End justifying the means?

 

Most of us know the story by now.  An eighteen-year-old black man walked into a store and grabbed a giant handful of cigars and headed for the door.  The owner tried to stop him and was pushed aside.  The thief, walking down the middle of the street, was asked to stop by a police officer in his patrol car.  The young man reached into the car and punched the officer and tried to take his gun.  Shots were fired by the officer and the perpetrator was killed.

 

After many days of deliberation by a grand jury, no indictment was brought against the police officer.

 

Rioting by the black community ensued.  Nearly 100 businesses were looted and burned to the ground. Further protesting occurred in more than 115 cities around the country.

 

Twenty-four hour cable news networks went to work, further fanning the flames of blacks who took the opportunity of this shooting to showcase how evil whites are toward blacks.

 

Still, no action has been taken against those who ruined the lives of innocent business owners when they lost everything.  Indictments, evidently, aren't important in these cases.

 

Questions to those who looted and burned:  As you have your steak dinner tonight, stolen from the local grocery store, do you feel vindicated?  As you watch that NFL game on your newly "acquired" flat-screen television, do you feel the theft is justified?  While the local stores are burning to the ground, do you feel your moment as an arsonist exacted the right amount of revenge?

 

All of this because a young man chose to attack a police officer rather than admit his theft and go peacefully to jail. All because he thought it would turn out well if he could just get that gun away from the cop.

 

What do we expect of our officer?  If they are confronted, just let the villain walk away because it might cause a billion-dollar riot?  Is that what we pay them to do?

 

As the NBA super-star Charles Barkley said, "Many times when we blacks are stopped,  we deserve it.  Put up your hands and go to jail peacefully.  You can always argue your case in court.  You know, that even happens to white people."

 

 

 



His Two-Percent Kingdom...

 

 

Will Mitt Romney return to the fight in 2016?  Will he win any of those 47%ers that he once gave up on as GOP's lost souls who will vote Democrat, no matter what?  Will he be able to accept the fact that America is made up of 98%ers, too?

 

Romney is interjecting himself into politics of the day on a more regular basis, and he is doing so in a rather undignified manner when it comes to criticism of the president.

 

As we gather around our tables next week to count our blessings and give thanks for what we have, we are constantly reminded via the great wasteland of television's talking heads that we just don't know what's good for us.  The 2%ers just can't get their heads around why the 98%ers are so distrusting of them.

 

Donkeys have good memories.  Romney - and his questionable record on how not to make money - is exactly why he is not the guy we need in the Oval Office.  And that goes for any other candidate who favors tax breaks for the wealthy, political offices for sale to the highest bidder, and programs for the Middle and Lower Class cut to the bone or cut out, altogether.

 

He certainly has more blessings to count at his Thanksgiving table, but most of them were earned on the backs of the working men and women whose jobs were sent overseas.  And to add insult to injury, he just doesn't understand why these people can't go find another job.

 

While it's highly unlikely, Romney's wealth-driven highbrow view of the universe could even make Ted Cruz or Rand Paul look like plausible candidates.  Or, maybe even Michelle Bachmann. 

 

Yes.  "Turkeys" come in all shapes and sizes...and some even come in $4,500 pinstriped, three-piece suits.

 

 



The Dynamic Duo have keys to Gotham!

 
The often caustic and - dare I say - sarcastic U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner is in his full bloom of glory since the November 4th election results.

 

He has an ally, Sen. Mitch McConnell, a twin of equally caustic sarcasm, and now Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

 

They have enough ice in their veins to freeze the white-hot heat generated in an afterburner of a F-15 fighter jet.


Before the vote counters could sit back and enjoy a cigarette and cup of coffee, our sarcastic twosome found television cameras and microphones and fired off threats to the president.  In short, President Obama hadn't better even think about using executive orders to move our country out of gridlock and on the road to further recovery.

Our dynamic duo are acting like two spoiled kids that have been given keys to a fully-stocked candy store and sole possession of America's rule book to do as they wish.

Time will tell as to how all of this turns out.

It's hard to believe that the Republicans in Congress will allow these two power-hungry politicians to turn Americans against the GOP and their own re-election chances in 2016.  There will be 20 Elephants up for re-election in the Senate, alone. It has been well documented that Americans want the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader to show some leadership and move this country forward - not sideways or downward.  In short, they want gridlock to cease and desist!

In the meantime, everyone calm down, visit the concession stand, and enjoy the show.  These two guys are just the opening act and, for now, childishly hogging the spotlight.






Jeb...and the Elephant in the room

 

 

Amidst a herd of various Elephants in the room, we notice Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is quietly considering the path to the Oval Office in 2016.  Presently, his  interested competitors are standing to his far Right, which would mean he could face a very split Republican Party.  (That prospect will be tucked away for another day, however.) 

