busts to his being the man who spent Clinton's surplus in the George W administration.

So let's go one by one:
Mitt Romney, one-term Govenor of Massachusetts:
Advantage: Running since 2005, organization and money and access to money,presentable appearance, which this time may be the critical advantage
Liabilities: Romneycare,multiple positions on everything, looks terrible when he panders to the Right, former corporate positions, including Marriott Hotels with its porn connection, Mormon. Mitt Romney would have faced less prejudice in his father's time than today. Most visible Mormon in America is Glenn Beck. Even though Romney has tried to build ties with the evangelical community, his faith still believes Jesus was the brother of Lucifer and many simply won't vote for him because of that.

Mike Huckabee, who sounds more and more like he is not running:
Advantage: former Baptist Minister, has the whole range of social issues wrapped up from the New Republican point of view. He's anti-abortion and totally homophobic, even believing that gays should not be allowed to serve in the military. A Christian fundamentalist and does not believe in evolution. Ran last time and the organization is still in place. Populist in economics (also a liability with the corporate wing.
Liabilities: Doesn't have the ambition. Populist in economics. Says polite things about the First Family saying their are role models for family values. His personal policy views are vicious but he is not as a person. Probably could not raise enough money for a sustained campaign. Loves his new life as a Fox News contributor.

Newt Gingrich, disgraced Speaker of the House:
Advantages: Has ability to access millions from his conservative network. Fairly bright with an ability to throw off interesting ideas. Personally against Obama, claiming the President is trying to create a 'secular society". Has extensive links to the fundamentalist community and will say anything they tell him to. Has no known economic beliefs and will do what corporations tell him to. Basically amoral.
Liabilities: Convert to Catholicism from his Southern Baptist faith. May actually believe in evolution. Serial adulterer, which has not been forgotten by conservative Republicans. Notoriously unorganized personally and politically. May run simply to raise funds for a richer lifestyle.

Sarah Palin, former Mayor of Wasilla and half-term Governor of Alaska, former VP candidate:
Advantages: Perfectly mirrors the beliefs of the new GOP base. Authentically a teabagger. Member of a radical Christian sect. Pro-israel because the end-time will occur there. Has access to certain money. Has campaigned for ONE MONTH in a national campaign. Highly known.
Liabilities: A Quitter. Has marital problems. Doesn't seem to have the stamina for a national campaign. Only talks to tamed media and is hostile to the real press. Feels persecuted. Supremely egotistical. May turn off money people. High negatives within own party. Widely considered incompetent.

Rick Santorum, former Senator from Pennsylvania and known as the frothy mix of lube and fecal material:
Advantages: Has every social conservative position down pat.
Liabilities: His Google problem courtesy of Dan Savage, no organizational structure, no ability to generate any enthusiasm, no demonstrated ability to raise money, and no known support.

Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota and considered as McCain's running-mate:
Advantages: from the Midwest. Not elderly and fat.
Liabilities: Extremely boring and boring looking, changed all his policies to be more right-wing, now anti-abortion, anti-evolution, anti-his former policies. No known ability to raise funds or form an organization. Smattering of foreign policy experience because he would accompany McCain on trips.

Michelle Bachmann,congresswoman from Minnesota and Queen of the teaparty.
Advantages: Ability to raise millions from teabaggers. Also from the Midwest. Christianist.
Liabilities: Almost everything she says is a lie. Must rely on teabaggers for organization. Perceived by GOP and Americans as a wingnut. No known ability to organize or be organized herself. No known policy expertise. Believes Glenn Beck would solve the economic crisis.

Ron Paul, perennial Presidential candidate and Texas congressman and father of the teabaggers:
Advantages: Mobilizes through his Crusade for Liberty a grassroots following. Prodigious fund-raiser. Godfather of the teaparty movement. Pro-life. Comes from an important electoral state.
Liabilities: Against the military-terrorist-intelligence state. Against foreign aid, even policy. Against war. Against the Patriot Act. Comes across as an elderly small old man. Corporate Republicans are against him because , while he is against all regulations, he is also against corporate welfare.

Overall, the weakest field ever from either party. And remember it is no longer winner-take-all rules in the primaries so this could drag out way beyond our attention span.

