Stop Militarization of America's Police Departments NOW!

The federal government can stop this increased militarization at its source. The Pentagon must end its transfer of military-grade weapons through the 1033 program. And the Department of Homeland Security should stop handing out the terrorism grants. The ease with which police departments can avail themselves of Homeland Security funding for enormous caches of weapons and ammunition in the name of counterterrorism is deeply disconcerting.  NY Times Oped

This week I have been watching events unfold in Ferguson, MO, and am angry as can be at the militarization of our police forces by the Department of Defense surplus equipment handout to local police agencies called 1033 and the Department of Homeland Security grants for anti-terrorism that gives money for guns, ammo, and the like.  This happened on Monday when one guy walking down a sidewalk with his hands up is confronted by this many people in riot gear.  Question is would they have done to this to a white guy?  My guess is no but this picture says it all about how some of our police forces are now out of control:

Frankly I am beyond furious at a Republican Congress and President Clinton who passed/signed this 1033 monstrosity into law.  Made Defense contractors who manufacture weapons even richer and has now fleeced the American taxpayer.  No wonder there is a deficit when DoD buys equipment for big bucks and sells it to local police for pennies on the dollar or the fact that Homeland Security has a program that was set up to provide grants to local police and it is still on-going for terrorism from the Bush years following 9/11.  Had no idea it was still ongoing.  Picture is getting clearer of how these local police are better armed and have better protective gear then some of the military we send into battle.

Are these mostly white, seemingly uneducated cops a front for the KKK, militia, white supremacy or just plain racist and ignorant playing soldier?  They seem to miss the part during school that the Constitution guarantees Freedom of the Press, Speech, and Right to Assemble.

When cops arrest reporters they have gone way too far acting more like jack booted thugs then local police.  Then to find out the Federal Government because of stupid legislation is providing/funding these militarized local police organizations sent me over the top -- took a day to wind down and not be too angry to write a blog post like I was earlier this week at what this Country has become when you look at pictures of St Louis County PD and cannot tell the difference from police in Egypt going after demonstrators and Ferguson, MO.

Something needs to happen and a good start is canceling 1033 and the bill that gave Homeland Security the money to fund local police.  How much ammunition do you need? This is Ferguson, MO, not a 3rd world country but it sure looks line one.

People from Gaza were twittering how you handle tear gas to the people of Ferguson.

There were no molotov cocktails hurled at police - erroneous report -- people standing on their own property had tear gas launched at them along with reporters from Al Jazerra America.  Some suffered wounds from the rubber bullets that were fired by police on peaceful protestors holding up their hands. This is beyond horrendous and looks to be waking up a Nation that has been asleep far too long.   Demonstrations around the Country standing in solidarity with Ferguson protestors last night and the pictures coming from Ferguson of a peaceful march led by Captain Ron Johnson and the MO Highway Patrol after they were put in charge after a call from President Obama to Governor Nixon yesterday morning.

This oped which appeared in the editorial section of the New York Times in today's print edition of the paper is one of the best about 1033 and Homeland Security programs I have read on the situation:

Get the Military Off of Main StreetFerguson Shows the Risks of Militarized Policing
By ELIZABETH R. BEAVERS and MICHAEL SHANK AUG. 14, 2014 

WASHINGTON — FERGUSON, Mo., has become a virtual war zone. In the wake of the shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, outsize armored vehicles have lined streets and tear gas has filled the air. Officers dressed in camouflage uniforms from Ferguson’s 53-person police force have pointed M-16s at the very citizens they are sworn to protect and serve. 

The police response has shocked America. The escalating tension in this town of 21,200 people between a largely white police department and a majority African-American community is a central part of the crisis, but the militarization of the police is a dimension of the story that has national implications. 

Ferguson’s police force got equipped this way thanks to the Pentagon, and it’s happening all over the country. The Department of Defense provides military-grade weapons and equipment to local law enforcement agencies through the 1033 program, enacted by Congress in 1997 to expand the practice of dispensing extra military gear. Due to the defense industry’s bloated contracts, there is a huge surplus. To date, the Pentagon has donated military equipment worth more than $4 billion to local law enforcement agencies. And the giving goes on, to police forces in all 50 states in the union. 

Ferguson’s police department is just one recipient; small towns all over America are now the proud owners of “MRAP” armored vehicles. The largess has gotten so out of hand that a congressman, Hank C. Johnson, is introducing a bill to block the 1033 handouts.
Whereas the Department of Defense hands over weapons directly, the Department of Homeland Security provides funding for arms. It has distributed more than $34 billion through “terrorism grants,” enabling local police departments to acquire such absurd items as a surveillance drone and an Army tank. 

... 

In the absence of extreme violence or actual terrorist threat, what happens — as the American Civil Liberties Union has documented — is that the equipment and weapons are used by SWAT teams in routine situations, such as low-level drug raids or the execution of search warrants. As Ferguson shows, this militarizing of routine police work exacerbates tensions and increases the likelihood of disorder. This, in turn, appears to justify a militarized police response, and so the cycle continues.
... 

Please Click Here to Read the complete oped editorial.

Today the Chief of Police of Ferguson released still photos of a robbery and 16 pages basically defending the killer cop for killing a young man holding up his hands surrendering without ever informing Captain Johnson who is in charge in Ferguson of what he was releasing.  You want to know what is wrong in Ferguson, look no further then the Mayor and especially the Chief of Police who was allegedly trained in Israel about riot tactics and went on Fox News Hannity while the St Louis County police were hurling tear gas at demonstrators holding up their hands.  Says all you need to know about the Chief of Police who needs fired IMHO!

This militarization of police departments throughout America needs to end and end now.  American people need to get out to vote in massive numbers to turn racist out of office this November.  Make this truly a country of We the People not We the White Males we are seeing/hearing from today from the Republicans in Congress to local office holders led around by the nose by the Koch Bros Tea Party.  Time to end racism once and for all in this Country and if the hard right doesn't like it -- shove it!

This graphic says it all after a 97 year old minority woman who has voted for years was denied the right to vote because she couldn't provide an ID.  We must stand united against the racism that is leading the passing of ALEC anti-minority voter registration laws throughout the Red States.  Turn Red State Governors Blue this November and end this injustice.

President Obama Makes a Statement on Iraq, 7 August 2014; Cease Fire Broken in Gaza by Hamas, 8 August

To read full statement of President Obama, please click here.

Next question is if Republicans are on board or are they as usual supporting the President while at the same time saying he didn't go far enough.  A lot of us have seen McCain in action enough to know this has been his SOP for years.  Politicususa had the answer to that question:

Breaking news. Not every single Republican elected to office took to the TV to decry President Obama last night or this morning after he announced authorizing targeted strikes in Iraq in what looks to be a perpetual clean-up of former President Bush’s misguided invasion. 

