I have no idea what Fox News thinks the are accomplishing anymore.

Fox News, back when it was new and relatively unknown, was really passing itself off as just another 24 hour cable news station.  In that guise, they could sort of be the "stealth Republican mouthpiece", because casual watchers might not really understand that they were getting a big spin on their news.

Now, however, it is all very, very clear about what Fox News is.   They will spin any sort of news they can to make President Obama and the Democrats look bad, even to the point of fabricating stories or taking individual sentences out of context.  They will puff up all sorts of stories that support their cause, like the Tea Party rallies, but totally downplay anything they deem to be "on the other side", such as the Occupy movement.  They will support Mitt Romney in the face of the unsupportable, e.g., his outrageous attack on President Obama DURING the attacks on the Libyan embassy and the consulate in Egypt and his ridiculous statements last week captured on a hidden camera video regarding the 47% lazy bums who will never vote for Romney and never take responsibility for themselves.

So, we all now know what Fox is doing and why.  But who are they talking to?  Their base really doesn't need any more fuel to keep their anger burning brightly.  They are already angry.  I seriously doubt that many undecided voters would be going to Fox to get their news to help them make up their minds.  If someone is going to Fox, I believe that their minds are already made up.  So, is it just money?  Is it just totally ideology driven, such that they don't really care that much about undecided voters or making money off advertising?  Is Roger Ailes so driven by hatred of Democrats, progressives and liberals, not to mention gays and lesbians, blacks, Latinos, etc., that that becomes his primary motivation?  Pure, unadulterated spite?

I know this is an overgeneralization.  There are probably a number of "reasons" why Fox News does what it does.  Maybe not really good reasons, but at least they might be rational ones when examined from their point of view.  But when they start having to rely on taking Obama quotes out of context that are 14 years old, what do they really think they are accomplishing?

I am not a psychologist.  I can only try to explain what I think are nonsensical human actions by my own point of view and hopefully, logic based thought process.  But I think that many people in today's society, and that does include some on the left as well, become so locked in to their own positions that they don't even care that they make sense anymore.  No logic is necessary, rationalization of their position is all that matters.  If they can come up with something, ANYTHING, that they can say to make their position seem to be the right one, then that is all that is required.

And when that happens to a society, it becomes vapor locked.  That is why we have Republican senators and congressmen who will never, ever vote for a bill sponsored by a Democrat.  It doesn't make any difference if they helped write it or if the bill represents a position that the Republican mainstream held during the Bush administration.  It doesn't matter.  All they know is that Obama and Democrats are evil and they can never agree with them.  On anything.  Ever.

So, where does that leave us as a country?  I have no idea, but wherever it is, it isn't good.

One more thought on guns and the lack of gun control in America.

Here's a comparison to think about when debating gun violence in this country.

On 9/11, one of the worst days in American history, somewhere around 3000 people were murdered in cold blood by a number of fanatics.  Over that event, this country ended up starting two wars (even if Iraq wasn't about 9/11 directly, George Bush certainly used the opportunity to get his war of choice), each of which set a record for the longest war this country had ever participated in.  Thousands of American soldiers were killed, and tens of thousands were maimed for life.  Over a trillion dollars was spent, and hundreds of thousands of civilians from both Iraq and Afghanistan were killed.  That's what this country did in the name of the 3000 people who died on 9/11.  "Never forget!"

On the other hand, somewhere between 9000 and 10,000 people in the U.S. are killed by gun violence each and every year, and we do absolutely nothing.  Let me repeat that.  Between 9000 and 10,000 people in the U.S. are killed by gun violence each and every year, and we do absolutely nothing.

The ability of Americans to rationalize away anything that contradicts with their established beliefs is nothing short of dumbfounding.

UPDATE:  Actually, Cognitive Dissonance was the term I was looking for.

UPDATE:  Here is actually what looks like to me a non-satirical commentary from The Onion, courtesy of Balloon Juice.

Just to remind everyone which party caused this "debt crisis" in the first place.

And that is why it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE to cut Social Security and Medicare, but not important enough to actually raise any taxes or cut defense spending.

