Monthly Archives: June 2012

Obama’s Big Week

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments
Supreme Court Building

WAY TO GO, JOHN ROBERTS! I take back everything I've ever said about the lack of objectivity in your court. GUTSY move, for you, the Chief Justice, a Bush appointee, to side with the "liberal" justices on the health care bill.

Way to go, SCOTUS!!!

Way to go, John Roberts!!  With the immigration ruling, and with the decision today to uphold ALL parts of the health care law…you may have just turned around the reputation of this Supreme Court as a right-wing, activist court.  It will be very hard now for wacko liberal bloggers like myself to doubt Robert’s objectivity now.   A shocking turn of events.  Obama has been floundering, there’s no doubt.  I never would have thought it would be the Supreme Court that would have given him a big boost.

It will be interesting to see how this affects the election.  Romney this week came out and said Obama’s first term was “wasted” if the health care law were struck down. I’m sure the Romney camp EXPECTED it to be overturned, but now I bet they regret coming out with that statement.  Since the entire law was upheld, Romney’s statement now looks like an endorsement that Obama’s first term HASN’T been a waste, that real, meaningful legislation has been passed.

Wow.

In shock.  And (way) more than a bit emotional, when I think of my son, and what this ruling potentially means to someone like him, a young kid with juvenile diabetes.

Let the whining begin from the right!!  The news is hot off the presses, and we ALREADY having whining, and the typical conservative LIES about the bill.  As a reminder to all you wackos who insist on lying about Obamacare and its effects (From CNN and other sources):

  • The law is intended to end the United States’ status as the only rich country with large numbers of uninsured people, by expanding both the private market and Medicaid
  • Health insurance for between 12.5 million and 24 million more Americans than if the mandate was struck down
  • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the law could reduce deficits modestly in the first 10 years and then much more significantly in the second decade
  • Insured Americans may be avoiding a spike in premiums that could have resulted if the high court had tossed out the individual mandate but left other requirements on insurers in place.
  • Millions of young adults up to age 26 who have gained health insurance due to the law will be able to keep it.
  • Since the law remains in place, the requirement that insurers cover people with pre-existing medical conditions remains active
  • The massive health care law requires doctors to report goodies they get from medical supply companies; demands more breastfeeding rooms; requires all chain restaurants to list calories under every menu item, and includes numerous other provisions, which now remain in place.

Horrible!  Reduced deficits!  MILLIONS more Americans covered by insurance!  No turning down the sick for insurance because of their preexisting conditions!!

Tell me again, conservative wackos…why is Obamacare the end of the world in your eyes???!!?

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What to do when a family member “goes bad”?

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment
Cooper "Milkjug" Sohl - The Tomato Bandit

Mug shot for Cooper "Milkjug" Sohl, our beloved family member who has turned to a life of crime.

I never thought I would be put in this situation.  We’ve tried to be a good wholesome family.  We’ve tried to raise our kids right.  But what do you do when one of your beloved family members goes rogue?  How do you cope?

The culprit?  Cooper “Milkjug” Sohl.  The background…Cooper is our beloved Springer/Cocker mix (we think) who was a rescue dog.  When I picked him up, he was almost a year old, had never been groomed, had curly hair all the way to the ground, and was chained in a hot back yard with no shade, with nothing but a milk jug to “play” with.

We tried to raise him right.  We gave him the best education a pup could want.  We didn’t let him hang out with the bad dogs in the neighborhood.  We THOUGHT we had raised a fine, upstanding citizen.  But slowly, almost imperceptably…he began to change.

It started a few summers ago, when I tried raising tomatoes in a couple of containers.  The tomatoes themselves would appear, grow, and start to turn ripe…but then they’d disappear.  After a months long investigation, we were shocked to find tomato drool in the corner of Cooper Milkjug Sohl’s mouth.  BETRAYED!  BY OUR VERY OWN FLESH AND BLOOD!!

We thought he could be rehabilitated.  We were wrong.  He began moving to the harder and harder stuff, no longer waiting for the tomatoes to ripen, but plucking off green, hard tomatoes and munching on them like they were a chew toy.  This year, once again, I thought I could have home-grown tomatoes.  It’s been a life-long dream of mine.  I even have tried putting a little fence around the tomatoes in the garden.  But what do I find?

A Houdini dog who is SO addicted to hard green tomatoes, that nothing like a wire fence will stop him.  It may be 100 degrees out this evening.  It may be so miserable that no living creature wants to venture outside.  But that didn’t stop Cooper Milkjug Sohl from devouring half my tomato crop just now.