McCain is bitter and wants more war, Boehner is confused and walking both sides of the fence, but a few Republicans have managed to hold onto their sanity and are not using a crisis as an opportunity to explore their bitterness. All in all, Republicans managed to look like they were supporting action they obviously support, while still sticking the knife in and blaming the President for Bush’s actions. 

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FLA) said it was the right decision, tweeting, “Action against ISIL in #Iraq to save #IraqiChristians is the right decision. http://1.usa.gov/1r3Qc3B.”
Representative Pete King (R-NY) tweeted, “It is essential that we support President’s decision to authorize air strikes”. 

Both Boehner and McConnell’s offices admitted that the President had told them of the decision prior to the announcement, so the inevitable hearing on Obama’s use of his executive power may be delayed. Josh Lederman of the AP tweeted, “Aides to Boehner, McConnell tell me the White House notified them of Obama’s decision before he announced it today”. 

But there is always room for criticism, so Lederman summed it up in a tweet, “Reaction from most Republicans to Obama Iraq decision so far seems to be ‘Yes please, but not enough’”. 

Read more from Sarah Jones at Politicususa

When I watched the President make his speech to the Country, noted that he talked about notifying both Houses of Congress who are on a five-week recess about his proposed action.  That didn't stop McCain from getting in his two cents worth as usual but he has a slight problem that Wonkette pointed out:

So here’s a heck of a thing: Back in May 2013, Forever Warmonger John McCain was really excited about the prospects of arming the Syrian moderates who were fighting to free that country from the iron grip of Bashar al-Assad. He even sneaked into the country to meet with the head of the Free Syrian Army, Gen. Salim Idris, the fellow in the striped shirt there (Idris was ousted in February of this year). 

Only one small problem with the little photo-op: In addition to Idris, some of the other guys in the pic are apparently members of a slightly less “moderate” group: ISIS, the guys who are currently bringing down Iraq, and the photo is reportedly being circulated by ISIS as proof of their legitimacy. Oops.

Read more at Wonkette

Think OOPS sums it up nicely.  McCain should have remembered he met with ISIS (ISIL) when criticizing the President for doing nothing while Obama was meetings with advisers to plan a strategy.  Shame on Obama in the Republican World for not rushing to the nearest microphone to spout rhetoric but actually taking time to make a rational decision unlike the grandstander McCain and others whose best friend is a microphone.

Only Republicans like McCain seem to want troops back in Iraq just like the first time and forget Iraq is the Bush/Cheney war they lied to get us to invade Iraq and totally blew the peace after with appointing a civilian, Paul Bremer, to head reconstruction who was out of league and made one big mess of the situation.  Does McCain forget that this is still the Bush/Cheney mess as he rewrites history?  Read his statement and thought vintage McCain who is nothing but a bitter old man who needs to retire from the Senate like years ago with the statement he released:

In a statement, McCain wrote, “A policy of containment will not work against ISIS. It is inherently expansionist and must be stopped. The longer we wait to act, the worse this threat will become, as recent events clearly show. 

“We need to get beyond a policy of half measures. The President needs to devise a comprehensive strategy to degrade ISIS. This should include the provision of military and other assistance to our Kurdish, Iraqi, and Syrian partners who are fighting ISIS. It should include U.S. air strikes against ISIS leaders, forces, and positions both in Iraq and Syria. It should include support to Sunni Iraqis who seek to resist ISIS. And none of this should be contingent on the formation of a new government in Baghdad. 

And by the way, this is all Obama’s fault for ever trying to leave Iraq, “If ever there were a time to reevaluate our disastrous policy in the Middle East, this is it. Because of the President’s hands-off approach, the threats in the region have grown and now directly threaten the United States. We are already paying a very heavy price for our inaction, and if we do not change course, the costs of our inaction will only grow.”

If McCain wants ground soldiers in Iraq, let him and the rest of the neo-cons lead the way.  Too many Americans died in Iraq because of lies told to the American people by Bush/Cheney and we don't need any more soldiers killed on the ground.

For all the people yelling why don't we do something about Gaza, there is a key element in the President's speech that some people forget and it is protecting Americans which the US Government is doing in Iraq.  The United States does not have an embassy or an official presence in Gaza which is controlled by Hamas who is on our terrorism list.  It is a humanitarian disaster of huge proportions which is what the United Nations is for and not a US problem except as a member of the UN.  We have people in Baghdad representing the US Government and Americans working in Iraq we need to protect and thus the airstrikes on convoys of ISIS if they move toward where Americans are located.

The other part of the equation in Iraq that the Iraqi Government asked for United States help including humanitarian aid to a religious group that ISIS has surrounded on a mountain top without food and water where the US is dropping them food and water to stay alive.  The Iraqi Government which is reforming wants our help but the Hamas Government in Gaza is a totally different story.

Looks like an extended cease fire effort in Gaza led by Egypt is going to be set back again as after three days of calm in Gaza, Hamas starts shelling again.  Does Hamas not care if they get their own people killed?  At the same time Israeli doesn't seem to mind killing civilians even children as collateral damage. What a horrible situation it is right now in Gaza with so many killed including children with their Government run by Hamas who are on the US terrorist list not seeming to care.

Israeli's seem to be swatting flies with a shovel as they bomb UN facilities in Gaza.  Bibi, the neo-cons dream leader, was not the person to put in charge again IMO.  Saw a spokesman on TV trying to spin Bibi is actually a moderate and thought to myself, this guy would fit in perfectly with the American press that spins rather then reports facts so many times.

We have two very dangerous situations in the Middle East, Russians saber rattling on the border with Ukraine, and Congress on a five-week recess once against abdicating their duties while McCain and other Republicans add nothing meaningful to the discourse just more saber rattling.

Gov Fallin Withdrew as Speaker for a Garvin County GOP Fundraiser When Flyer Listed KKK as a Discussion Item

Yesterday we spotlighted the positive Ad about Education by Democrat candidate Joe Dorman who is supported by a wide cross section of people.  May come as a shock to the hard right but we do have Republican teachers in Oklahoma who support Dorman.  Democrats in Oklahoma have common sense about a wide variety of topics compared to the Repubicans in this State you could say were stuck on stupid. 

If you don't believe the GOP is stuck on stupid remark, please read he latest out of the an OK GOP county organization who is hosting a fundraiser later this month.  Their flyer (copy below) caused GOP Governor Fallin to pull out of an event where she was advertised to speak.  Would be freaking me out if I was still supporting Republicans because it is one of the dumbest moves I have seen out of a County Party even in Oklahoma.  Thought I had seen it all but I was wrong.  It reinforces why I support Joe Dorman for Governor plus why I am leaving the hard right GOP behind.  Whoever came up with the truth is stranger then fiction deserves all the accolades after this debacle as chronicled by The Business Insider:

 Oklahoma Governor Won't Attend GOP Event With KKK Discussion

HUNTER WALKER, AUG. 6, 2014, 3:08 PM

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) will not be attending a fundraiser for a local Republican Party chapter after the group distributed a flyer promising the event would feature a discussion of "some things that you may not know" about the Ku Klux Klan. However, one of the event's organizers insisted the fundraiser was not "connected" to the KKK and was simply going to include information about how Democrats can be linked to the group.
Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz told Business Insider on Wednesday that the governor's office contemplated having her attend the GOP Bean Feed hosted by the Garvin County Republicans on Aug. 23, however, she will not be going to the event. 

