Handing Apples Out With Worms

Handing Apples Out With Worms


Tribal Impurity:
“Corrosive,” “vile,” “absurd” and “very disrespectful” are some of the words and phrases that have been stated in describing the long drawn out GOP candidate primary. This is some of the general public’s comments, but Republicans too have taken note with a negative stance.

Super Tuesday turned out to be Stupor Tuesday due to lack of ebullience. With no knockout punch, it was very quiet.  

Results of the national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that came out last week shows that four in ten Americans, regardless of political affiliation feel that the GOP nominating process has placed an unfavorable impression on the Republican Party. That’s almost half of the people in general interviewed, now have a negative view of the elephant party.

What’s more, the NBC/WSJ poll asked if the one being interviewed would best describe the GOP primary race in one word or short phrase. Nearly 70% gave a negative reply and in that group, six in ten were Independents, while just over half who claimed to be Republican also gave a negative response.

Some of the Republican descriptions that resonated from more than just one opinion were, “unenthusiastic,” “underwhelmed,” “poor choices,” “uninspiring,” “discouraged,” “painful,” “concerned,” “disappointed” and…“depressed.”

All these Republican replies concerning their candidates and party are disillusioning, but the last one on the above list requires further scrutiny.

Whether conservative or progressive leaning, the media, in covering the GOP primaries, have conferred and consulted with one another in private with their experiences and have concluded there is a lack of genuine enthusiasm with the voters. Something someone belongs to should be uplifting and make that someone proud to be an addition or a part of, not ashamed or ‘depressed’ of the fact. What the results of this poll suggest is that this GOP primary has not enhanced the stature to be Republican and instead, has had the opposite effect in revealing just how far Republicans will oppress. Democrats, Republicans and America in general, it does not matter, in the GOP artwork of painting such a dire future if Obama remains at the helm, they will lie about all else while accusing all else who are pointing out their weaknesses as liers simply to gain and be in power. Newt Gingrich expressed current Romney antics on NBCs ‘Meet the Press’ this past 03/04/2012 by airing, “Breath taking scale of dishonesty.” This is not only in evidence of the GOP presidential candidates; it is spread throughout the ranks of GOP politics from the halls of congress down to the local official and throughout Republican broadcasting pundits.

As if it isn’t enough of Michelle Bachmann intervening into our lives, after dropping out of the GOP presidential race, she’s still out there seeking exposure while propagandizing in Republican style deceit through anti-government theories and religious paranoia rhetoric. She has just claimed a whopper this week on an interview by, The Blaze’s ‘Real News Super Tuesday’ coverage. Her claim: that Obama’s administration, through the new healthcare act is going to put a cap on how many babies an American family is allowed to have.

For more, observe…

Tribal Impunity:
During the earlier GOP primaries, Michelle Bachmann expressed that she would have let the U.S. default on all its loans while still allotting tax breaks for the rich and corporations, essentially breaking the back of America’s economy. Rick Perry shouted, “President Obama is the greatest threat to our country,” irregardless of actual multiple terrorist threats out there with specific intent on doing the U.S. harm.

Rick Santorum has expounded on his so-called ills of single mom parentage. He once said, “We are seeing the fabric of this country falling apart and it’s falling apart because of single moms.” He also accused single moms of simply, “breeding more criminals.” Apparently for him, forget misdirected political agendas and the financial woes inflicted upon the country by a very greedy banking and financial system, no sir, all of America’s downturn rests squarely on the shoulders of single mothers.

This past October, Santorum accorded that single women are the Democrats’ political base and that they do this in seeking aid from the government; an area Democrats are more prone to push for in legislation. He’s not just accusing single moms, he is promoting them as the foundation of “breeding more criminals.”         

For Santorum to suggest, much less profess that single moms are ruining America is incorrigible. His reasoning is on moral and religious grounds, but his own reason for the statement is even more peculiar, in that if single women married, his party would be better off as he insinuated married women vote more in tune to what their husband votes and most married white men vote Republican. 

To follow in this Republican footstep, Republican Wisconsin state legislator, Glen Grothman has authored a bill. In his continuing argument in labeling single moms as a “contributing factor to child abuse and neglect,” his bill now in legislation, is the first attempt to make it illegal in single homes for only one parent to be present. When asked in a radio interview by the host Alan Colmes to explain himself in why he would push for this type of worded legislation, Grothman stated, “Women become single parents in order to live off the government and then lie about it and say that they got pregnant by accident.”

