Time to Bring CongressMEN into the Hospital

Tags

Election 2012, GOP, Humor, Joe Wash, Reproductive Rights, sarcasm by the bucket, teabaggers, women's health

We been doin’ this all wrong folks. Dumb us! Us wimmin’ been confused once again, showin’ the need for that fine masculine hand to show us the way.

We been going to MEDICAL doctors for health advice. Stupid us, when all the time it’s the CongressMEN of America we should be asking to ‘splain to us what ails us and what’s the cure.

You all remember how Todd Akin informed us that if we were “really” raped, than we would produce some mooby-dooby juice that would kill that durn sperm in their wiggly tracks and leave us pregnancy free. Remember that?

And him? He was a salesman and then a steel executive in the family business. But he didn’t get his medical smarts there–no he got it when he got to Congress. It was right there in the “freshman packet of how to be a Congressman” handed out to him and all the new Congressmen by the House page. Chapter 394, entitled: Your New Medical Degree, explains in only 12 pages all the medical stuff a Congressman needs to know in order to pontificate on women’s naughty parts, which is all the Congress ever investigates or legislates about if you are of the Republican flavor.

Iffin’ you don’t believe me, I give you case in point number two. We just adore Joe Walsh from Illinois. He’s a favorite of ours because he says such silly things. We thought he was such a jerk, but heck, we were wrong. Now that we have found our right binder to live in, we realize that he too “had our back” all the time.

Joe, who dabbled in theatre, and then went on to social work and teaching history (can you just imagine how many people want to erase that thought from their noggins?), went on to Congress and he too got his How to be a Congressman packet and it too contained his Medical Degree.

He explained to us slow learners (women of Merika, that be you!), that we can’t have no abortion for any reason what-so-ever! No, he is not one of those avoidance  types who throws up his hands and says, “let God decide”, cause it would seem to me that iffin’ it’s actually God’s will that I be raped, and then I develop some sort of dangerous condition that threatens to kill me if I carry this fetus to term? If that happens, I guess you could argue that God will decide how it all turns out, much like those folks who don’t allow blood transfusions and just pray, because that is the Godly way of doing it, right?

Well, no. Joe, see he is a medical doctor (and not just posing as one as did Robert Young, who was constantly asked medical advice by the way, which he dutifully deflected with the statement, “I’m not really a doctor, I just play one on TV). Where was I?

Oh, yes, Joe, and his medical advice.

He says, Joe that is, that there is no such thing as a need for abortion to “save the life of the mother,” since his twelve pages of Medical mumbo jumbo included the fact that given the world’s state of technology and science, there ain’t nothing they can’t fix! Nope, nothing at all that they can’t spray, operate on, medicate, x-ray, irradiate, fumigate, cut off, sew-up, or chant over and fix.

Joe says that either that is what he read, or it was about how to change a tire in the Congressional parking garage. One or the other, but heck, it’s close enough.

In either case, us silly wimmin’ are suitably informed now, and we can just stop worrying our pretty little heads about the “dangers” of pregnancy.

Joe believes everyone lives forever of course, since technology and science must have solved all the other diseases too. He says Arlen Specter and all the rest of the folks you think are dead? why they are just hanging out in the Cayman Islands where they work as money counters keeping the tabs on Romney’s millions.

Boy, the things we girls just don’t understand.

Related articles

• GOP rep: Abortions unnecessary to save women (usatoday.com)
• GOP congressman admits Paul Ryan, GOP will “end” Medicare (elections.americablog.com)
• Rep. Joe Walsh: Abortion never medically necessary (tv.msnbc.com)
• Another Republican doesn’t understand female reproduction (whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com)
• Republican Rep. Joe Walsh To Employers: Threaten Employees To Vote For Romney (alan.com)
• More Junk Science: GOP Congressman Says Abortion Is Never Necessary To Save A Woman’s Life (thinkprogress.org)

It’s Raining Binders of Women

Tags

Election 2012, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, Mitt Romney, Reproductive Rights, Women's issues

Before hauling butt out into the desert this morning, Diego and I were able to catch a bit of Morning Joe, which I just love because I love Mika. So, they were still talking about the debate, because that is what news talk shows do, talk about old news until something new peaks their interest.

