The Gadfly defers awesome ..... ........

Here's one to love and to chance...







----TFG

We're All Going There --- hehe.....

Like any of ya' give a shit .... ok -- maybe a handful of you.........








-----TFG

The Gadfly Posts Nothing New Today .... Same old Fucking Shit ....

The GOP has a deep bench of these ass-clowns -- that's what is sad because it just continues to delay progress towards alleviating the shit world that many Americans are living in:

FEBRUARY 28, 2014, 10:11 AM

More than a decade ago, Arkansas Rep. Josh Miller (R) was in a catastrophic car accident that broke his neck and left him paralyzed. Medicare and Medicaid paid the $1 million bill for his hospitalization and rehabilitation.

But this week, as the Arkansas legislature has debated continuing its privatized Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, Miller has remained steadfast in his opposition.

The Arkansas Times highlighted the contrast in a Thursday report. The alternative newspaper reported that Miller receives ongoing coverage through the government programs, including Medicaid-covered personal care assistance.

The Times asked Miller, 33, about this apparent contradiction: Shouldn't someone who has experienced the benefits of health insurance, including insurance paid for by the government, understand the importance of expanding those benefits to others?

The difference, he said, is that some of the 100,000 people who have gained coverage through Arkansas's Medicaid expansion don't work hard enough or just want access to the program so they can purchase and abuse prescription drugs.

"My problem is two things," Miller said. "One, we are giving it to able-bodied folks who can work ... and two, how do we pay for it?"

The accident that paralyzed Miller occurred about 11 years ago, the Times reported. He was driving with a friend, alcohol was involved, but Miller said he couldn't remember who was driving. When he arrived at the hospital with his life-changing injuries, he was uninsured.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/arkansas-gop-lawmaker-medicaid-expansion


Initially The Gadfly had some sympathy for this butthead upon learning of his disability -- but as The Gadfly read further through the story, he came to the sad realization that this asshole was a self-serving, hypocrite prick who had already got his honey stash from the bad 'ol 'gubmint -- and now is trying to ensure that nobody else gets access to his own honey hole.

Fuck this guy.  Sorry for your own alcohol induced predicament dude, but who the fuck are you to try and tell other disabled Americans that they shouldn't be able to nurse off of the same government tit as you have been doing?

The Gadfly continues to be amused by the asshats like this guy that the conservatives keep trotting out as spokespeople for their failed party and political movement.  No awareness of their own self designed doom whatsoever.  Deer caught in the proverbial fucking headlights.


-----TFG

So What's Your Fucking Lame Story?>?>

Here's a more coherent, more viewpoint --- ..... of how to look at life ... \





Ride on  .....


Sounds like Eagles....




Hmmmmm






Assholes.


----TFG

Gadfly Was not Born in the 50's ....

The Gadfly defers .... to the music ....






----TFG


The Mighty Jungle the Lion Sleeps Tonight







If a red head, beautiful Irish woman comes to claim my carcass --- I shall be obliged.


But I wonder .... who is left to love, who is left to carry about .. who is left to







----TFG

Sense of Humor ..............................

This is the Tea Party theme song .........









Fucking LOL! ...



----TFG

If You Dear Reader Do Not Have The Courage To Stand Up ... Then The Gadfly Will Fight For You ....

Fucking assholes just can't take fuck off for an answer . . . .

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The largest group in the conservative U.S. Tea Party movement celebrated its fifth anniversary on Thursday with a pledge to push Congress further to the right and capture the White House in 2016.

At a rally in a hotel ballroom two blocks from the Capitol, lawmakers allied with the Tea Party Patriots said their movement had matured from a raucous protest against the growth of government to one that would engage with the government's machinery to promote a stronger conservative agenda.

"It's about winning a civil debate, not a civil war," said Senator Mike Lee, a Tea Party Republican from Utah elected in 2010.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/27/tea-party-anniversary_n_4870305.html?utm_hp_ref=politics


They are a cancer on the body politic.  A fucking abscess on the pristine ass cheek of democracy.

Haven't these fucking people done enough damage to this country already?

Please don't force The Gadfly to double his efforts at exposing the fraud and the narcissism and the egoism and the hatred and the truth of your apocalyptic/biblical movement to destroy representative democracy for your own theocratic ideals.

Please -- don't do it (The Gadfly feigns concern).

Well -- Sorry -- that is exactly what The Gadfly exists for.  To expose buffoonery.  And especially buffoonery that aims to make life more miserable for Americans than it already is.

