Please Note: Reversing Obama's Policies is not the Same as Making America Great

Barack Obama accomplished many things in his 8 years as president, which is pretty surprising when you consider that Republicans controlled one or both houses of Congress for 6 of those 8 years.  And because Republican obstruction of Obama's agenda was unprecedented, Obama had to resort to extensive use of executive orders to get things done for those last 6 years.

This is rather convenient for The Stain, because it appears that he and the Republican Congress are literally unable to pass ANYTHING into law through the normal legislative process.  Indeed, their one 'victory' in 4 months --- a health-care reform bill which would deprive 23 million Americans of health insurance and rob $880 billion from Medicaid to fund yet another tax cut for the wealthy --- is unlikely to see the light of day in the Senate.

So, both because Obama issued so many executive orders, and because Republicans are too incompetent to do anything else, The Stain has mostly been making 'progress' by simply undoing Obama's executive orders.  The Washington Post details a laundry list:

• Companies applying for federal contracts are NOT required to disclose labor law violations.
• Coal mining companies do NOT need to reduce the amount of debris they dump into streams.
• Telecommunications companies do NOT need to take "reasonable measures" to protect their customers' personal information.
• Those receiving Social Security payments due to mental illness ARE still able to buy guns.
• States do NOT have limits placed on them regarding drug testing of those receiving unemployment benefits.
• Certain hunting practices which would have been prohibited in Alaskan wildlife refuges ARE still permitted.
• Several Obama-era regulations to reduce pollution and address climate change have been REVERSED.
• Oil and gas drilling is now PERMITTED in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, and possibly in two reserves in Alaska as well.
• Multiple OSHA regulations for worker safety have been rolled back.
• "Multiple agencies have jettisoned or played down policies aimed at fostering LGBT rights."
• Additionally, The Stain's budget proposes deep cuts (between 14% - 33%) to the State Department, EPA, Agriculture, Labor, Health and Human Services, Commerce and Education.

Now, I understand that Republicans love drilling for oil more than almost anything, and that they hate LGBT folk.  But who favors coddling law-breakers?  Who is pro-pollution?  Who objects to worker safety?  And I know Republicans worship their guns as much as they worship The Stain (possibly more), but do they really think it's good policy to make sure that those suffering from mental illness have unfettered access to guns?

I know I'm just a clueless liberal, but which of these policies are making America great again?

The Last Word on Hillary Clinton the Candidate

Oh please, let these be the last words about Clinton the candidate.

To be clear, I have moved on from November's fiasco.  But there still seem to be many people, on both the right AND the left, who are intent on stomping on her metaphorical corpse.  To those on the right, I say: Get a grip.  You have a dumpster fire in your own house which is far more serious than anything you imagine Hillary did.

For those on the left, I have the following two articles.  Read them and then, whether you agree or not, let it all go.  There is far too much work to be done in the next 18 months to waste time focusing on a candidate who will never run again.

First this from Rebecca Traister.  The short version is: "A competent woman losing a job to an incompetent man is not an anomalous Election Day surprise; it is Tuesday in America."

Follwed by this from David Faris:

Her boiling anger at the press and at various out-of-nowhere campaign developments doesn't make her worse than Gore, Kerry, Romney, and McCain — it makes her one of them.

And that really only leaves one thing that is just so very different about Hillary Clinton. Let's see if you can guess what it is.

I found both of these articles by way of Lawyers, Guns and Money, and if you aren't reading it on a daily basis, you really should be.

A Typical Friday in the Party for Personal Responsibility

Last Friday, May 26, Michigan congressman Tim Walberg (R - as if you couldn't guess) had this to say about climate change:

“Do I think that man has some impact? Yeah, of course,” he continued. “Can man change the entire universe? No. Why do I believe that? As a Christian, I believe that there is a creator, God, who’s much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.”

It's almost impossible to overstate how irresponsible this is.  For one thing, the United States obviously is not a theocracy.  We don't (or at any rate, most of us don't) vote to send someone to Congress so that they can make policy decisions based on their religious beliefs.

But even setting that aside, this is a cop-out of epic proportions.  How many people would find any of these similarly ridiculous statements acceptable?

• "Why yes, I DID hear a noise that sounded like my car running over something, and I saw a person lying on the street in agony in my rear view mirror.  I'm confident that if that pedestrian really needs medical attention, God will take care of it."
• "Sure my neighbor asked me to keep an eye on his house while he was out of town, and sure I heard breaking glass at 3:00 AM this morning.  It was sure tough to get back to sleep, too, what with his security alarm going off for the next 6 hours.  But that's what I did because after all, if there were a real problem, God would take care of it."
• "I did think it was strange that those guys wanted to learn how to take off and fly a plane, but had no interest in learning how to land one.  And it really surprised me when I found out what they did on September 11.  I really thought that if they posed any kind of threat, that God would take care of it."

If your position on any important issue is that "God will take care of it," then why did you bother running for Congress at all?  Surely we don't need Congress, or a government, right?  For that matter, we don't need jobs of any kind, or money, or food.  We can just sit around all day watching 'Duck Dynasty', because God will take care of meeting our needs and keeping us secure, right?

Walberg seems to be overlooking the obvious here.  Perhaps God really is taking care of the climate change problem, and the way God is handling it is by providing humanity with brains to think and institutions to act, and that God put Tim Walberg in a position of influence precisely so he could impartially review the climate change science and champion effective policies to keep America safe.  In other words, perhaps God gave Tim Walberg the opportunity to DO HIS JOB, and Walberg dropped the ball.