Office by Alex Penny
VA’s state senate has 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans. So what did the Republicans do on Monday? They waited until one of the 20 Democrats, a 79 year old African-American civil rights attorney, went to the inauguration, and engaged in a probably unconstitutional redistricting scheme that will make it harder for black voters to have an effect on electoral outcomes and for black candidates to be elected. On MLK, Jr day, and under cover provided by the inauguration of our black president.
Because if they can’t win elections, they’ll use everything in their power to steal them and they’ll do it blatantly.
(via stoneagechronicles)
These are the 38 Republicans who don’t care about the disabled. These are the 38 Republicans who chose to speak for the U.S. in saying, as a country, “we do not care.”
It makes sense if you don’t think about it.
![stoneagechronicles:
cognitivedissonance:
quickhits:
GOP Crazies Tell GOP Crazies to Stop Being So Crazy. It’s a case of the message being correct, but delivered by a perfectly inappropriate messenger. As Republicans sort through the rubble left behind by the 2012 election cycle, they’re beginning to divide into two camps: “we’ve got to stop being so danged crazy!” and “we weren’t even close to crazy enough.” It’s pretty clear who’s right here. After all, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, and Allen West didn’t lose their races because everyone thought they were big ol’ flaming liberals. They lost because their electorates were obviously tired of rightwing frootloops. The problem with this intra-party division is that one group bleeds over into the other. Crazy people are demanding other crazy people stop being so darned crazy.
Politico: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday called on Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” and make a concerted effort to reach a broader swath of voters with an inclusive economic message that pre-empts efforts to caricature the GOP as the party of the rich. In his first interview since his party’s electoral thumping last week, Jindal urged Republicans to both reject anti-intellectualism and embrace a populist-tinged reform approach that he said would mitigate what exit polls show was one of President Barack Obama’s most effective lines of attack against Mitt Romney. “We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything,” Jindal told POLITICO in a 45-minute telephone interview. “We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”
“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that,” Jindal said. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.” Pretty on the money. Only one problem: Bobby Jindal is the stereotypical Republican whackjob. After all, it was Jindal who bizarrely criticized volcano monitoring as a waste of money. Ironically, Jindal later blew $200 million on a scheme to protect Louisiana from the Deepwater Horizon oil slick — after being warned by scientists that it wouldn’t work. For the record, Louisiana’s not a wealthy state with hundreds of millions of dollars they can flush down the toilet whenever the governor thinks he’s an engineering genius. If Bobby Jindal represents any wing of the Republican Party, it’s the crazy anti-science and anti-fact wing. This is a man who participated in an exorcism in college and signed what is most likely the most backwards piece of education legislation into law. Among the “facts” kids in Louisiana are now allowed to learn are that dinosaurs and humans lived side by side, that “God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ,” and that slavery and the Great Depression are being misrepresented as bad things.This is the guy who’s telling other Republicans to stop being so crazy. But my point isn’t to single out Jindal. The point is that Jindal represents a real problem for the GOP — namely, that crazy people don’t know that they’re crazy. He’s absolutely correct that the GOP needs to stop being the party of morons and lunatics, but he has absolutely no idea that he’s one of those morons and lunatics. He wants to see Republicans stop promoting every brand of conservative craziness but the science-denialism that embraces creationism and believes global warming is a hoax perpetrated by socialist scientists. Republicans have to reject every form of insanity and idiocy except his particular brand, because his isn’t crazy or stupid. And that’s the entire GOP’s problem in a nutshell. They all need to stop being nutjobs, but they all think the other sort of nutjob is the problem. So the anti-science nuts blame the anti-abortion nuts, who in turn blame the economic flatearthers, who point their fingers at the next group of crazies down the line. You can see how well that’ll pan out for them. No, what Republicans need is not for one group of lunatics to start listening to another group of lunatics. What the Republican Party needs is new Republicans. And the old Republicans aren’t exactly willing to be replaced by a saner brand. Nor are Republican voters eager to replace them. So they’re left with Bobby Jindal as a prime example of their dilemma; he both put his finger directly on his party’s problem and totally misunderstood it at the same time. And so, it’s unlikely that the problem will be solved anytime soon. -Wisco [image source]
I once witnessed a guy who was tripping the light fantastic have an argument with his reflection over who deserved the blame for taking “a drug bomb made of sad” in the first place.
I imagine this now the current state of the GOP.
tl;dr version of Jindal: The whole Republican party needs to Etch-A-Sketch. Except for me.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdfpmsX4T11qfengno1_500.jpg)
GOP Crazies Tell GOP Crazies to Stop Being So Crazy.
