Hypocritical Hillary Haters Are Hating, as Always

A Clinton candidacy always brings the lying rat bassets out in droves, and her 2016 bid is no exception. The Teapubbies have carefully timed the Scandalism Machine to try to sink her Presidential bid. Like they did to Bubba in 1992 and 1994. And when Hillary ran for Senate. And when she was confirmed as Secretary of State. It’s all about scandalscandalscandal, every single time. Never mind that all the millions of dollars the Right Wingnuts spent digging for dirt on the Clintons ever turned up was oral sex and cigar kink. (And that was on Bill, not Hillary.)

Knowing that Secretary Clinton would run for Prexy (like everybody else did, DUH), the “Republicans” have spent loads of taxpayer dollars on “investigations” that have turned up even less than they did in the 90’s. Undeterred, they are gleefully wasting our hard-earned on these witch hunts, shining bright lights on nothing and substituting innuendo for information. And getting lots of money and assistance for their smear campaigns from rich motherf***ers in and out of the media, foreign and domestic.

In the interest of Truth, Justice, and the Amercan Way, let’s turn those spotlights around for a wee minute and shine it upon HRC’s manifold accusers, and see what we find, shall we? Oh, we shall; yes, yes we shall.

Number A: The big Clinton Email Server “Scandal”. You know, the one where Hillary had a legal server that she used legally, and disclosed everything that was legally required? Yep. Not for nothing was “scandal” enclosed by scarequotes.
Turns out that the Teabilly who is leading the charge against Mrs. Clinton is doing the same damned thing. Yes, Trey Gowdy has his OWN private email server, not that you hear much about it. This writer had to go down five pages in a Google search to find it, underneath all the regurgitated Repub talking points that pass for “news” these days.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who heads the House’s Select Committee on Benghazi, is leading the charge in calling for investigations of Clinton’s email.

Yet it’s important to note that Gowdy maintains his own domain treygowdy.com. For example, one campaign contact email he used was info@treygowdy.com. While it’s not unusual to maintain such a thing particularly for campaign work, it’s not clear that Gowdy utilizes this email solely for political campaign work and not congressional tasks.
AlterNet asked Gowdy’s office through both a telephone inquiry followed up by an email communication to his press secretary about how he segregates work he conducts through his personal domain vs congressional work. We also inquired about where his personal email server is stored and how it is secured. We also attempted to contact Gowdy campaign manager George Ramsey, but he did not return our phone calls. 

Letter 2: How about that new blockbuster book about Clintonian “Corruption”, Clinton Cash? Wow, sounds like some pretty damning stuff, if you listen to the breathless panting of the “reporters” who are “covering” the story. Ermmm…well…no… Turns out Mr. Schweizer is a paid Republican operative, who was paid lots of money to write a bulls*** hit piece:

As Crooks and Liars pointed out, Schweizer’s Government Accountability Initiative, a 501(c)(3), is funded by three conservative powerhouse donors.
First up would be the infamous Koch brothers, who contribute to most of GAI’s funding through the Franklin Center, a “free market” organization dedicated to “democratizing journalism.” Also in play is another the Koch-run Donors’ Trust, a political “slush fund,” according to the blog.
Of the total $2.2 million received in 2012, $2 million came from the Franklin Center, the Koch-funded “watchdog” organization. Perhaps coincidentally, the Franklin Center also received a $2 million contribution in 2012 from Donors’ Capital, the sister organization to Donors’ Trust.
Next is the Mercer Family Foundation, headed up by the eponymous hedge fund magnate Robert Mercer. As Crooks and Liars noted, Mercer’s main targets are usually congressmen trying to roll back the power of Wall Street. Mother Jones reported that Mercer is currently the top bankroller for Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) presidential campaign.

Finally: Everybody remember when Hillary called out the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (VRWC) and was roundly mocked for having done so? Well, gosh darn it and golly-gee-shucks, it existed then and has continued into the present day. Click the links for details.

