Here’s a great send-up of the Mitt Romney bullying scandal ala Sweeney Todd.

So, to paraphrase Jon Stewart, Dick Morris, you’re shiftless, without principle, craven, self-serving, and “lazy!”

Romney did have to admit that he wouldn’t put his dog on the roof if he had to do it all over again.  At least he realized that once was too much.

But Romney likes “firing people.” Which is why he celebrated at a Bush-era closed factory.  He’s not fooling anybody, his etch-a-sketch, amoral, greed at all costs core.

For someone who doesn’t make nearly as much money as Romney, The Obama family gives a lot of money to charity.

Do we really want a Wall Street Conservative, when that “community” drove the country off a cliff?  O, the Humanity.

And why not a class warfare?  It’s “We the People of the United States,” not We the Person, nor We the Corporation.  It’s the first phrase of the Preamble of the United States Constitution.

And oh, yeah, Willard “Murinophile” Romney, I mean Mitt, do you forget the rules of hospitality?  So rude.  And if his campaign knows that he’s unmannerly, why did they not brief him on what to say?  So, he’s not a very good manager of his campaign.  Sheesh.

What if we all as a nation stopped selling American designed weapons, like airplanes, ships, subs, missiles, helicopters, tear gas, et cetera to foreign nations and groups?

What if we brought home all of our overseas troops, no matter where they are, discharged all of them except the ones we need to secure our own borders, and sent all of them to University or Trade School?

What if we create a new kind of entity called a Corporation that had to die after 75 years? All the corporate patented and trademarked assets would become public domain, and physical assets liquidated and distributed to shareholders.

What fs we taxed at 100% all estates above a certain threshold, and ensured that a hereditary oligarchy would be stopped in its tracks?

What if we increased the highest tax rates to 65% of income or capital gains or any kind of investment income?

What if we became a single-payer nation for health insurance, and reinvested in creating upward mobility by making our public Colleges and Universities the inexpensive wonder of the world they once were?

Just imagine if the purpose of government was to provide for the general welfare and common defense by taking care of certain things like infrastructure, environmental regulation, education, and health care so that people could focus on the more important things in life, like becoming the best, most creative, generous, kind and loving person in their work and personal lives, fully invested citizens. If we all recognized that we are all in this together, that “E pluribus unum” are words by which a great nation should live.

We can make this progressive dream happen.
Doesn’t that world, where all pursue their dreams because all the stuff that government does really well are being taken care of sound great? The only way to make it happen is to pay attention, wake up, organize, and vote!

An induced labor for a 20 week fetus is an abortion.  The baby, infected and fatally deformed, would not have survived.

In the fall of 1996, Rick Santorum, 39, became the leader of the anti-partial-birth forces in the Senate. It’s a role that placed him at the center of what soon became a very emotional, and personal, maelstrom. His wife Karen was at that time 18 weeks pregnant and they were concerned about the health of the fetus. When they went for a routine 5-month sonogram, they discovered that their baby was suffering from a minuscule but almost invariably fatal condition; the baby’s posterior urethral valve was malfunctioning and his bladder wasn’t emptying. The Santorums went to Philadelphia to undergo a procedure where a plastic shunt was inserted into the baby’s bladder and used to channel the fetal urine into the womb. Initially the outcome looked good, but Karen soon suffered an infection from the operation, and she went into premature labor. The Santorums decided against aborting their baby. For Rick and Karen Santorum, the birth of their premature son, Gabriel Michael, on October 11, 1996, confirmed their beliefs about partial-birth abortion; the idea that the state might condone violence against this tiny but undeniably human creature seemed impossibly barbaric. Their baby died 2 hours after birth.

Even though I am of the opinion that Rick “Frothy Mix” Santorum is actively evil, I do feel badly that his family had to suffer and make such a terrible choice.  But his hypocrisy on this issue in inexcusable.

This is yet another example of how the GOP doesn’t care about the lives of ordinary people, just the privileged few.  If you’re rich, white, christian, or a corporation, then the GOP is all for you.  Watch out if you’re a woman, gay, black, poor, or any other non-privileged group.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1998/01/05/1998_01_05_030_TNY_LIBRY_000014643#ixzz1PVZTo4ei

Poor Rep. Tom Tancredo – he’s another Republican Chickenhawk who beats the drums of war, but when the time came for him to actually fight, chickened out.

On the other hand, progressive blogger and activist, Markos Moulitsas, of DailyKos fame, is an actual veteran who has more credibility, speaking out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This clip demonstrates that Tancredo is still a coward. Instead of fighting back and discussing the issues, he tucks his tail between his legs and runs away. Again.

This is yet another reason why Republicans are not to be listened to on foreign policy issues. They talk a mess of shit but can’t back it up. And when they try to back it up, they make a worse mess that they can’t clean up.

Mark Sanford, the disgraced Republican Governor of South Carolina.

This man is one of the most vile and disgusting pieces of human flesh to walk the earth.  He crusaded as a Defender of Marriage, all the while he was philandering with a woman for the past several years.  He forced his wife to put up an all-quiet-on-the-home front for the past several months while they were separated, and he made his staff actively lie for him to cover up a trip to Argentina in order to continue to carry on this affair.

But, he’s just the latest in a long line of hypocritical Republican politicians:

Senator David “impulse control” Vitter, Republican from Louisiana, yet another marriage and family values champion who was caught up in the “D.C. Madam” sting, who apparently likes to dress in diapers.  Nice legs, dude.

