Cirque du Solipsism

Cirque du Solipsism

The Cast of Singularity:

Not only mountebanks, but unqualified circus clowns are parading around in GOP contention garb attempting to be this nation’s next president. Even ‘Fox News’ recognizes this in stating that they will only invite the top ten polled to speak at their televised debates. It’s not a carful, but a busload of clowns.  

In America’s scheme of politics the Democrat and Republican Parties are the meat and potato served on every dinner table while every other party or independent person running, are the side stale bread crumbs. The U.S. is a two-party system period. They are the paymasters and make the rules up on who can or can’t run.

From the Green Party, the Libertarian Party to Independents there is even an exclusion clause with American media. One may not realize it, but there are so far, twenty-seven other third-parties running on various tickets.

With that aside, even though there are seventeen candidates recognized by the ‘Republican National Committee’, there are in addition, actually another eighteen Republicans vying for the GOP nomination.

They are: Skip Andrews, George Bailey, Michael Bickelmeyer, Kerry Bowers, Eric Cavanagh, Dale Christensen, Brooks Cullision, John Dummett Jr., Mark Everson, Jack Fellure, Jim Hayden, Chris Hill, Michael Kinlaw, K. Ross Newland, Michael Petyo, Brian Russell, Jefferson Sherman and Shawna Sterling.

All these unknown GOP candidates are devout conservatives and for those Republican voters, in particular for those that decry electing another career politician, then I’d suggest looking up one or two and see if you like what they say.

Although the list isn’t quite as long, Democrats too have unknown candidates running for the presidency beside the five known ones. They are: Howell Astor, Morrison Bonpasse, Jeff Boss, Harry Braun, Andy Caffrey, Willie Carter, Loyd Kelso, Doug Shreffler, Michael Steinberg, Robbie Wells, Willie Wilson and Brad Winslow.

One that is a bit intriguing is Robbie Wells. As a former football coach, Wells leans Libertarian, but has declared himself as a Democrat running for the 2016 presidency. He has some experience in running for the 2012 presidency as the nominee for the ‘Constitution Party’ which is an extreme right paleo-conservative political party. Paleo-conservatism is opposite of neo-conservatism; it’s old time religion so to speak.

These unrecognized folks vying for the presidency consist of retired military careered veterans to business managers. Their only fault is no name recognition and thanks to the political paymaster machine, they haven’t a ghost of a chance to even see their names in the voting booths much less listed on the ballots.

In the June 4^th sweltering Addison, Texas heat, former Texas governor, Rick Perry formally announced his intentions to run for the presidency but once again. Even under indictment no less. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal launches his candidacy on ‘Twitter’ then formally announces it on June 24^th. Unofficially, Governors Chris Christie (NJ) and Scott Walker (WI) announced their intentions to run for the presidency through emails, then formally broadcasted it on June 30^th (Christie) and July 13^th (Walker). That had put the count up to fifteen contenders. Since then, the cast of characters has grown to seventeen that veil as viable on America’s conservative political stage.

With all the hootin’ ‘n’ hollerin’ and bellyaching the GOP has conducted over the national debt (even threatened government shutdowns and leading the nation over the fiscal cliff), since Republicans seem so obsessed with debt, the GOP governors running for president vow to turn the country into what they’ve done for their respective states. If that’s so, let’s take a peek-a-boo at the examples of the four above in a quick review on their states’ respective debt.

Let’s see now, in Perry’s Texas there is always that prevalence in thinking that the Lonestar economy is booming, therefore the state should be all debt free in the black with surplus for after all…countless low wage jobs are being produced by those tax free forgiven corporations that have been embraced into the clutching hugs of the Texas Republican Party. Not so…

According to the ‘Texas Bond Review Board’ Perry inherited a debt from former Texas governor, George W. Bush of $13.7 billion. Toward the end of Perry’s long terms in August of 2009, the state’s debt had risen to $34.08 billion. In that time frame under Perry from 2001 to 2009 the debt had risen an astounding 173%.

Most of this debt can be traced to transportation where Perry championed privatizing road works while he was one of the four members on the review board. Funny how privatizing was sanctioned as lowering taxes when in reality it raised them.   

Now we know what the Republican W. Bush did. When W. left the Texas governor’s office leaving a $13.7 billion state debt behind, once vacating the White House he left behind a $4.9 trillion dollar U.S. federal debt after inheriting the presidency with a $236.2 billion surplus from President Clinton. Just imagine when comparing Bush’s actions, what Perry would do to the U.S. debt after he left Texas with a 173% higher debt from what W. left.

Governor Bobby Jindal is leaving Louisiana’s next governor with a state budget in complete disarray with a debt of $1.6 billion for the poorer state. There are no quick fixes or short term patches, so he and the Republican state legislators are raiding state reserves and selling off state property to plug the hole. The debt hole is too large though and all they’re vain attempts are like plugging Niagara Falls with silly putty.

Governor Chris Christy of New Jersey has given the state under his helm a whopping $183 billion in debt. This is even after he cut $2.4 billion from state pensions that made investors balk and forced ‘Fitch Ratings’ on September 05, 2014 to downgrade New Jersey’s bond rating. Fitch Wall Street analysts said, “Following significant revenue underperformance, the state relied upon the repudiation of its statutory contribution requirements to the pension systems to return to budgetary balance, exacerbating a key credit weakness.” This is the seventh time New Jersey has been downgraded under Christie’s governorship and it looks much like it’s headed for the eight straight in a row.

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has created a self-inflicted $2 billion add-on for the next two years to the state’s existing $14 billion debt despite his extreme cutting to education and state pensions. Because of Walker’s high spending for pet projects and his over $2 billion tax cuts for the rich, in essence he is attempting to lower debt by increasing the states deficit through record level borrowing. He is also restructuring debt in skipping payments, creating temporary short term surpluses but longer ranging shortfalls. Just this past February, Walker skipped on making an obligated $108 million in debt payments. Meanwhile, Walker goes around speaking at events as if his state is working under a surplus budget.

     

We’ve just been introduced to four of the GOP candidates; now let’s get acquainted with all of them and their bios.

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo:

Odd men (plus one woman) out is about the whole jest of it all. Republicans have sixteen male candidates and one woman to choose from. Oh the pressures of it all, how much more exciting can it get…not much. But take your pick anyway.

Jeb Bush: Concerning minimum wage on July 9^th (my grandson’s birthday) in New Hampshire, Jeb! insisted that all hard working Americans with no livable wages need to work longer hours. He said, “It means that people need to work longer hours and through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this rut that we’re in.” No, nothing said to corporate businesses to raise the wage and meet halfway in a more fair arrangement; just work longer hours at poor wage levels as if corporate management would even agree to that.