Score from just the aforementioned wee minute of looking at the accusatory Teabaggers, Plutocrats and Pundits:
Hillary:3
Hillary Haters:0

This writer doesn’t much care for Hillary, any more than he he did for Bill. If he has to vote for her, he’ll hold his nose while so doing. But these Nixonian Ratf***ers need to be put in a cage with the rest of their rodent brethren to gnaw on each other, so that the political process can at least be slightly less infested with such vermin.

It sure would be nice to decide our 2016 votes based on facts, instead of lies spread by a load of paid “Republican” liars.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The “Christian Right” is Wrong.

Proof may be found in Indiana, where a load of “Christian” hatemongers passed a law that basically makes anyone other than straight white Fundagelicals second-class citizens. True to form, these Teabagging legislators deny that they hate gays: nononono, they are merely protecting the “religious freedom” of fellow Teavangelicals. Riiiiiiiight.

It also can be found in Ohio, where a load of “Christian” hatemongers passed a law that basically makes anyone other than fetuses second-class citizens. True to form, these Teabagging legislators deny that they hate women: nononono, they are merely protecting the “rights” of unbornTeavangelicals. The fact that they laugh at stories of rape is meaningless. Riiiiiiiight.

Proof abounds in Michigan, where a load of “Christian” hatemongers are pushing a law that basically makes anyone other than Teavangelicals second-class educators.True to form, these Teabagging legislators deny that they hate non-“Christian” teachers: nonono, they are merely going back to the “true intent of education”, which was to teach kids how to read Scripture. Riiiiiiiight.

On and on it goes: from calls for a violent “Christian uprising”, to Teavangelical racism, and pretty much every sin listed in the Ten Commandments and the Greatest Commandment. These sickos crap all over the teachings of Rebbe Yesuah bar Josef while proclaiming their loyalty to Him.

This, Gentle Reader, is why the Constitution forbids the establishment of a government-sanctioned religion. Theocracies always crash and burn, spectacularly. Because they are based on premises of faith that cannot be proven.

Instead of being wrong like the Religious Right, let’s actually try being, you know, right. Let’s try actually treating all of us as being truly equal. Like the Constitution says.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Teapublicans: Wiping their A**es with the Constitution.

Seriously, what else can explain their actions of the past 35 years, since the Reaganistas took over a formerly rational political party? Consider these few examples of many:

Number A: Teapublicans in Congress are openly sabotaging negotiations between the USA and a hostile foreign power, even though the Constitution says that foreign policy is in the Executive Branch’s portfolio. So Boehner’s invitation to Bibi to “address” the Congress is more than just another of his drunkard’s hissy-fits: it violates the Constitution. Not that he is any stranger to extra-constitutional actions, of course. Look at his actions as they relate to women’s rights, minority rights, voting rights, and so on: Boehner and the rest of his party are actively breaking the law, based on an illegal premise, for an illegal purpose.

Letter 2: Teapubbies are a load of “Christian” evangelicals who want to trash the Establishment Clause and set up a Theocracy. They claim that this is a Christian nation, even though the law pretty clearly says otherwise:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.[1]

Thirdly: Teapubbies are frequently Secessionist scumballs. Such as the seditious “Republic of Texas”, the Southern National Congress, and the League of the South, to name but a very few.

All of these groups and people are Right-Wing Teabaggers, Libertarians and Teapublicans. None of them are Liberals. And all of them obviously hate America and its Constitution. By their actions we know them.

Likewise we know that people who vote for Teapublicans also support sedition, legislative overreach, and religious totalitarianism.

What’s that you say, dear “Republican” voter? You claim that you support the Constitution?

Bull-f***ing-s***. When you vote for a person or party that treats the law of the land like a**wipe, you support that treatment, as surely as if it were your own toilet into which the soiled Constitution got dropped and flushed away.

By our votes people know us. If you are voting for Teapubbies… *flush*

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Hey, Whiny-Assed Secret Service Agents: Waaah.

