Turns out that NASA got somewhat shortchanged in the last budget (that they also voted against) and now they come to the public with hat in hand asking for some of Uncle Sam’s greenbacks from the Marxist government they hate so much. Can you say bake sale, Senators? How about giving NASA a big old tax cut… that appears to be the republican solution for every other problem… Maybe we can sell some corporate space on the side of the latest missle under development and fire up the Exxon-Mobil missle to Mars. Anything but asking the Socialist Commander In Chief for stimulus cash… but yet here they are doing just that. I guess all that secessionist talk we heard from these rightwinger types earlier this year crawl back under their rocks when their buddies have their hands out wanting our tax money. Where’s the tenth amendment screamers now? Do they think we are that stupid or have incredibly short memories when it comes to their fake outrage? Give me a break.

I don’t know what will happen to this ‘request’ from Huckabuck and Cornball but it is possible that they may get something in the long run that they will no doubt take all the credit for. Just once I’d like to see this president take notice of these hypocrites and call them out in public telling them that in order to get some money from a government program that first you have to vote for that program. Then, and only then, can you get what you asked for. These same rightwing crybabies are the ones who want to strip all foreign aid from countries that do not vote with us in the UN but that same principle goes by the wayside when they are doing it. It’s bullshit, plain and simple, but republicans don’t seem to know any other way to act anymore. Hypocrites one and all.

There are no Democrats in any statewide office right now and it shows. With the tax cut mantra tucked firmly under their arm the republicans run for the end zone time after time scoring numerous touchdowns. Trouble is they are scoring them for the wrong team. Vested interests and big business have bought up all the GOP leaders and everything they do reflects the interests of these corporate whizbangs. The people haven’t been short changed. They have been screwed over.

Want example? There are plenty of them.

republicans made a big fuss about abstinence only sex education. They claimed that too much information made our young people crave sex and that caused all the unwanted births to our teenagers. The reality of the situation is that abstinence only sex education made our young people stupid and uninformed and now Texas can claim to be a leader in teenage births across the nation. “We’re Number Three!” is not a claim that we should be proud of but, for some ignorant ass reason, we are.

republicans made a big fuss about being taxed too much so they cut taxes. They said small government is better for us. The trouble is that small government works when your population is small and your country is undeveloped and has no need for services. Texas is neither a small population state or are we undeveloped but the services that are available in thus state are sparse to non-existent because there is no money to pay for any of it by order of the corporate controlled legislature. Road repair, new schools, adequate health care for children, unemployment benefits and dozens of other services are skimpy at best because of the stupidity of the “tax cut” crowd. They hated government so much they got elected and then showed us how rotten their whole way of thinking was in order to prove the point.

The current leadership of the state is caught up in arguing over the stimulus money that is supposed to help Texans recover from the recession. They are also fighting the push for health care for all Americans. That whole situation is so bad that one out of every three Texans is without any kind of health insurance at all. Turds-for-brains John Cornyn is whining about how much money health care will cost while ignoring two simple facts: 1) a third of the state doesn’t have health insurance and 2) they go to the ER for their health care which is paid for with increased hospital taxes to pay for the most expensive care there is. Can you say, “This is STUPID!” loud enough so he can hear it when his head is that far up his ass?

This past weekend there was a free health care clinic in Houston to take care of those who had no paid care. More than two thousand people showed up to get care and more would have come by if there had been more publicity on it. Not one public official from Texas was there. They do not want to see that the people they represent are suffering because of their lack of action, their ignorance of the problem, or their outright stupidity. Two thirds of Americans want a public option in the new health care plan being proposed. You know what that means for Texas? Not a fucking thing because these jerks stopped listening to Texans a long time ago.

Over the weekend, Liz Cheney went to some political gathering called Smart Girls Summit in Nashville, Tennessee. She brought with her all the political baggage she’s been lugging around with her since her father was forced out of his undisclosed location because of term limits. There were a couple of other rightwinger geniuses there like Michelle Malkin and Representative Marsha Blackburn to go along with the superior genius of Liz Cheney but, outside of some off the wall bloggers and a stray NYT reporter, this little shindig got no press coverage whatsoever. Perhaps it was because no one there said anything worth repeating. Perhaps it was because we’ve heard all this rightwing claptrap before. Whatever the reason, this was nothing more than a backslapping, everybody agree with everybody else gathering of people who are still stuck in the mindset of the last administration.

What was still the same old same old was the message from Liz Cheney: torture works. She may have talked about something else but this was the message that came thru loud and clear to me. Ignoring the fact that torture is illegal here in America no matter what John Yoo, Jay Bybee and David Addington may have said at one time, Liz Cheney still thinks that the best way to defeat the bad guys is to act just like them. The old eye for an eye stuff. Right.

Liz seems to think that waterboarding is legal despite the fact that this government prosecuted Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American POWs during WW II for doing that very action. The legal precedent is clear to everyone except the NeoCons like Liz who think the law does not apply to them or if they change the wording of a legal opinion that it changes the law as if by magic. Sorry. It doesn’t quite work that way. In fact, it’s never worked that way. Calling torture by another name doesn’t change a thing. You’ve just put another name on amounts to torture. Enhanced Interrogation Techniques is still torture no matter what euphemism you want to use. It’s the same stuff that Saddam used on his own people and we invaded him over less. Our law says you cannot torture people. There are no justifiable excuses.

But here she is, in public, bashing President Obama for not allowing torture to be used anymore and here is Liz Cheney still thinking that “24″ is a reflection of real life and that the bad guys have set up a doomsday device and we have less than a day to find it and disarm it so we need to use torture to find out the truth from recently captured and fully informed terrorists. Remind me to never let Liz watch Dukes Of Hazzard because she’ll start believing that cars can fly and all southern sheriffs are stupid. God help us if she ever watches the A Team and begins to think that bad guys can be disabled and disarmed by shooting heads of cabbage at them. Some things are too stupid to be believed but not according to Dick’s daughter. Torture works in CheneyWorld even though there is no evidence to back that up.

The destruction of America’s world standing because of this ignorant, uncivilized belief in torturing prisoners is long lasting and these unrepentant ignoramuses want Liz to run for office someday soon? Oh, God, would that wish come true so the public can give her the beatdown that her daddy never gave her for being so fucking stupid. Seems like stupidity is in the Cheney genes. Like I said, like father, like daughter.

Bobby was one of the most outspoken opponents of the stimulus plan. He called it wasneful spending and was even tempted to return the money back to the federal government. As the recession got worse, he quietly changed his mind and allowed the money to flow into Louisiana. He still spoke out against Washington and their intrusion into Louisiana with this cash booty.

As the money began to arrive, Bobby took a different tack on the stimulus. He commissioned someone to make over-sized checks with his name on them and then went around the state “awarding” those checks to different organizations to foster job growth or a public works project. Nowhere on those checks did it say that the money was coming from the federal government but that’s where the money was coming from all right. He went all over the state taking credit for something that he had spent months railing against. Isn’t this beginning to sound like a really bad Brady Bunch episode to you? It does to me.

Then, the director of the state transportation department, who was appointed by Bobby, stopped his department from making signs that indicated that the projects that were funded by the federal government’s stimulus from erecting signs that gave credit to the federal government. It’s OK for the governor to hand out bogus checks but it’s not OK for the public to know that those mean, nasty, all-powerful federals actually helped li’l ol’ Louisiana with some taxpayer money. The plot deepens on the newest episode of the Brady Bunch…

Now comes the latest chapter in this book of hypocrisy. A few days ago, Vice President Biden held a conference call with all of the nation’s governors (or their representatives) to encourage them to submit quarterly reports on how many jobs were created with the stimulus money flowing into their states. 49 out of 50 governors were represented at this conference call. The missing governor? Yep! You guessed it: Bobby Jindal.