What do you want to bet....?

If the U.S. government defaults on its payments and, as a result, Social Security checks do not get mailed out, the Republicans will try to blame Obama?

OK, that's not much of a wager. That is pretty much a given.

Republicans: Rioting the night after their team lost the NBA finals.

That my latest analogy to explain this madness. Republicans are still terribly, terribly pissed off because their team lost the NBA finals, aka Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential elections. They still cannot accept this reality, so they are really, really upset, and just to show everyone how upset they are, they are storming their own city (the U.S.A.) and proceeding to set cars on fire and throw anything they can find through plate glass windows. It won't stop the reality that their team lost, but it feels SO... DARN... GOOD!! It doesn't matter that those same people have to live in this country in the future. They are just out to show how awful it is that Obama is the president.

I hope that these white, elderly Tea Party types are really happy when they discover that their Social Security checks, the ones that they are either currently depending on or will in the very near future, are going to be for less than they were if they hadn't thrown their hissy fit.

(To be fully fair about this, that photo is from Vancouver, in Canada you know, after their team lost the NHL finals. But I thought that basketball is a bit more relevant of an analogy than is hockey, and a picture of a riot is a picture of a riot, regardless of the place or circumstances.)

Incredibly, both David Brooks and Richard Cohen come to the conclusion that the Republican Party has lost its mind.

I am paraphrasing, of course. If you want to see the gist of what they both said, here is a summary from Washington Monthly.

First, Cohen:

Someone ought to study the Republican Party. I am not referring to yet another political scientist but to a mental health professional, preferably a specialist in the power of fixations, obsessions and the like. The GOP needs an intervention. It has become a cult. […]

The hallmark of a cult is to replace reason with feverish belief…. This intellectual rigidity has produced a GOP presidential field that’s a virtual political Jonestown. The Grand Old Party, so named when it really did evoke America, has so narrowed its base that it has become a political cult. It is a redoubt of certainty over reason and in itself significantly responsible for the government deficit that matters most: leadership.

Then Brooks:

If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred million dollars of revenue increases.

A normal Republican Party would seize the opportunity to put a long-term limit on the growth of government. It would seize the opportunity to put the country on a sound fiscal footing. It would seize the opportunity to do these things without putting any real crimp in economic growth.

The party is not being asked to raise marginal tax rates in a way that might pervert incentives. On the contrary, Republicans are merely being asked to close loopholes and eliminate tax expenditures that are themselves distortionary.
This, as I say, is the mother of all no-brainers.

But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That’s because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.

The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.

The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.

The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.

The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name. Economists have identified many factors that contribute to economic growth, ranging from the productivity of the work force to the share of private savings that is available for private investment. Tax levels matter, but they are far from the only or even the most important factor.

I usually don’t read either of these columnists. Brooks sometimes makes some great points and comes across as a thinking, rational conservative. And then he spoils the moment by saying something completely insane. Cohen, well, I have no understanding about why he is thought of as a “center-left” journalist. I can’t think of much that he has written that I agreed with. I think he represents about the worst of the “beltway thinking.” But to have these two people put out columns on the same week that essentially say the same thing, that the Republican Party has lost it’s mind (yes, paraphrasing, but “Jonestown” and “cult” are pretty damning), that’s saying something.

Maybe the tide is finally turning. Maybe our press is finally going to find the backbone to stand up to the Republican Party and report on what is really going on in American politics these days.

Maybe.

Until then, I remain with a deep sense of despondency over the state of American politics. It’s like riding in a car going 90 mph with a madman at the wheel who really doesn’t care if he crashes the car or not, because he doesn’t believe in traveling by cars and if he does crash, well, that sort of “proves” his point, doesn’t it?

Update: Harsh words for Brooks from Driftglass, via Balloon Juice.

Yep, this is exactly what it looks like when I take my family on vacation.

I saw a quote from somewhere this morning that had Piper Palin saying to someone in the media who was part of the Moose Entourage, "Thanks for ruining our vacation." Je-sus.

