Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Earthquake Hits the "Old Dominion": Could It Be the Dominionists?"


With reports originating from Michelle Goldberg of the Daily Beast http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/14/dominionism-michele-bachmann-and-rick-perry-s-dangerous-religious-bond.html and helped spread by CNN's Cafferety File, http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/17/17612/ one has to wonder if Rick Perry and/or Michele Bachmann could possibly be behind today's 5.8 quake with its origin centered in the Commonwealth of Virgina or the "Old Dominion" as it is known to the locals.

It turns out that both of my favorite nattering nabobs of negativity, the Republican version of Frick and Frack, Punch and Judy and My Pal Joey, Michele "Batshit Crazy" Bachmann and Rick "the Prick" Perry are followers of a lunatic fringe Christian sect called Dominionism who seek Christian domination and control of the levers of power in governments throughout the world. The U.S. strain of this christian sect advocate replacing U.S. law with the laws of the Old Testament, including the death penalty for homosexuality and abortion, according to CNN.

Well now, isn't that quaint. It's just too bad that this news had not got out before so all of those Evangelicals, Methodists and Lutherans who supported either Bachmann or Perry in the Iowa Straw Poll had known of their candidates' ties to the Protestant version of the Da Vinci Code.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Pawlenty Postscript: Path To Presidency Ends In Iowa For T-Paw


Much like our Alma Mata's football team in recent years, a Minnesota Gopher's aspiration to move on to something bigger and better ended after a long Saturday afternoon in Iowa. Not including the very notable exception of last year's incredible upset victory, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team had won only one other time in its last ten tries in its annual match up for the bronze pig trophy known as Floyd of Rosedale. It must not count for much consolation to Pawlenty supporters that although Floyd is back in Minnesota, T-Paw leaves his scalp behind in Ames.

Watching my old law school classmate announce on ABC's This Week that he was abandoning the path to the presidency brought on mixed emotions for me. From a pragmatic perspective, Pawlenty's decision made a lot of sense. The people, as inbred and stupid as the base of the Republican party in Iowa is, and although the straw poll does not mean that the voters have made up their minds, they have decided one thing, it sure ain't Pawlenty. Although I have given my old classmate from 1L Civil Procedure class his share of grief over the years for various knuckle head decisions, perhaps the biggest being single handedly reviving the most corrupt organization in the state's history, the Metro Gang Strike Force, there were times that Pawlenty rose to the occasion as Governor and showed sparks that he could ignite national, perhaps presidential potential. The 35W bridge collapse aftermath and his leadership in creating a state web site to facilitate state residents purchasing prescription drugs from Canada, over the Bush administration's objections, immediately come to mind. But alas for Pawlenty, it was not to be.

What is most surreal is the way or should I say by whom he was done in by. It obviously must burn Pawlenty to the core that his chance to grasp at the brass ring that is the presidency was moved out of reach by a most unlikely, even comical, character in the form of Minnesota 6th District Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann. To all Minnesotans, except the brain dead constituents of places like Hugo (Minnesota's version of Bug Tussle) Bachmann is one big scary joke. Scary because the rest of the nation cannot see through her thinly veiled megalomania and utter lack of credibility.

Even the slightest scratch at Bachmann's surface and the whole facade starts crumbling into a heap of rubble. Bachmann touts that she is a lawyer and tax attorney. While technically this may be true, she did get her degree from the no longer existent Oral Roberts Law School, which went bankrupt after the founder's unsuccessful attempt at extorting donations by ascending the school's giant folded hands prayer tower and threatening not to come down until his demands were met. Kinda reminiscent of the Tea Baggers breath holding in Congress over the debt ceiling. Boy that really worked for old Oral and for the U.S. credit rating now didn't it.

At least Oral Roberts Law School could salvage something by holding a fire sale of the school's law library, a framed pictograph of the Ten Commandments stolen from the wall of the local Oklahoma county courthouse, to none other than Pat Robertson's start up joke of a law school, Regents University in Virgina Beach, VA. A review of state and federal court records turned up no more than two references to any matter Bachmann was associated with. Her own biography acknowledges she gave up the practice of law after just two years to raise a family, paid for of course by the state and federal government in the form of medicaid/medicare benefits paid to her husband's christian "counseling" service.

Although perceived by Iowans as something of a sore loser and/or as having sharp elbows after last weeks debate, Pawlenty's "too little, too late" critique of his fellow Minnesotan was just that, but also right on target. Pawlenty has at least laid the groundwork for his fellow GOP presidential hopefuls to make short work of the right wing fluff and no substance that is Michele Bachman. And for that, Timmy, we thank you.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Self-Fullfilling Prophecy: S & P Lowers U.S. Credit Rating

Who says self-fullfilling prophecies don't pay? Obviously not the Republicans, specifically those of the Tea Bag variety and the American people will be paying and paying for it for years to come.

You don't like the bump upwards on the interest you pay on your home mortgage, auto loan, monthly revolving store credit? Thank the Republicans.

Now before you start mouthing the Republican talking points of "...it's the Democrats and President's fault for not cutting spending more", may I remind those of you who cannot form an original, independent thought, that the President, Leader Reid and Speaker Boehner had a deal, a "grand bargain" if you will that would have provided cuts of over $4 Trillion Dollars, an amount mentioned by Standard & Poor rating service as required to stave off the possible lowering of our credit rating as a nation.

At one point you had hints from all sides that a deal was close to done several weeks ago. But what happened? A little arrogant jerk by the name of Kantor barged in on the discussions and purposely derailed a deal in the making at the behest of greatest plague to American politics since the Klan and the Know Nothings.

This all but guarantees sending the economy back into a double dip recession. So rather than be resented by your less intelligent, Republican friends by saying something like "I told you the stimulus was not enough" instead take the high road, smile and say "Thank you Tea Baggers, you got your wish".

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Debt Ceiling Debacle: A More Accurate Method of Assessing Responsibility

For nearly two years now we have been hearing from the know-nothing Republicans and Tea Baggers how President Obama is to blame for the financial deficits which they believe pose an imminent harm to the nation. Never mind the fact that most economist believe that we should still be stimulating the economy to create jobs and get us over the hump that is the possibility of a double dip recession.

Now the Congressional Budget Office has provided the statistics which clearly reveal that the lions share of the increases to the deficit, $5.07 Trillion Dollars of it was as a result of the George W. Bush administration's policies. Compare this to a paltry $1.44 Trillion which came as a result of President Obama's and his administrations policies. The rest of the 14.6 Trillion deficit was inherited by both administrations.

The New York Times has laid this information out in an easily digestible format at http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24editorial_graph2.html?ref=sunday

So to all the Republicans and Tea Baggers out there I have just one thing to say, remember the words of the late great Bo Diddley aka Elias McDaniel:

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
You say I've been buyin' another woman clothes, but you've been talkin' to someone else
I called your mama, 'bout three or four nights ago
I called your mama, 'bout three or four nights ago
Your mama said, "Son, don't call my daughter no more"
Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
You say I've been buyin' another woman clothes, but you've been takin' money from someone else
Come on back home, baby; try my love one more time
Come on back home, baby; try my love one more time
You've been gone away so long, I'm just about to lose my mind