Is Speaker Boehner and GOP House Investigations Going to Hand Democrats the House and Senate?

If I was a betting person, I would say that the odds of Democrats being able to take back the House in the fall just got higher.  American people as a whole are sick and tired of these worthless investigations costing millions.  Speaker Boehner's House GOP are playing to the hard right but in the process are losing Republicans who are not hard right and are sick and tired of the radical right running the GOP including Pat Robertson who spoke out which begs to question how hard right are the current GOP leaders?  Cannot get over Robertson going after them:

Pat Robertson is taking Republicans to the 700 Club woodshed, because the ‘radicals on the Right’ have taken over the party.  It’s like watching an old B-movie where the mad scientist regrets his creation.  One can’t help but stay glued to their seat while enjoying the popcorn. 

Robertson is concerned that Republicans are fielding unelectable far-right candidates, which will cause voters to break in favor of Democrats at the ballot box.  Without explicitly saying so, he was most likely referring to Tea Party primary challengers, who come largely from the ranks of the Religious Right.  As conservatives are generally not known for taking personal responsibility, he fails to implicate himself in any of the backlash.

Pat Robertson over the years has made comments that I thought were radical so that has to tell you how radical the people are who now control the Republican Party.  Scary comes to mind as a friend and I decided today when talking about the Kochs.


Speaking of the Kochs, how much are the Koch Bros paying Boehner and friends in the House to make fools of themselves over Benghazi, IRS, and Impeachment of Obama.  Most of the current GOP in Congress have lost all sense of fairness, decency, honesty, and ethics as they are nothing more then puppets of the Kochs who are pulling their strings.  How much are the investigations out of the Rove playbook he used against Clinton in the 90's?  It sure reads like it with these investigations and throwing around the word 'impeachment' but President Obama is no Bill Clinton.  Is Rove that out of touch like he was on election night demanding Fox not call Ohio as he was sure Romney was going to win Ohio when only Cuyahoga County was still out?

For the last few years thought Boehner has been acting like someone who is mouthing words put in his mouth.  You could call him the village idiot after his latest where he wants to impeach Obama over Benghazi and the IRS investigation where they investigated more liberal groups then conservative:

Boehner first promised that the Republican Benghazi investigation would not be a circus, “This is all about getting to the truth. This is not going to be a sideshow. This is not going to be a circus. This is a serious investigation. Our system of government depends on transparency and accountability.” 

Later he turned around and claimed that President Obama is lying about everything, “Who’s been fired over the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS? No one that I’m aware of. Who’s gone to jail for violating the law? When is the administration going to tell the American people the truth? They’ve not told the truth about Benghazi. They’ve not told the truth about the IRS. They’ve not told the truth about Fast and Furious. Now, only one would have to guess. If they’re not willing to tell the American people the truth, it must not be pretty.” 

So much for House Republicans holding a fair and open minded investigation that is interested in the truth. The point of these “investigations” is to drum up a case for impeachment. If Republicans can smear the Obama administration with a scandal, they think they can derail Hillary Clinton’s run in 2016. Boehner threatened the president with impeachment in January over his use of executive orders.

Anyone who doesn't think this Benghazi hearing is going to be a circus doesn't understand the GOP clowns in the House.  They are not about getting at the truth or they would have investigated all the people killed in embassies under President GW Bush but they were silent then.  Thirteen attacks in a timeline put together in an article by Bob Cesca of Huffington Post details the attacks on embassies other then in Iraq (my red highlighting) under Bush:

The Benghazi attacks (the consulate and the CIA compound) are absolutely not unprecedented even though they're being treated that way by Republicans who are deliberately ignoring anything that happened prior to Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009:

January 22, 2002. Calcutta, India. Gunmen associated with Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami attack the U.S. Consulate. Five people are killed.
June 14, 2002. Karachi, Pakistan. Suicide bomber connected with al Qaeda attacks the U.S. Consulate, killing 12 and injuring 51.
October 12, 2002. Denpasar, Indonesia. U.S. diplomatic offices bombed as part of a string of "Bali Bombings." No fatalities.
February 28, 2003. Islamabad, Pakistan. Several gunmen fire upon the U.S. Embassy. Two people are killed.
May 12, 2003. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Armed al Qaeda terrorists storm the diplomatic compound, killing 36 people including nine Americans. The assailants committed suicide by detonating a truck bomb.
July 30, 2004. Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A suicide bomber from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan attacks the U.S. Embassy, killing two people.
December 6, 2004. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda terrorists storm the U.S. Consulate and occupy the perimeter wall. Nine people are killed.
March 2, 2006. Karachi, Pakistan again. Suicide bomber attacks the U.S. Consulate killing four people, including U.S. diplomat David Foy who was directly targeted by the attackers. (I wonder if Lindsey Graham or Fox News would even recognize the name "David Foy." This is the third Karachi terrorist attack in four years on what's considered American soil.)
September 12, 2006. Damascus, Syria. Four armed gunmen shouting "Allahu akbar" storm the U.S. Embassy using grenades, automatic weapons, a car bomb and a truck bomb. Four people are killed, 13 are wounded.
January 12, 2007. Athens, Greece. Members of a Greek terrorist group called the Revolutionary Struggle fire a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. Embassy. No fatalities.
March 18, 2008. Sana'a, Yemen. Members of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Jihad of Yemen fire a mortar at the U.S. Embassy. The shot misses the embassy, but hits nearby school killing two.
July 9, 2008. Istanbul, Turkey. Four armed terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate. Six people are killed.
September 17, 2008. Sana'a, Yemen. Terrorists dressed as military officials attack the U.S. Embassy with an arsenal of weapons including RPGs and detonate two car bombs. Sixteen people are killed, including an American student and her husband (they had been married for three weeks when the attack occurred). This is the second attack on this embassy in seven months. 

Also, my list above doesn't include the numerous and fatal attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad during the Iraq war -- a war that was vocally supported by Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Fox News Channel. 

Speaking of Graham, I ran a search on each attack along with the name "Lindsey Graham" in the hopes of discovering that Graham had perhaps commented about the attacks or raised some questions about why the (Bush) administration didn't prevent the attacks or respond accordingly to prevent additional embassy attacks. No results. Of course. Now, this could mean the search wasn't exhaustive enough. But one thing's for sure: neither Graham nor any of his cohorts launched a crusade against the Bush administration and the State Department in any of those cases -- no one did, including the congressional Democrats, by the way. 

This leads us to the ultimate point here. Not only have numerous sources previously debunked the Benghazi information being peddled by the Republicans and Fox News (for example, contrary to what the Republicans are saying, yes, reinforcements did in fact arrive before the attack on the CIA compound), but none of these people raised a single word of protest when, for example, American embassies in Yemen and Pakistan were attacked numerous times. Why didn't the Bush administration do something to secure the compounds after the first attacks? Why didn't he provide additional security?

To add to all of this GOP nonsense on Benghazi, IRS, and impeachment, Senator Rockefeller, D-WV, is now saying the GOP won't work with Obama because he is black:

Retiring Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller unloaded on Republicans during a hearing today. He said that Republicans don’t want anything good to happen for this president because he’s the wrong color. 

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on transportation funding, Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV) said, “It’s an American characteristic that you don’t do anything which displeases the voters, because you always have to get reelected here. I understand part of it. It has to do with — for some, it’s just we don’t want anything good to happen under this president, because he’s the wrong color.” 

Rockefeller admitted that he is mad at himself for not speaking up about a lot of things earlier, and he criticized his colleagues for putting their own political self interest ahead of making the tough decisions to do what is right.

