Denominations of the Tea Party

There appear to be three overlapping major factions of the current political movement called the Tea Party. I had thought there were really only two until recently. The two to which I allude are the Theocracy Movement, and the Libertarians. Sure, there is actually a registered Libertarian political party. But as of the last election cycle, unelectable Libertarians like Rand Paul were elected under the Republican banner due to Tea Party support. But today I found the article The Tea Party Stormfront that shows a real and dangerous overlap between the Tea Party and Stormfront, an umbrella for the KKK and other White Nation groups. This article shows how you can look up the data yourself, and how to find the instructions given by StormFront for their members to blend in with and lend their support to the Tea Party. With luck, this is the least fraction of the whole. It does seem to me that the Theocracy branch is really the bulk of this tail trying to wag to political dog. And making scary progress. Discussion?

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Some Thoughts On Independence Day

It’s the Fourth of July.  I’ve been pondering whether or not to write something politically pithy or culturally au courant and here it is, almost noon, and I’ve made no decision.  I think I pretty much said what I had to say about my feelings about this country a few posts back for Memorial Day, so I don’t think I’ll revisit that. Last night we sat on our front porch while the pre-Fourth fireworks went off in the surrounding neighborhood.  Folks nearby spend an unconscionable amount of money on things that blow up and look pretty and we benefit from the show.  Neither of us like large crowds, so going down to the St. Louis riverfront for the big explosion is just not an option.  The older I get the less inclined I am to squeeze myself into the midst of so much anonymous humanity. We’ll likely go to bed early tonight after watching the rest of our neighborhood go up in brilliance, starbursts, and smoke. I suppose the only thing I’d like to say politically is a not very original observation about how so many people seem to misidentify the pertinent document in our history.  The Declaration of Independence is often seen as more important than the Constitution and this is an error, one which leads us into these absurd cul-de-sacs of debate over the religious nature of our Founding.  [More . . . ]

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Republican firecrackers

From Huffpo:

Children who attend July 4 celebrations are more likely to identify themselves as Republicans later in life, a new Harvard University study finds. [T]here is a political congruence between the patriotism promoted on Fourth of July and the values associated with the Republican party. Fourth of July celebrations in Republican dominated counties may thus be more politically biased events that socialize children into Republicans," they write.

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Infrastructure bond issues and regional infrastructure banks

Missouri’s Department of Transportation (MoDoT) is laying off employees, closing facilities and selling some of its assets to make another over $500 million available for project funds for Missouri transportation by 2013. Additional federal funds for economic infrastructure are unlikely as part of any renewed efforts at economic stimulus. Some suggest that overseas corporate profits could fund an infrastructure bank. Despite the current economic situation states can use their own efforts to provide additional infrastructure funding in addition to making their state departments of transportation more lean and efficient. Perhaps groups of states may even establish regional infrastructure banks for the states to fund educational and economic infrastructure projects.  To the degree other financial incentives may be necessary to retaining present businesses and assuring the location of new businesses in a state, bond issues for economic and infrastructure development could be put to a vote of the people. Missouri had a vote for educational infrastructure under our late Governor Mel Carnahan when the governor supported a constitutional amendment to issue bonds for some $660 million for education. Missouri voters overwhelmingly supported the bond issue and our schools and state are better for it. California did this with a $10 billion investment in life sciences research. States may look at what was done in Missouri, California and elsewhere to see what worked and build upon it. [More . . . ]

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Stephen Colbert…for the Supreme Court???

Bob Edgar, opinion contributor at POLITICO both pans and applauds Stephen Colbert's creation of Colbert Super PAC in this article: Stephen Colbert for Supreme Court justice! Mr. Edgar says:

The Super PAC launched Thursday by the satirist Stephen Colbert and blessed by the Federal Election Commission is a terrible idea. It makes a mockery of our campaign finance laws, inviting politicians of all stripes to launch their own Super PAC-linked TV "news" shows and then use those programs to raise buckets of money from corporations, labor unions and other special interests. It’s the sort of thing Common Cause has always been against. We hate it. And it’s positively brilliant!
But "...inviting politicians ... to launch their own... TV 'news' shows..."??? What if we flip it, and TV "news" shows launch their own politicians? Uh, oh. Too late.

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