That Giant Sucking Sound

Ross Perot was one of the more colorful and entertaining Presidential Candidates in a long line of those coming out of Texas in recent memory.  He was a short little thing with a big, loud Texas-sized voice, complete with a nasally twang.  One of his favorite themes on the campaign trail was NAFTA.  He always said in that loud twang of his, “That giant sucking sound you will hear will be American jobs heading south to Mexico!”  At least something to that effect, I am going from memory here.  That phrase came to mind this past weekend when I heard that both Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin would be in Iowa this week.  “That giant sucking sound” is the intelligence being drained right out of every living thing in Iowa capable of putting together a coherent thought.  As those two create a Right-wing-Science-be-damned, Dinosaurs-and-people-walked-the-earth-together, Civil-liberty-denying, No-healthcare-for-you, Kill-Planned-Parenthood, Screw-up-Social, Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, Blast-education-back-to-the-nineteenth-century vortex.  I think President Obama might need to send FEMA into Iowa after the twin F5s of Palin-Bachmann have left the state to recover any of the survivors and relocate them to some place safe, like Vermont.  Ow!  After typing Palin-Bachmann I realized that could be a Republican ticket.  Perish the thought.  Talk about America losing credibility on the world stage.    

I heard there was a gay moment on the Glen Beck show between he and Rick Santorum. (Did you just go back and re-read that last sentence?)  Beck asked Santorum about yet another pledge (What is it about all of these pledges?  There is only one pledge I am concerned about my President upholding, and that is the Oath of Office) Sorry, back on point… Beck asked him about the “Cut Cap Balance Pledge” and Santorum enthusiastically announced he had already signed it!  Beck then said, “I could kiss you in the mouth!”  Can you say…Awkward!?  This was especially awkward, given Santorum’s past with gay issues.  Here’s the video.  Anyway, I had to laugh. 

OK, get ready, I’m about to compliment Our Governor of the Unnaturally Wide Shoulders.  Really!  Last week he signed a bill forcing drilling companies to disclose what chemicals they use when drill for natural gas in shale, know as Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking.  To paraphrase Vice-President Biden, “This is a big fracking deal,” and I cannot believe this Governor, or in fact, any Governor of Texas would sign such Legislation into Law.  It is feared that the drilling companies are using very harmful chemicals at very high rates to get to the gas, and that those chemicals are ending up in ground water supplies.  So, thank you, Governor Perry, you did a good thing.  

Now, back to more familiar territory.  Thankfully, the Sanctuary Cities Bill seems to be going nowhere in this special session of the Legislature, which ends this Wednesday.  The house had a problem with coming up with a quorum this past week, which kept them from voting on it.  Thank you Representative Larry Taylor, leader of the Republican Caucus, for taking your family on vacation to the Bahamas while the special session was in progress I think you really helped out, well you, and all those lobbyists hired by all those businessmen that depend on immigrant labor.  However, what the Senate and House have passed is a big-ass bill that among other things, further defunds Planned Parenthood, other family planning clinics, and even Hospital Districts that provide abortions.  Surely, this must be Unconstitutional.  I fear for the women of this state.  I can only hope that the voters will come to their senses and replace these backwards thinking politicians that are always trying to impose their religious dogma on everyone else.  My parents raised me to believe in God, but not to foist my beliefs on other people. Carry your religion firmly, yet quietly, is what I learned from them.  Too bad most of our elected officials didn’t know my parents.           

I’ve Been Itching Since Last Monday

Why, you may ask, have I been itching, do I need hydrocortisone ointment?  No. It’s because it was last Monday when some of the Republican Presidential Candidates got together in New Hampshire for a Mutual Admiration Society Meeting combined with the We Hate Obama Club, complete with secret password and handshakes. And finally, I have time to sit down and write about it!  It was billed as a Republican Debate, but anyone watching knew there was no one at those podiums debating another, just look at how Pawlenty refused (on innumerable occasions) to back up his criticism, of just the previous morning, of Romney’s Healthcare Legislation in Massachusetts by tying it to President Obama’s Healthcare Legislation, when he labeled it Obamneycare.    At first he acted as if he did not here nor comprehend the question from the moderator, then finally, Pawlenty said he was only referring to President Obama’s Healthcare Legislation.  Sure.  Right. 


