The Frivolousness That Has Marked John Boehner's Term As Speaker

If nothing else, the lengthy early morning post today should have given readers a clue that the most serious problems faced by the American people have been largely created by our own political class. The Beltway Democratic Establishment, having to deal with pesky progressives and do-gooders within their own ranks-- sometimes make an attempt to appear like they want to deal with the meta-problems behind the manifestations. The Republicans, who have crafted an establishment with no accountability save to the 1% itself, just laugh all the way to the bank-- and never look back. No doubt Boehner and his cronies would just love to put a "gone fishin'" sign on the Capitol and leave government to shrivel up the way Grover has decreed it should. But with Obama in the White House and the Democrats still clinging to a fragile majority in the Senate, Boehner's got to at least stick around and make believe the House is doing something. Just wait 'til 2013!

But yesterday, the House spent a Boehner of day ignoring the country's actual problems and "debating" the dire necessity of protecting "In God We Trust" as the national motto. I'm not joking. Virginia clown Randy Forbes has offered a resolution cosponsored by dozens of clueless congressional assholes, including usual suspects Democrats Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), Lipinski Junior (proto-Blue Dog-IL), Nick Rahall (WV), and Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK). Forbes' resolution asserts that "if religion and morality are taken out of the market-place of ideas, the very freedom on which the United States was founded cannot be secured." Forbes said his resolution is needed because President Obama and other public officials often forget that designation "whether intentionally or unintentionally."

The idiotic waste of time passed 396-9 with 2 Members voting "present," Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Mel Watt (D-NC). The NO votes came from the Houses only declared atheist, Pete Stark (D-CA) plus Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Justin Amash (R-MI), Judy Chu (D-CA), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Mike Honda (D-CA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Bobby Scott (D-VA). Although Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee dissented when the committee approved it back in March-- "Instead of addressing any of these critical issues, and instead of working to help American families keep a roof over their heads and food on their tables, we are debating whether or not to affirm and proliferate a motto that was adopted in 1956 and that is not imperiled in any respect"-- the only Democrat who spoke up to Forbes yesterday was Jerry Nadler:

"Why have my Republican friends returned to an irrelevant agenda? And yet here we are, back to irrelevant issue debates, the kind of thing people do when they have run out of ideas, when they have run out of excuses, when they have nothing to offer a middle class that is hurting and that has run out of patience... This is simply an exercise in saying, 'We're more religious than the other people, we're more godly than the other people, and by the way, let's waste time and divert people's attention from the real issues that we're not dealing with,' like unemployment."

Dan Lungren became quite hysterical defending the honor if the motto, insisting that reaffirming it is important because the country was built on the understanding that God gives its citizens certain rights, which cannot be taken away by the government. I hope at the next GOP debate they ask all the 7 dwarves to raise their hands if they agree that the national motto is good. What a bunch of pathetic clowns. But you already knew that.