"They had invited her to go, we had said we would look to put it on her schedule. She is not going," said Weintz. 

A flyer distributed by the Garvin County Republicans promised the event would feature a "great agenda" including remarks from Fallin and an opportunity to "discuss issues with fellow conservatives and find out some things that you may not know about the NRA, Planned Parenthood, Ku Klux Klan, and other organizations." Weintz would not say whether the flyer prompted Fallin's decision not to attend the event. 

"All I can tell you is she is not going and certainly that flyer was not something that is run by our office. ... If she had gone, she would have talked about her plan for economic growth in Oklahoma," Weintz said, adding, "The governor was never going to speak about any of those topics. Her plan was always to speak about her re-election campaign and her goals for the state." 

For the latest update, please click the link for Business Insider

Would be willing to bet the Fallin campaign originally told Garvin County GOP she would be there until her campaign saw this flyer.  First time I can remember that a County had to run a flyer past a candidate before it could be released.  If you haven't guessed, the Oklahoma Governor's Office is not an open book because it takes months to get a Freedom of Information request honored and some just sit there.  This is the same ALEC Governor that this spring vetoed over 15 bills including two that she wanted to teach the legislature a lesson so they would give her what she wanted across the board.

It is even funny the Fallin campaign thought they could say it was never on her calendar and everyone would believe the story.  Anyone who has been around politics knows full well you don't put a Governor's name on a flyer that they are speaking unless it has been confirmed.  Must admit this flyer is a doozy:

Just think Governor Fallin attending an event as the Guest Speaker where the KKK is discussed on the same program as the NRA, Planned Parenthood, and other organizations.  Bet that flyer sent shockwaves through her campaign staff along with Governor's office staff.

The menu is even funny to me as the Democrats are noted in Oklahoma for their Cornbread and Beans luncheons.  Used to be the standard menu for Norman Democrats at their monthly luncheon.  Is the Garvin GOP made up of former Democrats?  If they are, the GOP needs to keep them!

Let's move Oklahoma forward on 4 November 2014 by sending the Republicans to the unemployment line and bringing back elected officials who will put all Oklahomans first not just the wealthy! If you don't mind, I would also like people with a brain with common sense to be elected.  Don't think that is too much to ask after some of the dumb statements I see daily out of Republicans.

Joe Dorman, Candidate for Oklahoma Governor, Puts Education First for all Oklahoma Children in His First Ad

In this first ad from Joe Dorman, Candidate for Oklahoma Governor, he discusses his Plan to Fix Education which is broken in all but a few districts in Oklahoma.

"Classrooms First" Education Plan: Phase One & Two

I've been a tireless advocate for Oklahoma’s schools, fighting against unfunded mandates and ill-advised cuts to funding for our most valuable resources – teachers and students. 

One size fits all education standards that promote testing over learning simply don’t work in Oklahoma. The reality is that Oklahoma currently ranks 48th in teacher pay with the nation’s largest cuts in per student spending - 22.8%.  How can we compete when our schools are saddled with more and more unfunded mandates that increase requirements while slashing funding? 

We are trusting our schools to prepare the next generation for an economy and a world that is more connected than ever before – all with fewer and fewer resources. It’s time for less common core and more common sense in our education policy. 

I’ll invest in education. Our teachers, our students, our state deserve better. We have to provide adequate resources to eliminate overcrowded classrooms. I will continue to be a champion for public education – working across the aisle to raise the salaries for our teachers, because the job of educating Oklahoma kids shouldn’t require financial sacrifice at home. 

Together we will put our schools on the path towards a 21st century classroom and ensure that Oklahoma schools are the best in the nation.

Education is my #1 priority which made the decision to support Joe Dorman very easy.  Education has been important to me since my daughter first attended kindergarten years ago as I started volunteering in the classrooms to tutor reading when she was in first grade and for the next 18 years volunteered countless in schools in various districts due to transfers.  Worst thing I ever did was agree to become President of the PTO -- worst job I ever had including paid -- couldn't please anyone in the district so when the transfer to Texas popped up, started celebrating I couldn't run again as I announced immediately I couldn't run again as we were moving.  The principal told me that was the happiest announcement of a move he had ever seen but it was also the only time someone used moving not to serve a second year and laughed.  Told him worst job ever!

NH and MA schools were the worst schools my children attended followed closely by a district in Ohio, then would rate Boerne, Texas, much better along with Yucaipa, but none of those districts came close to the education that the kids received in Norman, OK.  Would give them a 5-star rating because from the School Board to the Superintendent, Principals and Teachers it is all about giving our children and grandchildren a first rate education.  Norman is noted for passing school bonds to improve our schools over the objections of the conservatives here who are outnumbered in this more progressive community.

Every child in Oklahoma should have the same education children receive in Norman which is rated one of the top school systems in the Nation.

With a Governor Joe Dorman, we will get that across Oklahoma because he will be tenacious in his fight for all Oklahoma children so they can get the same education the ones in school districts like Norman, Jenks or Broken Arrow for starters are getting.  Our small districts need more resources and help as our public schools for the most part are broken in rural Oklahoman.

The very fact that the Republican Legislature has been cutting funding for schools every year since 2008 ranking Oklahoma #1 in cuts to education since then and our teachers #48 in salaries from #49 before they received a raise for the first time in years shouts Republicans are worried.  Rep Joe Dorman decides to run for Governor and all of a sudden the Republicans found some money to increase school funding so we are now at what we should have been in 2009 after the Legislature started their cuts in 2008.  Then Barresi, State School Superintendent, announced a pay raise for teachers -- didn't do her any good as she came in 3rd in the primary and my main reason to stay a Republican in order to vote her out in the primary.  The switch happens on 1 September for me!

Oklahoma needs to fix our public schools and STOP spending money on Charter Schools backed by ALEC Governor Fallin, the State School Superintendent Janet Barresi who was defeated in the primary, and Jeb Bush of Florida who is thinking of running for President in 2016.  When Bush visited Oklahoma, he toured a charter school with Fallin and Barresi.  That did not go over well as Charter Schools don't operate under the same standards as public schools.

If Oklahoma is going to have really good public schools for all of its students, then we need to elect Jor Dorman as Governor along with sending more Democrats to the Legislature.  Oklahomans need to rise up and say NO to ALEC sponsored legislation along with the ALEC puppets in Oklahoma like Governor Fallin!  It is time to fix Oklahoma education NOW before it gets even worse!   Please support Joe Dorman to be our next Oklahoma Governor!

