Well…as you all know, the repubs don’t really care about the constitution or the law for that matter unless it can be used to hurt people they don’t like…and, a couple of days ago ole JEB! showed just how much they respect the law when he proposed, if he were elected president, that he would unilaterally cut the pay of members of congress if they didn’t show up to vote on everything that is proposed…now, nevermind that their were over 5400 bills introduced last year and that would make it something like 20 a day they would have to vote on…the big takeaway here is that his little scheme is unconstitutional….the executive branch can’t do anything to the legislative…the founders set it up that way to ensure that power is never concentrated in one branch…and, if ole JEB! could control their pay, you can bet he would use it to punish those who didn’t vote ole JEB!’s way….I am not surprised that this idiot would propose something like this….he was supposed to be the smart one…and I am shuddering to think that ole GW may be the smart one compared to JEB! yow…..
Tag Archives: constitution
More Republican nonsense here in Michigan…
Well….I’ve started to feel a little better so I thought I’d get at one that I have been thinking about for a few days…since the takeover of our government by the repubs here, the preponderance of laws that have been enacted by the legislature have been for immediate effect, which takes a 2/3 majority in the House…but, the repubs that are running things aren’t even taking the votes, they are just assuming that they have the votes for immediate effect but they don’t…the counts done by many news organizations along with the dem minority show that, in over 90% of the cases, they didn’t have the votes but put the laws in effect anyway. Now, lawsuits filed by the dems are being considered by the appeals courts here and the repubs are howling that it is activist judges that are usurping their authority. Authority for what, to break the law? The Michigan Constitution is clear on this point and the repubs are violating the constitution….but, what do you expect? These guys wrap themselves in the constitution until it becomes inconvenient and puts a brake on their radical, right-wing agenda…what happened to true conservatives that put tradition and the rule of law ahead of party and personal gain? This is what we have to look forward to if the repubs take the White House….geez….
Organized labor wakes up…
Well…I was really surprised and interested reading the latest developments in the war on labor being perpetrated by the repubs here in Michigan…and while I do applaud Gov. Snyder’s telegraphing to his repub cohorts that he doesn’t want a right to work law to get to his desk…I have no faith that he will veto the bill if it does get there…in fact, he was asked if he would and he ignored the question. So, when I heard that there is a coalition of labor organizations that is putting together a petition drive to change the state constitution ensuring that no party can take the rights of labor away, I was heartened somewhat but saddened as well that we that oppose restriction of the rights of you and me to bargain with our employers had to resort to the nuclear option. One of the things that I find troubling with this entire issue is the fact that the repubs are leading a race to the bottom for workers that will only benefit the rich…if wages drop in right to work states, where does the profit go that used to go to middle class wages? Straight to the top 1% in the form of bonuses that will further decrease purchasing power that used to drive the economy…this increased concentration is what has caused this recovery to be so weak since middle class wages and consumption are more than 70% of economic activity. I ask the same question of the rich that I always ask in this situation: “how much is enough?”…geez…
Eric Cantor is still an idiot…
Well….I just had to laugh when I read this quote from ole Eric: “I am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs at the protests”…okay, I’m laughing again just writing this….and this is coming from a self-avowed “protector” of the Constitution who probably has never read the thing…if he had, he would have noticed the little thing called the first amendment that ensures the right of the people to “peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances”…..what about that Eric? What about your precious tea party who were anything but peacable…with the guns, slogans, and chants proposing violent attacks on the government?
As I said yesterday, these guys should be afraid of any movement that wants to restore the fairness to this country…that wants to make sure that the political system can’t be hijacked by a few rich people or corporations anymore….maybe we can make ole Eric go away…
What a hypocrite….
Paying for representation…
Well….I was just shocked a few minutes ago when I read of the newest way that the repubs are excluding people…even their own constituents….they are now charging people from 15 to 35 dollars to gain entry and ask questions at their political events. Yep, folks…the repubs have sunk to a new low in trying to exclude people from their right to petition their elected officials…what are going to do next? Sell autographs? Turn their houses into bed and breakfasts? I’d like the tea partiers like Paul Ryan to try to find charging for access to them in the Constitution….what a bunch of hypocritical idiots….gezz…
Well….not really that depressed…
Well….I just can’t believe the hypocrites in the repub party and the latest talking point that was released yesterday that is taking Obama to task for taking a vacation while the economy is in danger of a double dip recession. Man, these guys have the best selective memory I have ever seen….I just want to remind you here that their darling pres, ole GW, took more vacations than any president in history and Obama is nowhere close to the time off that GW had at this time in his presidency…so repubs, get over it and get your own house in order. I do have one other question….when did Grover Norquist become the constitution? All of the repubs that have been appointed to the “super congress” that is supposed to find solutions to our economic problems have signed the no new taxes pledge that ole Norquist has forced upon them….does their oath of office include to preserve and protect Grover Norquist?
Okay that depressing post from yesterday….it’s hard at times to keep your sanity when the world appears as if it is imploding in front of your eyes but as the Who said….”we get hungover but we always survive it”….and that is what is going to happen here….we’ll all survive it…I hope….
