Reality Liberation Front

Again, we have been presented with a week of notable triumphs and blunders, courtesy of our elected officials. Not wishing to wait until Friday…I now present you with a brief summary of behavior guaranteed to raise eyebrows, titillate, and even sicken:

OBAMA:

• I did not know this: incoming presidents are allotted $100,000 for redecorating the Oval Office and their private living quarters. But guess what…Barack and Michelle say they are not going to use that money. According to Michelle Obama’s Communications Director, “[The Obamas] are not using public funds or accepting donations of goods for redecorating their private quarters.” They are not even going to use money that might be available through the White House Historical Association, a privately funded foundation. They are paying for it…themselves. Bravo, Obamas.

THE BUDGET:

• On this week’s episode of “It Came From The Third Grade:” During budget revision sessions, Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), “Oh, you are good,” in response to Grassley’s pressure to include an amendment. Grassley’s response? “Well, your wife said the same thing.” To this, Conrad retorted, “She did, she said you were the biggest hit of all the speakers at the event.” That’s right…our elected representatives…working on complicated and important budget matters…talking like punk kids on a playground. How terribly confidence inspiring.
• I was going to post several, separate items, related to the current budget talks…however I have chosen to abandon that format, in favor of a quick, highly abbreviated sequence of events. Here goes (all quotations are my summaries, not actual quotes): GOP says Obama’s budget is “too spendy“…Obama says, “Show me your budget“…Boehner says, “Here is our budget,” while presenting a thin booklet of vague ideas, no budget, no numbers…Boehner promises, “You’ll see our REAL alternative budget next week“…McCain says, “Dude, we’re totally working on a budget right now“…McConnell says, “We’re not doing a budget…just amendments“…Ryan (the guy writing the GOP “budget”) admits, “Our budget, as an alternative to Obama’s spendy budget, will create an even bigger deficit. A lot bigger. You’re welcome“…the GOP budget details are released, including fun things like an even more massive deficit, tax cuts for people making over $100,000 a year, and taxes DOUBLING for people making between $50,000 and $100,000. Suck it, middle class!…GOP budget based on one, very novel idea: given the choice between a higher tax rate and a lower tax rate, Americans will choose the higher rate…GOP holds big “budget reveal party” on the Capitol steps and Boehner praises, “Republicans in the House will offer a better solution that’ll be less on spending, less on taxes and a lot less on debt for our kids and grandkids.”…everyone in the White House collectively snickered, saying “They’re really making this too easy.”
• NOTE: Both Republicans and conservative media whores have been saying all along that the GOP’s budget alternatives and economic input are needed because of the “public outcry” against Obama and the Dems. One problem…no outcry. Not even a fuss. Large majority of people…think Obama and his budget are just fine. Same public…doesn’t think very highly of the GOP’s economic strategies. Suggestion to Republicans: before talking about public outrage, revolution, and riots in the streets…check a few opinion polls.

MICHAEL STEELE:

• In a recent interview with CNN, RNC Chair Michael Steele indicated that he is “done” with trying to reach out to President Obama (a fantastic attitude towards bipartisanship) and that he bears no professional jealousy of Obama’s success: “What would I be jealous of?…I’m chairman of the RNC, so, what’s your point? We both have leadership responsibilities and roles. I’m not equating the two. My point is: you are on your track. I’m on my track. You do your thing. I do my thing.“
• In comments strangely resembling bragging, Michael Steele admitted to being kicked out of college in his first year: “I got kicked out of school when I was a freshman at Hopkins. They were like, ‘I’m sorry, this isn’t gonna work.’…Was I partying? Absolutely! Absolutely! I was like ‘Look at her. Hey, what’s up!’ I was doing the whole thing.” Perhaps as further early evidence of Steele’s inclination towards unpredictable behavior…Steele then attended a monastery.

SARAH PALIN:

• Sarah’s new pick for Attorney General, Anchorage lawyer Wayne Anthony Ross, was already known for being a bit of a bastard…now we can add “homophobe” to his list of descriptors. According to the Anchorage Daily News: “During a fight several years ago over gay rights, [Allison] Mendel helped organize Anchorage lawyers in support of an anti-discrimination ordinance. Ross wrote a nasty letter to the Bar Association newsletter, using words like ‘immoral’, ‘perversion’ and ‘degenerates.’ The language went way beyond reasonable disagreement, Mendel and others said.“
• Apparently Ross what not Palin’s only bad appointment decision…when charged with selecting a Juneau Democrat to fill a vacant Senate seat, Palin chose legislative aide Tim Grussendorf…who was registered as a Republican until just recently. Grussendorf claims that he tried to switch from Democrat to undeclared, so that he could vote in the Republican primary, and he screwed up and wound up registered as a Republican. The funny thing: it’s obvious that Grussendorf thinks this is a good explanation…despite the fact that it shows him to either have no party loyalty, or to simply be a total idiot.
• This story keeps getting weirder: Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren and her husband, John Coale are BIG-TIME Scientologists. Let that sink in for a second. Susteren and her husband seem to cuddle up to any politician who might help them advance the Scientology agenda…in fact, there is a document called “How Scientologists Can Take Responsibility for and BE AT CAUSE OVER the Fourth Dynamic” which is signed by Coale and clearly states this political strategy. And, it has been established that Coale used Susteren’s media affiliation to get close to Palin and that he has been “advising” her. Here’s the details…it’s almost too strange and convoluted to describe, without sounding like Fox Mulder.
• Proving once again the GOP’s ability to follow a good decision with a bad decision at lightning speed…Palin has been uninvited to speak at and upcoming GOP dinner, and they are instead going with Newt Gingrich. I fail to see how “politically disgraced, serial adulterer, blowhard” is an improvement over “Jesus-crazy, ignorant, ethics violator,” but hey…he could have a beautiful singing voice. I don’t know.

GHOSTS OF OUR PAST:

• First there was investigative journalist Seymour Hersh’s revelation that former VP Dick Cheney had “assassination squads” that illegally reported to him instead of through the legal chain of command. Then Seymour Hersh informed us that Cheney covertly, and inappropriately, spoke with Israeli officials and told them that Obama was anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and would never be a “major political player.” NOW…Hersh tells us that Cheney left behind moles in various government agencies, called “stay behinds.” Their purpose? To either “tell him what’s going on” or even “do sabotage” at Cheney’s behest.

POLITICIANS BEHAVING BADLY:

• I’ve heard some nonsensical arguments against Climate Change come out of various politicians’ mouths…but this nearly takes the cake: Representative John Shimkus, of Illinois’ 19th District…speaking during a House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment meeting…shared his belief that man-made carbon emissions…are “plant food.” Here’s the video, but watch at your own risk…it’ll suck the intelligence right out of you.
• Remember the ongoing, increasingly ridiculous, fight that Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) is waging to keep Al Franken from taking his Senate seat? The one where Coleman seems to lose every appeal and motion his lawyers put forward? And remember how Coleman himself is now under FBI investigation on charges that political donations were used to renovate his house? Well, the Star Tribune reports that “The former finance chief of a Texas company controlled by Nasser Kazeminy, a close friend of former Sen. Norm Coleman, said in a deposition last week that Kazeminy ordered $100,000 in fees be paid to a Minneapolis insurance agency where Coleman’s wife was employed.” Oh…and the interior designer…also a donor of Coleman’s. I’m sure it’s all just a huge misunderstanding…big coincidence…nothing to see here.
• Latest Earmark Hypocrite: Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told his local paper, on the subject of earmarks, “If everyone else is robbing a bank, should I rob a bank?” Many have been quick to point out that last year…McCarthy didn’t seem to think earmarking was equivalent to “robbing banks.” “Kevin McCarthy says the system’s broken and that’s why he won’t make project funding requests for his constituents. But he didn’t have any problem making funding requests last year under the very same system,” said Andrew Stone of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
• Hey GOP! Since you’ve been completely unable thus far to mend your shattered public image…how about accepting a little help from David Letterman? Here’s his idea for a new campaign:

POLITICIANS TO BE APPLAUDED:

• Following President Obama’s rather flippant response to questions about marijuana legalization, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) has indicated that legalization might be an important part of the overhaul of the criminal justice system, which is currently being studied thanks to a bill cosponsored by Webb, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). The bill is also backed by Judiciary Committee chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) (NOTE: Graham is chairman and ranking Republican of the Crime and Drugs Subcommittee). Interesting note: the 1972 Shafer Commission recommended that President Richard Nixon decriminalize marijuana.
• First, Congressional Republicans (especially the esteemed Representative John A. Boehner (R – OH)) criticized Obama and the White House for coddling CEO’s. Then the same people criticized Obama and the White House for not placing enough “rules” on the bailout recipients. Following the removal of GM’s CEO by President Obama, and his insistence that GM and Chrysler develop stronger recovery plans before receiving taxpayer dollars…now the same people are criticizing Obama for “letting the government place rules on the free market” and for “trying to run private companies.” Some have even gone as far as to ask the inane question, “Why didn’t Obama fire the head of the union as well,” a question that only reveals how little some people know about business, and the difference between the responsibilities of a CEO and the head of a workers’ union. However…Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is defending the action: “I think a lot of people expected the president just to cave, write a check, and just hope for the better. I think he’s expressing some backbone on this.” Thank you Mr. Romney…now please educate your GOP peers on avoiding obvious hypocrisy.

That’s all for the politicians…tomorrow…media misbehavior. They’ve been busy, too.