Teapublican Lie #12.

“The US government is going broke.”

In May 25, 2001, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform told National Public Radio’s Mara Liasson, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

Teapublicans have been trying to bankrupt the government ever since.

Yet, despite their efforts, the United States still has the world’s largest economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated at nearly $14.7 trillion in 2010. That represents approximately one quarter of the global GDP.

Our current problem, as economist Paul Krugman has stated, is “insufficent aggregate demand.” As a result, we do not have enough revenue to cover our spending.  Moreover, much of the money spent is misallocated. To fix our economy, we need to increase tax revenue from those who can most afford it. And we need to create jobs by spending on necessary projects while interest rates are at all-time lows.

But, instead of dealing with the real issues, Teapublicans are using the debt crisis they created to destroy labor unions, to eliminate employee benefits, to depress salaries and eliminate our safety nets (the so-called entitlements).

Contrary to Teapublican accusations, these programs are not responsible for our growing national debt. Social Security and Medicare are funded by payroll taxes while our defense spending is not. 

According to estimates, our annual military/security budget is $1.1-$1.2 trillion, or 70-75 percent of the federal budget deficit. It has doubled since 9/11. And much of the defense budget is squandered through poor oversight, lack of planning and corruption. In fact, the Commission on Wartime Contracting stated that as much as $60 billion was lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade!

The US is not broke.  But if we keep electing Teapublicans, we soon may be.

Economic Terrorism

Remember when the Teapublicans were running for office last November? They hammered Democrats for not creating jobs fast enough and promised to have a laser-like focus on the economy. Well, I guess you could say they were telling the truth. But who knew they were actually referring to a laser site on an assault weapon aimed at killing the economy entirely?

Since the debt ceiling first became an issue in January, Teapublican antics have already had a disastrous effect. The lingering debate over the debt ceiling has caused many employers to question the outcome. As a result, they have delayed hiring and any new expenditures. In recent days, the stock markets are down dramatically. And new data has shown that the economy grew at a pitiful rate in the first quarter of this year. All of this is the result of uncertainty.

Now imagine what will happen if Teapublicans actually fail to raise the debt ceiling. Or if they succeed in making the draconian cuts they want.

How much will the stock markets crash if the US defaults on its debts? What will be the long term effects if US Treasury bonds are downgraded? What will happen when consumer interest rates skyrocket? What will be the economic effect of failing to make Social Security payments? How many people will die if doctors know they won’t be reimbursed by Medicare?

Truth is, the Teapublicans now controlling our debt ceiling debate may well have a greater negative impact on our nation than Timothy McVeigh, Al Qaeda and the Taliban combined.

Still a Dick after all these years.

Following the successful mission to find bin Laden, Richard “The Dick” Cheney was quick to claim part of the credit by saying that the mission justified our torture (aka enhanced interrogation) of political prisoners.

Say what?

It has been 10 years since the Bush/Cheney administration failed to take heed of warnings that Al Qaeda was planning an attack on U.S. soil, possibly with the hijacking of American passenger planes.  It has been at least 9 years since Bush/Cheney ordered the torture of captives in violation of the Geneva Conventions.  And more than 2 years since Cheney crawled back under his cloak of oil-stained money.

But it was Bush and Cheney who deserve credit for finding bin Laden?!!

That makes about as much sense as seeing our college students party following bin Laden’s death.  Celebrate, yes, but party?  Complete with chants of “USA, USA” and renditions of the “Na, Na, Goodbye” song? It’s as if they equated the killing of an individual (no matter how evil) to the winning of a championship basketball game.  And it’s hardly an image of our nation that will help us around the world. Better to reflect on the past and to pay tribute to those who died as a result of Bin Laden’s actions.  To consider how we can promote democracy and freedom around the world without the threat of war.  And to stop future terrorists before they strike without further compromising our own freedoms and resorting to measures such as torture.

Given Bush/Cheney’s actions and the fact that we’ve been at constant war for 10 years, that could take a good, long while.

