Category Archives: Politics

October 2, 2011 · 6:10 pm

Top Tea Party Organizer Arrested for Soliciting Prostitute

When are the “Family Values” crowd going to wake up and realize they are being used?

It seems like almost all their leaders are hypocrites.  And I’m thinking the Family Value crowd needs to ask themselves if they aren’t hypocrites, too, for still  following these guys after all their sins become public….

I mean, come on!  Picking up hookers, multiple marriages, gay affairs by closeted leaders, not paying child support…..but, still good “Family Values” Republicans.

Give me a break…

The whole thing is just ludicrous….

From The Wisconsin Gazette:

Steve Stevlic, one of the top organizers of TeaCon 2011, describes himself as an ordinary family-values man. But, as Gawker reported today, he’s not ordinary in at least one sense: He was arrested last summer for soliciting a prostitute.

Last September, Stevlic mocked and condemned U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., via Twitter over revelations that the congressman had a two-year extra-marital affair. The tweets were sent out two months after Stevlic’s arrest.

Stevlic is one of the primary sponsors behind one of the largest-ever gatherings of tea partiers. About Some 600 supporters turned out today for the opening of the event in Schaumburg, Ill., a northwest suburb of Chicago. Some of the right-wing movement’s highest-profile representatives were on hand.

But after news of Stevlic’s year-old arrest grabbed attention, he apparently decided to steer clear of the proceedings, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Keynoters at TeaCon today included Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck, and U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., a party favorite and an afternoon highlight.

Walsh has image problems of his own. A Chicago judge ordered him last month to explain why he appears to be $100,000 behind in child-support payments to his ex-wife.

Laura Walsh has hauled her ex-husband to court on numerous occasions since 2002 to seek orders to make him pay his court-ordered child-support obligations. She says he started making half-payments years ago and then completely stopped sending any money.

Although Walsh claimed he was broke, last year he made a $35,000 contribution to his own congressional campaign.

Despite the evangelical-Christian bent of Tea Party supporters, including a growing anti-gay fervor, Walsh’s failure to support his kids has not dampened their enthusiasm for him.

via Top Tea Party organizer arrested for soliciting prostitute | Breaking News | Wisconsin Gazette – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) News.

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October 2, 2011 · 4:55 pm

Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Arrests 700 Protesters On Brooklyn Bridge

I’ve been wondering for several years now, exactly what it would take to get Americans to take to the streets, in protest, like they did in the 1960’s.  Or in other countries earlier this year….

I may be getting my answer…

I’m going to be watching this much more closely…

These Police tactics are really starting to worry me.  This is sounding  more and more like a story from Tiananmen Square in China than from New York City in the USA.

Now, the protests are spreading to DC and LA.   This may really be getting interesting.

Hundreds of people protesting Wall Street abuses were penned in and arrested by police Saturday, two weeks into an ongoing demonstration that has become known on Twitter as #OccupyWallStreet.

Centered at Zuccotti Park since September 17, the gathering that began as a call to arms from anti-consumerist magazine AdBusters has shown no sign of a slowdown.

The movement aims to “express a feeling of mass injustice,” according to the group’s declaration for the occupation of New York City released Friday. The injustices include the foreclosure crisis, work place discrimination and student loan debt, among a list of others.

As HuffPost reported recently, the movement is less about specific policy demands and more about an expression of opposition to ever yawning economic inequality driven by Wall Street and its allies in Washington.

Calling themselves an American revolution, the protesters say they plan to stay in the park indefinitely.

George Basta, an official with New York Communities for Change, said that the organizers were encouraged by police on Saturday to march on the street area of the Brooklyn Bridge, instead of the walkway, then subsequently arrested them for marching in traffic. Two lead organizers, Jonathan Westin and Pete Nagy, were penned in by police. Westin managed to exit the police pen, but Nagy is missing and presumed detained by police, Basta told HuffPost.

“Police say some demonstrators spilled onto the roadway Saturday night after being told to stay on the pedestrian pathway,” the Associated Press reported.

Similar demonstrations started Saturday in Washington and Los Angeles.

Shon Botado, a protester staffing a first aid station in New York, told The Huffington Post on Friday that he’s not leaving “until change is made to the financial structure.”

