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GOP Civil War Heats Up As Boehner Boots Insurgent Teabaggers From Committee Positions

It looks like, having dodged the bullet and won his third term as Speaker of the House, John Boehner is going to be doing some House cleaning. And on the short list of clutter to be marginalized are the hardcore Tea Baggers who tried to oust him on inauguration day.

I’m half-heartedly cheering for John Boehner of all people. I may need a drink.

Up to this point, Boehner has been unusual as a Speaker of the House. Political has said he comes from the “Montessori school of managerial style,” after Italian educator Montessori who believed in constructivism and independent learning, and they did it for good reason: Boehner’s gifted the Tea Party/Kamikaze Caucus unusual freedom to do what they wanted to during the 112th and 113th Congresses.

But those days are over, and Boehner looks like he’s pulling some pilot’s licenses.

It starts with Daniel Webster; the Florida freshman who was part of the 2010 wave of Tea Party crackpots. Webster made the decision to try to unseat Boehner a few days ago, trying to work around Boehner’s back to get votes against him. Prior to this, Webster had been given campaign funds from a PAC that Boehner led, and had been award a prized position on the House Rules Committee.

But he who giveth, can taketh away:

After he secured his third term as speaker Tuesday afternoon, losing 25 votes on the House floor to some relatively unknown members of the Republican Conference, Boehner moved swiftly to boot two of the insurgents from the influential Rules Committee. That could be just the start of payback for the speaker’s betrayers, who might see subcommittee chairmanships and other perks fall away in the coming months.

Boehner’s allies have thirsted for this kind of action from the speaker, saying he’s let people walk all over him for too long and is too nice to people who are eager to stab him in the back. The removal of Florida Reps. Daniel Webster and Richard Nugent from Rules was meant as a clear demonstration that what Boehner and other party leaders accepted during the previous Congress is no longer acceptable, not with the House’s biggest GOP majority in decades.Webster and Nugent are only the first names on that list; Politico notes that it didn’t take more than a few hours for Boehner to knock them out of the power structure they were once part of. And that’s two less hardcore Tea Partiers to drive America into the dirt occupying influential positions in the House.

A name not on that list this year is an even more hard-core Tea Bagger, who joined the mutiny at the beginning of the 113th Congress but voted for Boehner yesterday. In doing so, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) caught flack, with the hard-right calling him “another establishment RINO.” He got so much criticism that he needed to issue a statement, which can be read in full here. In the statement, he noted that it was pointless to try and gain “leverage” over Boehner, or “somehow force him to lead in a more conservative fashion” despite the failed revolt. According to him, the exact opposite happened when they tried that party trick two years ago, and Boehner was free without conservatives hamstringing him:

All I can say to that is that the exact opposite happened two years ago: conservatives were marginalized, and Boehner was even freer to work with moderates and Democrats. My guess is that the exact same thing will happen again now. And I fail to see how that helps anything that conservatives know needs to be done in Washington.

So what’s with the sudden change of heart?

Prior to now, Boehner needed to keep the 20-some problem children in Congress who represented the Kamikaze Caucus happy. He didn’t have a huge enough majority that he could afford to marginalize them too far, so he gave them some leverage in exchange for votes.

With the sudden surge of Republicans in the House, however, that’s no longer the case. Now that he doesn’t need their votes, he can exact some of that Old Testament-style retribution on the clown posse that keeps acting up. Webster and Nugent didn’t take that into consideration before they attempted to lead a mutiny, and the rest of the Kamikaze Caucus may need to take note: you’re no longer indispensable.

Tea Party Presidential Hopeful Ben Carson Busted Plagiarizing From ‘SocialismSucks.Net’

BuzzFeed is at it again. After calling attention to passages in Senator Rand Paul’s 2013 book, Government Bullies, that were lifted verbatim from a Heritage Foundation Study, the website is now honing in on Dr. Ben Carson’s 2012 book, America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great. 

Some of the segments of the book that BuzzFeed highlights all draw from an un-cited source: socialismsucks.net, a website that started in 2002 but is now down. Researching a cached page on Archive.org on the history of socialism reveals the multi-paragraph plagiarism. It includes this passage below, from Carson’s book:

Anytime you give to government the responsibility and authority to provide government-made jobs, old-age financial security, “free” health care, and “free” education and indoctrination of children, it will control the lives of the people who live under its jurisdiction, and individual liberty and freedom of choice are sacrificed.

Looks like Carson could’ve used a little more “indoctrination” in the art of not plagiarizing.

