Proof The GOP Wants The Poor To Just Shut Up And DIe Already

GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch seems to think children who
need government funded health insurance should
stop being so lazy and get a job, dammit. 

The tax scam bill the Republican Senate passed last week is proof enough that the GOP, taking orders from their ultra rich donors, want to transfer all wealth to the 1% and take it all away from the lower and middle class.

They want us all to be serfs, essentially.

Two quotes from two Senators pretty much prove it to my mind, as they insist anyone not rich like themselves are just lazy jerks who want to sit on their butts and take government money so they can booze it up and gamble. This includes children, apparently.

Here's Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who was explaining that we can afford a trillion dollar deficit to give tax breaks to the wealthy, but we can't afford the to pay for the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP:

"I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won't help themselves, won't lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything."

Got that kids? If you're 10 years old and sick and your parents are poor, get yourself a f*$&ing job you lazy ass bum. Don't do things like go to school to better your future and help around the house. Just go make sub-minimum wages in some dangerous factory like kids had to do a century ago.

You owe it to your billionaire overloards to do that. So get to work!

GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley thinks everybody with modest
incomes is poor because they spend all their money
on booze and sex, rather than say, groceries or housing

Then we have GOP Sen. Charles Grassley, explaining why we have to get rid of the estate tax, which only makes the wealthy wealthier and has no effect on the rest of us:

"I think not have the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing - as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it's on booze or women or movies," Grassley told the Des Moines Register.

Yep. The reason why the single mom making minimum wage at McDonald's has not amassed a fortune and become a millionaire at least is because she's squandering her pay on cheap vodka, sex and probably porn movies.

Grassley seems to be suggesting that no low and middle class people are spending what little money they've got on things like groceries, putting a roof over their head, things like that.

To the GOP, we're all selfish as hell and not worth the time of day. We apparently owe the trillionaire class whatever pittance we have. Hand it over, I guess.





“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing — as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies,” Grassley told the Des Moines Register i

GOP Says Ill People Who Are Poor Should Just Die Already

Jimmy Kimmel tearfully explained his newborn son's
health crisis the other night on his show and pleaded
with lawmakers not to literally kill poorer children
in the same situation through their Obamacare
repeal efforts

I was among the many this week who was struck by the contrast between late night television host Jimmy Kimmel's heartfelt on-air description of his newborn son's health crisis and some members of the GOP, who apparently would like ill children like Kimmel's to just get out of the way and die already.

Kimmel's son Billy was born last week and it quickly became apparent he had a heart defect and needed immediate surgery.

Terrifying for any parent, for sure.

A tearful Kimmel said Billy pulled through, but waiting out the surgery was the longest three hours of his life

Kimmel's rich and has got resources and insurance to cover things like this. But, like most people, he thought about others who aren't so monied and what they'd do without health insurance.

"We were brought up to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world, but until a few years ago millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all, Kimmel said. 

"You know, before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you'd never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition. You were born with a pre-existing condition and if your parents didn't have medical insurance you might not live long enough to even get denied because of a pre-existing condition. 

If your baby is going to die and doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter who much money you make."

Kimmel added: "Whatever your party, whatever you believe, whoever you support, we need to make sure that the people who are supposed to represent us, people who are meeting about this right now in Washington, understand that very clearly."

Of course, those GOP members that what to repeal Obamacare don't really represent their constituents. There's no money in that. They represent the insurance companies and such that keep the money flowing to these Congress creatures.

Just contrast what Kimmel said with what Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama said about health care, as just about every media outlet did on Tuesday.

Basically, many GOP Congress creatures want to let insurance companies charge anything they want to people with pre-existing conditions. In other words, people with such conditions who are not zillionaires will not be able to afford insurance.

