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.

  

#DoYourJobHouseGOP is the Rallying Cry of Americans Who Are Tired of the Do Nothing Koch/ALEC Republicans in Congress

The GOP Conference will be meeting at 3 p.m. as they are asking members not to leave town.  Are they going to come out of that meeting cheering and fist pumping like they did when they decided to shut down Government?

While looking for that video I found this video where the GOP House changed a standing rule of the House to take away a Privilege Motion from members.  Speaker Boehner and his GOP are nothing but unethical. underhanded scumbags:


Time to bring back the following paragraph from an article on Voices on 30 September on the day following the GOP Saturday night vote to shut down Government:

The story that broke yesterday about some members of the House Republicans being drunk on the House floor is despicable and every last Republican drinking before the vote should be resigning from the House but that will never happen as they only care about their re-election and celebrating their victory after the vote they know will shutdown government.  Did leadership have to get drunk to push the garbage of a bill through the House since they all lack backbones?  Are they ever going to admit that President Obama won the election, the Democrats picked up seats in the Senate and House, and that more people voted for Dems in House districts then GOP.  Only through gerrymandering do the Tea Party GOP still control the House.

House Republicans led by Speaker Boehner and GOP Leadership are the most unethical members of the House I have witnessed.  As a group, these Koch/ALEC Republican puppets put cutting taxes  for the wealthy over what is best for all the American people.  Note that Sen Cruz who seems to be the defacto head of the House helped defeat the Border Bill today that House GOP led by Boehner touted -- imagine that!  That 3 p.m. meeting before the Republican led House leaves DC for five weeks should be interesting as the Border Bill is discussed.  If we get video of the spoiled brats posing as adults leaving the meeting, will post on here as an Update.

Moving forward to today's activities by the Koch/ALEC GOP House which is the day after the GOP in the House voted to sue the President over the same thing they supported President Bush on with his Drug Prescription Plan -- delay a portion for a year.  This is why the Koch Bros/ALEC GOP House led by Speaker Boehner stands today as the most worthless house in my lifetime and probably the modern era.  Want an example of worthless -- try the Border Bill which Boehner couldn't get passed today and then urges the President to take action.  That is the same President Obama that Boehner/House GOP are suing for taking action delaying a small portion of ACA for a year.  Confused yet?  Maybe this article from The National Memo will help explain what has happened today:

House Republicans pulled their embattled immigration legislation on Thursday, after failing to find enough Republicans to vote for the pared-down funding bill. The embarrassing defeat for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) greatly increases the odds that the House will not do anything to act on the border crisis before leaving Washington for its August recess. 

The Republican majority will hold a conference meeting at 3pm EST, after which House leaders will announce whether they will try again to hold a vote. 

The House had planned to vote on two separate measures before leaving town: A $659 million funding bill to respond to the humanitarian crisis at the border, and a bill that would bar President Obama from expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants temporary work permits and relief from deportation for some young immigrants. But House leaders failed to gather the 218 votes needed to move forward.
Ironically, Speaker Boehner — who, one day earlier, advanced his plan to sue President Obama for allegedly exceeding his authority with executive orders — urged President Obama to act alone on securing the border. In a statement, Boehner and fellow House leaders Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), said: 

This situation shows the intense concern within our conference – and among the American people – about the need to ensure the security of our borders and the president’s refusal to faithfully execute our laws. There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries. For the past month, the House has been engaged in intensive efforts to pass legislation that would compel the president to do his job and ensure it can be done as quickly and compassionately as possible. Through an inclusive process, a border bill was built by listening to members and the American people that has the support not just of a majority of the majority in the House, but most of the House Republican Conference. We will continue to work on solutions to the border crisis and other challenges facing our country. 

The House’s failure to gather enough votes for the bill represents a huge defeat in the first legislative test for McCarthy, the new majority leader, and Scalise, the new whip. The pair were apparently outmaneuvered by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who reportedly met with more than a dozen House Republicans on Wednesday night to press them to oppose leadership’s bill. 

