Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is Dumber Than A Bag of Rocks.
Does anybody in their right mind believe that this woman has anything between her ears. Watch this stellar performance in last night’s debate with Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Terry Goddard (Arizona’s Attorney General.)
“We have, uh (pregnant pause) DID -- what was right for Arizona...”
Gary Bauer is a bible thumping, anti-choice zealot who sympathizes with killers of abortion providers and the bombing of abortion clinics. Most of these right wingers have the same godawful agenda. Not very many of them will condemn the cold blooded killing of Dr. George Tiller.Bauer's latest screed is directed at efforts to stop bullies from beating up on our most vulnerable kids, because he reasons (?) that "anti-bullying policies in our public schools are feminizing little boys and causing an increase in homosexuality." He’s anti-gay, pro-bullying and proud of it! (Thanks, Rusty Reed.)
Well it just so happens that your humble Hog correspondent was a big, chubby kid when I was starting Jr. High School. A bunch of bullies used to knock me down, take my books, my drum sticks, my baseball glove and hat, my bicycle and whatever else I had with me. Then they would surround me and taunt me for being a "fatso." But I didn't want to fight because I had four little brothers and I had had my butt beat many times for fighting with them; so I thought it better just not to fight... and of course I was afraid. Anyway, I suffered the abuse and let them taunt me for a long time.
That changed, though, after my folks sent me to Mr. Burke Watson's Sertoma Boxing Club at the old YMCA. Then I did learn to fight. I had to, because more times than not, those old red neck boys (many of whom are my friends to this day) pretty much beat me to pieces until I learned how to protect myself. So one night, after about six months of boxing lessons, I knocked one of those bullies into the next week at a party and brought a towel full of blood from his nose. I surprised myself-- didn't know my own strength. The boy fell down and didn’t get up for a long time. In any case, nobody bothered me after that.
I think for most big kids like me, it was just a matter of getting over the fear of being beat up, and then exercising a little skill and power to ward off the bullies. But there are lots of frail children out there who can't do what I did. They are small and, yes maybe even what you might call ..."soft." These are the children that need to be protected from bully terror. But nutbag asshats like Gary Bauer don't believe these kids deserve protection. Why? Because there's a pretty good chance that some or a majority of those kids being targeted are gay. And if you start protecting gays in elementary school... well just think about what that could lead to.
Born on This Day in 1928: Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva
The great Horace Silver is one of those unique talents, whose work found a plaace in music history and touched all the bases-- blues, funk, jazz, cool, latin. Herte is Senor Blues circa 1959.
Evangelist Glenn Beck Caught in a Great Big Whopper at His "Restoring Honor" Rally.
It seems that "Father Cough-Glenn" as Keith Olbermann calls him, claimed to have held the first inaugural address by George Washington in his hands (presumably giving him a bit of Father George's spirit or some such nonsense.) Keith has the real story:
Ihave an old friend (and distant cousin) from my hometown who is rich and bigoted. He's about to have a melt down about Barack Obama and the coming of communism, or some such thing. He sends me all kinds of right wing propaganda every week, most of which I ignore. Here is an e-mail I sent him this afternoon to try to encourage him to stop wasting his time forwarding all of this stuff. I want him to understand that am not going to be converted by his incessant proselytizing, no matter what.
Subject: Why you need not pray for me
I'm glad we're going to take a hiatus from politics, because I can't make heads or tails about what you're for or against by your rantings. Am I to assume you want to do away with Social Security and Medicare and health care for Veterans (like me?) These are some of the most reliable and well-run, efficient social programs ever invented by any government. Obamacare will be similarly efficient. In any case, I'm glad to hear about your golf game. I'm just relieved that you are able to enjoying something. From the frequency and intensity of your belly-aching, it isn't easy to tell. I guess I don't fret as much about my money as you and your Republican buddies do.
The following are a few things that I am in favor of and I am not going to change my mind about them, so save your thoughts and especially your prayers (somehow I can't quite imagine you praying for my understanding, but whatever...you and Glen Beck...) Anyway here is my short list of things I think the Federal government must do:
1. Provide universal, single-payer, unlimited health care for everybody in America (like Canada, Britain, all of Europe and the rest of the civilized world.) That would include healthcare for immigrants with no paperwork! When I say everybody I mean everybody! The Obama plan fell far short of this goal. The bill you got was written by the insurance lobbyists-- not because of the President, but because of the Republicans in the Senate and a couple of Democrats like Ben Nelson, who should be Republicans.
