Republicans have, basically, ruled Washington since 1994. Sixteen straight years of Republican rule is quite a long time. A sense of entitlement develops. Corporate whore media, at least since the time of President Clinton, has been feeding that Republican sense of entitlement…..constantly, and wrongly, repeating that the progressive United States of America is a conservative nation, a center-right nation, best represented by the "conservative" political party.

After Obama's inauguration, I wrote that the theme of corporate whore media had become, "the minority should rule." Deference should still be paid to Republicans, even though they had taken a severe electoral beating in 2006 and in 2008, which resulted in a 60-40%, Democrat-to-Republican congressional makeup.

All of the dithering and effing around over Obama's agenda policies, I think, is partly because of this "minority should rule" dynamic. I believe that this dynamic, as odd as it is, can be simply explained by the fact that rich people, whether teevee talking heads or celebrity liar journalists, like David Brooks, want to maintain low taxes. Republican politicians only have one perennial domestic agenda…and that's cutting rich Americans' taxes.

Now that Democrats may be about to cross the threshold of passing national health care reform…..the whole dynamic that the minority should rule is being threatened. Conservative shills, like Brooks, have resorted to overt lying about reconciliation……and Republican congressional representatives, after issuing a Code Red Alert over the imminent passage of Obamacare, have started talking like this…..

Speaking to the Huffington Post shortly after his speech, (Rep. Steve)King (R-IA) declared that a peaceful uprising, a la the successful overthrowing of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia on the streets of Prague in 1989 "would be fine with me."

"Fill this city up, fill this city, jam this place full so that they can't get in, they can't get out and they will have to capitulate to the will of the American people," he said.

"So this is just like Prague under communist rule?" the Huffington Post asked.

"Oh yeah, it is very, very close," King replied. "It is the nationalization of our liberty and the federal government taking our liberty over. So there are a lot of similarities there."

Passing a much-needed national health care program, a campaign promise upon which Barack Obama built his 53%-46% presidential blowout win, is to a "minority should rule" guy like King, "government taking our liberty over." Extending health insurance to 30 million Americans through the capitalistic insurance market, to King and his ilk, is just like the communists taking over the former Czechoslovakia.

The truth, however, has nothing to do with stupidly calling a windfall to for-profit health insurers a communist takeover ala 1989 Prague…..the truth is that Republicans are hearing, in the passage of a national health care bill, the death knells of their own political future.

Newt Gingrich in 1994….and the Bush gang in 2001….have transparently demonstrated that Republicans cannot, or will not, take governance seriously. They wrecked the place. Just like in a 'wilding.' Now, here come the Democrats to pick up the pieces, reminiscent of the days of FDR,…..and although today's Republicans act like they're brain dead….they are painfully aware of what happened after FDR and the Democrats cleaned up after the last Republican greed-orgy-gone-bad.

What happened after FDR began passing his New Deal agenda? Republicans became such a tiny minority in Congress that even today's corporate media Knee Padders couldn't with a straight face call for the 'minority to rule'…..that's how few Republicans were left in Congress back then.

The antics of Sister Sarah, Mike Pence, Steve King, Chuck Grassley, John Boehner and their entire cast of clowns, appear at first to be the insane ramblings of disturbed people…..but on further review, it's clear that they're not insane at all…..they are simply scared to death that with the passage of national health care reform, Republicans won't see majority status in the federal government for a generation.

And they're right.

Some Americans have an odd view of…well….America.

In the U.S. we have a guaranteed right to a legal defense if we are arrested and charged with a crime. It's a guaranteed right. The American justice system is based on the right of the accused to have legal advocacy.

However, many Americans do not really believe that everyone charged with a crime in America should have the right to an attorney.

That's why the "Keep America Safe" snowjob effort by Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol should really be named "Keeping America Safe From America."

Is the following video ad from Liz Cheney's ongoing propaganda business the start of the "New McCarthyism", as some are saying?…..

According to Liz Cheney, attorneys who work for the Obama justice department who have defended Guantanomo detainees in the past are automatically disqualified from working in or around government because they are most likely terrorist sympathizers. If these lawyers weren't jihadist sympathizers, as Cheney's rotted and McCarthyite thinking goes, they would have never offered to defend these detainees in the first place.

If Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol are correct, then any lawyer who defends a murderer is a sympathizer of murderers. Any lawyer who legally represents a rapist sympathizes with rapists and can't be trusted. In fact, if you take Liz Cheney's evil notions far enough…..any lawyer who offers up their services to legally represent any person charged with any wrongdoing……should be viewed with suspicion, because in all likelihood, that lawyer is probably sympathetic towards all those who have committed similar crimes.

Those who have offered up their legal services for Guantanomo detainees are labeled by Cheney and Kristol as the "Al-Qaeda 7." Subtle.

It's no wonder, then, that such an anti-American, pro-Joe McCarthy, display has prompted even some ex-Bushies to blast Liz Cheney for her new unAmerican witchhunt project.

Liz Cheney's wickedness and deception in support of her wicked and deceptive father, Dick, knows no bounds. But that's nothing new. She's been doing the inflammatory thing for well over a year without any sign of stopping.

What's even worse, in my opinion, about this very ugly campaign by torture lovers….is the response of the rotted, syphillitic, corporate media…..

For example…..this totally disgraceful piece by CNN's Wolf Blitzer……

Wolfie has since apologized for the "Department of Jihad?", FOX-like chyron, saying it was inappropriate.

You know what was inappropriate Wolfie? Giving the unAmerican views of troglodyte, Liz Cheney, any airtime at all.

Liz Cheney represents no one and her father represents no one. Neither are elected officials. What either have to say is of no importance to the American people……because neither represents any Americans.

When the United States finally collapses under it's own crushing weight of dishonesty and corruption, we will have people like Ms. Cheney and Bill Kristol…to thank.

It's a very busy week for The Reverend…..so bear with me. Here's a very interesting story coming out of Louisiana which will either make you laugh or cry. I'd be interested in reader's reactions to what is going on down in bayou country…..

A Louisiana sheriff plans to arm volunteers with shotguns, riot shields, batons, and a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a "war wagon," as part of "Operation Exodus," a program to provide security in the event of a terrorist attack or civic unrest. "It's a calling," he says.

The office of Sheriff Larry Deen of Bossier Parish, near Shreveport in the northwest part of the state, last month selected for the program 200 local residents — mostly ex-law-enforcement personnel — and began training them in "defensive techniques in the event of a struggle," reports the Shreveport Times. The plan calls for the new recruits to be sent to protect food from grocery stores, gas from gas stations, and other crucial local resources, should the situation demand it.

A press release from Deen's office announcing the program declared that "recent terror threats" had made clear that "homegrown terrorists are in our midst." It continued: "With the easy accessibility of the internet, it is quite possible that these local and international terrorists can form a national or multiple location attack on our nation at any given moment."

Get a load of the "Operation Exodus" guys "training" in the following picture…..makes me scared….

Is it possible….do you think….that some brain-eating bacteria got into the Louisiana water supply in the aftermath of Katrina? Think that explains it?

No, the above picture is not from Haiti….it's New Orleans, 2005

From a FEMA statement on September 2, 2005….

The head of the federal disaster relief agency said Friday it's "heartbreaking and very, very frustrating" to witness the virtual anarchy in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and defended the Bush administration's response.

FOX reporting September 2, 2005….

Thousands of National Guardsmen and women armed with food, water and weapons streamed into the hurricane-ravaged New Orleans on Friday to bring relief to the suffering and take back the streets from the looters and armed vigilantes.

There were also reports of a hostage situation in the New Orleans area……..The gangs reportedly shot and killed several sheriff's deputies and were in a gunbattle with firefighters. A rescue effort was under way, FOX News confirmed.

The Nation reports on how the media and political professionals focused on alleged looting…..

…..stranded African-Americans, left on their own to scavenge desperately for food, water and dry clothes, were tarred as looters. It was not only the likes of Fox's Sean Hannity going on about the "mayhem and looting and stealing"; the New York Times offered up purple prose about looters who "brazenly ripped open gates and ransacked stores for food, clothing, television sets, computers, jewelry and guns, often in full view of helpless law-enforcement officials." Then-Governor Kathleen Blanco postured that her troops "know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so if necessary." And Mayor Ray Nagin ordered 1,500 police to abandon search-and-rescue operations to target theft instead.

Then this happened…..

A deadly police murder occurred on the Danziger bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. On Sunday, September 4, 2005 seven police officers responded to a police dispatch reporting an officer down. According to the police, at least four people were firing weapons at the officers who then returned fire. Nineteen-year-old James Brisette and forty-year-old Ronald Madison were killed in the gunfire, and four other civilians were wounded. All claimed to have been unarmed.