Personally I know of many loving single parents, but Republicans want to carry out what they say they disdain most and that is force the government into our lives. Judging family values of others and using them as scapegoats for America’s economic ills instead of what truly has put us in bad shape, is at minimum asinine and at most…a deviant state of biased mindedness.

Since the new Affordable Health Care Act makes insurers keep or not be able to turn down individuals needing healthcare mostly due to existing medical problems, Santorum is against it. On December 02, 2012 when addressing a small group of high schoolers in Merrimack, New Hampshire, the former senator not only defended insurance companies in denying people with pre-existing medical conditions, he further demonstrated that anyone with a current illness should pay more to a private insurer by using his daughter, who has a genetic disorder as an example. Of course his daughter may be an example of insurer’s refusing pre-existing conditions, but Santorum’s wealth in being able to afford the much higher costs is not representative of the average American.

To be mean spirited is to be Republican and the candidates know it. Newt Gingrich’s call for making poor kids go to work as school janitors is not much of a humane idea. Of course the cavalier version of Newt’s janitorialship was challenged not only by parents, but also by janitors. Newt even acknowledges Republican nastiness when he said, “I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party, is that we don’t encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around a campfire but are lousy in politics.”

Perhaps Gingrich’s most moronic quote that rises above the numerous ones is, “Defeating Barack Obama becomes, in fact, a duty of national security. Because the fact is, he is incapable of defending the United States.” He tends to forget that Obama is the one who got bin-Laden, the very one who attacked us and the one that the previous Republican administration couldn’t get for nearly two full terms. 

Poor ol’ Mitt Romney, he is so aloof of the average American’s predicament today that he gaffes and backtracks virtually on every turn. The ‘$10,000.00 bet,’ “Ann (his wife) drives a couple of Cadillacs,” “Corporations are people, my friend,” and “I have some great friends who are NASCAR owners,” are just a few of his out of touch persona with the working man. Give him some credit for effort on the last one though. He was attempting to connect with redneck race fans; just doesn’t realize the race fans are only interested in the drivers and cars, not the owners.

Romney preaching to the right-wing mass at every turn of events that Medicare and Social Security should be privatized, only to reverse face when he’s in a Florida retirement community, where he promises to protect these two entitlements in saying, “We will never go after Medicare and Social Security.”

Two other recent Romney turbulent wafts were back in January of this year when at a New Hampshire campaign event, Romney was asked where he stood on the minimum wage. Quickly assessing that he was being confronted and videoed by a staffer of the National Employment Law Project Action Fund, an entity advocating higher minimum wages he stated, “My view has been to allow the minimum wage to rise with the consumer price index (CPI) or with another index so that it adjusts over time.” In effect, from this response, Romney was for raising the minimum wage in that as tied to the CPI, the minimum wage would increase in yearly increments.

Then, in the first week of March when being interviewed by Larry Kudlow, a conservative business radio show host who argues against raising the minimum wage, Romney quickly backtracks. Kudlow asked him point blank, “Why do you want to raise the minimum wage?” Romney first hem-haws by saying he had vetoed a proposed bill to boost minimum wages while he was governor. But when further pressed by Kudlow, Romney as indirect as he could be in explaining says (and I’m quite sure with sweaty brow), “The level of inflation is something you should look at and you should identify what’s the right way to keep America competitive.” After that bit of mumbo-jumbo, his campaign managers with a prepared statement tried in vain to clarify his statement by saying via messenger Andrea Saul, “Governor Romney believes that adjustments in the minimum wage should be in line with inflation and take into account such economic factors as unemployment. Given the high rate of joblessness, this is not the time for anyone to be proposing an increase in the minimum wage.”

The final waft involves the just defeated Blunt bill. At the end of February in Ohio, Romney was asked by a news network reporter if he had taken a position on the senate GOP backed Roy Blunt/Marco Rubio amendment to allow employers to refuse healthcare such as contraception to their employees if it is against their religious beliefs or morals. Romney quickly responded, “I’m not for the bill. The idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, husband and wife…I’m not going to go there.” It took just over an hour for his campaign management to respond in saying that Romney misunderstood the question addressed to him and that of course he was for the bill. Dog-gone-it Mitt, if ya don’t understand a question presented to ya, for the love of might, have them clarify; For the love of Pete man, don’t be all hat and no cattle, you’re in a presidential race.

Bully Is What Bullying Does:
Bullying is in the front page but once again after a supposed bullied misfit went on a retaliatory shooting rampage at his high school in Chardon, Ohio. But even though this is terrible news and demands of putting an end to bullying are all over the airwaves again, it will as all the rest of the episodes, subside and be relegated back to the dusty bin in the back of our thoughts.   

Bullies survive only in cliques. They not only crave but require an audience present in doing their dirty business. Enrage one bully and he will gather his entourage of bully networks and those who accommodate bully antics and only then do they go to harass the assigned victim.

Across this country, bullying as a whole is an unaccepted behavior. But there is a cross section of us that are enthralled by it, particularly in the field of politics. When I’m in a political debate, I don’t know, perhaps it is due to lack of the facts, or maybe how I deliver, but pretty much every conservative becomes frustrated or even angered and if they do not just simply walk away, they resort in trying to bully their way back upon the right of passage pulpit.

Through bullying, deception and dishonesty, Republicans marred the integrity of ACORN and ruined the reputation and career of USDA official Shirley Sherrod by splicing, then piecing bits of videos together in making it appear she was bigoted.


With the incessant onslaught of constant Republican badgering and denigrating, the GOP has eviscerated unions and the fifty plus years of rights they had brought to the work place. As Wisconsin being the epicenter this year in governor Scott Walker denying bargaining rights, unions are a mere 27% of what they were at the start of Reagan’s tenure in giving voice to the American worker. Republicans constantly painting unions as socialist fronts is actually in the psyche of what a lot of Americans think of unions now.

Michigan Republican governor Rick Snyder, declaring then forcing Marshal Law onto American shores by firing community, town and city citizens’ elected officials, while replacing them with his high salaried appointees has not raised an eyebrow amongst the Republican fold, much less Tea Partiers, who normally rail against any hint of government intervention.  

Of all the political slander directed to Obama from the GOP candidates, one in my mind particularly stands out, for it consists of all Republican politicians in unison and it emphatically shows where their true colors are and stance is. It is indicative of Mitch McConnell’s forced pledge upon all the other Republican senators to make their number one priority in the floor and back rooms of the congressional halls to unseat Obama, regardless of what is needed to get done for the country. And they have. With every piece of legislation that had Obama’s signature on it, Republicans have stalled, fought and filibustered; in essence bullied.

What I am speaking of is the Republican’s priority of putting politics over country.

That one is gold-buggery partisanship versus country patriotism. Virtually all Republican politicians have condemned Federal Chairman Ben Bernake for printing dollars and putting them into the market. Rick Perry even went so far as to call him a traitor while he was a candidate in the GOP presidential race in stating, “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what ya’ll would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous or treasonous in my opinion.”

With that said, a whole slew of Republicans have blasted the fed for injecting money into the economic system. It doesn’t matter that Bernake himself is a Republican and was appointed by George W. Bush, Republicans are debasing him. But why? When the feds do inject paper money into the system, three events can occur. It did and does one thing positively, it improved and improves America’s economic outlook through loan guarantors, marketplace cash infusion and job creation. On Republican’s arguing behalf though, there is one negative aspect; it can at best slightly raise inflation, but is usually only considered a theoretical rise. The third is neither positive nor negative dependent on which side of the fence, for it can make the current president look favorable and re-electable. This third one is the Republicans true beef.

Republicans have an alternative for paying debt over printed money; they’re clamoring to raid Fort Knox of its gold and sell it. With 147 million ounces of gold just sitting there in the vault currently priced around $1,500.00 an ounce, why not? Well, it is not a better alternative unless the gold was sold a little at a time through a decade or so. Once word got out that the fed was selling off  U.S. gold stockpiles, the commodity price of gold would drop like leaves from an autumn tree. So for our current economic woes, this wouldn’t help a bit; it’s just an argument for Republicans to take up against the president.

Sincerely, Republicans choose politics over patriotism, for out of those three above items, they choose not to be patriotic and not applaud the feds for injecting stimulus into the U.S. fragile economy, simply due to their ideological political trumping. They are willing to allow the U. S. economy to continue in its suffering to nix any positive trend to Obama’s outlook. It is strictly a Republican avoidance, for after all, during a much milder downturn in the economy during George W. Bush’s tenure in 2001, Republicans lined up to the then Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan’s door begging him to release loose money into the financial system.     

