Junior Sen. Tom Cotton, the goofball Arkansas wacko who would be better at being dog catcher.
I get sick and tired of right wing ideologues, whether they're congenital assholes like Sen. Jim Inhofe, from Oklahoma, who insists climate change is a "hoax" - or the birdbrains that formulated the original "religious freedom" law in Indiana - that since had to be amended thanks to a national firestorm. But I especially get irritated at grade A assholes like Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who - despite being junior Senators - believe they have some God-given right to stick their beaks where they don't belong.
For example, this fool was the prime author behind that ignorant letter to Iran - warning them any future deals would have to have the 'Good Housekeeping' seal of the repukes. It was totally out of line, and many decent citizens reacted to this POS with tweets bearing the hashtag:#TRAITORS. Well, if not, then pretty close to it because it ran the risk of running the critical nuclear negotiations with Iran off the tracks.
The thing with these goddamned ideologues is that nothing is ever good enough. In the case of religious liberty "laws", they want total ostracization of those they deem immoral or "sinners"- whether LGBT citizens, atheists, pro-choice advocates or pagans seeking to celebrate the birth of Anubis in a restaurant. They can't live and let live so use the cover of "religious liberty" for their bigotry.
In the case of critical peace talks, they demand all or nothing. Despite the fact it ain't gonna happen in this universe, they want total nuclear disarmament from Iran. Having a diplomatic solution that at least allows Iran to retain some nuclear capacity - say for power plants - is off the table. It's their way or the highway. Egged on by extremists in Israel - which nation has over 200 nukes, btw- they are content to be wrong and strong in their efforts to sabotage a real chance for peace.
It would be great to ignore them, but since they now have two majorities in congress (thanks to indolent Dems sitting on their asses for the last mid-term)and the power of lawmaking, we can't. Everything they do is pregnant with effect and consequence for us all.
Hence, it was with some trepidation that I greeted the news yesterday of an initial breakthrough in the Iran nuclear talks. They give a real hope of peace that accommodates all sides, as opposed to surrender by one side. For those who may not know, the following are cornerstones of the current agreement:
-Iran reduces its centrifuges from 19,000 to 6,000
- All their facilities would be open to UN inspection
- Upon UN certification world powers would roll back economic sanctions
All these are reasonable, though there is still much work to be done. But what we have is a start as opposed to scuttled deal leading to Iran building who knows how many kiloton-range nukes - with many possibly mountable as warheads on missiles.
But the trepidation enters with the likely reaction of the war-mongering repukes who are always searching for ways to piss money away with new military adventures - so too little is left to meet domestic needs, whether repairing crumbling infrastructure or expanding Social Security. And indeed my fears were confirmed when I saw Cotton yammering this morning - in answer to a reporter's question - that "the terms announced today were not as bad as I feared they were much worse".
No, jackass, it was actually the best that could be achieved, since everyone with a working brain knew Iran would not just roll over and blow up its facilities. Despite that, Bibi Nitwit-yahu tweeted: "This will not block Iran's path to the bomb it will pave it" - which is bollocks. The close scrutiny, including via distant electronic transmissions from in situ cameras - ensures Iran will not deviate, or else it will face much stiffer sanctions - which already have it reeling.
But the Republicans and their irrational, ideological comrades in Israel don't care. They will try and scuttle this deal because it isn't the "perfect" one they fantasize. And in so doing, will likely lead us into another long terrible war even more horrific than the misbegotten one in Iraq.
In the meantime, aware citizens need to disregard the idiots in the media - like John Bolton, opining in the WaPo- that this is anything like Neville Chamberlain's appeasement to Hitler, Nazi Germany. For one thing, Iran is not Nazi Germany as any student of WWII knows. They have no Luftwaffe for massive bombing attacks, no Wehrmacht to take over whole nations (like the German Reich did in WWII) and no Fuhrer with the power of Adolf Hitler. The use of the comparison is as stupid and ignorant as when Right wing nuts invoked Saddam as "Hitler" before the Iraq invasion - forgetting the REAL parallel was the 2003 U.S. invasion itself, comparable to the Nazis invasion of Poland in 1939.
See also:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/john-feffer/61622/iran-deal-or-no-deal
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