While his mother stated -  quite sternly, actually -  on national television a few months ago that she hoped he wouldn't run, we don't know what she is saying privately about the matter today. Her reasoning was: "There have been two Bushs in the White House and the country doesn't need anymore!"

Hearing the words of a lady I admire greatly, Barbara Bush has probably spoken for many Americans, even though Jeb is undoubtedly more qualified than his brother. 

His father, George H.W. Bush, had great qualifications but it seemed his "presidential timber" was made of the two-by-four variety.  (George W. Bush's "timber" was of the one-by-two variety and made of knotty pine.)

Jeb, however, has what it takes to be president - his "timber" is of the two-by-six or larger variety and definitely made out of solid mahogany.  But will America overlook brother "Dubya" and his disastrous terms as presidency, hold their nose, and vote for Jeb?  Will they swallow the television ads proclaiming Jeb Bush as the "All-New and Improved" Bush for tomorrow?  We'll temper our concerns, take one step at a time, and wait for his announcement.

A frightening thought just hit me, though  -  he wouldn't ask Dick Cheney to run with him......would he?

...or dust off "Rummy" Rumsfeld for more stumbling and mumbling?  or Condi Rice?  or....?

This is starting to creep me out, guys!





HATE is a four-letter word...

 

 

Hate:  to regard with extreme dislike and hostility. i.e. abhor, abominate, despise, detest, execrate, loathe.

 

Someone once told me that you can't love or hate something that can't love or hate you back.  If politics is a thing, I'm not sure that is true.  I know a lot of haters of politics out there. And, there are a lot of haters of "the other guy's view on politics," too.

 

 

The word "hate" is being thrown around often and with great admonition during this political election cycle. Actually, it raised its ugly head even before the candidates entered the fracas.  Political hate can mostly be laid at the feet of we, the people.

 

As near as I can tell, hate has pervaded the American masses with nary a bit of assistance from most politicians.  Some, of course, have "fired up their base" with asinine remarks, but for the most part - thank you very much -  we can conjure up hateful behavior all by ourselves.  We can hate with the best of 'em, and most of the time without using much of our grey matter.

 

It shows a very unattractive side of us that somehow gets overlooked in the final analysis of "fight the good fight and congratulate the winners."  I think we prefer to believe in "fight the anything-to-win fight and annihilate the other guy if we lose." 

 

It is offensive to hate the other guy's right to believe something he has accepted as true.  To personally hate the other guy because of his opinion is even more offensive.   

 

Even though I sometimes get heavy-handed in my opinion about the politician or political party that I think is absolutely wrong for my country, I will always concede to their ideas should they win the race.  After all, they won by an acceptance of a majority of Americans.  (The planned outcome of their ideas, however, can be another matter.)

 

We all reserve the right to be haters of the deed, but we should never be haters of the doer. 

 

Hate is such an ugly word.

 

 

 

 

Madam President...

 

 

Senator Elizabeth Warren told a recent gathering of women, "If you don't have a seat at the table, you are probably on the menu."

 

 That pretty well sums up the problem.

 

 It ranks right up there with Mitt Romney's response to where the women in the GOP can be found:  "Women?  We've got binders full of names!"

 

Last week, Hillary Clinton called on women around the country to come together and build a force to be reckoned with in American Politics.  Women have been taking a back seat far too long and they now have a chance to elect our nation's first woman president.

 

Clinton and Warren are but two who have the qualifications to do the job.  Others in the U.S. House, Senate, and state offices across the country are fully qualified to achieve the title of Madam President.   We began as a fledgling nation that only allowed white males to vote, but we moved forward - grudgingly - by allowing blacks, Hispanics, and women, the right to enter the ballot boxes.  As the old adage proclaims:  "We learns, but we learns slow."

 

America elected - and re-elected - a man of color to the highest office in the land and it hasn't been without its detractors, to be sure, but it has been done! 

 

Demographics show that for the first time ever, women now outnumber men in America's workforce.  They are taking steps to attain the dreams that only a short time ago would never have been considered.  There is still a great deal of reluctance from certain quarters, but if the women of America have the will and the ability to unite, they will certainly find the way.

 

Today, Americans across the country anxiously await the words, "Madam President." 

We have been subjected to more than our share of male "presidential" nincompoops for 225 years. 

What else do we have to fear?

 



She Is Woman...Hear Her Roar!

 

 

Okay,  just a minute...any second now...she's almost ready...she's facing the cameras..she's getting close to sayin'...

 

"I'm thinkin' about it!"

