Last year, there was an article here about "Dime Store Patriots"... This video does a better job lampooning these people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmsOIjzQ1V8

Q: Hey, what's the difference between librarians and Republican Congressmen?

A: Librarians don't like their pages bent over!


What a knee slapper! Rep. Foley, the pedophile - protected by Bohner and Hastert, who have known about this for 6 months...

Check out Gonzo Muckraker for more details.

James Madison on War

An Excerpt from "Political Observations"
April 20, 1795

Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.

In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.

The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manner and of morals, engendered in both.

No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement. In war, a physical force is to be created; and it is the executive will, which is to direct it.

In war, the public treasuries are to be unlocked; and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them.

In war, the honors and emoluments of office are to be multiplied; and it is the executive patronage under which they are to be enjoyed; and it is the executive brow they are to encircle.

The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venal love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace.

--James Madison, from "Political Observations," April 20, 1795 in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison , Volume IV, page 491.

_______________________________

"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad."
-- James Madison, writing to Thomas Jefferson, May 13, 1798

"It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter…” said Lewis L. Strauss in a speech to the National Association of Science Writers in 1954. Though he wasn’t specifically speaking about Nuclear energy, its proponents throughout the years have echoed that “too cheap to meter” phrase.

Since 1905 when Albert Einstein’s famous equation “E=MC²” related matter to energy as interchangeable and showed that 1 gram of matter has within it the capacity to convert into 25 million kilowatt Hours, mankind has tried to harness this conversion for basically "free" energy. To put those numbers in perspective, 1 gram is about the weight of a paper clip. 25 million kilowatt hours is roughly enough to power 10,000 households in Texas for the month of August.

It sure would be nice if there were a device where we could simply deposit a paperclip once a month and power the grid for a small community – essentially free. Especially if you steal paperclips from the office supply cabinet…

Speaker Barnwell to Retire after 15 Terms

After 30 years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, Rep. Tim Barnwell (D TX-26) has announced that he will not seek re-election in '38. Barnwell made the announcement yesterday, from a press conference on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which had often been one of his favorite places of meditation and reflection over the years. Making the announcement, he stood flanked by his wife Beverly, and Senator Gary Page (D TX), a long-time friend.

"We've taken this country very far over the past 30 years. They said we couldn't do it, but we've accomplished great wealth, prosperity, and security for almost all Americans" said Barnwell.

President Chelsea Clinton was on-hand to congratulate and thank Speaker Barnwell: "Tim's ability to kick out the lobbyists and get Members of Congress to listen to their constituents and each other over the years has led to great public policy that my Father would only have dreamed of. The past 5 years of my presidency have not always been easy. Under Tim's leadership, the oversight of the executive branch has been tough, but always fair."

Former President and fellow Texan, Barbara Ann Radnofsky also attended the press conference. First elected to the Senate in the same year as Tim Barnwell was elected to Congress, they quickly formed an alliance that has lasted for years. "In my years in the Senate, and later as President, Tim has always provided sound advice, remarkable leadership, and a dedication to public service that will always be admired." said President Radnofsky. Vice President, David Van Os spoke well of Barnwell's "For the People First" policy initiative which Van Os and he worked on for several years.

Former President George W. Bush, when reached for comment in his Guantanamo Bay prison cell spoke well of Speaker Barnwell, thanking him for his role in convincing President Radnofsky to commute his sentence to life in prison. Said Bush: "[Barnwell] is a good guy. He's a representative who has... uh he representates Texans good. I have a lot of time now you know, to - uh, study the Bible from my cell, and I can now tell you that... well the policies that he and the Democrats put in - that they did after my impeachment were, uh, well they exemplification-ize the true teachings of Jesus. I was wrong, and they were … not."

Barnwell's career has been marked by a series of challenges and achievements. First elected in 2006, with only a fraction of the bankroll of his opponent, as part of the '06 Democratic Landslide, he found his freshman term a challenge. True to his word, he hung a sign above his desk in his Washington office reading "NOT FOR SALE". He fought with House leadership and office management to get his "No Entry Fee Required" sign posted above his office door. Perhaps the most memorable fight of the year was the one that gained him notoriety when he punched out one lobbyist representing ExxonMobil and sent another one running after literally kicking his rear with his trademark Texas boots. The incident got lots of press, but the lobbyists refused to press charges. "The pieces of that ripped up $2,000 check are still framed and hang underneath my 'NOT FOR SALE' sign" quipped Barnwell in an interview with Larry King several years later.

