Tag Archives: Republicans

Aug 20 2012

Todd Akin – Another Half-wit speaks

Another step backward yesterday when Todd Akin, a six term Republican Representative now running for the Senate, shared his opinion when asked if he would support abortion if the pregnancy was a result of a rape. His answer, in the usual throwback to the Dark Ages of women’s rights we have come to see from such peabrains, again demonstrated where the current Republican party leans.

“It seems to me first of all from what I understand from doctors that’s really rare,” Akin said of a rape victim’s chances of becoming pregnant. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

And then, within hours, he didn’t even have enough balls to stand behind his statement backpedaling as quickly as possible. Maybe when he got home his wife threatened to cut him off –

“In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year,” Akin’s statement said.

This again makes me wonder how anyone can support the likes of this half-wit let alone vote him into office six times.

It also makes one wonder how any woman can possibly vote the Republican ticket where cretins like Akin are welcomed with open arms. It would be different if he stood alone in his thinking.

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In any case, congrats Mr. Akin. You are the proud recipient of today’s “Head in the Butt” award. Wear it proudly

Aug 17 2012

Mitt – are you really that stupid?

Mitt – at a fundraising event yesterday in SC. And he needs armed (in combat gear) security because? Maybe because he had a lower tax rate than most Americans over the last decade.

So Mitt shares he has personally gone back to review his taxes (highly doubtful) and he reveals that he has paid taxes contrary to the remarks made by Harry Reid.  Ok – but he also includes the fact that in the last 10 years, he has never paid less than 13% effective tax rate.  Could just be me but I can’t think that telling the America public that he has paid at an even lower tax rate than we all heard previously would seem to be a great strategic move.  I guess it is better than a situation where he paid no tax but not much.  His throwing in that if you count his charitable contributions, he is paying over 20% also doesn’t carry much weight for a couple of reasons.  First, if I recall correctly, most all his charitable contribution went to the Morman Church.  While it works for his church, it somewhat pales in comparison to actually helping others outside your personal circle.  Second, last time I looked, charitable contributions are a deduction from taxes so no matter how you looked at it, he didn’t pay 20% in taxes.  Lastly, giving to charity is a voluntary action.  Unlike, taxes which isn’t really a choice.  So when you add it all up, what Mitt pays falls into the same tax bracket for a single person making less than $35K.  Take a look – and these are for 2012 – obviously much higher than the last decade.  I know it is a bit more complex than this and that tax brackets don’t equate to effective tax rate but directionally not that far off considering his average annual income isn’t even in the six figure range.  Hell, I’m figuring I’ll need to be retired before I see that tax rate – mine hasn’t been below 24% in recently memory.

2012 Tax Brackets

So, for being so stupid and trying to answer one problem by waving a flag elsewhere and actually pointing to another problem, I think it is appropriate tha Mitt get today’s “Head in the Butt” award – I think he should share it with his staff given it is obvious no one said “You know, Mitt, might not be a great idea to tell everyone you are actually paying even less tax”.

Mitt – take a bow – carefully…it’s one thing to have your foot in your mouth.

Aug 16 2012

Ricky Santorum – boy have we missed him!

I will admit fodder for blogs was much easier when Ricky was still in the hunt for the Republican nomination.  After realizing that most of Republican America still saw him as the jerk and reprobate that Pennsylvania voters realized several years ago, he quickly put his tail between his legs and took refuge somewhere no doubt where 21st century thinking was still decades away.

Freedom – as long as your believe what I do!

But, hallelujah, glory be, HE IS BACK! (that is the closest to a religious fervor I can get).  Yesterday, Ricky shared his opinion that President Barack Obama is “directly assaulting” religious freedom and that his administration has implemented policies that force Catholics to abandon their faith.  Now, while I understand this is politics and that Santorum plays to a select few (none of whom I can personally admit to being an acquaintance), I think Ricky really needs to understand that most Catholics, if we use their support and aherence to the beliefs of the Catholic faith, have long abandoned the rules set by the Catholic Church without help from the present administration.  I also have to wonder where Ricky’s wife, who managed to cohabit, un-married, with a renowned abortion doctor, the founder of Pittsburgh’s first abortion clinic in the 1970′s, for several years pre-Ricky, really feels about all this.  She has no doubt hit the confessional a few times – nothing a couple of Hail Mary’s can’t fix.