 

 

I guess that's about as close as we're going to get to an answer today.  I thought this might be the time.  She was gussied up in her favorite turquoise pant suit and devil-may-care hair style.  She was waiting for her medium-rare steak with baked potato, corn-on-the-cob, and greens soaked in bacon grease to be served.  Everything looked on schedule for the big announcement.

 

But ne'er a word from her lips could be heard.  Except, of course,  "Where is that medium-rare I ordered?"

 

Such is life when you march through the ranks as a successful attorney, a First Lady, a United States Senator, and finally a Secretary of State.  You can call your own shots.  You can pick your own time.  You don't need to waste your time on a time-wasting Democratic Primary.  You just wait for the Republicans to put somebody in front of you...

 

...and then you whip his butt in the General Election.

 

You are Hillary Clinton...your are woman...you are invincible...

 

...hear her roar,  "Where the Hell is that medium-rare steak!"

 

 



Three Blogs To Help You Vote...

 

 

If you're looking for something to read, check out these blogs by John Watson.  He is a cartoonist and writer of current political happenings in Montana and around the country. Or, if you are looking for non-partisan issues, he has those too.

 

The blog addresses are:

 

watson-wethepeople.blogspot.com

(Politics happening around America)

 

montanatroublemaker.blogspot.com

(Politics happening in Montana)

 

getinvolvedamericans.blogspot.com

(Non-Partisan happenings)

 

 

ENJOY!

 

 

"Ol' Grumpy" Rides Again...

 

 

Grump ol' Senator John McCain leaned forward on his desk at the U.S. Senate's Witch Hunters Ball and gave that incredibly condescending stare at Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, before attacking the two men like they had just been stripped of their Tenderfoot Badges during the Boy Scouts Jamboree.

 

McCain is excellent at playing to the media and the too-few-in-number GOP base that actually voted for him during his run for the Oval Office.  He has been like a bear with a sore tail ever since losing that race.  (Actually, I believe the number one reason for his defeat can be laid squarely at the feet of the dummies working for him that got no further into vetting Sarah Palin than noticing her good looks.) 

 

Be that as it may, Ol' Grumpy has been taking it out on Obama, his administration, the Democrats, his personal valet, the maid, the media, and any one who appears before the Senate Witch Hunters Ball and Inquisition chambers.

 

He reminds me of one of those funny little varmints in the "Gremlins" movies that can cut someone to shreds with a smile on his face.  That look, alone, can tell you all you want to know about the Grump. 

 

So, let's lift our glass to Ol' Grumpy!  May he pass into history -  after a long retirement - with an asterisk and a footnote.

 

*There, in all of his crowning glory, did Ol' Grumpy ignore the pleads of the GOP to scratch the choice of Sarah, the Simple! 

 

Landing in a pile of money and influence...

 

 

 

Let's just stick to the facts as we know them.

 

Former U.S. House Majority Party Leader, Eric Cantor, has had a really tough time landing on his feet since being voted out of office by his Virginia District.

The House junkyard dog was to be no more.

But don't be too sad for Eric.  He now has a job to go to each morning.  He will be Vice-President of the Investment Firm of Moelis & Company.  And, yes...that's a Wall Street address.

The President of Moelis said he did not hire a "figure head of influence,"  he hired a "partner." 

Sure.

It is reported that Cantor will be make more than $3 million.  Put another way, he will be using his past political "influence" to get a paycheck equal to 26 times the average household earnings of his old stomping grounds in Virginia.

Many of these former congressional peddlers of special interest go on to big and influential companies of soaring greed and power...often with Wall Street addresses.  It, also, seems to make little difference from which political party they call home. Producing results for the firm trumps political party affiliation every time.

Winning political races is but a stepping stone to the real power and money.

...But a ruthless, strong-armed, vote-bullying  tenure in the House is nothing to sneeze at, either!  A guy has to do his power-producing, money-grubbing internship somewhere, doesn't he?





Don't get me started...

I have had to turn a blind eye to some pretty disgusting things as I circle overhead.  President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney pulled all of us through the mud of two wars - one completely unnecessary - and the other with little chance of winning.  If that wasn't enough, they essentially served up America on a silver platter to the rich and mega-rich, to the detriment of the Middle Class.

These two prevaricators of the truth were "elected" by one vote in the U.S. Supreme Court after Bush's brother, Governor of Florida, and his state campaign manager, Florida's Secretary of State, stopped the recount of voting. They obviously knew the American people would figure all of this out, but that matters little to someone bent on "stealing" a presidential election.  With all of their faults, being able to count votes in the high court was not one of them.

That administration was ill-conceived from the beginning and quickly went down hill, thereafter.  It will undoubtedly go down in history as the biggest political catastrophe of our time.

