Green Eagle

Republican control of government accomplishes their purpose: "N.J. faces 'tough choices' after $800 million revenue shortfall in April ...The state's budget gap in New Jersey is widening, and lawmakers are trying to figure out what to do about it. April's income tax revenues from the state's wealthiest residents are far less than expected, and the overall shortfall for the current fiscal year is $800 million below the Christie administration's projections. Lawmakers will have to make some tough choices, said state Sen. Tony Bucco, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee." Hmm...The rich people aren't paying their share, thanks to Republican government.  What a huge surprise!  Well, what do you think they will do to make up the difference, raise tax rates on the rich? "Lawmakers said they don't expect the state to reduce its payment into the pension system to help make up for the revenue shortfall. But Gov. Chris Ch...

In case you have forgotten who the bad guys are in the Middle East, maybe you should read this story: "Beirut (AFP) - The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced it had executed seven prisoners in its bastion in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, two of them by crucifixion." In my mind, that is a little worse than building a wall, or allowing the construction of some suburbs in Jerusalem.  But then what do I know?  Maybe it is Israel's responsibility to make a "peace treaty" with Hamas, which remains committed to the extermination of all Jews worldwide.  Maybe wanting to live is apartheid, at least if you are a Jew. But like I say, what do I know?

So, the NBA seems to be doing all it can to ditch that son of a bitch Donald Sterling.  All I want to know is why they didn't do it twenty years ago when it became clear that he had no intention of fielding a competitive team as long as he could make a profit on a crummy one.  People in Los Angeles had to wait all this time for (through some kind of cosmic accident) the Clippers to start winning, and in the middle of their first serious playoff run since the Hoover administration, this has to happen.  Oh well, new NBA commissioner Gollum (shown below- and who knew they liked basketball in Middle Earth) is throwing the book at him.

I hate to keep harping on this, but in case you didn't know this, a lot of the militia members that ran with their guns to the "defense" of Cliven Bundy are still there: "Concerns are growing about members of the militia surrounding rancher Cliven Bundy. Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, sent a letter to Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie about the safety of residents in the Bunkerville area. Horsford says his constituents have "expressed concern" over the presence of armed militia groups from out of state. According to Horsford, his constituents say the militia have set up checkpoints where residents must prove they live in the area before they are allowed to pass and have set up a "persistent presence" along federal highways, and state and county roads. They also claim some have established an armed presence in the community. Horsford told the sheriff that the militia are making people feel unsafe.' These are violent, deranged individ...

Many people seem to have already written off the 2014 Congressional elections for Democrats, including Nate Silver, whose predictions that Republicans will retain control of the House and very likely take control of the Senate have received widespread publicity. There is, however, one factor that Silver's mathematical models cannot predict.  That is the likelihood that, between now and November, in keeping with past behavior, a number of Republican adherents are going to do and say things that will prove a serious embarrassment for them. I think Cliven Bundy was the first of these "gaffes" this year- gaffes which always consist in failing to conceal what Republicans really believe.  There will be others, and from people more connected with the party establishment.  Yes, it will be necessary for Democrats to take advantage of these Republican lapses, and yes, Democrats have proven sadly inept at doing so, but this year's Republican fools will be appearing any time ...

I don't need to add my voice to the chorus of attacks on the comments of this degraded asshole, but I would like to ask if there is anyone on earth who thinks that this woman is attracted to anything but Sterling's money, or that this geezer is attracted to anything but...well, it's pretty obvious. Is there anyone who could believe that she feels any emotional attachment to Sterling? This woman is not Sterling's girlfriend, she is a prostitute on a long-term contract.  Just one more sign of what a schmuck Sterling is.

First, this great entrant in the "Scandals That Are Going Nowhere" contest: Bowing to a robot.  No matter how stupid their scandals are, they never give up on them.  Do I need to tell you that this story is all over the right wing internet world today? And another challenger appears: Sarah Seaman, Town Hall:  "Dem Commencement Speakers Outnumber Republicans 57-to-26" If it was based on how likely they were to tell the truth, Democrats would outnumber Republicans by 57,000 to 0.  But I guess recent graduates need a few lies to start them out in life.  Like the notion that they are going to get a fair break on anything in this country.  Otherwise they'd all slit their throats. Bryan Preston, PJ Media:  "Emanuel’s Plan to Build Elite ‘Barack Obama High School’ in an Upscale Chicago Neighborhood Has Parents Enraged" Naming a school after a President from your city: an abomination!  Well, at least if the President is a Democrat....

