Monthly Archives: October 2012

Hey, Darrell Issa, Investigate This!

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Since Teapublicans took control of the House, Congressman Darrell Issa has used the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to conduct investigations (witch hunts would be a more accurate description) intended to embarrass the Obama administration.

First, Issa went after Solyndra, but that investigation uncovered no wrongdoing and actually led back to the Bush administration (oops).  Next, he went after Fast and Furious, the ATF and the Department of Justice.  While he found problems with the Phoenix office of the ATF, he uncovered no wrongdoing by the DOJ or Secretary Eric Holder. 

Now Issa is threatening to investigate the Bureau of Labor Statistics September jobs report.  (After all, with the Teapublican stonewalling of the President’s jobs bills, how could the economy possibly have created so many jobs?)

But Issa and the rest of the Teapublican torch and pitchfork crowd are missing a real scandal.  In the midst of their investigation of State Department security policies following the murder of our ambassador to Libya, Teapublican Congressman Jason Chaffetz admitted that he and the GOP-controlled House had cut funding for embassy security prior to the attack.

Now that’s something worthy of a serious investigation.

How Should Democrats Respond?

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If President Obama (cringe) loses this election and Democrats (gasp) lose the majority in the Senate, how should Democrats respond?  Should they use the filibuster as much as Teapublicans?  Should they follow the Teapublicans’ example and automatically oppose everything President (choke) Romney supports.

It would be fitting.  But Democrats are less wed to ideology than Teapublicans.  And they seem to care more about the nation’s future.  After all, how did Al Gore respond when the election was stolen from him in 2000?  He didn’t make media appearances criticizing President Bush.  Instead, he asked Democrats to let it go and pull together for the sake of the nation.  And how did Democrats respond when they discovered Bush took us to war in Iraq on false pretenses?  Most took the high road.

Senator Conrad’s admission on Fox News that he advised President Obama to not publicly support the Simpson-Bowles Committee’s debt-reduction plan for fear that Teapublicans would automatically oppose it should be eye-opening for anyone so insulated as to not have noticed the blind anti-Obama fervor of Teapublicans.  They have stonewalled virtually every initiative from the Obama administration from the start.  They have even denounced and voted against their own ideas as soon as President Obama appeared to endorse them.  Then they falsely accused the administration of not including them in negotiations.

It would be justifiable for Democrats to turn the tables on a Teapublican administration.  But what would that accomplish?  More partisanship.  More acrimony.  And more hatred.

But it could be even more harmful to our nation to allow a Teapublican administration and Congress to dismantle Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, to attack Iran, to expand class warfare on the middle class and the poor, to trash our environment, to privatize schools, and to reward the Teapublican’s corporate masters.

Should that circumstance arise, Democrats will be faced with some very difficult decisions.

But we can avoid the problem.  Polls tell us that the majority of Americans support Democratic ideas.  Let’s make sure that all Democrats and liberal-leaning independents vote!

Why Teapublicans See Cheating Everywhere.

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In 2000, voter suppression in Florida gave the White House to George W. Bush.  Even though investigations proved the election was stolen, Democrats accepted the results for the good of the country.

But after Barack Obama’s landslide victory in 2008, Republicans claimed that ACORN had stolen the election for Democrats.  Lengthy investigations found absolutely no evidence of voter fraud.  Nevertheless, Republicans refused to accept President Obama’s legitimacy.  They questioned his citizenship.  They blocked and obstructed every presidential decision and appointment setting a record for the number of filibusters and holds on appointments.

For the past four years, Republican legislatures and governors have passed new voter ID laws in order to prevent many Democrats from voting.  They have instituted voter purges in heavily populated Democratic voting districts. 

Now they claim the polls have been rigged to show President Obama with a lead over Mitt Romney.  And they claim that the Obama administration has rigged the job numbers to show that the economy is better than it really is.  Of course, if the polls are rigged, then they’re being rigged by both liberal and conservative media.  And the administration has absolutely no influence over the reporting of jobs data.  Indeed, the data actually lags behind independent payroll data from ADP.

Why are Teapublicans so determined to find fraud by Democrats when there is none?  I’d suggest it’s the result of a guilty conscience.  Since Teapublicans so readily steal, cheat and lie, they assume everyone does.

