Hatch Act Violation

 

The Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, is a United States federal law. Its main provision prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice president, from engaging in some forms of political activity.

Season Two

Speaker Ryan Announces He's Not Running for Re-Election

Constipated G.O.P.

A Warning to the Left

The Left is so busy making jokes, it has no idea about the tsunami that is about to wipe them out. They're not worried. They're barely aware. "Look, Michelle Bachmann is eating a corn dog! Rick Perry is a Nazi! *giggle*"

This time next year the movement to defeat Obama will reach evangelical proportions. Progressives have no sway, no ideas except "It's All Bush's Fault". Surely enough of the historic Independent, Young and Black Voter Bases will stay home this time. It will not matter if the GOP candidate says something stupid every day for a year or if they have no economic plan or if they get reamed by gotcha journalists or if they constantly get Elvis and Thomas Jefferson mixed up. People are too face-to-face with the reality of... reality. We're in a Depression.

Too many people are ready to do anything, accept anything other than the way things are now. The Fear and Jesus that the GOP is selling is exactly what will get them elected. Anyone who thinks otherwise is lost in some self-delusional Late-Night-Monologue American Apathy.

Right now I see the Left giggling over the oh-so-crazy antics of the GOP candidate until late Election Night when those one or two or three states that made all the difference in 2008 will flip to the other side and about 1:30am, and only then will those still awake at the balloon drop party will realize it's all over.

This is precisely the state of mind that bewilders me: The 'Progressive', "we're so full of our phony moral and intellectual superiority, but at least the other side is even more full of crap than we are..."

This Elizabeth Kubler Ross method of slow acceptance of the decline in quality of life that we twist around in our heads as amusing social insight.

The Rachel-Maddow-boy-isn't-it-funny-that-these-dumb-rightwingers-are-always-kicking-our-political-ass way of thinking. Somewhere Jon Stewart is already trying to pre-write an Election Night Obama Defeat into some self-serving all-night comedy special.

It is this way of thinking that puts people to sleep giggling over Bill Maher's don't-worry-be-happy political uselessness - and wake up the next day to find that the vampires got in and the virgins were handed over to them without as much as a loud fart - and who knows how long it will it take to look back and realize we all have no one to blame but -- wait for it -- ourselves.

How long do they intend to fool ourselves with this belief that the "crazy right-wing opposition" can be just shooed away by making fun of them? They started their re-emergence the day after Obama was nominated and, whether you know it or not or whether Seth Meyers says so or not, they own it all now.

The people who don't think the GOP will win are the same people who get screamingly hostile when you ask them how things are really better now, or how they will be better, or why Obama should win, or why he should want to win, or any real way they can actually change and help him make this a better country instead of treating him like an overworked, undertipped waiter who gives unsatisfactory service.

GOP As Visualized by Simpsons Characters

Found this on the internet - don't know who to give thanks to.

BREAKING: BACHMANN EATS CORNDOG!

Dear Candidate and 15 second frontrunner of the GOP Presidential race, Don't ever be photographed eating... anything. Ever. Not waffles, and especially not... a foot long...

Sheeeeiiitttt, will you please fire your handler? Why? Because I'm going to be using this as a stock photo of you pretty much here on out. Okay?

It's actually better than this one I found of Rick Perry today...

Right Hand! Damn it.

Debt Debate Roundup

Okay gang. This is it - Eat your peas.

Americans, you deserve better from your 'leaders'. Both sides are morons. But I'll tell you ALL this - if you raise taxes or move that debt ceiling by one dollar more - I don't care who you are, I'm going to actively campaign so that you lose your job.

News of the Day

News of the Day...

or what I'm tracking.

Mr. Obama is expected to announce Afghanistan troop drawdown today. No doubt this will make some people happy and make a few others, like those fighting there, and the non-Taliban folks get kind of jumpy. Well, mission accomplished, and there's no more money. Besides, we've got Syria to stick our junk into. No, not kidding. It looks like Senator Graham is beating the drum to start a SIXTH war in Syria. Come on.

I wonder how our new Secretary of Defense feels about this? Yeah, Gates is leaving, if you didn't see his farewell tour the last couple months. Leon Panetta was unanimously confirmed as new Secretary of Defense.

Back to politics, Newt Gingrich's hilarious new political comedy continues to lose team members faster than Chef Ramsey expunges game-show contestants. Newt's team just lost his fundraising director and consultant. Now that's a reality show I'd watch on C-Span Ocho!

Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman enters race for Republican presidential nomination. For some reason, excuse me if I barely noticed. Am I supposed to be excited, angry, or meh about this? I'm going with meh.

And the story that pretty much writes itself Half-term Gov. Sarah Palin Packs In Her Bus Tour...Halfway Through. It really was a short bus.

Oh and Ai Weiwei was supposedly released. That's cool. They nabed him for tax evasion.

And finally, Wisconsin has passed right-to-carry legislation, leaving Illinois as the only one where only the bad guys are allowed to possess firearms. Guess it's going to be a summer of flash mobs in Chicago?

The Week In Review: Sunday Comics

We made it through a week...
Here's the review. The typical Obama voter-

The anger.

The GOP got it back, but for a limited time.

And after all that, it was to the highest bidder. Just like it always is.


Hope to make it through this next week.
Oh, and NOTE: the Blasphemes computer is in the shop - so, don't get too pissed if posts this coming week are really lame or worse than usual.

GOP Courts New Voters

A Houston based group called Raging Elephants is looking to change their dynamic with their new billboard, "GOP Is The New Black" campaign. The new billboard depicts a number of well-heeled African-American actors while trumpeting the new slogan. Its also likely to spark a debate that may include allegations of race-baiting, as well as a certain inquiry into where the funds initially came from...

And no word on who decided that this was a good idea, or not the lamest thing anyone has ever seen.

The Delusion

If were to actually ask a conservative, a real one, about the Bush years, you might be surprised and get an honest answer - that the Republicans f*cked everything up. They will blame Bush for spending recklessly, and expanding the wars - and TARP. Occasionally you'll even get an ear full about the Patriot Act. Some will bitch about Cheney opening up the treasury for all his buddies, others will complain about McCain. The real conservatives will explain it's all these things why they got their ass handed to them in 2006 and 2008. They did a lousy job when it was their job.

However, listening to the stories and the narrative being written right now, the Democrats have not owed up or even contemplated why they're about to get slaughtered. And this as their aids are laying out the plastic sheeting in anticipation of their bloodbath.

Which, seemingly, shouldn't make any sense at all. The Republicans were (practically) unable to stop the Pelosi/Reed/Obama agendas and projects. They passed: The stimulus, expanded bailouts, financial reform, Cash for Clunkers, the student loan takeover, and Health Insurance Reform.

Obama pulled the reckless reigns of foreign policy from the idiot cowboy and won the Nobel Prize for his amazing turn around in policy -- or something like that. Mr. Obama handled a major disaster in Louisiana completely differently than the Fortunate Son, and now the Democrats are so powerful they can get bills that haven’t even been read, they've appointed numerous czars that are above recall and oversight, oh, and they can spend like there’s no tomorrow - with zero consequences.

Guess who’s been running on this agenda? Yeah, the displaced and rebuked un-electable Republicans. And isn't it strange that the Democrats aren't even mentioning their records, or even running away from them at this point?

"My name may not be on the ballot, but our agenda for moving forward is on the ballot, and I need everybody to turn out." -- Barack Obama

Last night Jon Stewart should have told him to quit saying this, as it's a rally cry for his enemies.

My point is, rather than realizing that their Rahming of a slipshod agenda through America's oversized gut was their undoing, they're too busy blaming everything and everyone else - from foreign money, to Bush (still), and that Obama being too nice, or the laziest - that the American people are irrational and racist....

And now they're already bullsh*tting themselves that the Republican landslide is going to be a GOOD thing for Obama and his agenda.

“Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed.” ~Bhagavad Gita

The real fun will be when the n00b Republicans announce, casually, on week six that they, "...had no idea the enormity of the problem..." and snuggle into the lobbyists and the backslapping backroom deals that all that came before them ALL fell into. THAT's when things are going to get really funny.

Electric Boogaloo

The Republicans are set to unveil their new "Contract With America II: No Really, This Time We Mean It". The 1990's contract has gotten some credit for the Newt Gingrich Republican Revolution, which was about as revolutionary as a decision to change crack dealers.

In 1994 Newt Gingrich and the Gang put out a Contract on America - er, 'with' - introduced six weeks before the 1994 Congressional election and signed by all but two of the Republican members of the House and all of the Party's non-incumbent Republican Congressional candidates; provisions included 12 year-term limits.. ironically this bill rejected by the U.S. House 227-204. By then Newt was Speaker.

Remember all the hype about cutting government spending? Of the departments and programs that the Republicans pledged to eliminate, their combined budgets had grown by 13% by the year 2000. I repeat, what's going to happen when the Tea Party people get hit with more broken promises out of their candidates they backed? What's going to happen when these same double-crossing double-speak establishment Republicans return to their usual corporate masters, er, I mean, interests?

Really, what happens then? Start thinking about it.

Ron Paul, Ron Paul, Ron Paul 2012

Okay, Paulistas, Ron Paul has announced that he is official considering a 2012 run for president, CNN says so.

For those of you who only know him as a meme on message boards, the Texas Republican Representative has run in the past, and has gotten about as far as Al Sharpton in the primaries. He's the Dennis Kuinich of the Republicans - he's there to remind them of what their party is supposed to believe in and fight for. Paul has a group of extremely loyal supporters, most of which are Independent or Libertarian voters, and a couple tin foil hat wearers in the mix too. Despite all that support, he was unable to garner enough support for a GOP nomination in 2008. And to be honest, he was almost kept out of the debates, and when he was allowed to enter, he wiped the floors with Rudy, Mitt and Johnny - by was limited by his allowed speaking time.

As for running on a third party docket, everyone knows that has never worked for anyone (except maybe Lincoln) in the USA. In his favor of hijacking the GOP, is that they're flailing around like a dying fish - what with Michael Steel running around in a circle looking for water. The Republicans are already looking for a suitable contender for the nomination. Yes, Sarah Palin we see you with your hand up waving, doing cartwheels for the teacher for attention, but we should expect that she will probably be laughed off the stage by the Blue Blood types that run the party.

Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, Scott Brown, and Mike Huckabee are other possibilities, and probably more likely faces you'll see in the primaries.

But, Paul doesn’t actually think he will ever be in the seat of power...

“I don’t expect to be president. I don’t expect to be. That doesn’t mean I won’t run for president, but I am really energized when I think we make inroads … to broaden the outreach on the philosophy I have been talking about for 40 years,” Paul said to CNN.

Like Dennis Kucinich, Paul's message is spread by a presidential run. However, the news and attention this approach draws is a discussion on how these two fringe players have no chance at the nomination. There's almost never a detailed look at their policy ideas. Well, maybe at midnight on NPR... But, despite the lack of good coverage, some of their ideas can bleed into the party platform -- and lately the libertarian ideas and values of the Paul brand has been making inroads to policy ideas for the GOP.

And then there's the Tea Party, which some speculate are mostly made up of disenfranchised Paul voters who are looking for a leader. A real leader. He fits the bill perfectly. I'd much rather see Ron Paul than someone else who may suggest the Tea Party picks up matching snappy uniforms. Brown or Black shirts. Whatever is at sale at Wal-Mart.

Stranger things have happened in politics - Look at Barry Goldwater. But then, it was the most conservative candidate possible against LBJ.

And history does have a way of repeating itself.

Brown Back-Door's Big Deal, Nevermind He's Against That Sort Of Thing

Just in case anyone thinks I'm going light on the Republicans lately, let me share a little story about the new Wonder-Kid, Mr. Super GOP from Massachusetts. In the case of the Republicans, he's just one of the gang now.

You see, Scott Brown owes his election in no small part to the public furor over the so-called Cornhusker Kickback, the backroom deal that Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska struck for his vote to pass the health care bill. Bad, bad, secret backroom deal.

It seems that Scott's following Nelson's example, winning concessions in the financial overhaul bill on behalf of Massachusetts banks.