As Mika broached the subject of Romney and women, Joe was quick to point out that “women have more concerns than just abortion.” This caused Mark Halperin, (perennial douche) to chime in that “we need to have a substantive discussion between the candidates about what they would do for women, but this binder stuff is distracting and just details.” He also considered the fact that Romney lied about the binders in the first place a “detail” of little importance to the big issue.

Mika rightly pointed out that the fact that he was prepared with an answer using an anecdote of his past, and that he lied about the story was significant.

Willy Geist of course agreed with Halperin.

Men don’t get it. At least most of them don’t. Well, to be fair, REPUBLICAN MEN DON’T GET IT. And it’s got everything to do with how they actually view women.

Let’s take a look at what the binders comment means to women and what else Romney said that is indicative that he no more “gets” it than he gets brats and beer on Sunday.

At the debate Romney made these basic arguments:

1. 1. He realized upon becoming Governor of Massachusetts that there were no women candidates put forth by his staff for cabinet positions. He demanded that a search begin to find qualified women.
2. 2. At least one woman on his staff was given flex time so she could get home to “fix dinner”.
3. 3. All women should have a right to contraceptive care and he would never do anything to hamper that.
4. When asked about assault rifles, he waxed on about how women with children should be married, and that somehow households without the man/woman + children contributes to gun violence.

Now let’s look at the record:

1. Romney has never publicly acknowledged that the Lilly Ledbetter Act for equal pay for women was a good thing. In fact his staff apparently has said he was against it, but “would not actively work to repeal it now.” Note that only about 2 Republicans ever voted for it in the first place.
2. Romney is decidedly (at this point anyway) in favor of taking away a woman’s right to choose. He vacillates as to what exceptions might apply. He has said both “the health of the woman” and the “life of the woman”. It remains unclear why a fetus loses it status as a life when it results from rape or incest, but Romney maintains these exceptions, at least so far. Ryan of course makes only one exception: for the life of the woman.
3. Romney opposes “Obamacare” which in part protects women’s health by denying insurance companies the right to deny women coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Romney lied and said that his “health care plan” includes this protection but it does not. It only states that if you lose your job and were covered, and continue to pay your COBRA, you can get a new coverage within 3 months and not be denied on the basis of a pre-existing condition. The existing law covers anyone, not just those who already have coverage they are losing.
4. Romney has made it crystal clear that he intends to defund Planned Parenthood. PPH is the only source of health care for millions of poor women. It is where they get mammograms and cervical cancer screenings. It is where they get contraceptive care.
5. Romney came out in favor of the Blunt Amendment which would have given employers the right to deny women working for them, coverage for contraceptive care under their health care policies. They had in effect a right to reject paying for it, because they were “morally” opposed to contraception.

What his comments at the debate said to women:

1. Apparently though all the years that Romney has been a businessman he had not come across any “qualified women” to appoint to his cabinet. He had to direct his staff to find some.
2. We now know that this “story” was fabricated. A women’s group presented the list of resumes to the Governor when he was elected. They prepared it for whomever won the election.
3. His claim that he gave one woman on his staff flex time is admirable, but his claim that he did so because she had to get home to “fix dinner” is indicative of a mindset that women’s jobs include taking care of the household. It apparently doesn’t occur to the governor that men can cook dinner too.
4. When Romney says that single mothers do a wonderful job but it’s better to wait and get married, then have sex and produce children, and this somehow impacts assault weapons possession and use, he’s basically saying that single mothers, by their promiscuity, are responsible for gun violence (an admittedly mostly male phenomenon).
5. His claim that believed that women had a right to contraceptive care and that he would do nothing to impinge on it and didn’t believe employers should have that right, is patently a lie, given his support of the Blunt Amendment.

Which all comes down to this: Romney carries on the tradition of women having their “place” in the world, behind and supporting their husbands. He has learned all the nice phrases to make it seem that he “respects” women in their very hard role as mother and housekeeper, but frankly women need to be guided by men in their reproductive decisions and in their behavior. Men should continue to control these issues for women because men know what’s best for them.

