GOP Is Saying Banks Are Failing Because Of "Wokeism"

The Silicon Valley Bank failed because Republicans deregulated banking - allowing bankers to do stupid and dangerous things with the money they were entrusted. But Republicans don't want to admit they were wrong, so they are ridiculously blaming the bank failure of the bank being "woke". Here's how James Downie describes this new Republican nonsense at MSNBC.com:

In the latest edition of The Wall Street Journal’s “Inside View,” columnist Andy Kessler ponders last week’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history. The autopsy might seem straightforward: The bank was unusually vulnerable to interest rate hikes because most of its holdings were in long-term debt and because its customer base was disproportionately startups and other industries that needed more cash as interest rates rose.

But Kessler suggests another possible cause. "In its proxy statement," he writes, "SVB notes that besides 91% of their board being independent and 45% women, they also have '1 Black,' '1 LGBTQ+' and '2 Veterans.' I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands."

Now, there’s nothing “woke” about woefully inadequate risk management. White men have excelled at that for millennia. But, regardless, as MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle put it, “This has absolutely NOTHING to do with a bank being ‘woke.’” 

Missing the point in times of crisis is nothing new for the Journal’s opinion pages. This is the same publication whose editorial board, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, suggested President George W. Bush should use the tragedy to pass “pro-growth tax cuts.” But in this case, Kessler, far from having the “Inside View,” is merely repeating Republican talking points. 

“We see now coming out they were one of the most woke banks,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. Referring to diversity, equity and inclusion policies, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told Fox News: “I mean, this bank, they’re so concerned with DEI and politics and all kinds of stuff. I think that really diverted from them focusing on their core mission.”

“SVB is what happens when you push a leftist/woke ideology and have that take precedent over common sense business practices,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr. (The executive vice president of the Trump Organization did not elaborate nor say whether “common sense business practices” include those that led to his employer’s being convicted of tax fraud.)

This tactic long predates SVB's collapse: “Say ‘woke’ in case of emergency” has become a favorite Republican strategy. At first, denunciations of “wokeism” were mostly used in attempts to oppose gay rights and scrub school curricula of mentions of Black history. But more recently, Republicans have expanded their use of the term. After the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., wondered whether “Norfolk Southern’s DEI policies [were] directing resources away from the important things like greasing wheel bearings.” As Republicans scramble for politically palatable budget cuts, lawmakers such as House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York have tried to target the Defense Department’s “woke agenda.” When a former student shot up a Texas elementary school, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin blamed “wokeness.” And when Memphis, Tennessee, police fatally beat Tyre Nichols, Trump Jr. was one of the conservatives who blamed Memphis police for hiring “woke DEI candidates” as officers. 

Why are conservatives using one word to explain everything from a train derailment to a bank failure to the police wrongly beating a motorist? Because it lets them duck the consequences of their ideas.

They could acknowledge that SVB might still be around today but for deregulation signed by former President Donald Trump that was supported almost unanimously by Republicans (and even some Democrats). But it’s easier to blame the “woke agenda.” They could admit that school shootings are more common because of lax gun laws. But it’s easier to blame the “woke agenda.” They could accept that American policing may be in desperate need of reform. But it’s easier to blame the “woke agenda.”

While debate continues over whether SVB has received (or should have received) a bailout, it’s useful to think of the word “woke” as its own bailout — for conservatives. Whether it’s explaining away an inconvenient news development or creating a stopgap reason to oppose a Democrat, criticizing what it calls wokeness is the one-size-fits-all solution for today’s right. An intellectually healthy party would engage with the news, react to the developments, reconsider its priorities when necessary and strengthen its policies as a result.

But it’s easier to rail against an imaginary “woke agenda.”