Now it’s the First Responders’ fault.

First it was teachers who the Teapublicans blamed for our deficit woes. Now it’s firefighters and police.

In Republican budgets from the House of Representatives to the state houses, budgets for first responders are being slashed. Worse yet, thanks to an amendment by a Florida Republican, the 9/11 first responders are now being subjected to a test of patriotism before the government will accept claims for medical conditions acquired while digging through piles of rubble in search of bodies!

Apparently, some Republicans are concerned that some of these people are terrorists!!! So before voting for a bill that would pay for the medical claims of the 9/11 first responders, they attached an amendment that requires a search into the first responders’ past to make sure they weren’t complicit in the terrorist attacks.

Seriously! You can’t make this stuff up!

Congress is actually questioning the patriotism of the people they once hailed as heroes for rushing into the Twin Towers to help others escape. The very same people who were awarded for bravery by the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress.

Who will they go after next? Grandma and Grandpa? Oh, no…they wouldn’t…would they? Well, who needs Medicare and Social Security anyway? Right?

The Radicalization of Christianity in America.

This Thursday, Rep. Peter King will convene a Congressional committee to examine the radicalization of Islam in America.  But why stop there?  If Republicans insist on holding hearings on the radicalization of religions in America, shouldn’t they also look into those who attend churches and synagogues as well as mosques?

Shouldn’t we investigate the church that Timothy McVeigh attended?  How about the Columbine shooters? Maybe we should look into their family churches. Or how about the fundamentalist televangilists who actually prayed for the deaths of Supreme Court Justices so that they could be replaced by Justices who would overturn Roe V. Wade?

Shouldn’t we form a Congressional committee to look into the Westboro Baptist Church, the Kansas-based organization that so plainly demonstrates hatred toward gays and our military?  Does that not qualify as a radical group? What about the “Christian” white supremicist groups and the “Christian” organizations that actively promote the murders of abortion providers?  Are they not just as responsible for violence and terrorism as radical Muslims? 

And don’t forget the Catholic Church, of which Congressman King is presumably a member. The Vatican was responsible for the Inquisition and the slaughter of untold thousands of alleged “heretics.” If it happened once, could it happen again?

As the old saying goes, people in glass houses (or churches) shouldn’t throw stones.

Republican Leaders Provided Fertilizer For The Seeds Of Hate.

We don’t yet know why an armed lunatic chose to shoot Congresswoman Giffords.  But we do know that the seeds of violence have, for years, been sown by commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and their ilk.  Moreover, we can be certain that those seeds were well-fertilized in the 2008 presidential campaign, most especically at the Republican National Convention.

I watched both national conventions gavel to gavel and was shocked by the vitriol prominently displayed in every speech by Republicans.  Rather than focus on policy, Republicans chose to focus on personal attacks.  From the snarky comments by Sarah Palin to the snide diatribes of Senator McCain, the conservative venom was unrestrained.  We were treated to derisive questions about President Obama’s citizenship and his service as a community organizer.  By contrast, I heard no such attacks from speakers at the Democratic National Convention.

And when the results were in, Republicans suggested that they didn’t lose the election, ACORN helped the Democrats “steal” it.

Since then, the ugly rhetoric from the right has only gotten worse.  Republican leaders have used every conceivable legislative trick to block Democratic initiatives.  They railed about the “big government takeover.”  They talked about “death panels.”  And they howled about Democrats trying to “push through their liberal agenda.”  Then, leading up to the mid-term elections, we were treated to the sight of Tea Party demonstrators carrying signs portraying President Obama as Hitler and as the Joker.  We were also forced to witness demonstrators bringing guns to rallies and threatening to “exercise their 2nd Amendment rights” if Republican Tea Party candidates didn’t get their way.

Here in Arizona, I have often been forced to bite my tongue as local Republican leaders referred to President Obama as “illegitimate” and Nancy Pelosi as “a disgusting pig.”  I have listened to McCain, Governor Brewer and State Senator Russell Pearce vilify latinos.  And, like most people, I have been the recipient of a seemingly endless variety of ugly, untruthful chain emails against our President and his supporters.

