GOP Growing More Bizarre and Confused By The Day

Confused about bin Laden

Republicans talked a good game about getting Osama bin Laden, "dead or alive". Bush cried out the slogan repeatedly to resounding cheers from his supporters in the aftermath of the 9/11/2001 attacks. Then, it was all "Mission Accomplished" when we invaded Iraq (the invasion, not a withdrawal after a victory mind you). But they were just slogans and banners.

The reality was that the Bush Administration treated bin Laden and his family gingerly in the wake of the attacks. They let bin Laden go three times. Two offers to give him up were made by Mullah Omar, and rejected in favor of bombing Afghanistan. One of the offers had some conditions, that bin Laden be tried outside of the U.S. and such, but the other was unconditional. Then, Bush refused the additional 1500 troops needed to corner bin Laden at Tora Bora. The troops were in the vicinity, so this was not a decision made for lack of resources. Also, we must not forget that the bin Laden family was allowed leave the country immediately after the attacks without even questioning them.

Now, they're upset that the US targeted and killed him under President Barack Obama. John Yoo is complaining that bin Laden was not captured, but he never complained when Bush suggested he might be brought in "dead". Maybe he knew Bush had no intention of going after bin Laden to begin with. Yoo practically gold-plated the idea that U.S. Presidents should be able to declare and maintain military actions on their own, so he should have loved this one.

All this makes me wonder, are Republicans mad that Obama did the job their leader failed to do or are they mad bin Laden was taken down because they wanted him around, and if so, for what reason?

Confused about Education

Republicans spoke of responsibility and hard work to young people for years, but now they berate teachers so viciously that their own children are not gaining any respect for their own teachers or their own education. I've already described a situation I witnessed while sub teaching at a local school where a kid threatened his teacher by saying he knew the standardized tests were really to test her and not him, so he didn't have to do well on the test and by not doing well he could punish her. How are teachers supposed to enforce discipline or promote learning when kids are being taught that they are lazy leeches on their parents as taxpayers? How are parents going to teach respect and discipline when they show so little themselves in their own tea parties?

Legalize Heroin, but No Medical Marijuana for the Seriously Ill

Republicans talked about legalizing heroin at their debate last night, but won't even vote to legalize medical marijuana or guarantee access to needed chemotherapy for uninsured cancer patients. Heroin? Really?

Let's Trade Peak Oil for Peak Gold

Republicans are all about the gold standard these days. They blame our economic woes on our currency system and want the value of all goods to be tied to the amount of gold owned by the country.

So, riddle me this: what happens when we run out of gold the same way the world is running out of oil? Gold is a finite resource and eventually the mines will be tapped. What then, wars over gold?

In some way, we might have already seen the beginning of currency wars. There are arguments that the U.S. invaded both Iraq and Libya because of currency concerns. Just before Iraq was invaded, Hussein was working to move his country's oil sales to the Euro, and Gaddafi was very vocally working on a plan to move Libyan oil to Dinar, an African gold coin. The U.S. doesn't have enough gold to deal with oil being on a standard other than the dollar:



Confused about What Builds Business

Republicans claim they symbolize business, but they want to stifle business by killing progress.

They may love "business", but they don't like green business. They've been chasing it away by continuing to devote our energy budget to subsidizing oil.

I'm glad I live in a state where we took the high speed rail money. Illinois just got Florida's share, rejected by it's Republican governor. What are they putting in the orange juice down there? Florida is a perfect state for high speed rail. It's long and narrown and such a train would be convenient to just about every city in the state and the potential for improving tourism and integrating the southern hotels and beaches with Disney World is huge, but no thanks they said. I cannot wait to take my first ride between Chicago and St. Louis on our new train line. I might just spend some money in Springfield or St. Louis when I go there too.

Republicans (and sadly some Democrats) also want to kill business with high employee medical insurance costs. Saddling businesses with medical needs of their employees was never a good idea and I still cannot figure out why Republicans are not all for single payer, Medicare for all. But wait, it gets odder....

It's Hard to Kill Medicare When You Want It For Yourself

Republicans talked about killing Medicare. They said it was a necessity to save the federal budget, but their Tea Parties only meant no Medicare for other people. They want it for themselves. So, they had to kill the plan. They're trying to blame Democrats, but that's laughable because they never even tried to engage the Senate on the plan.

Republicans Tax Reduction Plans Are Pretty Expensive for Average Americans

Republicans are nothing if they're not against taxes. That's what mostly brings out the vote. However, they never seem to get that their anti-tax measures raise taxes. If you're delighted because republican pressures have resulted in your paying a hundred or so dollars less in federal income tax, take a look at your Lake County property tax bill yet? Your property value went down, but the multiplier went through the roof. They'll argue that we have to kill the public schools in favor of private schools to lower property taxes. They want K-12 to look more like college. Take a look at college tuition lately? If parents spend all their savings on K-12, who's going to be able to go to college? We might eventually have to import educated people from abroad to fill the good jobs here, but then, they don't like immigration either.

So, where does this leave us if we stick with Republican's Plans for the Country?

Uneducated workforce employed by educated foreigners, sick and elderly people with no access to care or other help, currency wars for peak gold, low taxes but high costs for everything else, slowed business, and no medical care, but legalized heroin. I guess they figure we'll need it.