Will There Be Any Candidates?

The GOP in Laurens County South Carolina probably won't have too many.  "Last Tuesday, the LCGOP unanimously adopted a resolution that would ask all candidates who want to get on the primary ballot to sign a pledge with 28 principles" that include the usual opposition to abortion and upholding gun rights, and a "compassionate and moral approach to Teen Pregnancy", whatever that might mean.  (TPMMuckraker)


But the LCGOP may have gone a bit too far.  Also part of the 28 is "abstinence before marriage", being "faithful" to your spouse, no spouses of the same gender and a big no to civil unions for people of the same sex.  And the big one?  No more looking at pornography.

Not sure how well that bodes for Newt Gingrich.  He won the South Carolina Primary in January.  He beat good Ol' Mitt by 12 percentage points. (NYTimes.com)  But, makes one wonder how the Republicans in Laurens County think about his 3 wives - 2 of which he was unfaithful to with obvious no-abstinence before marriage to a few of them.

Good Ol' Republican Hypocrisy:  Do as I say, not as I do...  Wonder if Rick or Mitt look at Porn??

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.

Really Mitt? Really?

It's bad enough that you donate money to anti-gay hate groups: "The Romney family's Tyler Charitable Foundation donated $10,000 in one year to the anti-gay Massachusetts Family Institute—a Boston based organization that promotes ex-gay therapy." (Gay.net) But now you are aligning yourself with a guy who says that teh gayz caused the 9/11 tragedy?  Really?


It must be important to win the right-wing, ultra-conservative GOP nod.  And it also must be important to blame everything on Marriage Equality and Gays.  Pastor Roberto Miranda spoke in 2006 to 'counter' the radical “homosexual agenda” that he believes will destroy religious freedom.  He told the group in Boston that since Massachusetts had allowed same-sex marriages and the planes on 9/11 had left from Boston there was "prophetic significance."  (Gay.net) And  now he is one of the conservative leaders who authored “Florida Social Conservatives Sign on to Letter Praising Mitt Romney’s Record.”


Not sure you want that record, Mitt... crazy is as crazy does.

And This Guy Wants to be President??

There are some who refer to Republican contenders as members of the GOP Clown Car.  And looking at a few stories today, it might be that this one is the star clown.  Just imagine Newt with a big red nose and orange fluffy hair.  It fits.


The Star Clown laid out an extensive plan to have a permanent U.S. base on the moon by the end of his second term as president.  (CBSNews.com)  That's right he wants to go to the moon.  He thought it might appeal to the Florida voters, getting NASA all blasted off again.  "When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon, they can petition to become a state."


This is not the first time the Star Clown has had some out of this world type of ideas.  Back in 1984 Newt combined his "passion for public policy and his passion for living room furniture."  His first steps in his own "Health Chair Reform".  "A personalized health chair with a diagnostic program to measure and compare all your bodily signs against your own data base. The chair could be tied into a weight-watcher's computer-based recipe program."  (MotherJones.com)

So, the circus has begun and the clown car is making its rounds.  Crazy enough that he designed a weight-watcher's chair (especially looking at his girth), but he really thinks that people are going to elect him TWO TIMES to the presidency???  (See "the end of his second term" above).

Procreation

And not just of the recreational variety.  It is one of the main arguments that people put out there as to why same-sex marriage should not be allowed.  During a 'conversation' in New Hampshire with some students, Rick Santorum said "God made men and woman to keep civilization and provide the best environment  to raise children.”  He doesn't necessarily care if people have relationships, “I have no problem if people want to have relationships, but marriage provides a good to society. It’s unique because it is the union that causes children to be raised.”  (ABCNews.com)

So, technically, he is not against gay sex.  He is just against gay marriage.  Now, the Hartford Archdiocese has a different view on the whole thing.  “The church is not against people with same-sex attraction, just their acting out sexually.”  (TowleRoad.com) They have launched a new program called 'Courage' which encourages gay Catholics to live a 'chaste' life by abstaining from having sex, whether they are legally married (as is possible in the state) or not.


Being gay is ok - as long as you don't have sex and don't get married. 


Santorum was booed when he left the conversation in New Hampshire.  Shall we throw out a boo to 'Courage' too?

Jose, Can You See?

You know, that's what the first line of the Star Spangled Banner sounds like.  Although that would make it so pro-immigration.  It really says "Oh Say", but one might wonder if Jose could see it.  Many people get the lyrics to the song wrong: 


Christina Aguilera turned "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming" into "what so proudly we watched at the twilight's last [unintelligible lyric]." (PopEater.com)

And Cyndi Lauper has missed the line before.  (EW.com)

Jose Feliciano gave his own rendition in 1968.  And of course Jimi Hendrix gave an interesting interpretation in 1969. (InfoPlease.com)

But now, Indiana State Senator Vaneta Becker (R-Evansville), want to make a law.  She has introduced a bill that would set specific “performance standards” for singing and playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at any event sponsored by public schools and state universities.  (PamsHouseblend)  Because of course that is more important than potholes or the state budget.  It more important to set guidelines to require that the national anthem be sung with the usual lyrics to the traditional melody — “the way that we normally have it sung or heard throughout most of our state and our country,” or face a $25 fine.


