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Category Archives: Politics

Republicans and Tea Party Upset by Suggestions Rhetoric Lead to Attack?

In the wake of the attack on Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Republicans have become especially sensitive to suggestions the conservative Tea Party movement, with its anti-government stances, was contributing to a more poisonous political environment. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., noted Sunday that the suspect in the Tucson rampage was connected to Internet postings that included Marxist and Nazi literature. “That’s not the profile of a typical tea party member, if that’s the inference that’s being made,” he said on CNN.

Well, excuse me Senator, but the Nazi movement was a conservative movement, in spite of what Glenn Beck, Limbaugh or Hannity say. Fascism is a right wing political movement, not a left one. And, oh by the way, weren’t those Tea Party members who beat a woman into the pavement, kicking her in the head at a campaign event last fall? You remember Senator. When they grabbed her and shoved her to the ground and gleefully stomped on her head, like some scene out of Schindler’s List. Yeah that would make the Tea Party, and the GOP which so ardently jumped into bed with it, akin to which former political party of Hitler’s Germany?

Not to be outdone, Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, who ran as a tea party favorite, said on “Meet the Press” on NBC: “I just hope we can have some civility and move forward. You have extremes on both sides; you have crazy people on both sides. Your job as a leader is to talk to people in a rational way. To bring down the rhetoric”.

Well, let’s see Congressman? Members from your beloved Tea Party beat up a woman during a campaign event in Virginia (see above), show up to rallies carrying pistols and assault rifles holding signs declaring that, “the Tree of Liberty” needs to be watered. Speakers at Tea Party rallies talk of revolution, and of “reloading”. Why would anyone think the Tea Party movement might have influenced what happened? Gee, I can’t imagine.

Of course the GOP and Tea Party don’t want to accept any responsibility! But if you spew violent rhetoric aimed at the government, and government officials, you own it when it happens! You can’t have your cake and eat it too!

And Congressman, this nonsense about, “You have extremes on both sides; you have crazy people on both sides,” is a crock of … Show me one instance of where any MSNBC host has ever talked about putting anyone in “cross hairs”, or “reloading” or acted out lighting a GOP leader on fire! Show me one instance of a Democratic Senate candidate saying if they lost then they’d turn to “2nd Amendment remedies”. You can’t, because it never happened. The responsibility for the rise in hate and violent “rhetoric” lies squarely at the feet of the conservatives in our country. You said it, you own the outcome. Words have meanings, and they also have consequences.

 
 

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Reading Constitution by this Group Was Wrong

When you use the Constitution as a stage prop you are right up there with the hypocrites Jesus described who prayed on street corners for all to see how righteous they were.

This is uber right-wing political grand standing 101.

By the time they finished reading the 27th Amendment there were reportedly less than 30 Republican members of the House still in the Chamber. So, tell me. Why was this done, if not as a political stunt? They love the Constitution so much that only 30 of them stuck around for the entire reading?

Don’t get me wrong, opposing this was just politically stupid. But it was a stunt, plain and simple, and the fact that the GOP Speaker couldn’t manage to keep his own people there demonstrates what it was.

Some on the right have suggested this was probably the first time some members of Congress had ever heard the Constitution. I, on the other hand, trust that the members of the United States Congress have read the Constitution, not just once, but many times. I would also suggest that Speaker Pelosi never had the Constitution read out load simply because it didn’t need to be, that she believed – as I do – that most members of the Congress – with the exception of some like Rep Bachman – have not only read the Constitution, but understand it and revere it.

For the past four years the GOP has been parading around shouting all it was going to do, and it spends its first hours in power show boating for political gain, trying to claim how its members love the Constitution more than the Democratic members do.

I object to my country’s Constitution – which I have sworn to protect and defend, something incidentally that the vast majority of the GOP House never did – being used in such a blatant political move.

Boehner and company are grand standing because they have no plan except to try to undo every progressive law/program that has been enacted since the New Deal. In using our nation’s Constitution as a stage prop they have not honored it, they have taken it to an all new low.

 
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Posted by on January 7, 2011 in Lunatics, Politics

 

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Tax Dollars Funded An Art Exhibit Actually Paid For By Private Donors?