It doesn’t end there, though; BuzzFeed also found passages from The Five Thousand Year Leapby W. Cleon Skousen. If that name sounds familiar to you, that’s because Skousen’s books have made waves before (relevant part bolded):

The book, for the record, tells the “story of slavery” by quoting “historian” Fred Albert Shannon at length; on particular quotation talks of white boys who envy the freedom of black slave children, and described newly sold slaves as “a cheerful lot.” It also said that abolitionists spread false rumors about the mistreatment of black slaves, and states that “slave owners were the worst victims of the system.”

Arizona schools were pushing his book, The Five Thousand Year Leap, in 2014. Skousen was a byproduct of the absolute worst of the 1950s, and good god if that’s not saying something. This odious human being was an ardent supporter for the John Birch Society, a historical revisionist, a New World Order conspiracy theorist, and an end-times crackpot. This also isn’t the first time Carson has had a run in with Skousen’s books, either; he was shilling for The Naked Communist on Fox back in July.

Sealey Yates, a spokes person for Carson, told BuzzFeed that “If it is determined that additional citations or attribution are required, the appropriate revisions will be made in subsequent printings.”

Judging by the BuzzFeed article, they’re going to need a lot more attributions.

The Republican Party and the Continued Rise of the “American Taliban”

In the past I’ve written a couple of articles professing my belief that the Republican party, especially the tea party aspects of it, have become a domestic terrorist group. On the recently ended HBO show The Newsroom, character Will McAvoy (played by Jeff Daniels) referred to them as the “American Taliban,” and I think that’s a perfect way to describe this ever-growing group of right-wing radicals.

Just think about this for a moment. These are people (and there are millions of them) who honestly believe that we are allowed to own guns largely for the purpose of one day violently overthrowing our government. I’ve never quite understood how these conservatives can call themselves “patriots” by hating over half the American population (liberals, minorities, homosexuals and followers of any other religion other than Christianity), loathing the very government our Constitution created and often talking about the possible need to rise up in an armed rebellion to violently overthrow elected officials. 

And it’s not as if this is some “sudden movement.” Most of these “strongly Republican gun-loving states” are the very same ones that nearly tore this country in half during the Civil War fighting for their right to own other human beings as property. So let’s not act as if this anti-government rhetoric is simply rooted in their dislike for “liberal ideologies and big government.” Southern conservatives have hated and opposed our government for generations.

But even when you just look at the last 6 years, the GOP has done just about everything it possibly could since President Obama moved into the White House to stall any and all possible economic progress. Whether it was trying to hold our debt ceiling hostage, blocking several jobs bills and even shutting down our government, Republicans have done just about everything within their power to obstruct our economy hoping that it would pay off for them politically. Which it did, in some ways.

And now that they’re about to have even more power, I can damn sure promise you that they’re going to spend the next two years doing whatever they can to hold back our economy. Sure, they’ll use a lot of talking points while spewing the word “jobs” and other right-wing propaganda to hide this fact, but the last thing they’ll want to do over these next two years is help our economy continue to grow.

Why would they? If our economy continues to grow, that would almost all but doom their chances in 2016. Their only real hope to get a Republican in the White House two years from now is to try to slow down (or outright crash) our economy, hoping that people will blame it on President Obama – and in turn his party – and that they’ll get a huge advantage heading into our next presidential election.

The last things Republicans want to see these next two years is for our unemployment rate to drop near or blow 5 percent and see another 4-5 million jobs created.

And if you doubt me, just look at what they’ve done with the Affordable Care Act. Instead of working with the president to make the law better, to help millions of Americans gain access to health care, they’ve done just about everything they possibly can to sabotage the law at every turn. Then they have the gall to stand there and point to the “failures of Obamacare” when most of the issues we’ve had with the law are due in large part to the compromises we had to make with Republicans when the law was being written, and the shenanigans many state governments have been playing to try to obstruct the law at the local level.

It’s like I’ve said before, Republicans want a massive collapse of this country. They want our government to be so inefficient, so corrupt and so disliked that Americans do “rise up” in some sort of rebellion so that they can try to remake this nation in the image that they want – which is essentially a Christian theocracy full of gun nuts.

The question I always like to ask conservatives is, why would Republicans actively try to help make our government more efficient and trustworthy when a large premise of their entire political platform is based upon how inefficient and corrupt our government is?

The nonsense conservatives actually believe is absolutely absurd.

And while I’m not saying that the Republican party is some blood-thirsty terrorist group that wants to kill Americans, I do honestly believe that they are in large part a group of individuals who are actively rooting for the failure of the United States. Because that’s the only way they can get what they want, which is a complete teardown of this country so that they can try to turn it into the Christian theocracy that they’ve always wanted.

Unfortunately for them, the Constitution as it stands now prevents them from doing that. And sadly for all of us, they just can’t seem to come to grips with that fact.

