It is a part of the human condition that many people in the face of overwhelming truth supported by conclusive factual evidence will for no practical reason side with the opposition. There are many reasons for this, including false beliefs based on religious dogma, simple mean-spirited contrariness, sheer ignorance, or as too often the case, defaulting to powers greater than themselves who hold the purse strings that rule their lives. In the case of United States Congressional Climate Change deniers, the latter reason is not only short-sighted, but tantamount to misrepresentation of the people who put them into office in the first place.

The chief climate change denier in Congress is Sen. James Inhofe. Longtime member of the Senate environmental committee, Inhofe has been more than a little vocal in his denunciation of the facts behind the climate change debate. He is the author of The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future and is the commander in chief of disinformation on the topic.

Today, Inhofe doubled down on his dubious denier in chief position as reported by Phil Plait on slate.com in an article titled James Inhofe Slammed on Global Warming. Plait notes:

” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is more than just a global warming denier. He’s a conspiracy theorist (calling warming a “hoax”) and, shockingly, (he is) hugely funded by the oil industry. Reading things he’s said about global warming is like perusing a denier’s playbook of nonsense.

So this story comes as no surprise to me, even as it elicits a long sigh: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) submitted a resolution simply acknowledging that global warming exists and poses a threat to the interests of the United States—which it does, on both counts.

Of course Inhofe blocked it.”

Most people who understand that science trumps demagoguery are hard pressed to take actions and statements like Inhofe’s lying down, especially if they are United States senators with the best interest of the nation at heart. This, however, is far from the first time Inhofe’s statements have been seen as controversial. A very informative website, Skeptical Science: getting skeptical about global warming skepticism, details just how off the mark on this issue Inhofe and his ilk are in mainstream society and in the scientific world.

However, possibly the best response to Inhofe’s blockage of the Klobuchar Resolution was from fellow senator, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). Whitehouse takes on Inhofe’s main talking points and adds his own slap down of the misinformed senator from Oklahoma as reported in a Think Progress dispatch. Whitehouse is at the height of his rhetorical condemnation when in response to Inhofe’s false claim that the government is “colluding” with climate change supporters to push their own agenda. Whitehouse owns Inhofe by listing the organizations that support science over Inhofe’s preposterous assertions. Plait writes:

“Next, Whitehouse took on Inhofe’s assertion that federal government agencies — The Department of Defense, NASA, and NOAA, for example — were colluding to promote environmentalists’ agendas. “Colluding together. That’s a fairly tough word to use,” he began.

Whitehouse: Let me tell you some of the government agencies who are so-called colluding together. How about NASA? We trust them to send our astronauts into space. We trust them to deliver a rover the size of an S.U.V. to the surface of Mars safely and drive it around, sending data and pictures back from Mars to us. You think these people know what they’re talking about? … How about the United States Navy? The commander in chief of our Pacific Command? Is he colluding when he says that? …

If you want to ignore the federal government, if you live in a world in which you think the federal government colludes with itself to make up things that aren’t true, okay. But look at the property casualty insurance and reinsurance industry. They’re the people with the biggest bet on this. They have billions of dollars riding on getting it right, and they say climate change is real, carbon pollution is causing it, we’ve got to do something about it. So does the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, because they care about the poor and the effect this will have on the people who have the least. So does every major U.S. scientific society. Every single one.” (This info is also included in the accompanying video supplied by Think Progress)

The 800-pound gorilla in the Climate Change debate living room Inhofe and his fellow deniers hope the public will ignore is who is behind the funding for governmental officials and gadflies who support this scientifically untenable position. In an article published on Dec 23, 2013 by Douglas Fischer and The Daily Climate titled, “Dark Money” Funds Climate Change Denial Effort, Fischer explores a study by Drexel University which is both eye-opening and ominous:

“The study, by Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert Brulle, is the first academic effort to probe the organizational underpinnings and funding behind the climate denial movement.

It found that the amount of money flowing through third-party, pass-through foundations like Donors Trust and Donors Capital, whose funding cannot be traced, has risen dramatically over the past five years.

