An Aircraft Carrier for the Republic of Wyoming?

This should not surprise me, but I continue to be surprised by the lengths that the uber-conservative right of the Republican Party go to differentiate themselves from the rational moderate wing. You know, the Republicans that we Democrats have gone to in the past for a compromise.

In Wyoming, which has not had a Democratic majority in decades, we have had House Bill 85. House Bill 85 is a bill to create a commission to do the planning for when there is wholesale meltdown of the federal union, when, who knows, the Chinese call in their chit and make us pay it all back. You know, in fantasy world.

Here in Fort Bend County, we have 500,000 souls as of the last census. We have as many people in the county as in the whole state of Wyoming, and NOT A SINGLE plan for food distribution in an economic crisis.

But the good men and women of the Wyoming state house and senate are considering just such a scenario. The first of 50 states to make plans for an economic Armageddon.

We have, after all, a black president. How can we avoid economic meltdown with a black guy in the White House? But more to the point, how can we as a country survive 4 more years of a black presidency? A reality that seems to be hitting these cowboy (and cowgirl) lawmakers full in the face nowadays.

So they must plan. And actually it does my heart good that these people are planning for the worst. That is my approach after all. They must plan for a very Libertarian return to a metal based currency, which is central to House Bill 85. They must plan for a food distribution system to feed the teeming throngs of a half a million Wyoming-ans who would face certain starvation under Chinese rule.

But it gets better. Someone in Wyoming has just been tipped to the fact that the 2^nd Amendment rights to gun ownership will not be enough in the coming crisis. They are going to need planes and bombs. Jet planes.

And a platform to launch them from.

An aircraft carrier.

Wyoming needs to have its own aircraft carrier.

An aircraft carrier to cruise the waters of Lake Yellowstone maybe?

People tell me that I am too hard on my Republican fellow Americans. Be fair they say. And then you get these stories, true stories, and all I have to say is…are you kidding? These people are pure whack jobs.

They need to check the Strontium-90 content in Wyoming’s aquifers.

Super PAC Polls Democrats for Jim DeMint

Ha.

Not 5 seconds after hitting "Publish" on my Blogger edit page for the posting that appears below, the phone rang, and Caller ID said it was from Washington DC. It was one of those "smart" robocalls that record "yes" or "no" answers.

From the tone of the voice I assumed it was a Republican political call - sounded a little like an automaton - and I was not disappointed.

So I lied mostly.

Then after confirming that I was a Republican they asked me whether I would support the candidacy of "a true conservative" Senator Jim DeMint. And of course I told them "Yes." Jim DeMint is arguably the most right wing conservative in the Senate. An uberconservative. What better way to scare the moderates and Independents than run this turkey against Barack Obama?

So heads up, the final four isn't necessarily final. If this PAC gets a go from its poll, who knows, DeMint may just enter the four-ring circus and make it five.

King Street Patriots: The Brown Shirts Are Back

There is a Teabagger group based in The Woodlands that calls itself the King Street Patriots. The King Street Patriots have taken a page out of the New Black Panthers’ playbook and have assumed the role of voter intimidators that has not seen the light of day since pre-WWII Germany when Hitler’s Brown Shirts harassed voters at the polls and practically guaranteed a win for the future Fuhrer.

By the way, Godwin’s Law is not in force here. The Brown Shirts considered themselves patriots, too.

Voter intimidation in predominantly minority areas of Houston, as reported in the Houston Chronicle, brings home the fact that uber-conservative Teabaggers are going all out in this election cycle to ensure that what the conservative media outlets are touting, a GOP romp, will self-manifest.

From the Chronicle:

“Harris County Democratic Chairman Gerry Birnberg said his office had received reports Monday that poll watchers were "hovering" over voters, "getting in their face," and talking to election workers.”

“‘This is the fourth general election I've been involved with,’ Birnberg said, ‘and we have never had this kind of problem in the past.’”

The “poll watchers” are allegedly trained by the King Street Patriots.

“Birnberg placed the blame on some 300 poll watchers trained by a group of tea party activists who call themselves the King Street Patriots.”

“Poll watchers must be affiliated with either a party or a candidate, although the King Street Patriots group, through a project called True the Vote, is recruiting poll watchers on its website for Election Day, Nov. 2.”

Hiram Sasser, who is an attorney that represents the King Street Patriots, defends the group as new and inexperienced, as if to say so maybe mistakes were made, heck we’re all human and humans make mistakes.

No, actually, this is what he really said:

“Obviously, they trained them properly to follow the rules. What's different this time is that there probably are more poll watchers now than there have ever been before. … So, it might be a new process for some folks.”

And I might believe that if it weren’t for the fact that the Texas Tribune, some time ago, posted a YouTube Video of a King Street meeting where they informed the group of the tactics of the New Black Panther Party, as well as not so subliminal warning that the group had been established in Houston. The gasps of horror are audible on the video’s soundtrack.

Busted.

The King Street Patriots know exactly what they are doing, and the video is the proof in the pudding.

All they lack are the brown shirts, the swastikas and a leader with a really tacky moustache.



John Cornyn, Barbuda Still My Friend?

My friend Susan has a little piece on her not-a-blog today, Valentine’s Day 2009, on our favorite US Senator, John Cornyn. Susan says that Cornyn is stepping in to fill the empty shoes left by Tom Delay, who is busy these days being an icon of rightwing uberpartisanship.

In November of 2004, it seems, John Cornyn along with an undisclosed companion, took up an offer by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, Chairman of Stanford Financial Services to visit his operations on the Caribbean islands of Barbuda and Antiqua. As seen in the link provided by Susan, the 4-day trip was to conduct a

“Financial services industry fact-finding mission hosted by constituent company with substantial operations on site Notes Sen. Cornyn discloses expenses for himself and a companion, but does not disclose the identity of the companion. Total Cost $7,441.00”

Interesting and timely, I say, as Cornyn is certainly not hanging back staying hidden in the woodwork this time around. He finds himself in the news obstructing bills and visiting high roller contributors in New York rather than staying in DC to vote in this time of financial crisis.

But then I opened up today’s Chronicle and find that this is more interesting, and more timely, than I thought at first.

It seems that R. Allen Stanford has been under investigation by the SEC, the IRS and the FBI for awhile now. Investigators have been pretty closed mouth about what the matter is all about, other than to say that Stanford’s Caribbean banks are selling CDs that net the buyers higher than usual returns. From the Chron:

“The entire scope of the probe is unclear, but investigators are looking into the sale of certificates of deposit issued by the firm’s Stanford International Bank in the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. The CDs have yielded returns higher than the average.”

Wow. The very banks that Cornyn and a companion were asked to visit in 2004 as part of a “fact-finding mission” are being investigated for some questionable business practices by 3 federal agencies whose terrible combination of letters usually spell B-A-D N-E-W-S.

I also checked the FEC, and saw that Stanford had given $2000 to Cornyn’s campaign in 2007. Interesting, because Stanford and many of his highest ranking corporate officers at Stanford Financial Services had, for the most part, maxed out for Barack Obama in the last election.

Obviously, Stanford likes to win. And this is just okey-dokey as far as John Cornyn is concerned.