I am betting they would say the same thing about a woman.  In fact, this group of hard right GOP will never work with anyone that is not hard right IMHO!  Laziest group of Congressman I have ever witnessed with their lack of days they work now along with passing very little that amounts to anything.  I object to the fact they draw a full salary working only 113 days in 2014.  We pay for their transportation as taxpayers for the scum to go back and forth like the privileged.  How did most of them become millionaires after going to Congress since they cannot have outside jobs?

Then there is the GOP fundraising off of Benghazi where four people were killed even though the new Chairman of the Committee urged them not to fundraise off Benghazi.  GOP cannot help themselves as they play to their hard right.  One word describes today's GOP who are fundraising off Benghazi -- 'scumbags' -- fits perfectly IMO!

Gowdy sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper later in the day to tape an interview for Tapper’s The Lead. Tapper pressed him on this issue. Gowdy once again stated that he will not raise money on Benghazi and he urged other Republicans to follow suit. 

Here’s the thing. The NRCC is NOT going to listen to Gowdy regarding this. Republican leaders see this as the way to energize the base and get the hardcore conservatives to rally around something prior to the midterms. This is the Republican platform heading into November, and quite possibly, all the way into 2016. They are going to use this as a way to raise money over the next few months. Perhaps Gowdy feels like he is doing something legitimate and worthwhile by investigating the White House’s response and conversations regarding Benghazi. However, most Republicans see this as a way to change the narrative in Washington and try to hang some kind of scandal on the President and potential 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. 

While Gowdy may go around telling everyone he isn’t going to use this investigation as a way to fill his campaign coffers, the NRCC has already come out and defended itself and will not stop raising money. The committee made the following statement in response to its fundraising efforts. 

“The Obama administration has not been honest with the American people with regards to Benghazi, and if Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker the American people will never know the truth. Our goal is to hold Democrats in Congress accountable who vote against creating the select committee on Benghazi and who continue to try to sweep this controversy under the rug.” 

So, per Gowdy’s own words, it seems that his fellow Republicans feel it is perfectly fine to raise money “on the backs of four dead Americans.” That is good to know.

Someone please tell me why anyone would vote for these Republican scum who could care less about the average American but bows down to their wealthy donors like the Kochs plus do the bidding of Karl Rove who is joined at the hip with the Koch's.  Time to tell the GOP to go find another career so our tax dollars can go further instead of all the millions they have spent on useless investigations along with the House repealing the Affordable Care Act over 50 times.  Help send the GOP to the Unemployment Line on November 4th!

Today a Candidate has to Earn My Support and Vote -- Voting for the Candidate Not the Party!

From this day forward I am supporting candidates that I trust which leaves out about 98% of Republicans and all of their candidates for President.   I have a few local Republicans I will support because I know they are people of integrity, but that's it.

From now on a candidate has to earn my support and not automatically expect it because they belong to a political party -- I am voting for the candidate not the party.  It is never happening again where I support a candidate because of the political party they belong.  If a candidate wants my support and my vote, they have to earn it.  Two very good candidates in Oklahoma have already done just that:

Democrat Joe Dorman is running for Oklahoma Governor who is a voice for all the people not just wealthy donors.  He also doesn't think it is a dirty word to work across the aisle. He believes in funding education to give all our students a first class education. 

Democrat Matt Silverstein is running against Senator Inhofe for the Oklahoma Senate seat. Inhofe has been in office way too long -- he is not representing Oklahoma well today and should not be running for re-election IMHO.  Senator Inhofe is the king of pork barrel spending who has clashed with Senator Coburn for years who was against wasteful spending.

When I worked countless hours for elections of Republicans to Congress in the 2000s, I did so willingly but expected them to uphold their oath of office to work for the betterment of all of their constituents not just the wealthy.  How stupid and naive do you think a lot of of us feel today.  We bought into GOP rhetoric that our ideas meant something when the only thing that means anything to Republicans today is the big money people headed by the Koch Bros.

Thank you Senator Reid for pointing out the facts about the Kochs that many of us already knew but now the whole Country is finding out they want to buy our Country.

Republicans in Congress are wasting our tax dollars on their salaries for the few number of days worked as they have become obstructionist where compromise is a dirty word even when it benefits everyone.  They prefer to kiss the rings and do the bidding of GOP wealthy donors who call the shots.   Want proof?   Look no further then at Sen Moran from Kansas who read a Koch editorial on the floor of the Senate today.  Talk about a slap in the face to the American people -- the Koch duo who has spent millions to take over the Country now have a real bought and paid for Senator Moran, R-KS, to read their op-ed into the Congressional record on the floor of the Senate.  

That took nerve to read that editorial that appeared in the Rupert Murdoch Wall Street Journal.  This summed it up quite nicely:

Most senators, even the dumbest blowhards, choose to insert such BS into the Congressional Record without forcing their audience, small as it might be on any particular day, to actually listen. Moran's real audience, of course, wasn't whatever handful of Kansans or senators might have been tuned in. But is Moran's Thursday kowtow an omen that future salutes to hoi oligoi will be equally pathetic? Can't he and the rest of our purchased politicians not smear our noses in it?

Was driving through Kansas on my way to Denver when I saw my first sign for Moran running the first time for Senate -- thought his name was Moron as my brain didn't register the A -- several months later I was sent information on him when he won the primary and it was Moran.  Personally after his stint in the Senate as the lapdog of Koch's, I think my original thought was correct.  The man doesn't make a move without Charles Koch's okay.  Koch Industries is his largest contributor by far but then we have to remember that a business is also people too.  What a bunch of bunk.

Now the Ryan budget comes out and the House wants to cut the top income tax rate to 25% which grinds most Americans to no end -- why so they can give the GOP more campaign dollars?  

I totally oppose dark money -- no matter what SCOTUS says a business is not a person.  So nice to know even the five conservative members of SCOTUS appear to be bought and paid for especially two of them by the Koch's.  How anyone can think that Thomas and Scalia should be ruling on campaign finance reform when they attend Koch functions is beyond me.  What happened to integrity on the right.  There is none left when you no longer care about the poor, children, or unemployed preferring to reward your donors and the wealthy with huge tax cuts in exchange for unlimited resources to run for office that the Koch's and other wealthy donors love giving to GOP candidates.

Somewhere the GOP went wrong and unfortunately it looks to be the day Reagan/Bush took office after Reagan placated the religious right in order to win the primary and then brought them into his administration.  Lot of what we are seeing today goes back to that group of hard right who surrounded Reagan.  They full advantage of everything the Government had to offer them and set out to take the Country hard right which they are doing today or attempting to do today.  It is time Americans to speak out more, get involved in campaigns of honest people, and elect people to office who are not bought and paid for but want what is best for all Americans -- Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren come to mind.

GOP members of Congress didn't mind spending our tax dollars on anything proposed for eight years under Bush-Cheney running up a huge deficit, but now today they don't even want to take care of the less fortunate but they want to make sure Big Defense keeps rolling in the money.  Big farmers are rewarded while cutting SNAP benefits and some of those farmers are members of Congress.  Why are the American taxpayers subsidizing big farms?  Would bet the Koch's love getting their subsidies as they bought up farm land throughout the Country.

It has become so obvious with the statements out of GOP elected officials, candidates, and leaders that the Republican Party is the party of the wealthy who is bought lock, stock and barrel by the Koch's and other wealthy donors.  I am tired of slick mailings and dark money so we don't know who pays for something -- I am not alone. Sometimes you can push too far and lose a lot of votes from people who care about this Country from both parties.  All of the shenanigans of today's Republican Party and their donors have managed to leave many of us long time Republicans without a home.   They made sure that most states had closed primaries so if you became an Independent, you couldn't vote in a primary.