In all, 140 foundations funneled $558 million to almost 100 climate denial organizations from 2003 to 2010.

Meanwhile the traceable cash flow from more traditional sources, such as Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, has disappeared.

The study was published . . . in the journal Climatic Change.”

The “going dark” of funds supplied by political action committees is a strategic shift from years in the past. The known contributors to the climate denier positon from years past reads like a whos who of conservative organizations.

“According to Brulle, the largest and most consistent funders where a number of conservative foundations promoting “ultra-free-market ideas” in many realms, among them the Searle Freedom Trust, the John Williams Pope Foundation, the Howard Charitable Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.

Another key finding: From 2003 to 2007, Koch Affiliated Foundations and the ExxonMobil Foundation were “heavily involved” in funding climate change denial efforts. But Exxon hasn’t made a publically traceable contribution since 2008, and Koch’s efforts dramatically declined, Brulle said.”

The upshot is that big energy and ultra-conservative groups have a vested interest in promoting climate change denial and are not averse to lining the campaign coffers of congressional campaigns if the senators and representatives will take up the cause. An example is Inhofe’s own track record of funding which can be found at OpenSecrets.org (link reprinted from above).

I am reminded of a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Or in this case, the not so honorable Senator James Inhofe.

 

 

 

Let me first say, I respect John McCain’s service to his country. Anyone who wears the United States uniform and gives a portion of their life in defending the United States deserves the respect and honor that is part and parcel of what it means to serve, no matter how well or badly they performed.

McCain, however, in his frustration in the face of his growing list of failures, should think clearly about his legacy (if he has one). As one writer put it, McCain has never met a war he didn’t love. His World War II bona fides, however, are suspect at best. McCain’s effectiveness as a pilot is a thing of much controversy and has been for years. In an article titled The Day John McCain Got Shot Down: Did He Show the Right Stuff? by Zalin Grant on the website Pythia Press, Zalin gives an unbiased account of McCain and his checked past as a young pilot. Son of Navy royalty (both his dad and grandfather were celebrated admirals), McCain seemed fitted with a golden spoon permanently attached to his lower lip.

History, even personal history, however, has a way of recording facts the way they happened, not like someone would have them be in a canned biography attached to fund raising material. From all accounts it appears McCain was less than a stellar cadet, an atrocious pilot and an all-around screw up not well-liked by his comrades. As Zalin notes about McCain’s early days in the military:

“That might have been checked off to youthful rebellion.  Plenty of kids spent their college years partying but then sobered up after they were slapped in the face by the reality of making it in the outside world. But after he left Annapolis, McCain continued to show the same attitude that had almost got him kicked out of the naval academy.

He barely passed flight school. And then he crashed two airplanes and damaged a third.”

This all before the crash that landed him in the Hanoi Hilton, which as Zalin points out later in the article was his fault.

When the Iraq War came around after 911, McCain was one of the Hawks squawking the loudest for America to invade Iraq and bring down our one time ally Saddam Hussein. Recently, he has championed just about every armed conflict around the world calling for immediate involvement with either United States service personnel boots on the ground or supplying arms to rebels in locales like Libya, Syria, and the Ukraine. The four thousand plus Americans who lost their lives in Iraq and the nearly two hundred thousand Iraqis who died (a new estimate places that total closer to a half a million) hasn’t been enough to quench his blood lust in the slightest.

So, it’s safe to say McCain’s default message is when guns are blazing and there is a war to be fought, no matter how little it has to do with American interests, bomb, bomb, and bomb some more is the only thing that comes to his aging, shriveled, pea brain. This is nothing new. Everyone knows McCain’s weird fixation on war. It’s who he is and what we’ve come to expect from this man with one mission: Kill em’ all and let god sort them out.

One reason McCain is so fixated on pushing for war is the fact that war is big business. A look at a list of his campaign donors is a telling walk down the gilded lane of money in America. OpenSecrets.org offers this list of revenue sources that McCain has been able to tap into over the years. War is good for McCain’s political life and gives him a means of supporting his manic drive to see America’s presence in the numerous armed conflicts around the globe. I am sure in his mind pushing for war is a means of recapturing the glory of a now fading career slipping slowly away from him.