Professor Beck appears to be displaying his ignorance of facts yet again, but I think he’s deliberately lying to his audience, many of whom appear to be either incapable, or just too disinterested to ever check his facts. Thankfully, we have the hard working folks at Media Matters who look out for the rest of us.


“And Then You Have The Tax Dollars Funding This Wonderful Art Display. It’s Christmas At The Smithsonian.” The Professor claimed during his FOX PAC show on 30 Nov 10 of an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, which is titled “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.”

“And then you have the tax dollars funding this wonderful art display. It’s Christmas at the Smithsonian. Here’s this wonderful — oh, look, it’s Jesus with ants on him. They describe it as the first major exhibition to focus on the sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture,” Beckster continued.

Now for the reality check. Ready? The Smithsonian Institution “Receives Public Funds” But “Does Not Use That Money for Exhibitions.” The Washington Post reported that the exhibition, which opened Oct. 30, which cost $750,000, was funded by the largest number of individual donors for a Portrait Gallery show.

“As part of the Smithsonian, the gallery receives public funds. Overall, the Smithsonian gets about 70 percent of its annual budget from the federal government, but it does not use that money for exhibitions.” [The Washington Post, 11/30/10]

Earth to Beck and his Kool-Aid drinking followers; while the Smithsonian receives “about 70 percent of its annual budget from the federal government” … “it does not use that money for exhibition.”

Clear enough?

Probably not; but, hey, we tried.

The Smithsonian doesn’t use government funding for exhibitions because it doesn’t want the prigs in the GOP controlled House to dictate what is and what is not fit to be shown in the national gallery. That would be called censorship Herr Beck.

 
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Posted by on January 5, 2011 in Lunatics, Politics, Right Wing Radio

 

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“Nobody” is Looking to Recover the Feds Profits?

Old Professor Beck sure got a lot of things wrong while filling far-right conservatives heads full of gloom, doom, hate and just plain mush, during 2010. Media Matters has put out its list of 15 whoppers for which Beck should have been fired, but miraculously if you work for FOX PAC you can say whatever you like and nobody seems to care.

Here’s #15 of the list: “During a January interview with Sarah Palin, Beck discussed the Federal Reserve’s 2009 profits, and claimed, ‘Exxon had their record profit a couple of years ago. It was $45 billion. The Fed just had record profit, over $50 billion. No one’s having hearings on the Fed. Nobody is looking for a windfall profit tax on the Fed. We can’t even open the Fed’s books.’ [Fox News, Glenn Beck,1/13/10, via Nexis] Of course we refer to Fox News as it rightfully should be called, FOX PAC.

Now, unfortunately for Beck and his listeners/viewers, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Media Matters stated, “The Washington Post reported that the Federal Reserve ‘will return about $45 billion to the U.S. Treasury for 2009 … the highest earnings in the 96-year history of the central bank. The Fed, unlike most government agencies, funds itself from its own operations and returns its profits to the Treasury.’ The Post added that these profits ‘are good news for the federal budget and a sign that the Fed has been successful, at least so far, in protecting taxpayers as it intervenes in the economy — though there remains a risk of significant losses in the future if the Fed sells some of its investments or loses money on its stakes in bailed-out firms.'” [The Washington Post, 1/12/10]

OK, did you get it? Nobody needs to look into the Feds “windfall profits tax” because all the money the Fed takes in goes back into the United States Treasury! Say it with me, “into the United States TREASURY”!

Beck is either a liar – very possible – or he’s as ignorant as a bar of soap – even more possible. Makes you wonder about those who listen to him, doesn’t it?

 
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Posted by on January 4, 2011 in Lunatics, Politics, Right Wing Radio

 

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Kit Lange’s Obama Predictions – Two Years Later

Two years ago I was sent a copy of Kit Lange’s, “My Predictions for the New Obama ‘Presidency'”. I thought it would be fun to revisit the “sooth sayer’s” prophesies and see how she’s done so far:

-Israel will understand this election was the end of any type of assistance, military or otherwise, from the U.S. , and will stop holding back their defense at the request of the American administration. Look for a first strike on Iran soon, as well as increased activity by the Israeli military in general. Israel is on her own now, and God help us all because of it.

