Tennessee Republicans Propose bill to Criminalize Islam

Quote:

“The threat from Shariah-based jihad and terrorism presents a real and present danger to the lawful governance of this state and to the peaceful enjoyment of citizenship by the residents of this state [Tennessee],”

Deranged Birther and Wingnut Republican State Senator Bill Ketron has an idea. No its better than just an idea. Ketron’s idea could become law if the legislator from Murfreesboro, TN gets his way:

A proposed new state law would make following the Islamic legal code known as Shariah law a felony, punishable by 15 years in jail.

[…]

The bill exempts any peaceful practice of Islam.

But it also claims that any adherence to Shariah law – which includes religious practices like feet-washing and prayers – is treasonous.

It would require the state attorney general to investigate Shariah-compliant groups.

[…]

A dozen other states are also considering anti-Shariah law bills. Most would ban courts from citing Shariah law.

Oklahoma voters approved a referendum in November that banned Oklahoma courts from using Shariah law in their rulings. A federal judge blocked the Oklahoma law from being implemented, pending a federal lawsuit claiming the law is unconstitutional.

Tennessee’s law goes further by proposing criminal penalties for following Shariah.

This ain’t your father’s GOP. Today’s GOP is infested with conspiracy theory babbling loons.

Let’s Turn the Clock Back on Women’s Rights

Really.

That’s what NRO Writer, Kathleen Lopez is pitching to convince women put aside modern contraception and eagerly return to the good ol’ days when women were blissfully unchained today’s “false sense of freedom.”

We've come to expect less for and from ourselves, and for and from one another. In part, it's the fruit of the contraceptive pill. New York magazine recently observed in a cover feature: "The pill is so ingrained in our culture today that girls go on it in college, even high school, and stay on it for five, 10, 15, even 20 years." That, of course, has had all kinds of fallout: a false sense of freedom, security. And it has ravaged women's fertility, as it seeks to mute exactly what women's reproductive power is all about.

That's why I want to turn back the clock -- to a time when we valued love and marriage and didn't expect, support and even encourage promiscuity. Life and history don't work that way, obviously, there is no actual rewind. But we do have opportunities to learn from our mistakes.

The spending fight over Planned Parenthood in Congress is about a number of things. It's primarily about good stewardship, as so much of the spending debate is. But beyond legislation, beyond anything Congress can or should do, it is a call to arms for a new sexual revolution. It's about wanting more for ourselves and for those whom we love. It's about ending the surrender to a contraceptive mentality that treats human sexuality as just another commercial transaction.

This is of course a fantasy. The good ol’ days of Love and Marriage never existed. Declaring war on modern contraception and freedom is not going to bring them back….because they never existed.

There has always been a commercial element to marriage. In America, just about everything becomes a commercial transaction when you think about it. Our lives are ordered around the Market. Our place in society is judged by what you do for a living and what you earn instead of your who your parents are, your church and community as in the olden times.

To wingnutopian writers like K-Lo this presents a dilemma. It has to be very difficult to follow the teachings of Jesus and function in a market economy. If you were to follow the teachings of Jesus you'd go broke pretty quickly. Yet K-Lo is an ardent supporter of unrestrained capitalism while being a foe its attendant freedoms.

For some reason, I do not believe that many women will be clamoring for the days of being barefoot and pregnant in the Kitchen

Scopes Trial Conservatism Explained

A strain of the Modern Conservative movement can be directly to the reactionary politics of surrounding the Scopes Trial. For William Jennings Bryan, of Monkey Trial fame, opposing Evolution was as much about resisting modernity represented from the growing social sciences of that period than to promote creationism.

Who needed the pinheads with the college degrees and expertise in new fields to run the government, when you could just pick 200 of your neighbors and ask them to figure things out instead? In the old days this might work, but in modern times not so much so. Who want random folks determining standards for Nuclear Safety? So it seems that the average fella can’t always figure complicated problems out on his own – a Nation needs a cadre of experts to determine monetary policy, economics, energy, etc. Since the world is really complicated and ordinary folks can’t figure out how all the moving parts work others make the complicated decisions instead leading to a backlash against expertise.

With today’s Tea Party, Right Wing Populists Scopes Trial Conservatism is alive and well and it moving to Economics:

The populist disdain for experts — marked in debate over evolution and climate change — has entered economics. “The fact that we may be completely ignorant to the process here, God bless us, because our ignorance has just saved the American people more money,” Tim Scott, a freshman Republican from South Carolina, told CNN. What we are witnessing is the rise of a new strain of politician: the budget fundamentalist.

[…]

Republican elites have encouraged this quasi-theological approach to economics. Last year, Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, published The Battle: How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future, a book much discussed in right-wing circles. “America faces a new culture war,” Brooks argued. Instead of a fight over “guns, abortion, religion and gays,” it’s a struggle between American freedom and European statism.

Thus debt has come to replace homosexuality as a symbol for American decline, and the fervor of past culture wars is being deployed in budgetary battles. And things could soon get truly apocalyptic, given that some tea party-aligned Republicans are balking at raising the debt limit, which we'll reach later this spring. That would be far more serious than a government shutdown: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has warned of “catastrophic economic consequences, including default on U.S. debt and a suspension of Social Security payments.

In the past, such a scenario would be inconceivable — moderate, business-minded conservatives wouldn’t permit it. But tea party-dominated House sees the American economic situation as dire enough to merit extreme measures. “Congress simply cannot continue to operate under the pretense of ‘gangster government,’ raising the limit upon our whim,” Tea Party Caucus founder Rep. Michele Bachmann wrote last month. Bartlett urges us to take the possibility seriously: “I really think they are crazy enough to do it.”

