A voice of reason

From a comment under this Politico article about the birther crap, we have proof that at least one reader of that site has some sense:

Why can’t the media just accept that a good plurality of conservatives in this country are clinically insane? Their brains have been rotted by 20 years of nonsense AM radio and Republican hyperbole. Once upon a time, it was just the communists that lurked under every bed — since 9/11, it’s become Arabs, Muslims, and ever since the dixiecrats gravitated over the Republican party – the blacks, too. Why is the 80% of the country — some liberal, some moderate, some actually even NON-crazy conservative — are forced to play games with the stupid 20%? I’m not advocating for any sort of quarantine or worse – I’m just asking why can’t we ignore them? When Republican politicos kowtow to them because they know they need the crazy vote to win, why can’t we just call them out and shame them? Why does our nation need to deal with millions of people that are just too stupid to deal with? Let them stand on their streetcorners – both virtual and real — ringing their bells of crazy, wearing their sandwich boards of crazy, and shouting their crazy nonsense. Ignore them. Look the other way. Don’t give them their loose change. Don’t talk to them – lord knows they’ll just follow you home, yammering nonsense about secret Muslim FEMA camps hellbent on bringing gay atheist socialism to America, stealing your guns, your bibles, and whatever idiotic tripe pops into their diseased heads.

On debt ceiling, tell GOP to f**k off

We can argue about the federal government's debt for years on end and we have. We can debate what should be cut, how, when, etc. However, one thing we cannot do is fail to raise the debt ceiling. The government has obligations to pay that will force the debt to continue to rise when we reach the current debt limit in mid May. There is absolutely no getting around that fact, no matter what spending cuts are proposed or passed. It's going to happen.

Now if the debt ceiling is not raised, the government will default on its debts by early July. That would be an economic catastrophe on an immense scale, one that would destroy our economy. No one who gives a damn at all about our country wants that to happen, at least no one with a functioning brain cell. Yet the GOP is promising a huge fight over raising the debt ceiling. Boehner says they won't raise the ceiling "without something really, really big attached to it".

In other words, the GOP's message to America is: Do what we want or we will destroy the economy. They are fools, scum, or both and they want to play chicken with the economy. The Democrats should grow spines and tell them to go fuck themselves. The GOP won't commit the economic suicide of allowing the United States to go into debt default.

Republican riders in the budget bill "compromise"

Here's a list of riders the GOP House has added to the budget bill. As will quickly become apparent, they largely have jack and shit to do with the budget. The main focus is to gut health care and destroy the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as satisfy a host of other Republican dreams to turn the United States into a hell hole.

There was a time when the policy disagreements and resulting compromises between Republican and Democratic politicians were a vital part of ensuring the creation of good public policy. That time has passed. GOP politicians have become so extreme, so regressive, that they no longer represent a political party worthy of serious engagement in public policy debates. They are scum, plain and simple. They don't care about the country, the environment, health care, women, the poor, the middle class, or much of anything else except making the wealthy even wealthier. That's their goal. They should driven through the streets and run out of Washington like the swine they are.