Obsessed with abortion/homosexuality but claim to follow the Constitution? Sorry, that's a contradiction.

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When will Republicans understand the timeless fact that working-class American citizens who purchase a product or a service are the real job creators?

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Rand Paul plays the bestiality card on the Glenn Beck show. #ewwwww

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Jesus doesn't heart Huckabee.

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The most advanced climate change deniers may actually believe that the Earth is round, but they also think it's only 5,000 years old.

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Paul Ryan says he's "focused on poverty." Poverty isn't returning his calls.

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OMG, Congress blocked FarmVille! What's that you say? The "Farm Bill"? Okay, never mind.

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Eat the rich? Nah, there's a better idea.

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The difference between real experts and con artists in the media: education.

This is not to be elitist and suggest that everyone with a formal education is automatically smarter than everyone without one. But when it comes to understanding the depth and complexity of American government, formal education can be the difference between being a real expert and being a con artist.

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How I just caused a tornado. Hint: it involves craziness.

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Republican "rebranding" ... same old "no"

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The GOP: Panty Regulators

 

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives just wasted its time passing an unconstitutional abortion ban that will never even be brought up in the Senate, let alone reach the president's desk for veto. Across the country, Republican legislatures and governors have enacted strict abortion laws, some of which have already been declared unconstitutional.

When today's Republicans have control, their main focus isn't jobs. They strive instead to attack women's reproductive freedom. They claim to want small government, but they certainly love stuffing big government into women's panties every chance they get.

Before anyone calls us "baby killers," please keep in mind that every woman has the right to reproductive choice without having those rights dictated to her by the government. Republicans even try to limit access to birth control, which is proven to reduce the number of abortions. That's not a "pro-life" stance--that's "anti-choice."

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Maybe only Republican male fetuses masturbate.

Okay, he didn't specifically use the word "masturbate." But if you consider the full context of what he said, and it's difficult to assign any other meaning: "Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful. They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to think that they could feel pain?"

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Pat Robertson? Donald Trump? Eisenhower wouldn't recognize today's Republicans.

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Obama's exploding deficit? More like Republican's exploding dishonesty.

We should have a reality-based discussion about how to achieve long-term deficit reduction without damaging the recovering economy with ineffective government austerity. But when Republicans rant about "exploding deficits" or "Obama's spending addiction," they are simply not being honest.

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Right-wing "trolling" explained: trickle-down dishonesty.

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The most trusted names in news: Stewart and Colbert.

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Imagine if Fox News started a science network ...

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Why is someone with Darrell Issa's criminal background in Congress in the first place?

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Mark Twain would know why Fox News lies.

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Chris Christie solidifies his place in the Republican Hall of Shame

As Chris Christie gears up for a 2016 presidential run, please keep in mind that he's a typical Republican with regressive policy positions and a hypocritical approach to government.

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Local Override Combats National Mistakes

Teachers are often hailed as heroes during times of crisis. News reports praise the teachers who shielded our children in the face of the recent Oklahoma tornado or the Sandy Hook shooting, for example. By the next news cycle, however, the idea of teaching as a noble profession gets blown away faster than the school roof during that tornado. Without any concept of irony, many in the media cast teachers as "union thugs" holding children hostage for pay raises while blaming teachers' contracts for crashing the economy.

When government has a chance to help fund education, that funding often comes at the cost of teachers' dignity and value. The 2009 American Recovery Act (known as the stimulus) was inaccurately labeled a failure or a giveaway to liberal teacher unions instead of what it actually was--government action that saved millions of jobs, many of them in education. When President Obama proposed the American Jobs Act in 2011, it was criticized as "Stimulus II" and blocked by Republicans who ignored the fact that the act would have saved thousands more teachers from layoffs.

           

In several states, most notably Wisconsin, Republican governors and state legislators have attacked teachers' collective-bargaining rights, claiming to be simply responding to budget shortfalls while conveniently ignoring the fact that corporate tax giveaways often led to those budget problems. Their priorities are clear: teachers are valued less than corporate campaign donors.

