Looking Ahead

When my grandparents were my age, women had just been given the right to vote.  How many people do you know today who would say they think women should still be turned away at the polls?

When my parents were my age, African Americans were "separate but equal." How many people do you know would say they think African Americans should still be forced to use separate bathrooms, eat at different restaurants or be denied admittance to whites-only schools?

Like it or not, homosexuals will be given all the same rights as heterosexuals within our lifetime.  This is the civil rights issue of our generation and before we know it, the legality of gay marriage will be a collective no-brainer in this country. What will you tell your kids and grandkids when they ask you what side of this fight you were on?

Mediscare

 Yesterday, Democrat Kathy Hochul won a special election in NY's 26th district to replace Chris Lee (the shirtless Craigslist guy) in the House of Representatives. What's interesting about that, is that the 26th district of NY almost ALWAYS votes Republican (even when it's Carl Paladino).

Here is the common Democratic explanation:

• Jane Corwin, who by all accounts should have had this one in the bag, lost because she said she would support Paul Ryan's budget plan to kill Medicare.

And here are some common Republican excuses: 

• It was a fluke and special elections are never indicative of what will happen in a general election.
• Tea Party candidate Jack Davis f*cked it up by taking votes away from the Republican, Jane Corwin (think Nadar in 2000).
• Jane Corwin lost because the evil Democrats used "scare tactics" to demonize the Ryan budget.

This is going to be a common spin in the budget debate - that Democrats are lying about the viability of Medicare and it's the Republicans who are trying to "save" it. 

Oh look, here's a perfect example!





Now who's using scare tactics?? This has "Death Panels" written aaallllll over it.  What scares me most about this this video is not that the Democrats are supposedly neglecting seniors.  It's that Paul Ryan can lie through his pearly-white teeth with such a straight face.  You would almost think he believes what he's saying!  Oscar, anyone? 

This is a classic case of the Republicans trying to push through a completely insane idea by simply pretending it's not insane and repeating themselves over, and over, and over, and over...and re-spinning the story again, and again, and again, until the general public becomes numb to it and finally just accepts it as normal.

It's kind of like giant sunglasses.  At first it was only crazy bag ladies...er, sorry, the Olsen twins and Nicole Richie...but then they started showing up in every magazine and in every store, until they became the new norm.  But seriously, are we really calling THIS normal??

Who's the boss?

Just a couple of examples of tails wagging dogs from this week...

Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill. (who is already on the record for supporting the Ryan "Kill Medicare" Budget) says Scott Brown "should be ashamed of himself" for playing politics and saying he would not support the Ryan plan.  He also says "Any Republican that doesn’t vote for this or doesn’t support this is purely being guided by political reasons."...guided by political reasons, as in doing something that will help get them re-elected, as in pleasing their constituencies, as in the taxpayers they were put there to represent and who pay their salaries...how is that bad?

Also, on Meet the Press this past Sunday, Paul Ryan made a comment that struck me as concerning (although doesn't seem to be worrying anyone else, so maybe it's just me) - "I don't consult polls to tell me what my principles are or what our policies should be. Leaders change the polls." So it's perfectly okay for a U.S. Congressman to say out loud that he's ignoring what the American people want because they don't know what they want, that "leaders" are there to tell them what they want?


So I have to ask...Who do you work for again??

Thanks, but no thanks

They can't even agree on whether or not to congratulate the military on their accomplishment.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/159375-house-wont-honor-seal-mission-with-a-resolution

Seriously?

Say Cheese

Be it sterotype or fact, I'm sure most would agree that there are fundamental differences between the "type" of person who identifies him or herself as a Republican, or a Democrat.  I won't speculate on what all of those those are right now (that will be another day), but I will just point this out:

Same poll, two sites:  Do you agree with Obama's decision not to release the pictures?

Fox News:

• Yes. We don't need to see a gruesome photo of a dead terrorist. - 34%
• No. We need to show the world that this madman is dead. - 55%
• Not sure. Some want proof, but it could incite violence and endanger Americans overseas. - 11%

MSNBC:

• Yes. The images could inflame and embolden our enemies, and no good purpose would be served by releasing them. - 66%
• No. We're mature enough to handle such images, and withholding them gives more fuel to conspiracy theorists. - 29%
• Maybe. I'd like to hear more about Obama's reasoning before I pass judgment. - 5%

Completely opposite results.


The wording of the options likely had an effect on the results, but is also very telling in and of itself (and I know that these are not technically partisan polls).  However, there seems to be something within the psyche of a Republican vs. that of a Democrat that would lead to these differences.

This is not an everyday political question - there is no "typical" Republican/Democratic answer to this question.  And yet there is still a clear split.

I heard Mark Levin on Fox News Radio today say that he wants to see the picture; that he "wants to revel in it" (and he said it like it was an issue of Hustler).  Do all Republicans feel the same way? Of course not.  Is it all tied in with Republicans' distrust of Obama? Maybe.  Or are most Republicans just fundamentally "show me the brains" type of people?

Conflict of interest?

Nah...

You've gotta be kidding me...Emergency Manager Law?

This is the first installment of "You've gotta be kidding me..." - I have a feeling that title is going to come up a lot.

(Don't worry, I have still been [painfully] watching my Fox News since my last post and more to come on that, but in a moment of weakness I broke down and read some real news...)

Anyone else following this Emergency Manager Law thing in Michigan? 

If so, please help me understand how, in a country where the one of the few things everyone can agree upon is how important democracy is, can this happen?

Here's the gist, at least as far as I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong):  the Governor (Republican) passed a law that says that if he or his administration, or any company they may choose, deems a city to be in a state of  "financial emergency", they can appoint an "Emergency Manager" to come in and completely take over control of every aspect of that city's local government.  That includes, but is not limited to:

• suspending any or all elected officials (firing the people the town voted for)
• cancelling contracts
• stripping unions of their collective bargaining rights
• dissolving school districts and absorbing them into other districts
• dissolving entire towns
• or whatever else that person so chooses. 

And there is nothing anyone in that town can do.  Even if say the company who decided the town is in a state of financial emergency has conflicts of interest, and the new emergency manager happens to create new contracts to directly benefit that company.

Supporters of the law are painting a picture straight out of a comic book - the state government flying in to save the day, to keep the town from collapsing financially;  rescuing the residents from the imcompetance of their own stupid townie officials that they elected.

And as is par for the course, they're getting these types of laws passed by creating a sense of panic and taking advantage of peoples' fear.  Claiming that it's the only option and something must be done immediately or else the world will implode.

Wisconsin, among other states, is also considering adopting this law. 

This is just the latest example of the extreme right wing slowly but surely dismantling the country as we know it.

Thoughts?