That’s what women hear from Mitt Romney. And frankly, I think we have pegged him just about perfectly.

Related articles

• Mika Brzezinski Calls Out Mitt Romney For Lying About Seeking Out ‘Binders Full Of Women’ (mediaite.com)
• Romney Lied About ‘Binders Full Of Women’ Anecdote. Surprised? (addictinginfo.org)
• Mitt Romney’s binders full of women just don’t stack up (guardian.co.uk)
• Five Ways Romney Alienated Women In The Second Presidential Debate (thinkprogress.org)
• Despite Bulging Binders, Mitt Romney Was Awful at Hiring Women as Massachusetts Governor [That’s So Romney] (jezebel.com)
• About Mitt Romney’s ‘binders full of women’? Guess what. It’s BS. (dailykos.com)
• ‘Binders full of women’ (maddowblog.msnbc.com)
• The “Binders full of women’ meme and coverage (psawomenpolitics.wordpress.com)
• ‘Binders Full of Women’ Illustrates Memes’ Power (rollcall.com)
• ‘Too Small for Women’: Amazon Flooded With Hilarious Reviews of Binders in Wake of Debate [Debates] (gawker.com)

 

Boatloads of Poo Comin’ Down the Pike

Tags

abstinence only, crazy media, Election 2012, GOP, Mitt Romney, psychology, Reproductive Rights, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, The crazy right, Women's issues

Well, another week in the bag, and I feel quite literally buried in poo from the politicos among us. Thankfully, or not, we got about three inches of fluffy white that has covered everything in sight and made it all look rather clean. For the moment.

I note that Willard is giving a speech about economics today. His 59-point plan was pretty much a dud, so it’s time to do something a little more flashy. In order to do this Willard’s thinkers have secured the Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions. Fearful that they might not be able to fill up that arena, they have toyed with a number of ways of setting it up, finally settling on placing The Willard on the 30-yard line and with some nifty camera angles, figuring it will look like all of humankind has come to listen to the wisdom that will pour forth. *Yawn*

We are told that The Willard has “reassembled” the Bush economic team. Now I feel secure. I remember that as working quite well, don’t you?

¶

The Willard decried that abstinence only wasn’t being taught in our schools enough. It’s something that has been proven to work. Except that it hasn’t. Except that it is provably not working. Except that where it is used, namely the deep South, is where the highest levels of teen pregnancy occur. And the Ragin’ Rick interjects that teen pregnancy is soaring, when it is in fact, declining. And the declining is in those states that teach a full-range sex-education, including contraceptive alternatives.

Just to set the record straight.

¶

Like just about everyone has noticed that Dr. Paul, the “principled” one in the race, is steering clear of ever criticizing The Willard. He has no just problem with criticizing Ragin’ Rick or Neutered Newt. In fact he crucifies them. And everybody is pretty darn sure that Dr. Paul and The Willard have struck some agreement. Does it have to do with the FED? Or is it more personal, like being kind to the weird-o Rand? Only time will tell. Of course both sides are shaking their heads vigorously in DENIAL. That’s convincing–no one.

¶

Said Karen Santorum: “I did always feel in my heart that God had big plans for Rick. Eventually it was there, tugging at my heart. When Obamacare passed, that was it. That put the fire in my belly.”

Awwww, ain’t that cute? And I thought the only thing her belly was good for was growing babies. God works in mysterious ways–I guess.

¶

As I mentioned the other day, you can read a copy of The Authoritarians, by Robert Altemeyber online. I thought I would share a bit here and there as I get along in it. Those who are authoritarian followers are more fearful in general that the rest of us. They were taught to be so by their parents. They see boogeymen around every corner, a crisis in the making at every turn. People are dangerous and out to get them. Now overlay this with the propensity of the GOP leadership and Fox Noise to interject FEAR as a main ingredient in all they say. Getting it now?

¶

Did you miss it? The polls poles flipped once again. I know this because the new mantra of the crazies is that Democrats are anti-science. None other than the tea-drunk Michelle Malkin has jumped on the Ragin’ Rick bandwagon. The White House has a anti-science theology that is destroying Amerika folks. Environmental-Nazis!