This is a description of free market fundamentalism, i.e, the belief that one can only receive economic salvation from the divine hand of the Free Market. It is not rational. Acceptance of the ideology is a matter of faith:

“What you’ve got to understand is this is an emotional issue, not a rational issue," says budget guru Stan Collender, a veteran of both House and Senate budget committees who puts the likelihood of a shutdown at 90 percent. “As far I can tell it has no theoretical economic underpinnings, which is why it’s so difficult for the budget these days to be discussed, because statistics don’t mean anything, equations don’t convince anybody. It is almost a religious belief.”

This seems about right to me. For years The GOP has preached a phony ideology to the masses for short term political gain. Is it surprising that after many years of sermons on free market fundamentalism that some folks would become converts and practice this faith openly? That day is here.

Dueling Quotes of the Day

First the Guy who called George Bush a Genius has this to say about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker "Prank Call" from an actor posing as a shadowy but sinister Billionaire. I wonder if he'll address the Governor's suggestion that troublemakers and goons could be sent into the peacefully gathered assembly in Madison.

Nope.

Did Walker say anything embarrassing?

No. The recording is actually rather endearing. Walker comes across as a consummate wonk. The hoaxer makes only a couple of off-the-wall comments, and Walker makes none. On the contrary, Walker's reasonableness generally causes the hoaxer to be far more rational than, one suspects, is his norm. Beyond that, as Ann Althouse and others have pointed out, it is apparent from the recording that Governor Walker is not personally acquainted with David Koch, although he obviously is aware of him as a political supporter.

Here is the recorded conversation, in two ten minute segments. There is nothing in it that reflects badly on Governor Walker. It is remarkable, really, that the Left was able to eavesdrop on Walker for 20 minutes, and they only caught him being the same principled, ethical leader that we see in public.

Powerline Blogger John Hinderaker clearly has no problem with what Walker revealed.

Law Enforcement may have a different opinion of the Governor's plans. Let's listen to what the cops on the beat have to say about the Governor's plot:

Wray said he was disturbed that Walker thought about planting troublemakers among peaceful protesters.

“I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members. I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers,” the chief said.

“Our department works hard dialoging with those who are exercising their First Amendment right, those from both sides of the issue, to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure they can demonstrate safely. I am concerned that anyone would try to undermine these relationships. I have a responsibility to the community, and to the men and women of this department - who are working long hours protecting and serving this community – to find out more about what was being considered by state leaders.”

I don't see how this can end well for the Wisconsin (not so) strongman. Hinderaker sees differently, but then again he saw George Bush as a Visionary Leader approaching Genius surpassed by only Washington, Lincoln and Perhaps FDR.

Scopes Trial Redux – Anti-Evolution – Anti-Global Warming Bill introduced in Tennessee

With Republicans taking complete control of the State Government for the first time since Reconstruction, you knew that these characters would have some ambitious goals. What is one of the first things to consider other than a little Union Bashing?

How about a Law to require: state and local educational authorities to

"assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies" and assist teachers to "help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught."

Hmm, controversial theories? I wonder what they could mean by controversial theories. I know how about

"biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning."

Yes sir, Republicans are a fixing to enact a Monkey Law again in Tennessee.

The good news is the kind folks in the Tennessee Legislature tend to webcast committee hearing and the new Monkey Law is scheduled for a hearing in a subcommittee of the House Education Committee on February 23, 2011.

This could be quite a show.

He Speaks of Dark Conspiracies and of Danger that Lurks Everywhere

And you can tune into him daily on Foxnews.

It’s hard to tell how much of what Beck says is sincere and how much is for show. Whatever the case, and even taking into account the entire MSNBC lineup, Glenn Beck has become the most disturbing personality on cable television. One cannot watch him for any length of time without being struck by his affinity for conspiracies and for portraying himself as the great decoder of events. Political movements are not just wrong; they are infiltrated by a web of malevolent forces. Others see the shadows on the wall; Beck alone sees the men casting them. The danger when one paints the world in such conspiratorial terms is that it devalues the rational side of politics. It encourages a cast of mind that looks to expose enemies rather than to engage in arguments. Few things, after all, are as they appear.

Beyond that, of course, is the sense of impending doom, of the coming Apocalypse, of our world being on the edge of calamity. If taken seriously, this has the effect of creating fear, hopelessness, and feelings of helplessness.

All this is quite troublesome in its own right. But what ought to worry conservatives in particular is that Beck not only has the unusual capacity to discredit virtually every cause he takes up; he also confirms the worst caricatures of the right.

Former Bush Administration Deputy Propaganda Minister Peter Wehner

The Right Wing Populism is starting to Scare some of the GOP DC Insiders. What to do about it though? Riding the Wolf is dangerous. If you left go, the wolf may turn on you.

SHOCKER! Evil Climate Scientists CLEARED! - (again)

Right Wing Bloggers sure to Fight on!

Another investigation, this one ordered by hardcore conspiracy theorist Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, has found no wrongdoing by government scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They did not manipulate climate change data according to the Commerce Department’s Office of the Inspector General. This is the latest in a series investigations into the so-called “Climategate” nontroversy clearing scientists of manipulating climate data after thousands of e-mails allegedly from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit were hacked and leaked in 2009.

You know what this means don’t you? Perhaps some of the nuttier wingers might reconsider their belief in the vast global warming conspiracy? Nope, not at all. My guess is that they double down. Since all good right wingers know that Anthropogenic Global Warming is a hoax, the Inspector General must now be part of the GLOBAL Global Warming Conspiracy.

