Overcast this early Friday on California’s north coast and here we are again on the cusp of another weekend — can’t get here soon enough.

Time flies even when you’re doing absolutely nothing — there are two, and only two, major political parties in the US and one of those is nothing more than a crowd of huge, atomic-powered assholes without a hint of compassion.

(Illustration found here).

A major case in point — yesterday, US House Republicans rammed through a screwed-up farm bill by gutting the food stamp part of the legislation, and although the GOP ‘pledged’ to make up the difference in a separate bill, most folks are wary. This could mean the beginning of the end for food stamps, which help more than 47 million Americans, most of them children, keep, ah,… eating.
Assholes all the way, and here an example — via Raw Story:

Republicans in the House of Representatives on Thursday threatened to strike a Democratic representative’s words from the record and then booed her after she shamed them for cutting food stamp funding from the farm bill.
“The Bible says, to whom much is given, much is required,” Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) observed during debate over whether funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) should be stripped from the farm bill.
“And this is a sad day in the House of Representatives.
“Shame on the Republicans! Shame on the House of Representatives!”
After an objection from Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA), Speaker pro tempore Kevin Yoder (R-KS) ordered Brown to “suspend” and “be seated.”
“Excuse me,” Brown replied, glaring at Yoder.
“What did I say that was incorrect?”
In a point of parliamentary inquiry, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) pointed out that Republican members of Congress had often called out President Barack Obama and even said, “Nancy Pelosi’s a train wreck.”
“And their words have not been taken down and they’ve not been seated,” Edwards insisted.
“Is it not in order for the gentle lady to be recognized and to be able to speak on this issue, merely saying ‘Republicans’?”
Yoder then gaveled for Edwards to “suspend” and noted that Woodall had demanded that Brown’s words be taken down.
After about five minutes of discussion, Yoder returned to the podium to say that Woodall had decided to withdraw his objection and Brown was allowed to continue.
“This is a sad day in the House of Representatives, and to separate the farm bill from the elderly, from the children, this is a shame!” Brown exclaimed.
“Mitt Romney was right. You all do not care about the 47 percent!”

There’s video at the link.

And Louie Gohmert, one shit-head of an asshole, acted the part during the House debate, and as in all things Republican, played the toxic, noxious bully:

Before a vote could be taken on the Republican farm bill that drops the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — or food stamps — Democrats attempted to voice their unhappiness by inserting statements into the record.
“Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in strong opposition to the farm bill rule and the underlying bill because it will increase hunger in America,” Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) said.
Although requests to “revise and extend” remarks are routine, Gohmert immediate shouted, “Objection!”
Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-IL) next asked permission to “revise and extend” his remarks in opposition to the farm bill “because it takes food nutrition away from working families.”
“Objection!” Gohmert yelled.
“What he is doing is he is not even giving members on our side the courtesy inserting their statement in the record?” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) asked.
As several more Democratic representatives attempted to insert remarks that the bill “hurts the working poor” and “increases hunger and poverty,” Gohmert repeatedly objected.
“I think it is extremely unfortunate that that members on the other side of the aisle would deny members on this side of the aisle the ability to insert written materials in the record,” McGovern noted.
“In all my years here, I’ve never seen such uncourteous gesture.”

Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, explains why the GOP dropped food stamps from the farm bill: “What we have carefully done is exclude some extraneous pieces.”
Is the asshole claiming food is not vital?
From Think Progress:

Conservatives say SNAP is a troubled program in need of some tough love.
But in fact it has one of the lowest fraud rates of any federal program, despite being among the largest.
The agricultural subsidies component of the farm bill actually has a higher rate of erroneous payments than does SNAP.
Furthermore, the vast majority of food stamp recipients who are able to work do so.
The program kept 4.7 million families out of poverty in 2011 alone, thereby juicing economic growth for the nation as a whole.
The food charities conservatives expect to pick up the slack from food stamp cuts say they lack the resources to do so.

They don’t give a shit, though.

Or in the case of North Carolina Republicans — trick or trick. The assholes passed anti-abortion legislation using a motorcycle safety bill: S.B. 353 is called “Health and Safety Law Changes” for short, but its official title underscores the messy process of the legislation; it has 123 words on abortion and just 17 on motorcycles.

Soon I hope, Americans will see through the horror party. One strong point people are becoming more aware of is corruption — but can zero compassion be seen as a kind of corruption, maybe of the spirit. Americans nearly loath their government.
Via US News and World Report:

The 2013 Global Corruption Barometer, released July 9, found that more than a quarter of people worldwide have paid a bribe in the last year, political parties are perceived as the most corrupt institutions, and the majority (54 percent) of people surveyed said their governments are ineffective at fighting corruption.
…
In the United States, 60 percent of people said that corruption has increased over the last two years, while only 10 percent said it has decreased by any amount, according to the survey.
Slightly more than 7 percent of Americans admitted to paying a bribe to any of eight major public services in the last 12 months.
Of those people, 15 percent said they paid a bribe to someone who works in the judiciary, 14 percent paid one to registry and permit services and 11 percent paid off someone in education services.
…
More than three-quarters of Americans say that political parties are the most corrupt, followed by the legislature, the media, public officials and businesses.
Those surveyed said that the military, non-governmental organizations and the education system were the least corrupt.

Assholes all — for me, off toward the weekend!