←
→

Wednesday Reads: Nothing Changes

Posted: January 16, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 2014 elections, American Gun Fetish, Congress, Domestic Policy, Gun Control, morning reads, open thread, Political Affective Disorder, Politics as Usual, Psychopaths in charge, the GOP, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , |52 Comments »

26529085274468460_7SooAxXc_cGood Morning

Another day under the belt for 2013, and it seems like things are never going to change.

I caught a quick interview on CNN Tuesday, Dana Bash was interviewing some Congressman…I don’t remember who…but he was a Republican from Colorado. She asked him point-blank if he was going to do anything in his power to stop Obama from passing new gun control laws. Of course, he hedged and then said the usual.

(I just updated this post, I found the segment I was watching on CNN:  CNN: Not Enough Support For New Gun Laws In Democratic-Controlled Senate

It was Cory Gardner, the GOP Rep from Colorado that Dana Bash was interviewing.)

At the same time this CNN interview was going on, I was engaged in a heated conversation with my husband over the government control of bullets. He was against it, flatly. His loyalty to the GOP is really something to see. After everything he has been through and all the personal miseries we have endured because of the Republicans’ ridiculous positions on everything that would help us, he still will agree with them.

Why be against controls on ammunition? If we must show our drivers license, have it recorded in a database to keep track of our purchases and even place our signature…swearing we are who we are….just to buy the over-the-counter cold medicine Sudafed, why not make folks do the same for bullets?

Well, the response I got was typical.  It would be inconvenient, take too long, etc. WTF?

After that comment, and listening to some asshole from a state who has had more than their share of mass shootings give Dana Bash the typical GOP answer to any reasonable question about changing gun laws that do not follow the powerful gun lobby’s agenda, I lost it.  I turned the TV off and have not looked at any of news since.

The reason I am going on about this is simple, PAD…political affective disorder strikes again.

So, if these links are repeats, I apologize.

Nothing ever changes.

NRA airs new TV ad criticizing Obama on eve of White House gun announcement

Rand Paul: Obama acting ‘like a king’ on guns, vows to fight executive actions

Edwin Meese: Obama Can Be Impeached Over Guns

Rep. Steve Stockman threatens to impeach Obama over guns

Little-known laws shed light on NRA influence

Want more crazy?

Louisiana Governor’s New Plan Would Raise Taxes On Bottom 80 Percent Of Residents

This man helped save six children, is now getting harassed for it

Former Aide: Michele Bachmann Had “Unnatural Relationship” With Debate Coach

I’ve got a headache, and two sick kids to deal with…this is an open thread.

About these ads

52 Comments on “Wednesday Reads: Nothing Changes”

  1. JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
    January 16, 2013 at 6:09 am

    Wow, I must apologize for this post. Those are some awful run-on sentences!

    Seriously though, I hope my point makes sense. My head is really hurting and it is making my brain shut down.

    • bostonboomer says:
      January 16, 2013 at 7:49 am

      Sorry you’re so fed up, JJ. The good news is that we don’t need votes in the House if the President uses executive orders, and it appears that is what Obama is going to do.

  2. Pat Johnson says:
    January 16, 2013 at 6:54 am

    The GOP has been “hinting” at a public insurgency ever since Barack Obama became president.

    Glenn Beck for one led the charge followed by a few other dimwits like Palin with her “reload” comments and Michele Bachmann saying much of the same.

    Since Sandy Hook membership in the NRA has risen along with a boom in gun sales that includes automatic weapons and magazines that are loaded with up to 60 rounds of ammuniton that can be found on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

    There is a strong hint of racism included within the framework of these statements. That a black man must be “stopped”. Those “dog whistles” surrounding birthers and those who have labeled the president as a socialist upstart have bred the stupidity that has become more and more fashionable from the GOP.

    My fear, and I doubt that I am alone in this thinking, is that an attempt to assassinate Obama will take place during his second term based on the rhetoric that we have witnessed and will be seen as a “means to an end” for the Lunatic Fringe who dwell in the land of paranoia.