Source: The report

Secession Rumblings coming from Pima County Arizona

A movement is a foot in Pima County to secede from the state of Arizona and rejoin her Mother Country, the USA:

Pima County the 51st state?

A political committee comprised of a handful of attorneys, including the former chairman of the Pima County Democratic Party, have established a political committee dedicated to helping Southern Arizona secede from the rest of the state.

Start Our State, which is asking other like-minded counties to join the effort, is hoping to put the question before Pima County voters in 2012.

Co-chair Paul Eckerstrom said it’s not a joke and not a political statement. He said the state legislature has gone too far to the right, particularly with a round of measures to challenge federal supremacy.

“This really does border on them saying they don’t want to be part of the Union any longer,” he said. “Well, I want to be part of the United States.”

He said at a minimum, it will send a message that Pima County doesn’t want to go along with the priorities being outlined in Phoenix. He said Pima County has more land and more people than several other states.

“It’s no longer a laughing matter to me,” Eckerstrom said. “My kids’ futures are at stake because if this continues, the economic ramifications could be very dire. I’m tired of hoping and praying that rationality will come to Phoenix.”

There is precedence for this. This is how West Virginia was formed during the Civil War.

Under the constitution, a state can only be divided upon its consent. Like WV did back during the civil war, the folks of Pima County should call all loyal Union folks from the legislature into session in Pima County and then vote on forming a new state. Once that is done, again like Lincoln did, President Obama could recognize the legislators in Pima County as the Legitimate Government of Arizona, in light of Arizona’s current nullification kick. And then the President could then recognize the State of Pima as a new state in the Union. QED.

Visionaries Speak Out!

Quote of the Day III – Scott Walker Making History by Crushing the Unions:

"This is our moment, this is our time to change the course of history."

Quote of the Day IV – Karl Marx

History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.

Like Scott Walker, for example.

The larger question then is are Walker and Marx just two peas in a pod? When it comes to possessing a revolutionary ideology and setting the course of history then, yes, maybe.

"I will shut down government"

Quote of the Day II

“If my Republican leadership asks me to vote for a budget, even a two-week budget, that doesn’t have spending cuts, I will say no and I will shut down government”

Freshman Representative Joe Walsh R-Ill

I’m sure that nobody will hold it against him when their Security Checks stop coming because Walsh “shut down the government.” It sounds to me that someone has been drinking too much tea.

Gingrich Bullies College Kid

When asked how someone with such a checkered past could run for President on the family Values Platform, Gingrich, who goes through wives like a room full of sick kids goes through Kleenex, replied:

"I'll bet almost everybody here can gather the thrust of your question," he said. "I appreciate the delicacy and generosity in the way it was framed . . . I hope you feel better about yourself.

"I've had a life which, on occasion, has had problems," he added. "I believe in a forgiving God, and the American people will have to decide whether that's their primary concern.

"If the primary concern of the American people is my past, my candidacy would be irrelevant.

"If the primary concern of the American people is the future . . . that's a debate I'll be happy to have with your candidate or any other candidate if I decide to run."

This is a fair and reasonable question that any champion of so-called family values should be able to answer. If you think the answer to various societal challenges today includes a return to the cultural norms of the past, then you need to explain why you are exempt from those olden cultural practices that you would impose on others.

If you can’t answer this question easily (a) you are probably not the appropriate person to champion Family Values and/or (b) more significantly, you are probably case in point why it is not possible to impose the old timey ways on modern society.

Just go away Newt.

Sarah does not Heart Newt

Who does (other than Newt that is)?

Quote of the Day from a soon to be published book by a former aide:

"Yes, (Newt/GOP) are egotistical, narrow minded machine goons… but all the more reason God protected me from getting up on stage in front of 5,000 political and media ‘elites' to praise him, then it be shown across the nation.

At some point Newt would have shown his true colors anyway and we would have been devastated having known we'd earlier prostituted ourselves up in front of the country introducing him and acting like that good ol' rich white guy is the savior of the party.".

Sarah Palin in an e-mail about a D.C. fundraiser for the RCCC. Gingrich spoke instead of Poor Sarah.

Maybe it is just me, but I don’t think God had anything to do with the fact that Sarah bailed on the RCCC fundraiser. Pretty sure that was Sarah’s doing.

Wisconsin Governor Planning to Dupe Democrats Gets Duped Instead

Unfortunately for Republican Governor Scott Walker, he was Duped into Spilling the Beans. On a prank phone call with a mean spirited Lamestream Media Elitist posing as one of the shadowy but ever sinister “Koch Brothers,” Walker said this:

Walker: An interesting idea that was brought up to me by my chief of staff, we won't do it until tomorrow, is putting out an appeal to the Democratic leader. I would be willing to sit down and talk to him, the assembly Democrat leader, plus the other two Republican leaders—talk, not negotiate and listen to what they have to say if they will in turn—but I’ll only do it if all 14 of them will come back and sit down in the state assembly. They can recess it... the reason for that, we're verifying it this afternoon, legally, we believe, once they’ve gone into session, they don’t physically have to be there. If they’re actually in session for that day, and they take a recess, the 19 Senate Republicans could then go into action and they’d have quorum because it's turned out that way. So we’re double checking that. If you heard I was going to talk to them that’s the only reason why. We’d only do it if they came back to the capitol with all 14 of them. My sense is, hell. I'll talk. If they want to yell at me for an hour, I'm used to that. I can deal with that. But I'm not negotiating.

