Complicit in Bigotry

That is what Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center, Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, Brian Burch, president of Catholic Vote, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, Richard Viguerie chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council are telling the Huffington Post. (FoxNews.com)


The Conservative leaders are saying that based on a "satirical" piece written by columnist Larry Doyle about Rick Santorum's Catholic faith.  "Larry Doyle's recent anti-Catholic screed in the Huffington Post, 'The Jesus-Eating Cult of Rick Santorum,' is bigoted and unacceptable" they claim.  They say it is a "perfect example of 'flame-throwing, name-calling, and simplistic attack dog rhetoric.'"


Let's consider flame-throwing... The American Family Association (AFA) is saying that President Obama has started an “all out war on Christians” making them choose between "Life and good … or death and evil.” This as a result of merely offering contraception coverages to women via insurance.  (TheNewCivilRightsMovement.com)


Or perhaps a little attack doggery... A priest at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland refused communion to a woman at HER MOTHER'S FUNERAL because she is a lesbian and "in the eyes of the church, that is a sin."  He also never finished the service, walking out during the daughter's eulogy and never returning.  Some, obviously don't see that as a dog attack.  In a letter of apology from Reverend Barry Knestout, he called it "a lack of pastoral sensitivity."  (Lez Get Real)


So, it is ok for the Church and the AFA to be complicit in bigotry... could certainly think of a few names to call on that one.

Doing What You Are Good At...

Or not.  There is a list of things that Sarah Palin has done and is doing.  She has not really been good at doing any of them.  Her most obvious fail, of course, was her run as Vice President with John McCain.  And then there was that Governorship up in Alaska that she quit at with 18 months left to serve.  (WashingtonPost.com)

And yeah, she gets paid a lot of money to be an "Analyst" on Fox News.  But when she announced that she was not going to run for President in 2012, something else she might fail at, she was blasted by Fox News Chief Roger Ailes.  He told Newsweek that he hired Palin when she was "hot," and her announcement on Mark Levin's conservative talk-radio program deprived Fox News of a ratings bonanza.  Palin hasn't turned into the television asset Ailes had hoped... and might  not be there after her contract is up in 2013.  (NYMag.com)

Now, Juliann Moore, who is playing Palin in the movie “Game Change" on HBO, doesn't think it is all Sarah's fault.  She thinks it is the McCain campaign to blame.  "They were telling her what to do and how to dress. And how to behave,” Moore said. (Politico.com)


So, then what can Sarah do?  Well, apparently, she can't even play herself.  At least according to the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, or the Razzie's.  The Razzie's highlight the duds of U.S. cinema.  The former Alaska governor snagged a nomination for worst actress while playing herself in the documentary, “The Undefeated.”  (ABCNews.com)

What should Sarah do?  Not be Vice President, Governor, President, TV Analyst - or even herself.  Maybe she will just have to go away, then...

Keep them Quiet

And keep them pregnant.  Last week the GOP "leaders" at the House held an all-male hearing on contraception.  This was seen by some as a continuing battle that the GOP is waging on women.  "Today, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced Democrats will hold a House hearing Thursday on the issue of contraception and women’s health, and the key witness will be the woman the Democrats tried to get on Issa’s panel to testify, but who was refused." (TheNewCivilRightsMovement.com)  But the GOP still wants to keep it quiet.

The House Administration Committee, chaired by Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif, has issued a decree that there will be no public video or recording made of Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke’s testimony - who was to testify that about a classmate who lost an ovary because of a condition that causes ovarian cysts - which is treatable by birth control, but not covered by the Catholic-Church backed University.  The "black-out" is unprecedented and leads some to believe that the House Republican leadership is still trying to silence women on women's health.

But perhaps it is time to turn the tables.  "A group of female Democratic legislators in the Georgia House of Representatives has proposed a bill that would ban men from seeking vasectomies." "Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies," said bill author Yasmin Neal.  (HuffingtonPost.com)

The male counterparts in Georgia, however, don't think it is funny.  They want to push through a bill that seeks to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, instead of the current 24 weeks or after the 2nd trimester.

So... passing male based health laws is bad -and must be a joke, but passing female based ones is perfectly within the rights of the male legislators.


Maybe those women out there ought to just stop having sex with those men.  Maybe then the men will keep their noses out of what ain't their business.

The War on Women

It started with the contraception issue and now continues, pathetically, in the state of Virginia.  "The Virginia legislature has passed a bill that will force women seeking an abortion to undergo a medically unnecessary trans vaginal ultrasound." (HuffingtonPost.com)  That is a true birds-eye view of the uterus and surrounding organs, for no real medical reason, meant probably to embarrass and change the mind of the woman.


And back to the contraception issue in the war.  "As part of the same package, the legislature also enacted a 'personhood' law that would define life to begin at the stage of a fertilized egg, even before implantation, and hence would outlaw many forms of contraception and all abortions."  Amazing what a state can do. And as the author of this Huff Post article, Tobias Barrington Wolf, so rightly says "Every person who has a body should view this law as a direct assault. So, too, should every person who believes that women are human beings."


Because women aren't supposed to be human beings (?).  Most "public policies are responsive to the priorities and sensibilities of men."  The thought of a law that required men to have "an invasive rectal probing and prostate exam, for no medical reason, before obtaining a prescription for Viagra" would never get very far.


Although... it is a good thought.

Well, What I Meant to Say...

In our current era of politics, we do get to hear a lot about what they "meant" to say.  But generally, the first thing out of someone's mouth is what they really mean and the second thing is said to smooth over and make everyone think that it's all going to be ok.  Rick Santorum is doing that today.
First, what came out of his mouth was:  "But I do have concerns about women in front-line combat, I think that could be a very compromising situation."  And in the same breath said it was because "emotions that are involved."  (HuffingtonPost.com)


What he meant to say... after NBC's Ann Curry suggested that some had interpreted his original remarks to be a commentary on "women being emotional," wasn't that he was blaming women for emotions but, rather, how "men would react to seeing women in harm's way, or potentially being injured or in a vulnerable position, and not being concerned about accomplishing the mission."  So, see, what he meant to say is that men wouldn't be able to handle women in combat...


Then, on another occasion, not trying to hurt women again, he said that the Affordable Care Act providing birth control was not "about contraception.  It's about government control of your lives and it's got to stop."  (Yahoo.com)  He probably meant to say that.  But, that doesn't follow what he has said before.


What he said at the beginning of the year has a lot to do with government control of lives.  He said that he would pass a nationwide law that would define marriage as that one man - one woman type and "any now-legal same-sex marriages would be invalid."  (HuffingtonPost.com)

So, what he meant to say is... whatever I believe is the only truth and I will do whatever I want when you elect me.   So There!

Everybody is Being Assaulted

Well, at least according the GOP candidates.  Well, not that they are talking much about the real victims of assault, however. In all of the GOP debates (all 1 million of them) "poverty and the poor has rarely come up."  (ParagouldDailyPress.com)  So, it really comes as a surprise that these guys would talk about the victims of any assault without mentioning the poor.  But then again, who are the victims here?


First there are the "Religious Groups."  With the Affordable Care Act's rule that "requires all employers to cover birth controls for their workers," the guys have the panties in a ruffle:

• MITT ROMNEY, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Remarkably, under this president's administration there is assault on religion
• NEWT GINGRICH, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Many of you may have noticed that the Obama administration has declared war on the Catholic Church

Rick Santorum wasn't so much thinking that religion was under attack as much as he was worried the "elitist" government was going to take away his freedoms.  (FoxNews.com)

And speaking of freedoms. Santorum, who said last week he doesn't believe gay couples "benefit society", was all worried that the 9th Circuit Court "ripping" away the 7M California voter's rights in finding Prop 8 unconstitutional.  Romney says this:  "Today, unelected judges cast aside the will of the people of California."  Newtie wants to "end judicial supremacy."  So, in this case 7M California homophobes are the victims.  And it is the supreme, unelected judges who are assaulting them.  (Gay.net)

Not sure exactly why these guys get to decided on birth control or proper marriage - especially Newtie on that one.  But gee, there are 9 more months of campaigning, and who knows how many million more debates, and we are stuck listening to these 3.