Ted Cruz Unfortunate Embarrassing Audition for The Simpsons

I saw that which you see here a couple weeks ago. I was both appalled and amused.

And actually felt embarrassed for Ted Cruz that he could embarrass himself to this level of embarrassment.

With that embarrassment being a make believe Ted Cruz audition for The Simpsons.

Apparently Ted Cruz thinks The Simpsons, which has been on TV for a couple decades, is still a hot, trendy, pop culture relevant topic with young people, you know, Millennials , in 2015.

Methinks the idea that Ted Cruz thought making this video was a good idea is all the evidence one needs to know that Ted Cruz lacks the critical thinking ability to function as President of the United States. Fortunately there is a mountain of evidence, in addition to the Ted Cruz Simpsons Audition Video, which provides plenty of evidence this guy is not presidential material.

That and to me he comes across as a very oily used car salesman who will say just about anything without being troubled by that which comes out of his mouth going through the filter of a functioning conscience.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, the Ted Cruz Audition for The Simpsons....

A Republican Blaming Rush Limbaugh for Poisoning the American Mind

I know there are millions of Americans, other than myself, and millions more, world-wide, who find the current crop of Republican presidential candidates to  be embarrassing on a level we have not seen before.

As in jaw dropping embarrassing. So much spewing of utter nonsense.

While I know that I am  not alone, I have thought maybe my high level of being so appalled might be a function of being older, more jaded, maybe wiser. I do not remember Republicans being so embarrassing during the Reagan and Bush years. Obviously I am referring to Bush 1, not Bush 2. It was during the Bush 2 debacle that I think the Republicans lost their collective minds.

The only Republicans I remember being embarrassing during the Reagan/Bush years where the two Pats, Robertson and Buchanan.

So, this morning on Facebook, via one of the wisest Americans on the planet, Robert Reich, I was pleased to see that I am on the same page as Mr. Reich in terms of wondering if I am being somehow overly appalled by that which seems so appalling.

The entirety of the Robert Reich Facebook post for your reading pleasure....

The other night I phoned a former Republican member of Congress with whom I'd worked in the 1990s on various pieces of legislation. I consider him a friend. I wanted his take on the Republican candidates because I felt I needed a reality check. Was I becoming excessively crotchety and partisan, or are these people really as weird as they seem? We got right into it:

Me: "So what do really you think of these candidates?"

Him: "You want my unvarnished opinion?'

Me: "Please. That's why I called."

Him: "They're all nuts."

Me: "Seriously. What do you really think of them?"

Him: "I just told you. They're bonkers. Bizarre. They're like a Star Wars bar room."

Me: "How did it happen? How did your party manage to come up with this collection?"

Him: "We didn't. They came up with themselves. There's no party any more. It's chaos. Anybody can just decide they want to be the Republican nominee, and make a run for it. Carson? Trump? They're in the lead, and they're both out of their f*cking minds."

Me: "That's not reassuring."

Him: "It's a disaster. I'm telling you, if either of them is elected, this country is going to hell. The rest of them aren't much better. I mean, Carly Fiorina? Really? Rubio? Please. Ted Cruz? Oh my god. And the people we thought had it sewn up, who are halfway sane -- Bush and Christie -- they're sounding almost as batty as the rest."

Me: "Who's to blame for this mess?"

Him: "Roger Ailes, David and Charles Koch, Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh. I could go on. They've poisoned the American mind and destroyed the Republican Party.

Me: "Nice talking with you."

Him: "Sleep well."

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So, it is pleasing to read that there are some Republicans who recognize the damage uneducated right wing nutjobs, like Rush Limbaugh, have done to the psyche of way too many Americans.

I really think it might be a good thing if President Obama used one of those Executive Orders which the right wing ignoramuses think are some illegal usurpation of the Constitution, to issue a new version of John Adams' Alien & Sedition Acts.

Arrest the right wing hatemongers, charge them with treason and send them  to that Guantanamo Bay location so many of them are so fond of....

What Happened to the Republican Party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Goldwater & Reagan?

If Abraham Lincoln were alive today it is likely he'd keel over in a dead feint upon learning what the Republican Party has become 150 years after his tragic demise via a bullet  fired by a reactionary Southern fanatic.

Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower would also likely be appalled.

Republican William McKinley, thought to be a conservative Republican in his day, would  likely be appalled at the behavior of those considered to be conservative Republicans in 2015.

In 1898 McKinley was dragged, reluctantly, into war with Spain, over Cuba.