2. I believe in downsizing the banks so that no bank can have assets of more than 200 Billion-- and much stronger controls over the high wire gambling act called derivatives. None of this got done in the Financial reform bill? Why?? Because the same guys, your heroes, the Senate Republicans (who are dumb as a bag of hammers) stood with the big banks and the insurance industry-- protecting them from the kind of real regulations which would protect normal everyday Americans from their scams, and saving taxpayers billions when they roll the dice and lose.
3. I believe in total public financing of elections. As long as the insurance industry, the oil (energy) industry, the health care industry, the financial "services" industry, the defense industry and the huge agricultural multinationals run our political discourse, government by, of and for the people is meaningless.
4. I believe in the immediate withdrawal of our military forces from locations all over the world where we are not needed or wanted. Our two unpaid-for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost several Trillion dollars (in current and future obligations) and have accomplished nothing but horror and loss of life for tens of thousands of American youngsters. We have destroyed millions of Iraqi lives as well... hundreds of thousands killed resisting our occupation and millions displaced all over the Middle East. We have created billions of enemies in the Muslim world and we continue to coddle the criminals in Israel who started the whole mess in the first place. The educated Arabs who manned those planes on 9/11 were not Iraqis-- not a single one of them. They weren't Afghans either. Not a one. No, they were citizens of countries we are supposedly allied with (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, for example.) So what was the justification for the attack and occupation of Iraq? There was no justification-- only lies perpetrated by Republicans (like Dick Cheney) who stood to profit from the war and the oil they hoped to commandeer.
5. I believe in amnesty. I think that any Mexican or Central American, or any immigrant who is in this country and has a job for at least three years, be immediately given a path to US Citizenship and access to all benefits of citizenship. Let them start paying taxes, like the rest of us. The business community (especially the agriculture sector) isn't about to conform to any meaningful change in documentation because they need these workers. They really do. Can you imagine them being able to find enough white people to work those big farms?? Ha!, what a joke. I'll tell you, cuz, I have been traveling in Mexico and Central and South America for years. I love the people. They are truly some of my sweetest, most unselfish, caring friends. I would love to have more Hispanics in my life. We could use some of their cultural strength. They are family-oriented, hard working people--most of whom know one or more trades.
6. I believe in very strong environmental regulations to protect our national resources, from the mountains to the sea, including an immediate and indefinite moratorium on deep water drilling. I want the government to put a stop to strip mining and the destruction of our beautiful mountains by the coal companies. In fact, I think we should immediately begin a phase out of all coal-burning power plants. I'm in favor of a national energy company which will develop safe nuclear energy and start to convert all vehicles to non-carbon-base fuels (or at the very least natural gas instead of oil as a primary fuel for autos and trucks in the United States.) I do not believe that any short-term convenience is worth upsetting the ecology of the earth. To that end, I believe Federal mileage standards for cars and trucks should be raised substantially and that companies or individuals who continue to pollute the environment should be subject to large fines and taxed so that they have an incentive to change the way they do business.
7. I believe in the complete and absolute separation of religion from politics. That's why I object to Elmer Gantry Beck (he's pretty much Father Conlin redux.) Organized religion has ruined all politics (here and abroad.) It's time for churches and religious organizations to get out of the political business and furthermore, to pay taxes on their incomes and their properties. This would do a lot to solve the deficit problem right there. I don't believe any religious entity has any more right to exist tax free than I do.
8. I believe we should be teaching the truth about evolution and geology to young people in schools, beginning in the early grades. Teachers should be free to say what they really think about unscientific pablum like virgin births, miracles, talking snakes and the like. The Federal Government should monitor all school systems and curricula so that ass-backwards states like Texas are not choosing textbooks full of bullshit.
Well that's not a complete list, but it's good enough. No need to harangue me any more about any of these things, Vernon. I don't want to hear it. Like I said, any communication from you is welcome so long as it is an update on you, your family, your health or your golf game. All the rest will be flushed down the junk mail hole with the rest of the garbage that seeps into my inbox.
Meanwhile, I sincerely hope that Barack keeps driving you and your buddies crazy about his own religion. It's fun to watch you guys melt down in a hissy fit every time some knucklehead comes up with a new whacked out theory like "Why Michelle Went home!!"
And last, just to be sure you get the point about my liberal sincerity, I hope that the right for gay people to get married or adopt children becomes the law of the land and that marijuana and any other natural drug that exists out there becomes totally legal.