The Gadfly is going to be here to call you fuckers to account.  The Gadfly is not afraid to tell the truth about you.

The Gadfly never worries -- now that ain't a lie ..... :)







----TFG

On a Personal Note . . .

The Gadfly's eldest son passed away suddenly in July of 2012 from an unforeseen heart condition. Today, February 27, 2014 would have been his 32nd birthday.

The Gadfly just wants to say to his kid - happy birthday boy.  The old man loves you and dearly misses you.

I was going to play you one of those hokey happy birthday songs, but knowing you and knowing your tastes in fine music, I figured you might prefer this instead (especially considering I'm the one who turned you on to them when you were just a squirt):






Peace kiddo -- see you in the next life.



----TFG

Beat Ya' To it Jon . . . . . .

Jon Stewart rides The Gadfly's coattails on the Dick Cheney kerfluffle from a couple of days ago to big laughs:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

A bit late to the party Jon, but your takedown is still a thing of beauty.


----TFG

What In The Name of Moral Decency is Wrong With These People??

While The Gadfly tried to inject a bit of bawdy humor in to that last post on penis pastries, he is going to get all serious on your ass on this post - and for compelling reasons:

Republican legislators in Idaho struck down a proposed law aimed at preventing the deaths of children whose parents eschew medical treatment in favor of prayer.

Boise’s KBOI reported on announcement by state House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rich Wills (R), who said that House Speaker Scott Bedke (R) said there is no room on the legislative agenda to debate the bill. Bedke declined to comment, however, as to why the measure is being left off of the legislative slate.

Democratic state Rep. John Gannon proposed the measure after the deaths of several children whose parents attend Followers of Christ churches in the state. Officials estimate that some 144 children are buried in a Followers of Christ cemetery overlooking the Snake River.

Republicans like Rep. Christy Perry fought Gannon’s bill on the grounds that forcing Followers of Christ parents to take their sick and injured children to the doctor would infringe upon their religious liberty.

“This is about religious beliefs, the belief God is in charge of whether they live, and God is in charge of whether they die,” Perry said earlier this year. “This is about where they go for eternity.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/27/idaho-republicans-kill-bill-dsigned-to-protect-kids-from-faith-healing-deaths/


So basically, a bunch of right-wing, extremist religious yahoos are being protected by the Republican party in the event that a child of theirs becomes injured or seriously ill, and subsequently dies, because the family refused to seek medical treatment for the child -- on the grounds that it "infringes" upon their "religious liberty."

Christ (pun intended) - The Gadfly has seen injured and ill dogs and cats treated with better love and concern than these people treat their children.  The article notes that their are "144 children" presently buried in this cult's cemetery.  The Gadfly wonders how many of them would be living, vibrant human beings today if one of the "adults" in their group had performed just a very simple task - such as taking the child to see a doctor?

The Gadfly simply cannot comprehend how anyone with a sentient conscience can defend these whack-a-loons.  We're talking dead children here dear readers - and children who likely suffered a great deal before succumbing to their illnesses and or injuries.  And all because a bunch of lame-brained religious fanatics think prayer is a comparable substitute for professional medical care.

Well you know what?  The Gadfly doesn't give a rat's prostate gland about these moron's "religious liberty."  If children are dying, who could otherwise be saved, because these half-wits believe that rending and wailing at the alter of their chosen invisible cloud being is going to magically cure ailments and injuries, then there is something really, really, really wrong with our society if we stand by and just let it happen.  And it goes without saying that it speaks immeasurable volumes about the twisted and perverted values system of those (The Gadfly is looking at you Idaho Republicans) who would sanction this bullshit.

If The Gadfly had his way, every one of those 144 deceased children's corpses would be exhumed, autopsied to determine cause of death, and if it turns out any or all of them died from causes which could have been mitigated if proper medical treatment had been sought - then time to start charging those parents with negligent homicide - every goddamn last one of them.  This is not fucking Afghanistan and those children have just as much right and liberty to not have premature, preventable death infringe upon their existence just because they happened to have been born in to an ass backwards clan of pious psychopaths.

These are dangerous people and the majority of good people, Christian and non-Christian alike, need to stand up and tell these assholes that this practice needs to end now - once and forever.



----TFG

Uh Yeah -- Slice Me Off Part of The Scrotum Sac, With Extra Icing -- Will Ya' Hon'? . . . . .

