Senate Might Investigate ALEC

It’s about time.  Senator Dick Durbin will be heading a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).  ALEC’s corporate membership is trying frantically to stay hidden under its rock and out of the public eye.  Jillions of ALEC-sponsored rightwing laws have been popping up simultaneously in all of the red and swing states, and the lowly public doesn’t need to know which corporations and wealthy individuals have been pulling the strings.

The linked article talks mostly about Shoot First laws — aka Stand Your Ground — which have been springing up like weeds in state after state.  But the ALEC cesspool runs so much deeper.

Who wrote the “Ag Gag” laws that have been passed in some of the farm states?  You know, where it’s perfectly legal for factory farms to keep their animals paralyzed in tiny cages and feed them nothing except excrement and antibiotics, but if you report or photograph these abuses, you go to prison.  ALEC, that’s who.

How about that ongoing Block The Vote campaign in so many swing states?  No more early voting, extended voting hours or same day registration.  And for God’s sake, get rid of those commie Voter Registration drives!  Yup,  ALEC.

And the fossil fuel industry’s boundless determination to sabotage renewable energy sources?  Three guesses.

One sign that Dick Durbin is on the right track:  Ted Cruz — i.e. the 24 Billion Dollar Man — is shedding crocodile tears about this hearing being “an inappropriate governmental intrusion into the personal and political views of American citizens and businesses.”

Dick Durbin:  Dig.  Dig Deeper.  Still Deeper.  Drain that cesspool.

Newest Scientific Research: Fracking is Completely SAFE

Tree-huggers and other Enemies of Freedom — you can stop your hand-wringing.  The latest scientific findings have proven that fracking is safe, sugar is good for you, and “climate change” is a hoax dreamed up by socialist thugs who want to steal your property.

These are just a few of the scientific facts brought to us by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).  Research conducted by the American Council on Science and Health is totally objective and impartial.  Now, uhh [ahem] their unbiased scientific research happens to be funded by the fossil fuel industry and the Food Syndicate, among others.  Move along.  Nothing to see here.

Like most slippery rightwing organizations, the American Council on Science and Health does not disclose its corporate donors.  Fortunately, Mother Jones has obtained financial documents that confirm the obvious:  the American Council on Science and Health is funded by the industries that have a stake in the organization’s “scientific” findings.

The largest donors to the American Council on Science and Health include Chevron, Coca Cola, Monsanto, McDonald’s and the tobacco industry.

The executive director of the American Council on Science and Health, Dr. Gilbert Ross, says the group doesn’t disclose its donors because:

“The sources of our support are irrelevant to our scientific investigations.  Only science-based facts hold sway in our publications, even if the outcome is not pleasing to our contributors.”

Here’s that grain of salt you were looking for:  Dr. Gilbert Ross was once convicted of defrauding New York State’s Medicaid program of $8 million.  He lost his medical license and served 23 months out of his 46-month prison sentence.

The American Council on Science and Health was founded in 1978 as a “counterweight” to the environmental and consumer movements.  The group’s website says:

“ACSH protects consumer freedom from a variety of unscientifically based activist organizations—such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Science in the Public Interest, and Environmental Working Group—that use 'junk science' and hyperbole about risk to promote fears about our food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, and other environmental and lifestyle factors.  Their agenda is to limit or dismantle many technological achievements that contribute to consumer choice and good health.”

The American Council on Science and Health was founded with a $100,000 donation from the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which also donates to the Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Birds of a feather.

Trans-Pacific Partnership: “NAFTA on Steroids”

I haven’t followed this issue at all, but MSNBC host Ed Schultz is warning everyone about President Obama’s intent to enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  Then again, I also wasn’t paying much attention when Bill Clinton got us into NAFTA, which has been a disaster.  And CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) was even worse.  It was rammed through Congress during Dumbya’s presidency, with absolutely zero coverage from the “media.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam.  This agreement will jeopardize workplace safety and international copyright law, among other issues.  Obama wants to fast-track this agreement through Congress so there’ll be less scrutiny.

Describing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Ed Schultz said:

“This isn’t about being against President Obama.  This is about being for American workers. There is no way the Democrats can go around this country and claim that they are supporting the middle class and let this go untouched.”

He also said Democrats and Tea Party Republicans should work together on this issue:

“I find it very interesting how the Tea Party is so silent about the national sovereignty issue.  This might even qualify for a march. Where are all these radical right-wing talkers who claim that they’re for America? ‘Oh, this is free markets’? No.”

