Welcome to Buster's Blog

Irregular commentary on whatever's on my mind -- politics, sports, current events, and life in general. After twenty years of writing business and community newsletters, fifteen years of fantasy baseball newsletters, and two years of email "columns", this is, I suppose, the inevitable result: the awful conceit that someone might actually care to read what I have to say. Posts may be added often, rarely, or never again. As always, my mood and motivation are unpredictable.

Buster Gammons















Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Obama Will Never Leave? WTF??


Boy, the things you can "learn" these days!

For instance, did you know that no matter the result in the 2016 election, Barack Obama will refuse to relinquish the presidency to his duly elected successor.  He's been busy militarizing federal agencies and will use them to fend off any challenges to his dictatorial power-grab.  Obama will become the American version of Uganda's Idi Amin:  President For Life.

This nugget of "knowledge" was bestowed upon us the other night by a friend.  And where did he get this guaranteed-to-be-true, just-you-wait-and-see, earth-shattering info?  Don't know, but maybe from one of these websites:

HardDawn.com ("Preparing for the National Apocalypse") -- "Barack Hussein Obama could barricade himself in the tunnels beneath the White House.  Tear gas will become necessary."

TeaParty.org -- "What evidence do we have that Obama's leaving?"  (A question posed by Rush Limbaugh, a.k.a. Rash Dimbulb, which got wide play in far-right circles.)

TruthAndAction.org -- "Obama has created his own private army of paramilitary federal SWAT teams."

NowTheEndBegins.com -- "[Obama has given] ammunition, firearms and 2700 tanks to non-military groups like the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Service."  (It goes on to cite a short list of agencies with a very small number of armed enforcement officers, which is not news at all.  It's standard operating procedure, and has been for some time.  I am intrigued, however, by the idea of mailmen driving tanks.  In some neighborhoods, it might be helpful.)

Or maybe our friend has been frequenting unimpeachable sources like InfiltratedNation.com, MinuteMenNews.com, FreeRepublic.com, OffGridSurvival.com, AllenBWest.com, TheLibertyBeacon.com, or Alex Jones' InfoWars.com.  There's about a thousand other junk sites just like them.

Not that long ago, this type of bat-shit dumb-fuckery was laughed at and marginalized.  Mainstream people easily recognized society's paranoid nutjobs and wacked-out conspiracy theorists, and had no qualms about dismissing them as such.

But today, the shrieking of conservative squawk radio is amplified by still-crazier shrieking and squawking on the internet, and even the goofiest crackpot can find a website that feels like home.  (As we say in the car business, there's an ass for every seat.)  The lunatic fringe are thus validated, and masquerade as credible and informed.  They inform themselves only inside their own bubble, but what the hell?

Our friend is a mature, intelligent, educated, and otherwise amusing person.  I don't know where he gets his "facts," but he really ought to do better than traffic in this sort of alarmist, embarrassing, tabloid-style crap.

Or is it crap?  A good friend is a federal judge and when we told him about this, he confirmed that it's  all true.  He explained that he and his fellow jurists are no longer hearing cases; they're practicing all day long with their government-issued AK's and Uzis in a secret shooting range in the basement of the Federal Building.  "When they try to make Obama leave the White House in 2017, they're gonna have to go through us first!  We're your worst nightmare --judges with automatic weapons!  Ha-ha-ha!"

Then he uncrossed his fingers and laughed his ass off.    

 

 



Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Everything's Bigger In Texas


Especially the morons, like these two gun-rights fuck-tards who thought it would be a really great idea to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights by taking their assault rifles with them to lunch at a Dallas Chipotle restaurant.

Even in gun-crazy Texas, Chipotle executives felt compelled to reemphasize their "salsa-and-guns-don't mix" corporate policy.

That's a real shame for Pinky and the Brain, pictured  at right.  Jesus!

As Jon Stewart put it:  "It's bad news news for those who like to hunt and kill their own burritos." 

