;)
Wednesday
Oct022013
The Commentariat -- Oct. 3, 2013
All Fucked Up
My simple message today is, call a vote ... let every individual member of Congress make up their own minds. -- Barack Obama, in Maryland today
A grammatical catastrophe, but a righteous appeal. -- Constant Weader ...
Also, A Message to Rep. Marlin Stutzman (RTP-Ind.):One House Republican said, 'We're not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is.' That was a quote.... Think about that. You have already gotten the opportunity to serve the American people. There's no higher honor than that. You've already gotten the opportunity to help businesses like this one, workers like these. So the American people aren't in the mood to give you a goodie bag to go with it. -- Barack Obama, same speech
... President Obama spoke this morning at a small company in Maryland which is affected by the shutdown:
Neville C. Boehner. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "The speaker's closest allies say he cannot afford to defy those on his right flank by ending the shutdown with largely Democratic votes. Doing so would undermine his position among his members going into negotiations with the White House and Democrats over raising the federal debt limit, which Boehner and his leadership team regard as more critical than the impasse on government funding. Coming up empty-handed for conservatives on both would have broader ramifications. Republicans who support the speaker argue that if he is going to antagonize the conservatives in his caucus, it would make more sense to do so on the debt-ceiling debate rather than on the funding of the government." CW: "... going into negotiations ... over raising the federal debt limit"? Yo, Boner, there aren't going to be any negotiations....
We're not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is. -- Rep. Marlin Stutzman (RTP-Ind.) (via Greg Sargent)
... Paul Waldman of the American Prospect: "And there you have it. The part that's most important isn't that Stutzman doesn't know what they want, because I think all he's saying is that it could be any number of things. Maybe it could be a delay in implementing the Affordable Care Act, or maybe tossing some people off food stamps, or maybe providing Tea Party caucus members with a list of phone numbers of uninsured poor people, so they could call them up, shout 'Get a job, deadbeat!' and hang up -- whatever. But what really matters is the part about being disrespected.... A surrender is humiliating. As far as they're concerned, whatever the resolution of the shutdown is, what matters is that it allows them to feel like they won, or at the very least to save face." ...
'We're more united in the conference now than we've ever been,' said Rep. Blake Farenthold, a second-term lawmaker. Eighteen months ago, the speaker 'couldn't pick me out of a lineup,' Farenthold said. 'He now blows me kisses.'
... CW: Yeah, and this picture of you in your jammies with an underaged drinking "companion" (the young lady on the left) should have guaranteed you a spot in a police lineup, Blakey boy:
That attractive fellow on the right is the Hon. Congressman. Yes, my fellow Americans, this is one of a couple of dozen yahoos whom the Speaker of the House so fears that he would bring down the government & international financial markets to appease them.
... Partying Like It's 2011 All Over Again. Robert Costa of the National Review: "House Republicans tell me Speaker John Boehner wants to craft a 'grand bargain' on fiscal issues as part of the debt-limit deliberations, and during a series of meetings on Wednesday, he urged colleagues to stick with him." ...
... ** Steve Benen: "There is no scenario in which House Republicans will accept concessions of any kind to reach a compromise. Indeed, it's the whole point of extortion politics -- GOP lawmakers threaten to harm Americans on purpose to ensure that compromises are never necessary for them. The 'concession,' in Republicans' minds, is letting the hostage go without pulling the trigger." Read the whole post. ...
... Kristina Peterson of the Wall Street Journal: "A coalition of centrist House Republicans is lobbying House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) to find ways to end the partial government shutdown, lawmakers in the group said Wednesday. Some members in the group of GOP lawmakers met with Mr. Boehner twice on Wednesday, looking for ways to ease the budget impasse, including by passing a short-term spending bill stripped of all demands to change the federal health-care law." ...
... Manu Raju of Politico: "Ted Cruz faced a barrage of hostile questions Wednesday from angry GOP senators, who lashed the Texas tea party freshman for helping prompt a government shutdown crisis without a strategy to end it. At a closed-door lunch meeting in the Senate's Mansfield Room, Republican after Republican pressed Cruz to explain how he would propose to end the bitter budget impasse with Democrats, according to senators who attended the meeting. A defensive Cruz had no clear plan to force an end to the shutdown -- or explain how he would defund Obamacare, as he has demanded all along, sources said.... A number of Republican senators privately blame the Texas freshman for contributing to the mess their party finds itself in. And now that they're in it, they say it's up to Cruz to help find a solution." ...
What the speaker has to accept is yes for an answer. He said that he wanted to go to conference. He sent us something from the House, so I thought we would throw him a lifeline. I said, 'Fine, we'll go to conference; all we want you to do is open the government.... We'll talk about anything you want to talk about. And he says no. -- Harry Reid, after meeting with President Obama & other leaders Wednesday evening
... Debbi Wilgoren, et al., of the Washington Post: "The top four leaders of both parties from both houses said no progress had been made after an hour and a half session in the Oval Office without any staff. After the meeting, Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said the president 'reiterated tonight he will not negotiate.'" ...
... Jackie Calmes & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "President Obama summoned the Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress to the White House for an afternoon meeting Wednesday, the second day of the government shutdown, to urge the passage of measures financing the government and increasing the nation's borrowing limit -- without add-ons like a limitation on his health-insurance law." ...
... Alan Fram of the AP: "The shutdown stalemate is already rattling investors. Stock markets in the U.S. and overseas faded Wednesday, and Europe's top central banker, Mario Draghi, called the shutdown 'a risk if protracted.' Leading financial executives met with Obama, and one, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, said politicians should not use a potential default 'as a cudgel.'" ...
... Here's a related AP story -- by Pan Pylas -- about the effects of the shutdown & impending debt default. ...
I think it's fair to say, during the course of my presidency, I have bent over backwards to work with the Republican Party and have purposely kept my rhetoric down. Am I exasperated? Absolutely, I'm exasperated. Because this is entirely unnecessary. -- President Obama, in a CNBC interview Wednesday
... Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "President Obama would veto any piecemeal bill funding only parts of the federal government and not resolving the whole government shutdown, the White House said Tuesday. The president and the Senate have been clear that they won't accept this kind of game-playing, and if these bills were to come to the president's desk he would veto them, White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said in a statement...."
New York Times photo.
Stood with House Dems on Senate-passed CR that honors our responsibilities and ends GOPshutdown. -- Nancy Pelosi, tweet
... Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "In the hours since the government shut down, House Republicans have slowly but steadily been coming forward to say they're ready to pass a bill to fund the government with no strings attached. As of Wednesday afternoon, the number of those Republicans hit 19 -- surpassing the magic 17 votes needed to pass a clean funding bill if all 200 Democrats stick together and team up with them. Of course, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would have to be willing to put that bill on the floor in the first place. But if he did, the votes appear to be there for passage, at which point the bill would sail through the Senate and be signed by President Barack Obama, ending the shutdown." Bendery lists those House Republicans who say they are willing to vote for a clean CR. ...
... Byron York of the Washington Examiner: "... a large majority of the House's 232 Republicans, plus a large majority of its 200 Democrats, would likely support a 'clean' continuing resolution to fund the government but not defund, delay, or limit Obamacare. If House Speaker John Boehner were to bring such a bill to the floor, it would probably pass with a majority of Republican as well as Democratic votes. But Boehner doesn't do it." ...
... Josh Marshall of TPM: "I saw this movie before during the Impeachment pseudo-crisis. The fabled GOP moderates never appear. But could it really be that the number of representatives driving this train is, on the high side, between 50 and 80 people? If that's true, Boehner's position is dramatically more craven than many of us have imagined. And the dysfunction is greater than at least I had imagined." ...
... Phony Gestures. Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "... dozens of members of the House and Senate who plan to refund or donate their pay during an impasse that congressional leaders are warning could last several weeks. Depending on the lawmaker, the money will go back into U.S. Treasury coffers to help pay down the debt, be placed in escrow or donated to the benefit of military veterans and local food banks.... While they say it's an issue of fairness and an opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with hundreds of thousands of government employees sent home without pay, the speed with which some lawmakers advertised their acts of political penance appeared designed to blunt public outrage over the impasse." ...
... Michael Ruane & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "At the closed-off World War II Memorial, two days of assaults by aged veterans prompted the National Park Service to announce that they had legal right to be there ... and would not be barred in the future." ...
... Frank Rich, terrific on the shutdown & debt ceiling, informative on the fizzlement of the Hillary movies. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...
... Gail Collins mocks Congress. ...
... Contributor P. D. Pepe recommends this piece by John Judis of the New Republic. Judis attempts to show the historical thread from the Calhoun nullfiers of the early 19th century to the 1930s wingers to today's radical Tea Party. Judis is writing a blogpost, so his gloss can be forgiven, but it is a gloss in which he ignores some important "buts." He is on stronger footing, I think, in his prescription for how the country could eventually get out of this mess without resorting to civil war.
** Republicans Are Despicable. Sabrina Tavernise & Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times: "A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times. Because they live in states largely controlled by Republicans that have declined to participate in a vast expansion of Medicaid, the medical insurance program for the poor, they are among the eight million Americans who are impoverished, uninsured and ineligible for help." P.S. You can think the Supreme Court for this. The conservatives on the Court, joined by Elena Kagan & Stephen Breyer, forced the feds to make state participation optional. ...
... This interactive map shows where the poor & uninsured live. "The 26 Republican-dominated states not participating in an expansion of Medicaid are home to a disproportionate share of the nation's poorest uninsured residents. Eight million will be stranded without insurance." ...
... Juliet Williams & Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP: "Overloaded websites and jammed phone lines frustrated consumers for a second day as they tried to sign up for health insurance under the nation's historic health care overhaul. That was putting pressure on the federal government and the states that are running their own insurance exchanges to fix the problems amid strong demand for the private insurance plans.... The delays ... offered one good sign for President Barack Obama and supporters of his signature domestic policy achievement, demonstrating what appeared to be exceptionally high interest in the new system. But the problems also could dampen enthusiasm for the law as Republicans use it as a rallying cry to keep most of the federal government closed." ...
... "What do you agree with, ObamaCare or the Affordable Care Act?":
Charles Pierce reminds us of who the Republican base is. Yeah, they're pretty base. Pierce concludes, "The reign of morons began with the triumph of bullshit." Pierce does not let the press off the hook.
Kimberly Dozier & Stephen Braun of the AP: "Top U.S. intelligence officials are revealing more about their spying in an effort to defend the National Security Agency from charges that it has invaded the privacy of Americans on a mass scale. Yet the latest disclosure -- the NSA tried to track Americans' cellphone locations -- has only added to the concerns of lawmakers. NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander told Congress on Wednesday that his spy agency ran tests in 2010 and 2011 to see if it was technically possible to gather U.S. cell-site data, which can show where a cellphone user traveled. The information was never used, Alexander said, and the testing was reported to congressional intelligence committees. Alexander also defended his agency, denying reports that it has mined Americans' social media." ...
... Nicole Perlroth & Scott Shane of the New York Times on the demise of Lavabit, an encrypted Internet service. In its efforts to locate Edward Snowden, a Lavabit user, the FBI demanded that Lavabit's owner & creator, Ladar Levison, turn over all of his encryption code. Under a court order, Levison eventually complied, but he shut down Lavabit the same day, an act the FBI claimed "fell just short of a criminal act." CW: If Levison's version of the story is true -- that the FBI demanded "the passwords, encryption keys and computer code that would essentially allow the government untrammeled access to the protected messages of all his customers" -- not just the encryption keys for Snowden -- I think the FBI went way too far. As Perlroth & Shane write, "Mr. Levison's case shows how law enforcement officials can use legal tools to pry open messages, no matter how well protected."
News Ledes
CNN: "A hurricane watch is in effect for parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast after Tropical Storm Karen formed in the southeastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday."
Washington Post: "A woman with a 1-year-old girl in her car was fatally shot by police near the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, after a chase through the heart of Washington.... The car was registered to Miriam Carey, 34, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn., law enforcement officials said, adding that they believed Carey was the driver. D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said that the driver tried to breach two Washington landmarks and that the incident was not an accident. But officials also said it did not appear to part of any larger or organized terrorist plot."
New York Times: "The United States and Japan agreed on Thursday to broaden their security alliance, expanding Japan's role while maintaining an American military presence. The deal underscored the two countries' efforts to respond to growing challenges from China and North Korea in a time of budget constraints."
New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry, in his first remarks about Iran since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel warned the United States to be wary of talks with the country, said on Thursday that the United States would negotiate with Tehran only if it provided proof that it would not pursue nuclear defense programs."