Yesterday, New Orleans Police Department Lt. Michael Lohman pleaded guilty…..

……to his role in an elaborate cover-up of the police shootings Sept. 4, 2005.

His confession places him at the core of the conspiracy and implicates several NOPD officers and supervisors in the criminal activity.

Two NOPD investigations concluded officers had come under fire at the bridge and were justified in shooting in self-defense, killing Ronald Madison and James Brissette, and injuring four others.

Mr. Lohman, however, admitted the civilians were unarmed and that at the scene he realized the officers' actions had not been justified. He then encouraged the officers to make up false stories to justify the shooting, his confession said. As supervisor of the incident's investigation, Mr. Lohman admitted to conspiring with the officers to cover-up the lies.

That included Mr. Lohman participating in a scheme with a sergeant to plant a gun at the bridge. When he learned of the sergeant's intentions, Mr. Lohman simply asked whether the gun was "clean," meaning that it could not be traced back to another crime, Mr. Lohman admitted in court.

The court documents also indicate that Mr. Lohman, "frustrated that the cover-up story" in the initial October 2005 investigator's report "was not logical, personally drafted a 17-page false report . . . that would help justify the police shooting."

Occasionally…..it's not just a conspiracy theory…..but an actual conspiracy.

The Katrina/New Orleans chapter of our history is tragic. Personally, the most revolting part of the event, other than the 1000 deaths, was the "blame the victims" theme that many media representatives and political officials seemed quick to embrace.

However, the second most revolting part of the tragic story was how quickly some prominent media members spread rumors of "armed vigilantes" who were (gasp) "looting." That irresponsible spreading of unconfirmed rumors and speculation only added to the hysteria and confusion. Eventually, it led to the murder of 2 and the wounding of 4 black, unarmed New Orleans citizens crossing the Danziger Bridge. Murdered and wounded by white cops in cold blood. Cops who proceeded to conspire to cover-up the truth, plant a gun, stick to the same pre-arranged story line and swear in depositions that they were telling the truth.

Very ugly story.

Conservatives are meeting this weekend. It's time again for the annual CPAC (conservative political action committee) convention.

If I'm not mistaken, last year's CPAC convention had Rush Limbaugh as it's keynote speaker.

It seems that this year's convention will mark the return of Bush-Cheney to the good graces of the conservative movement, if indeed, they were ever not under their good graces.

Plasticman, Mitt Romney, spoke yesterday at the CPAC. There's a bit of irony in what he said. Senator Scott Brown won election in Massachusetts just a little over a month ago by never mentioning the word Republican. Brown, recognizing the distaste that Americans have for Republicans because of Bush-Cheney, refused to even identify himself with Bush, Cheney or the GOP. But here's Romney from yesterday….

"When it comes to shifting responsibility for failure, however, no one is a more frequent object of President Obama's reproach than President Bush," Romney said in a campaign-style speech this afternoon. "I am convinced that history will judge President Bush far more kindly."

The Reverend is convinced otherwise. When history finally strips our corrupt media's phony veneer of respectability away from G.W. Bush, he will, without doubt, be seen as the worst president America has ever had.

It's interesting that Bush AND Cheney are now back in the saddle with the conservative movement.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney just made a surprise appearance at CPAC after his daughter, Liz Cheney, finished her speech.

The crowd went wild, standing up and cheering for several minutes before he began talking. One man yelled, "Four more years!"

"Knock it off!" Cheney said. "A welcome like that is almost enough to make me want to run for office again. But I'm not gonna do it."

He spoke briefly and offered his predictions for the November mid-terms.

"2010 is going to be a phenomenal year, and I think Barack Obama is a one-term president," he said to wild applause.

American conservatives can do as they wish, of course,…..but, I think, there's something very odd about a political movement that welcomes and adores a war criminal and national traitor, like Dick Cheney. Listen to the esctatic reception that The Dick gets yesterday….

Last year at CPAC it was Rush Limbaugh waving his arms like a madman repeating along with the conservative crowd…"Rush, Rush, Rush." This year it's the return of Mr. 18%, Richard, The Dick, Cheney, to a gushing and raucous standing ovation.

Which leads me to this question….

What in the hell is wrong with today's American conservatives?

Here we are beginning the second year of the Obama administration….and it's deja vu all over again. 2010 will mark the 10th year of Dick Cheney's 'shadow' administration.

