Only in America??

Fiona Uncategorized

kleptocracy2

Only in America??
(QuickLink from yesterday’s AlterNet Headlines)

Is this something peculiar to Uncle Sam, or can we see elements of the colourful individual described in this article in some of our … quirkier … home-grown pollies?

NOTE: The title of this post does not mean that comments are restricted to matters American …

Sam Stockman – the Texas GOPer Who’s Bringing Ted Nugent to Obama’s SOTU

At some point we’re going to have to consider Texas a failed state. There should be a limit to just how dumb your representatives can be before it runs afoul of some trigger mechanism, somewhere, after which all the people who voted for that particular moron are stripped from voting again until they satisfactorily re-complete the fourth grade—but one problem with that, I suppose, is that we’d end up with the most unstable, heavily armed group of mustachioed fourth graders to ever grace our poorly funded public schools, and nobody wants to see that.

Rep. Steve Stockman is one of those representatives. Put more simply, his reelection should be taken as a sign that certain areas of Texas are still bitter at Somalia’s success, and even more bitter that they can’t just elect outright crooks like Tom DeLay anymore. Mostly known for being a nutcase one-term Congressman back in the nineties, Stockman made a brief name for himself with Waco conspiracy theories, gun fetishism, gun fetishism about Waco conspiracy theories, and a relationship with the NRA and anti-government militias that even for the 1990’s was fairly goddamn nuts.

. . . . .

Before and after that short and entirely unhinged shift in Congress, Stockman hasn’t had a political career so much as an ambitious, decades-long string of political failures punctuated by a few lucky breaks and more than a little friendly wingnut welfare (with an emphasis on molding young conservative minds via things like the Campus Leadership Program, and no, I do not know why that creeps me out as much as it does.) Still, for some reason a passel of ultraconservatives in Texas felt that it was finally time to give the obvious crazy person another shot in the big boy office, and Stockman is quickly making those Texans proud by being, well, as big a goddamn crackpot as he can manage without being hauled off for professional supervision.

Below the fold, let’s consider his absolutely insane one-month record so far:

      He was only one of a handful of House Republicans to vote against John Boehner,

boldly managing a “present” vote

      as the most spectacularly incompetent congressional coup of all time collapsed around its supposed planners.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders, his response was to introduce legislation repealing the gun free zones around schools, and for the same reason as the similar NRA blustering—because what we needed, according to both, was to have manymore people wandering around school zones with guns, and that would probably work out just fine.

He was abruptly cut off in a Fox News interview after comparing Barack Obama to Saddam Hussein, thus managing to rank as one of the few crackpot Republicans too nuts even for Fox News to stomach.

When Obama introduced a set of executive actions that included things like “finally appoint a permanent head of the ATF, even if that makes Republicans sad” and “government scientists should be allowed to research gun violence”, Steve Stockman threatened in an exceptionally frothing statement to impeach Obama, if necessary, in order to stop such obviously scandalous things. This may have been the first, biggest sign that Steve Stockman is in fact a bona fide moron, but he quickly surpassed even that.

That brings us to Stockman’s latest episode of Congressional Moron Theater. In response to other politicians inviting Sandy Hook first responders, children, and other figures to the State of the Union, decided to rebut the presence of those people by inviting Ted Nugent, a man whose unhinged, violent rhetoric even managed to garner a visit by the Secret Service:

Nugent in the past has threatened to kill President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

“I was in Chicago and I said hey Obama, you might want to suck on one of these you punk; Obama, he’s a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun,” Nugent screamed during a concert while brandishing two machine guns, “Then I was in New York and I said, ‘Hey Hillary you might want to ride one of these into the sunset you worthless bitch…. Then I was out in California and I thought, Barbara Boxer, she might want to suck on my machine gun, hey Dianne Feinstein ride one of these you worthless whore.”

You might ask which parts of that cause Steve Stockman, in his official press release about the stunt, to refer to Ted Nugent as “a patriot”. I imagine it’s those very threats, because nobody, anywhere, has any idea what the vigorously self-emasculated Nugent actually does these days aside from drunkenly threatening members of the opposition while waving guns around. My own opinion is that Steve Stockman referring to the gun fetishist and possibly-drug-addled Nugent as a “patriot” in a press release is quite possibly a worse sin than inviting him to a government function at all, but that is because my idea of “patriot”, especially in the wake of the latest in a long string of horrific mass murders, does not revolve around telling the nation’s president to “suck on my machine gun.” For Congressman Stockman, it does. (And can you imagine any other actual member of Congress, in the past, so closely aligning himself with someone who wished violence against the government? Forget rebranding the party, Karl Rove, you may have your work cut out for you convincing Americans that Republicans aren’t for outright treason, given a few more years of this. Even secession talk is considered tame, now that “Obama, he’s a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun” is considered the high point of Republican “patriotism.”)