Smell My Finger, Dude!

Senator John Ensign (R-NV), another champion of marriage and family values, had a long time affair with one of his staffers, who’s salary was doubled and who’s teenaged son was put on the Republican Party’s payrool as a “research policy expert.”

Larry "Wide Stance" Craig

And who could forget Senator Larry Craig, Republican from Idaho, who’s “I’m not gay” stance in the Minnesota airport’s bathroom stall nabbed him in a public sex sting.

And the list goes on and on and on.

Why anyone at all takes the Republican Party seriously in relation to morality or family values is beyond me.  I would feel sorry for them, but their shameless hypocrisy takes them beyond compassion into schaudenfreude, and that’s a place they all richly deserve.

The problem with these so-called Tea Parties is that they are fundamentally wrong on their issues. There isn’t a tax increase for 90 percent of the people, and the increase for the richest Americans is still lower than it was under Reagan.

Clearly, the Republican Party is in a state of disarray, and you would be, too, if you had just lost two major election cycles. But their same tired, xenophobic, anti-labor, anti-tax, drown-the-government-in-a-bathtub rhetoric just doesn’t resonate with the average American anymore. We have seen what Republicans in power do, and it’s ugly and hateful and works against the best interests of the country as a whole.

There’s a reason why people trust President Obama in such high numbers: he clearly thinks about the issues before he says any random thing to pop into his head.

10 things you should know about Obama’s plan (but probably don’t)

The plan:

1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.³
2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won’t go up one dime.⁴
3. Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.⁵
4. Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.⁶
5. Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class.⁷
6. Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies. ⁸
7. Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.⁹
8. Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.¹⁰
9. Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street.¹¹
10. Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama’s budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America’s priorities are, what they cost, and how we’re going to pay for them.¹²

This is the change we voted for. President Obama has done his part, now we need to do ours.

Can you pass this on to your personal network and then click here to let us know how many people you told, so we can track our impact together:

http://pol.moveon.org/budget10/?id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=1

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Tanya, Peter, Justin and the rest of the team

P.S. Turns out there are way more than 10 amazing things in Obama’s budget and we couldn’t resist sharing just a few more.

1. Stops unnecessary government subsidies to big banks, health insurance companies and big agribusinesses.^13,14,15
2. Expands access to early childhood education and improves schools by investing in programs that make sure every child has a qualified, strong teacher.¹⁶
3. Negotiates for better prescription drug prices using Medicaid’s tremendous bargaining power.¹⁷
4. Expands access to family planning for low-income women.¹⁸
5. Caps the pollution that causes global warming, and makes polluters pay to support clean energy innovation.¹⁹

Sources:

1. “Climate of Change,” The New York Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27krugman.html?em

2. “Obama Calls His Budget Sweeping, Needed Change,” The New York Times, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51201&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=2

3. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=3

4. “Obama Expects Fight Over $3.55 Trillion Budget Plan,” Bloomberg News, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51203&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=4

5. “Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=5

6. “The Economic Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan,” The New York Times, March 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/weekinreview/01glanz.html

7. “Tax Cuts,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html

8. “Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=6

9. “Student Loans,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

10. “Obama unveils budget blueprint,” CNN, February 26, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/26/budget/

11. “Obama budget would boost SEC, CFTC, FBI,” Reuters, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51205&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=7

12. “Obama’s budget,” Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51206&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=8

13. “Student Loans,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

14. “Health Insurance Stocks Dive on Medicare Advantage Cuts,” The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51207&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=9

15. “Agriculture,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-agri.html

16. “Investing Wisely in Our Children,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51208&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=10

17. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=11

18. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=12

19. “Setting ‘Green’ Goals,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51209&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=13

The mayor of a California city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.”

Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose issued a statement Thursday saying he is sorry and will step down as mayor at Monday’s City Council meeting.

via Mayor to quit over Obama watermelon e-mail – Race & ethnicity- msnbc.com.

And good riddance!

After President Obama’s Address to Congress, the Republican Party’s response was delivered from Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal.  I am loving that Sarah Palin, Michael Steele and Bobby Jindal are the new faces of the Republicans – they are the new Three Stooges!

I wonder if he even bothered to watch the President’s speech? I wonder what planet he’s living on? He’s got an interesting personal story, but his ideas? Just more of the same failed Republican policies that got us into this ridiculous mess to begin with – tax cuts for the rich, abandoning public education. Really, Bobby Jindal? Is that the best the Republicans can do in this time of economic crisis?

Tax cuts will increase the debt but not have an appreciable effect on the economy, except to encourage more borrowing – people will pay off old debts but not buy new stuff. Recent history has shown this to be the case. And while paying off debt is good, it won’t create any jobs right now, which we need.

And charter schools and vouchers? There’s plenty of indication that charter schools do not improve education over traditional public schools – they are essentially a wash.

And getting rid of corruption and increase transparency in Washington, DC?  No one has seen the text of the stimulus package?  I guess he hasn’t seen http://recovery.gov/ yet,  or the other websites the Obama Administration has published to enable the public to see how the money is being spent.

It’s no wonder that the Republican Party is becoming more and more irrelevant, and no longer a national party, but a regional party of the South.  If this is the best they can do, then I say let them fade more and more into obscurity.

But what I want to know is which of the Three Stooges is Jindal?  Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Curly Joe?