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Reader Comments (22)
While viewing the Kimmel video I had emotional swings between laughter and tears. Jeebus, it was like Boehner suffering organic damage.
I guess I've reached the point of not being able to laugh at American stupidity anymore. I found Kimmel's video to be disgusting, sad and all too representative of the American populace.
And Marie; in response to your remarks on my comments from yesterday, I agree completely that the media stenographers bear a huge portion of the blame for the low-info voters and I do understand that as a retiree, I have the time to sit at the computer and stay reasonably informed on this charade in Washington. Also, I will have to confess to a strong bias against the rightwing. However it has been my experience with the gop supporters I know that they do not want to hear our side much less consider it. And then there is the racial component which I recognized from the start. Unfortunately, for many whites the bigotry only went underground for a while and the repugs are making much use of racism.
What if you threw a Federal Government shutdown and hardly anyone was effected? Unless this shutdown goes on for weeks and the effects ripple across the economy, a relatively insignificant percentage of the population will be more than even slightly inconvenienced.
Had President Obama, by my understanding, abided by the Anti-Deficiency law a whole lot more than 25% or 30% of the government would be shut down. By this time, day 3, tens of millions like me would be worrying that the checks won't be in the mail, the Medicare Card won't be honored, the milk, meat and eggs just might not be safe. Then, perhaps just perhaps, that old guy with his oxygen tank and his wheel chair might be holding a sign that reads, "Get the government back in my Medicare."
To paraphrase Crash Davis in Bull Durham, "They're morons, scare 'em."
Good piece on the Shutdown with historical facts and solutions offered:
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114962/shutdown-standoff-one-worst-crises-american-history
Re: yesterday's comments which I thought were so well crafted, so thought provoking and simply terrific––even made me have to look up Damon and Pythias whom I had forgotten. I would like to address, however, something Noodge wrote:
"But it's blatantly obvious that the hatred so many hold for Obama - the sheer, visceral hatred - is not based in opposition to particular policies. Let's be honest; what has he done that any of his immediate predecessors wouldn't have? The ACA is a Heritage Foundation idea, for cryin' out loud."
I would argue that what Obama has done, the passage of the AFCA, something none of his predecessors were able to do, was monumental––who cares whose idea it was (and actually before the Heritage it had been bandied about in other administrations) plus Romney implemented it in Mass––such irony. In Obama's first term when he had Democratic control of both Senate and House a slew of laws were passed––a whole lot more than any president was able to accomplish. And when we look at the man, and not the policies, we see Obama running as an American who is black, not as a black American. He has not shrunk from his heritage, his culture, his background and the fact that he's black, as other blacks have. He ran honestly on the basis of who he is––he ran as an American. This fact, and the fact that he is the very first black President is also monumental. (And of course I agree with Noodge that this race thing is huge in this country of civil war mindsets).
Studs Terkel said that Obama's political guile under pressure reminded him of Gene Tunney, the heavy weight champion of the mid-nineteen twenties, who used craft, more than brawn, to defeat Jack Dempsey twice. "The guys on the street, the mechanics and shoe clerks, saw Tunney as an intellectual, but he won," Terkel said. "Obama is like that. He's one cool fighter."
Something else occurred to me with all this Reagan redux of late. Our beloved bête Noire, our buddy Bush*, seems to have vanished in the background. Do you ever hear any Republican cite Bush? I think part of this adoration for Reagan is he's the only one they can proudly (incorrectly) praise except maybe for Ike, but for some reason they don't go there. This party has been shamed, humiliated, and lost the presidency in the last election. Now they have the upper hand and even if it's hurting the country, even though it will hurt the party in the end, they don't care–––it feels sooooo good to be in control.
* when Bob Woodward asked Bush how he thought history would judge the Iraq war, he said: "We won't know. We'll all be dead"
@David: Your point is well-taken. But the problem, as I see it, is that -- for the most part -- the people who are most hurt by elimination of government services are those whom the teabaggers don't care about anyway -- you know, the deadbeats who depend on food stamps to feed their families, the lazy old coots who didn't plan well enough for their retirements so they rely on Social Security, the immoral, sex-crazed single mothers whose children needs medical treatment, etc. Sure, there are a few constituents Blake Fahrenthold & his cohort care about -- the military contractors, say, or their financial backers who are concerned about the falling stock market -- but hurting the many to move the few won't work too well in this case. They cannot be shamed. Look at the spectacle the other day of Steve King, et al., getting out there to "help" WWII veterans get into the memorial & making speeches about how President Obama callously "ordered" the memorial shut.