Considered a moderate Republican, Jeb! also wants to phase out Medicare and scrap Social Security as they are designed leaning heavily on Congressman Paul Ryan’s concept of giving limited pay vouchers to Medicare and putting Social Security on the markets. We all know what would’ve happened in 2008 when Dow Jones stocks dropped more than 50% due to the ‘Great Recession’. It was the quickest drop ever and all those Social Security holdings would have vanished.     

In typical Republican hypocritical fashion, Jeb! sharply criticized Trump for mocking and downplaying Senator John McCain’s military record (see tweet below).  Ol’ Jeb! may be honoring our soldiers and vets in this instance as anyone should, but there was a time he was on the same side of the fence with Trump in another very similar incident.

In 2004, if ya might recall, Jeb! showed no interest in showing respect and admiration for our veterans. Remember ‘Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’ that were anything else besides the truth. This group, when he was the Democrat presidential candidate crucified Senator John Kerry’s Vietnam heroic efforts when he served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. They blatantly lied about Kerry’s war record and insisted he never deserved his medals in using bogus claims. This was an affront to all decorated war veterans.

George Day, who was a main component of the Swift Boat group was on their TV ads berating Kerry, who received his highest military award of a silver star for gallantry, in saying Kerry would “go down in history as the Benedict Arnold of 1971.” The current condemning Jeb! blasting anyone who would criticize a war veteran, back then as Florida governor wrote a letter to Day on an official State of Florida letterhead stating how thankful he was for Day and all the other Swifties for their contribution in aiding his brother, George W’s reelection bid. He also stated in the letter, “I simply cannot express in words how much I value their willingness to stand up against John Kerry.”

Speaking of George W. it appears that the Bush boys don’t have much respect for our veterans period unless it is convenient for them. Just this past July, W. charged $100,000.00 dollars to speak at a veterans’ charity, with an audience of vets that had been wounded and maimed due to his errant Iraqi decisions. He also insisted on a private jet to escort him to the Houston veterans’ event charging the charity an extra $50,000.00.

A wounded veteran from the Iraqi war and now member of the charity’s board was interviewed by ‘ABC News’ where he told them he was “outraged that his former commander in chief would charge any fee to speak on behalf of men and women he ordered into harm’s way.” 

The fact is, the Republican Party as a whole has ‘swiftly’ condemned Trump’s comments of McCain, while repeatedly refusing to refute the Swift Boat truther’s ads mocking Kerry.

Although McCain campaigned alongside Day, he is the only Republican that condemned the Swift Boat ads. On late July 18^th, Kerry came to McCain’s rescue when he stated, “I have known John McCain for more than 30 years. We’ve had our share of disagreements and still do today. But one thing I know is beyond debate is that John McCain is a hero, a man of grit and guts and character personified. He served and bled and endured unspeakable acts of torture.”

So, what does that say for the Republican Party as a whole?

Jeb! also stated concerning Trump, “A Republican will never win by striking fear in people’s hearts.” But with “death panels,” “Obamacare will destroy American jobs,” the Ebola scare, “religious freedoms taken away” and “ISIS is in the U.S.” slogan platforms that is what the GOP is all about. Isn’t that the Republican way…

With his last name and lots of established Republican money, Jeb! will venture far into the nether lands of the Republican primaries, but he will not win the title.  

Dr. Ben Carson: Carson, a neurosurgeon is perhaps the most mature of the whole GOP bunch, but even he comes up with some outlandish claims and oops lulus.

When bashing the current AP History curriculum taught in public schools concerning civil disobedience, in September 2014 Carson claimed, “I think most people when they finish that course, they’d be ready to go sign up for ISIS.”

On his November 2014 ‘Carson’s Column’ he posted, “Anyone caught involved in voter fraud should be immediately deported and have his citizenship revoked.” This was in response to a made-up scenario of illegal immigrants voting. Carson was advocating in stripping non-citizens of their non-existent U.S. citizenship. In common sense terms, the point is, one cannot strip away U.S. citizenship from a citizen of a foreign country that wasn’t a U.S. citizen to begin with.

At the October 2013 ‘Values Voter Summit’ Carson proclaimed, “You know Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery. And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to.” Then in 2014 he claims that, “Obamacare is worse than the 9/11 terrorists acttacks.” When confronted if he was sure that it’s worse than 9/11, Carson replied, “Because 9/11 is an isolated incident. Things that are isolated issues, as opposed to things that fundamentally change the United States of America and shift power from the people to the government. That is a huge shift. You have to take a long-term look at something that fundamentally changes the power structure of America. The government and it was never about health care. It was about control.”

But as a surgeon, his fear mongering of Ebola is not only senseless, it just doesn’t make any sense when in August of 2014 he overrides the medical profession’s overwhelming decision that the viral disease cannot be used effectively as a biochemical weapon when he states, “So, if there were a container of contaminated urine, and somehow it managed to find its way to someplace a lot of damage could be done. Someone comes up to a lab worker. He knows he’s got the urine. ‘How would you like to have a million dollars?’ Such things have been known to happen.”

Going into the first debate, Carson has a 6.2% polling favorability. That puts him in fourth, but it’s a long way to go. Carson is the GOP token and will have to bow out by the middle of next year due to lack of funding and the GOP political machine. He is smart though in knowing how to coddle to what right-wingers want to hear; even going so far in saying the ‘Black Lives Matter’ logo is “silly” knowing full well that the right-wing base will eat that up in hearing a black man say that. In other words, a black man can express their own bias for them.           

Chris Christie: Christie, one of the few Republicans I originally favored overall, has too much baggage for a hefty fellow to be carrying. Currently, Christie has no less than twenty-three court battles being waged in the judicial system due to his attempts to keep his state documents secret. This will prove too much to bear when trying to put emphasis on running for the presidency.

All these items can be easily researched from reliable sources, but Christie is tangled in releasing ‘Bridgegate’ documents, ethical gray areas such as abridging New Jersey’s state laws mandating campaigns be run as separately from office. He’s thumbed that law in allowing governor office personnel to run as campaign operatives. 

Some other defective areas are in Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath where his office began conducting cronyism contracts, his pay-to-play evidence and his habit of only giving press releases about his public movements while keeping his behind the scenes policy making shrouded under a veil of secrecy and dome of silence.

Like Maine Governor Paul LePage, Christie is a bully. As long as he knows he is protected from either immediate legal or physical repercussions, he will tear into anyone that questions his policies. Christie needs to go on a diet of humble pie.  

Right wingers are wary of him, so his only chance is to appeal to more centrist Republicans if he chooses that route, for to cater to the more mainstream America, will knock his chances in winning the primary. He’ll be gone a little after the first of next year.  

Ted Cruz: Cruz is one in which all the right-wingers falsely claiming Obama was Kenya born will be the first in line at the voting booths to cast their vote for Cruz who actually was born in a foreign country…Canada.

Cruz is a smooth talker and with quips like “you have to agree with me,” or his panders to a select crowd, he will lie in an instant while professing he never lies and despises those that do.