Now I know that those on the right will suggest that liberals are just as bad.  But any comparison of Rush, Beck or Fox News Channel with MSNBC is a false equivalency.  Certainly many on the left have contributed to the unpleasantness but, unlike their right-wing counterparts, I have yet to witness a Democrat talking about committing violent acts such as “taking out” an opponent.  I have never heard Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz call for Democrats to take weapons to rallies, or to “target” those with whom they disagree.

In any case, we all must change the way we discuss politics.  We must try to respect those with whom we disagree even when we disagree with their opinions.  We must try to separate the policies from the person.  And we must politely, but firmly, tell those who make outrageous statements that they are not acceptable.  We must refuse to vote for candidates who invoke hatred.  And when we hear political commentators make disgusting, violent statements, we must switch channels and inform the station or network that we will no longer tolerate the rhetoric of violence and hate.

If not, the event in Tucson is likely to be repeated across our nation.

Who Do Republicans Really Represent?

As most of you know, the Republican mantra is “lower taxes, less government.”  But for whom?  The past couple of years have revealed the Republican agenda as never before.

Take the Bush taxes cuts.  Democrats want the tax cuts for millionaires to expire, which would save $700 billion over the next 10 years.  But Republicans have made an extension of tax cuts for the wealthy their top priority.  And Republicans are willing to filibuster an extension of unemployment benefits to get their way.

This past election cycle, Republicans and their phony Tea Party candidates ran as populists, claiming to represent all Americans.  Yet Republican legislative votes tell another story.Just today, Republican Senators voted against a bill that would provide health care to 9/11 responders.  They have consistently voted against extensions of unemployment benefits for those struggling in the recession created by Republican policies.Republicans fought against regulation of Wall Street.  They fought against health care reform that would limit the obscene profits of large pharmaceutical companies and giant health insurance while providing health care access to more than 30 million working Americans.  They fought against stricter regulation of oil companies following the Gulf oil spill, and even apologized to BP when the Administration held BP accountable.

Republicans have successfully fought to eliminate estate taxes on large inheritances.  They have fought to lower capital gains taxes on investments.  They have voted against closing tax loopholes on large corporations that ship jobs to other countries.  They have fought against regulations against large corporations that create P.O. Box “headquarters” in other countries in order to avoid paying U.S. income taxes.  They have promoted no-bid contracts for private contractors to take over military functions such as “security”, transportation and food preparation.

Republicans have reduced funding for public schools while increasing funding for private and parochial schools.   They have made it easier for corporations to clear-cut our forests, for large mining operations to remove mountain tops, and for large electric generating companies to pollute our air and lakes.  At the same, they have refused to support alternative energy that would create competition for Big Oil and Big Coal.

Republicans claim that all of these actions create jobs and reduce taxes – a theory that has been thoroughly disproven.  So why do working class Americans continue to support the party that has so obviously sold its soul to large corporations and the wealthy?

You tell me.

Time For Bush And Cheney To Do The “Perp Walk”

Not long ago, Richard The Dick Cheney extolled the benefits of waterboarding U.S. prisoners. And during a speech in Grand Rapids last week, George W. Bush publicly admitted to the same crime. Bush said, “Yeah, we waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. I’d do it again to save lives.”

The problem for these unrepentent inquisitors (and for the United States) is that the U.S. signed the Geneva Convention against torture. Labeled the “Convention Against Torture And Other Cruel, Inhuman Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment,” the document states that the parties to this Convention, have agreed as follows:

…torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession…

The document further states, “Each (signator) shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. Each (signator) shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law…each (signator) shall make these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature.”

That doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for our smug former president and former vice-president, does it?

