Tag Archives: politics

June 27, 2011 · 6:12 pm

Michele Bachmann Claims Spiritual Kinship with Serial Killer

She really is an idiot…

Chris Wallace should take back his apology for calling her a “flake” on Fox News…

From Huffington Post.com:

In Waterloo, Iowa on the eve of her official presidential campaign announcement, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told Fox News that she has “the spirit” of John Wayne.

The presidential hopeful — who was born and grew up in Waterloo as a child before moving to Minnesota — said, “Well, what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.”

The Washington Times points out one slight problem with the Tea Party favorite’s remarks: The John Wayne with roots in Waterloo is John Wayne Gacy, a serial killer who was executed by lethal injection in 1994 after being convicted of 33 murders.

John Wayne — the late movie star, director and producer — was born in Winterset, Iowa, but appears to have no specific connection to Waterloo.

via Michele Bachmann Flops ‘John Wayne’ Reference In Waterloo, Iowa (VIDEO).

Leave a comment

Filed under Congress, Elections, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

June 27, 2011 · 11:18 am

Michele Bachmann Asked If She Accepts Chris Wallace’s Apology For ‘Flake’ Question (VIDEO)

Michele Bachmann is more than a flake, she’s totally nuts!

Who cares if a Fox News Anchor insults her?

Well, I guess Fox viewers do…

Yet Fox News Anchors have been incredibly rude to President Obama and many, many Democrats.  How come they never apologize to them?

I guess they only apologize to Republicans.  Not only do they believe in situational ethics, situational “facts”, but also, apparently, situational manners.

They really are just a propaganda outlet for the GOP and everyone should have recognized that by now…

Still, I can’t believe they were as rude as they were to the President of the United States, on more than one occasion, never apologized, yet they apologize for a much lesser offense to this woman…

From The Huffington Post:

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) says it’s “insulting” that Fox News host Chris Wallace asked her if she’s a “flake” when she appeared on his program on Sunday morning.

Wallace apologized for the question in a web video after he interviewed the presidential hopeful.

“A lot of you were more than perturbed, you were upset and felt that I had been rude to her,” says Wallace in the clip posted online. “And since in the end it’s really all about the answers, and not about the questions, I messed up, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

Asked if she accepts the apology by ABC News’ Jon Karl, Bachmann said, “I think that it’s insulting to insinuate that a candidate for president is less than serious. I’m a very serious individual.” When pressed on the matter further she said, “Those are the small issues. I’m focused on the big ones.”

via Michele Bachmann Asked If She Accepts Chris Wallace’s Apology For ‘Flake’ Question (VIDEO).

1 Comment

Filed under Elections, Politics

Tagged as , , , , ,

June 26, 2011 · 11:09 am

The Road to Gay Marriage in New York

This is a fascinating front page story in today’s New York Times about the behind-the-scenes political machinations that pushed through Gay Marriage in New York.

I encourage those of you who are interested to read the entire article.  It really shows how politics work-when it works-in America.

It’s also interesting in that the Wall Street guys had more clout than the Religious Right.

Money always wins in America….

 

The story of how same-sex marriage became legal in New York is about shifting public sentiment and individual lawmakers moved by emotional appeals from gay couples who wish to be wed.

But, behind the scenes, it was really about a Republican Party reckoning with a profoundly changing power dynamic, where Wall Street donors and gay-rights advocates demonstrated more might and muscle than a Roman Catholic hierarchy and an ineffective opposition.

And it was about a Democratic governor, himself a Catholic, who used the force of his personality and relentlessly strategic mind to persuade conflicted lawmakers to take a historic leap.

“I can help you,” Mr. Cuomo assured them in dozens of telephone calls and meetings, at times pledging to deploy his record-high popularity across the state to protect them in their districts. “I am more of an asset than the vote will be a liability.”

Over the last several weeks, dozens of lawmakers, strategists and advocates described the closed-door meetings and tactical decisions that led to approval of same-sex marriage in New York, about two years after it was rejected by the Legislature. This account is based on those interviews, most of which were granted on the condition of anonymity to describe conversations that were intended to be confidential.

via The Road to Gay Marriage in New York – NYTimes.com.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gay, New York, Social Justice

Tagged as , , , ,

June 25, 2011 · 6:50 pm

Majority Of U.S. Babies Are Non-White For First Time

This is great news.

