My CongressmanTakes Government Money, But Denies Food Stamps For The Poor

The person pictured to the left is my congressman, Mac Thornberry. He is a Republican who represents the 13th Congressional District in Texas (which includes numerous counties and stretches from Wichita Falls to the tip of the Panhandle).

He is a rancher from Clarendon (about 50 miles east of Amarillo) in Donley County, and he doesn't mind taking government assistance. He has received at least $29,774 in farm subsidies from the U.S. Agriculture Department (not counting possible government support for crop insurance premiums) -- and he wants that government money to keep on coming. That's why he voted to keep the farm subsidies in the recent Agriculture budget passed by the House.

But while he thinks it is fine for government money to go to him (even though he is worth somewhere between a quarter and a half million dollars), he doesn't think poor people deserve any help from the government -- not even to help them buy food for their children. Thornberry is one of those Republicans that voted to cut funds for the SNAP program (food stamps) out of the Agriculture budget completely. He, and his fellow Republicans, decided the $20 billion cut to food stamps was not enough, so they just cut the program out of the Agriculture bill.

I am embarrassed and angry over Thornberry's mean-spirited vote. It is unacceptable for any elected official (or political party) to continue government payments to wealthy farmers and ranchers, while refusing to help feed this nation's poor (many of them children). It's just indecent.

NOTE -- There are 13 other Republicans who voted this way, and receive government money from the Agriculture Department. You can go to this website by Rep. George Miller (D-California) to find out who they are.

My Idiot Congressman Wants To Make It Legal For The Government To Lie To Us

Every time I look at the dorky-looking guy in the picture above, I feel like I owe the American people a huge apology. That's because he is my congressman, Mac Thornberry -- a Republican representing the 13th District of the state of Texas (and Democrats in this area have not even come close to defeating him). Thornberry is not the brightest bulb on the GOP's tree, and the Republican leaders can always count on him to vote as instructed. His only saving grace is that he doesn't author much legislation.

Unfortunately, he's trying to change that. He, along with Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington), has tacked an amendment on to the defense authorization bill recently approved by the House of Representatives. It was bad enough that this bill busted the budget agreed to by both Democrats and Republicans last summer by billions of dollars, but Thornberry's amendment makes the bill even worse.

It is legal for the government of this country to spread propaganda (lies) in other countries -- it's immoral and unethical, but legal. But it is not legal for the government to do the same thing to American citizens in this country. That is prevented by two laws -- the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987. These laws make it illegal for the U.S. government to intentionally propagandize (outrageously lie to) its own citizens. Thornberry wants to change that.

His amendment would make it legal for the U.S. government to spread propaganda (lies) in this country. Thornberry doesn't like that the American citizens have turned against the Republican war in Afghanistan (and subsequent occupation). Americans know the truth (that we are not winning and nothing is being accomplished), and they don't like it. The war-loving Thornberry thinks the government should be able to spread propaganda to keep the people supporting the war (and future wars) -- so his amendment would overturn the two laws mentioned above (at least the parts of them preventing propagandizing U.S. citizens).

Now I know the U.S. government already lies to its citizens far too much, but it would be a serious mistake to legalize that lying. It would be just another giant step toward a plutocratic police state (and we are already too far down that road). Democracy cannot survive if the people are not allowed to know the truth.

President Obama needs to veto this bill if it passes the Senate -- both because it spends more money than was agreed on, and because of this idiotic "propaganda" amendment.  

Thornberry Votes To Abolish Medicare

U.S. House District 13 sits at the top of Texas (represented in pink on the chart above). It is a large and mostly rural district that runs from east of Wichita Falls (pop. 100,000) to Amarillo (pop. nearly 200,000) and on to the northwest corner of the Panhandle (a distance of more than 300 miles). The district has been a very safe one for Republicans and is currently represented by Rep. Mac Thornberry.

But as safe as this district is for Republicans, I have a hard time believing the voters of District 13 will approve of Thornberry's latest vote in Congress. That's because Thornberry (along with all Texas Republicans except Ron Paul) has just voted to give the rich another tax cut and finance that by abolishing Medicare. Thornberry and his Republican cohorts have decided that voters will value passing the Ryan Budget Plan and cutting the deficit more than they value keeping the Medicare program.

Thornberry defended his vote by saying, "This budget represents some tough, but necessary, choices for our country and its citizens. If we do not take significant action, we may be the first generation of Americans that fails to leave the country in better shape than we found it. On the other hand, if we do take action, the economy can begin to grow again, jobs will be created, and living standards will improve. This budget gives us that chance."

What a load of horse manure! The Ryan plan is nothing more than taking the failed Reagan/Bush "trickle-down" economic policies to their logical conclusion -- that if rich people are given more and more money they will eventually share some of it with the rest of us. All that did in the last thirty years was depress wages for American workers and give the rich record profits -- creating the largest wealth and income gap since before the Great Depression and throwing the country into the current recession. There is no evidence this policy will "magically" do anything different now.