             

Here in Northampton, we might easily blame the misguided scapegoatting of teachers by faraway extremist Republicans and Fox News pundits who snarl and smirk through fact-free accounts of teachers as overpaid and underworked. Unfortunately, the attacks on education from outside our town have more impact on us than we may think.

             

The connections are clear. First, the wrong-headed fetish for budget cuts in Washington affects everyone across the country. The last decade proved that wealth doesn't "trickle down"--but budget cuts do. Less federal funding to states means less state funding to towns, which means less funding available for schools. Second, Republican tax cuts made the budgets even worse, like demanding that your boss cut your pay even as your bills pile up. And third, the economic crash at the end of the Bush administration led to even less tax income for the government, further stressing everyone's budget.

             

Our nation is a connected community, not a set of isolated islands. To extend Tip O'Neill, all politics is just as national as local. The right-wing policies embraced in other states affect us here in Northampton where vast majorities would outvote those policies.

             

Northampton's budget gap isn't the result of overspending, as Fox News might assert. The same budget-slashing trends that affect Florida and Pennsylvania and Kansas and Mississippi hit us as well. When Texas representatives vote for education cuts and tax giveaways for the wealthy, the "Butterfly Effect" causes us to suffer right along with the Texas teachers who get laid off.

             

Unlike most Texans, however, we can do something about it. On June 25, we can vote yes on the proposed budget override as a reasonable local response to the unreasonable wave of right-wing national politics that have led to a decade of strained local funding. The override will provide funding for a four-year plan that will save the jobs of many Northampton teachers and school staff, those professionals we know as heroes in more than just times of danger and disaster. Their everyday heroics include connecting our children with music and art, providing psychological support and learning enhancement, and helping our community's young people realize their personal and intellectual potential.

             

The funding would come from a modest increase in property taxes, an option that places the burden primarily on those of us who can most afford it--myself included. I believe what Oliver Wendell Holmes said: "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society." I chose to own a home in Northampton because this is a civilized place, and I can prioritize my own family budget to help preserve the local civilization that makes Northampton a great place to live.

             

Unfortunately, given the regressive and counterproductive Republican policies enacted across the nation, no solution is perfect. But the override isn't a stopgap measure like the self-inflicted crisis governing practiced by Congressional Republicans. It's a responsible, long-term plan meant to avoid more crises in the future.

             

One of the most important aspects of this town is also one of the best qualities in our national character: we value education. Unfortunately, in some parts of the United States, extremist politicians who pay lips-service to the concept of education have forgotten to value actual educators. Here in Northampton, we have an opportunity to support education in concept and in reality. We can vote yes on the override on June 25.

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Mitch McConnell solidifies his place in the Republican Hall of Shame with another big fat Obamacare lie.

In a recent survey, young Republicans were asked to name a Democratic leader. They mentioned Obama, the Clintons, Pelosi--real elected leaders. When asked to name a Republican leader, they named Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly--extremist talking heads. With actual leaders as ineffective as Mitch McConnell, it's no wonder know-nothing media mouthpieces rush in to fill the vacuum.

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Anyone blaming NSA spying exclusively on Obama has the shortest, most selective memory in history.

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We shoud have a legitimate debate on government spying, But we need to remember that this specific spying was spawned by the 2001 Patriot Act, done illegally by Bush in the 2000s, and supported by Congress members for more than a decade. Anyone blaming the whole thing on Obama has the shortest, most selective memory in history.

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I hope the ghost of Walter Cronkite haunts the nightmares of Fox "News" liars.

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McCain once called Susan Rice (a Stanford graduate and Rhodes Scholar) "not very bright." This from the man who selected Sarah Palin as his running mate.

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Happy 50th birthday to Eric Cantor. We all hope age will temper your astonishing hypocrisy.

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Terrorist photo bomb--McCain gets lampooned by Jon Stewart. Obama would have been tried for treason on Fox Fake News.

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Republicans must believe Obama uses a time machine to go back and ruin the world before he became president.

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What do Grumpy Cat, a Herman Melville character, and the Republican Party have in common?

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Could there be a positive side to Pat Robertson's insane weather theories?

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If Yoda spoke at the Republican National Convention, kick their asses, he would.

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