MY…BOY…IS…A…CRIMINAL.  I can’t ignore it any longer.  I can’t hide it any more.   Nothing is more sad than when a family member “goes bad”.

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Scum of the Week – Mike Turzai

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment

A quick shout out to this week’s “Scum of the Week”, a guy I’m sure nobody has heard of, Mike Turzai, a state House Republican (of course) from Pennsylvania.  In comments this week, Turzai was talking about “accomplishments” for the state house, and touted the passing of “Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.”

The man is scum, but he’s HONEST scum, unlike the rest of the Republican party who are pushing for over-the-top voter ID laws to combat “Voter Fraud”.  THIS, despite studies and evidence showing there IS no meaningful voter fraud in the U.S.  Turzai was just stating the obvious, the real reason Republicans are pushing voter ID laws…these laws have been shown to depress voting from the poor and minorities who tend to overwhelmingly vote Democratic.  As this story from the NY Times notes, a federal panel studied the issue and found NO evidence for any significant voter fraud in the last election…but then Republicans complained and “revised” the report, changing the conclusion that voter fraud wasn’t an issue, and instead reporting that it was “open to debate”.

In the last presidential election, there were stories of “robo-calls” to minority voters, telling them they will be forced to prove detailed citizen paperwork before they could vote.  In the Wisconsin recall vote for Gov. Walker, Democratic voters who signed the petition to get the recall vote on the ballot received robocalls telling them they didn’t need to come in and vote, because their vote was recorded by the petition.  What does it say about the Republican Party platform and election strategy when a key component seems to be trying to PREVENT people from voting?  Given their complete lack of support for anyone who doesn’t make over $200,000 a year, I guess it’s not a surprise that the only voting bloc they WANT to vote in elections are rich, Christian white men.

In some ways, I feel guilty about giving Turzai the “Scum of the Week” award.  HE’S the only one who has been honest about the true Republican strategy.

Posted in Politics, Scum Of The Week

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Supreme Court Immigration Ruling? ObamaCare? Trivial to this…

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Terry| Leave a comment
Supreme Court Building

Arizona's immigration bill and Obamacare are the 2 hot topics from the Supreme Court this week, but those rulings are nothing compared to today's ruling on campaign finance.

It’s a huge week in terms of Supreme Court rulings. Legal pundits are in a tizzy as to the court’s ruling today about Arizona’s immigration law, and what’s to come Thursday when they announce their decision on the legality of ObamaCare.  Big cases?  You bet.  But in the big scheme of things…they mean little compared to another, MUCH less publicized decision the was announced today.

Today the Supreme Court refused to hear reconsideration of the ruling that States couldn’t limit campaign contributions by corporations. With this ruling, the Supreme Court is reaffirming its OK for unlimited spending by corporate sponsors for political campaigns in this country.

The decision?  5-4, of course!!  This is America, where “law” (hah!!) is dictated more on political terms than on legal terms. As I’ve stated out here before, I’ve NEVER understood why there are “liberal” judges and “conservative” judges in the eye of the legal pundits. Isn’t law above political ideology?  Evidently not, when case after case from this Supreme Court is decided on a 5-4 split, with the 5 “conservative” justices holding more sway over political issues in this country right now than any senator, house member, or president.

The gap between rich and poor in the U.S. has continually widened in recent decades, to the absolute CHASM that exists today.  With this ruling?  It only gets worse. Unlimited campaign contributions from big business means a continuation of policies skewed towards the uber-rich, as politicians from BOTH parties bow to the power of the almighty dollar, and the corporate backers behind it.  The little guy?  The middle class?  How can they POSSIBLY compete with unlimited campaign dollars from big business? 

Never has the political power of the common man been less in the U.S.  THIS is the Supreme Court decision this week that REALLY matters in the long-term.  The rest of what’s happening this week is trivial in comparison.

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Americans Love Obamacare Provisions

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments

Sometimes it’s downright scary to know we allow everyone over the age of 18 to vote.  I’m not saying it shouldn’t be that way, but, it’s scary to have a democracy built on majority rule, when far too often, the majority are completely ignorant.

In this story, MSNBC notes that 56% of Americans are against Obamacare, with 44% approval.  However…they note that Americans are strongly in favor of the actual CONTENTS of the health care legislation behind Obamacare. 

It’s like someone really LOVING a bag of cookies, but throwing it away because they don’t like the wrapper.  Content good!! Obamacare PR? Bad…in no small part due to Republican distortions (aka, lies) about the bill, and the idiot electorate who is dumb enough to believe the lies.

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Outdoor “Sportsmen”…you are on my $hit list

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Terry| Leave a comment
White bass

White Bass, scourge of South Dakota fishermen who only want to catch walleye! At least that's what the "sportsmen" on the Missouri River were acting like this morning.

I’ve had a number of posts in the past about experiences I’ve had when I’m out taking photos, or fishing, or hiking, when I’ve run across some idiot “sportsman” who is doing something like blasting away at every living thing they see, taking over their limit, etc.  I’ve generally been pretty careful when I post about something like that, saying things like “I realize most hunters, fishermen, etc. are conscientious and respect and try to protect the resource”.

Well, to that, I say bull$hit.  Every time I go out, I swear to god there’s some bozo who personifies what being an outdoor sportsman is NOT about.  Today I went fishing on the Missouri River below Oahe Dam.  It’s one of my favorite spots, with crystal clear, cold water coming through the dam from Lake Oahe.  The words “crystal clear” and “water” are NEVER used in the same sentence in South Dakota, as most rivers and ponds around here have a visibility of about 2 inches.  This is certainly a welcome difference, and it is a wonderful place to fish.

Wonderful place to fish means…lots of fishermen, at least by the standards of sparsely populated South Dakota.   And of course, lots of fishermen, means a LOT of “sportsmen” who seem hell-bent on trashing the place or breaking the rules just to ensure THEY get their limit of fish to bring home.  This morning, I got there and walked down to the water, dodging beer cans, old bait containers, and discarded fishing line as I went.  One thing I ALWAYS do when I go fishing…I end up bringing back more than I went with, and I’m not talking fish.  I made a point of picking up some of the garbage in my vicinity, and started fishing.

It was wonderful!  In about 3 hours of fishing, I caught about 20 fish, BIG fish for their kind, fish that put up a hell of a fight.  The problem?  This is South Dakota!  There IS no “fish” that matters to about 85% of fishermen, other than walleye.  Have you ever caught a walleye?  They fight like a limp noodle, even the big ones.  But they’re tasty!  And filling the freezer, harvesting as many as you can (legally, or illegally in many cases) seems to be “the” mode of fishing around here.  Back to the “problem”…I didn’t catch a single walleye this morning, which actually shocked me.  19 of the 20 fish I caught were White Bass…BIG white bass, very fat and happy, averaging about 14 inches, with a few that were absolute monsters for the species.

In that fast current below the dam, a big white bass puts up a hell of a fight.  You certainly KNOW when it’s a white bass that hits, rather than a walleye.  I had a blast.  I didn’t keep any fish today, but I do keep White Bass to eat sometimes.  To me, they’re every bit as good as walleye, once you strip this one dark strip of meat out and keep the white meat.  But the other fishermen in the  area seemed to have a pretty low opinion of what they were catching.  There were 2 young guys next to me, looked to be about 20 years old.  They too were catching white bass…and BITCHING about it, because they weren’t walleye.  So, the one guy catches a white bass, unhooks it…and immediately throws it 10 yards back into the weeds.  He and his buddy had a GREAT laugh, talking about getting rid of the “damn white bass” to “make room” for the walleye.

You can imagine my opinion of these two dolts, but I hoped it was an isolated thing, and just scowled, but didn’t say anything.  Then the other guy catches a white bass….and does the same thing, throwing it back into the weeds.  THEN I said something!  Think I kind of surprised them by speaking up, but I first asked what put up more of a fight, a white bass, a walleye, or a dish towel (answer: walleye comes in 3rd).  Then I said you don’t have to like them, but it is illegal to be throwing them up on the bank.

The answer was about what I expected from a pair of 20-year old South Dakota “sportsmen”…the one guy said “whatever”, and the other just rolled his eyes and turned away.  They only fished for a few more minutes before leaving, and didn’t catch any more fish, but they certainly put a damper on the fun I was having catching white bass.

SO….I think I’m done saying “most” sportsmen ARE true sportsmen, who care about the environment and the resource they’re using.  I’m not convinced any more that it IS a majority, so “most” is too strong.  SOME fishermen and hunters are wonderful sportsmen, who do their best to preserve the environment.  But I’m becoming increasingly convinced that “most” fishermen and hunters only care about filling the freezer, environment-be-damned.

Whoever you two were this morning…you have won this week’s “Scum of the Week” award.