It sounds like Mr. Walker is not dealing with folks in good faith and never intends to do so. Or perhaps, he took the Prank Call from the “Koch” brother with the understanding that he would be receiving (more?) marching orders. Either way, it is not a good moment for the Wisconsin (not so) Strongman.

I still don’t know why Walker does not call out the National Guard to crush the protestors. Threatening to call out the Guard to crush protestors is one thing, but anything can do this. Walker needs to man up and quit just threatening folks.

This New Civil Rights Movement Just Don’t Seem Right in the Head

A self described Christian Founded Legal Front Leads the Charge to put affordable health care out of the Reach of the working poor and self employed:

WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit claiming that President Barack Obama's requirement that all Americans have health insurance violates the religious freedom of those who rely on God to protect them.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington dismissed a lawsuit filed by the American Center for Law and Justice, a Christian legal group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson, on behalf of five Americans who can afford health insurance but have chosen for years not to buy it.

The case was one of several lawsuits filed against Obama's requirement that Americans either buy health insurance or pay a penalty, beginning in 2014. Kessler is the third Democratic-appointed judge to dismiss a challenge, while two Republican-appointed judges have ruled part or all of the law unconstitutional. Kessler wrote that the Supreme Court will need to settle the constitutional issues.

Three of the plaintiffs — Margaret Peggy Lee Mead of Hillsborough, N.C., Charles Edward Lee of San Antonio and Susan Seven-Sky of West Harrison, N.Y. — are Christians who said they want to refuse all medical services for the rest of their lives because they believe God will heal their afflictions. They say being forced to buy insurance would conflict with their faith because they believe doing so would indicate they need "a backup plan and (are) not really sure whether God will, in fact, provide," the lawsuit said.

The two other plaintiffs — Kenneth Ruffo of San Antonio and Gina Rodriguez of Plano, Texas — have a holistic approach to medical care and prefer to pay for their health services out of pocket, in part because insurance often doesn't cover their chosen methods of healing.

The lawsuit argued that Congress does not have the power under the Constitution to require health care purchases and that the mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

This seems insanely misguided issue for a supposedly Christian oriented Legal front to push. Aren’t these folks supposed to concerned about the poor, the sick and the helpless? Apparently not anymore.

Folks like these plaintiffs will free to opt out of the health insurance system, but need to pay a tax so that their healthcare costs are not externalized on to their neighbors. Now all they are being asked to do is to render unto Caesar what it Caesar’s. It would seem hard for this so-called Christian legal operation to understand.

Big Deal, Yawn, So What

John Thune won’t run for President:

There is a battle to be waged over what kind of country we are going to leave our children and grandchildren and that battle is happening now in Washington, not two years from now. So at this time, I feel that I am best positioned to fight for America’s future here in the trenches of the United States Senate.

Of Course Thune voted for the Bailout, aka the TARP, which likely helped stave off a second great depression. Preferring the TARP to a Second Great Depression, mean Thune effectively can’t run for President as a Republican. What is it about these guys and depressions?

Things that Keep Wingnuts Up at Night

"I'm worried about Wisconsin. If Governor Walker actually is driven out of power, there will be a vacuum and it could be filled by the Muslim Brotherhood."

~ David Letterman

It could be worse, Grover Norquist could take over. Who knows, really. Scary Times my Friends.

Too Bad You Can Only Wear One Pair at a Time

This is a “tweet”

"Revelation" from disgruntled Palin aide's leaked book: claims she had Lasik surgery--but still wears glasses to look smarter

Turns out this doesn’t help her much.

Capitalism is Mean, Cold and Heartless

A bidding war may be ready to break out to Publish "Blind Allegiance To Sarah Palin," a book written by a former Palin Insider.

The manuscript is titled, "In Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of our Tumultuous Years." Bailey is a former Alaska Airlines supervisor who joined Palin's campaign team at the beginning of her successful run for governor in 2006. He writes in the manuscript how he was charmed and inspired by Palin.

Bailey recounts how he was impressed when she blew the whistle on Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich for doing political work at his state job. Bailey calls himself a Fox News conservative and said he became convinced she had the principles and courage to take on the Alaska Republican political machine.

"Sarah Palin had God's blessing and people's love and faith," he wrote.

But, in Bailey's telling, the reality was nasty. Minor slights became obsessions, according to Bailey, demanding revenge and if possible, destruction of the opponent's reputation.

"We set our sights and went after opponents in coordinated attacks, utilizing what we called "Fox News surrogates," friendly blogs, ghost-written op-eds, media opinion polls (that we often rigged), letters to editors, and carefully edited speeches," Bailey wrote.

This makes her sound petty and small. Surely this can’t paint an accurate portrayal of Poor Sarah.

Quite obviously all of these allegations are merely headline grabbing lies made up by a closeted Manchurian liberal out to destroy all that is good with the World. And by typing "All that is Good with the World," I mean the Pro-American parts of America. This is what he is trying to do by attacking Sarah.

Why is everyone MEAN to Poor Sarah?

RedState Blog Undergoes Purge

Comrade Erickson Explains. The Inmates had taken over the Asylum:

Many of you who are not regulars are probably wondering what the heck is going on at RedState.

I’ll be blunt.

In the past year or so, the quality of diaries has really taken a beating, driven largely by a clique that resorted to recommending each others diaries and gaming the system.

Unfortunately, over time, that clique became abusive to new users, those who disagreed, etc. Many of them, however, are people I consider friends. Many are long time users.