Rep Mo Brooks (R-AL) "War on Whites" by Democrats While in Iowa Sen Rand Paul Runs for the Exit When Dreamers Confront Rep Steve King Who Turns Nasty

Every morning I wake up and ask myself how dumb the Republican office holders are going to be today in press accounts.  I was not disappointed.  Rep Brooks (R-AL) showed Republicans are capable of being even dumber:

Rep. Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama:
“This is a part of the war on whites that’s being launched by the Democratic Party. And the way in which they’re launching this war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else,” he said during an interview Monday with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham. "It's part of the strategy that Barack Obama implemented in 2008, continued in 2012, where he divides us all on race, on sex, greed, envy, class warfare, all those kinds of things. Well that’s not true.”

Brooks was responding to comments made by National Journal's Ron Fournier, who told Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday that "the fastest growing voting bloc in this country thinks the Republican Party hates them. This party, your party, cannot be the party of the future beyond November if you’re seen as the party of white people.”

But then I got this link of a Dreamer at in Iowa confronting Sen Rand Paul who ran away and Cong Steve King who got downright nasty to not only this couple but toward President Obama that he claims he likes -- yeah right!  His comments are unbelievable as much as someone in the background yelling Go Home to these two young people.  This video needs seen everywhere so people can see that Steve King is a real jerk and needs defeated by Jim Mowrer (D) to get nasty people like this out of the GOP House and turn the House back blue:


Noted that his aide tried to keep someone from videoing this on her phone but she wasn't backing off. How anyone could vote for this man is beyond me.  Then there is this little gem:

Steve King: For every valedictorian DREAMer, there's another 100 'hauling 75 pounds of marijuana'

There are kids that were brought into this country by their parents unknowing that they were breaking the law. And [immigration reform supporters] will say to me and others that we have to do something about the 11 million, and some of them were valedictorians. [...] It's true in some cases, but they aren't all valedictorians, they weren't all brought in by their parents. For every one that's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there that they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.

Do people like Steve King really believe the crap they spout because if they do, they are the most heartless and cruel people ever.  Why is it that Republicans keep pushing the crap everyone from Mexico is a drug smuggler?  That is the height of stupidity IMO!  These young people came here with their parents as little kids to get them out of bad and dangerous situations and he wants to know if they are drug smugglers.  His biggest problem is he tried to lie on the Dream Act saying they only want to deport people who break the law like drug smugglers when he gets into everyone here without getting a green card first is a law breaker.  Add 2+2 and you get he wants them all deported -- every last person here that came illegally no matter if this is the only Country they have ever known.

King also said only Americans can serve in the military which is also not true.  People here with green cards can enlist but cannot become officers and cannot hold security clearances but enlisting can also be a path to citizenship for these young people wanting to serve.

The real Steve King came out in this video and it is not very complimentary.  As for Rand Paul running away after taking a bite of his sandwich thought he was going to choke when she said she was a Dreamer.  Guess you could safely call Rand Paul a coward!  Paul couldn't get out of there fast enough.

We have a Congressman declaring the Democrats have declared a war on whites while another Congressman is declaring that everyone here without a green card needs deported which in itself is an impossible task and he should know that fact.  At least we know that Rand Paul is supporting Steve King to return him to Congress.

All the more reason for the residents of that district to defeat King and elect Jim Mowrer - more on this race after Labor Day when we take an in-depth look!

Hard Right DeFacto House Speaker Sen Cruz and Reps King and Bachmann Now Lead the GOP on Immigration!

"Only cowards scapegoat children and only those who are ashamed of themselves do it after hours on a Friday night," Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said on the House floor. "In the end, the Republican position on immigration can be summed up as 'deport 'em all,'" he added later.

Republicans in Congress have time for useless bills as you see above, but when it comes to getting actual work done they are MIA like on the Border Bill, Veterans Jobs Bill, Infrastructure and the list goes on and on.  BTW Cong Cantor is leaving the House this month since he was defeated but leaves a legacy of these bills above behind. Friday night was a perfect example of the types of bills they want to pass knowing full well they are appealing to their hard right base and have zero, zip, nada chance of passing the Senate. There is no better example of worthless GOP in the House then the Border Bills the House passed including one that Governors on the border like Rick Perry would get millions to spend on the National Guard to defend the United States against children.  

Friday night after most of America was not paying attention they passed a Border bill that would end DACA and deport over 500,000 Latinos in this Country who are working to get an education and make a better life for themselves who have nothing to do with the border crises caused by those fleeing Central American countries.  

Good luck with this one, Republicans, now that you've handed the entire issue of immigration over to Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, and Steve King. In a 223-189 vote, the House Republicans passed their $694 million appropriations bill which is never going to be implemented. Included in that bill is $35 million for Texas Gov. Rick Perry and any other governor who thinks the border needs protecting from children by the national guard. 

But that's not all. In a separate vote, they passed the anti-DREAMERS bill, 216-192. This is a particularly special one, which would go much further than just rebuking the President on the  Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The bill would "prevent the Obama administration from giving work permits or protection from deportation to young unauthorized immigrants who would have qualified for the DREAM Act." And it would block the 580,000 young people who have DREAM status now from renewing. In other words,

What was missing from their bills?  Actual solution to the border crises and money to fund that actual solution.  The Republicans let one of the most hard right members of Congress Steve King (R-IA) run these bills with Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) after Senator Ted Cruz de facto Speaker of the House and head of the House Tea Party made sure a bill that made a little more sense was killed and this draconian, mean-spirited bill was put in its place.  

House Republicans voted on Friday to strip protections from undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, putting more than a half-million young people at risk for deportation despite their longstanding ties to the United States.

President Barack Obama called that bill "extreme and unworkable," and White House press secretary Josh Earnest had similarly harsh words for the measure to end DACA. 

It is extraordinary that House Republicans are demanding that we reverse that prioritization as a price for getting the resources needed to deal with the urgent humanitarian situation at the border, reduce the immigration court backlog, and address the root cause of child migration," Earnest said in a statement Friday evening.

Then Michelle Bachmann who is under investigation for illegal use of campaign funds and is not running for reelection had this to say -- still has the class of a gnat:

Ultimately, the vote was about limiting Obama's power, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said. She said the language would prevent Obama from taking further action to suspend deportations, a move he is considering. 

"In other words, Mr. Speaker, we will put a handcuff on one of the president's hands," Bachmann said on the House floor. 

Then there has been the spin from Republicans that only Democrats are talking about the House impeaching the President.  Cong Steve King (R-IA) put an end to Boehner's spin:

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Sunday that Republicans should take a “serious look” at impeaching President Obama if he uses executive action to expand deferrals for illegal immigrants. 