Texas Has The Worst Attorney General In The Country

I'm sure there are some other bad attorney generals in some states, but none can match Ken Paxton of Texas in both idiocy and criminality. Here's what James Hohmann says about Paxton in The Washington Post:

Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, has been under felony indictment for securities fraud since 2015, and a judge has ordered him to sit for a deposition in the case next month. He is under FBI investigation for assisting a real estate developer who allegedly hired his mistress and remodeled his home. Four of Paxton’s former top lieutenants are suing to get their jobs back, saying they were fired in violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act for reporting potential crimes by the attorney general to the feds.

No Democrat has won statewide in Texas since 1994, and former congressman Beto O’Rourke is extremely unlikely to win his race against Gov. Greg Abbott. Beating Paxton should have been Democrats’ best chance to end the drought. But they nominated former ACLU lawyer Rochelle Garza, whose claim to fame is helping a 17-year-old undocumented immigrant get an abortion while in federal custody.

Paxton now appears likely to be reelected next month as the chief law enforcement officer in a state of nearly 30 million people. Meanwhile, the Texas State Bar’s Commission for Lawyer Discipline is seeking court sanctions against him for peddling false claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election. It was Paxton who filed Texas’s frivolous lawsuit seeking to throw out the votes of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the case, Paxton warmed up the crowd for President Donald Trump at the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, that preceded the Capitol insurrection.

Just 34 percent of Texans think Paxton has the integrity to serve as attorney general, according to a poll conducted last month by the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler, including only 50 percent of Republicans. But Paxton led Garza by seven points in the same survey because 68 percent of Republicans nevertheless plan to vote for him.

Paxton has filed as many lawsuits challenging President Biden’s policies as anyone, including about a dozen on immigration alone, which plays to his advantage. He has earned loyalty from social conservatives as an outspoken foe of reproductive rights. He recently ran away from someone serving him a subpoena in a case seeking to clarify whether abortion rights groups will be liable for helping women cross state lines to access care. A federal judge has ordered Paxton to testify in that suit.

Paxton announced in June that he would defend Texas’s long-unenforced law against sodomy if the Supreme Court followed Justice Clarence Thomas’s suggestion to “correct the error” of its 2003 decisionin Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down a 1973 state law criminalizing gay sex.

This fixation on cultural issues might have distracted Paxton from the core responsibilities of his job. The Associated Press reports that his office recently dropped a series of human trafficking and child sexual assault cases after losing track of one of the victims. The story also revealed that a Paxton adviser was quietly let go after less than two months on the job when he showed child pornography during a staff meeting.

“One prosecutor said he quit in January after supervisors pressured him to withhold evidence in a murder case. Another attorney signed a resignation letter in March that warned of growing hostility toward LGBTQ employees,” according to the Associated Press.

That office drama followed a 2020 revolt by senior staff. Eight former deputies accused Paxton of abusing power, accepting bribes and tampering with government documents. Everyone who reported Paxton was either fired or left under pressure. Among the allegations was that Paxton, who otherwise opposed covid-related restrictions, invoked the public health emergency to issue an opinion in the middle of the night that delayed a foreclosure sale for one of the developer’s properties.

Paxton issued a 374-page report last August that he claimed exonerates him and argues that he has the right to fire any appointees for any reason. He denies all wrongdoing in every case and, channeling Trump, cries that he’s the victim of a “witch hunt.” He’s said he’s being persecuted by “the Biden FBI,” even though the investigation began when Trump was still president and Trump appointed the current FBI director. Paxton’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment, including an interview request.

Garza highlights Paxton’s ethics problems on the stump, but abortion is what animates her. The Morning News poll showed the limits of this issue: Texans are evenly split over whether Roe v. Wade should have been overturned, and 49 percent believe abortion should be illegal in most or all cases. As a result, no prominent Republican has endorsed Garza.

Paxton is so well-positioned that he is not even bothering to air television commercials in what has been a frustratingly sleepy contest. He doesn’t publicize campaign events and mostly restricts appearances to friendly MAGA outlets. Last month, Trump appeared at a Paxton fundraiser in Bedminster, N.J.

