Aesop and The Republican Party's Problem

by Nomad

Throughout the ages, the humble slave, Aesop was famous for his simple stories that revealed a hidden truth about human nature. I found this fable about trying to please others.

The Man and His Two Wives

In the old days, when men were allowed to have many wives, a middle-aged man had one wife that was old and one that was young; each loved him very much, and desired to see him like herself. 

Now the man's hair was turning grey, which the young wife did not like, as it made him look too old for her husband. So every night she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones. 

But the elder wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure, for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every morning she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the black ones as she could. The consequence was the man soon found himself entirely bald.

As I was reading, it struck me how much it seemed to apply to the dilemma that Republican party faces. 

Musical Sanity Break- Two by CCR

Don't Look Now

Who will take the coal from the mine?

Who will take the salt from the earth?

Who'll take a leaf and grow it to a tree?

Don't Look Now, it ain't you or me.

Who will work the field with his hands?

Who will put his back to the plough?

Who'll take the mountain and give it to the sea?

Don't Look Now, it ain't you or me.

Someday Never Comes

First thing I remember was asking papa, why,

For there were many things I didn't know.

And daddy always smiled and took me by the hand,

Saying, someday you'll understand.

From Father to Son: A Look Back at George W. Romney

by Nomad

I wanted to share some excerpts from a speech by Romney. Not Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate, but by his father, George Romney, who was at that time the president of American Motors, soon to be the governor of Michigan.

The speech was given as part of the annual address to male students at Brigham Young University on  November 1961.

In this speech, George Romney touched upon many themes in the speech, including his faith and how much faith in God played an important role in his life and his philosophy. 

His reflections on the American system show Romney to have been a careful observer. Like a lot of liberals today, he saw America as an unfinished experiment and keeping the status quo was not one of George Romney’s principles. 

Long ago I became convinced that very few of us really understand America. Very few of us have really thought through the fundamental things about the American system. I think we are too much inclined to take it for granted that the American Revolution has been completed, that we have arrived, that we have it made. We haven't. The American Revolution is in its very early stages. This is true politically, it is true economically, it is true socially, it is true religiously. And it is going to take some nonconformists in America to jolt America out of its lethargy and its smugness.

Romney Campaign Retro

Cameroon: Where Saying “I love you” Can Put You in Prison

I magine an existence where just texting a message to your lover could destroy your life and condemn you to a prison sentence of up to five years. 

As dystopian and far-fetched as it might sound, there are still places in the world where this can and does occur. 

Take the Mbede case in the West African nation of Cameroon.

Roger Mbede’s Story

Reporter Joe Mirabella in an article for the Huffington Post, highlights the plight of Jean-Paul Roger Mbede:

Roger was arrested last year for sending another man a text message that said, "I'm very much in love w/u." He was charged and convicted under Cameroon's law that criminalizes "homosexual behavior" and sentenced to three years in prison. He's spent more than a year in jail, while being subjected to abuse in custody, but is now finally appealing his conviction. Roger's hearing is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 17.

The One Percent would rather..

The Smirk That May Have Cost Romney the Election

by Nomad

F

or quite some time, political observers have been declaring that Mitt Romney's greatest weakness (outside of the fact that he simply cannot be honest) is his complete detachment, his lack of empathy and his inability to hit the right emotional tone. In the early hours of September 12, Mitt Romney exposed his character flaws for all the world to see.

As embassy staff in Benghazi, Libya were fighting for their lives against a band of armed attackers, Romney was attempting to portray- without any justification whatsoever- that Obama had expressed sympathy for the attackers.

The statement he has used as evidence had actually been written prior to the attack and had come not from the White House but from the Egyptian embassy. That statement had been an attempt to quell protests there.

It stated that the US embassy “condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims…as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”

The Romney campaign reaction? Romney stated "that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks." 

The following day, Wednesday, while the grim news from Libya- the brutal murder of the ambassador along with four other embassy staff- was stilling filtering in, Romney held a press conference to restate his views. It might have been an opportunity to reconsider his hasty words. Alas, Romney pressed on, with what reporters described as a smirk.  Before the reporters, he said:

"... (T)he administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt, instead of condemning their actions. It's never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values."

According to a CBS article, when asked what exactly did he had objected to, Romney went on to say:

"Their administration spoke. The president takes responsibility not just for the words that come from his mouth, but also from the words that come from his ambassadors from his administration, from his embassies, from his State Department...They clearly sent mixed messages to the world and the statement that came from the administration and the embassy is the administration. The statement that came from the administration was -- was a statement which is akin to apology and I think was a -- a severe miscalculation."