{This still remains a complete unsubstantiated pile of (pick your favorite animal).Israel is still receiving substantial aid from the United States in the forms of funding, intel and military support; 0-1}

– Look for Iranian retaliation–against American targets. That goes doubly for other terrorist organizations.

{Still waiting, and thus far nothing; 0-2}

– Look for far-left justices appointed to the Supreme Court, effectively tying up the entire government in a trifecta of liberal humanism, the buzzwords of which remain empty platitudes like “hope and change,” and the ultimate goal of which is socialism–and soon, sharia law.

{Thus far President Obama has appointed two highly qualified women to the Supreme Court, neither of which could be classified as “far left”. And so-far there is no evidence of Sharia law being enacted anywhere in the country as a result of any Obama appointee; 0-3}

– Military cases of troops being tried and convicted for killing the enemy in combat will continue to rise–and the conviction/plea – bargain rate will stay at nearly 100%, as the government seeks to use the best men and women this country has to offer as sacrificial lambs on the altar of global appeasement. Those brave and honorable men who currently reside in prison cells across the country, stripped of their rank, their careers, families, and their good name, will not taste free air again for many years. Their sacrifices and their stories will be forgotten by the general public, remembered only by those of us who continue to fight for them.

{Hasn’t happened; 0-4}

– Look for the slow but steady erosion of rights you have enjoyed for your entire lives–all the while being told it’s “for your own good.” {Can’t name a single one my rights that has been eroded in the past two years; 0-5}

Restrictions on gun ownership,

{Hasn’t happened. In fact thus far, President Obama has done more to guarantee the free exercise of the Second Amendment than any of his recent predecessors; 0-6}

…home schooling, encouraged dependence on the ever-growing federal government.

{Hasn’t happened; 0-7}

More nanny-state provisions will be put into place to protect the “disadvantaged” and the “poor,” (read: lazy, uneducated, unwilling to better themselves) {Wow! Sounding a bit racist} even while groups like the unborn, the mentally handicapped, elderly, and terminally ill are slowly pushed toward euthanasia. Of course, this will be done with feel-good phrases like “death with dignity,” “not wanting to be a burden,” and “merciful release from suffering,” all of which ignore the basic fact that we are killing people without their consent for the “good of the people.” Before you tell me I’m crazy, let’s just remember that Barack Obama was the ONLY senator in the Illinois state senate to vote against providing medical care for babies who were inconsiderate enough to survive an abortion.

{Then Senator Obama voted against the bill because it was a bill that would restrict a woman’s right to choice, not just to provide medical funding to help babies who survived late term abortions. 0-7}

Also, look for taxes to go up. Yes, they’ll go up.

{Actually, the majority of Americans got a tax cut shortly after President Obama took office and he supported extending the Bush Tax cuts, 0-8}

– You think the economy is bad now? Just wait. You’ll have the most expensive “free” health care ever. Bread lines aren’t just for Russians anymore.

{An economy driven into the ground by the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney Administration; which has given our country the largest expansion of the Federal Government ever, coupled with the largest Federal deficit ever, 0-9}

We have traded experience for color, freedom for slavery – and the irony is that the average American sheeple thinks their vote somehow righted an ancient wrong, somehow ENDED the specter of slavery and ushered in some beautiful era of liberty.

{I’m just a simple guy who happened to grow up in the south hearing racist comments all of the time, and this is a racist commentary. I did not vote for President Obama because he was black. Or because I felt I needed to somehow correct the “specter of slavery”. I voted for him because I could not continue to support the failed policies of President George W. Bush. I could not continue to support an Administration that had prosecuted an illegal war based on half truths and lies, and that allowed my brothers and sisters in uniform to be used as thugs and bullies. I can no longer say, “American soldiers don’t torture prisoners.” Of course if you’ve never bothered to serve, or to swear an oath to protect and defend, or buried buddies who have died in combat, or later committed suicide because they couldn’t live with themselves any more, than you couldn’t begin to understand why I voted the way I did.}

…In reality, we are about to be less free than you ever thought possible.