This, dear readers, is why The Gadfly is so committed to the unsavory task of reading and listening to the Teabaggers and what they have to say on issues of the day - important or not - to the country.  Partly to spare you dear readers from having to expose your sensibilities to these lunatics yourselves, but mostly so that The Gadly can keep pounding home the point that these people really and truly are the worst of the worst of our citizenry.  In fact - that they are the absolute scraping the bottom of the barrel worst.

Observe - The Tea Party leader in all of his gut-wrenchingly stupid, ignorant and disreputable glory:

After Arizona’s Republican governor Jan Brewer announced her veto of the controversial SB 1062, conservatives around the country were very unhappy.

But none were nearly as unhappy — or unhinged — as Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips.

In a lengthy rant posted on Tea Party Nation’s website on Thursday morning, Phillips accused Brewer of buckling under pressure from “the left and the homosexual lobby” and condemning Arizona to a dystopian future in which LGBT people force God-fearing Arizona cake makers to provide them with penis-themed sweets.

Describing the vetoing of SB 1062 as “tyranny on the march,” Phillips writes that opponents of SB 1062 want to enslave its supporters.

http://www.salon.com/2014/02/27/tea_party_leader_attacks_jan_brewer_for_allowing_%E2%80%9Cslavery%E2%80%9D_and_penis_cakes/


Allow The Gadfly to translate:  "We Teabaggers are butt-hurt that you dirty fucking hippie liberals (apparently AZ Gov. Jan Brewer is one of us now) won't let us discriminate against them icky gays - 'specially 'cuz the deevine book of our baby Jeebus told us we could.  And to us, we feels that that means you all tyrannical dirty fucking hippie liberals is going to enslaves us chosen by God peoples and force us to bake cakes and other sweet pastries with penises and balls on them."

Derp!

            

[ click on pic for enlarged version ]

It's a lonely, dirty and thankless job trying to analyze and then having to comment on these incomparable losers, but somebody has to do it.



----TFG

Oh My! Whoever Could Have Imagined? . . . .

[ click pic for larger version ]

The Gadfly did not need an IMF study to tell him this:

WASHINGTON — Income inequality can lead to slower or less sustainable economic growth, while redistribution of income, when measured, does not hurt and can even help an economy, IMF staff found in a research study released on Wednesday.

Although the study by International Monetary Fund economists does not reflect the Fund's official position, it is another sign of a shift in its thinking about income disparity.

"It would still be a mistake to focus on growth and let inequality take care of itself, not only because inequality may be ethically undesirable but also because the resulting growth may be low and unsustainable," according to the study.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/02/26/business/26reuters-imf-inequality.html?hp&_r=1



Hmmm -- so money hoarding by the 1% elites fucks up the equilibrium of traditional economic growth models to the point that the overall economy is savagely degraded, yet if some of that hoarded money were to be redistributed right back in to the economy, shit gets better.

Lol.  If that isn't the final fucking nail into the decrepit coffin of trickle down economics, The Gadfly doesn't know what would be.

Which brings us to this story:

By Danielle Douglas, Published: February 25

Swiss banking giant Credit ­Suisse helped wealthy Americans hide billions of dollars from U.S. tax collectors for several years and federal prosecutors have done little to hold violators accountable, according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee report due out Wednesday.

The allegations were particularly stunning in the face of the budget cuts and deficits that the United States faces, lawmakers said. The report casts the Justice Department as a hapless enforcer that has dragged its feet in getting Credit Suisse to turn over the names of some 22,000 U.S. customers.

Lawmakers have accused the bank of helping wealthy Americans avoid paying taxes on as much as $12 billion in assets held at the institution. Prosecutors have been aware of the misconduct at Credit Suisse for at least four years, in which time they have indicted seven bankers and launched a probe of the institution, according to the report. But no one has stood trial, and the bank has not been held legally accountable, the report says.

Justice spokeswoman Emily Pierce bristled at the report’s characterization of the department, pointing out that it has charged 73 account holders and 35 bankers and advisers with offshore tax evasion offenses since 2009.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/credit-suisse-helped-wealthy-americans-cheat-the-irs-senate-report-says/2014/02/25/e45c7dee-9d9d-11e3-a050-dc3322a94fa7_story.html?hpid=z1


So for years, 22,000 super wealthy American citizens (care to bet a few big business and political names are on that list?) have been illegally avoiding U.S. taxes by offshoring their profits and gains into a single, shadowy Swiss bank.  The bank is shielding around $12 billion of U.S. earned currency, which if one were to imagine the top tier tax rate of 35% being applied, it would equate to around $4.2 billion that lawfully should be back in the people's treasury, where it could be allocated for better public use other than existing simply to fatten the inheritance portfolios of the parasitic brood of the plutocrats.

