Yes, there are two Americas’ Virginia, they exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. One tolerant and broadminded, the other intolerant and narrow-minded!
Sincerely, thinkingblue, from the TOLERANT AND BROADMINDED USA
PS: Joe (You Lie) Wilson, et al reside in the other America!
The US firearms industry has invested millions of dollars into a
campaign to get American children interested in guns and
shooting.
An article published on Sunday in New York Times announced the
industry’s strategies to promote a next generation of gun
users. These strategies included backing youth groups with
firearms, ammunition and money; weakening state restrictions on
hunting by young children; sponsoring semiautomatic-handgun
competitions for youths; and developing a video game that
promotes target-shooting and advertises brand-name weapons.
The industry’s 2012 report, which was based on an extensive
social research, also focused on children aged eight to 17 and
suggested that “peer ambassadors” should help introduce
cautious youths to guns slowly, by the means of paintball,
archery or other activities that are less frightening.
Saving Lives - Owning A Gun, A Right Or A Privilege?
Japan
Is Enlightened, Why Isn't The USA?
Why can't the GUN
enthusiasts who belong to the NRA (and the politicians who
support them) realize that treating the ownership of firearms as
a right has dire consequences? The people in the right-wing will
argue with anyone until they are BLUE IN THE FACE that Healthcare
is not a right... But when it comes to weapons they cry out
IT’S OUR RIGHT TO OWN A GUN! Convoluted? Everything about
this type of mindset is BIZARRE and puzzling to anyone with
common sense. When not even the mass killing of 20
kindergarteners can soften such an obstinate, unyielding and OUT
OF WHACK vision of reality, WHAT IN THE WORLD CAN? thinkingblue
EXCERPT: JAPAN — THE NANNY STATE
Gunfire rings through the hills at a shooting range at the
foot of Mount Fuji. There are few other places in Japan where
you'll hear it.
In this country, guns are few and far between. And so is gun
violence. Guns were used in only seven murders in Japan
— a nation of about 130 million — in all of 2011,
the most recent year for official statistics. According to
police, more people — nine — were murdered with
scissors.
Though its gun ownership rates are tiny compared to the
United States, Japan has more than 120,000 registered gun
owners and more than 400,000 registered firearms. So why is
there so little gun violence?
"We have a very different way of looking at guns in
Japan than people in the United States," said Tsutomu
Uchida, who runs the Kanagawa Ohi Shooting Range, an
Olympic-style training center for rifle enthusiasts. "In
the U.S., people believe they have A RIGHT TO OWN A GUN. In
Japan, we don't have that right. So our point of departure is
completely different."
Treating gun ownership as a privilege and not a right leads
to some important policy differences.
First, anyone who wants to get a gun must demonstrate a valid
reason why they should be allowed to do so. Under
longstanding Japanese policy, there is no good reason why any
civilian should have a handgun, so — aside from a few
dozen accomplished competitive shooters — they are
completely banned.
Virtually all handgun-related crime is attributable to
gangsters, who obtain them on the black market. But such
crime is extremely rare and when it does occur, police crack
down hard on whatever gang is involved, so even gangsters see
it as a last-ditch option.
"I was raised in a Democratic voting household, my
dad was a member of the IBEW and we would be considered
lifelong Democrats. My family and the millions of
families like us make up a significant portion of the
Democratic Party. Who are we?"
MORE HERE: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/27/1182455/-Not-GBCW-but-PTFA
My response to this posting: USA gun ownership is a
right, BUT...
