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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bill Cunningham's Shocking Words

        On the Fixed News channel, specifically on the show Hannity, Bill Cunningham decided it was a good idea to bring up the Bible in a discussion about parenting, which conservatives who don't think for themselves often do.  But that isn't the controversial part about it.  The controversy is over what he said next, "I say beat kids appropriately and with love."  What kind of person makes such a claim?  Living in the 21st century, there is ample literature on how to discipline children, and "beating" is not one of the recommendations.

        Something else that is also telling is the fact that Sean Hannity did not express surprise or concern over the statement.  He just pretended it was normal.  However, it is anything but normal to beat another human being in order to force them to comply with your will.  Perhaps Hannity would think otherwise if a 350lb weight lifting Democrat decided to apply the same logic on him to force him to vote for Obama.  But I would never expect Faux News to be able to recognize such poor reasoning when their entire network is dedicated to the practice thereof.

Jeb Bush Continues Anti-Scientific Trend in Republican Party

         Jeb Bush, former Republican Governor of Florida and brother of President George Bush, gave an interview  to Fixed News where he said this about global warming, "It is not unanimous among scientists that it is disproportionately manmade. What I get a little tired of on the left is this idea that somehow science has decided all this so you can’t have a view. Science has decided that embryonic stem cell research is the way to go and if you don’t agree with that then somehow you’re Cro-Magnon Man or something like that. Governor Perry, as it relates to global warming has every right to suggest that it’s not a certainty.”  This is a patently false easily falsifiable statement, yet of course he is allowed to say such things on a network that has predetermined answers to the issues that conservative so often like to do.

        When the majority of ALL scientists are saying it is most likely due to human actions, then the most rational thing to do at that point is to take necessary action to try and stop it from getting worse.  It is a matter of saving the planet and humanity.  If we destroy the planet, there is nothing left.  We are doomed.  The shit will hit the fan and we will all perish, all because our political system was so infested with people who's intellectual capacity is far below what is needed to execute the offices they currently serve in.  Welcome to 2011.

Michigan Attacks Unions

       Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder is set to sign a law that will cap how much the state will pay towards health coverage for public employees.  This is another example, just like in Ohio and Wisconsin, of right-wing extremist Governors attacking unions.  When workers band together, they get paid better wages and get better benefits, but it seems as though the Republicans don't want this to happen.

      Republicans try to portray themselves as the party of the little guy, up against the big bad government that is taking away their rights and hard earned money.  However, unions are most beneficial to people who in fact are "little" in the sense that they have no political power to change the system.  They don't have the funds.  And then Republicans take away benefits from these people, and claim they are helping everyone in the process.  George Orwell would be impressed by the amount of double think that goes on in American society today.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Huntsman's Telling Attacks

      Jon Huntsman, a current Republican presidential candidate and former governor of Utah, is blasting fellow candidates for their extremist positions.    He attacked Rick Perry for denying man-made global warming and Michele Bachmann for recently saying that if she were president gas would be under 2 dollars a gallon.  His overall message was that the current contenders for president are pandering to specific groups of people and that  they are not trying to find middle ground and be reasonable candidates.

     This is very encouraging to see. All moderates are not dead in the Republican party after all!!!! There are still a few left, and I applaud Huntsman first for actually serving in the Obama administration as ambassador to China even though he is a Republican, and for calling out the current field for their insane views.  If Obama were to lose to a Republican (which I do not want to happen) Huntsman seems like a candidate that could be trusted to run the country in a fair and efficient way.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Homophobic Teacher of the Year

        Jerry Buell, a Florida high school teacher who won "Teacher of the Year," has been caught in engaging in hate speech towards homosexual Americans.  On his facebook page, he said "If they want to call it a union, go ahead, but don't insult a man and woman's marriage by throwing it in the same cesspool as same-sex whatever!God will not be mocked. When did this sin become acceptable???" Some of his facebook friends saw the post and decided to push back, which caused Mr. Buell to respond saying "If one doesn't like the most recently posted opinion, based on Biblical principals and God's law, then go ahead and un-friend me. I'll miss you like I miss my kidney stone from 1994."  Buell is now suspended.  He is crying foul saying he was just exercising his first amendment rights to free speech and that it was not done on school property.  However, a thought experiment will show just how wrong-headed he is.

      Imagine for a moment this was the EXACT same situation, except that it was about interracial marriage, which at one time in U.S. history was widely opposed.  If someone in the modern day were to post that seeing an African American and a Caucasian getting married made him sick and said the union should not be recognized the same way marriages of the same race are, would not there be a justifiable reaction of outrage from the community?  The man would end up being fired, and the school would be better off as a result.  However, because it is homosexuality and many people still hold bigoted ignorant views, people like him are not scorned as badly as they deserve to be.  I am calling for his resignation immediately.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Tom Coburn's Insensitivity

Tom Coburn, a Republican Senator from Oklahoma (the state I happen to live in), has caused some controversy for his comments at a town hall meeting recently.  He said "It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor."  This comes on the heels of the fort hood shooter and Gabrielle Giffords, the Democrat from Arizona who was shot, returning to Congress for a vote on the debt-ceiling.  This enough shows a lack of sensitivity to the situation America is in with regards to violence.  His statement implies if he had a gun on the Senate floor he would have actually shot people, which is disgusting.  However, that is not the worst thing he said.