Teddy was all for ‘Trade Promotion Authority’ (TPA), then totally flip-flopped voting against it in the final hours of its resolution. Why, no one knows for his backtrack on fast-track caught the senate off guard. Just this April 21, 2015 he co-wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed with Congressman Paul Ryan stating, “We strongly urge our colleagues in Congress to vote for trade-promotion authority.” Then after casting his June 23, 2015 nay vote he immediately counters, “TPA in this Congress has become enmeshed in corrupt Washington backroom dealings, along with serious concerns that it would open up the potential for sweeping changes in our laws that trade agreements do not typically include.”

Problem is nothing of the sort occurred nor any last minute amendments that he wasn’t aware of ever happened that he insisted did. Except if one wants to believe his lies, no one has any idea why he, as conservative ‘Politico’ put it, exercised a total “full flop.”

On July 12, 2014 at a Texas business roundtable, Cruz elaborated, “Every year we spend roughly $500 billion on tax compliance. That is roughly the budget of our entire military, entirely wasted on tax compliance.”

That is simply not true. For 2015 tax compliance, including not just money but hours cost the economy $233.8 billion. The cost for keeping our current standard military was $866 billion for 2014. Cruz did not use official documents like the Washington based ‘Tax Foundation’ or the ‘Bureau of Labor Statistics’; no, he used blog sites like ‘Bretbart News’. Seems a lawyer would be more careful on where he sources then quotes figures from.

To modify his speeches to the modicum of his audience, Cruz addressing his New Hampshire young Republican congregation on April 27, 2015 says, “Here’s what history teaches us. About half of the presidents have been governors; half of them, senators.” Of course Cruz is a senator, but only a third of our presidents have been senators and more senators have lost general presidential elections than about any other title.

Click on the video address below with Tavis Smiley interviewing Cruz. Its rather long at 26:34, but if you do you’ll fully understand the comments below it.    

http://www.thirteen.org/programs/tavis-smiley/presidential-candidate-sen-ted-cruz/

In the beginning of the video, do note after Smiley just nailed Cruz for his insensitivity in using the Charleston South Carolina massacre as an opportunity to make a gun joke. While I’ve been commenting on a few of Cruz’s outright lies in attempts to tell an audience of an untruth when he knows it is false, please see through his ruse when he knows the type audience that watches Smiley he portends to be a saint fighting against billionaire money flooding into Washington politics.

He’s outright lying, for when speaking at an entirely different slant to a more right-wing group, Cruz was all for dark money playing a role in politics. Cruz with Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul recently spoke at a January 15, 2015 ‘American Recovery Forum’ hosted by the conservative ‘Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce’. There, Cruz expressed to ABC’s Jon Karl, “I would love to see more and more conferences five times this size, ten this size, of citizens of small business owners across the country fighting to change the direction.”

He also defended the Koch Brothers, the biggest donors of all time, during the same conversation by interrupting Karl when he was speaking to Rubio in lambasting Senator Harry Reid, “There are a bunch of Democrats who have taken as their talking point that the Koch Brothers are the nexus of all evil. Harry Reid says that every week. Let me be very clear; I think that is grotesque and offensive.”

Cruz has visited Koch sponsored multi-millionaire billionaire gatherings for years. In fact, wouldn’t ya know it, he just departed to the latest one today (08/02/15) held by the Koch’s inside a heavily guarded ocean-side luxury resort in Southern California’s city of Dana  Point in Orange County. 450 wealthy businessmen have gathered there with a holding of $889 million ready to purchase some Republican politicians. Cruz has company though. Also standing in line begging for some of that dough is Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina and Scott Walker.

Walker said to a few reporters that, “I wish that the whole world could see what goes on here.” Of course he knows no one but invitees can’t for it is secretive and insular in that they don’t care nor are they interested in new or different ideas. They’re as an isolated island.     

Besides being the savant concubine to the Koch’s, about all I can compare Cruz to, the above video says it all in a cartoonish parody of Cruz to Miley Cyrus, for he truly is a wrecking ball. Working hard in shutting down the government, hence the closing of all national parks, Cruz worked just as hard once Americans had enough of it to then blame it all on Obama and Democrats. Cruz is a farce and will not make the final five even if he has big money donors and a strong Tea Party base.                       

Carly Fiorina: As former CEO executive of Hewlett Packard (HP), Fiorina likes to project herself as a business woman strong in making critical decisions. Sounds good, but what about those decisions being the right ones?

According to journalist Julie Bort of the publication, ‘Business Insider’ perhaps she might want to switch from her business accolades to another edge, for her achievements at HP were anything but successful. Her decisions were “widely regarded as a disaster” as Bort puts it.

Buying out ‘Compaq’ for $19 billion was a bad move and went against the wishes of the board and Walter Hewlett, son of HP cofounder William Hewlett. Compaq never integrated smoothly into HP philosophies and business strategies. Executives either were fired or left. Fiorina finally cut jobs laying off 15,000 employees.

In destroying half of HPs investors’ wealth with the company’s stock dropping over half its value during her reign, she still received $100 million in severance pay upon her being fired.

Fiorina falsely states that “Seventy percent of people living in abject poverty are women,” for ‘U.S. Census Bureau’ data shows a little more than half of dire poverty constitutes 55% as women.

Yet, in sticking to this slogan, what does she do to try and stem the tide? Nothing, for Fiorina is against equal pay, raising the minimum wage and women’s health programs; she actually exacerbates women’s dilemmas.

Something interesting is that Cruz’ super PAC, ‘Keep the Promise I’ donated half a million dollars to Fiorina’s campaign just this past July 31^st. It appears as rather strange for one presidential candidate hopeful to donate to his rival, but first appearances are deceiving; there is a reason. Ya see, Cruz wants her bumped up to the top ten as qualification to get into the first debate. There as a woman it’s fair game to maul Hillary. It just wouldn’t be appropriate for all GOP males to jump on one Democrat woman.

About all Fiorina stands for is her incessant whining over the Obama administration. Republicans enjoy hearing it from a woman and it amuses them but that is about the extent of it all. In many ways, she is like Carson in being the GOP gender token. Her camp will fold between three-five state campaign stumps.

Jim Gilmore: As the former 68^th Virginia governor, Gilmore was the last of the recognized GOP politicians to announce his presidential candidacy. While governor, Gilmore leaned heavily on educational reform instituting new reforms in Virginia’s public schools in the areas of science, math, social studies and English. It worked, for results under his term showed public school students test scores increasing in the state and nationally under these four subjects. He also signed into law legislation that reduced public colleges and universities student tuitions.

Aside from his staunch NRA affiliations, Gilmore is practical in resolving issues above all the rest of the GOP candidates in my opinion, but in a strong right-wing running, he hasn’t a whelm of a ghost of a chance to represent Republicans for their choice as a neoconservative president in the primary elections.

