Friday, April 20, 2007

Sen. Tom Coburn (R - OK)

Oklahoma, you're not done yet.

The other half of Oklahoma's problematic senatorial representation is Tom Coburn- A wealthy doctor and deacon turned politician. Oooooh isn't that the best kind?

When the Republicans in 2004 were screaming about the dangers of terrorism facing America to draw up support for the GOP - Tom Coburn was screaming about how gay people were infiltrating the US in an attempt to take over. Not kidding. The funniest part of his assault on homosexuals was when he accused them of forcing their abortion agenda on "normal" Americans:

"That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That's a gay agenda."


Does anyone seriously believe that people who don't even have to worry about reproducing are going to be the greatest advocates of reproductive rights? Think logically about that for a second.

Anyway, Coburn also skews the reality about his position as a "pork-busting" Republican. His most prized accomplishment that he "drove through" Congress, the Coburn Transparency Bill... is actually called the "Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006." In actually, the only thing he did was introduce the bill with Barack Obama (D-IL). In fact, a visit to Obama's Senate website finds that the Obama team credits both senators with introducing the bill, which is what actually happened! Nobody "drove it" through - IT PASSED UNANIMOUSLY!!! Coburn would rather have his constituents believe that he's their ally battling crooked politicians than have them knowing the full truth... Which ironically makes him a crooked politician.

The funniest thing that Coburn has probably ever done as a Senator was when he worked on a crossword puzzle during the Senate's confirmation hearing of John Roberts. Literally, right in front of C-SPAN, this guy crapped all over his duty as the Senator of Oklahoma.

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One politician at a time.
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Thursday, April 12, 2007

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R - OK)

James Inhofe is the senior Senator from Oklahoma. He's been in office since 1994. But, he has a couple of things wrong with him.

1. The philosophy behind his foreign policy- particularly in the Middle East.

In a March 4, 2002 speech to the Senate floor, Inhofe listed "proof" for why the United States should ardently support Israel. He began by citing archaeological evidence that says Israelis are decendants of the Israelites who have been there for thousands of years, thus they are entitled to it:
"Every time there is a dig in Israel, it does nothing but support the fact that Israelis have had a presence there for 3,000 years. They have been there for a long time. The coins, the cities, the pottery, the culture -- there are other people, groups that are there, but there is no mistaking the fact that Israelis have been present in that land for 3000 years…The first Israelis are in fact descended from the original Israelites. The first proof, then is the archeology."
Now, there's a humor in his approach that one cannot ignore. First of all, Inhofe essentially made the case that the United States ought to be handed over to the Native American Indians. Read that quote again and substitute "America" and "Native American Indians" for "Israel" and "Israelis." Secondly, he's a hardline conservative Christian who doesn't even believe in sciences like archaelogy or paleontology because they refute the claims of the bible that the world is only about 6000 years old. Which brings us to his next main point - The BIBLE!

Inhofe has frequently cited the Bible as a main text supporting his foreign policy. Since we're on the topic of the sovereignty of Israel, let's see what he has to say about that:
"I believe very strongly that we ought to support Israel; that it has a right to the land. This is the most important reason: Because God said so. As I said a minute ago, look it up in the book of Genesis. It is right up there on the desk... This is not a political battle at all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true."
But, here's the kicker: Inhofe claimed that the 9/11 attacks were God punishing the United States for failing to defend Israel enough!!! His exact words were that it was "nothing short of a miracle."

If you're not convinced of the ignorance yet, please take note that Israel - a very small country - gets over 30% of our foreign aid: Billions in military assistance each year and hundreds of millions toward economic aid. And to think that Inhofe - a conservative - would likely have a very big problem with that same amount of money going toward a social welfare program such as funding higher education... The same education that might have helped him learn something about reality.

2. His environmental policy.

Inhofe is THE leading critic of global warming in the Senate. Is it because he truly believes that it's not real? To answer this, let's see why he might keep claiming that "global warming is a hoax."

If you do some research, you'll see that Inhofe seems to be getting quite a bit of campaign contributions from the energy sector of industry- In fact, he's made more than a million dollars since taking office. If you didn't make the connection - that's the sector of oil and gas producers that would suffer the most from cutting back greenhouse gas emissions. But, that's not funny... That's sad political truth. So, what's funny about his position on global warming?

- He claims that the Weather Channel is behind the hoax to attract viewers.
- He compares environmentalists to Nazis, namely his connection between the EPA and Gestapo
- And, probably the funniest insinuation he makes... That the satellite data that we have on record / confirmed by NOAA balloon data shows that no serious warming has happened over the past century. Yep, our satellites and weather balloons going back to 1907 must have been really accurate. You know... like how they haven't existed over the past century to have made such calculations. Plus, the data actually DOES seem to show a warming trend.

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