Truth is, Teapublican ideas are not popular with most working Americans.  To compensate, Teapublicans pour money into commercials filled with patently false charges against their opponents.  They steal opposing candidate’s signs.  They vandalize cars sporting opponent’s bumper stickers.  And they cry foul whenever something goes against them.

If Teapublicans really want to find cheaters and bullies, all they have to do is look in a mirror.

Time To Call The Churches’ Bluff.

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Since the formation of the Moral Majority in the late seventies, many churches have immersed themselves in politics.  Pastors, particularly evangelical pastors, have implored their flocks to vote for Republicans despite Internal Revenue System rules which prohibit a non-profit 501c3 from engaging in politics at the risk of losing its tax-free status.

Yesterday, pastors across the nation challenged the IRS rules by telling their members how to vote based on the churches’ stances with regard to abortion, gay marriage and other so-called “values” issues.  In other words, they told their members to vote for Romney.

The churches even recorded their political messages with hopes that the IRS will attempt to change their tax status.  Apparently, they believe that any such attempt by the IRS will result in a backlash, unleashing them to take any political stance they want.

The churches consider it a First Amendment issue of free speech.  They assume the conservative Supreme Court will see it their way.  At the very least, they assume a Teapublican-controlled Congress will pass a constitutional amendment in their favor.

However, the issue is not about free speech.  It’s about taxes.

Certainly, pastors and churches have the right to make any political statements they want.  And the IRS has the power to determine their tax status. If pastors want to use their unique status as “spiritual” advisers to engage in partisan politics, they should be held to the same standards as any other Political Action Group.

Teapublican Echo Chamber.

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A recent email from the US Chamber of Commerce listed its preferred “pro-business” candidates for the US Senate.  Not surprisingly, every single recommended candidate was a Teapublican.

That’s not because Democrats are anti-business.  They’re most certainly not.

It’s because the US Chamber of Commerce is little more than a highly partisan Political Action Committee that supports large, multi-national corporations and the Republican Party.  It spends member fees to lower taxes and cut regulations for multi-nationals.  It pushes for fewer obstacles to international trade.  And it lobbies almost exclusively on behalf of multi-nationals.

These things do nothing to benefit the small businesses on Main Street.  In fact, for small businesses, they cause more harm than good.

So if you own a small business, ask yourself:  What do I really get out of membership to the Chamber aside from the occasional mixer and a certificate to hang on the wall?  If the answer is, as I suspect, nothing, take a moment before you write that next membership check.  Why pay membership fees that will be used to work against your self-interests?

Wouldn’t you be better off saving the money to join the Rotary or the Lions Club, instead?

The Etch-A-Sketch Debate.

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We should have seen it coming.  For months, Mitt Romney ran further and further to the right.  Then during last night’s debate with President Obama, Romney did an about face.  Living up to the Etch-A-Sketch strategy that Mitt’s campaign manager promised following the Teapublican primaries, he abandoned most of the right wing rhetoric and ideas he promoted in the primaries and promised to be a moderate healer, instead.

Defying arithmetic, he promised to increase spending for the military, cut taxes for everybody, cut healthcare costs while repealing Obamacare, increase spending for education and student loans, increase spending for Medicare and Medicaid, maintain Social Security and create 12 million jobs.

Whew!

And, of course, while doing all that, he promises to cut the deficit and the national debt – all without revealing a single detail or plan other than to say he would cut funding for PBS and Big Bird.

Disregarding the fact that there is no possible way to pay for his promises, has he forgotten that he’s living in the 21st century?  We have an endless number of video recordings which show him saying that he will privatize Social Security, voucherize Medicare, slash Medicaid spending, eliminate the Department of Education, cut taxes for the wealthy, cut taxes for businesses, eliminate tax deductions for the middle class, cut Pell grants for students and turn back the clock on healthcare.

About the only thing consistent with his statements in previous speeches and debates was the promise to increase defense spending even more than the Department of Defense has asked for.

Of course, political pundits have already concluded that Romney won the first debate.  If so, it was only because President Obama couldn’t tell who he was debating.  It wasn’t Mitt.  It was some guy who looks like Mitt but who was espousing a completely different platform from the plutocrat who won the Teapublican nomination.  That Mitt was decidedly anti-middle class, anti-woman, anti-health reform, anti-green energy, anti-small business, anti-entitlement, anti-education, anti-government, anti-environment, and pro-war.