The former president has been Paxton’s ace up his sleeve. His support is how Paxton held off a well-funded primary challenge from George P. Bush this past spring, and it’s why he’s favored to win a third term next month despite being the worst attorney general in the United States. Tribalism is a hell of a drug. 

12 Republicans Voted Against Honoring Capitol/DC Police

The House passed a bill honoring the Capitol and D.C. Police who protected the Capitol on January 6th. The vote was 413 to 12. The members of Congress pictured below are the 12 who voted against honoring the brave police who defended them. This 12 have dishonored themselves with their shameful vote!

 

Orange Idiot Blames U.S. For Poor Relationship w/Russia

I didn't think the Trump administration could get any worse, but this last week he proved me wrong. In just the last week, he has attacked NATO -- threatening to go it alone if the other countries don't increase their military budgets by January, and saying the U.S. doesn't get much from NATO anyway (even though the only country NATO has sent troops to defend in the United States after 9/11).

Then he went to Great Britain -- where he interfered in British politics, threatened to damage trade between the U.S. and Britain if they don't initiate a "hard Brexit", and finished the visit by labeling the European Union as our number one foe.

All of that would have been bad enough, but Trump wasn't done. After arriving in Helsinki to meet with his favorite dictator, Trump tweeted that the poor relationship between the U.S. and Russia was due the United States "foolishness and stupidity" -- and the Russian foreign ministry was quick to agree. It seems that Russian aggression around the world, and it's computer attacks on the United States are not important. But putting sanctions on Russia and investigating them for their attacks on the U.S. democracy are unacceptable in Trump's eyes.

Frankly, I think Trump's actions in the last week border on being traitorous. He seriously damaged our relations with our best allies, and appeased the enemy who attacked us. Then he met in secret with Putin. We'll never know what happened in that meeting, since both Trump and Putin are known to be incessant liars.

In just a few days, Trump has done immense damage to world peace and stability.

Here is what legendary journalist Dan Rather had to say:

There has been no shortage of historic summits in American history - but nothing like what is happening today. 

No American president has ever appeared as a supplicant to a foreign power who attacked us - an attack that the intelligence community says is ongoing. 

No American president has been so eager to placate a hostile foreign power. And no American president has been under a credible shadow of allegedly conspiring with a hostile foreign power. 

No American president has so attacked our allies and heaped scorn on his fellow citizens while heaping praise on a hostile foreign power. 

No American president has been so ill-prepared for diplomacy and statecraft and then insisted on handling negotiations with a hostile foreign power alone. 

We do not know what was discussed. We will not be able to trust what President Trump or Putin say was discussed. Their words fail even the most minimum standards of political truth telling. 

This is a historic summit indeed, but historic in terms of the damage it can (and likely already has done) to our nation and a democratic world order.

Another Idiotic Idea From Trump - Tariffs On Autos

(Cartoon image is by Sally Edelstein at Envisioning The American Dream.)

Donald Trump's pea-sized brain has come up with another brilliant (not) idea. Now he wants to impose a tariff on foreign autos and trucks entering the United States. It was enough to punish our allies with tariffs on steel and aluminum -- now he wants to do the same with automobiles.

Trump obviously has no idea of just how complicated the automobile industry actually is. Many of the automobiles sold in the United States by foreign manufacturers are made in the United States by U.S. workers. And many of the cars/trucks sold by American manufacturers are made in other countries. And just to confuse matters a bit more, many of those autos made in other countries use parts (from engines to interiors) that are made in the United States.

In other words, Trump's proposed auto tariffs are just as likely to hurt American car manufacturers and American parts manufacturers as it is to hurt foreign car manufacturers. It will raise the prices of many cars (which consumers can't afford), and it could cost many American jobs.

Where does Trump get these crazy ideas? And out of all the CEOs, and lobbyists in his administration, isn't there one smart enough to explain this to Trump? I shudder to think what he will come up with next!

Far Too Many Americans Believe Conspiracy Theories

(Cartoon image is by Joe Heller at hellertoon.com.)

