More Righty Spew

I used to like Ted Nugent, and even saw him in concert in Reno a very long time ago, but the man's political views repulse me. He's entitled to his opinion just like anyone else, but its people of his ilk who represent the fanatical element of the right-wing. Frothing at the mouth, you might say, with very little to offer in the way of rationality.

Nugent's recent comment that we have "a clueless, rookie president hellbent on spending like a maniac as unprecedented debt piles up all around him" is hypocrisy in the extreme. Where was Nugent when George W. Bush was spending like a drunken sailor, or when the economy crashed with Bush at the helm?

And to think I wasted my hard-earned money on a few of his albums, not to mention one forgettable concert.

Froth at a Glance

I've been swamped with work for the past month or so, which is a poor excuse at best for not keeping current with my political blogging. However, in my defense, not much new has been happening in the continuum other than typical right-wing froth and boring attempts to further discredit the president and his administration on all fronts.

There are some days I don't even listen to the news because it seems to be much of the same, day after day. I'm not referring to the oil spill, but to the ongoing and tiresome divisiveness between political parties.

Here are some little treasures that caught my eye this morning:

• Utah radio station drops Hannity from its lineup, possibly for being uncivil.
• Hoekstra skips unemployment extension vote for country club fundraiser, even as unemployment sits at 13.6%.
• 17 senators from states with double-digit jobless rates repeatedly vote to filibuster unemployment benefits.

And is this any surprise?

• Bush is the worst president of the modern era, bottom five of all time

He joins illustrious company with Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Warren Harding and Andrew Johnson, who round out the bottom five.

However, the topper last week came from the typically verbose and scarily irrational Rush Limbaugh: "We are now governed by people who do not like the country; our greatest threat is internal." He is also convinced President Obama has no intention of growing private sector jobs because it's "payback" time for years of racial injustice in America.

His babble is suggestive of the Republican mindset. The worst part is people actually listen to him, and believe what he says to be gospel.

I hope to see the day when the GOP has rational representation, although such an event is highly doubtful.

Collective Ineptitude

If the "real" emergency facing the country is the growing national debt rather than expiring unemployment benefits, as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has said, why doesn't he and his fellow-lawmakers forego their salaries and benefit packages until every American who wants to work has found a job?

• To woo votes, Democrats scale back jobless aid

If Congress wants to scale down or cut off unemployment benefits, why not stop their own salaries first – which we pay, by the way – until every American can put food on the table for their families and children? Why should the so-called lawmakers be allowed to live comfortably off the backs of their constituents while people are going bankrupt, losing their homes or suffering without health insurance?

At this point, every last member of Congress makes me sick. They are socially retarded, out of touch with reality and the common people. Why doesn't someone – anyone - get off their ass and speak the truth for a change?

God forbid they should go without. I'm sure none of them have to worry about where to sleep tonight, or stress over what's going to be on the dinner table for their families.

Tit for Tat

Republicans have always been ultra-sensitive to the criticism launched at George W. Bush during Hurricane Katrina. Bush's non-responsive actions during the crisis nearly five years ago marked the lowest point of his so-called presidency, aside from engaging the United States in the Iraq War.

Rather than expressing sincere concern about the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, right-wingers such as congressman Mike Pence from Indiana couldn't wait to get on television to bemoan "the lack of response from the Obama administration." Others stated that the oil spill is "Obama's Katrina."

From Paul Krugman at the New York Times:

"…Much of the press floated the idea that this was "Obama's Katrina" despite the fact that the administration responded as quickly as anyone could reasonably have expected, and anyway there wasn't much it could do.

What I didn't quite expect, however, was the extent of revisionism I'm seeing about Katrina itself. Again and again, I'm seeing people claiming that tales of Bush administration failure were just a falsehood spread by the liberal media, that those left-wing crazies were blaming Bush for an act of God…"

For once, I wish the right-wing would display just a smidge of real concern instead of jumping on the "take-a-stab-at-Obama" bandwagon.

They are profoundly pathetic and utterly transparent.

Speaking Volumes

This man typifies the true right-wing:

• Rand Paul/Rachel Maddow interview

Paul is just dumb enough to open his mouth and say what he thinks, unlike some of his GOP counterparts. Most right-wingers at least have the sense not to spew their hateful and intolerant rhetoric, knowing it will repulse the majority of informed voters.

Ironic Truths

The ironic truth:

• What if the Teabaggers weren't white?

Can you imagine the hellacious furor from right wing-nuts if the majority of teabaggers were African-American and carried loaded guns to their public rallies?

Thanks for the link via Rebecca's Pocket.

Post Surgery Note

My own recent hospital stay makes me wonder, yet again, how people survive in the United States without health insurance.

As I said: Every American who is not living in extreme right-wing denial knows that the money itself is more important to insurance companies than the actual health of individual human beings.

No wonder the rest of the world is appalled by America as a nation "caring" for her people.