14 Vicious Republican Assaults on America. 'Freedom of the press, D.O.M.A. , Legal Shooting of Protestors. # 5, 6 and

Should the public be allowed the choice of news coverage? Should this attempted monopoly of the news media by right wing fanatics be stopped?. Is marriage equality a legal or religious subject? Is meeting government protests with deadly force the appropriate solution? Should the freedom of speech include hate speeches at funerals?

Parts: 5, 6 and 7, of 14 Vicious Republican Assaults on America.

The sad part of this topic is that millions of people depend on this news service source as the most reliable and unbiased in this country. Thus is the G.O.P. hidden agenda, and its ensuing cost to government (American taxpayers); and the destruction of freedom of speech venues that counters, or does not promote, the right wing radical agendas.

The money saved by government is so minimal, a mere drop in the bucket, compared to taxpayers' money being spent on free insurance for members of congress, excessive retirement benefit packages, high salaries (that they are supposedly paid to represent the American people instead of themselves and their wealthy benefactors), useless 'wars' like Iraq and Afghanistan, unearned tax discounts to the rich corporate entities, the billions still being given to Iraq for their 're-building', and other "perks" that congress has voted for themselves, just to name a few examples.

Senator Jim DeMint (R. - S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R.- Okla.) have just moved to stifle NPR and PBS, introducing a bill in the Senate to cut off federal funding for public media.

This bill is part of an anti-democratic campaign to destroy serious journalism in America, and silence a source of news and programming that the vast majority of American taxpayers say is well worth the cost.

Oddly enough, a poll last week, found that 69% of the public, including more than half the Republican faithful, oppose attempts to gut federal funding for public media.

Meanwhile, these politically extreme politicians are more worried about proving their Tea Party bona fides than supporting the primary sources of local news and current events for many communities across America.

With that kind of cynicism, it is little wonder that four out of five Americans trust public broadcasting, and not even half, trust Congress. These attacks go against the will of the American people.

House Republicans just recently passed a budget bill that zeroes out ALL federal support for NPR and PBS. Now it is on to the Senate.

If the Senate passes this budget, hundreds of millions in funding for NPR and PBS will disappear. If you rely on 'Morning Edition' during you morning commute, if your kids demand 'Elmo' first thing in the morning, and if you agree with the majority of Americans that we need a world class public media system - you should be worried sick.

(defense of marriage act).

After President Obama's courageous decision to stop defending DOMA, radical GOP lawmakers have launched a new attack that will cost taxpayers billions, in defense of their discriminatory beliefs.

Although, president Obama dealt a blow to this discriminatory law, Speaker Boehner and Republican leaders could step in and begin defending it. Anti-LGBT lawmakers are being pressured by right wing groups to use taxpayer resources to defend this discriminatory law in court. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R.-Texas) and other members of Congress have already stepped in to defend DOMA in another federal court.

Speaker John Boehner and majority leader Eric Cantor, in order to pacify these anti-gay special interest groups, have vowed to "defend DOMA - no matter what it takes, or costs, the American taxpayer".

What a waste of time and effort to defend this "sacred" institution at taxpayer expense, when it is nothing more than a dam man made law to bind two people together for legal purposes. The argument that it has any religious validity at all is not a matter of government, and totally ludicrous, since our own constitution bans discrimination for any reason. Not to even mention the divorce rate in this country!!

This DOMA bill needs to be repealed, and the Government needs to stop wasting taxpayer money in their arguments and efforts to continuously try to mandate morality on the people.

Deputy attorney general Jeff Cox suggested on twitter to "use live ammunition " against protesters in Madison, Wisconsin. When he was questioned by the media regarding this statement he followed up with "you're damned right i advocate deadly force".

Although, he was subsequently fired for this statement, the fact that a public official is even comfortable calling for the shooting of peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment rights is terrifying. Unfortunately, it is not surprising since the political Right has moved so far away from supporting democratic norms.

The Right -Wing movement has taken sides against the working people of Wisconsin and is trying to paint peaceful protesters and unions as "thugs", in doing so, they are aligning themselves with some of American history's worst villains - the politicians and robber barons of the late 1800's and early 1900's who would call in private security firms and militias to break union strikes and intimidate workers with outright violence, and sometimes mass murder.

We remember the violent actions and rhetoric of some of the Tea Party congressional candidates in 2010 - Sharron Angle with her "Second Amendment remedies.", Joe miller with his private security guards who roughed up and illegally detained a reporter. Now we are faced with public officials who are falsely trying to portray public workers, who are under attack, and their supporters, as violent and advocating real violence against them just for standing up for our basic rights.

And these same right wing GOP members are calling Gaddafi a tyrant and dictator for doing exactly the same thing against his people. What a bunch of hypocrites and two faced people we have allowed such accessibility into our government. (of course, if my computer hacking theory of new election practices are correct - we did not, in fact, elect any of those idiots. They were actually computer hacked into those positions. )

After the termination of Jeff Cox in Indiana, the Attorney General's office put out this statement:

"Civility and courtesy toward all members of the public are very important to the Indiana Attorney General's office. We respect individuals' First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility."

In other words, it is OK to be a bigot, just don't show it in public. Sort of the new version to the old 'don't ask, don't tell' mentality?

Republicans are actually going to fine House Democrats $250 a day for stopping a vote to slash workers' rights. Amazing.

To be continued.............

by: d.william 03/14/11