Labor unions have been publicly opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  Schultz said:

“Labor carried President Obama to two terms in the White House.  And I think you can make the case that if it weren’t for labor, President Obama might not even be in the White House.”

OK, we’ve been warned.

“We’ve Reached the End of Antibiotics. Period.”

This is from Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, an associate director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  He said:

“For a long time, there have been newspaper stories and covers of magazines that talked about ‘The end of antibiotics, question mark?’ Well, now I would say you can change the title to ‘The end of antibiotics, period.’  We’re in the post-antibiotic era.  There are patients for whom we have no therapy, and we are literally in a position of having a patient in a bed who has an infection, something that five years ago even we could have treated, but now we can’t.”

But this is a GOOD thing — that is, if you’re an Agribusiness executive.  Eighty percent of all antibiotics in America are being sold to factory farms.  These antibiotics serve the crucial purpose of fattening up 1) livestock, and 2) Big Ag profits.

Since people can no longer be treated successfully with antibiotics, let’s put them to better use (the antibiotics, not the people).  Might as well jack up that eighty percent figure to a hundred percent, and ship all antibiotics directly to the factory farm.

Ted Cruz: High Ranking Member of Dominionist Church

If you’re not familiar with Dominionism, check out the facts here.

And if that’s not scary enough, Ted Cruz is very highly placed within the Dominionist movement.  Please read and bookmark this article.  You NEED to know about this and tell everyone you know.  (Hat Tip to Snave, who sent me this link.)

Liberals, moderate Republicans and Independents already hate Ted Cruz.  But Cruz has captivated millions of conservatives with his constant soundbites about “limited government” and what “the American people” want.  For the millions of Libertarians and non-Evangelicals who actually believe in “Individualism” and “limited government” — Ted Cruz is the ENEMY.

Ted Cruz’ father, Rafael Cruz, is a high-ranking mucky muck in the Dominionist Church.  During a sermon last year, Rafael Cruz announced that his son Ted had been anointed as one of the “Kings” who would take part in the Dominionist agenda known as the “Seven Mountains.”  The “Seven Mountains” refers to the Dominionists’ plan to “‘bring the spoils of war to the priests,’ thus helping to bring about a prophesied ‘great transfer of wealth’  from the ‘wicked’ to righteous gentile believers.”  (From the linked article.)

This may sound like a fairy tale, but there are some incredibly wealthy and powerful people behind this movement.  No wonder Ted Cruz is so adamant about not allowing his anonymous political donors to be revealed.

The mainstream “media” probably won’t bother telling us about Ted Cruz’ involvement with the Dominionist movement.  But if this information gets reported on enough blogs and alternative news sites, hopefully these facts will get out.

Computer Glitches, System Crashes: the Rollout Indicates a Complete FAILURE!

The system wasn’t ready on time.  There’s been delay after delay; glitch after glitch.  WTF is the problem?!?!?!?

So much for all the hype about this great new online interactive tool that will help millions of Americans obtain coverage.  It’s a disaster!  The system is likely to crash while you’re right in the middle of typing in your personal information.  Or maybe you’ll be lucky — the site won’t crash; it’ll just take you three hours to do a simple computer task that should only take a few minutes.

These computer SNAFUs are not a good sign.  Obviously, this big bloated bureaucratic boondoggle is doomed to FAIL!

I’m referring, of course, to the rollout of George W. Bush’s Medicare Drug Plan in 2005.

Ted Cruz Determined to Keep his Anonymous Donors Hidden

Tom Wheeler, the next (presumably) chairman of the FCC, had his Senate confirmation hearings last summer.  When the government shutdown finally ended, one of the Senate’s top priorities was to hold a confirmation vote on Tom Wheeler.  Not so fast!  Ted Cruz has put a hold on Wheeler’s confirmation vote.

And why doesn’t Ted Cruz want Tom Wheeler to lead the FCC?  Because the FCC might use its existing authority to enforce the DISCLOSE Act.  The DISCLOSE Act — which was defeated in the Senate by a Republican filibuster — would require corporations, unions and PACs to disclose how much they’ve “contributed” to political ads.  Cruz is determined to turn Tom Wheeler’s confirmation into another hostage situation, so Cruz’ anonymous donors can stay anonymous.