At the beginning of 2009, the 9th year of the Cheney 'shadow' administration, we saw still-vice-president Dick Cheney and his newly appointed Sec. of State, daughter Liz Cheney, frightening Americans in their tagteam efforts to keep Guantanamo open, keep torture on the table and keep 9-11 perpetrator trials, secret.

At the beginning of 2010, the 10th year of the Cheney 'shadow' administration, we see still-vice-president Dick Cheney and his Sec. of State, daughter Liz Cheney, frightening Americans into keeping Guantanamo open, keeping torture on the table and keeping 9-11 perpetrator trials, secret.

Can anyone tell me why Dick Cheney is still being asked for his opinion on these matters? Is it because the American public dearly loves the former vice-president, loved him when he was in office, respected everything about his leadership and are, therefore, still anxious to hear what he has to say about…..anything scary? Is it because the implementation of Cheney's torture policies, the opening of America's first secret gulag, and Cheney's most excellent fraud adventure in Iraq…have all worked out so well, making us all super-safer here in the U.S.?

Well…..no.

Americans who watch Dick Cheney on their teevees, the same Americans who told pollsters just before the Cheneys began their 9th year in office that they approved of Mr. 4th Branch by a whopping 18%, …..are being told by neo-conservative and Village defenders of Dick that Cheney continues to campaign for secret U.S. prisons, torture and never-ending war…..because he, with the deepest patriotic sincerity, just wants to keep America safe.

Is it possible…do you suppose….that Mr. 18% & OffSpring, are really only doing their damnest to prevent civilian criminal court trials of 9-11 perpetrators because Cheney's torture program might be revealed to the public?

Is that possible?

Cheney told ABC's Jonathan Karl yesterday that despite the fact that the Bush administration by 2005, you know, had convicted 195 suspects on terrorism related charges using civilian criminal courts…..

"Well, we didn't all agree with that."

Cheney said that there was a "major shootout" during the Bush administration in the Roosevelt Room between Justice Department people who "advocated that (rule of law) approach", and "many of the rest of us who wanted to treat it as an intelligence matter, as an act of war, with military commissions. We never thoroughly or totally resolved those issues. These are tough questions."

The Bush administration, by 2005, had overseen 195 convictions in U.S. criminal courts of terror-related crimes. The Bush administration had Mirandized Richard Reid in less than 5 minutes of his arrest and tried and convicted him in a civilian criminal court. Despite these facts, Mr. 4th Branch responded this way….

"You want my opinion, my view, of what ought to happen…I think we should treat it as war….I think that's why we were successful for 7 1/2 years in avoiding a further major attack against the United States. And I do get very nervous and very upset when that's the dominate approach, as it was, sometimes, in the Bush administration, or certainly would appear to be, at times, in the Obama administration."

The Reverend paraphrases….

'We were successful for 7 1/2 years in avoiding a further major attack against the United States, because we (the Bush administration) treated terrorists and terrorism as a war……except for the 195 times we (the Bush administration) didn't…..and so I get nervous when a new administration seems to be treating terrorism and terrorists in the same way that we (the Bush administration) did…..which kept us safe for 7 1/2 years.'

Now, be honest. What the hell sense does that make?

Cheney: "I think we should treat it as a war."

Cheney: "That's why we were successful for 7 1/2 years in avoiding a further major attack against the U.S."

Cheney: "I disagreed with Bush's 195 criminal convictions (by 2005) in civilian criminal court, and the issue was never resolved."

The Bushies tried 3….count 'em….3 "terrorists" in military tribunals. Two were acquitted. The Bushies tried and convicted 195 "terrorists" in civilian criminal courts……yet "treating it as a war" was what kept the U.S. safe for 7 1/2 years.

Now, I'm no expert….but I pay attention…..and what I'm thinking here is that either Dick Cheney has lost his effing mind and is now resorting to flinging around the craziest sh*t he can think of….OR….desperation is really setting in on The Dick. Desperation marked by larger and larger nonsensical lies….bigger whoppers.

Why would Dick Cheney get so desperate?

Even one public civilian criminal trial of a major Gitmo detainee is a threat to Mr. Cheney. How? Using Cheney's one percent doctrine as a guide…….if there is even a one percent chance that the Cheney-ordered and approved torture program becomes public knowledge in open and transparent court proceedings, Mr. Cheney will be in danger of further prosecution from other countries who don't simply wink at war crimes like the U.S. does.