This past November, Obama listened carefully to the nation’s top climate scientists and a collage of bipartisan groups concerning the route of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline through the belly of America extending from Canada to Texas’ Gulf Coast oil refineries. He concluded further review is needed and backed away from giving the bid a go-ahead by announcing a two month moratorium.

Republicans, backed by the oil industries’ lobbyists felt that they could bully a proceeding in the senate and implement the laying of the pipes by vetoing and bypassing Obama’s decision. As of this day 03/07/2102, it failed with a vote of 56-42 in favor of the measure with needing 60 votes to pass. Unfortunately, along with every Republican present, eleven Democrats voted for it. 

Of the results, Mitch McConnell proclaimed, “At a moment when millions of Americans are out of work, gas prices are skyrocketing and the Middle East is in turmoil, we got a president who is up making calls trying to block a pipeline here at home. It’s unbelievable.”

Romney added his 10,000 dollar wager by calling the decision “a no-brainer.” He later added after the voting results, “How in the world can you have a president who doesn’t understand the importance of getting energy from our neighbor?”

Of course they neglect to say it will create less than fifty permanent jobs and that tar sands oil is highly toxic, dangerous to transport, doubles CO2 emissions in refining, the existing pipeline in Canada leaked twelve times in the first year alone and is almost impossible to clean-up. If you want it, then put it in your own neighborhood or backyard.       

The birther quagmire is still alive and well thanks to Republican rank and file. On any choice of conservative blog one picks, they’re still typing away that Obama was not born in the states. The insanely obsessed California lawyer, Orly Taitz is still crisscrossing the states in vain attempts to have a federal judge declare Obama as illegal to run for re-election. The infamous Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio wants federal tax dollars now to continue his investigation into the legality of Obama’s long term birth certificate as a follow up in his cold posse’s undisclosed conclusions.

If all these conspiracy claims to the legitimacy of Obama’s birthplace isn’t enough, now Republicans have initiated an affront to Obama’s birthright. Alaskan Republican, Gordon Warren Epperly doesn’t care where Obama was born, he has filed a lawsuit claiming that Obama cannot run for office due to the fact he is African-American and that men of color have no citizen rights in the U.S. His suit claims, “As Barack Hussein Obama II is of the ‘mullato race’ his status of citizenship is founded upon the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Before the purported ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the race of ‘Negro’ or ‘mullato’ had no standing to be citizens of the United States under the United States Constitution.”      

To even dignify an argument, Mr. Epperly needs to study the constitution and U.S. history and realize amendments are legitimate changes by law to the constitution to add, delete or revise existing outdated referendums. Fortunately our founding fathers incorporated the right to amend the constitution as they knew no paper of decree is timeless in its edicts.

As far as all the Republican false charges that Obama is responsible for the recent hikes in gas prices, Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee’s extreme acceleration of the claim wins hands down at the finish line. His heavy foot did indeed put the pedal to the metal with his charge that if Obama is re-elected, gas prices will go to $6.60/gallon.

He said, “When President Obama took office, gas prices were about $1.85 per gallon. Now that they are up to about $3.75 per gallon we can see a steady increase. Over this thirty-eight month period of time of his presidency so far, gas prices have risen on average of about five cents per gallon per month. This is staggering when you think about the fact that if he’s re-elected, it’s a total of an additional fifty-eight months. With that increase, gas prices will be up at around $6.60 per gallon.”

Wow! Of course we all know that a sitting president has little or no sway at the gas pump. The main driver is speculators manipulating the market price, which happens to sleep in the same bed as Republican politicians.

Fadel Gheit, an oil and gas analyst at Oppenheimer & Company backs this when he states that 75% of gasoline prices is the result of the market manipulating the price of a barrel of oil. He also says in reference to Lee’s statement, “It’s a shameless irresponsible statement. I’ve been in the oil business thirty years and I’ve never heard his name since he became an oil expert.”

Gheit does add that market fear of an impending Middle East war could jump gas prices sky high and if that occurs we could very well see prices approach an apocalyptic level that would break the back of the economy when he states, “All this war talk is putting a 30% higher price on oil. One-third of the oil price right now is totally unjustified. The more war talk, the more we’re going to pay at the pump.”

Guess who’s currently bullying the president in going to war with Iran and Syria? That’s right, Republicans. GOP politicians are in cadence in demanding Obama to forget diplomacy and use force with Iran. Romney, Gingrich and Santorum have crucified Obama for being too timid with the Iranian regime. John McCain backed by a slew of Republican senators and representatives testified that we need to engage Syria militarily.