Some thoughts on the 4th…
Well…when I was out on the bike I had some thoughts about the fourth of July and what it means to this country and what it has meant to the world for the last 230+ years. I won’t make this into a political rant, though..even though those on the right have been wrapping themselves in their misinterpretation Declaration for years now; trying to use it as a weapon to destroy the very government that this wonderful document set out to found. Okay, so that was a little bit of a slam…but when I read that these folks say that the single reason for the Declaration was to stop taxation as evidenced by the Boston Tea Party, they are just dead wrong….the founders had no problem with taxation or a central government…if they did, why did they write the Constitution that formed it?
That’s the last of the political part here….just wanted to add one last thing…that even with all of our faults and mistakes…this is still the best country that has ever existed on the face of the earth….and I hope it is forever….Happy Independence Day!
More from the repub thugs in Wisconsin…
Well…if you thought you’d heard it all from the crazy repub thugs in Wisconsin, yesterday brought us a level of crazy that even takes my breath away….and shatters their facade that they care about the constitution at all. The gist of yesterday’s outrage is that the repub controlled congress there is planning to pass a law that make it illegal for the dems that have fled the state to prevent the crippling of unions to stay away…yep, you’ve heard it right, the repub thugs there want to send the Wisconsin police across state lines to physically abduct the dem senators and force them by gunpoint, if necessary, to go back to Wisconsin and vote on the bill that will take away people’s right to collectively bargain. There are so many ways that this is unconstitutional that my jaw drops when I even think of it. What about the fourth amendment? These repub thugs now look like the leaders of any corrupt third world country that doesn’t get their way and are not above using force to change it. This idiot Walker should be recalled by the people of Wisconsin…I’m sure they didn’t vote for government by gunpoint…geez…
Okay…just read the latest in thuggery from the governor…he has threatened to lay off 1,500 workers if the dems don’t come back to the state….is this Wisconsin or Libya? Keep doubling down idiot….
I have to comment on the “elections have consequences crowd” that is casting the protest there as just sour grapes from the dems…I would agree with that if the repubs had not lied and covered up their real agenda, not to reveal it until after the electorate was duped into voting for them…the bait and switch that I talked about yesterday….
The new religion of the right…
Well..just had this thought come to me while I was reading some of the online papers this morning but I’m not going to finish it now…just a little teaser to get you to come back…yep, not fair I know, but the idea is not fully formed yet. Here’s the question or premise…Doesn’t the right’s and tea party’s new found reverence for an unchanging constitution look like a fundamentalist religion to anyone else?
This one is not forming up as I hoped but I going to take a swing at it anyway…as it is quite well know,n most of the tea partiers; and most of the people that identify themselves as religious conservatives have beliefs that interpret the bible as literally the word of god…with no interpretation necessary or wanted. Things like the age of the earth being being around 6,00 years, that evolution is not possible because it contradicts the story of Adam and Eve…and many other stories are taken as fact by this group. I see the same type of blind faith being constructed in their interpretation of the constitution as being absolute and only taken in the context of the time it was written; not in the context of the present and a guideline for the society..purposely written vaguely to allow for growth. The question I have is “do they like to not have to think?” The true believers think all of the answers are in the bible and they never change or need to change since they are the word of god. No thinking necessary to apply the bible…just do what it says and everything will be okay. Now, the tea partiers are doing the same about the constitution…genuflecting to the document in every action they take with an unhealthy propensity to ignore the nuance of life and the varying interpretations that come with it…and to force their interpretation of in on the rest of us…just like they do about religion. I think this is a troubling development for our society…zealots of any kind lead to repression of those who don’t think like them…geez….
Gonna keep saying it…
Well…when are we, as Americans, going to stop listening to the “right wing hooey” to quote Donaldl Fagen? First, let’s deal with the shameless use of the Constitution as a wedge issue that has been in the spotlight for a few months now. You know how the right has been screaming about following the constitution, that it is very clear what it means and you don’t need the judicial branch of the government to interpret it? In the next breath they are trying to push to change it as in their created controversy over the 14th amendment or they are saying, in so many words, that the first amendment protections only apply to Christians; and any Muslims should bow to the majority and stop building the mosque near the WTC site. Well, folks, and I am aiming this squarely at the righties: you can’t have it both ways…you can’t have an absolutist view of the 2nd amendment and then want the views of the majority to override the protections of the first amendment in regards to the mosque. Polls have shown that a majority of Americans want some form of gun control…so are you then willing to abide by the majority’s will? No, of course not. Should we have followed the majority’s will when segregation was ended and the majority still wanted it? Sometimes the majority is wrong or is manipulated by politicians that have an interest in stirring up hate and forment and that is especially the case with the unscrupulous and cynical leaders on the right.
I am so worn down by the blatant, outright lies that come from Gingrich, Palin, and the other spokespeople from the right and I fear for this country…I call this behavior un-American, these scorched earth win at all costs tactics that are gradually destroying what is good about America….but what can we do about it? Stop listening to these liars, these people that scream “death panels”, that invoke the images of Nazi’s to tar their opponents, and who poison the political discourse every time they open their mouths. I wish there were good things to write about, that someone had said enough and we could all see that we’re in this together….I would love my posts to be positive and I’m willing to try but it seems that no one listens to a reasonable person anymore; and this country is much worse off for it.