Tea Partiers Protest At White House: 'Hang The Lying Kenyan Traitor'

Tea partiers shouted obscene, racist chants on Wednesday while gathered outside of the White House to protest President Obama's executive actions on immigration.

Right Wing Watch reported that among the shouts, captured on video by one of the activists, protestors could be heard calling for the hanging of Obama.

"Hang the lying Kenyan traitor!" one protester could be heard saying in the video.

"Plenty of trees in the front yard," another said. "Wouldn't be the first one hung on one of them trees."

"We've got rope," said another.

"Don't snap his neck, you pull him up watch him choke to death," someone else said.

The rally was meant to show support for a group of sheriffs who were supposed to meet on the Hill later Wednesday in an effort to voice opposition to the immigration actions, according to theRight Wing Watch. The rally was reportedly only attended by about two dozen people, the site reported.

Watch the video below, via Right Wing Watch:

Republicans Treat Their Voters Like Absolute Idiots – And Conservatives Eat it Right Up

It goes without saying that I watch a lot of news. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of the mainstream media, it’s still a source that can be used along with others to get some decent information. Though with each passing year the quality gets worse and worse – but that’s what happens when you allow your news to be driven by ratings instead of content.

I have to admit, the “news” channel that I watch the most is Fox News. Believe it or not, it’s a great channel from which to get information. Typically, whatever they’re saying, just believe the opposite. It’s also the best source for knowing what conservative voters will be saying next, because I can guarantee you whatever nonsense Fox News is pushing will soon be parroted by nearly every conservative from all across the country.

Though I don’t really view Fox News as actual “news” – it’s right-wing entertainment. Their content isn’t driven by facts; instead it’s driven by what conservatives want to hear.

The Republican party and right-wing media absolutely loves the stupidity of the average conservative voter. They don’t even try to hide the fact that they treat these people like mindless sheep. Right now the GOP is up in arms over Obama’s executive actions on immigration, when all he’s done is take action to give human beings who are already here and meet certain criteria the chance at becoming American citizens. He didn’t use a pen to pass sweeping immigration reform and redefine what it means to be an “American citizen.” He simply made it possible for these people who want to meet these guidelines to be able to earn the right to become a citizen.

That’s it. It boils down to treating these people like actual human beings.

It’s not Amnesty – it’s a path to citizenship. These people won’t be granted instant citizenship just for being here. They’ll have to meet the criteria and adhere to the process for becoming an American citizen, and if they don’t, they won’t be granted citizenship.

But the truth is had House Republicans even attempted to pass immigration reform, none of this would have been needed. So while conservative voters are “outraged” at President Obama for issuing these executive actions, they should really be ticked off at their own party for doing absolutely nothing about immigration since they took power in the House in 2010.

By the way, included in Obama’s plan is added resources for border security, but you sure won’t hear that mentioned much (if at all) on Fox News.

But even if you just look at the bigger “names” conservatives trust, it’s an absolute joke. People like Sean Hannity, Matt Drudge, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh – all bottom-feeding propagandists. These are individuals who thrive on saying some of the most outrageous crap because they know conservatives won’t question it.

Benghazi is another great example of right-wing hysteria driving “news.” The House Intelligence Committee just released their latest report showing what liberals have been saying for well over a year now: There was no Benghazi conspiracy, or cover up, driven by the Obama administration. 

Though this report was released on a Friday before a big holiday and it was hardly even mentioned by anyone on Fox News, so most conservatives will never hear much about it. But it’s just another debunked lie in a growing list that have been pushed by the right-wing media.

And none of these lies would even be remotely possible if it weren’t for the fact that Republicans clearly believe conservative voters are idiots.

Things like “death panels,” doubts about Obama’s citizenship, supposed links to the Muslim Brotherhood and many other nefarious and outrageous claims about the president that only complete fools could possibly believe. These aren’t conspiracies that have been pushed by the fringe parts of the right-wing media. These are topics that have been heavily promoted by not just the mainstream conservative media, but elected Republican officials as well.

And no matter how many of these ridiculous conspiracies continue to get debunked by facts and reality, conservative voters continue to eat up new lies one right after another.

Tea Party Speaks Out Against Net Neutrality, Has No Idea What They’re Talking About

Net Neutrality is one of the most important features of the Internet. With the Internet quickly becoming the backbone of civilization, open and free access for everyone is pertinent for continued survival of the Information Age.

Which is apparently why the Tea Party is against it. The Tea Party group FreedomWorks came out against Net Neutrality on Wednesday, verbally attacking it in a new video after — surprise, surprise — President Obama announced strong support for regulations that require Internet providers like Comcast treat all web traffic equally.