I think the real religious menaces are those in the White House, in the Department of Interior, at the National Park Service who pretend that they are on the side of rationality and objectivity while they are politicizing and corrupting Science for their own radical ends.

Yeah, and now can you explain to us what is their purpose in deliberately doing this Michelle with two L’s? Are they working for SATAN???????

¶

Meanwhile, the ever busy Beelzebub, dips his horns in education. Ragin’ Rick, his head usually a swim with sexual perversion, imagined and fantasized, took time to demonize the President’s attempts to help kids get to college. Why nothing but a utopian plot to groom more radical theologians of the Marxian flavor.

“I understand why Barack Obama wants to send every kid to college, because of their indoctrination mills, absolutely … The indoctrination that is going on at the university level is a harm to our country.”

Except for Liberty U I bet, huh Ragin’? (H/T to Angry Black Lady Chronicles.)

¶

Are you out of sorts? Are you too pooped to poo? Need a pick-me-up? Well, no Vitametavegimin here folks but some mighty good commentary follows:

Paul Krugman sorts out all of  Willard’s economic lies  in a NYTimes Op Ed.

“If you just cut, if all you’re thinking about doing is cutting spending, as you cut spending you’ll slow down the economy.”

Think Obama said that? Well The Willard did. And they are walkin’ back that one, fast and furiously.

Steve Benen points out all those pesky “friends” who are kinda not sometimes so “helpful” to Willard. And the worst Surrogate Award goes to:

“Santorum connects with people. Unfortunately, my guy has a hard time doing that.” (AR state party chairman and Willard backer)

And the Detroit Free Press endorsed The Willard, while pretty much disagreeing with him on everything, finally admitting that what he stands for is, ummm, kind of hard to figure out? Well, he’s better than the others anyway.

… for the past 12 months, Romney has been refashioning himself as something other than what his record suggests. He has made gestures toward economic and social radicalism, and eschewed the common sense of cooperative governing that made him a success in Massachusetts. Romney was also dead wrong when he opposed government bailouts for the auto industry (Michigan’s most vital economic engine) in late 2008. And he has since adopted a recalcitrant and, at times, revisionist defense of his position in the face of overwhelming evidence that the bailouts he opposed were necessary…. But Romney, unlike the zealous Rick Santorum, the impulsive Newt Gingrich and the backward-thinking Ron Paul, is preferable to the rest of the field. [h/t to the Commentariat for this section of links]

And with that, another day sets on the Feather. Let’s look for some laughs tomorrow shall we?

Anybody for RotoRootering a Few Butts?

Tags

Bill O'Reilly, budget, debt ceiling, economy, fundamentalists, gay rights, GOP, idiotic laws, marriage equality, Oslo, religion, Reproductive Rights, state legislatures, teanutz, wingnuts, Women's issues

Bill O’Reilly, Fox Noise mouth, may be one of the more rational (at least he wants to be) voices at the propaganda machine, but heck that isn’t really saying anything much. He’s a mush head of the first order.

His “opines” are so often nothing but third-rank right-wing babble, and recently he took to sucking his toes once again.

If you hadn’t heard, the Institute of Medicine recently recommended that contraception should be available to women without co-pay requirements. If one is serious about cutting abortions, one would think that making sure that pregnancy avoidance would have top priority.

Not so to Billo. He theorized thusly:

 “Many women who get pregnant are blasted out of their minds when they have sex. They’re not going to use birth control anyway.”

Yes, women are just drunken sluts who get taken advantage of by sex hunting men. I suspect he didn’t think that through to the last part very well. Or as Keith Obermann suggested, maybe Billo was talking about his own relationships.

It’s what I like about Fox. They offend everyone, always. And make that a good hard steel bristle brush, thanks!

♦

Rushy Limpbaugh says the August 2 date on the debt ceiling was picked because it needed to be before the start of Ramadan. Louis Gohmert said it was picked because it was the day before the President’s birthday and he wanted it done to raise campaign funds. Steve King says there is no crisis because the President can order anything paid whenever he wants to. Michele said it all gave her a migraine.

