Category Archives: Politics

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed — if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth.”

The news from Oceania this week:

“Since President Obama assumed office three years ago, federal spending has accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history…”

Really?

From the Washington Post:

“Government spending under Obama, including his signature stimulus bill, is rising at a 1.4% annualized pace — slower than at any time in nearly 60 years.”

This is in raw dollars.

This is adjusted for inflation.

Even adjusted for inflation, Obama has the second lowest spending record in modern American politics. (Eisenhower wound down the economy because of the end of the Korean War.)

From Politifact:

“Bottom line: The Facebook post’s claim that government spending under Obama is “slower than at any time in nearly 60 years” is very close to accurate.”

Hey, all you Republicans out there who are convinced that Obama makes the biggest spendthrift moves this side of Willard Romney’s rebuilt California mansion: what’s it like having a candidate that tells blatant lies?

Do you enjoy being lied to?

“The times, they are a’changin’!”

You might have heard something about this:

Why was this such an unpleasant surprise to wackaloon neocons?

Oh, wait! The same bunch were also taken aback in 1964…

…and 1948…


…and 1919…

…and 1868.

Why are there always people out there who use religion/culture/tradition as a smokescreen to hide the abject terror invoked by the thought of extending full civil rights to those who don’t have it?

Pig-Ignorant Republicans vs. Grammar Nazi; or, Black People Are Scary, Part 248

The Republican Party of Greene County, Virginia, is showing the true colors of ignorance and belligerence for all of us to see.

The March 2012 issue of their newsletter calls for:

The ultimate task for the people is to remain vigilant and aware ~ that the government, their government is out of control, and this moment, this opportunity, must not be forsaken, must not escape us, for we shall not have any coarse but armed revolution should we fail with the power of the vote in November

The real treat, though, is to see at just what level of ignorance the source comes from.

Click to enbiggen

I just thought I’d throw in a few helpful hints on grammar, spelling, syntax, legibility, and sentence construction. (The rest of the newsletter is in about the same shape — but then, I’m sure that comes as no surprise to anyone.)

How the hell are we supposed to take anything these wackaloons say at any serious level?

“Ignorance: the root and stem of all evil”

Yesterday North Carolina travelled back in time to 1875, and here is the state constitutional amendment that was added:

As ThinkProgress points out, 137 years later North Carolina passed its next amendment dealing with marriage, with just as little foresight and just as much fear and hate.

An old acquaintance reminded Facebook readers last night of Plato’s comment: “Ignorance: the root and stem of all evil.”

How soon the Republican Party forgets about St. Paul…

News item from the U.S. state known as a major depository of dumbshit thinking:

In the politically-charged and likely protest-filled streets of Tampa, Fla., during the Republican National Convention in August, water guns will be strictly prohibited. Concealed handguns, on the other hand, will be perfectly legal.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said this week that banning handguns from downtown Tampa during the convention, as the city’s Mayor Bob Buckhorn requested, “would surely violate the Second Amendment.”

“It is unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law,” Scott said in a letter to Buckhorn Tuesday, emphasizing the words “law-abiding.” “It is at just such times that the constitutional right of self defense is most precious and must be protected from government overreach.”

Tampa officials are expecting thousands of protesters to descend on the Florida metropolis for the GOP convention. While no handguns will be allowed inside the convention, which is being protected by the Secret Service, concealed carry license-holders will be able to carry their weapons in the streets surrounding the convention.

It painfully obvious that the Republican Party (and its numbnuts Florida governor) has forgotten the lessons of St. Paul in 2008:

Now, mix in a healthy dose of licensed firearms carriers, and watch a few cops and a mess of bystanders die (something no one wants).

(Thanks to The Spouse for the tip!)

Honesty just doesn’t come easily to some people

There is a kerfluffle going on in North Carolina these days.

For those of you not in the know, there is a state amendment up for popular vote on May 8th in the Tar Heel State. It would dictate that valid marriages could only occur between one man and one woman.

Let’s ignore the fact that same-sex marriage is already illegal in North Carolina; the legality of the issue is not at heart here.

And now the spouse of the amendment bill’s author dished on what the real issue is:

Chad Nance, a Winston-Salem freelance journalist who is currently active in electoral campaigning, says poll workers outside the early voting site at the Forsyth County Government Center in downtown Winston-Salem reported to him that the wife of NC Sen. Peter Brunstetter remarked today that her husband sponsored legislation to put the marriage amendment on the primary ballot ‘to protect the Caucasian race.’

Nance paraphrased the remarks, as told to him by those who were present: ‘During the conversation, Ms. Brunstetter said her husband was the architect of Amendment 1, and one of the reasons he wrote it was to protect the Caucasian race. She said Caucasians or whites created this country. We wrote the Constitution. This is about protecting the Constitution. There already is a law on the books against same-sex marriage, but this protects the Constitution from activist judges.’

So there ya are. Much like Minnesota, the homophobes and wingnuts are trying to prevent a select minority from enjoying the same civil rights that everyone else enjoys: the right to be married, with all the legal privileges therein. In order to short-circuit judicial review of such blatant violations of the 14th Amendment, these yahoos demand a popular vote (a popular vote on civil rights??!) and then solicit massive funding from out-of-state interests.