Excerpt:  Read More from The National Memo on the craziness of the GOP worthless House!

Do you want to go through this bunch of nonsense for two more years?  Know I don't and why I am supporting Democrats in 2014 to move the Country forward and show the wealthy Koch Bros and other wealthy Republican supporters/donors that all their money cannot buy the Country -- can only buy a group of unethical Republcians who put getting reelected over what is best for the Country.  The Libertarian Koch Bros/ALEC are slowly destroying the Republican Party.

Republicans like Boehner, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, RNC Chair Priebus and Republican elected officials up and down the line have their heads so far buried in the sand to what they are doing to destroy the Republican Party that they cannot come up for air as they sold out the American people starting years ago.  They will go down in history IMHO as the GOP officials responsible for the destruction of the Republican Party by selling out for greed, power, and getting reelected.

The legacies of President Dwight D Eisenhower, President Theodore Roosevelt, and President Abraham Lincoln will remain as good people with common sense try to pick up the pieces of a flawed Republican Party where greed, racism, and self importance made elected Republicans at all levels sell out the American people. Time to OUST the Republican Party of NO!

House Republicans Vote to Sue My President -- I Pledge to Donate/Volunteer/Vote to Oust the GOP from Leadership at all Levels

Been a busy summer and decided to take some time off from all the negativity of Republican politics against the President, Democrats, and all the American people.  Still have been posting on Twitter.  

Today I am back as the Republicans in the House chose to set a new precedent and low mark in politics even for Republicans by suing MY President and theirs even though they refuse to admit that President Obama is the President of all Americans.  Is it because he is black or a Democrat or both?  The 'my way or no way' Koch Bros Republican Party is the absolute worst I have ever witnessed and the biggest do nothings who get paid with our tax dollars.  Republicans vote to sue the President and then only work 14 days between now and the election so the taxpayers are paying for their campaigning.

I gladly have donated several times today to the Democrat Congressional Committee to oust the lowlife Koch Bros Republicans from leadership of the House so the Country can be moved forward rather than be stuck on the wayback machine where women and minorities didn't have the right to vote.  Please join me in giving whatever you can afford.

Years ago I was told my longtime Congressman in Ohio while I was in my teens that as a candidate you can get a few wealthy people to donate to your campaign and buy all the ads you want but if you want to make sure you win then asks everyone to donate even if they can only afford pennies as they have the same vote as a wealthy donor and people who contribute what they can no matter how small are going to go vote and vastly outnumber the wealthy donors.  That was Cong McCullough from the 4th District of Ohio -- last of a breed of honest Congressmen who put their constituents first.

Now that district of farmers and small towns is represented by Speaker Boehner as a family member said wouldn't know a steer from a bull.  My hometown is 90 miles from where Speaker Boehner resides and is part of a district in the western part of SW Ohio Republicans made sure did not cross into any major cities.  Perfect example of gerrymandering and the person elected not understanding the district although I can point out a couple of local bars in my home town if he hasn't found them already.

Was going to write my Congressman Tom Cole and tell him what I thought about the vote to sue but I did that earlier on campaign financing and the reply back was garbage not answering my comments same with the Sen Inhofe's response.  Now I am sending the link to this blog.  The only response I received back on campaign financing that made sense came from Senator (Dr) Tom Coburn my other Senator who wants every donation online immediately no matter how much was donated and also called for term limits for Congress.  I appreciated Dr. Tom's comments.  He treats his constituents like we have brains even if we don't always agree with him.  The other two -- Cole and Inhofe are arrogant with most of the replies coming from their staff.

Here are my comments to Congressman Cole that I decided to make public on the blog instead of wasting my time filling out his form and getting back a reply from an aide that made no sense to what I submitted.  Instead I will send this link to my blog post to hid office:

Casting a vote to sue my President and yours too even if you won't admit he won twice, makes me roll up my sleeves and open my checkbook to Democrats from this day forward. 

You spineless Koch Bros Republican puppets of the wealthy and Tea Party have no backbone to stand up and tell the truth. 

Cannot wait to get a House that will move the Country forward not backward which means ousting Boehner from the Speaker and the GOP from the majority.  The racist attitude of the GOP is the worst I have ever seen and beyond disgusting. 

You all made your bed, now you can lie in it.  Women I know throughout this country, military, minorities, young people all want nothing to do with the Neanderthal thinking of today's GOP!   

Enjoy being the party of the biggest bunch of do nothings this Country has ever seen that have trouble with the truth but the internet catches all of you in your lies including on impeachment.  Suing the President for a bill signed by President Bush has reached a new low even for Republicans 

Shame on all of you worthless Republicans in Congress and frankly in Oklahoma where oil/gas run the state and regular people are told to get lost.  Going to catch up with the GOP even here before it is through.  There will be a day when the hard right tells the rest of you to shove it because you didn't go far enough right and a lot of us are going to be laughing. 

Really dumb move!

The first link has a list of Republican incumbents and candidates calling for impeachment that flies in the face of Boehner/Rove lies while the second link shows how fast a Republican can change their mind on impeachment.  Simply unbelievable Koch Bros GOP is this stupid even for a Party that has done stupid things in the past -- this one is one of the dumbest ever for a Republican Leadership Group who has a rating in single digits and have cost the American taxpayers millions with their votes to repeal ACA and obstruction on veterans jobs bills, job bills, infrastructure, and the list goes on.  

From Politicususa:  Crushing The GOP Lie: Here Is a List of Republican Incumbents Who Support Impeachment From Think Progress:   House Republican Insists He’s Not Considering Impeaching Obama, Then Admits He Is, All In Less Than 60 Seconds

Time to oust the Republicans from any leadership at the Federal level or at state level as some of us have some of the worst governors we have ever seen -- more on that in the days ahead.  

Happy 4th of July!

The words of the President are so true from our founding fathers that all men are created equal and it is imperative that we all keep that in mind.  The color of a person's skin, their religious beliefs, their background of where they or their family came from should not matter -- what matters is that we are all Americans and time for racism to be sent packing once and for all from our political campaigns and government.  If someone wants to be a racist,  get out of politics and quit trying to tell the rest of us what to believe or what to do.  
From the Thomas Jefferson Memorial:

On the panel of the northwest interior wall is an excerpt from "A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1777", except for the last sentence, which is taken from a letter of August 28, 1789, to James Madison:

Almighty God hath created the mind free...All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.

Just maybe the SCOTUS needs a refresher course in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution since five of them seem to think that a business is a person and are taking the Court hard right into the land of religious right who have the common sense of a gnat.  With ruling that a Corporation is a person it opens up all kinds of scenarios and a for-profit can be a religious organization opens up even more.

Does that now mean that there will be no more corporate tax breaks since they are people just like us? If businesses are people then we can start sueing them as they are no longer protected as they are now just an individual person -- no more limited liability companies?  If a for-profit business is now a religious entity, then time to quit making religious organizations tax exempt.  This SCOTUS is opening up Pandora's Box like no other to pay back the benefactors and forgot  that SCOTUS is to rule on the law not overturn years of precedence and make new law in order to make the Court hard right.  

On this 4th of July we all need to pledge to return common sense to Congress and the Supreme Court and reject this nonsense we are seeing out of SCOTUS to protect the wealthy just like the House Republicans.  Hobby Lobby is not a Church or a religious organization -- it is a for profit company which the hard right on the SCOTUS cannot get through their heads.  Monsanto and Koch Industries are not people no matter how many times SCOTUS says a corporation is a person -- it is not!  People run corporations with board of directors but the corporation itself is not a living, breathing person. Koch's have gotten their money's worth with this SCOTUS since Scalia and Thomas attend their events and with Monsanto, Thomas used to be their attorney but none of them recuse themselves?  Why not?

Now we are discovering that Justice Alito lied during this hearings but so did Chief Justice Roberts. Worst part is that Jonathan Turley nailed the current Chief Justice for hiding (lying about) his hard right agenda but the Democrats led by Harry Reid wouldn't listen to the person most of us believe is the most honest commentator we have when it comes to the law.  Majority Leader Reid refused to call people who would have stated how far hard right Roberts was preferring to keep his head buried in the sand. What a mess Bush 41 and 43 made of their Supreme Court picks to make the Court despised instead of respected.  Like everything else Bush 43 touched, it is a mess.

We need to choose our candidates carefully because they hold the future of our Nation in their hands and right now we have a hard right SCOTUS making it up as they go and a hard right House GOP who are nothing but obstructions with a Speaker who now wants to sue the President for doing his job. You cannot make this stuff up.

If Democrats keep the Senate which I would bet they will, then Harry Reid needs replaced for a host of reasons starting with confirming Supreme Court Justices of Bush 43 without having real hearings and that beyond ridiculous filibuster that requires 60 votes to pass almost anything.  Reid let the American people down and time for him to step aside and let someone who has a backbone run the Senate because he seems to have a hard time finding his.  Wrong person for Democrats to have in charge of the Senate.  My question is does Harry Reid listen to the Mormon Church or fellow Democrats and American people because if he listed to us, he wouldn't have cut a deal with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the filibuster where McConnell won.

It is the 4th of July and if you do only one thing this year for the Country, vote out the hard right who are supported by the Koch Brothers.  The Koch Bros "My Way or No Way" people in charge of the GOP across the Country want a Christian Nation where we have to worship at their churches and other religions are not recognized not to mention only white males should vote or be elected to office.  They have said it enough times I believe them.

Many Americans fail to realize that true believers, particularly religious true believers, are convinced it is their mandate from god to transform America into a religious state with forced compliance to biblical edicts. There is a strongly-held belief among evangelicals, and Republicans perpetuate the idea, that there is a war on Christianity because the religious right is prohibited by the Constitution from imposing their beliefs on the people. Americans must understand that until there is rigorous response to the religious right’s war on the Constitution, their relentless attacks will continue including passing legislation teaching creationism as science, legalizing discrimination against gays, and mandating public school teachers force Christian prayers on our children.

Time to end this nonsense in November with voting out the hard right all across America.  Our Nation and its people deserve better representation than what they are getting as more than 2% of the Nation do matter -- every citizen matters but the wealthy donors should not be allowed to try to buy elections. Time to show the Koch's and others they may have over $200M to spend, but we have the voters!

Happy 4th of July - pledge to turn this Nation back to We the People -- all the People not just white males!

 

Primary Election Day in Oklahoma - My Last Time to Vote as a Republican

My form to re-register as a Democrat from being a Republican since I first voted is sitting here on my desk all filled out and ready to file.  I wanted to do it in person not by mail because I want to make sure that my new registration says Democrat and it doesn't get lost.  BTW, my youngest daughter hasn't lived in this precinct in years after leaving in Jan 2008 but the GOP still has her on the voting roles.

As I voted today, was asked after showing my driver's license if I was a Republican or Democrat and said "Republican for the last time as I have had it with Republicans" -- you could have heard a pin drop but the lady in the middle was grinning from ear to ear and handed me my 'I voted' sticker before I voted.

There was one main reason I stayed a Republican until after this primary today -- wanted to vote against current State School Superintendent Janet Barrisi who wins the worst State School Superintendence along with most arrogant I have seen in the six states we have lived.  Her claim to fame to be State School Superintendent was sitting on the Board of Education of a Charter school plus she is a dentist.  She refused almost from day one anyone's suggestion to how on make education better in Oklahoma preferring to blame the Superintendents, Principals and Teachers.  Never stood up for teacher pay raises until she was up for reelection this year and then it was only $2,000 a year which still ranks Oklahoma 49th in teacher pay.  Oklahoma is #1 on cuts to education since 2008 and adding back money this session only gets us to 2009 funding levels.  IMO the Republicans only did that because this is an election year as well.  Some consultant was working overtime.

Barrisi's commercials on ESPN with lies have sent me through the roof along with her attacks on another opponent are beyond pale and no one who condones those nasty, unethical attack ads I have been getting in my mail is going to get my vote.  All these years I have never seen anything like the Barrisi attack ads and lies out of a candidate for State School Superintendent who I took great pleasure in voting against.  I voted for the person she has been attacking, former state Education Board member Joy Hofmeister, who Barrisi has relentlessly being going after.  I just want Barrisi off the stage so I never have to see her or look at her again in an ad during a baseball game or any other time.

The ads running on TV from Republicans in Oklahoma are some of the most dishonest I have seen and hit the mute every time.  I personally don't like any ads on ESPN but these GOP ads are beyond the norm with lies.  If I hear one more Oklahoma elected official talk about repealing Obamacare, I am going to throw something at the TV.  Does Lucas and the rest of the Oklahoma delegation think Oklahomans are that stupid to not to understand our State is shortchanging its citizens by millions of dollars by not taking the exchanges or even given a thought how it is hurting mental health and clinics around the state?  How about Frank Lucas heads the Agriculture Committee who made the drastic cuts the SNAP Program for food benefits including young airman.  Seems like all Republicans today care about is grandstanding and making the hard right GOP base believe they can repeal Obamacare after 50 times.  Don't you think the base should get a clue?

Looking back on what started the downhill progressional of the GOP in my eyes has to start with putting Sarah Palin on the ticket with John McCain.  I had supported Rudy as part of several groups and went to McCain when he asked but I didn't bargain for Palin who could see Russia from her front porch and only wanted to answer puffball questions.  If you want my biggest objection was as a Mother putting her pregnant daughter through being on primetime TV at the GOP Convention.  Still haven't recovered from that and it showed me that women in the GOP like Palin will do anything it takes to get noticed and get ahead.  Once it started dripping, I began to doubt Republicans but not enough to jettison them in 2010 when they elected some of the worst Governors I have ever seen including right here in Oklahoma.  I have a hard time fathoming at times what she is saying but one thing is for sure Governor Fallin and most of the GOP in Legislature are part of ALEC and do their bidding as we saw this last session.  Our whole Oklahoma Congressional delegation is part of ALEC BTW.

After Republicans took over Congress and the State Houses/Legislatures in 2010, it has been downhill since and left a lot of us questioning just when this all started on a trek of the GOP to the hard right and are left with the Reagan people who encouraged the religious right to get involved in politics and now they are beginning to run states with money from the Koch Brothers and advice and money from Karl Rove.  The 2+2 begins to add up.  Have had people tell me recently that they believe the Reagan people took out Gerald Ford when he ran against Carter as he was too moderate and I sat here, thought about it, and it does make sense.

After 2010,  I became really irritated with my support of the GOP all these years when I should have taken the blinders off earlier.  Since joining Republicans for Obama in 2012 and supporting Democratic candidates instead of Republicans I no get in dust ups on the Internet with fellow Republicans and their stances I vehemently disagree with and have for years.  Their version of right to carry goes way past the 2nd amendment IMHO and is on the verge of crazy.

Then we have Governors like Republican Bobby Jindal of LA saying that there touting a hostile takeover of Washington DC with an armed revolution as he whipped the audience into a frenzy.

From Crooks and Liars:

On Saturday night, Governor Bobby Jindal egged on religious militia freaks when he made crazed remarks about a coming revolution to our nation's capitol because of a "silent war" on religion. There's no denying that he consciously tried to whip up more anger and resentment from far right--violent fringe groups when he made these comments at Ralph Reed's faux religious Faith and Freedom Coalition conference. 

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Saturday night accused President Barack Obama and other Democrats of waging wars against religious liberty and education and said that a rebellion is brewing in the U.S. with people ready for "a hostile takeover" of the nation's capital. 

Jindal spoke at the annual conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group led by longtime Christian activist Ralph Reed. Organizers said more than 1,000 evangelical leaders attended the three-day gathering. Republican officials across the political spectrum concede that evangelical voters continue to play a critical role in GOP politics. 

"I can sense right now a rebellion brewing amongst these United States," Jindal said, "where people are ready for a hostile takeover of Washington, D.C., to preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren." 

The governor said there was a "silent war" on religious liberty being fought in the U.S. — a country that he said was built on that liberty. 

"I am tired of the left. They say they're for tolerance, they say they respect diversity. The reality is this: They respect everybody unless you happen to disagree with them," he said. "The left is trying to silence us and I'm tired of it, I won't take it anymore."

This is truly nutty stuff coming out of Louisiana's governor. 

Read More at Crooks and Liars

This country was not founded on religion but on religious freedom to worship or not worship how we want.  No amount of rewriting history is going to change that fact.  The more the hard right GOP pushes theocracy, the more they are going to see blowback coming it at them IMHO.  I am sick and tired of the 'my way or no way' trying to tell the rest of us how to live and making laws because that is their religion.  Last OK GOP State Convention I attended there was a plank in the platform to demand all public school teachers teach the Bible and I went off on that and other issues and got told if I didn't like it to leave the Republican Party.

To all of you who have said leave, I am going to be glad to oblige and will oppose all of you at every turn from the Democratic side of the House who believe in helping people not donors.

My first endorsement is Democrat Joe Dorman for Oklahoma Governor who will be there for all Oklahomans not just ALEC, oil, and gas and wealthy donors like the current Governor Mary Fallin.

Defense Budget Proposal for FY15 Already Meeting Resistance from Obstructionist GOP in Congress

Will be taking some time off this summer from the blog to get ready to concentrate on elections this fall when the American people have a chance to oust a lot of Tea Party and hard right from the Congress, statewide offices, and legislatures across the Country.  Time to return the Country back to having office holders with common sense as you will there is none in the second article posted today out of two of Oklahoma's Congressional delegation.  First article is from the Secretary of Defense and talks about the budget of the Defense Department.  Finally a Secretary of Defense attempting to bring sanity to the Defense budget which is a rare happening.  From Jan 2001 - Jan 2009, the Defense Department under Bush-Cheney spent money on defense that was way beyond common sense.

Two fighters in production with numerous flaws were pushed by the GOP with the  F-35 put into production before flight testing was complete and has cost mega bucks to fix the fleet when they find the problems during flight test.  It was abject stupidity.  Then there was Sen McCain's hold put on getting a new Tanker fleet for almost ten years when the planes should have been replaced years ago. Finally last year Boeing was given a contract for new production of new Tankers which was much more costly than if they had been replaced years ago.  The old tankers have been an accident waiting to happen but thanks to Tinker Depot Maintenance, they have been kept flying accident free.  McCain wanted a smaller tanker at one time which would never work to refuel the wide bodied planes.

Then there was AWACS which had not had a major upgrade in years and had actually fallen behind the European AWACS who had the upgrades.  The amount of money Bush-Cheney and the GOP spent on new weapons systems should be a crime.  The F-16 didn't need replaced by a plane that is not as maneuverable and with a stealth coating that will increase maintenance cost.  Finally someone after Pres Obama was elected decided the F-16 was the best fighter we had and was going nowhere.  Congress after much pressure finally capped the number of F-22's at a much lower number than the GOP wanted to save money.

Today we have a Secretary of Defense with a budget which is the beginning of common sense from DoD, but chances of getting it passed through the Obstructionist Republican House are slim to none:

Hagel: Proposed Defense Budget Tailored to Meet Future Threats  06/18/2014 11:31 AM CDT  By Nick Simeone American Forces Press Service  WASHINGTON, June 18, 2014 - After more than a decade of large, land-based operations driven by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the proposed Defense Department budget for the coming fiscal year focuses on new and emerging threats, including those in cyberspace, with the department proposing significant reductions in the size of the Army and Marines, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told a Senate panel today.  "After 13 years of long, large stability operations, we must shift our focus onto future requirements shaped by enduring and emerging threats," Hagel told the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, largely recapitulating the main points contained in the proposed Pentagon budget first unveiled in February.  "We must be able to defeat terrorist threats and cyberattacks and deter adversaries with increasingly modern weapons and technological capabilities," Hagel added.  Even so, Hagel said, the department is taking a $75 billion hit in its budget this year and next, and he warned lawmakers "we cannot keep our current force structure adequately ready and modernized" under the strict budget limits being imposed on the department. And unless Congress changes the law to prevent another budget sequester, he added, another $50 billion will come out of the department's budget every year through 2021.  This, he said, could occur at a time when America's and the world's and security are increasingly being challenged.  "Recent crises in Iraq and Ukraine remind us how quickly things can change in the world and they underscore why we must assure the readiness, agility and capability of our military," the secretary told the senators.  Even so, as outlined in the president's budget request sent to Congress earlier this year, Hagel said the department still proposes drawing down the active duty Army by 13 percent over the next five years to as low 440,000 soldiers, which he said he believes is still adequate to defend the nation and respond to future threats.  The Marine Corps, he said, will continue its planned drawdown to 182,000 members while devoting an additional 900 Marines to stepping up security at U.S. embassies around the world. The Navy will have 11 carrier strike groups, but 11 cruisers will be set aside for modernization and retrofitting, while the Air Force will see the 50-year-old U-2 surveillance plane replaced by the unmanned Global Hawk aircraft, as well as an end to the aging A-10 attack aircraft.  Compensation for those in uniform is being adjusted, Hagel said, with the department slowing the growth in pay increases, while subsidies for off-base housing will be reduced as well. Co-pays for retirees and family members under the TRICARE health care plan will face modest increases, but health care for active duty personnel will remain free, the secretary told the panel, adding that the adjustments are tied to resourcing readiness.  "Under our plan, 100 percent of the savings from compensation reform will go toward ensuring that our troops have the training and tools they need to accomplish their missions," he said.  But Hagel warned that if Congress does not provide the department the money it needs, "it will jeopardize the readiness and capability of our armed forces and shortchange America's ability to effectively and decisively respond when global events demand it."  Today's hearing comes midway through a congressional calendar that is not likely to see final action on a Pentagon budget for months.  (Follow Nick Simeone on Twitter: @simeoneAFPS) Last night while checking weather at The Oklahoman, I came across an article on AWACS and pretty much went ballistic because two members of the OK Congressional delegation Cong Tom Cole and Senator Jim Inhofe are opposed to the Air Force's plan to deactivate a Reserve Squadron of AWACS.  Right now seven of the AWACS are flown by the Reserve Squadron and those crews would go away to leave 20 active duty AWACS with active duty crews flying them. When B-52's drew down, they had planes that they would put into rotation but drew down the number of crews and rotating planes without crews into the rotation which allowed for major overhaul of the B-52 fleet. When the Air Force went out with solicitations for upgrade proposal submittals, they included a larger number of planes then they were actively flying.   It sounds like what they are going to do with AWACS.  This would allow AWACS to rotate their planes into depot maintenance for major work and upgrades to lengthen the life of the plane.  