Republican Jackass of the Week

Sean Hannity of Fox Noise.

This week he had a "big exclusive" interview with one of the bearded fake rednecks who is worth millions from the Duck Dynasty show on cable TV.

Sean asked his exclusive guest about the Islamic State, known as ISIS, the terrorists too crazy to be associated with al qaeda.

And of course the Duck Dynasty guy pulled out his bible and declared that, regarding ISIS or perhaps all Muslims, "you either have to convert them or kill them."

So being a religious fundamentalist nutjob insisting that others convert to your religion or be killed is what he's advocating.

Funny, I guess neither the duck guy nor Sean realized that's exactly the philosophy of ISIS.

Sean, tell your fake redneck friend to stick to making duck calls. And enjoy your status as our Republican Jackass of the Week.

The Militarization of America's Police Departments

When did this...

...become this?

...and this?

Militarized cops. It's been happening in big cities, small towns and tiny villages, thanks to a law that congress passed in the 90s. It's insanity. And we've seen the result again this week in tiny Ferguson, Missouri.

Militarized cops, tear gas, rubber bullets, arrests and assaults were all used against the citizens of Ferguson who were marching and demanding to know why yet another unarmed teenager was harassed and then murdered by police for walking in the street.

Reporters from the Washington Post  were arrested and violently removed from a McDonald's where they were sitting at tables writing their stories. Al Jazeera America reporters filming on the street were tear-gassed and had to flee, leaving their equipment in the street.

Aside from a handful of opportunists who were looting stores at other locations, these people, by the hundreds, were peacefully marching to demand answers. There was absolutely no need for war zone tactics, rubber bullets, tear gas, and violent arrests.

Now contrast that to what happened last spring at the Bundy ranch, when those white rednecks and Teabaggers "came to the aid" of that criminal rancher who refused to pay federal grazing fees.  At the Bundy ranch, those rednecks pointed loaded rifles and shotguns  at US marshals and police, who backed off.  Yet for some reason there was no riot gear, tear gas or bullets fired at any of them.  At Bundy, the cowardly cops knew how to mind their manners, step back and keep their big mouths shut.

This is what it looked like this week. Keep in mind this is not Baghdad or Beirut. This is in Ferguson, Missouri -- in the USA, where people allegedly still have the right to protest.

So exactly what happened that day when 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot? Ferguson police aren't talking.  Of course, conveniently, neither the patrol car nor the cop in it were furnished with a video camera.  But every eyewitness says the kid had his hands up when he was shot and killed by the cop.

But why are so many police departments suddenly loaded with millions of dollars of war zone equipment?

According to an article from The Guardian (October 2013):

America's streets are looking more and more like a war zone. Last week, in a small county in upstate New York with a population of roughly 120,000 people, county legislators approved the receipt of a 20-ton Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, donated by the US Defense Department to the county sheriff.

Here's how it all happened. A little-known Pentagon program has been quietly militarizing American police forces for years. A total of $4.2bn worth of equipment has been distributed by the Defense Department to municipal law enforcement agencies, with a record $546m in 2012 alone.

In the fine print of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1997, the "1033 program" was born. It allows the Defense Department to donate surplus military equipment to local police forces.

From the Huffington Post:

The main culprit was a 1994 law authorizing the Pentagon to donate surplus military equipment to local police departments. In the 17 years since, literally millions of pieces of equipment designed for use on a foreign battlefield have been handed over for use on U.S. streets, against U.S. citizens. Another law passed in 1997 further streamlined the process. As National Journal reported in 2000, in the first three years after the 1994 law alone, the Pentagon distributed 3,800 M-16s, 2,185 M-14s, 73 grenade launchers, and 112 armored personnel carriers to civilian police agencies across America. Domestic police agencies also got bayonets, tanks, helicopters and even airplanes.


Did you get that? Millions of pieces of equipment designed for use on a foreign battlefield have been handed over for use on US streets against US citizens.