It’s time to take a
good hard look at this “right” and not just accept
it as a 2nd amendment legality that is presumed, carved in
stone and unchangeable because although I can agree that
owning a gun may be a right but the owning of semi-automatics
with clips holding 10 to 100 bullets should not be or should
never be construed as a right. Nothing should (especially in
the realm of danger) be evaluated in Black and White
perspectives; we human beings (and nature itself) are too
complicated for that. The problem is, how can legislators
spell it out to those who own (or wish to own) arsenals of
weapons, that owning or buying artillery should have
limitations, in spite of how they interpret the US
constitution? It should be common sense; if we won’t
allow other countries to arm themselves to the teeth with
nuclear bombs (remember the Bush/Cheney administration was
able to convince the majority of our lawmakers to send our
youth to war over a presumed idea that Iraq had “Weapons
of Mass Destruction” therefore posed a threat to the
world.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmc60JmaLbE
Why should it be
so difficult to convince the NRA and its members who cry out
IT’S OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to own whatever weapons
that are available for sale WITHOUT modification or
restrictions. I don’t know about anyone else, but this
confuses the hell out of me. I guess possessing too much
common sense can be a curse in a culture where foolishness
seems to rule. thinkingblue
(SECRET MEETING TO PLAN OBAMA TAKEDOWN
BEGAN ON INAUGURATION NIGHT)
What
I would like to know is, why this wasn't considered TREASON?
trea·son
[tree-zuh?n] noun
1. the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm
or kill its sovereign.
2. a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's
state.
3. the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith;
treachery.
Certainly
sounds like some sort of treason was going on to me and by a
Fifth Column to boot.
A fifth column is a group of people who
clandestinely undermine a larger group, such as a nation, from
within. A fifth column can be a group of secret sympathizers of
an enemy that are involved in sabotage within military defense
lines, or a country's borders. A key tactic of the fifth column
is the secret introduction of supporters into the whole fabric of
the entity under attack.[2] This clandestine infiltration is
especially effective with positions concerning national policy
and defense. From influential positions like these, fifth column
tactics can be effectively utilized, from stoking fears through
misinformation campaigns, to traditional techniques like
espionage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_column
I
wonder if a secret meeting will take place this Inauguration
Evening January 21, 2013. If it does will the Teapublicans get
away with it AGAIN? thinkingblue
As
President Barack Obama was celebrating his inauguration at
various balls, top Republican lawmakers and strategists were
conjuring up ways to submarine his presidency at a private
dinner in Washington.
The event -- which provides a telling revelation for how
quickly the post-election climate soured -- serves as the
prologue of Robert Draper's much-discussed and
heavily-reported new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do:
Inside the U.S. House of Representatives."
According to Draper, the guest list that night (which was
just over 15 people in total) included Republican Reps. Eric
Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete
Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra
(Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Sens.
Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John
Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The non-lawmakers
present included Newt Gingrich, several years removed from
his presidential campaign, and Frank Luntz, the long-time
Republican wordsmith. Notably absent were Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John
Boehner (R-Ohio) -- who, Draper writes, had an acrimonious
relationship with Luntz.
For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C.
establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not
just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on
Obama's legislative platform.
"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to
stay in the minority," Draper quotes McCarthy as saying.
"We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and
challenge them on every single campaign."
Robert Draper's much-discussed and
heavily-reported new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do:
Inside the U.S. House of Representatives."
Quote:
Democrats have rounded on revelations about a private dinner
of House Republicans on inauguration day in 2009 in which
they plotted a campaign of obstruction against newly
installed president Barack Obama.
During a lengthy discussion, the senior GOP members worked
out a plan to repeatedly block Obama over the coming four
years to try to ensure he would not be re-elected.
The disclosures – described as "appalling and
sad" by Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod –
undermine Republican claims that the president alone is to
blame for the partisan deadlock in Washington.
A detailed account of who was present at the dinner on that
January 20 night and the plan they worked out to bring down
Obama is provided by Robert Draper in 'Do Not Ask What Good
We Do: Inside the US House of Representatives', published
this week.
In his book, Draper opens with the heady atmosphere in
Washington on the days running up to the inauguration and the
day itself, which attracted 1.8 million to the mall to
witness Obama being sworn in as America's first black
president.