Warning: This is a rather long post, there are 7 candidates to talk about, after all. 


Speaking of Romney; he needs a lesson in recent history.  Someone had asked about the level of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in light of Osama Bin Laden’s death.  The following is part of Romney’s answer’ “Our troops shouldn’t go off and try to fight a war of independence for another nation. Only Afghans can win Afghanistan’s independence from the Taliban.”  First of all, we are not in Afghanistan because we are trying to fight a war of independence from the Taliban for them.  We entered Afghanistan because of the events of September 11, 2001.  Secondly, had the Bush Administration not lied to the American people (and the rest of the world) and started a war of choice, “a war of independence for another nation”, from Saddam Hussein, we might not still be in Afghanistan, today.  We certainly would not have lost all of those lives in Iraq and continue to lose!  Romney got confused as to which war and which country was which, I think.  (I’m trying to be generous with the man.  As to why; I have no idea.  Maybe it’s because he did some good things in Massachusetts.)  People say he won this debate because he didn’t make a big mistake, however, personally, I think when he confuses our reasons for going to war with Afghanistan with those of Iraq, that’s a fairly large mistake.  Call me crazy.     


Getting back to Pawlenty…When the issue of immigration came up this is what he had to add to the public discourse, “By the way, this issue of birthright citizenship, again, brings up the importance of appointing conservative Justices.  That result is because of a U. S. Supreme Court determined that that right exists, not withstanding language in the Constitution.”  Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment could not be more clear, and the three times it has been challenged since 1868, when it was ratified, could not have upheld this portion of the Constitution without flying straight into the face of reality. (I know; I know that is all the Republican Party seems to be doing lately, but still.) This is what it says in our Constitution: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.  No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”  Alright, maybe Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, John Roberts, oh crap!  We are way, too damn close to having this Amendment completely misinterpreted.  It’s a good thing Pawlenty showed his complete lack of spine on the Obamneycare thing.  But seriously, the 14^th  Amendment could not be more plain, if you are born here, then you are one of us.  You get to be in the club, and, according to Article II of the Constitution, you get to run for President, Birthers!  


{Here’s my favorite 14^th Amendment political cartoon}


Onward to Herman Cain.  When questioned about his apparent distaste for those of the Muslim faith and his previous comments regarding their, I can only guess at a snowballs chance in hell, possibility of having a position on his staff he responded thusly, “What I meant was… Would I be comfortable with a Muslim in my Administration?  Not that I wouldn’t appoint one… and I would not be comfortable because you have peaceful Muslims and then you have militant Muslims; those that are trying to kill us.  Secondly, yes, I do not believe in Sharia Law in American Courts.  I believe in American Laws in American Courts.  Period!”  Oh, Mr. Cain, I am hearing unpleasant echoes from the Civil Rights Era of this country in your statement.  Things that are still so vile to me that I will not type them out on this page, except that, “Good” and “Militant” were some of the words used.  I am happy to hear that you believe in American Law for American Courts.  But, I must ask, where did that part of your statement come from?  No one had said anything about anything as far as imposing Sharia Law in U S courts.  It was as if you were holding your own little conversation in your little head and forgot not to reply out loud.  By the way, you can rest your pretty, little, head, there is absolutely no way Sharia Law is ever going be adopted here.  Our people and our Constitution, you know the part about separation of Church and State (the part you Republicans keep trying to circumvent); will not allow any such thing.  (For the people that are driven around the bend by the, “…yes, I do not believe…” portion of his statement, I’m sure you will be able to find a Blog more capable than mine to go into those inadequacies.)    