    • bostonboomer says:
      January 16, 2013 at 7:51 am

      I have the same fear about assassination attempts. I can only hope that the Secret Service is paying close attention to all the crazies out there.

      • HT says:
        January 16, 2013 at 8:39 am

        I must admit that I’ve been thinking along those lines as well. I hope not – but the vitriol and crazy is mounting rather than dissapating. E.G. Coulter’s latest racist screed – they just get more virulent.

      • Fannie says:
        January 16, 2013 at 10:51 am

        I think so too, I pray they do not target his kids or wife. But they are spreading the seeds of fear and anger, and they keep saying it’s their free speech, it’s their second amendment, I’m afraid for this country, another Murrah Building Bombing in the making.

      • JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
        January 16, 2013 at 9:52 pm

        Strange, I have thought about that too…

  3. bostonboomer says:
    January 16, 2013 at 7:55 am

    I woke up to discover an unexpected snowfall outside my house, and I am not happy about it.

    • Pat Johnson says:
      January 16, 2013 at 8:01 am

      I’m with you. Another day of going out and clearing off my car. And I have some elements of the “creeping crud” that has been going around.

      Yuch!

      • bostonboomer says:
        January 16, 2013 at 8:38 am

        I’ve already had the “creeping crud” for more than a week. Right now I’m on around day 3 of coughing, and I now know that coughs last for 18 days (see study linked in my Tues. AM post). Ugh!

      • hyperjoy says:
        January 16, 2013 at 2:45 pm

        I’ve been coughing since Feb or March, can’t remember which. It has disrupted my life and my job. I was on allergy medicine, which partially helped, but made me nauseous. I may have to go for a chest x-ray next.

  4. SophieCT says:
    January 16, 2013 at 8:04 am

    The “truthers” harassing Gene Rosen are simply reprehensible. I am astonished that I am astonished that there are people like that.

  5. ANonOMouse says:
    January 16, 2013 at 8:25 am

    Good post JJ

  6. ANonOMouse says:
    January 16, 2013 at 8:34 am

    And the new NRA ad is despicable. Those lousy douchebags

    • bostonboomer says:
      January 16, 2013 at 8:40 am

      If you mean the one that includes nasty things about Sasha and Malia Obama, I heard they removed it from their website this morning. Shame! Their approval ratings are dropping like a stone.

      • ANonOMouse says:
        January 16, 2013 at 8:45 am

        Yep…..that’s the one. It most definitely is shameful.

      • ANonOMouse says:
        January 16, 2013 at 8:50 am

        Here’s the ad for anyone who hasn’t seen it. What sort of twisted brain makes this sort of ad?

      • ANonOMouse says:
        January 16, 2013 at 9:04 am

        I can’t understand people who can’t differentiate between the dangers associated with being the small children of a sitting POTUS and being the child of a guy who works at Loew’s. Do people who agree with the NRA ad protect their children 24/7/365 with armed guards when their children aren’t at school? Do they even understand the daily threats against the POTUS and his family? The NRA and it’s acolytes are fucked in the head. You can’t reason with the head-fucked!!!!

      • HT says:
        January 16, 2013 at 9:19 am

        good grief, just watched that video. You’re right Mouse, they are head F@cked. My kids have a 1000% less chance of being kidnapped or murdered than the President’s. All Presidents and their families have been hampered by 24/7/365 secret service protection. Even that did not prevent JFK from being murdered. That video is disgusting.

      • SophieCT says:
        January 16, 2013 at 9:22 am

        Why did they stop there? POTUS and FLOTUS also have armed security details. Perhaps the NRA thinks we all should.

      • SophieCT says:
        January 16, 2013 at 9:23 am

        And if they think that–I also want my own AF1.