When the Spanish American War was so easily won, with the United States taking possession of Puerto Rico and the Phillippines, President McKinley did not crow about "Mission Accomplished" aboard an American battle ship, even though, in that war, the mission was actually accomplished.

When Barry Goldwater became the first conservative presidential nominee for the Republicans since Calvin Coolidge, Barry Goldwater was thought to be, by many, far too right wing conservative to be president. As the years passed after his smashing defeat by LBJ, Goldwater seemed to become a much more reasonable Republican.

I suspect Barry Goldwater would be appalled by what passes for conservative Republicans in 2015. Be it Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson or any of the other Republican embarrassments currently seeking to be the next American president.

Like Donald Trump.

If Barry Goldwater were alive today would he agree to go on the Rush Limbaugh Show? I don't think Barry Goldwater would be able to restrain himself from reacting to some of Limbaugh's nonsense.

What if Ronald Reagan was still alive and firing on all cylinders? Reagan always seemed to be a decent, nice guy. He worked with the Democrats to find common ground. Reagan and House Leader, Democrat Tip O'Neill, had a cordial relationship, trying to do what the two thought was best for America.

I found the two memes you see above, on Facebook, both from the good people at NOTEAPARTY / AGAINST TEAPARTY. I thought the No Tea Party / Against the Tea Party people summed up the current Republican situation quite succinctly....

May 13, 1971 Nixon Conversation About Same Sex Marriage & Archie Bunker

That is a screen cap of a YouTubed Nixon tape. This tape not audio of a Watergate related conversation. This Nixon tape is about Archie Bunker and Nixon's fears regarding the future calamity facing America from those who find themselves attracted to their own gender.

YouTube has been suggesting Nixon tapes to me ever since I listened to the infamous Smoking Gun tape and the equally infamous Cancer on the Presidency tape.

For those who don't remember the Watergate Scandal, the Smoking Gun tape is the one that brought about Nixon's resignation. The Cancer on the Presidency tape is the one where it was learned John Dean was telling the truth, Nixon did approve of paying hush money.

On the Nixon tape, which you can listen to below, you will hear Nixon talking to H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, his two chief henchmen, about something he watched on TV which had him appalled.

An episode of All in the Family.

Nixon is very funny in this video. Not intentionally so, but very funny. Some of the things that come out of his mouth, well, it's the type stuff one would not think one would hear in today's White House. Or even in George W. Bush's White House. Or Bill Clinton's. Or Jimmy Carter's. Make note I left out George H.W. Bush and Reagan and Ford.

Times have changed. A lot.

Below is the video and below that is the first comment about the video on the YouTube website. I thought it was a good comment.



Well, the USA is certainly very different 44 years later. And homosexuality is all over mainstream media and television, a former male Olympic athlete graced the cover as a woman after becoming transgender, and even the White House is covered in rainbow colors.

Though at the same time, things are so much worse. The USA economy is built like a house of cards and nearly all wealth that was in the middle class has been systematically transferred to the elite. All jobs have been shipped off to countries like China, and foreigners are brought in on temporary H-1B visas to work the same job as Americans, but at much lower wages.

Well - USA, you had a good run, but it's over. The empire didn't last very long, hopefully the next superpower (China) does a better (and more peaceful) job. It would be hard to top the US, so regardless I think better times are in store for the world.

As for USA -- where do you go from here? I think the film "Idiocracy" is a good look into the future, albeit highly exaggerated.

Before The Murder Of Cecil The Lion Teddy Roosevelt Bagged 9 Lions In Africa

The murder of Cecil the Lion by a psychopathic American dentist has outraged, appalled and disgusted people all over the planet.

The murdering dentist thinks he is participating in the sport of hunting. He lured Cecil from his home, shot him with an arrow, then trailed Cecil for 40 hours before completing the murder with a gunshot. Followed by severing Cecil's head and skinning him.

The fact that much of the world is outraged over the murder of Cecil the Lion indicates the planet has evolved into being a more humane planet over the past hundred years.

In March of 1909, shortly after turning over the presidency to William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt took off to Africa to do some big game hunting in a year long safari.

At the end of year long safari hunt Roosevelt listed nearly 300 animals that he "bagged".

"Bagged" is Roosevelt's word for killed. Among the animals Roosevelt listed as having bagged were nine lions, five elephants, thirteen rhinoceroses, and seven hippopotamuses.

This safari was known as the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition. The purpose of the safari was to hunt for specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and New York City's American Museum of Natural History.

