Party Like It's 1995

Okay Mr. Pissy Pants.

That's Prissy pants, thank you very much.

Better check, time for a change.

I like this one.

Quote :

In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged that Republican House members have been literally intoxicated while casting votes on the continuing resolutions that set the stage for today’s government shutdown. Noting “a number of public reports that you can smell alcohol on their breath as they’re voting gleefully to shut down the government and create chaos,” Grayson said that he had personally witnessed GOP colleagues smelling like alcohol. “Many of them seem loaded,” said Grayson. The Florida congressman declined to name names, saying, “it’s the usual suspects,” but that he didn’t “really feel like getting that personal with people.”

A spokesperson for Speaker John Boehner did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Politico reporter Ginger Gibson tweeted Saturday that she could “smell the booze wafting from members as they walk off the floor.”

Grayson said he thinks on-the-job alcohol consumption by GOP House members has “been a problem all year long.”

“It’s a fact we all have to live with,” Grayson told Salon, “and it’s making them violent and abusive towards America.”

Alan Grayson: the only Democrat with balls.

Tonight, Lawrence O'Donnell on "The Last Word" gave voice to a theory I had been mulling over the past couple of days, but I hesitated to post it here because it's just too batshit crazy.

The theory is this.  The shutdown of the federal government by House Republicans is not accidental, not unintended, not collateral. It is, in fact, the main event.

A Main Event aimed at one larger goal -- to irrevocably damage Obama's presidency.  If the government is in crisis, if the US defaults and the economy takes a huge hit and the world economic system swerves radically away from US bonds under Obama's tenure as President, he'll go down in history as the president under which the US became a Third World nation.  

It will be proven that Negroes cannot govern the country.

This message brought to you by Koch Industries, who approved this ad.

They have been saying for years that their main goal is to destroy Obama. They were unable to prevent his reelection, so they will do whatever they can to destroy his reputation. I think the fact that Obama is black is only a small part of their reasoning - but one that provides extra ammunition in some areas - they just hate Democrats.

A major salmonella outbreak is happening while public health officials are stuck home

Quote :

Officials have already struggled to identify the source of the outbreak, which first began in March. It seems unlikely that they’ll be able to now. In the meantime, consumers are being cautioned to wash and cook their chicken as thoroughly as possible.

eduardo2 wrote:

Oct 2008: "You'll never get elected and pass healthcare."

Nov 2008: "We'll never let you pass healthcare."

Jan 2009: "We are going to shout you down every time you try to pass healthcare."

July 2009: "We will fight to the death every attempt you make to pass healthcare."

Dec 2009: "We will destroy you if you even consider passing healthcare."

March 2010: "We can't believe you just passed healthcare."

April 2010: "We are going to overturn healthcare."

Sept 2010: "We are going to repeal healthcare."

Jan 2011: "We are going to destroy healthcare."

Feb 2012: "We are going to elect a candidate who will immediately revoke healthcare."

June 2012: "We will go to the Supreme Court, and they will overturn healthcare."

Aug 2012: "The American people will never re-elect you, because they don't want healthcare."

Oct 2012: "We can't wait to win the election and explode healthcare."

Nov 2012: "We can't believe you just got re-elected and that we can't repeal healthcare."

Feb 2013: "We're still going to vote to obliterate healthcare."

June 2013: "We can't believe the Supreme Court just upheld healthcare."

July 2013: "We're going to vote like 35 more times to erase healthcare."

Sept 2013: "We are going to leverage a government shutdown into defunding, destroying, obliterating, overturning, repealing, dismantling, erasing and ripping apart healthcare."

Oct 2013: "WHY AREN'T YOU NEGOTIATING???"

Anybody who thinks there isn't some major pharmaceutical money behind the latest hijinks is fooling themselves.

Why would the pharmaceutical companies be against the Affordable Health Care act?

Quote :

According to the White House, the president again told Mr. Boehner that he was willing to negotiate, but only after the “threat of government shutdown and default have been removed.” The White House said that areas the president would be willing to discuss included “how to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and continue to reduce the nation’s deficit.”

The speaker’s office said the call broke no new ground. “The president called the speaker again today to reiterate that he won’t negotiate on a government funding bill or debt limit increase,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner.

Impeachment takes too long.  Can somebody please start treason proceedings against Speaker Boehner?

"Treason" is specifically defined in the Constitution.
"Incompetence" is clearly defined in any dictionary.

From the article I linked:

Quote :

Why is no one talking TREASON? If you'd harm your country economically, harm it's people intentionally, and render aid to the enemy--which is what comes from army, CIA, secret service cuts--then you are a traitor to America. A dozen people were hanged for killing Lincoln. This is a conspiracy to hurt America.

You know what's interesting about the rightwing media blogosphere is what an echo hall it is. Here are some websites posting EXACTLY the same clip from The Ed Show and making EXACTLY the same comments about it:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2013/10/07/msnbcs-ed-schultz-declares-john-boehner-guilty-committing-treason
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/10/07/msnbcs-spittle-spewing-lib-ed-schultz-declares-john-boehner-guilty-of-treason/
http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2013/10/keeping-it-civil-lib-talker-ed-schultz-calls-john-boehner-treasonous-2729346.html
http://www.conservativehappenings.com/2013/10/video-msnbcs-ed-schultz-declares-john.html
http://inagist.com/all/387370033438928896/
http://www.mrctv.org/videos/msnbcs-ed-schultz-declares-john-boehner-committing-treason
http://bangor.gotnewswire.com/news/msnbcs-ed-schultz-declares-john-boehner-guilty-of-treason
...and about a hundred more. No wonder they're so out of touch with reality -- they only listen to themselves. One fart becomes an avalanche.

The complete definition of the federal crime of treason, from Article 3 of the Constitution:

Quote :

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

No matter how horrid Boner and his friends are, their actions do not fall within this narrow definition.

Case could be made -- military readiness, stand down of intelligence agencies, threat to hegemony from default.

One man should not be allowed.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Case could be made -- military readiness, stand down of intelligence agencies, threat to hegemony from default.

Maybe a case could be made, but it would be a piss poor case and laughed out of court.

A better case could be made for malfeasance. Unfortunately, the Constitution gives Congress the right to make its own rules. So as long as they are playing by the rules, the best we could hope for would be misfeasance, and I'm sure there are loopholes that would free them from any punishment for that as well.

Well there must be *some* protections against a MOC going rogue?

Only if they violate some law which applies to everyone, and even then they tend to be let off lightly by the courts.

If they fuck up too badly - and publicly - in the course of their duties, then they can be investigated by the ethics committee of the House or Senate. The worst punishment they can receive in this manner is expulsion. In its history, there have been a total of five members of the House expelled and fifteen members of the Senate (fourteen of them for supporting the Confederacy).

Well that's interesting. What were the grounds for expulsion of the Confederacy supporters?

Stupidity? No, that can't possibly be it; that would leave the place empty all the time.

Quote :

“Refusing to negotiate is an untenable position,” Mr. Boehner said.

Why doesn't Obama call him out on this? The law was passed by Congress, and acknowledged as lawful by the Supreme Court. Obama needs to say, "The ACA is not negotiable. If you want to pass another law go ahead and start the process -- but refusal to fund existing laws is not your option."

The shutdown itself will not affect the implementation or funding of the healthcare act. The Republicans are using this action as a tactic to extort a delay in the implementation of the act. They will use the debt limit to try the same extortion.

I believe that these actions are blatantly illegal. The Justice Department should look into the matter and keep the public informed at every step of the investigation.

Here's what I don't get.

"The government" is shut down, right? Why is Congress still in session?

Who is paying their salaries?

Who is paying their staff?

Why are the lights still on?

The shutdown only affects discretionary spending and programs. Something like two thirds of federal spending is mandatory (required by existing law) and so it continues. Portions of the government which are classified as non-essential will not be funded and must be shut down. Why Congress is not classified as non-essential is a question I can't answer.