Coburn was asked by a constituent whether or not he thought Obama was trying to destroy America. Coburn said no that Obama was a smart guy, but that he had a problem. He said Obama being African American meant he had a "tremendous advantage" from the government. Going further, he said Obama's "intent is not to destroy, his intent is to create dependency because it worked so well for him,"   It is difficult to determine exactly what this means.  However, that it seems to be implying is this.  Obama is a black man, and this means he had advantages from the government to help him succeed.  As if all black men are dependent on the government, and getting help from the government is somehow a bad thing to do.  And it's factually false Obama depended on the government.  Obama went to Harvard law school, something not many people, white black Hispanic anything, are able to accomplish.  He also managed to get elected President of the United States without having his daddy pave the way for him.   Perhaps it was the previous President who was "dependent on others for his 'accomplishments."








     

Christine O'Donell's Telling Actions

On the CNN show Piers Morgan Tonight, Christine O'Donnell was doing an interview about her new book and was asked about her views on homosexuality. Her answer bordered on complete nonsensical blabber. She said “I’m not talking about policies. I’m not running for office, ask Michele Bachmann what she thinks. Ask the candidates running for office what they think."  However, her book is all about political positions and trying to energize the Tea Party.  At the end of the interview she decided to end prematurely, she said Piers Morgan was being rude by asking her about homosexuality.

To me it shows that Tea Partier's don't like questions on their extremist views.  They don't like the mainstream media because they get questioned and shown to be wrong on the facts.  Sunlight is a good disinfectant, and the more Americans learn about what the Tea Party REALLY stands for (even though they don't like to get specific in interviews on what they will actually cut) the less they like them and realize they are simply a movement that wants to go back to a mythical time in America that never actually existed.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM REIGNS SUPREME

          Another conservative Texan has denied global warming is a problem, even when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Academy of Sciences and 98% of practicing climatologist say that it is being mostly driven by human activity.  Perhaps all of these scientists could be wrong, but it is highly unlikely at this point.  The melting ice caps, the rising sea levels, warming global temperatures, and extreme weather all bolster the case that it is occurring.

         This causes me to wonder about other things.  Does Perry believe in evolution?  Is he homophobic?  I would like answers to these questions.  Texas also executes more people than any other state.  Any governor that would reside over just a blood thirsty state and do nothing to change it is not fit to be president.  He is a moral coward.

Republican Tea Party?

            Media outlets are reporting that part of Obama's strategy to win re-election is to tie all the Republican party in with the Tea Party, that right now has a 40% disapproval rate.  Recently at the Republican debate in Iowa all of the current presidential contenders said that they would reject a deal that was 10 dollars in spending cuts for every 1 dollar in tax increases.  Taking actions like this, it appears as though this strategy may be successful as long as the American public stays informed (which is a big if).

            I fear for my country if a right-wing extremist were to win the White House.  People may not be happy with Barack Obama, but within our two-party system the only way to channel that anger is to vote for the opposing party to him, in this case irresponsible race baiting homophobes (lest anyone forget Newt Gingrich calling Barack Obama a Kenyan socialist "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?" Gingrich asks. "That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior(http://mediamatters.org/blog/201009120001}.    Statements like this just reek of racism, along with Bachmann's charge of a gangsta government against Obama and her opposition to homosexuality.  The MEDIA needs to call out the Republican race-baiting for what it is.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Murdoch Hits Another Hurdle

          Clive Goodman, a reporter at the News Of The World, wrote a letter to the British parliament in 2007 claiming that the hacking was widespread at the paper, and actually encouraged by top journalists.  So much for it being a few bad apples (sound familiar?).  I wonder if either Murdoch will have the moral courage to step down and accept responsibility for the disgusting tactics they approved of.  For some reason I have my doubts.

           We had massive financial deception in our recent economic crisis, we had BP and Massey energy both skirting regulations and killing people in the process.  For all the right likes to talk about personal responsibility, the right have been noticably absent when it comes to forcing these companies to take responsibilities for their actions by actually proposing LESS regulation that we currently have.  The intellectual dishonesty is disgusting and the lack of moral courage is outrageous.  There is direct evidence that regulations are needed, and the right and the Tea Party continues to peddle the debunked ideology that regulations are not needed.  The lack of moral courage by those on the right is telling, with a great example being summed up by Joe Barton from Texas, when he apologized to the CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, for the "shakedown" by the White House, after the oil had started spewing into the ocean due to BP's irresponsible actions.  And this seems to have carried over to the man who runs the biggest right-wing propaganda machine in the United States.  Perhaps the real revolution America needs is a moral one, not a pseudo Tea Party that lives in fantasy land and denies default would actually hurt the United States.