In addition to the 300 animals Roosevelt bagged, the Expedition as a whole killed or trapped some 11,400 animals, ranging from insects to rats to hippos to elephants.

Of the 11,400 specimens taken, 512 of were big game animals,  including six rare white rhinos. The animals killed which were intended for exhibits were skinned, preserved in salt and shipped to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Tons of dead animals were shipped back to America. It  took many years for the Smithsonian to taxidermize them all.

After the safari Roosevelt wrote about the experience in African Game Trails, were Roosevelt detailed the excitement of bagging the big game.

Roosevelt must have received some criticism about his mass murder of so many defenseless animals. Roosevelt defended the mass murder by saying, "I can be condemned only if the existence of the National Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and all similar zoological institutions are to be condemned".

I suspect if Teddy Roosevelt was still around he would join in the world wide condemnation of the murder of Cecil the Lion.

Bellingham's Better Way For Police To Defuse A Tense Situation Without Fatal Force

Each time there is a new incident where police use fatal force to defuse a threatening situation, such as someone waving a knife, gun or just acting nuts, with the police shooting multiple bullets, I always wonder why there is not a better, safer, saner way?

Such as some sort of stun gun. Something less dire than shooting a taser dart.

And then I read that which you see screen capped here on Facebook, telling the story of how Bellingham, Washington Police Department police defused a confrontation with a man wielding a knife in a threatening manner.

Read this and ask why this is not standard operating procedure for all the police patrolling America.....

Just prior to 1 p.m. today our officers were dispatched to check on a man in his early 40's that was in a gravel lot near the McDonalds on Hannegan Road. Callers reported that he was displaying a kitchen knife and was yelling. The first two officers to arrive requested more assistance as the man was posturing as if he was going to attack them. Based on his behavior, and proximity to nearby citizens, the man could not simply be left alone. With additional resources on scene the officers were able to convince the man to set the knife down and as he moved away officers tried to block his path back to the knife. Seeing this the man lunged back toward the knife and an officer armed with a less lethal shotgun deployed bean bag style impact munitions striking the extremities of the man. The intent of the pain compliance measure was to drive him away from the knife and worked for a short time. A second officer deployed a Taser which successfully disrupted the man's ability to move long enough for an officer to place handcuffs on him. The man was quickly checked for injuries and then taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. He will likely be charged with brandishing a weapon and resisting arrest but his medical needs take priority. 

We are proud of the actions of our officers in this tense situation. Using proper equipment that they are well trained in likely prevented this situation from escalating to a deadly force scenario. Well done!

Liberals Possess A Generous Heart With A Broad Enlightened Mind Free From Narrowness

On right wing talk radio, or reading comments online, like on Facebook, or comments to an article on an online news source, over and over and over again you will hear and read comments from those who think themselves to be "conservatives" besmirching those they believe to be liberals.

Liberals are referred to in various ways, as libs, libbies, libbers, libtards. and others I am not remembering right now.

Many a time I have thought to myself that those conservative right wing sorts, who so drastically disdain liberals, if asked to explain what a liberal is would be left dumbstruck, unable to articulate the meaning of "liberal".

You can see liberal defined above by Webster.

Possessing or manifesting a free and generous heart with a broad and enlightened mind, free from narrowness, bigotry or bondage to authority or creed, a person who advocates liberty of thought, speech and action.

Any of those positive attributes sound like any conservative republican sort you know of? No? Me either.

To me the definition of a liberal sounds like the Ideal American operating in the Ideal American Way.

Regarding being a liberal, someone had this to say, which I agree with...

"The conservatives say liberal with such disdain, like its meaning is so nasty. Call me liberal anytime."...

Booker T. Washington Having Dinner With Teddy Roosevelt Was Not The Most Damnable Outrage Ever

"Booker Washington and Theodore Roosevelt at Tuskegie Institute" 

What you are looking at here is Booker T. Washington and President Theodore Roosevelt at the Tuskegie Institute.

Recently an idiot murdered nine fine Americans thinking doing so would set off a race war.

Instead the idiot murderer set off American revulsion at remnants of racism and white supremacist hate mongers.

America has come a long ways since the Civil War regarding all Americans of any make or model being being treated as promised by the U.S. Constitution.

White supremacist racism in the South used to be way worse. In 2015 the hatemongers are small in number.

As an example of how far we've come let's go back to the turn of the previous century, about a month after Theodore Roosevelt became president after the assassination of William McKinley, read this blurb from the Wikipedia article about Booker T. Washington...

