Who Cares who Alison Lundergan Grimes Voted For?

Bitchy Mitchy McConnell tells a lot of lies. A LOT of lies. But a very subtle and sneaky one jumped out at this humble blogger during the lone debate with his Democratic challenger: he said Americans have no right to a secret ballot:

Grimes stuck to her days-long refusal to say if she voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. She insisted that if she answered the question, it would “compromise a constitutional right” to cast a secret ballot.

McConnell quickly scoffed at that. “There’s no sacred right to not announce how you voted,” he said, seated next to Grimes for an hour-long debate hosted by KET, the state’s public television station.

There is indeed no explicit Constitutional right to a secret ballot: because Boards of Election need to track voters and ballots to prevent fraud. But that’s the only place where your right to voting privacy is limited.

But old Jerkle the Turtle goes a step further: not only does he not think you have a right to privacy in the voting booth, he thinks you can be forced to reveal your votes if any old yahoo asks you. This is some truly, scarily insidious, authoritarian, big-government s*** here, folks: “Republicans” think they can force you to tell them how you voted, and that you have no right to privacy.

It’s of a piece with GOP philosophy: they hates them some Fourth Amendment. Repubs think the government should be able to wiretap you, arrest you, torture you, dictate your medical care, and monitor your sex life. So voting rights are likewise non-starters for Big Brother Motherf***ers like McConnell and the rest of his party. Once again, Gentle Reader: Repubs think you have no right to privacy.

We should all of us applaud Ms. Grimes’ strong stand on privacy, and support her right to not say for whom she voted. This seems obvious, but even some Democrats are saying she should tell us all how she voted. Poppy-f***ing-cock. She has the same privacy rights as the rest of us, and we should all have her back on this issue – because we all are in the same boat. Want to be forced to tell your boss how you voted, or your parents, or a “news” organization? This writer does not, and you shouldn’t have to, either.

This election isn’t just about candidates, folks: it’s about our freedom from Big Government Repubs and their NSA-Patriot Act-Morals Police-Brute Squad vision of America. We all need to vote against any candidate who would take away our rights, and support any candidate who supports our rights.

Your humble correspondent doesn’t give a single turd from a tufted titmouse’s ass how Ms. Grimes voted. It’s her right to keep it private, and good on her for asserting that right.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

How the Budget Ceiling is SUPPOSED to work, and why it doesn’t.

Here is how the process actually works:
Step One: Congress decides how much money to spend and passes bills so the rest of the government can spend it.
Step Two: since Congress rarely considers whether or not we can afford all of the spending they authorize, there is usually a budget deficit, which increases the national debt.
Step Three: the Congress allows the treasury to borrow more money to cover the spending that Congress ordered. That is called “raising the debt ceiling”.

Pretty simple, and you may have noticed something: the word “President” appeared nowhere in the process. That is because the Executive cannot and does not allocate the vast majority of Federal funding. The Prexy has damn-all to do with the funding levels established by Congress. All he can do is execute the funding (which is why it is called the “Executive Branch”).

So why does Congress ask the Prexy for “concessions” or “reforms”, whenever the debt ceiling need lifting? The answer, Gentle Reader, is this: Congress is too scared to admit that they are responsible for our massive budget and the resulting red ink, so they play “pin the blame on Obama”. If the taxpaying public knew that Congress was to blame, they might vote their legislators out of office.

And the one thing no Senator or Congresscritter can bear is the idea of having to actually work for a living. So they pretend that it is the eeeeevil Obaminator who is responsible for the deficit. And the “News” media plays chorus to the Teapublican lies.

Remember this when you next cast your ballot. Congress owns the budget, the deficit and the debt. It’s time for those lazy, cowardly millionaires on Capitol Hill to nut up and accept responsibility for their actions, and to stop lying to us about who is to blame for the consequences of said actions.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Four Obamacare Lies from Ted Cruz. Four sources that prove he’s lying.

Not that he’s the only one, of course. “Republicans” like John Boehner and others have been spreading the same farrago of fraudulent statements 24/7 for quite some time now. But because Teddy Boi is such a cretin, and uttered those lies very loudly and recently, we’ll pick on him.

Here are the four lies du jour:”Obamacare is destroying jobs,” Cruz said. “It is driving up health care costs. It is killing health benefits. It is shattering the economy.” You’ve heard these lies before, and the “news” media just regurgitates them verbatim, with no fact-checking or correcting. Your Cranky Correspondent hereby presents the actual facts, and they DO prove that the “Republicans” are lying through their teeth, noses, ears, eyes, and every other orifice they possess.

Lie Number A: “Obamacare is destroying jobs.” Actual Facts Number A: Millions of jobs have been created since Obamacare was signed into law on 3/23/2010. Here’s the source: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/news/economy/1206/gallery.Obama-economy/index.html

Lie Letter 2: “It is driving up health care costs.” Actual Facts Letter 2: Health care costs are increasing at a slower pace since Obamacare was signed into law on 3/23/2010. Here’s the source: http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/8466-employer-health-benefits-2013_summary-of-findings1.pdf

Lie the Third: “It is killing health benefits.” Actual Facts the Third: More people have been getting more and better benefits since Obamacare was signed into law on 3/23/2010. Here’s the source: http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-facts.php

Lie Number 4: “It is shattering the economy.” Actual Facts Number Four: The economy has been growing steadily and consistently since Obamacare was signed into law on 3/23/2010. Here’s the source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2013/05/16/economically-could-obama-be-americas-best-president/

Spread this around, everybody. When so many people are lying so much, we need some facts to make sure that people are basing their decisions on truth, instead of the lies of Cruz and his compadres.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky