Impeachment: Myths, Facts, and History
More Empty Impeachment Threats from the GOP Right-wingers trembled with glee when Sen. James Inhofe said that President Obama might be impeached for the events in Benghazi. Few rank-and-file Americans understand impeachment or the odds of it happening. It does not mean that the president is fired. Most members of Congress and the media understand what impeachment means, but our schools work very hard to produce politically ignorant citizens. Impeachment means charging a public official with an offense. Impeachment does not mean firing a public official from her/his job. Constitution and Procedures The U.S. Constitution states that: The House of…
Conservative Think Tank Urges GOP to Stay Focused on Obama “Scandals”
The political strategy of artificially perpetrating crises to distract a nations’ people from the real problems, has been employed by many political parties in virtually every country. In the U.S.A, although used by both parties time to time, the Republican Party appears to be the expert of this fake crisis creation technique. They became so outraged by a Marine holding the U.S. President’s umbrella at an outdoor speech that it is difficult to take them seriously when their outrage is directed towards something really worthy of outrage. I am not a political historian, so I won’t begin to guess when…
Sanford’s South American Walkabout Through the Busch
Co-written by Danny Turkel and Michael Andrew McAdams Oh, hey Mark Sanford. What a surprise to see you here. Yes, in a very close race, former Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford defeated Elisabeth Colbert Busch on May 7, 2013 for the First Congressional District in South Carolina. The seat had been vacated because of U.S. Senator Jim DeMint taking a position at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Think Tank. Governor Nikki Haley appointed House Member Tim Scott, to replace DeMint’s seat. Mark Sanford’s previous job title had been Governor of South Carolina. It’s not unheard of for politicians to…
Socrates, Standing and Same Sex Marriage
While baseball begins in about a week, and the Standard & Poor’s is tipping an all-time high, millions of eyes, gay and straight, devoted, detached and disgusted, are peering instead at the United States Supreme Court, that institution representing the first among equals in our three-branch Republic. As we can’t expect rulings on the marriage equality cases before the Court this week until sometime shortly before the All-Star break, the following will optimistically serve to gently prognosticate and bring some order to what gives in the Court. Here Comes Old Socrates Socrates haunts every courtroom, law school and kitchen table…
Libertarian Resurgence
At this past weekend’s 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Kentucky Senator Rand Paul won the event’s straw poll, making him the top pick for the 2016 Republican primary bid. The choice of Rand Paul, known for being an adamant Libertarian, could reflect a noticeable trend in American politics, a trend that the GOP seems to be racing to accommodate: the resurgence of Libertarianism, especially among the current college-aged youth. In 2012 over half of the CPAC attendees were college students, and although Sen. Paul’s victory offers little more than “bragging rights,” as the Associated Press puts it, it still…
Republicans Continue to Suppress the Vote, Even In Iowa
I am an Iowa resident. Recently, our local newspaper reported that Iowa’s Republican Secretary of State wants to purge anyone from voter registration list whose citizenship is questioned. If your name is similar to the name of someone on one of the federal immigration lists or someone whose driver’s license says they are not a citizen, then you have to prove you are a citizen. Of course Democratic legislators, the ACLU, the League of Women Voters and other groups are fighting this, but so far the law is set to go into effect shortly. If you’re wondering just how big…
Tick-Tock, Ding-a-Lings
As the clock runs off on the castor oil countdown aka sequestration, we find the White House, GOP leadership and the Washington press corps serving up a marvelous tableau of the entire manufactured chocolate mess; they can’t even agree on the date and time when the cuts actually occur. So then, in order to bring order to the tolling of democracy’s death, whenever that truly is, a brief frolic in the shallow end of the pool is indicated. You May Ask Yourself, Well, How Did I Get Here? While it’s a safe bet the POTUS has uttered David Byrne’s question…
The State Of Our Union In 1:12
For the simplest of points to be made, this has taken all day to say, mostly because of the varied expletives that needed replacing. So here it is. Last night, during the President’s first State of the Union speech of his second term, there came a moment toward the end where he acknowledged a 102 year old Florida woman – Desiline Victor – who, on Election Day 2012, stood in line at her precinct for over three hours (she was first told it could take up to six, yet she insisted). All for the “privilege” to vote. The President asked…
Karl Rove Returns: The Quest For Party Unity
Karl Rove launches new American Crossroads Project – Conservatives and Republicans Cringe There is increasing talk regarding the “true conservative” as an endangered species. Now on the left, the talk is more centered on the Republican Party, as to many liberals and progressives, the GOP serves as the big tent under which the right wing gathers. However if that is the case, it would seem some groups are threatening to pull up the stakes and go home. Enter; The Conservative Victory Project. Ex Bush era Rasputin impersonator, Karl Rove has returned, again, and much like any bad b-movie horror franchise,…
GOP’s U-turn on Immigration
It looks like GOP has decided to change its rhetoric on undocumented immigrants from “not rewarding law breakers” to “immigration reform must include path to citizenship.” Yesterday on ABC’s Sunday program “This Week”, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said “We can’t go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows in an illegal status. We cannot forever have children who were born here — who were brought here by their parents when they were small children to live in the shadows, as well.” Mccain also admitted that the GOP’s poor performance among Hispanic voters in 2012…
Myth: “Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican”
Republicans, many of whom have spent decades telling us Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a communist, now suddenly feel that it gives them credibility on social and racial issues if they maintain that Dr. King was a Republican. Once this claim was made, it spread like wildfire through the conservative media and has been reported extensively on conservative web sites and Facebook pages. The only problem is, it’s not true. Although his father, Martin Luther King Sr. had registered as a Republican, there is no evidence that MLK Jr. was ever a Republican. He never endorsed any Republican candidate, and…
Call To Action: FiliBust!
If you think you’re disgusted now……just wait. Here it is, everyone: Without filibuster reform, there is quite likely no gun legislation, or new immigration policy, or meaningful debate on climate change and other crucial environmental issues, or much of anything else, really. Is anyone out there listening? Friday, January 18, 2013 – FiliBust your Senator! Tell Harry Reid to use his majority! Raise your hand if you’ve never, ever called a Senator’s office about issues important to you. Today, I’m asking those of you with your hands in the air, and those of you with your arms at your side,…
Here’s Why Republicans Have an Advantage Over Democrats
To many people it seems that Republicans have the upper hand on political matters even when they are clearly in the minority. During President Obama’s first 2 years in office, with a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, a lot of the bills they tried to pass were stopped by a minority of Senate Republicans using the filibuster rule. Even routine matters like the Transportation bill, the Farm bill or raising the debt ceiling, that are normally passed with majority support from both parties, were blocked or held up by Republicans in order to get concessions on other unrelated…
Recent Comments