You know, I really feel sorry for the Palin kids. They are growing up with such an extremely warped view of society and their own self-importance.

Update: Damn, this woman is a moron. This is her take on Paul Revere.

"...he who warned, uh, the...the British that they weren’t gonna be takin' away our arms...uh, by ringin' those bells and um...makin' sure as he's ridin' his horse through town...to send those warning shots and bells...that, uh, we were gonna be secure and...and we were gonna be free...and we were gonna be armed."

Click on this link for a YouTube of this mess, if you don't believe me.

This is such an embarrassment to this country that someone like Sarah Palin could even be considered to be worthy of running for the Presidency of the United States.

Priceless political cartoon.

The text in this cartoon comes, word for word, out of a press release from Newt Gingrinch's camp.

Click on the cartoon to get a bigger version and then you might have to use the magnifying glass to blow it up big enough to read. It is worth the effort.

From John White Studio. Go check out his entire site.

Aw, shucks. Donald Trump isn't running for president after all.

I mean, who could have seen THAT coming?

About 90% of me is very happy, as happy as I can muster for something involving politics in the United States these days. This guy is a fatuous gas bag with absolutely no sense of what a clown he has become. I hope his ratings for his "reality show" go in the tank as well. Good riddance. He was such as distraction, the media would amplify every single idiocy the guy uttered. We have better things to talk about. I used to be totally indifferent to the man but now, I detest looking at him. He owes President Obama, and the rest of the country, a big apology.

That remaining 10% of me is kind of sorry to see him leave. I would have loved to see him destroyed in an actual debate. Even some of the current Republicans running for office would have destroyed him. I always love seeing over-inflated egos punctured.

Donald Trump's new campaign slogan.

Although it probably isn't one he would voluntarily choose himself....

Image absconded from Balloon Juice.

Rick Perry, like most conservatives, hates consistency if it gives him a chance to bash President Obama and the federal government.

So, you remember Rick Perry, who is the governor of Texas and not (supposedly) some nut job tea party type who firmly believes whatever gets handed to him by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh? You remember the time when he was making noises about Texas possibly seceding from the United States because he didn’t like how the federal government was getting too big or wouldn’t leave the states alone or some damn thing?

Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax "tea party" Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, "Secede!"

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall -- one of three tea parties he was attending across the state -- that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government.... Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

That certainly sounds unequivocal, doesn’t it? No doubt about what he is saying there, is there? He just hates the federal government and wants it to leave the states totally alone.

Except when he doesn’t, of course. More from Washington Monthly (with an embedded link to Daily Kos.)

Now, however, Perry is whining that the "oppressive hand" isn't intervening in Texas enough.

As wildfires continue to do significant damage to the Lone Star State -- last weekend's state-sanctioned prayer days didn't do anything -- Perry wants increased federal assistance.

And when President Obama visited tornado-struck Alabama yesterday, this apparently made poor Rick Perry jealous.
"You have to ask, 'Why are you taking care of Alabama and other states?'" said Perry.

Texas officials asked the White House to make the declaration, which would have allocated federal funds to help the state deal with the crisis.

"I know our letter didn't get lost in the mail," Perry added.

Daily Kos' Jed Lewison sets the record straight.

So hundreds die in storms throughout the South and Rick Perry's response is to question why those states are getting federal aid instead of Texas? Funny how he doesn't mention that Texas has already gotten at least $39 million in firefighting aid from FEMA over the past two fire seasons and has already received 22 grants in this fire season alone.

I'm not even sure what Perry is insinuating when it comes to politics. Does the governor expect us to think Obama favors Alabama over Texas for some kind of political reason? The last time I checked, they're both very reliable "red" states.

But what makes the governor's complaints especially noteworthy is the larger context -- it's a reminder of how offensive Perry's anti-government rhetoric was in the first place. He hates federal intrusion, except when Democrats in Washington are helping him balance his budget. He wants to keep federal officials out of his state, except when he's facing a natural disaster.

For this guy's feelings to be hurt when the president visits another state hard hit by a devastating natural disaster is bizarre.