I’d like to say that the call was mandatory and that not calling in meant you could not collect the $200 and you do not pass Go but it doesn’t quite work that way. In this Brady Bunch episode, Bobby takes credit for something he did not do or even want, keeps one of his employees from giving credit where credit is due and then doesn’t call the house when he’s supposed to call. What’s the ending? What’s the punch line you ask? There is no punch line on this sad joke, unfortunately, and Bobby gets away with it because no one calls him out on it. I hope Louisiana voters are watching and will remember his actions in the next election. That won’t happen, however, because Bobby is a republican and republicans do not believe in oversight or accountability anymore since they discovered that voters, especially republican voters, don’t care as long as they are getting the money.

You see, the problem is simple: when you pay attention to and parrot the GOP talking points that Frank Luntz laid out for you at the start of this whole process and those points get shot down point by point until you are left with swiss cheese for an argument, “pushing the re-set button” is just about all you have left. All the distractions with “death panels,” and “killing off grandma,” and “government takeover of health care” fed the republican base but did nothing to solve any of the pressing issues within the health care debate and Americans wised up to the disingenuous tactics pretty soon. Plan A failed and so did Plan B and pretty soon republicans were down to Plan X with no relief in sight. Plan Y is going for the old “bipartisanship” angle in hopes that someone will be provoked by an appeal to a sense of fair play and ignore the obstructionist bullshit they have laid out over the past eight months. Hit the re-set button now after all this time and effort? I don’t think so.

Republicans did not bother to propose their own health care reform plan because they like the status quo. (Well, actually they did put out a 4 page plan with no numbers or dollar estimates that they called a ‘plan’ but everyone with more than a double digit IQ saw that plan for what it was: a joke.) They really do not want reform. Their interests lie with the insurance industry and big Phrama and not with the health of the American people. Neither of these two special interests are even remotely interested in changing how they currently do business because life is good for them right now. They are making money hand over fist and republicans are the beneficiaries of this business plan because campaign donations roll in to make sure that the party and all its members remain bought-and-paid-for.

I think republicans were caught off guard by the determination of the Democrats when it came to reforming health care. Democrats whipped out a proposed bill with all the bells and whistles as soon as the Congressional session opened and the republicans were still sitting on their hands lamenting their reduced status and powerlessness in the House, looking at 60 votes in the Senate, as well as losing the White House. The had no plan then and they have no plan now. All they want to do is tear down what the Democrats want to do and leave nothing in its place. The status quo, in other words. That’s not going to cut it anymore. The American public wants more action and less talk. The GOP hasn’t gotten the message yet. Maybe they need to hit the re-set button.

Her first attempt at a post-governorship money making scheme was a speech she gave to a group of investors in Hong Kong the other day. At a gathering of some of the most astute investors in the Chinese economy, they choose to invite one of the least astute American politicians of the last half century. I mean, could she have picked a more unfamiliar audience than this to have her coming out party with?  Probably not.

She banned the media from the speech and denied the speechgoers an opportunity to ask questions. It sounds more like what the Chimpster George Bush would do for a speech than anything else. But she gave the speech anyway, all 80 minutes of it. Personally, given it was Sarah Palin and that it was her attempt to show folks that she had something on the ball besides her looks, I think the speech was 70 minutes too long. I’m pretty sure that the entirety of what Sarah needs to tell us on ALL subjects could be dealt with in under ten minutes, don’t you?

Think about it: she’s only been out of the country twice and neither time was for broadening her horizons in a political way, her foreign policy credentials were summarized by Tina Fey in one sentence (I can see Russia from my house), nothing she said on the campaign trail with regards to the rest of the world is even being quoted today one year later much less being remembered as being wise or savvy, and, with all due respect, her name is this decade’s version of a political joke. Dan Quayle thanks her in his prayers nightly for lifting the mantle from his shoulders.

From all reports, Palin used her speech to these investors, in a conference hosted by Chinese Communists in Hong Kong, to bash the current domestic policy of the United States, not only in trade issues but in military issues as well. If a Democrat dared to do this, the rightwing sound machine would have been screaming bloody murder and been all over it like stink on shit. These same hypocrites said nothing about Sarah’s critical remarks made on foreign soil but that’s not surprising, to tell you the truth.

The speech itself was a bust. A number of invitees walked out and those who stayed were tepid in their comments about her performance afterwards. I’m not sure if they themselves had to pay to hear her speak but I’m pretty sure they did not get their money’s worth. Warmed over rightwing rhetoric barely plays well at home. It doesn’t play at all well in the rest of the world. A failed politician like Sarah doesn’t really have the standing to offer the Chinese government (or a thousand of the world’s wisest investors) any policy advice or geo-political advice but Sarah gave it to them anyway.

I got a nickel here that says she won’t be invited back. Any takers?

After all this, you may be asking, what are they for? Tax cuts. They are in favor of using the tax code to cut some of your taxes so you can afford to buy the over-priced insurance that non-employer based plans currently make expensive and unaffordable. The trouble is, that even after the tax cuts, the overwhelming majority of people that cannot afford health care now would also not be able to afford coverage even with a tax cut. In essence, the republican health care plan is to force people to buy expensive coverage they cannot afford or go broke trying. Some plan. That free market crap they peddled to us for the last three decades that put us in this mess is what they think will cure this mess. What a load of shit.

It is very clear that the republican party is fresh out of ideas. They have no real plan for health care. They have no plan for the environment. They have no plan for our children’s education. They have no plan to solve the banking and mortgage crisis. They have no plan to get us out of fighting two wars and bring our troops home. They have no plans to start thinking of a way to come up with some new plans.

They are hoping you will not notice this by screaming about death panels, socialism, ACORN, and a thousand other things. Everything except what is important to everyday Americans. Everything except finding something that works.

There was a time in the distant past where there was an honest exchange of ideas between the two parties. The trouble is that, once rightwingers started winning elections using scurrilous scare tactics, they would not quit when the election was over. The proceeded to govern using the same scare tactics and pissed in the well as far as cooperation was concerned. Democrats were less and less likely to come to the middle only to be demonized for doing so in the next election cycle. It stopped being about what was best for America and it became all about one-upping the opposition and winning elections.

Do nothing Congresses run by republicans became the norm and the political climate was increasingly hostile to any outreach. The selection of Chimpy in 2000 wrote an end to serious bipartisanship. The Chimpster wasn’t interested in what Democrats had to say. This bozo could not even get the name of the party right much less come to the table in good faith. “My way or the highway” was the NeoCon mantra he put into place and he made it stick. Moderate republicans were challenged in their own districts by Club For Growth NeoCons approved by the Chimpster himself. It made no difference how long the official had carried the water. He was out unless he marched in lockstep with Chimpy and his flying monkeys. The aura of bipartisanship took a real blow with the Iraq War fiasco.

As soon as it became apparent that the NeoCons had cooked the books on the intel and that lie after lie was told to get us into the war, Democrats started to wake up. We weren’t going after Osama like we should have but we were blowing our wad on a fool’s errand. The elections of 2006 and 2008 took the steam out of the Lie Machine the republicans used to get elected and they were kicked out of power. What Democrats did not count on was President Obama opening the door and letting them back into power.

His first clue should have been the Stimulus package that was supposed to save the economy from melt down. The republicans offered and got amendments added to the package, mainly to help out their districts, and then en masse voted against it. Not one republican voted for it. They railed about it before and after it was passed but not one of them gave back any of the money.

Now comes the health care measure. We’re in the same boat again with these clowns. Change after change was put into the bills before Congress but the result is the same old thing: no republican support for reform. Boehner was even talking about  how the President should hit the Reset button and start all over again on health care. I have one question: what the hell for?

The republicans are in the minority. They are out-voted. Elections have consequences. They had plenty of time to fix what was wrong. They knew what to fix but you did not. Step aside and let the adults in so we can move forward as a country. You had your turn. You failed.

Mr President, you were elected to do a job. You ran on the platform of fixing health care. Now fix it. Don’t ask them for help because they are fresh out of ideas and helpful suggestions. Move forward. Either they will get on the train or they will be left at the station’s platform to wave goodbye to us as we go down the track. I say leave them.

