April 2014: A Big Month for Right-Wing 'Common Sense'

by Sunnyjane

The pervasive stench of right-wing lies, hypocrisy, deceit, fraud, hatred...

It's as if the earth stopped spinning on its axis for seven-hundred-twenty-hours and the entire month of April became one big, bad Tea Party Fools Day -- even with the House of Idiots in recess almost half of that time.  What, did John Boehner send out a memo reading: Just continue acting stupid until we get back.

From bigotry to indictments to more plagiarism to cruelly bungled prison executions, to an outbreak of foot-in-mouth disease, the GOPers seemed to find it necessary to further demonstrate what total fools they are.

So, in no particular order, let's review why April 2014 was a terrible, no-good, very bad month for the far-right idiots in this country.

Racism, The Musical

♫♪ Brothers, brothers, we go together like no others... ♫♪

-- Cliven Bundy, who made his Politicalgates debut just recently, has made it necessary to once again receive our attention.  In the ongoing saga out at the Bigot Ranch, where the cattle roam free on public land, there's now a clash between rival militias as to which of these anti-government groups will make the bigger asses of themselves because there's a civil war a'comin', y'all.  Well ain't that just dandy.

Similar to the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story, the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers are staring into the opposite gangs' gun barrels.  It seems that Oath Keepers are persona non grata because they walked away from the ranch after the BLM showdown, and the Three Percenters are calling them out for deserting the cause.  In fact, the leader of the Three Percenters has threatened the deserters with shooting them in the back.  This, um, leader, one Mike Vanderboegh, has also threatened to castrate Harry Reid.  It's all pretty icky, don't you think?  One peculiar thing, however, is how Mr. Vanderboegh is able to lead a gang of anti-government hooligans into onward-Christian-soldiers battle when he's been receiving a $1,300 a month disability check from, uh, the same government he says he doesn't want or need.  I admit it: I'm confused.

Residents around the area are being harassed and endangered by roaming gangs of well-armed out-of-state militiamen, and local law enforcement refuses to get involved.  In fact, à la Gov. Pontius Pilate, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has pretty much washed his hands of the whole thing.   

-- So then along came Donald Sterling -- who should know better -- telling his African-American/Mexican mistress, oh excuse me, personal assistant, that he doesn't want her to put photos of herself with The Blacks on any of her social media pages.  And gracious goodness, do not bring them to one of the Clippers games!

The NBA fined Sterling $2.5 million and took away all his basketballs for life.  Now both parties in this affair are speaking out.  Sterling wishes he'd just paid her off, and Stiviano says that while he should apologize for his remarks, he's actually not a racist and she is merely his silly rabbit.  I mean, does it get any tackier than this?

Actually, I have it on somewhat dubious authority that Sterling wants to sell the Clippers to  Bundy, who plans to rename the team the ShuckNJivers.  No, seriously...sort of.

Never Let that Christian Stuff Get in the Way of Your Stupidity

The Gospel According to Sarah Palin.  Amen.  Also. Too.

Possibly more blasphemous and cringe-inducing than her blood libel spoutrage after the January 2011 shootings in Tuscon, Sarah Palin earned herself a huge, well-deserved media wedgie recently by screeching that water-boarding (also known as torture) is the way America would baptize terrorists if she were in charge.  (Translation: If you numbskulls had just elected John McCain and me!)   The world over, those of every religion or no religion are breathing great sighs of relief and muttering, Well, thank God she's NOT in charge.

Granted, I'm no Biblical scholar, but I'm sure we'd have all heard about it if there were a passage where Jesus said, Let he who is without sin be the first to water-board people in my name.

Makes you wonder what Maverick Mac -- who was himself tortured in a Vietnam prison --  thinks of his North Star Nutjob now.  Looks like the Tea Party Republicans may need a new brand of diva.  Dontcha think?

Still Behaving Badly -- Very Badly

So how are those 2016 presidential aspirations going for you, Governor?

-- The fecal matter just keeps falling on Chris Christie's head these days.  There is now a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into a little fund-finagling going on in New Jersey.  Seems that in 2011, Christie had $1.8 Billion transferred from the Port Authority to New Jersey so that he could use it to fix some crumbling structures issues, thereby keeping a 2010 campaign promise not to raise taxes.

-- Congressman Michael Grimm from New York has been indicted on charges of mail and wire fraud, filing false tax returns and health care payments, hiring undocumented workers and obstruction of justice.  Of course, he's innocent because he's a moral man and this is all just a political witch hunt.  But you knew that, didn't you?  I guess he was also being a moral man when he threatened a reporter that he'd throw him off the balcony in the Capitol Building.

-- Crazy old Steve Stockman is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for some sort of, um, reporting error he made with the Federal Election Commission.  Of course, it probably doesn't make much difference, since he's not running again.