It soon became apparent that the miscalculation was not the president's, but the candidate's. 
Romney's clear expression of glee was repulsive in light of the national tragedy. Making use of the event to score political points seemed to prove what most people had felt about this candidate. Romney has no sense of empathy and, for Romney, satisfying his ambition supersedes all other considerations.

Musical Sanity Break- Judy Collins-Tomorrow Is A Long Time

"Tomorrow Is a Long Time" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan in 1963. (I really thought it was much later than that.)  In this version is sung by Judy Collins who, I think, does it justice. 

Why The GOP Can't Be Trusted with Foreign Policy 3/3

by Nomad

Part One- McCain's Speech
Part Two- Reagan and the Iran-Iraq War

Part 3- Reagan: Between Iran and Iraq

I will now conclude this examination of Reagan’s foreign policy, specifically his handling of two Middle-Eastern nations, Iran and Iraq, and the bloody war between them. 

In this post, we shall see how Reagan’s diplomacy failures and hypocrisies would take a disastrous turn and lead to scandal.

Crossing the Line
Let's begin with a quote:

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.-- Ronald Reagan

The executive decision to begin arming and providing military intelligence to Saddam Hussein, despite an American pretense of neutrality in the Iran-Iraq war, had, by 1983, become more complicated when reports confirmed Hussein’s use of outlawed chemical weapons(CW) on the battlefield.

As early as November 1983, US officials were aware that top secret memos confirmed that Hussein had been using CW. Furthermore, they suspected the source of those weapons to be a US foreign subsidiary

But even then, it wasn’t so much of a moral question or even a legal one. It was a matter of public relations. 

According to a New York Times article in August, 2002, Col. Walter P. Lang, a senior defense intelligence officer at the time, explained that D.I.A. and C.I.A. officials “were desperate to make sure that Iraq did not lose” to Iran. “The use of gas on the battlefield by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern,” he said. One veteran said, that the Pentagon “wasn’t so horrified by Iraq’s use of gas.” “It was just another way of killing people _ whether with a bullet or phosgene, it didn’t make any difference.” 

(Compare that with the mock outrage against WMD that helped launch the Iraq Invasion and occupation.)

Why The GOP Can't Be Trusted with Foreign Policy 2/3

 by Nomad

Part 2- Reagan and The Iran-Iraq War

In the previous post, we reviewed John McCain’s speech at the Republican convention in Tampa and all its foreign policy implications. McCain’s call for strong leadership is a staple for the Republicans. 
It has been since the days of Reagan- the father of the neoconservative movement and founder of a revitalized American foreign policy. If only, the Republicans seem to say, today’s politicians could be as bold and decisive as Reagan, America could return to its glory days. 

Hostages of the Past

With the American engagement in Iraq finally at an end, after what can only be called a foreign policy disaster, this is a good time to look back at the long prelude. The roots of that disaster go deep. Back to the early career of Saddam Hussein when American leadership was far more interested in Iran.

On January 27, 1981- one week after Ronald Reagan had been taken the oath of office, he stated,

"Let terrorist be aware that when the rules of international behavior are violated, our policy will be one of swift and effective retribution."

Why The GOP Can't Be Trusted with Foreign Policy 1/3

  by Nomad

In this three-part series we take a look back at the evidence in the case against the Republican attitude on foreign policy. We begin with John McCain who seems to have an unfailing record of being dangerously wrong on almost every pronouncement he has made about foreign relations.

Part 1- McCain’s Speech in Tampa

Lost in Paul Ryan’s flagrant dishonesty and Romney’s sticky-gooey sing-song speech, the incoherent silliness of Clint’s burlesque with an empty chair, there was an appearance that might have gone unnoticed at the Republican convention.

His was a familiar face- a bit too familiar, actually: Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Whoever decided that McCain’s appearance at the convention would enhance Mitt Romney’s paltry foreign policy credentials should probably defect to the Obama campaign before somebody catches on. 

Has Fox News Given the Big Kiss-Off to Sarah Palin?

  by Nomad

I've often wondered what bottom would look like when Sarah Palin hit it Since being catapulted onto the national stage, even then it was clear that Palin- an utter slave to her own ambitions- was in over her head. 

Lately Palin's career has been a series of headlong tumbles and public pratfalls. 

Even worse- for Sarah, at least- since her decision not to run, her strident voice has faded into the hallelujahs and amens of the Romney nomination at this week's convention.

Now it appears she has hit another pointy ledge in what seems to be a very deep, very dark pit.

Chosen Defender of the Indefensible: Romney and the 2012 Republican Platform

by Nomad

A

fter what seems like an eternity, with a campaign filled with endless debates involving a fairly unimpressive line-up of Republican candidates, it still comes as a shock that this man, Mitt Romney, is the best that the Republican party could come up.