It’s a case of the message being correct, but delivered by a perfectly inappropriate messenger. As Republicans sort through the rubble left behind by the 2012 election cycle, they’re beginning to divide into two camps: “we’ve got to stop being so danged crazy!” and “we weren’t even close to crazy enough.” It’s pretty clear who’s right here. After all, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, and Allen West didn’t lose their races because everyone thought they were big ol’ flaming liberals. They lost because their electorates were obviously tired of rightwing frootloops.
The problem with this intra-party division is that one group bleeds over into the other. Crazy people are demanding other crazy people stop being so darned crazy.Politico:
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday called on Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” and make a concerted effort to reach a broader swath of voters with an inclusive economic message that pre-empts efforts to caricature the GOP as the party of the rich.
In his first interview since his party’s electoral thumping last week, Jindal urged Republicans to both reject anti-intellectualism and embrace a populist-tinged reform approach that he said would mitigate what exit polls show was one of President Barack Obama’s most effective lines of attack against Mitt Romney.
“We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything,” Jindal told POLITICO in a 45-minute telephone interview. “We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”
“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that,” Jindal said. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.”
Pretty on the money. Only one problem: Bobby Jindal is the stereotypical Republican whackjob. After all, it was Jindal who bizarrely criticized volcano monitoring as a waste of money. Ironically, Jindal later blew $200 million on a scheme to protect Louisiana from the Deepwater Horizon oil slick — after being warned by scientists that it wouldn’t work. For the record, Louisiana’s not a wealthy state with hundreds of millions of dollars they can flush down the toilet whenever the governor thinks he’s an engineering genius.
If Bobby Jindal represents any wing of the Republican Party, it’s the crazy anti-science and anti-fact wing. This is a man who participated in an exorcism in college and signed what is most likely the most backwards piece of education legislation into law. Among the “facts” kids in Louisiana are now allowed to learn are that dinosaurs and humans lived side by side, that “God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ,” and that slavery and the Great Depression are being misrepresented as bad things.
This is the guy who’s telling other Republicans to stop being so crazy.
But my point isn’t to single out Jindal. The point is that Jindal represents a real problem for the GOP — namely, that crazy people don’t know that they’re crazy. He’s absolutely correct that the GOP needs to stop being the party of morons and lunatics, but he has absolutely no idea that he’s one of those morons and lunatics. He wants to see Republicans stop promoting every brand of conservative craziness but the science-denialism that embraces creationism and believes global warming is a hoax perpetrated by socialist scientists. Republicans have to reject every form of insanity and idiocy except his particular brand, because his isn’t crazy or stupid.
And that’s the entire GOP’s problem in a nutshell. They all need to stop being nutjobs, but they all think the other sort of nutjob is the problem. So the anti-science nuts blame the anti-abortion nuts, who in turn blame the economic flatearthers, who point their fingers at the next group of crazies down the line. You can see how well that’ll pan out for them.
No, what Republicans need is not for one group of lunatics to start listening to another group of lunatics. What the Republican Party needs is new Republicans. And the old Republicans aren’t exactly willing to be replaced by a saner brand. Nor are Republican voters eager to replace them.
So they’re left with Bobby Jindal as a prime example of their dilemma; he both put his finger directly on his party’s problem and totally misunderstood it at the same time. And so, it’s unlikely that the problem will be solved anytime soon.
-Wisco
[image source]I once witnessed a guy who was tripping the light fantastic have an argument with his reflection over who deserved the blame for taking “a drug bomb made of sad” in the first place.
I imagine this now the current state of the GOP.
tl;dr version of Jindal: The whole Republican party needs to Etch-A-Sketch. Except for me.
From PoliticsNation:
It hasn’t been a good run for the GOP in recent presidential elections.
Are you surprised at how well Pres. Obama did on Tuesday with electoral votes?
(via stfuconservatives)
For those keeping score at home, that’s nine states where the GOP has been caught committing voter fraud. Damn near 20% of the country.
(via stoneagechronicles)
Easy. In Virginia, first Governor Bob McDonnell signs a law that says abortion clinics will be subject to the same regulations as hospitals. (
Not outpatient clinics that do things like plastic surgery or oral surgery, mind you, just abortion clinics.)
Then you pass a bunch of regulations for new hospital construction (like minimum hallway widths and specific ventilation systems), and remove the clause that exempts existing hospitals.
Voila! All 20 abortion providers in Virginia will have to make costly renovations, endangering their ability to continue operating.