Just to be clear here, the Baggers are now defending Comcast and AT&T.

This also means that, in due course, your Fox-addled Tea Party relatives will be claiming that Net Neutrality is the product of Soviet Germany under Stalin and Hitler.

Iris Somberg, the communications coordinator for FreedomWorks, said in the video that Net Neutrality doesn’t support a “free and open Internet.” According to Somberg, Net Neutrality regulations would prohibit providers from blocking or slowing down access to any websites or online services. Because the ability of corporations to block or slow down service to websites constitutes a “free and open Internet” to these people. I could make remarks comparing this to Nineteen-Eighty-Four, but at this point, I’m almost certain they’ve read it and made the collective decision to one up Orwell.

According to Somberg, this is bad because the “web content isn’t equal“:

The same speed, the same prices, the same access, but all web content isn’t equal. Netflix is not the same as a high school blog, and YouTube certainly isn’t the same as Facebook. They serve very different purposes and they have very different needs.

By dictating that all these sites be treated the same, Net Neutrality makes small companies that don’t take up much bandwidth at all pay more so that big companies can pay less. That’s not the kind of equality the Internet needs.

Nobody took the time to explain how the Internet works to her, did they?

Here’s a better analogy: A dump truck, a bus, and a sports car are not the same thing. But they’re all served by better roads; the better the roads, the better they can all function. Making sure the roads are repaired equally, not just for the bus or the dump truck because the bus or the dump truck can afford to pay more — that’s Net Neutrality. If any Tea Baggers in the audience need me to get out the road rug and the toy cars and trucks to make the analogy more concrete, I can.

She added that “Net neutrality is not a level playing field. It’s an anti-competitive policy that protects the Internet’s biggest companies at the expense of everyone else.”

Now that is some impressive mental gymnastics. Who benefits if Net Neutrality goes away? Certainly no the high school blog, I’ll tell you that right now. Free speech is money, and if you can’t pony up the money to pay for the service, too bad — no freedom for you.

Republicans have also strongly denounced Net Neutrality, just in case you thought FreedumbWorks was somehow alone. And given the fallout from earlier this month, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the year that we buried Net Neutrality. Great job, America. Your choice continues to impress me.

You can watch the video below:

Cliven Bundy Admits He Almost Got a Bunch of People Killed Over His Refusal to Pay Bills

In a rare instance of Cliven Bundy doing something that approaches honesty, the Welfare Cowboy opened up to the Las Vegas Review-Journal about his role in nearly causing hundreds of his fellow “patriots” to die horribly.

Bundy is the subject of a federal investigation into the armed standoff between Bundy’s clan of hatriots and the Federal Government that could result in criminal charges against the rancher.

In the mean time, Bundy says he is enjoying the peace and quiet as he continues to bilk taxpayers out of money.

“One thing that’s happened is, since the standoff, we’ve really enjoyed some liberty and freedoms out here,” Bundy said in an October 30 interview with the Review-Journal, claiming that the armed uprising drove out “overreaching government policing agents.”

“Since the standoff, we haven’t seen one BLM vehicle on any of these country roads around this ranch,” Bundy said. “We haven’t seen one BLM ranger. We haven’t seen one (National) Park Service ranger. We haven’t really seen any undercover-type people. We haven’t seen snipers on top of our hills. We haven’t seen high-tech communication equipment. We haven’t seen any of those things.”

However, he does admit that his leadership of a number of armed and insane militiamen almost cost his supporters their lives. “One backfire of a vehicle, one firecracker, one somebody makes a crazy gunshot — it was that close, and it could have been either side’s fault. It could have been We-The-People’s fault, or it could have been the government agency’s fault,” Bundy said. “If that would have happened, there would have probably been lots of people maybe killed.”

Interestingly, Bundy denied that guns played a role in “We-the-People’s” fight against the ‘oppressive’ government agents attempting to enact a legal court order.

“I never did handle this thing with guns,” he said. “If you go back over my record through the last 20-something years, you never see me pointing a gun at anybody. … We had plenty guns running up and down this hill. We had BLM and Park Service, and Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife and all of those people.”

Bundy says that her worries the United States government will come back with the Army to take control of his ranch, and that some “environmental wacko” will “basically try to take my life or something like that?”

The Welfare Cowboy wonders what he could possibly be charged with following his armed insurrection. “What are they going to charge me with? When you start talking about who the criminal is, if somebody is going to put handcuffs on me and take me to jail, what’s going to be the crime” he asked.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve paid my grazing fees to a proper government. So why should I pay my grazing fee to the United States government? They have no jurisdiction and authority, or own the land,” Bundy continued. “If I owe so damn much money, like $1.2 million, why don’t they bill me?”