Scott is wheeling and dealing with both parties and hinting that he just might vote with Democrats if they agree to goodies for financial institutions in his state. How quickly a candidate who campaigned against "closed-door meetings" and "backroom deals" learns to eat at the trough once in office? It's a magical moment. One to celebrate and point to whenever your next 'outsider' campaigns for 'reform' or 'change.'

The Deal:
Brown scored an exemption for home-state interests like Fidelity Investments and the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. from some new restrictions on trading. He also persuaded congressional negotiators to let banks invest up to 3 percent of their capital in private equity funds and hedge funds, a change that would help such banks as Boston-based State Street Corp. Not bad for a freshman.

Then this week, Democrats bowed to a more philosophical demand that knowledgeable officials say was choreographed by Republican leader Mitch McConnell. On Tuesday, Democratic negotiators agreed to remove a $19 billion tax on large banks and hedge funds after Brown threatened to vote "no" because of it.

Brown wouldn't say whether the concession was enough to win his vote. And he made clear that he wouldn't make that decision in time to pass the bill and deliver it to President Barack Obama by Independence Day.

"Over the July recess, I will continue to review this important bill," Brown said in a statement.

Advocates of the bill to rein in Wall Street were casting Brown's dealmaking as a shift from underdog candidate in a pickup truck to something more amorphous. The Massachusetts branch of Americans for Financial Reform planned a news conference to try to present him Thursday with a new BMW.

"Since Sen. Brown is willing to gamble with American consumers, he's sending the signal that he wants to trade in his iconic truck for something a little more luxurious, something more in line with the kinds of cars that his Wall Street cronies are driving," the group said in a press release.

Gail Gitcho, Brown's spokeswoman, defended the senator's actions, describing them as fighting for improvements in the bill for the entire country, not just Massachusetts, and for firms everywhere that didn't contribute to the financial crisis. Right.

Well, it looks like the GOP is back to Bobby Jindal for their next candidate? The guy can't give a speech -- but he's doing a great job on the Gulf Spill. You know, by leading? He's the only guy I see trying to cut the red tape to get to the oil.

---
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Andrew Miga contributed to this report.

Natural Born?

I called this three days ago:

Republican Senator says: Eligibility is up to the voters
Republican Martinez implies constitutional requirement for presidency can be bypassed (link)

A U.S. senator has suggested that voters have made Barack Obama eligible to occupy the Oval Office, whether or not he meets the constitutional mandate of being a "natural born" citizen.

The comments from Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., came in an e-mail sent to a constituent shortly after the election which seems to go against the "Birther's" complaints -- and more troubling sets the stage for EXACTLY what I said three days ago:

Schwarzenegger 2012

The Presinator

The Birthers

In a country where 34% if Americans believe in UFOs and 24% believes in witches, and 9/11 was an inside job... there is a large pile of folks, let's call them "birthers," who still don't believe that Obama was born in the United States. If it were true, it would invalidate his Presidency, since Natural Citizenship is one of only three actual requirements to be the Chief Executive.

What's the problem with a couple right wing fringe nuts ruining the remaining threads of the Republican Party? 

The conservative talk show host Michael Medved recently referred to the movement's leaders as "crazy, nutburger, demagogue, money-hungry, exploitative, irresponsible, filthy conservative imposters" who are "the worst enemy of the conservative movement." 

"It makes us look weird. It makes us look crazy. It makes us look demented. It makes us look sick, troubled, and not suitable for civilized company," he mourned

For the most part, it's just funny. For a larger part, this claim and subsequent belief in someone lying about their birth is a natural and usual tactic by the opposing party since the birth of the country.

Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886), 21st president of the United States, was rumored to have been born in Canada. He was born to a U.S. citizen mother and a father from Ireland, who was eventually naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Arthur was sworn in as president when President Garfield died after being shot. 

George Romney (1907–1995), who ran for the Republican party nomination in 1968, was born in Mexico to U.S. parents. Romney’s grandfather had emigrated to Mexico in 1886 with his three wives and children after Utah outlawed polygamy. Romney's monogamous parents retained their U.S. citizenship and returned to the United States with him in 1912. Romney never received Mexican citizenship, because the country's nationality laws had been restricted against American settlers.

Barry Goldwater (1909–1998) was born in Phoenix, in what was then the Arizona Territory of the United States. During his presidential campaign in 1964, there was a minor controversy over Goldwater's having been born in Arizona when it was not yet a state.

Lowell Weicker (born 1931), the former Connecticut Senator, Representative, and Governor, entered the race for the Republican party nomination of 1980 but dropped out before voting in the primaries began. He was born in Paris, France to parents who were U.S. citizens. 

Róger Calero (born 1969) was born in Nicaragua and ran as the Socialist Worker's Party presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008. In 2008, Calero appeared on the ballot in Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Vermont.

....aaaaaannnndddd..... John McCain (born 1936), who ran for the Republican party nomination in 2000 and was the Republican nominee in 2008, was born in Colón, Panama, in the Panama Canal Zone of two U.S. parents, who were at the time serving at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station.

The worst thing that can happen from the Birthers? Well, first the restriction will be relaxed, in the odd chance their movement gains any further traction. What then? President Arnold Schwarzenegger. And the horrible vision of Idiocracy will be complete.

Repub Response

What could have been Bobby's official announcement of candidacy, became a Mr. Rogers laugh riot.

60 Minutes tried to clean it up last night, but really... I don't think anyone wants to hear from him again any time soon.

Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Machine

In an effort to be more fair and medicated to center - you remember that "rant of the year" from nobody-Rick Santelli? The same guy who "spontaniously" created the idea for the "Chicago Tea Party?" Perhaps the rant was no accident, but, shockingly, part of a coordinated Vast Rightwing conspiracy machine to stop Obama's change train.

Here's a recap of some stuff I've found in DailyKos [a beacon of absolute truth and is in NO way partisan to one group of idiots over the other group of morons] and also the Exile...

ChicagoTeaParty.com was just one part of a larger network of Republican sleeper-cell-blogs set up over the course of the past few months, all of them tied to a shady rightwing advocacy group coincidentally named the "Sam Adams Alliance," whose backers have until now been kept hidden from public. Cached google records that we discovered show that the Sam Adams Alliance took pains to scrub its deep links to the Koch family money as well as the fake-grassroots "tea party" protests going on today.

For example ( the whole article):

On the same day as Santelli's rant, February 19, another site called Officialchicagoteaparty.com went live. This site was registered to Eric Odom, who turned out to be a veteran Republican new media operative specializing in imitation-grassroots PR campaigns.

It appears that this is the brain child of the shadowy Sam Adams project:

The Sam Adams Alliance, a nonprofit conservative organization, has started an ambitious project this year to encourage right-leaning activists and bloggers to get online and focus on local and state issues.

And the coordination is now expanding to business interests that are opposed to Obama's programs:

Industries from health care to agribusiness to mining that stand to lose under President Barack Obama's policy agenda are ramping up lobbying campaigns to derail or modify his plans.

The day after Mr. Obama formally laid out his policy goals in his first address to Congress, the former chief executive of HCA Inc. unveiled a $20 million campaign to pressure Democrats to enact health-care legislation based on free-market principles.

And don't bother to ask who is behind the Sam Adams Alliance, because all that is scrubbed:

But it’s the Alliance’s scrubbing of their link to Koch that is most telling. A cached page, erased on February 16, just three days before Santelli’s rant, shows that the Alliance also wanted to cover up its ties to the Koch family.

For the record - I only posted "Rant of the Year" for you folks to look at. Second, I have posted the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" claim here to return the balance beam back to equally hating both groups of hypocrites.

Finally, I'm not a huge believer of conspiracies, Left or Right. However, if this phony grass roots Republican movement were truly this powerful and influential - why didn't work during campaign? I'm sure Mr. McCain would have gladly accepted and prospered with some kind of knowledge to run a campaign... because, like Bob Dole, it didn't appear that he had anyone of any competence running the show.

And don't tell me the "pst... Obama's a secret Muslim who eats babies and is going to take your guns" was a Right wing whisper campaign, because that was ALL Hillary in Iowa from Feb 2007.