Just to be clear, The U.S. tried and hanged some Japanese soldiers for torturing American prisoners during World War II with techniques that included waterboarding. As a result, our nation should not take Bush’s and Cheney’s confessions lightly. Otherwise the world community will forever label the U.S. as the renegade hypocrites we probably are.

Can an entire political party be sociopathic?

A sociopath is defined as one who has no conscience; someone who’s every action is intended to help themselves.  Now, I ask you.  Does that not describe the Republican Party and its media whores?

Consider the following: 

Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama administration want to close Guantanemo and try those imprisoned there.  Republicans go ballistic that these “illegal combatants” don’t deserve to be treated as criminals.  How naive for President Obama to believe in our justice system!

Or how about the “underpants bomber”?  A confused young man from Nigeria decides to stash explosives in his underpants in order to blow up a plane.  The Republican response is to point fingers at the Obama administration for Mirandizing him.  Despite the fact that the Obama administration acted exactly as the Bush administration did in response to Richard Reed, the shoe bomber, Republicans pretended to be outraged that the young man was read his Miranda rights.  Never mind that the “underpants bomber” cooperated with authorities with torture.

Or how about health care reform?  A bill that regulates health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and provides health care to 33 million Americans is, according to Republicans, a socialist or communist plot.  The census?  According to Republicans, it’s an Obama plot to round up conservatives and place them in internment camps.  (Of course that’s wrong.  Instead, Obama should use the data to round up Republicans and put them where they belong – in insane asylums.) 

Financial reform?  Despite the fact that Republicans allowed the “free markets” to send our economy into a death spiral while those responsible made millions in bonuses, Republicans would have us believe that reform is a Socialist plot leading to a government takeover of banks.  The worst oil disaster in the history of America (or maybe the world)?  According to Republicans, it was caused by environmental terrorists.  And the government’s response was delayed so the Obama administration can put an end to off-shore drilling. 

A failed terroist bombing of Times Square was, in twisted Republican minds, the result of the Obama administration being soft on terrorists and reaching out to Muslim nations.  Pay no attention to the fact that the suspect was quickly caught and provided information that led to the arrest of at least one Pakistani national without our resorting to torture.

One wonders how Republicans can make these accusations without laughing out loud.  Are they secretly biting their tongues in order to keep a straight face?  Or are they, as I suspect, clinically sociopathic?  You decide.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

The Black & White Case Against President Obama

The Tea Party members say their anger has nothing to do with racism.  Well, if their issues are big government, big deficits and corporate bailouts as they suggest, why all the anger now?  Why not aim the fury at the people who created our recession and debt?  Why not direct their fury at Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and the Republicans who created trillions of dollars of national debt?  Why no anger against George W. Bush for drastically increasing the size of government with his Department of Homeland Security?  Why no fury against George W. Bush for bailing out Wall Street?  Why the belief that President Obama was not born in the U.S.?  Why did no one demand to see Ronald Reagan’s, George H.W. Bush’s and George W. Bush’s birth certificates?  And why were they so willing to look the other way when Richard “The Dick” Cheney was allowed to skirt the Constitutional prohibition on the President and Vice-President being residents of the same state by claiming Wyoming as his residence instead of Texas where he actually lived? 

What has this President done to generate such anger? 

Since taking office, he has brought the nation out of the worst economic times since the Great Depression.  Since taking office, he has actually lowered taxes.  Indeed, taxes have rarely been lower.  Since taking office, President Obama has rebuilt our relationships and stature with all of our allies.  He has rid the world of more nuclear weapons to protect us from terrorism.  He has certainly not tried to ban guns as the Tea Party suggests.  As a matter of fact, he signed a bill permitting guns in National Parks, an act that prompted the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence to give Obama an “F” with regard to gun control issues. 

Then why the Tea Party claims that President Obama is un-American, a Socialist, a Communist and a Nazi? 

What is so unique about this President to generate so much anger and hate?  Hmmm, let me think … maybe it has to do with the fact that he is part Irish.  No?  Well, it certainly couldn’t be that he is half African-American.  That would be racist, wouldn’t it?