But something happened.

A handful of people got into the clique and it went down hill even further. The conspiracy addled content, abuse, threats, etc. skyrocketed. The general disrespect on the site went up.

New users and long time users not a part of the clique were unable to get their diaries onto the recommended list. They were shouted down in the comments.

[…]

RedState has long been unique among the right-o-sphere in that it really is a community. Anyone can post at RedState — diaries and comments. Over time we have become much more lax in what we let pass for comments and diaries.

That increasing laissez-faire attitude has been taken advantage of. Long time readers and new readers not in the clique have been complaining and staying silent. Those in the clique were and are convinced that we need them. Actually, we don’t.

I have finally had enough and decided we needed some spring cleaning. Sadly, some long time readers at RedState are no more.

Conspiracies are Everywhere!

I don’t read the RedState B and C team’s stuff because the A team, the front pagers’, writing is bad enough as is. With that in mind, if Comrade Erickson really wants to clean-up RedState blog, I suggest he start with some of his A-team writers. As the first to be purged, I’ll nominate Comrade Moe Lane.

UPDATE: This guy should also be purged from RedState Blog.

The Case Against Willard Milton Romney –

A Rupert Murdock Owned Mouthpiece Makes it.

Romney’s Bain Capital Pillaged private industry looting all it could leaving a wake of ruin for the bankruptcy courts to sort out:

* Bain in 1988 put $5 million down to buy Stage Stores, and in the mid-'90s took it public, collecting $100 million from stock offerings. Stage filed for bankruptcy in 2000.

* Bain in 1992 bought American Pad & Paper (AMPAD), investing $5 million, and collected $100 million from dividends. The business filed for bankruptcy in 2000.

* Bain in 1993 invested $60 million when buying GS Industries, and received $65 million from dividends. GS filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

* Bain in 1997 invested $46 million when buying Details, and made $93 million from stock offerings. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

Romney's Bain invested 22 percent of the money it raised from 1987-95 in these five businesses, making a $578 million profit.

While I have not investigated all of Romney's Bain investments and there may be cases where he made money and improved businesses, there's little question he made a fortune from businesses he helped destroy.

578 Million Dollars in exchange for what? How did Mitt earn this amount?

Romney's private equity firm, Bain Capital, bought companies and often increased short-term earnings so those businesses could then borrow enormous amounts of money. That borrowed money was used to pay Bain dividends. Then those businesses needed to maintain that high level of earnings to pay their debts.

Sucking out the Capital and Leaving behind Debt. And when they couldn't keep the ponzi scheme going any longer, these companies filed for bankruptcy - conveniently after Mitt was long gone.

Think about the damage ol’ Mitt could do as president of the United States compared to the damage he caused as the Honcho at a modern day robber baron wall street outfit.

Interesting Maps

Over at Balloon-Juice there is some interesting data drawing a link between the yesterday’s advocacy of Slave Labor, Forced Prison Labor, Jim Crow Wage Suppression and Union Suppression to today’s unholy Teabaggery and to the Red States.

Apparently there is a connection between Red States, Prison Labor, Jim Crow, and slavery to the absence of Labor Unions.

Who woulda thunk this?

There is probably some pointy-headed overeducated PhD student from an Elitist Coastal University with a fancy paper on this subject. If I find one, I’ll pass it on. But until then, my guess is the family free of all these dark forces traces back to chattel slavery.

Walker Calls up the Tea Party, but will they be riding Camels, too?

With the employment rights of public sector workers in Wisconsin under siege and folks taking to the street to fight the effort to send ‘em back to the 19^th century, I was wondering if any parallels could be drawn between these folks fighting for their freedom and protests spreading across the Middle East.

Seems Plausible and if a democratic Governor called out the National Guard to put down political dissent like Republican Governor Scott Walker has done in Wisconsin, don’t you think Foxnews would be running wall to wall coverage with various infotainers connecting that Democratic governor to Middle Eastern Autocrats trying to crush political dissent today?

I do.

So with this thought experiment in mind, is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker more like Egyptian Autocrat Hosni Mubarak or Iranian Leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

I am not sure. I don’t know if which figure Governor Walker resembles more, but I think you could make a case for both.

The Mubarak example could work. Walker has put the National Guard on notice that it may need to crush political dissent in Wisconsin just like the Middle Eastern Autocrat did. And like the Middle Eastern Autocrat, I believe that military forces will ignore his orders. Another connection. Tea Party counter protestors are arriving in Wisconsin to show support for the embattled Walker Regime just like the paramilitary forces from the Egyptian countryside did for Mubarak. However, I doubt that these Tea Partiers will be riding Camels. Monster Trucks and Mercedes, maybe – but not Camels.

As far as Ahmadinejad is concerned there also is a parallel. Like Ahmadinejad, is Walker really just a figurehead placed in power by a secretive cabal of Reactionaries – a vast right wing conspiracy so to speak? Is Walker just the hand puppet of the sinister Koch brothers? It seems like he’s taking his marching orders from a far as there are multiple worker repression efforts underway in States also controlled by GOP strongmen. There is too much coordinated action for this not to linked somehow.

It is hard to tell. Perhaps both could be true.

It liberals had their own version Foxnews, we’d be seeing some version of this meme to describe this naked power play by the Wisconsin Strongman.

Happy Thomas Jefferson Day….for those in Alabama

Most states will be observing an Official Presidents’ Day Holiday commemorating the birthdays of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and others. However not all do. Like celebrating Robert E. Lee Day on the same day as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, folks in Alabama do things a little differently with the Presidents’ Day holiday as well.