For this generation, that example is Sarah Palin. She does not have the gravitas that Nixon did, nor are her lies of the magnitude that his were but then she never really had the chance to be any bigger than what she was. She ran for Vice-President but on a ticket that was doomed to failure in the shadow of the George Bush years. Like I said, she never had a chance. But that never stopped her from lying out of her ass at every available opportunity and, when the going got to be tough because of her behavior in office, she up and quit. Unlike Nixon who sought obscurity for a long time afterwards, Palin has made it clear that her quitting just means she is a fighter (whatever the hell that means) and that she will be speaking up on issues as she deems it appropriate to do so. In other wqrds, she’s not really going away – she’s just getting out of the line of fire by giving up her governorship.

She had a big ride in the two and a half years she was in the limelight. She managed to rack up a body of lies that is quite impressive. I was stunned when I read an account of them. I knew about them all but to read them back-to-back was astonishing. Among the lies that Sarah whipped on her adoring fans were these:

• Sarah lied all the way through the Trooper-gate incident including lies about why her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan got shitcanned.
• Sarah lied about the Bridge To Nowhere claiming that she refused the money for it when, in fact, she lobbied extensively for it.
• Sarah lied about the firing of Wasilla’s police chief and the town librarian.
• Sarah lied about the infamous gas pipeline she was promoting in Alaska.
• Sarah lied about the collection of clothes that were bought for her by the RNC
• Sarah lied about the various ethics reports she claimed had cleared of wrongdoing when they found she had violated the law.

Sarah lied about so many things of small and big importance that it became almost a full time job to keep track of them all. She does Richard Nixon proud. Her quitting, in my opinion, is the perfect tribute to Nixon and the body of lies that he told in his many years of public office holding. Te say that she will be missed is, well, a lie I won’t be telling.

link: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/the-odd-lies-of-sarah-palin-a-roundup.html

Rick Perry started this stupidity a few months ago when he said that he would refuse to accept the stimulus money because he didn’t like the strings attached to the money. He did not like the fact that the money would go to the state’s unemployed and that it would increase their benefits. He even went so far as to suggest that he may look at taking Texas out of the Union over the issue. It created a big hubbub and Perry backed down real quick. The talk of secession over the issue of state’s rights struck a chord with all the rightwing bigots and fringe nutjobs and got Perry some publicity in a year when he may be facing some stiff opposition in the primary. So, refuse the money he did.

A few weeks ago, Mr Perry had to swallow some huge amounts of crow when he came begging to Uncle Barack Sam for a loan of $170 million dollars to pay into the unemployment fund. Seems like it was going to go broke without the infusion of cash. There were two problems with that request: (1) he could have had that money for free if he would have accepted the stimulus money and (2) this loan he’ll have to pay back with interest. For all the political posturing and talk of secession, dumbshit Mr Perry just cost the state of Texas untold millions of dollars by appealing to the stupid redneck branch of his party. Sad to say, the story does not end there.

Enter the possible opposition for Rick Perry in the upcoming governor’s race, Kay Bailey Hutchison. She starts screeching about Perry hypocrisy in turning down the stimulus money and condemning him for taking out the loan to salvage his mistake. Here comes the fun part: SHE VOTED AGAINST THE VERY STIMULUS SHE’S BLASTING PERRY FOR NOT ACCEPTING. How much sense does that make? She’s trying to have it both ways hoping that the people of the state do not remember that she cast her vote against the stimulus package that slowed down the descent into the depths of George Bush’s recession. Some of us have memories like elephants even if the party of the elephants doesn’t.

The media here in Texas loves all these idiots and would never print stuff that blasts these two (and all the others) for their ignorant ways and stupid actions. That’s OK. Those of us not afixed with glazed eyes to Fox News or any of the rightwing newspapers that call Texas home can go online and find out what is happening in our own state even if the local press doesn’t cover it. Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison: two big republican hypocrites. I hope Texas can do better come election day 2009 and toss both these numbskulls out of office.