Politics Plus

As time passes, Rand Paul increasingly reflects the attitudes and policies of his father Ron.

One of the themes of U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul’s (R-KY) campaign has been that businesses are burdened with overregulation, with Paul even decrying the anti-discrimination provisions imposed on private businesses in the Civil Rights Act.

Now, Crooks and Liars has unearthed an interview Rand Paul gave in 2009 where the candidate aired these strident views with respect to mountaintop removal. When asked about the environmentally disastrous process, Paul told the interviewer that he thinks “whoever owns the property can do with the property as they wish, and if the coal company buys it from a private property owner and they want to do it, fine.” To justify his hands-off approach to environmental regulation, Paul then went on to explain that mountaintop removal isn’t that bad, anyway, saying, “I don’t think anybody’s going to be missing a hill or two here and there”:

INTERVIEWER: What about mountaintop removal?

PAUL: I think whoever owns the property can do with the property as they wish, and if the coal company buys it from a private property owner and they want to do it, fine. The other thing I think is that I think coal gets a bad name, because I think a lot of the land apparently is quite desirable once it’s been flattened out. As I came over here from Harlan, you’ve got quite a few hills. I don’t think anybody’s going to be missing a hill or two here and there.

… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Here’s the video:

I suppose Rand also thinks that nobody’s going to miss a gulf or two here and there, either.

The only question that remains is whether Ron will pass his infamous tin foil hat down to son, Rand.  Perhaps the ceremony will include Republican Roosters enthusiastically crowing, “Wack-a-doodle-do!”

The blockade of Gaza violates international law.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is a clear violation of international humanitarian law, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.

In a statement, the ICRC describes the situation in Gaza as dire, saying the only sustainable solution is a lifting of the blockade.

It says Israel is punishing the whole civilian population of Gaza.

It also urges Hamas movement to allow ICRC delegates to visit a detained Israel soldier Gilad Shalit.

Key message

The ICRC, a traditionally neutral organisation, paints a bleak picture of conditions in Gaza: hospitals short of equipment, power cuts lasting hours each day, drinking water unfit for consumption.

"The whole of Gaza’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law," the agency said in the statement… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <BBC>

One can hardly call the ICRC a biased group.  Plus, the truth of their claim is self evident.  Until Israel abandons this criminal policy, the US must suspend all military aid to Israel.

I’m sure you already know, and their motive is as despicable as their tactics.

President Obama seems less and less inclined to cut Republicans slack of late, particularly in his weekly addresses. This morning’s remarks were no exception, as he patiently explained the origins of the problems with the Medicare formula for physician reimbursement, and the (until this year) agreement between both political parties in Congress to continue to defer cutting payments to doctors.

Guess who’s obstructing the by-now-routine deferral. Couldn’t be the Party of No, could it?…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Obama did a fine job of explaining this himself.

What possible reason could there be for the GOP to filibuster this extension that has been passed through bipartisanship for decades without contention?  I find only one motive that works.  If they can cause elderly people to suffer as a result of this GOP scheme, they can deceptively claim that it is the Health Care Reform bill causing the elderly to go without care.  They don’t care who they hurt in their Machiavellian quest to regain power.

Every Republican in office is one Republicans too many!

The GOP is the party of irrational fear mongering. Here are a few of their favorites, used to scare ignorant, brain-washed sheeple.

…So, here are ten of the most interesting things that absolutely terrify Wingnuttia. First, a few terrors of the real hard-core Right. For the Tea Partier, the midterm GOP primary voter, it’s not just the anxiety over social change that typifies more traditional conservatism. A broad chunk of the GOP base today is animated by wildly unrealistic terrors — monsters stalking them as the sun sets, perhaps hovering just beyond their peripheral vision. 

1. Government Concentration Camps

…Fear of Obama’s Kenyan shock troops rounding up good conservatives and throwing them into Thunderdome-esque detention centers is nothing new on the Right…

2. Moooslims!

If you pay attention to the Right, you might think there are large Islamic armies occupying a few majority-Christian countries these days instead of the other way around…

3. They’re Coming to Take Your Guns

…This irrational fear is cause for a certain amount of rational fear among others. There have been at least two incidents of (no doubt already unhinged) people who took this threat so seriously they gunned down police officers in cold-blooded attacks.

4. Article 3 of the United States Constitution

Remember those Oath Keepers? They say they’ll honor their pledge to uphold the United States’ Constitution by defending against federal encroachment on states’ rights…

5. Plotting Global Elites

…It’s an increasingly popular conspiracy theory about a group of shadowy and mostly nameless international "elites" who are planning to "replace the United States" — in the words of Jerome Corsi, a key figure in the SwiftBoat Veterans for Truth project and a leading NAU conspiracist — with a transnational government…

6. The Decline of Married White Christians

This one worries the operative class: the decline of married white people who identify as “Christians.” The GOP relies on them — they represent the party’s most loyal demographic. 

To be clear, there are a lot of white people, a lot of married people, and a lot of people who say they’re Christians. But the share of American voters who are white and married and identify as Christians has been in a long and steep decline, and by every estimate will continue to fall…

7. The Graying of the Culture Warriors

Because the plenty-plaint is so flexible, you can rest assured that tomorrow’s conservatives will never run out of wedge social issues. Nonetheless, some of the most popular aren’t being embraced by the kids these days, and that’s cause for alarm among those trying to win some elections.

An analysis by Columbia University statisticians found a “generation-gap” on support for same-sex marriage that they called “huge.” According to the nerds, “If policy were set by state-by-state majorities of those 65 or older, none would allow same-sex marriage. If policy were set by those under 30, only 12 states would not allow-same-sex marriage.” …

8. White Minority Status

Many people believe that in 2050, if birth and immigration rates do what experts expect them to, white folk will become a minority in the United States…

9. And the Browning of America

Among the political class a more reasonable fear is that the base’s boiling rhetoric over immigration will permanently alienate Latinos and Asian Americans, two fast-growing voting blocs that are heavily concentrated in a handful of key swing states. Rather than shaking over the prospect of a white demographic minority like Buchanan, they’re afraid the venom coming from Republicans like Tom Tancredo (R-CO) and JD Hayworth (R-AZ) will saddle them with a structural inability to win national elections for a generation… 

10. Unions

Here’s another one that scares the Right-wing coastal elitists who in fact run the conservative movement, the operatives. 

Most people understand that the Right’s corporate patrons don’t care for organized labor because it hurts the bottom line. But there’s another thing to fear: Union members are more likely to vote their economic interests than be blinded by culture war distractions…

Inserted from <Alternet>

I’ve given you just a taste of this fine article, including just a snippet from each of the ten fears.  I urge you to click through for the entire article for all the rich detail and documentation.

I fail to understand how people can be so deluded.