Today is the Official Jefferson-Washington Holiday in Alabama.

At least they are not celebrating Confederate President Jefferson Davis today, too. That holiday comes in June after Confederate Memorial Day in April. If a state can pick a day to Honor Robert E Lee, Jefferson Davis and Confederate Memorial Day, why not honor the Great Emancipator on Presidents’ Day? In 2011, surely everyone can appreciate the significance of Abraham Lincoln by now.

Nobody knows why Alabama can't join the rest us, I guess.

Slow Posting in Progress

Been doing the Healthcare thing this week and have not had much time to post.

Will return to regularly scheduled broadcasting next week.

And he wants ”a thoughtful, deliberate discussion” on Entitlement Reform

Quote of the Day

“I think if we are going to talk about entitlements, the first step ought to be laying out the size of the problem: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. We have got to lay out the problem so the American people understand clearly how big of a problem this is,”

~ John Boehner via the NRO

From what I recall about the Health Care Reform debate, other than the Death Panels, is that Medicare is sacrosanct. It cannot be touched. As a matter of fact, the Government should stay out of Medicare altogether. I believe this was Boehner and the rest’s position. As a result the only good option based on Boehner position on the record that I can see to address Medicare is tax increases.

But seriously, Boehner had a chance to do this during the Health Care Reform debate. However he chose to hold is breath and stamp is feet instead. It is correct that Medicare and Medicaid are related but Health Insurance reform is a vital element of any cost containment here. The three are all related.

The time to address reform was during the Health Debate when these issues were on the table for the American people to see and understand. Instead Boehner and his friends gave the American People a dose of death panels and imaginary tyranny. Boehner made his decision. Don’t whine about it now. Man it up. It is called personal responsibility. Feels free to try it anytime, there buddy.

Social Security is just fine however. It needs only a small adjustment in the years to come.

Thanks Goodness the Grownup are Back in Charge……..

….on second thought, maybe I should have written that the “Inmates are Back in Charge.”

Case in point – these guys:

The House formally began debate, which is expected to last three days, Tuesday afternoon following some wrangling over the hundreds of amendments lawmakers want to attach to the package. More than 400 amendments were filed Monday night. Among them were a proposal from Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., to eliminate funding for the president's Teleprompter and one from Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, to strip funding for the alteration, repair or improvement of the executive residence of the White House and instead divert that amount to deficit reduction.

Womack told Fox News Tuesday afternoon that he pulled his amendment because he wasn't able to get an estimate on how much it would save.

"I think we made our point," Womack said. "We're asking people to do more with less. And I think the president ought to lead by example. He is already a very gifted speaker. And I think that's one platform he could do without."

What most folks think passes as petty behavior, is par for the course with these guys.

Wingnut Welfare Writer Wonders Why Media Does not Report more Wingnut Mythology….

….and gets paid to do it. That’d be Thomas Sowell, one of the Zaniest Wingers out there.

Here’s Sowell in Action:

Back when George W. Bush first emerged on the national political scene in 2000, Democrats said that he lacked "gravitas." The media kept repeating it. People who had never used the word "gravitas" in years were suddenly saying "gravitas" 24/7 on news programs, interview shows and in the newspapers and magazines.

When have you ever known the Republicans to be that coordinated?

Answer: All the time. I’d say they were very coordinated all of the past 2 years. I’m thinking filibuster, Healthcare reform as tyranny, birtherism and such flat earth style nonsense in general. And by the way, today most folks realize that George Bush lacks the gravitas of Presidents past. So probably not the best example there fella'.

He continues:

Not only do Republicans fail to take the initiative when it comes to political rhetoric, they are not very good at counter-punching when they are hit.

How often have you heard "tax cuts for the rich" from Democrats -- without the Republicans saying anything to counter the implication that they are just looking out for a relatively few wealthy people, while millions of other people are losing their jobs and their homes?

The facts are all on the Republicans' side. But, unless someone articulates those facts, they will be like the proverbial tree that falls in an empty forest.

What are called "tax cuts for the rich" have been reductions in high tax rates under four different administrations, including the Democratic administration of John F. Kennedy. In each case, going all the way back to the 1920s, the reduced tax rates have led to increased tax revenues for the government.

The fight Sowell’s is picking is a debate is about whether the wealthiest folks should have their taxes raised by about 3.5%. Sowell thinks raising tax rates does not necessarily correspond to increased Tax Revenue. Of course this is the same supply-side mumbo jumbo that tells us that the nation can raise tax revenue by reducing tax receipts. Tax Cuts pay for themselves! But this is just wingnut mythology at worst and abstract political ideology at best. No wonder ordinary folks don’t take to this argument.

The decision to spend is also the decision to tax. This country made the decision to spend a lot of money it did not have since 1981. The decision to cut wealthy folks taxes during the 1980s and the early 2000s was really a decision to defer tax increases to a later day. That’s what George Bush and Ronald Reagan asked congress for and that is what we got - tax cuts yesterday and tax increases tomorrow.

And over this 30 years period, it’s the wealthiest American that have seen their income skyrocket while the rest of us remained stagnant. So then, why not ask them to pitch in and pay a little more of their country’s bills? Rich folks can be patriotic, too, can’t they? I think so.

