Saturday Stuff

Further down the list we go, people...

#5, Michele Bachmann
#6, Paul Ryan
#7, Louie Gohmert
#8, Allen West
#9, Joe Pitts
#10, Jack Kingston
#11, Patrick McHenry
#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)

…so now we turn to the next U.S. House Republican opposed to health care reform (#4 for those playing along at home), and that would be the pre-eminent sleazy weasel himself, Eric Cantor of Virginia.

It would be too easy to say that Cantor (the true leader of the U.S. House, sadly – heckuva job, 2010 voters!) represents everything I thoroughly detest about today’s Republican Party on the national level, but that statement comes pretty close. The whiny faux self-loathing that thinly disguises the scorched-earth, take-no-prisoners mentality of a “true believer” of movement conservatism, the insistence on propagating talking points conducive to right-wing beliefs that have long since been disproven in the cold light of day, the “all-for-me-and-everyone-else-can-drop-dead” depraved philosophical underpinning of any legislation he supports (based in some notion of “glibertarianism”), public statement he utters or position he ascribes to…if you’re looking for all of this and (sadly) much more, rest assured that you will find it in Eric Cantor.

And if you want to know why Cantor is on this list as a U.S. House member opposed to health care reform, I have but one question: who else do you think is leading the repeal effort (here – a video later will provide more evidence)?

As I’ve said frequently, I don’t advocate violence against people at this site for a lot of reasons. However, if were to make an exception, it would be for Cantor. Simply put, if he somehow discovered a shred of decency in his being and started doing the people’s business for a change instead of his own (dragging “Man Tan” Boehner with him), our politics and our country as a whole would be in a decidedly much better place than we are right now. But because that has not happened, and likely never will happen, the U.S. House will remain, for the time being at least, under the control of thoroughly insufferable, utterly propagandistic ideologues (slavishly courting the Teahadists, who should have been told to go to hell a long time ago) who will make sure that we remain mired in our problems until Election Day at least (forever for reasons of trying to mine some political advantage of course), and no doubt well beyond.

With all of that said, let’s go to the “lowlights”…

Here, he called for cuts to first responders in exchange for emergency disaster aid on the eve of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 (the bar can never be set too low for Cantor).

He also supported funding for schools in Iraq, but not this country of course (here...and speaking of our "ally," isn't this interesting?).

Oh, and Cantor is definitely an “Islamophobe” too, as noted here.

He also said here that there should be no spending on disaster relief for the victims of the Joplin, Missouri tornado unless there were spending cuts elsewhere (what a swell guy).

Here, Cantor bailed on a speech at the University of Pennsylvania because he was afraid of the “Occupy” protestors.

Here, Cantor said that protestors who paid for space next to a ballroom at a hotel where Cantor was scheduled to speak were an “unproductive distraction” (however, I’m sure if they were Medicare beneficiaries carrying racist signs, wearing trifold hats and complaining about government healthcare (!), they would have been welcomed with open arms).

Want to learn about Cantor’s supposed plan for job creation (no regulations for business, no taxes of course, and lots of “free” trade agreements)? Click here.

Here, Cantor called the unemployed a “distraction” also and refused to meet with them (lots of “distractions” in Cantor’s life, apparently).

Also, last year, Cantor said here that the House wouldn’t vote on the “entire” jobs bill from President Obama, presumably just the parts Cantor likes, such as tax cuts (Wonder how much better off we’d be if Cantor had made sure the bill passed? Should I even ask?).

Here, Cantor announced that the House “didn’t have time” to honor the troops who killed Osama bin Laden (lots of time to name a courthouse after Dubya, though), though Cantor did add that the House would include “language” in a Defense Authorization bill recognizing the Navy SEALs, whatever that means.

Here, Cantor claimed that the voters of this country would hold Democrats responsible for the government shutdown that loomed in March 2011, despite polling evidence to the contrary.

And with that in mind, I should point out that Cantor also invested in “an exchange-traded fund that ‘takes a short position in long-dated government bonds’ — effectively betting against the U.S. Treasury bonds that the government uses to fund its operation,” as Think Progress tells us here (with Cantor trying to make money off the shut down, of course, if it had happened – typical).

Also, Cantor and his playmates threatened a government shutdown if they couldn’t repeal “Obamacare” here.

And here, Cantor bragged about his home state balancing its budget, which would be OK were it not for the fact that it took $70 billion from health and human services from the state to do it.

Also, here, Cantor called for “tolerance” within the GOP, though he has shown none of his own in the past.

Believe it or not, all of this only scratches the surface with Cantor. However, I know you get the idea.