Given the heavy corporate tilt to our elections now with the Roberts Court Limited Citizens United decision, I would bet more on Romney today than the past. But Romney has problems first diagnosed by Ted Kennedy. He called Romney "multiple choice mitt".Just his recent political book shows this. The hardcover analyzes the stimulus package of President Obama and said that it was basically the right thing to do and it had success but wasn't enough. The paperback edition has the stimulus package as a total failure and a waste of taxpayer money. And you could go on issue after issue.

But that may not matter in a time when money can wipe out all blemishes. But right now it's very tough to say that anyone has the advantage. That shows you how poor the field is. Most of these candidates should be showing signs of getting their campaigns ready. Except fpr Romney, I don't see it.

Take A Walk on the Far Side

We left Sarah Palin trying to trademark her name in line with the Roberts Court, Limited's desire that all Americans become corporations. It seems her problem is she forgot to sign the paperwork drawn up by her lawyer so there may be a wait. The former Mayor of Wasilla bowed out of an event to honor wounded veterans because she complained about threats against her. Police authorities reported no threats against her but it doesn't really matter since the veterans event coincided with the night of the first presidential debate for the Republicans. She wanted to keep her calender clean just in case there is a groundswell of support. Sister Sarah seemed to adopt the new anti-Reagan mood of Republicans by saying that the country is going down in ruins. This is the sunny, optimistic face we've come to appreciate in the new conservatives.

Bristol Palin says she may run for office now that she has the experience of giving birth. That one event has made her a darling for the abstinence crowd where she gets $12-15,000 per speech. Now she is to become an Arizona talk show host. On top of that she has penned a 302-page memoir probably titled "In Search of My Mother". She probably will be interviewed by Greta Von Cistern once it's been released.

Sarah Palin's Mormon sidekick Glenn Beck has accelerated his apocalyptic vision of the end of civilization as we know it. This has finally caused conservatives to yelp that he is "marginalizing himself" like he wasn't before. Little Bill Kristol dumped on Beck's hallucinations in his Weekly Standard claiming he wasn't any better than the John Birch Society. The National Review reported that Republican bigshots have met with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes to get them to reign in Beck now that he is wrecking the Egyptian freedom mantra that former Bushies are reviving. They argue that all GOPers will be tarred with the same brush. Chris Matthews did a superb job reporting on the John Birch roots of Glenn Beck's recent barkings on the caliphate and Red Chinese and Russian Communist involvement in Cairo. Matthews broadcast a clip from the new John Birch CEO--isn't it great how everything is marketized?--who basically laid out the John Birch line which is almost identical to Beck's recent rants.

The criticism of Beck by Kristol and the National Review hasn't dampened Rush Limbaugh and Drudge from picking up the mantra of the global threats posed by the downfall of Hosni Mubarak and a change in Cairo. While this split is interesting on the right, virtually no Americans are paying any attention to Cairo according to the latest polling data.

Middle East expert, Huckabee of Judea opined in Jersulem that the Palestinians shouldn't be allowed to have any land on the territory of ancient Israel and should ask for only land from other Arabs. Since Jordan is on the land of ancient Israel, this makes the nearest place for a Palestinian state-- Iraq.

More right-wing organizations are boycotting CPAC because of their invitation to GOProud, the gay organization. Now the fat is really in the fire because Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, who is for gay rights, the legalization of medical marijuana and is pro-choice, has been invited to address the group. This has ignited further attacks on CPAC from the religious Right. Strangely, the attacks are all aimed at Grover Norquist, who they blame for all the hippie-loving, pot-smoking behavior. It is said that Grover, who is married to an Arab woman, favors creeping Sharia law, which normally doesn't favor pot-smoking.

Former Minnesota Governor Palenta snarked that Sister Sarah bowed out of CPAC because the speaking fee was too low. The Governor, himself a would-be presidential candidate,vowed to reinstate DADT and refused to answer the question whether gays should serve in the military at all. Burnishing his presidential credentials, he came out last year against evolution and tried in his last days of Governor to outlaw abortion. Palenta is seen as trying to outflank Rick Santorum,whose name became synonymous with the excretions from anal sex, for the social conservatives. Santorum's presidential bid got a boost from George Will, who claimed Santorum had a credible shot at the nomination.

The authors of a new Montana Nullification Law sent me their vision. Montana will be voting on a constitutional amendment where the state can ignore any federal law it doesn't like. The authors are oblivious to the Civil War but it doesn't matter. The state also wants to create an unregulated state militia. The idea is floating around conservative circles. Virginia's own Attorney General wants to create a militia so that the state doesn't have to implement the repeal of DADT for the National Guard.

In five states where Republicans seized the governorships,the first order of business during the economic crisis was to try and outlaw abortion. Some efforts are old throwbacks like Ohio's heartbeat law, which would outlaw the procedure if a heartbeat could be heard or seen by a sonogram.

Time For Racheting Down The Rhetoric Is Over

House Republican Study Group has issued its plan to cut $2.5 trillion from the federal government over ten years. In my day, the House Study Group was where the GOP would put the radical right-wingers that didn't have the social skills to be hired as congressional aides. Among its suggestions is to defund USAID, the National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Endowment for the Arts, Public Broadcasting,all state aid forcing states to cut more government employees, AMTRAK and all funding for High Speed Rail, among other things.

But never fear the House Republicans said their agenda was to create jobs. So after the repeal of healthcare, now they are after global warming. This just edged out a new House bill to oppose all federal funding for abortion even though it doesn't exist now and to provide a "conscience clause" for all medical practitoners opposed to abortion. Randall Terry of Operation Rescue plans to run in the Democratic primaries against Barack Obama to make him answer questions on abortion. His past answer has been abortion should be "legal but rare." What more does Randall want? Rick Santorum blasted Obama--who has not said anything on abortion for over a year--for being a black man who condones abortion. Rick is suggesting that African-Americans are most likely to get abortions and that threatens their race. But since Rick is a member of the Christian Right, his main concern is the demographic winter coming for white people in the U.S.

Down in Tucson, the Arizona Tea Party wants to remove Sheriif Dupnick for his comments that the political rhetoric of the country trigger the slaughter. In Arlington, Massachusetts, a right-wing blogger who said "1 down and 537 to go" was arrested for keeping a large stockpile of weapons on hand. Teabaggers were quick to defend him and also are posting blogs arguing that revolutionary violence is OK because the Catholic Just war doctrine applies.

While most Americans supported President Obama's Tucson speech and the ceremony there, Franklin Graham resented the lack of references to Jesus Christ. Since the target of the assassination attempt was a Jewish Congresswoman, you might think references to Jesus might be inappropriate. I did and that's why I thought Eric Holder's long quotes from II Corinthians, which talked more about Jesus Christ than the usual prayers was wrong. I think Franklin was trying indirectly to defend his soul sister Sarah Palin.

The former Navy Chaplain says that the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a threat to national security and is actually a war on God. I always thought the repeal finally made the Navy legitimate."In the Navy..." The only military service represented in the Village People.

Talk about making money, the President's Midas Touch even concerns DADT. The repeal actually saves the American taxpayer $200 million. From TARP to the BP Oil Spill to DADT, Obama just coins money. That's what "Grand Theft Auto" Issa should be investigating. How come a socialist can make so much money?

Meanwhile,in the States, there is an ominous pattern of governments withdrawing Medicare from single Adults. That doesn't sound like anything significant but we are dealing with one of the few parts of the social nets, which supports the mentally ill. Are we going to rehospitalize the mentally ill? Maybe we could privatize mental asylums.

President Obama again betrayed his socialism by appointing GE's CEO Immelt as the head of his economic council, which has been renamed to emphasize jobs. Arianna Huffington seems to be hysterical that Obama ordered a government-wide effort to eliminate unnecessary regulations on business as a way to quietly stimulate the economy. Since this was also done during the Clinton Administration,I really don't see the great danger.

More dangerous is the effort by House Republicans to defund the new Consumer Protection Agency being created by my Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Elizabeth Warren. All she has to do is get it to July and the FED will fund it.

Rep. Peter King wants to start his investigations into American Muslims as part of the intelligence committee. No doubt he will ask Frank Gaffney, Washington's Go-To Islamophobe, to provide scholarly cover. I think we should encourage a widescale witchhunt. How about targeting Kareem Abdul Jabbar for the Muslim plot to corrupt basketball? Cat Stevens for introducing Sufi themes in his music. How about we go after Salmon Rushdie for a change? Why let Iran have all the fun? The possibilities are endless. Then the accused could be waterboarded to see whether they tell the truth. It would be like combining the Inquisition with the Salem Witch Trials and add a little Joe McCarthy. It would be boffo box on Fox News. This is an opportunity the country can't miss. We can then invite Franklin Graham to testify on how evil Islam is and how the Pentagon's National Prayer Committee kicked him off for his position.

Under They envy us our freedom department. I want to thank the Christian community in the United States for their great support for the Chaldean Christians in Iraq, who are being exterminated in the democracy we created. The last Christian left Anbar Province yesterday. Those who haven't been "disappeared" have gone into exile, making the Iraqi refugee flow the largest in the history of the Middle East. Hopefully, our Christians will come to the defense of the followers of John the Baptist, who still live in Iraq but are keeping a low profile. At least those awful Muslims came to the defense of Egypt's Coptic Christians, who had been subjected to suicide bombers and police brutality. The Muslim community in Egypt provided thousands of people to act as human shields against further attacks on the Coptics as they celebrated their Christmas.

Common Cause is taking aim at Supreme Court Justices Fat Tony Scalia and Chuckles Thomas claiming both men have a conflict of interest in the Citizens United case because they attended and participated in the Koch Brothers secret campaign conferences. If it were proven that both men had a conflict of interest, then Citizens United would have to be tried again. My problem is how does the Supreme Court actually regulate conflict of interest issues among justices. We know Elena Kagan recused herself from a series of cases when she got on since she had argued the government's case as Solicitor General but what if she hadn't. What mechanism exists to ensure this aside from impeachment which never will happen?

Rachel Maddow continues to report on the Spokane Martin Luther King bomb. The FBI has said it was the most sophisticated device they have seen in the States. They also claimed its positioning was very professional and that the damage done would have been profound. Federal authorities are already talking about this as "domestic terrorism". White supremacist groups aiming to push for the secession of the Pacific Northwest have been commmenting on this but not claiming credit. We should look back at the Belfast, Maine "dirty nuke" case, which disappeared from the media. There a neo-Nazi, who actually collected Hitler's kitchenware, had all the ingredients for a dirty bomb in his basement. He was upset by the election of Barack Obama and wanted to set the bomb off around Washington,D.C. He was only captured because he had abused his wife once too often and she ratted him out. I would imagine if we probe deep enough in Spokane we'll find some of the white supremacists from Idaho involved.

Speaking of secessionists, the National Enquirer, which gained credibility by exposing the Edwards'affair, reports that Todd Palin may be canoodling with a massage therapist. That's what a member of the Alaska Independence Party might do.

Glenn Beck has returned to his bipolar form. After displaying a slight contrition on Tucson, he is warning the American public about a "Reichstag". Glenn, it already happened, the Republicans took the House.

Paul Ryan has been chosen to respond to President Obama's State of the Union Address. Ryan's Blueprint for America has been buried with all the new GOP craziness. If this surfaces,people will have a field day. Ryan blasted the CBO for actually costing out his Blueprint, which they said would run massive deficits for decades and render the United States a type of Albania. Ryan has been given the most power any Budget Chairman in the House has ever had. He has veto on any budget proposals submitted in the House and also by the Senate in any reconciliation. It should be interesting if he talks about his ideas to privatize Medicare, Social Security and raise taxes on the middle class. Trust me he won't.

Conservatives are panicking over the rise of China. Even Mitt Romney believes the United States has to increase its military spending to compete because "the Chinese army works for very small pay." Of course, Republicans might pass funding for high-speed railso we can compete with China in this and other areas. What is it about economic development that the New GOP doesn't understand?

Personally, I am very skeptical that China will surpass the American economy anytime soon. And I also do not believe they manage capitalism better. I don't believe China can maintain its growth rate at 8% for the foreseeable future, which they claim they need to. Also by the time they are scheduled to surpass our economy, they will have a greater percentage of elderly in their population than we would. What terrifies the Chinese is the prospect of internal instability and their own military strategy suggests that.

Yesterday the Chinese leader tried to reassure Americans that they are playing a mature role in the global system. He pointed to the issues of Iran,Afghanistan and economic issues where the United States and China are cooperating closely. While Americans should be concerned about human rights issues, the preponderance of concern here in Washington is that China is about to surpass us. First, we have to drum up the Islamophobia. Then we can generate the fear of the Yellow Peril. We don't have energy for both right now.

I found it ironic that the Uighurs demonstrated here in Washington against the Chinese government. Under the previous administration, the Uighurs ended up being tortured in Gitmo and interrogated by the Chinese. When President Obama started releasing them, Congress made sure they could not be repatriated to the United States, despite having host families volunteering to take care of them.

Gonzo America--The Crazy, the Demented and the True

It's been a busy week as the incoming has been hot and heavy. The birthers or Orly Taitz or Oilie Taint acting as attorney had their case thrown out by a District Court because Orly never signed the papers. A woman medic in this brief likened President Obama to Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Francois Duvalier and was seeking to apply for conscientious objection because Obama has not shown his birth certificate.