And The Gadfly just has to laugh at the shrill Justice Department lady who huffily exclaimed that the DOJ has charged "73 account holders with offshore tax evasion since 2009."  What does that average out to -- about 14 cases a year?  Lol.  And for an even more disparate number - she has brought 73 cases out of a total of 22,000 -- that works out to be a whopping rate of 0.33% (less than one half of one percent).  Yeah - lady - you're just burning up the court system with your prosecutions aren't ya'? - by the time you get around to prosecuting all 22,000 of those criminals, hmm - let's see - 22,000 divided by 14 cases per year - that comes out to 1571 years . . . . .  The Gadfly rests his case.

Anyhow, the tax evading cash hoarders need to be outed.  The Gadfly wants to see every fucking one of those 22,000 names on that list and also wants to see the list published in it's entirety in every post office, every public square and downloadable from the internet.  These elitist fucks want all of the benefits that come from living and playing in a modern, tax-payer financed society and infrastructure, but don't want to be burdened with the task of participating in the collective paying for it?  Good!  Fuck them then.  The Gadfly says - confiscate every penny of those $12 billion in funds and revoke the U.S. citizenship of all 22,000 of those selfish pricks and tell them to go find some other democracy to blood-suck off of.

And they have the balls to call these fucks the "givers" of our society??  HA!



----TFG

Amurrika's "FREEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!!" Fighters Have a Bad Hair Day . . . .

Lots of sad faces and exploding craniums in Teabagistan today:

FEBRUARY 26, 2014, 7:51 PM EST

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) announced Wednesday night that she has vetoed the anti-gay bill that has been sitting on her desk since last week.

The bill "does not address a specific or present concern related to religious liberty in Arizona," she said in explaining her decision. She took no questions after announcing the veto.

"I sincerely believe that (the bill) has the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve," she said. "It could divide Arizona in ways that no one could imagine."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/brewer-veto-anti-gay-bill


. . . and . . .

FEBRUARY 26, 2014, 2:31 PM EST

A federal judge in San Antonio declared Texas' ban on gay marriage unconstitutional Wednesday.

But U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia issued a stay along with the ruling, so the ban remains in place for the time being. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R), who is running for governor against state Sen. Wendy Davis (D), is expected to appeal the decision.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/texas_gay_marriage_ban_ruled_unconstitutional


The Gadfly is convinced that if conservative lawmakers spent as much time focused on addressing the economic, health care and jobs issues which currently face the country and millions of Americans, as they do in trying to fuck with the individual rights of the dreaded gays, this country might actually make some progress toward getting us back on the road to national prosperity.  But apparently an economically devastated and suffering middle class, along with a myriad of other real world issues that are having a real world impact on people's lives every day, just do not rise to the level of being a priority as much as the horrifying prospect of Jane and Nancy or Don and Tim wanting to get hitched does.

The Gadfly long ago abandoned hope that the conservative right will ever reach a level of emotional and intellectual maturity that would permit them to look upon and treat every single one of their fellow Americans with respect and equality - not just as the law deems - but as fellow citizens and fellow human beings.

It is simply part of the conservative's DNA makeup to follow their primeval tribal instincts of "us" and "those others" and obsess over the possibility that "those others" might be coveting the same rights that they have reserved for themselves.

Nonetheless, The Gadfly is willing to chalk it up as a good day when all of the righteous stars line up and produce events which provoke Rush Limbaugh, the hyenas on Fox "News" and other wingnut media outlets, and the religious right to squeal like stuck pigs.



----TFG

"Do They Teach History at This School? Because Their Facts are all Fucked Up - Jon!" . . .

Haha.

Watch Jon Stewart and Larry Wilmore tear in to Fox "News" contributor Andrew Napolitano like a monkey on a cupcake over his comical assertion that Abraham Lincoln was the "murderous" culprit and sole individual responsible for The Civil War.

It's a smackdown of immeasurable elegance if The Gadfly don't say so his self:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

----TFG

The Dark Lord Speweth . . . .