Call the Waaaaahmbulance, because the iddy biddy widdle Secwet Sewvice has had its feewings awe hurted. They complain about their jobs, but since all too many of them are drunken, whore-mongering, arrogant, incompetent, seditious a**holes, it is hard to feel any sympathy for them. Just one example of their get-people-killed-so-they-can-get-laid culture:

A Secret Service agent jeopardized President Obama’s security by leaking where the president was going to be ahead of time to the Romney campaign during the 2012 election.

In the closing weeks of the 2012 campaign, a Secret Service agent was on the ground in a key swing state to coordinate security ahead of several campaign stops by the President. The agent, who was married, made advances towards a Romney campaign staff member.

A married Secret Service agent leaked the president’s schedule to impress a girl.

Of course, there are also examples of Secret Service inaction endangering the life of the President. For instance, this motherf***er is paying people to kill the President, and at the time of this writing, the Facebook page has not been taken down, nor has any action been taken against this man who has threatened to kill our Chief Executive. Indeed, this sort of sedition via assassination threat has become so common as to induce yawns.

They sin by commission and omission . The Secret service as a whole is at best incompetent and at worst a den of treasonous Teabaggers. So how much sympathy should we feel for them? Not much.

There are no doubt principled Secret Service agents who are dedicated and hard-working, and it is a shame that they are not rewarded for their efforts. But all too many of the USSS are too busy complaining about the Prexy, their pay, their hours, and generally whining 24/7/365, they cannot or will not do their jobs. F*** the lot of them.

Hey, all you whining right-wing SS agents: just f***ing quit your f***ing jobs if you don’t like it. Lotsa people would love to take your places, and THEY might not be mutinous, drunken Wingnuts who sleep with underage hookers.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

American “Christians”, you are NOT being oppressed. Repeat, NOT BEING OPPRESSED.

Here is the latest in a flurry of non-reality-based memes on the subject:

How wrong is it? Let us count the ways:
Number A: they are free to say grace over their meal. Nobody ever said they couldn’t. But the meme falsely implies that they are bravely taking a stand against some mythical oppressor who seeks to stop their prayer. There is, of course, no such oppressor, but that fact matters not at all to the Fundagelicals.
Letter 2: see anybody there pelting these hard-working public servants with atheistic tracts? Nope. Most Americans don’t much care who you pray to, when, how or why.
Thirdly: assuming that the promulgators of this meme consider themselves to be Christians, they should read Rebbe Yeshuah bar Joseph’s words in Matthew:6. You know, the words about not being phony and ostentatious in their prayer.

Odds are, the people depicted had nothing to do with the meme: just people saying grace before a meal. Good on them. It’s their right to do so.

The problem is with the yahoo prostletyzers who are using this ordinary picture to try and enforce their wingnut agendas on the rest of us. This writer wishes they’d spend more time reading their Constitutions and less trying to subvert it.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

In your anger at the party, don’t forget the real victims. (Please vote.)

This post has a very narrow audience: those who say they will not vote unless the candidates are sufficiently in line with their personal beliefs, and think that by withholding their vote they will somehow “teach the party a lesson”. It is not targeted at any other people or groups. S’alright? S’alright.

Many of the party apparatchiks, leaders and candidates (for example, Hillary Clinton) are millionaires, and will not be hurt by your lack of participation in a hypothetical future contest. They should pay a price, but they will not. They might write books, consult, bloviate, become the ambassador to Lower Maylohda, or join the punditocracy: but one thing that they will not do is suffer. Not one wee bit.

No, the people who will be hurt by the lack of participation in a given race will be the poor. The children. The elderly. The minorities. The women. THEY will pay the price for your bitterness, defeatism and despair. You might not pay a price, the candidates might not pay…but nothing is free in this world. Somebody always pays.

In the last election, in one Ohio state congressional district, a (literal) handful of voters failed to vote for the Democrat in the race, and the Teapublican won. That state is now 100% Red. Dems have NO POWER OVER STATE GOVERNMENT.

Voting rights are being taken away. Women’s rights are being obliterated. Children are starving and dying. Millionaires are profiting and the rest of us are struggling. Because a very few voters made the choice you propose to make.