The Virginia Board of Health didn’t want to do it. When they passed the regulations in June, they grandfathered in the existing clinics. But Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli threatened the Board with legal and financial consequences if they failed to remove the exemption, and for good measure, Governor McDonnell appointed a new Board member - Dr. John Seeds, vice chairman of the anti-abortion group OBGYNS for Life. Lo and behold, they got what they wanted.
Google ‘Virginia’ ‘Cuccinelli’ ‘abortion’ to learn more.
http://wtvr.com/2012/09/13/attorney-general-ken-cuccinelli-threatens-board-of-health-over-abortion-regulations/Every time a Republican apologist sputters “well no candidates are saying they will overturn Roe v. Wade GOSH” I’m like “you really don’t think there are other ways to limit access to abortions???”
—
The Nation‘s Ari Berman has been documenting the “The GOP’s War On Voting” since the summer of last year and done a heroic job of making people aware of the issue. Recently he’s gotten some help from the federal courts and Sarah Silverman. But the fight to keep Democrats from voting continues despite the real evidence that Republicans are the ones who tend to engage in significant voter fraud.
Here are seven things Ari Berman thinks you need to know about the GOP’s voter suppression efforts adapted from this interview:
1. There is no evidence of voter fraud that a voter ID law would stop.
2. A significant percentage of Americans — about 10 percent –don’t have these IDs and don’t have access to the underlying documents needed to get the IDs.
3. These laws are a politically motivated attempt by Republicans to shape an electorate in their own favor before anyone has even cast a ballot.
4. These laws are expensive to implement, costing millions of dollars, and that money would be better spent elsewhere.
5. These laws will create confusion and long lines at polling places, which will negatively impact a large number of voters who have valid ID.
6. Voting, unlike buying Sudafed or flying on a plane, is a constitutionally protected right that people have died for in this country and is something we shouldn’t restrict without a significant and compelling reason to do so.
7. We should be making it easier, not harder, for all eligible voters in this country to cast a ballot.What can you do to help? Let someone know right now how easy it is to register at GottaRegister.com or volunteer to register off the Internet, if you can still find such a place.
Seven Things You Need To Know About The GOP War On Voting | Eclectablog
(via sarahlee310)
(via stoneagechronicles)
Jon Husted, Republican Secretary of State in Ohio, is refusing to change his restrictive early voting schedule even after a federal court restored in-person early voting to all Ohioans during the three day period before the general election. Husted claims expanding hours before an appeals court hears his case will “only serve to confuse voters.” Husted first restricted the voting hours in Democratic-leaning urban counties to weekdays only, then restricted all counties’ voting schedules after complaints of unfairness. In spite of several counties’ requests to stay open on weekends, when most employed people have time to vote, Husted has flatly refused to accommodate them.
How can he face himself in the mirror every morning?
Republicans lie, cheat, steal or suppress the vote to win. They are scum.
(via stoneagechronicles)
See if you are eligible to vote at http://www.canivote.org/
(Source: , via stoneagechronicles)
Smith said Monday at the Pennsylvania Press Club that although he condemns Akin’s comment, he agrees with Akin that abortion should be banned without any exceptions, including for rape and incest victims. Pressed by a reporter on how he would handle a daughter or granddaughter becoming pregnant as a result of rape, Smith said he had already “lived something similar to that” in his family.
“She chose life, and I commend her for that,” he said. “She knew my views. But, fortunately for me, I didn’t have to … she chose the way I thought. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t rape.”
When a reporter asked Smith to clarify what kind of situation was similar to becoming pregnant from rape, the candidate responded, “Having a baby out of wedlock.”
He added, “Put yourself in a father’s position. Yes, it is similar.”
Tom Smith the latest to not get it.
No. It’s not similar. At all.
(Source: seriouslyamerica)
There’s more—none of it good.
1. Other absurd Republican contributions to the “rape doesn’t lead to babies” myth. As Anna North reported earlier this year, other Republicans paved the way for Akin’s recent statements. In 1995, Republican Henry Aldridge stated that when a woman is raped, “the juices don’t flow,” and in 1988 another Republican congressman stated that women emit “a certain secretion” that stops pregnancy when they are raped. (Which has led many of us to wonder, which is it, guys? Do these mythical juices flow, or do they stop flowing, when a woman is raped?)
2. The daddy of all these rape theories. The National Right to Life Committee’s John C. Willke’s claims in an article that the “trauma” of rape prevents pregnancy — i.e., he “basically just makes shit up,” writes Katie J. M. Baker at Jezebel.
3. GOP donor asks “Want contraception? Put an aspirin between your knees.” This line, now a total cultural punchline, came from Foster Friess, who was a big donor to Rick Santorum before moving on to support Romney. The video clip featuring Friess’ comments and Andrea Mitchell’s flummoxed response went viral this spring.