In order to find some retribution from the contentious battles the Democrats  raged against the ill-gotten "winners," the Republican supporters of Bush and Cheney have been relentless in their efforts to bring the Obama Administration to its knees. Cheney has kept the chattering criticism of every step Obama has taken.  They used their time-honored reasoning that it is not how good our candidate is, but rather how bad can we make your candidate look.

It's always about the NEXT election!

Well, the next election is nearly upon us.  We've seen nearly eight years of complete congressional gridlock by the ghosts of the Bush/Cheney bad ol' days.  Two terms of the Obama Administration have seen the Republicans put their own Political Party ahead of everything else...including the American People!

I'm going to keep circling up here until someone comes to their senses.  But I can't circle forever.

I told you, don't get me started.




It's time to examine the lies...

 

 How did America allow such a travesty of justice to go unchallenged by the national media when the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney Administration decided to invade Iraq?Did congress decide to turn their heads and ignore the mounting stack of damnable lies that were being fed to the American People? 

 

A lot of reasons were given by the administration and nearly as many were lies.

 

The reasons - in no particular order - included:  Sadaam Hussein was a bad, bad man and had to be exterminated.  (as were countless other dictators in the world.)  Sadaam had weapons of mass destruction. (mysteriously, none could be found.)  Iraq was a direct threat to the United States and we needed to eliminate that threat before they came to our shores. (even though we knew of no such threat because Al Qaeda had no real presence  in Iraq at the time.  They didn't rear their ugly head until after our invasion.)  They were trying to buy plutonium from a country in Africa to make nuclear weapons. (no such proof could be made, and when one of our CIA agents claimed that story was false, his wife - also an agent - was "outted" by the Bush Administration as a U.S. spy, in revenge for uncovering their lie. For her own safety, she had to leave the Agency. A culprit was finally charged and sentenced to federal prison for revealing the agent's name, but that was of little comfort to her since she found herself unemployed for no good reason.)

 

Those horrible lies that were used for the invasion of Iraq, that killed several thousand and horribly wounded nearly thirty thousand of our bravest and best - not to mention the several hundred thousand Iraqi deaths and injuries - all very mysteriously got little-to-no screaming-banner-headlines that should have brought, at the very least, congressional investigations.  (Doesn't the U.S. House investigate just about anything - including obvious witch hunts - these days?)

 

It is important to point out that there is no statute of limitations on this national disgrace,  should any large national media outlet want to delve deeper.  Wolfie, are you listening?  You'll always need another BREAKING NEWS segment sometime.

 

At present, the entire Republican Party (yes, the same bunch) are now accusing President Obama of his terrible mishandling of the Iraq crisis.  Most of them insist we need to go back in with full military "shock and awe" against ISIS and anyone else in "our" way.  Think!  This is a country in near-civil war mode, with three religious factions battling it out.  Number one:  No one can win a religious war unless genocide of one side is completed.  Number two:  America has no business sticking its nose under that camel tent.

 

Let's agree on one thing:  If we had not invaded Iraq in the beginning, we would not be embroiled in trying to clean up the Bush/Cheney "theatre of lies."  It might even make us wonder, "Where's Saddam when we need him?"  At least he kept the country from a civil war."  As for now, we can only hope for a safer America - like back in the "good ol' days" before Dubya and "Uncle Dick" decided to see how many billions of dollars they could round up for their government contractor friends  (like Halliburton) who benefited so greatly from this unnecessary war!

Once in a while, you can pick up rumblings of Dubya being charged as a war criminal.  Even more have included "Uncle Dick."

But who could bring themselves to go to Dallas and arrest that peaceful little guy while he's sitting at his easel - working on another masterpiece?
 

 

  

 

  

WHO?

Former President-of-Vice Dick Cheney
and  his "Boss" President George W. Bush (in hiding)

 

 

Who ignored intelligence reports that repeated over and over that Al-Qaeda is going to launch a terrorist attack on America using hijacked airplanes?

 

Who lied and led us into two wars and never funded either of them?

 

Who then gave tax breaks to the richest people in the country while the wars raged on?

 

Who passed Medicare Part D at a cost of a trillion dollars a year to the American Taxpayers and didn't fund it?

 

Who allowed 47,000 manufacturing plants to close and cost 3 million American Workers their jobs, while paying those corporations over a trillion dollars to do so?

 

Who allowed Wall Street to destroy the American Economy while keeping a closed eye to all of the signals that something went wrong?

 

 

Let me give you a hint.  One of them is hiding in Dallas, Texas and dabbling in oil painting for therapeutic value,  and the other is running around the country throwing rocks at President Obama.  Of course, neither one shows any acknowledgment that Obama is the one who was left with the job of cleaning up their mess.  Quite the contrary, one of them has littered his path with nothing but criticism and calls for impeachment.