But what makes the Ryan plan even worse than the Bush/Reagan policies is that the Republicans now want to finance their tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the elderly. They want to abolish Medicare and replace it with a voucher system, that they say will allow the elderly to buy their own private insurance. But that government voucher will be only $8000, and that is not going to buy insurance for an elderly person. The young and middle-aged would be lucky to get a good private insurance policy for that amount.

That's because the insurance companies know that people over age 65 (those covered by Medicare now) are guaranteed to start having some health problems, and they would have to pay far more in payments for medical treatment for the elderly than for people lower in age. This means they would charge much more in premium fees for insurance to cover the elderly, and it will run a lot higher than the $8000 voucher -- probably twice that much or more. After all, the insurance companies are in business to make profits, not pay medical bills.

The result of the Republican plan would be that many of the elderly, especially those living on a fixed income (like Social Security), would not be able to purchase the expensive private insurance. They would be forced to go without medical care, and their lifespans would be severely and unnecessarily shortened.

I can't believe the aging population in District 13 really wants this to happen. I don't believe they elected Thornberry to abolish Medicare and use that money to give more tax cuts for the rich.

In the last election District 13 was considered so safe a district for Republicans that the Democrats didn't even field a candidate. Democrats need to change that in 2012 and put a good candidate in the race -- a candidate that will campaign vigorously on saving Medicare from Republicans like Mac Thornberry.

The Republicans have made a serious mistake by voting to abolish Medicare. The Democrats need to beat them over the head with that mean-spirited vote all the way to election day -- even in Republican districts like Texas District 13.

Rep. Thornberry - Servant Of The Rich

The 13th Congressional District of Texas is the northernmost district in the state of Texas.   It is largely a blue collar district, but it doesn't vote like it.   Being 81% white and in the middle of the Bible Belt, the district consistently votes against its own economic interests and for the social values of the Republican Party.   In fact, this district is tied with the 6th Congressional District of Alabama for the title of "Most Republican District in America" (according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index).   Democrats didn't even bother to field a candidate in the 13th District in the last election.

It should come as no surprise then that the district's congressman, Mac Thornberry, has been chosen to carry the water for the party's effort to get even more tax breaks for the richest Americans (even above the massive tax breaks given them last month).   Thornberry's first action in the new Congress was to introduce a bill to abolish the estate tax.   He mislabels it as the Death Tax Repeal Act.

Thornberry (and the other Republicans) would like for their constituents to believe this is a tax that affects a large portion of American citizens.   That is just not true.   The tax exempts the first $5 million in cash and property.   The truth is that the tax would only affect the richest 2% of all Americans (and would help the Wall Street tycoons far more than it would help the residents of the 13th District -- most of whom don't have anywhere near $5 million dollars to pass on to their children or other inheritors).   It would, however, increase the federal deficit that Republicans promised to lower.

In trying to defend this outrageous giveaway to the richest Americans (the only Americans who don't need help in this recession), Thornberry has said that abolishing this tax would create 1.5 million jobs.   Of course he doesn't say how it would create those jobs or where he got those ridiculous numbers.   That's because there is no reason to believe that abolishing the estate tax would create a single job.

It has been shown time and time again that reducing taxes are a very poor way to create jobs.   Businesses don't hire people because they get to keep more tax money, but because they need more people to produce their goods or deliver their services (regardless of what the tax rate is).   And abolishment of the estate tax would be an even worse job creator that lowering other kinds of taxes, since it doesn't put more money into a businessman's pocket -- it only transfers money from one person to another.

This is just more "trickle down" economic nonsense, and can only be defended by Republican lies.   It this was a real job creator, then it should have been creating jobs (since it was suspended for 2010 as a part of the Bush tax cuts for the rich).   The only thing Thornberry's new bill shows is that, like most other Republicans, he cares more for the rich than for the ordinary citizens in his district.

Adding to this notion is the fact that he is also co-sponsoring the repeal of the new health care law.   While he doesn't like the rich to have to pay their fair share of taxes, he doesn't mind denying health care to ordinary people.   He doesn't mind letting the insurance companies deny coverage because of "pre-existing conditions", or suspending coverage because a patient needs expensive medical treatment, or refusing to allow parents to keep college students on their insurance policies until age 26.

Thornberry doesn't mind hurting the people of his district, but he's quick to go to bat for the Wall Street tycoons.   And sadly, he will pay no price for that -- because he represents the reddest district in America.   And when the time comes, you can bet he'll vote to cut Social Security and Medicare.   It's disgusting.

Rep. Thornberry Gets Teabagger Opponent

Rep. Mac Thornberry represents the Texas Panhandle in the U.S. House of Representatives. He's not a leader and I doubt that most Americans have ever even heard of him. He keeps his head down, accepts his marching orders from the Republican leadership and never votes or deviates from the Republican Party line. He's the kind of Republican that party leaders love.

