HOUSE GOP VOTES FOR TERRORISTS GETTING GUNS!

House GOP votes to let suspected terrorists buy guns, explosives

7/18/2013 8:00am by John Aravosis 28 Comments

 

This story is rather incredible, but it’s not without precedent.  Republicans in the US House Appropriations Committee yesterday voted down an amendment that would have permitted the Justice Department to block the sale of guns and explosives to suspected terrorists on the terror watch list.

If we stop terrorists from buying explosives, then the terrorists win.

You see, Republicans say they don’t trust the terror watch list, and neither do their masters at the NRA. So rather than figure out how to improve the terror watch list, Republicans figure it’s better to just arm the terrorists.

Oh but it gets worse, Roll Call reports that Republicans also opposed giving local police access to the ATF  gun data. What did Republicans support?  An amendment “to block the ATF from continuing to require the reporting of purchases of multiple firearms in border states.”

I hate to go all George Bush, but is the GOP, and the gun lobby, now in the pocket of Al Qaeda?

Think that’s hyperbole, here’s an Al Qaeda operative talking about the importance of taking advantage of America’s weak gun laws.  Here’s Al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn in 2011:

“America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at a local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?”

How big a problem is it having suspected terrorist being able to buy guns and explosives? The GAO reports (pdf file):

From February 2004 through February 2010, FBI data show that individuals on the terrorist watchlist were involved in firearm or explosives background checks 1,228 times; 1,119 (about 91 percent) of these transactions were allowed to proceed because no prohibiting information was found—such as felony convictions, illegal immigrant status, or other disqualifying factors—and 109 of the transactions were denied.

This isn’t a recent problem.  Gun enthusiasts in Congress wouldn’t let the FBI check the gun purchases of terrorists immediately following September 11, lest we impinge on the Second Amendment rights of Mohammad Atta best friend.  Here’s a quote from the NYT on December 6, 2001 – only three months after September 11:

The Justice Department has refused to let the F.B.I. check its records to determine whether any of the 1,200 people detained after the Sept. 11 attacks had bought guns, F.B.I. and Justice Department officials say.

The department made the decision in October after the F.B.I. asked to examine the records it maintains on background checks to see if any detainees had purchased guns in the United States.

So we shouldn’t be surprised that House Republicans are voting in favor of arming terrorists.  They’ve been doing it for years.

OBJECTION! LOUIE GOHMERT IS A COMPLETE ASS!

http://cassandrafiles.com/2013/07/11/breaking-louie-gohmert-is-a-complete-ass/

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Breaking: Louie Gohmert Is A Complete Ass

JULY 11, 2013

tags: ! kind of a dick, civility, congress, farm bill, food stamps, Louie Gohmert, objection, politics

US Representative from the great state of Texas, Louie Gohmert

Ah, the sweet tradition of civil debate in the hallowed halls of Congress:

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Thursday objected over and over again in order to keep statements out of the congressional record that accused Republicans of hurting working families by taking food stamps out of the farm bill. (Raw Story)

It is a sad, sad thing to be a Democrat in the US House of Representatives these days.  Unable to move any legislation for the betterment of the country, they are forced to sit idly by and watch as the bumbling clown circus, also known as the Republican caucus, takes meaningless votes to repeal Obamacare for the eleventyith time or to appeal to women voters by attacking their reproductive rights, all while stymieing any hope of passing legislation which anytime prior to 2010 would have been bipartisan-feel-good ventures.

But just because you may not have the votes to make anything happen in the House doesn’t mean you aren’t there to represent the people. Sometimes, the best you can do on that front is to simply insure that you voice strong opposition to what the majority is doing.

So today, numerous Democratic reps took time on the House floor to ask their colleagues for unanimous consent to allow their concerns over the removal of the food stamp (SNAP) program from the Farm bill to be reflected in the Congressional record.   It’s not going to change anything, of course, but their concerns that the GOP bill would hurt hungry American families would officially be on the record. Perhaps it’s unmeaningful in the larger scheme of things, but it is a quaint and civil form of minority protest which has always been respected in the House.

But that was before Louie Gohmert (R – Jackassville) got a hard-on to put the undeserving poor on a diet.  Allowing members of the minority party to place their concerns with pending legislation into the congressional record is Just. Not. Okay. with Louie “The Troll King” Gohmert.  As Democrat after Democrat asked to  “revise and extend” their remarks in opposition to what the GOP is doing to the Farm Bill, putting nutrition assistance for the nation’s most vulnerable in jeopardy, Louie Gohmert repeatedly shouted, “Objection!”

As several more Democratic representatives attempted to insert remarks that the bill “hurts the working poor” and “increases hunger and poverty,” Gohmert repeatedly objected.

