Category: GOP USA

Paul Ryan – specific proposals

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

The main reason I gave up on Romney was that he had no specific platform.

Ryan’s not perfect, but at least he’s got the guts to put a plan forward.

Rep. Paul Ryan said Friday that Republicans must do more than criticize President Barack Obama to succeed politically, saying they must become the “proposition party” to become an alternative to Democrats. …

Last month Ryan released a new anti-poverty plan, calling for reforms to the nation’s welfare, education, and criminal justice systems. …

Time – Paul Ryan Says GOP Must Become ‘Proposition Party’

On the other hand …

Asked whether he supports the military action authorized by Obama in Iraq on Thursday, Ryan told a reporter “Yeah, nah, call my office. I don’t want to give you a flippant, walking-through-the-halls thing. It’s something I’d rather think through.

Republicans are two faced. Saying one thing, doing the opposite if it’s in their own benefit. I’m hoping Ryan is slightly better than the rest of the Presidential contenders.

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For a Republican, he’s no Tea Party nut.

Ryan was one of 32 Republicans in the House to vote for the auto industry bailout.

related – Tea Party steers GOP right — away from White House

an honest American polititican

On By Rick McIn economics, GOP USA, government, humourLeave a comment

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Though “Honest” Gil Fulbright claims to be running for Senator Mitch McConnell’s seat in the great state of Kentucky, he isn’t actually on the ballot. McConnell, running in a tight race for reelection this November, can breathe easy.

In fact, Fulbright doesn’t actually exist at all. He’s a fictional candidate played by movie and TV actor Frank Ridley …

Mashable

split the USA into 2 nations?

On By Rick McIn education, firearms, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

Quebec has twice had a referendum on whether to split from Canada.

The proposal was to have a primarily French Canada and a primarily English Canada. Some regions – First Nations, for example – would decide which to join.

There are pros and cons to a separate French Canada.

There are pros and cons to dividing the USA, as well. It wouldn’t be easy, but WHAT IF you suddenly had a Red USA and a Blue USA. The other coloured States would have a referendum as to which they want to join.

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Texans might vote to form a 3rd nation.

At any time, a State might vote to move from Blue to Red, or Red to Blue.

Personally, I feel it is an insanely stupid idea where almost everyone would be worse off in a very few years.

blame Republicans for blocking immigration reform

On By Rick McIn ethics, GOP USA, government, things getting worseLeave a comment

In the very near future it will be impossible to win the American Presidency without a majority of Latino voters, yet Republicans are doing a very effective job of alienating Latinos.

For example, this exchange from May 2014:

The GOP’s John Boehner refuses to bring immigration reform to a vote. Pathetically tries to deflect with “Obamacare”.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

That’s Jorge Ramos, the most respected Spanish American journalist. He blames Boehner more than anyone else. I blame Boehner and the Republican Party.

This is where the strategy of “voting against anything Obama” is going to cost the GOP.

The immigration process is broken. Boehner refuses to bring a fix to a vote.

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related – NBC – Why immigration reform died in Congress

Tea Party – The American Taliban?

On By Rick McIn ethics, GOP USA, government, TVLeave a comment

OK

That’s way overstating.

Still, this is one of the best takedowns of the worst of the self-declared Tea Party activists.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Bieche.

right wing “echo chamber”

On By Rick McIn bad news, economics, ethics, GOP USA, government, product complaints, TVLeave a comment

People ask me why I’m so agitated by the Tea Party and other right wing gasbags. And not nearly as much irked by soft-headed, left wing muddled thinkers.

What makes me mad is disinformation.

Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth. Disinformation should not be confused with misinformation, information that is unintentionally false.

The left wing often spreads misinformation. Poorly.

In the USA (but not in Canada) people make money in the right wing media echo chamber.

In media, an echo chamber is a situation in which information, ideas, or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by transmission and repetition inside an “enclosed” system, often drowning out different or competing views. …

One purveyor of information will make a claim, which many like-minded people then repeat, overhear, and repeat again (often in an exaggerated or otherwise distorted form) until most people assume that some extreme variation of the story is true. …

I love seeing Jon Stewart and Colbert call out the disinformers.

