Tea Party Zombies

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Today I read a letter to the editor that was filled with hysterical, insane political clap-trap. It was written by one of those 'Tea Party patriots'. At first, I was baffled by how he could possibly believe such absurd and ridiculous lies about President Obama and the Democratic Party. But then I realized:

These Tea Party 'patriots' have been taken in by focus group tested, fear inducing, fabrications about President Obama and the Democratic Party. They have placed their trust in 'conservative'/Tea Party promoters who have abused that trust and, at the direction of their rightwing billionaire benefactors, deceived and misdirected their listeners.

Conservatisms is about resisting change and looking to the past for answers.

'Conservative' Tea Party promoters have taken the worst vices of our past, cronyism, corruption, bigotry, classism and rebranded them to be sold to the Tea Party as virtues. They have cherry picked bit and pieces from our past to paint a picture of a narrow-minded, selfish, self-centered American history.

To lure in their victims, these 'conservative'/Tea Party promoters pour out a never ending deluge of dire warning and conspiracy theories. That's because they trade in fear. They enthrall their listeners with stories of threats to everything they hold dear. They terrify them with tales of impending doom and having reduced their listeners to mindless terror, they then supply them with an enemy to fear and hate.

And the enemy they supply their terrified devotee's? Democrats, liberals, progressives, Obama! Never mind that what they say about these supposed enemies is pure fabrication, they have already frightened their listeners into unthinking submission. Whatever they say is taken as gospel and anything that contradicts that must not be considered. And that fearful, closed-mindedness is exactly what these 'conservative'/Tea Party promoters are aiming for.

These 'conservative'/Tea Party promoters don't want the kind of rational dialogue that is necessary to maintain a democracy. They want to tear down democracy and usher in a plutocracy, run by their rightwing billionaire benefactors.

Doug Ericksen Blows Smoke on Redistricting

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I read "Ericksen: Two Democratic redistricting proposals violate intent and spirit of state law, constitution" on the B'ham Herald's politics blog and I must say that Doug Ericksen has exceeded his usual level hypocrisy.

Off course Doug wants a nice Republican safe 42nd District but to claim that Commissioner Ceis & Foster's redistricting proposal are illegal is just ridiculous.

If you'll look at the compilation of maps below, you'll see that both of the Democrats proposals more or less divide the county by population density. Placing the urban/suburban western part of the county mostly in the 42nd LD with a small portion in the 40th and the rural east county in the 39th. That division certainly honors the concept of 'communities of interest' better than either of the Republican proposals.

Gorton's proposal simply chops out most of Bellingham. I can see no way in which the residents of Ferndale have more common interests with the residents of Nooksack, Everson and Sumas than they do with the residents of Bellingham.

Huffs proposal not only hacks up Bellingham, it also has the 39th LD snaking its way up the east side of lake Whatcom gouging out a narrow swath nearly to Everson.

Clearly, both Republican proposals are drawn along purely partisan lines, with no consideration for the various communities of interest within Whatcom County.