Unhappy For 24 Hours In Tehran


One of the most infectious, hook-heavy, wonderful pieces of pop music ever written is Pharrell Williams' "Happy".  It's a world-wide hit, as evidenced by a YouTube video from six young Iranians from Tehran, who do a great job gettin' happy:



Even though Iran sometimes gets a bad rap, it's big cities are actually filled with open-minded, Western-leaning young people like those in the video.  Yet it's still a theocracy and there is no miserable turd like a religious miserable turd.  Moderate President Hassan Rouhani came out in favor of the vid kids' "happiness and joy" -- said it was a "right"--  but the Ayatollah Khamenei runs the show and called it "an obscene video that offended public morals."  The Ayatollah also said he was worried that pre-marital sex might lead to dancing.

So he had he six kids jailed for their "immoral" video -- sunglasses, make-up, no head scarves, cigarettes!!!!  Oh my Allah!!!  Sacrilege!!!

Cooler heads prevailed.  The kids were released the next day.  Yes!  

Don't give up on real people, wherever they may be. 



America: Undisputed Champion Of Crass Commercialism


After years of planning and discussion and argument, the 9/11 Museum finally opened in New York City at the World Trade Center site.

It's official name is the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

Admission is $24 per person and there is a gift shop.  A gift shop.

Only in America.

It's All Michelle's And Hillary's Fault

*
Mean, Horrible Fat Tub of Goo and
Mean, Horrible Bag of Bones
A couple weeks ago, almost 300 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from their school by some nut-job terrorist group called Boko Haram.  The girls are still being held as hostages, as Boko Haram demands the release of some of its members from Nigerian prisons  Some speculate the girls may have already been sold into sexual servitude.

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke of this tragic situation and tweeted a message of support:  "#BringBackOurGirls".  It was retweeted about a bajillion times.

It was also immediately and cruelly mocked by Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, the Mutt and Jeff of the American media's hate-speech class.  Their mean, shallow and useless point was that tweets don't solve the problem, and therefore Obama and his wife were "weak".  Oh, ha-ha-ha!  Let's make fun of moral support!  What a waste of time!  What a pair of assholes.

The plunger cannot clear the clog
Not to be outdone by professional gasbags, amateur gasbag U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex) actually asserted that the Boko Haram kidnappings were Hillary Clinton's fault.  His reasoning (if it may be so generously described)?  As Secretary of State, Clinton declined a chance to officially designate Boko Haram a "terrorist group."

Hillary was fully aware of Boko Haram and said she didn't want to give them the satisfaction and publicity of the terrorist label.  After her departure, the group was eventually classified as terrorist, but well before the Nigerian kidnapping.  So, our official designation obviously made no difference one way or another.

And your point then, Louie, would be exactly what?  Exactly stupid, that's what.      

Saturday, May 17, 2014

"Everybody Wants Ta Get Inta Da Act!"


That was Jimmy Durante's tag line, and it was my first thought after reading that after countless House hearings and reports over the past two years and yet another House investigation on the schedule, now there are 37 Republican Senators who want to hold their own hearings on . . . Benghazi!!!

Among that group is Ohio's Rob Portman.  Robbie's rationale:  "Here in the Senate, we're sick and tired of watching the House of Representatives have all the Benghazi fun.  We're confident that the Senate can stage a useless one-sided theatrical production and waste everyone's time just as effectively as the House can."     

There's no chance of a duplicate Senate hearing and certainly no need for one.  But the GOP's foamy-mouthed mania about flogging this dead horse has become a bad joke.
____________________________________________


(What follows was borrowed/stolen from blogger buddy Joe Todd.  Thanks/apologies, Joe!  You can find Joe's "Quality Time" blog in Buster's Links)



Flogging a dead horse:  "To waste effort on something when there is no chance of succeeding."

However, some politicians have developed advanced techniques to prolong the flogging indefinitely, such as:

Buy a stronger whip.
Appoint a committee to study the horse.
Change riders.
Visit other countries to see how different cultures flog dead horses.
Lower the standards so that the dead horse can be included.
Reclassify the dead horse as "living impaired."
Hire outside contractors to flog the dead  horse for you.
Harness several dead horses together to increase speed.
Provide additional funding to improve the horse's performance.
Rewrite performance expectations for all horses.
Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.