Posted in Ecosystems at Risk, Scum Of The Week

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Romney Tells Governors to Lie About Recovery

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments
Romney and Obama

More deception, more lying from Romney. Is this what happens to a GOP candidate? Is the GOP SO corrupt, that any GOP presidential candidate turns to a lying POS? Before the last election...I LIKED John McCain. I RESPECTED John McCain. They he runs for president, and everything he ever stood for went out the window. Romney is headed down the same path. I USED to think he wasn't bad, a Republican governor with a moderate, pragmatic streak. Now? He's a lying, deceptive, slick POS...

The economy has been recovering in several swing states.  Uh-oh, says Romney, we can’t have that!  At least, we can’t let the electorate know the truth!  Hence, the story of Romney telling GOP governors to downplay any economic recovery that’s happened in their states.  He’s told GOP governors to cool it, and not talk about improved economic conditions, lowered unemployment rates, etc.

After all, we can’t have voters knowing the truth!  It fits right in line with the overall GOP strategy of SCARING voters into voting for them, by either playing to their inner bigotry, or playing up just how “bad” things are, or will be, under Obama. Even if they’re not!

Romney continues to bash Obama on foreign policy and national defense fronts, stating that under Obama, we’re much less safe.  This, despite the incredible foreign policy and military successes under Obama.  When Obama DARED to try to obtain contraceptive coverage for those individuals who wanted it but couldn’t get it through their insurance…Romney fell all over himself stating that religious freedoms are “under attack” by Obama, and would shrivel if he were given another term.  There’s a lovely new attack ad on Obama by the National Republican Campaign Committee that claims under ObamaCare, there are massive new taxes on ‘heart attacks, sick puppies, and new babies’.

Romney and other Republican attacks on ObamaCare alone probably keeps the entire staff of FactCheck.org working 24 hours a day.  What’s one more lie, on top of all the others?  Romney knows that lying works, since far too often, the electorate believes this kind of crap.

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MSNBC Analysis: Defense Failed Sandusky

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments

Just perusing the headlines before getting ready for bed, and I see a headline on MSNBC that states “Analysis: Faltering Defense Hurt Jerry Sandusky”. I really hate how trials and law are something of a “game” in this country, in terms of how the media reports on things. I really hate analysis like this that scrutinizes every intricate detail of our screwed up legal system.  Frankly, I don’t give a damn about the intricacies of U.S. law, about the brilliance or ineptitude of lawyers, or endless debate about how a legal case plays out.

And I SURE as hell don’t care about a “faltering defense hurting” Jerry Sandusky. WHO…CARES.  First of all, who cares if ANYTHING “hurt” Jerry Sandusky.  I’m against the death penalty…but, with that said…I can certainly sympathize with that one father in Texas who beat and killed a man who was sexually attacking his young daughter.  Can’t imagine what I myself would do in that situation, if I came across someone hurting my son like that.  I certainly can sympathize with all the families hurt by Sandusky’s absolutely disgusting, evil behavior.

So I’m sorry, MSNBC, I don’t care to read about the legal intricacies of the case, I don’t care to read about how Sandusky’s defense team  let him down.   The man is scum, not even capable of defending his own behavior by testifying on his own behalf.    The only thing that “hurt” Jerry Sandusky is his own warped and twisted inner demons.

Rot in hell, Sandusky. I for one am GLAD your defense “failed” you.  WHO CARES about the damn legal case.  The story isn’t about how well or how badly the lawyers performed.  The story is about one sick SOB about to be brought to justice, and about the families who will never heal after what Sandusky did to them.

Posted in Scum Of The Week

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Corps of Engineers responsible for Flooding, Global Warming, War

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Terry| 4 Comments
Corps of Engineers - Logo
Be afraid. Be VERY afraid. Taking a walk with your young son? Having the “Best Day Ever”? THE CORPS IS WATCHING YOU.

OK, enough time has passed, and I’ve stewed on this long enough.  Last summer, I had a blog post where I defended the Corps of Engineers.  With the record flooding on the Missouri River, the Corps was taking heat for mismanaging the dams along the Missouri.  I defended the Corps and blasted the Corps critics for choosing to blame Corps and the government, instead of record rainfall and snowpack.

I am now taking all of that back.  The Corps DID cause flooding on the Missouri River.  Oh, the Corps ALSO is solely responsible for global warming, war, famine, pestilence, and teenage acne.

