Ohio. Again. I am so tired of typing those two words. This State was once moderate and sane. In the Seventies and Eighties we had two Democratic Senators. John Glenn and Howard Metzenbaum. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. A decorated fighter pilot. An extremely effective and respected Senator. Senator Metzenbaum vied with Ted Kennedy as the most Liberal voice in the Senate. Now we have Sherrod Brown, a strong progressive voice and Rob Portman, George W. Bush's former Budget Director. This man has forgotten his history and is now somehow a Deficit Hawk.
After Republican control of Ohio for nineteen out of the last twenty-three years Ohio Republicans have, like the party Nationally, lurched blindly to the extreme right. This in a State that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both carried twice. There are those who feel Ohio was stolen in 2004 by George Bush with the aid of the extremist Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.
Following the 2010 Census GOP lawmakers met in secret to carve up Ohio into safe districts. They rented a hotel room in Columbus with taxpayer money and excluded Democrats from the process. Needless to say the public was also excluded. The result was basically election proofing the Ohio Legislature to maintain GOP control of both houses and the Congressional delegation till 2020.
These extremist Ohio House members passed the "Heartbeat Bill" in 2011. It would have banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat was detected. Since that usually happens at approximately six weeks, before most women know they're pregnant, it would have effectively banned abortion in Ohio. The Ohio House had "Testimony" from a fetus via ultra sound. Ohio became a national laughingstock. Again. There was also testimony from so-called "Abortion Survivors".
This bill was extreme enough to split the anti-abortion movement in the State.
The bill's backers were open that this bill was designed to challenge Roe v.Wade. The phrase ending abortion in Ohio was thrown around a lot. Many leaders in Ohio's anti-abortion movement felt this was the right bill at the wrong time. They saw such a blatant rejection of established Constitutional law would be a loser in front of SCOTUS. The result would be overturning Ohio's existing restrictive laws. They were hoping for a GOP Presidential win and a more conservative court before having such a draconian law passed.
These concerns didn't deter the Ohio House. They passed the bill in 2011 and sent it to the Ohio Senate. There it languished in committee until it was quashed by the Senate Majority leader.
With the Gerrymandered map Ohio wound up with an even more extremist Legislature in 2012. Both Houses had enough Republicans to steamroller any Democratic opposition.
Following the GOP attack on Public Sector Unions in 2011, when they had their asses handed to them by Ohioans via a ballot measure The Ohio Legislature decided to go after women's reproductive healthcare and rights by using the budget process.
Planned Parenthood and responsible medical providers were moved to the back of the funding line simply for making abortion referrals as were Rape Crisis centers. After all a child of rape is a gift from God. The so-called Pregnancy Crisis Centers are front and center for State family planning funding. In other States these groups have been caught giving misleading information and lying outright about birth control. They only support abstinence for single women and the rhythm method for married women. So organizations that don't believe in birth control are the ones providing advice.
The Budget also redefined pregnancy. The AMA defines the beginning of pregnancy as the implantation of a fertilized egg to the uterine wall. The State of Ohio, in their superior wisdom, defines pregnancy as beginning at conception. This plays havoc with some forms of birth control.
This budget is an anti-woman repression template for the rest of the Reactionary State Legislatures. To see the lengths these people have gone to I recommend an excellent Ohio political site, Plunderbund.com .The budget coverage here has been supurb. The appalling regulations are laid out in detail as are the consequences.
This repressive attempt to relegate Ohio women to simply being a life support system for a fetus doesn't go far enough for these Legislators. They plan to reintroduce The Heartbeat Bill. After all Ohio can't be outdone by Texas for slut shaming and stripping women of their rights as American citizens.
The bill is designed to force a direct challenge to Roe v.Wade. None of the supporters deny this. However at this time it is simply a moot pander to the base. North Dakota already has a similar law. It has been blocked by a Federal Court as an unconstitutional attack on established law. The current SCOTUS is unlikely to over rule this court's opinion. This would also make the Ohio and Texas versions void as well.
Since Governor John Kasich of Ohio has Presidential ambitions and signed the extremist budget he would likely sign a Heartbeat Bill. It would solidify his position as an anti-choice crusader. Ohio doesn't seem to get sustained coverage of it's attack on women. The media prefers the idea this is simply a Southern aberration. Texas gets the press. Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas seem to get a pass. These States have passed awful laws on restricting women's access to safe abortion and family planning services. They are all Northern States. This shows this isn't a regional or Old Confederacy issue. I know this give scant comfort to women in the South but their Northern sisters are under a concerted attack also.
So sane women and men in Ohio and Nationally must be prepared to stand against this attempt to reestablish the time when women were trapped by biology in roles that kept them from fulfilling their potential as human beings.
Women are not walking incubators. They have an inalienable right to decide how their bodies will be used.
They are equal citizens with all the inherent rights that come with that.
The best way to remove women from the public and political arena is to keep them pregnant during most of their reproductive years, Keep them at home, too harried and busy to do anything else.
We can not allow this to happen.
Women across the country must stand with their sisters.
Men must stand with their wives,lovers, sisters, daughters, aunts and mothers.
Draw the line in the sand,. No farther.
Stop this war on women.
Through inaction comes defeat.
Through defeat comes slavery.
Act now. Raise your voice and an army of support.
Now. Time is running out.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Sunday, August 11, 2013
You can't fix stupid.
I've been known to sit back and relax at times. I'll fire up the blu-ray and watch a whole season of a favorite show. Fringe. SG-1. Doctor Who. Sometimes I do it with movies. A bit of Film Noir. The Duke. Star Trek and numerous others. A wonderful way to enjoy the small pleasures of life.
Then I will turn on the news or hit a news site on the web. Perhaps a link on Twitter. My calm is then seriously damaged.
All it takes is hearing the latest GOP attack on voting or women or any other insanity du jour.
Ron White is right. You can't fix stupid.
What I try to do is decide how much is stupid, how much is simple willful ignorance and how much is planned political partisanship. A chance to gain power through intimidation and fear. Unfortunately I think it's all of the above.
There are extremist evangelicals who have won seats in Congress, Statehouses and Legislatures. There have been Tea Party members elected with them. So, we have reactionary ideologues in power. Single issue zealots. People who would burn down the house rather than fix a leaky pipe. People who believe women are the reason for the so-called destruction of the traditional family. People who believe their version of God needs to be inserted into American life by law. Some because they dislike or disagree with history and feel it didn't happen that way. It is some kind of conspiracy to hide the truth.
There are others who reject science on religious grounds. They feel they have a right to impose their vision on everyone.
So let's take a trip through their alternate reality.
Since the Eighties we have seen an unprecedented rise of a strain of conservatism that would appall William Buckley and Barry Goldwater. The intellectual conservatives that founded the American Conservative movement knew that the extreme fringe were antithetical to the American values
Buckley and others were espousing. Thus the Ku Klux Klan, The John Birch Society and the American Nazi party were pushed out and banished from mainstream conservatism.
As the thoughtful leaders of the movement died they were replaced by men without the intellectual discipline needed to maintain the right's integrity as a viable, sane political power. So without an ideological standard the movement started to splinter into assorted factions. Some stayed true to the Buckley/Goldwater view of America. Others wandered off into the weeds of single issue or uninformed, reactionary views of what America should be.
These splinter groups mostly fell into two categories.
1) Reactionary evangelicals. Those who believe The United States was founded as a Christian Theocracy favored by God to spread our way of life.
2) Single issue and extremist reactionary political ideologues.
Down the rabbit hole we go.
Both are the result of Nixon's play to the so-called "Silent Majority" in the 1968 election. It was a blatant attempt to woo Southern voters angry about the Civil Rights Act. By claiming the mantle of "traditional American" values they fostered an us versus them mentality. Us being white men and them being everybody else. George Wallace went after the same voter and was far less subtle in his appeal to racism and the anti youth/Peace movement sentiment.
After Lyndon Johnson decided not to run there was a bloody Democratic Primary fight between Bobby Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy.
In April of 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. in Indianapolis, Indiana Robert Kennedy heard the news right before a scheduled campaign stop in the African American area of town. Local police said they couldn't protect RFK in the heart of the Ghetto. His aides urged him to leave. Kennedy refused and gave what many feel is one of the best speeches in modern political history. The speech lasted four minutes and fifty-seven seconds and was given off the back of a flatbed truck. Bobby spoke of King's vision and told the crowd he could understand their grief and anger since his brother had been gunned down in Dallas. This was the first time he had referred to John's murder in a public forum. Kennedy quoted the Greek playwright Aeschylus, he called for peace, wisdom and compassion.
Cities across America burned that night. Indianapolis was not one of them.
Bobby Kennedy may have clenched the Democratic nomination that night. Two months later RFK fell to an assassin himself in Los Angeles after winning the California primary.
The Days of rage turned the Chicago Democratic Convention into a war zone on TV. Humphrey won the nomination in a bruising floor fight with the Kennedy delegates. Even with this baggage Humphrey barely lost.
Nixon decided to go after the older, angry white voter. "The Silent Majority". The Southern Strategy. This was the first openly racist campaign waged by the modern GOP. Us vs. them equaled Black and young vs. white and angry. It was worse in '72. Almost overt. Code words flew every time Nixon or Agnew opened their mouth.
After Nixon was kicked to the curb Ford ran a rather clean campaign. It was about the last.
Southern Dixiecrats and many Dems became Republicans. In the North the same thing happened as white voters felt threatened by black political and social gains. The Southern Strategy had matured into a solid generational Republican voting block.
The Evangelicals and extreme conservatives were used as ground troops in knocking on doors and getting out the vote.
In popular culture these people were derided as hillbillies and holy rollers. As I've said before many looked at "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Hee Haw" as documentaries.
In the movie "Oh God", God got snarky with the Televangelist.
In the anger over how they were treated and lack of political power in a country they saw slipping away the GOP solidified this population.
Ronald Reagan used his folksy charm to wage a campaign of covert racism. He also demonized the Democratic opposition. They made the word liberal an insult. Anyone who disagreed was smeared as being Un American A socialist bent on destroying traditional American values and waging war on Christianity. Even reasonable moderate voices were tarred as Liberals.
During the papacy of St. Ronnie a war on Unions was declared. Corporations and the rich were vaunted as the basis of the American post war economic miracle. Union workers were lazy and overpaid. Taxes were cut. Deficits exploded and taxes were raised.
The cultural war against secular life was heating up. Hollywood was destroying American life. Homosexuals were plotting to take over America. Women were abandoning their traditional roles upsetting the natural order of things.
The Robertson's and Falwell's were being taken seriously. The expert use of Television was spreading their word, filling their coffers and growing their political clout. These preachers were frequent guests at the White House. Political endorsements were sought and turned elections. Fewer people
identified as members of the traditional Religious denominations and were calling themselves Born Again.
Evangelical conservatives railed against the secularization of the United States. Hollywood and Collegiate elites were condemned for destroying American values. Women no longer stayed at home. They wanted careers.They enjoyed sex. African Americans no longer knew their place. They were uppity and wanted equality. Homosexuals were plotting to convert everyone and let their pedaphile prolictivities loose. Lesbians were going to beat up men and take their jobs in construction, law enforcement and the military.
The nation had fallen from the path of God and there would be dire consequences if the Almighty wasn't restored to daily life
The political conservatives were natural allies of the evangelicals. They both distrusted change. So they joined forces.
Both groups felt the GOP was simply paying lip service to their causes and taking advantage of them. They were right. The Republicans were not about to turn the party over to zealots. So, the insurgents took it. They ran against incumbents in primaries and won.
Since the late 90's we have seen moderate voices driven out of the party. The result is as they came into power they were lurching farther to the right. With no moderate power structure to keep them in check they reveled in their newfound ability to legislate to their heart's content.
There were no old warhorses to teach them how to govern. These neophytes saw the lifeblood of government(compromise) vilified as selling out. There was no one to tell them their concept of the Constitution was flawed at best, completely wrong at worst. Most fell over themselves running to the worst case scenario.
This coalition has decided to undo all the progress made over the last century plus. They are fed validation by media sites that would have been laughed out of existence a generation ago. The Fox news model of disinformation, half truths and lies has been adopted and expanded. We are deluged by a tsunami of willful ignorance, lies and hate, 24/7.
The audience that receives most of their information from these sites are deluded into believing we are on the verge of civil war. They are convinced they are under attack.
This has gone from people not understanding how governing works to wanting to destroy what they see as a monolithic, secular government wishing to establish a godless, socialist utopia.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups. Even more so if they are frightened. They latch on to anything that makes them feel safe.
I lived through the sixties and I have never seen division and hatred the way it exists here today.
Rather than make fun of the Militias we should be concerned at their explosive growth. How many McVeigh's are out there?
Rather than make fun of these extremists we should be concerned. There are likely people North and South who would love to fire on FT. Sumter again.
We need to out work them.
We need to out vote them.
We need to out evangelize them.
Too long have we let the right control the message. We need to fight back against the the lies with cold hard facts.
We can no longer be concerned with hurting their feelings. We've been punching bags for too long. Time to punch back.
Then I will turn on the news or hit a news site on the web. Perhaps a link on Twitter. My calm is then seriously damaged.
All it takes is hearing the latest GOP attack on voting or women or any other insanity du jour.
Ron White is right. You can't fix stupid.
What I try to do is decide how much is stupid, how much is simple willful ignorance and how much is planned political partisanship. A chance to gain power through intimidation and fear. Unfortunately I think it's all of the above.
There are extremist evangelicals who have won seats in Congress, Statehouses and Legislatures. There have been Tea Party members elected with them. So, we have reactionary ideologues in power. Single issue zealots. People who would burn down the house rather than fix a leaky pipe. People who believe women are the reason for the so-called destruction of the traditional family. People who believe their version of God needs to be inserted into American life by law. Some because they dislike or disagree with history and feel it didn't happen that way. It is some kind of conspiracy to hide the truth.
There are others who reject science on religious grounds. They feel they have a right to impose their vision on everyone.
So let's take a trip through their alternate reality.
Since the Eighties we have seen an unprecedented rise of a strain of conservatism that would appall William Buckley and Barry Goldwater. The intellectual conservatives that founded the American Conservative movement knew that the extreme fringe were antithetical to the American values
Buckley and others were espousing. Thus the Ku Klux Klan, The John Birch Society and the American Nazi party were pushed out and banished from mainstream conservatism.
As the thoughtful leaders of the movement died they were replaced by men without the intellectual discipline needed to maintain the right's integrity as a viable, sane political power. So without an ideological standard the movement started to splinter into assorted factions. Some stayed true to the Buckley/Goldwater view of America. Others wandered off into the weeds of single issue or uninformed, reactionary views of what America should be.
These splinter groups mostly fell into two categories.
1) Reactionary evangelicals. Those who believe The United States was founded as a Christian Theocracy favored by God to spread our way of life.
2) Single issue and extremist reactionary political ideologues.
Down the rabbit hole we go.
Both are the result of Nixon's play to the so-called "Silent Majority" in the 1968 election. It was a blatant attempt to woo Southern voters angry about the Civil Rights Act. By claiming the mantle of "traditional American" values they fostered an us versus them mentality. Us being white men and them being everybody else. George Wallace went after the same voter and was far less subtle in his appeal to racism and the anti youth/Peace movement sentiment.
After Lyndon Johnson decided not to run there was a bloody Democratic Primary fight between Bobby Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy.
In April of 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. in Indianapolis, Indiana Robert Kennedy heard the news right before a scheduled campaign stop in the African American area of town. Local police said they couldn't protect RFK in the heart of the Ghetto. His aides urged him to leave. Kennedy refused and gave what many feel is one of the best speeches in modern political history. The speech lasted four minutes and fifty-seven seconds and was given off the back of a flatbed truck. Bobby spoke of King's vision and told the crowd he could understand their grief and anger since his brother had been gunned down in Dallas. This was the first time he had referred to John's murder in a public forum. Kennedy quoted the Greek playwright Aeschylus, he called for peace, wisdom and compassion.
Cities across America burned that night. Indianapolis was not one of them.
Bobby Kennedy may have clenched the Democratic nomination that night. Two months later RFK fell to an assassin himself in Los Angeles after winning the California primary.
The Days of rage turned the Chicago Democratic Convention into a war zone on TV. Humphrey won the nomination in a bruising floor fight with the Kennedy delegates. Even with this baggage Humphrey barely lost.
Nixon decided to go after the older, angry white voter. "The Silent Majority". The Southern Strategy. This was the first openly racist campaign waged by the modern GOP. Us vs. them equaled Black and young vs. white and angry. It was worse in '72. Almost overt. Code words flew every time Nixon or Agnew opened their mouth.
After Nixon was kicked to the curb Ford ran a rather clean campaign. It was about the last.
Southern Dixiecrats and many Dems became Republicans. In the North the same thing happened as white voters felt threatened by black political and social gains. The Southern Strategy had matured into a solid generational Republican voting block.
The Evangelicals and extreme conservatives were used as ground troops in knocking on doors and getting out the vote.
In popular culture these people were derided as hillbillies and holy rollers. As I've said before many looked at "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Hee Haw" as documentaries.
In the movie "Oh God", God got snarky with the Televangelist.
In the anger over how they were treated and lack of political power in a country they saw slipping away the GOP solidified this population.
Ronald Reagan used his folksy charm to wage a campaign of covert racism. He also demonized the Democratic opposition. They made the word liberal an insult. Anyone who disagreed was smeared as being Un American A socialist bent on destroying traditional American values and waging war on Christianity. Even reasonable moderate voices were tarred as Liberals.
During the papacy of St. Ronnie a war on Unions was declared. Corporations and the rich were vaunted as the basis of the American post war economic miracle. Union workers were lazy and overpaid. Taxes were cut. Deficits exploded and taxes were raised.
The cultural war against secular life was heating up. Hollywood was destroying American life. Homosexuals were plotting to take over America. Women were abandoning their traditional roles upsetting the natural order of things.
The Robertson's and Falwell's were being taken seriously. The expert use of Television was spreading their word, filling their coffers and growing their political clout. These preachers were frequent guests at the White House. Political endorsements were sought and turned elections. Fewer people
identified as members of the traditional Religious denominations and were calling themselves Born Again.
Evangelical conservatives railed against the secularization of the United States. Hollywood and Collegiate elites were condemned for destroying American values. Women no longer stayed at home. They wanted careers.They enjoyed sex. African Americans no longer knew their place. They were uppity and wanted equality. Homosexuals were plotting to convert everyone and let their pedaphile prolictivities loose. Lesbians were going to beat up men and take their jobs in construction, law enforcement and the military.
The nation had fallen from the path of God and there would be dire consequences if the Almighty wasn't restored to daily life
The political conservatives were natural allies of the evangelicals. They both distrusted change. So they joined forces.
Both groups felt the GOP was simply paying lip service to their causes and taking advantage of them. They were right. The Republicans were not about to turn the party over to zealots. So, the insurgents took it. They ran against incumbents in primaries and won.
Since the late 90's we have seen moderate voices driven out of the party. The result is as they came into power they were lurching farther to the right. With no moderate power structure to keep them in check they reveled in their newfound ability to legislate to their heart's content.
There were no old warhorses to teach them how to govern. These neophytes saw the lifeblood of government(compromise) vilified as selling out. There was no one to tell them their concept of the Constitution was flawed at best, completely wrong at worst. Most fell over themselves running to the worst case scenario.
This coalition has decided to undo all the progress made over the last century plus. They are fed validation by media sites that would have been laughed out of existence a generation ago. The Fox news model of disinformation, half truths and lies has been adopted and expanded. We are deluged by a tsunami of willful ignorance, lies and hate, 24/7.
The audience that receives most of their information from these sites are deluded into believing we are on the verge of civil war. They are convinced they are under attack.
This has gone from people not understanding how governing works to wanting to destroy what they see as a monolithic, secular government wishing to establish a godless, socialist utopia.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups. Even more so if they are frightened. They latch on to anything that makes them feel safe.
I lived through the sixties and I have never seen division and hatred the way it exists here today.
Rather than make fun of the Militias we should be concerned at their explosive growth. How many McVeigh's are out there?
Rather than make fun of these extremists we should be concerned. There are likely people North and South who would love to fire on FT. Sumter again.
We need to out work them.
We need to out vote them.
We need to out evangelize them.
Too long have we let the right control the message. We need to fight back against the the lies with cold hard facts.
We can no longer be concerned with hurting their feelings. We've been punching bags for too long. Time to punch back.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Ohio joins up with Pregnancy Centers for Women's health. What??
In the rush to judgement over the abortion restrictions in Ohio we have lost sight of the deep, caring commitment the GOP legislators are showing to Ohio women. After all, these rules passed in Ohio's budget are for the health and safety of Ohio women. Just ask them.
Clinics that provide abortion services are required to have transfer agreements( A precaution in case of medical complications). These clinics are now forbidden from having transfer agreements with Public hospitals. Since most private hospitals in Ohio have religious affiliations clinics may have problems fulfilling this requirement. It is an excellent idea in a medical emergency,when time is a critical factor, to increase the distance a patient needs to be transported. After all any life saving procedure would be tantamount to an abortion and we can't have public money used to save a woman's life. We all know if she had not had sex she wouldn't be in this situation. Obviously it is the stance of the State of Ohio that sluts don't deserve compassion.
Another way to prove there is no war on women in Ohio is to defund Planned Parenthood. Or sorta defund.
What Ohio has done is change the funding priorities. Any family planning service provider, even if they don't offer abortion services, move to the back of the line for funding if they even make abortion referrals. This includes Rape Crisis Centers. Everyone knows children of rape are gifts from God. Since being a Republican legislator in Ohio makes you a de facto OB/GYN, you can decide if medically responsible treatment can even be mentioned. Once again, had the tramp not gotten knocked up there wouldn't be an issue.
So under these rules Christian anti-abortion, push for carrying to full term propaganda groups are funded. Planned Parenthood, not so much.Thus to ensure the health and safety of Ohio women, which is what these regulations are all about, contraception services will be provided by groups that don't believe in contraception. Natural methods are front and center. Rhythm and abstinence. Two methods that are proven to control a women's reproductive options.
Now, just because these groups have been caught lying in other States doesn't mean they will lie in Ohio. They won't tell women that condoms don't protect against STD's or pregnancy because they are naturally porous. They won't tell women that birth control causes mental health issues. They won't claim abortion can cause the formation of antibodies possibly forcing her immune system to reject a fetus causing a miscarry. Side effects not on the warning sheet are possible.
I am so very proud to live in a State that feels women need to be lied to, humiliated and considered too stupid to make important decisions concerning her health and future. Facts are stubborn things. They only get in the way of caring for women. Giving faith based groups public money to advance their anti-science agenda is needed. God knows women are willful creatures needing a strong hand to guide them. Now, let's go after other rights that are an affront to God. It's the new American way.
Clinics that provide abortion services are required to have transfer agreements( A precaution in case of medical complications). These clinics are now forbidden from having transfer agreements with Public hospitals. Since most private hospitals in Ohio have religious affiliations clinics may have problems fulfilling this requirement. It is an excellent idea in a medical emergency,when time is a critical factor, to increase the distance a patient needs to be transported. After all any life saving procedure would be tantamount to an abortion and we can't have public money used to save a woman's life. We all know if she had not had sex she wouldn't be in this situation. Obviously it is the stance of the State of Ohio that sluts don't deserve compassion.
Another way to prove there is no war on women in Ohio is to defund Planned Parenthood. Or sorta defund.
What Ohio has done is change the funding priorities. Any family planning service provider, even if they don't offer abortion services, move to the back of the line for funding if they even make abortion referrals. This includes Rape Crisis Centers. Everyone knows children of rape are gifts from God. Since being a Republican legislator in Ohio makes you a de facto OB/GYN, you can decide if medically responsible treatment can even be mentioned. Once again, had the tramp not gotten knocked up there wouldn't be an issue.
So under these rules Christian anti-abortion, push for carrying to full term propaganda groups are funded. Planned Parenthood, not so much.Thus to ensure the health and safety of Ohio women, which is what these regulations are all about, contraception services will be provided by groups that don't believe in contraception. Natural methods are front and center. Rhythm and abstinence. Two methods that are proven to control a women's reproductive options.
Now, just because these groups have been caught lying in other States doesn't mean they will lie in Ohio. They won't tell women that condoms don't protect against STD's or pregnancy because they are naturally porous. They won't tell women that birth control causes mental health issues. They won't claim abortion can cause the formation of antibodies possibly forcing her immune system to reject a fetus causing a miscarry. Side effects not on the warning sheet are possible.
I am so very proud to live in a State that feels women need to be lied to, humiliated and considered too stupid to make important decisions concerning her health and future. Facts are stubborn things. They only get in the way of caring for women. Giving faith based groups public money to advance their anti-science agenda is needed. God knows women are willful creatures needing a strong hand to guide them. Now, let's go after other rights that are an affront to God. It's the new American way.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Erick Erickson is a nattering nabob of nihilism. Abortion Barbie? What a maroon.
I've never been a fan of Erick Erickson. Honestly. I'd never heard of Red State or Erickson till CNN signed him. He's caused me one face palm and head desk after another since then.
It is amazing to me that anyone even reads Red State. I know I don't have a lot of readers but at least I strive for accuracy.
During '12, unlike so many on the others on the right, he wasn't convinced President Obama was going to be swept aside by righteous Conservative anger. He blamed Rove, the Gop establishment and the Romney campaign. Again with the standard not conservative enough meme. He said Rove was still using Lee Atwater's playbook. Rove spent a mountain of cash for zero results. It wasn't right for the 21st century. Valid enough as far as it goes. Like the other pit bulls on the right Erickson has grabbed the idea that if a "True Conservative"ran the GOP would win hands down. That assumes everyone is really a closet RWNj who wants to roll back a century of progressive thought and reestablish the Gilded Age. He's really saying every white in America is racist and sexist We are all also historically and scientifically illiterate.