{This has already been addressed.}

I watched the faces of those crowded into the mob (excuse the pun) in Chicago. They stared at Obama like he was a god, an idol, a panacea to their every want and need. We have truly failed as a nation if we are at the point where we feel we must look to one man to take care of us all, to be our father figure and our sugar daddy. We have lost not only the “can-do” attitude of past generations, but the “MUST-do” attitude of our forefathers. We have allowed ourselves to become reduced from Patrick Henry’s proud cry of “liberty or death” to the sniveling, whining idea that we are owed something. We have gone from being the honorable defenders of freedom, to being told we are the problem.

{After eight years of President George W. Bush’s administration people were relieved. Pure and simple; here was a chance for America to start over. Unfortunately, Airman Lange’s idea of “the honorable defenders of freedom” has lost its luster because of the Bush administration’s policies. Because of places like GITMO, and Abu Ghraib, places where Jefferson’s ideas of “all men being created equal” were spat upon. Where people were tortured and humiliated, in the name of the American Ideal. My father, my father-in-law and others of the “greatest generation” fought against governments who treated prisoners like this. It was difficult to conceive of an America where common decency and honor no longer had a place. Perhaps now it will once again}

The eyes of Obama and McCain were also telling. McCain acted with class and grace in his concession speech, offering the most honorable response I’ve seen yet. I don’t agree with all of McCain’s positions, but it cannot be denied that the man has served his nation, at permanent and severe detriment to himself, for half a century. His eyes were clear and sincere, honest. His speech underlined the very reasons why, of the two men offered, he was hands down the best choice.

{Senator McCain served his country well and faithfully, but he was not the best choice. To continue four more years of failed foreign and domestic policies was not the better choice. To support four more years of torture, and the slow erosion of human liberties that we supposedly “hold to be self evident” was not the better choice. I too watched Senator McCain’s concession speech. He was magnificent. The crowd however, booed and acted shamefully when the Senator mentioned his opponent. Not a reaction I want to be associated with. Senator McCain is a hero. That doesn’t mean he should have been President. His choice of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate firmly shoved me into President Obama’s camp. She was not only unqualified, but was a pathetically transparent attempt to sway woman voters to vote for McCain. She was the best, most highly qualified, conservative woman Senator McCain could find? This – to me – spoke volumes about his own abilities to be President.}

On the other hand, Obama’s eyes were cold, calculating. His manner was smug and still carried the arrogance he has always had. His facial expression was one of barely disguised disdain for everything people like me believe in. His body language was smooth, polished, too much so. He talked of patriotism as though it is a value he is familiar with, and yet, his horrifying attitude toward the country he now leads is as well-documented as his friendships with those who seek its demise.

{Oh no! He pals around with terrorists! Not true; in fact, not only documented, but well-documented as not true. President Obama served on a board with someone who allegedly committed criminal acts during an extremely unpopular war; acts for which, in 1973, the Federal Government requested the dismissal of the charges against him. Note, the charges were dismissed at the request of the Federal Government. I also have watched President Obama speak, as I also watched Senator McCain speak. I also watched each and every debate between the two. I saw nothing of what the author speaks. President Obama did not speak in any way that she – or any other veteran, or currently serving member of the military should take as “disdain for everything people like me believe in”. Who exactly are the people like Ms. Lange?}

He is charismatic to those who don’t know what to look for, {like an aircraft mechanic knows? Is this standard aircraft mechanic training in the Air Force now? Guess I somehow missed the “anti-charismatic training.} and he is inspiring to those who cannot or will not think for themselves. {I made my decision to vote for President Obama not based upon his charisma, nor because – thank you very much – I can’t think for myself. As compared to the legions of “ditto-heads” who make up their minds based on this kind of hate-filled vitriolic prose, filled with half-truths and innuendo.}

However, too many who voted for him are guilty of the most dangerous kind of hypocrisy. You see, we are told daily that we must not see color, just mankind. (We are all family, you know, or so we’re told.) {Again, comments that are sounding more than a little racist, in my opinion.}

And yet Barack Obama was handed the White House on a silver platter by a fawning media, a bevy of foreign donors (who, to this day and in violation of U.S. election laws, remain nameless and unaccounted for), and a populace who voted based on color instead of right and wrong, even in the face of the most damning evidence against a Presidential candidate in many years, perhaps ever.