We need to drastically cut military funding. If the military has so much "surplus" equipment that they can hand over hundreds of tanks, grenade launchers, planes and helicopters to every little town -- every tiny flyspeck on the map -- to be used against American citizens, then we're shoveling too many hundreds of billions to it.

Republican Jackass of the Week

So many from which to choose. So why choose? Here are five:

Republican Jackass of the Week #1 -- Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio).

This is the guy who can't stop talking about suing the President of the United States for the vague charge of "lawlessness," and for signing "too many executive orders."

As I've shown in this graph on the June 27th post, President Obama has signed fewer executive orders than any president in 50 years. Boehner was allegedly upset about the President delaying the employer madate portion of the Affordable Care Act -- after begging the President to do just that.

Now, after Boehner's House failed to solve the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, and after passing absolutely nothing and going off on a 6 week recess, Boehner actually said, "There are numerous steps the President can and should be taking right now without the need for congressional action."

Did you follow that logic? Congress asks the President to delay a portion of ObamaCare; President Obama delays that portion of ObamaCare on his own; Congress threatens to sue the President for overstepping his authority.

And now right after failing to pass funding for the immigration crisis, Congress asks the President to take action on his own.

John Boehner:  the weakest Speaker of the US House, presiding over the least productive Congresses in a row, and is once again our Republican Jackass of the Week.

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Republican Jackass of the Week #2 -- Fox Noise.

After Fox's continuous hyping of an alleged Benghazi coverup/conspiracy for two years non-stop, guess what happened this week?

The House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, concluded that there was no deliberate wrongdoing by the Obama Administration during the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. The report states that no one was deliberately misled, no military assets were withheld and no stand-down order was given to military forces.

That's the exact opposite of what Fox viewers have had drummed into their heads for two years.

No. Only Fox ignores the facts.

This Benghazi hoax has been the lead story on Fox Noise for all this time. Day after day, night after night, there have been lots of shrill, wild accusations made -- including 225 segments on the subject in the last two weeks alone according to Media Matters. But on the day this breaking news was released, guess how many times it was broadcast on Fox Noise?

Not once.

The Committee's report was finally grudgingly mentioned once on their air the next day. Yet another investigation will be launched in September by Republicans who just can't stop fishing for a non-existent scandal.

Fox Noise, foreign owned and Saudi financed, Republican Jackass of the Week.

(Can a broadcast company be a Jackass? You betcha! "Corporations are people too my friend.")

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Republican Jackass #3 -- Representative Tom Marino (R-Pennsylvania).

During a grandstanding speech on the House floor, this Jackass claimed that when the Democrats ran the House, they never had the courage to do anything about immigration reform.

Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic Speaker of the House, wouldn't hear of it. She actually walked across the floor, waved a finger at him and admonished him! (Of course some sources claimed she "chased him around the House floor" and "became unhinged." Watch the short video below. See for yourself if she became unhinged, or just slowly walked over to admonish him.)

She reminded him that "House Democrats had the courage to pass the Dream Act, and have the courage to stand up for what the American people want now: bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform."

As it turns out, Tom Marino's party once again failed to pass any immigration law and deserted Washington for a 6 week vacation.

Tom Marino, liar and Republican Jackass of the Week.


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Republican Jackass #4 -- Representative Mo Brooks (R-Alabama)

Old southern white guy Mo Brooks thinks it's the Democratic Party that's racist!

How about that. The party that generally gets 95% of the black vote every election cycle, as well as an increasing majority of Hispanic votes, is racist.

Ron Fournier of the National Journal stated that "the fastest growing bloc in this country thinks the Republican party hates them," referring to Hispanics and Blacks in America. "Your party cannot be the party of the future beyond November if you're seen as the party of white people."

Polls have shown this clearly. And even the Republican party itself acknowledged its problem with women, gays, Hispanics and Blacks after its second big White House loss in November of 2012. They even held brainstorming meetings to figure out how to attract more diverse voters. The results have been published in their "Republican Autopsy Report" that came out right after President Obama's second electoral college landslide.

Having heard Fournier's statement, Mister Mo Brooks of Alabama claimed that "there's a war on whites being launched by the Democratic Party... claiming that whites hate everybody else."