Marie
@ PD Pepe: I did not mean to understate the magnitude of Obama's accomplishment in passing the ACA, I only meant to point out that the rabid, overblown opposition to the ACA is grounded in something other than opposition to the bill itself.
The Heritage Foundation came up with the ideas behind the ACA back in 1992 when it looked as though Hillary Clinton might actually be able to push through Medicare for all. Republicans, however, were able to kill any sort of reform and never had to resort to Heritage Plan B.
I did not support Plan B then or in 2009 because it falls far short of the ideal of Medicare for all, but the more I reflect on what's happening here, I'm beginning to discern a bit of genius, maybe, in Obama's methods.
Abraham Lincoln envisioned a society without slavery, in which all people truly were created equal. Given his druthers, he'd have outlawed slavery everywhere, but neither the constitution nor the politics of the day would allow him to do so. There were simply too many powerful people with an interest in keeping slaves. So what he did was set about the business of convincing the large majority of people that slavery was wrong and created a set of circumstances that, while they may not have ended slavery everywhere (the Emancipation Proclamation only ended slavery in areas in active rebeillion), they were the limit of what he could do at the time and also ensured slavery's ultimate demise.
Similarly, the coming of the ACA has set in motion a series of events that I hope (believe) will ultimately lead to Medicare for all. Certainly Barack Obama has won the argument over whether medical care is a right. Now people just need to be brought around to the idea that, if the government exists for the purpose of securing our rights, it must therefore exist to provide all citizens with medical care.
That's coming. Certainly the people I know in the medical insurance industry think so. They're busy re-examining their business models right now, even though the ACA means that they stand to reap a short-term windfall. That's why they fought implementation so hard.
So passage of the ACA is actually quite an extraordinary achievement on President Obama's part as it represents the limit of what he could do at the time while also, I hope, guaranteeing that one day we will enjoy a single payer medical insurance plan.
I wonder what the conversations in the Ted Cruz household are like these days. Does his wife Heidi, employee at Goldman-Sachs, approve of her husband playing a key role in the government shutdown and possibly not raising the debt ceiling?
“We’re not going to be disrespected,” conservative Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., added. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”
There are likely other quotes emblematic of the juvenile, clueless teabagging mindset, but none as succinct or so useful at pointing out the stupefying ignorance that has propelled their present pre-adolescent snit.
First, Marl, respect is earned. Sitting in your dirty diaper, shaking your rattle, calling people names and demanding that everyone do what you say does not command respect.
Second, Marl (can I call you Marl? Representative Stutzman sounds too, er, respectable. For a schmuck, that is), there is no "getting something out of this". What are you, a corner drug dealer? Getting is engendered by giving. You give something, you get something.
Maybe.
Sounds like you're making an appeal to some kind of rules here, or fairness. I thought the whole idea behind teabagging anarchy is that rules don't apply. That's why you shut down the government. To get your way without having to abide by the rules, wasn't it? Schmuck-o?
But the capper is that, even were you to "get" something, you have no idea what that might be.
So, to sum up. You want respect, but you give none. You want something, but you give nothing. And what you want.....ahh....you don't know. Very compelling, Marl. You missed your calling as a trial lawyer.
So here's a poser I'll put to the RC group.
Rep. Marl Stutzman, teabagger: ignorant putz or hopeless loser?
You make the call.
The really outrageous thing is that these are the people who are running the bug house. M O R O N S.
@Julie. I suppose Heidi is okay with this, even if her boss Lloyd Blankfein (who provides Ted with health insurance) isn't. Heidi met Ted while the two of them were working on the Bush 2000 campaign. They both went to Florida to work on the recount, so I'd say Heidi approves of nullification, just as her husband has demonstrated that he does. Bush rewarded both of them with cushy jobs -- one of Heidi's gigs was at the White House, so she probably had a chance to measure the curtains.
Marie
@ Noodge: thanks for responding and clarifying. And I, too, wait for the day when the AFK becomes a single payer way.
@AK: Charlie Pierce did a feature on the Morons, 11 of 'em. Evidently, space did not allow for inclusion of the dozens of other morons.