Let’s take a quick look at the numbers as far as Americans who are Catholic and their adherence to the faith.  In full disclosure, I am a longstanding atheist so I have issues with most any religious belief – while I’ll defend to the end your right to believe whatever you want, I’ll still never understand how you can believe what you do.  I will admit I just happen to find the Catholic belief structure and the Pope particularly abhorrent.

Hmm…Birth Control – while the more non-catholics find birth control morally acceptable than catholics, it isn’t by much.  More important, 8 in 10 catholics don’t align with their faith.  I guess most of these people won’t be abandoning their faith because of Obama – they left long ago.

This next chart is even more interesting.

Quite a bit to highlight here – but the data in the chart is pretty clear.  The majority of Catholics polled seem to fall on the wrong side of sticking with the mandates of the Catholic faith – even the church going Catholics.  Even more amazing is that more church going Catholics see abortion as morally acceptable than non-Catholics.  Quite a few of them gambling also.

Here’s another surprise (not) – not alot of support of the Catholic Church in general by Catholics – aside from a great number of beliefs remaining in the dark ages, I guess the abuse of little boys hasn’t help the cause much.

So at the end of the day, Ricky, I give to you the latest “Head in the Butt” award.  There was no question among the voters and I expect this will not be the last time you get this honor given there is still a few months to go and you will be out there helping Mitt.

Ricky has also started to weigh in on Paulie R.

“What Paul Ryan stands for in conservative circles and in the media and in this country, for those who know him, is someone who is willing to challenge the status quo and have bold ideas to confront the problems of this country in a truthful fashion,” Santorum said.

Yes, there is no doubt Paulie comes to the table with some bold ideas.

From Thinkprogress.org –

“Ryan embraces the extreme philosophy of Ayn Rand. Ryan heaped praise on Ayn Rand, a 20th-century libertarian novelist best known for her philosophy that centered on the idea that selfishness is “virtue.” Rand described altruism as “evil,” condemned Christianity for advocating compassion for the poor, viewed the feminist movement as “phony,” and called Arabs “almost totally primitive savages.”

Wow – she sounds more like a 2012 Republican than a professed libertarian.

Aug 8 2012

Romney – the Chameleon

I was actually looking for more detail on the Romney stand on Global Warming this morning when I came across a recently posted article by Paul Davies in the Philly Post.  The article,

“Mitt Romney Has Perfected Flip-Flopping – Which side of the Republican candidate would show up at the White House?” 

can be found at  http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-flip-flopping/.  It is quite a well written piece that I suggest everyone read but more impressive is the video embedded in the article which takes the various and everchanging positions of Mitt over the years and displays them very elegantly and effectively.  Say what you will about the Media, it makes it difficult for a politician to duck and run from previous statements and positions they’ve taken.  I’ve included that video below.  It is a bit longer than most (almost 20 minutes) which speaks volumes as to the contradictions and changes we can see in Mitt over his political career.

Now, if only we had a voting public with the intelligence to realize what it going on and the common sense to see that there is a problem here.

I can only hope but my expectations are low.

Aug 2 2012

Lest we all forget – Bachmann and the Tea Party

Not sure about the rest of you but it seems to me like we haven’t heard much as of recent from one of the most uniformed politicians out there – Michele Bachmann.  I personally find it a bit disheartening that someone so obviously half brain-dead can have a law degree, let alone play any role in national politics.  Makes me wonder about the educational standards we set in some of our law schools.  Again, not a surprise but it does also speak volumes of the level of intelligence of a good number of our voting public is given her early run in the Republican presidential campaign.

