More Evidence of Cheney's "Sound Policy"

The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan found at least $60 billion was lost because waste and fraud from poor planning, ineffective oversight of contractors and payments to warlords and insurgents.  Yet more proof of what Dick Cheney and the Bushies call "Sound Policy."

Brownie Supports Not Funding Irene Relief Until Budget Cuts

The George W. Bush appointee that oversaw the disastrous FEMA response to Hurricane Katrina says he supports Rep. Eric Cantor's call for budget cuts before any money to Hurricane Irene relief.

These are the same people who have said for years that tax cuts for the wealthy don't have to be offset with budget cuts.  But disaster relief for millions of people affected by a natural disaster must be, however.  The only thing worse than actually having such ideas as part of your ideology is the media allows all of it to go unchecked.

President Obama Reminds GOP Just How Out of Touch They Are

Such a good letter.

I would add that the costs of final, economically significant rules reviewed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs were actually higher in 2007 and 2008 than in the first 2 years of my Administration. And in 2009 and 2010, the benefits of such rules -- including not only monetary savings but also lives saved and illnesses prevented -- exceeded the costs by tens of billions of dollars.

It's always nice to see the president smacking down Republican Fantasy World delusion.

Cheney Calls Iraq War "Sound Policy"

War cheerleader and Chickenhawk with five deferments from serving in the military during time of war, Dick Cheney, has been making the rounds on our nation's airwaves with complete immunity the last couple of days to tout his new book and brag about Iraq.

This morning he went on NBC's Today show where he tried once again to rewrite history and claimed the invasion of Iraq was sound policy.

“I just don’t believe that. I think the critics at home want to argue that. In fact, I think it was sound policy that dealt with a very serious problem and eliminated Saddam Hussein from the kind of problem he presented before.”

Ahhhhh yes, sound policy.  After nearly a decade, thousands of American lives later, a trillion dollars without raising a single penny to pay for it, it's all sound policy to the War Cheerleaders. He's a sick man.  The disaster him and the Bushies did to this country will take decades to correct.

RE: Continuing Adventures of Ron Paul...He's Just a Republican

I'm kind of glad to see Matthew hitting on Ron Paul so much lately (here, here and here). But I'm also kind of jealous. He's really stealing my thunder here.

If there is anyone who has been saying that Ron Paul is not a libertarian it's me. Naturally, if he were a libertarian he would be running on their ticket. But he's not. He's running on the GOP ticket because, well, because he's a Republican with some libertarian leanings.

His leanings, however, are no more libertarian than say Bernie Sanders or Russ Feingold. Or no more libertarian than even Dennis Kucinich. But none of them get the nifty Patriotic libertarian label. That only applies to Ron Paul. Why?  Because the media chooses to play it that way and the GOP is happy to keep playing it up.

Like Matthew says, "Paul is much closer to Pat Buchanan, a socially conservative nationalist whose idea of nationalist foreign policy is to withdraw troops from South Korea and deploy them to the Mexican border."  Yes, and don't forget, too, the part about conspiracies.  Ron Paul's ideology is largely borrowed from the John Birch Society in terms of averting reality.  Not that we need to protect our southern border to ensure people are coming into the country legally.  But that the liberal federal government is secretly trying to kill off the white man and ruin the vision of our Founders-- who also don't want us to have health care.

Yet we still have to take that a step further and see that Paul not only believes in limiting women's rights, that he favors amending the Constitution to protect what he believes is God's desire for marriage and that he rejects clear modern science that evolution exists and we not only see that libertarianism has nothing to do with it but that conservatism even becomes a stretch, which is why he's just a Republican.

Romney Begins Walking Back His Stimulus Plan

Last week Big Love Mitt Romney announced a massively huge renovation stimulation project for Southern California. Fearing his 3,000 sq. ft. mansion was no longer adequate for his family's needs, Romney decided to invest millions of his own money into the local economy and quadruple the size of his compound home.

However, some people are not grateful for the stimulus project Big Love has so wrought upon the community.  Some (under-privileged I'm sure) are beginning to question the character behind quadrupling your 4th home already worth millions of dollars when so many Americans are out of work and/or struggling to get by.  Those of us here at The Fold Blog reject any notion that Romney's stimulus program is disingenious or elitest.  We fully understand the great need for stimulus projects especially in the housing industry.  But some people really believe the timing speaks volumes of Romney's true character.