Conservative politicians are desperately opposed to these disclosure requirements.  After all, their political careers are possible only because of billions of dollars worth of “campaign contributions,” mostly from anonymous donors.  If disclosure was required — if we were able to lift up that rock and see who these anonymous donors are — God only knows what we’d finding crawling around under there.

Who are Ted Cruz’ multi-millionaire donors?  Any guesses?  And why doesn’t he want the public to know who they are?  What’s he hiding?

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) condemned the never-ending obstruction and tantrum-throwing by Ted Cruz and other teahadists:

“We saw during the shutdown the difficulties experienced by families, businesses and the economy when the obstruction of a reckless few prevails and causes the lapse of important government services. If the government is going to fully function for the American people, we have to get these highly qualified nominees confirmed now.”

In other news:  When House Republicans finally deigned to come back to work — after their failed extortion attempt — their top priority was to bring in Kathleen Sebelius to testify at a congressional hearing on the Obamacare train wreck and how it’s ruining America and killing Freedom.  Sebelius was unable to attend the witch hunt because of a scheduling conflict.  And the teadroolers had a hissyfit.

Kathleen Sebelius has a real job — Secretary of Health and Human Services — and is probably busy doing real work.  You know, something a little more constructive than holding the 943rd vote to repeal Obamacare, or holding the 457th “hearing” to ask the same questions about Benghazi over and over and over.

Online Petition: Charge Government Shutdown Ringleaders with Sedition

YES!!!

MoveOn.org is circulating a petition calling for the arrest — and prosecution on charges of sedition — of the ringleaders of the government shutdown.  The petition states:

“I call on the Justice Department of the United States of America to arrest Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Speaker of the House John Boehner, and other decision-making House Republican leaders for the crime of seditious conspiracy against the United States of America…The House GOP leadership’s use of the Hastert Rule and H. Res 368 to shut down the government and threaten the U.S. economy with default is an attempt to extort the United States government into altering or abolishing the Affordable Care Act, and thus, is self-evidently a seditious conspiracy.  Arrest the perpetrators in Congress immediately and bring them to justice.”

This may seem farfetched, but the sedition law has been used in other recent cases.  In 2005 a nurse was charged with sedition — and acquitted — when she wrote a letter to a local newspaper criticizing the Bush Administration for the Iraqi war and for the Administration’s slow “response” to Hurricane Katrina.

Anyway, here is the petition.

Obama Tells GOP: If You Want to Change My Policies, “Win an Election”

ZING.

Obama’s speech — shortly after the government reopened — included:

“To all my friends in Congress, understand that how business is done in this town has to change.  You don't like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election.  But don't break it.”

And:

“We hear some members who pushed for the shutdown say they were doing it to save the American economy.  But nothing has done more to undermine our economy in the past three years than the kind of tactics that create these manufactured crises.”

The 16-day shutdown has cost the economy $24 billion.  And that $24 billion figure doesn’t even include loans that the Small Business Administration didn’t make, permits that got held up, and billions of dollars in lost tax revenue.  And if the U.S. government gets a downgrade on its credit, God only knows how much more it’ll cost.

And just for an idea of what $24 billion will buy:

The net cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP):  $24 billion.

The Department of Agriculture’s proposed budget:  $22.6 billion.

NASA’s budget:  $16.6 billion.

The combined cost of Head Start, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program:  $25.2 billion.

Way to go, Teajobs.

Rent Out a Spare Room in Your Apartment, Go to Prison

Liberals and Conservatives should be equally outraged by this.  Thousands of New York City residents are making a bit of extra cash by renting out a spare room for tourists.  And this practice is illegal.  New York State has a law prohibiting sublets for less than thirty days.  That’s the technicality, anyway.  More importantly, these residents are jeopardizing the hotel industry’s profits. 

Airbnb.com is a website that connects tourists with local residents who are offering a spare room in their homes.  The site operates in 35,000 communities around the world and has 500,000 listings.  Other similar websites include Flipkey.com and Housetrip.com.

The monthly rent in NYC averages about $3,000 — it’s often twice that much — so this little extra income is sometimes the only way for people to keep paying the rent in America’s most expensive city.  Hotel rooms cost an average of $275 a night; a spare room in someone’s apartment can be as low as $35 a night.  So this is a win win for travelers and local residents.

A Brooklyn resident said:

“I use Airbnb to supplement my income, and it's allowed me to go back to school.  And besides, I've met so many wonderful people from France, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Brazil, the Philippines.”

