Senators and Congress Critters Deserve to Suffer. But Their Constituents Don’t.

Much justified anger has been leveled at the legislators who voted against funding for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, and then turned around and yelled for help when THEIR states needed disaster relief. Some people are even hacked off enough to say “no aid for those states, teach them a lesson”, and other such revolting statements.

Both Oklahoma Senators (Coburn and Inhofe) voted against such relief and are now in a bind: a bind because their own state now needs one whole helluva lot of relief after the recent spate of tornados: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/oklahoma-senators-disaster-relief_n_3309234.html?icid=hp_front_top_art

Truly a couple of dickwads, and they deserve to get dejobbed after the next election. But their constituents deserve our help just as much as the victims of Sandy, Katrina, and other natural disasters.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The NRA and “Republicans”, Talking Out Their A**es Again

At yesterday’s hearings on Gun Control, the ever-unhinged NRA mouthpiece Wayne LaPierre repeated one of the standard “Republican” lines: that we do not need new laws until President Obama enforces the existing ones. Sounds reasonable until you remember that:

Number A: the biggest impediment to the enforcement of existing laws is the Teapublicans’ persistent defunding of the government agencies who are charged with said enforcement. These Right-Wing fools expect our public safety resources to do more and more, while simultaneously refusing to pay them for so doing. Repubs must think money magically appears when needed, perhaps delivered by perky little fairies riding unicorns.

Letter 2: it is not Obama’s job to enforce each and every law on the books. No one person can do that. It takes thousands of people at all levels of government to do so. And they, too, have had their authority undermined, staffs reduced and budgets slashed by the “conservative” “Republicans”, to the point that they can barely do anything to enforce any laws at all.

Tell you what, Waynie old buddy old pal: give the cops the money and resources they need to enforce existing laws before you trot out that line of B.S. again.

Mr. B & C

House Leadership to Hurricane Sandy Victims: We Don’t Care

Mr. Blunt and Cranky doesn’t shock easily. But John Boehner managed to pull it off last night.

As you may know, the House was in session to pass a tax bill. There was also a Hurricane Sandy Relief bill waiting for the House “Republicans” to take action. This bill will help keep people from dying in the streets, keep the power on, fix stuff that Sandy destroyed…a pretty damned important bill, you’ll agree. So important, the Senate busted arse to get it to the House in time to be acted upon.

But it was not important to the Repubs that run the House. Turning a deaf ear to members of their own party, they split the scene and showed every intention of letting the bill die; thus guaranteeing the suffering of the innocents for months longer.

That, friendly readers, is how much the Boehner Brigade and the Teabaggers care about the citizens they are sworn to serve. The misery, hunger, and possible deaths of American citizens are not a good enough reason to spend another hour in a comfortable room and cast one little vote.

No, you are not at all important to these people. And if you are EVER fool enough to vote for any of the House “Republicans” again, then you are agreeing with them, and screwing your neighbors as well.

Remember this day when you go to vote in 2014. Remember it well, because Little Johnny and Company are hoping that you won’t,

Mr. B & C

Second Amendment – Read the Whole Thing Sometime

Mr. Blunt and Cranky has this crazy theory, and it goes like this: the Founders were smart people who argued, haggled, debated, and In the end wrote a Constitution that said exactly what they meant. Nothing more, and nothing less. And if we don’t like something, we can bust our arses and amend it. (Yeah, a crazy notion,eh?)

But when people read the Constitution, they cherry-pick the bits and bobs they like and pretend the rest is not there, or that “the Founders were just kidding with that part”. That is not the act of a law-abiding citizen, folks. No matter if one is a Supreme Court justice or some regular schmuck, we have to respect the entire law. Including the Second Amendment.

People love the second part of the sentence, yes they do. But the first part, about the “well regulated militia”? Even Fat Tony and his posse at the S.C. tend to gloss over that bit.

The only reason to have battle-specific weapons is to fight a battle. And the only smart way to fight a battle is in an organized military group. For that matter, it is the only legal way to do it. So if you’re not in such an organization and you own and use military-style armaments, you are not in compliance with the law of the land.

Don’t like it? Pursue an amendment. But until you get one, just obey the friggin’ law.

Mr. B & C

Vote For the Man who Can be Cool in a Crisis

Whatever else one might say about President Obama, he does a great job at Crisis Management. Witness his performance during Hurricane Sandy: in stark contrast to Bush-The-Dumber eating cake and pretending to play guitar during the Katrina debacle, Obama hauled his ass back to D.C. to do his job as Commander-In-Chief. And even people who hate his guts (like Chris Christie) are praising Obama’s performance in dealing with this enormous disaster.

Contrast this with Mitt Romney’s Shrub-Like responses to surprises and crises during the campaign to date: shoot-from-the-lip quips, sound bites, lies, zingers, promises to defund FEMA, and insults to individuals and groups in America and overseas.  We all saw how well that worked during the Reign Of The Bushies, didn’t we?

Vote for the grownup with the proven record of performance under pressure. That’s Obama.

Mr. B & C (not liking this attempt at positive posting very much)

Support our First Responders – Vote Democratic

Why? Because Dems believe in spending money on FEMA, disaster recovery, and state/local police, EMS and fire departments. Romney, Ryan, and the Repubs in the House (and many states) do not support such “immoral” spending on dead, dying and devastated American Taxpayers. Do some googling, you’ll see what Mister Blunt and Cranky means.

The Dems in the Administration and both houses of Congress have actually worked diligently to fund FEMA and other disaster recovery line items in the budget. (There. A positive thing was said about a political party. Happy?) If you’re feeling a wee bit nervous about Hurricane Sandy barreling up your kazoo, take that into account when you cast your ballot.

This writer works with cops on a daily basis and is related to a whole raft of nurses, EMTs, and counts even more among his social circle. He thinks that anybody who will run into a burning building, charge into a hail of bullets, or jump into the ocean to save the lives of complete strangers is a hero, and should be given the tools they need to do their jobs; not nickel-and-dimed out of their budgets by a bunch of vote-grubbing suits in some legislative chamber.

Today, the only legislators who are reliable votes for funding these heroic and indispensable people are Democrats. Sad to say, but true. So if you want someone to save your ass when it really needs it, you’d best be voting for the Donkeys.

Mr. B & C