"I think Congress has to sit down and have a serious look at the rest of this Constitution and that includes that 'I' word that we don't want to say," King said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” 

King said that if Obama moved ahead with an order to prevent the deportation of more illegal immigrants amid the border crisis, lawmakers would be forced to act.  "I think then we have to sit down and take a look," King said. "Where would we draw the line otherwise? If that’s not enough to bring that about, then I don’t know what would be." 

King is one of a handful of GOP lawmakers to suggest impeachment, even as House leaders dismiss those calls. 

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week said the House had no plans to impeach Obama and called it a “scam” orchestrated by Democrats to fire up their base and fundraise ahead of the midterms.

Read more: The Hill

This is the same GOP House that voted to sue Obama one day and the next night Speaker Boehner tells the President he has the power to act on his own and now we have King (R-IA) now saying if he acts to defer deportation of these young people, they should look at impeachment -- all in a three day time frame.  But that doesn't come close to this statement out of Steve King as they would say in the Air Force is pure Bravo Sierra:

"Well, first of all, most of us personally like the president," King said. "It's not about mad, it's not about hate, it's about the Constitution." 

I have seen some whoppers in my time around politics but this may be one of the bigger ones with all the hate filled rhetoric we have seen out of the GOP House toward President Obama.  Just a few statements fly in the face of that comment:

GOP Rep.: Obama has no ‘American experience’During a rally, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told supporters that President Obama’s “vision of America isn’t like our vision of America” because “he was not raised with an American experience.” 

On March 7, 2008, during his press engagements to announce his reelection campaign, King made remarks about Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama and his middle name, saying:  

I don't want to disparage anyone because of their race, their ethnicity, their name - whatever their religion their father might have been, I'll just say this: When you think about the optics of a Barack Obama potentially getting elected President of the United States -- I mean, what does this look like to the rest of the world? What does it look like to the world of Islam? I will tell you that, if he is elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11.  

Then on March 10, King defended his comments to The Associated Press, saying "(Obama will) certainly be viewed as a savior for them.... That's why you will see them supporting him, encouraging him." 

Steve King said on a radio show on June 14, 2010 that President Obama's policies favor black people. On G. Gordon Liddy's radio program, King said, "The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race - on the side that favors the black person in the case of Prof. Gates and officer Crowley.

August 1, 2014:  "Mr. President, stop violating the Constitution," declared King, saying Obama has acted like a "king" and not a president. 

Then there is my favorite Twitter by Steve King on the Washington Redskin NFL Logo he blamed Obama:

Obama raids Redskins by weaponizing USPTO. Cancels Redskins logo! Free people will not tolerate a Kim Jong POTUS. 

King made a 'slight' mistake as President Obama was not involved and it gets funnier:

However, there were a few responses to King’s tweet which nailed the real problem with his crass attempt to anger and divide Americans.  King was completely wrong.  The Obama administration was not the oppressive force that King implied was behind the attack on the team owners.  That would be Amanda Blackhorse.   The decision from the USPTO will drop protections for the team so long as they use their current logo and name on any merchandise.  This will force the team to either change their name and logo or they will have no way of stopping anyone from using the racially divisive name and logo on any merchandise they choose… without any compensation to the team owners.   

My favorite response to Cong King:

Adebukola: @SteveKing Well you have the name and gender wrong. It was Amanda Blackhorse, a Native American woman.

Then the site Truthyism had this to say about the whole situation and now you know why I called Cong King's statement he likes Obama Bravo Sierra after comparing him to Kim Jong:

We are not sure how Rep. King managed to confuse President Obama with a Native American woman, and King is usually more reserved to hatred for immigrants coming over our southern borders.  We assume that King just scrolls through social media for his information, and maybe he thinks he is fighting illegal immigration by bashing Native Americans as social media implied that Megyn Kelly seemed to believe.  So… here is one for Steve “Cantaloupe Calves” King: 

That sums it up perfectly and plan to use that picture anytime I hear the pious religious hard right Republicans say "send all illegals back."  Did their ancestors all come here legally?  We know that Senators Cruz and Rubio's didn't.  Some of my ancestors came before there was a United States and fought in the Revolutionary War so don't think they had approval from the tribes to invade their land.

It dawned on me Republicans must hate the Internet as their crazy statements are preserved for people like me to go find to make a point!

I look at that picture and laugh at the stupidity of the Republican Party that continues today who still don't get it about immigration.  Are people like Cong King afraid of diversity and want to preserve the white male dominated country?  If they are, the years ahead are not going to be kind to that type of Neanderthal thinking as our Country becomes even more diverse.

Have a great rest of the day!

Republican House Votes to Deport 550,000 Children who have Nothing to do with the Crisis on the Border

Republicans like to call themselves the pro-family and pro-life party, but nothing could be more disturbingly further from the truth based on their stand against innocent children.  Sarah Jones, Politicususa

This statement says all you need to know about today's Republican Party who deserve to be defeated at all levels because of their hypocrisy declaring themselves Christian when their votes and rhetoric say otherwise.  I am still trying to figure out what the 550,000 children the GOP voted to deport last night have to do with the border crises.  The answer is nothing but it gives a clear picture of how racist the Republican Party has become today when they want to do away with a program that works for the Hispanic children who have been brought here by their parents or other family members.

Then there are the lies by Republicans that the Obama Administration is doing nothing about the Border crises which the vast majority of MSM lapdogs of the GOP repeat over and over again which flies in the face of facts which are readily available.

The Obama Administration’s Government-Wide Response to Influx of Central American Migrants at the Southwest Border

It is all there on the White House Website about what has been done about this crisis by the various agencies of the Obama Administration in contrast to the rhetoric of Republicans and Governor's Perry's grandstanding on the Border.

Didn't think the Republican Party could get any lower but last night they did -- the vast majority have not one ounce of empathy for anyone but the wealthy and the white males of the party.  Everyone else can take a hike including children in their small racist minds.  In my heart I believe that many of the people who call themselves Republicans would consider Jesus too liberal today.  Is that why the hard right is rewritomg the Bible to keep their puppets in line by taking out passages they call too liberal? Guess with all the cheering for their cruel bill against children they forgot the words of Jesus:

King James Bible:  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.  Luke 18:16

Grew up singing "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red, and yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight...."  As I played this You Tube video, tears were streaming down my cheeks as I remembered growing up in a church that opened its doors to the migrant families and their children on Sunday morning cooking not only breakfast for them but dinner as well while our youth group played games with the children and helping them do art work they could take with them.


Today that church of my youth and where I grew up in a small town in Ohio has joined the hard right racist churches of America.  It is no longer a Church that welcomes people no matter their faith or color -- today it is a white stuffy church that all those verses of the Bible I learned as a little child growing up going to Sunday School and Church are no longer relevant as they joined the hard right in using the new conservative bible funded by Green of Hobby Lobby which removes passages they consider liberal and changes words to make them have new meanings.  It makes me sad to realize that young children in some of these churches today are being taught to hate others not love.

