Tea party

Koch Brothers Get Richer (Thanks to Iran) & "Norma Rae" Dies After Fighting Her Insurance Company

October 4, 2011 by Left in Alabama

Well, if this isn't 2011 America in a nutshell.  If you're powerful, you work the system.  If you're poor, the system works you over.  Just look at this contrast. TEA Party uber-funders, Charles & David Koch, train their employees ".. to steal and cheat -- using techniques they called the Koch Method."  Meanwhile, Crystal Lee Sutton, the inspiration for the movie "Norma Rae," died from cancer last month - after fighting her insurance company over treatment.

The rich get richer by working the system, and the working poor struggles for the basic necessities.

Bloomberg Markets expose on the Koch Brothers empire is a tour de force that spans continents and occupied the time of 16 reporters:

Ron Johnson's impatient to be a leader; Does he have a clue what that means?

September 29, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Sen. Ron Johnson, the guy who married the third basewoman and thought he hit a triple, says he is an "impatient" lawmaker who wants to have an impact. So he's running for a Republican leadership position in the Senate, in what Roll Call describes as a Tea Party vs. Establishment contest. Johnson, of course, is the Tea Party candidate.

We'll let Roll Call tell the story:

Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) has quickly secured the support of conservatives in his bid for GOP Conference vice chairman, but Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.) could still prove to be a tough opponent in any head-to-head matchup if leadership members and other establishment Republicans side with him.

Blunt said Monday that he is still considering whether to join Johnson in the race for the fifth-ranking Republican leadership position. The election is in early January.

“That’d be fine. Certainly I appreciate serving with Sen. Blunt,” Johnson said. “I would bring a slightly different perspective” to the position. [That's for sure.-- Xoff]

Tea party should love Obamacare

September 13, 2011 by Left in Alabama

When Wolf Blitzer asked Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul whether society should just allow a 30-year-old -- who neglected to purchase health insurance -- to die because of his mistake, members of the tea party audience began yelling, "Yes!"

The most obvious take on this is that tea party members are so cruel that they have lost all humanity. I suspect a more accurate interpretation is they have no sense.

The fact is that most tea party members are not heartless, they just are carried away with their own rhetoric. They love the concept of individual accountability, but I doubt they would be any happier than the rest of us to see corpses on the street.

I am less troubled by their expressed cruelty than by their blindness to how a society that does not want the corpses can enforce accountability.

Obamacare may have some altruistic motivations, but at core it is pragmatic. Americans reject the idea that we will let people die, but we properly rebel against the idea that responsible citizens must pick up the hospital bill for the irresponsible. The solution -- hated by the tea party -- is to mandate that those who are financially able to do so purchase health insurance. Obama would require people to make a rational decision because he recognizes the obvious: that Americans otherwise will pay for their folly.

Rebecca Kleefisch: Obama is a lunatic

September 11, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

>Lest you think these people are going away, our LtGov and US Senator spent the eve of 9/11 stoking up the Tea Party at an Oshkosh rally:

 

Kleefisch garnered roars when she said Republicans were responsible for instituting concealed carry laws, photo ID voting requirements and a business-friendly environment to Wisconsin while Litjens elicited laughs when she jokingly “thanked” President Barack Obama for uniting the Tea Party, and responded with a “you’re right” when an attendee shouted “he’s a lunatic!”

Gee, and we thought Kleefisch (that's her in her new mascara) was the lunatic. Go figure.

Johnson, who made his political debut at a Tea Party rally, was back for more.