What the Hell Is Wrong With These Nutball Republicans?!

I don't even know what to say about this. All I can do is shake my head in amazement and try to suppress a sickening sadness for the state of partisan political affairs in our country.

Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder (R) on Thursday warned that “Albanian” election monitors who will observe polling places on November 6 are part of President Barack Obama’s plan to let the United Nations take over the United States. 

“UN observers, monitors, have no business in our elections and should be kept out of Missouri,” he told radio host Dana Loesch. “I’m calling on legislative leaders in the majority party in both the House and Senate — Republican leadership — to join me in saying we will not have these UN election monitors in our state." 

Kinder said he was inspired by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who threatened to arrested the international election monitors if they come within 100 feet of a polling place. 

Following a request from eight civil rights groups, the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner, agreed to send 44 election monitors to the United States. The international organization began monitoring U.S. elections in 2002, when then-President George W. Bush invited them to the country.

Where was the outrage then? Was George Bush trying to "sign away our sovereignty" when he invited the election monitors TEN YEARS AGO? Oh wait, "sovereignty"? Nevermind.

 What the fuck are these assholes even talking about?!

Keystone Argument Just Got More Interesting

POSTED BY JHW22

As we all know, the GOP has been blaming Obama for killing jobs and the high gas prices, in part by saying his decision (that they pressured him to make) to delay one leg of the Keystone Pipeline. The GOP forced him to delay it then then blamed that delay for the cost of gas. It was predictable.

What wasn't predictable was the conundrum the GOP now faces on the Oklahoma to Texas Gulf branch. In case you weren't aware, we've already had oil coming into America from Canada via the Keystone Pipeline for YEARS. The branch Obama delayed is a pipe that just sends more oil to Oklahoma -- where all the oil is bottle-necked. In fact, the oil has had to be re-routed because the facility couldn't contain it all. Why? Because the oil in Oklahoma can't get to refineries in Texas. Why? Because Texas land-owners in RED counties have blocked the pipeline. Why? Because they don't want the state to take their land so a foreign company can make profits while their land is at risk of pollution.

WAIT! WHAT?

You heard me right. Conservative Republican Libertarians in East Texas Red Counties don't want a corporation to make money off their sacrifice. They want Big Government to stop the very pipeline their own party has used to paint Obama as THE reason for high gas prices. The very people fighting the Texas branch of Keystone are the very people who support the GOP's attempt to force the Keystone Pipeline expansion.

So, if we make sure every American knows that East Texas doesn't want the pipeline and if we make sure every American knows that those landowners are Republican, then we box the GOP into a corner.

So, even though I don't like the pipeline, I sure like this corner and paint can the President presented us with today. Let's paint!

Rick Perry Throws In the Towel

Texas Governor, GOP gaffe machine and Jethro Bodine doppelgänger Rick Perry is announcing he is dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination. Nothing like quitting while you're behind.

Reports say he will endorse Newt Gingrich.

Perry's Texas by the Numbers

POSTED BY JHW22

As a Texas resident and mother of a Texas native, I am consistently calling for fellow Democrats to put aside the "Go ahead and kick Texas out" crap. Seriously. We are more purple than people think. And now that our governor is running for POTUS, we need your support and you need our resources and knowledge.

Can you imagine if Texas voted for Obama instead of our own governor? It IS possible IF all of America works with Texans to make sure the state goes blue. So, now that Governor Goodhair is officially inferring that he is officially running, I will start regular posts about him. After all, I have a special knowledge of the man and the state.

So join me in informing voters about his true record. Join me in educating voters on what he really has done to the state. Let's make sure he doesn't move from his $9,000/month rental mansion into the White House. Okay, y'all?

And with that, I give you this report issued in February of 2011 by members of the state legislature. I can say, without hesitation, that one of the members, State Representative Lon Burnam is a fantastic liberal and deserves as much support as he can get. He is a consistent voice for Democratic values in this state.