(Hey, isn't there an unwritten rule stating that Republicans are always to incorrectly refer to it as "the Democrat Party"?)

See? The Democratic party, which has many millions of white, black and Hispanic voters is actually the racist party, not the Republicans, who are almost exclusively older white people.

Go back and read your own party's Autopsy Report. Learn something, Mo.

And enjoy being this week's Republican Jackass of the Week.

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Republican Jackass #4 -- Steven Palazzo (R-Missouri).

Here's his quote from this week: "I find the best advice comes through meditating
on god's word. Please find a copy of the holy bible to help guide you in your decision-making."

He then had his staff deliver a bible to each of the 535 members of the House and Senate.

Hey Steve, breaking news:  the USA is a secular nation. Go ask the first high school student you can find. We don't write laws based on your bible any more than we base them on the Quran or any other cult's book. Do I really need to list the reasons this is so completely wrong?

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said this action was inappropriate and exclusionary. "When it comes to religion, our nation is pluralistic and diverse. Rather than look to the bible or any other religious book to craft our nation's public policy, we would do well to examine another source instead, one that was actually created to guide governance. It's called the Constitution."

Steve Palazzo, Republican Jackass of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Jim Fouts (R), mayor of Warren, Michigan.

This entry from Think Progress says it all:

The city of Warren, Michigan, and its Republican mayor Jim Fouts are facing a federal lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups after Fouts rejected a local man’s request to set up an atheist station in the city hall atrium, and equated the atheist cause to the Nazi party and the Ku Klux Klan.

Since 2009, Fouts has permitted “prayer stations” run by a local church group that distributes religious pamphlets, discusses religious beliefs with passersby, and prays with visitors to the city hall. When Freedom From Religion member Douglas Marshall submitted an application to city officials in April to set up a similar, yet secular, station for two days each week, it took Fouts less than two weeks to reject his proposal. When interviewed by the Associated Press, Fouts defended his decision, saying:

The city has certain values that I don’t believe are in general agreement with having an atheist station, nor in general agreement with having a Nazi station or Ku Klux Klan station. I cannot accept or will not allow a group that is disparaging of another group to have a station here.

No, we can't let that happen! The First Amendment certainly doesn't apply to Atheists, right? 

Mayor Fouts: Republican Jackass of the Week.

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Bonus Republican Jackass of the Week: Former Massachusetts Governor and Failed Presidential Candidate Willard "Mitt" Romney (R).

Just this week it's been discovered that during his campaign back in 2012, before "taking all the swing states and winning in a landslide" according to Fox Noise, Willard mistook Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile for PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill.

Yes, he really did.

Oh my. Two prominent, influential black women who he's seen on the TV machine, and he can't tell them apart.

Gwen Ifill

Donna Brazile

"Hi Gwen," he reportedly said to Donna, according to a recent NY Times article.

"Poor thing; he didn't know," stated Donna.

And in case you forgot all those other famous foot-in-mouth moments courtesy of Willard Romney, let me gleefully remind you:

• "corporations are people, my friend"
• half the country ("that 47%) who are "takers" would never vote for him anyway
• finding out he had undocumented Mexicans working on his own property and then stating, "I'm running for office for Pete's sake! I can't have illegals!"
• he has "binders full of women"
•  his five sons working on his presidential campaign were "equal to those serving in the US military"
• refusing to release his tax returns
• stashing millions in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes
• he wanted Mexicans to "self deport" even though his own grandfather came from Mexico and was welcomed here

I could go on and on...

Republican Jackass of the Week

Once again, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota (R).

So after 55 attempts at repealing the President's Affordable Care Act, and his party's constant, baseless cries of "impeach him!", orange Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) is threatening to sue -- yes sue -- the President of the United States for the vague charge of "lawlessness," because he has signed executive orders when Boehner's own congress has refused to act.

First, it's a laughable stunt designed to appease the far rightwing Obama-haters. The House has no ability to sue the President over his signing of executive orders.

Second, President Obama has signed fewer executive orders than almost any other US president in 50 years!