But if Sowell is right and if wealthy folks can’t be burdened, who is going to be asked to pitch in a little more? Is it grandma’s medicare that gets cut, is it women, infants and children that will suffer, is it the needy kid’s school lunch that will be sacrificed so that the Nation can pay its bills? How about George Bush’s African Aid program responsible for improving the lives of so many in desperate need, maybe it should be cut before the wealthy are asked to pitch in a little more. But assuming folks like Sowell gets their way and all these programs are cut, it still would not balance the budget. You’d need tax increases to do this. You can't balance the budget without some increased tax revenue, to think otherwise is fantasy.

During the Kennedy Administration the top tax rate was reduced from 90% to 70%. Today the top rate is 36%. There is nothing magic about this tax rate. The Country will not go to hell in a hand basket if taxes are raised to 36.5% or to 37.25% or even to 39%. There is no magic nirvana tax rate that delineates the difference between a free market paradise and socialist tyranny. However if Sowell wants to relive yesteryear, that’s fine with me. We can go back to the Tax rates under President Kennedy.

UPDATE: This Chart is too good to omit:

Baggers Bag Boehner’s Earmark

House Votes to Cancel F-35 Jet Engine Program

WASHINGTON — In a sign that some freshman Republicans were willing to cut military spending, the House voted 233-198 on Wednesday to cancel an alternate fighter jet engine that the Bush and Obama administrations had tried to kill for the last five years.

The vote marked another instance in which some of the new legislators, including members of the Tea Party, broke ranks with the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, where the engine provided more than 1,000 jobs.

Many of the 87 freshman Republicans in the House had initially been hesitant to trim military spending as part of their drive to reduce the budget deficit.

But after forcing Mr. Boehner and other Republican leaders to propose greater cuts in domestic programs, the freshmen agreed last week to include $16 billion in military cuts in this year’s spending bill.

Wednesday’s vote to cancel the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would cut an additional $450 million and save up to $3 billion over the next several years.

This is called Herding Cats. Boehner’s challenge is to manage this unruly and unwashed mob of Tea Party Protesters. Many of these Protesters believe they won election due to the strength of their ideas presented in the political campaign. They believe they are in Washington because they deserve to be in Washington.

This is incorrect.

These Protestors made it to Washington due to the lousy economy, the high unemployment rate and unity of their political party opposing President Obama. Weakening their political party by bagging Boehner will not help them stay in Washington in the long run.

Boehner and his buddies helped create this unruly mob. Now they own it.

The Persecution of Sarah Palin Continues and time they are Really MEAN….

…and I approve of it whole heartedly.

What is it this time? Some Pointy Headed Elitist had the Temerity to write a Book like This:

Where the Rogue Things Go: A Political Fairytale Nightmare

A unique send up of a children's classic, Where the Rogues Things Go presents a hilarious political satire of Sarah Palin’s unchecked ambition and shocking rise to the head of America’s conservative movement.

Creative and entertaining, the book begins with Sarah’s early episodes of bad behavior—from her failings at higher education to her practicing of witch doctor religion. It retells the time when she seemed doomed to suffer the political version of being sent to bed without dinner for her abuse of power as Governor of Alaska, but instead finds herself transported (almost as if on a magic boat) onto the national political stage as the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential candidate.

Where the Rogues Things Go follows each of Sarah’s pathetic missteps on the campaign, while simultaneously illustrating the legions of fans who inexplicably grow and grow until they surround her at every campaign stop like trees in a thick forest. But Sarah must also win over the snarling, filibustering, tea-bagging monsters that lead America’s right wing. She does so with her greatest ploy of all—she bewitches them with a single wink and they crown her Queen of the Rogue Things.

This cautionary tale continues Sarah’s story into a tragic future where now President Palin and the Rogue Things go on an unconstrained rampage of extreme conservatism that sends America’s economy, environment, and culture back to the dark days of the Bush/Cheney years. With child like clarity and colorful artwork, Where the Rogues Things Go offers a smart rebuke to Palin’s lipstick-on-a-pit-bull rebranding of failed right wing policies.

/OUTRAGE.

Why is everyone so mean to Poor Sarah? There is ever mean spirited Katie Couric and David Letterman as well as the Lamestream Media and Stupid Bloggers and over educated know it alls and now this smart-alack as well. When will the MEANESS stop?

Google Does Not Like Rick Santorum

I had forgotten about Google's animosity to Poor Rick. But I seem to recall it occurred way back in the olden days of 2006.

Apparently, and unfortunately for the GOP Presidential Hopeful, Google holds a grudge for a long time.

Dispatches From the Rebellion - Maybe they should have Seceded

This week 150 years ago the South Carolina Newspaper, The Charleston Mercury, takes aim at the new Confederate Congress.

The target of its ire: a prohibition on the African Slave Trade:

We deem it also unfortunate and mal a propos that the stigma of illegitimacy and illegality should be placed upon the institution of slavery by a fundamental law against the slave trade. In our opinion it is a matter of policy, and not of principle, to be decided now and hereafter, from sound views of the necessity and safety of our peoples. We think it a proper subject of legislation. We are willing to prohibit it by legal enactment like any other topic of legislation. But while England imports her thousands of Coolie slaves, and France hers, under the farcical appellation of 'apprentices,' — while they are striving by these means to compete with us and supersede us in producing the tropical productions of slave labor,— while we have within our reach a large scope of fertile territory uncultivated in Texas, and may have long the silver mines of Arizona, and the teeming states of Mexico, to populate and reduce to agricultural productiveness,— it seems to us short-sighted, weak and sentimental to preclude forever, by fundamental enactment, the adoption of a policy that may become essential to our appropriate growth and expansion, and to our successful competition with the hypocritical nations of Europe."

Look at the express language advocating the expansion of slavery into Mexico and the Mine of the American Territories. This is common rhetoric.