So here y'all go. Texas by the numbers. It ain't pretty. Make sure your friends and family know it.

Texas On The Brink

Perry's Tax Plan Hurts Schools

POSTED BY JHW22

I just watched Karen Finney, on MSNBC, correctly remind viewers that Rick Perry's job growth in Texas, over the last two years, was in part due to the federal stimulus. That needs to be stated over and over.

What also needs to be stated over and over, is that Republicans in the state have been calling out Perry's state tax plan as detrimental to the state, primarily to education.

In 2006, the then State Comptroller, a Republican who later ran against Perry as an Independent, stated EMPHATICALLY and repeatedly that Perry's plan would destroy school budgets. She wrote, in a public letter to Perry

Texans deserve relief from high property taxes, but they do not need it at the expense of future tax hikes and more cuts in public education. Educators are justifiably skeptical of this program because they know that when the state controls the purse strings, rather than locally elected school boards, the result will be devastating to our schools.

The property tax relief contained in the bill, if it can be financed past 2008, will be quickly eroded by rising property values, and increases in local tax rates forced on local school districts struggling to keep up with rising costs. In as little as five years, the state could be right back in court.

Finally, your plan represents the largest tax bill in Texas history, includes an unconstitutional income tax, represents a 200 percent tax increase on Texas businesses at a time when the state has taken an $8.2 billion surplus out of the pockets of hardworking Texans, and does not pay for itself as required by the spirit of our Texas Constitution's "pay-as-you-go, no-deficit-spending" provision. That is unconscionable.

Governor, we should be working to improve state services for Texans and to reduce the burden of government on businesses and individuals. This plan creates a rolling mess that will take 20 years for future leaders of the state to untangle. Texans will recognize this plan for what it is -- a short-term, smoke-and-mirrors patch at best.

Sadly, the only part she was wrong about was "Texans will recognize this plan for what it is -- a short-term, smoke-and-mirrors patch at best."

My husband works for a local school district that just voted down a property tax increase that would have amounted to a bag of chips a week per household. Now buses are on the chopping block, as well as MORE teachers, sports, music, summer school, etc.

The ISD is ranked one of the highest in the state on ROI -- meaning they are efficiently run. Sure they have waste they can cut. But that waste is a blip on the $$$ scale. YET, the people most vocal against the tax increases' ONLY argument was that the ISD wastes money. Since all evidence from the current (Republican) state comptroller and other measurements shows otherwise, and even though the dollars they point to as waste were so minor that we'd still have a budget disaster, all I can say is that messaging, not common sense or comprehension of basic math, won out.

Perry says he has brought jobs to TX (without crediting the many of which were created by the stimulus to the feds). But when you bring families to TX then eliminate the way to fund educating the kids in those families, you can't blame the local ISDs. You especially can't blame the ISDs with high rankings of budget efficiency.

The entire state is facing school budget crises. Why people think each and every ISD created the problem is absurd.

And THIS guy may run for President. If he does, Texans better not fail the American people. We better tell everyone what he has done.

We need to make sure the independents hear the correct messaging: Perry destroyed the budget in the state of Texas. He has led the state since Bush left and has had a Republican state congress. All of the state's problems are his to own and he can't run away from them while running on lies. And finally, if you close your eyes and listen to him talk, you can hear George W. Bush -- and I don't mean the accent.

The only gift his run against Obama would mean would be that Obama COULD actually run against Bush policies again.

So I am also asking a favor: don't bash Texas or Texans. Help the blues in this red/purple state fight. Don't denigrate the state because we need friends outside the state standing with us. We'll have a huge battle on our hands down here -- mocking us will only give us additional fights to counter. Attack Perry and HIS policies. But treat the state with respect and friendship and lift us so that we may have the strength to fight another Texas governor ruining the country!

Rick Perry's Rain Prayer Doesn't Help

I suppose Perry forgot to pray to "hold the lightning."

