There’s an old joke, “Republicans want a leader, Democrats want a meeting.”

Jokes are seldom funny unless there’s a grain of truth to them.

Stop. Before you read any further, answer the question, do you think the joke is true about your political party?

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to the point.

Go find yourself a copy of the US constitution and find who is supposed to be the leader of the people. It’s a short and easy read. The president? Congress? But if you don’t want to go check it out for yourself, I’ll give you a clue. There isn’t one!

The framers of our constitution and the forefathers of our country didn’t want there to be leaders. It is We the People who is supposed to lead the government.

And, what’s the best way to lead the government? Through meetings, negotiations, and compromise.

Got that? The Republicans make lousy American politicians because they try to be leaders. Take George W. Bush as an example. He acted like a leader. A lousy leader with all the wrong and stupid ideas but the Republicans loved him. Why would Americans love a leader who did the damage that Bush did to America? Because they have the mistaken belief that they need a leader. That’s what makes it so easy for a strong leader with destructive ideas to become the leader of the Republicans.

America doesn’t elect leaders. If you’re electing a leader, you’re doing the thing that our founding fathers didn’t want you to do. Don’t be a follower. Be a leader and tell your REPRESENTATIVES what to do.

The Nevada Representatives, Dean Heller publishes a letter and USA Today publishes it as gospel. Heller says the Democrats should stop the lies and scare tactics because the Republican don’t want to kill Social Security and Medicare.

Doing a quick Google search brings up endless examples of just that, Republicans claiming that helping one another is against the constitution. And, since they took a pledge to protect the constitution (not to mention the pledge to destroy America), that means they must end those illegal programs. This is just one of so many examples of Republicans vowing to destroy Social Security and Medicare.

As always, this us just another example of how devoid of any conscience or morals the Republican party is. They are all just a bunch of liars and hypocrites.

Why anyone who doesn’t hate America still votes for these America-destroying Republicans is the question of the day.

Hey, Nevada! Heller must make you real proud! Just another Republican liar.

You don’t hear anything about this issue in the Liberal Media so it must be another example of the Liberals trying to take away voting rights from Americans. Right? Wouldn’t you think that’s what it must be?

Well, no. I guess it’s not such a Liberal Media after all. In fact, the news you don’t hear anything about is the news about the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of liberals who are being denied their right to vote by the Republicans.

Have you heard anything in your news about how the 20 Republican state governors are almost unanimously trying to restrict voting by poor and middle class people? How? By demanding a poll tax, by demanding licenses or other means of identification. These requirements are unreasonable for millions of Americans who don’t drive.

You don’t hear anything in the Liberal Media about how the average wait time for voting in wealthy precincts is 15 minutes but the wait time in poor neighborhoods is over an hour. This is obvious voter suppression and the Republican party has been admonished for doing this before but they just keep on doing it.

Now, I want you to ask yourself, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, should we be allowing parties to do this stuff?

The most common excuse you’ll hear is, “Oh my gosh, the Democrats are doing it too. Have you heard about the millions of voter fraud where Democrats got elected illegally? Well, this is just making up for all that.”

Well, actually, yes, I’ve heard that lie many times from the likes of O’Liely, or Beck, or Hannity. But every time people try to actually find examples of these voter frauds, there’s never one to be found. In fact, the number of cases of voter fraud is typically less than 10 per DECADE and are often just cases of people voting in the wrong precincts, not people voting twice.

So, why don’t we disqualify political parties that try to prevent millions of people from voting? Republicans can tell you why. Because, well, um, ahh, oh, hey. look over there, something shiny.

Why doesn’t the news tell us about this?

But, you and I know that we can tell this news to Republicans and they won’t believe it and will refuse to even investigate it. That’s probably because they already know it’s true but just don’t want to quit cheering for their corrupt team, even as America suffers.

Why does anyone still vote Republican? Why haven’t the Republican voters started recalling their criminals from office?

