I didn't get to see Bobby Jindal's appeal to emotion following Obama's speech, but the youtube videos would have made me roll on the floor busting a gut if this guy didn't represent at least half the votes in a state. Jindal bypassed any argument of substance (if such an argument existed) and went straight to trying to tie Obama to the ineptitude of FEMA's response to Katrina.
On top of that, he stuck with the most maladaptive consistency amongst the Republican party: that of being anti-science. In talking about the pittance in the stimulus for monitoring volcanoes, Jindal said "Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.".
A few things here. Number one, and I want to put this as delicately as possible...
VOLCANO ERUPTIONS KILL PEOPLE YOU INSENSITIVE DUMBASS!!!!
Aside from killing people, they do tons of damage. The last eruption of Mt. St. Helens cost us 2.74 billion dollars. And the US has the third most volcanic eruptions per year (behind Indonesia and Japan). The amazing irony here is that we actually have the capability of determining almost precisely when a volcano will erupt. It requires the installation of a relatively inexpensive GPS system to monitor movement in the ground. The lion's share of the cost of these systems is for their installation and maintenance, which creates/saves jobs. Consider that Mt. Redoubt in Alaska has been threatening to erupt again since January, and we have been unable to determine the time of eruption because, wait for it, we lack one of these relatively inexpensive GPS systems there due to, you're never going to believe this, lack of funding. Thanks Bush administration that gutted science and education funding.
Second, we should be monitoring the eruption of spending in Washington? Where were our Republican saviors the last eight years?
Third, does anybody else find it a little ironic that the governor of Louisiana thinks it's wasteful to support funding for the prevention of national disasters? That's like a general saying it's wasteful to spend money on kevlar and guns. Let's face it, right now the Republican party is contaminated with people who are completely oblivious to reality - and yet they affect laws that should be based entirely in reality. They chose Jindal, one of their shining lights, to attempt to rebut Obama - and this is what one of their best and brightest brought to the table. Ug.
Moving on, how about Senator Chris Buttars out of Utah, that festering pile of religious quackery that wants to dictate the lives of others (but not have them lash back)? He has some opinions about gay people that are about as far removed from reality as you can get:
"What is the morals of a gay person? You can't answer that because anything goes."
Or how about this one?
"They're probably the greatest threat to America going down I know of."
Well, I know a lot of homosexuals, and I think that sentence is true...but not in the context Buttars was going for. Innuendo ftw!
Thankfully, Buttars was stripped of his committee appointments, but then we got to hear some measly, wormy defense of Buttars:
"I want the citizens of Utah to know that the Utah Senate stands behind Senator Buttars' right to speak, we stand behind him as one of our colleagues and his right to serve this state," Waddoups said. "He is a senator who represents the point of view of many of his constituents and many of ours. We agree with many of the things he said. ...We stand four square behind his right [to say what he wants]."
And then there's the woman they thought was the best choice to be a heartbeat away from leadership of the free world who, when asked at a bipartisan conference by her fellow Republicans if she'd like to share some of her plans and proposals for the upcoming legislation, responded:
"I feel like you guys are always trying to put me on the spot."
Yeah...those Republicans and their "gotcha" questions.
Forgive the alliteration, but right now the Republican party is run by a cultish collection of clowns. It is hindering forward progress and obstructing important legislation with paltry concerns like the demands of their faith and the obstruction of human rights. It's also introducing rank idiocy like everything above into our governmental discourse when it should be laughed at and jettisoned immediately.
These are your leaders, and faith prompts people not only to vote for them, but to defend them, even when they are the most compassionless and nonsensical - in fact, it prompts religious people to defend them because they are compassionless and nonsensical.
Is there any greater force for the enshrinement of stupidity?
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