Saturday Stuff

Sorry, wingnuts  - I know this is really icky, but it’s also really important (here)…

…and speaking of health care, the next time I do this, we’ll be in the Top 10…

#12, Spencer Bachus
#13, Jim Gerlach
#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #11 on our list of U.S. House Repugs opposed to health care reform, and that would be Patrick McHenry of North Carolina.

I’m not sure what is worse about McHenry – the fact that he called Elizabeth Warren, now running against Scott Brown in Massachusetts for the latter’s Senate seat (and on that subject, what Atrios sez here), a liar when she appeared at an oversight hearing (here), or the fact that McHenry pulled the same crap with Phil Angelides of the FCIC (here). And given that, is this really a surprise?

It was also McHenry’s idea to try and get a movement going on behalf of The Sainted Ronnie R to get his face on the $50 bill (here).

Also, McHenry is apparently closeted. I honestly don’t care about that – I would only say that, if that is true, then he shouldn’t align himself with a political party that has made it its mission to Hate Teh Gay (and the following clip speaks volumes to me about the type of person McHenry is, though he apologized, as well he should...if you're fed up with McHenry and his antics, click here.)…

…and I cannot put up this video enough times – needs to be restated over and over and over…

…and Russia “is our number one adversary,” Willard Mitt? Of a “geopolitical nature,” whatever the hell that means? Really?...

…and maybe it’s progress of a sort that Romney apparently takes better care of his horse than he does of his dog (here)…

…and this might be my favorite tune of the year so far.

Friday Stuff

Tomorrow, there will be a gathering of Bucks County, PA Democrats at the Doylestown office for canvassing, phone banking and voter registration (10 E. Court Street) at 10 AM. You can also sign a birthday card for President Obama. With that in mind, I give you the following video from Kathy Boockvar, running against Mikey the Beloved for his PA-08 U.S. House seat (lots of ammo to use against Mikey…this is good, though - to help, click here)...



…and I’m not going to be able to add Anne Marie Buerkle to the list of Mikey’s pals trying to overturn health care reform (and not to worry – Mikey is on the list), but I thought she deserved a mention anyway (one of the “flat-earth five” opposing the environment, and don’t get started on her and abortion – the Log Cabin Republicans actually gave Buerkle an award; that group defines Stockholm Syndrome as far as I’m concerned…I’m mentioning Buerkle because she was in that video yesterday from Rachel Maddow about that nitwit Mike Kelly…links are here, here and here)…



…and speaking of the list of House Repugs trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act…

#13, Jim Gerlach
#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #12, Spencer Bachus, who spent over $250 grand of campaign funds on lawyers (here – and how exactly is that legal?), probably because of this.

Oh, but it’s really all the fault of that baaad “Democrat” Party, isn’t it, you weasel (here)?

Want more evidence? As noted here, Bachus also came to the aid of Edward DeMarco of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency, who decided that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shouldn’t offer debt forgiveness to borrowers, despite pleas from the Obama Administration and congressional Democrats (more “ROI” for the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch from Bachus…Professor Krugman had a good column on the odious Mr. DeMarco here).

And in case you had any doubt about Bachus and health care reform, I give you this (and I’m not sure if truer words were ever spoken by Cenk Uygur here particularly at the end)…

…and I apologize for neglecting to mention until now the recent passing of Philadelphia radio legend Joe “Butterball” Tamburro (here) – I offer the following as a tribute.

Thursday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

This might be the best commentary on the so-called “war on drugs” that I’ve ever heard; kudos to Lawrence O’Donnell (here)…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and I’m telling you, ya’ just gotta hand it to the Repugs – with Willard Mitt Romney knee deep in doo doo over his joke of a European tour and his continued failure to release his tax returns, they come up with this as a distraction, with meat head PA Rep Mike Kelly working our media and many of us into a lather.

Let’s see now, Mike Kelly…oh yeah, he’s “frugal,” I guess you could say, on taxes unless it affects his dividends, as noted here. He also voted to keep taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil, along with the rest of his playmates (here), and played the teabaggers for the fools that they truly are here.

Gee, if I didn’t know better, I’d say Kelly was trying to find a way to be included in my countdown of U.S. House Repugs opposed to the Affordable Care Act (and here is a great column on health care from our former state rep, who used to be a Republican, believe it or not)…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and speaking of the devil…

#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #13 on the list, and (staying in our beloved commonwealth) that would be none other than Jim Gerlach (not in red in the pic).

This one is a bit of a tough case, because Gerlach usually does a good job of “flying under the radar” like David Schweikert and a few others. However, things do go “splat” with Gerlach from time to time; here, a resident tried to pin him down over his opposition to the Affordable Care Act (good luck), he was also busted here for omitting a disclaimer in a political ad that was required for him to receive a cheaper rate, and as noted here, he voted for the so-called “Pence Amendment” (from Indiana Repug Mike Pence, not the departed former Phil) which barred Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X funds (and what the #@$! does that have to do with a spending bill anyway?).

