Thumbs & Whine

Watching the news these days is an utter bore. I'm fed up with the ongoing right-wing whine about Obamacare and their fruitless efforts to squelch it. In short, our lawmakers are sitting around with their thumbs up their asses and not doing the jobs we elected them to do. If I hear one more belligerent republican state "the majority of American people don't want Obamacare" I'm going to reach into the television and strangle them. They do not speak for me, or millions of other Americans who are in dire need of decent healthcare.

To that end, I read the following bit this morning:

• A Small Business Response to Obamacare

To quote some of the article as it was displayed in Shelf Awareness:

On his blog, Jarek Steele, co-owner of Left Bank Books, St. Louis, Missouri offered a "small business response to Obamacare" noting that the indie bookstore "pays 100% of our full-time employees' health insurance premium. I'll also let you in on another secret - by the end of this year, my bookstore will have paid $270,550 over the past five years for health insurance. Our group is (obviously) small; an average of 12 people are enrolled. Each bookseller's premium averages out to about $415 per month. We each have a $5,000 deductible.

"The message being blasted from the rooftops of opponents of Obamacare this week is that those figures I just gave you are precisely why Obamacare is unfair, that it will put a burden on individuals and small businesses like mine and force us to increase what we spend on healthcare. They don't want you to know that many small businesses like mine actually think that having health insurance is an important aspect of having a functional, happier, healthier, more productive employee. This small business in the reddest of all red states - count me in."

As for the daily news, every time I hear mention of healthcare on CNN or MSNBC the television goes mute or the channel is quickly changed. I'm simply disgusted by our lawmakers and their inability to do an honest day's work, and I'm tired of hearing about it.

Back to Basics

I gained a modicum of respect for Chris Christie during Hurricane Sandy and the aftermath, but I should have known better:

• How Chris Christie's Plan To Replace Senator Lautenberg Will Waste Millions In Taxpayer Dollars

I suppose he just can't help himself. True colors will out.

Bits About Benghazi

Good stuff from Daily Kos:

• Forget everything you think you know about Benghazi ... here is THE definitive timeline

• GOP BS Fail: Benghazi White House Emails were Doctored

• Will nothing stop shameless Dick Cheney from his incessant jabbering about Benghazi?

Next?

Right-Wing Diatribe

This is so utterly tiresome…

Does the right-wing think if they repeat the word BENGHAZI often enough it will in itself create a scandal? Come on, already!

• Embassy Staff Undercut Whistleblower Testimony on Benghazi

Where was GOP outrage when Bush lied in order to engage the war in Iraq, where more than 4,000 Americans were killed? Another sticky point they have conveniently forgotten is their partisan blockage of increasing funds for security in American embassies.

While right-wing "action" in Congress is pathetic yet typically hypocritical, their obvious attempts to point scandal in Hillary Clinton's direction merely shows their deep fear she will wipe the floor with them if she decides to run for president in 2016.

In essence, the GOP has no credible alternatives. Chris Christie might have a chance in 2016, but not if he's pitted against Hillary Clinton.

Sunday Smile

This is just too funny…

Donald Trump launches Twitter tirade against Jon Stewart after comedian jokes about mogul's secret birth name

I nearly fell out of my chair from laughing after reading the article.

I had to share it!

House of Cowards

The failure and cowardice of the Senate yesterday is just another example of their unfitness to conduct the nation's business. These men and women are not serving their constituents as they were elected to do, but rather serving their own careers and self-interests. Being a congressperson or Senator is not supposed to be a path to advance one's own agenda or financial well-being. They are meant to serve the people, plain and simple. Where do they get off going against the wishes of the people?

It reminds me of election night last year. Even to the last minute, right-wing media was blissfully unaware of shifting demographics and values in the United States. Their denial and anger at the election results merely emphasized how out of touch with the people they really are. And so it continues.

Hopefully all of them pay a heavy price at the next election. Despite their collective belief that the American masses are comprised of fools and idiots, we are onto them.

And we won't forget their cowardice when it comes time to cast our ballots again.

Warped Huckster

The selection of decent talk radio programs in my area is decidedly right-wing, which is an immediate turnoff. The only show near to being rational and objective is – believe it or not – Geraldo Rivera's weekday broadcasts.

However, the other day I happened to be stuck in a drive-through line at a convenience store. I turned on the radio and began listening to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's rather repulsive jabber. He was going on about homeless people receiving cell phones subsidized by the government (aka "Obama phones"), commiserating with a caller when she declared homeless shelters in New York City were indeed passing out free cell phones to the indigent.

I don't know whether it was my timing, or if the actual content of his typical weekday show is gleefully mocking of the poor and homeless, but this is what I heard (the wording paraphrased from my memory, but I'm sure you’ll get the drift):

I hope homeless people who receive cell phones spend all their free minutes dodging marketing ads. Wouldn't it be great if they got calls from insurance companies fishing for homeowners? Poetic justice, indeed!

Hmmm. Might not the homeless use cell phones to schedule job interviews, or contact family members worried about their well-being? Did Huckabee consider his joke wouldn't be funny to those who lost perfectly good homes – and livelihoods – because of the Republican-Bush-rotted economy?

What the hell kind of Christian is former Baptist minister Huckabee?

Well Said

Very true when you think about it:

A few more related quotes by Voltaire:

• The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.

• In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

• Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

Go to Brainy Quotes for more from Voltaire (and others).

Differing Definitions

It's all how you look at it…

Most people on food stamps would rather not be doing so. Does the right-wing honestly think people enjoy the loss of dignity and self-respect?