You see, I was “rewarded” for my post defending the Corps, and my reward was a visit from a Corps Park Ranger (who knew they had such a thing?), and threat of a $500 ticket.  Multiple times over the winter, I had mysterious phone calls from security at the USGS facility where I work.  They said a “ranger” wanted to see me.  I was gone on travel the first few times it happened, so all I had were messages on my machine. But, a few months ago…

I got to work, sat down, and almost immediately, the phone rang.  It was again from security, saying a park ranger was here to see me.  Having NO idea what it was about, I walked out into the atrium and was greeted by a Corps ranger in uniform.  I shook his hand, asked what it was about, and we walked back to the (very public) cafeteria for a chat.  The chat started out with him talking about my website and how much he enjoyed it.  Then…he asked if I liked to go fossil hunting as well as birding.

So, the background….last December, my son and I heard about the fossils you can find on the banks of the Missouri River in the fall, when the water levels drop.  I took my son one fine warm December Saturday, and we spent a couple of hours walking the shoreline.  It was great!  We found 3 small fossils, each about golf-ball sized, including a mosasaur vertebrae, a “tube worm”, and a giant ancient fish vertebrae.  The rest of the day, we went birding, ate at a little cafe in a small town, and had a WONDERFUL day.  It was SUCH a great day, that night I had a blog post entitled “Best Day Ever.” And…it was!  But little did I know…THE CORPS IS WATCHING ONLINE.

Mr. Park Ranger started asking me about that day.  Mr. Park Ranger had evidently seen my website, and I have NO doubt it’s because if you had typed in “Corps” with other search terms, my blog popped up because of the one post I had defending them.  Silly me.  Mr. Park Ranger started to inform me of the illegality of picking up fossils on Corps land.  Mr. Park Ranger started to inform me of the $500 ticket that was coming my way…unless I “cooperated”.  “Cooperation” evidently meant talking about anyone else I may have known who went there.

I work at USGS.  This guy NEVER called me at home.  He NEVER tried to contact me PERSONALLY.  EVERY TIME he tried to contact me, he contacted head of security at my work!!  Even though the “offense” was done on my OWN TIME, and had NOTHING to do with my place of work.  But then, he made a comment that at the “U.S. Geological Survey”, there must be other people “interested in fossils“.   He obviously was trying to make more out of the situation than was EVER there.  He obviously was hoping there was more to the story, than just a father and his son walking along the river.

So I sat there, in the atrium with this guy in uniform, a guard walking around behind me (making sure I didn’t bolt and make my way to Venezuela or something????). I had colleagues walk by and jokingly ask “are you in trouble with the law” and other similar comments, since I was sitting there with this guy in uniform, with a security guard behind me.  I replied “well, yeah, kind of!!!”.  ALL because the Corps Ranger decided to make this happen at my WORK,  and to try to make more of it than it was.

He asked for the fossils.  I gave them to him, since they were on my desk at work.  To make a long story short…after the threat of a $500 fine and a nice hour-long “discussion” in the atrium….eventually what happened is I got a written warning.

My crime WAS serious.  After all, I had posted on my blog ‘BEST DAY EVER’.  I had taken a walk along the river with my son, LAND THAT WASN’T MARKED.  There’s a mix of ownership at this spot, with no sign to say when I was leaving this one ownership type, and walking onto Corps land.  There was no sign saying it was illegal to pick up fossils.  In the end?  I pick up THREE ROCKS the size of golf balls, on completely unmarked land, and end up with a Park Ranger driving up 2 1/2 hours from Omaha a few times (!!!!), to confront me at WORK, without any personal contact asking me about it, asking if I would talk.

I asked him how I’d have ever known it was illegal to pick up fossils on Corps land.  After all, I work for the USGS, part of DOI.  Outside of a few special situations, you ARE allowed casual fossil collection like this on DOI land.  Who thinks that picking up a few rocks with your young son would get you in trouble, when you’re walking along the river on unmarked land?  Mr. Park Ranger’s response?  He said that if HE were going out on any Federal land, he would first contact whoever the local enforcement officer was that was responsible for that land, and ask that person what you can or cannot do.

Yeah, sure.  Just like EVERYONE does.  You’re going for a walk along the river, land with no posts of any kind, and the first thing that comes to your mind is “I MUST contact the federal officer in charge of enforcement for this land, to see what I can and cannot do!!!”  Ridiculous, especially given that you ARE allowed to casually collect on other federal land.