Well, that will give proof that it is still there, right?

Oh, the Hypocrisy of it all...

So, let's talk politics.  Today, Newt Gingrich won an endorsement for his political attempt from the American Family Association, well their chairman emeritus, anyway.  (TheHill.com)  That says a lot.  It says a lot of hypocrisy.


Look at "About AFA" on their website, they say they spur activism directed to the Preservation of Marriage and the Family.  They also try to "convince individuals of sin and challenge them to seek Christ’s grace and forgiveness."  (AFA)


Maybe, Newtie has sought Christ's grace and forgiveness.  But he hardly seems the "right guy" to be endorsed by this group.  "Gingrich is currently married to Callista Gingrich, his third wife. He divorced Jackie Battley, his first wife in 1980, after having an affair with Marianne Ginther, whom he later married in 1981. They got divorced in 2000 following a long-term affair with his current wife, whom he married later that year."  (HuffPost)

Now, he did get another endorsement...  Ashley Madison, a "pro-adultery" website whose slogan is "Life is short. Have an affair," seems to endorse him too.  (HuffPost)


Fits better

Lower Funding = Lower Standards

That is about all that can be said to explain the House GOP.  Now, this has nothing to do with the lowliness of the current House GOP... It all has to do with food.  The food that kids in school can get and the less money that the Government wants to pay for it.


Just like back in the hey-day Reagan years, when the USDA was tasked "with coming up with a solution that maintained nutritional requirements for school lunches in spite of the lower funding," the current House GOP is doing the same thing.  In 1981 the Secretary of Agriculture proposed classifying ketchup and relish as vegetables.  And today, Republicans have a bill that would allow the tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable. (Pam's Houseblend)

So, the low standard is setting in.  Let's not give our school kids nutritional lunches and spend more money. 
Let's call pizza a vegetable.  Is that like calling a cat a dog?


Bet good ol' pizza man, Herman Cain is just thrilled to death.

My Mom Could Have Been Convicted of Murder

So, today the state of Mississippi is voting on the "Personhood" bill that would designate inseminated human eggs as legal persons from the "moment of fertilization."  This would make any end to pregnancy (they are pretty much saying abortion and the morning-after pill) legally equivalent to murder.  (MotherJones.com)  But there maybe more to this then meets the eye.


Let's take for example an ectopic pregnancy.  "In an ectopic pregnancy, a fertilized egg has implanted outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes."  And when the fetus grows, the tubes burst and the fetus is lost.  (KidsHealth.org)  Some time ago, my mother had an ectopic pregnancy that led to a miscarriage.  According to Mississippi, that's murder... or maybe manslaughter.


What might be more scary, though, is not that a miscarriage could be considered murder in Mississippi.  Republicans in congress are endorsing three similar bills that would extend the rights of legal personhood—including equal protection under the law—to a zygote.  This would make it a Federal law, so no matter where you live, you'd be going to jail.


Maybe Mom will get past the statute of limitations...

The People Who Will Probably Vote Republican

They are kind of scary people.  Well, the people who watch GOP debates are anyway.  It certainly gives a view of the things that they like or dislike.  "Past audience members have booed a gay soldier and cheered at the thought of letting a hypothetical uninsured man die."  Last night they cheered when Herman Cain blamed the unemployed for being unemployed.  (HuffingtonPost.com)


"Don't blame Wall Street. Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself."  So no wonder the GOP doesn't have a jobs plan.  Why should they bother with one if it's just the unemployed people's fault.  And why should they support LGBT?  Or the uninsured?  Those voting for them have shown which way they should go.


Now, they do love the silver haired man from CNN.  They booed Rick Perry when he got testy with the moderator, Anderson Cooper.  (HuffingtonPost.com)


Good to have your priorities straight.

Just Toss it Over There...

It seems some Republicans do have a "jobs" plan.  Maybe not the Republicans in Washington, D.C., but the ones in the state of Florida.  Now, this little plan for jobs is only for a certain group of people.  That being dwarfs.  Rep. Ritch Workman (R) is spearheading an effort to repeal a longstanding ban on "dwarf-tossing."  (HuffingtonPost.com)


Workman says  "All we really did by passing that law was take away some employment from some little people."  And the little people?  They labeled the activity as an event where "the person with dwarfism is objectified and dehumanized in the name of 'entertainment.'"  But, really, why should Workman worry about that?  He is not a dwarf.


Workman says "I'm on a quest to seek and destroy unnecessary burdens on the freedom and liberties of people."


Wonder what he thinks about same-sex marriage?

Picking a Fight

What is the definition of Congress?  This week it might be hypocrisy.  On one hand the GOP lawmakers are fighting for eliminating federal aid for family planning and covering abortions. (Forbes.com)  They are demanding that federal money to Planned Parenthood be stopped.  They yell at the top of their lungs that things like NPR and FEMA should not receive any money either.


And here is the hypocrisy.  No spending money, unless...  "House Republicans have agreed to a new contract to pay a private law firm up to $1.5 million to defend the Defense of Marriage Act." (HuffingtonPost.com) The Attorney General had decided back in February that DOMA was unconstitutional and would no longer fight to support it.  But, House Speaker John Boehner thinks this is something that the money should be spent on.


This seems to no longer be just a fight over money.  This is definitely a fight over social policy.  And it looks like the right-wing, homophobic, anti-women's rights group is going to win the fight.

Something's are Enormous

Maybe it is his ego or maybe his ass, but Newt Gingrich is aiming for enormous and saving America.  Newt unveiled his new set of policy proposals, a “21st Century Contract With America,” and said that  “The scale of change I am suggesting is so enormous."  It is the same type of  Republican solutions and campaign boilerplate that we have seen from other candidates who are trying to save the world. Time.com

But, there is more to good ol' Newt then just his saving of America.  He also thinks that same-​sex marriage is a “temporary aberration,” because really marriage is supposed to be between one man and one woman.  And gay marriage equality "fundamentally goes against everything we know."  He must know, right?  He has been married three times, divorced twice and left his cancer-stricken wife to marry his third wife. The New Civil Rights Movement

That is some scale of change.  Did he make a contract with any of his wives?  Were any of them surprised at his enormous change.

Probably the only thing enormous for Newt.

It's War!!

Well, that is probably what the GOP will think.  President Obama says it is not "Class Warfare just math" when it comes to his new deficit reduction plan.  Most of the rich people out there, however, are going to think that it is a warfare against the upper class.  "Obama's plan would end Bush-era tax cuts for top earners and would limit their deductions."  (HuffingtonPost.com)


But the Republicans have already cringed at the plan.  They have insisted that tax increases should play no part in taming the nation's escalating national debt.  They want to cut Medicare payments.  But Obama said: "I will not support any plan that puts all the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans."  And he plans to veto any such plans.


So, what are the wealthy to do?  Oh, no!  How is it possible that they will survive having to pay their fair share?  Rep. John Flemming (R-LA) is a victim of class warfare, or so he says.  (PamsHouseBlend)  After he pays taxes he only has .... wait for it.... wait for it.... $400,000 to feed his family.


$400,000 to "feed his family".  Well, for those of us who make 10% of that - before taxes, or less... how the hell are we supposed to feed ours?


The war has begun.

It's Just Like Paying Taxes

There is that fight in the government that to help with the U.S. deficit, all they need to do is raise taxes.  Now the fight continues since the GOP tax pledge doesn't sit well with raising taxes.  Even Republican Candidate leader Rick Perry says he’d push for a tax system that would be “as light on the job creators as you can be". (DeathAndTaxesMag.com) The job creators (are there really any of those out there?) need to be protected?  The country needs to be in debt so that the corporate leaders of America would have it easier?


Well, it seems that the would-be job creators are already benefiting from that, yet the jobless rate increases.  "Of last year's 100 highest-paid corporate executives in the United States, 25 earned more in pay than their company recorded as a tax expense in 2010." (CBSNews.com) So, these corporations average global profits of $1.9 BILLION and yet they aren't hiring anybody.  Places like Verizon, GE, eBay are dodging taxes, and rewarding their CEOs for the evasion.


Maybe it is time to raise those damn taxes!  The ratio of CEO pay to the average U.S. worker's compensation is 325 to 1.  With those kind of odds, one would think they can afford it!

It Really is Faux-ed Up

It is amazing that 2,024,000 people watched Fox News on Friday December 10, 2010.  42% of those viewers were ages 35-64 and 23% were 25-54. (TVByTheNumbers.com)  All of these viewers are over 18, which makes them eligible to vote.  But, sadly, if they are watching Faux News, they are being lied to about what is going on in the world.


The DailyKos.com reports today "World Public Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources."  That's right, Faux News makes you stupid. (DailyKos.com) 

So, although Faux News tells us that the stimulus lost jobs or health reform will increase the deficit or Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout and wasn't born in the US, it just ain't so.  Faux News is "deliberately misinforming their viewers" because of the Republican Party's vested interest in these topics.


Fair and Balanced?  Nope... Dumb and Dumber