However, like so many politicians these days, McCain doesn’t know when to shut up. His failure to drag the country kicking and screaming into battles around the globe, highlights his inability to grasp the true nature of war and when diplomacy is the better choice. Last week, in response to the Malaysian Airlines tragedy, McCain stepped over a line that may be the most telling of all the numerous signs that he is definitely losing it.

In an article by Jason Easley and Sarah Jones for PoliticsUSA.com, McCain opens his mouth and stuffs his foot in it:

“Senator John McCain called the Obama administration “cowardly” for waiting for the facts before taking action on the downed Malaysian Airlines Flight.”

It would seem that even a hot head like McCain would understand that jumping into a conflict before all the facts are known is foolhardy at best if not just downright foolish. Not McCain though, he was locked and loaded for the kill. From the article:

“It’s just been cowardly, it’s a cowardly administration that failed to give the Ukrainians weapons with which to defend themselves,” McCain said on Hannity.”

How supplying the Ukrainians with arms would have kept the separatists from shooting down a commercial airliner is a mystery to just about anyone with a shred of sanity under their belt. However, as Easley and Jones note, there may be more to McCain’s anger than meets the eye:

“Republicans can’t stand the Obama doctrine. John McCain would rather be bomb, bomb, bombing any and everyone before the facts come in — you know, just in case. Sen. McCain is so frustrated by the fact that the Obama foreign policy has worked where his neo-con warmongering has failed that he has been reduced to personal attacks and name calling.”

What McCain calls cowardly is called diplomacy by most of the civilized word. The fact that he can’t grasp the reality and complexity of the geopolitical world stage is disturbing. More than that though, it sad that an old man has to sully not only his own military record, but to also degrade the integrity of the highest office in the land. The one thing to take away from McCain’s idiotic remarks is how fortunate America is that Obama won and he lost.

McCain needs to give it a rest while what little legacy he still retains is intact and unsullied by his own outlandish statements.

More bizarre statements from the wacko that defines bizarre in Texas (if not in national) politics. Louie Gohmert is obviously the best politician that the Texas Tea Party’s money can buy because sane people wouldn’t vote for a wacko like this. Well, money and favorable gerrymandering of his district had something to do with it. How else could someone as dumb as dirt and proud of it ever be elected to any political office? Although, it is hard for me to conceive that the Texans I know from my past would have any part of this loser’s political cartoon antics.

Gohmert’s latest shenanigans takes advantage of the current Texas border crisis that has immigrant children being held like animals in cages and denied, for some, justifiable asylum from the horrors of their homelands. This on the heels of Governor Rick Perry strutting about and playing presidential candidate this past week and demanding President Obama deploy National Guard troops along the Rio Grande to help secure the border. What has become of my once beloved Texas that it is now inhabited by weirdoes, gun nuts, gay bashers, and evangelical spouters of hate and disharmony who have become the rule not the exception?

I digress.

The latest Gohmert brouhaha found voice in his speech from the floor of the House of Representatives last Friday. The live recorded feed is on CSPAN with Louie’s part beginning somewhere around the 3:38:00 mark of a four hour taping. Do yourself a favor and don’t go there. It begins with a near incoherent rambling intro of what the term invasion means, complete with definitions and explanation by Louie in a brain numbing monotone that is only slightly less than excruciating. Better to go to the UK Progressive Magazine’s website for the highlights in an article titled Texas Hospitality?  (Yes, Louie, the UK finds your antics laughable and incomprehensible. Texas used to deserve better than this).

In the article the magazine’s staff lays out the gist of Louie’s demands, and his thoughts on what needs to be done to solve the humanitarian crisis that the children find themselves in:

“Criticizing President Obama’s request for Congress to provide $3.7 billion in emergency funds to process the deportation proceedings of more than 52,000 children, mostly fleeing violence in Central America, Gohmert asked Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) to “use whatever means” like troops, ships of war, or taxes to “stop the invasion.”

Huh?