Those numbers contributed to a growing sense of unease among
Republicans as much the defeat in the White House race the
previous November. The 15 Republicans were in a sombre mood
as they gathered at the Caucus Room in Washington, an upscale
restaurant where a New York strip steak costs $51.
Attending the dinner were House members Eric Cantor, Jeb
Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, Dan Lungren, Kevin McCarthy, Paul
Ryan and Pete Sessions. From the Senate were Tom Coburn, Bob
Corker, Jim DeMint, John Ensign and Jon Kyl. Others present
were former House Speaker and future – and failed –
presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and the Republican
strategist Frank Luntz, who organised the dinner and sent out
the invitations.
The dinner table was set in a square at Luntz's request so
everyone could see one another and talk freely. The session
lasted four hours and by the end the sombre mood had lifted:
they had conceived a plan. They would take back the House in
November 2010, which they did, and use it as a spear to
mortally wound Obama in 2011 and take back the Senate and
White House in 2012, Draper writes.
"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to
stay in the minority," said Keven McCarthy, quoted by
Draper. "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill
and challenge them on every single campaign."
The Debauchery Of The Noxious NRA, Loathsome Limbaugh, and The Grisly GOP
Just
when we all thought the NRA could not get any battier, they come
out with an absurd, over-the-top ad condemning President Obama's
children for having armed guard protection.
(What
in the world are they trying to say, President Obama and his
family need protection more than any other President due to the
advent of the prejudiced Tea Party that has more Bigots than
Carter Has Liver Pills --You would have had to be brought up in
the 50's to know that phrase)
Also,
we now have a new group rising out of the Toxin and stirring up
The Human Rotten called the Sandy Hook Truther movementIt
doesn't get any worse than this folks.
What
is wrong with the American people anyway? It's perplexing that so
many of our citizens do not want to see, think or hear candor,
preferring Lies, Distortions and Conspiracy Theories instead of
the NAKED TRUTH. I wish with all my heart that the massacre of 20
beautiful children at Sandy Hook did not occur but it did, just
ask all those bereaved who lost their babies, I know they must
wake up each morning and scream out "WHY?”… I wish
there was a plausible explanation for such insanity but calling
this heartsick tragedy a hoax is beyond anything a normal
thinking human being could possibly endure. FAU professor James
Tracy needs to step down as an educator, he has no business
teaching when his perception of reality is so pathetically
warped. And as for the Sandy Hook Truthers, How In The World Do
You Live With Yourselves? thinkingblue
One month after the Sandy Hook
school shootings, the list of victims continues to grow. One man,
Gene Rosen — who found six children and a bus driver in his
driveway, brought them into his home, fed them and called parents
to assure them that their children were safe — has been
harassed by telephone, email and online by those who think he is
lying about his actions, and is part of a conspiracy.
Rosen is not the first hero to be assaulted and insulted by
conspiracy theorists with doubts. In 2002, when conspiracy
theorist Bart Sibrel confronted astronaut Buzz Aldrin and called
him a "coward and a liar" for faking the moon landings,
the 72-year-old promptly punched Sibrel in the face.
A group called the Sandy Hook Truther movement has emerged from
the dust and chaos over the past weeks to claim that the school
shooting was all a staged event. Though many Americans are
outraged and incredulous that anyone could doubt that the tragedy
even happened, the Sandy Hook school shootings follow classic
conspiracy thinking. Here are a few reasons why.
MORE HERE: http://news.yahoo.com/why-sandy-hook-massacre-spawned-conspiracy-theories-184323398.html
In The Wake Of Newtown, Fear Mongering Is At An All Time High!
In The Wake Of Newtown,
Fear Mongering Is At An All Time High!