Despite a public call by Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) to pray for rain over the weekend, major wildfires continue to rage on across the state.

Already an estimated 1.5 million acres of Texas has burned this year, according to the Texas Forest Service. Thunderstorms rolled through the state over the weekend, but lightning strikes accompanied the rain, setting the stage for a challenging wildfire week ahead that will draw upon limited resources.

How soon before Gov. Secession McTeabagger asks for federal help? God certainly does has a sense of humor, no?

Dumbass.

POSTED BY JHW22

I just suffered through a terrible interview with President Obama pathetically whined and harrumphed by a Dallas "news" guy. Seriously, the guy looked personally offended and on the verge of punching or crying the entire time. But the real dumbass moment came as he told the anchor in his little summary schpeel:

"After the interview, Obama pointed out that he doesn't like an interviewer challenging his comments."

Perhaps the "interviewer" was a little too distracted to hear that Obama actually said:

"Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?"

I am taking a big guess here, that Mr. Interviewer is one of those "My first amendment rights were violated when I was criticized" kind of guys.

And no, I won't add any fame to the guy by posting his name here. No Google hits from me, dumbass who can't tell the difference between "Let me finish" and "Don't challenge me". You see, dumbass, you can interview and challenge while still letting the person you are asking questions of actually ANSWER them. Didn't you learn that in Interviewing 101, dumbass? Oh, wait, you probably went to the same interviewing college as Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Chris Matthews....

UPDATE: The Texas Tribune, a fairly respectable online paper, seems to take the side of the reporter. FAIL.

Where's The Most Liberal County In America?

According to former Republican House Leader and current convicted money launderer Tom Delay, it's in Texas. TEXAS! I know! It was a shock to me too!

"I was tried in the most liberal county in the state of Texas; indeed, in the United States," DeLay said on NBC's "Today" Show. "This is a political campaign."

Yes, it's witch hunt!

Hey, Y'all, Texas Wasn't A Referendum

POSTED BY JHW22

An interesting tidbit:

Bill White (D-TX) won Texas moderates OVERWHELMINGLY.

Also, 11% of Texans who voted for Obama in 2008 voted for Rick Perry this year. However, 10% of Texans who voted for McCain voted for White this year.

That says that the Texas races had NOTHING to do with Obama despite Republican's attempt to make it so.

How Will Rick Perry Take Credit for This?

Posted by JHW22

I admit that I COULD go searching for any statement by Governor Rick Perry regarding this amazing news and accomplishement and act of socialism, but I won't. Instead I will share some GOOD education news from the state of Texas. It's nice to have something nice to say about this state.

September 23, 2010 - The Austin Independent School District today was notified by the U.S. Department of Education that it was one of the 62 winning applicants of the $442 million Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant competition. The District received $62.3 million—the largest grant awarded in the nation—in order to expand the strategic compensation program, called AISD REACH, for the next five years. The announcement was made by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

“This grant will accelerate our work to better recruit, develop, and reward high quality teachers and campus leaders, particularly at our high-needs schools in Austin. These critical resources will allow us to further refine and reinforce our support for outstanding teaching in our schools,” said AISD Superintendent Meria Carstarphen.

According to the US Department of Education:

Applicant Name: Austin Independent School District

PR/Award #: S385A010111

State: TX

5-Year Amount: $62,324,746

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) is applying for a federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant in order to expand its strategic compensation initiative, AISD REACH. This program, which has been piloted for the past three years, is aimed at recruiting, developing, and retaining high quality teachers and administrators in Austin, particularly at the district's high-needs schools. The theory of action behind AISD REACH is that incentive programs in education must couple supports and rewards to accelerate academic improvement. To this end, REACH rewards gains in student achievement at the campus, team, and individual teacher levels. Additionally, REACH provides full-time mentors to novice teachers who are most at risk of attrition. Mentoring also represents one of several leadership pathways in REACH that allows accomplished teachers to remain in the profession supporting the growth of their colleagues. The third component of REACH is targeted professional development in which teams of teachers collaborate to address a data-driven need on their campus, monitor the impact of their work, and present the results of their efforts to a juried panel of their peers. Finally, REACH targets incentives for teachers and administrators who choose to work in the district's most challenging campuses. Taken together, AISD believes that this program, which has already yielded positive results, builds the capacity of Austin educators to better serve students, empowers them to support the growth of their colleagues, and challenges them to reach rigorous performance goals aligned to the district's goal of preparing all students to be college and career ready. AISD's TIF proposal is specifically aimed at expanding AISD REACH, currently implemented at 15 schools, to include all schools in East Austin, an area composed of 33 high-needs schools, where staff attrition rates and academic underperformance have been historically high. Finally, AISD's TIF proposal has been developed in collaboration with teachers, administrators, the teachers' union, and the business community. To this end, this proposal is supported by Education Austin, the Austin Chamber of Commerce, and legislators from Austin's state and federal delegations.

I bet it KILLS Perry to know that his state is getting federal money for education -- the largest grant of all -- because he hates edumication as much as Bush did.

P.S. If you know that Perry responded to this, please do not share that info with me. I want to enjoy this and not allow that idiot to burst my bubble.

edit: P.P.S. I am cracking up!! Another ISD near Perry's stomping ground, Round Rock ISD, also received a US Department of Education grant. They are pretty much the same as Austin in geography. All right there at Perry's doorstep. Oh, goodness, I can't stop laughing. All that federal money spilling into his state. What's a crappy governor to do?

Gay Marriage Fear FAIL

Via TPC's Gotta Laff:

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Whoops. They accidentally misworded their state constitution to, in effect, nullify all marriages taking place in Texas. Sometimes Karma is a real bitch.  Keep it up, Republicans. You're doing great!

Immune To Irony

How do these people get elected into office? Did they stop drooling on themselves long enough to convince the rubes they call their constituents that they would be of use in Congress? ANY USE?

After receiving a complaint from a rube/constituent of their inconvenience during their recent travel, Republican Texas Rep. Kevin Brady decided to write a letter on their behalf, which would be a nice gesture if it weren't for the purpose of the trip and the specific travel complaint, as the Wall Street Journal so aptly describes:

Protesters who attended Saturday’s Tea Party rally in Washington found a new reason to be upset: Apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.

Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.

Seriously.

This would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. But what do you expect? These people who, as Brady writes in his letter of complaint to DC's Metro system, "came all the way from Southeast Texas to protest the excessive spending and growing government intrusion by the 111th Congress and the new Obama administration" complained that said government's transit system did not spend extra money to provide extra service for the teabagger event.

Seriously.

And the newest Republican MENSA member to step into that dubious Spotlight of Superstupid decides to write a letter on the behalf of an 80-year old woman, who is most likely in that evil, socialized Medicare program, with absolutely no conception of the irony of the situation.

Seriously.

And the kicker of this whole affront to the teabagging community? In July, the House voted on a resolution for appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, HUD, and related agencies including emergency funding for the Metro DC subway system. Brady voted against the resolution.

Seriously.

Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady: SUPERGENIUS.

(H/T Wonkette)

Still Waiting on Texas To Make Good On Their Secession Threat

Think Progress: The Texas State Board of Education review committee is preparing to vote on a draft of proposed standards for history textbooks. Noting that the draft has “nothing about liberals,” the Houston Chronicle reported:

The first draft for proposed standards in United States History Studies Since Reconstruction says students should be expected “to identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly and the Moral Majority.” [...] Others have proposed adding talk show host Rush Limbaugh and the National Rifle Association.

The 15-member committee, stacked with 10 Republicans, is expected to vote along party lines. Earlier this year, a panel of right-wing “experts” produced a report urging the committee to remove biographies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Stephen F. Austin, César Chávez, and instead add history about the “motivational role the Bible and the Christian faith played in the settling of the original colonies.”

How about it, Texas? C'mon, Rick Perry! We know you can do it. Some of us would support you 100% in your effort to secede. Whaddaya say?

DBOTW

posted by Armadillo Joe

I may be overstepping my bounds here, but I nominate Ross Douthat at Ye Olde NYTimes for the coveted Douchebag of the Week title.

Why? you may ask...

Well, because -- as a person who escaped the third-world cesspool and laboratory for unfettered implementation of conservative economic-theories called "Texas" for a place more, um, evolved -- I find the fact that Douthat thinks California's recent economic and social woes and Texas' apparent lack of them vindicates his pinched, ill-informed world view supremely unpalatable:

In the Bush years, liberal polemicists turned the president’s home state — pious, lightly regulated, stingy with public services and mad for sprawl — into a symbol of everything that was barbaric about Republican America. Meanwhile, California, always liberalism’s favorite laboratory, was passing global-warming legislation, pouring billions into stem-cell research, and seemed to be negotiating its way toward universal health care.

But flash forward to the current recession, and suddenly Texas looks like a model citizen. The Lone Star kept growing well after the country had dipped into recession. Its unemployment rate and foreclosure rate are both well below the national average. It’s one of only six states that didn’t run budget deficits in 2009.

Blue Texan at FireDogLake has this to say about that with her retort:

...Texas is exactly what Douthat's "liberal polemicists" charge.

Stingy? Check out these state rankings. Child poverty: 44th, senior poverty: 40th, per capital child welfare expenditures: 42nd, child vulnerability index: 46th, education expenditures per pupil: 40th.

Lightly regulated? Texas is the nation's 4th biggest polluter, and the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases. Pious? Does having creationists running the school board count?

Finally, the only reason Texas isn't facing a budget deficit is because Obama's stimulus bill bailed us out.

I'd like to point out that four of the seven presidential elections since 1968 to have gone to the Republican candidate have gone to a guy from southern California -- Nixon twice and Reagan twice.

I would like to further point out that Douthat doesn't actually live in Texas or anywhere else in "red" America. He lives in Washington D.C., just like Limbaugh, O'Reilly and Hannity all live in New York City. Funny how none of these rightwing assholes actually choose to live in Omaha or Tulsa or Boisie or any other of these places where they think all the "real" Americans live.

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to why that might be, but in the meantime I think the rest of us should encourage all these toilet smears to move to the places they claim to think are so wonderful -- you know, put up or shut up -- so that, rather than us fending off every attempt by these dipshits to have their delusional mythologies about how the world works imposed on the rest of us, we can instead get about the business of actually running a prosperous, healthy country that benefits everyone and not just the top .01% (who also happen to all be 99.999% white, when corrected for Tiger Woods and Oprah).

Douthat should really be a DBOTW-emeritus, but for now I'll just nominate him for one of the weekly titles. Who's with me?

Standing By Your Convictions

Texas Governor, Rick "Secession" Perry, the Republican politician who rejected stimulus money in March, is now asking for funds from that oppressive, evil federal government.

Texas is now asking the federal government for a $170 million loan so that benefits keep getting paid.

“This is nothing out of the ordinary. We’re following protocol that we put in place,” said Governor Rick Perry.

Texas has asked for this loan only one other time, in 2003. This year however, the decision is getting extra attention after Governor Rick Perry rejected federal stimulus money that would have replenished the fund.

Texas is expected to request $650 million, roughly $100 million more than Perry initially rejected. At a “tea party protest” in April, Perry trumpeted his decision to reject stimulus dollars from the Obama administration. “I believe the federal government has become oppressive,” he said, adding that he might even consider seceding from the Union.

I love the smell of Republican hypocrisy in the morning.