On the surface of this statement, Louie appears to be suggesting “troops, ships of war, or taxes (?)” should be used against these hapless children in an effort to ensure Louie’s borders are free from the evil scourge that they bring to our shores. The fact that they are unarmed, penniless and don’t seem to be in possession of any maritime assets is lost on the Congressman from Texas.

After poopooing the $3.7 billion that Obama called for from Congress, Louie’s brilliant idea is priceless.  From the article:

“That’s why I’m hoping that my governor will utilize Article 1, Section 10, that allows a state that is being invaded — in our case more than twice as many just in recent months, more than twice as many than invaded France on D-Day with a doubling of that coming en route, on their way here now under Article 1, Section 10, the state of Texas would appear to have the right, not only to use whatever means, whether it’s troops, even using ships of war, even exacting a tax on interstate commerce that wouldn’t normally be allowed to have or utilize, they’d be entitled in order to pay to stop the invasion.”

Louie goes on to hedge his bet in a way, but at the same time, up the ante a bit:

“Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution provides that “[n]o state shall, without the consent of Congress . . . engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.”

Louie doesn’t understand that “invasion”, as it is used here, involves armed conflict, death, destruction, widespread chaos and an overall attempt to bring down the government. This situation, however, is about children fleeing hopeless situations at home that would force a mother and father to consider sending their children on a sordidly dangerous journey led by men with the scruples of bandits who care little if anything about the well-being of their children.

But wait, he wasn’t finished:

“Gohmert also suggested that the state of Texas should send National Guard to the border to secure the border, citing the time that President Woodrow Wilson sent General Pershing into Mexico to pursue Pancho Villa who had killed Americans.”

Some points to consider Louie: This isn’t the Mexican Revolution. Most of these children are from Central America (not Mexico. It’s a geography thing). The children are not Mexican revolutionaries, armed and dangerous, but refugees. And finally, while you seem to be unable to comprehend that most people see your blustering for what it is, an attempt of an inept, Tea Party sycophant whose only goal is to call attention to himself, it would be better if you simply got up on the floor of the House of Representatives and started shouting, “Hey look over here. Look at me. It’s Louie!” At least then, the UK would only be laughing at you, and not the problems Texas faces with this unfortunate humanitarian crisis.

 

The Daily Kos ran a story summation of an Austin American Statesman article on events that happen earlier this week. The upshot of the AAS article detailed the “pettiness” of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s response to President Obama’s request for a quick meet and greet on the tarmac of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport when the president flies into Austin to attend fundraising events and give a couple of speeches. Perry’s office responded that a “handshake” moment wouldn’t be time enough to really address the serious problems going on at the Texas border with waves of young children currently flowing into the state. He did offer to “rearrange” his schedule to meet with Obama anytime during the president’s trip to the Lone Star state.

Why do Republicans underestimate this president? Obama’s staff was quick to respond saying they would be delighted to set up a more “substantive” meeting at Governor OOOP’s convenience. This set in motion a scrambling two-step in Perry’s office trying to figure out what to do next. Meeting with the president is certainly something Perry never thought would happen. As the Kos article notes, whether or not Perry will hold up his end of the bargain is still up in the air.

What makes the Kos article so interesting and alluring is the title: Rick Perry announces 2016 campaign. While Perry didn’t actually “announce” his intention to run for president, the article’s author, Jed Lewison, sees in Perry’s actions a man setting in place his “intention” to run by trying to gain street cred by standing up to the president (in his little feverish Tea Party brain) by rudely rejecting a request by his Commander in Chief. Obama effectively dealt with that charade by calling Perry’s bluff. Perry now has to decide to live up to his end of the bargain or come off as the embodiment of the Texas saying, “All hat and no cattle”. It will be interesting to see if Perry cowboys up or turns and runs with his tail between his legs back to his wacked out base where is babbling egotistical rhetoric is welcome.

Stop for a second and think of what a Perry presidential run would mean. It would almost make one belief in the existence of a god, alive and well on his throne, who actually has a sense of humor. With Mittens Romney’s camp already making rumblings sounds of his possible candidacy, the opportunity of another “perfect storm” Republican debate season is the thing of Democrats and Jon Stewart’s political wet dreams. Add to the mix, the obvious candidacy of Rick “man on dog” Santorum, Howdy Doody lookalike, Rand Paul, and the dark horse, dynasty mongrel, Jed Bush, and voters can almost forget Herman Cain and Paul’s dad, what’s his name, and the Newt.