His predecessor Dubya signed 291, and the hero of the righties, Saint Ronald Reagan, signed a whopping 381! And neither had to deal with the least productive, most obstructionist congress of all time.

Third, even a Fox Noise host can't seem to take it any more. He points out how hypocritical and futile the cry of "let's sue him" is. You've got to see him take down Crazy Eyes Bachmann.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Former Vice President and current War Criminal Dick Cheney.

The man who cannot visit a whole list of countries because he will be arrested on sight wrote an op-ed piece for the Rupert Murdock-owned Wall Street Journal, and appeared -- not on network TV but in a cheaply-made YouTube video -- wearing a cowboy costume and standing next to his daughter (not the gay one, but the one who was soundly beaten by her own party in a recent primary election in Wyoming).

He spoke in attempt to belittle President Obama and rewrite his own embarrassing legacy as the man who failed to protect the country from the worst terrorist attacks in history, and then promptly lied America into attacking and occupying a country that had nothing to do with those attacks.

He looked like a frail, angry, bitter old man, waving his fists at the clouds.

He has no power, no influence, no credibility. He apparently still has no shame, having lied us into an unnecessary, deadly, expensive war. Everything he said from the pre-war days forward, has been a purposeful lie or just plain wrong.

"They'll view us as liberators... the oil will pay for the war... it'll take weeks rather than months... Saddam no doubt has weapons of mass destruction... uranium tubes... yellowcake uranium... Saddam was behind 9/11... the insurgency is in its last throes (in 2005)... "

At this point you can't even be angry with him. You see him as a pathetic, empty shell, like a burned out building. Politicians, the American public, even far rightwingers couldn't care less about what he has to say these days. He's angry, seething, and still trying to rewrite his sad legacy.

He doesn't even scare Fox Noise into kissing his ass anymore. Can it get any worse than that?

During a live interview this week, rising Fox star Megyn Kelly did something no one had ever dared to do to Dick: make him face the facts that he was wrong about everything connected to the war. (Of course, she then let him ramble on and on, skirting the issue, and never held his feet to the fire. Remember this is Fox, after all.)

But it was a rare 30 seconds of reality on Fox:



He's become such a pathetic, irrelevant, preposterous figure, that it's almost too easy to make him the Republican Jackass of the Week.

I did say "almost."

So Iraq's Coming Apart at the Seams

What a surprise.

This is a country that will never be a democracy and will never end hostilities within its borders. It's made up of three basic factions: two crazy nutjob religious groups that can't stand each other (Sunnis and Shiites) and terrorist extremists.

Yet it was relatively stable under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein until Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of these far rightwing military geniuses decided to use 9/11 as an excuse to lie us into attacking, occupying and destabilizing it.

Remember all the blatant lies about "weapons of mass destruction," "ties to 9/11" and "smoking guns"? Those words were drummed into the heads of Congress and the American people to gin up approval for the Unnecessary War Against the Wrong Country, also known as the War to Make Dick Cheney's Halliburton a Fortune.

Yes, we temporarily took over some of the cities in Iraq. But we were not about to stay there forever. Whether we left in 2011, 2012, or waited until 2018, whenever we left, the extremists, terrorists and religious nutjobs were going to create chaos once again.

And of course, now the rightwing blowhards are putting this on President Obama's doorstep. See how it is with Republicans? Lie us into an unnecessary war, destabilize the country, make a mess, walk away and blame it on the next guy.

What's he supposed to do? Put troops on the ground and start all over again? Nuke them? Use air strikes? Diplomacy? Sanctions? No matter what these rightwing chickenhawks demand, if the President does it, they'll immediately run to the cameras and deny it was their idea in the first place. (See the recent post about John McCain. He's a classic case of this mental disorder.)

And what's with the Iraqi army? Are these the dumbest, most cowardly people on Earth?

In the US military, "basic training" can run anywhere from 8-12 weeks. That's it. Unless you need specialized training, you're good to go.