This flag from Politicususa sums up what I think about the Republican Party today.  There is a book that I was given years ago called "The Rise of the Southern Republican" and truthfully never even glanced at it until now.  The book was written in 2002 detailing 50 years of the South becoming more Republican by two brothers, Earl and Merle Black, who are professors -- one at Rice and one at Emory.  Wonder what has gone through their minds today as the Republican Party has turned into a Party that welcomes the KKK, John Birch Society, White Supremacists,  et al with its base now demanding whites only in America?  Never has been more clear to anyone who thinks as the rhetoric and bills we see submitted out of Republicans at all levels today scream white power starting with voting suppression and overturning a major part of the Voting Rights Act.  The Southern Democrat raciest in Arkansas and other Southern states  that President Eisenhower fought on school integration are now Republicans but their agenda and attitudes have not changed -- just the name of the Party.

Just like the Church I grew up in, the Republican Party has changed drastically from the days when my family supported President Dwight D Eisenhower on desegregation of the public schools in Little Rock, AR, when they refused to abide by the SCOTUS decision of 1954 in Brown vs Board of Education leading to his address on  “Mob Rule Cannot Be Allowed to Override the Decisions of Our Courts”: President Dwight D. Eisenhower"s 1957 Address on Little Rock, Arkansas

Saw the hate of the northern whites against blacks in Dayton, Ohio, during the race riots in the 60's.   Blacks were treated like 2nd class citizens and finally rebelled.  Remember asking my Dad why the KKK was in Ohio and his words are not printable -- he had no use for racists of any sort.  The town I grew up in is now part of Speaker Boehner's District 90 miles north of Cincinnati which is a district made up of rural areas of Ohio represented by someone who doesn't have a clue about farming.  In my heart I know my Dad would not be supporting John Boehner today and would not support the Republican Party of racist as he did not have a racist bone in his body.

This group of hard right Republicans/Libertarians/Koch Bros Tea Party accuse President Obama of acting like Hitler when they are the Hitlers of the US.  They bash and bully anyone who looks, thinks, or acts different from them.  Commonly known as the "my way or no way" crowd, they have no use for anyone who has different ideas or is a difference race.  They are all about only "Whites Only Welcome" preferably white males as women are supposed to be subservient to white males to which I say to the whole group "Bravo Sierra!"

Remember going to a Republican event near the end of summer and being told by a white male jerk that Hispanics were not welcome in 'our' party.  Didn't pay any attention and he goes I am talking to you and my head jerked around with a completely confused look on my face according to several others.  Then he goes I am talking to you again.  Looked at him and asked him point blank if he thought I was Hispanic and he said absolutely with your last name and skin color.  I burst out laughing right in his face and told him he needed a better education because his racism was showing and walked away.

My Dad's grandparents on his Mother's side came from Southern France which is where I get my skin color and ability to tan with blonde hair/blue eyes plus my last name by marriage is Italian not Hispanic. I could have easily given him the facts but frankly, it wasn't worth it -- let him think I was Hispanic and bug him I was at a Republican meeting.  BTW, on my Dad's Father's side his family came to the United States in the middle 1600's settling in Virginia who the Indians would have considered illegal immigrants.  Lost track of the number of GOP who thought I was Hispanic as one woman told me because I never turn completely 'white' in winter.  To this day I don't see what makes the difference but it shows how racist some Republicans are today -- have gotten a good laugh out of it as it has helped drive me out of the GOP and to the Democrats.

What galls me the most in the Republican Party today is to see Senator Rubio trashing the Dream Act and wanting it ended when his family came from Cuba.  But worse yet he lied that they were refugees from Cuba when they came here freely from Cuba and returned at will.  Did Rubio's family members come here legally?  This will answer that question from his own biography:

According to a Rubio biography due out in June (2012) by Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia, Rubio's grandfather Pedro Victor Garcia was an illegal immigrant to the United States. Disillusioned by his financial prospects, Garcia reportedly left the United States for Cuba two weeks after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. He flew back to the States two years later without a visa...and was booked by a US immigration official, who stated: "[Y]ou do not appear to me to be clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to enter the United States." Garcia was ordered deported, but instead he hung out illegally in Miami, resurfacing in 1967 to petition for permanent residency. Even though Garcia had been in the US since 1962, "The form he filled out then states that he had been a Cuban refugee since February 1965," according to Roig-Franzia.

Then there is Senator Cruz who believes he is the de facto Speaker of the House who tells his House Tea Party puppets how to manipulate the writing of bills or they won't vote.  Remember that Cruz and his group in the House were responsible for the expensive shut-down of Government.  This time it was the Border bill Speaker Boehner pulled back to make it even more cruel against children who are fleeing their countries in Central America due to danger to their lives and the bill ended up wanting to send back children who have been here for years.

Another strange Senator is Ted Cruz whose father came from Cuba, he was born in Canada and has held a dual citizenship for years with his Mother being American.  The story of the Cruz family gets better:

The older Cruz explained that he had once fought with Fidel Castro’s forces in Cuba to overthrow Fulgencio Batista, a U.S.-backed dictator. He later fled to the United States after receiving a four-year student visa to study at the University of Texas. 

“Then the only other thing that I needed was an exit permit from the Batista government,” Rafael Cruz said. “A friend of the family, a lawyer friend of my father, basically bribed a Batista official to stamp my passport with an exit permit.”

In my mind, bribing an official to remain in the United States is illegal but not in the Cruz Family minds.  You shake your head and ask how educated people can be so dumb and then realize they surround themselves by people who can be manipulated.  That is two cases of Republican Senators both now against a path to citizenship who talk about people need to come here legally or be deported when both have family members who came here illegally.  Shame on both of them.

One thing many of us who were Republicans for years are learning in all of this is that the Republican Party of today is run by white males who HATE minorities, women, gays, veterans, senior citizens to name a few but love Israel and Bibi no matter the atrocities that are happening today.  

On the flip side of the coin we have Democrats standing up for children and people who are coming to the United States for a better life.  I have been asking for years what these hard right numbskulls would do if they had been born across the border.  Would they have stayed there with their families or snuck into this Country to give their kids a better life?  You can only imagine some of the names I have been called over the years by so called Family Values types.  Politicususa has the full story of what happened yesterday as the House voted on the Border bill which makes me want to work even harder to defeat Republicans in 2014.

Democratic Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) accused Republicans of taking two bad bills and making them worse. Hoyer suggested that what the House was doing was nothing. He said the bill will not pass and will not solve the problem. Hoyer said that the bill was brought to the floor in near secrecy. 

Before the vote, Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) said, “For weeks … they have said that they are disease-ridden, lice-filled, gang bangers, drug dealers mules of the drug cartels who have come here in hoards to invade our nation, and now they are demonstrating that that’s how they feel in their legislation.” 