What's more believable?

Mitch McConnell (R-KY), minority leader of the Senate, opposes Barack Obama's presidency so much he is willing to smear his former Dear Leader, George W. Bush…..

The leading Republican in the Senate said Sunday that the previous Republican administration had been mistaken in ever trying alleged terrorists in civilian federal courts.

"We now know that was a mistake," declared McConnell.

What does the old Kentucky hound dog mean when he says "we now know?" What is it that we've learned recently that would cause McConnell to state that we "know" something "now" that, contextually, we didn't know before?

What we actually "now know", is that Bush-Cheney carried out a lawless, outside-of-the-Constitution, plan meant first: to scare Congress and the American people into accepting the invasion and occupation of Iraq using 9-11 as justification….second: to cover-up the fraud-crime of Iraq by instituting a torture regime in America's first-ever secret prison in Guantanamo for the purpose of coercing phony confessions out of detainees falsely implicating Saddam Hussein with 9-11, and…..third: to sufficiently scare Americans, keep them in a state of fear, in the hopes that Republicans would maintain Karl Rove's "permanent GOP majority."

That's what "we now know." The ongoing appearances on the teevee of Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani and other neo-con usual-suspects spouting, "keep Gitmo open", "trying suspects in civilian courts endangers Americans", "torture works", "we're at war", "everything has changed since 9-11", etc……are nothing but attempts at post-game cover-up of the numerous crimes carried out during neo-conservative rule.

That's what "we now know."

Republicans have demonstrated recently that they will vote against their own conservative policies simply because Democrats may be given credit for legislation passed. We've now witnessed this phenomenon with tax cut provisions in the stimulus bill, Pay-Go provisions in raising the debt ceiling and now….in the very same practice by Bush of trying "terrorists" in civilan courts.

Zacarias Moussaoui and John Walker Lindh are two prime examples of namebrand "terrorists" taken into custody during George W. Bush's presidency. They were arrested, Mirandized, given lawyers, tried in civilian courts, convicted and are both now serving prison sentences inside SuperMax prisons…..and newsflash…..those SuperMax prisons are on U.S. soil. Prisons from which NO ONE has ever escaped. Prisons which pose absolutely NO threat to U.S. citizens.

"federal facilities on American soil currently house 216 international terrorists and 139 domestic terrorists. Some of these miscreants have been locked up here since the early 1990s. None of them has escaped. At the most secure prisons, nobody has ever escaped."

Those facts and figures haven't just been made publicly available in the last few weeks. Outside of neo-conservative tinged wingnuttery, we've known about these facts for years and years.

What we "now know" is that the U.S. has been trying, convicting and securely incarcerating on U.S. soil, so-called terrorists for decades. We "now know" that not one incarcerated, so-called terrorist has ever escaped from their secure incarceration. And we also "now know" that trying so-called terrorists in civilian courts does not, in any way, increase any threats to American civilians…..

Former Navy lawyer: "There is no increased threat posed to the United States by bringing some of the detainees to the U.S. for trial." In an October 29 NPR interview, Charles Swift, an attorney who took the case of a Guantánamo detainee to the Supreme Court in 2006, said that "[a]nyone knowledgeable about al-Qaida operations will tell you that there is no increased threat posed to the United States by bringing some of the detainees to the U.S. for trial." Swift added that "[Suspected terrorists] Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla were held and, in Hamdi and al-Marri's case, eventually tried in the United States without any consequence."

All of this leads me to this conclusion: what we "now know", is that Republican objections to how Obama is handling the "terrorist" situation have no credibility, are often hypocritical, and are meant only to keep Americans properly scared.

Mitch McConnell "knows" what he is doing……and sadly, all he and the other GOP dead-enders can do is continue on with the fraud that Leaders Bush and Cheney started.

Remember all the noise from neo-conservatives over the thought of President Obama sitting down with….gasp….Iranian leaders?

Remember all those ignorant Villager gotcha questions Obama fielded during the presidential election campaign over…gasp….sitting down with Iranian leaders?

Would pre-conditions have to be met before an American president could….gasp…talk to Iranian leaders? Shouldn't Iranian leaders first meltdown all their nuclear fuel and hand it over to the IAEA before Obama should even consider….gasp….talking to Iranian leaders?

Good times.