…

277 thoughts on “Only in America??”

  1. Leonetwo write “On and on it goes, each prediction becoming more ludicrous than the last”;

    I agree, most (all) of the guys and gals at the Bar here would agree but over the road there are quite a few that lap up the predictions and the nonsense noise and the dirt thrown on the Government and then further down the street are the superior punters who read the Herald/Age and listen to the ABC and believe all that they read and hear and then around the corner there are the hoi-polloi that read the Tele and listen to Hadley and Jones and know that what they are being told is true and have their hands on the baseball-bats for the day of reckoning.

    Just because we think and worry and talk to each other doesn’t give us any extra votes.

    Okay, I’m really pessimistic this morning. I better shut up and cheer up before Sunday at Abduls

  2. fionajr
    Sadly I’m not at all psychic, but I’ll do my best..
    Based on Ms Bishop’s recent choices in evening wear I’m thinking her frock will be black and sparkly and there will be feathers, altough not that ostrich feather shrug thing. She’s given that back to Vinnies. Sleeveless, of course, to show off those muscular arms, very fitted and floor length. She will accessorise with her favourite pearl drop earrings and black strappy shoes with silver plated stiletto heels, just in case she needs to stab someone in the back. She will carry Tony Abbott’s balls in her evening bag.

  4. Leone,

    Will the evening bag be black or silver? (I’m assuming, of course, that it will sparkle.)

    Some part of me wonders whether Ms J Bishop learned ballet as a young gel. If so, I bet that she wanted to dance Odile in Swan Lake when she became a prima ballerina.

    Brianmcisme,

    We all have those dreadful times, but often gritting the teeth and refusing to be cowed into submission helps. Even if only a bit.

  5. [She will carry Tony Abbott’s balls in her evening bag.]

    Best laugh I’ve had all week!! Thank you, L2.

  6. Mr Rudd could scotch the rumour mill once and for all if he said ‘- I am not seeking the post of Prime Minsiter, I support the current Prime Minister Julai Gillard, and if offered the Prime Ministership I would not accept it- I would not serve.’
    But of course he wont.
    What he is doing instead is trashing his own legacy.

  7. BB
    I’m not wearing my 2 kilogram gold chain and the black T shirt background when I meet up with you.
    I will save it for polling day when I’m handing out Labor How to Vote cards but surreptitiously standing on the Liberal side of the school fence.

  10. fionajr
    Hmmmm – silver.
    You could be on to something with the Swan Lake thing. Ms Bishop has been alternating between black and white outfits since parliament started. A bit of a personality issue maybe? Good Julie versus evil Julie?

  11. Leone,

    Certainly good Miss Julie versus evil Ms Julie – and it’s obvious which role she prefers.

  12. Earlyopener,

    I was watching my new pristine Bu-Ray copy of Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels a week or so ago when the design of the Abbott scam twigged in my mind.

    The beginning 5 minutes of the movie is a teplate for how these things work. I tried to find it on YouTube to go with my post, but it’s not there.

    If you haven’t seen it, it involves the sale of dodgy merchandise to unwilling punters, standing by, looking on but not buying. The spruiker is so obviously a scammer.

    He cracks jokes at his own expense, seems like a good bloke, has a good line in patter and so on, but no takers.

    Then his mate, a plant, a shill, emerges from the crowd and buys something. The doubters see it and wade in with their 10 pound notes to do the same.

    The coppers turn up and they have to pack up in a hurry and scarper. The punters will later find out that whatever they bought isn’t what it was claimed to be.

    Too late!

    The polls and those who write about them are “the shill”. Polls are spruiked as bellwethers for how the nation thinks, and will continue to think right up to election day. The more the mugs believe that not everyone can be a mug, as evidenced by the polls, the more they’re inclined to think they’ve outsmarted the scammer, taking the bits THEY want, and being able to put up with the bits they don’t, or ignoring them altogether.

    The Shell Game is the same thing. As is the Nigerian Scam. We all know these are scams, and that the people running them are dishonest. But we think we can turn their dishonesty to our own purposes.

    All they want is something relatively valuless as an “investment” promisg huge returns. They offer something big and valuable for a fraction of its price.

    In the case of Abbott the price is your vote, already cheapened with brain-dulling Reality TV programs, an on-line polls. The article for sale is getting rid of Gillard, or lower interest rates, or better management of the economy.

    The idea is to get mugs, like the man on ABC TV, to think that they’re investing their vote for a higher return later on. But there IS no “later on”. The wrecking will be done immediately, next day if possible. The vote will be blown by the scammer.

    I’m not saying Abbott is Hitler, but his scam IS exactly in the nature what Hitler did in 1933. Hitler changed German society so radically and violently that there was no going back. He was voted in democratically, remember. The German people thought they could vote him out again.

    The famous line, “I am not lying to you” drives logicians nuts trying to figure it out.

    Abbott has admitted he is a liar. Almost immediately his shills said how refreshing that was…. an honest liar!

    But the “Liar” tag stuck and had to be incorporated into the game.

    What better way than to convince the mugs that you’re such a bad liar – that you have so many policy contradictions in your policy ragbag – that they obviously can’t take anything you say as the truth.

    Thus we get low paid workers volunteering to have their wages cut because either they believe the Carbon Tax is so devastating that they need the compensation (and when it goes they won’t, so a zero balance there), OR that Abbott wouldn’t dare repeal it, that he’s just sort-of “joking”, or trying to look tough to the real mugs who’s be silly enough believe a liar.

    Most pathetic of all are those who are prepared to sacrifice what Oakeshotte has worked out to be around $3000 income per year because Julia “lied”! They think they’re punishing her, but they’re really punishing themselves, and rewarding Abbott.

    Abbott says “I am not lying to you” all the time. He makes a big deal about saying the election is “all about trust”, trusting him, of all people, trusting the Coalition to deliver lower/higher/steady interest rates, lower unemployment, lower/higher taxes, the NBN or not-the-NBN, Gonski/not-Gonski, NDIS/not-NDIS. They even believe that somehow a man who promises swingeing cuts to government employment and services would be better to stimulate the economy if we have GFC Mark #2!

    You see it a lot, and it’s getting more prevalent, unfortunately. People running around saying, “Nah, he’ll never do that“, and if they suspend disbelief hard enough they can usually find an Abbott statement agreeing with them!

    And if it all goes pear-shaped, they can go upto him and take their vote back.

    Pig’s arse they can.

    He only wants the power, not the policy. I don’t think he has very much of an idea just what he’ll do. It’s getting to office that counts, fulfilling his destiny that matters. The rest? He can wing that.

    And it won’t be pretty when it happens.

    Gillard needs to go in tough and hard, merciless actually. She needs to dig up every piece of dirt to shovel over him to prove that you can’t outsmart a scammer.

    The best way to keep your money is walk away.

  13. “She will carry Tony Abbott’s balls in her evening bag.”
    She will have to borrow them off Credlin first!

  15. Turnbull confirms:
    ‘HFC areas’ last to get FTTN, if at all’
    http://delimiter.com.au/2013/02/15/turnbull-confirms-hfc-areas-last-to-get-fttn-if-at-all/

    I don’t understand all the technical stuff, but this comment summarises Mal”s plans very neatly-
    ‘Hooray. Shit upload speeds and contented downloads for 50 years. Awesome. Thanks Malcolm. Apparently building infrastructure is a bad thing if it’ll kill the newspapers and foxtel quicker.’

  17. “She will carry Tony Abbott’s balls in her evening bag.”
    She will have to borrow them off Credlin first!

    They’re in his fridge. Click to, er, enlarge.

  18. Agree BB. deja vu all over again!…..Abbott just wants his picture up there on that Prime Ministers wall. He’s Mussolini…all pomp and parade..but in a scrawny, cheap sort of way….like “Cash Converters” jewelry dept’.
    But I don’t expect anything of note from the general public, they have always gone for the con…it’s the OM. that I despise….even this morning on Fran Kelly we had the inevitable “Not us!” dialogue over the leadership “threat” beat up…..Well, if not you…who?
    And that’s where the “bling” kicks in…the OM. thinks it is getting scoops where it is only getting greedy FOR the scoop and so fall for that time old device….”You just report on the war…I’ll get one started”…or wtte.

  20. I guess they can afford to lose a few

    http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2013/2/15/statement-from-premier-campbell-newman

    Media Statements
    Premier
    The Honourable Campbell Newman

    Friday, February 15, 2013

    Statement from Premier Campbell Newman

    Queensland Premier Campbell Newman today accepted the resignation of the Minister for Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts, Ros Bates, effective immediately.

