destroythegop:

BEWARE: The Current GOP Culture War is a total smokescreen. These issues they are advancing — Anti-Abortion, Criminalization of Birth Control, Forced Prayer in Schools, Demonizing GLBTs and Immigrants — these are loser issues for the GOP and they know it.

They are launching this cultural war to decoy their real tactic: using the same market manipulation techniques that caused gas prices to soar to $5/gallon in the Summer of 2008, just prior to the last Presidential Election.

They economy is improving, and an improved economy makes President Obama a winner. Republicans know this as well. They must win in November of face total banishment which will, of course, cost the 1%ers $trillions in Bush Tax Cuts.

The Republicans and Wall Street will do whatever it takes to shock the economy into recession prior to the 2012 General Election. If you recall the sudden spike in gas prices in the Summer of 2008, you will also recall the 2008 Republican mantra “Drill, Baby, Drill!” and their endless screeds about not having enough U.S. refineries and the need to build more.

Now, however, ConocoPhillips and Sunoco have announced plans to close three Philadelphia area refineries.

Saying national security was at stake, Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) called Friday for congressional hearings into the shutdowns of local oil refineries and their potential effect on energy prices and the economy. Casey said that given the potential for a spike in energy prices, particularly for home heating oil, the fate of the refineries is not just a local matter.

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

“While Wall Street’s ‘priority one’ is to make money, it is clear that, for this year, priority two is the destruction of Barack Obama’s presidency. Accordingly, from a Wall Street point of view, it certainly is a happy coincidence that that priority one, making big money on oil speculation, could directly lead to accomplishing their second highest mission. “

Source: Washington Monthly

“In a closed-door meeting last week, Speaker John A. Boehner instructed fellow Republicans to embrace the gas-pump anger they find among their constituents when they return to their districts for the Presidents’ Day recess.”

Source: NY Times

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THIS STRATEGY FAILED IN 2008.

IT IS UP TO THE 99% TO ENSURE THAT IT FAILS AGAIN IN 2012.

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The only path forward for this nation is the UTTER DESTRUCTION of this Republican Party.

We will weather the coming gas-price storm, and turn out en masse to OCCUPY A VOTING BOOTH on November 6, 2012.

Please think about this over the summer when you are paying $75.00 for 10 gallons of gas.  It’s the Kochroaches, stupid.

THIS. The absolute truth. 

abaldwin360:

Thanks goes to inpeoplewetrust for the link…

The teabaggers are little more than rebranded evangelical fundamentalists whose goal is more than just lower taxes and smaller government. They have used their hatred of all things secular to push Republicans into using the debt ceiling crisis to…

If you’ve never heard about ALEC, it is your patriotic duty to find out!

They hate you, me and all peaceful Americans who want nothing more than to live in a tolerant society that values clean air, clean water, a solid education for our children, and hope that there will come a day when America again leads the world. I caught a faint glimpse of that in my childhood but it’s long gone, crushed under the weight of Reckless Raygunism.

But more than anything, they hate The U.S. Constitution and believe that their cherished values of HATE, FEAR and GREED should replace the True American Spirit of Reason, Tolerance and Ingenuity.

Here’s more info on ALEC and the treasonous elected officials it has inflicted on us.

theamericanbear:

This column at the link above focuses on six of the more egregious ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) modeled bills that, magically and totally coincidentally, are sweeping the nation after the GOP/Tea Party flood of 2010:

• Disenfranchising American Citizens Through Voter ID
• Union-Busting
• Undoing Efforts to Address Climate Change
• Filling For-Profit Prisons Through Anti-Immigrant Bills
• Opposing Health Insurance Reform
• Privatizing K-12 Education

The whole piece is well worth reading, but I wanted to snip this little tidbit about voter suppression and intimidation through “voter ID acts” (especially in the wake of this debacle in Wisconsin):

In forty-seven states, legislation was introduced requiring specific kinds of identification to vote or making existing requirements more onerous. These laws have the effect of disenfranchising many of the elderly, people with disabilities, people of color, and students, among others who do not have driver’s licenses, but who typically have other proof where they live in a voting precinct (like a utility bill, which has traditionally been accepted for voter registration). In Wisconsin, for example, those without state-issued photo ID include 23 percent of all elderly Wisconsinites over the age of 65, 17 percent of white men and women, 55 percent of all African American males and 49 percent of African American women, 46 percent of Hispanic men and 59% of Hispanic women, 78 percent of African American males age 18-24 and 66 percent of African American women age 18-24.  Although Wisconsin’s voter ID law offers free IDs (just like the ALEC bill), Governor Scott Walker subsequently announced plans to close as many as 10 offices where people could obtain IDs, allegedly located in Democratic districts.

Out of the forty-seven states where Voter ID bills have been introduced, twenty states had no voter ID requirement at the beginning of 2011 but legislation to require it was introduced this year; it became law in three.  Of the remainder, twenty-seven had voter ID (but not photo ID) requirements at the beginning of 2011; fourteen of these states saw legislation that would require photo ID at the polls, and the proposals became law in four states.  This disproportionate focus on the specter of voter fraud belies the statistical reality that such fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare, even though such legislation will have a statistically significant effect of depriving many American citizens of their right to vote. The idea of limiting the number of people who vote is closely associated with ALEC’s founder, Paul Weyrich.  Among the many statements of Weyrich over the years that were tailored to advance the agenda of white fundamentalists, in 1980 he gave a particularly illuminating and disturbing speech on voting.  He expressly told a group of religious conservatives:  “I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”