This survey should remove any doubts you may have had that the United States has millions of gullible idiots. It is the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between December 17th and 20th of a random national sample of 1,376 adults, with a margin of error of 3.3 points.

Here are some common (and rather ridiculous) conspiracy theories, and the percentage of people believing they are true (or probably true).

Vaccines have been shown to cause autism. 

31%

The U.S. government helped plan the attacks of 9/11. 

25%

Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 that the U.S. never found.

53%

The financial crash of 2008 was secretly orchestrated by a handful of Wall Street bankers. 

52%

President Obama was born in Kenya. 

36%

Leaked email from some of Hillary Clinton’s campaign staffers contained code words for pedophilia, human trafficking and satanic ritual abuse - what some people refer to as ’Pizzagate’.


38%

Millions of illegal votes were cast in the election. 

46%

Russia tampered with vote tallies in order to get Donald Trump elected President. 

37%

Trump Takes His Hate/Bigotry To A Frightening Level

(This caricature of Donald Trump is by DonkeyHotey.)

December 7th, 2015, -- Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing "25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad" and 51% of those polled, "agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah." Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won't convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.

Mr. Trump stated, "Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again." - Donald J. Trump

The words above are from Donald Trump -- taken directly from his campaign website. Decent people in this country should be shocked and horrified by those words, but unfortunately, his supporters wouldn't recognize decency if it hit them in the face. When asked about this statement, they either said they agreed with it or would have to think about it -- but in either case, they still would vote for him.

Trump has now removed any doubt that he is a racist, a bigot, and a xenophobe. Fortunately for him, so is a significant portion of the Republican Party-- and they love seeing a candidate that shares their racism, bigotry, and xenophobia. Sadder still, some other Republicans, those who find these words distasteful, may also vote for him -- because they have bought into the fear mongering of all the Republican candidates. They are afraid of muslims (even though the jihadists make up only a very tiny fraction of the more than a billion muslims worldwide).

Trump has shown clearly that he considers muslims to be sub-par humans -- not as good as white christians. This is not the first time he has displayed this kind of bigotry. He kicked off his campaign by demonizing Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers. He shows us that he does not believe in equality, the American Dream, religious freedom, or the U.S. Constitution. His narcissistic bigotry should disqualify him from holding the highest office in this land. How can someone spouting this kind of bigotry be the leading candidate of a major political party?

And no surprise, Trump is wrong about Muslims. As the chart below (from the Pew Research Center) shows, most muslims have a very unfavorable view of ISIS jihadists. They are decent people and don't want to participate in any kind of violence -- and I believe that is true of 99% of muslims around the world.

NOTE -- You may have noticed that I did not provide a link to Trump's campaign website. That was not by accident. It was distasteful enough to print his sick words, and providing such a link is just something I could not do.

Ted Cruz Is An Idiot, A Bigot, Un-American, And Immoral

Ted Cruz has jumped on the Paris attacks as an excuse to inject fear into the presidential race for his own political gain. He knows that many in the Republican base are bigoted against muslims, and he is using that. He has now decided that the United States must ban all muslims from entering this country, and only let christians emigrate to this country. Note these recent statements from Cruz:

"We can’t roll the dice with the safety of Americans and bring in people for whom there is an unacceptable risk that they could be jihadists coming here to kill Americans."

"We should focus our efforts as it relates to refugees on the Christians that are being slaughtered."

"There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror. If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation."

That is shameful, and it exposes Cruz for what he is (and always has been) -- an idiot, a bigot, and un-American. His idiocy is exposed with his assertion that christians do not commit terrorist acts. Does he not remember the Oklahoma City bombing? Has he forgotten the vicious attacks on Jewish and Sikh centers? Is he ignoring the bombings of clinics and murder of doctors in this country trying to provide women with their constitutional right to an abortion? Many on the right (including Cruz) want us to think that christianity's violence is all in the past, but that's simply not true. There are christian extremists, just as there are muslim extremists (and extremists in other religions), and they are willing to kill innocent people to further their own religious beliefs.