Earlier today, President Obama made his disdain clear for the House Republican stunt, 

“This is a message bill that they couldn’t quite pull off yesterday, so they made it a little more extreme so maybe they can pass it today. Just so they can check a box before they leave town tomorrow.” 

House Republicans cheered after it was announced that the bill passed. They could have been cheering their legislative accomplishment, or most likely, the laziest Congress in history was cheering because they can now go on vacation for five weeks. 

While the Republicans were cheering millions of Hispanic Americans were getting the message that Republicans don’t like them. Republicans don’t want them in the country and that racism rules the day in the GOP.  

The border spending bill gave money to border enforcement based on the Republicans favorite race based scare tactic that the border is not secure. The rationale behind this bill was based on playing to racists in their party. 

House Republicans were cheering while all around them their party burned. 

Read More from Jason Easley at Politicususa

These Republican elected Representatives elected to represent all the people in their district not just the white males, had the audacity to cheer the passage of this bill just like they did when they voted to shut down the Government.  Word that come to mind first was "jackasses" so I looked it up on line to get synonyms from the Thesaurus:

Jackass
a person who lacks good sense or judgment jackass

would dive into a lake without first checking to see how deep the water is;

Synonyms berk [British], booby, charlie (also charley) [British], cuckoo, ding-a-ling, dingbat, ding-dong, dipstick, doofus [slang], featherhead, git [British], goose, half-wit, jackass, lunatic, mooncalf, nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nit [chiefly British], nitwit, nut, nutcase, simp, simpleton, turkey, yo-yo 

Would say that sums it up nicely!

Then there is Cong Paul Ryan from WI who considers himself a good Catholic while supporting the atheist Ayn Rand's philosophy.  What does he have to say since the Catholic Bishops urged the defeat of the GOP Bill and wrote a letter given the reasons why yesterday?  So far crickets as he pushes ahead with a budget bill aimed at making the wealthy wealthier and the middle class and poor even poorer. Just another example of today's Republicans who could care less about anyone who doesn't believe like them or hands them buckets of donations preferably cash so they don't report as there is no record.  Rep Napolitano of CA tried to shame her Republican colleagues but I think today these Republicans are past shame as they move blindly forward guided by hate and loathing of Hispanics.

Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32) shamed Republicans for trying to eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program Friday evening issuing a statement, even as Republicans pontificated from the safety of the House floor, blaming President Obama for their failure to legislate. 

One day after failing to address the humanitarian crisis on our southwest border, our Republican colleagues voted today to remove critical protections for refugees of violence and eliminate the successful DACA program. Thousands of unaccompanied children who have fled violence and threats in their home countries are being met at our southwest border by armed militias.

In an act of absurd cruelty House Republicans, along with four Democrats, voted to deport 550,000 children who have nothing to do with the crisis on the border. 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states: 

It is a sad day for our country. A chamber of Congress is poised to send vulnerable children back to danger and possible death. It violates our commitment to human rights and due process of the law and lessens us as a nation. I pray that this legislation never sees the light of day. 

We agree. We must address the root causes of migration, not punish these vulnerable and innocent children. Our federal agencies are running out of funding to deal with this unfortunate situation, so we need action now to provide the necessary resources, ensuring protections and due process of our law. 

Read More from Sarah Jones at Politicususa including a August 1, 2014 letter, where the Catholic Bishops urged the defeat of the GOP bill

Since the bill passed 216-192 with 1 voting present and 23 not voting decided to check the House website to find out who were the four Democrats who voted for the bill and the 11 Republicans who voted against HR5272.  This bill passed by the House is destined for the trash heap of history as no reasonable Senator 'should' ever vote for this cruel bill.  Thank God though we have President Obama as the second line of defense who will veto this horrible bill in a nano second if it ever reached his desk. Here is the break out:

Democrats voting for HR 5272:  Barrow (GA), McIntyre (NC), Peterson (MN), Rahall (WV) 

Republicans voting against 5272:  Amodei (NV), Coffman (CO), Dunham (CA) Diaz Balart (FL), Gardner (CO), Heck (NV), Kinzinger (IL), Reichert (WA), Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Upton (MI), and Valadao (CA)

There are Republicans who voted against this bill who I do not understand why they are still in the Republican Party as they have seen up close and personal how cruel Republicans can be today against minorities especially Hispanics.  They are sitting there watching Republican Governors in their states try to suppress minority voting.  In Gov Perry's Texas, voter suppression also includes women -- just ask Democrat Wendy Davis who is running for Governor .  If you notice that there are no Texas Congressmen who voted against this bill as they carry on their racist agenda of their Governor and Attorney General Abbott who is running for Governor as the racist Republican.  Anyone who says the Republican Party is not the party of racism today has a reading comprehension problem IMHO!  More on the passage of this bill from Jason Easley of the website Politicususa: 

House Republicans chose the perfect spokesperson for the effort to deport children when flaming racist Rep. Steve King (R-IA) defended the bill by claiming that Republicans were, “restoring their constitutional authority.” 

Republicans claimed that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was the reason why there is a humanitarian crisis on the border. The House Republican bill would make DREAMers eligible for deportation in two years. The House bill would prevent the president from expanding the program and would close it down. 

Over 550,000 children who have been in this country since 2007 have been allowed to remain and work in the US thanks to the program. In order to be eligible for DACA a child has to have lived continuously in this country since June 15, 2007 or earlier. The DACA program has nothing to do with the current crisis. 

The White House released an enraged statement tonight, 

“Republicans in Washington have repeatedly called the situation at our border a crisis; yet, tonight they are considering partisan legislation that will not address the problem and is sure to be rejected by the Senate. As the President said today, the Administration will continue to manage the border as responsibly as possible and address our broken immigration system, but no Administrative action is a substitute for Congressional action. That’s why the President will urge Congress to fix our broken immigration system once and for all upon returning from their recess by doing what the Senate did over a year ago and pass serious, comprehensive immigration reform legislation with bipartisan support.” 

The bill will never become law, but the Republican hatred of children and Hispanics has never been made clearer. 

Read More from Jason Easley at Politicususa

What an eye opener all of this has been with these children coming from violence in Central America to see groups of white Americans shouting at them some of the biggest trash I have heard.  It got me off the dime and my blog burn out is officially over.  Ready to roll up my sleeves and do my part to help oust Republicans from power at all levels.  Racism should NEVER be tolerated in this Country.
Americans have only one choice to return common sense to Congress and that is to vote out today's hard right, mean, cruel, bought and paid for Republicans!

Do Republicans Refuse to Acknowledge the Outcome of Elections When a Minority Democrat Wins?

This morning I was reading an article at Politicusas.com when the last paragraph jumped out at me and thought that R Muse, the author, nailed it.  Would like to know how Republican members of Congress who took an oath can look themselves in the mirror knowing their hatred of President Obama is fueled by his being the first black President.  The Republican denials that it is because President Obama is black ring hollow today as so many of their own Party are so derogative about the President using words I haven't heard used in years against blacks.  