Think a bit before you decide to be dogmatic. Think of those four voters who did what you say you will do. Every vote counts. And every vote has a consequence.

Perhaps God should have mercy on those who abandon their fellow Americans to poverty, privation, and death; but the rest of us shouldn’t.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Why vote for a party that is taking away the right to vote?

That would be the “Republican” party, of course. They are, as they have been for many years, trying to suppress the vote, in order to limit the franchise to people like themselves, thereby cutting anyone is not male, rich, and white (and of late, a right wingnut) out of the action. From the article:

Pivotal swing states under Republican control are embracing significant new electoral restrictions on registering and voting that go beyond the voter identification requirements that have caused fierce partisan brawls.

The bills, laws and administrative rules — some of them tried before — shake up fundamental components of state election systems, including the days and times polls are open and the locations where people vote.

Republicans in Ohio and Wisconsin this winter pushed through measures limiting the time polls are open, in particular cutting into weekend voting favored by low-income voters and blacks, who sometimes caravan from churches to polls on the Sunday before election.

Notice this: it is an admittedly targeted set of blatantly unconstitutional laws that are designed to rig the game against those who might vote for the Democrats. The supposed reasons have been changing from “voter fraud” (which almost never happens) to “uniformity” ( demolished here ), but the measures remain the same.

One might think that when a problem changes, the solution would likewise change. And one would be right. The fact that the actions taken to remove our voting rights aren’t changing is all the proof you need that we are being screwed.

This writer sees a different problem, and thus a different solution: the problem is scumbucket politicians taking away our rights. The solution is to throw them into prison, and keep our rights intact.

Oh, and stop voting for the party that wants to take away your right to cast that ballot.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

“But when you talk about destruction, Don’t you know that you can count me out.” (Centrism Defended)

John Lennon, as he so frequently did, nailed it to a tree in this lyric. And while he may not have agreed with this writer on political matters, this line effectively points out one underlying premise of Centrism: the renunciation of extremism, and the violence that extremism requires to achieve its ends.

People often demonize Centrism as “ill-defined” or “meaning nothing”. This is no more true of Centrism than  is of Liberalism or Conservatism. The plain and simple truth of all political “isms” is this: none of them are monolithic, and all of them have as many variants as they have adherents. Put another way, Dennis Kucinich and Abbie Hoffman have both been described as “extreme Left” or “Liberal”, but they aren’t going to agree on everything. Bush The Dumber and Dick Cheney didn’t agree on everything either. The Cranky One  almost never agrees with the DLC Dimbulbs with whom he is automatically associated when he describes himself as a Centrist.  Labels are useful tools, but like any tool need to be used properly: when misused or overused, they create more harm than good.

Your humble correspondent  describes his political philosophy as follows: antidisestablishmentarianism, maximum personal freedom, keeping his nose out of other people’s private lives, and contributing to the overall good of our society. Except for the first point, he figures most Americans are on board with those concepts to a certain degree. So let’s look at that first point (the one Mr. Lennon so perfectly captured).

Antidisestablishmentarianists, of course, come in various shapes, sizes and degrees: some are ossified individuals who reflexively cling to the status quo, regardless of whether or not it works. Others (like this cranky writer) see it as an incrementalist approach to change. One thing to remember: Martin Luther, often depicted as a revolutionary, was in fact an antidisestablishmentarianist: that is why he proposed a reformation, rather than a revolution. So it goes in politics.

Revolutions kill people. They destroy lives and the works created by those lives. They burn away the good along with the bad. And rebuilding from a revolution is far harder and  more costly (in all respects) than implementing a plan for gradual, consensus-driven change.

Yes, sometimes thick-headed jackasses make revolutions necessary: King George, for example. But had he pulled his head out of his extremist, orthodoxy-addicted, ideological, narrow-minded, blinkered arse, the revolution need not have happened at all.