Now the pre-conditions for meetings of detente with "foreign" leaders are being set by Congressional Republicans. The "foreign" leader this time…..is the U.S. President. The "meetings of detente" are the proposed bipartisan talks Obama has offered to hold with Congressional members over health care reform.

And here are the Republicans' pre-conditions before they will sit down to….gasp…talks with the U.S. "foreign" leader……

Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people?
….
Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan way, does that mean he has taken off the table the idea of relying solely on Democratic votes and jamming through health care reform by way of reconciliation?
….
If the President intends to present any kind of legislative proposal at this discussion, will he make it available to members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours beforehand?

Having been beaten worse than a rented mule by President Obama recently when House Republicans met with America's "foreign" leader for a Q & A session……John Boehner(R-OH) and Eric Cantor(R-VA) have now insisted, in a letter to Rahm, that Obama must meet certain pre-conditions before they step into the ring again with this dangerous, incalcitrant "foreign" leader.

Obama, as most "foreign" leaders do, responded to the Republicans through his diplomat, Robert Gibbs….

The President looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process, and as recently as the State of the Union Address. He’s open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it.

Change a few words around……and you have the same discussion that neo-conservatives nuts tried to force on us over talks with Iran's Ahmadinajab. It's uncanny.

But that's where we are now in the U.S. political process. One political party's objective is regime change. Isn't that so? From the beginning of 2009, hasn't the Republican's only goal been the same as Rushbo's…….regime change in the U.S?

Now, with an obstructionistic war-like strategy that places demands on it's political opponent before direct communications can even be opened…….aren't the Republicans telling Americans, just as they did with Ahmadinajab, that the U.S. "foreign" leader can't be trusted?

Boehner and Cantor, through a communique to the U.S. "foreign" leader's diplomat, are telling voters, that America's "foreign" leader is not just dangerous…..but SO dangerous and untrustworthy that a groundfloor of pre-conditions must be met before diplomatic talks can begin.

What else can Republicans do at this point?

GOP'ers have spent over a year trying to diminish Obama's popularity, delegitimize him as they did with the evil fellatio recipient, William Clinton. GOP'ers have done everything imaginable to brand Obama as an "enemy of America." Obama is a "socialist", "Muslim", "coddles Islamic extremists", is "not a U.S. citizen", and "wants to pull the plug on your grandma."

Hell, you can't blame the Republicans for setting pre-conditions before sitting down with such an obviously evil "foreign" leader.

Finally….just think what could happen if America's "foreign" leader doesn't meet those GOP pre-conditions over health care reform. Obama's rogue "mullahs" in Congress just might pass reform with the….gasp…..reconciliation process, requiring only 51 Senate votes. And wouldn't that be just like Ahmadinajab handing out nukes to Bin Laden?

No question….to Republicans, there's little distinction between Ahmadinajab and Obama. Both are dangerous "foreign" leaders where the only solution is regime change. Both are untrustworthy enemies of America who must meet certain pre-conditions before talks of negotiation can be opened. While Republicans claimed that Ahmandinajab's largest threat was the chance he might Fed-Ex a truck full of nuclear fuel to Bin Laden's cave…..the 'foreign" leader, Obama, just might give health insurance to all Americans.

And that's something we should really be afraid of.

As we have witnessed in real time…..ex 1/2 term governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, is an opportunist. Sarah is in it for the money, and perhaps the fame. That's why she quit the governor's job. Palin's brief stint as McCain's VP running mate gave her just the right amount of exposure to make leaving the governor's job profitable….so that's what she did. The report so far is that her book "Going Rogue" has made Sarah and the First Dude millionaires….so it's all working out the way Sarah had imagined. Good for her.

What Sarah Palin is not…..is a serious political candidate. Sarah, as we all witnessed during the 2008 campaign, has little, if any, understanding of…well….much of anything. When it comes to national and international policies, history, America's system of law,….or stuff like "war"….Sarah Palin is little more than a female version of Fox's Sean Hannity…..clueless, disingenuous, or both.

Here's what she said Saturday night in Tennessee in an attempt to criticize the Obama administration, as she addressed the "we don't like Obama" T-Party crowd ….

"New terms used like “overseas contingency operation” instead of the word “war.” That reflects a worldview that is out of touch with the enemy that we face. We can’t spin our way out of this threat. It’s one thing to call a pay raise a job created or saved. It’s quite another to call the devastation that a homicide bomber can inflict a “manmade disaster.” And I just say, come on, Washington. If nowhere else—national security—that’s one place where you got to call it like it is."