Media Actually Does It's Job

        Don Lemon, a journalist who works at CNN, stood out recently for doing something many journalists do not, and that is calling a politician on their bullshit.  He attacked Michelle Bachmann her for excessively using talking points, which share little to no basis in reality.  His clips made it seem as though the republican hopeful were a robot that just droned on and on without actually thinking about what she said.

        I want to say thank you to Don Lemon for doing your job and calling out the right-wing irresponsible homophobic Bachmann for her intellectual dishonesty.  The rest of the media needs to start asking these Republican candidates tough questions, like why they think it's reasonable (aside from Ron Paul, since he is libertarian) to oppose a deal that is 10 dollars of spending cuts for every 1 dollar of tax increases, which they all said they would veto as President when asked in the recent debate on Fox.  Questions like that could show the public how intellectually lazy the current batch of Republican candidates really are.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Republican Hypocrisy Reigns Supreme

               Michelle Bachmann, the Republican presidential nominee that has a history of gay bashing and hypocrisy, is in the spotlight for hypocrisy again.  This time it is for Obama's stimulus.  As she openly bashed it to the media and the public, in private she was asking for funds for her district.  Of all places to be called out, Fox News Sunday, with Chris Wallace, she was asked about it.  She claimed there was no discrepancy.  George Orwell could point to her as an example of an individual that consistently doublethinks on many issues.  But she isn't the only one.

             114 Republicans in Congress, including some leaders such as John Boehner, asked for stimulus funds for their particular districts while saying in public it was a complete failure. (even though reputable economists have examined it and determined it was not).   Republican Hypocrisy.   This shows just how intellectually dishonest the party of no really is.  In the past they supported certain policies, like cap and trade (John McCain in 2008) and many in Congress supported a deficit commission.  But as soon as President Obama decides it's a good idea, the Republicans decide it's time to play politics and oppose him.

             David Brooks, a conservative columnist for the New York times, a few weeks ago warned the Republican party that if they did not cooperate on reasonable compromise, they run the risk of turning into a "psychological protest" movement.  Bachmann is clearly not heeding his advice.  Her farm has received government money, as well as her pray the gay away "psychological" clinic (which should definitely not be receiving any federal funding at all, with it's right-wing conservative Christian orientation).  Perhaps Bachmann will wise up and figure out how bad she looks to people who actually use their mind when looking at politics and change her tune.  However, if Orwell is right it will never happen, and her supporters will go on believing the lie that she thinks government is too big when she consistently has used this out of control big government to fund things she found important.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

U.S. Congressman Calls for Obama Impeachment

          U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Michael Burgress said at a Tea Party event on Monday that Obama needed to be impeached.  He said this because it would then stop Obama from enacting his agenda.  The Tea Party crowd, predictably, gave him a round of applause.

        I am curious as to what would happen if the Tea Party was polled and asked whether Obama should be impeached or not.  They have already shown they are a majority white movement that takes traditional social conservative stances.  They are not fundamentally different than hardcore Republicans, they are just really energized.  What happens when Republicans appeal to this base?  A lesson can come from Bill Clinton.

      Bill Clinton, the former President from Arkansas, was impeached over lying about a blow job.  Republicans cannot run on the issues many times, so they decided this would be a great way to try and destroy Bill Clinton, but the American public decided otherwise and ended up re-electing him for a second term.  If the Tea Party did get the chance to impeach Obama, could it be for anything dumber than lying about a private sexual act?  It may not seem like that would be the case, but never underestimate the power of stupidity.

Rick Perry's Anti-Intellectualism

          Rick Perry, the current governor of Texas, aside from trying to "reform" the universities he did not exactly excel in, also did not engage in debates when he ran for governor of Texas.    At the recent Iowa straw poll, the young Republicans even saw this as a positive, that he was somehow not letting the media "spin' him.  However, what this really shows is a complete lack of intellectual courage, and it seems to be characterizing most of the current Republican party.

           It used to be that when a candidate dodged the media and tough questions they were not seen as a credible candidate.  They were characterized as lacking the necessary intellectual ingredients to hold public office.  However, with the rise of the Tea Party and conservative media, this seems to no longer be the case.  Supporters of these intellectual midgets actually see them dodging mainstream media as a positive thing, perhaps to avoid a "gotcha" question, which is when a Republican is caught in a contradiction or a lie and they are called out on it, like when Newt Gingrich called Ryan's plan to change Medicare "right-wing social engineering," and then spent the next few days backtracking.  Or when John McCain called the Tea Party hobbits, and then went on Sean Hannity and did an about face.

          Independents, Democrats, and the few moderate Republicans that are left in the GOP need to start holding candidates feet to the fire when they attempt to dodge tough questions.  Barack Obama went on the "O'Reilly Factor."   I cannot imagine Rick Perry or Mitt Romney having the intellectual hutzpa to go on the Rachel Maddow Show and give her an hour long interview.  This is a telling sign of the way the current Republican party has decided to abdicate their responsibility to being an intellectual alternative to the Democrats, and instead have decided to live by talking points and cliches that are lacking in substance.
         