Why were we told, year after year, that we needed to keep US troops in Iraq to continue training Iraqi soldiers? How many years does it take to get these people trained? Iraq must be the only country on Earth where you can spend years and years in training, and then retire having accomplished absolutely nothing.

This week many of the Iraqi troops dumped their uniforms, abandoned all the expensive equipment we handed them, and ran from a much smaller contingent of extremists who are now taking over one city after another. So why did we spend so many years training them and giving them billions of dollars in equipment? Are we supposed to stay there and babysit them forever?

And what's with these rightwing politicians who are always looking to cut unemployment benefits, welfare, school funding, kids' meals, food for the elderly and Social Security (which completely funds itself) to save a million here and a million there -- yet they're suddenly not worried about the deficit when they start salivating about spending hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars in Iraq again?

We have to take food from Americans living in poverty, and we can't afford to rebuild crumbling schools, highways and bridges, but there's always a few hundred billion for Iraq?

And what's with Iraq's "democratically elected" puppet leader Maliki we've been propping up? This is the guy who kept insisting the US troops should leave and "stop occupying" his country. Couldn't wait to push us out the door. Now he's in a panic because these insurgents are overrunning his useless army. And of course now he wants help from the very people he kicked out.

I say don't spend another dime on this shithole. And don't risk another American life.

Unfortunately, President Obama has to be more diplomatic than I do. And he knows there are American interests at stake, including terrorism, Mideast stability, freedom for the Iraqi people, a whole lot of oil.

I say let it fall apart. It's going to anyway, sooner or later, now or in 20 years. And get ready for the same thing to happen in Afghanistan, another hotbed of crazies.

Tell me where I'm wrong.

Republican Jackass of the Week

The Brat from Virginia.

His name is David Brat, and he's the far, far, far righwing Teabagger who just stunned the political world by beating Eric Cantor in the Republican primary in that state.

This was big news, nationally, because it's extremely rare when such a powerful member of Congress gets voted out, not in the general election, but in his own party's primary election, and by such a big margin -- over 11%.

Eric Cantor, the Majority Leader, was the second most powerful Republican member of the House, right behind Speaker of the House John Boehner. In fact, he was expected to become the next Speaker, sooner or later, assuming the Republicans continue to hold the majority in the House.

But back to Mr. Brat. After his unexpected victory, he appeared on The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd on msnbc, where he was not able to answer the most basic of questions relative to his alleged political views.

"I don't have a well-crafted response on that one," and "I didn't get enough sleep last night," and "I thought we were just going to celebrate my win today" were my favorite non-answers.

Some of my favorite comments from the Think Progress page:

"He hasn't had time to talk to the consultants so he's not sure what he believes yet."

"Wait -- he's an economics professor and he can't form a response about the minimum wage?"

"I'm totally unprepared for class today, Mr. Todd."

David Brat, who's apparently as surprised as anyone that he won the Virginia Republican Primary: our Republican Jackass of the Week.

What's with John McCain Lately?

As posted on the Maddowblog, John McCain seems to have developed a habit lately of missing meetings so he can run before cameras to complain about what he didn't learn in those meetings.

This week, only a few minutes after it started, McCain left the Senate Armed Services Committee meeting dealing with the latest developments in Iraq. He ran right to the cameras to proclaim "this is the greatest threat since the Cold War." If that's the case, why didn't he stay in the meeting?

He also abruptly left a classified briefing on the prisoner swap for Bowe Bergdahl, the recently released POW in Afghanistan, to complain to the media about how little he knew about the situation.

And in 2012 he held a press conference complaining about the lack of information he'd received about the Benghazi attack. But he chose to hold that meeting during the exact time the Obama Administration was holding a Benghazi briefing that he was invited to attend.

This is the same John McCain who, just a couple of months ago, stated clearly -- on tape before cameras -- that he was in favor of the prisoner swap to free Prisoner of War Bowe Bergdahl. Of course, the minute President Obama accomplished exactly that, McCain reversed course and promptly lambasted the administration for freeing Bergdahl.

