Republicans: If I Only Had a Brain!

I've heard a lot of people say that national politics and national politicians are nothing like the real, every-day people they are claiming to represent; I would beg to differ. My grandfather was fond of quoting Al Capone, "The reason there are so many crooks in politics is because they are truly representative of the people." Nowhere was this more evident than in reading my local paper.

Page 3-Sheriffs Department Has Hard Time Obeying the Law.

Can you tell which man in this picture is the Sheriff? . . . . . .
Me Neither!

See previous story here:http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/republicans-gone-wild-212000151.html

It seems our good Republican Sheriff wasn't the only one in the department who was misappropriating funds, but this time the Idaho State Police have decided to actually use the word embezzlement. But whereas the Sheriff was able to keep his job because he is an elected official, the 26 year old lieutenant named today was relieved of duty. Citizens have been assured that there is no connection between the earlier "misallocation" of funds by the Sheriff himself and the current embezzlement completed by the young lieutenant. It would seem the Sheriff is very good at leading by example and that our deputies are very good at following his lead.

Page 5-Felon Runs for Sheriff

Amid all the whoopla in our own Sheriff's Department, it's nice to see that Kootenai County aspires to be just like us. Unfortunately, their current Sherriff hasn't broken the law so the Republicans are hoping to elect, Adam M. Johnson; a local businessman, Board Member for the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce, and respected community leader. He was also arrested for felony possession of heroin in 2011 and served 10 days in jail in connection with a shooting in 2009.

Page 3-Tea Party Riot

The County Republicans are in a snit. (But when are the County Republicans not in a snit?) It seems that the Chairman of the County Republicans and one of our City Council members has been sending out press releases bashing other Republican candidates. The Chairman and Councilman are members of the Tea Party and are attacking their own for not being "conservative enough." For their part, the Republicans in the county who are not part of the Tea Party Movement claim that their elected leaders are not "Legitimate Republicans." (I'm not sure how this is since they elected them, but Republicans seem to have short memories.)

It is refreshing to see the Republican Party in turmoil after their sharp criticisms of the Democratic Party when we were trying to figure out how to balance the needs of American labor and the needs of the environmental movement. Of course the Republicans are trying to balance the needs of those who want to pay no taxes, but still get their social security check with the needs of those who think that anyone who does not look or act like them does not deserve The Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness; that list includes women, gays, and anyone who isn't rich.

Page 3-Can We Send Them Back To The Mother-ship?

Because belligerence has become second nature for the Republican Party, our state Legislature and Board of Education are embattled over the word "Flagship." You'd think they would have better things to do with their time.

The State Board of Education decided that it was high time to realize that there is more than one university in Idaho and removed the word "flagship" from the University of Idaho's description. The Board of Education said its move was in recognition that all the state institutions should be on equal footing. And while the University of Idaho was first, Boise State University is currently biggest and there are other Colleges and Universities in Idaho deserving of recognition, including Idaho State University, Lewis-Clark State College, and North Idaho College.

However, Republicans have long been opposed to anything the Board of Education does, no matter how minor. (I wonder if you have to sign a pledge hating education in order to be a Republican.) So Representative Tom Trail, a District 6 Republican, is drafting legislation to restore the word "flagship." It makes me wonder if we simply can't beam them all back to the mother-ship from whence they came?

Page 3-Didn't we Just Have a Surplus?

The State of Idaho has long sent students who live in remote areas across the border to be educated in other states, but that is about to change. The state has decided that it's getting "hamstrung" by other states who are charging Idaho for having to educate Idaho students. The bill from the State of Nevada was $697,968; Idaho says that's way too much. If Idaho and Nevada can't make a deal, parents in the border region will have the choice of either homeschooling their children or making a 120 mile round-trip drive twice a day to get their kid to and from the nearest Idaho school. I can scarcely see how the state thinks that $700,000 is going to break the bank when the Republican Legislature just authorized a $35 million dollar tax-cut for Idaho's wealthiest citizens because we had a budget surplus.

I guess it all comes down to priorities-poor people who live on ranches and Indian Reservations in the middle of nowhere aren't at the top of the list of priorities because they aren't sending in big campaign contribution checks. If you can make campaign contributions, you get a tax cut and if you can't you get to spend 4 hours a day driving your kid to and from the nearest Idaho school.

Page 4-Healthcare Nightmare!

The fearless Republican leaders are dismantling the Federal Healthcare Reform Act one piece at a time. Our Legislature has rejected a $20.3 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services that would have created jobs in the state and paid for an insurance exchange where individuals and small businesses could shop for and compare policies from a number of companies. They also rejected a law establishing standards for excessive and discriminatory rate increases.

Roughly translated this means that insurance companies can charge Idaho citizens ridiculously high premiums and we won't have the ability to comparison shop to find something cheaper. I'm so glad that the Republicans saved me from being able to pay less for my health insurance; Obama is clearly evil to think I might want to have a little cash left over after paying for insurance to spend on frivolous things, like say, my other bills. (Rolls eyes)

And because the Republicans in the State are so against Obamacare they have rejected the notion that insurance companies should have to offer smoking cessation programs to pregnant women and they are offering another proposal that will allow Idaho Insurance companies to ignore the federal requirement to cover contraception. The proposal allowing insurance companies to opt-out of contraception coverage isn't even tied to a religious objection; they can simply choose not to cover it if they think it's too expensive. So now when a young married couple ends up pregnant because contraception isn't covered by insurance the Legislature has decided that, if Mom smokes, they don't even want to give the baby a chance to be born healthy.

Page 5-Sometimes You Can't Win for Loosing . . .

In religious briefs the Pope stated that infertile couples should remain childless because the act of creating a baby is a spiritual process, not a biological one. This is a revelation that baffles my mind. Not only do they not like women who can have children, but don't want to (hence the ban on contraception), but they also don't like women who can't have children, but want to (hence the ban on fertility treatments.) I'd say that given the extreme liking of little boys it's possible they just don't like women.

Page 7-Editorials

The paper ended with an editorial about how law enforcement and law breaking shouldn't be mixed. In addition the articles I mentioned above the editorial cited some issues in Spokane and other cities across the west. I'm sure everything the writer said will be written off as another example of biased liberal media. Personally, I think that if the Republicans don't want bad press they should stop doing stupid things.

As I think about how much the Religious Right hates anyone who isn't male and rich, I wonder if perhaps those children whose mothers dropped them on their head a few too many times didn't grow up to become Republicans. It would explain the brain damage and the hatred of women.

Shakes head; wants to move to Canada.