    The Premier paid tribute to Ms Bates and the contribution she has made to the portfolio.

    “Ros has done an outstanding job under difficult circumstances,” Mr Newman said.

    “Unfortunately the demanding role has taken a toll personally and on her health, and she had decided not to risk those issues impacting on the performance of her duties.

    “I commend her for her decision. She has done the right thing by her family, her constituents, and the government.”

  24. Telstra’s rivals have warned that the Coalition’s alternative to Labor’s $37.4 billion national broadband network would be “doomed to fail” if it used pay TV cable networks.

    The comments from the Competitive Carriers’ Coalition, which represents Vodafone, iiNet, Macquarie Telecom and other internet service providers, followed comments made by Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

    http://afr.com/p/technology/coalition_broadband_plan_doomed_y82LOVLL6tXZv4peNCKBHN

  25. Perfect example. Sortius’ opening sentence:

    During last night’s Lateline interview with Tony Jones, Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) has confirmed that the Liberal Party’s policy on broadband is one of neglect & confusion.

  26. BB

    I am certain that the govt are aware of the doublespeak by the coalition to engender confusion. But your post earlier on should be compulsory reading for the Labor MPs. Sometimes They do get caught up in the bubble.

  27. Seriously why would the punters vote for this mob?

    Abbott is being unequivacol in what they will do in govt.

    [Mr Abbott did not outline any new policy in his speech, but rather reiterated plans to axe the carbon and mining taxes, which would also involve scrapping the associated household compensation and reversing changes to the tax-free threshold.

    He has also flagged “controversial” spending cuts to help balance the budget, including scrapping the School Kids Bonus, which gives eligible families $410 per primary school child and $820 for high school students.

    Mr Abbott says a Coalition government would “trim” the public service, arguing there are now 20,000 more public servants now than there were five years ago]

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-15/abbott-reaffirms-commitment-to-public-service-cuts/4521142

  29. I meant to mention before has anyone else noticed that the coaltion usually has a couple of policy positions at the same time? So someone will speak for a proposal and someone else will speak for it- so they can walk both sides of any debate – using th apporpriate quote – look we believe it- or look we dont.

    on the Rudd restoration meme- think its coming from the Libs – to destabilise ot cast a pall over the weekend polls and to portray Labor disunity.

  31. Now Abbott is selling…

    “I believe that the Coalition I lead understands all of this in the marrow of its bones and that’s why I am confident that should there be a change of government later in the year, there will be an instantaneous adrenaline charge in our economy.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-15/abbott-reaffirms-commitment-to-public-service-cuts/4521142

    He’s going to turn it around instantly.

    Terms of trade, ore prices, the dollar… all fixed immediately.

    This is, of course, code for a big wrecking ball that he’ll start rolling on Day #1.

  34. Got my response from the SMH. Basically, as expected, they couldn’t care less. Luckily, we are therefore on the same page.

    Meanwhile, at The Conversation, the Grattan experiment continues to go badly wrong. I wonder how long THAT will last?

  35. I’ve just re-read the Lawson short story The Drovers Wife. I’m wondering if he was prescient?

    The woman, the wife, is alone in defending her children and home from passing swaggies, mostly men down on their luck, though there is the one or two who harbor evil intent. She was, in fact, swindled by one such person. After engaging him build up the woodheap, and, after him doing so in a satisfactory manner, she paid him and kept her side of the bargain. That the woodheap proved to be an empty shell, devoid of any substantive character is more a testament of the strength of her honesty than a reflection on the swaggies integrity.

    The same woodheap provided the snake. It slithered from the heap to under the house. Seeking, as do the cold blooded, a place to lie in wait. Perhaps to plot and scheme. Perhaps not. With the children protected, mongrel dog by her side she waits.

    and she thinks.

    Not of what must be done, that is self evident. But she thinks of what has been done. Of the fires, the floods that she has fought. Alone, and with the company of those who recognise that the true measure of strength is not in what you can lift in front of a sycophantic audience, but how far you can carry a weight in silence, with an unheralded quiet resolve and a strength grown from the very core of a nation. Her very firm resolve is that this snake, at this time, will not win. Her children need protecting and that is all that she needs to know.

    The tears she sheds are mainly for others, those poor souls who have had their lives destroyed by factors both uncontrollable and random. The viscious aftermath of a society and planet at war with themselves. The tears she sheds for herself are cried in private and alone. for even the strong need the comfort of a tear.

