Followers

Total Pageviews

Saturday, January 26, 2013

First Saturday Vent of 2013


I wish I didn’t have to listen to “What’s wrong with the GOP" every single day but unless I’m willing to bypass all the talk shows I’m stuck with it. I don’t really care what happens to the GOP because we will always have a two party system no matter how you brand it. I’m also tired of listening and reading all the nonsense that substitutes for an honest debate over the issues that we have to confront.  I’m reminded of an old song “ You can’t soar with eagles when you hang out with turkeys.”

I don’t have to go far to prove my point because I can usually find a letter in my local newspaper to prove my point. A couple of days ago,John Price of Victoria wrote a letter he titled “ What is being done about these problems?” The writer asks for accountability and I’m all for that. I would start with the fiasco in Iraq,an attorney general lying to both chambers of Congress (while under oath) outing a CIA agent and circumventing the constitution by torturing people. Right now, I would settle for the culprits of the 2008 financial crisis to be held accountable.

Mr. Price wants facts about “Fast & Furious” but all he has to do is fire up his computer bring up his favorite browser and he would find that The OIG investigation "revealed a series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment and management failures that permeated ATF Headquarters and the Phoenix Field Division, as well as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona and at the Headquarters of the Department of Justice."

The report also details serious mistakes in DOJ's response to congressional inquiries about "Fast and Furious."

The Inspector General's review has recommended 14 Justice Department and ATF officials for disciplinary and administrative review, including the head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. “What more does John Price want?
As for Benghazi,I heard the president and Hillary Clinton take responsibility . People like John don’t listen to hearings because if he had he would have found out why the state employees were not fired

During Wednesday’s House hearing on Benghazi, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) pressed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to explain why the four State Department employees cited for leadership failures prior to the attack were only placed on administrative leave and not fired.

“First, all four individuals have been removed from their jobs,” Clinton began. “Secondly, they have been placed on administrative leave. Thirdly, Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen highlighted the reason why this has been so complicated. Under federal statute and regulations, unsatisfactory leadership is not grounds for finding a breach of duty.”

“Fourth, I have submitted legislation to this committee and to the Senate committee to fix this problem so future ARBs (Accountability Review Board) will not face this situation. Because I agree with you, there ought to be more leeway given to the ARBs.”

In John Price’s series of  right –wing talking points he calls for a flat tax (done in the GOP House & Ways and Means Committee) but he probably doesn’t know how unfair that system would be on poor and the working middle class who usually pay ~6.0% tax effective rate.He’s all about trying to get all he can from the poor thinking it means he might have to pay less.  What are we going to do if the poor can’t come up with the 5-10 percent? That would be $600-$1200 John, are we going to jail them?

Yes, the Senate should produce a budget, and the house should produce one that won’t send us into a double- dip recession, and be unbearable for the poor. The Senate is current working on a budget, and they leaked that revenues will part of their proposal. Immediately, Mitch McConnell told the press that revenues would not get Republican votes. Even if they could get the 51 votes (reconciliation) to pass;it would be dead-on- arrival when it reaches the house. That’s we’ve had the continuing resolutions to keep the government running.

I don’t think President Obama would stand in the way of reforming Social Security and Medicare, but if you look at Paul Ryan’s plan to balance the budget in 38 years, he doesn’t lay out any specific plans, and that’s what’s missing from all the GOP proposals. Paul Ryan plan would send Medicaid block grants to the states, leaving them to tell the poor that there’s no money to take care of them.

In winding down, I want to give a tip-of-the hat to those principled Republicans who publicly stated that it was wrong for some GOP controlled states to rig the electoral process in their state. President Obama handily won states like Michigan,Ohio,Florida,Virginia,Pennsylvania  and Wisconsin but because of gerrymandered districts, Republicans control the governing bodies. Republicans are not blind they see the new demographics, and they know the don’t stand a chance of ever winning another national election, unless they make some changes. Some want redraw their districts, which is legal. Let me give you an illustration.Let’s take our area where we could divide Victoria into four congressional districts divide Jackson and Gonzalez by two giving the GOP 8 electoral votes based on winning those districts. Democrats usually live in big cities like Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Antonio,Houston, and Dallas, so that gives them only 4 electoral votes. If we go to a system like this, we can no longer laugh when a ruthless dictator in a third-world country  gets 99% of the vote.

28 comments:

Mike said...

This is the nonsense I'm talking about.

 Senator Ted Cruz said Chuck Hagel and John Kerry were not ardent fans of the military.
Both Hagel and Kerry are war heroes and Ted Cruz doesn't even have a boy scout badge;he never served in the military.....

I looked up Ted Cruz's bio and it's quite impressive ....I didn't know his dad fought for Fidel Castro but later fought against him....If things were turned Fox News would have feasted on that....lol

Edith Ann said...

If they are going to continue to let Ted Cruz do their talking, he will end up making Michelle Bachmann look positively sane!

I knew that about his dad, and you are right--FOX would have had a field day with that info on a Dem!

Edith Ann said...

Cruz is on C-SPAN right now pontificating on the future of conservatism. The applause is lukewarm at the National Review Institute event.

Oh, and he is such a liar!

Mike said...

Conservatism as Lawrence O'Donnell describes it, means to conserve .

Conservatives don't like change but the old guard was a lot more reasonable than today's
Tea Party version of conservatism.

The Tea Party didn't miss a beat when Senator DeMint left because he left three as looney as he was...Ted Cruz,Rand Paul and Ron Johnson.

Mike said...

It would be nice if things were like a scene from the movie "War Horse" where a German soldier and a British soldier stop fighting long enough to cut loose a horse that was tangled in barbed wire.....

Edith Ann said...

Meet the Press pretty good this morning. Jim DeMint is a hoot! Not.

This just occured to me--do you think there are folks in the republican party that look at Bobby Jindal and the others who are being critical of the party and who are moving away? If over half of America chooses the 'liberal' concept over a 'conservative' concept (republicans included), should we expect to see more RINOS? I think they are having a hard time accepting reality on this.

Edith Ann said...

I meant to say--the non-leader members of the party may be moving away. The average Joe. not the talking heads we see on TV, not the elected ones.

Mike said...

I couldn't stop laughing durning this mornings Meet the Press with super snake oil salesman Paul Ryan spouting his brand new talking points....Their week end retreat gave them the opportunity to rebrand their tactics rather than change them....The Ryan budget is an austerity one but he changed the definition to a more favorable he calls a growth one....Right now,Marco Rubio is working on trying to change the meaning of amnesty to try and fool his base.

I don't know about the locals but even thou they might not fully agree with Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh  but after 30 years of indoctrination,they can't abandon  the theory of supply side trickle down economics overnight.


Edith Ann said...

Nothing has changed locally, except for an escalation of old points, according to Facebook.

Mike said...

EA
I had recorded Meet the Press to watch after I got out of church, and I have to agree with you;it was one of the best shows ever, and it will be replayed on MSNBC at 12:00 PM and in the wee hours.

I've been very critical of David Gregory but this morning, he was very masterful in several instances of disputing a lot of Paul Ryan's partisan points... David looked Paul right in- the- eye and reminded him that in 2009 during the last inaugural ball. he and other Republican leaders were plotting to derail all the future policies of the new president. He also reminded Ryan that the "30% takers" he mentioned had to include recipients of and Social Security and Medicare or else the math would not have worked out.... Have you noticed that the GOP has picked up the Bill Clinton line about the math not matching up?

You could see the obvious animosity Ryan has towards President Obama, and he may not have realized that his words might be seen again if Hillary Clinton decides to run for president...He said that if Hillary Clinton(or Erskin Bowles even thou he voted against Simpson-Bowles) were president, a deal would have already been made. ...The GOP is running away from Mitt Romney, yet Paul Ryan said Mitt would have been a great presidnt...Says who?Paul Ryan, MTP is not Fox News where the viewers won't be told about the inconsistencies in your chart, talking points and previous statements.

Jim DeMint was pretty evasive and as lawyers like to say, "none responsive" when asked about Bobby Jindal's comment. He came back to the deficit and debt and the inner cities of Detroit and Chicago where he blamed liberal policies...Ted Koppel's face said it all in describing his reaction every time DeMint spoke probably thinking " Why is this guy even on the show." jim DeMint did a full Michelle Bachmann by not answering the question posed to her but instead chose to change the subject.

The national GOP are fear mongers and it trickes down to the locals.

I've noticed that David Gregory and others have said the president's speech was a liberal one and to be agreeable I went along. I'm thinking why is being for marriage equality,fair voting laws,clean air and water,equal pay -for equal pay and a concern about climate change considered liberal but I'll take it.

Mike said...

From Juanita Jean's great blog
http://juanitajean.com/

"Paul Ryan on Meet the Press —

“Look, if we had a [Hillary] Clinton presidency, if we had Erskine Bowles as chief of staff of the White House or president of the United States, I think we would have fixed this fiscal mess by now,” Ryan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

See ya in 2016, Paul.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

Edith Ann said...

The GOP has their work cut out for them, for sure, but the Dems better not relax for one minute! There is work to be done!

Mike said...

That's true but after we were defeated in 2004 we didn't deny the election results nor did we deny the message...It took us 2 years of soul searching and then in 2006 we took Congress and then in 2008 and 2012 the presidency while maintaining the senate...

Listening to Ryan and DeMint today it's as if their message resonated with the majority of voters ,when obviously, it did not.

There are a lot of unregistered Texas voters,enough to make us a swing state by 2016...The trick is getting them to register and then to the polling booth...I like the fact that Victoria is getting voter friendly by allowing to vote anywhere there's a polling place....every county should have a Mr.George Matthews...:-)

BTW I think a stronger GOP can only strengthens us because it keeps us sharp and on our toes..We don't want to get complacent just because the Tea Party has a 9% approval.

It is my opinion that most of our locals are Republicans by birth or default because they have no where else to go to because they are anti-Obama,anti-Democrat,anti-liberal or anti-government.

Edith Ann said...

I cannot disagree! And one of the priorities of the Dem Club and the Dem Party here in Victoria is getting folks registered.

I am going to George's meeting on Tuesday--I want to hear how the public is leaning. Wonder who will be there?

Mike said...

Good for the Dem. Club

Media is making a big deal of president doing a joint 60 Minute interview with Hillary Clinton...Chris Wallace thinks the president undermined Joe Biden supposed run for his 2016 run...Really? We are three years out from a campaign and Joe Biden is at the president's side every day...IMO ,if Hillary wants to run ,everyone will step aside,she has a 70% approval right now.

Edith Ann said...

They pick at what they can!

Somewhere this morning Andrea Mitchell said that if Hillary runs, she will have the way cleared.

She is very well liked, and the bonus could be Bill for Secretary of State! OMGosh!!!

Mike said...

Andrea Mitchell works for NBC so it had to be Meet the Press...:-)

The "Morning Joe" panel threw the interview out there for discussion but nothing new came of it....i love it when they say what the president should and shouldn't do ,yet he just won a second term.

A bipartisan immigration reform package emerged from the senate with a " path to citizenship" included but as Rep. Castro of Texas said "the devil is in the details." The package includes " path to citizenship" only after thresholds are met on border security and workplace enforcement...Rep. Castro said the metrics on those thresholds must be written down and not left to interpretation...The president will go to Nevada to roll out his plan and the then there the stumbling block-the House of Representatives.

I was surprised that John McCain went back to straight talk by admitting that the 2012 results was the primary reason for the recent GOP move...I mean most of us knew that but i didn't expect McCain to be so candid.

Mike said...

So much for the landmark 1954 Brown v the Board of Education because underneath all the smoke and mirrors,that's what school vouchers is all about....the private schools will get taxpayer money and the remaining public schools will have to fend for themselves or as how one right-wing Republican said"they can have bake sales."

born2Bme said...

Highly OT , but this is for you, Mike. Didn't know where else to put it and didn't want to sign in to the VA

http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=14252

Mike said...

Thanks a lot born and it's perfectly OK to submit anything you want.

Now,I'm even scarier than ever.

I'll stick to this blog even though I'm tempted to rebut some of the nonsense over @ VA..i.e. Obama is not a black man and Sage goes on express the most idiotic summation I've seen in a long time...And you know we seen some doozies.

Too many to discuss ,so I'm going "open tread" until Saturday..(maybe)

born2Bme said...

Mike, you can go rebut all you want, but I have a feeling that will draw that idiot back into the conversation, like it did when I posted.
But, you sure do bring common sense to any conversation.

Mike said...

She was trying to say Obama can't be black unless it passed he check off list..like had to raise around black people,can't be uprooted, have to have ties to slaves...How ignorant can people be?

She discounts his biological father (1st clue)and the steps he took in adulthood.

born2Bme said...

I wonder what would have happened if President Obama had been born with white skin? Somehow I doubt the skin color is the issue.
He's just not "exactly" like them, so he cannot be one of them.

Mike said...

Oh she would have a problem with Miriah Carey and she probably one of those who doesn't like hyphenated Americans...If she understood the different cultures;she wouldn't post the stupid things.

born2Bme said...

Heck, most of us are hyphenated Americans. I'm German-American.

It all goes back to skin tone.

Mike said...

I think it's more than skin tone because we've got to consider dialect,face characteristics, and culture to start...IMO

Mike said...

Everyday is a different battle and then they cry victim.

State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R) introduced a bill in the Texas House of Representatives on Thursday that would give tax breaks to companies that don't cover emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill, the Austin American-Statesman reports. Under Obamacare, company health insurance plans are required to fully cover employees' contraception costs, and companies must pay a federal fine if they do not.
The Texas bill, if it becomes law, could help wipe out the financial disincentive for some companies to not cover emergency contraception. The state tax break would be up to the total amount that companies pay in state taxes or the total amount of the federal fine, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Huffington Post

born2Bme said...

From emergency contraception to all contraception.
All I can say is that I'm glad I am as old as I am and my daughter is as old as she is.
Texas is being run by a bunch of d***-heads.