One of the worst is Glenn Beck, “with his violent rhetoric, his frequent and absurd fear-mongering, his nasty vitriol, his “jokes” about assassinating government officials, his baseless conspiracy theories, his race-baiting, his flat-out, bald-faced lies, his many hypocrisies … ”

Well said.

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Beck left FOX in 2011. But is worth about $90 million today. The more he lies, the more money he makes.

Rush Limbaugh makes around $66 million / year.

The main motivation for those two, Bill O’Reilly and others, is money. I don’t trust a word they say.

FOX and the echo chamber endless repeat daily “talking points“. It’s incredibly boring to count the repetitions of the talking points of the day.

talking points

related – NY Times opinion piece 2013 – Suffocating Echo Chamber

separation of Church & State

On By Rick McIn ethics, GOP USA, government, humour, Islam, philosophyLeave a comment

Yep.

That’s a no brainer.

Church and State

The separation of church and state is the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state.

If you value freedom, including religious freedom, you should support the separation of Church & State.

The government should have no involvement in your religion as they should have no involvement in your sex life. So long as you abide by the secular laws of the land.

If your religious practice breaks the law, you go to jail. If you cannot live with that, you must leave the nation. Immigrate to a theocracy, perhaps.

Some American Christians are intolerant.

The kind constantly quoting the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of fealty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942.

The official name of The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted in 1945. The last change in language came on Flag Day 1954 when the words “under God” were added.

Here’s the original version (1892) of the start of the pledge:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I got on to this topic after seeing right wing Americans irritated and hateful over this incident from Jan 2013.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.


 
A school Cultural club read the Pledge of Allegiance in different languages, one of them Arabic. In that one replacing “God” with “Allah”.

To me the Pledge is just words on paper. Not sacred. Even less a sacred cow than the U.S. Constitution.

Here’s the funniest commentary on the Pledge of Allegiance I’ve seen.

The Whitest Kids U’ Know – Pledge of Allegiance

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Republican Mia Love tries for Congress

On By Rick McIn GOP USA, government, things getting betterLeave a comment

On Facebook I link a lot to information confronting Gundamentalists. And Tea Party Republicans.

Both are generally bad for the USA. Bad for the world.

One of my themes is that Republicans must CHANGE or LOSE, long term.

The GOP needs prominent candidates of colour. Pro science. Fiscal conservatives, not shills for corporations and billionaires. Pro immigration. In support of Gay marriage.

Here’s one who looks promising.

Mia Love clinches Republican nomination at Utah convention

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On May 18, 2013, Love announced that she would run again in 2014. If elected, she would be the first Haitian American and first black female Republican ever elected to Congress, as well as the first from the state of Utah. …

Love favors “fiscal discipline, limited government, and personal responsibility.” She has also said that she asks herself three questions whenever she approaches an issue, “Is it affordable? Is it sustainable? Is it my job?” …

I’m sure she’s not perfect. But she gives me hope that Republicans can recover, eventually, from Tea Party insanity.

related – What stupid thing did Sarah Palin say lately?

The end of Sarah Palin:

She is purely an Obama-era novelty. As Obama’s tenure ends, so does the career of Sarah …

Good riddance.

world’s 85 richest people

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

… have wealth equal to that of half the population: report

Just how rich are they? According to a new report by Oxfam, their total fortunes are equal to as much as half of that of the world’s population.

The report, which analyzes a number of studies to highlight the world’s growing economic inequality, was intended as a precursor to the World Economic Forum, which begins in Switzerland this week.

… the wealth of the richest keeps growing, while the bottom 90 per cent (i.e. most of the rest of us) keeps shrinking. …

Globe and Mail

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NOT sustainable.

NOT an efficient use available cash.

Most of those 85 don’t deserve to be more than piddly millionaires.

Our system is not working.

Here’s the original report that came up with that stat — Oxfam – Working for the Few – Political capture and economic inequality

This kind of headline is bad news for the Tea Party crowd. It’s damage control time for the extreme right wing. Drudge linked to a conservative site claiming the actual statistic is that the 85 richest people own about 0.7% of the world’s wealth.

I trust Oxfam.