If aliens ever landed and met these four empty vessels, they would mark this planet down as having: most intelligent life? whales. Make that an extra LONG steel bristle brush will ya? And with 4 ends? I wanna give it to them all at once.

♦

What I was hoping President Obama would say in his press conference yesterday:

“It seems that Speaker Boehner is not in control of his caucus. I ask them to send me Grover Norquist. Apparently he is in charge and I need to negotiate directly with him.”

Alas the President is too civil for that.

♦

Best line I’ve seen so far:

 “House Speaker John Boehner took his balls and went back to the House, presumably to give them back to Eric Cantor.” (Mustang Bobby at The Reaction )

♦

John Bolton, we have been lead to understand was “sure” that what happened in Oslo was an Al Qaeda operation. Course it wasn’t, since Bolton is an idiot. It was a homegrown terrorist, and self-identified “Christian conservative.” And so when somebody tells your that it is horrible to accuse fundamentalists of being dangerous. . . And would you dip that roto-rooter brush in hot sauce first?

♦

Meanwhile, folks on the extreme social right-wing are sure that this marriage equality in New York is one more step to the debauchery of Old Rome. This fine piece comes from “the sky is always falling” National Review. You’d think they would be embarrassed to print such sludge.

Just a few points:

• Brian S. Brown: Go look up the definition of racism. And when you are done, go talk to the small businesses that cater to weddings. They are ecstatic. And don’t get me started about divorce lawyers.
• William C. Duncan: Two points. It’s been pretty much debunked that marriage is for the purpose of procreation. As to “slippery slope” oh please can’t you be more creative?
• Chuck Donovan: What? I derive some comfort about ancestors? Are you nuts? Read what you wrote. I bet you can’t explain that drivel.
• Matthew J. Franck: No court mandated marriage equality, no legislative mandated equality. Oh yeah, we usually submit EVERY decision to a referendum. How long have you been in this country bucko?

Well there is a good deal more, but you get the drift. Make sure the roto rooters are all of the same-sex for this band of merry bigots.

♦

It is quite clear to me now that humans are a resilient species. How so? Why it progresses, fitfully I admit, even when only about 10% of its total numbers are certifiably sane. I bet no other species can claim that.You disagree? Well read AlterNet’s list of  “The 10 Craziest State Legislatures in America.”

Read it? Now tell me I’m wrong.

We now need so many roto-rooters that I can justifiably call myself a “job creator.” Lower my taxes you dolt!

 

 

 

Endangered Species: WASPS

Tags

Family Research Council, Fox lies, Fox Noise, GOP, John McCain, Libya, Reproductive Rights, right-wing wackery, Sarah Palin, Tea Party Nation, teabaggers, unions, wacko media, WASP

We’ve had this discussion before. The teabuggers are quick to insist that they are not racists. No they really aren’t. They can’t help it if the only rational people who can understand their deep fear that Barack is a African Muslim are old white farts. They really can’t.

And we do believe them. Right?

What has puzzled me is why they are so darned much against things like population control? Why so against small families? Or no families? They suggest that somehow this is un-American.

And from their point it is. They point to that “command” to “go forth and multiple” and in their literalist way, smirk, that that is how God wants it. Indeed? Or perchance, is there something more, shall we say, “self-serving” at work?

A suspicion that that may be the case comes from Tea Party Nation itself. In an e-mail to its loyal followers, it speaks of a massive conspiracy, composed of all the lefties and their friends, designed to, well, do read on:

What is keeping America’s fertility rate up are immigrants – both legal and illegal. There are those in America who are continuously attacking the family, bent on redefining marriage and have established anti-family government programs. This has led to downward pressure on our national total fertility rate. All of these actions are done in the name of various causes such as: reducing unwanted pregnancies, delaying child bearing to further career goals and even promoting childlessness and promoting adoption as a better option. Child bearing has become something distasteful to many women, an unwanted and painful experience to be avoided rather than embraced. All of these programs, ideals and ideologies are doing one thing and one thing only – reducing America core TFR to the point of no return. The White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) population in America is headed for extinction and with it our economy, well-being and survival as a uniquely America culture. This county is dying not because it is aging, it is dying because of infertility as public policy.

