Vander Plaats | Existential Ennui

Tags

Arizona, gay rights, GOP, human rights, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, Middle East, political pledges, recalls, Rick Santorum, right-wing nut cases, Syria, Vander Plaats

Actually, we start with some good news.

It has been my fervent belief, prayer, and hope, sensible people hoodwinked by promises of jobs and balanced budgets would come to their senses.

In other words, they would realize that though they were promised these things, what they got was uptight religious wackos and their social engineering to suit their personal moral codes. They got some balanced budgets, but to the detriment of the poor, working and middle classes while rich fat cats were protected.

In other words, they got taken for a ride. Instead of jobs they got union busters, cuts in education and social programs, and restrictions on voting, right to choose, collective bargaining.

It seems my hopes and prayers have been answered. People are waking up. The fine folk of Arizona have pulled off a coup of the first order. Senate president, Russell Pearce, architect of the immoral immigration law, has been recalled from office. Arizona may be conservative, but even they thought Pearce was over the top. That would be crazies: 0 and rational people: 1

♦

A couple of weeks ago, we revisited the sad state of Iowa’s nutjob, Bobby Vander Plaats, who, with tons of out-of-state money, successfully unseated three Iowa Supreme Court justices who had determined that Iowa’s refusal to marry gays in the state was unconstitutional.

Vander Nuts is still at it of course, trying to extract pledges from GOPers vying for Iowa votes come the next primary. And as you might guess, our own (I say that with great and grevious shame) Michele “Fundies are Best” Bachmann has been one of the first to sign, along with that other bastion of intellectual ineptitude, Ricky, “Don’t google me” Santorum.

Both pledge to do everything in their power to uphold the Godly design of marriage between a man and a woman in fidelity. (Newt has screwed the pooch on this one.) Michele “I submit to my husband and you should too”, also pledged to ignore the SCOTUS and ban all pornography as well as ferret out all instances of “sharia” law in the land.

What is most troubling about this idiocy, is that it goes on to explain, that children born into slavery had it better than their peers today. I quote:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.

Yes, you read that right. The fact that black couples were not free to legally marry and that they or their children could be sold, thus destroying that “family unit” seems to have escaped the ignorant Vander jackass.

♦

I picked up this quote from Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum, who quotes from Upton Sinclair:

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

And ain’t that the truth? How many (all?) politicians does that apply to?

♦

Oh I forgot to tell ya. I’m sending an email to the winner of the first Stupido Award, and telling them that for a small fee, plus shipping and handling, they can get a nice copy of their award, suitable for framing. I’ll post the actual letter when I decide who won. Still time to vote!

♦

I don’t know about you, but I continue to be utterly awed by the courage exhibited by people in the Middle East. They continue to risk death or serious injury to protect and ultimately topple the governments that have repressed them for decades.

Syrian soldiers who defect tell tales of being ordered to shoot to kill the unarmed protestors. If they refuse, they face being shot themselves. Al Jazeera has the accounts of nearly a dozen such defectors.

♦

What’s on the stove: Well, I split a breast, roasted it (chicken-not human), and am gonna place it on a bed or lettuce and other salady things, napping it with a lovely honey-mustard dressing. So there.