Cruz also said there is no way to make sure muslims are properly vetted to insure they are not jihadists trying to enter this country to commit terrorism. If muslims can't be properly vetted, then how are christians going to be vetted? If muslims can't enter the country, wouldn't jihadists then just pose as christians to get in and do their dirty work? Of course they would. The truth is that we can make sure refugees are properly vetted, regardless of their religion.

Cruz's wish to ban muslims and accept only christian refugees simply exposes his own bigotry. he sees his own religion as being good, and muslims as being bad -- and he is willing to discriminate against those who don't accept his own religion. That is bigotry. There is no other word for it.

His banning of one religion and acceptance of another is also un-American, because it is unconstitutional. Our constitution guarantees religious freedom, and prevents the government from preferring one religion over other religions -- which is exactly what Cruz wants our government to do. His ban would, in effect, create a state religion (by favoring one religion over others). This is not only unfair to innocent immigrants, but would be a huge step toward creating a religious tyranny in the United States (and that would be bad for those who are already citizens).

And I might add that refusing to accept refugees fleeing from Middle East violence would be immoral -- especially since it was foreign policy mistakes by this country which created the situation in which that violence could flourish. It was an American president that told lies so he could unnecessarily  invade Iraq, and upset the delicate religious and political balance in that part of the world.

These refugees only want to provide safety and a decent future for their families -- which is what all humans want (including us). Denying them that because of politics or bigotry is undoubtable an immoral act.

(NOTE -- The caricature of Ted Cruz above is by DonkeyHotey.)

An Idiot

It would be a kindness to say this buffoon is just demonstrating senility, but it wouldn't be true. He is just an old-fashioned idiot who believes that women are not as important as men, and should be kept in a second-class citizenship status (subject to the rule of men). And if he has to spread vicious lies to keep the patriarchy alive, he is willing to do that. He obviously has missed the message of love in the book he precesses to believe in, and the religion he claims to represent.

Racist Idiots Upset Over New "Miss America"

The beautiful young lady in the picture above (from the website Forward Progressives) is Nina Davuluri, and she is the newly crowned Miss America. And if her being chosen has shown anything, it is that racism, bigotry, and idiocy are all alive and well in the United States. The internet has many instances of anger over her victory in the pageant.

She has been called an Arab (not true), a muslim (not true), and the inference has been made that she is not even an American (not true). Perhaps the stupidest comment of all was made by a Fox News Radio host, who said she doesn't "represent American values".

Let's be clear here. While Miss Davuluri has ancestors that came from another country (India), she is no different from almost all other Americans (who also have ancestors from another country). Unless you are 100% Native American, which very few Americans are, then you have ancestors that came here from another country. That is just a fact, and it makes no difference if those ancestors are one generation or many generations back.

Miss Davuluri was born in the United States, and raised in this country. That means she is just as American as anyone else in this country -- and since she is an American, her values are "American values". In fact, I think I would probably prefer her values to those of that Fox radio host -- since one of his values seems to be racism, while to our knowledge she has not exhibited any kind of bigotry.

This just shows once again that we are far from being in a "post-racial" period in this country. The election of President Obama did not do away with racism -- it just made the racists bolder, and they have now crawled back out from under their rocks to expose their perversions to decent people. And frankly, I'm getting damn sick of it. Race and color (or any other physical characteristics) have nothing to do with the quality, worth, or citizenship of any person -- and anyone who thinks it does is a bigot.

The days of "white privilege" are slowly dying out in this country -- and personally, the faster that happens the better. The idiotic perversions of racism and bigotry have already lasted too long. It is time for decent people to stand up and finish the job of stamping them out for good.