But…..see…..America is not at "war"……

…strictly speaking, we're not really "at war," as Congress has merely authorized the use of military force but has not formally or Constitutionally declared war. Even the Bush administration conceded that this is a vital difference when it comes to legal rights. In 2006, the Bush DOJ insisted that the wartime provision of FISA — allowing the Government to eavesdrop for up to 15 days without a warrant — didn't apply because Congress only enacted an AUMF, not a declaration of war.

The voting constituency Sarah Palin was addressing Saturday night in Nashville doesn't much care to hear about the Constitution…..they don't want to hear about how the U.S. hasn't officially declared war since WW2…..they don't want to admit that U.S. military adventures since WW2 have all been, basically, authorizations to use military force with a specific purpose intended.

The Tea Party Nation doesn't want to hear about the laws of America that require law enforcement to Mirandize anyone committing a crime, or suspected of committing a crime inside the U.S. No, The Tea Party gathering wanted to hear "rogue" talk, lawless talk.

The voting contingency Sarah Palin spoke to Saturday night would rather hear that Obama is America's enemy…..someone who, according to the 1/2 term ex-governor, is purposely "spinning" words and lingo to, somehow, camouflage his larger-picture intent to aid Islamic extremists. And Sarah provided.

Tea Party Nation came into being in Feb-March, 2009…..before the new Obama administration had even got settled into office. What the hopeless corporate media is today calling a serious grassroots movement is, in actuality, the leftovers of a bitter bunch of excitable Palin campaign followers angry because Democrats took over the presidency and extended their majorities in Congress.

The Tea Party group is made up of still-angry-and-bitter anti-immigration advocates…..those who still today trumpet their "no amnesty" message of intolerance. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), the most bitter and outspoken Republican who wears his "no amnesty" emotions on his shirtsleeve……..was one of the Nashville Tea Party Convention's keynote Friday evening speakers. To rousing Tea Partier applause….Tancredo shared the love…..

"people who could not even spell the word 'vote', or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House."

"His name," Tancredo said, "is Barack Hussein Obama."

That's what Tea Partiers came to hear. Tancredo did not disappoint.

The Tea Party group is made up of many citizens who don't want to hear the "liberal spin" that Barack Obama is…no, really…..an American citizen. What the Partiers want to hear is that Obama's American citizenship is still a 'controversy.' What the Partiers want to hear is that there is still a question about Obama's birthplace……at Tea Party Nation, the wishes of bitter, sore-losers were fulfilled…..

WorldNetDaily Editor-in-Chief Joseph Farah’s Friday night dinner speech, ….. spent around 10 of its forty minutes on questions about Barack Obama’s citizenship…..

Starting at the 4:30 mark….

So there we have it. Tea Party Nation is made up primarily of sore-loser conservative and libertarian-types who paid over $500 a seat to hear what they wanted to hear. They didn't care to hear the truth…..and they didn't hear it this past weekend in Nashville.

Instead, folks like Palin, Tancredo and WND editor Joseph Farah spouted erroneous sound bytes of intolerance, ignorance and conspiracy-theory nuttiness.

None of this is the least bit surprising after having witnessed all the hateful, bigoted and…well…stupid…Tea Party signs from last summer.

In spite of all this….is there any question in anyone's mind that our rotted and hapless Villager-driven media will remind us over and over again just how very Serious the Tea Party Nation is?

UPDATE: This should also be of interest….

[Palin] had on three opera-length strands of pearls, two white and one multi-colored. [O]n her lapel, a small pin with two flags — for Israel and the United States.

And this from Palin….

"The Republican Party would be very smart to try and absorb as much of the tea-party movement as possible," she told the crowd. "Because the tea-party movement is the future of politics."

I've been told the Baggers were, you know, independent of political party affiliation.

It started during the 2008 presidential campaign. Republicans exclusively appealing to the radical-right base. Sarah Palin was front and center leading the effort, spewing nonsensical contradictions, ignorant and mistaken sound bites, and wild-eyed wingnut-pleasing mockery of Democrats, specifically Obama.

After the GOP's crushing defeat in that election cycle, I appealed to Republicans to quit talking, you know, crazy stuff. Quit lying and acting like a bunch of unhinged nuts…..admit conservative and GOP failures…and rebuild their disgraced political party. Simply appealing to a small minority of excitable and angry wingers was not the path back to respectability or trustworthiness.