When the candidate's wife has to come before the convention as part of a charm offensive, then something has clearly gone wrong with the selection process.

Who's next on the rostrum, his great-aunt June and her bridge partner?

Romney's unyielding ambition to be president at any cost has finally landed him in what can only be an truly awkward position: attempting to defend the indefensible Republican platform for 2012.

Tea Party Politicians on Public Education: Bending and Breaking It All to Pieces

(originally posted at Nomadic View April 2011)

When the Turkish leader of the newly created Turkish Republic came to power, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was able, in a single generation, to transform a country, stripped of its territories and, ravaged by war into a stable, strong and proud nation. His vision for his country involved reform on a vast scale. (He even managed to change the writing of the Turkish alphabet from Arabic style script.)

One of his greatest achievements- which in turn allowed even greater development- was to invest in improving education for all citizens of the Republic.

Developing an educated population, in his opinion, was a patriotic duty.

"Education must be apart from all kinds of superstition and alien thoughts; it must be noble, national and patriotic."

Education was not merely a matter of personal development, in the eyes of Ataturk. Without education, no nation can flourish economically.

Our principle is that national education shall be based on single school and secularism. Our goal in education is to raise citizens which shall increase the economic power and civilization and social value of the national society.

Warrors and the Privileged Elite

Unfortunately, in the United States today, the general attitude among conservative Republican politicians has devolved into something quite different. Check out this information from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC)

The Republican governor of Indiana would have you believe that teachers are the “privileged elite.” Gov. Daniels believes that teachers and other public-sector employees enjoy “feather-bedded payrolls, very expensive salaries and benefits.”

In fact the average teacher annual salary in Indiana was $46,640 in 2009. That's an average. Hardly the kind of salary one considers privileged. This was, in fact, somewhat lower than the national 2009 average of $49,720. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has a salary between $95,000 and $107,000 per year. But that's hardly surprising. He is a governor.

Exclusive Nomadic Interview: Lucifer, Prince of Darkness Discusses The 2012 Election, Mitt Romney and the GOP

  by Nomad

A

fter my repeated requests (mostly through the use of a childhood Ouija board), Satan last week finally agreed to a  exclusive face to face  interview about his take on the upcoming US elections.

Born sometime around the beginning of creation, the publicity-shy father of contention now calls Naples, Florida home. Upon my arrival to uber-elegant villa, I was greeted by Feldgrau-green hunchbacked demon/butler and was escorted through his elaborate Venetian-Gothic residence, (patterned after the Doge's Palace in Venice). After I was escorted through  a marble-floored ballroom the size of Royal Albert Hall, we passed onto a pristine white terrace overlooking 10 acres of formal gardens.  It is all too too perfect, I think, as I wait.

With a brisk, almost feminine stride, Satan arrives precisely on time, flanked by two beefy eight-foot tall demons in Yves Saint Laurent pin-striped suits and Calvin Klein shades. Satan’s in True Religion jeans, a pale iridescent blue T-shirt- (which, I notice, match his eyes), a shoulder-hugging leather jacket and what look to be brand-new black Puma sneakers. He's taller than I thought he'd be with a physique sculpted by hauling morbidly obese souls to continually burning furnaces.

Will Gov. Rick Scott's Budget Cuts Create A Perfect Storm for GOP in Tampa?

  by Nomad

W

ith the Republican National Convention in Tampa opening on August 27 , Florida governor Rick Scott has been scheduled to speak after House Speaker John Boehner on its opening night. There was, in fact, some question about whether Scott would be invited to speak since his popularity ranks at or near the bottom of governors since he took office last year.

The reasons for his unpopularity are easy to list. As one partisan source tells us:

In addition to the voter purge, Scott’s rock-bottom approval is the product of the Republicans’ unpopular and extremist initiatives. From attempting to restrict women's health care, to attempting to privatize Florida prisons for the benefit of a large political contributor, to a budget that provided zero dollars for public school construction and slashed funding for higher education, Scott and the Republicans spent their months in Tallahassee painting a perfect picture of how truly out of touch the GOP is with the concerns of Florida’s middle class families.

In some ways it is only logical that the out-of-touch Republican leadership should decide that this particular man- who is clearly so unpopular- should be offered a chance to speak at the convention. He is, after all, a proper symbol of what has gone wrong.

Not that the GOP understands that finer point. Throughout Scott's boasting at the convention, absolutely nobody in Tampa will be asking questions about the reasons for this negative opinion of Scott's character, his policies and his performance.

Rick Scott wasn't always so disliked but the honeymoon was surprisingly short.

Mitt Romney's Latest Headache: Rep.Todd Akin’s Rape/Abortion Remarks

by Nomad
Just when you may have thought the Republican party couldn’t get any more ignorant and hypocritical, in one fell swoop, a remark by the Tea Party nominee in the Senate race for the state of Missouri has demonstrated that the party has untapped reserves of both.