More, From the Huffington Post Story:   Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Arrests 700 Protesters On Brooklyn Bridge [LATEST UPDATES].

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October 2, 2011 · 2:44 pm

Obama: Commander in Chief Must Support Gay Troops

Good for him.  It’s about time he took a stronger stance both against the Republicans and for Gay Rights.

Admittedly, he had to be pushed- and pushed hard- by the Gay community to actually take some action, but he took it.

Now, I’m interested to see how fast his views on Gay Marriage continue to “evolve”……

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sharply rebuked his Republican rivals, saying anyone who wants to be commander in chief must support the entire U.S. military, including gay service members.

A combative Obama on Saturday criticized Republican presidential candidates for staying silent when the crowd at a recent debate booed a gay soldier who asked a question of the contenders via videotape.

“You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient,” Obama said during remarks at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization.

Referencing the boos at the Sept. 22 Republican debate, he said: “We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens.”

Obama touted his administration’s efforts to repeal the military’s ban on openly gay service members, as well as his orders to the Justice Department to stop enforcing a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

But, as expected, Obama stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, saying only that “every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law.”

Obama has said his views on gay marriage are “evolving”, but for now he only supports civil union.

Obama’s position on gay marriage has become a sore point for some gay activists who say they’re otherwise pleased with the president’s handling of issues important to them. Some of the president’s backers say he could be wasting a chance to energize key segments of his base, including young people, if he doesn’t publicly advocate for gay marriage.

“If he doesn’t, he could be missing an opportunity to mobilize voters who need to be inspired to vote for him,” said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic consultant.

The president’s position on gay marriage puts him at odds with some of his supporters. Numerous recent polls suggest a slight majority of Americans favor giving same-sex couples the right to marry, and support is highest among Democrats and young people.

Obama has acknowledged that public support for gay marriage is building. During a meeting with liberal bloggers last October, he said “it’s pretty clear where the trend lines are going.”

More:   The Associated Press: Obama: Commander in chief must support gay troops.

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October 1, 2011 · 11:55 pm

Progressives Launching ‘October Offensive’ To Rival Tea Party?

This is starting to get interesting…..

Former White House adviser Van Jones says that progressives are going to launch an “October offensive” to rival the Tea Party, in the spirit of the Arab Spring protests across the Middle East.

“Everybody should hold onto their seats. October is going to be the turning point when it comes to the progressive fight back. You can see it coming,” Jones said this week on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell.

“When Warren Buffett comes out and says, look, we’ve got to do something to raise taxes and to do better by America, and you’ve got these young kids who are going out there on Wall Street,” Jones said, referring to the members of Occupy Wall Street, who have been camped out in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan’s financial district for the past several weeks, “There’s a generation of Americans who are looking around and saying ‘What is the American Dream going to look like for me?’ They’re going to be standing up.”

“You are going to see an American Fall, an American Autumn, just like we saw the Arab Spring,” Jones continued. “You can see it right now with these young people on Wall Street. Hold onto your hats, we’re going to have an October offensive to take back the American dream and to rescue America’s middle class.”

MORE:   Van Jones Praises Occupy Wall Street, Says Progressives Launching ‘October Offensive’ To Rival Tea Party.

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October 1, 2011 · 11:53 am

Bill Maher: “Promiscuous” Republicans Wouldn’t Even Support Jesus for President

Great video from Bill Maher’s “Real Time” last night….

He talks about the “promiscuous” Republican electorate that falls in love with a new Candidate every month- until they get to know them.

Then, he closes with how even Jesus of Nazareth wouldn’t be able to please these people….

Which should give the GOP voters something to think about.

But if Republicans really thought-and felt- well, would they be Republicans?

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September 30, 2011 · 9:29 am

Theme Song for the GOP Presidential Primary: Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves….

Every time I read or see the Republican Primary Candidates….this is all I can think of…..

I just hope Cher doesn’t give them the rights to use it for their campaigns….

 

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September 29, 2011 · 8:30 am

Elizabeth Warren and the Social Contract

The more I see of Elizabeth Warren, the more I love her….

She is one smart – brilliant- woman and I hope to God she gets elected to the Massachusetts Senate seat so she has a platform to run for President in 2016.