Ha. You know, I think that these morons don’t even try to keep track of what they say on a day to day basis. They just react to whatever is happening then and there, and they come up with whatever comes into their minds so they can try to bash President Obama and the Democrats. It really doesn’t matter to them that they are being ridiculous, really inconsistent and very, very hypocritical. It just doesn’t matter, so long as they can say something bad about their enemies.

Just why this is true is beyond me. If I were to be caught in some of the whoppers these characters have, I would slink away and not show my face in national media ever again. But then, I guess I have some sense of self-awareness. These buffoons don’t. What we really need in this country is an electorate and a national media who would punish people like this. They would get excoriated in the press, and they wouldn’t get votes during the next election cycle.

But getting back to Perry’s statement above, I find that amazing, even in the context of getting to bash President Obama. He is actually saying that he doesn’t like President Obama going to visit one of the states hit by the biggest natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina. He want’s Obama to come and visit TEXAS, because, as we all know, Texas is more important that any other state. If Obama doesn’t acknowledge that “fact”, well, there is obviously some problem here that needs to be addressed.

Republicans are apparently genetically incapable of not being assholes.

So, back in the days when George Bush was president, what were the rallying cries of Republicans back then, which apparently rebutted every single thing that Democrats ever said or did?

“Support Our Troops!”

“Remember 9/11!”

Ah, the good old days. Well… Those days have certainly passed, once a Democratic congress (now just Senate) and a Democratic president were elected. Republicans are under some sort of blood pact that says they must oppose every single thing that Democrats do, not matter if it is in direct opposition to the stances they took when the Republicans were in power. Every single thing. They are absolutely incapable of letting President Obama or Democrats in general being seen as having “won” something or other.

Case in point, 9/11 first responders. First, Republicans blocked providing healthcare coverage for those brave people who were the first into the scene, risking the same death that took so many of their fellow citizens. No, we can’t provide healthcare for them! That would be socialism! (Remember that little episode? It was called the Zadroga bill. The only reason it ended up passing was that Jon Stewart, on the Daily Show, went after Republicans for being such hypocrites. )

Now, some dumb cluck Republican representative stuck on some provision that requires these brave people, the ones that Republicans were so good as using as props when bashing Democrats, to undergo a security check to make sure they aren’t terrorists before they can get their benefits.

From TPM.

Medical providers will soon inform 9/11 first responders about a provision in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health And Compensation law that requires them to be run through the FBI's terrorism watch list before they can receive health care benefits.

According to a letter obtained by Michael McAuliff of the Huffington Post, Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, is instructing health care providers to tell their patients about the provision before they can begin to receive benefits in July.

The provision was tacked on by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) during the contentious fight over the bill in December, which was blocked by Republicans at the time. Stearns' amendment adds a paragraph stipulating the "disqualification of individuals on the terrorist watch list," and requiring each potential beneficiary to be run through the list.

McAuliff reports participants "will soon be told that their names, places of birth, addresses, government ID numbers and other personal data will be provided to the FBI to ensure they are not terrorists."

This is an example of why I hold absolutely no hope of American society ever recovering from the Bush years. Republicans, along with their corporate leash-holders and their attack dog media, cannot bring themselves to do the right thing if it means being on the same side of the fence, or even somewhere near the same fence, as Democrats. Democrats, by definition, are evil and want to destroy this country, so they must be opposed at every turn. No surrender, no retreat, no hint of contrition, even when it comes to something like this. What person in their right mind is going to think that these first responders are terrorists? What sort of warped logic is that?

I was about to call this guy a toad, but that would be insulting to not just toads, but all amphibians. What a small, small person. "Vindictive" doesn't even begin to put a label on this guy. "Spiteful" and "malicious", perhaps. I have to wonder how these Republicans live with themselves. But for some reason, I have to suspect this idiot actually feels GOOD about doing this. "He! He! I really stuck it to those Democrats with that one!"

As I think I said in a previous post, the only silver lining I can see out of all of this is that Republicans may be in the process of alienating every single person in the country that isn't white, over 50 and either belongs to a country club or is very ignorant of current events and believes every single thing that Fox News and Rush Limbaugh tells them. The next election is going to be very interesting, indeed.