Gilmore doesn’t like abortions, but he rejects the notion of prohibiting it by law; something his party’s majority evangelical right doesn’t appreciate much. Besides, with very little name recognition nationally, he has less than one-half percent favorability among Republican primary voters to be the next president. After New Hampshire, he’s out.    

Lindsey Graham: Graham is truly a RINO as representative of the established Republican half, but lately presents himself as full blown right-winger chiming in with the anti-Obama chorus. He should remain who he is instead of coddling to his extreme right base. Nonetheless the ruse shows as right-wingers aren’t buying into what he is selling.

Graham is a true war hawk in every sense of the word and is the one that would keep America in a perpetual battle zone. In his likely hood of military intervention, defense contractors makeup a significant portion of his contributions. Billionaire, Ron Perleman who owns ‘AM General’, the maker of Humvees, gave Graham’s campaign early in the running $500,000.00. It has paid off as Perleman’s company landed a $245.6 million contract with the U.S. Army in December 2014.

Some of his other top donors are defense contractors such as ‘General Electric’ and ‘Boeing Co.’ About all his other top donors are in holding companies and finance such as ‘Scana Corp’, ‘Nelson Mullins et al’ and ‘Morgan Stanley’. But NORPAC, whose sole mission is in the primary purpose of electing politicians that will enhance stronger allegiances to Israel, is a main Graham contributor. Of course Graham is outspoken in blindly following Israeli government demands.

Graham has been consistent on Southern gentlemanliness and etiquette, but he really slipped when he called White House officials “scumbags” (including Obama) insisting they were lying about the GOP made-up fairy tales of Benghazi.

In early 2014 when running a tight race for his incumbency for the senate seat, Graham was up against two Tea Party opponents. On the conservative Mike Gallagher radio show, Senator Graham had this to say, “Our Democratic friends, for the most part, have been in the tank over Benghazi. They think it’s to get me reelected. Some guy said this about me yesterday on the left: The only reason I cared about this was because I have six tea party opponents. Well, if that’s true, I’m the biggest scumbag in America. I don’t think that’s true; I know it’s not true. It would be almost impossible for Lindsey Graham — given who I am and what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years — not to care about those in harm’s way, who get killed, and not go on to hold the administration accountable that lied about it…The scumbags are the people in the White House who lied about this.”

No, it strictly was to look tough in the eyes of his right-wing base by bashing Obama. Graham is so out of character when he attempts to be the big bad wolf, even to the point of looking silly. Right-wingers see through it, the left sees through it. It’s time for Graham to drop the act, for it is not helping. With a 0.5% favorability rating it appears he should quit acting and go back to his gentlemanly ways. Graham will try to hang on until South Carolina; from there it’s downhill to finish his bid.        

Mike Huckabee: It’s all out now in Huckabee’s claim that the U.S./Iran nuclear diffusion is an exact duplication of marching Jews to the Nazi ovens. Huckabee saw how terse statements have fueled the fires for Trump, so wanted a little bit of that action as well, even though the bad actions resulted in worse reactions.

In Huckabee’s comments over at ‘Breitbart News’ on Saturday July 25, he had this to say, “This president’s foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so I that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven. This is the most idiotic thing, this Iran deal. It should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and by the American people. I read the whole deal. We gave away the whole store. It’s got to be stopped.”

First off, he did not read the whole deal. At the time none of congress had even read the whole deal. Secondly, he did get his moment of infamy, but not fame. Where Republicans simply brushed his remarks off, Democrats called the remark “completely out of line,” “unacceptable,” “offensive” and just plain “sad.”

What matters more though are what Jewish folk think when they spoke out against Huckabee’s phrase as an affront. Founder of ‘Simon Wiesenthal Center’, Rabbi Marvin Hier called the language “very harsh” and “over the top.”

When asked by ‘CNN’ correspondent, Carol Costello if Hier had any advice to give to Huckabee, the rabbi replied, “I would advise that no president of the United States should be compared in any way to Adolf Hitler.”

The ‘Anti-Defamation League’ rebuffed Huckabee in their statement, “Whatever one’s views of the nuclear agreement with Iran ... comments such as those by Mike Huckabee suggesting the president is leading Israel to another Holocaust are completely out of line and unacceptable.”

The ‘National Jewish Democratic Council’(NJDC) also clipped Republicans into the fold when they stated, “Republicans have fallen over themselves to speak out against Donald Trump’s outrageous rhetoric on immigration and veterans. Will they now do the same and speak out against this unacceptable attack against President Obama that smears the memory of Holocaust victims, as they did when Trump attacked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)? Or will they stand by in silence and implicit approval? We call on every candidate to condemn Gov. Huckabee’s disgusting statement and to show where they truly stand.”

This NJDC comment does make sense.

Huckabee proclaims once president he would be open to sending federal troops to abortion sites whether it’s legal or not. He also has encouraged states to ignore the Supreme Court’s decision over marriage equality for LGBT Americans by stressing religious freedoms through civil disobedience.

To actually be running for the presidency and say that you would break the rule of law and send federal troops into private citizen businesses which is unconstitutional; no this preacher won’t make it halfway through the primaries. Huckabee is hucked up and I don’t care how well he plays the bass guitar.  

Bobby Jindal: It seems these days that lying doesn’t matter that much in Republican politics. We’ve already discussed the stats on Louisiana’s economic state of affairs, but that doesn’t matter. Jindal is making the circuits and going around stating how in the black the Cajun state’s economy is. How the budget is overflowing in surplus, but it is all fabrication.

Why just this past July 12 on ‘Fox News Sunday’ in speaking to Brett Baier, Jindal callously brags, “Largest tax cut in our state’s history. Income tax cut. Secondly, we have cut our state budget 26 percent, $9 billion.”

What he states to Baier isn’t even near the ballpark much less left field. His state’s dire budget debt woes is so bad the Republican state legislature begged Norquist to relax the no tax pledge. So now we’ll elaborate a bit on other financial deficits.

Jindal did indeed do the Republican way in slashing the rich taxes, but it hollowed out the state budget by taking out $800 million. To close that gaping hole he slashed spending on higher education more than Wisconsin or any other state except Arizona. Even so, the state still has $636 million in non-recurring revenue so he’s now raiding state trust funds and selling off state assets. That hasn’t helped any either, so to continue using band-aids on the budget’s gushing artery, forget about his bragging on cutting taxes, for just on this year’s legislative session, he’s agreed to increase a variety of taxes such as utility tax increases, but he still leaves the wealthy’s tax cuts alone.

    

Oh, and that 26% cut in government he keeps harping about…that’s largely due to cutting 300,000 government jobs putting that much more out of work and into the Louisiana streets.

Jindal is a minority running on the Republican ticket; he’ll last only through three state primaries, if not sooner.

  

John Kasich: Kasich I compare to as the least of the rotten apples in the barrel, but he still has evident bruises. Much like Graham, he is a stolid Republican of the establishment but in today’s Republican Party, Kasich knows he has to appear as more Redneck Republican and stick to ideological religious rhetoric.