I drove past the Nevada capitol Friday and found a handful of people gathering around a sign that said, “Americans for Prosperity”.

Two important things are illuminated by this:

1. The billionaire Koch brothers, known for being the money behind Americans for Prosperity, could only pay a handful of people to gather, and
2. Even though this was slated as a Tea Party rally, it was mostly just workers and volunteers for billionaires.

Why are these issues important? First off, this was a vividly open event to support billionaires against the American people. The signs said right out in the open that these are people supporting the destruction of the middle class and the poor.  There’s really no hiding the fact and no reason to try to hide it.

And, secondly, it was obvious that the vast majority of the Tea Party has realized that they are being used as fools to support legislation that is bad for them and bad for America.

Sure, the Tea Party members know something is wrong with the state of America but they’re beginning to realize that their little Tea Party is created and funded by billionaires and their agenda isn’t America’s agenda, but an agenda to cut the already low taxes of the billionaires.

These are both very big deals. Now that the veil is off the Americans for Prosperity control of the Tea Party, people are coming to their senses.

Now, don’t think this is the beginning of the end of the Tea Baggers. There are millions of Americans out there who don’t know any better than to believe the propaganda and will be signing up with the same anti-American crowd when they start seeing the marketing again.

It’s not just sad but I find it quite disgusting that one of America’s major political parties is so unethical to take advantage of the Tea Baggers. But, what would one expect from a political party that does all the rest of the things the Republican party is known for.

Imagine for a moment, or maybe you don’t even need to imagine, that your employer decided that even though the business was doing good, it was time to cut your wages and improve profits. No better time to take advantage of the times than right now, when people are worried about their jobs.

So your wages have been cut and you can no longer afford to enjoy the lifestyle you’ve grown accustomed to. What do you do?

If you’re a typical American, you’ll look for better work. No one needs to put up with unethical employers. That’s right, you look to bring in more money. When would anyone say, “oh darned, I better sell my house and start living out of a cardboard box?”

No one would, except the mentally challenged.

So, when our country is dealing with insufficient funds, do we just say, “okay, it’s time to move into that third-world-country?” No! Only the mentally challenged would consider that as the first option.

So, why do we Americans ever listen to the Republican party saying that we have to start expecting less? We’ve been doing with less for over 30 years now and it’s time we started demanding more.

What happens to America if the fools get away with convincing us that we need to expect less from our country? America becomes less of a country. It’s the same thing that happens if you choose the cardboard home rather than a better job.

We can’t afford to listen to the Republican failed misconceptions any longer. If we want America to remain strong, if we want to remain a first-world country, we have to act today and say we don’t want the cardboard box.

Will we ever get back to prosperity if we keep expecting less?

Do you want to live in the best country in the world or the cheapest?

You won’t believe the swill the Tea Baggers are being fed. It’s hard to believe that anyone eats this stuff up without checking any of it out, but it’s the only way they can sustain their hatred of America and her principles. Here is the latest email in my inbox.

Sad but true?
Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.  Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night.”  So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?”  So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?”  So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people, one to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?”  So they created two positions, a time keeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people.

Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?”

So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, an Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one year, and we are $918,000 over budget.  We must cut back.”  So they laid off the night watchman.

NOW slowly, let that sink in.

Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.

Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY….. during the Carter Administration?

Anybody?

Anything?

No?

Didn’t think so!

Bottom line:  We’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency…the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!

Ready??  It was very simple . . . and, at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977 TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh???

AND, NOW, IT’S 2010 — 33 YEARS LATER — AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS “NECESSARY” DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR.  IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES, AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, “WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?”

A little over 33 years ago, 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports.  Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.

Ah, yes — the good old Federal bureaucracy!!

NOW, WE HAVE TURNED THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY OVER TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT?

Hello!!  Anybody Home?