You would think that once CNN kicked him loose for being a bit crazy that even Fox would thingk twice about hiring him. Nope. Instead they've turned him loose on the air.
This is a man who thinks women are going against the natural order by working. Their purpose is to tend home and hearth and drop a baby as often as possible. It is a scientific fact women should not be the primary breadwinner as they are in 40% of American households. He sees it as troubling. I doubt he approves of more women than men getting a degree either. He has no standing to push that idea. He's assuredly not any kind of scientist. Also, I've read him. He's not mush of a writer either.
When the Texas Legislature passed that horrendous Abortion bill he showed his class. Erickson tweeted a link for liberals. It was to a supplier of wire coat hangers. When called out on it he used the anger as proof we have no sense of humor. He then said that death from self abortion was basically an urban legend pushed by the left.Funny fella.
So now we have Abortion Barbie.
State Senator Wendy Davis misspoke concerning Gosnell's chamber of Horrors. So obviously she's an air head and ignorant. I guess he never listens to Rush or or his compatriots on Fox. Erickson claims she's building a career on abortion.A political stand based on taking the life of the innocent. He also doesn't understand why Barbie is sexist.
So Erick, is it OK to call Limbaugh a drug addled gas bag? How about Caribou Barbie for Sarah? Histrionic Hannity? May I call you a Nattering Nabob of Nihilism?
Erick, a word of advice. Pull your head out of your ass and look around. The economy built by Saint Ronnie and his successors at the Holy See of Supply Side has made the single income family an an anachronism. To move ahead or stay even requires two incomes. Leave it to Beaver was cancelled before you were born. The housewife greeting her husband at the door with a martini, wearing a dress, heels and pearls never happened. Deal with it.
You really should stay quiet unless you have something insightful or even accurate to say. You may as well take a vow of silence considering your track record.
It is amazing to me that anyone even reads Red State. I know I don't have a lot of readers but at least I strive for accuracy.
During '12, unlike so many on the others on the right, he wasn't convinced President Obama was going to be swept aside by righteous Conservative anger. He blamed Rove, the Gop establishment and the Romney campaign. Again with the standard not conservative enough meme. He said Rove was still using Lee Atwater's playbook. Rove spent a mountain of cash for zero results. It wasn't right for the 21st century. Valid enough as far as it goes. Like the other pit bulls on the right Erickson has grabbed the idea that if a "True Conservative"ran the GOP would win hands down. That assumes everyone is really a closet RWNj who wants to roll back a century of progressive thought and reestablish the Gilded Age. He's really saying every white in America is racist and sexist We are all also historically and scientifically illiterate.
You would think that once CNN kicked him loose for being a bit crazy that even Fox would thingk twice about hiring him. Nope. Instead they've turned him loose on the air.
This is a man who thinks women are going against the natural order by working. Their purpose is to tend home and hearth and drop a baby as often as possible. It is a scientific fact women should not be the primary breadwinner as they are in 40% of American households. He sees it as troubling. I doubt he approves of more women than men getting a degree either. He has no standing to push that idea. He's assuredly not any kind of scientist. Also, I've read him. He's not mush of a writer either.
When the Texas Legislature passed that horrendous Abortion bill he showed his class. Erickson tweeted a link for liberals. It was to a supplier of wire coat hangers. When called out on it he used the anger as proof we have no sense of humor. He then said that death from self abortion was basically an urban legend pushed by the left.Funny fella.
So now we have Abortion Barbie.
State Senator Wendy Davis misspoke concerning Gosnell's chamber of Horrors. So obviously she's an air head and ignorant. I guess he never listens to Rush or or his compatriots on Fox. Erickson claims she's building a career on abortion.A political stand based on taking the life of the innocent. He also doesn't understand why Barbie is sexist.
So Erick, is it OK to call Limbaugh a drug addled gas bag? How about Caribou Barbie for Sarah? Histrionic Hannity? May I call you a Nattering Nabob of Nihilism?
Erick, a word of advice. Pull your head out of your ass and look around. The economy built by Saint Ronnie and his successors at the Holy See of Supply Side has made the single income family an an anachronism. To move ahead or stay even requires two incomes. Leave it to Beaver was cancelled before you were born. The housewife greeting her husband at the door with a martini, wearing a dress, heels and pearls never happened. Deal with it.
You really should stay quiet unless you have something insightful or even accurate to say. You may as well take a vow of silence considering your track record.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
The Extremist war on education
Few things push my buttons faster and harder than attacks on a solid fact based education system. Evolution v."Intelligent Design"(Creationism dressed up as science) garners the headlines. It's sexy. It sells. It brings to mind the Scope's trial and "Inherit The Wind". What flies under the radar is the attack on traditional education itself as a secular plot to destroy conservative thought and religion.( Conservative Christianity)
There is a long tradition of contempt and mistrust of education in America's history. It may come from the educated elite dominating society at the expense of the agrarian, frontier nation we were at our founding. Socioeconomic control of the many by the wealthy, powerful few is nothing new. Farmers in hock to banks for seed money and the Company Store come to mind easily. As does market manipulation, slave wages and laissez faire Governmental policies. There was adequate reason to hold the elite in contempt and mistrust them.
Education on the frontier was seen as a necessary evil. It was felt all that a person needed was to know how to sign your name, rudimentary reading skills, enough math to figure what you owed, was owed you and market value of your crop. Anything else was superfluous. When day to day survival is front and center an expansive education is seen as an unneeded luxury.
Among the populace was a tradition of not being educated to overcome. My Daddy did OK without book learning. I'm doing OK without book learning. And boy, you'll do just fine too.
Even with this attitude education was seen as a vital Government function. During the expansion of the frontier land was set aside by law for the establishment of schools. This was the embodiment of the Jeffersonian idea that an educated population, exposed to new ideas would be able to work out their differences and move the nation forward.
As the Nation grew the benefits of education was recognized. Families realized if their children were educated life would have more opportunity for them. The general curve of an educated populace has historically been upward.
Following WWII the dominance of the American manufacturing prowess was based solely on having the best educated workforce on the planet. Our schools and Universities set the bar for everyone else. The explosive growth of the American Middle Class drove the engine of industry and fostered the goal of universal education for all.
The GI Bill enabled millions to obtain a post secondary education when it had been only a dream for their forebears. An educated America was pivotal in the improvement of the health and welfare of the nation.
So why the Conservative war on education now?
There seems to be an unforeseen side effect of a good, solid learning experience. Educated people seem to be more liberal and progressive. It must be a secular plot to destroy America.
There has been an idea in mainstream conservative thought since Buckley that American Universities are dominated by a liberal elite intent on indoctrination. This is called education. As one is taught critical thinking and are exposed to new and varied ideas your outlook evolves. As you learn old misconceptions are exposed and usually rejected. This is what happens as you learn.
Now the political idea that there is a secret American History not being taught is gaining acceptance in local and State Governments. You have people like David Barton and Glen Beck pushing it's a liberal, secular conspiracy to hide the truth. They have no credentials, knowledge of, standing, grasp of history or historical context. In other words, clueless.
OK, I admit history tends to be written by the winners. However that's where research and scholarship comes in. The purpose of a historian is to sift through the bias of contemporary accounts to glean what was actually happening and WHY. See, if you understand the why you should be able to avoid it happening again. That is the forlorn dream of us who are interested in History.
Beck is a big fan of a worldwide secular conspiracy to reestablish the Caliphate. Let's pretend that idea isn't totally absurd to start with.
What Beck, through intention or ignorance never mentions is what existed under the golden age of the Caliphate.
While Europe was engulfed in the Dark Ages following the collapse of Rome there was a shining light of science and knowledge in the world. It was the Arab world. The Islamic world.
Algebra is an Arabic word. We use Arabic numerals rather than the limited, unwieldy Roman numerals. Science, mathematics, art, architecture and the preservation of knowledge flourished. The Caliphate was the center of intellectualism in a dark western world.
What happened? (See? The why.)
Religious fundamentalism is the short answer. The systematic rejection of anything that conflicts with religious dogma. This is a historical lesson modern Americans need to take to heart, burn into their brains and teach our children.
We see this constantly now. Science denial is rampant, based on religion. Today my focus is on history. And historical denial is also rampant for the same reasons.
The most prevalent myth being pushed as fact is The American Revolution was a conservative movement founded on taxes and the desire to establish a "Christian" nation. The vaunted shining city on the hill.
The activists that pushed the Colonies into open rebellion against the Crown were radical men from Massachusetts. They were the first to openly take up arms against the British Army.
In the Continental Congress in Philadelphia the idea was to find a political accommodation with the Crown. The very concept of declaring independence and establishing a new Nation was alien during the height of Colonial Empires. It had never been done.
The delegates anger over taxes were that they were imposed with no input from these American Colonial subjects of His Majesty. Taxation without representation. They knew taxes were needed for Government to function. These men knew a standing army was needed to protect from internal and external threats. A standing army was expensive to maintain.With this came other unilateral affronts. They wanted seats in Parliament. They wanted a voice in governing these disparate Colonies. They wanted the rights of full British citizenship. The founders didn't care to be second class citizens.
These Delegates were the best educated, most influential men in The Colonies for the most part. There were brilliant orators. There were consummate politicians. There were the best and brightest. There were also political sycophants, intellectual dullards and fools. The trick was consensus building.
In this mix was an abrasive radical firebrand, John Adams. He represented the hotbed of American radicalism. Boston. It's safe to say without Adams' constant cajoling, his annoying persistence and drive the Revolution may not have happened or would have been an entirely different rebellion.
These Founding fathers were well educated men and products of their time. They were living in the middle of the Enlightenment or the Great Awakening. Thousands of years of traditional political thought was being rejected wholesale. Divine Right monarchy was no longer seen as the preordained natural order of things. Science and reason was replacing blind faith. They saw themselves as Humanists. Secular Deists.
They mistrusted organized religion. They mistrusted an absolutist government with no checks and balances on the whims of a King.
The Monarchical whims pushed these men into the realization a political solution to the Colonies grievances were unlikely.
The armed rebellion began in Boston resulted in widespread British retaliation. An army was raised and the conflict was lit. And this was not an extremely popular course of action.
A third of the population remained loyal to the Crown.They were the actual conservatives(Listening Misters Barton and Beck?)Most fled to Britain or Canada.
A third didn't care one way or another. A traditional American political reaction.
So, the great rebellion consisted of a third of the people. (I am proud to say I had Ancestors who were armed participants and members of the Continental Army. Irishmen,so taking up arms against the Brits wasn't that big of a stretch.)
So the history deniers claims this war was only about taxes and religion is not accurate at all. There were strong liberal and radical philosophical underpinnings. It is never as simple as the misinformed make it.
Without extensive military aid from France the Revolution would likely have failed. That sound you hear is GOP heads exploding re: France.
After the war a means of governing these former colonies had to be devised. There was no real precedent. Previous documents were examined and had varying degrees of influence. The Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, The Declaration Of Independence, The Virginia Charters and statute of Religious Freedom among others were consulted. The result was the Articles of Confederation. A weak central Government with strong, semi-autonomous States. This was an abject failure.
A group of delegates gathered in Philadelphia to fix it. Upon examination they decided it was beyond repair and scrapped it. They exceeded their authority and wrote The Constitution.
There is a long tradition of contempt and mistrust of education in America's history. It may come from the educated elite dominating society at the expense of the agrarian, frontier nation we were at our founding. Socioeconomic control of the many by the wealthy, powerful few is nothing new. Farmers in hock to banks for seed money and the Company Store come to mind easily. As does market manipulation, slave wages and laissez faire Governmental policies. There was adequate reason to hold the elite in contempt and mistrust them.
Education on the frontier was seen as a necessary evil. It was felt all that a person needed was to know how to sign your name, rudimentary reading skills, enough math to figure what you owed, was owed you and market value of your crop. Anything else was superfluous. When day to day survival is front and center an expansive education is seen as an unneeded luxury.
Among the populace was a tradition of not being educated to overcome. My Daddy did OK without book learning. I'm doing OK without book learning. And boy, you'll do just fine too.
Even with this attitude education was seen as a vital Government function. During the expansion of the frontier land was set aside by law for the establishment of schools. This was the embodiment of the Jeffersonian idea that an educated population, exposed to new ideas would be able to work out their differences and move the nation forward.
As the Nation grew the benefits of education was recognized. Families realized if their children were educated life would have more opportunity for them. The general curve of an educated populace has historically been upward.
Following WWII the dominance of the American manufacturing prowess was based solely on having the best educated workforce on the planet. Our schools and Universities set the bar for everyone else. The explosive growth of the American Middle Class drove the engine of industry and fostered the goal of universal education for all.
The GI Bill enabled millions to obtain a post secondary education when it had been only a dream for their forebears. An educated America was pivotal in the improvement of the health and welfare of the nation.
So why the Conservative war on education now?
There seems to be an unforeseen side effect of a good, solid learning experience. Educated people seem to be more liberal and progressive. It must be a secular plot to destroy America.
There has been an idea in mainstream conservative thought since Buckley that American Universities are dominated by a liberal elite intent on indoctrination. This is called education. As one is taught critical thinking and are exposed to new and varied ideas your outlook evolves. As you learn old misconceptions are exposed and usually rejected. This is what happens as you learn.
Now the political idea that there is a secret American History not being taught is gaining acceptance in local and State Governments. You have people like David Barton and Glen Beck pushing it's a liberal, secular conspiracy to hide the truth. They have no credentials, knowledge of, standing, grasp of history or historical context. In other words, clueless.
OK, I admit history tends to be written by the winners. However that's where research and scholarship comes in. The purpose of a historian is to sift through the bias of contemporary accounts to glean what was actually happening and WHY. See, if you understand the why you should be able to avoid it happening again. That is the forlorn dream of us who are interested in History.
Beck is a big fan of a worldwide secular conspiracy to reestablish the Caliphate. Let's pretend that idea isn't totally absurd to start with.
What Beck, through intention or ignorance never mentions is what existed under the golden age of the Caliphate.
While Europe was engulfed in the Dark Ages following the collapse of Rome there was a shining light of science and knowledge in the world. It was the Arab world. The Islamic world.
Algebra is an Arabic word. We use Arabic numerals rather than the limited, unwieldy Roman numerals. Science, mathematics, art, architecture and the preservation of knowledge flourished. The Caliphate was the center of intellectualism in a dark western world.
What happened? (See? The why.)
Religious fundamentalism is the short answer. The systematic rejection of anything that conflicts with religious dogma. This is a historical lesson modern Americans need to take to heart, burn into their brains and teach our children.
We see this constantly now. Science denial is rampant, based on religion. Today my focus is on history. And historical denial is also rampant for the same reasons.
The most prevalent myth being pushed as fact is The American Revolution was a conservative movement founded on taxes and the desire to establish a "Christian" nation. The vaunted shining city on the hill.
The activists that pushed the Colonies into open rebellion against the Crown were radical men from Massachusetts. They were the first to openly take up arms against the British Army.
In the Continental Congress in Philadelphia the idea was to find a political accommodation with the Crown. The very concept of declaring independence and establishing a new Nation was alien during the height of Colonial Empires. It had never been done.
The delegates anger over taxes were that they were imposed with no input from these American Colonial subjects of His Majesty. Taxation without representation. They knew taxes were needed for Government to function. These men knew a standing army was needed to protect from internal and external threats. A standing army was expensive to maintain.With this came other unilateral affronts. They wanted seats in Parliament. They wanted a voice in governing these disparate Colonies. They wanted the rights of full British citizenship. The founders didn't care to be second class citizens.
These Delegates were the best educated, most influential men in The Colonies for the most part. There were brilliant orators. There were consummate politicians. There were the best and brightest. There were also political sycophants, intellectual dullards and fools. The trick was consensus building.
In this mix was an abrasive radical firebrand, John Adams. He represented the hotbed of American radicalism. Boston. It's safe to say without Adams' constant cajoling, his annoying persistence and drive the Revolution may not have happened or would have been an entirely different rebellion.
These Founding fathers were well educated men and products of their time. They were living in the middle of the Enlightenment or the Great Awakening. Thousands of years of traditional political thought was being rejected wholesale. Divine Right monarchy was no longer seen as the preordained natural order of things. Science and reason was replacing blind faith. They saw themselves as Humanists. Secular Deists.
They mistrusted organized religion. They mistrusted an absolutist government with no checks and balances on the whims of a King.
The Monarchical whims pushed these men into the realization a political solution to the Colonies grievances were unlikely.
The armed rebellion began in Boston resulted in widespread British retaliation. An army was raised and the conflict was lit. And this was not an extremely popular course of action.
A third of the population remained loyal to the Crown.They were the actual conservatives(Listening Misters Barton and Beck?)Most fled to Britain or Canada.
A third didn't care one way or another. A traditional American political reaction.
So, the great rebellion consisted of a third of the people. (I am proud to say I had Ancestors who were armed participants and members of the Continental Army. Irishmen,so taking up arms against the Brits wasn't that big of a stretch.)
So the history deniers claims this war was only about taxes and religion is not accurate at all. There were strong liberal and radical philosophical underpinnings. It is never as simple as the misinformed make it.
Without extensive military aid from France the Revolution would likely have failed. That sound you hear is GOP heads exploding re: France.
After the war a means of governing these former colonies had to be devised. There was no real precedent. Previous documents were examined and had varying degrees of influence. The Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, The Declaration Of Independence, The Virginia Charters and statute of Religious Freedom among others were consulted. The result was the Articles of Confederation. A weak central Government with strong, semi-autonomous States. This was an abject failure.
A group of delegates gathered in Philadelphia to fix it. Upon examination they decided it was beyond repair and scrapped it. They exceeded their authority and wrote The Constitution.
Friday, August 2, 2013
What a world, what a world...
I've tried to avoid this. Really. This topic is embarrassing, even for me. So, here we are. Self restraint has never been my strong suit. It may be time to plunge in, so to speak.
Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General and Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia has done amazingly stupid shit. During this campaign he is striving to outdo himself. An odious task indeed, but one he is intent on accomplishing.
In order to protect children from predators, he has decided to enforce the Virginia Crimes Against Nature law. This prohibits Sodomy between consenting adults. Give me a moment to stop laughing.
OK.
Virginia's statute was struck down as unconstitutional in March. Virginia appealed. The appeal was denied and is now on the way to SCOTUS. This week AG Cuccinelli asked SCOTUS to stay the lower court's decision during the appeal so enforcement can continue. A decision is pending.
I'm going to start by applying conservative logic to this. Did I say that out loud? Wow. Let's try.
What is the main reason gun control laws shouldn't be passed? That's right. Criminals don't obey gun control laws so there is no reason to pass laws. Scofflaws. Now to use this logic we need to expand our suspension of disbelief. We need to ignore the idea bank robbers rob banks in spite of statutes prohibiting that action. Yet we still have laws. There are laws against theft yet thieves steal. We still pass laws. You see where I'm going, right? I hope I get there soon, this hurts.
So having laws on the books prohibiting consensual sexual acts between adults will somehow prevent sexual abuse of minors by predators?
A). Won't every abuser ignore this statute? So why have a law they won't obey and has nothing to do with that crime anyway?
B)Why have a law nearly every sexually active adult in Virginia will ignore? And ignore gladly.
C) Therefor there should not be a law.
I'm a-no th- Wait. Done with this "logic".
Cuccinelli says don't worry he won't enforce this on consenting adults. Right. A reactionary law that won't be enforced. Right. This has nothing to do with the fact he believes homosexual conduct is a crime against nature.
Sodomy statutes were used across the United States to oppress and harass gays. It could also be used on Heterosexual couples for assorted reasons. Sodomy was widely interpreted to be anything other than the Missionary position.
Here in America enjoying sex is frowned on, still. Insereting yourself into something other than a vigina, man on top, is sinful. And those laws stop the pursuit of pleasure. What a very Puritan American ideal.
This fight is nothing other than a wink and a nod to evangelicals that Cuccinelli intends to make Gay sex illegal Why not make it a throat cancer prevention bill. That makes as much sense. After all it's only gays who practice oral and anal sex. Everyone knows oral sex isn't part of heterosexual foreplay. Yes, I said that with a straight face.
I've even heard rumors of consenting hetero couples having anal sex. It seems to have caught on in younger generations than mine. At least that's what I hear.
I am always amazed at the judgemental American attitudes on sex. That it's dirty. We are far more Victorian than the Brits that invented Victorian. Sheer sexual schizophrenia. If it feels good do it but shhh, don't let anyone know.
Oh, when he had a chance in 2009 to remove consensual adult use of anal and oral from this law, he voted no. So I am sure we can count on any enforcement pledges he makes.
Cuccinelli, rather than, I don't know, support passage of laws to protect children, would much rather criminalize common sexual practices between adults. Maybe if he'd ever had a blow job he'd be a bit more understanding of life. And happier. If he ever performed cunnilinguis on the Mrs. maybe our lives would be better. Just sayin.
Well, I'm staying out of Virginia. Just in case I can, well, polite society and all...
Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General and Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia has done amazingly stupid shit. During this campaign he is striving to outdo himself. An odious task indeed, but one he is intent on accomplishing.
In order to protect children from predators, he has decided to enforce the Virginia Crimes Against Nature law. This prohibits Sodomy between consenting adults. Give me a moment to stop laughing.
OK.
Virginia's statute was struck down as unconstitutional in March. Virginia appealed. The appeal was denied and is now on the way to SCOTUS. This week AG Cuccinelli asked SCOTUS to stay the lower court's decision during the appeal so enforcement can continue. A decision is pending.
I'm going to start by applying conservative logic to this. Did I say that out loud? Wow. Let's try.
What is the main reason gun control laws shouldn't be passed? That's right. Criminals don't obey gun control laws so there is no reason to pass laws. Scofflaws. Now to use this logic we need to expand our suspension of disbelief. We need to ignore the idea bank robbers rob banks in spite of statutes prohibiting that action. Yet we still have laws. There are laws against theft yet thieves steal. We still pass laws. You see where I'm going, right? I hope I get there soon, this hurts.
So having laws on the books prohibiting consensual sexual acts between adults will somehow prevent sexual abuse of minors by predators?
A). Won't every abuser ignore this statute? So why have a law they won't obey and has nothing to do with that crime anyway?
B)Why have a law nearly every sexually active adult in Virginia will ignore? And ignore gladly.
C) Therefor there should not be a law.
I'm a-no th- Wait. Done with this "logic".
Cuccinelli says don't worry he won't enforce this on consenting adults. Right. A reactionary law that won't be enforced. Right. This has nothing to do with the fact he believes homosexual conduct is a crime against nature.
Sodomy statutes were used across the United States to oppress and harass gays. It could also be used on Heterosexual couples for assorted reasons. Sodomy was widely interpreted to be anything other than the Missionary position.
Here in America enjoying sex is frowned on, still. Insereting yourself into something other than a vigina, man on top, is sinful. And those laws stop the pursuit of pleasure. What a very Puritan American ideal.
This fight is nothing other than a wink and a nod to evangelicals that Cuccinelli intends to make Gay sex illegal Why not make it a throat cancer prevention bill. That makes as much sense. After all it's only gays who practice oral and anal sex. Everyone knows oral sex isn't part of heterosexual foreplay. Yes, I said that with a straight face.
I've even heard rumors of consenting hetero couples having anal sex. It seems to have caught on in younger generations than mine. At least that's what I hear.
I am always amazed at the judgemental American attitudes on sex. That it's dirty. We are far more Victorian than the Brits that invented Victorian. Sheer sexual schizophrenia. If it feels good do it but shhh, don't let anyone know.
Oh, when he had a chance in 2009 to remove consensual adult use of anal and oral from this law, he voted no. So I am sure we can count on any enforcement pledges he makes.
Cuccinelli, rather than, I don't know, support passage of laws to protect children, would much rather criminalize common sexual practices between adults. Maybe if he'd ever had a blow job he'd be a bit more understanding of life. And happier. If he ever performed cunnilinguis on the Mrs. maybe our lives would be better. Just sayin.
Well, I'm staying out of Virginia. Just in case I can, well, polite society and all...
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Baffled, bothered and bewildered: The rejection of the 21st Century
I guess I read too much. In modern America there seems to be a price to pay for being informed. For me it's Spontaneous Head Explosion Syndrome. I read or hear statements made by Conservatives in power and my head explodes.The right seems to suffer from a disturbing dissonant disconnect to recognized reality.
I came of age in the Sixties. Science and the pursuit of knowledge was seen as a by product of a free open American society. A vindication of the American experiment. The post WWII explosion in science and technology was unprecedented in human history. In sixty-six years we went from the Wright biplane, to supersonic aircraft, to landing on the moon. In 1969 there were a lot of people who saw this happen in their lifetime.
The Government and industry took a long view of R&D. Pure research was funded because it was recognized that any discovery could lead to serendipitous and unforeseen results. For example the vacuum tube was replaced by the transistor which in turn was replaced by the chip.
Through private and public funding not one, but two, polio vaccines were developed. I remember the Sabin on Sunday drive where millions lined up at churches and schools to receive the oral vaccine. And it was free. It was public policy to eradicate polio and smallpox.
A segment of the population, rather vilified now and perhaps rightly so, older white men were the driving force behind this era of scientific discovery. Admittedly it was because they dominated society. Their near universal view that progress was a good thing in and of itself lead to amazing scientific and social progress.
Under consecutive Republican and Democratic Administrations we built the Interstate highway system. We had an active, push the envelope aerospace program. Long range R&D produced incredible discoveries. Hormonal birth control was introduced. This had the effect of freeing women to pursue their potential by giving them control of their reproductive options. Better living through chemistry wasn't simply a corporate ad slogan. Progress is our most important product was a statement of corporate philosophy.
Our educational system was the envy of the world. Unfettered thought attracted the planet's best and brightest to our Universities to learn and do research. Ignorance was something that was seen as a national duty to eradicate.
So what happened? We now seem to be bombarded by WTF moments. Willful ignorance is now seen a desirable badge of honor.
In the sixties conservatives embraced science and knowledge as a plus for the nation. An educated workforce enabled new manufacturing techniques to be embraced. R&D was something seen as a potential profit center. A means to introduce new technologies and products. Progress was a way to enhance a brand. A modern infrastructure was seen as necessary to efficient movement of goods and services. A right and proper use of government.
In the seventies, to counter Democratic power, the Republican Party reached out to and wooed the so-called Moral Majority. The leadership of this segment of the population was dominated by fringe, reactionary religious leaders. They were derided as holy rollers and as a product of a socially stunted backwards South. The pundits ignored the fact the Bible belt runs through the center of the country.
The GOP did not foresee the result of legitimizing the fringe. At the time they were fringe for a reason. Actual science, history, great literature and critical thinking was the foundation of American education. A liberal Arts education was the norm. It was an extension of the old classical education given the elite. There was a need seen for universal education to eliminate ignorance.
The Twentieth Century will be remembered for many things, good and ill.
Devastating wars followed by the collapse of Colonial Empires.
In the United States the Corporate Oligarchy was reined in as an era of egalitarianism was unleashed. Jim Crow was finally dismantled in the Old Confederacy. The covert racism in the North is fading. Women have more options now than ever before. The curve of liberty was and for the most part still is, upward.
Unfortunately there has always been a love/hate relationship with education in American history. On the frontier, in an agrarian society, the three R's were seen as all that was needed. Reading, riting and rithmatic. As the nation became more industrialized and urban the need for higher education was grudgingly accepted and became the norm. The high school diploma became the standard for The American workforce. As society evolved universal education for women and minorities slowly also became the norm.
Still there is a segment of the population that is threatened by change. They see it as destructive to their worldview. They have been embraced by the Republican Party as a way to stay in power. The true believer is a person who takes every opportunity to expand their influence ans enforce their belief system.
The embrace of the fringe by the GOP sowed the seeds for the cultural wars being fought today. These reactionaries were used as shock troops to register voters, knock on doors, get out the vote for the Republicans, and act as an ATM for campaigns. After the elections they received only lip service to their issues. Needless to say they felt used and abused by the Republicans. So, they acted.
Using the political lessons learned they hit GOP officeholders with Primary challenges from the right. Since they were the majority of Primary voters they won. A lot. Office holders that survived moved right to save their political skin.
These people were not skilled pols, they were zealots. They were driven, focused on single issues or imbued with a perceived moral and cultural superiority. The ideal was to return America to an imagined golden era when Christian values were law. A time when tradition was revered. It was time to turn back the clock.
In the nineties they took Congress. They went after science and arts funding. There was enough pushback by Democrats and remaining Republican moderates to limit the damage. They did manage to Impeach President Clinton in a frenzy of moral outrage led by a House Speaker who, himself was a serial adulterer. But, after a disastrous Government shut down their power was curbed by outrage from the American public.
During the Bush years the hubris returned. Two wars were started. The misguided adventure in Iraq was built on lies, misrepresentations and half truths. Taxes were cut, the wealthy coddled and worshiped as job creators. A balanced budget and surplus became a historical artifact as unprecedented deficit spending became the norm. Attacks on rights were attempted only to be slapped down by the courts.This did nothing to dampen a belief that in spite of voting patterns Americans were conservative.The elections were obviously being stolen.
In 2008 we saw a field of GOP Presidential candidates that would not unequivocally, when asked if they believed in evolution, say yes. They mouthed soft platitudes about a balanced education.(A nod to creationism) Only Mike Huckabee said he did not believe in evolution. He also was the candidate that challenged McCain hardest and longest for the nomination.
McCain in a move to placate the base chose an obscure, untested Governor as his running mate. Sarah Palin. She purposely played to the proponents of ignorance in the base. This was the direct result of Spiro Agnew's attacks on the educated. He called them pointy headed intellectuals. Nattering nabobs of negativity. The George Wallace campaign echoed that as they went after the racist vote in '68 and '72. This strain of anti-intellectualism had spread like a virus in the political lifeblood of the party during the ensuing years.
When a bi-racial moderate Democrat was elected the very idea of fringe views seemed to evaporate. No idea was too absurd to be reported. No proponent was too crazy to get airtime and be treated as a serious historian or political philosopher.
The tea party was born to harness this rejection of modern America as the Moral Majority was once used. But these upstarts refused to be used. They beat party endorsed candidates. They coined the term RINO. Republican in name only for those who actually thought their job was to reach a consensus and govern. Compromise was evil. The idea was to throttle the government's move towards progressive ideals and move society backwards.
The moves against Unions were intensified as they were the only groups working for the protection of working Americans.
Regulation was decried as job killing interference. The idea that banks and corporations could be forced by the market to self police was pushed by those who hated government. And surprisingly, banks and corporations.
After all one could count on them to do the right thing voluntarily in spite of a long history of disaster.
These policies went hand in hand with an extreme pushback on social issues.
Progressives were fighting battles in wars that we thought we had won. Religious extremism had gone mainstream.
Following their rise to power these Christian zealots felt they had a divinely ordained mission to make America a christian theocracy. They started with abortion. It became the norm to equate abortion with murder. Harassment of women at clinics was an accepted strategy. As they won office this tactic spread to legislative harassment.
At one time they were held in check by moderates in the GOP. So, to further their mission these voices were driven out of the party. Where they gained a majority they went after women. This was done on moral, traditional and religious grounds. After all women were the main reason of the decline of the Traditional family. They had abandoned their traditional role as subservient help mate to go forth into the world. This upset God's ordained natural order. Women were systematically stripped of the right to decide her reproductive options. The goal seemed to be a return to her status as a life support system for a fetus.
History was being attacked as secular propaganda. People with no credentials in history (Disclaimer:I have no degree in History. I did major in it however and still remember it)and an agenda to do a rewrite saying the American Revolution was a Conservative religious movement. A movement that resulted in the establishment of a Christian Theocracy.
To push this the extremists took over school boards. They fought to have text books changed to reflect their desire to replace history with religious indoctrination. They have had a modicum of success. Texas comes to mind.
This religious zealotry has resulted in the push to have biblical ideas taught as science. The theory of evolution is under attack as it was in the Scopes trial in the Twenties. These Christian extremists feel creationism should be taught as a viable alternative. They push a controversy where none exists. This is also a rejection of most settled science. Biology. Archeology. Medicine. Physics. Science is reviled as satanic lies. And this is done on computers, the internet, television and radio. Huh? A major disconnect from reality.
Vaccines are reviled and parents fight to keep their children from being inoculated. Thus we are seeing the comeback of diseases we had beaten into submission.
Unbridled corporatism and coddling of the rich is resulting an income inequality and a lack of opportunity not seen since the Gilded Age.
The problem is the sane among us have sat back and allowed this to happen. We treat school boards as unimportant offices. We assume sane thinking people will serve. So, we hand it to the extremists. We let the them take power through complacency and apathy. We wing our hands as we see Modern America under attack.
This can not continue. We have to reassert America is a secular, diverse nation of law not enforced theological dogma.
Equal means equal. Religion and tradition was used to justify slavery and subjugation of women. There is a movement to reassert that idea.
Knowledge is not to be a la carte.
Facts are stubborn things. They don't care if you believe in them or not.
We need to fight this ideological coup being carried out. Birth control is being attacked as immoral. The safety net is shredded to coddle the wealthy. Women are evil, harlots and the cause of our societal ills.WTF?
Christianity, the dominate religion is being persecuted. WTF?
Fight back against the establishment of a wilfully ignorant, repressive reactionary theocracy.
Stand together or burn at the stake alone after an actual witch hunt. The revival of the inquisition is not impossible.
Stand.
Raise your voice.
Organize.
Fight.
Now.
I came of age in the Sixties. Science and the pursuit of knowledge was seen as a by product of a free open American society. A vindication of the American experiment. The post WWII explosion in science and technology was unprecedented in human history. In sixty-six years we went from the Wright biplane, to supersonic aircraft, to landing on the moon. In 1969 there were a lot of people who saw this happen in their lifetime.
The Government and industry took a long view of R&D. Pure research was funded because it was recognized that any discovery could lead to serendipitous and unforeseen results. For example the vacuum tube was replaced by the transistor which in turn was replaced by the chip.
