I'd like to be discussing global warming. Scientists at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in Hawaii recently reported that global levels of atmosperic CO2 are at the highest levels in 2-4 million years (but who's counting?) I'd enjoy talking about the Republicans in Congress who ignore the empirical evidence and the research of thousands of climatologists who all agree on global warming, while they take their walking orders and bullet points from the Koch brothers and the oil lobby.

Someone ought to still be calling out for gun control before bullet wounds become more common than cold sores. On Mother's Day in New Orleans, some lunatic (or possibly two lunatics) began firing into a crowd, seemingly randomly.

As seen in this cell phone photo, the gunman was employing a handgun. Nineteen individuals were shot, including several children. There were no fatalities, but if the shooter had had an AR-15 and a couple of 30-round magazines, it might have been Aurora or Sandyhook all over again. So it would be beneficial to the common good to discuss why our 535 elected representatives in DC couldn't even agree to require background checks for firearms purchases, let alone ban assault weapons. Maybe we could include the five year-old Kentucky boy who killed his sister with the .22 rifle he'd gotten for his birthday or the three Texas kids who were involved in separate shootings in just one week.

We could be talking about how Republican obstructionism led to the "sequester" and the closing of Head Starts and preschools and near paralysis of the FAA, or how their deliberate blocking of every Democratic economic initiative in the last five years has served their purpose of maintaining staggering unemployment. We could discuss how John Boehner and the House Republicans are poised to hold the country hostage over yet another economic cliff.

We could be talking about a lot of things, but what we ARE talking about is the Benghazi scandal, the IRS scandal, and the Department of Justice/Associated Press scandal. The GOP made no bones about the fact that they wanted to ensure a failed Obama presidency from day one of his first term. To a man, they've done their level best to make that dream a reality for the last five years. But it's awfully difficult to carry out an execution when the victim insists on committing suicide.

The entire Benghazi "scandal" is a Republican construct, short on substance and long on innuendo.  They latched onto it like kids with a new toy, while totally ignoring a dozen similar incidents during the Bush years, each with multiple fatalities. Given another week or two, it would have run out of fuel and burned out of its own accord. But when you throw the IRS targeting Tea Party groups and the DOJ demanding Associated Press internal memos onto the fire, it begins to look as if someone is going to get burned.

One question: What the hell are these guys thinking?