“I question their jurisdiction and authority. Since when does the federal court have jurisdiction and authority over Nevada state land?” he asked. Of course, Nevada’s state constitution gave control of unallocated public land to the federal government when the state was formed — something Bundy, as a “states’ right” guy, should know.

Republican C-SPAN Caller Admits 'Republicans Hate That N***er Obama'

C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" is a relatively open forum where political junkies can literally voice their opinions and be heard by countless cable watchers. It's been on the air for decades, and is now hosted by the network's political editor and senior producer, Steve Scully.

This morning, one caller tested the open forum limits and was expertly cut-off after using a vile and offensive slang term for African American, as Talking Points Memo first reported this morning.

"I would just like to say, that the Republicans -- and I'm a Republican -- please do not overreach," a man who said he was Anthony from San Diego, California, began. "I know they're going to overreach but I'm telling you, if you advocate for the repeal of Obamacare and you get too extreme, then Hillary Clinton will be elected President in 2016."

"This is about race," Anthony said. "The Republicans hate that nigger Obama."

Steve Scully quite professionally interrupted Anthony.

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you there," Scully said. "We're not gonna use that kind of language."

"You can certainly make your point, but you cross the line when you use language like that," Scully instructed. "And so to our viewers and listeners, I want to apologize."

Racism and extremism are no strangers to the GOP. 

As The New Civil Rights Movement reported just this week, a new study looked at anti-minority attitudes and proved "racial resentment" is more of a factor in the Tea Party movement than actual conservatism. That study found "conservatives who were more racially resentful were substantially more likely to claim Tea Party movement membership." 

Watch:

A Minister From Thom Tillis’ State Tells Us What To Expect After The Election Results

To say I’m disappointed with the outcome of the U.S. mid-term elections is to massively understate the emotion connected to my understanding of what the results mean.

I do believe there is much to be learned from this mid-term election.

The most significant lesson is that in the US we are well past the tipping point: money is voice and power. We’ve been steadily on our way to that point, but we’ve finally arrived at our destination.

Congratulations?

You only need to look at the early polls in my home state, North Carolina, to see the real and devastating impact. Early on in the Senate race between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis, when the public “debate” was still focusing somewhat on what they stood for and their accomplishments in office, Hagan seemed to be the likely winner. With the draconian laws passed under Tillis’ leadership in the N.C. House of Representatives it is easy to understand why.

Enter the Koch brothers, or more specifically their money.

Me Speak English Good: When Homophobes Fail With Their Antigay Signage

A couple in Meridian, Idaho made headlines last week after painting antigay statements on the back of their pickup truck then cruising around town.

Justin and Melanie Sease told their local news station that they’ve made it their personal mission to protest marriage equality in the state of Idaho because, they say, if they don’t, “homosexual extremists” will “spread like a cancer.”

One of the things the couple wrote on their vehicle were the words “HOMOsexuality is a sin and a [sic] abomination.”

Bless their hearts, the Seases didn’t seem to notice their error: “a abomination” should be “anabomination.”

According to Melanie, the couple now receives all sorts of “waves, smiles, or honks” when they’re out driving.

“They like that we’re takin’ a stand for the voters in Idaho and for the heavenly Father,” Justin added.

Perhaps.

Or perhaps they’re trying to alert the Seases to the embarrassing grammatical error splashed across the back of their rusted out Chevy.

Check out these other times when homophobes completely failed with their antigay signage.

Colorado Dems Caught James O’Keefe Red-Handed Trying to Bait Them Into Committing Voter Fraud

Conservative activist James O’Keefe has apparently been busy in Colorado, attempting to lure Democratic campaign staffers working to re-elect Senator Mark Udall into approving the state’s universal vote by mail law to commit voter fraud.

Last week, a man who appeared to be in his 20s went to the Democratic field office in Boulder and volunteered to work on the campaigns of Udall and Representative Jared Polis (D-CO). According to the staffer, the man identified himself as “Nick Davis” and claimed to be a student at the University of Colorado-Boulder and a LGBT activist affiliated with a group called Rocky Mountain Vote Pride.

The staffer said that during the conversation “Davis” asked about filling in and mailing ballots for students who no longer lived on campus but who still received mail there. The staffer told him that doing that would be voter fraud and that he should not do it.

On Friday after an appearance on the Boulder campus by Udall with Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA) another staffer reported that a woman who called herself “Bonnie” inquired about filling out blank ballots found in trash cans and mailing them in. Again the staffer advised against it telling her that it was illegal.