{Voted based on color? Ms. Lange just doesn’t get it. George W. Bush gave Senator Barrack Obama the White House, not the color of President Obama’s skin. Hate-filled, fear mongering, gloom and doom right wing talk radio handed President Obama the White House. President Reagan – a self-proclaimed FDR Democrat – used to say, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.” I feel the same way about my Republican Party. If Limbaugh, Hannity and Lange are the example of the modern Republican Party, than all I can say is the GOP is no longer the party of Ronald Reagan; it’s becoming the party of David Duke.}

It is said that the people receive the government they deserve. Sadly, I fear that’s correct. We have become complacent, unwilling to see the writing on the wall, content to frolic in the warm water without bothering to notice that it’s been getting hotter by the minute. We are two seconds from a rolling boil, and perhaps it is already too late. So, liberals, enjoy your victory. Jump around. Have a party, file for your free grants. Scream “Gimme my handout!” and make fun of those of us who fought to make sure your “messiah” didn’t get access to the most powerful position in the world. Just remember when it all comes crashing down: You own the White House, the Congress, and soon the Supreme Court. You have no one to blame but yourselves for the mess you just created.

{It’s strange that only the right-wing “conservative” talk show types have ever referred to President Obama as the “Messiah”. I have never thought of him in this way, and nor would I. Again, as said above, the GOP has no one to thank for President Obama’s victory except for President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and now it would appear Kit Lange.}

As for me, I’m buying my handguns this week so I have an answer for those who will come try to take them.

{What? She didn’t already own any guns?}

Well, 0-9 on predictions and whole lot of ring-wing hyper-bole. This is the type of nonsense that drove me from the Republican Party.

 
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Posted by on January 2, 2011 in Lunatics, Politics

 

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9/11 Responders’ Aid Package Called Miracle?

Yeah, it’s a Christmas miracle alright.

It’s a miracle the GOP could actually be shamed into doing something it should have gone along with from the start.

But, an even bigger Christmas ‘miracle’, occurred when FOX PAC commentator Shepherd Smith stood up to point out just how wrong the GOP Senate was, asking, “How do they sleep at night?”

Shep Smith Shames Republicans On 9/11 First Responders Bill (VIDEO)

As commendable – and historic – as a FOX PAC commentator demonstrating they’re not all brainless automatons, Smith wasn’t alone (except at FOX PAC) in attacking the soulless Senators of the GOP. While he was putting pressure on the Republicans from within its inner circle, it was Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart who made them all look like the arrogant smucks they really are.

Stewart Spends Last Show Of 2010 ENTIRELY On 9/11 First Responders Bill (VIDEO)

Stewart referred to the GOP Senate members as “the Worst Responders”, sarcastically lauding their success in blocking the 9-11 legislation while passing a continuation of the Bush Tax cuts for everyone, especially the top 2% of Americans.

“Yes!” Stewart exclaimed. “That is astoundingly good news for firefighters who make over $200,000 a year.”

Stewart didn’t just attack the GOP Senate for its opposition however, he also attacked all the news networks, pointing out how none of them – with the exception of Smith’s comments – were airing this story. Well, all except for Al Jazeera.

“Our networks were scooped with a sympathetic Zadroga Bill story by the same network Osama bin Laden sends his mix-tapes to!” a clearly frustrated Stewart said. “This is insane!”

And it was insane! What other word fits to describe the actions of the GOP Senate? For nearly a decade the GOP has made 9-11 it’s personal political rallying cry, waving it around like a bloodied flag. With it’s unconscionable delaying of benefits however, it has forfeited its right to ever evoke that sacred cash cow again. It is one more example of how hypocritical the GOP really is, and voters need to remember this in two years.

Every GOP Senator who opposed this bill needs to be heavily campaigned against in their next election. They need to be sent packing for this one shameful action alone.

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2010 in 9-11, Politics

 

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It’s Disrespectful to Christmas to Ratify an Arms Treaty?

Who knew that ratifying an arms treaty was disrespectful to a holiday dedicated to ‘peace on earth’ and ‘goodwill towards men’?

All the top brass supports the ratification of the new START Treaty, as do all the six living former Secretaries of State. Who opposes it? The GOP Senate. The same group of petulant whiners who oppose the Defense Authorization Act – funding for our troops fighting and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq – and the 9-11 Responders Act – you remember them? The men and women who sacrificed so valiantly to save others on that day, and following days and weeks.

“The fact that we’re doing this under the cover of Christmas,” whined Sen. Jim DeMint (P-S.C.), “is something to be outraged about.”

Here’s something to be outraged about you bone head! Troops are serving overseas this holiday season, and some may be wounded, and others might die on Christmas, because morons like you – who never had the guts to put on the uniform – put them there. Shut up, and get to work, and spare us your right-wing hypocritical religious nonsense. You stood in the halls of the Senate and voted no to everything for two years, and now you’ll have to work. Call whine one one.


And the whining continues with the so-called leader of this group of sniveling, weeping legislators, Sen. Jon Kyl (P-Ariz.), going on record saying the Democrats’ legislative agenda amounts to ‘disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians.'”

You too Senator “I couldn’t be bothered to ever serve my country”. SHUT UP, QUIT YOUR WHINING! GET TO WORK!

What could be more respectful at Christmas than for you bunch to pull your collective heads out of your fourth points of contact and ratify a treaty reducing nuclear weapons. Ever heard of “Peace on Earth”?

Of course guys like DeMint have cried out, “We haven’t had enough time to read this and study it out.” You’ve only had eight months Senator Hypocrit. That’s all, just eight short months. SHUT UP AND GET IT DONE!

 
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Posted by on December 22, 2010 in Arms Control, Military, Politics

 

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McCain Says Repealing DADT is a Very Sad Day?

When he took to the floor of the United States Senate shortly before the historical vote to end the military’s “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” policy, SEN John McCain cried out in anger, “Today is a very sad day,” and announced, “There will be high-fives over all the liberal bastions of America,” from “the elite schools that bar military recruiters from campus” to “the salons of Georgetown.”

As someone who has served for more than 20 years, having moved from the ranks through company commander, this is not a “very sad day”, it is a day long over due. Whether you support the homosexual/lesbian lifestyle or not, this has been a disastrous policy which has hurt – not helped – our military. Millions of dollars have been spent to train troops and then to discharge them. Discharge them, not because they’re wounded or can’t perform their duties, but because they’re gay. How does that make any sense, fiscal or otherwise?

Those – including McCain –  opposed to the decision have been using, and continue to use, the same tired arguments espoused before desegregation of the military. They claim that it will cost the military recruiting numbers, that straight young men and women will not join now because they’ll be serving with “those people”. Some right-wing gas bags like Rush Limbaugh have claimed it will be necessary to reinstate the draft to fill quotas. Of course Rush also claimed the President was taking over the car industry.

Face it Senator, and everyone else who is afraid some “homo” will be scoping you out, there have been gays and lesbians, serving, fighting, bleeding and dying for as long as we’ve had armed forces. This is not the end of the military, nor is the beginning of the end of the republic.

 
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Posted by on December 22, 2010 in Military, Politics

 

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Court Strikes at Health Law?

Darned activist judges legislating from the bench … with his ties to the conservative group “Campaign Solutions” which ran campaigns for Boehner, the GOP Attorney General of VA and other GOP candidates, all of whom campaigned on repealing the health care law, the Judge should have recused himself from the case …

One more case of blatant GOP hypocrisy; they yell and scream about judges legislating from the bench, unless of course they rule in their favor.

(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703727804576017552229615230.html)

 
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Posted by on December 14, 2010 in Courts, Health Care, Politics

 

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Day #40 of GOP Control of the House

Day #40 dawned, and lo, a new call was heard as the Dark Riders rode through the capital, “DEFICIT! DO AS WE SAY, NOT AS WE DO! DO AS WE SAY, NOT AS WE DO!”

 
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Posted by on December 12, 2010 in Politics

 

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