A for instance is that he personally recognizes climate change while actually a Republican claiming it is real when he publicly stated in the ‘The Hill’ (a top U.S. political website) in 2012 that, “I happen to believe there is a problem with climate change.” But to level damage control in being a member of the GOP, he later has to add a religious twist to it when he stated, “We shouldn’t try to fix Climate Change because that’s the Creator’s wish.” Even though this displays more his uncertainty than outright disagreement which is the Republican standard, it appears as iniquitous of him in riding the fence.

He also made the claim that the environment shouldn’t be “worshipped” for that’s “pantheism.” Besides coddling to evangelicals, what does that mean…or is it simply expressing a fancy word that might just highlight his intelligence?

He’s also having a bit of trouble in his governorship. His state auditor, Dave Yost won’t send a special-investigations team to examine why the state Department of Education omitted some student performance data from a mandated evaluation of charter-school sponsors. It appears that this is “noncompliant with Ohio law” as Yost himself even admits.

Of course all politicians lie, but Republicans have incorporated the act into their DNA. Even the seemingly mild Kasich wildly mischaracterized Obamacare Medicaid expansion by outright lying on a May 05, 2014 Mike Trivisonno WTAM 11 radio show, then this past July in New Hampshire he popped it again. He lied in attempts to appease the right, not attack the left; the left liked what he did.

What Kasich did was finally sign Ohio up for Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. When running for Ohio governor in 2010 he expressed, the ACA Medicaid expansion would, “stick states with large and unsustainable costs.” Then in October 11 of 2013, Kasich does an about face and advances the benefits of Medicaid expansion under Obamacare for Ohioans. He even had to do this in bypassing his Republican majority state legislators by circumventing them. Republican Ohio lawmakers were not happy with this situation in their own Republican governor going around them and introducing an arm of that dastardly liberal Obamacare. No they were not. So twelve days later they filed a lawsuit making the ‘Ohio Controlling Board’ as defendant since the board instituted Kasich’s wishes.

Even back in March of 2013 when Kasich had announced his intentions for the expansion, the ‘Cincinnati Tea Party’ reared their ugly wrath when he gave a speech as keynote speaker at the Hamilton County Republican Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner. He attempted to remind them that, “I think I was in the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party,” but it did not tickle their fancy one bit.

Now Kasich keeps alluding to his upset extreme right party members that this is Ohio money coming back to Ohio when he states that he “simply brought back state money.” This oft repeated claim of his is not true for all the money for the Medicaid expansion is strictly from the federal government.

Kasich also brought in ‘Common Core’ into his state, another Republican detested program and he actually had the audacity to chastise Republicans for attacking the federal program. He stated on ‘Fox News Sunday’ last January that, “The Common Core was written by state education superintendents and local principals. In my state of Ohio, we want higher standards for our children, and those standards are set and the curriculum is set by local school boards. Barack Obama doesn’t set it; the state of Ohio doesn’t set it. It is local school boards driving better education, higher standards, created by local school boards.”

He also claimed, “I’ve asked the Republican governors who have complained about this to tell me where I’m wrong, and guess what...silence.”

Ya know, the beef Republicans claim that they don’t like it is that it is the federal government that created it with no state governors, but they are wrong and Kasich is right. ‘Common Core’ was developed by teachers, math and language experts and others in an effort organized by state school chiefs and governors.

Kasich must cater to the radical right for just these two programs he’s introduced to Ohio is Republican apostasy, so his work is cut out for him in this GOP primary. Republicans may not realize it but he was Paul Ryan before Ryan was when Kasich was deficit obsessive during his chairmanship of the 90s ‘House Budget Committee’. But he rambles in his speeches introducing Christian scripture here and there and has a tendency to drift off in la-la land on his personal ventures.

There are a few common sense Republicans out there that realize social programs when properly ran are good socially and economically for a democracy, which Kasich leans towards, but with extremism creep accelerating in the GOP, Kasich will have to pull out by the sixth state’s primary vote results.

George Pataki: Former New York governor, Pataki is a flip-flop express, but of course he has to be in facing the current fundamental right-wing of his party. Originally, Pataki was a moderate Republican who could compromise. He’s now, in attempts to satisfy the hardcore element of the GOP flipping all his comments, thoughts and policies a 180.

To get an idea of his flip-flops, in 2006 he was pro-choice stating he knew how to make Republicans not object to proper abortion rights. He currently claims he favors the rights of women to have access to abortion. However, in the ‘90s he never claimed to be pro-life but his policies surely stressed so. He made it a Class E felony for any doctor performing certain federally legal abortions even if it was proven that the woman would be harmed if she carried full term. He cut off Medicaid funding for abortions ten times and slashed family planning funds in both his terms.

Pataki opposes same sex marriage, but at the same time supports gay rights and signed hate crime legislation protecting gays and bisexuals.

He’s all for corporate business slashing corporate taxes eighty-one times, but while ignoring large corporation bankruptcy avenues, made it much harder for small businesses and individuals from filing Chapter 7 in lieu of Chapter 13.

He stressed, fought for and won the ‘Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’ (IDEA) which helps to fulfill the most basic mission of federal education programs—equal opportunity for all children especially those in special need. But he vehemently backed for-profit-corporations as not-for-profit private charter schools with tax dollars instilling rules that admissions would be by application to weed out ‘at risk students’. This excluded children who need education the most.

Pataki has a history of supporting environmental programs, especially when it comes to clean water as he was instrumental in cleaning up the Hudson River by spending $1.7 billion on the ‘Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act’. He also would like to make the EPA into a cabinet position and understands the threat of climate change. He indeed did save an economically vital, cultural and historic river.

This most definitely doesn’t sit well with most Republicans. Pataki will have to drop out very early in the GOP primary race due strictly to lack of favorability and support. He is not the new majority radical conservative who now make up the mass of Republican votes.  

Rand Paul: In going the full Republican course of disavowing anything Obama achieves, Paul thus follows. Concerning the U.S./Iran diplomatic nuclear agreement and further blindly backing the Israeli government’s stance heaping admiration and showering praise on Israeli Prime Minister Ben Netan(yahoo) while constantly chastising their own president, Paul was in step.

In Iowa last August gathering up potential support for his presidential run, Paul was questioned whether he had ever wanted to phase out aid to Israel. He didn’t immediately answer, but while in neighboring Nebraska replied, “I haven’t really proposed that in the past. We’ve never had a legislative proposal to do that. You can mistake my position, but then I’ll answer the question. That has not been a position — a legislative position — we have introduced to phase out or get rid of Israel’s aid. That’s the answer to that question. Israel has always been a strong ally of ours and I appreciate that. I voted just this week to give money — more money — to the Iron Dome, so don’t mischaracterize my position on Israel.”