On a recent St. Louis TV program Rep. Todd Akins was asked about women’s reproductive health issues, and whether his anti-abortion stand included an exemption for rape. He replied that it did not. Why? Because in those cases, he claimed, a woman’s body will somehow know to end the pregnancy itself. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

There was immediate outrage by women’s groups, which is a fairly predictable result whenever a politician- especially a male one- is foolish enough to put the words “legitimate” and “rape” together in the same sentence. (It's also an effective way to isolate yourself at a cocktail party, I might add.)  

Apologists for the Congressman- where they could be found- shrugged off the remarks as just a poor choice of words and (c'mon guys!) an artificial controversy. 

A Closer Look at Romney’s Surrogates- John H. Sununu 3/3

by Nomad
PART ONE
PART TWO

In this final post in the series, we will look at the mounting calls for Sununu's dismissal as Chief of Staff in George Bush, Sr. administration. Even after he had been warned about his questionable misuse of travel expenses, he failed to take the problem seriously. 

Pride Before the Fall

Those that said Sununu would not change were quickly proved correct. When barred from using military aircraft, he resorted to different modes of travel and different methods to pay for them.

According to investigative reporters, Sununu ordered a White House limo to take him to New York to a rare stamp auction at Christies. To make matters worse, Sununu then sent the car and driver back to Washington unoccupied while he returned on a corporate jet.

A Closer Look at Romney’s Surrogates- John H. Sununu 2/3

by Nomad

In PART ONE of this three-part series, we examined John Sununu's new role as a Mitt Romney surrogate. We then took a look at the man, his character and how his character affected his performance in his former position as George H.W. Bush's Chief of State in the early 1990s. 

In this post, we will start out with one of Sununu's important miscalculations.

The Appointment Blunder
When Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, known for being a leader of the Court's liberal wing, stepped down, President Bush had expressed desire to nominate Clarence Thomas to the court. This was part of a long term agenda to place a conservative majority on the bench. The genius of the agenda, so the theory went, was that liberals would see a black man, or a woman, or a Hispanic, but the mindset was very much conservative. A faux kind of affirmative action for the Supreme Court.

However, because of Thomas’ lack of plausible qualifications for the position, the idea was eventually nixed. (The idea would later be -out of necessity- revived and that would lead to exactly what President Bush had feared -a major confirmation skirmish for the Bush administration.)

What they needed was somebody whose background was spotless and whose views were not extremist- or at least, not conspicuously so.

A Closer Look at Romney’s Surrogates: John H. Sununu 1/3

by Nomad

Here's a three-part post about a man who has appeared on Fox News lately, declaring himself to be Mitt Romney "surrogate." Who is John Sununu and what was his history? It's worth taking a closer look.

The Importance of Being a Surrogate

When you study a candidate for high office, it's sometimes easy to forget that behind that person is a team of advisers who influence each and every one of his decisions. 

Conversely, it is important to note the kind of person that the candidate attracts.

So when it comes to Mitt Romney, it's fair to take a closer look at the people Romney surrounds himself with and who listens to. Should Romney win in November, it is quite possible that these people will form part of his cabinet or his personal staff. In this series, we will look at one such person, John H. Sununu. 

Apparently John Sununu is not exactly an official representative of Mitt Romney. He doesn’t seem to have any actual position in the campaign, as far I could tell. 

He is usually called “a key Romney surrogate”- which seems to mean somebody goes and talks to the media, promoting- and in Romney’s case, generally defending- the candidate. Presumably, these are people who are so in tune with their man that they can speak for him.

On the other hand, from Romney’s point of view, the use of so-called surrogates is exceedingly practical, since his opinion can change at any given moment.,And there’s one major advantage of being a surrogate- as opposed to an official spokesperson. In that surrogate position, you can make any kind of specious and ridiculous claim and the candidate doesn’t have to take any responsibility for the remarks.

Running-Mate Paul Ryan and Mitt’s Medicare Mess

by Nomad

S
o it seems as if the final chapter in the sorry Romney campaign is presently being written. After what can only be described as a disastrous summer, Romney settled on Tea Party and Fox News sweetheart

Paul Ryan as his running mate.

"It’s a big step toward what the tea party has been trying to accomplish," said Matt Kibbe, the president and CEO of FreedomWorks, a national group aligned with the tea party. "It gives people a reason to be more enthusiastic about the Republican ticket."

In Romney’s never-ending (but futile) quest to be liked, the candidate has made one more desperate appeal to the far right. If that was the idea, then it was a colossal blunder.