Travel author Pauline Frommer said:

“New York hotel prices are truly outrageous.  The city is overwhelmed with visitors, and it's practically impossible to find an affordable hotel room, so you need some kind of outlet.”

Tough shit, says New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.  He’s demanding that Airbnb.com turn over a list of all New York City residents who have used the website to advertise a room.

What Usually Happens in a Hostage Situation

As most people agree, Tea Party Republicans in Congress have taken the entire country hostage.  Defund Obamacare or the country gets it.  Approve our rightwing agenda NOW — everything we couldn’t achieve through the legislative process — or the global economy goes into freefall.

In some of history’s most famous hostage crises, the hostage-takers have demanded a certain large sum of money and a one-way plane ticket out of the country.  Maybe the teabaggers would take an offer like that.  The thirty or forty teajobs in the House who are behind this current hostage situation — would it be worth paying them to leave the country?  For that matter, is there any other country in the world that would actually want those douchebags?

In any case, hostage-takers sometimes get their wish — whether it’s money, a guaranteed escape or whatever.  Other times, however, it doesn’t go quite as well.

Nope.  The best laid plans…

Governor Jerry Brown: Two Steps Forward for California

OK, so he vetoed a ban on assault weapons.  I’d rather see the glass as half full.

Governor Jerry Brown has signed laws banning the use of lead bullets by hunters, and banning the trapping of bobcats right outside the boundaries of Joshua Tree National Park.

The ban on lead ammo, AB 711, will not go into effect until 2019.  This gives hunters plenty of time to make whatever adjustments they need.  This law is a no-brainer.  Lead is poison.  Jillions of spent bullets have been turning wilderness areas into toxic wastelands.  This toxic pollution will gradually diminish over the next six years.  This law will not curtail hunters’ rights in any way, despite all the tantrum-throwing and mouth-foaming by the NRA.

Bobcats are already protected inside Joshua Tree National Park, but lowlife trappers have been bravely setting their traps right outside the park’s boundaries.  This necessitated AB 1213, which basically tells the aforementioned inbreds to get a job, or a life, or something.

Jerry Brown:  You Go Guy.

Scott Pruitt: the Douchebag Who Ended Obamacare

Probably not.  But the Republican pipedream continues.

Scott Pruitt, Attorney General of Oklahoma, has filed a lawsuit against Obamacare.  Twenty-six attorneys general have already sued to stop Obamacare, and they lost.  The Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act.  But as Lucy keeps telling Charlie Brown, “this time it’ll be different.”

(The linked article was written by Republican spoogebucket Dick Morris, so take it with a grain of salt.)

Unlike his predecessors, Scott “Blows the Koch Brothers” Pruitt isn’t pretending the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.  Instead he’s using the law’s own wording against it, in a way that will nullify the state exchanges which are a crucial part of the law.  When  these state exchanges have been derailed, Obamacare will collapse like a house of cards.

The article's wording — plus the spooge-licker’s “reasoning” — is so convoluted, I won’t even try to paraphrase it.  Straight from the Horse’s Ass’s mouth:

The text of the Affordable Care Act “explicitly provided a subsidy only to those who receive their insurance through state exchanges. Indeed, the subsidies and tax credits were intended to be the carrot that induced states to set up exchanges rather than force the feds to set up their own…Section 1401 of the act…‘authorizes premium-assistance tax credits and makes them available only through state-run Exchanges.’…The section says that taxpayers may receive a tax credit only if ‘the taxpayer is covered by a qualified health plan ... that was enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under section 1311 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.’”

What he said.

So I guess if you’ve enrolled in a health insurance policy — via the Affordable Care Act — in a state that has voluntarily set up an exchange, you’re OK.  But if you live in a state that has refused to set up an exchange, meaning that the federal government had to step in and do the state’s job for it — No Obamacare for you!

Or something.

The “No on I-522” Campaign: a Guide to the Skankiest Prostitutes

If you’re a resident of Washington State, you’ve already been swamped with brochures and TV/radio ads warning about the “dangers” of Initiative 522.  If you live in California, I-522 is the same as Proposition 37:  requiring food labels to say whether or not their products contain any genetically modified organisms (GMO).  Food companies have been required to label all of their ingredients since at least the early 1970s.  What’s different about GMO products?  What’s the GMO syndicate trying to hide?