Now, I’ll go to some clips featuring more Cantor "fun" (I don’t want to imagine what motivates the life forms who actually vote for this utter sleazeball…Rachel Maddow gives us an introduction of sorts here)…



...next, Ed Schultz brings the outrage big time against Cantor on health care reform, with a cameo by President Snowe at the end...



...and K.O. names Cantor "Worst Person" for another typically whiny screed as an excuse to do nothing - interesting revelation about Cantor's wife at the end...



...and do you want to know what this election is really about, by the way? Look no further than this video (more here)...



...and I thought this was a neat new tune - sorry, no video again.

Friday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

(Also, this ended up being a pretty bad week for the congressional countdown – hopefully I’ll have better luck with it in the coming days.)

Until then, allow me to point out that I neglected to note that Wednesday was the 77th birthday of Social Security, as noted here; if – God help us – Willard Mitt Romney and Puppy-Dog-Eyes-Carrying-The-Shiv Paul Ryan have their way, it won’t see 78…



…and I’m sorry, but I’m goddamned angry about this; there was a time when this country, let alone the rest of the nations of the world, once gave a damn about human rights. But I guess that’s so “pre-9/11” of me, right?

As nearly as I can tell, there have been ZERO expressions of outrage from world leaders over the fact that the three young women in the story, who engaged in what probably was a juvenile prank and nothing more than that, will go to prison in protest of Vladimir Putin and his regime. And actually, by visiting his grotesque punishment on them, he has validated their protest against him more than the young women could have ever done on their own.

What else can you expect, I suppose, from a country where fearless journalists, speaking truth to the most heavy handed of power, end up martyred in darkly lit corners of dank stairwells in the rundown tenements where they live (execution style, just to make sure)?

I know this song is about this person, but I don’t care – it’s been running around in my head all day, so here it is (with no video…sorry not to end things for the week on a happier note, but there you are).

Thursday Stuff

And now it’s time to take a ride on the crazy train, my fellow prisoners…

#6, Paul Ryan
#7, Louie Gohmert
#8, Allen West
#9, Joe Pitts
#10, Jack Kingston
#11, Patrick McHenry
#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 means it’s time to turn to #5 on the list of U.S. House Republicans trying to overturn health care reform, and that would be none other than Michele (“Moon Unit”) Bachmann of Minnesota.

There are a few different facets and personalities, I guess you could say, when talking about today’s Republican Party. There’s the utterly shameless corporate facet that would sell the pennies on their grandmother’s eyes if they could use the money to launch a campaign attack ad (John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, etc.). There’s the rabid, openly combative wing of the party that routinely tries to bait anyone and anything that is contrary to their beliefs (Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry). And there are also many other individuals who, I realize, cross over multiple categories.

But when it comes to sheer deer-in-the-headlights moonbattery, Bachmann is the undisputed leader of the pack.

At Matt Taibbi reported in Rolling Stone in June of last year…

Bachmann is a religious zealot whose brain is a raging electrical storm of divine visions and paranoid delusions. She believes that the Chinese are plotting to replace the dollar bill, that light bulbs are killing our dogs and cats, and that God personally chose her to become both an IRS attorney who would spend years hounding taxpayers and a raging anti-tax Tea Party crusader against big government. She kicked off her unofficial presidential campaign in New Hampshire, by mistakenly declaring it the birthplace of the American Revolution. "It's your state that fired the shot that was heard around the world!" she gushed. "You are the state of Lexington and Concord, you started the battle for liberty right here in your backyard."

I said lunch, not launch! But don't laugh. Don't do it. And don't look her in the eyes; don't let her smile at you. Michele Bachmann, when she turns her head toward the cameras and brandishes her pearls and her ageless, unblemished neckline and her perfect suburban orthodontics in an attempt to reassure the unbeliever of her non-threateningness, is one of the scariest sights in the entire American cultural tableau. She's trying to look like June Cleaver, but she actually looks like the T2 skeleton posing for a passport photo. You will want to laugh, but don't, because the secret of Bachmann's success is that every time you laugh at her, she gets stronger.

And actually, when you think of it, it’s a testimony to her political acumen that she managed to out flank Just Plain Folks Sarah Palin Donctcha Know among the “values” voter crowd while the former half-term governor of Alaska was debating in front of everyone who cared to listen in the matter of whether or not she wanted to take a shot at becoming her party’s standard bearer; while Palin was doing her little fan dance of a fashion on Fix Noise, Bachmann was out doing the glad-handling politico stuff that, even though it constitutes epic drudgery for most other life forms (kissing babies, shaking hands, attending 4-H club dinners on the stump), is nevertheless important when you’re trying to build a legitimate grass roots campaign.

Also on the subject of the Repugs’ own particular brand of crazy, I think it is a further testimony to Bachmann that it took at least four men to end up neutralizing her (Santorum, Gingrich and Perry, along with pizza man Herman Cain…well, maybe five if you count Ron Paul) and thus clear the way for the choice of the individuals who truly call the shots in that party, and that would be the plutocrat-in-chief himself, Willard Mitt Romney, as well as Puppy-Dog-Eyes (With The Shiv In His Pocket) Paul Ryan.

But this is all supposed to be about Bachmann and health care reform, so I’ll now turn to that…

Here, she tells us what she plans to do about the law (how many times can you say “repeal” in one sentence, I wonder?).

Here, she started down the road of demonizing the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer, claiming it could cause mental retardation, which happens to run contrary to all medical evidence to date (to be honest, aside from the other candidates, that may have doomed her candidacy more than anything else).

Here, she accused Huma Abedin, aide to Secretary of State Clinton and wife of former U.S. House Rep Anthony Weiner, of engaging in “The Ramadan Conspiracy,” or something (yep, just like Louie Gohmert, as I noted a few days ago).

Oh, and when talking about Bachmann, who can forget this truly precious moment when an eight-year-old boy told her that his mom is gay and “doesn’t need fixing”?

And who can forget this moment when she said thank you to a caller to a phone-in radio show who said he would vote for Charles Manson over President Obama (uh, no – the correct response is “Mister, you’re a freaking lunatic and you need professional help.”).

Here, Bachmann meant to praise John Wayne, but ended up praising serial killer John Wayne Gacy instead (as Matt Taibbi says, if you laugh at her, she just gets stronger).

And in kind of a litmus test of sorts for her party, Bachmann claimed here that she never personally benefitted from earmarks, even though she did (I always felt the so-called earmark controversy was nothing but a tempest in a proverbial tea bag, if you will).

Last and certainly least, she (as noted here in January 2011)…

…unveiled a plan to cut $400 billion in federal spending that includes freezing the Veterans Affairs Department’s health care spending and cuts veterans’ disability benefits. The Air Force Times reports her plan would slice $4.5 billion from the VA, including reducing 150,000 veterans’ disability compensation and the amount they receive in Social Security Disability Income.

Actually, I guess I stand corrected; maybe Bachmann represents more of the Boehner/Ryan/McConnell wing than I thought – anyway, here’s a video of her in action from February 2009, with Keith Olbermann and Chris Hayes having a bit of fun about how today's Republican Party was supposedly approaching irrelevance or something...would that that were true, though no one was chuckling over a year and a half later, after our corporate media started paying way, waaay too much attention to the racist-sign-and-funny-hat crowd…



Update 8/17/12: Curious...

...and on this general topic, this tune works for me.

Wednesday Stuff

Back to the countdown tomorrow, probably :-)...

In the meantime, nice work from Chuck Todd here, something I don't say too often because, often, I have no reason to say it - nice to make an exception...



...and The King left us 35 years ago tomorrow.

Tuesday Stuff

(I’ll probably get back to the Repug congressional countdown tomorrow – I’ve only got five left, and I want to be deliberate.)

From the usually reliable Joe Nocera, I give you this today, on the subject of Willard Mitt Romney’s tax returns (aside from the disgusting meme of “even though Paul Ryan is a shameless, craven ideologue, he’s somehow ‘serious,’ so now we can have a ‘discussion’ on money matters”)…

Ever since the campaign entered the postprimary, preconvention phase, with the two candidates turning their attention to each other, it has been a depressing spectacle. The Democrats have demanded that Romney release more of his tax returns — though we already know all we need to know. (Like every wealthy businessman, Romney works hard to minimize his taxes.)

Really? So, should we just “trust our leaders,” then, “Britney” Nocera (more here)?

Nocera is a pro – I definitely expected better from him than something like this.

As somebody said (I think it was Atrios), the issue of Romney’s taxes really isn’t about the money anyway. It’s a question of judgment. What does it say about Romney that he thinks it’s OK to run for the most important job in the world and not come completely clean on this subject like many other politicians, including his father? Just how much “to the manor born” does Romney think he is (though we’re finding out the answer more and more every day)?

Well anyway, this clip goes out to Nocera, who I’m sure will do much better work in the future…



…and here’s a tune that we can rage with as the days of summer wind down.

Monday Stuff

Once more unto the breach, dear friends...

#7, Louie Gohmert
#8, Allen West
#9, Joe Pitts
#10, Jack Kingston
#11, Patrick McHenry
#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 #6 on our list of U.S. House Repugs opposed to health care reform, and that would be none other than the man of the hour, Willard Mitt Romney’s VP nominee himself, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

As I work my way down this list, I feel my level of disgust rising more and more with each of these fools and frauds, and though it may rise higher still before I’m all done with this, I must tell you that it’s pretty damn elevated at this moment. And that’s because, like no other politician with the possible exception of John McCain, Puppy-Dog-Eyes Ryan has the Beltway media-political establishment utterly cowed.

It doesn’t matter how many times Ryan’s supposedly bold and visionary economic proposals are blown up by actual economists performing actual math showing the actual, real-world misery that would result if Ryan’s horrendous scheme were ever signed into law, under the guise of supposed deficit reduction (which, as is just about always the case with this bunch, would in fact make the deficit worse). And it just doesn’t matter how many times Ryan, among others, spouts the utterly craven lie that he, in fact, is the supposed protector of Medicare, as opposed to that mean, nasty President Obama who supposedly wants to destroy it.

And it also just doesn’t matter how many times it is pointed out that what Ryan proposes goes so completely against what he is supposed to represent as a Roman Catholic (his alleged religious affiliation) that it makes a sick mockery of that faith. Short of a charge of criminal activity resulting in prosecution in a court of law (and I don’t believe that will ever happen, if for no other reason because Ryan wouldn’t be where he is unless he were a smart and cagey individual, and I don’t see him doing anything like that), we are going to keep hearing the same mythology from our corporate media that we’ve been hearing from Ryan from now into the distant future.

So, with all of this in mind, I give you the following:

Here is a primer, more or less, on Ryan, courtesy of Think Progress.

When the Repugs are busy trying to spin Number 44 as the person supposedly trying to gut welfare through granting waivers to states, more or less (hilarious to hear a Repug pretend to care about welfare), I would ask that you keep this in mind.

He believes ending a pregnancy should be illegal, even if the pregnancy is the product of rape or incest or endangers the woman’s health (here).

Oh, and as noted here, Ryan trashed “Romney-Care” in 2010 (ruh-row).

And Ryan was so productive on the job too, as noted here.

But don’t you know that Ryan had “a dozen” Democratic supporters for his budget, who Ryan won’t reveal (just like he won’t reveal his tax returns further than two years back – and stop me if you’ve heard this before).

Finally, choice items here include his endorsement from the Log Cabin Republicans, a truly laughable group of human beings at this point for their relentless capitulation to the GOP even when it is in opposition to their professed positions; also, Ryan financially benefits from the health insurance industry; Think Progress also tells us how Romney-Ryan would protect “too big to fail” banks; and of course, now that the Repug presidential ticket has zero foreign policy experience, that’s OK (as opposed to that baaad Kenyan Muslim socialist in ’08, who had not much also and was vilified relentlessly for it).

The selection of Paul Ryan for Willard Mitt Romney’s VP candidate is the perhaps inevitable result of the “magical” thinking of that party in collusion with our Beltway media political complex, where facts are impervious to the bubble of pseudo-reality in which they surround themselves. And as far as I’m concerned, that makes it the sworn duty of every American voter to rupture that bubble beyond any possible repair in November...



Update 1 8/17/12: Such a fine, upstanding Christian man of morality and integrity (here)...

Update 2 8/17/12: Nice idea, but good luck with this.

Update 8/30/12: Thoroughly beneath contempt (here)...

...and when I think of Ryan (which I try not to do, actually), this song somehow comes to mind.

Sunday Stuff

I give you Mikey the Beloved in Bucks County’s conservative house organ today (here)…

“(Kathy Boockvar’s) pilgrimage to San Francisco to be with her fellow extreme ideologues to raise money from the far left’s radicals in their home base demonstrates to our community all we need to know about Boockvar’s misguided beliefs,” according to the release, attributed to Faith Bender, Fitzpatrick’s campaign manager.

OMIGOD NANCY PELOSI NANCY PELOSI NANCY PELOSI NANCY PELOSI NANCY PELOSI!!!!

Do you want to know what happened when Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats were in charge of the U.S. House (and Mikey was busy campaigning against Patrick Murphy telling us how many jobs he was going to create)?

Try this (and if you want to tell Mikey to shove it, start by clicking here)…



…and given the events of the past week around Le Manse Doomsy, this is a song I feel like listening to, so here it is.