Scientifically Illiterate Congressmen Are Resigning the World to Ruin, Brian Merchant, Vice, April 3, 2014
That is the right word; buffoon. These men are not necessarily or wholly unintelligent. They can be charming, or funny, and are often good at writing speeches. They have no lack of talent. But each is, as Merriam-Webster’s instructs us, “a ludicrous figure.” They are “gross and usually ill-educated,” at least concerning the subject matter over which they govern, as per the definition. And these buffoons have their feet jammed in the doorway to the halls of power at what is perhaps the worst possible juncture in history.
Because they believe they know science better than scientists—ludicrous—they vote against any action to repair the damage being done to the carbon-saturated climate at all. They, along with scores of their fellow Republicans, have banded together to form what may be the most uniquely scientifically ignorant cliques in international governance. As Ronald Brownstein wrote in a 2010 piece for the National Journal, “It is difficult to identify another major political party in any democracy as thoroughly dismissive of climate science as is the GOP here.” They comprise the Congressional Science Committee that doesn’t get science, and they are determining our policies. Or blocking them.
Rep. Steve King Warns Patriotic DREAMers: ‘We Have A Bus For You To Tijuana’, karoli, Crooks and Liars, April 4, 2014
Rep. Steve King is letting all his hate hang out now, unabashedly and unapologetically. If you came to the US illegally with your parents when you were too young to know better but now want to volunteer for the military, King thinks you should go straight back to the country your parents left.
Rand Paul Would Reward Tax Evasion, Xenophon, Breitbart Unmasked, April 3, 2014
[F]or the rest of us who cannot use accounting tricks with Swiss subsidiaries, it is a great big middle finger. Taxes are for the little people, not big corporations or the friends of Republican senators. If you tell Rand Paul that the tax burden has shifted too much from corporations to individuals in the last 30 years, or that offshore tax shelters play an outsize role in the squeeze on the middle class, Rand Paul will tell you that it is just the way things are supposed to be, and that we should give awards to the companies that best represent his vision of a libertarian future.