 

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney -  along with their other "crimes" -  plowed under the Middle Class and Poor of this country, and somehow felt good about the benefits they heaped on their mega-rich friends.

It's the Republican modus operandi in its truest form, and it is starting to make every American sick to their stomach. 

And the nausea won't end until America votes out this kind of mentality in November!
 

America's Biggest Embarrassment...

 

I'm going to try to write this blog with only one thing in mind: The American People!

We Americans have been the victims of the most outrageous, sanctimonious, self-centered, selfish, and obnoxious group of misfits every to hold office in the United States House of Representatives.  There is no question on any one's mind that it is a deliberate and calculated act to ruin the president, and take this country down with him.  They can look the television camera squarely in the eye and smile while telling the biggest whoppers we'll ever hear.

It has long been a cliché to shrug our shoulders and mutter something like "well, boys will be boys and politics will be politics."  But we are far beyond that kind of stupid.  We have entered the world where political mutiny has taken place and it appears no one under the sun is capable of righting the ship.

There is little need of me to string out a long, long list of idiotic political choices that have been made by this group.  They have been regurgitated in most newspapers and television news shows on a near-daily basis. And, what is even more disgusting is the obvious fact that they could care less about the concerns of the American People.

If these "crimes" had any semblance of merit, I might have some cause to simply credit them as "a difference of political opinions."   But these acts of sedition are for one solitary purpose:  To jerk the rug out from under the president on each issue.  Needless to say, these actions have ended in not even bringing the issues to a vote. If they could see a possible loss in the vote numbers, they simply tabled the bill.

The vote taken yesterday, August 1st, regarding the serious immigration problem we face, was taken strictly for kabuki theatre at its worst.  They knew it was a cobbled up piece of unusable and mindless disorder, but they already had their bags packed for a month-long, well-earned, vacation.

We could all see the twig of mistletoe hanging from the hem on the backside of their suit coats as they giggled their way down the steps of the Capitol.

It has become the most ornery, ineffective, and arrogant House in modern times.  This is not a fight for political one-upmanship any longer.  This is a fight to throw the needs of America out while throwing out the president.

And in case you are on the side of "them," you can take great joy in the fact that you have also decided to be on the side against America!
 

RUN, MITT, RUN...

There are so many schools of thought about Mitt Romney that we hardly know where to begin.

 

A month ago, the Internet was abuzz with rumors regarding Romney's regal return to politics.  And, it is now being reported that one of the wild-and-crazy sons in the family was just kidding when he said Mitt didn't really have his heart into winning the Oval Office last time. That was shortly after his trouncing by Obama, of course.

 

More recently, things are beginning to point in another direction.  He is being looked at more seriously by his GOP brethren - at least by his rich GOP brethren, anyway.  The Far Right, Conservative, Tea Party brand may have yet to be heard.

 

We get the feeling Romney has been keeping a score card on President Obama's record  - and what it may have looked like as a Romney-Ryan record.  Certainly, the Affordable Healthcare Act would be more to our liking, since he wouldn't have had to fight the Republicans at every turn. As Governor of Massachusetts, his Healthcare Reform, that was passed into law, was used as the model for our national Affordable Healthcare Act.  It's kind of strange how Republicans were happy as little clams when health care reform was their idea.   But, other issues would have obviously leaned even further to the Right, and that would have been scary.  Romney was in favor of giving the rich even deeper tax cuts, and he thought Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid needed to be eliminated and (cough, cough) re-worked! 

 

Yet another news agency claims Mitt's running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan, has been "hiding in the weeds" in order to give a more squeaky-clean image of himself as number two when the time is ripe.  Ryan came across as a piranha attacking the Middle Class and Poor in his last outing.  Since he was not capable of playing nice, the voters took away his bucket, shovel, sand box and ball, and sent him on his way.  It scarcely needs to be mentioned that they were not exactly bouncing for joy at Mitt's 47% whispers in the back room of the rich and powerful, either.  And then there was that pesky mention of "binders full of women."

Suffice it to say, they were Batman and Robin as far as making an appearance, but they were seen as the Terrible Twosome of Evil when they outlined their plans to annihilate America's Middle Class and Poor.  The mentality of the mega-rich was then - and still is -  about as popular to the voters as passing gas in church. 

If Romney decides to run and wins his party's nomination, he will have enormous support.  The GOP will open their hearts - and wallets - to him.  (It's what the rich, old white guys do, don't you know.)

I actually think the Democrats will welcome him to the race, as well.  Oh, yes...I really think they will.
 

The Screamin' Meanies...