The Great Society, Medicare and the Summer of ‘65

The summer of 1965 was one of many critical moments of American history. The Great Society, President Johnson's ambitious policy to overhaul the country, became a reality. However, at the same moment, a new movement of a different kind was emerging. It was a kind of backlash that would take 15 years to mature into the conservative movement.

With Republican presumptive nominee Mitt Romney’s announcement of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate, there’s bound to be a lot of talk about Ryan’s budget proposals, particularly the proposed reforms in Medicare and Medicaid. Democrats are no doubt pleased with Romney’s decision since any changes - no matter how necessary- to these social programs are bound to create some fear with some affected voters. 

Still, something has to be done. Everybody agrees on that, at least. Health care is the biggest driver of future budget deficits.

It is true that Ryan’s tweaking of his original plan should have removed some of this understandable anxiety and yet when it comes to something this complex, voters on both sides of the political spectrum are deeply suspicious of any tinkering. Even the ultra-right wing Tea Party movement is opposed to medicare cuts.
One source- correctly or incorrectly- captures the mood of the anxious voter.

Ryan’s plan has been rightly called “a thinly disguised assault on Medicare.” The House GOP knows they have no immediate hope of ending Medicare, but they’re telegraphing their long-term plans to cut all the cords holding up America’s social safety net. That should be a brutal wakeup call for all of us as we get a glimpse of how they would reshape America as a less kind, less gentle nation. They don’t plan to stop at Medicare; Social Security won’t be far behind.

It would be tempting for Democrats to scare the elderly voters with exaggerated fears about what Romney and Ryan might do. Even without the medicare fears, the less than charismatic Paul Ryan is certainly not going to be giving the Romney campaign anything close to a boost.

As I said, I will leave further discussion of that topic to others. 

Instead, I would like to take you back forty-seven years to a small town in Missouri where important events were happening.

Secrecy and Disclosure: Cheney Offers Romney Free Advice

As vice-president, Dick Cheney's most effective tool was always stealth. Listen the unsolicited advice he has given candidate Mitt Romney about disclosure. Of course, the question is whether Cheney's advice can actually win elections or hide evidence?

I have recently come to the conclusion that the Republican Party is now living in a world where rewards and punishment, shame and honor, have been turned upside down and made completely irrelevant.

The very people that should be hanging their head in utter shame, that should be wear identity-hiding beards and dark glasses or living in total seclusion in a backwoods cabin in Montana are now held up as experts or authorities.

Republican failures are constantly being interviewed and asked their opinions. Why would any intelligent person care?

So when I read about former vice president Dick Cheney giving his “valuable” advice to the presumptive nominee for the Republican party, Mitt Romney, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, the conservative media reveres people like Cheney and think, despite the historical record, their opinions are extremely important.

The Patriotism of Mitt Romney

Reflections on The Passing of Gore Vidal

By Nomad

So much of what Mr. Vidal had to say about American politics and its culture were things that many Americans just didn't want to hear. Yet looking back over his record as a prognosticator, he always seemed to be more on the right side, rather than the wrong side of history. 

It is true that his love for stirring up controversy (often for its own sake) made it easier for people to despise him. Yet, few could deny that when it came to exposition, to expressing the liberal ethic, Gore Vidal could rarely be bested.

There was a famous 1968 televised debate between his mirror image on the right, William F. Buckley, Jr. In this debate, the topic turned to the heavy handed police reaction to protesters at Chicago Democratic Convention. Vidal referred to Buckley as a "pro- or crypto- Nazi" and it was at that point that Buckley lost his cool and said, very uncharacteristically,"Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in your goddamn face, and you'll stay plastered." 

The 7 Lessons the GOP has Failed to Learn from the Sarah Palin Blunder

Sarah Palin's vice-presidential candidacy was controversial from the moment it was announced. For an assortment of reasons, many thought she was totally unqualified to be second in command. After a disastrous campaign, in which the McCain and his running-mate seemed to be conducting separate campaigns, many lessons should have been learned. Apparently nobody has learned anything at all.

The way the GOP has handled the Sarah Palin problem - from start to finish- says so much about what is wrong with the party. 

Even now, as the presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney, heads toward the convention to be crowned (despite some serious concerns about his suitability) the Republican leadership seems to have learned nothing.

Bad Karma: How Romney's Bain Capital Worked its Magic on Clear Channel Communications

 by Nomad

In an amazing twist, Mitt Romney's former hedge fund management may be the thing that kills off a major supply of hate on the radio.

Splashing Cash

Just saw this good news article about the slow inevitable sinking of Rush Limbaugh and the perfect storm mounting against right-wing hate radio. As you probably have heard, the campaign against Limbaugh has been effective at getting big name corporations from providing advertising revenue for the promoters of controversial radio show host.