Texas - Largest Supplier Of Idiot Politicians

Much has been said recently about Texas' Republican Representatives Louie Gohmert and Steve Stockman, but they are just a small sample of the idiots and science deniers that the state of Texas has sent to the United States Congress. Take Joe Barton for example. He not only thinks that windmills will slow down the wind, but he is also the creep that wanted Congress to apologize to BP for being made to pay for their huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I know that other states have also sent idiots to Congress, but I defy anyone to name a state that has sent more than the state of Texas.

The Race For "Stupidest Texas Congressman" Just Got A Lot Tougher

 Much has been written in the last few months about two Texas Republican congressmen -- Louie Gohmert (1st Congressional District) and Steve Stockman (36th Congressional District). Both have issued a plethora of idiotic statements -- and they seem to be competing for the unofficial title of "stupidest Texas congressman".

But it seems that their idiocy is a cause for jealousy with a couple of other Texas Republicans. And they have made up their minds to show the world that Gohmert and Stockman haven't cornered all of the stupidity in the Texas GOP congressional delegation.

The first of these is Michael Burgess (26th Congressional District). He is pictured in the top photo to the left. And he has come up with a unique reason for opposing all abortions after the 15th week. He thinks they should be banned because 15 week old male fetuses masturbate -- and he says he knows that because he has seen it. Evidently the 15 week old female fetuses don't engage in masturbation, because Burgess hasn't seen them do it. Here is his actual (idiotic statement):

“Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful. They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to believe that they could feel pain?”

His point is that if they can "pleasure themselves" then they can also feel pain. But Burgess is a doctor in addition to being a pervert -- and he should know better. The vast majority of medical officials do not believe fetuses can feel pain until weeks later (and don't believe fetuses of either sex engage in masturbation). Add to this the fact that abortions after 3 months are very rare, and usually limited to women with serious fetal complications -- and it becomes obvious that Burgess' attitude is not just ridiculous, it is mean and disregards the health of both mother and fetus.

Then we have Kenny Marchant (24th Congressional District). Marchant (in bottom picture) has decided he doesn't want to see immigration reform, because most of the immigrants given a path to citizenship will be Hispanic and will probably vote Democratic after becoming citizens. In explaining his opposition to the Associated Press, Marchant said:

“. . .if you give the legal right to vote to 10 Hispanics in my district, seven to eight of them are going to vote Democrat.”

It doesn't seem to have occurred to Marchant that U.S. citizenship is not granted (or not granted) because of how some misguided official thinks they might vote after becoming a citizen. Citizenship has never been, and should never be, granted or denied because of any perceived political preference (which might not even be true). The truth is that Marchant, and many of his fellow teabagger congressmen, are bigots who pursue a racist and anti-immigrant policy. And they have no desire to change. They only want to please their teabagger base, so they can get re-elected. With a more inclusive policy, they could get many Hispanic votes (as moderate Republicans have in the past) -- but that doesn't matter, because they revel in their bigotry (and that of their base voters).

As a life-long Texan, all four of these congressmen make me deeply ashamed. It makes me want to apologize to the rest of this nation for the electoral behavior of my fellow Texans.

Idiots

I was outraged by these two stories and wanted to comment on them. After thinking about it, I decided they could both be discussed under one heading -- idiots (because that is exactly what I consider these people to be).

------------------------------

Let me start with this story of a mother in Michigan. Gail Horalek has decided that one of the most widely-read books in the world (and deservedly so), The Diary of Anne Frank, is pornographic. Her middle school daughter was "made uncomfortable" when she read the book, according to Horalek, because there is a passage in the book where Anne discusses her genitalia.

This has horrified Horalek (who is evidently trying to hide from her daughter the fact that humans have genitalia), and she now wants the school to either remove the book or make parents sign a permission slip before their children can read it.

Now Horalek had a choice when her daughter told her it made her "uncomfortable". She could use that as a teaching moment, and initiated a discussion of both human sexuality and the ideas contained in the book -- or she could try to ban the book. Sadly, she chose the latter.