This is currently circulating  on the net. I think it proves the point quite well that this Nation needs to get a grip on SPENDING and suggest that you disregard any “interior” rules that may impede cutting Obamacare funding and other projects that are hidden inside the CR and get on with the job of saving the country. In my opinion. the American public is sick & tired of the cavalier approach that you, are Employees take regarding the job we elected you to do. Oh yes, just how much have you cut from Congressional spending? And how much of a reduction in salary have you taken as Speaker? Congressional pay, staff &staff salary has been a ongoing subject with me from the begining of the ecnomic downturn and you will continue to hear from me until a decrease is made; ask Dean Heller, my Congressman, he is aware of my efforts. You may also  hear from other northern Nevada TPers about this. as a SocSec. recipient, I also see no problem with the government shutting down for a period of time. To Quote Ronald Reagan: Government is not the solution, Goverment is the problem! So lets try to put in at least 4 full days a week and stop posturing and get on with some positive,productive labor that will reduce the burden on the American TAX PAYER regardless of whose entitlement (betcha its not constituinal) is skewered.

The first things that pops into my mind when I read this is that they’re asking tea baggers if they know what the government is supposed to do. Really? The Tea Baggers? They have no clue what America is even about. They don’t even know which way is up. ‘They don’t even know which party is the party of the people and which party is the party of the greedy, and you’re asking them something about the government?

To start with, it’s obviously not true, but it begins by saying it is. Now for the average American, I realize just because it says it’s true, they will know better. But for a Tea Bagger, you can bet they think it’s true. Why else would they be voting against their own best interests?

But let’s get to the point about the Department of Energy. Does anyone remember what the inflation of the 70s was all about? That’s when OPEC started manipulating the price of oil. The price of gas tripled and there were serious gas shortages. With the price of shipping going up, the price of everything went up.

President Carter decide to do something about it. He started many programs to cut our dependence on oil. He even installed solar panels on the White House. Incidentally, the solar panels were promptly removed after a Republican president moved in and most of the programs were under funded or polluted with cronies from the oil industry by the Republicans.

Here’s what Carter said: Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 — never.

So, why did we fail in our quest to become oil independent by the year 2000? Was it because we spent too much money trying? Was it because it was a stupid idea? Was it because it’s not our government’s role? No, it was because we let the Republicans get in power and they destroyed any hopes we had of getting out from under the thumb of the oil tycoons, you know, like the Koch brothers who fund and control the tea baggers.

So, what is the solution according to the Tea Baggers? Shut down the government and quit trying. Tuck our tail between our legs and act like we’ve been beaten.

Really? Is that any way to act like an American? If anything, we need to get serous about this disaster and that means start funding the agencies that we need to help us get it fixed and that means we have to quit voting for Republicans who put oil industry stooges in our Energy Department.

I’m sure that a Tea Bagger will refuse to remember, but it wasn’t that long ago that Bush and Cheney held a meeting to lay out our country’s energy goals for the Bush presidency and guess what. They invited no one but the oil tycoons. Do you have any doubt why the Department of Energy never did anything during the Republican years?

So, if you’re a Tea Bagger, you’ll vote Republican and wonder why your country is going to pot and then believe the Koch brothers when they tell you it’s all the Democrats’ fault.

Ah to be a Tea Bagger.

by
Matthew K.

If you read the US constitution, you’ll quickly learn that it is illegal for the president to declare war except in cases of imminent threats.

It is Congress’ responsibility to debate and declare war.

This is for a good cause. Our founding fathers didn’t want a KING declaring war.

But, when the Republican House of Representatives gathered last week they should have been doing the work of the country but were instead discussing and passing anti-American bills like the defunding of America’s constitutionally guaranteed free press.

Got that?

When you put the Republicans in charge, what do they do for America? Destroy it. What do they do to fulfill their obligations as far as war goes? Did they even discuss Libya? They ignore it and then attack the president for having to step in and do their job.

Instead of discussing things important to America, they’re busy passing bills to defund NPR and Women’s health.

Why does anyone still vote Republican?