Update: More Republican asshole-ishness, from Michigan Messenger, via Crooks and Liars.

So, about that voucher plan for Medicare, Senator Ryan....

Do I really understand that what the Republican plan to "balance the budget", which it does not in any sense of the word, replace the current Medicare system with a system where the government just hands out vouchers to the elderly so they can go buy their own insurance? That's the plan, is it?

I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind.

First off, I understand that the vouchers will only increase over time as a function of the inflation rate and NOT the rate of increase in the actual cost of healthcare. Would you care to address that?

No? I didn't think so. So, that would mean all the increases in the actual cost of healthcare, not including inflation, would be the responsibility of the recipients of these vouchers? Is that right? The ones who are on a fixed income and probably are having a difficult time making ends meet already? That's your big plan?

Then, how about this? What insurance companies out there, right now, do you think are going to take on a very large number of new people on their insurance rolls, and all of them are elderly and many of them probably already with chronic health problems? Hum? Did you even THINK of that, Senator Ryan? What happens to those vouchers if the elderly can't find any insurance companies to cover them? Do they need to give those vouchers back to the government? Can they use them to buy food and pay their electric bills instead? Did you consider that?

And what about all those additional healthcare costs that aren't covered by your insurance companies? We do all know about those, correct? Copayments for every single visit, which can run into some bucks if you see the doctor more than one or two times a month, which many people would need to. How about all those costs when you have some significant medical procedures done or end up staying in the hospital for a week? Do you expect those insurance companies to provide 100% coverage, on every single healthcare related item, so that the patients aren't responsible for a whole lot more new bills on top of their already large insurance payments?

Have you even HEARD of actuarial tables before, Senator Ryan? Do you understand how insurance companies make their money?

So, before you go out on national TV and make a fool of yourself by waving some printed up pamphlet, saying it is the cure for all the countries financial woes, you might try to learn a bit about the subject you are decimating.

As I continually say, I just do not understand how Republicans have any credibility left, on anything. Why does anyone believe what they say?

Republican John Kyl, in response to getting caught telling untruths, replies, “It was not intended to be a factual statement.”

So, this is what it now comes to. These a**holes use blatant lies to rile up their core supporters and convince them that they are the righteous and the other side are no more than lowly scum. When they invariably get caught and called out on their lies, aren’t even trying anymore.

“It was not intended to be a factual statement.”

Holy Mother…. So, by saying you were lying, that makes it O.K. somehow?

Check out the full story at Washington Monthly.

Image stolen from Balloon Juice.

Saturday morning thoughts on the non-government shutdown.

I actually thought that there would be a last-minute agreement reached once it became apparent that the sticking points were funding Planned Parenthood and some heavy-handed restrictions on the EPA. The Republicans were going to look like total fools for shutting down the government over stuff like that. It was no longer about budgetary issues. It was about Republicans trying to foist their agenda on the U.S. through the only branch of the federal government that they control. They were going to get absolutely killed next election. They still might. But I figured, once we got to that point, there would be an agreement. Anything less would have been political suicide, or at least some major self-inflicted wounds.

Great, the government isn't going to shut down. Troops will continue to get paid, 700,000 federal workers (including me) will go to work on Monday morning. But we are going to have to live with the medium to long range fallout of this agreement. I believe the number that the R's and D's agreed to cut from the federal budget from last year's is 38 billions dollars. 38 billion. That's a LOT of money. Now, I am absolutely certain that there are large areas of wasteful spending that could be cleaned up. But 38 billion, all in this year? Where is that money going to come from? There is already a very large amount of what I consider to be damage done to how the government operates. People are going to lose their jobs, services are going to be cut. I am a great believer in the Law of Unintended Consequences. 38 billion, at this point, is still mostly just a number that the R's and D's were arguing about. Very soon, the rubber has to meet the concrete. Where is this money going to come from? I am going to guess our national parks are going to take huge hits, for one thing. I would bet anything that most federal agencies get edicts like "reduce your workforce by X%." There will be lots of social programs that people, here and now, depend on that will be cut or greatly reduced. On and on. We have yet to see the very real fallout from this arbitrary number that people agreed to last night.