According to the article,

(A)nother threat to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, et al, looms on the horizon, and comes from a very different direction: vulture capital.

None other than Mitt Romney's Bain Capital owns Clear Channel, which is the parent of the conservative talkers' syndicator, Premiere Networks. Clear Channel recently downsized, simultaneous with Bain Capital squeezing the company through a forced 2.2 billion dollar dividend. (This is one of the mechanisms by which Mitt Romney and friends have amassed their fortunes -- sucking cash out of troubled corporations, subsequently allowing some of them to go bankrupt.) Clear Channel was already 19.2 billion dollars in debt, and is facing a shareholder lawsuit related to loans between different Clear Channel entities that were used to cover the huge payout. In spite of crushing debt, Clear Channel is "splashing the cash" in "an attempt to rebrand itself as a hip digital music giant."

The move away from controversy cannot be very good news for the likes of Limbaugh. Hip is not really his thing. Not to worry too much; the devil takes care of his own (for the most part) and Rush is no exception. 

Laughing at Mitt's Expense: More Romney Cartoons

by Nomad
With the Romney campaign looking more and more like a disaster, it shouldn't surprise anybody that politicians might not want to throw away their careers by agreeing to be his running mate. 

Of course, there's always Sarah Palin. She's already thrown away her career. Probably a few careers actually. Poor Sarah really doesn't have much else to do nowadays anyway. Who knows? She was certainly a game changer for McCain in 2008.

Here's my favorite:

In the end, it has boiled down to a man that nobody likes, and nobody trusts who campaign is awash with the seemingly unlimited funds from special interests and the 1%.

Related articles

• Guy who picked Sarah Palin says Mitt Romney's problem wasn't his taxes (dailykos.com)
• McCain: Sarah Palin Was A "Better Candidate" Than Mitt Romney (alan.com)
• McCain irked by blowback over Palin remark (politico.com)

Aurora Reflections: Why Nothing will Change

by Nomad

In the aftermath of the Aurora shooting, it's time to be perfectly frank here.

In a country that worships violence, that literally trains its children to hunt down and kill humans in computer games, that, allows a purposefully-misinterpreted constitutional right to make dangerous weapons easy to obtain, it seems pretty hypocritical to pretend to be surprised when these acts of mass murder occur. We all shudder because that's what we are expected to do.

It's All an Act

Let's face it, for the most part, it's all an act anyway because Americans are not going to do anything about any of the underlying causes for this murderous madness.

• Americans are not going demand decisive action from their leaders. 

• Americans are not going to change any laws about gun ownership. 

• There is not going to be any renewed attention at establishing some workable system of identifying and treating the deranged and the dangerous. 

In fact, instead of searching for solutions to the murder-rampage problem, quite the opposite will continue to happen.

After a couple of days the shock of it will wear off and a couple of months later, the whole scenario will replay itself somewhere else. If not in Colorado, then Nevada or Florida or Georgia. A swimming pool, an opera house, a concert, any place where people come together.

Until each and every one of us loses a friend, a co-worker or a loved one in a senseless mass murder like this, it will go on.

The same breaking news reports, the grisly details, the interviews with shaken survivors and the sad tales of victims whose lives were cut short for no reason at all. There will be the same sad speeches by politicians, the flowers on sidewalks under young girls' photographs.
But in the end, nothing will change.

Why not, you ask? Just look at the immediate response to the latest event.

Senseless Crazy

Instead of seeking and demanding real solutions to this problem, we have people like Republican congressmen from Texas Louie "terror babies" Gohmert who- even before investigations began, was on a radio show, issuing his own idiotic remarks about the mass murder.

"You know what really gets me, a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place...Some of us happen to believe that when our founders talked about guarding our virtue of freedom, that was important...People say...where was God in all of this? We've threatened high school graduation participations if they use God's name, they're going to be jailed... I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don't want him around."

Thirteen people are murdered in cold blood, more than 35 people are injured and, according to Gohmert, the cause is not enough faith in God? 

If you were one of those that believes that God takes a special interest in our individual lives, then it would be just as easy to blame God for allowing this thing to happen in the first place. If God really wanted converts, He could have easily divinely jammed the guns. Melted them.
In fact, according to the Christian Post, Holmes was "was heavily involved in his local Presbyterian church." So much for that theory. That kind of logic is, of course, wasted on people like Gohmert. Instead of playing the preacher, Gohmert should be concentrating on his well-paying job as a legislator.

Although it is unclear whether or not Holmes received psychiatric treatment or received a diagnosis of a mental health problem, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, founder

of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Va. told ABC News that

he believes that the increasing numbers of shooting rampages – Jared Loughner's 2011 attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the shooting at Fort Hood in 2009, the massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007 – are largely the result of decreasing resources and funding for the mentally ill in state budgets throughout the U.S.