Stimulus Funds Finally Working

It's true. Just ask former United States Attorney General and George W. Bush lackey Alberto Gonzales. It seems like there was nowhere for ol' Torquemada to go after leaving the Bush administration Department of Justice (or as Sarah Palin would call it "your department of law there in the White House"). No one would hire him. We all thought it was because he had subverted the rule of law, claimed he had no idea what was going on at the DoJ or didn't know who was actually running things in his office. But now I realize that it was the result of the very early stages of the recession. Now that President Obama's recovery package has started to disburse funds, good ol' Fredo has found employment.

Gonzales, who was Gov. George W. Bush’s lawyer, Texas secretary of state and then a Texas Supreme Court justice before joining Bush in Washington, will be working as an visiting professor in the political science department, teaching a “special topics” course on contemporary issues in the executive branch, according to Dora Rodriguez, a senior business assistant in the department.

...Lawrence Schovanec, interim dean of Texas Tech’s College of Arts and Sciences, was quoted saying: “Judge Gonzales brings a unique experience to our classroom. His career in law, government and public service will provide our political science students a rich perspective of the executive branch and issues and challenges facing our nation.”

(H/T FDL)

Another Reason Not To Visit Texas

The Great Zombie Fire Ant Plague of 2009. I howled during this entire segment.

I ♥ Rachel.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Reason #23,758 I'm glad I left Texas

posted by Armadillo Joe

Joe Barton, the Congressman with the look of smug, blissful ignorance on his face in the following video, represents a huge, sprawling district between Dallas and Houston with no major towns or universities. He is possibly the smartest guy in that district.



The best part is that he thinks he won that fight:


I think it would be unsurprising for folks to learn that the fine Mr. Barton is a graduate of Texas A&M University, home of the Fightin' Texas Aggies and a brain-dead black-hole of Rethugli-goon cornpone Nazism (P.S. -- Bush, Sr. put his library there). In Texas, everyone else's pollack jokes get re-told as Aggie jokes.

This video perfectly illustrates why.

Go Ahead and Go

posted by Armadillo Joe

Dear Texas,

I left you S.O.B.'s for New York City over a decade ago and still your toxic politics followed me into my new life here by taking over the whole fucking federal government, to the everlasting chagrin of decent-minded people everywhere. My pain became everyone's pain and now that polite society has finally rejected you assholes and your designated asshole-in-chief for something and, more importantly, someone more competent and more skilled (not to mention better looking), now that everyone thinks -- nay, knows -- that you fucking people are the violence-prone, willfully ignorant, pompous yahoos you were always afraid we thought you were, you want to go pout. In search of relevance, you now re-assert your hare-brained notion that you have a right to secede from The Union because people have finally realized that your brand of economic snakeoil and bigoted social organization doesn't really work as advertised. I thought we had a little intra-family tussle over your silly notions of secession back 'round 1860 or so which settled it pretty squarely NOT in your favor, but in this instance we're willing to grant an exception if you promise to take Oklahoma and it's congressional delegation with you.

Lovingly,
Armadillo Joe, ex-Texan

inspired by the news at this link:
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/04/gov_perry_asserts_texan_sovereignty.php

My Home, My People

by Armadillo Joe

I left Texas for New York City a long time ago. Here's one reason why I don't really regret it:

[Glenn] Beck asked, 'Governor [Rick Perry - Texas], you're regretting being on this program at this point, are you not, sir?' Perry responded, 'Not at all, Glenn Beck. I'm proud to be with you.'"

And here's another:

UPDATE [by Broadway Carl]:

New York City Councilman John Liu posted a public letter to Brown on his campaign website.

"...It's outrageous and insulting for you to suggest it would 'behoove' us to adopt another name, to give up our birthright and a part of our own identity, in order to exercise our right to vote...

...Your disappointing comments today were not only offensive and out-of touch, but indeed “un-American” by contradicting everything our country stands for. Perhaps it would indeed behoove the great State of Texas to boast of a legislature with honorable elected officials who are not obstacles toward equal opportunity and democratic participation. I urge you to either issue a formal apology for your misguided comments or resign immediately."