Tell you what, John: how about you stop running to the cameras and start running to the meetings you're supposed to attend? Maybe you'd have more of a clue and less to whine about.

You came this close to being the latest Republican Jackass of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

We have several for your enjoyment today.

First up: Wolfeboro, New Hampshire police commissioner Robert Copeland.

Petulant, belligerent old brat.

You may have heard that last week this angry old racist was overheard referring to President Obama as the N-word.

His response: "I believe I did use the N-word in reference to the current occupant of the White House. For this I do not apologize. He meets and exceeds my criteria for such."

Very nice. Nothing like being caught saying one of the most vile things possible, and then digging yourself just a little bit deeper.

Copeland's boss, the police commission chairman, claimed his statement is being "blown out of proportion." And he doesn't have the power to fire Copeland.

Well, after several days, and a small handful of Regressive Republicans condemning Copeland's remarks -- including to his credit, former presidential candidate Willard "Mitt" Romney -- Copeland did resign reluctantly.

Robert Copeland: a racist old pig* and one of our Republican Jackasses of the Week.

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*No disrespect to actual pigs.

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 This one's just too easy. And she could have this honor bestowed upon her just about every week. But I couldn't resist.

You betcha!

Jackass #2: Half-term quitter Sarah Palin.

A few days ago, Simple Sarah decided to criticize the White House's, and First Lady Michelle Obama's, Twitter messages denouncing the kidnapping of several Nigerian schoolgirls. And she pretended the Twitter message was the only thing being done on the world stage to deal with this issue.

So she pounded out a message stating, "Diplomacy via Twitter is the lazy, ineffectual, naive, insulting way for America's leaders to deal with national and international issues."

So using The Twitters is the wrong way to get a message out, right?

The problem is that Simple Sarah blasted the use of social media -- wait for it -- by using her Twitter account.

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Jackass #3: Former Vice President and current War Criminal, Dick Cheney.

Here's a guy who lied us into the War in Iraq, lied about weapons of mass destruction, lied about how long the war would take, lied about how it would be paid for, instituted illegal waterboarding torture programs which broke American and international laws, and outed an undercover CIA officer during wartime -- all impeachable, criminal, treasony offenses -- yet he is still walking around on the loose. (Of course, there are many countries he cannot visit because he'll be arrested upon arrival.)

A few days ago he stated that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should be "held responsible" for the terrorist attack in Benghazi.

Just shut that creepy mouth already.

Perhaps he hasn't yet heard that after the last set of fishing expeditions looking for ways to blame the Obama Administration investigations, Mike Mullen (former Joint Chiefs Chairman), Leon Panetta (former Defense Secretary), Robert Gates (former Defense Secretary) and General Martin Dempsey (Joint Chiefs Chairman) collectively said our military was appropriately responsive and did everything possible that night.

Perhaps he forgot that it was congressional Republicans who had cut half a billion dollars in security funding to our embassies overseas.

Perhaps he forgot that Ambassador Stevens himself chose to stay at the embassy despite warnings of attacks.

And most of all, perhaps he forgot that over 50 people were killed during the 11 "Benghazis" that occurred during his own 8 years in office.

So Hillary "clearly bears the responsibility for Benghazi." Don't blame the terrorists, right Dick? Yet he and Bush were not responsible for 9/11. That, you see, must be the fault of the terrorists.

Nice going, Dick.

Can't some computer geek somewhere hack into that electronic heart of his and shut it off already? (Too harsh?)

Republican Jackass of the Week

Mary Fallin (R), Governor of Oklahoma.

Who knew this little-known far rightwinger would be so over-qualified for this honor?

This is the woman who pushed for the use of an unknown cocktail of drugs used in the horrifically botched execution in her state earlier this week.

She signed a bill banning Oklahoma cities from raising the minimum wage.

She refused to accept the federal money already on the table for Medicaid Expansion in her state.

She slashed education funding.

She ordered the withholding of same sex benefits to those serving in the Oklahoma National Guard.  Then she dropped benefits for all National Guard members' spouses to avoid serving same sex couples.

And she signed into law an extra tax for those who use solar power.