GOP At Odds With Most Economists

           According to the New York Times, economists and policy analysts are questioning whether the GOP's policy ideas are a good idea. According to the Times, "Instead, these critics say, Washington should be focusing on stimulating the economy in the near term to induce people to spend money and create jobs, while settling on a long-term plan for spending cuts and tax increases to take effect only after the economy recovers."  Furthmore, even a Republican economist, Martin Feldstein, who was a policy adviser to Ronald Reagan,  and Henry Paulson, George W. Bush's treasury secretary, are both calling for a balanced approach that includes tax increases.  

           Now the Tea Party needs to come face reality with the rest of us.  Spending cuts alone are not going pay down the debt.  It is too large.  Tax increases must be part of the deal.  Therefore, unless the Tea Party thinks it understands the economy better than people who actually have expertise in the subject, it should listen to these warnings.  And if the Tea Party decides they won't listen, then they will continue to lose the respect of mainstream America, and ultimately go into the history books as the party of willful ignorance.

Starbucks Shows Society Becoming More Sensitive to Homophobia

           Not too long ago, the pastor of a church could have made bigoted remarks to homosexuals and not many people would have taken notice.  However, times are changin.  Willow Creek Community Church, who has hosted speakers such as Bill Clinton, had planned to host the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, to speak on leadership.  However, the church drew the ire of the gay community and the supporters thereof with an online petition that protested Schultz's involvement.  Therefore, Howard Schultz decided it was best not to attend.

What was it that drew the dissatisfaction so many homosexuals and others had with this particular church?  The contentious point that was the church had been associated with a group known as Exodus International up until 2009.  This is a group that practices "reparative therapy" on homosexuals by telling them to do things such as play masculine sports, read the Bible, and pray.  These activities are said to cure homosexuality.  They claim to have results, but the psychological community is completely against what they do, and says it can even have harmful effects on the individuals.

What can one make of all of this commotion about the church?  To me this signals that society is fundamentally changing to become more tolerant.  Churches will eventually not be allowed to spew bigoted hatred towards homosexuals the way they do now without being reprimanded by the community at large.  To me, the fact that Howard Schultz withdrew from the event is a positive step towards a more tolerant society.

Rush Limbaugh Attacks One Of His Own

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host who is known for his inflammatory rhetoric, has done something that will surprise many people. He has gone after Fox News! And why has he done this?  With regards to the Republican Presidential candidates, Rush said that  "Fox wants these people to tear each other up. Cause they want approval from the mainstream media, cause that's what the mainstream media would do."  So his complaint is that Fox is fueling the fire to try and get the GOP candidates to attack each other instead of Obama and this is done because they want respect from the mainstream media.

Another example Rush used is when Byron York asked Michelle Bachmann what she meant when she said she would submit to her husband.  In the past Bachmann said her husband had told her to go to college and become a tax attorney even though she did not want to do it.  She says it is biblical for a wife to submit to her husband.  Then on the Thursday night debate, she changed the meaning of submit to respect, a complete dodge of the question.

It is unclear to me exactly what Rush Limbaugh's problem is.  The Republican primary is supposed to be the place for Republicans to differentiate themselves from each other, point out the flaws of their opponents, and tell why their vision of America is superior to that of Barack Obama's.  This means that partisan infighting is something that cannot be avoided.  Perhaps Rush's real problem is that the candidates are actually pointing out flaws in each other instead of Obama, and this could possibly cause doubt in voter's minds once the Republican nominee has been chosen and been run through the grinder by his/her fellow candidates.  Tis the nature of politics, and Rush should not complain about something that in ultimately inevitable, even if it means his ideology is challenged because the candidate that wins is not the perfect conservative over the evil doer Obama in his black and white world.  The real world ultimately requires many shades of gray.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Super Congress Republicans Not Up To The Task

             The Super Congress members have been selected by their respective party leaders.  Now it is time to see what this group can come up with.  President Obama said everything is on the table.  But that is not going to the case.  As usual, the Republicans choose the path of least resistance and intellectual dishonesty they are always going to reliably produce.  All six members of the committee have signed Grover Norquist's pledge that they will not raise taxes.  What is the point of the Super Congress, that will force the rest of the Congress to accept an up or down vote on their recommendations, if they are filled with people who are not intellectually honest?  It's like appointing a school board 12 member commission, and ensuring six of them say creationism is a fact and the Bible is in the inerrant word of God.  Your hands become tied before you even begin.

             Given this dismal state of affairs, what can we possibly hope to expect from this Super Committee?  I think it is reasonable to expect that the Republicans will continue their outright assault on the middle class by going after education, environmental protection, and workplace safety regulations.  They will do everything they can to stop the government from actually doing it's job.  Philosoper Jean-Paul Satyr once asked with regards to morality, would an individual want everyone to act the same way they are?  Would you make family decisions or company decisions by just cutting services or supplies to the least well off?  Well grandma, our budget is tight, so I can't pay for your arthritis medicine sorry.  Or a small business saying, well our revenue is down so this means that we have to cut jobs instead of the bosses taking pay cuts.  Perhaps  lawmakers would be wise to heed the words of Mr. Satyr when the Super Congress begins it's negotiations.

Should Matt Damon Run For President?