And that, friends, is why your Radical Centrist, contrarian, curmudgeonly correspondent keeps braying away from his position on the Political Compass (bang on the center of the L/R axis, and far away from the Authoritarian pole on that axis. See the link below to chart yourself.). He brays, hollers, and throws bricks upside the heads of the extremist community at every opportunity, hoping to get his point across. (“Maybe being nice would be a better approach”, you might say, and that’s a fair point. But he’s tried it and failed, so he’s going the blunt route these days.)

Far too many extremists are willing to “break eggs to make an omelet”. Those “eggs” are human beings with lives and loved ones. The idea that anyone could see the inevitable destruction of the lives and loves of their fellow Americans simply as a “cost of doing business”  is truly vomit-inducing. Particularly coming from the political Left, who are allegedly devoted to the betterment of mankind.

Anyone who advocates revolution when their people and country  are not in imminent danger of being killed en masse is a sociopathic mother***er who views his fellow Americans as disposable resources to be destroyed in the pursuit of his or her ideological Utopia.

And people like that are worth fighting. This Radical Centrist stands firmly for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Revolutionaries do not. If they did, they would not advocate measures that would strip us of all three.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

http://www.politicalcompass.org/ 

You’re On A Terrorist Watch List? Sure, You Can Buy A Gun

Yes, you read that correctly. If you are on a terrorist watch list, you can pass the current background check and buy a gun from a licensed dealer. Not surprisingly, some people want this changed. Even less surprisingly, the NRA and other Gun Nuts don’t.

Yes, you also read that last bit correctly. The Gun Nuts support the rights of terrorists to keep and bear arms. In fact, they managed to kill an amendment last week that would have taken away the ability of terrorists to buy AR-15’s, bulk gunpowder, and other tools of their lethal trade: that trade being, of course, the killing of Americans.

This is not a partisan issue: the Bushies and the Obamians both tried to take away the rights of terrorists to legally buy the materials they need to, well, terrorize us.

It is a money issue: the NRA, GOA, IFOA, and other lobbyists for the firearms industry want to have as many customers as they can; and terrorists buy lots of weaponry, powder, and other supplies. That is cash for the armament manufacturers, and they want that cash, regardless of how many of our citizens die as a result of terrorist acts.

And if course, it is cash to bribe elected officials to kill any legislation that might keep terrorist groups from being able to legally purchase weapons of mass (and individual) destruction. And like any crooked politico, the bribed “representatives” vote as they were paid to.

Gentle Reader, does this seem to you like “providing aid and comfort to the enemy”? Because it certainly does to me.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Why the Right is Wrong (And Will Always be Wrong)

Anyone who has spent time in business or the military knows the difference between strategy and tactics, and that some positions should be occupied by tacticians and some by strategists. Unfortunately, politics seems to be infested with the wrong sorts of people in the wrong sorts of roles. This is why our country is so severely f***ed up.

The Right Wing (which has controlled the “Republican” party since the late 1970’s) is composed primarily of two groups of people: profiteers and Fundagelical “Christans”. Both of these groups are fundamentally incapable of long-term strategic thinking.

Profiteers are concerned with maximizing short-term financial gain. They are not concerned with the long-term stability or viability of the economy, be it macro or micro, local or global. Regrettably, many Right-Wing business types have been “helping” our government with business regulation for decades now.

Fundagelical “Christians” (“fundies”) are convinced that Jesus will at any moment (probably very soon) rapture all the fundies up to heaven where they will dwell in an eternal paradise. For this reason, they do not concern themselves with destructive policies, starving babies, global climate change, and so on. They, after all, will not be around to deal with such problems.

Both of these types of people (some among the Right fall into both categories) are not fully in touch with the real world. This explains two phenomena: the lack of concern for consequences, and the lack of understanding of our complex world. They just don’t (and won’t) see reality because they aren’t invested in it. Indeed, they oftentimes don’t even believe in it.

Our nation needs people who can and do think long-term, with a strategic mindset. Our leaders must not flinch from the complicated and difficult challenges we face.

As long as the Right insists on not thinking past the next profit statement or prayer meeting, they cannot be trusted to run things.

Mr. B & C