 

 

 

There is clearly an abundance of "screamin' demons" on television and radio, and we are much less the civilized people because of them.

 

You become painfully aware of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ted Nugent, Ann Coulter, Howard Stern, Glenn Beck...the list, unfortunately, goes on and on.  It is also interesting to point out that these loonies all came from the same spawning waters.  To blame the water or the union that spawned them, however, would not be at all fair.

 

No, their unnatural existence is a result of discombobulated, angry, and condescending grey matter that comes into bloom on the barren landscape of the brain-dead deserts we call right field.

 

Their goals are different from yours and mine.  We still possess great love of our country and all that it offers.  We still see it with the great passion that those immigrants saw when they entered through Ellis Island many years ago. These "shock jocks" of today live only to step down hard on those of us who still believe that a rising tide should lift all ships.  Their preference, however, is that the moat around the kingdom of the rich be filled with alligators that have a special fondness for "peasants under glass." 

 

Our "screamin' demons," only see about two inches beyond their noses.  They will accept America as being passable only if America will accept them as the final word on all things they deem important.  They have no time - and no room - for the minorities, the unwashed, the..... Liberals!  And, they will fill the airwaves with enough venom to shock a drunken sailor. There is no such thing as diplomacy in their vocabulary, and there is not an ounce of understanding the word discrimination, either.

 

Such are the men and women of the menacing microphones and terrible television cameras. They will make you aware of their presence with the shock therapy sound bites that  they hope will inflame the far-right base and keep them moving toward the ballot boxes in November. Their names all seem to eventually run together and their messages drip with the same venom day after day.

 

But remember this...there is a vaccination for their venom.  It's found in the ballot box. Take it out and use it in November. This venom will certainly revisit each of us every election cycle, so each time you head to the polls you'll always need a fresh dose of gumption!

It's the only antidote for the screamin' meanies I know exists.

 

 



A New, and Unimproved, America...

 

 

 

The above illustration depicts one of America's Southern States and, ironically, the type font I am using is called Georgia.  I added the ball and chain because that's how my pointed little mind works.  "Way down yonder in the land of cotton, bad times there ain't soon forgotten..."

Last week, an announcer in a Virginia stadium asked the crowd to rise and sing the National Anthem.  Nearly everyone sang "Dixie."

Another Southern State offers bumper stickers that read:  "Monica Lewinski's X-Boyfriend's Wife For President."  It is being reported that the Virginia GOP denies they have anything to do with it.

When a Louisiana GOP Candidate was asked, during an interview, what proof she had that "global cooling" was happening, she could not cite one single report that gave her that notion. When she became uncomfortable with that question, the interview quickly changed to another question.  She was asked what proof she had that President Obama was not born in America.  Her two aides quickly got her out of the chair and out of sight.

We have all heard hundreds of similar cases of deceit and lies from GOP Candidates trying to inflame their "Bubba Base." Of course, it doesn't take much to accomplish that.  It's the thing to do down South, don't you know.

And, we are constantly reminded that these things they do are within their rights.  It's ironic that the government they have so little use for is the very government that gave them those rights. Flying the Confederate Flag above the America Flag used to be a no-no, but not any more.  It gives them a chance to say something derogatory about America without actually saying they are racists and bigots.  It gives them stature in the Republican Party that has heretofore been frowned upon as taboo.

It's a new brand of politics out there - to the detriment of our country.  It erodes the vision of  the "shining city on the hill" that one of their most revered leaders once addressed.  Whether they are even aware of their seditious undertakings, they must be aware that it is eroding the image of their own Party.

Why on Earth would we want to be seen by foreign countries - that once held us in such high esteem - as such a divisive,  ugly people?

But then, bigots and racists don't seem to "pay it no mind" when it comes to divisive and ugly, do they?



A win by any means is NOT a win...

 

 

Most of us will agree that the Grand Old Party is showing signs of stagnation and just plain trying to row upstream in the sometimes-turbulent mainstream of America.

 

Many elephants understand the problem, but many more of the "Pachyderms of the Far Right" movement seem to ignore the woes and are determined to throttle-up full speed ahead.  It appears to observers that their aim is to commandeer the Grand Old Party at any cost - even to the demise of themselves, if necessary.

Those beloved and recognizable features of the GOP still exist, however. You will find ugly campaign shenanigans, baseless lies and deceptions, dump truck loads of dark money from mega-rich corporations, suspicious CPACs intent on buying elections, and - last but not least - discrimination of women, people of color, and the unwashed of America.  You might say there is more than enough to love.

Their blight on America, however, has snookered voters into handing over some undeserved wins. These include: a stranglehold on the American Justice System, a successful take-0ver by Tea Party radicals of the House of Representatives, and a constant vote of "no," or - worse yet - a refusal to bring anything to a vote at all.  And, they fully intend to grab the U.S. Senate by the throat as their next prey. 

All of that foisted on Americans by a gaggle of scoundrels who shouldn't even be in the running.  What's wrong, America?  There are more of you than there are of them.  Get up on your hind legs and get to the polls this November.  Don't let them win by intimidation, discrimination, and victimization. 

When the Grand Old Party  wins by any means,  it is allowing America to lose by default.


 



It's my law and I'm stickin' to it!

 

The Republican Party of today keep insinuating that if only those Liberal Democrats would follow the men who authored the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, everything would be so much better.

 

In other words, if every American kept a good supply of fully-automatic assault weapons, hand grenades, bazookas, shoulder-held stinger missiles, and sundry weapons LIKE OUR FOREFATHERS DID...we'd be a better horde of nitwit nincompoops today!

 

Just like the authors of our historical papers of bygone days, others have continued the rights of all Americans to enjoy the art of  musket shooting, (open or concealed, of course) but we have, somehow, strangely translated all of that slow - and sometimes inaccurate - firepower into what is available today.

 

There is little doubt that our forefathers intended to enact a law that would encourage  every home to have a musket at the ready, in case of an assault by red coats and those lesser-known scoundrels commonly labeled as the closet version of today's marauding idiots known as Liberals.

 

Can we turn away from the right to possess unimaginable fire power that these distinguished and learned men wished us to have?  These were men of immense intelligence in knowing what was best for America. And, silly us, we believe their laws should live in perpetuity.

 

One of these great men even had the all-consuming wisdom to tie a metal key to the tail of a kite and then proceeded to fly it into a violent thunder and lightning storm.

 

He probably was even packing a concealed blunderbuss at the time.

 



If nothing else, salvage your humor...

 

 

Those darn rich folks really do have our best interests at heart.  They have been trying to tell us that all we'd have to do is give them more tax cuts, let them move the jobs of  American Workers out of the country, give up our Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc., let them move their gigantic amounts of money to off-shore bank accounts to avoid paying taxes, and let them buy the politicians they want.

 

Then, we, the unwashed, would live in a land of milk and honey, and we would live happily ever after.  Guaranteed.

 

Praise to thee, Oh Trickle Down god... We have not believed in you and now we are sore afraid.  We thought the rich were only interested in becoming richer.  We thought Corporate America only wanted to become more powerful and run this country as its own playground and country club for the richest of the rich.  We thought they only wanted to push the rest of us further down into the bowels of Hell.

But because we have been so generous in surrendering unto the Trickle Down god what his heart desires most, we have become the proud recipients of his pittance of favor.  We have been given the chance to dream, to know that a bright tomorrow is within our grasp, and to finally taste the fruits from the very tables of the Trickle Down god, himself.

Now, all we need is a job, some food, and a place to live.



   



SITTING DOWN ON THE JOB...

There is a movement in America that is holding back our means to move forward.

The sins of today's leaders foul the air of common decency and causes the decisions of future leaders  to become misconstrued.

 

America has been sliding down that slippery slope of "if we can sneak a little deception into our political campaigns today - and it works - we can sneak a lot more of it tomorrow."

 

A democracy works when all people feel they are on a level playing field and working together for the good of everyone. The excuses by many who control America's wealth and power are now deciding we aren't a democracy, but rather something else - something that will better explain their selfish and marauding ways .  We have slowly drifted into two countries:  the Haves and the Have-Nots.  I would imagine that the number of Americans who want to take from the Haves and give to the Have-Nots is quite small.  As a matter of fact, I personally have never heard a soul espouse that creed.

 

I have heard multitudes ask for the Haves to pay their fair share - not to the Have-Nots - but to the government.  When someone finds loopholes to circumvent paying their fair share, they are "working the system" for their own benefit and not for their country.  Some have even gone to the unpatriotic maneuvering of waving their United States Citizenship in order to avoid paying their tax obligations. How much more important do you think their love of money is, as opposed to their love of country?  And how does that lack of patriotism square with the wrong-headed ideas we are wrongly giving to our youngsters?

Many years ago, Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR, pounded his shoe on the podium and said his country did not need to destroy America with a war because America was going to destroy itself - from within!

Yeah, at the rate we're going...I think so, too.

 

 

 



FEEL FREE TO PLAGIARIZE THIS...

 

 

 

Congressman Steve Daines (R-MT) is running for the U.S. Senate seat now held by John Walsh (D-MT).

 

Actually, he isn't just running for the seat...he is trying to BUY the seat.  And if that isn't grievous enough, his handlers and big money people are out to smear his opponent any way possible.