And, as for looking toward the future, I've got news for you (if you thought otherwise, and you probably didn't), the Tea Party types did not give up after last night. They will come out fighting that much harder in order to achieve their goals. (Just what those goals are, from the "bigger picture" perspective, aside from "shrinking government", I really don't know.) They are going to want that 38 billion to come from all the programs that they seem to detest; education, environmental protection, any sort of oversight of business and industry, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, any programs which give financial support to the poor, disadvantaged and out of work, etc. And on top of this, they are going to continue to demand more and more tax cuts for the rich and for corporations and an overall reduction of spending and revenue collected by the U.S. government.

Lastly, I find it amazing that all of this thrashing about in the last few weeks was SOLELY about cutting spending. There was not a single word spoken about increasing revenue through letting the Bush tax cuts expire on the rich to very rich, nor was there any discussion about making American businesses (e.g., GE, Boeing) actually pay corporate taxes like everyone assumes that they are already doing. No discussion about closing up tax loopholes. None. That subject seems to be totally off-limits.

There was also no discussion about jobs, other than some very unsupported declarations by the Republicans that jobs would come streaming back when the government's deficit was reduced. I am not an economist, but that assertion makes absolutely no sense to me, and it certainly doesn't to some very smart people who should know, such as Paul Krugman. (I may go try to find a link for this later. For now, you can go do a Google search yourself if you are that interested.)

The Dems, even though they control both the Senate and the Presidency, still have handed the nutjobs running the Republican Party right now a very large victory, even if those self-same nutjobs don't recognize it as such right now. The discussion is solely about spending, not taxes. It is solely about which programs to cut or get rid of entirely. The public will not know who's to blame when they don't get the services they want.

The Dems have found a way to continue on this path that the Tea Party has defined for this country. Oh, they didn't get everything they wanted, but they certainly got a lot. They certainly didn't get enough pushback to think that this approach isn't going to work in the future.

I can't imagine what this country is going to look like in 25 years. Well, I do have my own thoughts on the matter. I hope I am wrong. But I have a feeling that most of the people in this country will look at the state that things are in and wonder how they heck the United States of America ended up there.

Sooo.... I am going to be furloughed because Republicans don't like Planned Parenthood and the EPA?

Do I have that right? And this is after I took a two year (or more, depending) pay freeze so I can help subsidize the extension of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.

I am starting to get a little upset with the Republican Party. (That's an understatement...) Yeah, Democrats seem to be mostly spineless and won't stand up to hardly anyone without caving immediately. But Republicans, the ones you MIGHT think are sane, will not stand up to their wingnut Tea Party extremist wing. As a result of Republicans caving to the Tea Party, and then the Democrats usually caving to Republicans, we have the situation where the crazy 35% seems to be setting the direction for the entire country.

And it certainly isn't like we have any SERIOUS problems that need to be addressed...

UPDATE (Friday, 8:30 a.m. Pacific): Well, perhaps they are just down to talking about Planned Parenthood. That's an amazing thing to be THE fulcrum in whether to shut down the entire U.S. government or not.

I just had my talk with the boss about what might or might not happen next week. He was very insistent that, in the event of a shutdown, we should, under no circumstances, do anything related to our jobs. We could be subject to discipline... For doing our jobs... While not getting paid... But, really, when you get down to it, I don't think I will have a problem about not doing my job.

I am still expecting a last minute deal to happen. I think Boehner and some of the less-crazy Republicans know what might happen and who will be blamed if this indeed does go down. I actually think they have painted themselves into a corner with their crazy Tea Party base already. If the Republicans compromise, on ANYTHING, and avoid a shutdown (which many of the wingers really seem to want), then the base will be steaming mad. They already weren't that happy with Boehner. On the other hand, if the government gets shut down and some of these people all of a sudden find out they aren't getting their income tax refund as quickly as they would like or they aren't getting their Social Security checks, they are going to be upset. The Republicans will probably be blamed by everyone else for being such ridiculous ideologues to take everything to this level of crazy over Planned Parenthood (which, by the way, is already prohibited from using federal funds for abortions).