      • ANonOMouse says:
        January 16, 2013 at 11:00 am

        You know, once-upon-a-time I spent a lot of time arguing with people who actually believed Obama was wasting taxpayer dollars going places that required the use of AF1, bulletproof Limos and Secret Service protection. I don’t understand that sort of thinking because to my mind it should be obvious to people that every nutcase on the planet is gunning for our POTUS, no matter who that POTUS is. The problem is these head-fucked people just can’t quit Obama-hating long enough to see the truth of themselves.

  7. ANonOMouse says:
    January 16, 2013 at 8:58 am

    Obama To Unveil Gun Policy Proposals At 11:55 A.M. EST, Will Be Joined By Children

    http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-to-unveil-gun-policy-proposals-at-11?ref=fpb

  8. bostonboomer says:
    January 16, 2013 at 10:04 am

    WaPo has incredible article about birthers and crazies who think Obama is an “illegitimate thing” and want to prevent him from being inaugurated.

    Why are these freaks even getting media coverage, much less a three-page story?

  9. bostonboomer says:
    January 16, 2013 at 10:08 am

    Insane editorial at Politico: Why debt limit must be used to force a balanced budget, by MICHAEL NEEDHAM, TONY PERKINS and CHRIS CHOCOLA

    Very simply, we can quickly jump-start our economy and improve the lives of millions of Americans by insisting that Washington not raise the debt ceiling unless our nation gets on a path to a balanced budget within 10 years that stays balanced.

    Yes, starting down a path towards balance will require looking through the budget. What mostly drives our trillion-dollar deficit and our $16 trillion debt are unfunded entitlement promises. But getting back to balanced spending is not the only reason to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; we either reform these programs, crush future taxpayers with higher taxes, or erode the economic security of future generations.
    Entitlements should not bear all the weight of spending restraint; discretionary spending, both in ineffective stimulus bills and in each year’s spending bills, has ballooned. Just as American families spend less to make the checkbooks balance, the federal government must also show some restraint and return to reasonable levels.

    While we as fiscal, social and foreign policy conservatives have differing priorities, we can certainly find immediate savings in the discretionary budget. Programs that benefit only a few – agriculture subsidies, green energy handouts, Planned Parenthood, etc. – have at least the appearance of cronyism and special interest handouts. Savings, starting in year one, would have a major impact in getting on a path towards balance by driving down interest costs in the future.

    There’s a recipe for national and global depression for you.

    • RalphB says:
      January 16, 2013 at 10:38 am

      Don’t cry for us Argentina. What a bunch of idiots!

      • bostonboomer says:
        January 16, 2013 at 11:25 am

        These are the kinds of morons that Politico allows to editorialize on their site. Very revealing. Tiger Beat indeed.

    • RalphB says:
      January 16, 2013 at 10:45 am

      TPM: Yep, They’re Losing

      When the New Hampshire Union Leader tells the House Republicans, Guys, don’t be nuts on this debt ceiling thing, you know Boehner and the House firebreathers are losing.

      From today’s editorial …

      Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives need to take a firm stand against Washington’s reckless spending habits. They just need to find a better place to make that stand than from atop the debt ceiling.

    • RalphB says:
      January 16, 2013 at 10:53 am

      GOP Debt Limit Bluff Exposed

      Even Americans for Prosperity (Koch Bros) are telling them to cut this crap out.

  10. bostonboomer says:
    January 16, 2013 at 10:12 am

    Jonathan Chait: Bush Speechwriter Michael Gerson Exposes Obama’s Sinister Being-Reasonable Ploy

    • RalphB says:
      January 16, 2013 at 10:39 am

      That exposes lots of psychological problems among “sane” republicans.

      • bostonboomer says:
        January 16, 2013 at 11:22 am

        The Gerson column is hysterically funny. Mean old Obama is forcing the Republicans to act like idiots because he (Obama) knows they can’t possibly prevent themselves from following their insane ideology. Good grief!

  11. RalphB says:
    January 16, 2013 at 11:19 am

    LATimes: Kathryn Bigelow addresses ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ torture criticism

    First of all: I support every American’s 1st Amendment right to create works of art and speak their conscience without government interference or harassment. As a lifelong pacifist, I support all protests against the use of torture, and, quite simply, inhumane treatment of any kind.