-- Congressman Vance McAllister, the guy who was caught on video in an extended lip-lock with a campaign staffer, has decided not to run for office this year.  Good idea.

--  It seems that North Carolina con artist pastor and senate candidate Mark Harris, who doesn't believe in the separation of church and state -- he openly begs his congregation for love offerings for his campaign -- has been lifting text from Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey's website for his own use.  You know, sort of like Rand Paul's little game of plagiarism?  Well, Paul got a little of his own back when Greg Brannon lifted text from his website.  Does it ever end?  Perhaps it doesn't matter; both Harris and Brannon (who was endorsed by Sarah Palin, of course) lost in their respective primaries.

When Voter Suppression Becomes a GOP Voter Obsession

Voters in two states got some relief in April from the repressive far-right ID laws.

--  In Wisconsin, the judge ruled that the requirement that voters show state-issued IDs imposed an undue burden on poor and minority voters.  He also pointed out that Gov. Scott Walker's team could not point to even one instance of voter fraud in Wisconsin in the recent past, saying, ...virtually no voter impersonation occurs in Wisconsin and it is exceedingly unlikely that voter impersonation will become a problem in Wisconsin in the foreseeable future.

--  Democratic Governor Mike Beebe vetoed the original bill, stating that, I cannot approve such an unnecessary measure that would negatively impact one of our most precious rights as citizens.  However, both chambers of the Arkansas legislature voted to overturn the veto, and opponents of the bill took it to court.  However, the court agreed with the plaintiffs that not only was it aimed unfairly at young, low-income, and minority voters, it was simply against the state constitution, which reads ...no power, civil or military, shall ever interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage; nor shall any law be enacted whereby such right shall be impaired or forfeited, except for the commission of a felony, upon lawful conviction thereof.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment is Unlawful -- Except in Oklahoma

Rabid pro-death penalty Governor Mary Fallin is so anxious to catch up with Rick Perry's execution numbers that she screwed the pooch on one recently.  After a panel of judges ruled that the execution should not take place because the potpourri of three drugs needed to do the job had not been tested, Fallin overruled them with an Executive Order.  (Why is it that when President Obama uses EOs he's an Imperialist, but when a Republican governor does it...well, never mind all that.)

With that sharply worded The Show Must Go On directive, the prisoner was strapped to the execution table in a timely manner and the death drugs were administered.  Well, everyone knows what happened, so I shall not repeat it.  Suffice it to say, it ended badly.  Fallin has called for a review of the procedure, but has stated that the next execution will take place as scheduled. Perhaps she is asking Perry for his recipe; I dunno.

Sick of the whole bunch yet?  Yeah, me too.

End Note

 

Why I am Here…. To Make Sure Sarah Palin and Others Like Her Never Represent Me.

Guest Post By Dusty

A few Saturdays ago I read a great comment by Avasmom ….I can thank Sarah Palin for one thing, that is the fact that she made me care again - care enough to make sure that no one like her ever represents me.

That comment in my opinion represents everyone who reads and who posts comments here. Making sure no one like her ever represents all of us is a common thread that brings all of us together.

There are many reasons why Sarah and others like her will never represent me or others like me but the main reason for me is quite simple. Maturity! Yep that is it just one simple little word maturity. I prefer to only support and vote for an individual who has actually matured enough to recognize that we have all been young, dumb and single at one time but have learned from the past and moved on.

Recently Sarah was in the headlines for something stupid and shallow and yet again the media protected and defended their cash cow.

My first thought on hearing Sarah had a one night stand with Glenn Rice before marrying Todd was so what?

Name me one person who hasn’t done something in their past that they wish would never see the light of day again. Remember first thoughts are often a lot like first impressions- not completely accurate. I’ll admit I was curious so I let my fingers do the tapping and to my complete shock and dismay I found the focus was not on her ethics or sheer hypocrisy it was the fact that she is white and he is black. If a person didn’t know better they would think they were hearing popping sounds all over the world that day as her followers heads were figuratively exploding due to their imagined horror of their Queen of Mean actually sleeping with, oh dear me can I really say it out loud, a black guy. It didn’t matter that Glenn Rice is an attractive athlete nope the only thing important was that he is black.

To borrow Sarah’s phrase UnFlippinBelievable! My second, third and fourth thoughts were Come on people, seriously in 2011 that is the only part that bothered you? First off for those unenlightened folks who follow, who report and also who back Sarah you all missed the point once again. No one should care or even make it a point to mention the color thing. Warning: Stop reading here if you are easily offended. A penis is a penis is a penis- doesn’t matter that color it is it is still just a penis. It is that simple folks. Be it green, yellow, black or white or even purple (you might want to call a doctor if it really is purple) it is still just a penis. What this country does not need is yet another race war or increased racial tensions again just because little white Sarah Palin when she was still young, stupid and single slept with a black guy, then freaked out about it while continuing to keep in contact with him up until she married Todd her supposed childhood sweetheart.

