This Is Your Republican Party, America

I was angry when the Republicans controlled the Federal House, Senate and the Presidency (and the Supreme Court, if we're being honest). But that anger never reached the level of Rage that I feel today.

In some sweeping and utterly disgusting moves, the GOP has truly shown it's colors today. Remember, this is the party of "compassionate conservatism"…

Destruction of the Working Class

Governor Scott Walker and his lackeys in the Wisconsin house and senate have somehow, and with little legal integrity, passed a bill designed solely to destroy state workers unions. This, in their estimation, was a measure designed to Save The State. The State will go broke if the Unions are still in existence, according to their estimation.

Yet this does nothing to resolve state budget issues. In fact, if it was related to state budget issues, their senate could not have "passed" the measure in the way they did, which prohibits voting on any budget-related bill without more than 50% of the senate. But that's irrelevant, because this isn't about the budget.

At it's heart, this is a measure designed to destroy the Democratic Party's base. Unions are to Democrats as the NRA is to the Republicans. It's just an unfortunate side-effect that working class people are now set down a dangerous path where representation and fair bargaining are now longer within reach.

All Hail Cesar

Jump the pond over to Michigan, where another completely Republican-run legislative and executive branch have passed some quaint laws today. Namely, they have decided that Big State Government knows best. If the governor so chooses, he or she can dissolve your properly and legally elected local government and install one of their choosing. You know, so they can handle financial issues in a way they think is best without any recourse or due process.  Like dissolving unions, firing public employees, and other day-to-day duties.

For those of you who say your vote doesn't count, you now have a valid point. In Michigan at least. Because no matter how you decide to run your town or your local school district, if the State doesn't like it they can oust your officials and replace them.

There's really no need for those pesky elections anymore. I mean, you could hold elections, but they'd have about as much integrity as an Iranian election.

Sing It, Cindy!

So yes Republicans, we have seen your true colors today. They have sat back and made grandiose claims about the Democrats, and President Obama in particular, pushing for Socialism or Totalitarianism. Yet in one day they have shown that they really are the pushers of fringe governmental tactics.

And yes, I take the actions of these state legislators as indicators of what the national republican agenda is because there isn't a single national republican official standing up to denounce these acts as farce and lunacy. By their silence, they are showing their acceptance.

Vacation Time By Country... Guess Where The US Ranks?

Man, I guess those labor unions here in the states really are the cause of all our financial problems....

Silly followers of Tea Party philosophy.... have you no ability to see beyond the thin veneer of "common sense conservativism" to the multi-national coporations and disgustingly wealthey backers?  Do you not see that labor unions are really out to help the working man.  Like, for real real help, not this "let's prevent all abortions, kill unions, lock and and flay the gays" help that the Republicans are offering right now while they are supposedly "focusing on jobs."

On a lighter note, a friend of ours is moving to France this year, so good for him and his ridiculously better vacation structure.  And I've always thought Spain would be a fun place to live...

Fight For Your Own Money, Please

Yesterday, I spent the evening watching talking heads speak about Tea Bagging. I watched Rachel Maddow giggle with glee as she marveled at the protestors ignorance of the colloquial meaning of Tea Bagging. I listened as Keith Olberman derided the Tea Baggers as puppets of the grand corporate marketing scheme. I even witnessed Anderson Cooper admit to not being able to effectively talk while being Tea Bagged. And it was all good stuff.

But with all the Liberal pundits spouting off about the hilarious double entendre of Tea Bagging, I had to stop and wonder exactly what they were protesting. Just like every protest, some random, non-related people showed up to join in the protesting fun. Racists freaks, anti-Government bums, Christian "Rights" groups, and even pro-war protesters (whatever the fuck that means) showed up to join in the fun. I swear, it's like a gay rights march in reverse. The problem I had though is that the talking heads tended to focus on those fringe characters to deride the protestors as Crazy or Insane when the fringe participants were hardly representatives of the majority there. They weren't shunned in most cases, mind you, but I hardly think one man carrying a racist, anti-Obama poster counts as the totality of the message the larger group was trying to convey.

I'm willing to set aside a few of the fallacies of this "grass-roots" movement to examine the concept. Sure, it wasn't a grass roots movement, it was backed by and supported by corporate lobbyist firms. And sure, many of the protestors were protesting Obama's bailout package… even though they supported Bush's less-stringent version just a few months ago. Putting that all aside, do these people have a point? Will the raising of taxes on the wealthiest Americans (which, by the by, would not affect the overwhelmingly vast majority of the protestors in the least) really do anything to save our country? And will these bailout packages make a difference?

In my opinion… well, I have no idea if the bailouts will save us. Finance is not my area, and it's obviously not the area of most of the talking heads on TV. Most of the experts seem to think they will help, but I've grown weary of partisan experts anyway, so it's hard to say. What I can say is that if you get a chance to watch last night's Daily Show, you should probably do so, as their guest did a great job at explaining why the past 10 years of deregulation have led us to this point, and how re-regulating industries rife with greed can only benefit us all. If we need to bail out all the financial institutions in this country in order to reign in their practices, than so be it.

What else I know is that I'm still amazed at how easily poor and middle class Americans can be manipulated to fighting for rich people. I did not hear of many wealthy people showing up at these Tea Parties, the people that are actually affected by Obama's tax increases. Instead I saw tons of middle-class white people crying. Why? I still have no idea. Just like yesterday's post about the fight for Marriage, I am baffled at why middle-class people that will NEVER be in that top 1% of the wealth curve insist on fighting for rich people's right to have, keep and make more money than them. It's as if they are still disillusioned into believing they'll be there some day, if only they buy enough lottery tickets…

I just don't understand is all. We've got A LOT to fight for in our lives, and these people choose to fight over some one else's money. Let the rich people complain about their money themselves! Stop fighting about what isn't yours in the first place and get back to working on things that will actually affect your quality of life.

Suprise! Vermont's Republican Gov Is Republican

I’m thoroughly expecting every single Conservative that has cried about the abuses of certain branches of government abusing their power and ignoring the will of the people to stand up and scream bloody fucking murder at this news:

Gov. Jim Douglas, R-Vermont, says he will veto the same-sex marriage bill
if it passes the Legislature.

The Vt. Senate gave its final stamp of approval Tuesday to a bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry in Vermont. Passage came on a voice vote with no debate, one day after the Senate gave the bill preliminary approval on a 26-4 roll call vote. Now the issue moves to the House, where the Judiciary Committee has scheduled a week's worth of testimony on the issue. It is expected to pass.

Governor Douglas has said that he opposes the bill, and this afternoon he announced he plans to veto it. He said he made the announcement to stop speculation and to focus attention on economy.

How dare he say he will veto what is obviously the will of the people! I mean, sure, that’s within his power and sort of what his job is, but this is obviously what the people want! We should oust this outdated concept of an Executive Branch of Government, because it’s overwriting the obvious desire of the masses!

Oh… wait. So he’s doing something the Conservatives like? Oh, right, then it’s OK then this time? Oooooh… got it…

Look, the guy is apparently a giant Douche bag. It takes a lot of will to stand up and say to the world “I’m such a fucking Bigot that I will willfully and gleefully deny equal rights to my constituents even though it’s plainly obvious that my people want extend those rights.” That’s balls right there. Bitter, sour, hateful, spiteful, evil, vengeful, misguided, and out-right repugnant balls, but balls nonetheless.

Based on the resounding support in both the House and the Senate of Vermont for Marriage Equality, it seems likely that they Legislative Branch can overrule the Executive Branch’s decision, which I’m sure will pique the ire of the Conservative bastards of the world. But you know what? Fuck ‘em.

Obama Caves On Oath Of Office

Obama decided that it would be better to take the Oath of Office again, even though it was completely unnecessary, than it would be to tell the whiny, right-wing idiots to shut the hell up and stop acting like little children. Essentially, he called the Chief Justice to the White House yesterday to re-adminster the Oath of Office using the correct placement of the word "faithfully" because some people were screaming that he isn't technically President until he takes the Oath verbatim, even after Obama's team said specifically that they would not re-do the Oath. Whiny. Fucking. Bitches.

What really irks me about this is that it confirms to me that my voice in this administration doesn't matter. Why is that? Because I can raise a LEGITIMATE concern about the use of an extremist hate-mongerer to deliver the blessing and invocation over Obama's inauguration and I am told to shut the hell up and get back to the corner. However, when a few bitchy, irritating fucks complain about the misuse of ONE FUCKING WORD, well then, the entire administration needs to come to a halt to appease the idiots that DIDN'T EVEN VOTE FOR OBAMA!

The VAST majority of the LGBT community worked the asses off to get Obama elected, and many more supported him unconditionally, yet we are handed a slap in the face named Rick Warren and told that our priorities aren't that important. But heaven forbid the right-wing talking heads at Fox News dare say something negative! Hurray Obama, Bill O'Reilley just said something bad about you closing Guantanamo, you need to change your mind on it and re-open it immediately!

Holy Racist Frakin' BS, Batman!

I am FLOORED by this! Even as a sick joke by some jerk, this would be bad, but as part of local GOP newsletter?!?!

I'm really not sure why in the world I expect better. There are just too many people that are so scared of the image of a powerful black man that they will do anything to try and derail him.

The local GOP Pres. (PS, this was in California... still think they're all liberal, progressive hippies out there?) swears that she only meant to poke fun at a statement Obama made about not looking like the other presidents on the bills... yeah. So to parody that statement, she tosses in every possible racist image plus puts it on a food stamp?!

These are your supporters John McCain. Are you still proud?

I'll See You At The Debates, Bitches!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Yep, that's what she said.  Loves it!  No, I'm not normally a "fan" of Paris, but anyone that can coyly reference one of my favorite movies, Legally Blond, and slam the Republican Presidential nominee in the same video deserves some cred.

If you haven't seen the original McCain ad, here it is:

Republicans are bad, m'kay?