Old White People have done enough.  We can thank them for the Republican House of Representatives, Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell.

They can go now….they all just need to sit down, watch Fox News and let the younger folks take us forward…

I’m looking forward to seeing how the new multi-racial, multi-cultural U.S. shapes up politically….

If we can just get through the next few years…

From The Huffington Post:

 

For the first time, minorities make up a majority of babies in the U.S., part of a sweeping race change and growing age divide between mostly white, older Americans and predominantly minority youths that could reshape government policies.

Preliminary census estimates also show the share of African-American households headed by women – made up of mostly single mothers – now exceeds African-American households with married couples, a sign of declining U.S. marriages overall but also continuing challenges for black youths without involved fathers.

The findings, based on the latest government data, offer a preview of final 2010 census results being released this summer that provide detailed breakdowns by age, race and householder relationships such as same-sex couples.

Demographers say the numbers provide the clearest confirmation yet of a changing social order, one in which racial and ethnic minorities will become the U.S. majority by midcentury.

“We’re moving toward an acknowledgment that we’re living in a different world than the 1950s, where married or two-parent heterosexual couples are now no longer the norm for a lot of kids, especially kids of color,” said Laura Speer, coordinator of the Kids Count project for the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.

“It’s clear the younger generation is very demographically different from the elderly, something to keep in mind as politics plays out on how programs for the elderly get supported,” she said. “It’s critical that children are able to grow to compete internationally and keep state economies rolling.”

Currently, non-Hispanic whites make up just under half of all children 3 years old, which is the youngest age group shown in the Census Bureau’s October 2009 annual survey, its most recent. In 1990, more than 60 percent of children in that age group were white.

William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the data, said figures in the 2009 survey can sometimes be inexact compared with the 2010 census, which queries the entire nation. But he said when factoring in the 2010 data released so far, minorities outnumber whites among babies under age 2.

via Majority Of U.S. Babies Are Non-White For First Time, Census Finds.

1 Comment

Filed under Education, Elections, Politics, Uncategorized

Tagged as , ,

June 24, 2011 · 11:38 pm

Gay Marriage Legal in New York State

Thank you , New York!

As Kander and Ebb wrote:  “If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere.  It’s up to you, New York, New York.”

I’m no big believer in marriage- gay or straight.  I’ve often said, my parents had a marriage that made George and Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” look like amateurs.

To me, it’s all about legality.  We need to be able to recognize gay relationships and apply the same legal protections that straight marriage automatically provides.  I want Steve to be able to be by my side if I have to go to the hospital and make my medical decisions if I’m incapacitated. I want Steve to inherit my estate- and vice versa- on the same legal grounds as a married couple.  Without having to present some form…

We have been together almost 15 years.  We are totally financially intertwined as far as property and mutual responsibility is concerned.  The laws need to recognize that….

Screw the Church ceremonies and gift registries -although there is a lot of money to be made there….That should be enough alone for America to embrace Gay Marriage.

Just think how much money the Gay community would spend on weddings…

We would probably just call our friend Vanita over to say a few words in the living room with a few close friends.  Then give one hell of a party!

We already have 6 sets of dishes and that is quite enough.

We just need to have our relationship recognized as legally binding so we are protected if and when one of us gets sick or- god forbid- passes on.

I dare anyone to say our 15 years together doesn’t deserve some sort of legal recognition- without having to pay an attorney thousands of dollars to protect the rights straight peope get with one marriage license.

I don’t want to be “married” as much as I want to be legally recognized and protected.  And New York has realized that point.

Call it what you will…Marriage is a legal condition, not a religious one….

This has nothing to do with Religion and everything to do with fairness and equality.

ALBANY – New York made history last night as the State Senate voted “aye” on gay marriage.

Senators passed the bill 33 to 29 as the normally somnolent chambers erupted in a raucous chant of “USA! USA!”

“As I have said many times, this is a very difficult issue and it will be a vote of conscience for every member of the Senate,” said GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau).

New York joined Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa and Washington, D.C., in legally recognizing gay marriage.

“I’m verklempt,” said a nervously optimistic Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-S.I), one of five openly gay state lawmakers prior to the vote. “I’m still in a state of disbelief.”

The Assembly passed the bill last week for the fourth time since 2007.

It was only two years ago that gay marriage was easily defeated in the then Democrat-controlled Senate. Now, the rush to the altar could begin 30 days after Gov. Cuomo, who made gay marriage a priority, signs the bill.

