John Boehner and the Implosion of the Republican Party

If you have followed this blog at all, you already know I have worked hard to expose how awful former Speaker of the House, John Boehner is, which makes it just that more delicious when even Boehner compares Ted Cruz to Satan. To be fair, I suspect Satan looks at Cruz and says: “Gosh, you are kinda mean.”  Boehner’s exact words in describing Cruz were: ““Lucifer in the flesh… I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”

My own bias is that yes, Cruz is an awful human being. He is explicitly anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigration, in fact, I’m not certain there are actually any people he likes, save for white Christian men–OY! Of course, given the wide berth his colleagues give him, the feeling seems to be mutual. I wonder if we need to ban Cruz from using public bathrooms.

This most recent trouble with Cruz is indicative of something greater at work–the implosion of the Republican party. The wave of Tea Party (right wing extremists) have pulled the GOP into a direction that makes a train wreck look like a lovely afternoon outing. I submit all of the GOP presidential debates as evidence. Cruz’ bizarre attempt at courting Indiana primary voters by trotting out Carly Fiorina as his running mate seems desperate but also exceedingly ignorant, as it holds no weight. If this becomes a contested convention, then the delegates pick the VP candidate. The implosion of this party manifests itself by working to hurt most United States citizens.  The rise of this hateful state has also emboldened the Chief Obstructionist and Racist, Mitch McConnell.

While it becomes more apparent everyday that Cruz needs to be sent to Guantanamo Bay, sadly, that would make him the only person currently that should be there. Let us not forget how equally awful John Kasich is, despite that “Golly Gosh” grin of his.

GOP leaders seem shocked that decades of discrimination and obstruction have left them with these yahoos as their candidates. Many congresscritters running in tight races have even said they won’t show up at the convention. Sorry, folks, but you built this — walking away won’t change a single fact, for you all have created a dirt that just won’t wash clean.

Boehner’s Ill-Fitting Suit

Yet again the people of the United States are witnessing an enormous waste of tax-payer money and political grandstanding, as the third most powerful man in the country is filing a lawsuit against President Obama regarding the Affordable Care Act. We saw this waste of money and grandstanding before when Boehner hired a legal team to defend DOMA — that was a colossal waste of money and time to promote bigotry.

With the success that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is enjoying, what do Boehner and his cronies have planned? Will they be making home visits to revoke health insurance from families that now are insured? What is the purpose of this frivolous lawsuit? I wonder why Boehner and his GOP House of Shame can’t work on creating jobs and repairing infrastructure, as President Obama has urged and the American people have demanded.  Sadly, for me, this feels like a great deal of racism being stirred up again.  I suspect Boehner must not have a single gay/black/female, or any minority friend given where he spends his negative energy as the Speaker of the House.

Boehner claims that the root of the lawsuit is an effort to curb executive abuse of power. That doesn’t make any sense. Congress — specifically the HOUSE which Boehner hypothetically leads — has a tool to deal with such abuse. It’s called impeachment. Despite many GOP claims that such action would be justified (and a deep tide of Tainted Tea encouraging it), it’s pretty clear that there is no way impeachment could succeed and polls indicate that it might backfire in November’s mid-terms.

So Boehner is trying an ironic, hypocritical, unprecedented Legislative power grab. Curiously, his claim of “abuse of power” which he links to Obama’s executive orders and signing statements, is an outright lie. Relative to every president of the last 50 years, President Obama is the least frequent implementor of these two LEGITIMATE tools of executive authority. Even Gerald Ford issued more executive orders in barely 1/3 the time in office. Curiously, the king of executive orders is Saint Ronald the Addled. The all-time champ of signing statements is George W. Bush aka Cheney’s Sock Puppet. So it’s fine when conservative white guys do it, but when a legitimately elected man of color facing the most obstructionist Congress in modern history tries to actually govern…

It’s also curious that Boehner singled out the ACA’s mandate for the lawsuit. Irony #1 – President Sock Puppet issued an executive order delaying Medicare sign-up penalties. Sounds a lot like what President Obama did with the ACA; that is, he established executive policy to smoothly implement a complicated law. Irony #2 – Boehner ignores the primary area where most Americans feel the administration may have overreached: NSA spying and tapping. I guess even unpopular strong executive action is fine if the Speaker AGREES with it.

CALL TO ACTION: Draw attention to this sham. Have every member of the House who supports it dragged into the light come election time. This lawsuit is frivolous, wasteful, vindictive, and hypocritical. Let’s make it cost Boehner and his rabid base come November.

Congressional GOP Gets Lost in Oz

Today’s post will be greatly enhanced if you start humming the wishful tunes of Dorothy’s stalwart companions. The Shutdown has already cost close to 5 Billion Dollars thus far. As the government shutdown enters its third week and the debt ceiling looms, Republicans in the House and Senate seem to be searching for a brain, a heart, and some courage.

IF I ONLY HAD A BRAIN! Sadly, the longer the shutdown continues, the more absurd the claims of individual GOP Congresscritters gets. Initially, the refusal to fund the government was presented as a “principled” stand against the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare.”) When their bullying demands were met with stern resistance by Senate Democrats and President Obama, the House GOP got confused very quickly. They still stand for something, they assure us, and they’ll be sure to let us know what it is… as soon as they figure it out.

Almost daily, Speaker John Boehner hints at a new plan, lets a few details leak, holds a short press conference, and fails to bring anything to the floor. Apparently he left the shared brain with Mitch McConnell, who needed it to try to reason out a compromise that might pass the Senate. In the meantime, the usual crew — Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, Louis Gohmert, Mike Lee, and all the rest of the lollipop guild — keep changing their off-kilter tune. The fight isn’t really about health care (except when it is), it’s about the size of government (except when it isn’t). Forced to abandon their thinly-veiled racist rants against the president’s signature accomplishment, they just don’t know what to do.

IF I ONLY HAD A HEART! Members of Congress continue to draw their salaries while hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without. There’s still no guarantee that retroactive pay will be part of any deal. Even more dramatically, nearly SEVEN MILLION FTE worth of government contractors are without work during the shutdown and have no chance of retroactive pay. All this ignores the thousands of kids turned away from Head Start, the millions deprived of food, medical, and housing care, the thousands more who are just waiting for funds to run out one program at a time. If the shutdown continues to the end of the month, there will be no money to pay out Social Security or Veterans’ Benefits. And, just to prove how heartless they are, GOP leaders in both chambers of Congress are proposing to strip health benefits from their staff, driving them (ironically) to the ACA exchanges without an employer subsidy. You can bet all those staffers would like to drop a house on the leaders of the House.

IF I ONLY HAD THE NERVE! The media still spin this as a problem coming from the far right of the GOP (when they aren’t falsely laying blame on the President). It may be that the loudest voices from the fringe started the shouting, but in every vote so far the Republicans have voted as a tight bloc, more evidence of the GOP sharing one brain. All the so-called moderates have refused to stand up for what’s best for the country. In the Senate, the GOP managed to filibuster a clean debt ceiling bill. If there are voices of reason in the party, they refuse to speak. Sadly, the Gerrymandering of House districts leaves too many representatives sheltered from reality. GOP ratings in polls are dropping like the Wizard’s balloon but most House members can rely on at least a slim majority to return them to office.

CALL TO ACTION: We live in the United States, not Oz. We need elected officials who take their responsibilities as civil servants seriously and who govern with compassion, reason, and courage. Republicans should look seriously at their Representatives and find ways to support new voices in Congress that will bring true compromise and balance. Democrats should take courage and support challenges to GOP folks that seemed undefeatable. The people are paying attention, and the next election should be a clear message about what we really need.

John Boehner’s House of Shame

Just when you thought the country was able to finally get the rancid taste from the Tea Party out of our collective mouths, the Teahadists have brewed a particularly wicked, hypocritical, and inequitable pot of tea.  John (I seem to have mislocated my spine) Boehner has yet again proven his dedication to erring on the wrong side of history. Twice in one week the House has passed a budget bill defunding the Affordable Care Act even though President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have made it clear that such a budget bill will never survive. Never mind that these nasty Republicans are acting AGAINST what is best for Americans and against what most Americans want.

Boehner yet again acquiesced to competing Madhatters, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.  This gang of school yard bullies have wasted tax payer money with their grandstanding and posturing in their attempt to hold the country hostage over the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Yes, why not deny millions of Americans access to health care? These civil servants (a term I use loosely with this group) do not have to worry about their own access to health care, but certainly are not advocating for those in need.

Let us also address how this greedy group of gangsters is impacting the economy. Without a budget in place, most Federal government functions will shut down on Tuesday. That means millions of workers will be furloughed and may never get their back pay. The ripple effect will touch every service these workers might use and every place they might shop. So-called “essential services” — air traffic control, Social Security payments, meat inspections, and such — will continue but most services will not. Even the things that will be funded will operate more slowly.

Ironically, many health services are considered essential. That means that by shutting down the government, the Tea Tainted Tricksters may actually ensure the implementation of the next wave of ACA measures.

The GOP’s increasingly strident demands to defund the ACA demonstrate how much they fear it. Polls and samples clearly show that as Americans understand what the law actually does — and begin to benefit from it — its popularity goes up. If it rolls out as intended, the Democrats have a signature accomplishment to campaign on in 2014. Bitter, bickering, bigoted, and blathering, the GOP has nothing but rhetoric and an insane hatred of the President to campaign on (racist much?). Sadly, they are willing to punish millions of true civil servants to make their pointless point.

Higher Ground: Syria and Violence

I initially had a Labor Day story prepared, but scrapped it because the impending attack on Syria is sticking in my craw. I’m happy to share last year’s Labor Day story if you would rather read that.

I heard President Obama’s speech imploring congress to give the green light to attack Syria and I was left feeling forlorn and felt somewhat betrayed. I thought President Obama was going to be the President who would find a way to remove the United States from wars, yet we are still in Afghanistan. (“Never fight a land war in Asia” — thank you Princess Bride.) I thought this was the president who learned from history about the spoils of war — the great profit machine.

The President repeated the phrase “national security” in his speech, a verbal tic that was disturbingly Bush-y. Those words ring hollow when lives are at stake and no credible evidence shows any real risk to our country. Am I missing something? Can anyone tell me where this threat lies?

Of course I believe we need to offer some way to interrupt the violence and the people being killed via chemical warfare.  But do we have no other options aside from more violence, which has no guarantee of changing the overall system in place in Syria?  As with Iraq and Afghanistan, we know many civilian lives were lost. Are we still comfortable to simply call it “collateral damage?”

Have we asked the people of Syria if they want  help and how they envision what that help might look like?  Have explored the myriad options of what an intervention might look like, aside from violence?

Let us also look at the soldiers that will be sent and the disproportionate number of soldiers of color and lower socioeconomic status who will be fighting. When we lose these lives we also alter our political landscape — we continue to silence an already marginalized and disenfranchised population. Do we learn nothing from history?

People keep on learnin’
Soldiers keep on warrin’
World keep on turnin’
Cause it won’t be too long
Powers keep on lyin’
While your people keep on dyin’
World keep on turnin’
Cause it won’t be too long
I’m so darn glad he let me try it again
Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I’m so glad that I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin’
Till I reach the highest ground
Teachers keep on teachin’
Preachers keep on preachin’
World keep on turnin’
Cause it won’t be too long
Oh no
Lovers keep on lovin’
Believers keep on believin’
Sleepers just stop sleepin’
Cause it won’t be too long

You can hear Stevie Wonder perform this song  here.  I want to believe that people “keep on learnin'”and that we will stop warring, but there is little evidence of that thus far.  I would also add that when voices like John McCain and John Boehner are supporting an attack on Syria, it would seem prudent and wise to alter one’s plan of attack.

LGBT History Month 2013: The Death of DOMA!

Today marks a landmark decision from the United States Supreme Court and a victory for the LGBT community.  Clinton’s legacy of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is now dead.  Even now, I am having to write this article through tears of joy!  The unconstitutional, shamefully discriminatory DOMA has finally been put to rest.

The 5-4 decision found Justice Kennedy siding with the reliably progressive Justices Bader Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor. The ruling is quite clear, emphasizing that by ignoring state marriage law, the federal government violated the Fifth Amendment. It reads, in part:

The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity. By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others.

Of course, Scalia and his other school yard bullies  (including homophobic Chief Justice Roberts) voted to keep DOMA intact. They put forward a few different rationales, but basically relied on the “gays are icky” defense.  Sadly, Chief Justice Roberts who holds enormous power, has sent a clear message that he does not intend to treat all citizens equally or equitably.

Congratulations to Edie Windsor, whose steadfast insistence on having her marriage recognized moved this case forward. She is a true hero and her legal team deserves our thanks.

We still have a way to go. The patchwork of state-by-state marriage equality means that LGBT Americans get different rights based on where they live. This decision, however, makes it clear that marriage is marriage. That’s a huge step forward.  Poor John Boehner who spent so much of our tax payer dollars defending DOMA.  Is that a tear I see, Mr. Boehner?

Distribution of Wealth in the United States: A Scary Picture of Money

I have been rather astonished and disappointed with all of the hullabaloo being made over the record highs achieved with the Dow, as though it were an accurate instrument measuring the financial success and stability of ALL Americans. This continued subscription to “trickle down economics” is part of the dark legacy of Ronald Reagan.  This distorted view of economics does hold true…if you are standing in front of a Fun House mirror.  Regardless of my own philosophy and my own political convictions, the unbiased truth is that the recent record highs of the Dow only demonstrate the exponentially increasing wealth of the top 10% of Americans.

I admit to having my own very conflicted feelings around money and about capitalism, so I will try to contain all of this article to just facts regarding wealth in the United States.  I have to thank my friend Steve Joiner for inspiring me to write this.

First, let us divide the country into five sections of wealth: The Bottom 20%, The Second 20%, The Middle 20%, The Fourth 20%, and finally the top 20%.  92% of all Americans believe the distribution of wealth needs to be more equitable and distributed more fairly.  Sadly, this same 92% of Americans’ perception of the actual distribution of wealth is far removed from the reality.  The reality is that the bottom 40% of Americans have an infinitesimal portion of the distribution of wealth, while the top 1 % have more than the entire wealth that 9 out of 10 Americans believe the top 20% should have.

I will try to make this a bit more simple and understandable.  Let us say the entire country has 100 people total.  Of that 100 people, 60% of those people are either destitute, or struggling to make ends meet. Another 20% are doing well financially.  The final 20% can be split up as follows: 18% are doing exceedingly well and controlling a great amount of wealth, but then the top 1% control so much wealth that it cannot be pictured on a simple bar graph of wealth due to its disproportionate size.  For greater detail and so you can see the actual graphs, click here.

What can be done?  We know that 92% of Americans want this inequality to change, so where do we begin?  Here I have to thank my friend Bruce Kestelman for inspiring me to address Paul Ryan’s budget redux.  Here is where the disparities in wealth have to become political and I have to call out bad behavior.  Paul Ryan continues to offer a budget for the United States that only  benefits the top 2% of Americans.  Yes, he continues to beat the tired old drum of ending Medicare and gutting Medicaid and of course, lowering taxes on the very wealthy.  Am I the only one nonplussed here?  While claiming to be in alignment with “Catholic Values,” see what Catholics say in response to Ryan.  How on earth does Ryan’s budget honor the social contract or social justice in any way?  We can change the inequitable distribution of wealth with our votes.  We can take power away from Paul Ryan and John Boehner by not voting for them!

I realize today is April Fool’s Day, but I regret to say this is not an April Fools joke.  Well, sadly the joke is at the expense of the American people.

Bigot of the Week Award: November 30, U.S. House Leadership

Bigots of the Week

Rumor has it that elephants never forget. It seems like the lumbering mastodon of the GOP never learns. In this month’s historic elections, American voters sent the most diverse group to Congress ever. Record numbers of women, African Americans, Latinos, LGB Americans, and other minorities are represented. So what did Speaker Boehner (R – is for Racist) do? He appointed all white men to be chairs of the House committees.

That’s right, there isn’t a minority heading even a small committee. You’d think an overgrown, tearful Oompaloompa like Boehner would be more sensitive, but apparently not.

Now, to be fair, there just aren’t that many minorities in the Republican House caucus, so the choices are limited (and usually creepy). After an election where the GOP got slapped down for its misogyny, racism, and homophobia, however, you’d think they would have made an effort. Maybe they could have borrowed one of Mitt Romney’s binders to find someone.

I can only think of one explanation. Since Romneybot 2012 cost the party the White House, maybe they are compensating by displaying their own white House. What do you think?

A dishonorable mention goes to Dr. Oz for thinking that it is acceptable to offer “reparative therapy” tips on his show.  Shame on you Dr. Oz!

Bigot of the Week Award: July 13, U.S. House Republicans

Official Spokesman for the Bigot of the Week

Proving once again that they have no priorities other than opposing the President at every turn, the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives wasted taxpayer time and money holding a completely hollow vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Continuing their temper tantrum since the Supreme Court upheld the majority of the health care law, House leaders conducted their 33rd vote to repeal, defund, or dismantle the act. You read that right: 33 votes in 18 months. Let’s look at the facts.

Most significantly, the ACA was passed with bipartisan support. Any effort to impede it will stop at the House, since the Democrat-controlled Senate will stop it cold. Even if by some chance a bill made it through the Senate, what are the odds that the President wouldn’t veto any effort to block one of his signature achievements?

These votes are purely symbolic and very juvenile. The Republicans voted as a block, with every single one present supporting repeal. Oh, and this is the party of fiscal responsibility, right? So why would they spend an estimated $50 million or more holding these votes that they know won’t go anywhere? What price pettiness?

More significantly, the people that these men and women are supposed to represent are not interested in any more “anti-Obamacare” showboating. Two recent polls show that the Supreme Court decision has stabilized the health care debate on Main Street. A Washington Post-ABC poll shows support for the ACA up eight points to a 47-47 dead heat. More significantly a Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows that 56% of Americans are done with the debate and want Congress to move on to other matters; only 38% want to pursue efforts to block or repeal the law.

What do the people want Congress to do? Create jobs and fix the economy. How many times has the House as a whole voted on either of these issues? None. The President has put forth proposals that sit as bills languishing in committee. Neither the Jobs Act nor the Layoff Prevention Act have seen even a debate scheduled. Why? Because temper tantrums are more important than people’s lives. So what if the most vulnerable Americans need affordable care, better jobs (or any jobs), and economic stability. They can’t pay for campaign ads, so screw ’em.

Just to add insult to injury, House leaders made a strategic pick for the spokesman for this vote. Trying to dodge the “let’s destroy the one thing that Black guy in the White House accomplished” label, they picked African-American Rep. Allen West (R – Self Loathing) to speak about the vote. He performed just as well as you might expect if you know anything about his history of nutty ranting.

I don’t think it’s symbolic. Now that we know that the truth is out there that this is a tax, we need to be able to let the American people know where we stand. […] The American people don’t want this Patient Protection Affordable Care Act. It’s heinous, it’s onerous. They want it gone so we as their representatives are going to continue to do what they sent us up here to do which is every way that we possibly can make sure that this bad policy, this bad law is irradiated [sic] from our rolls.

Taking that simple paragraph apart for all the errors, lies, and abuses of language is just too exhausting. Just remember that Speaker Boehner thought this guy was the best spokesman for their actions. Well, maybe he was right…crazy is as crazy does.

Bigot of the Week Award: May 10, Right-Wing Response to Presidential Courage

Bigot of the Week

The dominant story in this week’s news has been President Obama’s clear, principled statement in support of marriage equality on Wednesday. Beyond the media frenzy, it is interesting to see how those on the other side of the political spectrum have responded. Setting aside the predictable shrieks from the professional haters like NOM, Tony Perkins, Bryan Fischer, Bill Donahue, and their ilk, what do the key politicians and pundits say? Well, that’s sadly predictable too.

Mitt Romney:

[I have] indicated my view, which is I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name.

Still sounding like a broken robot, Romney stakes out a move-the-rights-backward stance, just like his signing a pledge that makes it legal to discriminate against the LGBT community. And he wants to lead this nation?

House Speaker John Boehner:

I think he made his position very clear. I’ve always believed marriage was between a man and a woman. But Republicans here on Capitol Hill are focused in on the economy.

Nicely put, since it avoids the fact that they are focused on destroying the economic recovery.

Faux News shrieked that the President had declared “War on Marriage!” I don’t think they were listening to the same interview I was. Radio semi-personality Mike Huckster — oops, Huckabee — used the announcement to raise funds for his PAC. Misogynist blowhard Rush Limbaugh, drawing on his four-time success with heterosexual marriage, echoed the Fox WAR talking point. How pathetic that they think they can take our focus off of the real War Against Women and create a war that does not exist. It echoes of the war in Iraq because of those mythical weapons of mass destruction!  I could have entitled this article, “Lies Told By the Republican Party.”

Easily the most tragic responses came from the two LGBT Republican (just typing that nearly set my keyboard on fire) advocacy groups. The Log Cabin Republicans:

That the president has chosen today, when LGBT Americans are mourning the passage of Amendment One, to finally speak up for marriage equality is offensive and callous.

and GOProud:

It is good to see that after intense political pressure that President Obama has finally come around to the Dick Cheney position on marriage equality.  I am sure, however, the President’s newly discovered support for marriage is cold comfort to the gay couples in North Carolina.

What kind of Big Ball of Crazy do we have here? It takes more than a little gall to use Dick Cheney as your model for civil rights. How sad that these groups cannot celebrate a victory for LGBT rights, even coming from the other side of the aisle. What a tragic display of self-loathing, internalized oppression, and toxic political blindness.

Special dishonorable mention to CNN, by the way, for continuing to go to a certified hate group for “balanced coverage.” Wolf Blitzer brought on Tony Perkins to respond to the President…

Now if you will excuse me, I have to put on my battle fatigues and get on the front line of War, as per the gay agenda to destroy all hetero marriages. BWAHAHA!