You'll never catch any of these GOP members saying this out loud, but what they're telling us is people with pre-existing conditions just aren't profitable, so they need to die and get out of the way

Brooks came close to saying this when he told CNN's Jake Tapper:

"My understanding is that it will allow companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool.....thereby reducing the cost to these people who lead good lives. "

Brooks said people with pre-existing conditions just aren't being fair to people who are healthy: "They're healthy, they have done the things to keep their bodies healthy and right now those are the people who have done things the right way and are seeing costs skyrocket."

I guess Kimmel's son Billy didn't do things the right way. However, my guess is little Billy Kimmel didn't acquire his heart condition by chain smoking and constantly munching on Cheetos during the nine months or so he spent in his mother's womb.

Brooks did concede that some people have health conditions through no fault of their own, but didn't explain what we should do to help these people afford health insurance. Even if it's not their fault, ill people should just go away, apparently.

I get it that government programs can't and shouldn't do everything for everybody. However, health care, as most industrialized nations already know, should not be fully a matter of free markets.

If you're poor, it's OK to not be able to afford a unnecessary item like, say, an Alfa Romero. But literally causing the deaths of people who can't afford health care, like what some in the GOP want to do, is just pathological.

But I guess the zillionaires have to watch out for one another. Or something.

Conservative pundits piled on, too. Media Matters cited several, including Charles Hunt in the Washington Times, who said Kimmel gave a "slobbering wet kiss to federal bureacracy."  and called him a "dirty self-absorbed narcissistic exhibitionist."

The real problem here, being, that Kimmel called attention to the issue and we are supposed to shut up about it so as not to raise public anger at the GOP's efforts to kill poor people.

Media Matters also noted that Cheryl Chumley said Kimmel continued the left's "uncomfortable habit of slinging around tears to get what it wants."

She missed the point entirely when she said hospitals don't kick people out who need treatment. True, but without health insurance, people do not get the help they need, don't see doctors when they must, don't get life saving medication, and thus die, or at least go bankrupt

And the GOP is forging ahead. House Republicans say they have enough votes to do their Obamacare repeal and will take a vote today. These are terrible people.

North Carolina Keeps Coming Up With "Interesting" Politicians For Some Reason

Larry Pittman, a North Carolina state GOP rep, says
Abraham Lincoln was a tyrant on par with Hitler. 

I've been watching for the past year with a mix of fascination, horror and amusement as North Carolina politicians keep coming up with the strangest legislative initiatives.

For the past year, for instance, they've been strangely obsessed with who uses public restrooms with them, which resulted in those weird 'bathroom bills" in which they try to keep transgendered people using rest rooms that correspond to the gender with which they identify.

Like it would be an improvement that a beareded redneck guy must share a restroom with the fine ladies of North Carolina. Or something like that.

The inspiration for these kinds of weird laws or proposals seems to come from a bench of mostly Republican North Carolina lawmakers who have rather, um, interesting viewpoints on history and the world around them.

One of these clowns is Larry Pittman, who, according to the Raleigh News and Observer recently introduced a bill trying to get North Carolina to defy the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

The bill will go nowhere and this isn't the most interesting thing about Pittman.

In a Facebook discussion, somebody who noticed Pittman's obsession with gay marriage told him to "get over it."

Pittman won't. He responded, breathtakingly: "And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort of tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional."

Well, that's certainly in interesting take on history.  There was that little matter of freeing the slaves the Lincoln was involved in, and why the Civil War was fought.

I dunno. Maybe Pittman thinks that slavery wasn't such a bad idea?

Somebody asked him on Facebook. No answer. The Raleigh News and Observer tried to ask him. No answer. Oh well.

By the way, Pittman, unlike other extreme right wing wackos, doesn't think former President Barack Obama is a traitor because "he didn't harm any Kenyans."

Ookie Dokey then!

Moving on:

The wife of former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory had a pretty reasonable legislative request last year: Why not require so-called "puppy mills" to treat animals humanely. Many such puppy mills have a reputation for abusing animals, so the legislation made sense and the idea had bipartisan support in North Carolina.