    But I do wonder if some of the sentiments alternately expressed about the film might be more appropriately directed at those who instituted and ordered these U.S. policies, as opposed to a motion picture that brings the story to the screen.
    [...]
    On a practical and political level, it does seem illogical to me to make a case against torture by ignoring or denying the role it played in U.S. counter-terrorism policy and practices.

    Seems to me the criticism is one way to keep Americans in the dark about what was done in our name.

  12. RalphB says:
    January 16, 2013 at 11:31 am

    TP: Pennsylvania House Republicans Introduce Bill To Rig The 2016 Presidential Election

    Democrats should start screaming loudly about this now!

    • bostonboomer says:
      January 16, 2013 at 11:32 am

      I guess that’s what Rachel was talking about last night while I wasn’t paying full attention.

      • RalphB says:
        January 16, 2013 at 11:46 am

        Yep, this is one of the states she was discussing. Ohio, Wisconsin and a couple more are in this toxic mix. With the blue states sharing EVs and the red states winner take all, the Republicans can’t lose.

    • SophieCT says:
      January 16, 2013 at 11:35 am

      Republicans will do anything to win elections as long as it doesn’t involve trying to appeal to a majority of voters.

  13. bostonboomer says:
    January 16, 2013 at 11:33 am

    OMG! You have to go see this graphic from the WSJ on how poor suffering rich people are struggling to get by after the fiscal cliff deal. Via TBogg

    http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2013/01/15/five-finger-discount-six-figure-pout/

  14. RalphB says:
    January 16, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    io9: How 19-year-old activist Zack Kopplin is making life hell for Louisiana’s creationists

    For Zack Kopplin, it all started back in 2008 with the passing of the Louisiana Science Education Act. The bill made it considerably easier for teachers to introduce creationist textbooks into the classroom. Outraged, he wrote a research paper about it for a high school English class. Nearly five years later, the 19-year-old Kopplin has become one of the fiercest — and most feared — advocates for education reform in Louisiana. We recently spoke to him to learn more about how he’s making a difference.

    People in Louisiana need to get behind this youngster and help him out in massive numbers.

  15. RalphB says:
    January 16, 2013 at 12:49 pm

    Weigel: Republicans Not Paying Much Attention to Obama’s Executive Orders Before Condemning Them

    you can’t campaign against this with a scalpal. You need an ax hot-glued to a blowtorch.

  16. RalphB says:
    January 16, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    Remember Steve Stockman, the rep who wants to impeach Obama for executive orders? Dana Milbank with a little history.

    WAPO: A House radical is now in the mainstream

    When I covered Congress in the mid-1990s, one of my favorite characters was Steve Stockman, a former street vagrant who somehow got swept to power in the Republican Revolution of ’94.

    Voters in his Texas district, realizing their mistake, swept him out two years later — but not before he distinguished himself by demanding a federal investigation of the 1948 Kinsey Report on male sexuality and by claiming that the deadly 1993 assault on the Branch Davidians was a Clinton administration conspiracy to tighten gun control.

  17. RalphB says:
    January 16, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    Maybe this is good news for Connie. :-)

    PPP: Charlie Crist Would Easily Defeat Rick Scott In Fla. Gov. Race

    Charlie Crist, a former GOP governor of the Sunshine State who joined the Democratic Party last month, would defeat Scott by 14 points, according to PPP. Crist, who campaigned on behalf of President Barack Obama during the 2012 election, is enormously popular among Florida Democrats. Seventy-three percent of Democratic voters in the state have a favorable opinion of Crist and 52 percent would prefer to see him as the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 2014.

  18. dakinikat says:
    January 16, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    feministnews ‏@feministnews

    New Study Finds Anti-Choice Legislation Used To Infringe on Pregnant Women’s Liberties http://bit.ly/13EndIR

←
→