However, the vacuum of the also rans will surely be filled by that darling of the Tea Partiers, Ted Cruz. Cruz, alone, will jack up the political absurdity to astronomical heights simply by walking stage. What would a debate with this coven of wingnuts look like in the end? Zeus only knows, but it is certainly one I would love to see happen in my lifetime.

 The world is an unusual place and getting weirder all the time. I am reminded of my favorite author, Hunter S. Thompson, and one of his tidbits of wisdom he passed down to us before he left this veil of tears, no longer able to confront the weirdness he saw all around him. He wrote:

 “When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.” Hunter S. Thompson Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 

I want to suggest to the Tea Party wingnuts that they adopt this as their party motto. It’s got pizazz. It’s describes them, and their movement to a tee. More than anything, however, it’s true. Let’s face it. Without the Republican establishment supporting them in the beginning – to exploit their numbers without giving anything in return – and today, simply out of fear of the Frankenstein’s monster they created – the Tea Party would have remained a group of predominantly old white men, wallowing in their militant Christian doctrine and griping to their heart’s content about America going to hell in a hand basket. 

Considering how the Republican strategy of dealing with the Tea Party has gone seriously south with the tail now wagging the dog, it isn’t surprising that some within the Tea Party have become embolden. Emboldened to the point that now crazy has just gotten a whole lot crazier. Take for instance the case of Trevor Loudon, the New Zealand ex-pat libertarian. who has become the darling of Tea Partiers across the nation. 

Loudon is noted for his, hmmm . . . near maniacal denouncement of President Barack Obama. Using his hate filled blog, New Zeal, he has over the years accused Obama from being everything from an Islamic sympathizer, Socialist, Marxist, and has called Obama, the Dictator-in-Chief, and of course, the worst president since WWII. Putting aside the obvious fact that here is a non-American accusing the president of the United States being responsible for everything bad that is going on in the world, the guy for good reason has been embraced by the Tea Partiers, most of whom wouldn’t recognize a lie from a canary. 

Recently, however, Loudon was invited to speak at a Tea Party event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit Freedom Coalition. In his speech, Loudon picked his slate for the Second American Revolution, and it is, well, a doozy. Here is the slate Loudon thinks is what the country needs to get back on track with a links to give a bit of background on each person Loudon suggests will bring a new day to the American heartland. 

President of the United States: Sen. Ted Cruz R-Texas 

Now granted, I am certain there are still sane pockets of Texas voters (some of them from the Republican establishment) who would like nothing more than to see Cruz ride off into the sunset, but to be president? I don’t think so. This is a man who defines crazy in terms of the Tea Party faithful. Here are some bits of wisdom and beliefs Cruz has uttered along the way to his Tea Party papacy. 

Five Things Everyone Should Know About GOP Senate Candidate Ted Cruz 

Don’t even get me started on his creepy evangelical father. 

Vice-President of the United States: Alan West R-US House of Representatives 

Yes, that Alan West who seems more concerned in seeing how far he can get his foot in his mouth and down his throat than being a viable candidate for an office one heartbeat away from the American presidency. West has proven to be the proverbial political bull in a china closet. His modus operandi? Slash and burn anyone who disagrees with him. 

In a special contribution to Think Progress, Zachary Bernstein pulled back the crazy veil to let us see the real man behind the gaffes: 

Rep. Allen West’s 15 Most Outrageous Statements 

Number 11 is especially telling: “WE also should be censoring the American news agencies”. 

Sec. of Treasury Sen. Rand Paul Sen. 

It isn’t that Rand Paul is such a bad choice for this position. His down home demeanor has some appeal for even the most liberal voter. However, his grasp of reality and the law seems a bit problematic. Take for instance his recently revealed instances of plagiarism, and his moronic defense of his actions calls into question his ability, not just to lead, but to understand the difference between right and wrong. Paul may have a rustic appeal, but his tendency to speak without engaging his brain is a bit frightening. I’m not sure America has seen the real Rand Paul yet.

 Making it up as he goes along  

Secretary of Energy Sarah Palin Failed Gov. of Alaska, failed vice-presidential candidate, failed Fox News commentator . . . well, the list goes on. 

Yes, Sarah Palin would be in charge of the state of energy in American. The “Drill Baby Drill” Queen of the Wackos would have a position of authority in Loudon’s “perfect cabinet” for the Tea Party. This is monumentally stupid on its face alone. 

Lest we forget: 

The 11 Dumbest Things Sarah Palin Has Said So Far 

Secretary of Labor Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin 

Recalled (but retained his seat), union buster, liar, job killer and scandal ridden, Walker seems just the type of political figure the Tea Party can embrace with open arms. Of all the proposed cabinet members in Loudon’s list, Walker has to be one of the least understandable, and that is saying something. Other than beating the recall, Walker has made misstep after misstep in his recent political saga. His actions speak volumes about what kind of man and politician he is in the end. 

Scott Walker’s History of Dirty Tactics and Illegal Campaigning 

Secretary of Commerce Herman Cain Failed presidential candidate, business man, and former CEO of the National Restaurant Association 

Ok, no one can say that Cain is not good for a laugh. His antics during and after the 2012 Republican presidential debates are still a thing of comedic brilliance. He was always good for a laugh. Here is a good example: Political Einstein 

There is more: 

9 most ridiculed Herman Cain quotes 

Secretary of state John Bolton Former Ambassador to the UN, Neo-con, Iraq war serial liar, Bonehead. 

In a list of the absurd, Bolton is by far the outlier in this list. He is so far over the top that I am surprised that Loudon would even consider him. However, there seems to be no depth to the Tea Party’s ability to shoot themselves in the foot, so maybe it takes a certain mentality to see hope in this ridiculously bankrupt gadfly. Here is an example of who the man Bolton is at his core. 

Horrifying, personal John Bolton story

Health and Human Services Ben Carson Brilliant physician turned Gadfly 

On the surface, Carson seems like a good choice for this position. He does have the credentials on the medical side of the equation, but comes off as politically tone deaf when he opens his mouth and spouts gems like comparing the Affordable Care Act to slavery. He seems to have the political acumen of a BP oil drenched oyster in the Gulf of Mexico although in a pinch I would always go with the oyster. This and the idea that any black person would side with the Republicans and the Tea Party is simply an absurd notion that no sane person can get their head around. Here is a good summation of Carson’s creds.

Ben Carson Is the Worst Thing to Happen to Us Since He Opened His Mouth 

Attorney General Mark Levin Lawyer, author and right wing radio talk show shill 

Granted, not being an aficionado of right wing hate speech radio talk show hosts, I am understandably not partial to these guys. Levin seems to be the perfect storm of this these types of commentators. Here is Marc McDonald’s take on Levin: 

Mark Levin: The Most Extremist and Frightening Hate Wing Talker of Them All 

Secretary of Education David Barton Evangelical minister, founder of the Texas based WallBuilders and Christian revisionist 

I would assume most Americans have no idea who Barton is. It really doesn’t matter. In all likelihood, Barton’s main task would be to dismantle the Department of Education and replace it with some weird hybrid of vouchers, or better yet in his eyes, a state sponsored evangelical propagandist school along the line of the Islamic madrasa system. He erroneously believes that there is no separation of church and state in the Constitution. No, this is the land of theocracy where believers rule and the rest of us have to endure their wacked out views on socio-religious education. 

Crackpot “Historian” David Barton: The Constitution quotes the Bible “verbatim”

My overriding instinct tells me that a cabinet of this nature is an impossibility in the United States of America, but then again, I never thought G W Bush and Dick Cheney would become the president and vice-president. Weird shit happens in politics these days. Add to the equation a disaffected, ill-tempered, group made up primarily of old white guy racists and bigots and it’s anybody’s call. The wackos are on the rise and the shire is in danger. 

Or quoting Thompson again, 

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”