    As she sits, mongrel dog and club at her side, waiting for the snake to strike she may wish to contemplate this;

    There are many drovers wives, drovers, men and women of substance, means, trades and goodwill standing silently behind her. There are many more aware of her strength, character and vision who, while enjoying the hospitality of the squatters, accepting the empty promises of the spivs and surreptitiously spitting out the poison served up by the scribes, will stand behind her when the time comes…..and, combined, it will be enough.

  38. Roy Orbison, has Michelle Grattan moving to The Conversation been a failure?

    Have you joined up to grizzle about how Grattan sucks? Unfortunately I have.

    How does The Conversation justify its existence – I suspect by used traffic counts and numbers of registered users.

    So I don’t think Grattan’s move to The Conversation is a failed experiment, although I don’t think she is a worthy addition to their site

  39. This is Grattan’s latest contribution.

    [When Rudd chose to enter the debate on Tuesday, the critics got a big boost. He pointedly said he did not know the terms of the deal Swan and Gillard had reached. There was a further blow for the government in a Senate estimates hearing yesterday when Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson, quizzed on the forecasting error, pointed to what Treasury had not been able to see – notably the starting cost that firms were able to pick for depreciation – rather than blaming changes in commodity prices.]

    http://theconversation.edu.au/an-adrenaline-charged-rudd-increases-pressure-on-gillard-12227

  41. I complained to The Conversation about Grattan’s rubbish and received a very prompt reply from Helen Westerman, the Deputy Editor, to whom I replied as follows:

    Thank you for your very prompt reply, but I am overfed on tabloid rubbish, and I am completely over Grattan’s puerile prognostications. I loved The Age in the 70s under the mighty Graeme Perkins and enjoyed Grattan’s articles at that time but the dross served up now does your publication no credit and no more good than it is doing Fairfax. The ‘gotcha’ tabloid rubbish served up is freely available – the opposite – thoughtful, researched, considered content loomed large in the acceptance of The Conversation, which begs the question – why do you pay good money for over boiled, inaccurate nonsense? Even if it were free it has no place in a quality publication.

    I am staggered at how often the so-called experts are plain wrong and how rarely they get it right, and do not understand why you pay for opinions that are less accurate over time than flipping a coin.

    I wish you the best for the future but I see no future for me here while you publish hackery.

    Best wishes.

    Maybe if enough of us complain there may be a positive result.

  44. From Crikey today –
    ‘Who’s writing the Coalition’s policies? There’s been a couple of Coalition policies leaked of late — a plan to develop the Top End, and to build more dams — a down payment on more than a year of work led by MPs Andrew Robb and Tony Smith to come up with a suite of election policies. An eagle-eyed tipster has pointed out the similarity between those leaked policies and the wish-list from our friends at the IPA. The IPA issued 75 policy commands; here are just some of them taken up by Tony Abbott so far:

    2. Abolish the Department of Climate Change

    3. Abolish the Clean Energy Fund

    …

    42. Introduce a special economic zone in the north of Australia including:
    a) Lower personal income tax for residents
    b) Significantly expanded 457 Visa programs for workers
    c) Encourage the construction of dams

    43. Repeal the mining tax

    44. Devolve environmental approvals for major projects to the states

    Goodness, if Abbott keeps following the IPA commands, he’ll end up scrapping family tax benefits, breaking up the ABC and privatising the CSIRO. Bring it on!’

    http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/02/15/tips-and-rumours-818/

  45. WOW! A very prompt reply from Helen Westerman:

    “Ok, sorry to hear it. FYI: Michelle isn’t on staff at The Conversation, she is paid by the University of Canberra and is a contributor.”

    I’m glad The Conversation are not wasting their money.

  46. BB
    Something that obviously get’s under Abbott’s skin was momentarily evident in Parliamentary Question Time yesterday.
    I think it was Shorten – a haranguing reference to Peter Costello calling Abbott an economic illiterate.
    Abbott’s lizard smile disappeared and demeanour changed noticeably.
    This should be used more often especially by Swan.

  47. Billie,
    In order…
    1) Yes. For Michelle.
    2) Yes. But I doubt they care. I don’t think I will pursue it. As far as I’m concerned, one tainted contributor taints them all. After all, it’s their brand and if they don’t care, why should I?
    3) Probably, but there is a little window begging for donations. Not from me.
    4) Depends on what they were trying to achieve. More readers? Maybe in the short term. If the punters think MG is being supercilious then they will whinge, then leave. Like me. But they’re still stuck wuth MG. As regards being a worthy addition, she may have been if she was in anyway different to her Fairfax persona and engaged her readers but she does neither.

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