I just wonder, with their concurrent complaints of high gas prices, where do Republicans propose to get the money to go to war? John Boehner has implicitly expressed that the nation is broke, so are they proposing to borrow again from foreign resources to finance yet other wars? We’re still paying off that one in Iraq. Exactly what do they think the costs and benefits would be, or are they just saber rattling against Obama policies? Again, another loyalty clause chosen…is it for the country or for the party…

Pat Shearer, a Republican Arizona police sergeant took and posted a photo on his Facebook account that featured an image of Obama bullet riddled while a group of male teenagers were behind it holding guns. He was suspended for the act, but states that he feels “it is not that big of a deal.” That it was simply “a political statement” and in reference to the teenagers, “It’s not like they were going to go out and shoot the president,” he further stated to ABC affiliate channel 15.

Shearer just does not get it. Obama has a minimum of thirty death threats a day. President Obama had more death threats in his first eight months in office than Bush did his entire eight year tenure. Fed by antagonism toward Obama, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate groups and anti-government activists have substantially risen since Obama took office. This type of fodder only adds to extremists delusions or worse, would encourage them to act out an assassination dream.

Also in Arizona, Republican Representative, Michelle Ugenti defended her Republican colleagues passing of state legislation that states for any college student attending a public university under a state grant, irregardless of economic status would have to pay up front a minimum of $2000.00 in tuition costs.

When up to a hundred college students were voicing their disapproval for the virtually impossible burden it would place on students from poor backgrounds, Rep. Ugenti responded bluntly, “Welcome to life.”

It is nice when money has your back and you can afford to better yourself, but to disregard those that also want to better themselves, but are locked out due to finances isn’t very religious. Well, it’s a matter of choice, but we know where the Republican choice lies; the exclusion factor. Better me than you, right…

If in its own right it wasn’t bad enough, we had Republican commentators and politicians almost condoning the hideous act in their defending of it. What we’re discussing here is the video spread around the world of U.S. Marines urinating on fallen Taliban soldiers. This was indeed a cowardly act and who knows why the marines disrespected the corpses in such an act, much less brag about it by filming and broadcasting it.

When Rick Perry was still on his presidential candidacy hopes, he defended the egregious act with his supposedly Christian self by expressing outrage in the Obama administration’s sincere apologies for the act. He said on CNNs State of the Union, “What’s really disturbing to me is the kind of over-the-top rhetoric from this administration and their disdain for the military.” He also stated that the marines involved should not be prosecuted. Representative Allen West of Florida had a harsher defense response. He wrote in an e-mail to the conservative Weekly Standard, “All these over emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill…shut your mouth, war is hell.”

The kicker excuse has to go to Dana Loesch, a CNN news contributor. In referring to the backlash, she responded, “C’mon people this is a war. Do I have a problem with that as a citizen of the United States? No I don’t. I’d drop trou and do it too. That’s me though. I want a million cool points for these guys.” She spoke this on the conservative radio station, FM News Talk 97.1. What sordid mentality resides in her head?

At least one Republican was apologetic for the urination incident. Senator McCain responded in a more appropriate fashion when he stated, “The Marine Corps prides itself that we don’t lower ourselves to the level of the enemy…so it makes me sad more than anything else, because it hurts their reputation and their image.”   

Again, as of late another incident occurs, though reportedly accidental of the U.S. military burning copies of the Koran and other Islamic religious documents. This finally made the brewing boil pop with Afghanis retaliating in killing anyone they could that looked western, including military personnel. As before, the American government and military had to resort to damage control in apologizing.

Santorum berates the Obama administration for apologizing. For the military and Obama’s apologies, Santorum accuses Obama of “weakness.” On Sunday’s 02/26/2012 ABC News he said that “it was a mistake and regret should have sufficed, certainly not an apology.” The host, George Stephanopoulos then interrupted and explained, “But if it was a mistake, isn’t apologizing the right, important thing to do? Where Santorum responded, “I think that it shows we are…that it shows weakness.”

Okay…but what if Moslems had occupied a Christian country then accidentally burned box full copies of the Bible. I do indeed feel that this would have bent Santorum out of shape to no end with the foot on the other shoe. To say apologizing is a sign of weakness is what tyrants first learn in Dictatorship 101.