Then came Rep. Michael Speciale, who apparently hates puppies, indicates Slate.  The legislation called for animals at "puppy mills" to get exercise daily. Speciale asked: "If I kick (a puppy across the floor, is that considered daily exercise?"

Mrs. McCrory's proposal would also require that if euthaniasia was necessary, that it be performed humanely. That seems straight forward enough. But not to Speciale "'Euthanasia performed humanely' - so should I choose the ax or the baseball bat?"

Lovely.

The point Speciale was trying to make (I think) is that he thought the language of the bill was too vague. But really? Sounds like this dude likes the fact that some puppy mills abuse animals.

Slate, in the same articles that cited Speciale, also brought us Rep. Carl Ford, who wanted to establish a state religion in North Carolina.

Yes, I know the First Amendment of the Constitution says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.

Ford says this only applies to Congress, not states. Of course, Ford is ignoring the 14th Amendment, which applies most of the Bill of Rights to the states.

Even so, Ford tried to forge ahead, promoting a bill that would have allowed prayers and creationism in public schools, and allowed lawmakers to steer tax mone to the churches they especially liked.

The bill went nowhere, and the courts would have overturned it anyway, but nice try, Mr. Ford!

I guess it's become a tradition among extreme right wing politicians to wage Quixotic political battles in the imaginary belief they can create a world that suits them perfectly and forces the rest of us into that world, kicking and screaming.

The danger, of course, is that they do often succeed in lurching us a little closer to these bizarro worlds they want us all to live in. But at least they're too dumb and stubborn to fully make us go there.

Damn Americans have a habit of rebelling against being told what to do and who to be just because some wacko politicians says so.

Offensive Mike Pence ObamaCare Tweet At Least As Bad As Trump Tweetstorms

One of the noisy Congressional town halls this week. Here
angry constituents confront Obamacare foe Rep. David
Brat, R-Virginia.

I don't know about you, but I was totally offended by a tweet Vice President Mike Pence sent out Wednesday.

He said, "Obamacare will be replaced by something that actually works. - bringing freedom and individual responsibility back to American health care. "

Yep, he wants us to go back to the old days of us having the "responsibility" of going bankrupt under the weight of medical bills and the freedom to die because we can't afford a doctor - all because insurance companies don't cover people that say, have pre-existing medical conditions.

Or they simply don't feel like denting their huge profits by helping to pay for life-saving surgery.

Or, as one response to Pence's tweet by @thomdunn says, "My buddy Matt would be 31 today if he didn't lack the freedom and individual responsibility to deal with his own leukemia. His fault!"

Or from Amelia Gapin (@EntirelyAmelia) "How does 'individual responsibility work when one member of a family gets cancer and bankrupts the whole family?"

Or, from @RAFinley: "Ohhh right, right. If we haven't worked hard enough at the right jobs to be able to afford our emergencies = irresponsible."

No wonder GOP lawmakers have been having such a difficult month, what with those angry town hall meetings where people yell at their Republican Congress Creatures about repealing Obamacare.

 I've always been amazed that they've railed against Obamacare for six years now.

Republicans are now in power and you'd think during all that time they'd come up with a plan to replace Obamacare with something "better."

But that was never the point. They're much more craven than that and the Pence tweet proves it.

I'll be blunt. Many Obamacare opponents want people to die from lack of health care. After a certain point, after sick people are bled dry and can't any more, they stop being profitable to insurers and hospitals and such.

These people stop being useful, so kill them off. It's the ultimate death panel.

Or, they just hate Obamacare because Obama came up with it, and to many GOPers, anything Obama did is evil.

Of course, a lot of people see through Republicans' hatred of Obamacare and that's why those town hall meetings have gotten so raucous. And it's why some Republican Congress Creatures are actually too afraid of actually holding town meetings. Or falsely accuse the angry crowds as being paid by liberal lobbyists or something.

Republicans like Paul Ryan say repealing Obamacare will give us all more freedom, to buy what you want to fit your needs, as he put it.

Like the freedom to go bankrupt with those medical bills, the freedom to stay trapped in a horrible job because the only way to get insurance is through the employer, the freedom to be victimized by a poorly regulated insurer who decides not to cover some medical treatments, and the freedom to die because you waited too long to see a doctor because you didn't want to bear the expense.

It's wonderful being free, isn't it?

Melania Trump Plagiarizes Michelle Obama's Speech About Hard Work And Honesty.

This photo has been flying around the Internet this morning
after Melania Trump plagarized parts of Michelle Obama's
2008 address at the Democratic National Convention. Ooops. 

Hoo Boy.

The Republican National Convention is NOT going that well.

All the headlines this morning are about Melania Trump's speech.

That was expected.

What I didn't expect was this morning's headlines to note that Melania said exactly what Michelle Obama said during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Yep,  it seems Melania Trump plagarized Michelle Obama. And she plagiarized the section of Obama's speech that dealt with hard work and honesty.

Ahem.

Melanie Trump last night said that her parents told her that "you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promises; that you treat people with respect."

Actually, Michelle Obama, not Melanie's parents told her that.

Here's what Michelle Obama said during the 2008 Democratic National Convention:

"You work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect."

Hmmm, see any similarities between Michelle Obama in 2008 and Melania Trump in 2016?

Last night, Melania Trump went on to talk about children: "We want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

In 2008, Michelle Obama said., "We want our children - and all children in this nation - to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

OK, Melania changed a few words around, but, um.....

You'd think somebody would have vetted the speech and found the copycat lines. Or did the Trump campaign think nobody would notice?

Let's list some of the problems with this, just to spell it out to the Trump campaign:

1. People have such good memories. Especially of good speeches. Like Michelle Obama's.  Even Donald Trump himself tweeted in 2008 after Michelle finished: "Very good speech by @MichelleObama - and under great pressure - Dems should be proud!"

It was just as easy for everybody else to find Michelle's speech as it was for Melania to find it.

2. Melania's speech was given at the Republican National Convention. Michelle's speech was given at a Democratic convention, those commies!   Is the GOP going soft too and acting like those "horrible liberals?"

3. As noted, the lines Melania lifted were about honesty and hard work. Explain, please, how it is honest and hard working to copy and paste words from a speech given eight years ago.

Social media this morning is of course having an absolute joyous field day with this.

The big trending hashtag on Twitter this morning is #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes.

Two of my favorite are: "Barack Obama is still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago."

And:

"I have a dream that one day this nation wil rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: Marry rich."

Of course, the Republican convention has already given us other related laughs.

Scott Baio, that famous actor (who the hell is he? Oh yeah, Joannie and Chachi) gave a speech in which he defined what America means. Said the Great Scott:  "It doesn't mean getting free stuff."

Yeah, like plagarized sections of Michelle Obama speeches.

Let's see, there's Antonio Sabato Jr., the former underwear model, stumping for Trump at the convention by tellling everyone who would listen that he "absolutely" believes Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Yeah, yeah, Antonio, put your pants on will ya?

At this point, I can't WAIT for Donald Trump's speech,  during which, in a stroke of originality, he will tell us "we have nothing to fear but fear itself and I'm going to make you very afraid," and "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for me." 

Mississippi Lawmaker Wins Competition As Most Heartless Pol

This Mississippi politician apparently thinks
if you're not rich enough to buy
lifesaving medication on your own
maybe you should just die and get out of the way. 

When you're in Congress, or a state legislature, or a governor or whatever, you do have to make tough financial choices.

What gets funded, what doesn't based on limited tax revenue. The reality is some worthy, needed programs  - or people in a tough spot - just don't get the money they need.

Such is the case in Mississippi.

According to the Clarion-Ledger newspaper, a mom named Nicole Nichols was getting Medicaid to help pay fo ran expensive insulin pump for her eight year old daughter, who has insulin.

She is a stay at home mom, but her husband works two jobs, so the family does have an income.

But this pump is extremely expensive, the Nichols' can't afford it on their own, and they reluctantly had to turn to Medicaid to help pay for the life saving device.

Then, the company that supplied the pump outsourced products and shipping to another company.

That other company was not covered by Medicaid, and Nichols can't find another outfit that is covered by Medicaid. So she could no longer get the insulin pumps with help from Medicaid. She tried something like 23 of them.

So, that's not Nichols' fault. It's bureaucracy.

In frustration, she reached out to Mississippi state lawmakers. Two were sympathetic but not committal. They'll see what they can do. Which is fine, that's all you can really ask.

But a third state rep, Jeffrey Guice, R-Ocean Springs  wrote back and told Nichols: "I am sorry for your problem. Have you thought abouty buying the supplies with money that you earn?"

I'll remind you again here that Nichols and her husband are employed.  I'll also note that right now, the out of pocket expenses for their kid's insulin pump is $2,000 a month.

So what Guice is really saying is if your job doesn't pay enough to pay for the medicines you need to stay alive, you just have to earn more money. Just like that.

In other words, only rich people deserve life-saving medicine.

I won't paint Republicans with the same brush, since many of them at least have some compassion and have their act together.

But there is a strain of awfulness in some corners of the GOP in which I think they believe only the 1 percent deserve to live. Everybody else is expendable.

At least Guice was blunt about this belief, unlike a lot of 'em who say they want to help but not really.

Guice right now isn't talking about this, refusing to answer questions from the Clarion Ledger, telling the paper, "I don't do interviews."

Oh, OK, you're an elected official who also thinks he's not accountable to the public. We got a real winner here.

Although, after the outcry over his remarks, Guice still wasn't taking calls, but released this emailed statement to the Associated Press:

"I realize my remarks to Mrs. Nichols were completely insensitive and out of line. I am sorry and deeply regret my reply. I know nothing about her and her family and replied in knee-jerk fashion. I'd like to think the people of Mississippi and my constituents know that I'm willing to help where I am able."

I'm still not satisfied. Guise said he replied to Nichols in "knee-jerk fashion." In other words, he assumed Nichols was just another freeloader, just like every person on Medicaid or other government assistance allegedly is.

Time to get those stupid, simplistic assumptions out of your head, Mr. Guise

On the bright side, all this publicity over Guise's comments has prompted Mississippi Medicaid to step in and see if there's anything they can do for Nichols. They're supposed to get in touch with her today.

So I guess Guise did end up helping in his own, bitter way.

It Must Be Terrible To Be Ted Cruz

Everybody hates this guy  

I suddenly have just the teeniest, tiniest bit of sympathy for Ted Cruz.

It's miniscule, but it's there.

It seems everybody hates, HATES Ted Cruz. This is probably not fair, but when I Googled "Ted Cruz hated" I got 20,600,000 results.

Think about it. All we've heard in the news for months is how much everybody hates Ted Cruz. I'm sure he's heard it, too.

His presidential campaign collapsed in a heap Tuesday in Indiana, and the end was a mess. Donald Trump managed to get into Cruz's head just by repeating the bullcrap from the National Enquirer about Cruz's dad somehow being involved with the JFK assassination.

Even Cruz's erstwhile, brief running mate Carly Fiorina fell off a stage, which seemed like an omen a day or two before the Indiana vote. Cruz also accidentally punched his wife while hugging one of his very few supporters the other night.

Cruz was hated in college. There's an interesting article in Slate written by a person who remembers what a slog it was to be in a debate club with Cruz.

"Most of my memories of debating Ted Cruz involve being hollered at," writes Dahlia Lithwick.

As a young lawyer, In the Senate people hated him.  Didn't former House Speaker John Boehner just call Cruz "Lucifer in the flesh"? 