The Tenthers-- the new Tenth Amendment movement--is trying to change the Georgia state constitution to prevent health care reform. Tenthers claim that Medicare and Social Security are unconstitutional--something real constitution scholars deny. I would like them to succeed in their effort so when healthcare reform passes, they'll find their effort will have literally no effect--nada, zippo, the big goose egg.

Gover Rick Parry of the Republic of Texas resents President Obama planning to address the nation's school children on the first day of school. He insists that Obama should have talked to school principals about what he's going to say. The problem,Gov. Rick, is that President Obama points in the speech are already on the Department of Education website and a letter already went out to all schools. Stay informed! Stay Classy! The Florida Republican Party has denounced the speech as Obama's effort to indoctrinate children with socialism. South Carolina and Georgia are making it optional for students to attend school because of parental protests. Even here in Virginia, Loudon County with the wealthiest of Republicans will forgo the President's speech. Christians have petitioned some counties in California and in Colorado to prohibit the broadcast of the President speech.

So let's get this straight. The President, who has been a constitutional law professor and graduated law school magna cum laude, would be a bad role model for children. Having heard him on education before, he comes off like a nerdy guy emphasizing all the usual bromides of attend school, study hard, do your homework and eat healthy foods and get your sleep. The very stuff of socialist utopias. All the criticism and censorship of the speech will only make it more attractive for kids. Somehow all the protesters forget the speech will be on C-Span, WhiteHouse. gov and Youtube in case the children want to disobey their parents.

The question really is why the media actually give these morons any publicity. If anything, most of these characters protesting the President of the United States talking to the nation's students should be declared unfit parents. The head of the Florida Republican Party in his television appearances implies that he prohibits his children from ever watching the President. In my ancient youth, all parents encouraged children to listen to the President, whether they voted for him or not, because it was all a part of civics.

Levi Johnston, the once future son-in-law of Sarah Palin, has brought high entertainment back to politics this past week. Levi claims that Sarah was not the best homemaker, didn't know how to shoot a gun even though she kept one under the bed, tired of the Government's job because it was "too hard" and just wanted to make money. Levi hopes to be a male model and pose for all the gays reading Playgirl. Meanwhile, Sarah is in an undisclosed location, occasionally phoning into her family. She is"writing her memoir" and has been asking her dad about how many points she scored in basketball,when they went to the Boston Marathon and other exciting sports-related questions.

Republicans are scouting around for future Presidential candidates. Among them are General Petraeus, whom no one will remember, especially after we leave Iraq in ruins. Another is Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe fame. And another still--a favorite of the base and gays is Rick Santorum. As we all remember, Dan Savage of America's greatest sex advice column "Savage Love" had a contest about what sexual reference should be "Santorum". The winner was the bodily fluids excreted after Anal Sex. This has immortalized Rick Santorum to millions of Americans.

The Left is going bonkers over every statement or cryptic reference coming from the White House and Democratic leaders concerning whether the 'public option" is in or out of the healthcare proposals. As of this Friday before Labor Day, it's still in, although people are afraid that President Obama is negotiating a "trigger" option with Senator Olympia Snowe.

During the past week, our ace media have missed several pro-health reform rallies where thousands have gathered in support of the President's plan. Instead, the big story was a healthcare opponent having his finger beaten off by a pro-healthcare supporter. We were even treated to the drops of blood on the sidewalk.

The press continued their superb coverage by criticising the President for going on a second vacation to Camp David. OK, now President Bush spent a total of 3 full years at his ranch without a great deal of criticism. President Obama's vacation on Martha's Vineyard was something less than relaxing. He re-annouced the appointment of Ben Bernacke to the Fed, wrote and gave a statement on Senator Kennedy's death, flew to see the Kennedy family and gave a eulogy. The networks even got around to criticising him for not sticking around for the family-only funeral.

The radical Right Christian communities have topped themselves by coming out against healthcare reform. I understand one could have criticisms but a church coming out against the whole thing. Amazing. The Archdiocese of St Louis gave the reactionary Catholic voice by saying the Church does not endorse socialized medicine. One really has to get in the weeds to find anything remotely socialist in anything being proposed. It is incredibly disconcerting for religious organizations to come out against health coverage for the poor and uninsured. To put it mildly, it's theologically disturbing. A great Pastor in Tempe, Arizona, which must breed more nuts per acres than anywhere in the U.S., called for Obama to die and go to Hell. Not for anything he did, mind you; it's because the Pastor admits he hates him--something that strikes me as anti-Christian.