Through private and public funding not one, but two, polio vaccines were developed. I remember the Sabin on Sunday drive where millions lined up at churches and schools to receive the oral vaccine. And it was free. It was public policy to eradicate polio and smallpox.
A segment of the population, rather vilified now and perhaps rightly so, older white men were the driving force behind this era of scientific discovery. Admittedly it was because they dominated society. Their near universal view that progress was a good thing in and of itself lead to amazing scientific and social progress.
Under consecutive Republican and Democratic Administrations we built the Interstate highway system. We had an active, push the envelope aerospace program. Long range R&D produced incredible discoveries. Hormonal birth control was introduced. This had the effect of freeing women to pursue their potential by giving them control of their reproductive options. Better living through chemistry wasn't simply a corporate ad slogan. Progress is our most important product was a statement of corporate philosophy.
Our educational system was the envy of the world. Unfettered thought attracted the planet's best and brightest to our Universities to learn and do research. Ignorance was something that was seen as a national duty to eradicate.
So what happened? We now seem to be bombarded by WTF moments. Willful ignorance is now seen a desirable badge of honor.
In the sixties conservatives embraced science and knowledge as a plus for the nation. An educated workforce enabled new manufacturing techniques to be embraced. R&D was something seen as a potential profit center. A means to introduce new technologies and products. Progress was a way to enhance a brand. A modern infrastructure was seen as necessary to efficient movement of goods and services. A right and proper use of government.
In the seventies, to counter Democratic power, the Republican Party reached out to and wooed the so-called Moral Majority. The leadership of this segment of the population was dominated by fringe, reactionary religious leaders. They were derided as holy rollers and as a product of a socially stunted backwards South. The pundits ignored the fact the Bible belt runs through the center of the country.
The GOP did not foresee the result of legitimizing the fringe. At the time they were fringe for a reason. Actual science, history, great literature and critical thinking was the foundation of American education. A liberal Arts education was the norm. It was an extension of the old classical education given the elite. There was a need seen for universal education to eliminate ignorance.
The Twentieth Century will be remembered for many things, good and ill.
Devastating wars followed by the collapse of Colonial Empires.
In the United States the Corporate Oligarchy was reined in as an era of egalitarianism was unleashed. Jim Crow was finally dismantled in the Old Confederacy. The covert racism in the North is fading. Women have more options now than ever before. The curve of liberty was and for the most part still is, upward.
Unfortunately there has always been a love/hate relationship with education in American history. On the frontier, in an agrarian society, the three R's were seen as all that was needed. Reading, riting and rithmatic. As the nation became more industrialized and urban the need for higher education was grudgingly accepted and became the norm. The high school diploma became the standard for The American workforce. As society evolved universal education for women and minorities slowly also became the norm.
Still there is a segment of the population that is threatened by change. They see it as destructive to their worldview. They have been embraced by the Republican Party as a way to stay in power. The true believer is a person who takes every opportunity to expand their influence ans enforce their belief system.
The embrace of the fringe by the GOP sowed the seeds for the cultural wars being fought today. These reactionaries were used as shock troops to register voters, knock on doors, get out the vote for the Republicans, and act as an ATM for campaigns. After the elections they received only lip service to their issues. Needless to say they felt used and abused by the Republicans. So, they acted.
Using the political lessons learned they hit GOP officeholders with Primary challenges from the right. Since they were the majority of Primary voters they won. A lot. Office holders that survived moved right to save their political skin.
These people were not skilled pols, they were zealots. They were driven, focused on single issues or imbued with a perceived moral and cultural superiority. The ideal was to return America to an imagined golden era when Christian values were law. A time when tradition was revered. It was time to turn back the clock.
In the nineties they took Congress. They went after science and arts funding. There was enough pushback by Democrats and remaining Republican moderates to limit the damage. They did manage to Impeach President Clinton in a frenzy of moral outrage led by a House Speaker who, himself was a serial adulterer. But, after a disastrous Government shut down their power was curbed by outrage from the American public.
During the Bush years the hubris returned. Two wars were started. The misguided adventure in Iraq was built on lies, misrepresentations and half truths. Taxes were cut, the wealthy coddled and worshiped as job creators. A balanced budget and surplus became a historical artifact as unprecedented deficit spending became the norm. Attacks on rights were attempted only to be slapped down by the courts.This did nothing to dampen a belief that in spite of voting patterns Americans were conservative.The elections were obviously being stolen.
In 2008 we saw a field of GOP Presidential candidates that would not unequivocally, when asked if they believed in evolution, say yes. They mouthed soft platitudes about a balanced education.(A nod to creationism) Only Mike Huckabee said he did not believe in evolution. He also was the candidate that challenged McCain hardest and longest for the nomination.
McCain in a move to placate the base chose an obscure, untested Governor as his running mate. Sarah Palin. She purposely played to the proponents of ignorance in the base. This was the direct result of Spiro Agnew's attacks on the educated. He called them pointy headed intellectuals. Nattering nabobs of negativity. The George Wallace campaign echoed that as they went after the racist vote in '68 and '72. This strain of anti-intellectualism had spread like a virus in the political lifeblood of the party during the ensuing years.
When a bi-racial moderate Democrat was elected the very idea of fringe views seemed to evaporate. No idea was too absurd to be reported. No proponent was too crazy to get airtime and be treated as a serious historian or political philosopher.
The tea party was born to harness this rejection of modern America as the Moral Majority was once used. But these upstarts refused to be used. They beat party endorsed candidates. They coined the term RINO. Republican in name only for those who actually thought their job was to reach a consensus and govern. Compromise was evil. The idea was to throttle the government's move towards progressive ideals and move society backwards.
The moves against Unions were intensified as they were the only groups working for the protection of working Americans.
Regulation was decried as job killing interference. The idea that banks and corporations could be forced by the market to self police was pushed by those who hated government. And surprisingly, banks and corporations.
After all one could count on them to do the right thing voluntarily in spite of a long history of disaster.
These policies went hand in hand with an extreme pushback on social issues.
Progressives were fighting battles in wars that we thought we had won. Religious extremism had gone mainstream.
Following their rise to power these Christian zealots felt they had a divinely ordained mission to make America a christian theocracy. They started with abortion. It became the norm to equate abortion with murder. Harassment of women at clinics was an accepted strategy. As they won office this tactic spread to legislative harassment.
At one time they were held in check by moderates in the GOP. So, to further their mission these voices were driven out of the party. Where they gained a majority they went after women. This was done on moral, traditional and religious grounds. After all women were the main reason of the decline of the Traditional family. They had abandoned their traditional role as subservient help mate to go forth into the world. This upset God's ordained natural order. Women were systematically stripped of the right to decide her reproductive options. The goal seemed to be a return to her status as a life support system for a fetus.
History was being attacked as secular propaganda. People with no credentials in history (Disclaimer:I have no degree in History. I did major in it however and still remember it)and an agenda to do a rewrite saying the American Revolution was a Conservative religious movement. A movement that resulted in the establishment of a Christian Theocracy.
To push this the extremists took over school boards. They fought to have text books changed to reflect their desire to replace history with religious indoctrination. They have had a modicum of success. Texas comes to mind.
This religious zealotry has resulted in the push to have biblical ideas taught as science. The theory of evolution is under attack as it was in the Scopes trial in the Twenties. These Christian extremists feel creationism should be taught as a viable alternative. They push a controversy where none exists. This is also a rejection of most settled science. Biology. Archeology. Medicine. Physics. Science is reviled as satanic lies. And this is done on computers, the internet, television and radio. Huh? A major disconnect from reality.
Vaccines are reviled and parents fight to keep their children from being inoculated. Thus we are seeing the comeback of diseases we had beaten into submission.
Unbridled corporatism and coddling of the rich is resulting an income inequality and a lack of opportunity not seen since the Gilded Age.
The problem is the sane among us have sat back and allowed this to happen. We treat school boards as unimportant offices. We assume sane thinking people will serve. So, we hand it to the extremists. We let the them take power through complacency and apathy. We wing our hands as we see Modern America under attack.
This can not continue. We have to reassert America is a secular, diverse nation of law not enforced theological dogma.
Equal means equal. Religion and tradition was used to justify slavery and subjugation of women. There is a movement to reassert that idea.
Knowledge is not to be a la carte.
Facts are stubborn things. They don't care if you believe in them or not.
We need to fight this ideological coup being carried out. Birth control is being attacked as immoral. The safety net is shredded to coddle the wealthy. Women are evil, harlots and the cause of our societal ills.WTF?
Christianity, the dominate religion is being persecuted. WTF?
Fight back against the establishment of a wilfully ignorant, repressive reactionary theocracy.
Stand together or burn at the stake alone after an actual witch hunt. The revival of the inquisition is not impossible.
Stand.
Raise your voice.
Organize.
Fight.
Now.
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