Mary Fallin, a real Republican Jackass of the Week.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Doesn't recognize the US government. Then whose flag are you hiding behind, Clem?

Yes, by now we've all heard about the crazy old coot from Nevada who is a lawbreaker (pronounced "criminal") and welfare queen who had his cows graze on publicly-owned taxpayer land for 20 years and who still refuses to pay us all for the use of our land. Not only is he a deadbeat "taker" as the righties like to call people, but he and his little posse of wingnuts in cowboy costumes actually pointed loaded weapons at US marshalls and Land Management officials.

For that he's dubbed a hero and true American according to the far right.

Now, let's imagine if a bunch of Muslims wearing turbans had crouched down and aimed rifles at officials of the government. Why, of course they'd be labeled America-hating terrorists by the Foxholes on Rupert Murdoch's channel.

And if they were young African-American men wearing do-rags who were crouched down and aiming rifles at these same government officials? What do you suppose they  would be called? Dangerous, angry black thugs, of course.

But because they're crotchety old white guys wearing cowboy hats aiming rifles at US marshalls, of course they're labeled patriots by Rupert's Foxholes.

Sean "I'm-losing-my-ass-in-the-ratings" Hannity has been this guy's biggest apologist, actually inciting  these domestic terrorists into continuing their standoff.

But now we get this tape. Watch it for 90 seconds and learn that "the Negro was better off as a slave."



Here's the deliciously ignorant quote. (And no, this is not a quote from The Onion or any news parody site. It's real.)

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

Yup. All them Negroes is abortin' their kidfolk and puttin' them young bucks in jail because they ain't never learned how to pick cotton.

I love the complaining about government subsidies from a guy whose cows have been subsidized by the government for 20 years.

But he's not racist. Here's his Facebook post:

 

How dare they take his comments "out of context" by quoting him verbatim and posting the actual uncut video?

2 Bonus Republican Jackasses of the Week

So in redder-than-red Oklahoma these days, they are so PO'ed about same sex marriage, and not being able to legally ban it, that they're considering banning all marriages in the state just so "them thar perverts" can't get married.

But that's a different story for another day.

This is about Oklahoma's State House, Senate and Governor establishing a law that now punishes residents for saving energy by using solar panels on their homes.

Yes, in Oklahoma you'd better write a nice big fat check if you're not supporting oil-powered or coal-fired electricity.

In most states, if your home actually produces more energy than you consume, you can put it back to the grid and make a few bucks. But not in Oklahoma.

Read more here.

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Hey, what's new in Georgia these days? Well, thanks to their Republican legislature and Republican governor there's a new gun law on the books.

And it's got one of those wonderfully misleading names Republicans love so much. Like the "Healthy Forest Initiative" which allowed for clearcutting.

This one's called the Safe Carry Protection Act, better known as the Guns Everywhere Law.

It allows licensed gun owners to take their loaded weapons into schools, school zones, churches, bars, nightclubs, some parts of airports and some government buildings.

Guns in schools. I can't imagine a problem. Can you?

Guns and drunks in bars. What could possibly go wrong?

Interesting that these legislators seem to think it's fine and dandy to pack heat everywhere, except you still can't bring your gun to the State Capital where they  work. No, that would be dangerous.

I guess it's the same hypocritical reason that the NRA and gun nuts want loaded guns everywhere except at gun shows.

You'd better unload that thing before walking into a gun show. Somebody could get hurt after all.

The legislatures and governors of Georgia and Oklahoma. This week's bonus Republican Jackasses of the Week.

Winnie: 2005 - March 28, 2014

It's hard to believe she's gone.

At 4:00 Friday afternoon I didn't know anything was wrong with her, and by 6 that same night she was already gone.

The day before, on Thursday morning, as usual Bobby woke me up at the crack of dawn for our daily walk. Bobby, Winnie and I went several blocks to our private dog park, the fenced-in park/community center/fire station. We know how to get in before it opens for everybody else.