Speaking of religion…Rep. Paul, yet, another, crazy-ass Texan to try to explain to out of state friends, seems to be a bit confused on the 1^st Amendment.  Which is odd, considering he is a Libertarian who supposedly takes the Constitution literally, without any room for interpretation or nuance.  Anyway, back to my point.  Regarding Separation of Church and State, Ron Paul said, “The most important thing is the First Amendment that Congress shall write no Laws.  Which means Congress should never prohibit the expression of your Christian’s faith in a public place.”  Really?  Only Christians?  Here is what the First Amendment of the Constitution really says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;…”  Mr. Strict Interpretation just did an astonishing turn around on this one.  I was flabbergasted; I thought surely, the moderator would call him on it.  But I was wrong.  Then I thought, surely, others in the media would jump all over him about it, but again, I was wrong.  Instead, what he was asked about, immediately following the debate, by Anderson Cooper was, “Do you think that Christianity is under attack in the United States?”  What!?  Where is the outcry over limiting the 1^st Amendment to Christians, for Christ sake?  Everyone has remained eerily silent about his amazing revelation and seeming departure from his core political beliefs, not to mention limiting freedom of religion to Christians, only!  WTF?  


Meanwhile, Newty Baby was his usual puffed-up, bloviated self, droning on and on, trying to still be relevant to a Republican Party that he set in motion back in the early nineties that has since gone way beyond his outstretched meaty fingers.  Wow, I really don’t like the guy.  So, I’ll think I’ll move on to someone else.


Michelle “Tea Party Queen” Bachmann was asked about her legendary disdain for gay and lesbian couple’s right to marry.  Since New Hampshire is one of only five states to allow same sex marriages, she was asked if, as President, would she exercise her influence to overturn NH’s or any of the other state’s laws?  At first it was a lot blah, blah, blah, on her part, and avoiding the question.  But, the reporter that asked the question pinned her down and forced an answer out of her, “I’m running for the Presidency of the United States, I don’t see that it’s the roll of the President to go into states and interfere with their state law.”  Then, the moderator decided to get everyone’s position on the subject, whether it should be a U S Constitutional Amendment or an individual state’s decision.  All but Cain and Paul want a Constitutional Amendment restricting marriage between a man and a woman.  It took less than two minutes to get these answers from everyone else.  Bachmann frantically waived her hand so the moderator would allow her to speak again, and he did, and she said, “I do support a Constitutional Amendment on marriage between a man and a woman; but I would not overturn their state law.”  Huh?  OK, Tea Party Queen, even you must realize that you just spoke out of both sides of your mouth nearly simultaneously.  I am really fed up with you people and your Don’t Tread on Me crap, except when it comes to the rights of people you do not like or agree with!  


I have saved the most egregious for last.  With Rick Santorum on the stage, and his mouth moving, how could anyone else participating hope to outdo him in abhorrent statements.  He was burnishing his anti-abortion credentials.  “I’ve not just taken the pledge; I’ve taken the bullets.  To go out there and fight for this and lead on this issue.”  As far as I know, no one has shot at or blown up anyone on the anti-abortion side.  Unlike, the people on the other side who have been maimed and killed with bombs and bullets, Rick, they are the ones who have taken the bullets!  Not you!  Remember Doctor George Tiller?  He was assassinated on a Sunday, in his church.  An anti-abortion activist walked into that man’s church and shot him to death.  He took the bullets, not you!  You really should be ashamed of yourself for those words.  It is absolutely beyond me that you would choose to use those words to describe your position. 



Here is a link that chronicles all of violence associated with abortion clinics and providers.  Most of the crimes, unfortunately, have gone unsolved.


Oh boy, I can hardly wait for Our Governor of the Unnaturally Wide Shoulders to enter the race, but I bet Tea Party Queen would rather he sit this one out.  Just what the country needs, another Texas cowboy loose in the White House.    





BTW, yes, I really did watch the Republican Debate.  I am that much of a political junkie.

A Mish Mash of Topics

First of all… Way to go Mavs! What a fantastic NBA Finals!  Not a single player on the Mavs had ever won that trophy before, and they all played as if they had been there a million times before.  They never gave up; it was a fantastic series to watch.  Their entire playoff run was just amazing to see.  Now if we can just get the Rockets to get back there again.  


I used to be a LeBron James fan, until he rubbed an entire city’s face in a rotting pile of his overblown ego on national TV when announcing his decision to, “take my talents to South Beach” last summer.  I really appreciated his talent, and I still do, he has amazing abilities.  But, that over-the-top insult to Cleveland and his classlessness was actually nearly topped by his comments after last night’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks,As quoted in Time


“All the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life they had before they woke up today,” he said. “They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that.”
“They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal,” James continued. “But they have to get back to the real world at some point.” 

Really LeBron?  It sounds like you think your life a’int all that great right now, either.  By The Way… Your real world is still missing a Larry O’Brien Trophy.  

Staying in Texas:

Anyone ready to join Our Governor of the Unnaturally Wide Shoulders here in Houston on August 6, 2011 for a day of fasting and praying on behalf of our troubled nation?  He is calling on fellow Governors (as long as they have narrower shoulders than he) to join him at what is officially entitled - wait for it: The Response, a Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis.  Supposedly, no State money is going into this event, American Family Association is sponsoring it, and they are out of Mississippi.  First of all, if you are visiting our fair city in August, our nation is not what you will be praying, it will be your own soul, because you will be convinced that you have just stepped into the bowels of hell, the heat and humidity around here is that damned oppressive.  Houston in August is not for the faint of heart.  Second, ever heard of a little provision in our Constitution for the separation of Church and State?  I know he said no State money was being used, but surely we are paying the salary of his bodyguards for the event, not to mention all of the sitting Governors he invited.  Third, this little crash diet and kneel event just happens to occur one week before the Iowa Straw Poll.  Of course, we are to believe the timing is purely coincidental.  Now, what with Newty Baby’s staff having fired him as their candidate of choice, they are now free to go back to their old boss, Shoulders.  Fourth, did I mention that this is restricted to Christians only?  Most other national prayer events make it a point to be non-denominational.  This one makes it a point that you will burn in Hell if you do not believe in their way of thinking, which takes me back to points numbers one and three.  Why bring a bunch of Hell and Damnation Christians to a place that feels like Hell on earth in August unless you are trying to make a big National splash with a bunch of Ultra-Conservative voters just like the ones that are about to participate in Iowa’s Straw Poll one week later!

I would be remiss if I do not mention that ridiculous display that was put on for the benefit of Ralph Reed at the so-called Faith and Freedom Conference two weeks ago.  Reed, you may remember was complicit in the Jack Abramoff affair, but somehow he mysteriously was able to avoid prison, much less being charged with anything.  Still the slimy, homophobic, misogynistic, racist (but, he’s a family values Christian, so that makes it alright) has the Republican Presidential hopefuls groveling at his feet seeking his approval for their campaigns.  Like Pavlov’s dogs, they all reflexively ranted about how bad things have become since Obama took office, completely ignoring how bad things had become before he got there thanks to W. 

Santorum – Ranted that President Obama doesn’t believe in American Exceptionalism (I hate when right wing nuts use this term in this manner, as if we are the only country in the world that is entitled to feel special about itself) because he wants to continue on with the social safety net programs of Unemployment Insurance, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  (He really said that.) He and his ilk want to completely gut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and everything else they feel gives a leg up to the wrong kind of person.  Our declining education system is what is adversely affecting our exceptionalism.  We used to churn out scientists and engineers by the boatload. Now we are lucky if a college graduate can write a coherent sentence. Many Republicans are completely ignoring our appalling educational system, and they completely lack of desire to fund it, indeed, they want to balance nearly every budget on its back.  So, for now, and until we fix our schools, we are merely mediocre.  It is President Obama, along with some other politicians, teachers, parents, and most of the rest of the advanced societies that see that. They scrapped No Child Left Behind (My Ass) because teaching to the test will never work; even China is beginning to realize this.  President Obama is trying to make America exceptional again by rewarding innovation, not cookie cutting in education, and by getting Early Start Programs back to where they should be before the Republicans took their machete to them.