Friess: This contraceptive thing, my gosh it’s such inexpensive, back in my days we used Bayer aspirin for contraception, the gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.
Mitchell: Um, excuse me, I’m trying to catch my breath from that Mr. Friess, frankly…
4. GOP lawmakers seek to legally redefine rape as “forcible rape” so fewer women will qualify as victims. Remember the media firestorm around the “war on women”? One of its major fronts consisted of congressional shenanigans around the definition of rape in the noxious H.R. 3 “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion” bill. These efforts included Akin and VP candidate Paul Ryan and were aimed at siphoning off the number of abortion-funding exemptions so that only the rarest few qualified. What offended women most — and eventually scuttled the bill — was the idea that the government could weigh whether your rape “counted” or not.
According to the bill, there would be exemptions only for something called “forcible rape.” (Presumably, this is the same thing Willke called “assault rape” and Akin called “legitimate rape,” as opposed to what Willke called “consensual” “statutory” rape.) After a public outcry, Smith retreated from his first draft of the bill and reinstituted the Hyde language, though an additional provision was added later to clarify that the bill will “not allow the Federal Government to subsidize abortions in cases of statutory rape.” Akin and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan were co-sponsors of the bill, along with 225 others.
Since Sunday, the Romney camp has been trying furiously to distance itself from Akin, but these two names together as co-sponsors of this bill may come back to haunt Paul Ryan.
5. Another GOP lawmaker (surprise, surprise) worries that women will claim rape just to get abortions. This March, Iowa Senator Chuck Winder, who had already proposed that women go through two forced ultrasounds, including one at a right-wing “crisis pregnancy center,” went a step further by voicing his concern that women might use the “rape issue” to go abortion-crazy. Quoth Chuck: “Rape and incest was used as a reason to oppose this. I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician with a rape issue, that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it truly caused by a rape.”
6. Pundits and lawmakers: Forced ultrasounds are okay because women already consented to be penetrated when they got pregnant. Remember the bill in Virginia that would have mandated certain kinds of invasive ultrasounds for women seeking abortions (the kind that already exist in other states?). Well, ultraconservative pundit Dana Loesch, who has already come to Todd Akin’s defense in this round, was hostile to the basic concept that every time a person’s body is penetrated, it’s mandatory to ask for consent. “They had no problem having similar to a transvaginal procedure when they engaged in the act that resulted in their pregnancy,” she said. Sadly, Loesch’s idea was not so far out of the norm: several Virginia lawmakers basically said the same thing.
7. When women sign up for the military to hang out with aggressive dudes, they are asking to be raped. Notoriously anti-woman Fox News talking-head Liz Trotta wondered of enlisted women who were assaulted, “What did they expect?” She also blasted feminist calls for infrastructure and support to help the increasing number of women in this position. And refused to apologize.
8. Santorum and Huckabee are all about rape victims taking one for team “Life.” Let’s not forget our Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, respectively, think rape victims should “make the best” of it and see the unwanted child as a gift and sometimes cool people are conceived in rape.
Full article: The 8 Worst Things Republicans Have Said About Rape, Sex and Women’s Bodies
(via stfuconservatives)
The Republican Party platform, approved today, would bar abortion even in cases of rape and incest. This is basically Todd Akin’s position, but at least the GOP platform doesn’t assert that women’s bodies identify and reject rapists’ sperm.
Meanwhile, Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan provides ample evidence to seniors (and anyone planning to become a senior) that the GOP wants to eliminate Medicare.And it’s convincing anyone in America still needing convincing that the GOP exists primarily to cut taxes on the wealthy rather than to reduce the budget deficit. The latest estimate of the non-partisan Center for Tax Policy is Ryan’s tax cuts for the rich would result in $4.6 trillion less revenue over the decade, generating an average saving for the typical millionaire of almost $400 million a year.
At the same time, the GOP remains unwaivering in its support of state laws allowing or encouraging the profiling of Latinos. And unrelenting in its war against gay rights.
We’re witnessing the implosion of what was once a great party. Its capture by the extreme right is becoming more apparent by the day.And it’s not just women, seniors, budget hawks, Latinos, gays, and the poor who are becoming alarmed. Average Americans who don’t fall into one of these categories are becoming concerned, too — as they should.
Yet although the GOP crackup may bode well for Democrats this coming Election Day, it bodes ill for America. The capture of one of our great parties by fanatics is nothing to celebrate. A democracy needs at least two sane political parties.