            There was another actor in the past who ran for office.  He eventually became President of the United States and is loved by many still today.  Who is this person you ask?  It is none other than Ronald Reagan, who the right loves to mythologize.  Many did not give him a chance in hell, but he overcame the odds (and of course appealed to the stupidity and racism of America at the time) and won.  Perhaps Matt Damon should consider running for President.  Perhaps he would actually fight for real reform, like collective bargaining, environmental protection, reproductive choice, and education.  If he showed that he was informed on the issues, I would welcome his candidacy in 2016 and I would vote for him if he were to win the Democratic nomination.

           This is in complete contrast to the Tea Party, who believes not knowing anything is better than knowing too much.  They look at the world in simple terms.  Just cut taxes and regulation, and all will be well.  Perhaps they are not aware that many of the regulations and social programs we have are designed to help people who need it.  If the social safety net were to be eliminated, America would revolt and the Tea Party would see what Democracy was really all about.

Democrats Fall Short in Wisconsin

            6 Republican seats were defended in the state of Wisconsin last night, and 2 of them were lost, preventing the Democrats from taking control of the Senate.  The Senate is now only 17-16 Republican.  There are 2 more Democrats that have to defend their seats next week.  So I will be waiting with anticipation to see if they can hang on.

           With regards to the Republican victories, I can only wonder what the electorate was thinking when they re-elected people who are not on the side of the middle class and the poor.  These Republicans want to destroy public education and attack middle class rights to collectively bargain.  What kind of politician goes after teachers?  Perhaps one that does not see them as very valuable.  This is fueled by the anti-intellectualism that runs through the veins of the Republican party everywhere.  Facts get in the way of an ideology that is believed with passionate conviction (no matter how wrong-headed it may be).  The Republicans should read Charles Peirce's method of tenacity.  They practice it daily and are a perfect example of what NOT to do in intellectual pursuits.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

California Amusement Park Sued of Homophobia

             California's Great America amusement park is being sued over the homophobia of an employee.  Craig Person and Edmund Lang.  The two men rode the Psycho Mouse roller coaster, which takes photos of the riders as it is going.  People can then purchase the pictures for a cheap price.  Usually the point is that people are caught in funny facial expressions and it provides great memories.  However, Craig and Edmund decided they did not want to pay the fee to purchase the photo.  To their surprise, their photo would end up resurfacing and looking different than when it was first taken.

              The couple had friends who rode something else, and they found the photo on the counter and written on it was "Were (sic) Fuck!."  So it sounds as though the employees who had the photo initially thought it was a funny joke and passed it along to other employees, who were careless in disposing of it.  The employees involved all deserve to be fired.  There is no room for bigotry in our society.  If a man were to call an African American a derogatory name, he would be fired.  But if a man makes fun of another guy and calls him a fag, the co-workers often laugh right along.  Congress needs to act to prevent this type of behavior from happening anymore.

Nebraska Tea Partier Continues Trend

             The Tea Party, since it's inception, has consistently taken extremist positions.  They have held up racist signs at rallies, and even at one rally one Tea Partier taunted a man with Parkinson's disease - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20001186-503544.html.   Another example is Mark Williams, the former leader of the Tea Party Express, writing a racist letter pretending to be an African American writing to Abraham Lincoln - http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-07-18/news/27070288_1_mark-williams-mosque-ground-zero.  And now Jon Bruning, a Tea Partier from Nebraska, has done it again, this time comparing welfare recipients to raccoons.

              Jon Bruning is currently running for the U.S. Senate trying to unseat Ben Nelson.  And he was caught on video showing what the Tea Party really thinks.  Without being specific, just like Ronald Reagan and his race baiting welfare queen story, he says a local construction process was stopped because they would have hurt beetles.  So biologists use rat carcasses to attract the beetles and then take them away from the site so they are not hurt.  This story doesn't sound believable at face value, but putting that aside this isn't the main problem with what Mr. Bruning said.  He says when this process occurs, raccoons find out that the beatles are inside the carcasses, and it is free food.  So the raccoons will eat them and mess up the whole process.  AND THIS IS WHAT HE COMPARES WELFARE RECIPIENTS TO, saying "And it's like grapes in a jar. The raccoons, they're not stupid, they're going to do the easy way if we make it easy for them -- just like welfare recipients all across America. If we don't send them to work, they're going to take the easy way out."  Perhaps Mr. Bruning should try living on minimum wage and in poverty while trying to take care of kids and paying for utilities, car insurance and payment, and food.  Maybe then he will see that people are not taking the EASY way out.  The easy way out is to not force people to challenge their beliefs, and to play on existing stereotypes to try and win over opinions of the uninformed or misinformed, and that is what the Tea Party's MO is.

Wisconsin Elections

       Tea Party governor Scott Walker, who decided to cut education, take away teacher's right to collectively bargain, and give huge tax breaks to the rich, is now under fire.  There are recall elections today, August 9th, for 6 Republicans.  There was already one recall election, and the Democrat won.  The nation will be watching as this unfolds.

       I am hoping the voters in Wisconsin will take notice of the extreme measures that Scott Walker has supported.  His approval ratings are low, with 59% of voters disapproving of the job he is doing.  He is supporting policies that hurt the middle class and the poor.  Why voters who are not wealthy would ever support a Republican when it is against their own self-interest to do so is a very interesting phenomenon.  But now that the people of Wisconsin are galvanized, hopefully the enthusiasm will spread across the country and America will have a real non-violent revolution, one that fundamentally changes America with Medicare and college for all, and with an environment that is not going to be destroyed by the businesses who care about nothing but profit.

     

Monday, August 8, 2011

The Delusional Tea Party

       The Media is reporting that the Tea Party won.  In exchange for avoiding default, they got 2.4 trillion in cuts and no tax increases.  But they are not satisfied.  They claim this is just the beginning of a long fight to reduce the size and scope of government.  This shows just how extreme they are.

       I don't really know what would make the Tea Party happy.  They are not very specific on cuts.  They just talk of "generic government spending."  Do they want to cut education for the poor, cancer research, research into alternative energy?  Polls show they are all social conservatives so they are not just about economics.  Are they in favor of gay rights?  Not likely.  I want the Tea Party to propose very specific spending cuts, so the majority of Americans can see that they actually support policies that would hurt them, and once that is obvious, no intellectually honest person will support such an immoral party.

       Bill Maher is correct.  There needs to be a liberal Tea Party.  And not in the extreme facetious way he talked about.  I am talking about a real liberal tea party, that openly advocates the right to education, health care, and a decent standard of living.  The kind that does not take anti-scientific stances to appease stupid voters.  I want a liberal Tea Party that actually uses it's mind to solve problems, instead of sticking with failed ideas from the past, and turning the founding fathers into religious figures.

PROGRESSIVE CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

           The progressives are fighting back against the Tea Party.  They have made their own contract with America, and it provides actual solutions to American's problems, instead of the same old failed policies of the Republican party.  They have 10 points that I will outline briefly.

         1.  Infrastructure spending-  This will fix American's broken infrastructure and provide people with jobs.
         2.  Invest in clean energy technology-  This would invest in research in green energy, like wind and solar, that will be employ people in the future jobs of America.

         3.  Invest in public education-  This is the idea of making public education higher quality and more equal  in terms of quality.  It would also make higher education more affordable.

         4.  Medicare for all-  This is a basic human right and the United States needs to catch up with the rest of the world on this.

         5.  Make work pay- This would ensure people were all paid a minimum wage that met a basic standard of living, pay women the same as men for the same work, and allow employees to unionize.

        6.  Secure Social Security-  Ensure the system is strengthened for future retirees and the disabled.  Eliminate the cap on the tax so the rich will continue to pay on all of their income instead of just up to a certain amount.

        7.    End the Bush tax cuts-  End the massive tax cuts for the rich and corporate loopholes, such as oil subsidies and jets.

        8.  End the wars and invest at home-  Bring the troops home and invest money in America.

       9.  End Wall-Street speculation-   Tax each Wall-Street trade at a rate of 1/20th of 1%.

       10.  Strengthen Democracy-  Make all elections fair, public finance elections, give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, and stop creating corporations as persons.

     Obviously these ideas need to be elaborated in much more detail, but this is a very good step in the right direction!

Michelle Bachman Newsweek Cover

        Newsweek is taking flack for the recent issue that features Michelle Bachmann, a Republican presidential candidate from Iowa, on the cover with a crazed look in her eyes.  Conservatives are saying it is proof of liberal bias.  However, the cover may be more fitting than conservatives would like to admit.  She has said many controversial things, but I will name three that are prima facie absurd.

        The first is when, on The Chris Matthews Show on MSNBC, Michelle Bachmann said that members of Congress need to be investigated for anti-American views.  This is the typical conspiracy theory John Burch society Joseph McCarthy line that communists have infiltrated our government and that we have to weed them out before they take over and imprison dissenters.  It's paranoid thinking (if it even deserves to be called thinking).

      The second thing is when she said Obama was running a "gangsta government."  This is really an appeal to  racist attitudes among many white conservatives who think of the word gangster and see images of black and Hispanic males running around causing havoc.  And Obama just happens to be African American, so this is actually a really sick thing to do.

      And finally, during the recent negotiations of the debt-ceiling, during which the Tea Party's intransigence caused the nation's credit rating to go down,  Bachmann said that default would not happen, that the date was made up by the Obama administration to try and scare Congress into voting for what he wanted.  However, Standard and Poors specifically cited that members of Congress who used the default to play politics was a factor in the downgrade.  So thank you Michelle Bachmann for hurting America, you would be a mighty fine president indeed.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Another Bigoted Pledge

         The National Organization for Marriage, which are responsible for this ad than can be seen here AD.  It is an ominous warning that gay marriage is going overtake regular marriage.  This is just a front for bigotry, and now they are going after the current Republican candidates for votes.  They are supporting things such as "support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification, nominate judges and Supreme Court justices who oppose marriage equality, defend DOMA "vigorously in court," create a special commission on "religious liberty" to investigate claims of anti-gay marriage supporters who have been "harassed or threatened."  