Romney Family Compound Home.  1 of 4.

Therefore, Big Love has been forced to walk back some of the highlights of his stimulus program.

It’s not accurate, Romney said, simply. The application he made, two years ago, was to double the living space by turning one story into two. The “quadrupling’’ was a measurement of added nonliving space, including a basement and garage.

"don't they know he's only doing God's work?"
whispers the Romney voter

You see there.  Garages and full basements don't count.  He's technically only doubling the space of his $4 million mansion.  Though the price tag is still set at $12 million.

God Sends Earthquake and Hurricane to Warn Feds

Republican Presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann, who is just crazy as a loon, said over the weekend that the recent earthquake and hurricane are messages from God that politicians need to control spending.

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

Is there really anything else to add to her commentary? Take this recent statement into the context that her and her husband believe gays can be healed through prayer and have tried such therapy sessions on numerous occasions and you get the modern day equivalent of a lunatic.

*Update:

Ooooops....looks like I judged her Christian jihadist abilities too quickly.  Bachmann says her comment that God has sent earthquakes and hurricanes to America to get us to shape us fiscally was only a joke.  Hahahahahhahahaha...laugh people.

Typically you tell jokes about funny things with cute little punch lines.  Guess that's not what the kids are doing anymore.

WH May Offer Support to Home Refinancing Plan

This is the best news I've heard in quite a while.

The Obama administration is considering further actions to strengthen the housing market, but the bar is high: plans must help a broad swath of homeowners, stimulate the economy and cost next to nothing.

One proposal would allow millions of homeowners with government-backed mortgages to refinance them at today’s lower interest rates, about 4 percent, according to two people briefed on the administration’s discussions who asked not to be identified because they were not allowed to talk about the information.

A wave of refinancing could be a strong stimulus to the economy, because it would lower consumers’ mortgage bills right away and allow them to spend elsewhere. But such a sweeping change could face opposition from the regulator who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and from investors in government-backed mortgage bonds.

I think the resistance from Fannie and Freddie can and will be worked out if the president so desires. And why wouldn't he? This is the equivalent of an $85 billion stimulus every year. Surely the president supports that.

Alas, though, it's never that simple. If I recall correctly, the White House has tried numerous times to create some sort of refinancing effort for homeowners and never had much success. Besides that, anything that might spur economic growth and help out middle class America will most assuredly get blocked by Republicans in congress. Their goal is not to help middle America and certainly not to help this president. They are simply rooting for failure all around in hopes it ups their chances in taking back the White House next year. And if they do win, they still wouldn't dare support anything that might help middle America. Heck the last time they were in the White House, they had no problems bailing out the banks and the Wall St. fat cats. There's no reason to believe they'll do anything different if given another shot.

As far as their Hoping for Failure platform, it's sure not registering with the voters at all.

Quickies

• Karl Rove practically gets pulled from a Fox News interview for dissing Fox News employee and probable presidential candidate Sarah Palin. During his tirade about Palin having thin skin, Fox abruptly switches to Breaking News Alert that Steve Jobs was stepping down as Apple CEO. Too bad the Jobs story broke hours prior and had already been reported by Fox News.

• Tea Baggers newest Freedom Fighting venture?  Banning books!  More specifically, books that don't adhere to Biblical principles.  How's that for Freedom!

• Excellent read in the Times from David Cambell and Robert Putnam highlighting data from 2006 showing Tea Baggers were present then just under another name: Republicans.  Their study also casts doubts on Tea Bagger movement being something of a grassroots phenomena by demonstrating people who identify themselves as Tea Baggers have always been highly active Republicans and did not magically appear on the scene in 2009.  They've always been political participants, just with a new name.

• As regular readers will recall, I've been saying the very same things Cambell and Putnam are now quantitatively measuring.  Tea Baggers are not independents.  They are not a movement of people just now entering the political fray.  They are Republicans.  They have always been present but were quiet during the 8 years of George Bush, not because they loved his policies, but simply because he was a Republican-- and seemingly that is all they care about.  You can search The Fold Blog's archives all day long and see since day one I have been on a mission to get the media to quit treating Tea Baggers as an outside group when they are in every way, shape and form Republicans.

• Former VP Big Dick Cheney urged President Bush to bomb Syria in 2007.   He also kept a resignation letter handy just in case. 

From the Annals of Insane: Shimkus to Get Health Care Award

The Community Health & Emergency Services, Inc. will be presenting Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) with an award for helping to expand health care access to the uninsured. Shimkus was a staunch opponent of President Obama's Affordable Care Act that granted greater access to some 32 million Americans. How or what Rep. Shimkus has done to help the uninsured is completely unknown at this time.

The press release states the award is presented each year to members of Congress that help increase the number of community health centers around the country. Nothing increased community health centers more than the Affordable Care Act, a bill Shimkus voted against. So why he would be receiving the award is clearly a political veil to hide the truth about his voting record and so the Community Health & Emergency Services Inc. can pander greater access to a legislator.  It's like giving George W. Bush an award for fiscal responsibility. 

Deep Thought

Since when does soliciting a man on Craigslist for a "really good time," meeting him in a hotel room, telling him your a state legislature, grabbing his butt, whipping out your cock, paying him $100 cash, an iPad and a Blackberry mean you've violated your anti-gay platform?????

I don't see how any of that stands in contrast to a superbly unblemished anti-gay record.

Staunchly Anti-Gay Republican Caught Soliciting Gay Sex on Craigs List Refues to Resign

Just like my buddy Kent says, when caught in the wrong, Republicans always do the right thing and resign or go to jail.

Wait, maybe Kent meant to say always do the right thing and invoke God? Oh well it doesn't matter, because as we all know, Kent only knows what Rush Limbaugh and Fox News tell him.

For that matter, Republican Phillip Hinkle-- whom we mentioned the other day-- of the Indiana state legislature is not only refusing to resign but is calling the release of emails between him and his almost male lover a "shakedown." Technically a shakedown only happens if the gay male doesn't run out of the hotel room scared. But don't worry, to keep the gay man, because obviously  Rep. Hinkle isn't the gay man in this story, the state rep gave him an iPad, a Blackberry cellphone, $100 cash, showed him his cock and grabbed his rear. So it's not like anything remotely queer happened. Geez people.

Telling Us What We Already Know

An academic study coming out of North Carolina and Tennessee concludes people who associate themselves as Tea Baggers (aka, people who vote Republican) are mainly driven by fear, nativism, authoritarianism and libertarianism.

...That TPM [tea party movement] supporters simultaneously want to honor the founders' Constitution and alter that same document highlights the political flexibility of the cultural symbols they draw on.

The TPM supporters' inconsistent views of the Constitution suggests that their nostalgic embrace of the document is animated more by a network of cultural associations than a thorough commitment to the original text. In fact, such inconsistencies around policy, whether on the right or left, highlight what many sociologists see as the growing importance of culture in political life. The Constitution - and Tea Party more generally - take on heightened symbolic value and come to represent a 'way of life' or a "world view" rather than a specific set of laws or policy positions.

In other words, they're idiots. They claim to want to honor the Founder's intentions while simultaneously wanting to amend it to fit their political desires. Idiots.

McCain Declares Victory in Libya

What a complete idiot.

Sen. John McCain tells Sky News:

"Now we have succeeded militarily, now the major challenge of building democracy will come." It took the US over 100 years and a bloody civil war before it decided "what sort of country we wanted to be", McCain said.

Thank God this man is not president but even more so, Right Wing media has been trying their darndest to compare Obama's short speech yesterday about some very good news coming out of Libya to George Bush's landing on an aircraft carrier blasting a huge Mission Accomplished banner in 2003.  However, if you actually pay attention to who is saying what, it's Republicans declaring victory and not the president.

President Obama's List of Accomplishments

In only 32 months in office:

• $800 billion stimulus package that rescued the nation from total economic collapse
• Repaired our image abroad
• Lifted restrictions on stem cell research
• Auto-industry rescue that completely saved American automobile manufacturing
• Health Care Reform that gives 32 million Americans access to health care
• Financial regulation
• Repeal of DADT
• Student Loan Reform
• Food Safety Bill
• New START with Russia
• Refocused attention onto Afghanistan and the people responsible for 9/11
• Killing of Osama bin Laden
• Apparent ousting of Moammar Gaddafi?

Deep Thought

Surely Bush deserves the credit for the Revolution in Libya too.

Disillusioned

Republicans hate the president so much that they even criticize his choice in bookstores.

Why? Well, because Obama visited a bookstore "with nary a conservative work.” They are truly insane.  Mind you, it's criticism like this that Republicans consider to be intellectual and smart.

Libya: It's Not Mission Accomplished

Before we dress Obama up in a flight suit and land him onto an aircraft carrier, there's still plenty of time for the mess in Libya to go to smithereens. From a distance, the weekend was a good sign for the president's war policy but it's hardly a vindication or a cause célèbre.  In other words, I'm sure there's still time for Republicans to take the credit for it.

Yeah, I know.  It's amazing what competent leadership can accomplish.

Romney Proposes $12 Million 4th Home Renovation Stimulus Plan

With an economy still in the dumps, Big Love Mitt Romney has a plan to put people back to work: quadruple the size of his $12 million California home, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Unemployment is massively high, especially in the Southern Cal region.  This economic stimulus plan should put hundreds back to work, get the lumber business booming again and don't forget about those landscapers.  Romney is vowing to take his current 3,000 sq. ft. home and stimulate it to a whopping 12,000 sq. ft. by next spring because the current square footage "is inadequate for their needs."  Just the mention of such a program is already stirring local business with scores of Mexicans crossing the border in hopes of landing one of the promised non-union jobs.

Romney Family Compound Home

The buzz of the Romney Stimulus Plan has the community stirring

Romney voters couldn't be happier

Rick Perry: Book I Wrote Last Year Does Not Reflect Current Views

Last year Rick Perry authored a book about modern American society and where, according to him, it all went wrong. In it, he talked about many things including how socialism is destroying America, how child labor laws, Medicare, Social Security, and nearly all social programs are illegal because they violate the Constitution. The book is a blueprint on how Perry views America and how he envisions it will look under his leadership.

He is so determined to get people to read his book and learn about his ideas for America that when asked on the campaign trail how he will fix things he routinely uses his book as a reference by stating, "get a copy and read it."

The only problem with all this is his blueprint for America is very unpopular.  No worries though.  As a Republican he is allowed to coexist in two different universes.  One is reality-- where you are currently reading this post and where Perry gets to write a book calling for the dismantling of the 20th century and smiles on teevee.  The other "alternate reality" is where Perry writes a book calling for the complete repeal of Social Security, child labor laws, Civil Rights Act, Medicare and many other programs and gets to pretend that his book "is not meant to reflect the governor’s current views."

Fox News Admits Tea Baggers Don't Really Care for Facts

Greta Van Susteren on Fox News:

So it’s, like, even within the Tea Party movement, there is, you know, there’s a disregard for the facts.”

You can come at this one a couple ways. Van Susteren, if you'll recall, has been labeled by her boss as the liberal host for Fox News. Yes she's the resident Liberal. Whatever, just go with it. Since she's the Liberal of the bunch, she's supposed to say such things, right?

Or you could just wonder where in the world the Tea Baggers could possibly be getting all these inaccurate things from. Hummm, let's see.

Just this week...

• Sean Hannity had a complete disregard for the facts when he said George W. Bush turned over to President Obama an economy with 5.6% unemployment.
• Laura Ingraham called birth control abortion.
• Ran a fake video numerous times that had been doctored on YouTube to make Sen. Frank Lautenberg appear as if he's saying "we got to eliminate the rich."
• Ran with a misleading WSJ story claiming the list of millionaires has shrunk in America due to President Obama and his desire to tax them.

Yeah I have no clue how Tea Baggers could be so misinformed.

Fiscal Conservatism at its Best

One month after Diana Cantor, wife of Eric Cantor, was appointed to the Virginia Retirement Systems Board, the Bank of New York Mellon started making the maximum allowable contribution to Rep. Cantor’s PAC. Coincidentally, the Virginia Retirement System is a $4.5 million per year client of Bank of New York Mellon.

Reagan Aide on Rick Perry

“Rick Perry is an idiot and I don’t think anybody would disagree with that.”

Coburn Says It's a Good Thing He Can't Pack Heat on Senate Floor

Just like all Republicans, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is a Super Tough Guy. As always, the only thing that is larger than their Supreme Toughness is their Patriotism. Coburn proves both points in an interview to Tulsa World:

Earlier, in Langley, Coburn partially deflected criticism of President Barack Obama - and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke - by blaming the country's financial woes on Congress. He described his colleagues as "a class of career elitists" and "cowards," and at one point, talking about his frustrations, said, "It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor." 

Yes, in the world Coburn lives, people who don't agree with him are "cowards" who should be thankful he can't carry a gun to work.  The only thing wrong with Coburn's depiction of his manly toughness is that there is nothing in his life's history to back any of it up.

When Coburn was of prime fighting age, a time when he could prove both his manly tough guyism and his Super Patriotism, there was a huge war raging in a far off land called Vietnam.  The country that he loved, of which now he says is full of cowards, really needed him.  Coburn instead chose to stay far away and go to college.  As the son of a very wealthy obstetrician, Coburn was fortunate enough elitist enough to not have to answer his country's call at a time when it needed him most. 

But now all of that is down the memory hole.  Coburn is a very tough gun-loving Republican Patriot that we all should be thankful we don't work with.  Unless, of course, we are a fellow Republican Patriot and then Coburn, who is also a Moral Values Crusader, will help negotiate payoffs to your mistress.

Hannity Claims Bush Gave Obama 5.6 Unemployment Rate

In what can only be a lie of gigantic proportions, Fox News host Sean Hannity exceedingly bragged that President Obama inherited a 5.6% unemployment rate from George W. Bush.



This is just hysterical. As County Fair notes, the unemployment rate in Dec. of 2008 was 7.2%.  By January 2009 it was 7.6%. 

Such lies, however, is the very purpose of Fox News.  It's their Mission Statement.  It is why they are the Gatekeepers of the Republican Fantasy World.  Millions of people watch their network.  They hear Uber Patriot Sean Hannity say George Bush gave Obama an unemployment rate at 5.6% and then the good little Republican viewers that they are, go out into the public and repeat such lies.  It's how it works.  It is the purpose of their existence.

As you'll recall, last year Hannity bragged about Bush creating 10 million new jobs.  Of course that never happened.  Total net job creation under the reign of King George II was zero.  The worst since the Great Depression.  But not in the Republican Fantasy World.  He created 10 million new jobs.  Gave Obama a 5.6% unemployment rate and turned over an economy as strong as ever.

This is what Republicans really believe.  Just talk to one of them and you'll quickly learn they really believe it.

MO Lt. Gov. Admits to Frequenting Strip Clubs Prior to Finding God

Just in the nick of time, Missouri's Lt. Gov found God and kicked his strip club habit. That's what I call power, power, wonder working power...in the blood of the Lamb.

Tea Bagger Rhodes Would Have Been Arrested for Doing the Same to Bush

Following up from the post below, it's apparent that Republican tea baggers are going to try and disrupt any and all public appearances by President Obama from here on out. What happened in Iowa yesterday with tea bagger leader Ryan Rhodes and the president was minor and only the beginning.  The events will get rowdier and maybe violent, mark my word.

As a believer in democracy, I'm all for it-- not the violent part. Let people who disagree with President Obama question him. Let them show up at his events with their rattle snake shirts and their crazy signs lamenting government. That's a healthy practice of democracy, and I hope the president and his campaign do not try and cut down on such behavior either.

Now why would someone who supports President Obama, who plans on voting for him again, encourage such disruptions and rude behavior? Because the alternative is what George Bush and the Republicans did when he tried to squash disobedience.

• 2004- husband and wife in WV were arrested for attending a "public" George Bush event. Their crime: disrupting the event by yelling and screaming? Nope. They were simply wearing anti-Bush t-shirts (to a public event mind you).
• 2005- three people were forcibly removed from a so-called George Bush public town hall meeting. Did they disrupt? Yep. But remember these people are un-patriotic for opposing the most unpopular president in American history.
• 2004- two 55 year old school teachers were arrested in Iowa for attending a Bush campaign rally while wearing John Kerry shirts and buttons. Did they yell, shout, scream and disrupt? Nope. Their crime was not supporting the President of the United States.
• 2008- a 61 year old librarian forcefully removed and arrested at a John McCain rally in Denver for holding a sign that read McCain=Bush. Did she yell, scream, shout and disrupt? Nope. Her crime was she didn't support another four years of George W. Bush.

So remember, what this nut job in Iowa did yesterday it would have landed him in jail had he done it to George Bush or a Republican.  When people cry about Obama not changing things, it's better to remember just how much things have really changed.

Head Tea Bagger Heckles President

In Iowa yesterday, leader of one of the many tea bagger factions, Ryan Rhodes, went head to head [no pun intended] with President Obama concerning the current mode of political discourse.

Rhodes shouted out that the president's calls for more civility in politics had little chance of coming to pass after "your vice president is calling people like me, a Tea Party member, a 'terrorist.'"

"I absolutely agree that everybody needs to try to tone down the rhetoric," President Obama said, before going on to detail some of the more explosive charges that conservatives have laid against him.

"In fairness, since I have been called a socialist who wasn't born in this country, who is destroying America and taking away its freedoms because I passed a health care bill, I am all for lowering the rhetoric."

Obama and Rhodes later engaged in an animated conversation as he greeted supporters on a rope line after the event, and the activist later told reporters that he believed that Obama was indeed a socialist.

When you hold the entire country hostage over some make-believe budget cuts to supposedly cut the national debt of which $11 trillion came from your party, that's terrorism.  There's no other word or phrase for it.  But I love how it's okay for the tea bagger to call the president a socialist but he yells, screams and cries like a little baby over being called a name himself.  Get ready for more of this.  This is only the beginning.  President Obama will get heckled many, many more times by people even crazier than this idiot.

And Now We Know Why She's a Tea Bagger

Quickies

• Bachmann wins meaningless Iowa straw poll. Media immediately labels her frontrunner and somehow the second place winner of the straw poll gets less attention than people who didn't even participate.

• Rick Perry enters teh GOP race.

• What Rick Perry hath wrought in Texas.

• More proof the 2012 race will be about Republicans complaining President Obama didn't clean up their mess quick enough.

• During the past year when millions of Americans saw their entire finances vanish, the loss of their homes, and the daily struggle of providing basic needs increase demonstrably, Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA) saw his personal wealth more than double. In large part the increase in his personal wealth can be conveniently tied to pork projects and tax money going directly to benefit his many businesses.  Oh did I mention Rep. Issa is chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee?

Ron Paul is Right

Rightly contradicting Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and even his own son, Ron Paul says corporations are not people.

Like I said last week, I wondered how Ron Paul would answer back considering he has for 40 years now contended the Constitution does not protect groups rather individuals.  Corporations are nothing more than government entities.  Glad to see the old man not pandering.  But will the media even care?  Doubtful.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before...

...staunchly anti-gay elected Republican gets caught with an 18 year old male he met online...

People Are People

“Corporations are people, my friend,” Romney said.

Some people in the front of the audience shouted, “No, they’re not!”

“Of course they are,” Romney said. “Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. Where do you think it goes?”

Such a belief is, of course, the very definition of Corporatism.  Later on, Romney went on to call President Obama a Euro style socialist. Can't wait for the Paultards to get a hold of this one.

Related articles

• Romney: "Corporations Are People" (reason.com)

*Update:

Both Rand Paul and Sarah Palin rush to defend Mitt Romney's corporations are people statement.

Didn't the Great Ron Paul say many times the Constitution does not protect groups of people only individuals?

Ron Paul the Very Serious Non-Liberal Liberal Slasher

A lot of times I agree with Ron Paul on foreign policy. He is one of the very few if not the only Member of Congress that will come right out and talk about how counterproductive our foreign policy is.  His smackdown of nutjob Rick Santorum at last night's debate is a great exhibit of this.

Domestic policy is altogether different when it comes to Rep. Paul.  I don't believe everything is a conspiracy theory and I don't believe that by shutting down numerous government departments we will render some sort of better vision of America as decided by the Founders.  I honestly don't believe the Constitution forbids Congress to enact a law that prevents businesses from not treating people like equals.  But none of that is really what this is about.

My contention has always been not that Ron Paul's domestic agenda is 19th century caveman vision of America, but that he gets away with a lot things he says by chalking it up to being a libertarian.  He's not a libertarian, however.  He's a Republican.  If Dennis Kucinich said that we should legalize drugs, that we should end our Endless War program, that we should stop foreign aid, that we need to audit the federal reserve, he's a crazy liberal that isn't serious about America.  And he's said all those things.  But when Ron Paul does it, he's a Very Serious Patriot fighting to save America from the liberals. 

Fox News Understands Liars Lie Better When Lying

As Gatekeepers of the Republican Fantasy World, Fox News has to keep telling its viewers that the current economic mess we are in is a direct result of Barack Obama.  It's their job.

Joe Walsh via Fox News:

“The President is like a teenage boy who had a big party and trashed his parents’ house while his parents were gone,” Walsh said. “Then he gets really upset when his parents come back home and make him clean up the mess. These troublesome House Republicans were sent to Washington to help the President clean up this mess.”