Being honest just isn’t in their blood.

(Thanks to Joe for the tip.)

“Mr. Debs Goes to Washington”

You all remember Eugene Debs, right?

He was an Indiana state legislator and founder of the first industrial union in America. He has been the only person to run for the Presidency of the United States while in jail (in 1920); he got almost a million people to vote for him in that election. He is America’s most famous socialist. (A *real* socialist, Mr. Hannity, puh-leaze.)

He dismissed the validity of the electoral process, because of the “back-room” deals often made within it. He felt that the true way to bring about socialism was for the working class to organize, educate, and liberate itself by itself.

Neocons should fear this man’s political great-grandchildren in the Occupy movement.

Same shit, different day

Everyone over the age of 40 should remember this magazine cover:

(I bet you hid your copies of NatLamp from your mom, didn’t you?)

Today, the Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives did something that was similar but  not quite so funny:

Can you say “the Republican War on Women”?

Side note: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi nicely summed up the situation when she referred to the Democratic party’s proposal, which was to generate money for the student loan fund with an additional tax on oil and gas companies (that don’t pay their fair share of taxes anyway):

“We [Democrats] prefer tax subsidies for big oil rather than the health of America’s women.”

“Your true colors, shining through”

The religious crapnuts are again showing you what the world would be like, if they were in charge.

Ever heard of Fred Karger? He’s running for the Republican presidential nomination. He’s the candidate you never saw on the televised debates; he’s the candidate that the other candidates never chose to face.

Why? Because he’s moderate (gasp!), pro-choice (gasp!), and pro-marriage equality (gasp!gasp!). And he’s gay and open about it.

‘Nuff said, right?

Here’s his latest campaign video (for the California primary):

This video was posted on YouTube, and then taken down within 24 hours. Here’s the notice Karger’s campaign folks got:

Look through the video yourself, and try to see what “community guidelines” were violated.

The two guys smooching is my best guess. Should that give this video the old “heave-ho” at a time when you can see naked breasts and outlines of erections through tight underwear throughout YouTube?

Really?

Send the anti-equality wackjobs a message and do the viral thing with this video, ‘kay? Show YouTube the veracity of Great Internet Truth #12.

“There is a little-known codicil…which gives the dean unlimited power to preserve order in the event of campus emergency.”

(Apologies for the advertisement at the end of the clip.)

It seems that double-secret probation is also in force in America today. The ACLU has made a Freedom of Information Act request to Attorney General Holder for information concerning the secret interpretation of section 215 of the Patriot Act on the part of the Obama administration. This request has been bolstered by a letter sent by Representatives Mark Udall and Ron Wyden in support of the request:

“We believe most Americans would be stunned to learn the details of how these secret court opinions have interpreted section 215 of the Patriot Act. As we see it, there is now a significant gap between what most Americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claims the law allows. This is a problem, because it is impossible to have an informed public debate about what the law should say when the public doesn’t know what its government thinks the law says.”

Dean Wormer…er, uh, President Obama needs to get a firm grip on his intelligence services. The Blutarskies and Hoovers of the world are going to get that information, and the electorate (the electorate, Mr. Obama) will discover just how far up the public ass the Patriot Act is being jammed.

“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth– persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”

If the Right is allowed to quote and idolize Uncle Ronnie, I see no reason not to do the same with John Kennedy:

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the President, should he be Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners how to vote, where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference, and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant, nor Jewish, where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches, or any other ecclesiastical source, where no religious body seeks to impose its will, directly or indirectly, upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials, and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.”

–presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, September 12, 1960

The universe didn’t implode, surprisingly

Senator Richard Lugar is one of the two senators from Indiana. He’s running for reelection this year.

However, he does not have a residence in Indiana — hasn’t had one since he sold his house in Marion County in 1977. He’s been living in Washington DC all this time.

In February, the Indiana Election Commission refused by a 4-0 vote to review a legal challenge to Lugar running this year, despite the fact that he has not owned a house within or resided in the state since 1977, when he was first elected to the Senate.

However, the Marion County Election board this week voted 2-1 that Lugar cannot vote in Marion County since he does not reside within the county.

It’s kinda like dividing by zero — the operation is not defined and has no existence in reality.

How can “Limited government!” and “No abortions!” be stated in the same (Republican) political platform?

Here’s one of the Doonesbury cartoons recently censored by several newspapers, and a message your friendly neighborhood white, middle-aged male Republican legislator doesn’t want you to read:

The Kansas City Star was one of the newspapers which refused to run the current comic thread concerning a new Texas law, heartily supported by Governor Rick Good Hair Perry, that requires intrusive sonogram examinations prior to receiving an abortion.

“God says, ‘Black people are scary!’ “

From the wisest of political cartoonists…here is today’s creation by Mr. Trudeau:

Just remember, kids. When you have a president who has a list of accomplishments as long as this, and the barking ignorant (birthers, neocons, Republican Party nominees, etc.) claim that he’s done little or nothing, what other possible reason is there for denigrating him?