California’s Prop. 37 was way ahead in the polls, until Monsanto spent tens of jillions of dollars to scare California voters.  It worked.  Prop. 37 ended up losing.  And now Monsanto and its allies are flooding Washington with gazillions of dollars worth of lies, hoping to defeat I-522.

As of now, I-522 is heavily favored by the public.  We’ll have to hope Washington voters will be smarter than their California counterparts.

Monsanto has a long reach.  It has more tentacles than anyone ever imagined.  Monsanto’s little black book is a Who’s Who of highly paid prostitutes.  The Seattle Times had a full page editorial last Sunday urging a “No” vote on I-522.  I wonder how much they got paid for that, and who paid it?

A former Washington attorney general, Ken Eikenberry, is one of the ringleaders of the No on I-522 campaign.  How the mighty have fallen.  He once held one of the highest elective offices in a large progressive state.  Now he’s spending his retirement years sucking Monsanto’s dick.  How sad is that.

Another large contributor to the No on I-522 campaign is the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).  The GMA is like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — basically just a huge money launderer.  The GMA has  donated $2.2 million to the No on I-522 campaign.  And they’ve refused to name the food companies whose money this is.  These companies want to purchase an election but they’re afraid to crawl out from under their rocks and show us who they are.  Enter the money launderer.

And it gets worse.  Monsanto and the GMA even have a judge listed in their little black book.  Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham not only ruled against a group that had filed a suit to find out the anonymous donors to the GMA — he also fined the plaintiff $10,000 for having filed the lawsuit.  The plaintiff — Moms For Labeling — was also ordered to pay GMA’s court costs in addition to the $10,000 fine.  Moms For Labeling’s attorney said:

“This sets an incredibly scary precedent for future concerned citizens who speak out against powerful corporations who violate our public disclosure laws.”

Scary indeed.

Low Winter Sun

Has anybody watched this?  The season finale was last night (on AMC).  It might have been the series finale, for that matter.  The show’s ratings were in the basement, and the reviews weren’t much better.

(Here are some links.)

Low Winter Sun is/was extremely dark, intense, brutal, and without a single likeable character.  I found it mesmerizing, hypnotic; apparently the viewing public didn’t.  Either that, or the program got smothered by Breaking Bad, combined with the remake of the sequel of the discussion of the behind-the-scenes activities that led to the interview with the Assistant Key Grip in the sequel to Breaking Bad XXXVIII…

Anyway, Low Winter Sun deals with the corruption of the Detroit Police Department.  Dirty cops, dirty supervisors who pretend not to notice all the police brutality, framings and whitewashes going on right under their noses, a gung ho Internal Affairs officer, informants, rival gangs — it’s got all the ingredients.

The consensus among the reviews — the few that I looked at — was that there was not enough character development, nobody was likeable or sympathetic in any way, and there were too many characters and too many subplots.  No argument there; it took me forever to figure out some of the subplots and how they related to the main story (sometimes they didn’t), who was who and who did what to who.

Low Winter Sun has the most kickass theme song I’ve heard in a long time.  It sounds like a bluesier earthier version of Tina Turner at her best.  It’s sung by Bettye LaVette, whom I hadn’t heard of before.  The entire soundtrack is excellent — mostly jazz and R&B.  For last night’s finale, the soundtrack took on a more punk/rock/metal sound.

It’s hard to tell if Low Winter Sun will be back for a second season or not.  The season finale laid the groundwork for a possible second season, but there was no cliffhanger.  The cable channels don’t seem to be as ratings-obsessed as the networks, so maybe the low ratings won’t prevent Low Winter Sun from coming back.

Then again, last night’s 2-hour finale was actually the final two episodes shown back to back, so maybe AMC was anxious to get this program off the air and make way for their next series — another Zombie program.  [yawn]

Democrats: Revoke the Bush Tax Cuts or We’ll Shut Down the Government

How’s that for turning the tables?  Or maybe the Democrats could demand:  “De-fund the Pentagon and the Drug Enforcement Agency or We Won’t Raise the Debt Limit.”  “Democrats are willing to keep the government running, just as soon as the PATRIOT Act is eliminated.”

Two can play this game.  The House won’t always be controlled by Republicans.

If the shoe was on the other foot, would we still be getting all these “neutral” headlines about “Both parties are blaming each other” and “Lots of finger pointing from both sides.”

President Obama is absolutely right to refuse ANY negotiations “with a gun held to the head of the American people,” as he described it.  As soon as the GOP teahadists un-strap the bombs from their chests, we’ll talk.