Gerlach has also picked a fight with the Clean Air Council (here), as noted in this video…



…and to support his opponent Dr. Manan Trivedi, click here (Gerlach has bragged that the Dems can’t beat him – we’ll see, won’t we? And it would be nice if Gerlach, Kelly and their pals would pay attention to this instead.)…



…and returning to the now-presumptive head of the Republican Party, I give you this (and how lame is this anyway, by the Mittster I mean?)…



Update 8/3/12: Drip, drip, drip...

…and happy 55th birthday to Mojo Nixon – don’t quite agree with everything here, but at least some of it (and tying back to Lawrence O’Donnell’s commentary a bit too).

Wednesday Stuff

RIP Gore Vidal – he said things that, at times, made people uncomfortable because he forced us to think, as he did in this clip from 1968; would that we had more like him (I would say that he at least hinted at bits and pieces of what was then the future, but which has come to pass in terms of in-vitro fertilization, using food for fuel such as ethanol, etc.)…

…and yes, it’s baaack…

#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #14 on our list of U.S. House Repugs opposed to health care reform, and that would be Cliff Stearns of Florida.

As noted here, Stearns defended oil industry subsidies (along with every other U.S. House Repug, to my knowledge), said that we supposedly can’t compete with China on green energy, and he also said that women who undergo abortions should face criminal charges (peachy). And did I mention that he’s a “birther” too?

Stearns is particularly bad, though, because, at one time, he sponsored the “Consumer Choice Health Security Act” in the 1990’s (here), which was the first time in recent history that Congress had proposed the individual mandate (though he did get some "push-back" from a constituent here). So, you would think that he would be a voice of sanity on health care reform, wouldn’t you?.

Well, you would be wrong, as noted here. And K.O. got the goods on Stearns here (how sad, though funny also)…

Update 8/16/12: It's a shame you can't see my sad face (here :-).

…and it looks like “The Colonel” isn’t above trying to “get on the down-low” for some new bidness (in response to this…I guess it was inevitable – removing my tongue from my cheek)…

KFC Loves Gays with John Goodman from John Goodman      

…and Jerry Garcia would have been 70 today (among other things, he was one of the finest pedal steel guitar players who ever lived).

Tuesday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

I’m messing around a bit with the congressional list, so I’ll take a break again tonight (the breaks may become more frequent as I work further down the list, since the offenders are more and more blameworthy and documenting their misdeeds will take more time).

As a bit of a respite, though, I give you this from Willard Mitt Romney (so presidential, I know…related links are here, and particularly, here – and yes, the “kiss my ass” guy apologized, as well he should)…

Update 8/1/12: So pathetic that I almost feel sorry for him - almost...



...and Seether "gets the gold" IMHO for this one (sorry, no video).

Monday Stuff

You know it, you love it – here it is again…

#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #15 on our list of U.S. House Republicans opposed to the Affordable Care Act, and that would be “Mean Jean” Schmidt of Ohio.

Why “Mean Jean”? Well, for starters, she called the late Dem U.S. House Rep (and former Marine) John Murtha a coward when he courageously came out in opposition to Dubya’s Not-So-Excellent Adventure in Iraq (that and a bunch of other stuff is here). She also told a big lie about Planned Parenthood here (lots of company in that department), faked being targeted for assassination again (!) here, and carried out a two-year vendetta against David Krikorian, a one-time challenger for her seat (here).

Oh, and it should also be noted that Schmidt was one of numerous Congressional representatives tainted in a Turkish influence-peddling scheme (a “Turkish Delight,” if you will) brought to light by Sibel Edmonds, renowned former FBI Turkish and Farsi interpreter and whistleblower (here).

So yeah, Schmidt has a lot of baggage. Unfortunately for we filthy, unkempt liberal blogger types, we won’t have “Mean Jean” to kick around for much longer since she lost her Republican primary in March to Brad Wenstrup (who has the imprimatur of those zany teabaggers, though it is a point in Wenstrup’s favor that he served our country too).

At least Schmidt managed to give us this utterly hilarious moment before she ran out the clock, as Cenk Uygur and company note below (and yep, Michael Savage is that big of a whack job too)...

…and this is a song about a guy with issues, I would say (nice tune anyway).

Sunday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

I’m taking a break from the congressional countdown tonight, or whatever you may want to call it…

Meanwhile, it’s pretty sad when Willard Mitt gets taken to the proverbial woodshed by his party’s own media apparatus, that stupid comment about voting in Chicago (or whatever) notwithstanding (here)…

…and I thought this was a nice little summer video featuring one of rock’s most interesting and underrated bands (doing the Gershwin standard, of course).