Ridiculous, because the shoreline where we were at IS UNDER 10 FEET OF WATER MOST OF THE YEAR!! It’s only when water levels drop in the fall, that this stuff is exposed.  So CLEARLY it’s BETTER to leave a golf-ball sized rock under water to erode away, than to teach your son to get outside, look around, and APPRECIATE the natural world and its wonders.  It’s CLEARLY BETTER to let a newly exposed little fossil quickly erode away, never to be seen by another human being again, than it is to pick it up and preserve it.

Idiotic.  The rule itself…Idiotic.  The lack of posting on mere ownership boundaries, much less the illegality of picking up fossils…idiotic.  The way the man ENFORCED this, continuing going through SECURITY AT MY WORK instead of CALLING ME PERSONALLY….Idiotic.

Hence, my retraction of my support for the Corps for last year’s flooding.  YOU ARE DAMNED STRAIGHT the Corps caused misery and suffering on the Missouri River last year. It was CLEARLY their fault for mismanaging the dams.  CLEARLY the Corps single-handedly also causes war, pestilence, disease, famine, and all of the other world ills.

“Best Day Ever”. This is a warning for all of you out there who would ever DARE say something similar online!  THE CORPS IS WATCHING YOU….

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The “Redneck Vote” – Exploiting Americans’ Own Bigotry and Hatred

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments
Obama

A black president, showing mercy towards illegal immigrants. It's the worst nightmare for the "Redneck Vote". So, they'll vote Republican, and effectively vote to kill their own futures.

Republican politicians are outraged.  Oh, they’re not REALLY “outraged”, they’re “outraged” as only Republicans can be, a completely fake, manufactured form of “outrage.”  It’s the same kind of fake “outrage” they express every time Obama or any other Democrat opens their mouth.  So what has Republican politicians “outraged” this time?  Obama’s statements this week that the administration’s policy will be not to pursue deportation of young illegal immigrants.

The policy is basically an executive order with elements of the “Dream Act”.  Illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. as children, who haven’t run into any legal trouble, won’t actively be pursued and deported. Republicans of course are screaming “AMNESTY!!!” at the top of their lungs, as if it’s somehow EVIL to treat young people who have spent most of their lives in the U.S. as, well…people…as AMERICANS, with the same hopes, dreams, and ambitions as the rest of us.

Republicans don’t screw around.  They don’t worry about facts, figures, or trying to get Americans up to speed on policy issues.  No, they seemingly have one, and only one, strategy…to pander to the basic primeval emotions and instincts of people.  Bigotry…Fear…Hatred…THESE are the foundations of the Republican party platform.  The economy?  The environment?  Foreign policy?  Irrelevant!!  They hear Obama showing COMPASSION to a group of AMERICANS (for all intents and purposes, other than legal standing)…and immediately they see an opening.  They see a way to, once again, ignore all the issues that REALLY should matter to Americans, and instead capitalize on and exploit the bigotry and hatred that is present in far too many Americans.

I’m amazed at how clouded peoples’ vision is, with regard to what truly benefits them, and how they behave.  Republicans have mastered the art of convincing Americans to vote AGAINST their own best interests.  GREED, corruption, and inadequate oversight of Wall Street and corporate America have played a huge role in where our economy is today…yet just a few short years after Republicans and their Wall Street friends drove the economy off a cliff, they’ve managed to convince the ignorant electorate that Wall Street and Corporate America aren’t the problem, that it’s government that’s the problem.   For those people who AREN’T stupid enough to buy that…they fall back on their strategy of tapping into the internal bigotry and hatred of people.

So…the poor working class stiffs who CONTINUE to lose their opportunity to achieve the American dream, who CONTINUE to see their “share of the pie” go to an ever-increasingly rich 1%…ALSO are the same complete idiots who continue to vote Republican.  They hear Republican politicians bitch and moan about illegal immigrants, and they are manipulated into blaming illegal immigrants for the economy, for their own crappy lives, for…well…everything.  Republicans continue to tap into the inner BIGOTRY of Americans, and that same ignorant group of Americans continually give their vote away to Republicans, in return for…in return for what?

What the HELL do Republicans do to help the working class American?  Oh yes, that’s right…tax cuts for the rich and policies tilted completely towards benefiting those who need the least amount of help.  But yet they’ve completely locked down the “redneck vote”…those who vote based on their own bigotry and hatred, despite the implications for how their vote really affects their own lives.

I guess if it didn’t impact the rest of us, it would actually be some kind of sweet justice, where those who live their lives based on HATRED end up being punished in the end for their own ignorance and biases.  But it’s hard to laugh at how the redneck-voter ends up screwing themselves, when in the end, they end up screwing all of us.

Posted in Culture Wars, Politics

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