In addition, his hilarious retort to Stutzman: "Have a cookie, Marlin. Have a cookie and go play with your toes..." Yeah!
Read more: Daily Politics Blog - Charles P. Pierce - Political Blogging - Esquire
...the many news stories today portraying the dissembling by the GOP is pathetic and disgusting. As for the cringe-worthy picture of Blake Farenthold, (which CW has posted before) I don't know the ages of the women, but the 'pain' in the blonde's eyes always makes me think that she got roped into this party deal and wishes she were anywhere else but there.
Ummm...where is Farenthold's right hand?
@MAG: a contributor pointed out to me when I posted this a few months back that the mark on the hand of the girl on the left indicates that she is a minor.
Marie
P.S. Yep, Pierce's profile of Marl & his ilk is a little masterpiece.
@Re: Marl: Both and MORON.
I wonder what Mrs. Blake Fucking Farenthold and the Farenthold kiddies talk about around the dinner table when Blake the Flake is home.
Marl is a type of soft stone formed from mud. Stutzman seems to have a brain of the same material. He don't want to be disrespected. Sorry Marl, train already left the station on that one.
Poor Tailgunner Ted, the problem with being a bomb thrower is when they blow up in your face, how do you clean up?
Correction: It's ACA, not AFK, although we could call it the Affordable Formidable Kimono and those people on the street would say, yeah, I like that much better than Obamacare--Yousa!
Re: Alfred E. Neuman in the House; Sweet baby Jesus; how on God's green earth could Blake Ferrethole get elected as dog catcher let alone House Rep.? Is there a place in the world that two people would cast votes for this gapped tooth marvel of a genetic train wreck? I know... Texas.
@MAG; As Marie has pointed out being a sex object is the worst job going. I'm sure the blonde is still trying wash off the scum.
@Ak; What they want is a return to yesteryear when white men ruled and the "others" bowed down before them.
Now to make a great generalization; (we all know there is no such thing) and those that know can call me out on this; I will stand down. In my years knowing people it seems to me (only me) the vets that I have met or worked with that were closest to the fire were the least likely to make a deal out of it.
Guys that got shot at, guys that took shots, never much said anything about it. The guys that were wearing the vet vests with the campaign patches and the decals were guys that supported the guys getting shot up. I'm not knocking the service of any vet but it just seems to me if one out of ten vets actually saw combat and the other nine supported them a lot of the flag wrapped old tea baggers are the same guys that figured out non-combat roles beat the hell out of getting shot at. So, those old vets at the National Monuments aren't the same as the long dead boys that stormed the beaches at Normandy or stood in during the Tet offense or watched the Chinese pour out of the Korean winter. I guess it don't matter to nobody but me.
Marlin is a serious challenger to Louie for the Stupidest Congressprat title.
JJ&G; re: Vets. I think you're right. I've always thought the American Legion was a front organization for payroll clerks.
Why is it we RCers all seem to have a rabid ruight wing family member? I have been arguing with my brother and a friend on Facebook about who's at fault. Naturally, they spout the current repug talking points. My brother has zero understanding of the ACA. He's unaware that you have to BUY your insurance and that illegals cannot participate. He thinks it's all a big giveaway to THEM. My friend thinks the President is at fault. I asked him why he should reward Congress for their behavior. For people who continually cite the Constitution, they sure don't know much about it (except the Second Amendment, which, IMHO should be repealed).
After a few days of this great government "slimdown" I can finally fit back into my tri-corn hat. All of that lobster from my food stamps was packing the fat on my ass. I'm feeling much better, however, now that I'm living within my means again and Ramen noodles bloat my gut every night. My moral compass had gone awry immersed in government hand-me-downs. Luckily Teddy Cruzer has a charming way of inventing reality where I can foresee my true patriotic weaknesses. If you didn't build it you don't deserve it. Except for this big shiny AR-15 here by my side. I didn't build her but God does make miracles... I'm starting to talk a little crazy, must be all that sodium from my noodles. Maybe I'll take ol' shooter here and head over to the White House, say hi to Teddy and tell Obamby what I think about his destroying 'Merica...
JJG and James Singer, Yup, Bold, brave and proud clerk typists, motor mechanics, radio repair men. Infantry men don't like re-visiting the pain it took years to push to the back of their minds.