The stated policy of the incoming Lincoln Administration called for the institution of slavery to remain within its present borders. Slavery was not to expand one mile. Southern Advocates of the day believed that the institution of Slavery needed to expand to survive, while Northern opponents believed that it needed to be contained to its present borders to be eventually destroyed. Neither view was entirely correct.

Perhaps these folks in South Carolina (writing the editorial above) should have seceded from the Confederacy if they couldn't stand for such a violation of their Liberties like a prohibition on the international slave trade. Should have done it.

TRUMP: Time to Rebuild Transportation Infrastructure?

Potential GOP Presidential Contender Donald Trump is flirting with Republican Voters.

While he has adopted the right position becoming Pro-Life and Anti-Marriage, he is wading into Commie territory here in this interview on Foxnews. It sounds like he wants to invest in the Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure

You go to China you see these cities rising out of nothing. Of course, it is worldwide money, but it is really this country's money is rebuilding China. But we can rebuild our own cities. Highways outside of New York are disgusting. They are like third world countries. You go to LaGuardia, it is like an airport from the third world country. You go to China and other places in the Middle East, their airports are the most incredible things you've seen.

I see this because I travel.

Don’t talk about Trains. Don’t talk about Trains. Don’t talk…Whew, that was close. For whatever reason, Wingers Hate Trains today.

A year or two ago that wasn’t necessarily the case with Congressmen like Zach Wamp securing Taxpayer money for his Pet High Speed Rail Line linking Atlanta to Louisville via Chattanooga and Nashville. If Zach were still in congress today this fact may have earned him a primary challenge next time out. When you think about it, this really isn’t Zach’s fault. He didn’t know President Obama would include high speed rail in his 2012 budget.

But the Donald does know this, and it’s a good thing he didn’t mention Rail in his discussion of Infrastructure needs. The Base wouldn’t have tolerated this behavior, because they hate trains today. In 2009 maybe, but not in 2011 buddy. Close one Donald.

Foxnews Announces First GOP Presidential Primary Debate

It won’t be at a Staff Meeting. Instead it’ll be held in Iowa on August 11^th 2011 just before the Ames Straw Poll. It would be easier if someone at Foxnews just booked a conference room and did it that way, but they probably have their reasons.

There is no word about whether attendance is mandatory or not, yet. Presumably, any GOP Presidential Candidate that fails to appear could be subject to the Foxnews employee progressive discipline procedure and subject to disciplinary measures including and up to termination.

Its something for Sarah to think about before she decides to blow off the debate at the last minute.

ALL Losers Unite!

Will a Crusade against Grover Norquist to be Joined by the Losers of the world? Can the wingnuts of the world unite?

The RedState Blog Honcho weighs in:

Are you a loser? If you are the Heritage Foundation, Media Research Center, Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, the American Principles Project, Jim DeMint, Jim Jordan, Rush Limbaugh (given his comments yesterday on CPAC), and others — you are losers.

Grover Norquist says so. Norquist, last week, called those who chose not to participate in CPAC and those who share those views “losers.”

Losers?

Actually Norquist is finally starting to make some sense. That whole comparison of the Gift and Estate Tax to the Holocaust by Norquist was bizarre, but labeling this group of folks as Losers seems about right to me. And it also seems likely that Grover’s statement is sure to rile up the bright and pleasant folks who make of the most rightward portion of the right wing in American politics.

Having been called a “loser” (probably not the first time) our ever sunny RedState Blog Honcho, decides that its time to kick Grover out of the Club.

So this gets me thinking.

The source of Grover Norquist’s power comes from two things: (1) Americans for Tax Reform’s Tax Pledge, which could easily be duplicated by an organization not headed by someone who picked up checks written by a man serving 23 years in jail for financing jihad activities;** and (2) the Wednesday morning meeting in which tons of conservative groups participate.

[…]

I suggest a new Wednesday morning meeting of conservatives — one that combines the fiscal conservative organizations that constantly see their legs cut out from under them when Grover sides with UPS and the unions against FedEx, the national security organizations that continue to be concerned about Grover Norquist’s ties to possible jihadists, and the social conservative organizations Grover Norquist would like to purge from the movement.

Make it the place to plan and strategize within the conservative movement — something that does not really happen any more at Grover’s place. Make it the first step to taking back the conservative movement and moving away from the pay to play concerns that have so plagued the few, but taint so many.

It is time. Losers Unite!

Well, he got the term “Loser” correct. That much is true.

Of course at the heart of this coming Crusade is the inability of Far Right Movement Conservatives to deal with folks who may share some of their values but just don’t seem right in a commonsense conservative type of way – like Gay folks and Muslims. Grover wants all the allies he can get in his war against Progressive Taxation and the social safety net like Gay Conservatives and Muslims. But for Wingers like RedState Blog Honcho Erickson, this is a bridge too far. And rather than keeping Grover and his merry band of class warriors in the Big Tent and promoting the interests of the powerful at the expense of the penniless, Erickson’s suggestion is to banish Poor Grover for heresy.

C’est la vie.

Wingnuts, what can you do with them? Can’t live with ‘em. Can’t round ‘em up and send them to an imaginary anti-Obama dissident camp using President Obama’s super secret Gestapo-like security force either.

**Editorial Note: Last Week Red State was linking Poor Grover to the Muslim Brotherhood. I don’t know much about the Muslim Brotherhood (and neither do they), but I am sure that all good wingers are required to be afraid of this organization. But it is simply priceless once the wingers start accuse each other of having ties to Islamic terrorism.