I've been in both places, so I already know the answer. However, it's the complete lack of humanity from the so-called Christian right-wing that churns my disgust the most.

Chosen Among Us

It's as obvious as the elephant in the room. Just because he accepted disaster aid for New Jersey – and showed his appreciation to President Obama - Chris Christie is persona non-grata within his own party.

• GOP tent not big enough for Chris Christie, says CPAC chair

It says a lot about the GOP as a whole. If they won't even accept one of their own just for doing the job he was elected to do, how on earth can they convince people they are ready to open the door for minorities, the poor and the otherwise socially marginalized?

However, they have plenty of room for the likes of Todd Akin, proponent of the magiclady parts theory, or wannabe senator Richard Mourdock, who believes rape babies are a gift from God – not to mention top right-wing nut jobs such as Palin and Trump.

Swiss Equity

How I wish the United States had a similar measure:

• Switzerland Clamps Down Hard on Executive Pay

From Think Progress: Voters in Switzerland overwhelmingly approved new measures to clamp down on executive pay. Under the approved referendum — which means that the new provisions will be added to the Swiss constitution — shareholders will have the ability to veto executive pay packages, so-called "golden parachutes" will be outlawed, and executives who defy the rules could see jail time.

In a semi-related story, the New York Times reports that Corporate Profits Have Risen Almost 20 Times Faster Than Workers' Incomes Since 2008.

House of Dipsticks

I hope voters remember the behavior of their representatives when the next election rolls around.

• How Looming Budget Cuts Will Hurt GOP Leadership's Home States

However, in the case of certain states (you know who you are), hatred of President Obama exceeds all common decency, concern for fellow human beings and is devoid of any recognizable form of patriotism. Our governing bodies, specifically the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, are a major global embarrassment. They make the USA look like a nation of dipsticks.

I sincerely hope Boehner and McConnell are the first two kicked to the curb.

Steady Hand at the Wheel

Great speech!

• Obama challenges GOP at State of the Union

The quality I most admire about President Obama is his natural ability of speaking rationally even in the face of an absurdly hateful and resentful Congress. His calm and steady hand is a great reassurance to those of us who view the GOP as out of touch and beyond reason.

Fixing the Vote

They can't win major elections on the basis of their candidates or political messages – take a look at gerrymandering and their attempts to block the vote – so now the GOP wants to tinker with the Electoral College:

Changing the rules, not the party

From First Read: Republicans are looking to improve their standing in time for the next presidential election. They want to do a better job reaching out to Latinos, they want to soften their tone when it comes to social issues, and they want to narrow their techno operation gap with Democrats. But here's another way you might not have heard: Some Republicans are looking to change the Electoral College system in battleground states that Democrats have won in the last two cycles. As the Washington Post reports, Republicans in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia - all controlled at the state level (in some form or fashion) by the GOP - have proposed awarding their Electoral College votes by congressional district instead of the winner-take-all approach used by every state except for two (Maine and Nebraska).

Grand Theft Election: How Republicans Plan to Rig Electoral College & Steal White House

From the Center for American Progress: The Republican Plan would reallocate electoral votes so that a maximum of two electoral votes would go to the overall winner of several key blue states. The lion's share of the state's electors would then be allocated one by one to the presidential candidate who won each individual congressional district.

There were a few lone voices of reason amongst the right-wing, however:

GOP Florida House Speaker Blasts Plan To Rig Electoral College

According to Think Progress: Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford (R) poured cold water on a Republican plan to rig the Electoral College that is being considered in a number of states to all but ensure that the next president will be a Republican. "To me, that's like saying in a football game, 'We should have only three quarters, because we were winning after three quarters and the beat us in the fourth," Weatherford, a Republican, told the Herald/Times. "I don't think we need to change the rules of the game, I think we need to get better."

Fellow Republican leader, Senate President Don Gaetz, wasn't favorable to the plan either. He said he would prefer a more progressive proposal: abolishing the Electoral College and replacing it with a national popular vote. Said Gaetz: "The farmer standing in his field in North Dakota should be just as important as the factory worker in Ohio."

Whatever happened to the party of Lincoln? Instead of entering into politics for the best of possible reasons – representing their constituents comes to mind as a priority – they lie, cheat and steal their way into office. Is it any wonder many of us look upon the right-wing as a collective group of unhinged fanatics? They are hell-bent on imposing their antiquated social edicts on everyone, taking away freedom of choice in most instances and then dismissing the relevance of the growing population and ever-changing demographics of America.

And why don't reasonable big-name Republicans point out the dishonesty? NJ Governor Chris Christie comes to mind, as does John McCain to a lesser extent (although he has lost much of his credibility in recent years).

Or have they all gone over to the dark side?

Absurdity Et Al

What do you want to bet the GOP will find a way to criticize President Obama for the White House price tag estimation?

• Want to buy the White House? It will cost you $294.9 million

I can see the right-wing froth now: "Despot living in the lap of luxury while millions look for work…"

The notion is almost as ridiculous as the GOP actually caring about the anguish and suffering of the unemployed or as irrational as the NRA attacking Secret Service protection for President Obama's daughters. Unless I missed it, no one is sending an increasing amount of sick and threatening letters to Average Joe's daughters are they?

The White House wasn't built with the intent of ostentation but rather for security, much like a fortress protecting its inhabitants from the wide variety of nut jobs running amok in our country.

Southern Hate Rages On

This is one sick group of people:

• Virginia KKK Uses Obama's Presidency As Recruiting Tool

If anyone should be barred from having guns, it should be members and espousers of the KKK. They are nut jobs through and through…

Why do they remind me of the right-wing in general?