Also on Friday “Nick Davis” returned to the Boulder field office with a man wearing a fake mustache and heavy makeup who he introduced as “John Miller” a civics professor at UC-Boulder saying that he was the faculty advisor to Rocky Mountain Vote Pride. The pair picked up some Udall campaign literature and canvassing information and left.

On Monday O’Keefe Tweeted a photo of himself with a mustache saying that he had recently disguised himself “as a 45 yo” as a part of one of his “investigations” suggesting that he had found some sort of unspecified illicit behavior.

O’Keefe and two others also targeted the offices of an independent progressive group, New Era Colorado. Executive director Steve Fenberg reported that the men came to the group’s Fort Collins office on Saturday claiming to represent the Rocky Mountain Vote Pride group and carrying Udall campaign literature. Staff met them at the door and turned them away as it is illegal for private activist organizations to coordinate with a political campaign. As he so often does O’Keefe was attempting to manufacture evidence of illicit behavior where none exists.

The Vote Pride organization seems to consist of a very basic website with little information except for a link directing the viewer to the group’s Facebook page which says that the group was founded in 2012. The Facebook page was set up in July of this year and has only a few postings the latest being from August.

WHY WIN THE SENATE WHEN YOU CAN STEAL IT?

Right-wingers love to interpret the Constitution as they see fit. The 1st amendment protects religion, as long as that religion is Christianity. The 2nd amendment was written by God himself and needs no interpretation. The 10th amendment allows states to toss Federal law aside if they don’t like it, and the 14th amendment is the crazy sister locked in the attic that nobody should talk about, since it supersedes the 10th.

The latest constitutional “corruption” opposed by the constituency of crazy comes in the form of a lawsuit out of Texas (go figure), claiming that the 17th amendment, taking election of the senate from state legislatures and giving it to the people, was never properly ratified and therefore is null and void.

The proposed amendment, passed by congress in 1912 and ratified by thirty-six states in 1913, was formally declared by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, officially making it the 17th amendment. Executive action isn’t required in the ratification of an amendment.

The lawsuit claims that two states, California and Wisconsin, never properly ratified the amendment.

Devvy Kidd, conservative blogger and author of the lawsuit, says that Wisconsin changed some of the text before ratifying, and that California never actually voted.

The reality is that Wisconsin observes the 17th amendment as written regardless of any changes it may have suggested, and while conservatives contend that nobody can find the actual vote by California to ratify, nobody can find any reason to believe California didn’t ratify, especially since the state itself hasn’t offered any resistance. They seem content to accept that they did in fact ratify in 1913.

There is no time limit on ratification of an amendment. The amendment becomes a part of our Constitution when three quarters of the states ratify. In many cases, after ratification, remaining states have been content to abstain, since an amendment becomes the law of the land regardless of their decision at that point. In the case of the 17th amendment, five states ratified after its adoption, bringing the number of states ratifying to forty-one.

The motive behind the lawsuit is clear. If the 17th amendment was tossed out by the federal judiciary, the landscape of the current senate would change dramatically. In a study conducted by the National Constitution Center, under the rules set forth by article V of the Constitution, Republicans would hold fifty-eight seats in the senate, Democrats forty-one, with one seat deadlocked. Republicans would be just 2 votes short of the super-majority needed to overcome the filibuster rule.

The underlying elephant in the room, pun intended, is that if it were ruled that the 17th amendment was invalid, every senate after 1913 and every law passed since then would also be invalid.

Consider the ramifications of that. Having gerrymandered their way to a red house of representatives and stolen the senate, the Republican Party would be one presidential election away from being able to rewrite one hundred plus years of federal law.

Until then our country would be deadlocked and in a state of perpetual lawlessness. Social Security would cease to exist. Tax code would disappear. Wall Street and corporate America would be free from a century of common sense regulation and the environment would go unprotected. The Civil Rights Act. Public assistance. All international treaties. The list is far too long for a single article.

No worries, though. Certainly the Republican-led congress would act with the same air of fairness and equality they are so well-known for.

Wisconsin Teapublican Jackhole Wants to Abolish the Weekend, Headed for Congress

Glenn Grothman is a Tea Party Republican state senator in Wisconsin who is now running for congress in the 6th district. He is known for speaking bluntly and is not hesitant to share his most outrageous opinions.

Grothman is likely to win the race in the solidly Republican district and he will certainly bring his radical ideas to Washington with him, hoping to impose them on the entire nation and not only one state.

In January Grothman proposed that the state’s law requiring that workers must have at least one day a week off be repealed, saying that time off work is “a little ridiculous.” He told theHuffington Post that the law as it stood was “a little goofy” suggesting that many people want to work seven days a week and don’t want any time off.