When Washington's second autobiography, Up From Slavery, was published in 1901, it became a bestseller and had a major effect on the African-American community, its friends and allies. In October 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt invited Washington to dine with him and his family at the White House; he was the first African American to be invited there. Democratic Party politicians of the South, including future Governor of Mississippi James K. Vardaman and Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina indulged in racist personal attacks when they learned of the invitation. Vardaman described the White House as....

"so saturated with the odor of the nigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable", and declared "I am just as much opposed to Booker T. Washington as a voter as I am to the cocoanut-headed, chocolate-colored typical little coon who blacks my shoes every morning. Neither is fit to perform the supreme function of citizenship."

Tillman said, "The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that nigger will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the South before they will learn their place again."

______________________________________________

Multiple newspapers in the South editorialized that Roosevelt having dinner with Booker T. Washington in the White House was the "most damnable outrage ever."

Contrast South Carolina in 2015 with South Carolina in 1901. If a South Carolina senator in 2015 said that which Senator Tillman said I would think he would be ousted from the Senate, arrested, charged with some sort of hate crime, tried, convicted and likely jailed.

We have a ways to go, but America has come a long way from the days when racist idiots were in the majority.

The Conservative Truth Is Seattle Restaurants Are Not Closing Due To The New $15 Minimum Wage

Yesterday, via WBAP talk show radio out of Dallas, I heard conservative talk show talker, Ben Ferguson, go on and on about an alleged  rash of restaurant closings in Seattle, with those closing supposedly caused by Seattle's new $15 minimum wage.

I can only take listening to Ben Ferguson for about 15 minutes. He has an annoying tendency to repeat himself. Over and over again. He repeats himself.

See what I did there?

In addition to repeating himself, over and over again, Ben Ferguson is also very fond of various iterations of "you're an idiot", in sentences such as "If you think that you're an idiot." Every time I hear Ben Ferguson repeat his "you're an idiot" phrase it crosses my mind to assume that he has had that phrase directed at himself all his life, because, well, he comes across, to me, as a bit of an idiot.

As witnessed by the idiotic nonsense he was spouting yesterday about the supposed rash of Seattle restaurant closings caused by the $15 minimum wage.

Apparently the conservative world has been all abuzz about those Seattle restaurant closings being caused by the $15 minimum wage, with those doing the idiotic conservative buzzing focusing on several Seattle restaurants which have closed, including Grub, which Ferguson repeatedly referenced.

Well.

This morning in the Seattle Times Seattle's newspaper of record, in an article titled Truth Needle: Is $15 wage dooming Seattle restaurants? Owners say No.

In the Seattle Times article we learn the truth about the Grub restaurant which Ben Ferguson was repeatedly obsessed with....

Sharon Fillingim, the owner of Grub, the final restaurant referenced, said on Facebook that Grub was “a huge success.” In fact, the restaurant was sold and is reopening imminently under new ownership as Bounty Kitchen.

The Seattle Times talked to all the owners of all the restaurants which were referenced in the various conservative media and found no owner who was closing his restaurant due to the new minimum wage. In fact, several were supportive of the new minimum wage.

And that new minimum  wage does not go into effect next month, like Ben Ferguson repeatedly repeated. The minimum wage increase is to be phased in, incrementally, over seven years.

If Brian Williams can get in trouble and lose his job due to spouting falsehoods, how does someone like Ben Ferguson repeatedly keep his job?

2016 Ted Cruz Sarah Palin Republican Dream Ticket for Democrat Win after Palin Iowa Freedom Summit Speech

I am just about 100% certain that this CRUZ PALIN 2016 poster was not actually paid for by the Hillary Clinton for President Committee.

What a high level potential amusement factor possibility there would be in a debate between Hillary Clinton and either Cruz or Palin.

I am assuming this poster is suggesting that it is Cruz who is running for president, not Palin,

But, Sarah Palin in the top spot would surely be comedy gold.

Just a day or two ago, in Iowa, at an event called the Iowa Freedom Summit, Sarah Palin gave a speech that has had pundits, both right and left commenting on what some have characterized as a "tragic speech."

I could not make it through the entire, over a half hour, rambling, disjointed, confused stream of consciousness mess.

When you Google "Sarah Palin Iowa Speech" below is what shows up at the top of the results page...

Below you can watch Sarah Palin's Iowa Freedom Summit speech in its entirety (if you are blessed with the patience to do so)...