The mentally
challenged weapon enthusiasts, among us, are ablaze with paranoia
pertaining to delusions that their guns will be taken away.Of course IT'S
NOT TRUE, yet they are all over the media threatening that if the
only tool that makes them feel important and all powerful (their
weaponry) is taken from their pathetic, cold hands; they will
start to SHOOT PEOPLE. These Fear Monger types are like a cancer
upon society and they wish to spread their malignancy far and
wide across this country of ours. They HATE (or they pretend to
hate) and they have something to sell that will make them in
their misconceptions, either famous or rich or both
(unfortunately, it sometimes works, as in the case of Alex
Jones). Their hope is to get others to HATE because it can blind
the weak-minded enough to buy their nonsense and join them in
kind of a, blaze of glory, fallacy.This video shows four examples
of some of the worst of the worst whose desire is to have their
egos massaged and they accomplish this, by using FEAR!
thinkingblue thinkingblue
Down the Rabbit Hole With Fox News’
Latest Obama Gun Conspiracy By: Sarah Jones
Wondering why you can’t go anywhere
without bumping into a ranting, screaming crazy person
nattering on about Obama taking their freedom away? It’s
Fox acid.
Come down the rabbit hole with a recent
Fox News article titled, “UN gun control treaty will
reveal gun laws Obama really supports” to break down the
anatomy of the Fox News Obama’s coming for our guns lie.
Turns out, the very narrow ledge of “reality” they
preach over is buttressed on nada but “feelings”
that lead to vague conspiracy theories.
John Lott starts off badly with these
faulty assertions:
"The Obama
administration is undoubtedly the most hostile administration
to gun ownership in US history, with Obama having personally
supported bans of handguns and semi-automatic weapons before
becoming president. And remember the recent scandal where the
Obama administration was caught allowing guns go to Mexican
drug gangs, hoping it would help push for gun control
laws."
Okay, so wow. If you believed all of
that, you’d be paranoid too.
Trouble is, this is a lie upon a lie
upon a lie. The first link “proving” Obama is the
most hostile administration on gun ownership goes to a John
Lott blog post titled, “President Obama’s Anti-Gun
Agenda Shows No Sign of Stopping.” Only Lott shows no
signs of Obama’s actual policy-based anti-gun agenda. He
can’t show policy because it’s not true.
I swear the more I hear from
the teapublicans the more I believe they should have their own
planet or at least their own country. These people would make
life unbearable for the rest of us if they could.
Another movie that caught my attention was one
made in 1996 based on a 1953 play by Arthur Miller called 'The
Crucible'
As I
watched the plot unfold I couldn't help but think... This is how
life would be today in America if the Tea Party got its way.
Please watch the trailer below and judge for yourself.
Besides
movies, to stimulate THINKING, I get a lot of motivation from
facebook. First someone or group will post a picture and if it
somehow disagrees with how the Tea Party members view reality,
they post the most ridiculous verbiage for all to see and learn
how foolish and mechanical they appear to those of us who have
more than just a couple of brain cells. Mostly the rhetoric they
use has been spoken over and over again, sounding to those who
lived through the 50’s and 60’s, like a broken record.
I have included some of the print-screens I've taken of the more
nonsensical comments. Like I said, these Tea Party types really
should have their own planet or country because they sure don't
belong here amongst the ones who can row with both oars in the
water, who also, rather ponder before they spout. thinkingblue
Thinkingblue comment:
Oh, the poor brainwashed republicans (Hey
GOP you did a real number on your followers) can’t see a
comparison if it were to go up to them and smack them right
across the checks. Well maybe I can take a stab at it and spread
some enlightenment on the subject. I’ll paraphrase the above
jargon using a popular saying: Did you ever hear the expression
“THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATH WATER”? It translates
this way; By throwing the baby out with the bath water, you get
rid of the good parts as well as the bad parts of something when
you are trying to improve it… “I don't think we should
throw the baby out with the bath water. There are some good
features of the present system that I think we should retain.”
DOES THAT FLOAT YOUR BOAT? No? Well how
about this: "Throwing the baby out with the bath water"
is an expression that implies that an entire idea, concept,
practice or project doesn't need to be rejected or discontinued
if part of it is good. The baby, in this sense, represents the
good part that can be preserved. The bath water, on the other
hand, usually is dirty after the baby is washed and needs to be
discarded, just like the parts of the concept that are bad or
useless.
In other words welfare is mostly good
because LITTLE BABIES (you know those things that come from the
fetuses you worship until they are born) WON’T STARVE TO
DEATH due to the safety net called Welfare. Don’t do away
with it because a teeny tiny bit of humanity may take advantage
of it.
The same goes for the 2nd
Amendment, we (those of us in power) should not strike it down or
make it illegal to own a hunting weapon just because there will
always be some NUT who will use that hunting weapon to do harm to
another human being.
DID IT SINK IN YET? Oh F*ck it, I GIVE UP!
Trying to interpret reality to someone who can’t see the
forest for the trees is like herding cats or nailing jello to a
tree, It just ain't a gonna happen.
Was that enough catch-phrases for you…?
How about a few more… “I'd love to get into a battle of
wits with you, but I'd never go against someone unarmed.”
OR "Don't get lost in thought; you'll be a total stranger
there."OR "Put a condom on ur head because if ur
ganna act like a dick u might as well dress like one!"
GOP Congressman, Horse's Petute, Says it's ABOUT TIME FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO SHUT DOWN.
SAY WHAAAAAAT????
GOOD GRIEF, WHAT'S NEXT?
Listen to Ezra Klein (a
Sane Person) tell Horse's Petute that this is NOT A GOOD IDEA. In
fact it is a SCARY IDEA...
Are You Tired Of Calling
The Wacko Teapublicans Wacko?
SO
AM I, because we need to do so much more than to call them names,
it's getting too scary! For over four years, perhaps a lot longer
because they went by a different name pre-Obama, these crazy
people have filled our airwaves, if not our senses with their
psychopathic messages. That’s right, I said PSYCHOPATHIC, a
quick Google search gives rise to the Teapublican meaning of this
word:
Psychopathy is a personality
disorder that has been variously characterized by shallow
emotions (including reduced fear, a lack of empathy, and
stress tolerance), cold-heartedness, egocentricity,
superficial charm, manipulativeness, irresponsibility,
impulsivity, criminality, antisocial behavior, a lack of
remorse, and a parasitic (bloodsucking) lifestyle.
Look
back on any video featuring Tea Party Pitchpersons and
Talkingheads, floating around the Internet and it will bear
witness to the above factual statement pertaining to those who
identify with this so-called movement.
Let’s
sum up some of the bills, laws and wacked theories the GOP Tea
Party leaders have thrown around, (unfortunately with some
success) like kids tossing not-so-hot baseball cards in some
silly sidewalk game. (Note: this is but a small example of the
horrendous laws these NUTS would force Sane Americans to live
under)
Anti-Sharia Laws
According to Mother Jones , five states have banned
“Sharia law” and another 11 are “working on
it.” Aside from the fact that, for the non-crazy among
us, there is no discrete legal code known as Sharia law, the
other problems with these measures are the establishment and
free exercise clauses of the 1st Amendment of the United
States Constitution.
Abortion Bills
Conflicting with Roe
Less humorous are a spate of
anti-abortion bills that fly in the face of the Supreme
Court's longstanding view that the Constitution grants a
“right to privacy” pertaining to such matters as
abortion. These are not designed merely to pander to the
base, but to restrict abortions to a degree that they become
effectively impossible to obtain.
Nullification
Laws
We've seen truthers, birthers, deathers
and then there are the tenthers, who believe that states can
simply opt-out of any federal law that isn't explicitly
included in the Constitution. They've used it to pass –
or propose – laws opting out of everything from hate
crimes legislation to health-care reform. Yes, they're
partying like it's 1861!
