Green Eagle

The preposterous re-emergence of Newt Gingrich provides a perfect opportunity for me to revisit a primary theme of mine. How can it be that the supposedly religious, family-values obsessed Republican "base" can turn for salvation to a man who has led a spectacularly immoral life, both in public and in private?  How can they at the same time embrace their lofty pretensions and unashamedly cling to one of the most revoltingly disgraceful public figures of our time? This phenomenon reinforces a claim I have made for years:  that American Conservatism as it exists today is about one single thing and nothing else: Cut My Taxes.  Absolutely nothing motivates modern Conservatives but a desire to get their government services for free, and to not have to bear the intolerable thought that a single penny of their money is going to help anyone else- particularly you know who. Then why the religion?  The whole "Christian" thing is, I believe, nothing but a smoke screen, i...

This story from Daily Kos today perfectly illustrates something that I have been saying for years: "Republicans reluctant on Obama's aggressive deficit reduction goal Now that President Obama is pushing a larger-than-expected $4 trillion deficit reduction package, guess what: Republicans are suddenly becoming less enthusiastic about debt reduction. While John Boehner supports Obama's goal, support from his GOP leadership colleagues range from lukewarm at best to nonexistent at worst. The New York Times reported Eric Cantor and Jon Kyl opposed the $4 trillion target:     "Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, and Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the ranking Republican on      the Senate Finance Committee, favored the midrange $2 trillion, voicing doubts about how they could sell a $4      trillion deal to their rank and file, officials said, since it would involve tax increases." So, as always, the thing stopp...

In my post on the recent episode of right wing terrorism, I mentioned the "Sovereign Citizen" movement, of which the murderer Jerry Kane was an adherent. I think it is worthwhile to know something about them, so here are a few excerpts from a screed apparently written by Mr. Kane, which features the gist of their "thinking." If, for some unknown reason, you would like to torment yourself by reading the whole thing, you can find it in PDF format here. "Most people are not aware that there has been no lawful money since the bankruptcy of the United States in 1933." The bankruptcy of the United States in 1933. Funny, I never even heard of that, despite having read numerous books on the depression. Why do you think that might be? "Since House Joint Resolution 192 (HJR 192) (Public law 7310) was passed in 1933 we have only had debt, because all property and gold was seized by the government as collateral in the bankruptcy of the United States. Most peo...

I had thought of doing an entire Wingnut Wrapup today featuring right wing garbage about the apparently impending passage of health care legislation, which I could have easily done. You know what it would contain- you've heard it all before. In the process of doing this, however, I came across a single article, by Joseph Farah, at World Net Daily, which I think so completely expresses the conservative attitude towards health care and everything else, that I thought I should quote from it at some length, so you can see, right out in the open, what lies behind American conservatism today. Despite everything you have heard the last year, I think you should be prepared to be shocked: "Obama's desperate demagoguery Barack Obama says he's trying to push his government health-care bill through Congress because of people like Ohio resident Natoma Canfield. She's a victim of breast cancer whose insurance premiums soared as a result of her condition. She decided not to ren...