In any case, I stumbled across this site – http://www.zimbio.com/Michele+Bachmann’s+Craziest+Quotes/articles (kudos and credit to zimbio.com) that provided a quick walk down memory lane as to the long and often confused psyche of this loon.  Whether anti-gay, anti-science, conspiracy theory or just downright stupid – she covers it all.  Here are some of my favorites –

“Normalization (of gayness) through desensitization. Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders, is take a picture of The Lion King for instance, and a teacher might say, ‘Do you know that the music for this movie was written by a gay man?’ The message is: ‘I’m better at what I do, because I’m gay.'” — Bachmann, Nov. 2004

“It’s your state that fired the shot that was heard around the world! You are the state of Lexington and Concord, you started the battle for liberty right here in your backyard.”
—Bachmann recounting her version of the American Revolution while in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, Lexington, Concord and the short heard ’round the world all happened in Massachusetts. March 2011
“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.” –Rep. Michele Bachmann, suggesting at a presidential campaign event in Florida that the 2011 East Coast earthquake and hurricane was a message from God (Aug. 2011)       
“Before we get started, let’s all say ‘Happy Birthday’ to Elvis Presley today.” -Rep. Michele Bachmann, while campaigning for president in South Carolina on what was actually the anniversary of Elvis’s death, Aug. 16, 2011 (Elvis was born on January 8) 
“The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It’s all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax.”
— March 15, 2008
”Why should I go and do something like that? But the Lord says, ‘Be submissive wives; you are to be submissive to your husbands.”  —Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), recalling in a 2006 speech at a Megachurch in Minneapolis that pursuing tax law wasn’t her choice, but she did so at the urging of her husband because she was certain God was speaking through him 

Two birds of a feather?

Given the Michele is also really all about the Tea Party and all it stands for as well as in recognition of the recent Senate primary win by a Tea Party candidate in Texas, I think we should also highlight exactly what they bring to the table…and there are so many from which to choose.

           

       

    

      

   

Mar 22 2012

The Republican War against Women

While we as a country continue to reel from the economic crisis brought on thru the greed and FU attitude of recent attempt at Presidency by Bush, the current crop of Republicans seem to think the priority to taking over the reproductive rights of half (actually more) of our population.  This Republican push to remove any Federal oversight and influence thereby moving more control and legislative influence and decision-making to the States will continue to enable this sort of regressive move back to the 50’s – when men were men and women were, well, objects.

Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre of Tulsa, Oklahoma held up a sign at a protest at the Oklahoma capitol to protest anti-abortion legislation in the state.

I find it hard to understand the men at the head of this battle but even more so, that there are women leading some of the legislation to further restrict women’s rights is even more difficult to understand.  As I looked at a bit more detail behind the current laws and proposed laws (including those in play in my home state of Pennsylvania), it becomes very obvious that the Republican agenda has nothing to do beyond getting into women’s shorts – so to speak.  When you see it all in one place and you look at the legislative vent it makes it very clear about the agenda as well as provides a good list of places not to live (Pennsylvania included).  I’ve taken a stab at pulling together a quick view of everything I could find out there at the moment – can’t attest to the fact that it is all correct down to the minute nor that I didn’t miss some states out there.  In any case, to me it is a sad commentary on where we are as a country today and how easy it is for some to tell others what they can and can’t do.  I really thought that religious freedom when both ways – not just that we all had to follow the zealot’s rules.

Here is a quick view of things:

State  Legislation    Status
Idaho Legislation requires all women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound procedure In Progress
Kansas Bill requires women under the age of 18 to receive the explicit consent of both her parents before seeking an abortion. Exceptions will only be made in cases where “family sexual abuse is involved,” and even then women will need the approval of one parent. Additionally another law would immunize a doctor who discovers that a baby will be born with a devastating condition and deliberately withholds that   information from his patient. In Progress
Texas Law mandates that women seeking abortions undergo forced ultrasounds.  The provider must also display and describe the image of the ultrasound. Law
Arkansas A bill under way in the Senate that would severely limit abortion coverage under private insurance plans. If passed, would require women to purchase a special rider or policy if they ever plan to get an abortion. In Progress
Oklahoma Law requiries women not only to undergo an ultrasound before seeking an abortion but to actually be shown the ultrasound screen while a technician describes the fetus in detail Law
Kentucky Law requires women not only to undergo an ultrasound before seeking an abortion  but to actually be shown the ultrasound screen while a technician describes the fetus in detail. Women also will be required to wait 24 hours before they can receive an abortion procedure. Law
Nebraska Fetal Pain Legislation – Law forbids abortion after 20 weeks Law
Iowa Fetal Pain Legislation – Law forbids abortion after 20 weeks Law
Ohio “Heartbeat Bill” which would define life as beginning at the first sign of a heartbeat, extremely early in a pregnancy, and be an effective total abortion ban. In Progress
Arizona Bill that would allow doctors to withhold information about prenatal problems if it could make the decision to have an abortion more likely. In Progress
Virginia Law requires medical providers to administer ultrasounds on women before   performing abortions Law
Pennsylvania Bill would force women to undergo an ultrasound, hear the fetal heartbeat, and   present images of the fetus to her abortion provider before she can get an   abortion. But, the kind of ultrasound required would have to be a   transvaginal ultrasound. In Progress
Georgia Bill reduces the time period for when an elective abortion can occur from about 26   weeks to 20 weeks. The bill does not make exceptions for rape or incest and says any fetus delivered after 20 weeks must be delivered in a way that tries to keep it alive. In Progress
Tennessee The bill would require the state’s health department to list a report on every   abortion, including identification of the physician, and the office, clinic or hospital where it was performed, as well as the woman’s county of residence, age, race, marital status, number of prior pregnancies, prior abortions, gestational age of fetus and her pre-existing medical conditions. In Progress
New Hampshire Requires women to wait a mandatory 24 hours before having an abortion, it also   requires doctors to give them false information by telling them that abortion can cause breast cancer. In Progress
Florida Imposes a 24-hour waiting period on women seeking an abortion and requiring new abortion clinics to be owned by doctors. In Progress
Mississippi Bill would effectively ban abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, which is after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, and defines life as beginning at conception, which would ban many forms of contraception. The bill may also require doctors to use transvaginal ultrasounds. In Progress
Rhode Island
Bill would allow a woman to view the ultrasound and have the person who may perform the abortion describe to the woman what she is seeing on the ultrasound.
 In Progress

Now, without casting aspersions in any particular direction, I think there are some threads that run thru the list of states in included on this list.  Definitely not the list of states with the highest median income or the highest level of average education.  What is most telling is generally the states you don’t find on this list.

There was some additional data I came across that I also found most interesting.  A place where there are increased effort and focus on restricting women’s access to abortion thru a variety of means.  Some regulations under current consideration include:

1. Law requiring advertisements for abortion services to warn patients of the health risks of terminating a pregnancy

2. Outlawing the “morning-after pill” without prescription

3. Weeklong waiting period after applying for an abortion

4. Laws to compel married women to get permission from their husbands, and minors from their parents, before undergoing abortions.

Take it as you will but I find this even more unsettling when you consider these efforts are currently underway in one of those places we have long-held in contempt – Russia.

“The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women. If it’s educating its girls, if women have equal rights, that country is going to move forward. But if women are oppressed and abused and illiterate, then they’re going to fall behind.” ~Barack Obama, Ladies’ Home Journal, September 2008

 

Mar 16 2012

Can you say “¡Qué estúpido soy yo?”