States Regulating
Immigration
Again, the courts have long held, under
the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, that when a state
law conflicts with a federal law, the former is, in the words
of Justice John Paul Stevens writing for the majority in a
2008 case, “without effect.” The federal government
has argued, and won, a whole slew of cases based on federal
immigration laws trumping competing legislation passed by the
states.
Don't Say This or
That Laws
Guess what? Nowhere in the First
Amendment does it say, you have the right to free speech,
“except for those living in the deep South.”
Yet Florida's legislature has passed a
law barring physicians from asking patients if there is a
firearm present in their home. An earlier version of the
bill, subtly called “Don't Ask,” would have made it
a felony, but that was apparently too crazy even for Florida.
Not to be outdone, the Tennessee Senate
passed a law this week that “would forbid public school
teachers and students in grades kindergarten through eight
from discussing the fact that some people are gay.” The
“Don't Say 'Gay'” law prompted George Takei, of
Star Trek fame, to offer his own name to be used as a proxy.
Financial
'Martial Law'
Also in the less funny category is
Michigan governor Rick Snyder's “financial martial
law” legislation, which allows him to appoint
“emergency financial managers” authorized to take
over local municipalities. It empowers them, among other
things, to “reject, modify, or terminate one or more
terms and conditions of an existing collective bargaining
agreement.” Typical war on unions
stuff!
Let
us not forget about the Treaty modeled after Americans with
Disabilities Act that failed to pass because of Tea Party
Legislators— who treat collaboration with other governments
and the United Nations as a surrender of US sovereignty — so they
killed it.
Oh
yes The Conspiracy Theorists, who make up a good portion of the
Tea Party, have concocted a vast number of conspiracies, here is
a partial list:
The Tea Party has attracted many
conspiracy theorists to its cause. Anyone who spends time on
an active Tea Party forum will see a number of
conspiracy-related threads pop up. More common conspiracies
include:
The belief that Obama is deliberately
trying to destroy America, or trying to create a
socialist/communist totalitarian government.
The belief that Obama's presidency is
part of a plot to institute the New World Order - often
referring to George Soros or the UN.
And, of course, Birtherism
An eagle eyed viewer may also find:
9/11 truthers
Conspiracies about chemtrails
Abiotic oil
---
Tea
Party movement and Teabaggers in general, ARE NOT A JOKE but I
wish they were, they would be less dangerous as a JOKE!
thinkingblue
"But they are nothing new, nothing
new at all. They are mostly a bunch of cranky white men with
money who are trying desperately to hang on to their
privileges. Same as it ever was. They are what we have called
"Republicans" for at least the last 30 years."
Jon Stewart once commented - in
semi-praise of Ron Paul - that most were just "Moral
Majority in three-corner hats."
Violence Against Women Act Expires, Thanks To The GOP!
I
have been blogging since 2005, I believe it’s because I
enjoy doing so. Maybe ‘enjoy’ isn’t the right
word, it’s more like a relief-valve for me
(relief valve (noun) -
a device that, when actuated by static pressure above a
predetermined level, opens in proportion to the excess above
this level and reduces the pressure to it. Compare safety
valve)
because I really
don’t have a voice (except for my one vote) to express
outrage, when I feel some lawmakers are harming our America, our
home.
The scenes, borrowed
from old, war documentary films, on the rise of fascism in the
world and how cruel leaders had the capability to annihilate and
destroy everything we consider normal and natural. (Abolish that
which logical and intuitive human beings believe to be the
meaning of life, PEACE to live out one’s life without fear.)
To see Hitler-like barbarous men rule with unthinkable
bestiality and lockstep peons marching as if they were one
organism (god forbid, if one should lose his stride) is a
chilling and insane image to perceive (even if it is on
celluloid).