Crazy, crazy people.

UPDATE 2: I think it is unfortunate that I chose to focus this post, and the one just preceding this one, on how a government shutdown would affect me. That is actually the least of my concerns, although it is certainly not how it looks when you read the title of these posts. From a purely personal point of view, I am actually looking forward to some time off. I am not one of the unfortunate many who have to live from paycheck to paycheck. I can survive quite nicely. I am sure the same is not true for most everyone else who is going to be out of a job and/or paycheck next week, if something doesn't break lose here. If I were a military family and my wife or I were stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan, putting our butts on the line every day just because that what our "fearless leaders" say we have to do, and all of a sudden, we weren't getting PAID!?! I think I would be hopping mad about it. I just hope they put the blame for this fiasco in the correct place.

I apologize if this post appeared to be very self-centered.... Not my intent. The whole issue was just easier to talk about in those terms.

Guess I will probably out of work next week.

Thanks to the Republicans. But, of course, they are already trying to blame the Democrats for any government shutdown that might occur. That's sort of like a bank robber going into a bank, taking a bunch of hostages that he threatens to kill if he doesn't get a million dollars and a helicopter, and then blames the police for making him shoot his hostages.

That is exactly what is going on with the Republicans.

If I was John Q. Public, I might tend to blame the side whose members are actually cheering about the possibility of a shutdown. And that ain't the Democrats.

Ah, well. I have lots of yard work that needs doing. I'll be too tired to spend any money, anyway.

UPDATE (Tuesday, 12:50 p.m. Pacific): I really didn't think we would get to this point. This is pretty incredible.

Here are a few things I have learned by poking around the internets in the last few minutes.

I would actually be one of the lucky government workers. I am certain to be designated a "non-essential" employee, which means they can let me go without screwing anything up in the immediate term. The unlucky ones, it turns out (such as, oh, Air Traffic Controllers), will be deemed to be "essential employees." That means they have to show up for work, even if the government gets shut down, but here is the kicker. They don't get paid until everything is back up and running again! Hey, worst of both worlds, yeah?

Another thing is that President Obama and the Democrats have agreed, in principle but not in specifics, to the 33 billion dollars in cuts that was initially put on the table by the Republicans. Yeah, they WANTED 66 billion in cuts, but my understanding is that 33 billion would have gone a long way toward their goals. Guess what? That isn't good enough anymore. Neither is getting a bill that would get the necessary majority in the House. John Boehner is now demanding that he get a bill that could be passed with a majority of JUST REPUBLICANS. No need for bi-partisan support when you can pass a bill with your simple majority, right? That's what the Republicans want now, or else they shoot the hostages.

I just cannot believe how absolutely insane this country has gotten in the last few years.

UPDATE II: No, "non-essential" government employees are still rather essential. They just aren't essential in highly critical, day to day work, such as, oh, Air Traffic Controllers and the like. The country can get along without us, for a little while anyway, for some time. But just wait until the military families stop getting paychecks or Republicans don't get their income tax return checks when they think they should, and you will start to hear about how "non-essential" we are.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Republicans have gone so over the top that the non-insane 35% of Americans are finally catching on what is going on.

I am not usually one to look for silver linings in big, dark clouds that you know are about to dump prodigious amounts of unpleasantness on your head. Silver linings are, in my mind, just the human spirit trying to stay optimistic. That usually isn’t me.

However, in our current situation, that might just be true. There may really be a silver lining in the Republican Party, as a whole, being so full of themselves and being so terrified of not conforming to the wishes of the Tea Party types, that they really are turning off everyone else.

- Republican governors seem to think they have been elected kings of their fiefdom. They are gutting people’s right to organize, they are turning down billions of dollars in essentially free money for high speed rail projects that would bring lots of work and dollars, while strengthing the state’s infrastructure. They are showing they have absolutely no loyalty to those who got them elected, other than Big Business. Teachers are now the enemy. Public education is evil. Anyone making under $50,000 a year is living high on the hog.