“I think it is extremely unfortunate that that members on the other side of the aisle would deny members on this side of the aisle the ability to insert written materials in the record,” McGovern noted. “In all my years here, I’ve never seen such uncourteous gesture.”

It’s not terribly exciting to watch, but you can view the proceedings here:

Louie Gohmert has become a bit of a celebrity compared with the national stature of most House members. (Politichicks even put him on their list of “Hottest Conservatives”.)  –shudder– So maybe his increasingly dickish and bullying behavior should be expected. Ho hum, right? I mean, who the hell cares if one congresscritter is a complete ass to a bunch of other congresscritters about something that won’t ultimately matter to anyone?

But it’s just another in an ever-growing list of examples of Tea-Party affiliated congresscritters being assholes in D.C because it makes their supporters all wet between the knees happy. It’s a huge part of why Congress no longer works at all. For all the talk of the Tea Party being over (“so 2010!”), the impact of the idiots they put in office and the ones, like Gohmert, that have been bolstered by Tea Party reactivistim is far from over. Just ask John Boehner.

It is also an example of what happens when a complete nincompoop like Louie Gohmert decides to affect public policy. You need look no further than Gohmert’s own House floor arguments against the food stamp program because of this one guy who told him about being in line at the grocery store buying ground beef and watching the people in front of him buying king crab legs with their food stamps.  And Louie has just about had it with that!

Perhaps it is unsurprising that someone of Gohmert’s intellectual capacity can be fed a tired old trope  and choose that as a jumping off point for serious policy discussion. But it should infuriate the rest of us that the “elites” representing us in Washington are so dim-witted (or think we are) that they choose to govern based on stereotyping and urban legend.

MORE GUNS! LESS CRIME! NOT!

GREAT ABSTINENCE STATE OF TEXAS!

HEYL, WHAT DO WE NEED FAMILY PLANNING CLINICS FOR?

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH?

CWAZY CWISTIAN SHAWIA! Virgina GOP Candidate Reaffirms Position that Gay People ‘Self-Destructive’ and Soulless

Virgina GOP Candidate Reaffirms Position that Gay People ‘Self-Destructive’ and Soulless

  AATTP July 20, 2013

In the first debate between Virginia gubernatorial candidates Terry McAuliffe (D) and Ken Cuccinelli II (R), Cuccinelli defended his bigoted position on LGBT Virginians. Previously, when asked about the LGBT community, Cuccinelli famously remarked,”When you look at the homosexual agenda, I cannot support something that I believe brings nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of their soul.”  During the back-and-forth, McAuliffe repeatedly reminded Cuccinelli of his past statements about LGBT Americans. Cuccinelli responded,

“The notion that because I believe marriage ought to be protected, because I believe life begins at conception–just like hundreds of thousands of independents and Democrats–this isn’t just me, it isn’t just Republicans.  There are lots of Virginians, millions perhaps, of Virginians, who share my sincerely held beliefs.”

When pushed further by the moderator to define his position on LGBT people and their rights, Cuccinelli replied, 

“My personal beliefs about the personal challenges of homosexuality haven’t changed.”

Watch part of the debate, courtesy of The Washington Post:

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Dan Savage freaks out Republican ‘Real Time’ guests with joke about inseminating husband! BWA!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/20/dan-savage-freaks-out-republican-real-time-guests-with-joke-about-inseminating-husband/

Dan Savage freaks out Republican ‘Real Time’ guests with joke about inseminating husband

By David Ferguson
Saturday, July 20, 2013 11:56 EDT

Topics: dan savage ♦ grover norquist

 

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Friday night on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” author, advice columnist and “It Gets Better” activist Dan Savage made arch conservative activist Grover Norquist and former Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) visibly squirm in their seats with a joke about having sex with his husband Terry.

Maher welcomed Savage to the show and congratulated him on recent Supreme Court victories for same sex marriage and for Savage’s commitment to LGBT rights, particularly the “It Gets Better” project, which Savage and his husband Terry Miller founded to advocate for LGBT teens.

Savage said that the Supreme Court victories are particularly sweet because he no longer has to worry that his son and partner will be “financially persecuted” in the event of his death. Prior to the DOMA decision in June, Miller and the couple’s son would be treated as strangers under the law in the event of Savage’s death, meaning that the government could take far more in taxes from Savage’s estate than they could if he was married to a woman. The real highlight of the interview came, however, when Savage, looking spruce in a bicep-hugging pink polo shirt, joked that religious fundamentalists are always trying to tell him that same sex marriage is unnatural.

“I’m always telling people who say two men can’t make a baby,” he said, “‘Anything is possible for God. I’m going to keep inseminating my husband and keep my fingers crossed.’”

The camera then cut to Norquist, whose frozen grimace alone is worth watching this video, which aired Friday, July 19, and is embedded below via YouTube:

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