“I don’t recognize the United States government as even existing.” -Cliven Bundy Cliven Bundy- the Jackass that claims the Federal Government doesn't even exist when it comes to owing it money, but who rides around with an American flag pretending to be a patriot. Cliven Bundy, the (as we know now) unrepentant racist who has the nerve to blame his disgusting attitudes toward black people on Martin Luther King. Cliven Bundy, whose notion of "freedom" consists in taking government services without having to pay for them, to the tune of a million dollars, while at the same time savaging non-whites for  their alleged consumption of services from the same government. Cliven Bundy, the associate of terrorists who assembled to kill Federal agents, but who were so cowardly that they were going to hide behind their wives and children if the Feds shot back. Cliven Bundy, the darling of the right wing media until he spoke his real views. NOW HERE'S THE THING:  ...

"(Reuters) - A white supremacist convicted of killing two people and accused of killing two more during a violent road trip across the Pacific Northwest pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court in Oregon to two counts of carjacking resulting in death, his attorney said." They're coming pretty fast these days.

There is just no end to the dishonesty on the right.  It is driving me crazy, because the more we try to base our positions on demonstrable facts the more they decide that the truth means nothing, and they can do whatever they damned please. Here is the latest from the chiseling crook/rancher Cliven Bundy who has claimed that the United States doesn't really exist, so  he doesn't owe them the grazing fees that every other rancher using Federal land pays.  He has publicly based his right to steal a million dollars from the American people on the claim that his ancestors were grazing cattle on that land since the nineteenth century, so he doesn't have to follow the law. Well, this is nonsense on its face.  Imagine if you moved into a house that your ancestors used to own, but which they sold long ago, and then claimed that you had a right to take the house because of that.  But this is not what I am stunned by today- in fact, it turns out that Bundy's whole c...

Green Eagle must sadly report that he is now working (and consequently living) in (Oh god, I can hardly believe it) North Carolina. I'll be back to normal posting in the next couple of days.  Please, let me know if you notice any signs of infectious brain damage.

Here's a small taste of a new paper from professors at Princeton and Northwestern University: "Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism. What do our findings say about democracy in America? They certainly constitute troubling news for advocates of “populistic” democracy, who want governments to respond primarily or exclusively to the policy preferences of their citizens. In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule -- at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. When a majority of citizens disagrees...

Cliven Bundy has this to say: "And we are after freedom. We're after liberty. That's what we want..." He's not after freedom.  What he's after just like every other "Conservative" in the country, is to not pay for the government services he uses.  Every other rancher in the West pays his damn $1.50 per head per year to graze his cattle on land that belongs to all of us, but not Cliven Bundy, because FREEDOM!!!! and LIBERTY!!!! As I've said for years, despite all of the social issues claptrap and all the foreign policy belligerence, all this benighted species of humanity really cares about is not paying taxes.  While they spend endless hours raving about other people (you know who they mean) being moochers, they will follow any malicious, lying politician on earth as long as he promises to not make them pay for the government services they use. Conservatives are the real deadbeats, and they are so good at it that the people in practically e...

NOTE:  THIS POST WILL REMAIN HERE AS A SIGN OF WHAT AN IDIOT GREEN EAGLE CAN BE Call me crazy, but this is more than usually disturbing news: "Jews in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk where pro-Russian militants have taken over government buildings were told they have to "register" with the Ukrainians who are trying to make the city become part of Russia, according to Ukrainian and Israeli media. Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city's Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee "or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated," reported Ynet News, Israel's largest news website. Donetsk is the site of an "anti-terrorist" operation by the Ukraine government, which has moved military columns into the region to force out militants who are demanding a referendum be held on joining Russia. The news was carried ...

I've reported that the recent mass murderer in the heartland had a long history as a right winger- the KKK, militias, Aryan Supremacist groups, etc.  Well, one of the places he liked to lurk was on the forums at the viciously anti-Semitic "Vanguard News Service," where he apparently made over 12,000 comments over the last decade or so.  I thought it would be nice to see how his fellow Vanguarders were responding to his actions.  Not well, as I'm sure you can guess: "Thank God people are finally fighting back against these vicious demonic parasites." Methodists?  Catholics?  Because that's who he killed. "3 ain't bad.  Heil Hitler brother!!" It ain't too good either, idiot. "Despite the thousands of years of destruction the Jew has repeatedly visited on the Aryan race, when someone finally gives a few of them a little lead karma, it's not just a murder, but a hate crime." Lead karma.  Well, I guess he really ...

This is almost unbelievable.  Here, courtesy of Crooks and Liars, is a short clip of one of the Cliven Bundy people describing their strategy to put all of their women up front so they would get shot first (no, really, that was the plan:) So, I guess here was their plan:  Kill a bunch of government workers for doing their jobs, and then have your wives and daughters killed in return, so you have a new reason to be hateful and violent. Actually, not so unexpected.  At Ruby Ridge, Randy Weaver shot at government agents and then left his wife and son to take the bullets, and at Waco, the only real mistake the government made was in not comprehending that people who called themselves religious would let their children burn to death rather than face misdemeanor gun charges. Do I need to point out the obvious?  These are not the good guys.

So, of course, the government had no choice but to back away from a confrontation with the hate-filled militia leaders that swarmed to Nevada to protect Cliven Bundy's Constitutional Right not to pay a fee of $1.50 per head to graze his cattle on federal land, because to him THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOESN'T EXIT!!!  These jackasses had apparently worked themselves up into a state where they might start shooting any second, and even though the government could have wiped all of them out immediately, that's just not the way we handle things in this country; and it won't be until Republicans take over for real.  However, I wish to point out that it will be a very bad thing in the end if these irrational lunatics are allowed to have a victory over this.  It is essential that as soon as they all go home the government go back and carry out the appropriate action against Bundy for his twenty years of lawbreaking.  And may I suggest that he be charged for the standoff?  ...

And a really piggish one from Mike Huckabee, who our hallucinating mainstream press continues to treat as one of the more reasonable right wingers:  "I'm beginning to think theres more freedom in North korea sometimes than there is in the United States." Well, you stick with that, Mike.  Why don't you go over there and spend some time where you can wallow in their FREEDOM!!!!!!!  Just don't clap too softly for Kim Jong Un, or they might feed you to a pack of dogs.

Here is an incredible find, dug up by Senator Bernie Sanders.  It turns out that, in 1980, David Koch ran for President on the Libertarian Party ticket (against Ronald Reagan, it might be noted, because Reagan could not be counted on to favor the rich enough.)  Here are excerpts from the platform of the Libertarian party that Koch ran on: “We urge the repeal of federal campaign finance laws, and the immediate abolition of the despotic Federal Election Commission.” “We favor the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs.” “We oppose any compulsory insurance or tax-supported plan to provide health services, including those which finance abortion services.” “We also favor the deregulation of the medical insurance industry.” “We favor the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt, and increasingly oppressive Social Security system. Pending that repeal, participation in Social Security should be made voluntary.” “We propose the abolition of the governmental Posta...

There once was a guy named Cliven He probably hated Alinsky and Piven He thought that the Federal Government owed him a livin' But he... Oh wait, this has gone far enough.  Back to the story: So there is this right wing rancher guy and all around asshole, named Cliven Bundy.  No relation to Ted, as far as I know.  He's been grazing his cattle on Federal land for twenty years, and for twenty years he's been refusing to pay the grazing fees, because, well...you know, Freedom or something. "Two federal court orders issued within the past year called for the rancher’s livestock to be impounded from a vast swath of mountains and desert. That roundup began Saturday on almost 600,000 acres closed to the public during the operation." Bundy doesn't agree with that: "Why I raise cattle there and why I can raise cattle there is because I have preemptive rights,” he asserted, explaining to TheBlaze that this includes the right to forage, too. Furth...

Let's just start out with the most preposterous Lie of the Week: Jim DeMint, former Senator and current head of the Heritage Foundation:   “no liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves.” No, they were freed by kindly Southern plantation owners who only wanted the best for them.  And here's the funny thing- here is a typical reaction to this story: "They're destroying the reputation and credibility of the Heritage Foundation. The respect for their policy work has been greatly diminished." Reputation and credibility of the Heritage Foundation?  They have never been anything but a lying, partisan propaganda factory, and anyone with a brain knows it.  Here, by the way, is a list of some of the major backers of the Heritage foundation: "Heritage Foundation received $61,944,537 in foundation grants from organizations such as: the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Scaife Foundations, the John M. Olin Foundation, Inc., ...

