Friday, May 15, 2015

Republican Jackass of the Week

Regressive Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, y'all.

Enjoy this 90 second clip of her parroting the lie that Christianity is under attack in this country -- and then admitting she can't think of a single example.



That's because one doesn't exist.

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Republican John Ellis Bush, "Jeb," the latest member of the Bush Crime Family who thinks he's going to become President.

Recently he was interviewed at the always safe home turf of Fox Noise, and Megyn Kelly tossed him a softball question, which he monumentally screwed up. You only need to watch the first 20 seconds of this one-minute clip.




He was essentially asked, if he knew then what he knows right now, would he still authorize the invasion and occupation of Iraq, creating the worst military debacle in modern history.

Knowing that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, had nothing to do with 9/11, and knowing that 4500 Americans would be killed for nothing, as well as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and the destabilizing of the country would leave an opening which would lead to the creation of ISIS and al Qaeda strongholds, he'd still do exactly what Dubya did.

Since last Sunday, he's come up with 5 different answers to this question which should have been completely anticipated.

Sunday: "Yes I'd attack Iraq."
Monday: "I misunderstood the question."
Tuesday: "I misinterpreted the question."
Wednesday: "I don't think it would be appropriate to answer that question."
Thursday: "No, I wouldn't attack Iraq."

I'm beginning to believe Dubya actually was the smart one...

Friday, May 8, 2015

Republican Jackass of the Week

It's a triple this week.

Republican Texas Representative Louie Gohmert, Republican Texas Senator (by way of Canada) Raphael Cruz, and Republican Texas Governor Wayne Abbott.


These three have become irrationally convinced, by the far rightwing extremist Teabaggers in that state, that Texas is about to be "taken over" and forcibly put under "martial law."

How did these geniuses come up with this?

Because the US military is performing standard training exercises in the state, as it has for many years. That's it.

Governor Abbott is so panicky about this that he's actually called out the Texas State Guard to "monitor" the military's exercises.

Note to Gohmert, Cruz and Abbott: the USA already owns Texas. There's no need for a takeover. If anything, we should probably give it away to the highest bidder.

And even if that "Socialist, Muslim, Kenyan tyrant" was going to invade and conquer Texas, do they really think their state guard will be able to hold back the US military with a yearly budget of around $700,000,000,000?

Think about that for a moment. All these far rightwing self-proclaimed "patriots" are gearing up for war against the USA and its military. Nothing seditious about that.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Republican Jackass(es) of the Week

Is his name really Randy Boning?
Time to catch up on a few...

Representative Randy Boehning of Fargo, North Dakota.

The headline says it all: "Anti-gay Republican lawmaker caught on gay websites looking for encounters..."

Talk about your self-hating Republicans...

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Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, senator from Kentucky and delusional candidate for president.


His quote on Baltimore protests and riots? "Violence is about lack of fathers and morals."

He should know all about lack of fathering and morals. His own son is perpetually driving drunk and getting into trouble with the law.

Oh, and he's an uncertified eye doctor. Just thought I'd throw that in.

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Oklahoma representative Kevin Calvey had a temper tantrum like a 5 year old in a grocery store this week. Seems he didn't want state Supreme Court judges and other court judges to get a 6% raise paid for by court fees, because some of those judges struck down a few unconstitutional laws restricting abortions.

So he threatened to light himself on fire. For real. Watch the 30 second clip:



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Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has cut so many millions of dollars in school funding that several districts in that state have announced they will end the school year early citing lack of funding. So Kansas doesn't have enough money to keep the schools open for the full year...

But he somehow managed to conjure up half a million dollars to defend one of his anti-abortion bills.


Just four of the overwhelming number of Republican Jackasses of the Week.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

MaryAnn 1997 - 2015

MaryAnn's gone. She was 18 years old and had been slowly losing weight and body mass for 3 years. This morning at the vet's office she was just under 4 pounds. The last few days her back leg began dragging, making it hard to walk. Dr. Nowicki said there was virtually no muscle there any more. Although she was bright, alert, feisty and had a good appetite, life had become nothing more than sleeping on the couch and eating. It was hard to watch her slowly hobbling around the house. At this low weight I was afraid organ failure was just days away.Her whole life was easy. Food, couches and beds to sleep on. I didn't want to wait until she started suffering. She died peacefully at 9am and will be buried with her sister Ginger, Lucy, and Ethel. This is her last picture from this morning.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Republican Jackass of the Week

This week it's the entire Oklahoma House Education committee that voted on Monday (11-4) to ban their Advanced Placement U.S. History Class, which is an optional course that allows advanced students to obtain college credits while still in high school.