Tired of being told by the hard right women have no rights and have to do what their husband tells them.  No one needs to ever tell me after the last 30 years that as a woman I shouldn't have the right to vote and needs to submit to what white male husband says.  That is exactly what we are seeing out of the GOP today.  Or as one of the House colleagues from Maine, Lockman said:

 "If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman?” Lockman said. “At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.”

Took him 18 years to apologize and only now doing so in a half hearted way because he is seeking reelection but he never should have been elected:

He refused to pay his taxes, uses hate speech, and is a proud bigot.  He has a decades-long history of saying stupid and very offensive comments, which would have been useful if compiled before his recent election in 2012.  

He is a sitting member of Congress with a vote and refused to pay his taxes?  How low can the GOP go in backing candidates.  When are they going to say, if ever, don't vote for this candidate because he is bad for the Country.  Hope Maine sends him packing.  

How dumb does the GOP think we are?  No contraceptives because it is a form of abortion,  No abortion for any reason including life of the mother.  After the baby is born no WIC or SNAP program to help the poor support their baby.  Now no Planned Parenthood in some red states where poor could go to get their contraceptives so they wouldn't get pregnant.

There is something really wrong with a Party that by the words and actions of their elected officials and candidates believes women are inferior to men and should stay home, have children, raise a family, and if you are not going to pro-create then you shouldn't get married.

Unfortunately, I come from a State with a Governor, who in order to deny same sex National Guard spousal benefits, denied use of any state facility to sign up for the benefits to ALL National Guard so some had to travel five hours to sign up.  We had a bill submitted into the Oklahoma Legislature to do away with all marriage to keep gay marriage out of the state.  We have Hobby Lobby who believes as a profit corporation they deserve the same status as a church on contraceptives -- same company that is heavily invested in retirement accounts with pharmaceutical companies who make contraceptives.  But then they were already hypocrites when they buy the items for sale in their stores mostly from China, the #1 abortion country in the world.  That's okay because it is their bottom line which counts.

The hypocrisy on the hard right of the Republican Party knows no bounds -- they have fully taken over the Republican Party with the support of the Koch Bros who want to be free to pollute at will and run the Country from their fiefdoms in Kansas and New York City to make the Middle Class part of the poor to be their servants and told what to do and think.

If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't work for the election of one Republican member of Congress in the 2000's after what I have been witnessing out of the obstructionists party of today's Republicans where finding anyone with honesty is a difficult task.   Can only speak for myself but I wouldn't vote for a Republican for Congress if they were the last people standing.  It is over, I am through with the Republican Party and vast majority of their elected officials and candidates.

Oklahoma needs to move into the 21st century and that means leaving the Neanderthal Republicans behind.

Just Say NO to Tax Cuts for Oklahomans -- Fix OK Education and Infrastructure

Tax cut boosters offer the false promise of a free lunch — that we can cut taxes  without paying for it with other tax increases or cuts to services.  These are empty  political promises that defy common sense.  (TogetherOK.Org Fact Sheet)

The more I think about the very idea of a tax cut for the wealthy in Oklahoma, the madder I get and more determined I will never support any Republican who votes for this nonsense.  Are Republicans so brainwashed by the Koch organizations that they feel tax cuts are the only way to prosperity when the economic indicators say otherwise.  When most wealthy get tax breaks, their money ends up in their pockets or much of it overseas, not in new jobs.  It was a false notion under Reagan about trickle down economics and it is just as false today as it doesn't work according to Forbes.

Want to stimulate the economy, raise the minimum wage to a living wage.  Also provide a safety net of unemployment when someone does lose their job. Problem is that doesn't fit the libertarian, religious hard right Republican Party of today where common sense took a flying leap and crashed on the pavement below.

Does anyone else see a conflict between libertarian of old and religious right?  I cannot believe the two groups came together but I guess when Koch Bros millions came into play back with Contract of America, anything can happen with spineless Republicans.  It sure explains why there were no social issues in the Contract with America.  Republicans sold out completely in 1994 in the House and in 1996 in the Senate elections and are still bought and paid for by the Koch's.  Estimates of $25M to 30M has been bandied around the Koch's spent on the 1994 House elections.

It explains Speaker Boehner as he bragged about being part of writing the Contract with America along with Dick Armey who went on to work for the Koch's Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) founded in 1984 after he left the House.  CSE split into Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works in 2004 which led to the Tea Party.  Retired Rep Dick Armey headed Freedom Works until there was a split last fall between him and the Koch's and he got paid millions to shut up.  The puzzle pieces are fitting nationwide and are now beginning to fill in for state wide Republicans owned by ALEC and the Koch Bros.  Tax Cuts which will be bankrupting states in the future are being introduced in Red State legislatures across the Country.

This is not some deal just in Oklahoma.  Kansas is in real problems after all their tax cuts under GOP Governor Brownback so much so that he was told no more.  Brownback is in dire straights politically as he has most of the state angry at him.  It is so bad in Kansas that the Supreme Court had to step in and increase school funding because of Brownback and the legislature cuts.  Yet the Oklahoma Legislature wants to be like Kansas?  

From TogetherOK.org a clearer picture has been emerging of how bad a tax cut is that is put on automatic pilot.  It is a way for the members of the legislature to blame future members and also a way to have a tax cut kick in even if federal funding on programs are lacking that year.  It is abject stupidity for lack of better words.    

Priorities for OklahomaProtect Essential Revenues

If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!-Will Rogers 

Middle-income families would get just $29 per year. 

Two out of every five Oklahoma families would get no tax cut.

One-fourth of the tax cut would go to a few Oklahomans already making more than $1 million per year.

Will someone explain to me what millionaires are going to do with another $2,000 which is chump change to them?  Why are wealthy not telling the legislature to stop the insanity of tax cuts and fix education and infrastructure?

This Oklahoma tax cut is from last year was overturned because the Republicans in the Legislature combined three bills together which is against the State Constitution, yet the Governor signed. What do you call a group of Legislators and Governor who are supposed to know the Constitution but are so arrogant they think they can sneak a tax cut through as part of another bill when they know it is unconstitutional?  Hard headed, arrogant, puppets?  Then you read this from TogetherOK.org where Oklahoma stands on a shortfall for this year already and you ask yourself why a tax cut: 

We have yet to restore cuts made during the recession to education and other critical services. This year’s budget is $572 million below five year ago after inflation. Now we are facing a $188 million shortfall.  

Oklahomans are suffering because of state budget cuts. We have too few foster families for neglected and abused kids, students crammed into overcrowded classrooms, understaffed and unsafe prisons, rising tuition and fees, and more.

Separate tax cut bills have passed in both the House and Senate, but the debate is far from over. All Democrats and several Republicans have bravely opposed the tax cuts.  We know there are more who would like to do so, but aren't yet so brave.  Your legislators need to hear from you that cutting taxes even further when we're already in a budget shortfall is not what they were elected to do!

Protect essential revenues (download the fact sheet) 

Bill Watch!: A House tax cut bill passed the full house on March 6th.  Many legislators made compelling debates against the income tax, and those in favor had very little response. Watch the video of the debate here.   

The bill would cut both the top personal income tax rate and the corporate income tax rate in 2016, or as soon as revenues increase after that year. Although the bill passed the House, it was opposed by all of the Democrats and several Republicans. See who voted how here. 

The bill now goes to the Senate for review by the Finance Committee.  Now is a good time to contact your senators as well as members of the Finance Committee to tell them that putting tax cuts on auto-pilot could hurt our economy! 