          It's going to be incredible someday when we look back on human history and see how bigoted some members of the populace were, even asking candidates to sign pledges like this in the open.  It is going to be similar to people opposing interracial marriage or saying the world was flat.  It will be so foreign to us we will be in a sort of disbelief.  And when that day comes, it will be grand.

Rick Santorum Claims Schools Indoctrinate Children

            Rick Santorum, a Republican presidential candidate for President, claimed that schools indoctrinate children.  His evidence is that “You wonder why young people can vote and flock for a guy like Barack Obama and say, if you look at the surveys, that socialism is better than capitalism -- well, that’s because they don’t understand America, I said ‘indoctrination’ and I meant it." So according to him, because young people voted for Barack Obama, that means they are indoctrinated by schools. Perhaps Santorum has forgotten we are in a financial crisis that was caused by unregulated capitalism, and two recent environmental disasters, the BP oil spill and the West Virginia mining disaster, are also failures of unregulated capitalism.

         Santorum has said he believes life begins at conception and that being gay is a choice. These are two factually inaccurate statements. The Tea Party mangles history by promoting a government that looks more like the Articles of Confederation than the U.S. Constitution. They claim the government does nothing right when it does a lot right. They claim social programs are pointless when they actually help people. It seems as though The Tea Party and Santorum need to go back to school to learn about how the world actually works, instead of following what the philosopher Charles Peirce called the method of tenacity, which is believing what you want to believe in spite of any evidence and never changing.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Rick Perry College Grades

           Surprise surprise!!! When Rick Perry attended Texas A&M, most of his grades were Cs or Ds.  His only two As came in World Military Systems and Improv Learning.  It's not a surprise then that a darling of the Republican movement did not exactly excel while in college.

Many Republicans are vastly uninformed on the issues, believing ideas such as climate change is a hoax and being gay is a choice.  They generally see academia as some kind of liberal elite and much of what is learned in universities is a hoax (even though much of what is done is universities drives human advancement forward).  They mangle U.S. history (which Perry got a C in), and disregard facts.  Perhaps they think facts are those pesky things that get in the way of a worldview.  In any event, Perry's disregard for the truth makes it surprising he was even able to earn Cs at all, given that earning a C in a class requires one to at least show a very basic understanding of the material.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Fox News vs. Spongebob Squarepants

        Does Fox News  have any intellectual honesty left?  They peddle claims that have been widely discredited, like being gay is a choice, tax cuts increase revenue, and that Obama is the most liberal person living in America. Given this, it's not surprising they also take the wrong position with regards to global warming.  In fact, around 98% of climate scientists say it is man made in a report published by the National Academy of Sciences.  Fox never produces any credible sources that go against this.  They try to pick off the small minority of climatologists who disagree, which you can see is extremely small,  or they pick out scientists who are not experts in climate science, like an anthropologist, and then say LOOK THERE IS DISAGREEMENT!!!!!  And now Spongebob is the target.

        The show "Spongebob Squarepants," which airs on Nickelodeon, apparently had a small part of a show somewhere where Mr. Krabs says "Thanks to global warming, the temperature will soon go through the roof, and we'll have an endless summer."  What is really sad is that a kid can watch a cartoon and be more informed about global warming that a viewer who watches Fox News.  

         It continues to boggle my mind how any rational, thinking person can take most of what they see on Fox News seriously.  There are a few random bright spots, like Sheperd Smith.  But the majority of it is not even factual.  There is an old saying that you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.  Fixed News continues to make debate in America harder by widening the gap between what people on the left and right would consider a "fact."  And in doing do, they are hurting America and our global dominance.  And anything that threatens that is usually something Faux News would be ready to pounce on in a New York minute.

Fox Hosts Admit Palin Is Treated With Kid Gloves

        Greg Gutfeld and Bob Beckel, two of the hosst of the show that replaced Glenn Beck on Fox News known as "The Five," admitted to Politico that they have not gone after Sarah Palin the way they would have if she did not work at Fox.  Gutfeld said , "And if I say something bad and I see her in the hallway I feel really awkward and wrong. So I just kind of say, ‘that was a good job!'"  Beckel said, "It has everything to do with your paycheck. That’s why you feel awkward. I know exactly what you mean. I’ll be honest, I’ve pulled my punches.”  These two guys admitting this means there are most likely more who share their beliefs.


       Has the entire news organization actually done it?  Palin probably boosts ratings for the company.   So there would be an incentive to not mess that up.  O'Reilly has become annoyed with her in the past but never actually called her out.  To what extent are these people censoring themselves?  And are they being forced to do it by Roger Ailes or is it self-imposed censorship?   It's hard to tell, but if the people at Fox News really are about being "fair and balanced" as they claim, then they will dust off the intellectually dishonest past and go after Palin the way only Fixed News can. 