[ click pic to enlarge ]

[ Link associated with above picture:  http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2008/07/31/26940/cheney-proposal-for-iran-war/ ]

[ Visual aid:  "Calm down," The Gadfly whispers to himself through clenched teeth, "just take a deep breath and go to your happy place." ]:

FEBRUARY 25, 2014, 10:18 AM EST

Former Vice President Dick Cheney blasted President Barack Obama on Monday for proposed cuts to the military, saying the President would prefer food stamps to a strong national defense.

Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Cheney if he thought Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's proposal to shrink the Army to pre-World War II levels was "dangerous."

“I've obviously not been a strong supporter of Barack Obama. But this really is over the top," Cheney said. "It does enormous long-term damage to our military, and they act as though it's highway spending you can turn on and off."

Cheney noted that "friends" he's worked with in the Middle East no longer trust the United States and lamented that budget considerations were taking a toll on the prestige of the American military.

“[Obama would] much rather spend the money on food stamps than he would on a strong military or support for our troops,” he said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cheney_obama_prefers_food_stamps_to_military

Has anyone else noticed that Fox "News" pretty much appears to be the sole remaining national media outlet that is of the belief that Dick Cheney is still in possession of human character traits which contain any semblance of credibility and integrity, or whose views on what is best for the country contain any semblance of relevance or are deserving of respect?

The man is a war criminal.  He helped to lie this country in to two wars, besmirched our nation's international reputation by employing the torture of prisoners, and was the puppeteer hand guiding the ruinous economic policies of one of the most dimwitted and incompetent Presidents in U.S. history.  Instead of spouting his venal ruminations over the American public airwaves, Mr. Cheney ought to be rotting away in a maximum security detention cell in The Hague, along with a few other former Bush administration goons.

"The President would prefer food stamps to a strong national defense."

Hmmm - let us analyze that dollop of wet, creamy, festering, and steamy pile of doggy poop word salad for a moment shall we dear readers?

First - for Mr. Cheney to be spouting off about what might be considered causes of "long-term damage to our military" - that simply has to be the soaring pinnacle of smug arrogance.

Apparently Mr. Cheney is not of the view that the following could be considered damaging to our military, long-term or otherwise:

Casualties in Iraq The Human Cost of Occupation Edited by Margaret Griffis :: Contact American Military Casualties in Iraq  Date Total In Combat American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 4489 3528 Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list) 4347 3424 Since Handover (6/29/04): 3627 2899 Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 256 128 Since Operation New Dawn: 66 39 American Wounded Official Estimated Total Wounded: 32021 Over 100000 Page last updated 02/19/14 10:27 pm EDT List of U.S. Servicemembers killed since 5/1/03 Put a Casualty Counter on Your Website U.S. Wounded Daily DoD Casualty Release 320,000 Vets Have Brain Injuries War Veterans’ Concussions Are Often Overlooked How Many Servicemembers Were Wounded? 18 Vet Suicides Per Day? Iraqi Casualties Others Other Coalition Troops - Iraq 319 US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 2310 Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan 1111 Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq 1,487 Journalists - Iraq 348 Academics Killed - Iraq 448 Sources: DoD, MNF, and iCasualties.org

http://antiwar.com/casualties/


Secondly dear readers - the following words were spoken by a former President, a Republican - a hero of World War II - a man whose lifetime accomplishments and credentials in the areas of honesty, humility, wisdom, and humanity tower over those of Mr. Cheney like the Empire State Building would tower over a dilapidated, wooden outhouse.

Take heed, Mr. Cheney, of the words spoken by Dwight David Eisenhower:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/9556.html


Hmm -- If The Gadfly didn't know any better dear readers, it sounds like what the message that then President Eisenhower, a man who saw more than his fair share of war's death and destruction while leading America and the Allies to victory over the Nazis and Japan in WWII, was trying to convey there was, that his fellow Americans would be far better off spending it's national treasure not only on food for our poor (of whom nearly a million are Vets) - but also things like decent wages and working conditions for our workers, investments in non-military related scientific research, bettering the future quality of life of our children, and seeking ways to improve the overall human condition of our planetary species.

In other words Dick -- can The Gadfly call you Dick? -- Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, would he still be with us today and responding to your venomous prattling, would very likely look you straight in the eye and tell you to go fuck yourself.

And since it is a fair analysis to postulate that that is how former President Eisenhower would have responded to Mr. Cheney --- The Gadfly will wholly concur --- therefore --- Hey Dick!!  Go Fuck Yourself!!!




----TFG

"Maybe We Was Wrong Not to Keep an Open Mind on the Subject of Regulation" . . . . . - - - Gee...Ya Think??

Sigh . . . .

A large majority of West Virginians think that last month's chemical spill, which left 300,000 residents without access to safe tap water, was a "wakeup call" on the need for better regulations, according to new polling data released Monday.

The poll, conducted by Hart Research Associates and commissioned by the Sierra Club, found that 73 percent of residents polled agreed that the state "has paid too little attention to addressing threats to air and water," and felt that the spill was a signal that "things must change." Seventy percent of the people polled also said they thought other incidents like this would occur if efforts are not made to prevent them.

"What we found was this was a pretty big shock to the system for West Virginians," said Jay Campbell, senior vice president of Hart Research.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/24/west-virginia-chemical-spill_n_4848922.html


That chemical spill was a "wakeup call" and a "shock to the system" to the good residents of West Virginia?  Really??  Ahh -- it must be the old "who could have known?" syndrome at work.

One might think that The Gadfly would be elated at hearing that West Virginians have come to the belated realization that government regulations protecting their air and natural resources are important, however The Gadfly is, quite frankly, more chagrined than ever.

The reason why?  Because if it takes a man-made catastrophe the magnitude of poisoning the drinking water supply of a major American city to wake people up to the concepts that clean air and water are good things to have in life, then what is it going to take to motivate these same fucking people to demand accountability for the corporate racketeers responsible for such an ecological fiasco along with the politicians who are bought and paid for flunkies for those corporations?

The Gadfly is not, in any sense, tooting his own horn when he points out that he himself, along with many other dirty fucking hippie liberal types have for years been screaming at the tops of our lungs that these major energy industry conglomerates have been blatantly and criminally despoiling the air we breathe, the lakes and rivers where we fish in and play in, and the aquifers where we get our drinking water from -- not to mention the resource raping of the pristine wilderness lands which prior generations of our American ancestors gifted to us for safekeeping.

And yet nobody was listening.  Nobody cared.

"Oh," they would laugh and point, "it's just those dirty fucking hippie liberals stirring up trouble again - let's punch them!"

Well -- it appears, regrettably, that it required the ingestion of some formaldehyde and a toxic soup of licorice odored coal and natural gas fracking chemicals for these people to realize that perhaps we hippies were actually trying to look out for their interests too.

Maybe (and that's a pretty big maybe) now they won't be so quick to belligerently dismiss us out of hand when we try to engage them in rational discourse when we attempt to advise them that certain aspects of the conservative's business model and operating practices are very rarely in the best interests of they and their families health and well being.



----TFG

Owwww! The Stoopid!! It Burnsssssss!!! . . . . . . .

[ click pic to enlarge ]

[ Visual aid:  The Gadfly throws his arms in to the air in abject exasperation ]

Somebody please make them stop:

The latest debunked Obamacare “victim”  appeared on the bastion of truth that is FOX News to tell the world she’s had enough of being called a liar because she lied. In the most recent Koch-funded deluge of dishonesty, a woman by the name of Julie Boonstra lamented her loss of a $1,100/month plan, which she replaced with one that costs much less–$571 per month.

She claims the out-of-pocket costs are higher, but did not mention that even with out-of-pocket costs at their maximum ($6350 per year) her new plan would cost only $2 more. Julie admits she doesn’t know all the numbers, but one thing is for sure–Obamacare is the devil.

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/02/most-recently-debunked-obamacare-victim
** There are videos at the link if you can stomach them.


How do you counter such disingenuous stupidity like this?  No - really!  How?

This woman is bitching and moaning on Fox "News" about how evil Obamacare is because her change in healthcare plans resulted in a whopping fucking total difference of $2.00 per year??

There are still approximately 30 million Americans who are living on the edge of economic doom because they are walking around with absolutely no healthcare insurance whatsoever -- mostly due to GOPTeabagger intransigent dumbassery in Congress and at the state's level.

How about if we grab a handful of those people and ask them what they think of Julie Boonstra's $2.00 dilemma?  The Gadfly is willing to wager $5.00 that her $2.00 "crisis" wouldn't elicit much sympathy from those folks.

Lord - these people are just so sickening to watch and listen to.



----TFG

Steve Martin --- 'Return of The Jerk' . . . .

[ click pic to enlarge ]

How any woman, of sound mind and manner, and who sincerely cares about the welfare, well-being and quality of life of her fellow American women, could ever cast a vote for these knuckle-dragging neanderthals, is beyond any human capability of comprehension that The Gadfly possesses.

Observe:

FEBRUARY 24, 2014, 3:15 PM

Virginia state Sen. Steve Martin (R) believes that pregnant women looking to have abortions are just the baby's "host."

"You can count on me to never get in the way of you 'preventing' an unintentional pregnancy," he wrote in a Facebook post last week. "However, once a child does exist in your womb, I'm not going to assume a right to kill it just because the child's host (some refer to them as mothers) doesn't want it."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/martin-virginia-mother-host


There really are only two ways ladies to interpret the message that this creep is sending with this statement.

One - if the woman's body is just a "host" vessel, then would not that imply that the feeding and growing zygote inside of her womb is nothing more than a parasite?  However, The Gadfly does not believe that this is the message the good Republican wingnut lawmaker intended to convey - for that probably wouldn't go over very well within the religious extremist, "Pro-life" circles that he wallows in.

No - The Gadfly is pretty certain that Mr. Flintstone's . . . er' . . . Mr. Martin's actual view of the matter is that when it comes to the human species, women are inferior to men - because the bible told him so - and therefore, the only useful function women serve in life is that of a sentient sperm depository and incubator that is entirely at the slavish mercy of her man's whims.

Honestly - if the GOP gets anywhere near 50% of the women vote in the next national election after all of the medieval views on women in the workforce, women and rape, domestic violence, and contraception and abortion that they have publicly spewed over the past couple of years, The Gadfly will have to somberly reconsider his recent observation that perhaps this country is still worth fighting for after all.



----TFG

If They are Allowed to Discriminate Against One Group of Americans, What Makes Anyone Believe That it Will End With That One Group?...

[ click pic to enlarge ]

Oh smack!! . . .

President George W. Bush’s former chief strategist Matthew Dowd on Sunday likened Christians in Arizona who are using religion to discriminate against LGBT people to Islamic terrorists.

Last week, Arizona's legislature passed a bill that would allow business owners to assert religious beliefs as an excuse to discriminate against gay and lesbian customers.

On Sunday, ABC's Martha Raddatz asked Dowd to predict if Gov. Jan Brewer (R) would sign the bill into law.

"I think, in the end, Gov. Brewer is probably going to veto this because it seems like an easy veto for her to do because of everything that's going in the business economy there," Dowd explained.

"This is one of those problems when people use religion as a way to sort of enforce discriminatory practices," he continued. "People used religion back in the 1860s when they defended slavery. They used religion to defend slavery."

"We've used religion to go to war. People have criticized Islam because they use religion to fight people and kill people. This is the problem with that [bill]."

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/02/fmr-bush-aide-matt-dowd-arizona-anti-gay



If The Gadfly didn't know any better, he would postulate that it appears that the traditional, moderate wing of the GOP has finally reached the end of their rope in patience and has had just about enough of the hate-filled Teabaggers and the Christian-Taliban wing of their party.

When the hard right conservatives start utilizing their legislative majority power to deny specific segments of their fellow Americans the same rights which they would grant to themselves and solely to those who think, believe and look like themselves, then that is un-American - as well as a direct assault on The Constitution and every decent thing this country is supposed to stand for.

Republican Matthew Dowd has only pointed out that which The Gadfly and many others have been saying for the past several years - namely that the Tea Party and the religious right have absolutely no respect for democracy, for fairness, for equal protection under the law, or for plain old common decency.  They are, in every sense of the word, political extremists who, as Mr. Dowd has accurately noted, would fit right in with the depraved terrorists of extreme Islam - for both groups use their chosen religion as a weapon of hate to demonize and ostracize others, and treat those who's beliefs are different, as people less deserving of the rights they have greedily reserved for themselves.

It is the same sickness which has existed in organized religious circles, and that has plagued the advancement of civilized human societies since the dawn of mankind's evolution.  And it is long past time for the majority of Americans who do not believe as these people do, to stand up and forcefully let their voices be heard.

Enough fucking already!!



----TFG

Justice is Blind? More Like Deaf & Dumb . . . .

[ click pic to enlarge ]

Nothing ever changes ....

Que sera, sera, 

Whatever will be, will be,

The future's not ours to see, 

Que sera, sera,

What will be, will be. . .

Observe:

By Michael Hiltzik
February 23, 2014, 5:00 a.m.

It would be perfectly proper for BP, the giant British oil company, to feel a sense of corporate remorse.

After all, the firm was responsible for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and well blowout that took 11 lives and created "immense environmental damage" in and around the gulf. (Those words were uttered by a Department of Justice official just over a year ago, when BP pleaded guilty to a dozen felony charges and agreed to pay $4 billion in penalties and fines.)