For gay couples, marriage means more than just swapping rings.

For the first time they qualify for the same 1,324 state marriage benefits afforded to straight couples.

via Gay marriage legal in New York State after Senate passes historic bill 33-29.

2 Comments

Filed under Gay, Politics, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

June 24, 2011 · 8:51 pm

Chapter 56: Integration-Part 2: Negroes, Lesbians and Yankees, Oh My! | My Southern Gothic Life

New Post up on my other Blog…

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

Once integration happened, it was really no big deal to most of us.  Some of our parents, however, never recovered.

The South in those days, at least in small towns like ours, was built a lot of unbendable, undefinable, unpublished, unspoken but completely understood rules.  The two biggest one were as follows:

Thou shalt only consort with people just like you.

Never offend the neighbors.

My parents swore by those rules.  My father’s main concern was not pissing off anybody for business reasons.  He really didn’t give a damn about anything else.

My Mother lived for The Rules and to judge others by them.  In her mind, if she had not known someone and their entire family for her entire life- and preferably their family background for several preceding generations-they really weren’t worth knowing.

She also assumed everyone else played by the same rules.  Therefore, she assumed all Black people knew each other and later, all Gay people knew each other.  I’ll never forget the time she said to me:  ”I hope you are running around in public with that Harvey Fierstein person.  I saw him on television and he’s just awful.  I really don’t want to have to try to explain that to my friends.”  It took me a while to figure that out, but then I realized she assumed, just because we were both Gay, we had to know each other and be fast friends.  I wish…I have been in the same New York bar as Harvey, but that was many years later and does not prove her point…

Anyway…

MORE:  Chapter 56: Integration-Part 2: Negroes, Lesbians and Yankees, Oh My! | My Southern Gothic Life.

Leave a comment

Filed under Danville, Scott's Commentary

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

June 24, 2011 · 10:45 am

Newt Gingrich: Obama Is So Bad, Black People Will Vote Republican

More delusional rhetoric from  the delusional Newt Gingrich and the delusional GOP.

Whatever happened to reality based Politics?  Politics used to be the ultimate game for realists, now it’s the province of liars, misfits, miscreants, the mal-adjusted and, as Cher sang, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves- at least on the GOP side…

The Dems sometimes seem to be trying to catch up….

From TalkingPointsMemo:

 

Newt Gingrich fired up the crowd in this blue state with the promise that President Obama is so bad that he’s made it possible for the Republicans to win over the African American vote in 2012.

Gingrich stopped off at an airport Marriott near Baltimore Thursday to keynote the Maryland GOP’s annual Red, White & Blue banquet. Before the speech, he assured reporters that his campaign was still going strong. When he took the podium, he offered Republican donors a long, dense speech full of red meat and warnings about the state of the world around us.

He also said it was time for Republicans to tell African Americans how terrible Obama has been for them.

He broke out the “Obama is the food stamp president” line that got him in racial trouble earlier in the campaign.

But this time, he spun the line into a suggestion that the African American vote is ripe for the plucking.

Here’s how the line works: Obama is the food stamp president, Gingrich says, whereas he wants to be the paycheck president. The difference comes down to creating jobs or not, and Gingrich says he knows how to create them.

And that’s where the black vote comes in.

“No administration in modern times has failed younger blacks more than the Obama administration,” Gingrich said.

He explained that “in May, we had 41% unemployment among black teenagers in America.” That means if Republicans can put on a brave face, they might be able to turn the African American vote their way.

Think of the social catastrophe of 41% of a community not being able to find a job. But we have to have the courage to walk into that neighborhood, to talk to that preacher, to visit that small business, to talk to that mother. And we have to have a convincing case that we actually know how to create jobs.

“The morning they believe that, you’re going to see margins in percents you never dreamed of decide there’s a better future,” Gingrich said. “It takes courage, it takes hard work, it takes discipline and it’s doable.”

“I will bet you there is not a single precinct in this state in which the majority will pick for their children food stamps over paychecks,” he said.

Gingrich isn’t the only Republican on the trail talking up Obama’s failures when it comes to minority populations. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told an audience of Republicans in New Orleans that Obama “has failed the African American community” on jobs. She said that he’s failed the Latino community — which is also suffering from record unemployment — as well.