In 2010 Grothman proposed a law that would ban sex education teachers in Wisconsin schools from mentioning homosexuality because he thinks that homosexuality is a choice and that some students may be “turned gay” by teachers who for some diabolical reason have an agenda to “recruit” as many as they can to homosexuality.

In 2013 during an appearance on Voice of Christian Youth America Grothman said of Planned Parenthood:

“Given the racist background of Planned Parenthood, and not liking people who are not white, I wonder if one of the reasons why Planned Parenthood likes to do these sex selective abortions is disproportionately being done on people of an Asian background. And let’s face it, we know all Planned Parenthood’s background, they’re very racist.”

He doesn’t believe that men and women should get the same pay for the same job, because men need the money more than the women and besides he thinks the women earn less because they are worth less since they take time off to raise children and other such wastes of time.

He says that affirmative action for any group is just wrong and should be done away with completely, that people on food stamps don’t act poor enough and eat better than working people do, Kwanzaa is some sort of conspiracy concocted by white liberals to con the black community and that God is mad at John Kerry.

In a nutshell, Mr. Grothman has a set of “values” and “principles” packed and ready to go to Washington in January that are somewhere well to the right of Attila the Hun, and the bright red district he is running in is apt to elect him inflicting him on the rest of the country.

Texas State Senator Slams Fellow Republicans, Admits Radical Conservative Policies are Ruining Texas

It doesn’t happen all that often, but every once in a while I’ll run across a Republican who said something that actually made sense.

It seems Texas Republican State Sen. Kevin Eltife is a little fed up with Republicans who seem more concerned with pandering to his party’s rhetoric instead of actually, you know, governing. 

He seems particularly bothered by a state debt that’s tripled since he was first elected in 2004. He also called out many of his fellow lawmakers for ignoring much-needed improvements to Texas’ infrastructure (particularly highways), and some towns that are running out of water.

“It’s real easy to run on, ‘We just need to cut spending, and we don’t need any new taxes,’” he said. “At some point, the public is going to demand that we fix these problems. We have cities that are about to be out of water, Wichita Falls is one of them.”

“If we’re so conservative, why are we doubling our debt?” Eltife asked. “You have to have leadership that lays out the problem and lays out the solutions. When you have leadership that is constantly running for higher office, you don’t address the problem. They are all running on ‘immigration.’ Who is running on water and TxDOT?”

And he’s exactly right. There are towns in Texas that are desperate for water, and roads that are in dire need of repair or expansion, but practically nothing is being done about either. Here in Dallas-Fort Worth almost all new highways being built are toll roads, which can often be quite costly to use.

I love how he called out Republicans for running on being anti-immigration (because it’s a “sexy topic”) but most seem completely disinterested in tackling some of the bigger problems the state is facing – like towns running out of water.

But this nonsense from Republicans isn’t just seen in Texas. You see it all over the United States. The Republican party is the ultimate talking points party. By that I mean they know what talking points to use to get their voters riled up, and that’s about all they care about. It doesn’t have to make sense, as long as it sounds right.

It’s how they still get away with claiming to be the party for “fiscal responsibility,” yet it’s been over five decades since a Republican president has actually balanced the budget.

But I’ll give credit where credit is due and commend Mr. Eltife for doing what most Republicans are too afraid to do – stand up to the radical, tea party nonsense that’s overtaken the Republican party.

Just a bunch of crackpots!

Burned Cross Found Outside Tennessee Black Church Because Racism is Over

While we’re sure they were just “celebrating their heritage,” someone or a group of someones burned a cross outside the predominantly African American New Hope Baptist Church in Clarksville, TN. The cross was discovered by a member of the congregation at an entrance to the church’s parking lot.

“I’d heard of this. I’ve seen it perhaps at other churches, other buildings, but not in a million years did I think this would happen to New Hope because we are a close community,” said Pastor Vernon Hooks. He worries that this could be someone’s way of sending a violent message.

Hooks said that, when the cross was discovered, the smell of the gasoline used to light the wood still lingered. The church fortunately suffered no damage, aside from a charred gate.

Hooks says he plans to leave the cross on the church property for now, and make it a lesson in this week’s sermons. “That we will keep doing God’s will, that we won’t give up, we won’t let this be a setback for us as a congregation,” Hooks said.

The state of Tennessee is rife with Klan activity–something that those affected by this horrible attack likely know all too well. Unfortunately, while Republicans claim racism is over it is alive and well–as is made obvious by the burnt cross currently lying on the church’s lawn.