Bachmann – “I will not rest until we repeal Obamacare!”  I’m surprised she didn’t add in her best Scarlet O’Hara…”As God as my witness.”   There are a few people who turn me into a raving, spitting, foaming-at-the-mouth, fool when I see them, so I try to limit my exposure to them.  Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Armey, and Liz Chaney are among them, and Michelle Bachmann is quickly becoming another. 

Getting back to Texas:

We are in a major budget crisis, and our Legislature is back for a special session to work out special Legislation for our schools, because the ridiculously lopsided Republican majority (you know, the party of fiscal responsibility) couldn’t get it taken care of the first time around.  They also have Sanctuary Cities back on their agenda.  Now in this same super Republican majority our Governor of the Unnaturally Wide Shoulders could not get this stupid Legislation passed the first time, so he is, once again, taking away valuable time and energy from Education funding.  How infuriating!  They also didn’t get gerrymandering, I mean redistricting done in the first session.  So they have that to deal with as well, but no, Shoulders wants them to Legislate our non-existent Sanctuary cities out of existence so he will look better in Iowa August 13^th.  

Often times it is hard to be a Texan, then I remember Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, Leon Jaworski, or my parents, or just go looking for Senfronia Thompson, Marc Veasey, Rafael Anchia; check this out from The Texas Tribune.   Thank you for getting rid of that horrible Amendment put up by Wayne Christian.  By the way, Wayne, sitting the bench all season probably had nothing to do with discrimination, and everything to do with your lack of basketball skills.  You are dumbfounded as to why your impossibly discriminatory and hateful amendment had to be pulled?  I’m dumbfounded that it took threatening blowing up the entire Education Funding Bill to put enough pressure on you to pull the ludicrous thing.


One last point; thank God our Legislature passed the all important Noodling Bill, now making it legal in the great State of Texas to catch fish with your bare hands.  So many jobs hinged on that piece of Legislation.  We can only hope it is actually signed into law.   

The Gang’s All… Where?

Oh, those goofy Republicans, what are we going to do with them?  You ask any given, even marginally known, Republican whether he or she is running for President in 2012 the first minute they say, “No, absolutely not.”  The next minute that same Republican is starting an exploratory committee to weigh their options.  The next minute the same person declares, “No” again, because even politicians thinking of running for President have to have their enormous egos run into a reality check.  Then a couple minutes later that, “No” is an emphatic, “I’m in.”  But, if you wait a bit longer that emphatic statement will later become a, “I never really ‘declared’ as a candidate.”  However, we are still very early in the process. 

Ego.  There can be no other explanation for Newt Gingrich slithering, I mean, entering the race, given his extraordinarily cruel past with his ex-wives.  To serve your dying wife with divorce papers while she is in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy so you can marry the woman you have been screwing around with the past however many months is cruelty personified.  Then, to serve wife #2 with divorce papers when she is sick with Multiple Sclerosis so you can marry the woman you have been screwing around with for the last however many months, is another act of breathtaking callousness. (Oh, incidentally, this last affair was going on at the same time, as Speaker of the House, you were prosecuting President Clinton for impeachment for the Monica Lewinsky affair.* How’s that for irony, or as some might say, myself included, hypocrisy) Really Newty baby, your gargantuan ego is only equaled by your overwhelming abhorrence for a black man in the White House.  What else explains your inflammatory statements the last 2 ½ years, here are just a couple of fairly recent examples of your reckless vitriol.

“What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anticolonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.”  Wasn’t the US founded on the basis of anti-colonialism?  Just asking.

"This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president…I think he worked very hard at being a person who is normal, reasonable, moderate, bipartisan, transparent, accommodating — none of which was true. In the Alinksy tradition, he was being the person he needed to be in order to achieve the position he needed to achieve . . . He was authentically dishonest,"   President Obama stole the White House?  Really?  What do call what happened in Florida in 2000 and with our Supreme Court?