Where are the voices of reasonable Republicans or have they all left the Congress and the Republican Party?

Republicans have made a mockery of governance for well-over five years, and it is all due to their racial animus toward Barack Obama they disguise with words like tyrant, executive overreach, dictator, and imperial president. However, according to the definition of tyrant, it is Republicans in Congress who have spent over five years attempting to wield ultimate control over everything, rule according to their own advantage rather than the people they were elected to serve, use extremely cruel tactics against their own constituents, and rule according to massively oppressive character. And what drives their tyranny against their fellow countrymen besides hatred of the people is their racially driven animus toward an African American in the White House. Now because they have failed to discredit and destroy Barack Obama’s Presidency they are taking him to court for the Confederate crime of being the President of the United States while being Black; not because he is a tyrant but because they are filthy despicable racists.

The Party of Dwight Eisenhower who led the desegregation movement in the late 50's in Little Rock, AR, which eventually spread across the Country is now the Party of racism as we are seeing not only their hatred of the President but also their hate and animosity toward children who are coming to the US to avoid being injured or killed in Central America.  OK Governor Fallin is one of them who demanded these refuge children be removed from Fort Sill Army Base immediately even though Fort Sill belongs to the Federal Government.  She is the same Governor who told National Guard members wanting to get spousal benefits that the state facilities would NOT take their applications as they had to be filed on Federal property.

This is the oath members of Congress take while putting their hand on the Bible signifying they are telling the truth:

• I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

It was never clearer what their lawsuit in the House against the President was garbage meant to energize their base when yesterday afternoon Speaker Boehner told the President to use his powers to fix the Border crises.  Talk about abdicating responsibility after the day before voting to sue the President for the same thing on ACA that Bush 43 did with prescription drug program - delay a portion for a year.

For the GOP leaders like Boehner and Rove to say it is not about impeachment, I say Bravo Sierra as that is exactly what candidates are saying back in the districts to fire up the base.  Republicans including Karl Rove who is helping drive this never imagined that their political stunt would fire up Democrats to make sure Obama knew a lot of us from all political spectrums have his back.  When the GOP doesn't get their way in elections, then they try to undermine the duly elected leaders.  What if Democrats had done that to Bush 43 for his entire term?  They worked across the aisle voting for an Iraq War they didn't agree with but they supported the President and this Country even with doubts.

This group of Senate Republicans  have held up nominees in the Senate including Ambassadors but at least the two parties got together to approve the new United States Russian ambassador John Teft to a position that has been vacant for five months.  Shocked the Senators approved him unanimously when they left town before approving other Ambassadors like Guatemala which is one of the countries fueling the border crisis:

(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday unanimously approved President Barack Obama's choice of John Tefft to be the next American ambassador to Russia, filling a post that had been vacant since February. 

Tefft is a former envy to Ukraine under Obama, and to Georgia and Lithuania under Republican President George W. Bush. 

 Tefft will go to Moscow as U.S.-Russia ties are severely strained over Washington's sanctions on Russia due to its support for rebels in eastern Ukraine. 

Dozens of Obama’s nominees to be ambassadors have been held up for months by bitter partisan fighting in the U.S. Senate. Obama only nominated Tefft earlier this month.
But both Republicans and Democrats said the dire state of U.S. relations with Russia made it imperative to let Tefft jump the queue so he could head to Moscow as quickly as possible. 

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Senate carried out his confirmation hearing, committee vote and confirmation by the full Senate in just a few days this week, just in time for Congress to leave Washington on Aug. 1 for a five-week recess. 

However, Republicans refused to accede to a Democratic request to confirm several other ambassadors before leaving town. That group included Obama's nominee for Guatemala, one of the Central American countries involved in the current U.S. child immigrant crisis.

Guess Republicans figured with the Malaysian plane crash drawing the spotlight back to Ukraine/Russia, they better approve the Ambassador to Russia who has a lot of experience in that region of the world working for Presidents of both parties.  If they could get together on the Russian Ambassador, why not the rest?

Despicable bunch of Republicans who met on the night of President Obama's first inauguration to figure out how to make him a one-term President and stop his agenda.  The plans failed and now they want him to have a failed Presidency but that is also going to fail when they get booted out of leadership in the House and fail to take back the Senate. The Republican talk of impeachment along with suing the President throws all conventional wisdom out the window on off-year elections along with some of the worst Governors some of us have had in our states for the last four years.

The fact that Republicans members of Congress felt the need to meet the night of the inauguration speaks to their lack of ethics and honesty as members of Congress who are supposed to work across the aisle and with the President as they didn't even give him a chance.  Then Republicans flooded the airwaves with lies about what President Obama was going to do yet they want us to return them to office when we now know how underhanded they were from the beginning?  When this came out in 2012, I was frankly stunned that the met the night of the inauguration which shows a total lack of class and integrity:

WASHINGTON -- As President Barack Obama was celebrating his inauguration at various balls, top Republican lawmakers and strategists were conjuring up ways to submarine his presidency at a private dinner in Washington. 

The event -- which provides a telling revelation for how quickly the post-election climate soured -- serves as the prologue of Robert Draper's much-discussed and heavily-reported new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives."
According to Draper, the guest list that night (which was just over 15 people in total) included Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The non-lawmakers present included Newt Gingrich, several years removed from his presidential campaign, and Frank Luntz, the long-time Republican wordsmith. Notably absent were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) -- who, Draper writes, had an acrimonious relationship with Luntz. 

For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C. establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on Obama's legislative platform.

Thought with this meeting it doesn't get much lower out of Republicans or at least I didn't think so until Boehner and his leadership decided to sue the President one day for overstepping and asking him to overstep the next day.

On top of everything else, this bunch of House Republicans are LAZY except when it comes to helping the wealthy get wealthier and then they snap into action.  Every American should be outraged at how few of days these members of Congress are working and when they are there the House work is focused on more investigations.  They are now on 5-week recess and only plan to work 12 days between now and the election on 4 November.  American taxpayers are paying their salaries to go campaign and even then they won't hold Town Halls because a lot of voters are angry at the GOP today and their wasting our tax dollars which they don't want to hear preferring to live in their non-reality world.  

When are all Americans going to get fed up and tell the Republican Party to take a hike because they are working for the Koch Bros/ALEC/GOP Wealthy Donors/oil and gas/big defense against the American people. The Middle Class has gotten the shaft by the Republicans at all levels and time Republicans pay the price by being voted out of office for their lack of passing meaningful legislation while blaming everyone but themselves.

Seems in the Republican small minds that this President is not entitled to his nominees or agenda as the GOP continues to obstruct both. All it has accomplished is to show Americans that Republicans don't believe in the outcome of elections unless it favors the Republican Party.