Makes perfect sense but not to Cole and Inhofe who are worried Tinker will lose some people -- where were they when we lost units to Texas during the BRAC from Will Rogers or demanding that AWACS be upgraded years ago when European AWACS had more upgrades than US AWACS -- like crickets chirping. From the Oklahoman on 17 June: WASHINGTON — The White House came out strongly on Tuesday against the defense spending bill set to be considered by the full U.S. House this week and specifically cited a provision that would protect AWACS planes stationed at Tinker Air Force Base.  A statement from the White House budget office says a section of the spending bill authored by Rep. Tom Cole "would prevent the Air Force from using funds to divest or to disestablish any units of the active or reserve component associated with E-3 airborne warning and control system aircraft.  "This provision would force the Air Force to take funding from higher priority defense needs in order to operate, sustain, and maintain aircraft that are not needed and are unaffordable in today's constrained fiscal environment."  The Air Force had proposed cutting seven of the 27 AWACS planes at Tinker. And, under the proposal, a Reserve unit at Tinker would no longer be allowed to fly any of the remaining planes. Cole, R-Moore, whose district includes Tinker, added a provision to the defense spending bill that would provide $34.6 million for AWACS operations and maintenance, $24.9 million for personnel and $31 million for parts and modifications.  Cole is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and influential on the subcommittee for defense spending.  U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Tulsa, a former Navy pilot who has also fought the Air Force proposal, recently called AWACS “the only airborne asset capable of performing command and control and battle space management. ... If you take it out, we can’t fight, and we can’t win.”  Sen. Jim Inhofe, of Tulsa, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has added language to the Senate defense authorization bill to protect all of Tinker's AWACS. That bill is separate from the spending legislation that must follow.  We don't need 27 AWACS with crews when our allies also fly AWACS -- we are not fighting two wars, we do not have a no fly zone like we did in Iraq and there is absolutely no need today for 27 with full crews as 20 AWACS will work just fine.  Are people going to believe politicians like Cole/Inhofe/Bridenstine or the people whose job it is to keep our Armed Forces armed and ready to protect this Country.  I just wanted to scream at the three that we don't fly the only AWACS in the world in case they missed that part.  It is always about politics with the Oklahoma Republican delegation not about what is best for America or the Department of Defense. Same delegation that voted against Hurricane Sandy relief except for Cole and Lucas -- same delegation that voted against the veterans jobs bill and the list goes on but now they are in full attack mode to keep seven AWACS with Reservist and cost other programs in the Defense Department.  Forgot Cong Lucas from OK chaired the Ag Committee that cut food stamps including for active military while keeping subsidies for big farmers. If only the people in this state would wake up to the millions left on the table by Republicans by turning down the ACA exchanges and defeating common core, not to mention loopholes and tax breaks for wealthy, big business and oil and gas, Oklahoma would be in better shape.  It is hard to figure out what these people support as they are so negative and selfish if it doesn't benefit them politically. Wouldn't give you two cents for the whole delegation when I used to support some of them but they actually had common sense back then and were not part of the obstruction we are seeing out of the GOP in Congress today. We were at Wright-Patterson AFB when the decision was made after studying various options to assign the new AWACS to Tinker AFB in the 70's as they had the room and ability to do the security upgrades required.  In the early 90's they were joined by the Navy E-6's from Hawaii as they share the same platform and made depot maintenance easier as the Navy was a little bit slow with maintenance of wide bodied aircraft (told to me by a former Commander of the E-6's).  After 9-11, we saw the European AWACS arrive here so our AWACS could be flying all the missions necessary for the US overseas.  That right there shows the cooperation with our allies in making sure we all stay safe. My more than two cents.  I think Chuck Hagel is doing an outstanding job as Secretary of Defense against all odds with the obstruction by Republicans in the House and Senate who are more concerned about Benghazi then they are our active duty military and our veterans.

President Obama at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 2014

Today we honor those brave troops who took to the beaches of Normandy to begin reclaiming the land and countries that the German Nazi's under Hitler had taken.  General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the go order and the beginning of freedom for the French began and spread to other countries.
God Bless the men and women who serve and  have served.  A special thank you to all who fought to free Europe from the tyranny of Hitler and bring freedom back to Western Europe.