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Tea Party Influence

         Many media outlets are writing about the fact that the Tea Party changed the debate in Washington.  They pushed for federal spending to be increased and no tax increases.  And they mostly got their way, with the debt-ceiling deal cutting around 1.5 trillion from the debt and there is more to come in the future with the Super Congress' recommendations in November.  If they are not followed, there are automatic cuts to Medicare and Defense.  Seems like the Tea Party "won" the policy debate, but the question is whether or not their methods were actually ethical.

        The Tea Party threatened to default the entire federal government if they did not get a lot of what they wanted, i.e. drastic spending cuts and no tax increases.  They said either that default would not happen or that it would be a positive thing because it would FORCE spending cuts, even though that would've probably meant social security recipients would not be paid.  This is not an intellectually honest way to negotiate.  It is like saying I will not give up until I get what I want, even if that means people get hurt in the process.  They said damn the economy, we are getting what we want or all of us are going down.

       What can we conclude about the policy and the methods of negotiation?  The policy is disastrous, and will hurt the economy because it means thousands of federal workers will lose their jobs, and the method sets a precedent that if one party really wants something, all they have to do is threaten to take the country to default and the other party will give in because they actually care about the country.  It would not surprise me if Republicans do not turn this into their normal strategy.  This could be an impact the Tea Party has had that, in the long run, is ultimately and utterly childish.

Palin Shows Stupidity Again

          Sarah Palin is not widely known for her intellectual prowess.  During the 2008 Presidential campaign she gave incoherent answers to questions about the bailout and when asked by Katie Couric what regular newspapers she said, she said "all of them," and then did not give any specific ones when pressed.  She was part of a major push to try to tie Obama to Bill Ayers, who was part of the Weather Underground in the 1960s by saying Obama palled around with terrorists.  The racism in the campaign was absurd.  She has made another idiotic statement again.  On Fox News "Hannity" she said in response to people who said the Tea Party were acting like terrorists by acting like children and holding up the debt-ceiling debates and risking default, "If we were real domestic terrorists, President Obama would be wanting to pal around with us, wouldn't he? He didn't have a problem palling around with Bill Ayers back in the day when he kicked off his political career."


       Again Palin tries to do this discredited claim.  It has been fact checked by reputable organizations and found to be false.  The Tea Party acted as though that the nation defaulting was a good thing and if they did not get their spending cuts and no tax increases they would ensure it occurred.  It would have been a deliberate attempt to harm the nation's economy.  Perhaps Palin should have thought about the ramifications of what many in the Tea Party were proposing before she tried to unsuccessfully tie Obama to terrorists again.  Then it would be obvious who was trying to inflict intentional harm on America.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Gabrielle Giffords Returns

             Gabrielle Giffords, the Democratic Congresswoman from Arizona who was shot by the crazed gunman Jared Loughner, returned to Congress today to cast a vote in the House to help ensure that the recent plan approved by both party leaders would pass.  It's amazing she has come back and she looks like she is going to continue on her road to recovery.  What continues to escape discussion is the availability of guns in this country.

             There is no conceivable reason that a person such as Loughner should be able to get a gun so easily.  Seung-Hui Cho, the man behind the Virginia Tech massacre, was also able to get a gun without much effort.  Americans have a deep cultural norm that everyone who is not mentally insane or a felon has the right to own any kind of gun they can train for.  This is faulty logic.  Many claim it is legal and in the constitution.  However, that does not address the merits of the argument.  It just says that we are legally guaranteed the right.  Slavery was also legal at one point and time and no sane person would defend the policy today.  The country needs a discussion.  And it needs to be honest, and it may piss off the NRA.  However, tragedies such as the ones mentioned should cause every thinking person to pause and reflect on the state of our society and how easy it really is to go on a shooting spree.

Tea Party Just About Economic Issues?

        Many in the Tea Party like to claim that the movement was formed solely as a reaction to federal spending. However, many in the Tea Party, like Christine O'Donnell, Sharon Angle, and Rand Paul all have made extremely controversial statements that don't have much to do with economics at all.  O'Donnell made an ad saying she was not a witch and did not understand how bond ratings work, Sharon Angle spoke of second amendment remedies to losing an election and constantly dodged any media that did not completely agree with her, and Rand Paul came out against the Civil Rights Acts on the Rachel Maddow show.

Now another Tea Partier is in hot water again.  Her name is Kim Simac and she is running in Wisconsin.  What has caused the controversy to erupt is a blog post she made on the Patriot Action Network, a Tea Party website, where she compares American public schools to Nazi indoctrination camps.  She laments that the separation of church and state is a problem, and taking God out of public schools is wrong.  Her specific example is students not being able to sing "Silent Night," even though that is specifically Christian.  She ends by stating, " Add to that Kindergarten Sex Ed classes and I really wonder how it is American parents smile and kiss their children good bye  every morning and in good conscience hand their most precious resource over to the hands of such questionable people."  She makes it seem as though it is a very scary thing and children are being indoctrinated with something awful when they go to school.  She also thinks evolution and creationism should both be taught.  Another example of Tea Partiers living in their own reality.  Here is a link to the blog that was deleted by recovered by TMZ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zpd9G0I7E4sJ:www.patriotactionnetwork.com/forum/topics/the-scary-comparisons-of-the&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com.