What's the reason?

They claim the course only teaches students "what is bad about America," and fails to teach "American exceptionalism."

Nonsense. No history course does such a thing. But these self-proclaimed patriots want to whitewash American history so that all of the ugly stuff they'd rather not think about would just evaporate out of textbooks. Poof!

Millions of Native Americans killed upon our ancestors' arrival? Never happened. Slavery? Lynchings? Japanese internment camps? The KKK? Segregation? Voter suppression? Nope. Never happened either.

This whole "American exceptionalism" thing is insanity. We are to teach kids that we are superior to others around the world simply by virtue of having been born here. We are the "city upon a hill" that no one else can match, they like to claim.

Baloney. But it sounds nice in political speeches.

Recent efforts by some rightwing school board members in Colorado attempted to make their history courses "more patriotic" in much the same way. Proposed changes meant "students would only be taught lessons depicting American heritage in a positive light and effectively ban any material that could lead to dissent."

Colorado students walked out en masse.  Oklahoma students and teachers need to do the same.

American history must be taught in its entirety, including the good, the bad and the ugly. And there's plenty in each of those categories.

The Oklahoma House Education Committee -- this week's Republican Jackass of the Week.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Republican Jackass of the Week

Meet Senator Thom Tillis, Republican (what else?) of North Carolina.

We've heard a handful of Regressive Republican rightwingers in Congress, and their teleprompter-reading puppeteers on Fox, suddenly declare this week that they're against basic childhood vaccinations. Yes, the ones that all but wiped out polio, measles, chicken pox and other horrific diseases in this country.

Now one of these science-challenged righties has stated he wants to eliminate -- maybe that's an unfortunate choice of words -- he wants to repeal health department laws mandating that restaurant workers must wash their hands after taking a dump.

Too many regulations, he says. Too restrictive.

Tillis actually states he's looking to "reduce the regulatory burdens" on businesses with this bizarre brainstorm. I'm wondering how long before he or one of these troglodytes will use the old chestnut, "How do we know there actually are germs? We can't see them."  I'm betting Sarah The Quitter will use that one.

These two examples perfectly illustrate where these Libertarians and Tea Baggers go off the tracks into Crazyland, with their irrational hatred of basic regulations.

Tillis said he doesn't care if restaurants don't mandate handwashing after using the restroom, "as long as they post a sign stating that it's not required."

So what this dumbass doesn't realize is that to eliminate the "burdensome regulation" of requiring handwashing, he'd have to create a new regulation requiring a sign stating this.

Little-known senator from North Carolina, Thom Tillis, forcing his way into the public consciousness through his own special brand of insanity, and earning the coveted title of Republican Jackass of the Week.

More here.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Republican Jackass of the Week

Darrell Issa, Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

Here's a guy who hated the current administration so much that he dedicated his political career to fishing for a whole list of scandals that never existed.

Just two weeks ago the final report from the latest Benghazi investigation revealed that absolutely no wrongdoing on the part of the Obama Administration had occurred. There was no conspiracy, no military assets were withheld, no "stand down" order was given, nothing.

And nothing came of the fake IRS scandal, the phony "fast and furious" scandal, or anything else.

With Benghazi alone, he held 20 individual hearings comprising 6 separate investigations.

The total cost to US taxpayers for all his hoaxes?

$25,678,000.

This from the party that constantly screams about the deficit and "fiscal responsibility."

The good news? Former car thief Darrell Issa has been demoted from being the powerful Chairman of the House Oversight Committee to being just another member of a much less prestigious judiciary subcommittee.

But he gets one last honor here: he's this week's Republican Jackass of the Week.

Read his complete story here.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Republican Jackass of the Week

Far rightwing blogger Andrew Breitbart has been dead for several years, but apparently none of the political hacks who work there have figured this out.

Nor do they have a clue what they're writing about. The motto apparently is "attack now, figure out why later."

They are this weeks Republican Jackasses of the Week, thanks to a scathing article blasting President Obama's pick for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch.  Seems they couldn't stand anything about this woman.

Except they wrote about the wrong Loretta Lynch -- and stuck with the story anyway.

I'll let Stephen Colbert take if from here. It's more than worth the three minutes of your time.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Republican Jackass of the Week

Got two for you this week.
Look at those shifty eyes...

Speaker of the House in South Carolina, Robert Harrell (R).

This guy is one of South Carolina's most powerful and most corrupt politicians. This Jackass was originally faced with 9 counts of corruption, including using campaign donations for his private jet and fancy stuff for his home. He was originally sentenced to 6 years in the big house, but as part of his plea deal, that was chopped down to 3 years of probation, a fine of $30,000, and he must pay back $94,000 he stole from the campaign.

Robert Harrell, Republican Jackass of the Week Number One.

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Republican Jackass of the Week, Number Two: Every rightwinger in congress and every rightwing governor who wants to -- or has already -- inflicted Voter Suppression Laws on the people of their state.

A report from the Washington Post states that from 2000-2014, there were only 31 incidents of "voter fraud" (someone pretending to be someone else) out of one billion votes cast. That includes general, municipal, special elections and primaries all over the country.  And not all 31 have been proven. Some of those may include clerical errors, two people with the same name or someone signing the wrong line in the book.

31 out of 1,000,000,000 votes cast.

So when Regressive Republicans claim these voter ID laws are designed to stop "voter fraud," you know they're lying. These are laws in search of a non-existent problem.

Voter suppression laws are specifically designed to make it extraordinarily difficult for elderly voters, students and minorities to vote -- all of whom traditionally vote Democratic.

You'll notice that every  voter suppression law is pushed by Republican governors and legislators. No exception.

A few stats:

North Carolina: 0.0017% of the votes in 2012 were allegedly cast fraudulently. Not all have been proven.

Wisconsin: 0.0002% of the votes proved to be fraudulent in 2012.

Texas: 0.000005% voter fraud between 2001 and 2013. There were exactly 2 cases of voter fraud in that state in a 10 year period -- and for this Texas officials want to kick 400,000 people off the voter rolls.

Righties always scream, "what's wrong with showing proof of who you are?"

You already had to prove who you are when you get your voter ID card. And requiring further photo IDs from the poor or the elderly who no longer drive or can't get to the Dept of Motor Vehicles puts undue burden on them.

Again, this is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

Remember that voting is a right, not something for which you should have to jump through hoops. The same righties that insist on voter suppression laws would scream bloody murder if we required the same proof before buying a gun.






Friday, October 17, 2014

Republican Jackass of the Week

Felon, Medicare fraudster and Florida governor Rick Scott  (R).

No doubt by now you've heard all about his hissy fit and refusal to walk onstage for the first five minutes of a gubernatorial debate with Charlie Crist in South Florida Wednesday night. If not, you won't believe the reason for Scott's temper tantrum.

A small electric fan.

Yeah, Crist had a small fan at his feet behind the podium despite the "nothing electronic" rule at the debate. For the record, a fan is electric, not electronic. Clearly, the intent of the rule is to ban electronic earpieces, iPads, cell phones, and things of that nature.

How petty and small a person must be to become so enraged that for the first five minutes of a widely televised debate he refused to walk out!

Here's what that video clip looked like:


Can anyone seriously support a guy who throws a fit and refuses to discuss issues important to Florida voters -- because of a perceived violation of the debate rules regarding a fan?!

But really, was it a violation? After the debate, Crist's campaign posted a copy of the rules that includes a note saying, "the debate hosts will address any temperature issues with a fan if necessary."

But even if it was a real violation, and let's say Rick Scott had the fan, can you imagine Charlie Crist sulking and refusing to participate?

The next morning a reporter asked Scott, "What happened last night? Why did you take the stage so late?" To which Scott replied, "Well Charlie was throwing a fit. He was sayin' he wasn't going to show up so we waited to see if he was gonna show up."

Here's that 10-second clip:



Hmm. He had to wait to see if Crist would show up? I seem to remember seeing Crist onstage for 5 minutes before Scott calmed down, got himself under control and was able to appear.

Rick Scott, putting the "goober" in gubernatorial. And earning the honor of being our Republican Jackass of the Week.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Republican Jackass of the Week

Representative Marsha Blackburn (R) of Tennessee.

Marsha made a complete fool of herself on CNN this week. She's on the record stating President Obama should "be more aggressive" against ISIS. When asked what she thinks he should do, this is what happened. It's worth the 5 minutes. Enjoy.


Thursday, September 25, 2014

Coffee Cups, Tan Suits and Paper Clips

Funny how, whenever Fox Noise tells its gullible audience to be outraged about something, they instinctively obey.

The latest bit of fake outrage is the "coffee cup caper" in which President Obama allegedly "showed terrible disrespect to our wonderful servicemen" by saluting with a cup in his hand as he got off Air Force One. Here's the photo that's causing the hissy fit.



I guess this would be the correct way to "show respect"?
This is so much more dignified.

The fact is, these return-salutes were never commonplace until Ronald Reagan began saluting everyone he saw back in the 80s. Why not? It makes for a good photo op, and as you know Ronnie was in show business -- one of those "Hollywood elites" the rightwingers can't stand today.

But really, there is no such protocol requiring any president to salute. That's why for over 200 years it didn't happen. Presidents are not necessarily supposed to salute. Proper protocol states that servicemen are to salute the Commander In Chief, not the other way around.

But this latest edition of  "we hate Obama but we can't actually say it's because he's black" will be added to the long list of other silly fake scandals the rightwingers take so seriously.  Here's a partial list...

Even the suit's "too brown" for righties.
He wore a tan suit!
He wears mom-jeans!
He's bad at bowling!
He bows to foreign leaders!
What was that? A terrorist fist bump?
He put mustard on a burger!
He held a hip-hop barbecue!
He invited Republicans to a beer summit!
No tie in the oval office!
Feet on desk!
He pointed over sneeze bar!
Cheap paper clip on Job Bill!
He likes golf!
He takes vacations (1/3 of Bush's vacation time)!
He doesn't wear the flag pin often enough!

Fox Noise is outraged at that paper clip. 






Black cooties may fall from that hand!  

Where's the tie?  

       
There had better not be mustard on that burger, Mister!

Are those mom jeans?

Hey! Americans are supposed to be rude! Don't bow to anyone!

Protests Against Rewriting History for Rightwingers

A new rightwing majority of Denver's school board members wants to rewrite American history to please themselves.



They've stated the curriculum must change so it "does not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife, or disregard of the law." Their words.

Hmm. Seems most of the important turning points in American history were the direct result of civil disorder, social strife and disregard of the law as it stood at the time.

Whitewashing and censoring American history in Colorado means erasing the Civil Rights Movement and Rosa Parks. The Declaration of Independence itself was civil disobedience. The fight for unions brought us the five day workweek, eight hour workday, overtime and the end of child labor. And ironically, the far rightwing Teabaggers who are now running the school board, are named after the original Tea Party, which was a huge act of disregard for the law.

Signs read, "People didn't die so we could erase them," and "I want to learn the entire history to change the future."

Protesting students said, "The nation's foundation was built on civil protest;" "I don't want my education censored;" and "you always hear that America's the greatest, the land of the free and the home of the brave. For all the good things we've done, we've done some terrible things. It's important to learn about those things so we don't repeat them."

This is what happens when you don't vote and rightwingers have their way.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Republican Jackass of the Week

Seems I can't let it go for a single week; these Jackasses start piling up.

We have 3 for you this week.

Winky blinky Johnston
First up: John Johnston, a Regressive Republican from northwest Indiana who thinks he's going to challenge Democratic State Representative Chuck Moseley.

Johnston's recent Facebook comments on poor people: "For almost three generations, people, in some cases, have been given handouts. They have been enabled so much that their paradigm in life is simply to be given the stuff of life, however meager. No one has the guts to just let them wither and die. No one who wants votes is willing to call a spade a spade."

There you have it. If the poor would just have the decency to wither and die there would be far fewer of them.

Of course, once his words hit the fan, he backtracked.

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Next up: a far rightwing racist and white supremacist who wants to be a write-in candidate for Kentucky's upcoming Senate election.

Meet Robert Ransdell, who, after this week, you'll never hear from again.


He was speaking at the University of Kentucky as one of many invited guests on Constitution Day, but his speech quickly became racist and hateful. It got so bad, he was cut off and forced to leave. And this is in Kentucky, mind you.

The U of K apologized.

Maybe if they had looked at some of his campaign signs they might have had a clue about this guy. Ya think?

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And finally, Arizona's former Regressive Republican Senator Russell Pearce, who happens to also be the Republican Party's vice chair in the state.

This one thinks that forced sterilization should be inflicted on women on welfare.

Welcome to Nazi Germany!

Here's the quote from a radio show he was on: "You put me in charge of Medicaid, and the first thing I'd do is get [female recipients] Norplant, birth control implants, or tubal ligations. Then we'll test recipients for drugs and alcohol..."

Arizona's Republican leaders went into full-scale disaster recovery mode and promptly forced him to resign as their party chairman.

I think he needs to be tested for drugs and alcohol. And let's hope he hasn't reproduced.

You can surround yourself with flags, but you're still a pig. (No disrespect meant to actual pigs.)
 As you read about these Jackasses, keep in mind that, on a daily basis, Republicans insist they are not racist and that there's no War on Women. These three geniuses are from this week alone.