In 2008, he was only narrowly re-elected in a tightly contested race against the former incumbent in his district, Michael Burgess. Pundits had widely predicted that Barnwell would lose his race due to lack of fundraising, but donations poured in from citizens, energized by Barnwell's "butt-kicking" on Capitol Hill. Barnwell won that year with only a 1% margin, but he's steadily increased his favorability ratings over the years to the current 85% that he now enjoys.

Starting his career in the Energy and Commerce committee, taking the seat of his predecessor, Barnwell sponsored or co-sponsored hundreds of successful bills, but was instrumental in several of the more memorable pieces of legislation:

• The War Powers Reform Act of 2007 re-asserted Congress' exclusive power to declare war, clarifying that the President, as commander-in-chief may NOT engage in pre-emptive acts of war against any nation. This act, followed by the Presidential Signing Statements Prohibition Act was instrumental in averting a catastrophic war with Iran - which has been a stable and democratic ally in the region since the 2012 treaty with Israel.
• The Medicare Reform Act of 2008 re-worked the now-infamous provisions of the Medicare Part D prescription coverage plan. Previously the plan had the government subsidizing private health insurance companies in a scheme that only provided partial coverage and left many seniors with huge drug bills in the summer and fall, largely benefiting the drug companies. This act provided for a single set of negotiations between the U.S. Government and the pharmaceutical companies each year. The second part of the bill increased to fair market levels the reimbursement of physicians for providing care, and guaranteed electronic deposit within 1 week of treatment.
• The Government Ethics Matter Act of 2009 or GEM as it's now called introduced an overhaul of ethical rules for all public servants at any level of government. It banned the individual ownership of any stock or business interest which would possibly come under the jurisdiction of the government body to which the public servant was elected. It established the quasi-governmental agency FEMT - Federal Employees Mutual Trust, which manages in blind trust the assets of Members of Congress in mutual funds invested solely in U.S. stocks and bonds. It also required that a Member abstain from voting on any issue affecting any corporation for which the Member had worked or owned an interest in for the past 5 years. It also banned Congressmen and their staffs from taking lobbying jobs for a period of 5 years after their service has ended. Members of Congress were also banned from working for any Corporation or concern that had directly or indirectly contributed over $5000 to his or her campaign in the past 5 years.
• The Public Campaign Finance Act of 2010 is largely credited with returning the Congress and the Presidency back to the people, having completely banned corporations from contributing any amount of money whatsoever to political action committees or candidates for any Federal, State or Local office, as well as ballot initiatives. This act defined the current system, whereby candidates receive allocations of Federal money for their campaigns if they decline contributions from individuals over a certain limit.
• The New American Energy Policy Act of 2013 marked the beginning of a boom in the American economy. Setting new standards that have nearly replaced all of the coal-fired power-plants, the law used a combination of taxes and incentives to leverage new technology in cutting the U.S. need for energy from fossil fuels. From mandatory LED lighting, to government funded wind farms and solar fields, it encouraged new sources of renewable energy, but more importantly, it focused on conservation, cutting the average American's carbon footprint by nearly 80%. The act was a model for the new Democratic China's recent energy reform laws.
• The Single-Payer Healthcare Act of 2015 was perhaps the most remarkable achievement - parlaying the success of earlier reforms in the Medicare, VA, and Medicaid programs into a compromise with Republicans that now provides health-care for the majority of Americans. "Resistance from the insurance industry was strong, and Republicans wouldn't allow the plan to pass without including them, so we made the plan opt-in." said Barnwell. Within several years, most insurance companies had stopped offering the old fashioned and expensive group health insurance, and either shifted into other markets, or in some cases sold supplemental policies to wealthy clients preferring to use exclusive providers who opted out of the single-payer plan. With the burden of healthcare insurance lifted from most American companies, they became more competitive, starting a new wave of dominance in the international markets for American manufacturers, who have hired millions more employees.
• The Pay as you Go Act of 2016 set a federal debt ceiling of $1 Trillion and a yearly deficit cap of $200 Billion, except in cases of declared war. Though the national debt has dropped from $8.5 Trillion when Barnwell was elected to its current level of only $500 Billion, due in large part to the budget surpluses brought on by the booming economy that was kickstarted by the Energy Policy Act of 2013.

Texans have benefited well during his tenure. With the coordination of then Senator Barbara Ann Radnofsky, Barnwell and other Democrats joined with other members of the Texas caucus in working to bring back Texas Federal tax dollars to spend on Texas roads and education. Texas now brings in as much Federal spending as the tax dollars sent in. Barnwell has been very stubborn over the years about stopping pork-barrel spending, on occasion using parliamentary procedures to stop earmarks inserted even by his Texas colleagues. Widely known as a fiscal conservative, Barnwell's philosophy on spending has been that every project be "the best use of our common wealth at this moment, which will have the most positive impact for the most Americans".