And it’s imperative that the Democrats not agree to any of the Republicans’ piecemeal overtures, no matter how tempting or politically appealing.  “If you’ll sign this one little agreement, a disabled homeless veteran can take his grandson, who has cancer, to Yosemite National Park for one last visit.  Pleeeeease?!?!?!?!?”

NO.

As soon as the Democrats agree to one single heart-wrenching exception to the government shutdown, the floodgates will be open.  It’ll be the end of the day-to-day legislative process as we know it.  There’ll be absolutely zero incentive to write out complex bills with big words, pore over details, bicker over the wording, reach across the aisle, make tentative agreements, etc.  Why bother with all of that boring drivel when it’s so much easier to just govern by extortion?  Blackmail?

Can’t achieve your agenda through the legislative process?  No problem.  Just wait ‘til the federal government is about to run out of money, or we need to raise the debt limit, or we need emergency disaster relief after a hurricane.  Ready?  Write down the exact details of your wettest wetdream, strap on the explosives, and spew out your demands.

“De-Fund the Homeland Security Department!”  “Eliminate the minimum wage and suspend all workplace safety regulations!”  “Eliminate ALL funding for the Environmental Protection Agency!”

Or America gets it.

AFL-CIO to target Republican Governors and Legislators in 2014 Election

During the 2010 midterm elections, when Americans were focused on the House and Senate races (if they were paying attention at all), the corporate-funded “Tea Party” staged a Blitzkrieg attack at the state level.  Vulture capitalists spent billions of dollars installing their prostitutes in the governors’ mansions and legislatures of Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania and other swing states.

The results weren’t pretty:  relentless Block The Vote campaigns, union busting, gerrymandering congressional districts to the point where Republican “representatives’” only danger is getting primaried from the Right, campaigns to close all abortion clinics, etc.

And now the AFL-CIO is hoping to reverse this trend in November 2014.  A lot of these swing state Teabaggers got elected by razor thin margins.  Hopefully these states’ voters will be ready to kick the bastards out.

Michael Podhorzer, the AFL-CIO’s top political official, said:

“There's no question that we're going to be putting more resources into states governors and state legislature races than we have in the past.  Right now, the Republicans are moving ferociously anti-worker, anti-women's health agendas … in the states.”

In other words, when ALEC says “Suck My Dick,” hundreds of state legislators say “How Hard Sir?!?!?!?”

Michael Podhorzer also speculated that changing demographics — plus the increased alienation among Latino voters because of Congress’ failure to pass immigration reform — will create less favorable conditions for Republicans:

“We think the success they had in 2010 … reflected a set of circumstances that aren't going to repeat themselves.”

Along with blocking and obstructing everything in Congress, the 2010 stealth campaign in the swing states was the other half of the Oligarchy’s two-prong attack.  As Michael Podhorzer puts it:

“From the very beginning, the strategy they've evolved to due to their challenges with the presidential year electorate is to stop everything at the federal level, push their ALEC/ Koch agenda in the states.”

Let’s turn the tables in 2014.

Only THIRTY House Republicans actually WANT to Shut Down the Government

As President Obama put it:  “One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn’t get to shut down the entire government.  You don’t get to extract a ransom for doing your job.”

It’s even worse than he thought.  Only about thirty House Republicans are actually in favor of shutting down the government and holding 300 million Americans for ransom.

I was hoping the article would name the thirty pieces of shit, but it doesn’t.  I did a few web searches and couldn’t find any names other than the two traitors mentioned in the linked article:  Michele Bachmann and Raul Labrador.

In the Senate, the two biggest ringleaders are Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.  One of Mike Lee’s aides even bragged anonymously:  “The minority of the minority is going to run things until our leadership gets some backbone.”

Is this someone's idea of a Democracy?  A Republic?  “Representative” government?  In most countries it’s called a coup d’etat when thirty people bring the country to a standstill.  And when attempting a coup d’etat, you either succeed — i.e. you become the new government — or you face a grisly punishment.

Hopefully we’ll find out the identities of the other 28 extortionists in the House.  After they’ve been outed, they should be tortured into naming their corporate owners — since their “campaign contributors” are probably anonymous — and then executed for treason.

JMHO.

However, there’s one bit of good news about the government shutdown:  National Parks are OPEN.  Open for drilling, mining and fracking, that is.  Oh, you mean “open” for the lowly public?  Nah.