Thursday, May 15, 2014

The Confession

(Although I'm not religious, this was all over Facebook and just too funny.)
__________________________________________________

Young Joey enters the confessional and says, "Bless me Father, for I have sinned.  I've been with a loose girl."

The priest asks, "Is that you, little Joey Pagano?"

"Yes, Father, it is."

"And who was the girl you were with?"

"I can't tell you, Father.  I don't want to ruin her reputation."

"Well, you know, Joey, I'm certain to find out her name sooner or later so you may as well tell me now.  Was it Tina Minnetti?"

"I cannot say."

"Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?"

"I'll never tell."

"Was it Maria Papalardi?"

"I'm sworn to secrecy."

"Was it Nina Capelli?"

"My lips are sealed, Father."

"Maybe it was Rosie DeAngelo then?"

"Please, Father, please!  I just can't tell you!  I can't do it!"

The priest sighs in frustration.  "You're very tight-lipped, Joey, and I admire your discretion.  But you have sinned, my son, and you must atone.  You are not allowed to be an altar boy for four months.  Leave now, and behave yourself."

Joey walks back to his pew and his friend Frankie slides over and whispers, "So, what'd you get?"

"Four months vacation and five good leads."

Ohio Geniuses Deal With Frack Tax


Even in the midst of our shale oil and gas frack-o-rama, Ohio's oil/gas "severance" taxes are mere flat fees per barrel or per cubic foot, and remain among the very lowest in all of the U.S.  Our effective severance tax rate in Ohio is just 0.19% -- pathetically low, almost everyone agrees.  By contrast, North Dakota is 11.5% and Alaska is 12.5% to 15%.

To his small credit, even Gov. Kasich is in favor of a "frack tax" in Ohio.  The Ohio Environmental Council recommended 5%.  Kasich wanted 2.75%.  Yesterday, the Ohio House passed a new severance tax bill, but cut the rate to 2.5%.  The bill now moves on to the state senate.

"Voila!  An income tax cut!"
It all still sounds sort of good, but here's the thing -- almost none of the tax revenue generated will go to the fracked areas of the state; only 15% to 17.5% of the money will be set aside to protect/repair the air, land, water and human health endangered by fracking.

Instead, almost all of it will go to pay for Kasich's dream, the state income tax cut.

It's the Republican way.

If You Think Climate Change Is A "Belief", I Believe You Are Full Of Shit

  • A recent federal report confirms that world-wide climate change is a fact, is happening right now, and results from man-made elevations in levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
  • Another federal military report points out that beyond the obvious tragedies of flooding, famine, drought and population displacement, these climate-change disasters pose increasing global security risks.
  • A recent international governmental panel cited "overwhelming evidence of global warming" and said "nobody on the planet will be untouched."


Yet there's still moronic stuff like this:

Fox News pundit Charles Krauthammer compared "belief" in climate change to belief in rain dances, superstition and religious myth.  He claimed the climate change science was "unconvincing" and said he was "not impressed by [scientific] consensus."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla), a supposed presidential hopeful, said a couple days ago, "I do not believe that human activity is causing these drastic changes to our climate."

A new Gallup poll found that one in four Americans are "solidly skeptical of global warming" and don't believe it to be a scientific fact.


That was enough for John Oliver of HBO's Last Week Tonight.  His comment on such beliefs and opinion polls:

"Who gives a shit?  You don't need people's opinion on a fact.  You might as well have a poll asking, 'Which number is bigger, 15 or 5?', or 'Do owls exist?', or 'Are there hats?'

"The debate on climate change ought not to be whether or not it exists, it's what we should do about it!  There's a mountain of research on this topic."

Most experts agree that 15 is, in fact, bigger than 5.  :)





Ohio Geniuses Deal With Property Taxes, Local Zoo Edition


http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/jrmo9v/koch-brothers-vs--the-columbus-zoo

Ohio Geniuses Deal With Renewable Energy


A bipartisan 2008 Ohio law requires public utilities to gradually increase over time the very small percentage of renewable energy (wind, solar, etc.) they sell to Ohio's electricity users.  The overwhelming majority of power sold in Ohio is generated by burning coal and gas -- non-renewable, carbon-heavy contributors to pollution and global warming.  The current law is one way to slowly but steadily reduce use of such undesirable fuels by our utility companies.

A couple days ago, in our GOP-gerrymandered Ohio legislature, the state Senate passed Senate Bill 310.  Essentially an ALEC-written "model law", SB 310 freezes renewable energy standards exactly where they are, and makes it easier to opt out of energy efficiency standards.  It's supposed to be a temporary, two-year freeze and a study committee, but you know how that goes.

Ignoring the long-term benefits of more efficiency and more renewables, Gov. Kasich and Senate president Keith Faber crossed their fingers and issued a joint statement/lie claiming that current law is "unrealistic and will drive up costs for job creators and consumers."

Apparently, the only "job creators" who matter to them are coal and natural gas companies, and the renewable energy companies can go piss up a rope.

SB 310 is stupid, live-for-today, ultra-short-range thinking.  It's a regressive embarrassment and an obvious sop to utility companies and the petrochemical industry.

The bill now goes to the Republican-dominated Ohio House, where it will almost certainly be rubber-stamped for Kay-suck's approval.  Nevertheless, you should ask your representative to vote no.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

"Rush's Thunderbolts" -- And I'm Not Talking About Limbaugh


"You two go behind those bushes, quick!"
Heard a radio segment about this, and had to check it out.  It seems Lewis and Clark took with them, among scads of provisions, hundreds of "Rush's Bilious Pills".  Constipation while seeking the Northwest Passage was simply not to be tolerated. And with mercury (mercury!) as an active ingredient, your constipation was blown right out of you, along with an internal organ or two.

Rush's Thunderbolts, indeed!









Rush's Bilious Pills
Page 4 of 6
American-made from imported ingredients — One significant medicine was not imported—the famous Bilious Pills of Benjamin Rush. (They were actually anti-bilious pills. A patient was said to be "bilious" when supposed poor flow of bile in the body caused a complex of symptoms including constipation, headache, and lassitude.)
Dr. Rush had expressly indicated to Lewis that when one of his men showed the "sign of an approaching disease . . . take one or two of the opening pills." Nicknamed "Rush's Thunderbolts," the pills were reputed to contain 10 grains of calomel and 10 to 15 grains of jalap, both potent laxatives. By opening up the bowels, Rush believed that the body would then expel the excess bile or other matter causing illness. (With active ingredients weighing at least 1295 mg, these would have been large pills indeed. A common aspirin tablet
weighs 5 grains or 1/4 the weight of the "thunderbolts.")1
mercurous chloride recipe
milder version of Rush's Pills remained an official compound until the 1940s. Here is the recipe for Compound Mild Mercurous Chloride Pills that appeared in the 1946 edition of the National Formulary (Washington, DC: American Pharmaceutical Association, 1946).
This "mild" formula was nontheless a big gun, combining four purgatives of slightly differing qualities. Early 19th-century physicians regarded jalap as "active" and "rapid." Gamboge, from Cambodia, was a "drastic" and "powerful" purge. Calomel (mercurous chloride) was believed to stimulate the liver and the gall bladder, although the opposite was true. Colocynth, or bitter apple, from India and Saharan Africa, was termed a "drastic" and "powerful" purge. According to the United States Dispensatory2 of 1918, the compound extract of colocynth "combined with calomel, extract of jalap, and gamboge, . . . forms a highly efficient and safe cathartic, especially useful in congestion of the portal circle and torpidity of the liver."
By the 1960s, newer drugs and concerns about heavy metal poisoning led to the disappearance of mercury compounds for internal use. Only a few external mercury-containing antiseptics remained into the 1990s.
  