A GOP bill conceived by Republicans in Florida is moving through legislation. In it contains a measure that would prohibit municipal governments from instituting wage-theft ordinances that are currently on the books. Wage-theft laws are designed to prevent an employer from withholding pay to an employee or recover delinquent wages owed by companies to workers. It also protects workers who were forced to work off the clock or failure by the corporation to pay overtime. For the past two years in Miami-Dade County alone, the law has helped workers recoup $400,000.00 in back pay owed. 

This measure to prohibit the pursuit of employee held pay by employers is the first law of its kind in all the U.S. Except for the benefit of corporations to take advantage, who knows why Floridian Republicans feel this law is necessary.

A Republican Minnesota state Representative who goes by the name of Mary Franson feels that feeding people is like feeding wildlife, and both shouldn’t be done. While doing welfare reform, she stated to the Minnesota area Bluestem Prairie, a news media on March 02, 2012 these words:

“Last week we worked on some welfare reform bills. And here, it’s kind of ironic; I’ll read you this little funny clip that we got from a friend. It says, ‘Isn’t it ironic that the food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever. Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks to please not feed the animals, because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.’”

Now first of all, do Republicans ever wonder why there are more food stamp recipients than ever before? I do think that it is neither a volunteer basis, nor a come as you are event, it’s simply that more Americans are now in need due to a host of Republican agendas during the Bush years.        

A chief U.S. justice based in Montana sent out a forwarding e-mail he received that he thought was cute. He even added a few comments of his own and forwarded it on. Judge Richard Cebull, who was appointed by Bush in 2001 admitted on Leap Day of this year that he had sent a racially charged e-mail concerning Obama from his courthouse office.

The context of the e-mail’s text read, “Normally I dont send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.”

The crass e-mail read, “A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come Im black and youre white? His mother replied, ‘Dont even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, youre lucky you dont bark!”’

Whether you like Obama or do not, he is the duly elected president of our country. Whether you thought the joke was funny or not, it is out of place for a U.S. federal judge to not only condone, but participate in the joke’s underlining message.

Speaking of e-mails, my dear conservative friends still send me those right-wing forwarding e-mails that are full of manure in deceit, fabrication, misinformation and fear. Most of them claim that they are now sending them for me to verify their authenticity. I ask why they even think that they are valid to begin with, as most are way out there. They quip back that they don’t know if they are or not. I fire back in saying, forget Fox News, if you would get your news from another source besides forwarded e-mails, maybe you’d know a bit more.

Crème de la Crap:    
On International Womens Day, Republican, Senator Roy Blunt, had a rather peculiar request. He marked the day in asking his Tweeter followers to join him in celebrating National Agriculture Day, while House Republicans debated a bill that would make it more difficult for women to acquire an abortion.

Blunt tweeted, “Today is Natl. Agriculture Day. Hope youll join me to recognize the vital benefits agriculture plays in our everyday lives.” He did get a few responses. They requested that they preferred him instead to observe International Womens Day. No response back from him.

To be blunt, Blunt knows it was also National Womens Day, he just preferred to ignore one while paying attention to the other. Perhaps he’s still licking his wound from the defeat in passage of his bill.

We don’t need to go into the specifics of the Blunt amendment that would give employers rights to refuse healthcare to employees based on religious grounds or moral attitudes. We also don’t need to elaborate on the contraception issue, where California Republican, Representative Darrel Issa handpicked an all-male conservative religious panel to testify in front of Congress on the immorality of contraception. We also do not need to rehash how Issa excluded women to testify on behalf of contraception and women’s reproductive rights, by countering it is only about religious rights. We won't even go into Issa first refusing to telecast via C-Span if the women in congress held a hearing with Sandra Fluke.

We assuredly will though, touch on the aftermath of Rush Limbaugh’s tirade when he called Ms. Fluke, a law student at Georgetown University a “slut” and “prostitute” and also flatly said that it is OK if she wants to spend taxpayer dollars on her sexual encounters, but she should at least record it where the world can watch and enjoy.