==============

Update: For emergency purposes, the War Powers Act allows for the president to initiate military action as long as Congress is notified within 48 hours and the act only allows for 60 days before military operations must stop. Obama has notified Congress and the 60 day clock is ticking.

By now everyone knows about how the governor of Wisconsin betrayed his people and rather than negotiating with his voters and finding solutions to the shortfall he caused by the tax giveaways to corporations and billionaires, he sold out to the billionaires. Well, I should say everyone except the poor naive viewers of Fox. I wouldn’t expect them to know anything about how corrupt the Republicans are.

Governor Scott Walker took what he thought was a direct call from the billionaire who put him into office with his multi-million dollar contribution, David Koch. Imagine a governor taking a call from a billionaire when he won’t even negotiate with his state’s employees.

This was so disgusting that the majority of his state has lost confidence in him and the country is horrified at the blatant ownership of our elected official. He’ll take a direct call from his billionaire owner but not from his people.

In poll after poll, Americans are disgusted with this. Well, again, poll after poll as long as it’s not on Fox which doesn’t even cover this. Got that? America despises a candidate who is a prostitute for billionaires. You know, like oil billionaires like the Koch brothers?

Well, it’s not just Walker. It’s much worse than that. Check out this article showing that the entire GOP in the House of Representatives has voted to protect the tax breaks for the oil billionaires. Got that? 100% of the GOP in the House voted against America and for the oil billionaires.

Sure, some fools on the corrupt Right will say, oh, it’s not just them, there was a democrat in there somewhere so it’s okay if 100% of the Republicans are scum.

Well, you know what? He’d be right. It’s okay so let’s just all forget about it and let the billionaires take over our country. We don’t need unions. We don’t need a middle class. Let the billionaires decide what’s best for us.

Well, actually, it’s not okay and it’s not true that both parties are completely owned by big money. Sure, there are a few Democrats who voted for it too. There are a few Democrats owned by big money, too. But not 100%.

100% of the Republicans voted against the best interests of the people, AGAIN! Disgusting!

Last week the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to restrict the definition of rape, and almost every single Republican voted for it.

Now, the definition of rape depends on how hard the victim fought. It’s not enough that a woman gets drugged and gang raped and mutilated and becomes pregnant. No, the Republicans want to do one better and say it’s not a rape since she didn’t fight back.

Handicapped women who can’t reasonably fight back are no longer raped. I guess the Republicans will call that just a little fling and if she gets pregnant, in the immortal words of Nevada’s Senate candidate, Sharron Angle, she gets to make “lemonade”.

So, your little girl gets abducted and is too frightened to fight back and the Republicans are saying, oh, that’s not really rape.

How can any woman with a fifth grade education or better ever even consider voting for these morally vacant Republicans?

What’s next, Republicans? Stoning the little girls for not fighting back hard enough?

I read post after post encouraging the Republican voter to take back their party. I can’t really believe they didn’t let their party get this far out of touch with reality by accident.

Hate America? Hate women? Vote Republican!

In an interview before Obama’s State of the Union speech, Nevada’s John Ensign said:

We have the opportunity for neither party to get blamed for these tough political votes which are going to be necessary to cut spending,

You might want to reread that quote a few times and let it sink in.

Here is Nevada’s representative recommending that the president do the opposite of what he was elected to do because he can get away with it.

I’m not exaggerating! Read it again if you need to.

In poll after poll, the vast majority of American’s don’t want the government slashed and burned. The billionaires do. Less government means less government in their way. Smaller government means fewer restrictions to destroying peoples’ lives and the environment for big profit.

John thinks it’s okay to do the wrong thing as long as he doesn’t get caught. This is obvious from his almost getting expelled from Congress for sneaking and hiding his affair and then having his parents pay off the woman and her husband.

Yes through and through, John Ensign is a true Republican, caught in the same deception as so many other Republican politicians.

Hey, Republicans! When will you wake up? Hey Nevada! You know the question.