Notice anything about this story?  No one was killed.  A horrible event, but everyone is going to eventually recover.  Just sayin'.

I know that this piece of information is totally irrelevant, but I guess I'll run with it anyway: "The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has exceeded 402 parts per million (ppm) during the past two days of observations, which is higher than at any time in at least the past 800,000 years..." Like I said, nothing to see here, let's worry about Benghazi instead, or how poor people are taking too much money from multi-billionaires.

From some Newsmax comments:

From Newsmax:  " Romney's Recent Moves Fuel Speculation About 2016 Run" We should be so lucky.  Maybe Dick Cheney could throw his hat in the ring too.

Most of you by now have heard about California State Senator Leland Yee, who was recently arrested on corruption charges.  I found this whole thing a little strange, since he seems to have people accusing him of dealing in arms with terrorists, but the article I read in the Los Angeles Times only managed to accuse him of one "crime-" accepting a $6,000 donation from someone and then sponsoring a State Senate resolution praising a charity which this person runs.  Not exactly the Koch brothers there.  The whole thing set off alarm bells for me, because by removing Senator Yee, the Republicans could eliminate the Democratic supermajority in the California legislature, thus bringing back the days of stagnation and budget deficits which Republicans love so well. And what would a Republican-sponsored "scandal" be without TERRORISM!!!  From a wingnut website which shall go unnamed: "Why Did State Sen. Leland Yee (D-CA) Escape Terrorism Charges?   Yee, whose arr...

I am always gratified when I see an idea I have been pushing for years, which was regarded as little more than a joke, start to be taken up by mainstream commenters.  One example is my notion that we'd all be a lot better off if we just admitted our great mistake of 150 years ago and kicked the mooching Southern States out of the country.  Here's another one, this time taken up by Alex Pareene at Salon: "Want to cut the rich’s influence? Take away their money! Roberts’ specialty is “faux judicial restraint,” in which he achieves his radical desired goals over the course of many incremental decisions instead of one sweeping one. In this case, as many observers have noted, Roberts pointed to our current easily circumvented caps on political spending as justification for lifting yet another cap, without noting that the Roberts court helped create the current system to begin with. Our campaign finance laws have not quite yet been “eviscerated,” but the trend is clear. R...

Which extended the ability of the rich to buy our government.  In the last election, there were 1200 people who maxed out their campaign contributions under the then-current law.  These 1200 are the only people who will benefit from the new rules. For years, I have been saying that the end game of the Republican party's destruction of our democracy is a situation in which the entire country will be run for the benefit of about 2,000 families.  I guess that I can now reduce that number to 1200.

This has been a little hard lately, because the right wingers continue to be so piggish and so humorless that I can barely stand looking at what they have to say.  Oh well, on I go.  I have to start out with one of the most shameless lies I have heard lately: Katie Pavlich, Town Hall:  "Since winning a recall election in 2012, Governor Scott Walker has seen incredible economic success in Wisconsin thanks to successfully keeping collective bargaining in check and through providing major tax cuts to workers. Today, (Scott) Walker signed Senate Bill 1 into law, cutting taxes by $504 million over the next two years for workers and families. The legislation slashes property tax rates and wipes out income taxes for manufacturers." Hah.  First of all, there is this: "According to Wednesday's report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wisconsin gained 23,963 private-sector jobs in the 12 months from June 2012 through June 2013, a 1.0% increase that ranks the ...

With his annual Republican "budget," i.e. plan for screwing the American people.  It's becoming something of a (very boring) tradition here at Green Eagle to take a look at this ludicrous document.  In fact, it changes so little from year to year, regardless of the circumstances, that I could almost just publish last year's GE take on it and no one would ever notice.  Actually, since probably no one will ever read this, I could just reprint a few pages from The Hobbit and no one would notice either, but I'll still gratify myself at the expense of whoever finds this post.  Well, here goes- quotes from the document itself, with Green Eagle's translations into actual English: Cover of this idiotic piece of trash Green Eagle's suggestion for a slight improvement "Substantially lower tax rates for individuals, with a goal of achieving a top individual rate  of 25 percent." i.e. a massive tax cut for the rich "Simplify the tax cod...