In 2011, Paul came up with a very conservative budget eliminating foreign aid altogether. In response to it, he had this to say, “While this budget proposal does eliminate foreign aid to Israel, it is not meant to hurt, negate, or single out one of America’s most important allies. This proposal eliminates all foreign aid to all countries. Israel’s ability to conduct foreign policy, regain economic dominance, and support itself without the heavy hand of U.S. interests and policies, will only strengthen the Israeli community.”

The above video concerns a Rand Paul political commercial disguised as one tough guy on a mission quest. He also made a baseball ad where he smashes a mound of tax code papers with a bat. Attention starved Paul is another Republican attempting to latch onto the wave Trump is riding with incorporated brashness and bluntness. It doesn’t work and makes him as well appear featherbrained along with that bird nest of a hairdo he supports.

Of course all Republican politicians take turns in swinging at then missing Obamacare with their deceit and Paul is no exception. Paul sent out his May 2012 newsletter with an excerpt that said, “Since the implementation of Obamacare, hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians have received cancellation notices from their current health care providers. For every Kentuckian that has enrolled in Obamacare, 40 have been dropped from their coverage.” With a count of over 8 million enrolled at that time, mathematically his statement is impossible. So who knows where he got that information…        

For some gut reason as far as the Tea Party element goes, Paul is the one I stomach most. Unfortunately for him though, while he should have a strong Libertarian backing, which factors in as a good chunk in percent of Republican voters, his campaign is not attracting donations. Paul may have to leave after the second or third state polling due to lack of funds with at best mediocre votes casts his way. He may be able to ride halfway through, but by then he’s wrapping it up by throwing in the towel. He just might though with the slimmest of odds be the dark horse favorite.      

Rick Perry: Perry is the clown ringleader. Wanting to challenge Trump to a pull-up match might have been a cute gesture to some, but it was strictly part of the clown act…funny, but oh so dumb. It irrationally conflicted with his new dark-rimmed glasses semi-serious intelligentsia look.  

A few items are unraveling for the former Texas governor during his quest for the presidency. First off he didn’t make the cut for the first GOP primary debate. Secondly, his voter ID laws he passed in Texas while governor was ruled by the U.S. 5^th Circuit Court that it violates the ‘Voting Rights Act’. Although the court contends that it is not a ‘poll tax’ and not unconstitutional, it has a discriminatory bent to it that appears it was intended to block certain citizen’s voting rights. A lower court will make the final decision on whether GOP lawmakers intended to target specific citizen groups in making it difficult to vote.

Thirdly, Perry is still under indictment accusing Perry of abusing his power in his threats to defund a unit of the Travis County district attorney’s office unless they fire an employee. Perry coerced the public servant, who works for the ‘Texas Public Integrity Unit’ division, due to her investigation and uncovering of a fishy $8 million Perry endorsed grant to the ‘Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas’. Perry had illegally used taxpayers dollars to fund a charity group for political purposes as the institute had just endorsed Perry.

Speaking of wasting taxpayer dollars, Perry is still using Texas taxpayer dollars to pay for all his court costs and lawyer expenses. It currently has topped $2 million dollars…talk about welfare…

Originally three indictments were filed, but only one is left as the other two have been dismissed after Perry’s second appeal. Perry’s third appeal for the last indictment is going to take a while before being heard, possibly well into next year dogging his presidential campaign. If he loses his appeal and is found guilty it carries a sentence of 5-99 years in prison no matter how much his lawyers harp that it is merely a misdemeanor charge.

On ‘Face the Nation’ 07/26/2015 Perry scolds Trump for making inflammatory remarks, then within seconds, he himself begins his own firebrand set of inflammatory comments about Obama chiding him as the “Divider-in-Chief.” This is classic Republicanism; demean others, but whine when it is thrown back. Perry will not get another true “oops” moment because he’ll be gone by New Hampshire.                   

Marco Rubio: From unadulterated lying aside, embellishment is Rubio’s key motive of operation. From the outset, Rubio has dressed up the story on how he got here in the United States. As he was gaining some recognition as a politician in 2010, he first gave a compelling story of his families struggles to escape the wrath of Fidel Castro’s takeover of Cuba. As Manuel Roig-franzia of the ‘Washington Post’ put it, “He was the ‘“son of exiles,”’ he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after ‘“a thug,”’ Fidel Castro, took power.”

Trouble is this storied version of Rubio’s is not totally true. His parents did leave Cuba, but naturalization documents dictate the parents left long before Castro had taken control of the island nation; like two and a half years before the takeover. They left not over political reasons, but for economic ones. In fact, Castro was excommunicato in Mexico at the time. Ever since then, Rubio has run with this adaptation becoming the core of the senator’s identity.

The ruse did make it to the forefront where his office conducted damage control in elaborating that it may be true of their first arrival, but they went back to Cuba to live under the Castro communist regime and didn’t like it so moved back to the states. But let’s get this straight right now…he is not the son of Cuban exiles.

Rubio was Catholic in his early youth then converted to Mormonism when his parents moved to Las Vegas. He insinuates Mormonism was a mistake in admonishing his parents in having him join as a young boy. But, his cousin Michele Denis told the internet news, ‘Buzzfeed’ that it was the other way around. She said Rubio told her that on his own volition he wanted to join in confessing to her, “I could convince my mom to do anything.” She added, “He was totally into [Mormonism].”

I just suppose folks can change their minds, but 180s usually are not the norm. As speaker of the Florida legislature he was an environmentalist fighting against offshore drilling and told his colleagues that drilling anywhere should be done only if proven totally environmentally safe. Then when he becomes a senator, amnesia of who he was sets in. Drill here, drill now became his mantra of choice. He expressed that cap and trade is socialist engineering and as far as Global Warming was concerned he now states, “I don’t think there’s the scientific evidence to justify it.”

The Florida Republican Party made a big mistake in issuing him an open-ended American Express card. After charges of a $134.00 haircut at a $20.00 a cut barbershop, personal car rentals, a Disney World vacation, air travel, innumerable corner convenience store ring-ups, with countless other charges the balance came to a $110,000.00 tab. Rubio claims he paid back $16,000.00 of it. I reckon that’s awful considerate of him, but where is the other $94,000.00 to get taxpayers off the hook.

Ya know it’s amazing how self-proclaimed conservatives are the ones flaunting the most. I guess a Republican conservative feels that actually being conservative only applies to others.

Rubio is “a wheeling and dealing Miami lobbyist and politician, always trying to scam the system for his personal benefit.” Now mind ya that’s not my words, but the proclamation of former Republican national press secretary and Mitt Romney’s spokesperson, Andrea Saul. Don’t rightly know the original confrontation or why or how the beef first emanated, but she impugned upon Rubio further stating, “With each passing day, voters are beginning to see the real Speaker Rubio, a tax raising Miami lobbyist-politician who has used public office for personal gain and political donations as a personal slush fund.”

ABCs Jonathan Karl asked her to explain, but Saul would not respond. Whatever the reason, Rubio does have a sordid financial past.  

Rubio has been associated with former Representative David Rivera (R-FL) who both went in together buying a house which went into foreclosure when they failed to pay anything on the mortgage. Rivera claimed Rubio was his mentor who is now under state and federal investigation for financial corruption and nepotistic lobbying. Rubio himself had done this with his political committee, ‘Floridians for Conservative Leadership’ ran by four of his in-laws along with his wife serving as treasurer. They were found to have failed reporting $34,000.00 in contributions in an eighteen month period.

Another was his nonprofit website, ‘100ideas.org’. During its run, it received roughly $100,000.00 a year that besides padding the pockets of a few political cronies of his, was mostly fronted and funneled into the political consulting non-profit firm, ‘Frontline Strategies’ bank account. ‘Frontline Strategies’ was operated by William Holly, a longtime pal of Jeb Bush. Once the firm was closed down, Holly later declared bankruptcy once $40 million in judgments forced him to have to pay that amount to his foreclosed creditors.

No, for me personally I don’t need to be thinking my president functions this way. Rubio will float along two-thirds of the way then will bow out of the race once we all get acquainted more with his character.                             

Rick Santorum: Santorum is too restrictive with religious dictates, turning most reasonable folks off. There is an outward loathing conundrum about him that courses just beneath the skin. With a smiling sunny Pat Boone superficial inward surface shielding his inner venting, it could erupt at any moment.

He wants to convince churchgoers that the LGBT new marriage equality law will destroy the foundation of Christianity in this country. Santorum claims that government is restricting religious practices making it a thought crime if a Christian business denies a gay their services. No, the government doesn’t give an iota of what one thinks, but what one does. Think all ya want to, but selectively denying someone and turning them away from your business because you don’t like how they look, or their social standing or their love preference, well that is an action; not a thought.  

Santorum portrays through some video ads that just because Christians may want to discriminate doesn’t mean that they hate them. Really, does Santorum admit to having a gay friend or a black one for that matter? If so, does he look down on him, make him feel inferior? Is that how his other friends are treated?

He challenges learned and disciplined scientists on evolution and calls evolution a “hoax” yet tells the Pope to shut up about global warming for he doesn’t know science even though the Pope most likely knows far more about science than Santorum ever has, for Pope Francis is degreed as a chemist technician.

But enough of his religious diatribes, the one despicable act performed by this man irks me still. In February of 2012 Santorum along with his wife and their disabled child went on the Glenn Beck program to lie about Obamacare.

Speaking to Beck, Santorum said that the health care law would ration care based on the “usefulness” of an individual. He stated, “It’s all about utilization, right? It’s all about how do we best allocate resources where they are most effectively used? Government allocating resources best on how to get the best bang for your dollars and it’s all about utility. It’s all about the usefulness of the person to society, instead of the dignity of every human life and the opportunity for people who love and care for people to give them the best possibility to have the best possible life.”

Santorum was using his handicapped daughter as a prop inferring that Obamacare would apportion then cut his daughter and other children with disabilities from healthcare, for they are considered as subhuman.  Does he truly think that the U.S. government would decide who gets healthcare and who doesn’t through allotment based on who is least effective? Does he truly know what human dignity is? Has he kept tabs that for children like his daughter the ACA has been a godsend in finally providing access to affordable quality healthcare? Did he ever take the time to hear what the ‘American Association of People with Disabilities’, National Organization for Rare Disorders’ and ‘The Arc of the United States’ had to say about Obamacare? How these organizations along with numerous others gave their full backing and support to the ACA and spent many hours and expense to defend it in filing an amicus brief for the first SCOTUS hearing for Obamacare.

For those that favor Santorum they must be mild extremist fundamental bigots. Without any support Santorum will trudge through until he finally runs out of money, for he wouldn’t dare spend any of his no matter how desperate he wants to be president forcing his ideological rhetoric onto the whole nation.        

Donald Trump: Well the most egotistical presidential candidate thus far in the annals of this nation’s history has come to be in the unfurling of Trump’s Republican quest. Political correctness is out the door no matter how much the wimpy chairman of the ‘Republican National Committee’ (RNC), Reince Priebus pleads with him not to criticize Republicans. If Trump feels he has been the least bit criticized, he fires back and that is what most will be watching for in the debate; the moment his torch is lit.

In getting other Republicans riled due to his brashness and open criticism of members in his own party, he has created open wounds by laying bare the fundamental core of Republicanism…attack and demean…only not to your own party. But Trump doesn’t play by their rules and he is banking his own campaign so he has no puppeteer strings attached.

For these, I commend him in exposing Republicans for what they are and accepting no outside money. It is truly though a difficult grasp to think of him as leader of the nation.    

   

Toying around with thoughts in picking Sarah Palin as his vice president is about as dumb as it’s gonna be. She was a primary reason Republicans lost the election in 2008 and most certainly would repeat if VP in 2016.

The Trump platform is that he is an outsider and businessman. But he doesn’t know business; he only knows how he does business. He can’t bark out demands in foreign policy and expect foreign relations to hop to it. He doesn’t understand diplomacy and compromise (well I surmise that goes for all Republicans, but Trump is more staunch) when most of his working career he’s dictated and the ones dictated to either had to obey or be terminated.

In the latest polls Trump is crushing his opponents and except for the right-wing leg of the Republican Party, its establishment is very nervous and worried for they know the nation’s voters as a whole won’t take him seriously. On the 08/02/2015 ‘Meet the Press’ program, Priebus as so concerned that Trump may jump to a third party is insisting that the GOP candidates cannot do so for the Republican Party is a “private organization.” I don’t know where he got the notion that a national political entity that gets most of its members from public voting is a private club, except for the fact that the GOP behaves as a rich white man’s club, but Trump’s ego won’t buy into that and most probably told Priebus to chuck-off.

The only hope for Republicans right now concerning Trump is that he’s peeking way early and his favorability will begin to subside. For right now though, through the bombastic antics of their frontrunner, which street Republicans’ temperament is eating up, established Republicans realize Trump may not fade away into the night.

This Trump barrage though has been created by the establishment. Trump is the Republicans’ Frankenstein monster. In fueling the base with years of constant fabrications and fear mongering, one can’t expect the base to suddenly brush aside their anger. It’s been pent-up and Trump is the outlet.

An insider to the Republican fold is former RNC chairman, Michael Steele. He said to ‘Bloomberg’, “If you look at the whole Republican Party, from libertarians to evangelicals to the Tea Party, you have a group of people who’ve been lied to for thirty-five years.” That is the most definitive reason to Trump’s rise.

Yet NBCs political analyst, Chuck Todd claims the candidates are the strongest GOP line-up the Republican Party has had in a generation, but he feels Trump may threaten and thwart that. “Strongest?” If he means that in terms of bringing in the biggest circus tent ever; ya know the biggest of mother big tops I agree. But if he equates that to intellectual, savvy and common sense talent, he’s got another thing coming.       