I also love that she talks about the Social Contract.  I was thinking I was the only one left who believed there was such a thing….

We desperately need more politicians like Elizabeth Warren…

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September 28, 2011 · 6:30 am

Quote of the Day: JFK

I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.

President John F Kennedy

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September 27, 2011 · 8:19 pm

Tea Party More Than a Temper Tantrum

Another brilliant – and frightening – column from Leonard Pitts, Jr in the Miami Herald.

Here is a brief excerpt and a link to the full column:

 

Then you realize it was not so long ago that a man blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City out of anti-government sentiment not so different from that espoused by the tea party. And you remember how that tragedy exposed an entire network of armed anti-government zealots gathering in the woods. And you read where the Southern Poverty Law Center says the number of radical anti-government groups spiked to 824 in 2010, a 61 percent increase over just the previous year.

And you wonder.

This is not a prediction, only a speculation — and a suggestion that those of us who have regarded the craziness of recent years as an aberration, a temporary temper tantrum from people who feel threatened and dislocated, may have been entirely too sanguine. In less than 20 years, the locus of radical anti-government extremism has moved from remote woods to Capitol Hill.

How should the rest of us respond? That’s a question we urgently need to answer. They say they’ve come to take “their” country back.

Maybe it’s time we took them at their word.

Full Column:   Tea party more than a temper tantrum – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com.

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September 26, 2011 · 7:45 pm

Obama’s Preaching Doesn’t Reach

Interesting article from Anthea Butler at Religion Dispatches.

For the record, she is an Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Pennsylvania and an African-American woman.

While I continue to support President Obama, I have my concerns as well.

He’s been much friendlier to Wall Street than Main Street…

He doesn’t seem to “dance with the ones who brought him” too well.  Sometimes, it’s almost like he’s ashamed to be seen with us.  He had to be pushed and pushed to take action on Gay issues, but he did take action.

Now he’s pushing some buttons with another core constituency.

I hope he’s had a true realization- on the Road to Damascus, so to speak- and this isn’t just fear driven based on recent polls.

If he had pushed the agenda he was elected to pursue, instead of tilting at the windmills of compromise with the GOP, we wouldn’t be having this dialogue…

Here is an excerpt from Dr Butler’s column and a link to the full version:

Obama’s performance of black preaching may play well to church folks who love him no matter what, but to those critical of his policies that have placed African Americans at the highest unemployment rates, the president’s fake whooping rings hollow. Why is it that every time the president speaks to a predominately black audience, he goes into a preacher’s cadence, and starts to speak as though he were at a pulpit? Why is it that he never gets “righteously angry” with the white folks as often as he does at the black folks?

If you think I am harsh, consider a segment of the president’s 2010 CBC speech: “I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods to go back to your workplaces, to go to churches and go to the barbershops and go to the beauty shops, and tell them we’ve got more work to do.”

Damn. I think most black people I know do more than just work, go to church, and get their hair done.

Let me say it more bluntly. The president said at the end of his CBC speech: “[I] expect all of you to march with me and press on. Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on.”

That was the moment that the president turned into a jackleg preacher. A jackleg preacher is an untrained preacher who relies on tried and true tropes to get his audience to respond to preaching. If a jackleg is really good, he or she can get the money or whatever else they want by hitting the sweet spot, that emotional place where the congregation always responds well, because they recognize the feelings and emotions the jackleg preacher wants to evoke. Referring to taking off the slippers and putting on marching shoes is a tired racist trope, and besides, isn’t Snooki the person who wears her slippers in public? I don’t think she’s African American.

There is a history with Obama’s speeches to predominantly black audiences that either try to use respectability or shame to change steroetypical behavior. Obama’s 2008 speech excoriating absent black fathers at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, and his comments on the campaign trail in 2008 in Beaumont, Texas urging black parents “not to feed their kids cold Popeye’s chicken for breakfast,” are just two examples of how Obama deploys this racially-coded rhetorical strategy. The president’s behavior since taking office towards the African American community has been either to tell black folks to get in line and get to work, or gee, I love ya’ll, but I need your vote. If only he would speak to Republicans and Tea Partiers in the same harsh manner.

MORE:   Obama’s Preaching Doesn’t Reach | Religion Dispatches.

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