 

A few short days ago, members of the Montana Media slipped a small, rather ambiguous news item about how Daines was slipping in the latest polls.  It appeared Walsh was only seven percentage points behind the media-driven triumph of Daines.

 

Today, out of the West...came the thundering hoof beats and the hearty cry of "Hi Yo Silver" by the Great Falls Tribune's banner headline story that read: "(New York) Times: Walsh plagiarized thesis"

 

That headline would imply that the entire thesis was plagiarized.  As you read into the story, the actual amount was about 25%, however.  In newspaper terms, emphasis and page dominance counts!  Also, to add "Times" to the headline kind of takes the Tribune out of full blame.

 

The important thing that Montanans must remember here is this:  How would each of these candidates vote in the U.S. Senate, if elected?  We know that Walsh is interested in building back the Middle Class and holding on to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs.  He's shown how he would help the poor, too.

 

Congressman Daines....not so much.  As a mega-rich millionaire, he has already shown how he will vote.

 

Since these two are basically the only choices we have, I'll take a plagiarizer over a rich guy trying to buy his seat in the Senate any day of the week.

 

In short, I'm not as interested in what someone once wrote, as I am in what someone might do to further decimate this country with his clearly defined separation of America's "Haves" and "Have-Nots."  Daines sees two Americas and never the twain shall meet.

 



IT'S UP TO YOU, PILGRIM...

 

 

 

It's all just a matter of time - and votes - until this little pachyderm explodes into a thousand jagged pieces.

 

The numbers - both nationally and in Montana - are overwhelmingly against the "boys of big bucks" in every race they've entered.  Everywhere you look, you'll see how disgusted the people have become over the GOP candidates who are out to kill Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Affordable Healthcare Act... and at the same time reduce even further the tax tables for the ultra-rich. They have sewed the rhetorical killing fields of those programs into every speech, mystical formula and political incantation their pointed little heads can ponder.

 

The reason?  The more aid to the Middle Class and Poor they can eliminate, the less their rich supporters will have to pay in taxes.

 

The answer is obvious.  There are more voters in America to derail these bad ideas than you can shake a stick at.  They are everywhere.  They are in every city, every rural area, and every state.  They just have to get off their backsides and vote!  How simple can that be?  These non-voters can't say the outcome doesn't matter to them.  It matters EXPRESSLY for them!

 

In Montana, the Walsh-Daines U.S. Senatorial Race comes down to the same thing.

 

Walsh is in favor of keeping and protecting those very programs the GOP wants to annihilate.  He  wants to improve the economic situation of the Middle Class that was decimated by the George W. Bush Administration.

 

Daines is a mega-millionaire who is a rubber stamp for any and all GOP hatchet jobs - and maybe even a few evils they haven't even thought of yet. On top of that, he is a member of that nearly-extinct tribe known as the Tea Party Nitwits.  How much more do you need to know?

 

If...you lose Social Security

If...you lose Medicare

If...you lose Medicaid

If...you lose the Affordable Healthcare Act...

 

One thing was for certain...you were sitting at home on your butt on election day! 

 

  

 



Stories to rile the uninformed...

 

 

 

We have all heard - and some of you have told - the big lies about the Affordable Healthcare Act.  There seems to be no depth the stories will not sink to in order to trash-talk their untruthful versions of what they grudgingly call "Obamacare."

 

Let us repeat a fair tale that has been passed on to our ears.

 

It seems two individual New York physicians have decided they need to close down their practices because "Obamacare" insists they must digitize their accounting department...to the tune of $500,000 each!  We don't need to tell you their political preference, nor their exuberant help in spreading the word to politicize the repeal of the AHA.

 

Should those two doctors have called us, we'll bet our next six social security checks we could have digitalized their bookkeeping system for a fraction of half-a-million smackers. If that were remotely true, do you know how many hundreds of thousands of doctors would be out of business in America today?

 

We are also betting we'd be closer to the truth in saying those two doctors have very substantial retirement accounts to help them live in luxury, and saw the handwriting on the wall about what future patient and insurance company billing statements in their medical practices will be like due to AHA.

 

Of course, it also gives their favorite "Obamacare" whipping post another unfair black eye. Mark up another "atta boy" for the GOP pot stirring!

 

We think the lowest thing about this example of trashing the Affordable Healthcare Act is when the "Rs" refer to it as "Obamacare."  The AHA is the formal, legal name given to the health care reform law that was passed in Congress, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and signed into law by the President.  One other point:  It was not written by Barack Obama.  It was written by many people. 

 

When Republicans refer to it with such disgust in their voice as "Obamacare," it gives one the feeling it was spit out as nothing less than a racial slur.