Catch the last couple lines? If whitey goes, so goes the economy, well-being and survival as a uniquely American culture.  I mean wow. I mean don’t beat around the bush! Apparently those of brown, black, yellow, red, persuasions are incapable of sustaining an economy, a good life, or survival itself. One wonders how all those ancient civilizations have managed to endure down through the ages in their various ethnic trappings?

The orders have been issued: Breed you white ladies, breed! Life depends on it. And God® wants you to! [h/t to Joe.My.God.]

♦

If there was any doubt about it, well, there never really was. The GOP and their masters, corporate America are in full assault on labor and its unions. We reported a few days ago about a Wisconsin professor was hit with a FIA to determine if he were engaged in any way with the unions in Wisconsin. Now a uber conservative think tank in Michigan has sent the same request to three professors who teach labor relations in universities in the state.

And in Wisconsin, a uber conservative wacko is running to unseat the “left-leaning” Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, calling her a “bitch” and that he will “destroy her.” He is being backed by Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council, which is organizing all the usual lying ads claiming that their toady will “keep politics out the Supreme Court.”

♦

News Alert: this is not news. I don’t lie, but of course Foxy Noise does, and they are pretty darn honest in one respect. They aren’t afraid to admit it when smoozing with other like-minded uber wacko rightists on a rightist sponsored cruise ship vacation. Fox Washington Managing Editor, admitted he pushed a wildly speculative notion that Obama was a socialist during the run up to the 2008 election. He called it “mischievous speculation” that he personally thought was “far-fetched”.

All is fair in the name of winning an election it seems. And it’s not as if the Fox followers would know. They aren’t much for thinking for themselves beyond deciding on pizza versus fried chicken for dinner.

♦

John McCain seems to have taken a page from his buddy Newt the garden slug. The both operate on the “whatever that black dude says, I say the opposite.” Case in point. A mere 19 months ago, said John of Sleazy  was supping with Moammar Qaddafi at his “ranch” in Libya and calling the meeting Interesting and Qaddafi the same. Now of course, he wants the President to “take him out.” [I can’t make the link for some reason, but it comes from The New Republic blog, and is entitled “That’s it, I’m never inviting John McCain to my house!”

♦

Sarah, oh Sarah, life without you will never be as fun. Foxy had the Quitter on to talk about Libya. She is all for takin’ out that madman, how she doesn’t venture. But in a prized moment for us Sarah watchers, she pondered whether Libya was a war, an intervention or a squirmish. And I dare ya to refudiate that!

♦

What’s on the stove: T-bones, salad, and parmesan roasted potatoes.

Related Articles

• Polling tight in Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign (dailykos.com)

Short Takes on the Day 10/17/08

Tags

abortion, cheesecake, Constitution, Election 2008, elections, John McCain, lobbyists, racism, Recipes, Reproductive Rights, succession, voting, women's issue

Distributor Cap NY  has a nice little piece that describes how the election would be determined given a death of a candidate at different points in the process. It’s worth your while to read this. The information is well worth knowing and understanding.

Brilliant at Breakfast  has a great critique of McCain’s blowing off of women with his air quote of “women’s health” as if it were not a legitimate concern in the arena of abortions. Nice of the old man to write off such a huge chunk of women voters in one fell swoop. He is incredibly senile it seems these days.

Oh it’s starting already. The name calling, the backbiting, and the finger pointing. Bill Kristol and McCain’s campaign team are trading insults. Kristol of course has told McCain to fire the lot of them, the team returns the favor by grousing that Kristol is the one who saddled them with Sarah Palin. It seems we don’t have to wait post election for the inside dirt to begin to fly. Anybody got a poo repellent suit? I think you might need one before walking into the Republican morass. Weeeeeeee. Welcome to our newest political blog, EmptyWheel.

Garrison Keillor reminds us of the momentous thing that we will be doing on November 4. Just maybe, electing the Most  qualified individual and doing so while not paying any attention to ethnicity. It’s really a big thing when you really think about it isn’t it. Keillor of course says it so very much better than I ever could. Go and enjoy the treat.