Once
again, I digress… the reason for today’s blog (or
relief-valve) was a political cartoon I came across, posted on
facebook by the group “Baby Boomers and Senior Citizens
Against Republicans & The Tea Party” which questions the
GOP War On Women, due to its allowance of the "Violence
Against Women’s Act" to expire. On face-value it does
appear that the GOP and its offshoot the Tea Party, really is a
misogynist group at heart. But a thought or two deeper than
face-value (along with a whole lotta common sense) will let the
truth be known, it’s not that this far right-wing
conservative group, hate women, it’s more like they...
money. thinkingblue
PS:
My relief-valve comment on facebook:
I believe
the GOP don't really HATE women, after all, they have
grandmothers, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters and some of
them (although in the minority) are also women. Their apathy
extends towards all, who may need government assistance
whether it be, a woman, a man, a child or the elderly and the
sick. Their bottom-line is MONEY, it's the almighty dollar
that is their master and because of this 'supernatural'
commodity that they worship, any empathy they may feel for
those less fortunate or in need, is extinguished, allowing
them to rationalize that the weak among us, brought it upon
themselves, so they don't deserve a helping hand. It’s a
hardness of mind parallel to cabals considered outside the
law who also praise and respect material wealth and the power
it brings, above all else. (What a way to go through
existence, if they weren’t so harmful, I would feel pity
for them instead of disdain.)
Trailer for Hemingway
& Gellhorn
Let us not forget the other GOP/TEA-PARTY Big
Nasty, against President Obama... (Below Picture)
Oh yes, besides loving money and power, THE GOP also HATES The
President and is willing to harm America to bring him down.
Callous Conservatives: Gulf State
Republicans’ Sandy Shame
by John Avlon Jan 5, 2013 10:45 AM EST
The Republican congressmen who use New York as a campaign ATM,
but turn a blind eye to suffering here must be held accountable,
writes John Avlon.
Slap a scarlet “S” on these callous conservatives.
Sixty-seven members of Congress–all Republicans—voted
against even $9 billion of Hurricane Sandy relief yesterday.
Remember their names, and hold them accountable.
Justin Amash (R-MI)
Andy Barr (R-KY)
Dan Benishek (R-MI)
Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI)
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)
Mo Brooks (R-AL)
Paul Broun (R-GA)
Steve Chabot (R-OH)
Doug Collins (R-GA)
Mike Conaway (R-TX)
Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Steve Daines (R-MT)
Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
Scott DesJarlais (R-TN)
Sean Duffy (R-WI)
Jeff Duncan (R-SC)
Jimmy Duncan (R-TN)
Stephen Fincher (R-TN)
John Fleming (R-LA)
Bill Flores (R-TX)
Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
Trent Franks (R-AZ)
Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Trey Gowdy (R-SC)
Tom Graves (R-GA)
Sam Graves (R-MO)
Andrew Harris (R-MD)
George Holding (R-NC)
Richard Hudson (R-NC)
Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)
Randy Hultgren (R-IL)
Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)
Jim Jordan (R-OH)
Doug Lamborn (R-CO)
Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
Thomas Massie (R-KY)
Tom McClintock (R-CA)
Mark Meadows (R-NC)
Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)
Mick Mulvaney (R-SC)
Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
Steven Palazzo (R-MI)
Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Scott Perry (R-PA)
Tom Petri (R-WI)
Mike Pompeo (R-KS)
Tom Price (R-GA)
Phil Roe (R-TN)
Todd Rokita (R-IN)
Keith Rothfus (R-PA)
Ed Royce (R-CA)
Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Matt Salmon (R-AZ)
David Schweikert (R-AZ)
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Marlin Stutzman (R-IN)
Mac Thornberry (R-TX)
Randy Weber (R-TX)
Brad Wenstrup (R-OH)
Roger Williams (R-TX)
Joe Wilson (R-SC)
Rob Woodall (R-GA)
Kevin Yoder (R-KS)
Ted Yoho (R-FL)
Twelve of the scarlet 67 voted for Hurricane Katrina
relief—which passed ten days after that devastating
Gulf Coast storm—but against Hurricane Sandy relief
69 days after its landfall in the Northeast. Their names:
Trent Franks (AZ), Ed Royce (CA), Sam Graves (MO), Steve
Pearce (NM), Steve Chabot (OH), Jimmy Duncan (TN), Kenny
Marchant (TX), Randy Neugebauer (TX), Mac Thornberry
(TX), Bob Goodlatte (VA), Tom Petri (WI), and Paul Ryan
(WI).