Bill Watch!: The Senate's tax cut bill is next heading to a House Committee. Check here to see who voted how in the Senate so that you can contact your Senator and let them know how you feel about their vote.  Be polite and keep them accountable!   

Your Representatives in both the House and Senate need to know that you don't approve of these bills.  So few Oklahomans follow these issues that every phone call or letter they receive counts! NOW is a good time to call and remind them why they should vote Nay before they vote on another version of this unaffordable tax cut bill. 

Read the email from TogetherOK.org

When I was reading The Oklahoman on Sunday, I saw this letter and said he speaks for me and many like us across the state.  Over 50% last year were opposed to tax cuts but the Republicans ignored the will of the people because they know what is best for donors not the people (sarcasm):

Republican priorities wrong in Oklahoma 

Oklahoman Published: March 9, 2014 

The Republican-dominated Legislature and the governor want to give high income earners a tax break. Teachers haven’t had a raise in six years; and our best teachers continue to move to states that pay more. The Department of Human Services is a mess, and children not only fall between the cracks, they routinely die. Our roads and bridges are a mess. We are defunding what was once an affordable and outstanding higher education system that allowed most Oklahomans to attend college and not be so burdened by student loan debt that they were unable for years to contribute to the state economy. 

I am president of a startup biotech company that employs eight people. I can assure you that we don’t make economic decisions for the company on the basis of personal tax liability. I would far rather the few hundred dollars (at most) I would save go toward fixing the state’s many problems. Quality of life is far more of an issue for us than is a few measly bucks in state taxes. Obviously, the Republican Party’s priorities aren’t teachers, roads, education or anything but serving the people who already have it made. 

Robert E. Hurst, Oklahoma CityHurst is president of DormaTarg Inc.

This is a small business person who gets it -- why doesn't the legislature?  Are they that bought and paid for along with the Governor to where education and infrastructure take second place to tax cuts for the wealthy.  Wealthy can be bought cheap when we are talking about a little over $2000 a year could lead to bankrupting the state which makes you wonder what the wealthy have to gain with a state going into financial difficulties.

Just maybe Oklahoma Republicans might want to go back and read Will Rogers as they might actually learn something if they would open up their minds for a change.  Have a hard time believing many people in the legislature are more like puppets today doing their donors bidding then independent thinkers.  What this Oklahoma Legislature since 2008 has been doing to education in Oklahoma at all levels from pre-K to PhD is a travesty that defies any one's beliefs who care about education.  Have never seen anything like this State School Superintendent Barrisi and hope to never see another one. She is rude, close minded, and doesn't have the background to be State School Superintendent but she is good friends with the Governor.  The very fact she refuses to listen to those with a background speaks volumes but then she wouldn't be trying to put all these charter schools in place owned by the same groups if she didn't have a separate agenda.

Why is Oklahoma cutting higher ed when the University of Oklahoma has so many research facilities that bring people in from around the world or is that the problem?  The abject racism in the Republican Party today has turned me off so far I want nothing to do with them.  When Rush Limbaugh says that the reason Congressional Republicans don't get along with Obama is because he is black speaks volumes.  How many people in the Oklahoma Legislature don't like minorities and because a lot of research positions go to minorities now want to cut higher education here and at OSU?  Wouldn't put anything past this group of Republicans in our legislature.  Most of them have lost my total respect by being "me too" to jump on the bandwagon and quit thinking for themselves.  Whatever happened to pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and being the best at what you do?  Or is that only for white males?  Minorities and women are treated like second class citizens by Republicans today.  Women are to stay home and raise children according to many in the GOP?  Have had people tell me recently, women shouldn't have a right to vote if they are married as the husband votes for the household -- sitting here rolling eyes.

What happened to the Republican Party of Eisenhower?  One sentence:  "Libertarians and Religious Right" took over thanks to the millions from the Koch Bros over the years.  How far does the Koch influence go back?  Still being investigated but pieces are falling into place.  They made one big mistake and that is introducing the same bills in Red State Legislatures so you can track them.  Are the Koch's intent on bankrupting Government so they are free to pollute at will -- only explanation many of us can come up.

JUST SAY NO to TAX CUTS in OKLAHOMA!

Forty-Three Ted Cruz Hard Right House Republicans Planning to Sue President Obama for Doing His Job as President

When I think it is impossible for the Republican Party to get any dumber, along comes some of the House Republicans to prove me wrong once again.  One of those jerks is running for the Oklahoma Senate seat being vacated by Senator Coburn at the end of the year -- Republican James Lankford of the 5th District.  BTW, when is he going to resign?  The Speaker of the OK House, TW Shannon, resigned to run for the seat but not heard a peep out of Lankford.  TW would make a much better Senator than Lankford any day of the week. Would bet TW is happy to be out of the OK House and having to deal with some of the hard right because he is not that hard right -- it must have driven him up a wall.    Will bring you more on the OK Senate races as it gets closer to our summer primary and probably gets nastier.

Some of the hard right House Republicans have jumped over the cliff with their latest attacks on President Obama for doing his job.  One of my favorite writers, Jason Easley, Politicususa had this to say:

Forty three House Republicans Want to Sue Barack Obama for Being President

Forty three House Republicans are sponsoring a bill that if passed would force the House to sue President Obama for behaving like a president. 

According to The Hill, “Forty-three Republicans have cosponsored the resolution since Obama’s State of the Union address, where he threatened to enact policies if Congress didn’t act. The “Stop This Overreaching Presidency (STOP)” measure, introduced by Rep. Tom Rice (S.C.), now has 104 co-sponsors, including Senate GOP hopeful Reps. Jack Kingston (Ga.), James Lankford (Okla.), Steve Stockman (Texas), Paul Broun (Ga.), Steve Daines (Mont.) and Phil Gingrey (Ga.).” 

The House Republicans are upset because Barack Obama had the nerve to act like a president. They are angry that he delayed the employer mandate, implemented the DREAM Act for the executive branch, let people keep their substandard health insurance policies, and ended work requirements for welfare recipients. 

Courts have ruled for decades that presidents have the constitutional power to delay the implementation of a law. Like all presidents, Obama’s executive orders only cover the executive branch. President Obama didn’t implement the DREAM Act for all of the country, just for the executive branch.  Read More

It dawns on you that these current hard right Republicans in the House and Senate could care less what the Constitution says about three equal branches of Government.  No place does it say the House is Supreme to all other branches but you would never understand that from the hard right rhetoric aka lies coming from the mouths of the Senator Ted Cruz Republicans in the House:

House Republicans are trying to sue the president for exercising his constitutionally granted powers. This is another attempt to delegitimize this president. Republicans are upset that the president is working around their obstruction, so they are taking him to court to try to get him to stop behaving like a president.

How much influence has Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) had on this current action of suing the Presiddent since he convinced the House to shut down the Government last fall?  My guess is a lot seeing some of the people involved.  In doing the research I found this 5 Feb 2014 article from the Houston Chronicle's, Texas on the Potomac Blog:

Cruz report accuses Obama of “assault on Texas”Posted on February 5, 2014 | By William T. Brown 

Sen. Ted Cruz has issued a report on “The Obama Administration’s Assault on Texas.”
The freshman Republican from Texas  is the ranking minority member of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee which deals with the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. 