Like many states, when faced with an eye-watering shortfall, state legislatures have been forced to cut already-strapped health services to local communities.
For example, last year, the state of Texas, which ranks 50th in the nation in spending on mental health care, proposed $134 million in budget cuts for mental health services. This, according to experts, put in jeopardy many of the estimated 1.5 million people with severe mental disorders.

Mind you, this is the same state whose governor has openly rejected the Affordable Care Act, which would expand government-funded health care.
Besides putting the entire community at risk, according to one study, these budget cuts are not illusionary. The need remains and the costs are simply shifted to another area of need. According to one independent analysis of Texas' 2011 budget:

The proposed reductions to mental health services will undermine the foundation of the public mental health system. The belief that cuts to community mental health services equate to “savings” is deceptive, as the costs of serving people with serious mental illnesses is merely shifted to local communities and to other sectors of the state budget. Already, local communities are struggling to fill the gaps in the public mental health system.

Even before any budget cuts take place, community needs that should be met by the public community‐based mental health system are overflowing to State Hospitals, emergency rooms, and jails. Across the state, police officers are reporting longer waits in emergency rooms for individuals that they have brought in for care, sheriffs and county officials are raising concerns about pressures on jail as they have to absorb more inmates with mental illnesses, and emergency room staff are warning of longer waits for all patients as individuals with mental illness consume more of the emergency room’s resources while waiting for an inpatient bed to become available.

Further cuts will make a difficult situation untenable.

Could increased funding of mental health services have actually prevented the Aurora tragedy? So far that's unproven. However, cutting mental health services and putting dangerous people on the street to fend for themselves is certainly not a solution.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, because of state budget cuts, more and more dangerous people are falling through the cracks:

In March, 2011, NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, released State Mental Health Cuts: A National Crisis, a report documenting deep cuts to state spending on services for children and adults living with serious mental illness. These cuts, which occurred between 2009 and 2011, led to significant reductions in both hospital and community services for vulnerable individuals with serious mental illness.

Today, with demand for public mental health services extremely high, especially at a time of severe economic distress, the crisis in mental health care continues. The impacts are felt throughout society as people go without the treatment they need.

Increasingly, emergency rooms, homeless shelters and jails are struggling with the effects of people falling through the cracks due to lack of needed mental health services and supports.

Some states, such as California, Illinois, Nevada and South Carolina, which made devastating cuts to mental health services previously, have made further cuts for fiscal year (FY) 2012, putting tens of thousands of citizens at great risk. States have cut more than $1.6 billion in general funds from their state mental health agency budgets for mental health services since FY2009, a period during which demand for such services increased significantly.

Dr. John Grohol, CEO and founder of Internet's largest and oldest independent mental health and psychology network, Psych Central, also notes that outsourcing to a private sector solution has its own set of problems:

Because of budget cuts and the focus on de-institutionalization — moving even people with severe mental illness out of state hospitals into group homes and other care settings — the state is outsourcing a great deal of their services to private providers. These private companies and organizations set their own rules for safety and care, often with very little external or government oversight;

What, you may ask, is Gohmert's solution? He went on to say:

"It does make me wonder, with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?"

Because as everybody knows, more weapons in public places is the right answer. A crowded cinema with people firing in every direction? Hmm..

As Rachel Maddow writes:

If decency had any place in American politics, this would be an immediate career-ender for the ridiculous congressman from Texas. Some political missteps are simply unforgivable.

More Men Without Mirrors

Another shameless exploiter of this tragedy, Joel B. Pollak, a blogger for the Brietbart.com, wrote that the shooter, identified as James Holmes, "could be" a registered Democrat. He could have been a lot of things, a juggler of bowling pins, a fan of Glee or a professional wrestling enthusiast. Holmes could be a lot of things.
Or maybe not.

Few were surprised by Pollack's excuse for news reporting. Breitbart is known for carrying on the outrageously low journalistic standards of its founder.

Another of his writers, John Nolte, had the nerve to lash out at Piers Morgan for "exploiting the massacre" by questioning gun control laws.

If there's an American tragedy, within hours you can always expect our corrupt media to feast on the corpses of the victims in order to push their left-wing political agenda.

The irony of the statement is probably wasted on fans of that site. They've appeared to have lost all capacity for self-reflection or analysis.

Paul Joseph Watson, a writer for Alex Jones' InfoWars, jumps onto the bandwagon with an article that begins:

Within hours of the tragic ‘Batman’ shooting in Aurora, Colorado, political opportunists have seized upon the incident to push for gun control, with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanding that both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama “stand up and tell us what they’re going to do about” mass shootings.
Exactly as we predicted in our earlier article, leftists have wasted no time in exploiting the actions of a lone lunatic for political grist, with Bloomberg calling on the two presidential candidates to crack down on gun rights.