While I’m not going to comment on the issue of whether English should be the official US language (there currently is no designation), one again has to wonder where Ricky is heading or what he is thinking with this latest running off at the mouth.  Here he is in Puerto Rico, talking about statehood and basically sets a condition for Puerto Rico that is one that does not exist in our Constitution nor has ever been a requirement for statehood:

While Ricky and his staff are doing the usual post-stupid comment dance, he was specific in his statement:  “As in any other state, you have to comply with this and any federal law. And that is that English has to be the main language,” Santorum told El Vocero, a San Juan newspaper. “There are other states with more than one language as is the case in Hawaii, but to be a state in the United States, English has to be the main language.”

Even in the simplest view of gaining delegates, which Ricky needs badly, this stance will not be bringing in too many of the 23 delegates sitting with Puerto Rico.  I don’t know if statehood is something that Puerto Rico wants or not (there is a referendum on their ballot this year so it holds importance at some level) but it is obvious that either Ricky is downright ignorant, is basically exhibiting another form of political bigotry or has another agenda.

Secondly, the Latino vote becomes a game changer in the real Presidential election – especially for a Republican.  My numbers might be a bit off but when Bush last won, he had about 44% of the Latino vote.  McCain managed around 14% and the current polls are showing similar numbers for the Republican frontrunners.

While it is obvious I think Ricky is pretty much a fool and has none of the credentials that would put him in consideration to be President, one would think that the fact that Ricky has a Bachelor’s degree from Penn State, and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Law degree from Dickinson School of Law (so much for educational snobbery) would give him some foundation in law where he would be better informed as to specifics of the  Constitution and how it positions requirements for statehood.

The 21st Century Don Quixote

I think what is really here is a reality that sits at the bottom line view the Republican Party has of minorities in general, poor people pretty much across the board, the middle class and, at some level, most anyone who doesn’t agree with them – they really don’t care what you think, what you need or how you vote – mostly because (and this is the paradox of it all) they still get a good number of these people to support them somehow.  The Republicans can remain the party of the rich and can keep their economic future rosy all at the cost of the rest of the less well off in our country and still maintain a reasonably consistent record of getting elected.  There remain those individuals that no matter what, they stay uninformed, generally uneducated and pretty much filled with hate – it is this crowd this stance Ricky has taken plays directly to.  Yes, let’s say it together – it is the Tea Party – the people generally standing up at Republican events, making the most noise about big Government while fully taking advantage of what is probably the largest handout to the members of the Tea Party – our own national social insurance program – Medicare.

To give a bit more evidence of the depth of this Republican disdain of everything not “American”, I also bring you back to another stellar human being, Newt Gingrich who, in 2007, remarked “We should replace bi-lingual with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country. They learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.”  Not one of our more gracious leaders.

People – maybe it is time to clear our heads and get a bit smarter.  To quote POGO “We have met the enemy and he is us”.

Mar 6 2012

Limbaugh – given enough rope…

Well. the conventional wisdom is that if you give someone enough rope they will eventually hang themselves.  Looks like all we had to do was wait for a while and Rush has finally pushed his views and rhetoric to the point where anyone with half a brain (particularly the Republican supporters of Limbaugh) are finding it hard to ignore his personal attack on Ms. Fluke.  It is only unfortunate that it has taken so long for this to happen, giving Rush plenty of time to amass his fortune on the backs of those people he ultimately despises but uses endlessly to keep his empire going – the uneducated and the uninformed – the Fox News crowd.

The other conventional wisdom is also called into play here – when one protests too much or portrays themselves as so anti anything, there is likely some aspect of that which they push away hiding deep inside.  In this case, I have to wonder exactly what aspect of sex has Rush so incensed and actually enamored.  Given his view that contraception is something a woman has to pay for every time she has sex, he is no doubt getting confused with his own need for Viagra – which really is essentially paid for every time Rush has sex.  I can only imagine that losing that ability to perform on one’s own would lead one to trying to feel better by putting down those he so desires (everywoman) – in his case I would expect that having anyone attracted to him sexually would be somewhat stunning.  Almost as stunning that he has managed to find at least 4 women willing to sleep with him – All this for a man who can’t get it up and who is an admitted drug addict.  I would have to wonder how that would work if he didn’t have the wealth he has.  Thnking it out a bit further – maybe sluts and prostitutes is more indicative of Rush’s love life before he was rich and famous.

 

Willing to do anything for money and sponsors, Rush shared with his audience how big he is before using Viagra.

All kidding aside, what does this say about our society (or at least a segment of it) that this man has reached and maintained the status he has. To most of us, his recent comments were not a surprise nor did we think this was something out of the ordinary for him – I was somewhat amazed that he was so stupid that he didn’t foresee the issues that would arise.  But then again, absolute power corrupts and I expect he felt his pedestal would protect him from most anything of consequence.  How gratifying it is to see the advertisers taking a stand of integrity and moving away from him in droves.  While Rush seems to feel there will be other businesses and advertisers that will quickly rush in to fill the void (do you hear that “Whoosh”?), I would wonder which advertisers will take that stand alongside this douchebag.  Not that the previous advertisers were necessarily mainstream businesses – not to demean them as I give them a great deal of credit for being willing to take a stand.  But at the end of the day, it is all going to be how everyone’s wallet is most affected.  Advertisers also flee because they recognize the potential loss of customers and sales.  I think it incumbent on all of us to begin to let not only the advertisers that remain that we will not use their products or service, we need to let the radio stations who continue to broadcast Rush that we will boycott any advertiser that is on their station – not just those advertising during Rush’s three hours.  And we need to let those advertisers know.  I have begun to send emails and I ask that everyone take a moment to send out one or two.  It is the power of revenue that really drives change in this situation.  We should also deluge Premier Networks, the company behind the Limbaugh radio show.  You can send your emails to their Public Relations department at Premiere Networks, who will relay them to the Producers of the show.  They can be reached at Publicrelations@premrad.com  or 818 461-5750.  I have already sent my outrage on to them – as well as my pledge to boycott any radio station or advertiser that is any way related to them.  I haven’t had any answer sent back – but then again, not surprised – they are only one step up on the ladder of life where Rush sits on the bottom rung.

Lastly, at least John McCain and Ron Paul had the gumption to take a stand and say it as it is.  Can’t say the same for the rest of the current group of bottom feeders running as Republican presidential contenders.  Again, are these the type of men you would want running our country?

Feb 24 2012

Another take on it…

When I read the story in our local newspaper (again, using the term loosely given we are talking about The Pocono Record) about the two American soldiers shot and killed in Afghanistan by an Afghani soldier (or at least someone in a Afghani Army uniform) in response to the burning of copies of the Quran at a NATO base, my immediate reaction this morning was one of anger and a gut reaction that it is time to leave that hellhole and let them take care of it themselves.  Seeing people so obviously blinded by their religious beliefs that they can kill again provides more support to my existence as an atheist.  We, as American people, will likely look at this action over there as just one more bit of evidence of how screwed up they are and how superior we are as a people – that’s how we “civilized” societies think. However, in thinking about it a little more, another perspective and thought came to mind.  How different is this act really from those in our “civilized” society who see it perfectly justified and rational to murder an abortion doctor or who have seen fit to burn down a Planned Parenthood facility or torching a mosque in the name of religion?

Back to politics – in watching the Arizona Republican debate the other night, my wife so aptly commented on the candidates on the stage as we listened to their chest pounding as to whether any of these men actually sound like Presidential material – I guess if we use GW Bush as the yardstick it might work but beyond that, it is a sad commentary – little class and alot of nothing.

Moe, Larry and Curley, et.al.

Last thought – the world can again rejoice – I see that Paris Hilton has again ascended from her hole and is gracing her adoring public with her presence in a new video.  No doubt long overdue. I guess the good news is that she isn’t singing but only speaking her lines.

What should have happened following the release of her last album

The real question here – what is wrong with the 197,000 people who bought that album?