This report, the third in a series written by Cruz on what he sees as Obama overreach, “ goes through 10 cases where the Obama administration has advocated for overbroad views of federal power and has been over and over again repudiated by the federal courts,” Cruz said in a Fox News interview.  Read More

Question of the Day:  Can a sitting Senator can also be Speaker of the House since the Speaker does not have to be an elected House Member?   Seems that Ted Cruz is already the de facto head of the hard right in the House so why not be Speaker?  Cruz must be livid at Speaker Boehner for finally getting the courage to go against the House's hard right to pass a clean Debt Ceiling Bill as Cruz was determined not to let a clean bill pass.  Then Cruz lost in the Senate, when Minority Leader McConnell grew a backbone for a few hours and rounded up votes to stop a Cruz filibuster.  Now the hard right who has raised more money than the Chamber and middle of the road Republican groups are out for blood in the 2014 election wanting to elect hard right ideologues and don't care if they beat Democrats in November as long as they stand on principle.

These excerpts from the article at Alternet, Tea Party and the Right, basically say what many of us who were lifelong Republicans until 2010-2012 have been saying:

This week, the Tea Party aligned Senate Conservatives Fund called on House Republicans to force out Speaker John Boehner in an email that read, “Unless we install a new leader who will actually go on offense, Democrats will never fear us and we will never have any leverage.” 

We may be witnessing the genesis of another temporary or permanent fracture of the Republican Party, for what was once a happy coalition of secular and social conservatives, united to defeating Obama and liberalism, has turned into an openly hostile civil war for control of party, and by all measures the Christian Right/Tea Party faction are winning in their objective of purging what they believe are Republicans In Name Only. 

This is a war establishment Republicans cannot win for not only is the Christian Right/Tea Party faction the most reliable and agitated voting bloc within the party, but also they’re now out raising Chamber of Commerce-sponsored establishment candidates thanks to a cabal of hyper-religious organizations, the Club for Growth, and the Koch brothers. Since August, the Koch’s Americans for Prosperity has spent more than $27 million on ads, which puts it on pace to outstrip its overall $38.5 million spent on the 2010 election. 

It’s worth noting that there barely remain any open shirted “moderate Republicans.” Almost two-thirds of House Republicans voted against bipartisan efforts to reopen the federal government and prevent the U.S. defaulting on its loan obligations. The non-partisan Mann and Ornstein write in Its Worse Than it Looks, “The Republican Party has become an insurgent outlier – ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”

Lost count of the number of times since 1998 that I have been in dust ups with the 'my way or no way' crowd on conservative websites for their stupid mantra of not caring if their candidate wins as long as they stand on principle.  My shock is that they are now in charge of the Republican Party.  According to everywhere I turn, the hard right have outraised the establishment types led by the Chamber who were attempting to wrest control of the Republican Party away from the hard right.  Looks like a dismal failure from establishment groups after what I am hearing from people I know in various locations.

Koch Bros are willing to let the hard right have their theocracy as long as they get what they want -- no Government rules and regulations so they are free to pollute at will and kill the vibrancy that has always been the hallmark of American ingenuity.   Koch Bros who want more money for themselves discovered they could get the hard right to be their puppets because it is obvious the hard right are more inclined to be puppets when you use the right mantra then think for themselves.  They have been sitting in hard right churches for years being told what to think and what to do.  Cannot fathom that.

Took me years but finally found out my trouble here in Oklahoma from the time we moved to Norman was with the hard right Republicans who make up most of the GOP in Oklahoma.  I am an independent thinker and that falls outside the norm for loyal GOP party members who are told which candidates to support. Here is an example:  In 2006 in the GOP primary for Governor, a nasty hit piece went out around the state by some County Chairs in support of Ernest Istook for Governor.  I was supporting another candidate.  When I got sent the letter as the Vice Chair of the County, the nitwits at OK GOP had left in faint grey lettering - Paid for by the Ernest Istook Campaign for Governor.  OK GOP and some County Chairs had sent out an obvious partisan Istook document and the worst part is a good many Republicans believed the document.  You cannot fight stupidity.

I can think of a few others that had the same trouble with the hard right who is now firmly in charge the OK GOP and calling the shots in the Governor's office.  The allegiance to ALEC and the Koch Bros in this state by some of the Republicans in the Oklahoma Legislature along with some statewide elected officials is mind boggling.  Cannot fathom being led around by some ideological group -- guess that is why I gave up Rush Limbaugh years ago -- found myself yelling at my radio in the car -- very seldom listened at home since the early 90's when he had all the parodies which were funny -- my all time favorite was the one on Ross Perot, "They are coming to take me away."  It was hilarious but Limbaugh hasn't been funny in years -- now he is just a shrill hard righter spouting lies and hate.

In 2007/2008 after supporting Rudy in the primary and getting clobbered by so many people on conservative websites, I started backing off posting where I had posted for years.  The Washington Post even had me as part of the purge of the GOP in the fall of 2006 from a website but I was in FL not posting.  It took awhile but almost immediately after the mid terms, I realized that the Republican Party had left me a long time ago and I just wouldn't admit it.  Was never a hard right ideologue -- always considered their 'my way or no way' mantra stupid and still do.  No way to run a Government.

Meeting more and more Republicans who live in the hard right red states who have had it and are changing parties or supporting Democrats in 2014.  This hard right takeover that leaves no room for independent thinking is my last straw.  Wish I could say it has been fun to be a Republican in Oklahoma but I would be lying.  At times it has been horrible, terrible, and nasty with attacks from the hard right that I cannot fathom toward more centrist GOP.  First time in my life to be considered a liberal Republican is in Oklahoma.  When you meet the Tea Party/Religious Right here you understand why.  You finally wake up one morning and realize I cannot deal with these people any longer.  Mine came in the spring of 2012 when I decided to support President Obama and drive my neighbors nuts. Never regretted it for a moment.  The words I use are 'Freedom, Liberated, and Relief'  as I can now express my feelings and not be called names by those on the progressive side.

Finished Reading Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist's new book, The Party's Over -- How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat.  Enjoyed the book from start to finish and found myself agreeing with the current Democrat candidate for FL Governor over and over again. Gov Crist speaks my language.  You understand when someone as high profile as the former Governor can write a book like this that you are on the right track with supporting Democrats across America in 2014 and telling the GOP to 'Shove It!"

West Virginia Chemical Spill now into Ohio River -- Cincinnati Takes Precautions

Note to all:  Sorry I have not been posting on this blog but had a hard time shaking bronchitis, medicine made me groggy, tired, and spacey plus a lot going on the last six weeks including the Oklahoma Sooners beating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans -- one of the many giddy Sooner fans around the world about that win.  Feel great today and ready to get back to work.

*********
When deciding what to post, it wasn't hard as once again Speaker Boehner made a complete and total jerk of himself when he talked about there are too many regulations as relates to the chemical spill in West Virginia and current regulations need enforced.  I swear Boehner now has mush for brains or is it dollars for brains to make that type of stupid statement that no new regulations are required due to the chemical spill in WVA or regulations are not enforced from the Party that keeps cutting funding for the EPA.

"The issue is this: We have enough regulations on the books. And what the administration ought to be doing is actually doing their jobs," Boehner said at a press conference. "Why wasn't this plant inspected since 1991?"

I can answer why nothing is being done -- not enough manpower.  Since the GOP took over Congress for most of the time since 1994, it has been about increasing defense spending and gutting the EPA and other regulatory agencies in addition to the safety net for the elderly and poor.  What an idiot but then I have come to expect that from Republicans led by Boehner and McConnell -- blame President Obama for everything.  Only narrative counts for the GOP today as facts don't matter.

Found out today that the intake valves along the Ohio River that supplies the water for Cincinnati and surrounding areas are being prepared to shut down due to the chemical spill in West Virginia so the chemicals don't get into their water supply, but Boehner says "no new regulations required."  In case you didn't know it, Boehner comes from the Cincinnati area so this affects where he lives and their water supply but that's okay because he is one of many Republicans who refuse to criticize the Koch Brothers and their allies.

Here is what the EPA and OSHA had to say on inspections:

On the flip side, the spending deal offered only modest relief to cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency under sequestration. Republicans even bragged about successfully cutting the EPA's funding by 20 percent since 2010 when summarizing the bill.
The EPA announced plans last month to significantly reduce inspections over the next five years. The agency said the move was necessary for a more "effective allocation of resources" to focus on the biggest polluters. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also suffered under recent budget cuts. Due to low pay, the agency has struggled to hire and retain inspectors, resulting in so few workplace inspections that the average site will only face an inspection every 99 years.
OSHA officials had scheduled an inspection of the Freedom Industries facility in 2009 but canceled it because the facility didn't fall under the agency's special emphasis programs, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

West Virginia Democrats are being tepid with their response so the question is WHY?

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of thousands of West Virginians were still without safe tap water Monday after a spill reported on Thursday dumped chemicals used to clean coal into the water supply. While lawmakers from the state have issued supportive statements, the state's Democrats have been cautious saying whether there needs to be additional chemical safety regulations or oversight.

Here is what their Democrat Representative had to say and his spokesman and following that you see the reason for their tepid response:

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was asked whether he would pursue any legislative changes following the spill at a press conference Monday in West Virginia. "My committee ... will be exercising our oversight authority, but in due time," said Rahall. "We want to look at what happened, how we can keep it from happening again and if, God forbid, it were to happen again, how can our response be better than it was this time?" 

Rahall's spokesman told The Huffington Post that the congressman was traveling back to Washington on Monday afternoon and could not be reached for additional comment.
Rahall is already facing reelection pressure in a state known for its allegiance to the coal industry. He got some relief Monday, when the American Energy Alliance, a group backed by the Koch brothers and allied with coal interests, backed off on ads in the state accusing Rahall of supporting a tax on carbon. "Given the more pressing concern facing West Virginians as a result of the recent chemical spill in the Elk River, the American Energy Alliance is pulling our three week initiative to promote accountability for Rep. Nick Rahall over his vote to support a carbon tax," American Energy Alliance president Thomas Pyle said in a statement. "While we remain staunchly opposed to a carbon tax and committed to holding public officials accountable for the actions, now is not the time for this advertisement. Our efforts in the next several weeks in West Virginia are more rightly directed at helping the families in the affected region."

So the anti-middle class Koch Bros were already running ads against Rep Rahall hoping to defeat him because his support of carbon tax.  Now they back off because of the spill.  Imagine that -- Koch Bros are joined with the company that did the spill and now backing off.  Why not launch a full fledged investigation of why this plant had not inspection since 1991.  That doesn't take a genius to figure out they could pretty much do what they wanted over those years thanks to GOP gutting the EPA which got worse under Bush-Cheney from 2001 to 2007.  How many spills have happened that we didn't hear about?

Then there is Senator Manchin who as the former Governor, I would have thought would have have been beating the drums about this spill:

Sen. Joe Manchin's (D) office also was reluctant to say anything specific about potential new rules. "Right now we are focused on making sure West Virginians have water and we get through this crisis before we start proposing or thinking of proposing new regulations," Manchin spokesman Jonathan Kott told The Huffington Post. "Senator Manchin will certainly be looking into this matter and figuring how we prevent it from happening in the future." 

Manchin will speak Wednesday at an event on energy policy sponsored by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry group representing coal companies. His spokesman confirmed the event is still scheduled.

At least Senator Jay Rockefeller, the other WVA Democrat Senator came through calling for an investigation:  

The state's other Democratic U.S. senator, Jay Rockefeller, issued a statement on Friday calling for a U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigation into the spill. He said he was "profoundly troubled" by the disaster and wanted the board to determine the cause. The CSB has announced that it will investigate, and Rockefeller has followed up with a call for additional funding for the board. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about additional rules or regulations.

How about enforcing the rules and regulations already on the books and giving the Environmental Protection Agency the money and manpower they need?  Is this why the GOP has been so adamant about destroying the EPA so that their big donors like the Koch's get a pass on chemical spills?

My first thought when I saw this chemical spill was what is the connection to the Koch Brothers and I was not disappointed as sure enough those chemicals come from Koch Industries -- same group that want no regulations over chemicals used in oil and gas and now can add coal to the list:

A chemical spill in West Virginia last week cut off access to safe tap water across nine counties, and although it involved a chemical used by the coal industry, state officials have been pushing back strongly against suggestions by reporters that the disaster had anything to do with the state’s dominant industry — coal. 

However, the fact is that the chemical industry is also very important to the West Virginia economy, and it is heavily entwined with the coal industry, which requires a substantial quantity of chemicals at various stages before it gets from the mine to its point of use. 

Clearly, the spill — which affected 300,000 people and shut down restaurants, schools, hospitals and hundreds of other businesses and institutions — is closely related to the state’s dependency on the coal industry, despite protestations to the contrary. 

That, in turn, undermines the coal industry’s insistent positioning of coal as a “clean” fuel. While new technology has reduced pollutants from burning coal, everything around the burn point is still status quo, from destructive mining to fly ash disposal. 

With that scenario in mind, let’s take a look at how the disaster is playing out in the local paper, the Charleston Gazette (highly recommended: follow reporter Ken Ward, Jr. on Twitter, @Kenwardjr). 

The West Virginia chemical spill and the Koch connection 

The industrialist Koch brothers have become notorious for their holdings in coal and other fossil fuels, their aggressive promotion of global warming denial and their efforts to monkeywrench environmental progress. 

What hasn’t garnered as much attention is their involvement in secondary industries on which the coal industry depends. 

Charleston Gazette reporter David Gutman tracked down the Koch connection to the chemical spill in an article over the weekend titled “Freedom executive Kennedy had felonies.” 

The full article is worth a read for the insights it provides about the top executives for Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the spill, but the relevant detail involves the source of the company’s chemicals. 

The spill involved Crude MCHM, a foaming agent used to clean coal. According to Gutman, that’s not the only coal-related chemical stored at Freedom Industries. The company is also a distributor for a line of coal processing chemicals called Talon, which is a product of the Koch company Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC.

Read More at Triple Pundit 

Was looking for the spill from the Koch Industries plant in AR into a river that goes into MS and am appalled at the number of chemicals dumped into our waterways in middle America in addition to what I was look for in Arkansas.  What is wrong with our Congress who sold out to chemical manufactures over the American people?  Don't they have families who could be harmed?

Found this report from Iowa which should scare everyone in this Country:

The Environment Iowa report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged to America’s waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2010, the most recent data available. 

Major findings of the report include:

•    The Beaver Channel, which runs through Clinton, IA along the Mississippi River, is ranked 39th in the country for discharges of cancer-causing chemicals, at 6,912 pounds in 2010. Many industrial operations processing food, chemical, and other products in the area have caused pollution problems along the channel for years.
•    After the Mississippi, the Des Moines River is 2nd in the state for toxic releases, with 1,140,998 pounds. Following in order are the Iowa River with 981,225 pounds, the Cedar River with 721,163 pounds, the Raccoon River with 384,042 pounds, Silver Creek with 364,758 pounds, then Hecker Creek with 340,668 pounds. There are 47 Iowa waterways for which some toxic dumping was reported in the 2010 TRI data.
•    The Mississippi River is ranked 2nd for total toxic discharges nationally, with 1,874,430 pounds of toxics dumped in Iowa specifically and 12.7 million pounds dumped from facilities all along its course through 10 states. The Missouri River is 7th nationally, with nearly 4.9 million pounds dumped along 5 states through which it flows, 104,311 of those pounds are dumped into the Missouri River in Iowa.
•    Roquette America Inc. was the biggest polluter in Iowa, dumping 1.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Mississippi. Roquette America Inc was the 24th biggest polluter in the country, followed closely by another Iowa facility, Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. at 25th.
•    Three of Iowa’s watersheds ranked in top 30 for most polluted in the nation. The Blackbird-Soldier watershed along the Nebraska border ranked 6th, with 4.7 million pounds. Coming in at 27th was the Flint-Henderson watershed along the border with Illinois, 1.8 million pounds. In 30th place was the Lower Iowa watershed, which includes Iowa City, at 1.7 million pounds.

The report summarizes discharges of cancer-causing chemicals, chemicals that persist in the environment, and chemicals with the potential to cause reproductive problems ranging from birth defects to reduced fertility. Among the toxic chemicals discharged by facilities are arsenic, mercury, and benzene. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and reproductive disorders. 

Steve Roe, the President of the Raccoon River Watershed Association noted another reason water quality is so important “half a million people depend on water from the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers for their drinking water.” 

This is what I was looking for when I found the Iowa report -- take a look at this and tell me the Koch Brothers and their various tentacles are good for America -- they are systematically destroying our environment and political process with their billions of dollars they contribute to Republicans and the hard right who do their bidding:

The producers at “Koch Brothers Exposed” have another documentary piece on the environmental and health impact of operations run by Koch Industries. This piece examines the toxic waste water pouring out of a Koch-owned Georgia Pacific plant near Crossett, Arkansas — which residents say is boosting cancer rates and killing people in the community. 

Watch on and consider the implications of a “wholesale rollback” of environmental regulations that leading Presidential candidates are proposing — with the backing of the Kochs and the Koch-fueled Tea Party.

It is well documented that the Koch Bros are funding ALEC who are getting bad laws passed in our states.  A lot of Koch money is also funneled through the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) which was the forerunner to the Tea Party established by the Kochs, Roger Ailes at Fox News, and Karl Rove to ignite a grassroots campaign to take out the Democrat control of Congress and win the 2012 Presidential election for Republicans.  Difference between AFP and Tea Party is that AFP is more educated and work directly for the Koch's while Tea Party is most hard right social conservatives and evangelicals who believe no government is best.  What happened was Koch sponsored groups and allies spent billions of dollars in races across the Country in 2010/2012 but couldn't take the Senate and most importantly could not defeat President Obama in 2012 as he was handily reelected in spite of the false reporting on Fox News and other media outlets.   Koch Bros are angry and their Republican puppets are accusing President Obama of everything you can imagine.  It has gotten ludicrous and once again some Republicans look like idiots with their responses and attacks against the President.   We need a huge effort in 2014 to kick the do-nothing Republican obstructionists out of the House leadership and restore some common sense to Government.  We need cuts to the Defense Department and increased funding for the EPA and OSHA so they can go after the likes of the Koch Bros not with a slap on the wrist but hard nosed sanctions and fines.  Money talks and the Koch's and their allies like the Chamber and oil and gas have used their money to buy members of Congress to make sure a lot of regulations cannot be enforced on chemicals. It is up to us to give President Obama a Congress he can work with to make sure the EPA and OSHA are given the money and resources to see that the regulations are enforced and people put in jail for destroying our water and our air.   Thanks to the Koch Bros,  I have become a full fledged environmentalist instead of a conservationist. We need to protect the environment for our children and grandchildren -- we owe them that.  The only way to do it is to defeat the bought and paid for Koch/Chamber members of Congress starting with Speaker Boehner!

Koch Bros, Chamber of Commerces, and Republicans are Enemies of the American Worker

From the Oklahoma Supreme Court hearing on the new Workers Compensation Law should be tossed to the Republican dominated legislatures and to the halls of Congress, the Koch Bros, ALEC, and The Chamber of Commerces work for big business against the American workers.

Note who was behind the passage of the Workers Comp Law in Oklahoma -- Chamber of Commerces throughout the state along with ALEC.  When our Republican Legislature and Governor are not bought by ALEC aka Koch Bros, they are bought by the Chamber.  With few exceptions like Senator Harry Coates, the Republicans do what they are told to pass bills in the legislature.  Oklahoma switched a heavily Democrat legislature for a heavy Republican legislature and the citizens got taken to the cleaners both times.

Today's younger Oklahoma Democrats like Rep Emily Virgin, D-Norman are more in turn with what the people want and are quick to stand up and fight for the citizens of Oklahoma.  Her Grandfather, long time County Commissioner George Skinner who retired in January, was probably the best County Commissioner I have had living around the Country.  Rep Virgin takes after her Grandfather which is good for the State of Oklahoma:

Workers comp law should be tossed, Oklahoma Supreme Court justices told 

Two lawmakers and the state firefighters union say it's unconstitutional. 

OKLAHOMA CITY —- A highly touted workers compensation reform bill should be tossed out for a number of reasons, an Oklahoma Supreme Court referee was told Thursday. 

Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole, Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman, and the Professional Firefighters of Oklahoma filed suit in September seeking to overturn Senate Bill 1062.
Passed last legislative session, the measure replaced a court-based workers compensation system with an administrative process and decreased benefits to injured workers.

Oklahoma City attorney John C. McMurry represents the plaintiffs. He said the measure should be invalidated because it is an impermissible special law in that a section of it allows some employers to opt out of the system. 

It is also a violation of the state constitution because it contains more than one subject, he said. 

In addition, it restricts workers' access to the courts, McMurry said. 

The state constitution requires courts to be open to everyone and to provide a speedy remedy, he said. 

In addition, the measure puts restrictions on attorneys fees, McMurry said, adding, "You can't do that." 

Patrick R. Wyrick, the solicitor general for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, said the measure does not violate the single-subject rule because all sections of the law deal with workers compensation. 

Likewise, the measure did not contain a special law, he said. 

Oklahoma City attorney Robert McCampbell represents parties that have intervened in the case: the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, the Oklahoma State Chamber and the Tulsa Regional Chamber. The State Chamber was one of the more vocal groups supporting the measure. 

Excerpt:  Read More at the Tulsa World

This Attorney General and his staff are trying to take Oklahomans back in time on so many issues that keep getting overturned by the Courts.  As Attorney General you are supposed to abide by the law not force your own agenda on the State which is what we see happen over and over again in Republican dominated states.  Cannot imagine the grief that Senator Coates is receiving as a Republican -- they can get really nasty here when a Republican sides with a Democrat against the legislature.

This is just so wrong -- workman's compensation needed some tweaks but the Republicans went so far overboard that if someone is injured on the job, you are out of luck if you get one of those companies that opts out or even meeting a board in lieu of the court system.  Might as well go back to the days when there were no rules about safety in the workplace, do away with minimum wage, pensions, number of hours worked, and no child labor laws.  Why not?  That's what is being advocated by the Koch Bros and their stooges.

Republicans want to eliminate your overtime pay.  A new $20,000 ad campaign targets working women, telling them to support the deceptively named “Working Families Flexibility Act.”  Originally a Paul Ryan brain child, this legislation would remove the requirement to pay someone time-and-a-half when they work over 40 hours per week, in exchange for so-called “compensatory time off.”  The major catch – when and how that time off can be used would be determined by your employer.   

The ad campaign will be featured on more than 100 websites that are typically frequented by woman, and the ads focus on the bogus benefit of not having “to choose between work and family.”  The fact is, employers can already offer flex-time scheduling, and many already do.  A worker shouldn't have to give up a federally protected employment right to get that benefit.  

They have a friend in the effort from Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor:

Meanwhile, Eric Cantor wants to pass a Federal Law to eliminate overtime pay but not overtime labor. Meaning, naturally, that the law Eric Cantor wants to propose will mean that millions of hourly workers in America would a) not be able to afford their family vacation, and b) might have to work overtime during a scheduled family vacation all without extra pay.

I have personal experience working for the Air Force at Wright-Patterson of working mandatory overtime for comp time but we were undermanned due to personnel cuts and could not take the comp time. Finally Personnel ruled we had to be paid.  This was the Federal Government wanting us to work for Comp Time we couldn't take.  The 4-star Commander got his hand slapped by Personnel because someone in Payroll saw all the hours that were being worked without pay.  

What gets me are the Koch Bros/ALEC/GOP campaign to do away with Child Labor Laws:

When Ryan admitted that Republicans’ goal was “destroying the health care system for the American people,” he was only hitting the tip of the iceberg. Republicans have proposed: abolishing child labor laws, eliminating the federal minimum wage, ending voting rights, slashing Social Security, abolishing public education, and eliminating regulatory agencies for the Koch brothers. Those objectives are discussed regularly at the Kochs’ secret policy meetings with the nation’s richest corporate leaders, two Supreme Court justices, and the Koch’s legislative arm ALEC. In fact, ALEC regularly writes template legislation for the Kochs that are routinely enacted in Republican states that have restricted voting rights, funneled public school funds to private religious schools and have also eroded environmental protections,  chipped away at programs that assist seniors, women, and the poor. Such as the Medicaid that is under attack nationwide.

As a lifelong Republican, I hate to say it but the Democrats and a few Republicans are all that are standing between the American worker and going back to the 20's with no laws to speak of.  It is sad that this group of Republicans have been so corrupted by money from donors at all levels that they have lot total common sense on what is right and wrong -- it is all about money and power today and screw the American worker.

We are seeing the same thing out of Republicans at the National level we see at the state level which ties it all into the Koch Bros who want to do away with the minimum wage,  have no regulations, and have people beg for jobs.

On Tuesday, billionaire libertarian Charles Koch joined Republicans pushing to eliminate the nation’s minimum wage he implied was the ultimate secret to lift Americans out of poverty as well as the major obstacle to economic growth. In fact, Koch said “we need to analyze all these government subsidies, all these things that are creating a culture of dependency, and we’ve got to clear out what reduces the mobility of labor.” A Koch-funded ad in Kansas insinuated minimum wage Americans earning $34,000 annually should consider themselves fortunate, but an American working full-time making minimum wage only earns $15,080 annually, if they can find full-time work. As it is, the poverty level for a family of four is $22,283 annual income, and even in the poorest state in the nation a worker earning minimum wage has to work 67 hours per week to afford the most meager apartment if they are fortunate enough to find a full-time job; food, utilities, and clothing are luxuries out of the realm of a poverty-level worker’s budget. Most medium to large businesses prevent full-time employment to avoid giving lunch breaks or benefits, and those working-poor Americans make up a large share of food stamp recipients Republicans just drove into hunger by eliminating SNAP funding from their Draconian farm bill.

Koch funded ALEC is behind writing these bills that hurt the American worker in the States.  After all these years I have to admit my Dad was right about Right to Work.  I have gone from being against the unions over the years to realizing what an important role they play for the American workers.  My experience was based on seeing GM go on strike in Dayton over money during hunting season -- those workers like my Uncle and others did a disservice to the people who need unions because of companies like the Koch Industries.

Here is what Sen Sanders (I-VT) had to say about the minimum wage the Koch Bros want to see killed:

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Let me take it a step further and this will shock you and your viewers.This is the truth. The fact of the matter is that there are many many Republicans in Congress right now, perhaps a majority, who not only are opposed to raising the minimum wage. They want to abolish the minimum wage. That’s the truth. In a city like Detroit, remember, 40% of the black kids in this country are facing unemployment. 20% of the young people in this country facing unemployment. 14% of the American people unemployed. They believe that if they can hire, if an employer can hire a worker at $3 and $4 an hour that’s fine. That’s freedom. Get government out of the business of regulating a minimum wage. What I happen to believe is very, very different. 

SANDERS:It’s just that if we’re going to grow the middle class, we have to create decent paying jobs. One way to do that is to raise the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour which is what the American people want.Bernie Sanders was speaking from experience.

You could say it is just the Koch Bros, but it is also the Republicans in the Congress as Senator Sanders learned from Sen Alexander (R-TN):

In June, during a committee hearing, he got Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander (TN) to admit that he supports abolishing the minimum wage. This isn’t some theoretical Republican fantasy discussion centered around the great what if of abolishing the minimum wage. Republicans in power want to abolish the minimum wage. It is part of their goals and agenda. Earlier this year, Forbes ran an article from the Ayn Rand Center titled, To Protect The Defenseless, We Must Abolish The Minimum Wage. 

The basic Republican argument against the minimum wage is the same as their argument against unemployment benefits. The minimum wage creates an entitled class of freeloaders that want to be paid more than what they are really worth. It is the standard makers and takers argument that Republicans use to defend their positions on everything from cutting food stamps to denying children healthcare. 

The problem is that the Republican argument is based on ideology. Studies have repeatedly found that raising the minimum wage doesn’t negatively impact job growth. In June, President Obama called for the minimum wage to be increased to a living wage.
While Republicans are plotting to abolish it, seventy one percent of Americans support raising the minimum wage. Republicans want an America where workers will have no healthcare, privatized retirement benefits, no workplace safety regulations, no overtime pay, and will take whatever few pennies employers are willing to offer as compensation. 

There is something I do not understand at all levels of the GOP and that is their fixation on Ayn Rand, an atheist, when they profess to be Christians.  It boggles the mind they attacks on the poor by cutting food stamps while at the same time some of the Republicans in Congress get huge subsidies for their farms -- one over $3M.

Over the past week, Republicans who know there are over 47-million Americans living in poverty and dependent of the Agriculture Department’s SNAP (food stamp) program passed a farm bill providing $195 billion in subsidies to agricultural corporations and eliminating food stamp and nutritional programs they considered extraneous, or irrelevant. Half of those affected are children, and over 10% are senior citizens living in poverty. It was not even an assault on minorities because more white Americans receive food stamps than African Americans or Hispanics proving that the GOP’s goal is withholding food from all Americans living in poverty and they have enlisted a powerful ally to send more Americans deeper into poverty.

It is absolutely mind boggling today.  It is happening from the halls of the Congress to the state legislatures across the Country and even to a 20,000 person town in Iowa the Koch Bros tried to buy the election.  Their excuse they don't control Americans for Prosperity where they pour millions every year is a bad joke.  They are pushing the agenda of AfP but want to disavow them -- doesn't work that way.  ALEC is following the Koch agenda and Republican legislatures and Governors like Oklahoma are falling right in line. 

Guess you can put me in the category of a bleeding heart liberal today who cares about the workers in factories who need protection from the lack of ethics of some owners like the Koch Bros, to first responders, to teachers, seniors, veterans, young people, immigrants and regular Americans who want to provide for their families.  There is an uprising in this Country starting to happen as former Republicans join with Independents and Democrats to returning America to a country that cares about its people not just the wealthy.  You see it on Twitter and am proud to be adding my voice for those that cannot speak out.

One more time, I am doing a mea culpa -- my Dad was right all those years ago about Right to Work laws and I was dead wrong.  He was also right about the place for unions in the American workplace to protect the American worker when you have greedy people like the Koch Bros who run Koch Industries.  Time to strengthen the unions with honest leaders with integrity.  We need to take the Country back from the wealthy who only care about getting more wealthy.