Moving on to Mitt.  Mitt, you poor thing, you sold your soul to the far right wing yahoos of your party during the last election.  You absolutely turned yourself inside out.  You allowed them to make a wishy-washy-I’ll-say-anything-to-get-elected has-been out of you.  You turned on every principal you ever had.  Where did it get you?  You are the supposed front-runner, but you get no respect, and certainly no serious media coverage.  Those darlings of the yahoos that have not even announced, yet, are sucking all of that up.  Such as, Congresswoman Michelle (Un-Intelligent Design & The Democrats are Responsible for Swine Flu) Bachmann; Texas’ own, and a man that is very near and dear to my heart, Our Governor of the Unnaturally Wide Shoulders, Rick Perry (everyone in TX knew he would run); even The (Show me your Birth Certificate) Donald is considering getting back in; and let us not leave out the former, somewhat, Governor of Alaska. (The whole state of Alaska is celebrating the house purchase in AZ)  Mitt, you might have had a chance against President Obama, but not now.  You have disavowed too much of yourself, next you will be converting from Mormon to Southern Baptist or Church of the Nazarene. 
    

Sara Palin, the Great Communicator…NOT!  Whenever I have to listen to her for more than a few seconds or read a transcript of her statements my brain literally begins to bleed.  Not to mention that voice, it is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard and the sound of cats mating combined.  After visiting the Old North Church in Boston, she came up with another of those moments that really should completely discredit this woman as any serious anything other than a serious attention whore, and a stupid one at that.  But for some reason this kind of excrement just endears her to those yahoos even more!  I don’t know.

In talking about Paul Revere’s ride in 1775 (Please note that 1775 is pre-Second Amendment) Palin spewed forth the following. “He who warned, uh, thuh, ... the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells and, um making sure as he’s riding his horse through town, to send those warning shots and bells that uh, we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed.“

She later complained that the, “Lamestream media,” as she likes to refer to any reporter or journalist not working for FOX News, asked her another one of those “Gotcha questions.”  The following is the question asked of her, you be the judge.

“What have you seen so far today, and what have you taken from your visit?”  She continues to insist that Paul, in fact, was warning the British, too. 

Then there is Rick Santorum.  The only positive I can bring myself to say about that repulsive, homophobic, misogynistic, Islamophobic, racist, butthead is at least you know what you are getting.

There are so many Republicans and so little time… Ron Paul: Lunatic (though his son is more so); Herman Cain: Doesn’t know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence; Gary Johnson: Pro-Choice, Pro-Immigration, Pro Pot Legalization, Libertarian that doesn’t stand a snowballs chance in hell of getting the Republican nomination with those three “Pro” stands; Fred Karger: Openly Gay, enough said, it’s the snowball thing again; Andy Martin: The Orginal Birther (really); Tom Miller; Career Flight Attendant, Anti-Immigration, Anti-Politician, wants to Re-empower Americans with whatever.  And that’s not all of them! 

I think that’s a whole lot of ego over there on the Republican side.  The next 8 or 10 months are going to be very interesting until the Primaries decide “The Candidate.”  Unfortunately, I think it is going to be a really ugly and hateful 8 or 10 months, and beyond, as it seems that the majority of these people have a great deal of difficulty of having a person of color in charge.  Nevertheless, one can always be hopeful that a fine and decent person will win the Republican nomination by putting an end to the race baiting, subtle or otherwise, that has shaped our political discourse since President Obama took office.  Yes, one can have her dreams.

*Just so there is no misunderstanding; in general, I could care less about a politician’s personal life.  I do not need to know about the intimate details of their marriage, who screwed around on whom or whatever.  That’s not germane.  People make mistakes, people find they are not suited to the person they are married to, things happen.  However, when you are sleazy enough to serve your gravely ill or dying spouse with divorce papers so you can marry someone else that is different and it says something about you as a person.  Or if you are a “Family Values” kind of politician, but you are actually a restroom haunting, closeted homosexual, then you need to be brought out into the bright spotlight of the TV cameras.  What I have a problem with, what I take issue with is Hypocrisy.