It was a relatively cool morning, about 58 degrees, and both dogs loved the cool air. It made them run around and chase each other all the more. Bobby would start running and Winnie-Binnie would follow, only to stop and flatten herself out as if to hide in the grass. Bobby would continuously run circles around her, nipping at her back legs in order to get her going. And then she'd jump up and go like crazy, running in circles, chasing him, being chased, and then roll around in the grass.

She seemed fine.

Friday morning she ate her breakfast as usual and then had a little toast with soy margarine with me as they both do every morning. Later in the day, when it was time to eat again, she didn't want to get off the couch. When I called, she got off, and laid on the floor. She wouldn't touch her food.

When this dog doesn't want to eat, something's wrong. I called her vet, but she had gone for the day. Went back to Winnie to check her gums and noticed they were very pale and her lips and mouth were actually cool to the touch. So I brought her to the emergency vet a few minutes away from home.

She was able to walk to the front desk but then laid down there. They brought a gurney to take her back to the examining area. They too, noticed she was pale and cold. A test showed there was blood in her stomach. The ultrasound showed a mass that had ruptured in her spleen, and another one in her liver. She was bleeding internally. They feared the tumors, whether benign or cancerous, had spread. The offered to call in a surgeon, but said this kind of thing has a very low chance of success. And if she did survive, she'd only last another couple of weeks.

All this was like a punch in the face. How was this possible? She was fine this morning. She went for her daily walk and ate all her breakfast and toast. Well, she seemed fine, but these masses had been growing for a while. I had no way of knowing any of this.

In her weakened state, I didn't want her to go through the surgery, only to die on the operating table, or live in misery in a cage at the vet's office for her last days. I thought about taking her home for the night, but there was no way she would have lasted the night. And she would have felt worse by the minute. I had to let her go.

I didn't want her lifted to the table. They brought out a blanket, put it on the floor, I hugged her and told her everything I needed to say, and continued hugging her on the floor while they administered the injections, and then she was gone.

Hard to believe Winnie originally couldn't get along with other animals. Here she is with Ethel, who I lost 3 months ago.

I got Winnie to "hold temporarily until she got a new home" 4 years ago in March 2010. This became her fourth home.  I have no idea why three other people gave her up. Actually, it was probably because she was very different back then.

When I first got her she didn't know how to walk on a leash. She'd pull hard in every direction. And if she saw another dog or cat she'd go nuts and want to kill them. I was nervous every time I walked her.

But she learned to relax and calm down. In no time she became the best at walking on a leash, never pulling in the slightest. The leash was just a formality; she stayed right next to me on every walk. Eventually, this dog who wanted to attack every other dog she saw, learned to love going to the big dog park -- with dozens of other dogs running around. She became the most excited when we'd get there, and we'd run to the gate, and I'd let her off her leash. There was never a fight, and never any hostility. She loved being around all those other dogs. It was hard to believe this was the same dog.

She learned to calm down and enjoy life mostly thanks to Bobby. She saw right away how happy and confident he is, and she followed his lead. She did everything he did. She never barked, but if the doorbell rang and he got excited, so did she. When he got excited about a walk or going in the car, she got excited too.

But while Bobby is a big, happy-go-lucky, in-your-face fun-dog, she stayed very quiet and reserved at home.

Every night she'd jump on the bed and curl up in a little circle -- never intrusive, not taking up too much space, not looking for attention -- and just fall asleep. When I'd lie down on the couch to watch TV, she'd jump up and curl up in a little circle in her spot. When I'd get on the computer, within seconds I'd look down and both dogs would be lying on the floor next to me. She just wanted to be nearby.

In the morning, after our long walks, sometimes I'd go back to bed for a little while. She'd curl up on the bed in her tight circle, but I'd pull her over next to me, stretch her out and hug her. This made her happy. She'd roll on her back, wiggle back and forth, left-right-left-right almost in figure 8s, and then fall asleep with all her feet in the air.

I don't know anything about her first few years, but I'm glad I had her for these last four. She learned to relax, enjoy life, and she got along great with the cats. They'd sleep next to her and walk right under her.

They'll deliver her ashes to me in two weeks.