We knew ghouls like Bloomberg would rush to exploit this tragedy to try and crush the right to self-defense.
And the amazing part is that none of these writers appear to see themselves as exploiters of the massacre.

Rush Limbaugh, always ready to make a public ass of himself during a national tragedy, played a unique role in this Aurora shooting. Days before the event he revealed his own silly conspiracy theory about the Batman film.

RUSH: Have you heard this new movie, the Batman movie, what is it, The Dark Knight Lights Up or whatever the name is. That’s right, Dark Knight Rises. Lights Up, same thing. Do you know the name of the villain in this movie?

Bane. The villain in The Dark Knight Rises is named Bane, B-a-n-e. What is the name of the venture capital firm that Romney ran and around which there’s now this make-believe controversy? Bain. The movie has been in the works for a long time. The release date’s been known, summer 2012 for a long time. Do you think that it is accidental that the name of the really vicious fire breathing four eyed whatever it is villain in this movie is named Bane?

Did his radio diatribe play any part in the event? As much as I would like to pin this tail on that donkey, it certainly doesn't sound much like incitement to me. It just sounds like more of Limbaugh's usual rantings. (There have been much more clear cut examples of incitement to violence by others in the media.Think: Julian Assange during the Wikileaks hoopla.)

As ignorant as his statements were, Rush's culpability seems nonexistent. In any case, making allegations against Rush is probably unhelpful. The Right Wing has already seized upon those unsupported claims and made the most of them. Of course, as more news leaks out, a fuller picture will emerge of the shooter's motives, and his inspirations (other than extreme self-promotion and making a lot of people terrified for their lives).

In the end, the National Rifle Association (NRA) will continue to talk about defending freedom. Congressmen will talk about Christians under attack. The Right will blame the Left for it and the Left will guiltily defend itself.

Once again, Republican candidate Mitt Romney will have to face his arch enemy, Romney of 1994 who in Massachusetts once proudly defended his support of an Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady gun control law. Blessed silence should be the only response but in the campaign season, that's unlikely.

Ultimately, it will be left to Fox News to clean up the Right Wing version- something along the lines of "a lone gunman, that's all, we'll have to live with it."

Hannity will add a few so-called experts (Sarah Palin is always available) to assure us that nothing can be done, that budget cuts have nothing to do with it, that Obama is the person to blame for this, and that guns are good for us. Greta Van Susteren or blond bombshill Megyn Kelly will be on duty to make the nonsense sound perfectly reasonable (if you don't think too deeply about it). Next week, Fox and Friends will interview a survivor who will have their very own 5 minutes of stardom.
Case closed.

Then something else will happen.

______________

Related articles

• A mass murderer played World of Warcraft and you should all feel bad (wow.joystiq.com)
• Rachel Maddow (wnyc.org)
• Rep. Louis Gohmert still trying super hard for Stupidest Member of Congress Award (dailykos.com)
• Gohmert: ENDA Is Part Of Obama's 'War On Religion' (thinkprogress.org)
• Louie Gohmert: We Need Photo IDs to Prove There's Rampant Voter Fraud in Texas (crooksandliars.com)

Laughing at Mitt's Expense: Some Romney Cartoons

Thought I would take it easy while we all wait for the next Romney train wreck. Last week was really NOT his week. I suspect it's going to be a long but interesting summer. 

In the next cartoon we see what Romney's tax returns might actually look like.

Runaway SuperPACs and the Devolution of Mitt Romney

by Nomad

In yet another case of an "evolving" opinion, Republican Mitt Romney has once again betrayed the high-minded rhetoric of his past campaigns in favor of a more corrupt but lucrative political strategy. Romney has now made it quite clear, he has a price and he is ready to take bids.

Back in 1994 in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mitt Romney spoke about the growing influence of political action lobbying organizations. He told the gathered businessmen the Burlington Business Round Table, 

“I also would abolish PACs. You probably have one – I don’t like them. I don’t like the influence of money – whether it’s business, labor or any other group. I do not like that kind of influence. Lobbyists, I want to register, know who they are. I want to make sure gifts are limited. I think we have to really become much more vigilant in seeing the impact on money – and I don’t care how it’s organized – on politics.”

The "evolved" Romney of today is, however, far less idealistic and, with the Supreme Court's support of Citizens United, he seems quite willing to sell himself to whomever has the cash. Romney's SuperPAC (the nonsensically named) Restore Our Future announced in June that it had collected $100 million. Late last year, I wrote a detailed post on the early million dollar contributors to Restore our Future and the methods they used to remain covert. Open Secrets has a updated list of the names and amounts of the top contributors.