Horalek told her local newspaper, "It doesn't mean my child is sheltered, it doesn't mean I live in a bubble, and it doesn't mean I'm trying to ban books." She's wrong. That's exactly what it means.

The fact is that The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most important books ever published. It is absolutely appropriate for middle school aged children, and in my opinion, should be required reading. I made sure my children read it before they entered high school. They were also made "uncomfortable". But it was by the horrific actions of the Nazi regime in carrying out the murder of innocents like Anne Frank and her family.

This woman is an idiot.

------------------------------

This story is even more horrific, because it involves the killing of a two year old child. The baby was shot by her five year old brother. And the crazy part is that the five year old didn't use an adult's gun to shoot his sister. He did it with his own gun.

The parents of the two children had bought the five year old his own gun, and given it to him. The gun, a .22 caliber rifle called a Crickett, was like those pictured at the left -- made and marketed to children by Keystone Sporting Arms (a Pennsylvania gun company).

The shooting is being called an accident, but I have to question that. I'm not blaming the five year old, but his parents and the gun company. Giving a dangerous firearm to a five year old and marketing weapons made especially for children are both ridiculously dangerous actions, and create a situation where a tragedy is likely to happen. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Personally, I hold both the parents and the gun company responsible for the death of the two year old.

The parents and the gun-makers are all idiots.

Idiocy

The teabaggers won't like this. But then they regularly vote against their own interests and the interests of most of their fellow citizens. The truth is that, in their efforts to give the rich and the corporations more money and power, the Republicans are perfectly willing to throw everyone else under the bus -- including most members of their own base. (Found at The Immoral Minority.)

Now This Is Embarrassing (For Willard)

Talk about a candidate putting his foot in his mouth! Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) showed his utter disdain for the 47% of Americans who don't pay any income taxes. It turns out that (with the exception of New Mexico and possibly Florida) the states with the highest percentage of people who don't pay income taxes are all red states where Romney leads in the presidential race. The idiot was slamming his own voters!

These are also all states where Republicans control the state governments. If the Republican's policies are so good for America, why is it that the states they are in charge of have the highest percentage of workers who don't earn enough money to pay income taxes? Could it be that their policies only benefit the rich?

The Republicans, including Willard, want you to think these Americans don't pay income taxes because they are too lazy to work. That's an outrageous lie! Most of those people are either elderly and living on a small fixed income, or they are the working poor (who work hard at full-time jobs, but get paid so little they can barely afford to live). I would venture to say that every one of those people would absolutely love to have an income large enough to force them to pay income taxes.

Personally, I would like to see Willard try to live on the small income of any one of that 47% of Americans.

P.S. -- Now might be a good time to release those tax returns you are hiding. I think Americans would like to know that you are not among that 47% -- not because you don't earn enough, but because you probably use every trick in the book to avoid paying the taxes you owe.

Another Dumb Republican Idea

The Republican Party has become the party of insane ideas. The teabaggers in Congress want to block raising the debt ceiling. Rep. Rohrabacher wants to clear-cut the rain forests (to cure global warming) and then force Iraq to pay for the United States invasion and occupation of their country. Rep. Ryan (and his House cohorts) want to abolish Medicare. Rick Santorum wants to re-institute "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Michele Bachmann wants to lower corporate taxes to 9% (which is less than middle class Americans pay). And Rick Perry thinks America can just pray away its problems.

Herman Cain has decided he doesn't want to be left out in this mad rush toward political insanity. So he has come up with his own ridiculous proposal. He has decided that the Environmental Protection Agency is not playing nice with the poor corporations by making them stop polluting the air and water -- the same corporations that are registering record profits under the "onerous" EPA regulations.

He has decided a new commission is needed to decide what regulations the EPA should impose on American (and foreign) corporations. And he would appoint the CEOs of the oil, gas, and coal companies to be on that commission. Yes, that's right! He wants to put the worst polluters in the country in charge of the agency trying to stop pollution from destroying our environment. After all, aren't corporate profits more important than breathable air or drinkable water or halting global climate change?