This line of political attack and revisionist history ignores the very simple fact that the "house" was already trashed when Obama got the keys in 2009. Obama inherited a $1.3 trillion budget deficit.  He inherited a federal debt over $11 trillion along with two ongoing endless wars costing us hundreds of billions every year without a single penny to pay for either, tripled with an economy losing millions of jobs and a Dow at 7,000 when he took office.

A tall task it would be to get people to forget that it was actually George Bush and the Republican Party that created this mess leaving it all for Obama to fix.  I'm not even sure how to even begin to go about such a task really.  But for Republicans it's second nature.  So how do you get people to forget all about Bush's 8 years and get people to believe the economic mess is all Obama's.  Well, you do what Fox News does and you bring on someone who has absolutely no credibility on fiscal matters like Rep. Joe Walsh who owes over $100,000 in back child support; who so mismanaged his own personal finances that as recent as 2009 had his home foreclosed yet was still able to personally loan his political campaign $35,000 cash just so he could go on Fox News and be labeled a fiscal conservative and convince people Democrats are to blame.

In other words, you get someone who is nothing but a professional liar and a personal fraud to do all the convincing.  If I'm going to rob a bank, I'm going to get bank robber to help me.  Same for Republicans and their Fantasy World reality reinvention program.  If you're going to convince millions of people of complete lies get a liar to do it.

Mitt Romney: The Anti-Mitt

I remember telling some friends back in 2008 that Big Love Mitt Romney stood a much better chance at the presidency in 2012 rather than 2008 because those four years gave him much more time to make Republicans forget (and ultimately the media) just how left-leaning he had been his whole career.  Well, we would be forced to call a Democrat that was pro-choice, pro-gay rights, supported an individual insurance mandate-- no actually enacted health care reform with an individual mandate just like Obama-- and raised taxes a Liberal Elitist.  But since Romney is a Republican we have to settle as labeling him "left leaning."

Luckily for America, there are a couple really cool 20th century inventions like television and the internets to remind us just how much of a liar Romney really is.

That's what you have to do to win a GOP primary. Rick Perry in Texas has to go through the same thing. He has to transform from a reasonably moderate very pro-separation of church and state Republican just two years ago to a fundamentalist Christian jihadist chosen by God for Republicans to vote for.

Stox Go Wild

Wild, wild ride today for the markets. Dow ends the day up almost 430 points. So what is going on? I have no clue but my guess is if it's good news it has to be because of the GOP!!

Qualifications for a Fiscal Conservative

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL)

You owe your ex-wife (actually your kids) upwards of $100,000 in back child support, for which you are now being sued. Just two years ago you lost your home to foreclosure, because obviously you weren't paying that either. You take your new wife/former mistress on expensive trips to Europe during all this and still somehow loan your political campaign $35,000 cash from your pocket.  What sort of political label do you get in today's America?  Small government, fiscal conservative of course.

Seems to me if you have $35,000 cash laying around you should first pay your back child support so your kids can have their necessities and then pay your mortgage. But not according to fiscal conservatives.  According to them, the first thing you should do is lambast other people for their financial habits.  And then run for office as a Republican.

If You Want to Shrink the Economy, Don't Be Surprised When Markets React

I've been trying to spend the day reading up about what in the world is going on with the markets and with the economy. Today was the worst day for stocks since 2008 after losing 634 points; or roughly 5.5%.  Yet the bond market is doing just the opposite.

As best as I can tell, the credit downgrade brought jitters to the market.  But investors still realize our credit is excellent which is why the bond market held steady.  I have a feeling the market adjustments were coming with or without the credit downgrade.  Simply speaking, all the focus on downsizing federal spending is essentially the same thing as a focus on shrinking the U.S. economy.  That is, of course, the opposite of what you want to do when in a recovery, if we even still call it that.

Republican Downgrade Sends Stocks Tumbling

Down over 3% so far today.  Watch here as Republican tea baggers cheer the downgrade.  They would rather see America collapse than be run by a Democrat.

Quickies

• Stocks have dropped more than 10% in two weeks. Can we now talk about JOBS?

• Of course if we talk about JOBS the Republicans will do everything they can to block any government action that might spur job creation. Why on earth would an American do that? Because they are more worried about making the president appear as a failure than they are about America succeeding. So what are Dems to do? Truman anyone?

• Stock dives prove how stupid and unnecessary the debt ceiling debate was.  Instead of spending months threatening American default for the first time ever, and playing political games with an absolutely GOP-created problem, Congress should have been using that time to come up with measures to stimulate the economy.

• Republicans love state's rights except for when they love to take those rights away by amending the Constitution.  Nowadays such insanity is called tea baggery.

• Best paragraph I've read all week: "In other words, a slew of millionaire politicians who spent the last decade exploding the national debt with Endless War, a sprawling Surveillance State, and tax cuts for the rich are now imposing extreme suffering on the already-suffering ordinary citizenry, all at the direction of their plutocratic overlords, who are prospering more than ever and will sacrifice virtually nothing under this deal (despite their responsibility for the 2008 financial collapse that continues to spawn economic misery).  And all of this will be justified by these politicians and their millionaire media mouthpieces with the obscenely deceitful slogans of "shared sacrifice" and "balanced debt reduction" -- two of the most odiously Orwellian phrases since "Look Forward, not Backward" and "2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate" (and anyone claiming that Obama was involuntarily forced by the "crazy" Tea Party into massive budget cuts at a time of almost 10% unemployment: see the actual facts here)."

Senate Passes Debt Bill

Senate approves large pile of dog crap, 74-26. President to sign immediately.

These Are Our Small Government Conservatives

Last week the Republican-controlled House panel on the judiciary approved a wide ranging internet service provider bill. The legislation demands service providers store their customers' names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses for up to a year. The new law is supposed to help law enforcement track down sex crimes more efficiently and has been labeled by the bill's sponsors as a legislative fix to keeping children safe from exploitation via the 21st century.

That means, your internet provider will be collecting a treasure trove of data about your online activity which can also result in information about your non-online activity all without a warrant.   People who don't commit crimes will be treated just like those who do.  Now remember, this comes from the small government, moral values party.  And don't forget either, the Republicans who oppose this bill get to be labeled outside their party as Very Serious, Patriotic, Freedom-loving libertarians whereas Democrats get no such treatment.  Their just liberals no matter what.

House GOP Raises Debt Ceiling, Tea Baggers Slap Their Support

One hundred seventy-four House Republicans and 95 House Democrats voted to make a technical amendment to the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 and viola the debt ceiling is on its way to a huge $2.4 trillion increase. It really wasn't all that hard, was it?

To be sure, the bill would not have passed if it wasn't for the courageous, freedom fighting patriots of the tea bagger faction. They voted an overwhelming 32-28 to increase the nation's debt.  What happened to their principles and morals?  Oh well doesn't matter now, this is all to go down the memory hole never to be mentioned again.  Or if it is, only in the context that Barack Hussein Obama is an enemy and their vote to give him a blank check was really to subvert him and save America.

The big pile of dog crap is expected to head to the senate tonight where it will probably pass first thing in the morning.  Thank goodness, though, these fiscal conservatives of the GOP really showed us how Serious and Patriotic they are.  Just think, without them we would have raised the debt ceiling anyway.

Red States By Far Receive Most Tax Money

Of the 25 states that receive the most federal tax money (i.e., welfare) 18 are states that voted for John McCain. 20 are states that voted twice for George Bush. In other words, Republican states by far get the most in federal funds. You know the people who hate tax dollars and can't stand people to be dependent upon the government.  Yeah those are the ones getting more than they pay in.

Only in America are these people called small government fiscal conservatives.

Not a Good Mixture

Just so we are all sure what it is we are dealing with here:

Over the last four decades, the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into an insurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority and threatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate and Iran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachment trial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today’s Republican Party, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatened to nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to, and who later led the fight to secede from the union over slavery.-- John Judis

Now the other half of our problem is we have a president that is more than willing to bend over backwards so as not to upset the crazies. A president that ran on ending the Bush tax cuts, closing Gitmo, instituting a public option for health care and stood opposed to war without end seems like a stranger to us all now.

The World is Saved

Never mind the fact the bill to raise the debt limit is a big pile of crap. Just pretend it's as good as we can do and be glad the world is saved from our own madness.

My prediction: The cuts won't be as large as they claim. And we'll keep adding debt at unfathomable rates. Why? Well because this whole debate about a debt ceiling was a scam. It was created by the GOP to scare people into believing Obama has spent more money than all presidents combined. Nothing is going to change from this deal. Next week we'll start talking about the budget. And Barack Obama will be the first president to ever have a budget deficit, you wait and see.