- The House of Representatives has become a place for wing nut ideologues to let down their hair. After screaming, “Where are the jobs!?!” for months, they have decided to pursue their rightwing ideology at all costs and jobs has become a non-issue. They have introduced legislation whose intent is to make abortions so difficult to come by they would be practically impossible. They have made it plain that they hate public schools, but will do anything they possible can to get rid of all government oversight of particularly hazardous industries, both for the environment and our population, as well as our financial institutions.

- The Republican Party keeps running imbeciles. Many times, these people do get elected, such as Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Jim DeMint, Louie Gohmert, etc. Many times, they give elections to the Democrats in what would have otherwise been a reliable Republican win, such as Sharon Angle. Every time they open their mouths, something very embarrassing comes out. Newt Gingrich has proven that he will say anything at anytime, as long as he gets to disagree with President Obama. Haley Barbour still has a very large problem with race relations, as well as a history problem. Sarah Palin, still the current Face of the Republican Party, is becoming increasingly disliked in the rest of the country and has essentially a zero chance of ever being elected to another public office, much less President of the United States. Most people wouldn’t even trust these people to teach their children, much less hand them a very powerful political position.

- Fox News, and in particular, Glenn Beck, have become so hysterical (in several different definitions of the word) that anyone outside that crazy 35% has a difficult time taking them seriously. They do not seem to have a coherent position about anything, other than Democrats are the most evil, vile things that the world has ever encountered. They aren’t even making an attempt anymore. And with a number of leaked memos from the inner sanctum of Fox News, it is very apparent that the reporters, anchors and on screen personalities are operating on orders from above.

As I said, I may just be reaching for something that isn’t there. But the huge demonstrations in Wisconsin in reaction to the huge overreach of the governor and the Republican senators were something to behold. Every single thing that the Republican Party attempts to do these days seems to alienate some other segment of the voting population, such as police and firefighting unions, teachers, Hispanics, and people without jobs and with not much hope.

One can hope, I guess. The prospects of an enlightened voting population making the correct votes (not always Democrats, mind you) in order to solve the very daunting problems facing our country seems pretty bleak right now. But perhaps, just perhaps, the Republicans have gone so crazy that no one past that 35% will believe them anymore. Maybe they have shredded their respectability so much that hardly anyone will believe anything they say from this point on.

Newt Gingrich once again proves that it is not what you say, it’s how many inflammatory, dog-whistle words you can fit in one 30-second sound bite.

From Washington Monthly:

"I have two grandchildren: Maggie is 11; Robert is 9," Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. "I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."

Ha. America…. Secular… Atheist… Radial… Islamists…. American…

That’s pretty good, Newt. We should have been playing Buzzword Bingo.

Please tell me how something can be “secular, atheist” and “radical Islamist” at the same time? Aren’t those concepts rather mutually exclusive? Isn't that kind of the whole damn point of "atheistic?" Pardon me, but JESUS! If you are going to string a bunch of buzzwords together to try to get someone riled up, there should be a rule that you need to at least do that in a way that MAKES SENSE!

It appears to me that one of the primary requirements to run for the President of the United States from the Republican side of the aisle is to be a barking lunatic willing to pander to anyone and everyone who you consider to be in “your base.”

I am truly frightened about what might happen to this country if, against perhaps not-all-that-long odds, one of these nutjob Republicans were to actually win. I am not sure if the Democrats can hang on long enough for all of the idiotic, white, scared shitless of anything not associated with our tribe, voters in our country die so they can't vote anymore. Sorry, but that’s how I see it shaking down.

Here's a joke making the rounds on the internet....

Just in case you haven't seen this one.

A CEO, a Tea Partier, and a Union member are sitting around a table that has a plate with 12 cookies on it. The CEO takes 11 cookies and then leans over to the Tea Partier and says,"Psst. That Union guy is trying to take part of of your cookie."