We flipped around the stations following the debate the other night, and were watching CNN at the time that the huge panel was arguing back and forth about McCain’s performance. On balance they thought McCain did quite well, so of course that all fell by the wayside when the polling data arrived and voters rejected McCain but again. Gergen’s response o A. Cooper’s question of where does McCain go from there was “Beat’s the hell out of me.” This was followed by much laughter. Seriously Gergen continued that McCain should spend the remaining time trying to shore up the down ticket where he could and try to change the tone of his campaign to salvage as much of his dignity as possible. Of course McCain will do no such thing. HIs vicious anger will force him to try to scorch the earth in departing.

McCain has of course groused about the K Street gang and how they have to be cleaned up. Of course McCain himself, being heads and shoulders among the rest of us in integrity, self-control and other related virtues, can use these lobbyists with impunity and not become beholden to them in any way. Seems his Verizon connections have been kind to him. Not only do they run his miserable campaign, but they seem to have erected towers on his property free of charge. The McCains need to be able to communicate you know, with Joe Plumber and Sarah Moose, and Joe Sixpack. It’s My Right to be Left of Center  has the story for you, via the Huffington Post.

I baked a apple pie this morning. I like pies, cream pies more than fruit ones. Liberality, ever the smart sassy political blogger was kind enough to post her favorite recipe for cheesecake. Nobody doesn’t like cheesecake, and this one looks really good. So slip over, and copy furiously and then make it, and then eat it. Please follow the order as given. It doesn’t work well otherwise.

Lil Bits of Rancor 9/05/08

Tags

abortion, astronomy, casserole, chicken, Christianity, Election 2008, John McCain, religion, Reproductive Rights, salad, Sarah Palin, science, tex-mex, Women's issues

Let’s start right off with a recipe today. A Mingling of Tastes has a lovely recipe for coleslaw, called Cabbage/Radish Slaw. It uses some jalapenos but also uses sour cream instead of mayo for the dressing. It’s definitely for a Tex-Mex meal, but I thought it was a nice change of pace. See what you think by following the link.

I think Essential Estrogen  makes an excellent point about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy. According to Sarah Palin, Bristol chose to continue her pregnancy and keep her baby. John McCain has said that should this happen to his daughter, she would choose as well. Neither apparently thinks that the rest of American women should be allowed choice however, since they both are for a ban on abortion. Jon Stewart made the same point Wednesday night on his show.

I’m not talking a lot about Sarah Palin’s speech. It was effectively given, I’ll grant her that. It was long on nasty personal name calling and short on any real substance of WHAT THEY WILL DO, (other than shake up Washington, which is hard to see happening because even if they win, they will surely face a strongly Democratically controlled Congress). Worse yet, much of any substance was actually not true, such as her claim that she squashed the “bridge to nowhere.” Just more of the Rovian big lie approach. Ezra Klein  has a reasoned critique of the speech and you can read it here.

A list of FactCheck.org  corrections:

• An ad running in Iowa and no doubt other places, suggests that Democrats are to blame for the deficit and that Obama and Democrats will bring painful new taxes to the middle class. This is just a patternof McCain’s in distorting Obama’s tax plan. Of course Obama’s plan doesn’t increase taxes for the middle class, but significantly reduces them.  FactCheck calls McCain for engaging in a pattern of deceit. Obama’s claim that his program would cut taxes for 95% of American families is essentially true according to the non-partisan economic experts FactCheck used. Comparing the two plans, Obama’s average person would gain almost $800 more than McCain’s in tax savings.
• In regards Iran, McCain isolated statements of Obama’s and then twisted them to mean something quite different than they clearly meant in context. McCain claims that Obama called Iran a tiny  country of no real significance or importance. Of course the context was that the usage was in relation to Russia. Obama was making the claim that the Soviet Union posed a more significant threat to American interests in the past. He said in other speeches that Iran was the most significant threat posed to Israel and the region.

A post at In These Times explores the distortions of the McCain/Palin campaign from last night’s speakers. They report that the AP, so disillusioned by the distortions of the speakers against Obama/Biden, that they determined to fact check them all. See the results. Unfortunately ITT does not cite their source article at the AP, but you get the flavor of it at least.

If you are looking for something amusing in all this, slip over the Inside-Out the Beltway for his humorous take on the McCain campaign and “The Amazing Smoke Machine.” You won’t be sorry, and you will laugh. It is so very McCain. It’s “more coal, I can still see real issues,” and more. Don’t miss it.

For those who are worrying about how well Sarah Palin came off Wednesday night. Two things. I read reports of two focus groups, one in Detroit of Independents, the other composed of Hillary supporters. None were the least impressed with Ms. Palin on the issues or on her fitness to be VEEP. They agreed she gave a fine speech, she was articulate. Second comes a piece from the NYTimes Opinionator, collecting the journalists opinions from around the country, and folks, it ain’t good for the most part. Read the comments though, there are quite telling I think.

A fascinating discussion over at On Faith from the Washington Post. Is it hypocritical that we are considering a woman for a high post in government when we keep them from serving in the higher posts in some of our churches? You can bet that the discussion is quite animated on this one. Read all the panelists and then join in the conversation.

I confess I did not watch McCain last night. I saw snippets of course this morning and mostly he was the same old “my friends” kinda sad little old man, much like a cartoon character who talked like he had a cold. Worse at one point he was in front of a green screen that was part of an expansive lawn leading up to a mansion. Not the kind of picture the McCainites should have been promoting, but we hear that his campaign is in some disarray these days. There is a good report of Journalist reaction at Political Animal today. Also read some of the comments which are also grand. Another analysis can be found here. And American Prospect  also weighs in.

Seems our new plaything Sarah Palin has her own Jeremiah Wright in her closet. The real vetting is just getting started and it seems her pastor in the great city of Wasilla has had some pretty nasty things to say about Democrats and their likelihood of attaining heaven. Pastor Kalnins is another of those feisty firebrands who speaks his mind. Sarah, dear lady that she is, spent most of her life in that church, having been baptized at age 12. But another fun item for the bloggers to spew about no doubt.

It’s nice to know that McCain’s campaign caretakers now admit the obvious. This campaign to them is “not about the issues”but about the character of the candidates. They are of course setting out to prove but again that we somehow have to give this thing to Johnny S. because he deserves it and that this is the proper pay off for his POW status. We heard about it interminably again last night. I never fail to be amazed at how stupid they really are. Of course the American people are only concerned with personality, that is why Johnny didn’t bother mentioning any specific programs or proposals he shall work for. Uh huh, riggghhht. THEY DON’T HAVE ANY is more like it. Read a good article at the Salon.

As you can see, this rock tells the tail. There is now a serious question as to the sun’s involvement in the formation of our solar system. You can see that right? If you are among the minuscule number of people who can’t see this obvious factoid, then I urge you to run by Science Daily  and learn this incredibly important piece of information. How can a person be grounded on his planet when he doesn’t fully understand how it came to be I tell ya?

Simply Recipes always has great recipes. This one is perfect to go with the coleslaw featured up top. It’s Chicken Enchiladas Verdes. I need to get some tomatillos and make this soon. It sounds utterly scrumptious to me.

Over at Telling Secrets, we get one of the best lines in answer to Palin’s “He was just a community organizer.” It seems a dear commenter in Michigan, said this:. “Ms. Palin needs to remember that Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor.” Yep, I think that says it quite nicely don’t you?

Another article by American Prospect  is a must read. Given McCain’s usual gaffes on the campaign trail, and his sometimes grandiose claims about what he will do as President, some wonder who is running the show? Is McCain actually in charge, or is he the figurehead run by his handlers? Some of those handlers are, well, beholden to other interests you see, being paid by them???? so we have a right to know. This article is very scary, and I urge a read.

From time to time I come across something that you have to read. It is unpleasant, it is guilt inducing, but it is real. Real enough to reach out and touch. Some need no reminding, they speak this every day, calling us all to account and to remember. Others, like myself, manage to forget about this more than I would like to admit. Read it, send it to those you love, those whom you respect, those whom you have a bond with. Then send it to everyone else too. Let no one forget. JUST FREAKING READ THIS PLEASE!!!!

Okay, that is it for the week. Hope you find a link or two of interest. 🙂