Paul Ryan's State of the Union Republican Response

The last time we Republicans were in control, we started two wars we didn't pay for, a Medicare prescription program we didn't pay for, tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires that we didn't pay for, and turned a budget surplus under Clinton to a trillion dollar deficit by Bush's last year. All of this in only eight years!!! Obviously, when we put our mind to something, we can get it done!

And since being elected as a majority in the House of Representatives in November 2010, and now the start of the 2011 Congress, we've changed the name of "earmarks" to "letter marks," and the House has passed a repeal of health insurance reform which would eliminate all those "socialist" things like no disqualification for pre-existing conditions, and keeping your college kids on your health insurance longer, and not letting insurance companies deny coverage for sick children. And we certainly look forward to shutting down government at the earliest opportunity.

Even though we campaigned on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, we didn't really mean it. That was just a joke. Get it? We're now going after gay marriage in Wash. DC., some of us want to reinstate Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the military, and we will try to end Social Security for everyone under 55, cut every benefit aimed at the middle class or below, while fighting to give corporations and millionaires tax breaks, all the while, of course re-fighting every culture war of the past decade. And we have special plans for women and children: Planned Parenthood will be defunded, abortion rights and providers will be targeted, and we'll cut every program we can aimed at children's education, health, and welfare.

And to finally pay for all this we will be proposing a tax increase for the bottom 90% of income earners disguised as "tax reform." The rich deserve tax breaks because, well, they are rich, and so are we, and they give us money.

We promised to nominate really stupid people and we lived up to that pledge and some of them were even elected or re-elected (Michelle Bachman's recent statements on slavery, for example, illustrate just how ignorant some of us really are!!! And of course, Sarah Palin). We ran as the patriot party and the constitution party, and we will attempt to radically modify our beloved constitution to reflect our fantastic view of constitutional history.

During the last two years we successfully fought or weakened every attempt by President Obama to bring our country out of a severe recession and the complete financial meltdown we handed over to him as we got booted out of office.

But we were able to convince enough of you that Obama was a Muslim Kenyan socialist nazi communist alien who hated America and you all voted to put us back in control of the House in the last Congressional election. What a country!!!

Art and Arizona

Snow day today for Jeremy, but I've got class this afternoon at Metro and Creighton starts tomorrow........

I've been able to do a bit of art this last week looking for some colorful escape from the cold and snow and sad news of the week and am attaching a few new pieces for your enjoyment (I hope!).

I have a few friends in Arizona who are mourning and consoling each other over the loss of friends, and acquaintances, and that poor little girl, and the life threatening injuries to their Congresswoman and other innocent bystanders who
were shot.

I've been perusing the news outlets and considering their limitless commentary and analysis, and I'll offer this: With 82 people killed everyday by gun violence in our country, how can people be "stunned" or "shocked" or find such occurrences "unimaginable"? Whatever the final judgments may be from people either smarter or more influential that I, that tens of thousands of psychotic, mentally disordered people, listen to violent rhetoric, crazy conspiracy theories, apocalyptic proclamations from AM talk radio shock jocks, TV "entertainers," not very "well regulated" millitias with their anti-government agendas and websites ( 2nd Amendment purists tend to not mention the "well-regulated" parts of said amendment) with vast storehouses of high powered weaponry, and snarky politicians talk "Lock and Load" and "Second Amendment Remedies" in a gun worshiping culture with ready access to automatic weapons is a dangerous mix...

I saw this morning that conservative Republican Peter King from New York may be offering some limited gun control legislation, and the large clips used by that psychotic killer in Arizona are the focus of some interest in Arizona, but I wouldn't place much hope there. The NRA gun lobby will fight tooth and nail
against any changes and they appear to have the power and ability to stop any such legislation.

But maybe there's hope that we will have fewer and fewer of these kinds of attacks and events. Reasonable people with immense patience and resilience will have to reassert themselves in our public and rhetorical lives first, though. Here's hoping.............

So consider the commentary and enjoy the art! And check out my Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=101493026592622&id=101542
0763#!/pages/Art-by-Cassiday/303955158963

Regards,
Bud C

www.artbycassiday.com

On Reading the Constitution

The new Republican leadership of the House of Representatives in a nod to their Tea Party base is beginning the new Congress with a reading of the Constitution. I watched news coverage this morning of this reading - Democrats (determined not to be out-Constitutioned by Republicans) are participating in this spectacle as well. House members each read a few lines, one after the other, for about 15 seconds. It is estimated that this will take about three hours. (It actually took about an hour and a half and even Republicans left the chambers after about an hour of this performance......).

And apparently they are not reading the entire Constitution; they are reading an edited version not including those pesky reminders of slavery or prohibition, for example. Their redacted version of the Constitution parallels their redacted view of American History as well, I suspect. Texas has removed Thomas Jefferson from its history books, for example.

It is amusing to me that the Republicans are simultaneously plotting to amend more of the "peskier" aspects of the Constitution they don't like all the while posturing themselves as the great defenders of that document. They don't like, for example, that the Supreme Court is a separate arm of government empowered to interpret the Constitution. How contradictory is that?

It is all strangely disturbing. Prefacing their soon to occur attacks on the American unionized worker, the uninsured, Muslims, Mexicans, and the middle class, teachers, police officers, firefighters, the environment and education all the while enriching Wall Street, and Corporations, and the wealthiest of the wealthiest, with this spectacle of reading a redacted version of the Constitution is such pervasive cynical and hypocritical PR that I can't believe they'll get away with it.

That 15 seconds about reflects the Republican attention span to the plight of middle class working families, the millions of people who have lost their homes, the tens of millions of unemployed Americans, and the 50 million Americans who have no health insurance.

That 15 seconds also about reflects the length of time it took Republicans to break their campaign “promises” with which they hoodwinked gullible Tea Partiers with their phony populist rhetoric into voting for the Republican Corporate/Wall Street agendas.

Perhaps enough Americans will realize the “bait and switch” that took place in the last Congressional Election. Perhaps 15 seconds will be the duration of Republican credibility.

We’ll see……………