It was looking like Thornberry was going to have an easy time getting re-elected. The Panhandle is such a red area that the Democrats didn't even field a candidate against him in this election cycle. It looked for a while like his only opponent would be a Libertarian Party candidate, and even in the conservative Panhandle very few people vote for Libertarians. But things have changed.

While there may not be many Libertarians in the Panhandle, there are a lot of teabaggers. A few days ago the Texas Secretary of State notified Keith Dyer (pictured) that he will be on the November ballot as a candidate for the Panhandle's U.S. House seat against Thornberry. Dyer is a leader among Panhandle teabaggers.

This race just got interesting. While a Democrat or a Libertarian would not have much of a chance against Thornberry in this solidly Republican district, a teabagger like Dyer could get a lot of votes in this area. And they would all be Republican votes (since the Dems will either not vote in this race or vote for the Libertarian) -- votes that would have otherwise gone to Thornberry.

I expect Thornberry will still get re-elected but Dyer will probably siphon off a lot of the Republican vote in the district. Democrats have to be kicking themselves for not fielding a candidate now. With Thornberry and Dyer splitting the Republican vote, a Democrat would have stood a chance of winning for the first time in many years.

Thornberry Is No Leader

Mac Thornberry is the Republican representative from the 13th Congressional District in Texas (which runs from Wichita Falls to Amarillo, and includes most of the Texas Panhandle). He's a good foot-soldier in the right-wing army, voting just like the Republican leadership wants him to vote (for the Iraq War, for the Patriot Act, against the minimum wage, etc.).

In fact, he's marched in lockstep with his right-wing masters so well, that the National Journal "gave Thornberry a composite rating of 91.7 for conservative positions and 8.3 for liberal ones." But tell me, can you name one piece of major legislation authored by Thornberry? I couldn't either, even after checking Wikipedia and Congresspedia.

He's been in the U.S. House for 15 years now, but I doubt that most Texans could even tell you who he is (let alone anyone outside the state). He hasn't lasted 15 years because of anything he's accomplished, but because he's a Republican in one of the reddest districts in America.

But somehow, Thornberry has decided that he's leadership material. I don't know what would give him such an idea, but he seems to believe it. For the second time now, he has tried to become the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. And for the second time, his fellow Republicans have shot him down.

Instead of Thornberry, the House Republican Steering Committee voted to make Howard McKeon of California the ranking Republican on the committee. Looks like even the Republicans, as wacky as they are, have yet to see any leadership qualities in Thornberry -- even after 15 years in the House.

Thornberry needs to realize that following orders makes you a good follower, not a leader. It's time for the 13th District to replace this "do-nothing" representative. If he hasn't shown any leadership skills in fifteen years, then he probably doesn't have any.

Wouldn't it be refreshing to have a representative who could actually accomplish something?

13th District Is Represented By An Idiot

There are some real nuts in Congress, and many of them talk enough to be a constant embarrassment to their constituents. The 13th District of Texas is represented by a real idiot and right-wing nut -- Mac Thornberry. The only thing good about Thornberry is that until now, he has generally kept his mouth shut and stayed out of the national spotlight. I always figured it was because he understood his own incompetence and didn't want to show it to the world.

I was wrong. Ole Dingleberry has decided that he's going to fix this recession, and it's pretty obvious that he's drinking far too much of the Repub's red kool-aid. He thinks that all we need to do to stimulate the economy is to give rich people more money (and yes, that would be the same rich folks who have been making record profits each year under the current tax code, and yes, that would be the same rich folks who've destroyed our economy with their greed).

After all, if we give the rich all the money, they'll share it with the rest of us won't they? NOT! Where has this buffoon been the last few years? Bush and the Republicans did everything they could to see the rich made larger profits every year, but somehow none of it trickled down to anyone else. They just hoarded it, and whined about having to pay any taxes at all. Wages either remained stagnant or the jobs were shipped overseas.

Rep. Dingleberry has decided to do away with our income tax system and replace it with a sales tax. Never mind that the sales tax is the most regressive of all taxes. Poor and working class folks would probably wind up paying an even larger percentage of their income than they do now, while the rich will wind up paying a negligible percentage of their income. But that's OK. It's the Republican mantra to protect the rich while soaking the workers.

If he can't get that done, Rep. Dingleberry has a fallback position. He'll just lower the top tax rate to 25%. Never mind the ultra-rich have gotten even richer under the current tax rate, and control around 40% of our nation's wealth. Republicans like D-berry won't be happy until the rich control all the wealth and the rest of us are slaves.

Many of us in the Panhandle and West Texas have known this guy was a moron for a while now. It's just too bad he had to finally open his mouth and prove it to the rest of the world.