The great lover and fundamentalist Governor of South Carolina Sanford is being pressed to resign by the state's GOP. The Lt.Governor Andre Bauer has offered to sit for the remaining term and promised not to run for election. It appears that some of the Governor evangelical friends soon circulated rumors that the gay community has confirmed that Mr. Bauer has had gay affairs. Local evangelicals, who support his very heavy family values approach and his leadership in getting a variety of Christian slogans on license plates, had an amazing response. "Just because he had sex with men doesn't mean he's gay." "It was probably some sort of mistake." Wow!

The Head of the Board of Education selected by loverboy Sanford has been upholding family values. She home-schools her children and has introduced a consevative curriculum in the school system. At night she likes to play on line suggesting she would really like to be in a threesome and looks forward to some girl-girl action. She even dabbles in writing erotica and likes to show up at political functions and show off her sheer underwear. That might make the South rise again.

Lawrence O'Donnell, who has been ably defending Democratic views on MSNBC, appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and claimed that President Obama was desparate on the health care issue and was pessimistic about it passing. It was an unusual statement in a week of unusual events. Strip away all the noise and polling on healthcare reform remains fairly consistent when people are asked about the particulars of the plan. My gut tells me something substantial will be passed.

Margaret and Helen, America's oldest bloggers, have been unkind on the subject of Republican criticisms of the health care reform. In their eighties, they promise everyone they'll live as long as they want and will spend the grandchildren's inheritance doing so. The ladies warn Americans about congress types who claim God speaks to them. They particularly aim their arrows at Michelle Bachman of Minnesota, who loves to boast she is the most hated Republican woman in America--after Sarah Palin. Michelle Bachman urged her supporters to slit their wrists this week and create a blood bond to prevent healthcare reform from passing. She also promised that even though Democrats want to elect the first woman President, God will decide on a Republican. Pretty strong stuff. Margaret and Helen dished about the lack of education of some of the Republican luminaries such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, both of whom dropped out of college. They did say at least Palin got her degree after six years and five colleges later.

And speaking of Glenn Beck--he continues to infuriate me because of his colossal ignorance. The other night he decided to "decode the architecture of Rockefeller Center" as an allegory of progressive-fascist-communist conspiracies somehow linked to the Rockefeller Family and --ergo--Obama (?) The history of art in Rockefeller Center is well-documented with such pyrotechnics as Diego Rivera creating a fresco with Lenin and a lampoon of Rockefeller as part of a pay dispute. This is so well-known you have to be truly ignorant to make up your own history without any reference to it.

Advertisers continue to flee Glenn Beck, which only fuels his self-aggrandizement as the sole purveyor of truth. In Washington, we look forward to the grand finale of his 9-12 project, which somehow believes the United States was created during the Revolution and then time-travelled to 9-11, which in Beck's perverse world we became as One--sort of like a post-modern Woodstock built on tragedy. And the fine country that existed then is being taken away from us by the fiendish black man Barack Obama. The 9-12 project is to conclude with the gathering of the tea-baggers, who I guess will wait the Rapture. On the 13th then, we are to see the March on Washington of all those for healthcare reform.

This non-stop insanity since September shows no let-up. Birthers, Deathers, Tenthers, Gun nuts and the Ayran Christs make a very dangerous brew. Dan Savage was quite correct that these people want the President dead--no iffs, no ands or buts. You would have to go back to the tail-end of the Eisenhower era, when the extreme right emerged to accuse Ike and his cabinet, which included General Marshall, of being fellow travellers and Comsymps. When JFK was elected, this underbelly of our society put the train in motion that fueled the assasinations of JFK, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, even though the assassins themselves had a variety of politics. They legitimized violence as a way to settle disputes in our democracy. The same is going on today. What is striking is that there are no mature adults emerging on the Right to neutralize this. Instead we have Senator Jim Inhofe claiming "all our institutions are under attack today. And the President is thinking about letting terrorists free in our country" And you can make your own list of elected officials that re-iterate this nonsense ad nauseum.

I'm tempted to give it rest myself. These people are so certifiable, it is anxiety provoking just to follow their rantings. In the next posts, I'll talk about some good books that have been printed--some even by socialists.