Normally, I don’t quote or pay too much mind on matters to Rush or his grimly actions, for he truly is a partially insane bigoted idiot. With that said, they claim he does enjoy a following of 20 million listeners, although I truly wonder how they come up with that figure. It’s been 20 million for years now. Must be a magic number or something…

Due to an intense whiplash from his blabbering concerning Sandra Fluke, Rush has now apologized more than once in insisting that he is sorry for the comments. To begin with, Rush was emboldened in saying these rude remarks because his candor before had never brought on such an onslaught of protests. But it did this time and has hit him in the belt. Currently, there are fifty and rising advertisers that have either temporarily or permanently suspended their sponsorship. Even the band Rush and Peter Gabriel have told him to cease and desist in playing their music on his radio show. In fact, as Limbaugh was demanding that Fluke show sex tapes of her in exchange for contraceptives, the popular soundtrack by the Rush band, ‘The Spirit of Radio’ could just barely be heard under Rush Limbaugh’s incessant rants.

Is Rush sincere in his apologies…nah. Ron Paul best sums it up when he determined, “Hes doing it because some people were taking their advertisements off of his program. It was his bottom line he was concerned about. I dont think hes very apologetic. Its in his best interest, thats why he did it.”

Rush has now backtracked stating that a rapper says worse things in songs and nobody complains about that. He’s even back to knocking women. On his March 06 show he lit into Tracie McMillan, author of ‘The American Way of Living’ which is about social justice journalism. Rushie just could not understand “what is with all these single white women; overeducated --- doesn’t mean that they’re intelligent.” He started out in saying, “For example, Tracie McMillan, the author of this book, seems to be just out of college and already she has been showered with rewards.” How he finds any fault in that who knows.  

First off, just like Limbaugh’s attack, all Republicans seem to not understand or not want to, then portray Miss Fluke as testifying on her behalf to acquire contraception when her concern was over a friend. Her friend has polycystic ovary syndrome and needs contraceptive pills to treat the disease. Her out-of-pocket cost was over $100 per month. While the condition was covered by Georgetown insurance, the insurance company repeatedly denied coverage of her prescription based on the idea that the true purpose of the medication was contraception, despite the doctor's verification of her condition. Fluke also added that this is not a rare event for women with these medical conditions under insurance plans that did not cover contraception.

The most hurtful thing Limbaugh said according to Miss Fluke was in his judgment that her parents should be ashamed of her. Opinions by Republicans were mostly in cushioning Limbaugh’s remarks instead of defending Miss Fluke. Their responses are tepid at best.

Santorum, on CNNs Wolf Blitzer show stated, “He’s being absurd, but that’s you know, an entertainer can be absurd.” Gingrich explains that it was right for Limbaugh to apologize for calling Fluke a slut, but slammed the media for focusing on his derogatory words.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner on Friday, March 02 said the top Republican condemns a controversial comment made by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh but also disagrees with those who launched fundraising efforts over the remark.

And then there is Mitt. First off, Romney totally avoided comments on the subject when according to CNNs correspondent, Jim Acosta that Mitt walked right past their entourage when they requested a response from him over the Rush/Fluke ordeal. Finally though, he was cornered by ABC News in Ohio and simply said, “That is not the language I would have used.”

What does that mean, would he have used bimbo instead, or even hussy?

The point is, like Grover Norquist, Limbaugh rules over timid Republican politicians. I agree with Republican political analyst George Will as he so poignantly put it, “Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb Iran but they’re afraid of Rush Limbaugh.”

What does this say of Republican leaders? They simply don’t have courage. They will butter up a fly, but won’t allow a butterfly. A true leader reaches out to all. He doesn’t incite one group to go against another and if he sees injustice, whether for his political cause or not, he without hesitation goes to the aid of the one downtrodden.

Obama did exactly that. He personally phoned Miss Fluke and stated that her parents have every reason to be proud of her. She says that resonated really well to her uplifting spirit.

As if this couldn’t get much more belligerent, Eric Boiling over there at Fox News weighs his slanted no basis views in on the matter last week. Somehow, he speculated up a belief that Sandra Fluke is part of an elaborate scheme by the Obama White House to distract voters from the economy. Calling Fluke “a foot soldier” for the White House and “allies in the press,” Boiling proclaims she was used in creating a controversy to divert attention away from the economy. If that is so, I suppose Limbaugh, who played a major role in this, was in cahoots with Obama as well. Fat chance there Eric.    

Reality:
Imagine all this, why do Republican politicians continue these scare tactics down the paths of government takeovers and biased religious fears? Is the Republican audience that mindless in that they will swallow anything their leaders first chew and spit down their throats?

Just because the loudest voice in demanding notice appears to be the attention getter, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the only one to be listened to. Deserving attention should be directed to the lonely voice shouted down.