Most of Gingrich’s speech wasn’t about wooing minority votes. He spent much of his time on stage talking about a coming “tsunami of violence” from terrorists and warning that Obama’s “vision of the American Constitution is a mortal threat to our freedoms.”

via Newt Gingrich: Obama Is So Bad, Black People Will Vote Republican | TPMDC.

Leave a comment

Filed under Congress, Elections, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

June 23, 2011 · 8:43 pm

Back in the USSR?

Interesting article from AlterNet.com that compares U.S. expenditures to European expenditures.

The U.S. spending supports a vast military industrial complex with Military spending being by far the largest part of the budget.  European countries focus on spending money on health care, education, transportation and improving the quality of life for its citizens.

Remember, one of the reasons the USSR collapsed was pouring too large a portion of their budget into “defense” or military spending.  Are we back in the USSR?

I much prefer the European model.  Let’s spend our tax money making the U.S. the most modern country on earth with the highest quality of life for its citizens.

Russia still hasn’t recovered from the collapse of the USSR.

Have we in the USA learned anything from it?

 

For their tax dollars –or euros — they get universal health care, deeply subsidized education (including free university tuition in many countries), modern infrastructure, good mass transit and far less poverty than we have here at home. That may help explain why we have Tea Partiers screaming for cuts while Europe is ablaze with riots against its own “austerity” measures.

And while we outspend everyone on our military, among the 20 most developed countries in the world, the United States is now dead last in life expectancy at birth but leads the pack in infant mortality—40 percent higher than the runner-up. We also lead in the percentage of the population who will die before reaching age 60. Half of our kids need food stamps at some point during their childhoods. There’s certainly a modest difference in priorities dividing the Atlantic, but common sense suggests that we’re the ones who have it all wrong.

via Are We Giant Suckers? While the US Blows Money on the Military, Europe Spends Dough on Social Programs | | AlterNet.

Leave a comment

Filed under Congress, Politics, The Economy, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

June 22, 2011 · 11:11 pm

Big Worries About GOP Taking Control

Seems like people may finally be starting to wise up…..

From Political Wire:

A new Bloomberg Poll finds 49% of respondents said they’re worried about Republicans gaining control of the White House and Congress and following through on pledges to slash funding for Medicare and Medicaid, outnumbering the 40% who said they are concerned about another term for Obama and a continuation of current spending policies.

Among independents, 47% said they are worried about a Republican takeover compared with 37% who are concerned about maintaining the status quo.

via Worries About GOP Taking Control.

Leave a comment

Filed under Congress, Elections, Politics, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

June 22, 2011 · 9:05 pm

Georgia’s Harsh Immigration Law Costs Millions in Unharvested Crops

God forbid, a White Person pick a crop in Georgia!  That’s unheard of!  What were the Republicans in the Georgia Legislature thinking?

Oh, I should know by now not to use the words “thinking” and “Republican” in the same sentence…

Still, It’s really scary to see the results when the GOP actually gets to put their plans in action…

People really should realize by now that “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Republican.”

That is, if they want a job and a home tomorrow and don’t want to eat cat food in their old age…

Or now, if they want food in the Grocery Store….

From Megan McArdle in The Atlantic:

Jay Bookman provides some unsurprising news about Georgia’s illegal immigration crackdown: there are unintended, negative consequences.

After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well, driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia…

Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to leave millions of dollars’ worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials into something of a panic at the damage they’ve done to Georgia’s largest industry….

The results of that investigation have now been released. According to survey of 230 Georgia farmers conducted by Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, farmers expect to need more than 11,000 workers at some point over the rest of the season, a number that probably underestimates the real need, since not every farmer in the state responded to the survey.

The economics here aren’t particularly complicated, and I’m sure they won’t be new to the sophisticated readers of the Atlantic, but they are useful to look at and consider explicitly when thinking about issues like this.

It goes like this. If you’re not going to let illegal immigrants do the jobs they are currently being hired to do, then farmers will have to raise wages to replace them. Since farmers are taking a risk in hiring immigrant workers, you can bet they were getting a significant deal on wage costs relative to “market wages”. I put market wages here in quotations, because it’s quite possible that the wages required to get workers to do the job are so high that it’s no longer profitable for farmers to plant the crops in the first place.

via Georgia’s Harsh Immigration Law Costs Millions in Unharvested Crops – Megan McArdle – Business – The Atlantic.

1 Comment

Filed under Congress, Politics, The Economy, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , ,