A four-party system?

It's too confusing. Republicans want individual responsibility but control of what we do to who in the bedroom. Democrats want individual freedom but protection for everyone from the consequences of bad choices.

Maybe we can simplify by making it more complicated.

In fact, let's oversimplify and say there are two primary arenas, social policy and fiscal policy (having to do with government finance). Let's oversimplify again and say most people are either conservative or liberal in each arena.

Then we have Republicans who are socially conservative and fiscally conservative. We have Democrats who are socially liberal and fiscally liberal.

The problem is jamming all the rest of us into those ill-fitting shoes. What if someone is a social liberal and a fiscal conservative? There are a lot of us out here, uneasy that the future is going to be a lot harder than the present and could be a whole lot less fun.

But there is another group I think has been under-appreciated. The social conservative and fiscal liberal, people who feel powerless and humiliated.

Powerless because they know the right-wing is picking their pocket and lying to them, stacking the deck for the benefit of a few and allowing the powerful to destroy opportunity. While they can be distracted by falsehoods that immigrants and foreigners are to blame for the lack of jobs, they also believe in the value of their work.

They also know the left-wing holds them in contempt, does not respect their values nor their traditions. They are humiliated that their belief in flag and family is considered quaint when they can point to alternatives with bad outcomes.

They side with the right against their own self interest because, as Thomas Friedman said, humiliation is the most under-estimated force in politics.

Two parties cannot represent four constituencies. Which is one more reason America is currently a house divided. In the past, it has taken a national crisis to unite us. Unfortunately, that is probably the case today.

Trump endorses a winner!

In an amazing display of narcissistic self-aggrandizement, Donald Trump (a rare triple redundancy) supported the likely winner of the GOP nomination process.

"I will be making a major announcement tomorrow (Thursday, February 2) at 12:30 pm at Trump International Hotel & Tower, Las Vegas, Nevada," Trump the gasbag tweeted on Wednesday, February 1.

Of course Trump endorsed Romney. And in a week or a month, Trump will say that it was his endorsement that gave Romney the nomination. Trump would also like to point out that the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico, in which Trump has dipped a toe, so of course the river seeks that direction.

Nobody cares, Donald, you dweeb. It doesn't matter to any of us what you do, what you think, who you endorse. The comb-over is still ridiculous, the narcissism boring. Go away, now, you sad clown of a man.

Central Oregon's pride

"LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Oregon congressman has pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles to money laundering and tax charges relating to an investment scheme that allegedly cost investors more than $10 million.

Wes Cooley, who represented Oregon's 2nd Congressional District for one term in the 1990s, entered his plea Monday in federal court. (Cooley, a Reagan Republican, lied about his service in Vietnam.)

An indictment filed in January alleges the 76-year-old Cooley and two other men lured victims into purchasing unregistered stock in Bidbay.com Inc. by telling them the company would be acquired by eBay for $20 per share.

In 2002 alone, Cooley allegedly took more than $1.1 million in investor cash and laundered it to conceal the fraud scheme.

Richard A. Moss, Cooley's attorney, declined to comment on the charges."

Limbaugh the fascist

Destroyer.
Divider.
Fascist.

Rush Limbaugh is vile, a lying, bigoted pompous ass of a man who would destroy hope for political gain.

Listening to him is reminiscent of public speeches of Brown Shirts in Germany after WW I. Look it up.

He is also the current leader of the Republican Party.

In a speech given this last Saturday, February 28, 2009, to the Conservative Political Action Conference, he spewed his peculiar form of right wing bile sweetened with false patriotism and misinformation (transcript here). It is the same brew first concocted by Gingrich and Rove and fed to conservative talk show hosts via a long handled spoon and web blogs.

Individuals will thrive, said Limbaugh, "if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government." That is exactly what happened, Rush, you broke government oversight and now we have a mortgage crisis, a banking crisis, the highest unemployment in a generation, because guys like you (how is your drug problem coming along, by the way?) succeeded in that little superstition.

Rush says conservatives believe in "...Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of happiness. [Applause] Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault."

Right again, they have been under assault for 30 years, but by conservatives like Limbaugh who believe in spying on civilians, government intervention on the deathbed and any other bed occupied by people they don't like, and welfare for Big Corporate donors.

As for happiness, most of the country understands they aren't happier than they were 8 years ago, and they know who is responsible.

"..the bigotry that we're all charged with, just so you across the United States of America know, and you'll see demonstrated here as the afternoon goes on, doesn't exist on our side," said Limbaugh.

Strange he should bring this up. Actually, Limbaugh is quite the bigot, which is why he probably doesn't recognize it. Which is why he featured "Barak the Magic Negro," on his radio show. (See more here). It was spread most ominously by a candidate for Republican national Chairman Chip Saltsman.

"... take a look at all the constituency groups that for 50 years have been depending on the Democrat Party to improve their lives. And you tell me if you find any. They're still complaining, still griping about the same problems. Their problems don't get fixed by government. And those lives have been poisoned," says Limbaugh.

Um, Rush? Have you checked in with who is sitting in the Oval Office? Ya think that would have happened 50 years ago? What a stupid, stupid thing to say. Only such a bloated, self important fool could so blindly make a statement like that.

Then Limbaugh displays a stunningly ignorant profile of history when he asks, "How did the United States of America become the world's lone super power, the world's economic engine, the most prosperous opportunity for an advanced lifestyle that humanity has ever known? How did this happen?"

I don't know Rush, it has been a long 240 plus years. Probably quite a few "hows" in that time. Some good, some bad, some great, some accidental. Rather than ask, why don't you answer the question?

And then, with a false flourish, he accuses with a question: "And why pray tell does the President of the United States want to destroy it?" And the evidence? None. He makes a statement without saying it, the cowardly technique of O'Reilly, Hannity and the rest of the angry hate mongers of the right.

Rush, it was you and Cheney and that little guy from Texas who damn near succeeded in destroying this nation. The mess our President is trying to fix was the result of your policies, not his.

Now we learn that suspension of the First Amendment, bombing of apartment houses right here in the U.S., spying on civilians were all considered. They entertained the most flagrant abuses of power ever conceived in this nation, violations against what it means to be America. That is the legacy of Rush, Cheney and Rove.

There is more. The gasbag goes on and on and on, and the right wingers applaud, even when he makes jokes that God wants to be Rush Limbaugh. What a sick, sorry sight, what a terrible thing to have happened to real conservatives. Real conservatives need to speak up, and throw these idiots to the wolves.