It’s not easy debating someone who’s willing to lie about absolutely anything and everything to get elected.

More Ugly Politics From Arizona.

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For many years, Arizona politics have been uniquely corrupt and ugly.  Arizona is, after all, home to the finger-wagging Governor Brewer, SB 1070 sponsor Russell Pearce, and birther Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  It seems that Teapublicans in the state compete with one another to see who could come up with the next dirty trick.

So it’s no surprise that, when a new Teapublican voter fraud scheme came to light, it was led by an Arizonan.

Nathan Sproul is the former head of the Arizona Christian Coalition and the Arizona Republican Party.  He is also the founder of Lincoln Strategy Group which has been tied to widespread efforts to suppress Democratic votes by shredding registration forms and other dirty tricks. Naturally, the GOP felt that qualified Sproul to help them defeat President Obama.

They paid Sproul $3 million to register GOP voters in battleground states for this year’s elections.  But, in order to distance themselves from Sproul’s past problems, they asked him to set up shell corporations to hide his involvement.

It didn’t work.

Sproul’s new firm, Strategic Allied Consulting, now faces allegations of voter fraud in at least five swing states.  It appears his company was registering dead people to vote as Republicans.

What makes this incident so embarrassing for the GOP is that Sproul was caught doing what Teapublicans accused ACORN of doing – only none of the accusations against ACORN stood up to scrutiny.  It also flies in the face of the GOP’s claims that their voter ID laws in battleground states are intended to prevent voter fraud.

Once these new accusations were made public, the GOP immediately distanced itself from Sproul, acting “swiftly and boldly” according to RNC spokesman Sean Spicer. They claim that they have a “zero tolerance” for voter fraud – unless, of course, it benefits a Teapublican candidate.

A License To Sin.

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As I passed by a church recently, I spotted the following on its bulletin board:  “It is by grace that you will be saved.  Not by works, but by faith.”

This highly questionable translation of Ephesians 2:8 is a great excuse for people to do whatever they want.

Want to steal from someone?  Go ahead.  Want to lie, cheat and steal to win an election?   That’s okay.  Want to fabricate evidence to take your nation to war?  You can simply pray your sins away.  Have faith and ye will be saved.

What ever happened to the 10 Commandments?  And the Golden Rule?

If this is what many of our Christian brethern now believe, is it any wonder that there is so much anger and violence in the world?  Is it any wonder that much of the Christian right is now armed to the teeth?  Is it any wonder that so many Christian televangelists have run off with their congregation’s hard-earned money? Is it any wonder the Bible is being used to justify the denial of rights to gays, lesbians and others?  Is it any wonder that the so-called faithful have memorized Bible verses to justify their own narrow-minded agenda. 

In doing so, they’ve overlooked the core teachings of their savior.

That’s the very convenient thing about the Bible.  You can find a verse to justify almost anything you want to do or believe.

Three Amigos Of Corrupt Politics. (An Unholy Alliance.)

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In college, Jack Abramoff, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed were young Republican leaders who became known as the Three Amigos.  Following graduation, they continued their relationship.  Abramoff, of course, became the notorious lobbyist for several Native American tribes and was later imprisoned for bribery.  Norquist founded the American Taxpayers League which famously asks Republican congressmen and senators to sign a “No New Taxes” pledge.  And Ralph Reed was largely responsible for the Republican Party’s embrace of evangelical Christians and all of their “values” issues.

According to a recent episode of Moyers & Company, Abramoff illegally channeled funds from the Choctaw tribe to help fund both of Norquist’s and Reed’s efforts.  The Choctaw were not told how the funds were to be used.  It appears they simply thought the money was needed to influence legislation which would benefit their casinos.

Instead, it would seem that it merely lined the pockets of the other “Amigos.”

Fast forward to today.  Abramoff has been released from prison and is attempting to rebuild his life.  Norquist is still holding sway over Republican congressmen and senators, having paid no penalty at all.  And the disgraced Reed has formed a new evangelical organization called the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a SuperPac whose funders are cloaked in secrecy.

One wonders if Reed has reformed, or if the new organization is just another cash cow which allows him to reap great financial benefits.  After all, it’s easy to pull the wool over the eyes of the faithful.  They’re predsiposed to accept those who ask for forgiveness.  That gives the unscrupulous a license to do practically anything, no matter how despicable.

Obviously, people like Ralph Reed understand this.