Texas Governor John McLeod congratulated Barnwell on his retirement from Austin via videophone and promised to throw Barnwell a "big ol' barbecue" the next time he comes home to his district.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't understand why we need a showdown with Iran over the nuclear enrichment.

First, let me state that I believe Iran is making a mistake. Using nuclear energy is short-sighted. The WORLD needs to work on renewable clean energy production, such as solar, geothermal, and wind power. Nuclear energy (at least in the US) is more expensive to produce than coal-fired electricity, once you figure in limited plant life, and waste disposal. It's not the "too cheap to meter" panacea promoted in the 60's.

Anyway, the Iranians state that they want to build enrichment facilities to fuel their nuclear power plant(s) which I believe were supplied by the Russians. (There's a safety issue right there)

Last night I heard conservative commentator Glenn Beck seem to imply that because Iran is oil-rich, they shouldn't need Nuclear power. (In other words - why not burn the oil?) Well, Glenn, go back to college and take yourself some science and economics classes. You don't have oil-fired power plants because of the opportunity cost (as well as the environmental impact). They are better off economically by selling that oil, and using other forms of power generation.


The Iranians state that they will not be using the products of the enrichment or the reactor (Uranium 235 and Plutonium, principally) for weapons development. Good. In the words of conservative hero, President Ronald Reagan: "Trust, but Verify".

Simply put, drop the cowboy approach and step away from this pissing contest. We don't need another war. Let the IAEA monitor the enrichment and fuel rod disposal or reprocessing and ensure that the Iranians are doing as they say.

If they ever kick out the inspectors, or cross the line into weapons production, we bomb their facilities with conventional explosives (not the ineffective nuclear bunker busters the Bush administration is so fond of). Yes, conventional weapons will work just fine - we don't need to destroy the underground enrichment facility to put it out of business - we destroy the power lines going into it, the roads going into it, the ventilation shafts, and any external infrastructure. This will seal the bad stuff underground where it belongs, so we don't have a huge cloud of radioactive fallout drifting over Iran, India, and China.

Somebody make me the ambassador or something. I'll get this fixed without the need to put more young American troops lives on the line.

"Stop doing this sh*t"
Yahoo's Odd News is reporting President Bush said some interesting things when he thought he was off-microphone:

"See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s--- and it's over,"

Not going to argue with the sentiment. Not as bad as Reagan's infamous remarks about the bombings beginning in 10 minutes.

Technical sh*t
Well, it appears that due to some technical difficulties that I don't have time to deal with right now, the North Texas Liberal and Gonzomuckraker's RSS feeds are no longer available on the right hand side of the site with the other news feeds. I assure you this is NOT intentional and is quite frustrating to me. Blogspot.com uses a non-compatible feed format, and the service that was converting them for me has gone down. I'm looking for something else.

Shooting the sh*t
I attended Rep. Michael Burgess's town-hall meeting in the beautiful town of Roanoke on Saturday. More interesting than what was said, I think was what was not said. I'll be writing up a full account of the meeting. I'm nearly done, but I want to hold off on releasing it until after his next round of town hall meetings

You may be interested to know that Michael Burgess is a reader of WhosPlayin. I often write stories critical of Burgess's votes, and his seeming disregard for the issues that affect most North Texans. I also recently posted a really awful picture of Burgess wearing a Dunce hat with the GOP symbol on it. Burgess knew who I was, and was hospitable and gracious anyway. We conversed for a few minutes about our mutual ownership of Toyota Priuses, and how they might be modded to get even more fuel economy and less carbon impact.

I'll have pictures and transcripts to share soon. I do encourage all of my readers to attend Rep Burgess's upcoming town halls on July 22nd in Little Elm and Gainesville.

So yesterday, we have the Senate of the United States of America - the same one that just gave themselves a pay raise for a job *not* well done, while defeating a raise in the minimum wage - wasting time in narrowly (66-34) defeating a constitutional amendment to allow Congress to ban "desecration of the flag".

What the hell does this have to do with the ten commandments, you might ask? Well, aside from the fact that both issues are non-sequiter non-issues thrown out there to distract a populus that the Repugnicans think are stupid, they really do fit. How does the KKK fit into this?

Well first, let me list the ten commandments, since the Republicans don't seem to have a full grasp of them:

From Exodus 20:1-17
Then God spoke all these words: saying: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
4. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
5. Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
    

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

http://www.sierraclubplus.org/cartoon ... 6-06_rall_gas_subsidy.jpg

You WILL watch the videos...