Senator Lindsey Graham said: "If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you."

Congressman Peter King of New York said he would take cyanide if Cruz won the nomination.

Not exactly loving words.

Almost all politicians are rejected by voters from time to time. You need an amazingly thick skin to get into that line of work.

But the word "hate" comes up so often when people are talking about Cruz, and he must be aware of it. This has to sting.

Lithwick, in Slate, sees the same "qualities" in Cruz now as she saw in the college debate gatherings:

"Watching Cruz's halting rise and crushing fall on the campaign trail this season, I've seen so many of the same behaviors: the canned absolutists lines, the just-add-water-outrage machine the too-loud, too-much quality that thrums through every venue until your face hurts."

Politico suggests that maybe Cruz likes to be hated:

"He wants to be hated. He draws strength from the attention it delivers and he has sought the hatred of others since high school......"

"From the view inside Cruz's skull, once you get people to like you, your job has only begun. Additional acts of kindness, consideration and fairness must be extended or your likability will fade into the background.

But hatred is a much more efficient use of emotional energy. Often, a single does of malice can seal the impression among most people that you're a terminal prick. By acquiring as his enemies the Washington political establishment, Cruz figures he can inherit their enemies and the 2016 campaign has proved him right. Nobody until Cruz had the stomach to build his political foundation on a bedrock of loathing."

This obviously was written before Cruz's campaign crashed and burned.

So now what?  If Politico is right, then being the most hated person in the room didn't get Cruz very far.

Does being hated hurt Cruz emotionally? What is it like to have everybody say they hate you. It has to be crushing.

It would be for me and you, but for Cruz, I have no idea.

It all makes you want to give poor Ted Cruz a teddy bear to hug.

Petition For Guns At GOP Convention Was Satire, But Lots Of People Thought It Was Good Idea Anyway

This petition on Change.org to allow open carry guns
at this summer's GOP convention in Cleveland
was fake, but it raised some provocative questions.  

A number of Republicans favor open carry laws, in which you can carry your gun around no matter where you are.

So why not allow open carry at the GOP convention this summer in Cleveland.

What could go wrong?

A petition calling for just that garnered more than 51,000 signatures before the Secret Service shut the idea down.  

I guess a convention center that promises to be full on angry, argumentive people fighting over Donald Trump isn't considered a great place to bring guns.

The petition turned out to be fake, anyway. I suspected as much when I read its flowery language.

An excerpt:

"Without the right to protect themselves, those at the Quicken Loans Arena will be sitting ducks, utterly helpless against evil-doers, criminals or others who wish to threaten the American way of life."

Yep. Bring a gun to a political convention and America is saved!!

The petition was the brainchild of some guy named Jim, who goes by the handle Hyperrationalist on Twitter, according to The Hill.

As The Hill reports:

"Jim said he published the petition to call attention to what he sees as a discrepency in Republicans' position on gun rights.

He said if GOP candidates were actually against gun-free zones like they claimed, they would support the allowing of open carry at the convention.

If the rest of us get to have law-abiding citizens protecting us with guns at restaurants and schools, Jim added, then why shouldn't Republicans have it at their convention?"

Of course, with Donald Trump raising the idea of "riots" if he is denied the GOP nomination, guns at the convention could get pretty interesting.

Now that the Secret Service had decreed no guns at the convention, will Republicans rebel against their tyranny?

I doubt it, but it's an interesting question nonetheless.

Look, I'm not anti-gun. Are you a law-abiding sane person who likes to hunt, target shoot or think a gun offers you protection? Then enjoy your guns! It's your right.

It's also probably unfair to compare open carry at say, some restaurant to open carry at the volatile GOP convention.

But this whole things raises some good questions. When and where is open carry a good idea? A bad idea? Should there be any regulation on it? Or, to you Second Amendment absolutists: Should guns be anywhere and everywhere?

Including at an important  but controversial major political event where passions flare?

You decide.