Next up is the reported cocaine use. Again who really cares it is in the past. However, here we go again with the Palins nothing can ever be so simple can it? Apparently she was for drug use before she was against it? Then Sarah has a meltdown over baby oil. Seriously Sarah, this one is almost too funny for words, baby oil freaks you out, but you are totally okay with pre-marital sex, cheating on your spouse, cheating on your taxes and fanning the flames of hate, but baby oil freaks you out? Oh dear, where to start, Louie? Sarah, baby oil has many more uses other than the one single use that totally freaks you out. However, there are people in this world who actually enjoy having sex and making love that is what mature people do Sarah. I guess Johnson & Johnson can’t wait for President (oh gag me) Palin to outlaw Baby Oil just think of the prices they can get for it on the black market.

As I was writing this this Kilob wrote this fantastic comment:

For more than three years residents of the US have been force fed a daily diet of Sarah Palin and her often reported perfect world. When the layers are pealed back we see well-constructed defenses of denial after denial even with overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Sarah Palins rosy world is riddled with thorny make believe dreams and outright fabrications. Top named media outlets to this day continue to take this woman at her word and extend a benefit of the doubt mentality. We as bloggers not only have a right to report the truth, we have a duty! Those reporting negatively about the Palin tell all manuscript need to ask themselves this question. What do the people speaking out about Palin have to gain? Absolutely nothing.

Now Sarah Palin is an X-rated late night television joke. Not very presidential is it? Anyone remember any other credible politician whose every statement must be vetted for the truth? Even if she said the sky is blue I am willing to bet anyone who truly understands her will look up to verify the sky is actually blue.

This was and still is the perfect time for the media to finally throw off their blinders and report on the total and complete hypocrisy that is Sarah Palin. It is time to report that what she claims to be the truth does not match her actions or her real beliefs. It is time for the media to say goodbye to the easy money that is Sarah Palin and start digging for the truth and earn back their readers/viewers trust. The first step would have been for the Today Show to have reported factually on the statement that came from the Palins. You know the one where the supposed mama grizzly should have issued a statement in her own words (gawd knows we wouldn’t have understood it anyway) using calm, adult language but instead she did what she does best when confronted with the truth she retreated and then sent Todd in for the attack.

Joe McGinnis says it best in the article for TheStar.com:

Todd Palin’s transformation from a hard-drinking, womanizing, cocaine-binging good ol’ boy to an emasculated but vindictive presence today. “Clearly, being reduced to the role of Chihuahua carried around in a rich lady’s purse is proving stressful for Todd.”

A Slice of America

By Leadfoot LA

It’s no secret that I have relatives in Ohio that subscribe to right-wing ideologies. I usually just ignore them and remain thankful that we are separated by geography so I don’t smack the stupid out of them.

But a recent exchange on Facebook with a pair of these relatives made me think about what we can do to overcome the misinformation that has become so pervasive and accepted as reality. Until we are able to combat the stupidity somehow, the left doesn’t stand a chance.

We are just a community of a few hundred people who meet on the Web to educate each other and vent, but we are smart and motivated. Maybe we can have a virtual brainstorm to figure out a way to shine the light on the truth. Even if we just change one mind on Facebook at a time, and then they change one mind….maybe we could make an impact. I don't want to complain anymore, I want to change things. I just don’t know where to start. So, I give you, an example of what we are up against.

I think you will be able to tell which one is me (click on pictures to enlarge):

That is where I threw up in my mouth and almost gave up. But I gathered my strength and decided that I had to do what I can to educate them. So I pressed on:

Oh lord, it is like debating with Willow and Bristol. The racism, it burns. It should be noted that my great grandfather emigrated here from Italy, and somehow THAT was okay. I was getting awfully tired of having my questions and valid points ignored while they threw Fox News talking points at me. But I’m not one to give up…

My aunt did not go to college, and my cousin Amanda dropped out of high school. So to them, I am the “elitist” West-Coast relative who is just a heathen bound for hell. I’ve also been called “spoiled” (because I have worked hard to improve my life?). I’m sure you all have similar tales. Those of us who educate ourselves somehow become the bad guys who want to “ruin this country.” How do we even begin to bridge the divide between us?! I don’t mean on a personal level – I don’t care that much and have written off any racist and religious fundamentalist relatives long ago. I mean on a national level. There is a humongous gaping divide. I wish I could see a way to close it.

UPDATE:Just as I predicted, I am a "know it all" because I went to college. And with that, I am done. I have read all your comments and sadly, I agree. You just can't fight stupid.