There are a host of reasons I have been neglectful this year, ranging from Trumpantics to personal issues to health-related issues, but the time has come to stop making excuses and get back in the saddle.  To what, you may ask, do I refer? … … … Well, are you gonna ask or not???  Okay, okay … Here it is just a few days shy of being the middle of the year, and I have not written one single Idiot of the Week post.  Not one!  It certainly isn’t for lack of available material!  Well, today I plan to rectify that situation, so without further ado, please allow me to introduce to you Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma!

Senator Jim Inhofe has crossed my radar a few times of late, and last time he crossed a line when he left something sticky and disgusting all over the screen.  Last week, he flitted across my screen when he blocked the proposal filed by Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander and eleven other senators that would have required congressional approval for the imposition of trade tariffs.  Blocked it.  Would not even let it come for a vote.

Now this week, Inhofe is saying that he is “a little embarrassed” to have doubted his longtime friend from Oklahoma, EPA head Scott Pruitt. Less than a week after suggesting Pruitt might have to resign amid the swirl of scandal, Inhofe said he was confident the administrator had done nothing seriously wrong. Any of Pruitt’s lapses were minor and excusable given his lack of experience in Washington, Inhofe said at a news conference Wednesday.

1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6 … 7 … 8 … 9 … 10 …Scott Pruitt, you might remember, is the subject of at least twelve federal investigations for abusing his position in various ways, including his travel and security costs, purchase of a home in Oklahoma from a lobbyist using a shell corporation and potential use of his office to enrich himself. And Inhofe finds nothing ‘seriously wrong’ with any of this???  I think we need to take a closer look at Senator Inhofe, don’t you?

For starters, Jim Inhofe is 83 years old and since he does not come up for re-election until 2020, so he will be 85 at the time of the 2020 election.  It is time for this hombre to r-e-t-i-r-e!

Inhofe is the most conservative member of both the House and Senate, according to the 2017 GovTrack report card.

Inhofe is a climate change denier extraordinaire.  He once compared the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to a “Gestapo bureaucracy”.  He even wrote a book in 2012, The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.  The theme of his book is a global warming conspiracy theory that through worldwide acts of professional and criminal misconduct, the science behind global warming has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons, or both.  Ironically, he sits on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.  And Inhofe has been a recipient of monies from the fossil fuel industry.  Per the Center for Responsive Politics, Inhofe has received over $529,000 from the oil and gas industry since 2012.  Inhofe’s book, by the way, has only a 2.5 star ranking on Amazon and the hardback now sells for $1.50.

At a House committee hearing in 2011, Inhofe was questioned by committee member Jay Inslee, who mentioned that perhaps the scientists were more knowledgeable than he, Inhofe.  Inhofe disagreed because, he said, he had already given “five speeches on the science”.  🙄

Now, all that is certainly enough to qualify him for the first Idiot of the Week award of 2018, but Senator Inhofe has so kindly obliged by giving us even more reason …

In a Senate speech, Inhofe said that America should base its Israel policy on the text of the Bible, then he proceeded to quote said text.  Wait … isn’t ours a secular government?  He also said in a speech to the Senate in 2002 that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were a form of divine retribution against the U.S. for failing to defend Israel.  Oh for …

Inhofe is a bigot.  He has earned 0% in every one of his terms on Human Rights Campaign’s position scorecard.  He is in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, against adding sexual orientation to the definition of hate crimes, and voted against prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  Wait … this is that religious man who believes we should rely on the Bible?  Isn’t there something somewhere in the Bible about loving everyone?  I’m confused.  Inhofe’s office has said that he will not hire gay staffers.  (Perhaps he has a sign on the door like Mr. Jeff Amyx?)

Now for the really fun one.  Inhofe is a licensed pilot (yes, airplanes, Joe!).  On October 21, 2010, at the age of 75, Inhofe landed his Cessna on a closed runway at a south Texas airport, scattering construction workers who ran for their lives. In a recorded telephone call, the men’s supervisor told the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that Inhofe “scared the crap out of” the workers, adding that the Cessna “damn near hit” a truck. In response to the incident, Inhofe stated that he “did nothing wrong”, and accused the FAA of “agency overreach” and causing a “feeling of desperation” in him.  Ayyyyy … pobrecito!Inhofe has made, on taxpayer’s dollar, more than 140 trips to Africa over the past 20 years.  He admits that much of the reason for his trips was on behalf of The Fellowship, a Christian organization.

There’s more, but I think you get the general idea.  My biggest regret is that Inhofe will not be up for re-election this year, for I really think this dinosaur needs to GO!

And so, Senator Jim Inhofe, for all of the above reasons and for just generally being a bigot and supporting the destruction of our home, the planet earth, I now award you with Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award!  Please hang it somewhere that you can show it off to your visitors in the Capitol!

(I really must do these more often … I had forgotten how much fun they are!)