But why stop there? If this is a good idea, then it would also be a good idea to put criminals in charge of making rules for the police, and arsonists in charge of fire departments. This fool would put the foxes, wolves, and coyotes in charge of henhouse security.

This one idea should disqualify him from any consideration as a presidential candidate.

GOP Comes Up With Another Cuckoo Idea

I wrote a post the other day about stupid Republican ideas, and one of the GOP congressman I discussed was Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-California). This nut showed his idiocy by coming up with his own solution to global climate change. He decided we should clear-cut all the world's rain forests (evidently having slept through high school science where it is learned that trees use carbon dioxide and produce oxygen). His dumb idea would obviously just make things worse, not better.

But Rohrabacher is not one to rest on his laurels (as idiotic as they are). He is determined to make sure that everyone understands his complete lack of brain function. Yesterday Rohrabacher was visiting Baghdad and had a suggestion for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He thinks the Iraqis should pay for the privilege of being invaded and occupied by the United States. Here is what he said:

“Once Iraq becomes a very rich and prosperous country…we would hope that some consideration be given to repaying the United States some of the mega-dollars that we have spent here in the last eight years."

“We were hoping that there would be a consideration of a payback because the United States right now is in close to a very serious economic crisis and we could certainly use some people to care about our situation as we have cared about theirs.”

I find it incredible that any American politician, even a Republican, could make such an obviously insane suggestion. The United States invaded Iraq without any good reason -- other than George Bush's vanity and Dick Cheney's meanness. We destroyed their infrastructure and economy. We started a civil war. We drove millions out of their country. We killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. And we still occupy their country (about 50,000 U.S. soldiers remain there). And this fool thinks the Iraqis should pay us for our vicious and destructive behavior.

This Republican may still have a pulse, but he is beyond doubt totally brain dead. It wouldn't surprise me if he also wanted our torture victims to pay for the honor of being water-boarded.

Cornyn Fills The "Idiot" Void

Yesterday, George Bush ended his term in Washington, climbed on an airplane and flew back to Texas. While this was a cause for world-wide celebration, it did leave a void in Washington. Who was going to fill the position of "Biggest Idiot Politician from Texas"? But never fear folks, because a viable candidate has stepped forward -- John Cornyn.

Cornyn bid for the position back in 2004, when he compared homosexual marriage to marrying a "box turtle". Under normal circumstances, that would probably have earned him the crown. But Bush was still in Washington, and screwing up on such a scale that no one could equal him. So Cornyn had to wait for his chance.

Yesterday, Cornyn seized his opportunity as the Senate was approving several of Obama's cabinet members on unanimous voice votes. They unanimously approved Stephen Chu as Secretary of Energy, Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education, Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security, Ken Salazar as Secretary of the Interior, Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture, and Eric Shinseki to head up Veterans Affairs.

But when it came to Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Cornyn objected. He was the only senator to object, but all it takes is one to kill the unanimous voice vote. She will still be overwhelmingly approved today with a roll call vote after three hours of debate.

Cornyn said he wanted to know more about donations to her husband's foundation. That's a load of crap! There will be three hours of debate, but I can assure you that nothing new will be learned. There will be no new witnesses and no new evidence introduced. Senators will simply banter back and forth for three hours and then approve Clinton.

Cornyn knows he cannot win this battle, and doesn't really care. He was simply playing to the ultra-right of the Republican base to get himself noticed. That's why he picked Hillary Clinton. He knows the ultra-right hates her. Opposing one of the other cabinet members wouldn't have gotten him nearly as many "brownie points" with the wing-nuts.

I hope he succeeded. I'd like to see him become a darling of the right. Maybe they'll run a Palin/Cornyn ticket against Obama in 2012. I'd love to see that. The incompetence would be so overwhelming, it could be the death knell of the Republican Party.

I'm ready to crown Cornyn as "Biggest Idiot Politician from Texas". Can you think of a better candidate?