Nailing His Own Coffin


Donald Sterling is not a racist.  According to Donald Sterling.

Even so, the non-racist refused all the well-advised steaming cups of shut-the-fuck-up, and for some reason decided to "apologize" to CNN's Anderson Cooper.  Sterling's chat with Cooper went from bad to worse and quickly revealed the NBA-owner to be a colossal shithead.  It ranks with Katy Couric's interview of Sarah Palin in terms of a public figure's pathetic, stupid self-destruction.

The billionaire real estate mogul played the "persecuted Jew" card and, incredibly, blamed Magic Johnson for all his problems:  "Big Magic Johnson, what has he done?  He's got the AIDS.  Did he help anyone?  He should be ashamed of himself."  ("The" AIDS?)

"Successful Jews will help their people.  African Americans -- maybe I'll get in trouble again -- they don't want to help anybody."  ("Maybe"?  Way too late for maybe.)

For such an avowed non-racist, Sterling's apology sounded remarkably, uh, . . . racist.

That sound you're hearing is the gigantic asshole Donald Sterling nailing shut his own coffin.  He's done.  Good riddance.
____________________________________________

It goes like this, people: We've made great strides in America in race relations, anti-discrimination efforts, and societal tolerance in general.  But racism is not over because Sean Hannity says it is, or because Donald Sterling says he loves black people, or because the Roberts Court decides to gut the Voting Rights Act.  Racism in this country will be over when it's over.  It ain't over yet, and won't be until the Hannitys and the Sterlings and the Scalias and Aliotos go extinct.  And like the dodo, they will.

And some day, future generations will wonder what the fuss was all about  




Dain Bramage


Ya gotta tip your hat to career GOP spin doctor Karl Rove -- the Turd Blossom can gin up "fear" out of thin air like nobody else in the business.  Rove's latest seed-of-doubt thing to be afraid of is Hillary Clinton's mental capacity.

Rove said her "30 day" hospitalization (it was 4 days) in 2012 for "unknown" reasons (she had a stomach ailment) was a cause for concern.  He said that upon her discharge, Hillary wore glasses used by those with "traumatic brain injury, and we need to know what's up with that."

Ooh!  Secrets!  Unanswered (and unasked) questions!  Conspiracy!  Cover-up! 
 Scandal!  OMG, it's . . .


 











And the next time Dr. Rove offers up a free diagnosis of neurological disorders, please remember this example of his own brain damage:


Thursday, May 8, 2014

Smart Gun, Dumb People


You've heard of the so-called "smart gun".  The weapon employs RFID chip technology.  Wearing a radio transmitter wrist band, only the authorized owner can fire the weapon.  The idea is safety, cutting down on accidental weapon discharge and heat-of-the-moment crimes of passion.  And if the gun is stolen, it would be useless without the transmitter.  A good idea -- couldn't hurt -- albeit sort of clunky in actual application.

The reaction from the NRA and all our red-blooded 'Merican gun nuts was fast, furious and violent.  This was an obvious violation of the 2nd Amendment!  Gun control!  All guns must be allowed to fire at all times, no matter what!  This was a government plot!  A mysterious Big Brother (probably Obama) could somehow "turn off" your gun!

A Maryland gun shop owner decided to offer one of the smart gun brands in his store.  This guy is a skin-head, neck-tattooed, hillbilly gun "enthusuiast" -- stereotypical in the Ted Nugent mold  -- and the NRA and its stooges greeted his decision with a shit-storm of condemnation and death threats.  And he was one of their own.  He backed down in the face of their idiotic pressure.

That's the NRA's idea of freedom and liberty -- any gun anywhere should be capable of being fired immediately and indiscriminately, even by your child digging around in dad's sock drawer, by your angry spouse, or by someone else who stole your gun.  Yee-ha!

So let freedom ring, and let the bullets fly!  Just remember to duck and keep low.  

Insanity, my friends, insanity.



 

The Way Dogs See It . . .



"Liking" And "Sharing" Without Thinking


The Heritage Foundation is a well-known ultra-right-wing "think tank."  Heritage likes to brag about its influence on Capitol Hill but claims (falsely) it is not a lobbying group.  Among its myriad arch-conservative causes, Heritage opposes any taxation (in the knee-jerk, Grover Norquist manner); opposes public education; promotes private schools and Christian-based policies; wants an outright ban on abortions and affirmative action.  They pretty much wrote all of George W. Bush's foreign and domestic policies.

The president of the Heritage Foundation is Jim DeMint, a Tea Party darling and former Republican Senator from South Carolina.  Ol' Jim is a special kind of crazy.  Some of DeMint's more bizarro pronouncements:


  • Gay people and unmarried women having sex should not be allowed to be teachers.
  • God doesn't like government.  "The bigger government gets, the smaller God gets."
  • Women should not be allowed to talk about abortion on the internet.  (He included an amendment in an unrelated bill to ban such electronic discussion, even with physicians.)
  • After Obama's election, said America was "turning into Iran."
  • Led the effort to kill a bill which would have allowed a private group to build a National Women's Museum in D.C. at no cost to taxpayers.
  • Compared the Chicago teachers strike to violence in the Middle East, and called the teachers "thugs."
  • Claimed (incorrectly) that Obama was going to tax Christmas trees "to start a government agency to promote Christmas trees."
  • Asserted (wrongly) that the federal government played no role in freeing the slaves.
Real. Piece. Of. Work.

DeMint said he left the Senate because he could be more influential at the Heritage Foundation.  Maybe he's right.

I say this only because a friend shared a post on his Facebook page, and invited me and everyone else to "like" it.  It was a photo of Ronald Reagan, with the words of his well-worn sound bite.  The source of my friend's FaceBook share was the Heritage Foundation.

Ronnie's phrase may be popular in some circles, but it's actually one of the most absurd and unhelpful statements ever made by a government leader about, you know, government.  It's just a simplistic bucket of hogwash.  You really think government is the source of all problems?  You'd really prefer no government, a.k.a. anarchy?  Welcome to The Walking Dead.


The point to all this -- finally! -- is that I seriously doubt my friend has knowledge of the Heritage Foundation or Jim DeMint or what they're really all about.  I'd like to think that if he did, he'd be properly mortified.


Of course, I could be wrong, and if I am, then OMG! -- my friend, you're a closet Tea Bagger!  But if I'm not wrong, it's just another example of how easy it is to slap some shit up on FaceBook without considering the source, the meaning, and the implications.

Therefore, I blog.

And I'm adding my friend to the Buster's Blog list, as an educational service.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Where's The Outrage? It's Only On Faux News


John Boehner's called for still another hearing about Benghazi and Roger Ailes is still commanding his Fox-bots to talk about it ad nauseum.  It's time for some Jon Stewart when we need him the most:

"I think I see the problem.  You [Fox News] think people's failure to match your level of outrage is based on ignorance; that after hundreds of network and cable news stories, 13 congressional hearings, more than 50 additional congressional briefings, and over 25,000 pages of official findings [regarding Benghazi], that if we all only knew about it, we would care.  There are very few things we've heard more about!"

Stewart ends like so:

"Four people are dead and it was a tragedy, but the reason we don't seem to care is that everyone in America has seen this movie before, and it was [called the Iraq War]."

Two videos from The Daily Show, about 8 minutes total.

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/5aozn7/bullet-points-over-benghazi

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/21ouz3/bullet-points-over-benghazi---the-outrage-spot




Monday, May 5, 2014

Hey, North Carolina! Where Do You Find These Guys?


North Carolina went for Barack Obama in 2008, but ever since the Tar Heel state -- with the possible exception of Charlotte -- has gone right-tarded.  The GOP-dominated state legislature recently passed a host of voter-suppression laws and Gov. McRory (R) promptly and giddily signed them into law.  The unfairness and game-rigging has become so blatant that North Carolina progressives and religious leaders have joined together in "Moral Mondays" marches and protest actions.

In their fervor to turn deep red, nothing animates the conservative crowd down there more than their desire to unseat their Democratic U.S. Senator Kay Hagan, who is a perfectly reasonable, intelligent and moderate individual who deserves to be reelected.  Therefore, in tomorrow's primary, North Carolina's Republicans may choose from three degrees of unreasonable, stupid and immoderate candidates:

State Rep. Thom Tillis is the heavy favorite to win.  He's a dull, standard Republican with all the expected dull, standard Republican positions -- hates Obamacare, opposes social programs, loves tax cuts for rich people and big business, yada-yada-yada.  He's endorsed by Romney, Rove and all the real GOP power players.

Then there's Rev. Mark Harris.  He's sort of a one-trick-pony-for-Jesus, who wants to be the official state Baptist preacher as much as he wants to be a U.S. Senator.  Harris is a proponent of banning gay marriage.  That's his one big position.  He's endorsed by fellow preacher Mike Huckabee, and no one else.

Brannon
My favorite is the Tea Bagger Greg Brannon, an anti-abortion OB/GYN who's never held any elective office.  He's certifiably insane, but was neck-and-neck with Tillis not that long ago.  A brief Brannon sampler:

The 9/11 attacks were an inside job.
Public schools are Marxist and should be eliminated.
Fluoride in the water supply should be prohibited.
Food stamps and Obamacare are forms of slavery.
Brannon sponsored a rally for the League of the South, a secessionist group.
He believes in "nullification", the idea can states can ignore any federal laws which they dislike.
He called unapologetic racist Jesse Helms a "modern hero."
Has claimed that abortions cause breast cancer.
Wants to eliminate all federal armed forces and replace them with state militias "per the constitution."  (Can't wait to be protected by the Nebraska Navy!)
Has compared today's United States to Nazi Germany.
Calls himself a libertarian and says anything "public" is actually "collectivist" or "socialist" or "Marxist."

Brannon is endorsed by the NRA, which is not a surprise.  You can always count on the NRA to go for the batshit loon.  He's also endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul, which is surprising only in the possibility that such ill-advised support will come back to tear the ass out of Rand's presidential ambitions.

Much as I'd like to see Brannon get the nod in NC -- imagine the fun! -- it ain't gonna happen.  But I guess I just don't understand the Southern conservative mentality.  Where (and more importantly, why) do you find people like him?






"Lt.Gov. Mary Taylor -- Close To Criminally Negligent", by Dave Girves


This is a re-post written by fellow blogger Dave Girves.  (You can always find his blog in Buster's Links.)  Dave is in fine form as he flogs Ohio's Mary Taylor for her active opposition to the implementation of the ACA, and for her campaign of disinformation (a.k.a., lies) about Obamacare.  Mary-Mary-Quite-Contrary is both our Lieutenant Governor and Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance.  Sadly, she's qualified for neither position.  Here's Dave:
________________________________________________

Letters to the Editor
Columbus Dispatch, 
As head of the Ohio Department of Insurance, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor successfully kept over 168,000 Ohioans from getting quality, affordable health insurance.  Her actions and inactions come close to criminal negligence. 
The ObamaCare numbers were released on May 1st . . . 45 pages of numbers, statistics, charts and graphs.  And Ben Sutherly’s article on the front page of the next morning’s Dispatch captured the essence of how Ohioans benefited . . . not as much as they should have. 
“About 155,000 Ohioans selected a plan through the federal marketplace.”  But that’s 18% below the Obama administration’s 190,000 goal for Ohio. 
At the same time the 7 million goal for the entire country was beat by 15% in spite of the problematic rollout. 
In New York 70% more people signed up than their target goal. 
If Ohio had surpassed its goal by that same percentage, we would have a total of 322,810 enrollees. 
That begs the question:  “Why did New York and other states do so much better than Ohio?” 
They set up their own state-run marketplace.  Mary Taylor didn’t. 
They explained the importance of having health insurance, that pre-existing conditions no longer mattered, and what real insurance is.  Mary Taylor didn’t. 
They encouraged their citizens to explore their options.  Mary Taylor didn’t. 
But she didn’t simply do nothing.  She aggressively tried to dissuade Ohioans from applying for coverage while making it harder for Navigators to get certified so they could help people through the application process. 
She warned of 88% premium increases because of ObamaCare which turned out to be flat out wrong. And as Ben Sutherly pointed out in Friday’s Dispatch the ‘numbers’ show “the pools of people who signed up in every state are sufficient to keep premiums stable in 2015” as well. 
Ohioans deserve more from their public officials.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Buster's Roundup At The Ol' Crazy Corral


Yee-hah, cowboys and cowgirls!  Sometimes, the crazy gets so thick it takes a week or so just to round it all up.  I'll give it a shot.


It's "Take Your Gun to School Day."  Then After School, Take Your Gun Out For Drinks and Dinner!  
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R, but who didn't know that?) signed into law the so-called "Guns Everywhere" bill.  Gov. Deal said, "The 2nd Amendment should always be at the forefront of our minds," and to make sure that Georgians will henceforth solve all their problems by bearing arms, the bill allows guns in cars, cabs, bars, restaurants, schools, hospitals, churches, businesses, airports and government buildings (except the state capitol).  Guns and drunk people -- what could possibly go wrong?


"It was like a vision!"
It's Kinda Like a Pre-Paid Funeral, But You're Not the One Who's Dead.
In November, Tea Bagger Ken Cuccinelli was defeated in his attempt to become governor of Virginia.  The Cootch has returned to his private law firm and he's pioneering a new legal service.  For just a $10 monthly retainer, Cuccinelli's firm will defend you should you ever be indicted in any future gun-related legal matter (i.e., you shot another person or persons).  Wow!  At these prices, you can't afford not to shoot somebody!
  


The 8th Amendment should also be "at the forefront of our minds." 
Killing Them Not-So-Softly.  
A Kasich administration report found nothing wrong with the January execution of a man by means of a new combination of lethal drugs.  The condemned man spent his last 15 minutes convulsing and gasping, but the report said the procedure was just fine.  Nothing cruel and unusual here.  But just to be safe, and to prevent any future unpleasantness, the report recommended the next execution use a much larger dose of drugs.  In related news, Oklahoma just staged a botched execution with its own new mixture of drugs. For 45 minutes, the condemned man tried to break free of his restraints, yelled out in pain, and finally blew the needle and drip line out of his arm.  The execution was halted and the prisoner was wheeled away, and shortly after, died from a heart attack.  WTF?  Is this the 21st century or the Spanish Inquisistion?




Conservatives, Not Conservationists.
The Koch brothers PAC, Americans For Prosperity, is spending big money here in central Ohio on pack-of-lies attack ads in an effort to defeat a small tax levy to benefit the Columbus Zoo.  What?  The Kochs don't give a shit about zoos, and they couldn't find Columbus on a Franklin County map.  But they are anti-tax to the bone -- any tax, anywhere, for any purpose is always wrong.  Pure ideological fanaticism, with no thought required.




"We're Not Racists, We're Oppressed White People."
Donald Sterling, troglodyte tycoon and soon-to-be ex-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, is offended by black people attending NBA games.  Black people at a basketball game?  Wha-????
Cliven Bundy, Nevada cattle rancher and batshit militia man/sovereign citizen, has ripped off the feds for decades by not paying grazing fees.  Bundy said he doesn't recognize the government's authority, and said he believes that "Negroes were better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life."  Wha-???????  Ah, yes, the family life of slaves.  Those were the good old days.




Hunger Games.
Florida State quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston was arrested for shoplifting a package of crab legs from a Publix grocery store.  Back-up linemen steal baloney, Heisman QB's steal expensive crustaceans.




The Bounty of Fracking.
Both BP and Halcon Resources have recently abandoned their fracking activities in northeastern Ohio, saying the area is just not productive enough.  In a joint statement to the press, the companies said, "The time has come for us to move on, but we've enjoyed poking holes in your state, and y'all enjoy those earthquakes!"