Stupid GOP Tricks: Slash The IRS Budget As Revenge For Phony Tea Party Scandal

Anyone looking for idiotic ideas from the Tea Party Republican Congress wouldn’t have far to travel before stumbling over a mountain of them. Some of the more obvious examples include denying reproductive health care, cutting taxes for the rich, suppressing the vote, shutting down the government, and promoting creationism. But wait, there’s more.

Since the do-nothing GOP-run House isn’t doing anything else, they have had plenty of time to come up with ever more asinine initiatives in a committed effort to advance the cause of stupidity. The latest step forward in that regard is their bill to cut the budget of the IRS by 25 percent:

“The GOP-controlled House has voted to slash the budget for the Internal Revenue Service’s tax enforcement division by $1.2 billion, a 25 percent cut that would mean fewer audits of taxpayers and make it more likely that people who cheat on their taxes will get away with it.”

Brilliant! This is a win-win for Tea-publicans who hate government in general and the IRS in particular. This bill would make it harder for the IRS to carry out its responsibility for collecting revenue that the nation needs in order to function. Thus, it would open up the agency to criticism for inefficiency that was created by this budget cut. It would also create inefficiencies in every other branch of government that is starved for revenue by the reduced tax receipts which, in turn, would make them subject to criticism. It would increase the federal deficit by leaving untold billions of legitimately owed taxes uncollected. This, of course, would incite additional fury by the pseudo-deficit hawks of the GOP who would ignore the fact that they created this problem in the first place.

An open letter to the people who hate Obama more than they love America

I meet you all the time. You hate Obama. You hate gay people. You hate black people, immigrants, Muslims, labor unions, women who want the right to make choices concerning their bodies, you hate em all. You hate being called racist. You hate being called a bigot. Maybe if you talked about creating jobs more than you talk about why you hate gay people we wouldn't call you bigots. Maybe if you talked about black people without automatically assuming they are on food stamps while demanding their birth certificates we wouldn't call you racist. You hate socialism and social justice. You hate regulations and taxes and spending and the Government. You hate.

You like war. You like torture. You like Jesus. I don't know how in the hell any of that is compatible, but no one ever accused you haters of being over-committed to ideological consistency. You like people who look like you or at least hate most of the things that you hate. You hate everything else.

Now, I know you profess to love our country and the founding fathers (unless you are reminded that they believed in the separation of church and state), but I need to remind you that America is NOT what Fox News says it is. America is a melting pot, it always has been. We are a multi-cultural amalgamation of all kinds of people, and yet you still demonize everyone who is not a rich, white, heterosexual christian male or his submissive and obedient wife.

You hate liberals, moderates, hell, anyone who disagrees with Conservative dogma as espoused by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. You hate em.

Well, here are the facts, Jack. If you hate the Government then you are unqualified to manage it. If you hate gay people more than you love America than you should take your own advice and get the hell out. There are several countries that are openly hostile to gay people, but they are full of brown people and you don't like them much either from what I understand. It looks like you are screwed, but that's not what I am here to tell you.

Tea Partier Who Compared Poor People to Animals Didn’t Pay Staff Enough to Feed Families

In April, failed Senate candidate Annette Bosworth compared poor Americans to wild animals. “There has to be a way that you begin the conversations. I've been in this race for ten months and it’s the first time someone has slowed down to say talk about food stamps, talk about what that program does to people, so if that’s what it took I’ll take the heat,” Bosworth said in May, while defending the comparison.

Soon after, she found out she lost her election bid in a painfully awkward FOX News interview. The following day, Bosworth was arrested for perjury following allegations that she circulated nominating petitions while on vacation in the Phillipines.

Now, a former employee has come forward to tell the world that the good Doctor Bosworth didn’t pay employees enough to feed their families. LeAnn Batiz once supported bosworth’s Senate run. However, after her experiences as an employee she can’t stomach throwing her weight behind the Tea Party politician.

“Someone who I can’t trust to pay her employees I don’t want to be making decisions for me in Washington,” Batiz explained.

“I did not get paid what I was promised or enough to survive,” Batiz said. According to Batiz, Bosworth promised a salary of $80,000 per year–but proceeded to pay her just over $10,000 in a six month period. “Ten-thousand in almost six months. Almost six months, so you figure that out and that turns out to be about $24,000 a year. That’s a long way from $80,000 a year,” she said.

Batiz was shorted so much on pay that she was forced to become one of the “animals” about which her employer spoke. She and her family were forced to rely on food stamps–in fact, Bosworth’s office even helped her enroll!

“But instead says, ‘Hey, I want you to keep working for me. I don’t want to have to pay you. Instead we’ll help you get on welfare,’ and then to turn around and say people who are on welfare are bad people, people who are on welfare are dependent people that was just the end,” Batiz said.