It's perfectly clear to me that the Republican Party has ceased to exist. It's now officially been taken over by the lunatics of the far right and the name should be changed to The Tea Party. The Tea Party will hold its convention next week in Tampa and if fate is kind the hurricane that some say is headed that way will descend on the convention hall and blow all the hateful, crazy, racist, ignorant, homophobic delegates into the Gulf of Mexico. The latest manifestation of the Tea Party takeover is when the lunatics in Missouri banded together and nominated Todd Akin for Senate. By now I'm sure you are aware of what he said about rape and abortion. The point is however, that its just not Akin who believes what he said but it's also the vast majority of Tea Party members. Incidentally folks Paul Ryan the supposed intellectual also believes the same thing that Akin espouses and I guess I was ahead of the curve last week when I pronounced him an intellectual phony. How any intelligent person can believe that somehow a women's body can fend off pregnancy if they are raped is just demented and ignorant. Today the Tea Party included in their platform a plank that endorses a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. Can't wait to see what other gems they come up with. So for now on I will not ever refer again to the Republican Party because they have ceased to exist. They are now the Tea Party.