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20140221,0,1294413.column#axzz2uAlLDfuu


Stop right there!  There is much more to the story (link above) about how BP is making an aggressive effort to weasel it's way out of settling lawsuit claims with individuals and business owners along the despoiled Gulf Coast for damages resulting from the man-made ecological disaster that came about from BP's massive oil spill.

As much as that story is worth discussing, what really has The Gadfly clenching his teeth is the bolded part of that excerpt above referencing where "BP pleaded guilty to a dozen felony charges."

Allow The Gadfly some latitude here for a moment.

The Gadfly did a bit of ad hoc research and would like to share a bit of information with you dear readers.

Here is the generally, and legally accepted definition of the term "felony":

felonyn. 1) a crime sufficiently serious to be punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison, as distinguished from a misdemeanor which is only punishable by confinement to county or local jail and/or a fine. 2) a crime carrying a minimum term of one year or more in state prison, since a year or less can be served in county jail. However, a sentence upon conviction for a felony may sometimes be less than one year at the discretion of the judge and within limits set by statute. Felonies are sometimes referred to as "high crimes" as described in the U.S. Constitution.

http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=740


Based on that legal definition of the term "felony," The Gadfly would like to know how many of the BP corporate toadies who played a direct role in the responsibility for the "dozen felonies" (which includes the deaths of 11 workers btw) related to the Gulf oil spill have been sentenced to "death or a term in state or federal prison?"

What's that you say dear readers?  The excerpt above from the L.A. Times article denotes that BP's punishment consisted of a "$4 billion dollar fine?"  Well -- The Gadfly will be a suck-egg mule!  He must have overlooked that part of the excerpt.

Actually dear readers, The Gadfly didn't really overlook that part about BP's punishment.  He was simply using that diversion to segue in to the core of his rant about what a wonderful "justice" system we have here in America.

Face it folks -- if any one of you, or I, were to be convicted in a court of law for a dozen felonies - hell - make it just one - and felonies which led to the deaths of other human beings no less,  our asses would be sent up the prison river so fucking fast, our heads would spin around like Linda Blair's head in 'The Exorcist.'

But here we have a situation where a "dozen" felonies are being plead guilty to and the punishment is just a fine.  And in BP's case that $4 billion fine is simply an "off year" in profits for them considering that over the past several years their yearly profits on average are $20+ billion per year.  The Gadfly dares any individual American who is convicted of a "dozen" felonies in a court of law to ask the Judge to let you off with just a fine.  Go ahead - give it a try.

Which of course, prompts The Gadfly to propose one other question.  If, as conservatives in this country were able to convince the U.S. Supreme Court of - that "corporations are people" - then where is the sentencing equity when it comes to the difference between a corporate "person" committing felonies and an individual American "person" committing felonies?  Simple question conservatives.  Please feel free to explain yourselves in the comments section of this shitty little blog.  But The Gadfly knows that you cannot do so - not coherently anyway - so save yourself the effort.

This is why The Gadfly refuses to participate in this kabuki theater thing we do here in America called "jury duty."  Every time The Gadfly is called and during the interview process by the attorneys, typically the first question asked is if he has any "biases", to which The Gadfly responds - your damn right he has biases - especially against the corruption and unfairness that permeates the system of justice which we have in this country.

That reply usually results in The Gadfly getting a curt dismissal and he is sent along his merry, dirty fucking hippie way.  If by some quirk, they let you get beyond the "bias" question, then just tell them that you are a firm believer in the concept of "jury nullification." That statement is almost 99.999999% guaranteed to get you relieved from having to serve.

But getting back to The Gadfly's primary point.  Why are corporate felons offered a plainly less harsh version of justice than individual felons.  In this particular case, why aren't some top executives of BP sitting in fucking prison cells as we speak for their dozen felonies -- rotting a few years of their lives away just like some of the guys, who could be their cellmates, might be doing for petty theft crimes like stealing a loaf of bread to feed their kids?

This is why The Gadfly could never support the modern-day conservative movement - even though it could very well be that we do agree on a handful of issues.  Until the conservatives can address this blatant contradiction in the words "All Men are Created Equal" and the flagrant inequalities which exist in our justice system between the haves and have nots, and also until they rebuke the totally offensive idea that a corporate behemoth, in it's all powerful entirety, is entitled to the exact same rights as an individual human being, then The Gadfly is your eternal enemy - period.



----TFG