It's over a year later and….sadly…..Republicans still aren't listening.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) last Saturday responding like a crazy person to the Obama administration's handling of the underwear bomber guy….vital part is the first minute….

ABC's Jake Tapper…..

The Bush administration used the criminal justice system to convict more than 300 terrorists, the official noted, adding that accused shoe-bomber Richard Reid was Mirandized within 5 minutes.

It's kind of odd, isn't it, that the most vocal GOP critics of President Obama's method of dealing with "terrorists", don't recognize their own hypocrisy over the GOP Bush having dealt the same exact way with "terrorists?"

Well….it really isn't odd….not really….Instead, it's a strategy. Act like you have amnesia, speak to your audience as if they are morons….like you apparently are, then, blame this Democratic president for the same stuff the previous GOP president did on a routine basis….and try to score some wingnut brownie points by repeating, wrongly, that "terrorists" don't have any rights at all when arrested or detained on U.S. soil.

Cosmo-boy, the Village's new man-crush object, the male Sarah Palin, Scott Brown (R-MA) laid down the rhetorical wingnuttery the night he was elected……

"And let me say this, with respect to those who wish to harm us, I believe that our Constitution and laws exist to protect this nation – they do not grant rights and privileges to enemies in wartime. In dealing with terrorists, our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop them, not lawyers to defend them."

See?…..Republicans are out of political ammunition. As I like to say….they ain't got nothin'. So, along comes Cosmo-boy…..spouting some stupid and phony sh*t about denying "terrorists" any rights to an attorney, even when they are arrested or detained inside the U.S.

Cosmo-boy wins election……Republicans, out of ammunition, grasp at whatever straws Cosmo-boy had spun into electoral gold up in Massachusetts. Desperate moronic copy-cats. I'm not sure if the brilliant Michael Steele issued a memo, or not….but Susan Collins, obviously without doing any thinking or fact checking….goes ahead and repeats Cosmo-boy's totally incorrect nonsense.

Collins, for all intents and purposes….comes across as a Jean Schmidt-like nut. Remember….Collins is a senator, not some local township trustee. No offense meant towards township trustees…..Collins is supposed to know this stuff.

AG Eric Holder sent Mitch McConnell (R-KY) a multi-page letter pointing out that what he, Susan Collins, and Cosmo-boy Wonder were saying was simply a bunch of made-up winger-baloney…..and then Susan Collins responded…digging herself a deeper hole….

"I remain concerned that there was no consultation with intelligence officials before the Department of Justice unilaterally decided to treat Abdulmutallab as if he were an ordinary criminal."

See the strategy? When stupid wingnut talking point sh*t is called out for what it is…..refuse to acknowledge it…..and then make up some new wingnut stupid-sh*t…..

From Holder's letter…

"…no agency objected to this course of action. In the days following December 25 – including during a meeting with the President and other senior members of his national security team on January 5 – high-level discussions ensued within the Administration in which the possibility of detaining Mr. Abdulmutallab under the law of war was explicitly discussed. No agency supported the use of law of war detention for Abdulmutallab, and no agency has since advised the Department of Justice that an alternative course of action should have been, or should now be, pursued."

Jumping from one base-baiting piece of stupidity to another….Collins said the administration "undoubtedly prevented the collection of valuable intelligence about future terrorist threats to our country."

Also not true….

"It is also my understanding that Mr. Abdulmutallab has provided valuable information. Is that correct?" Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked.

"Yes," Mueller replied.

"Thank you," Feinstein said, "and that the interrogation continues despite the fact that he has been Mirandized?"

"Yes," Mueller said again.

Same old stuff, different day.

Once again I would encourage Republicans to quit exclusively baiting their radical-right base. To continue to do so will result in the eventual disintegration of the GOP. Eventually there simply won't be ANY credibility left, except with these dead-enders….

Politico reports on the most recent Research 2000 poll…..

The poll of 2,000 Republicans — sponsored by the liberal website but conducted by independent pollster Research2000 — paints a picture of a Republican base that’s angry, disaffected and acutely hostile to President Barack Obama. Thirty-nine percent of Republicans polled think Obama should be impeached, 36 percent say he wasn’t born in the United States and one in four say they aren’t even sure he’s a U.S. citizen. Another 63 percent labeled the president a “socialist.”

UPDATE:
Just as I posted this, I saw this…..really, now…..it's simply mind-boggling.