The Petty Party

This is the stuff that boils my blood. The Republicans in Congress, led by John Boehner, have really put their pettiness on parade:

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The story I had not previously heard about was the nixing of the Green Initiative program in the Congress cafeteria, replacing biodegradable tableware with plastic and styrofoam. That's not just thumbing your nose at Democrats, that's thumbing your nose at the environment and the future.

The many aspects of the greening program reduced energy and water consumption in Capitol buildings by 23 percent and 32 percent, respectively. But uh-oh! The composting portion of the program cost $475,000. Well... that ought to fix the budget.

But here's the part of the story that feels like a kick in the head, the new environmentally-unfriendly products in the Congress cafeteria are being provided by Koch Industries.

The only thing Boehner does well is take care of his billionaire friends.

Comedy and Tragedy

I haven't had time to really digest tonight's State of the Union Address, but at times, didn't Vice President Biden and Speaker of the House Boehner kind of mimic the ancient comedy and tragedy masks?

And maybe that division is appropriate? We're going to build railroads, we're going to cut spending, we're going to invest in education, we're going to cut spending, it's our generation's Sputnik moment, but we're going to cut spending.

I don't know how we can talk about cutting spending without talking about cutting the defense budget, but that topic never seems to come up. Well, President Obama did mention it -- "The Secretary of Defense has also agreed to cut tens of billions of dollars in spending that he and his generals believe our military can do without" -- but I dread the fear-mongering that will ultimately prevent that move.

The energy independence thing is a really cool idea though. Of course, it was cool when Jimmy Carter talked about it... and every president since then.

I know President Obama's speech was supposed to be a bit of a pep talk for our nation, but for whatever reason, I'm feeling overly cynical tonight. At times I felt like Obama was groveling to the teabaggers. At times I thought he was trying to make John Boehner cry.

No You Can't (Featuring John Boehner)

I saw this brilliant YouTube video on Countdown tonight, and I can't help but think John Boehner's three loud words will be the iconic soundbite representing every rightwinger who has stood in the way of progress. These are the words John Boehner will be remembered for:


(YouTube video)