These congressmen are content to use New York City and
the tri-state area as an ATM when they are looking for
campaign funds, yet they willfully turn a blind eye when
hundreds of thousands of homes and small businesses are
damaged or destroyed and more than 100 Americans are
dead.
Note the name of last year’s vice presidential
nominee and potential 2016 presidential candidate Paul
Ryan on this list. Donors would do well to ask him about
this vote. The Texas delegation likewise asked for
federal funds when hurricanes have devastated their
state, yet are ignoring suffering in the Northeast. But
then conservatives often become liberal when an issue
affects them personally. Just two years ago, Missouri
Congressman Sam Graves begged President Obama for an
emergency declaration to deal with flooding in his
district—now he is afflicted with convenient
amnesia.
The full list of the 67 “nos” is tilted toward
the conservative Gulf Coast states and the
congressmen—many elected after Katrina—whose
constituents often feel the brunt of natural disasters.
Congressman Paul Broun—who when Obama was elected in
2008 called the president-elect a “Marxist” and
compared him to Hitler, who denounced evolution as a
“lie from the pit of hell” despite serving on
the Science Committee—had no trouble asking for FEMA
funds when his district was flooded in 2009. And
Alabama’s Mo Brooks was equally eager for federal
funds when tornados devastated his district in 2011.
The larger point, of course, is that massive disaster
relief is a role for the federal government. There are
times when we are 50 individual states and times when we
need to unite and act as one country. Hurricane relief
should be a no-brainer.
But Club for Growth and other conservative activist
groups decided to make Hurricane Sandy relief a litmus
test for their annual scorecards, and conservative
congressmen started running scared.
The presence of pork in the original Senate Hurricane
Sandy relief bill was a predictable disgrace. For
example, in an essay on CNN, I called out the presence of
pork like $150 million for Alaskan Fisheries and $41
million to military bases including Guantanamo Bay. But
that pork was rightfully stripped from the ultimate
Senate and House bill. Angry conservative activists never
bothered to update their talking points and so they
argued from ignorance.
Moreover, the bill that Congress passed on Friday was
just $9 billion of the total $60 billion Sandy relief
bill (an amount far less than the Governors’
estimate of $80 billion in damage). We’ll have to
wait until at least January 15th for a vote on the
remaining $51 billion.
Club for Growth and other conservative activist groups
decided to make Hurricane Sandy relief a litmus test for
their annual scorecards, and conservative congressmen
started running scared.
The 67 congressman who voted against relief would have
almost certainly voted for it if the impact was felt in
their district. But if those 67 were to visit Staten
Island or the Jersey Shore or the Rockaways today and see
the citizens and volunteers still struggling to dig their
way out of the devastation, they might have a different
opinion. These folks need relief. And the region needs to
increase its resilience to avoid future costs.
Hypocrisy is the unforgiveable sin in politics—and
it abounds among ideologues in congress. But the absence
of compassion matters as well. Because if the threat of
professional partisan activist groups is enough to make
you overlook the struggle and suffering of your fellow
American citizens, maybe it’s time to look in the
mirror and consider a field of work other than public
service. More Here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/05/callous-conservatives-gulf-state-republicans-sandy-shame.html
Yes, there are two Americas’ Virginia, they exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. One tolerant and
free-thinking, the other intolerant and close-minded!
Sincerely, thinkingblue, from the TOLERANT AND FREE-THINKING USA
PS: Joe (You Lie) Wilson, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh et al reside in the intolerant America!
Sun
Jan 27, 2013 5:40PM GMT
thinkingblue
, WHAT'S NEXT?