Three following quotes:

“The worst campaign I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I think that there is just such a toxic atmosphere right now, specifically in the Republican Party. I would love to say that it's going to be all about ideas and solutions, but unfortunately a lot of it is about just being able to say, ‘I’m more angry at the Obama administration than somebody else.’ That’s not what motivates me politically or governmentally. I believe it ought to be about solutions.”

“I used to be a conservative, and I watch these debates, and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that’s kind of where we are.”

Who spoke these lines of words? The first quote is by Barbara Bush from the Dallas Morning News. In an interview with an Israeli TV station, the second is Mike Huckabee in feeling his party has become too contentious for him to even try and run for office. The last quote is Jeb Bush feeling disappointed in a Fox News interview. All three are conservative Republicans speaking about their own party.

In times past, Republicans have showed no mercy, no national unity in bipartisan diplomacy, no compassion, but now…plenty of internal party bickering. For the time being, everyone is a potential Republican target hit. They did give a half-hearted brief and lame effort in showing some compassion, but guised ‘compassionate conservatism’ got thrown out the window real quick and perhaps rightly so. This oxymoron of a term never did sit well for right-wings to stomach anyway.

The hate generated in the detesting of Obama by the GOP in general has been tapped by Republican politicians and is now leeching into the midst of their own ranks during this primary candidacy election. GOP abhorrence is so strong now and has put the party so far out there on that flimsy extreme right limb that they are willing to break their Prophet Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment...Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.

Reagan Democrats were based on the repeal of racial economics. They felt the new social era was taking their hard earned money to subsidize minorities. Now, Obama’s color, no matter if he is half-white dramatizes that end.

Extreme elements in the Republican Party have wafted chances for the party to pick a legitimate candidate. The extreme wants their statement beyond reproach. They want attention, just as a bully and the timid corporate Republican politicians do what they can to not upset them. David Brookes, a columnist for the New York Times and too a Republican calls these timid ones ‘possum politicians’ because they roll over and play dead when the right-winger approaches and demands. Theres no room in the Republican Party now for compromise in getting legislation through, for there is zero tolerance to even listen to other diplomatic ideas. It’s a lopsided playing field now.

The Republican Party isn’t going away anytime soon, but its evolvement is continually towards the extreme right. The party changed from Lincoln’s party in the late 1800s and early 1900s when they began to protest against Theodore Roosevelt’s concept of creating a national park. Republicans protested it would thwart industrial growth. The problem is though, each time the Republican Party metamorphoses, it becomes more right-wing. Even Richard Nixon would be amazed at today’s GOP.

As a liberal, I don’t celebrate in seeing the internal upheaval of the GOP, for it is not just bad for the party, it is also bad for the country and it is really rifting us apart. Bred and born in this country, in working overseas I know what it is like to be away and how home is the ultimate place you want to be. No matter its condition, it is home turf. It's what you know.

In just one more topic, should Syrian students studying here in America that have had their visas expire due to embassy delays from the turmoil within Syria be rounded up and forced back to Syria, because they are now listed as illegal immigrants? Think about that…


BJA
Knowledge Matters
03/092012

6 comments:

  1. Yes, Mr. Anderson, the Republican audience is that mindless in that they will swallow anything their leaders first chew and spit down their throats! They would never come here and read your article (I'm not sure they can read) but keep informing the minds that still have common sense in our country! Like you said, "knowledge matters!"

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  2. BJ, you're VERY optimistic in stating that Rush is a partially insane bigoted idiot. The man is a total ass!

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  3. I love your titles! Bless you
    Best wishes,
    Ellen from Georgia

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  4. For the above one Miss Ellen and two anonymous comments; I appreciate much your thoughts.

    It is surely a serene feeling in connecting with readers as you in a time of seemed turmoil.

    You give course to hope and illuminate a message.

    But for those who fervently disagree with us, go ahead and tell me why.

    Again folks thanks for commenting.

    Regards,
    BJA

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  5. Long post but definitely worth the read, pondering man!

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  6. Yes sir/ma'am, I am a bit long winded, but I do not convey in sound bytes and in posting once a month, want to be as thorough as I can and factually backed up. Hopefully where my personal opinion comes in, it is illuminated as separate from the facts expounded on.

    Perhaps to read a couple of subtopics at a time, rest to digest them, then continue on the read again at a later time is best for some in the format I choose to write in.

    Appreciate you struggling through though...

    You are a ponderer too.

    Regards,
    BJA

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