I’m sure all elite Republicans had wished that Trump would have heeded Jon Stewart’s advice as Stewart once chided, “With all his money doesn’t Trump know he’s not supposed to run for president, but buy those that are?”

One month ago I would have been firm on saying that once Trump had gotten his ego filled he would have dropped out of the race. But now with a sudden burst of favorability in Republican voters, he is in it all the way for the ride. Still, he will not prevail as the GOP candidate. Sorry Reince, but no way will you be able to go up to Trump and announce, “You’re fired.”

Scott Walker: Walker has two ears for listening but the ear canal tunneling is one way for each that enters one and exits the other ear. He listens to his constituents about the importance of education and regurgitates that back publicly when he speaks of education.

This past July 30, 2015 on ‘Fox and Friends’, he was questioned about livable wages and why he refuses to boost the minimum wage in Wisconsin. In defense he spewed, “The best way to do that is to… I don’t want to fight about the minimum wage. I want to lift everybody up, and the way to do that is through education. You don’t do that through a government dictate, you say let’s get people the education and the skills and the qualifications they need for careers that pay far more than the minimum wage. That should be our ultimate goal. People will be better off if the get the skills they need to be worth more to their employer and they’ll be making more than that $15.00.”

Ya wonder what he has done to boost education in Wisconsin? He has done nothing for education but plenty against it. So, to quell his attack on livable wages, he uses an example of another entity he has attacked. Makes sense doesn’t it.

Walker proposed a state budget that would slash education funds across the board. $300 million has been cut from the state’s ‘University of Wisconsin’ and $127 million from primary public schools. He maintains his six year freeze on funding special education and created a ‘special needs’ voucher law for mentally and physically handicapped children that will cut into their protections.

While defunding public schools he’s increasing tax payer dollars towards religious private schools and has put into law that a teacher no longer requires teacher certification to teach in the private charter schools.

All told, the May 14, 2014 ‘U.S. Census Bureau’ statistics show that Wisconsin’s spending per pupil is the lowest in the nation of the 50 states.

Walker has been shrouded in controversies, litigation and indictments but in him hand picking his own state’s supreme court judges, no wonder he goes on like nothing has happened and onto the presidential bid without a care in the world.

From him being in the original John Doe scandal where some of his office personnel were indicted and convicted to his illegal coordination with right-wing advocacy groups during his 2012 governor campaign reelection bid, Wisconsin’s ultra-conservative four Supreme Court judges ordered all investigations to be dropped and in addition all the evidence gathered by the prosecutors (Republican prosecutors mind ya, so this was not a Democrat witch hunt as Walker proclaims) be destroyed.

Since the judges have close affiliations and political ties to Walker, folks with expertise in legal matters were stating that perhaps the judges should recuse themselves from the cases. The new chief justice of the court, Patience Roggensack would have nothing to do with that. Her reply to recusals was that she thinks justices on her court don’t need to recuse themselves even if there is a case proving real or a perceived conflict of interests which includes campaign donations from one of the lawyers or parties before the court. In other words money buys power, but also in addition immunity from court decisions or lack of them.

In essence, Walker has covered for devious and secretive legislation, but when exposed actually pawns the blame off on the victim rather than the Republican Party who devised the laws, such as his revision of the ‘University of Wisconsin System Authority’ concerning its mission statement.

Walker never has yet met his promise to create 250,000 jobs on his first term which ended over two and half years ago. In job creation, Wisconsin is dead last in the Midwestern states, while his state ranks 35^th in the nation, but leads all fifty states in African American unemployment.

He’s slashed wealthy property and corporate taxes, restricted collective bargaining rights, ended the freedom of worker contracts, has refused a raise in worker wages, is anti-science and according to data from the ‘Pew Charitable Trust’, Wisconsin will end this fiscal year with less money in reserve than any other state in the nation.       

As famously exposed in a taped conversation from his own mouth with one of his big wealthy donors, Walker rides a “divide and conquer” ethic, something Republicans claim they despise while always pinning that perception onto Obama’s lapel.

Walker is a fringe candidate, but is backed heavily by Tea Party votes and Koch dark money. This will push him all the way down the line and most likely will be the last GOP crouching but no less standing on his two feet.

*****

On top of these known GOP candidates, former Maryland Republican governor, Bob Ehrlich has informally announced he is seriously considering jumping into the fray at a latter stage.

The ten have been picked and will debut for the main event tonight (08/06/15) at 9:00 PM EST while an ancillary debate bout will be held for the other seven earlier at 5:00 PM EST as everyone is driving home from work. Expect not much on substance but rather a lot of the gnashing of teeth in bashing the Obama administration and perhaps a teed-off Trump whiplash.

Enjoy the show!

Medicate Jog:

Republicans as a whole are not a very sharing bunch when it comes to anyone outside their shell’s perimeter. They’re stingy. At present they’re even adding deceit, fear and anger to the equation for validity in a propensity to horde and be haughty. This has been studied and proven.

In divided loyalties we humans pledge allegiance to a conflicting and complicated emotion. By nature it pits us against one another stirring aggression but yet separates us out in which direction we feel most comfortable with. Loyalty creates inward and outward conflicts causing segregation.

Take for instance, Vic Wild, an American growing up in Spokane, Washington who won two snowboarding gold medals in the last Winter Olympics. He won them not as a competitor for the USA, but for Russia. His two medals put Russia in first place. Had he competed for the USA team it would have put the U.S. in first place in a tie with Russia. Wild was even congratulated by Putin personally. The reason he competed with Russia is because one, he married the Russian snowboarder, Alena Zavarzina and two…he wanted this to unite more the two countries through inner competition.

Psychology professor, Jesse Graham of the ‘University of Southern California’ teamed up with psychologist Adam Waytz of ‘Northwestern University’ and conducted tests in which randomly selected participants were shown a series of different sized concentric circles labeled with sixteen types of loyalties. The smaller circles represented immediate relationships and the larger to largest were representative of other relationships onwards to various animals from mammals to insects. The participants were directed to place tokens on the circles that most represented their loyalties.

All participants assigned more tokens to the inner small circles and less to the outer more distant and abstract larger circles. However, after interviewing the participants on their political views, the more conservative participants had their tokens most clustered and tightly packed in the inner circles, where those with more liberal views and values spread their tokens outwards more into the larger tokens. This showed that liberal leaning folks had less trouble in resolving their loyalty differences, so they wouldn’t have found it so difficult to replace loyalties to a more distant relationship. Whereas the conservatives did have difficulties and struggled more with the emotion it brought up. Conservatives tended not to spread out loyalties where liberals were more content to do so.

This experiment goes well with the Wild story, for those that found it revulsive in him competing not only against the U.S. but with a perceived socialistic or even still communist nation were unequivocally conservatives. The liberals on the other hand were more forgiving and could even agree with his hometown in celebrating Wild’s efforts and medals.

In Debate,

BJA

08/06/15