Ok DNC.... You Got Me Back... I'm Excited.

After the  hate fest and  lie-apalooza  that  was the the Republican National Convention.  I was feeling  kinda down.



I was worried that the Democratic Party would do what it has historically  always done.   Fret,  wring  our  hands about how mean the GOP is,  stand before the country and  mumble quietly about how we want to do better things  and  then just hope it all works out.

Turns out  I have never been so happy to be wrong.  Finally it seems somebody over that Democratic National Committee has figured out that the GOP will say anything, literally anything  to win this election So it was time for the Democratic Party to stand up and speak the truth to America.

Speakers on the first day of the Democratic National Convention  did just that.   They spoke the truth.  The truth about the Democratic Party and its Platform.  The truth about  President Obama's record of achievement.  The truth about Mitt Romney and the GOP's record of catastrophic failure, and the truth about the choice America as a nation is facing in November.

It's about time too....

The American Taliban Picks Their "Anti-Romney"

The  wingnuts of the  America Taliban.  (the ultra religious conservatives who form the power brokerage of the base of the  Republican Party.  The folks who want to take their religious beliefs and  turn them into civil law and inflict them on the rest of us.).  Apparently these people can't bear the idea that  a Mormon who once supported mild, timid steps towards  equal rights for  Gays and Lesbians might end up as  the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee .

So  the nuttiest of the nutty  all gathered in Texas this past week  to  anoint their preferred uber-evangelical  alternative to  former  Massachusetts  Governor Mitt Romney.


So  more than 150 ultra religious conservatives met at a Texas ranch this past Friday and Saturday. Among the bigger names: Tony Perkins of Family Research Council; Gary Bauer, a former presidential candidate; James Dobson, who used to head Focus on the Family; and Don Wildmon, who once ran American Family Association.

The mission of this "emergency meeting" was to unite behind someone who  they feel is a  true-blue religious conservative for the Republican nomination. This group is  desperate to defeat President Obama, but  they distrust Romney on key issues such as their desire  to ban reproductive rights and  marriage equality.  In addition,  many of them feel Mormonism is not a true Christian religion, and  as a result, Romney isn't  "one of them".

Add to this  the problem that despite his  best efforts to  run from  his  pro-gay rights past,  Romney's  past statements  in favor of basic civil equality  for  Gays and Lesbians,  are regularly coming back to haunt him as he has sought to  woo social  conservatives.

One of the problems of living in a digital age, if you happen to be Mitt Romney, is that  his  pro-gay rights past  keeps cropping up in archived footage and  flyers.   Which makes it  kinda awkward when you are trying to show the American Taliban base of the GOP   that you  hate Gay Americans, and love Jeebus  as much as they do.  (Cue Rachel Maddow with the details...)

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Tony Perkins,  the  head of  the ridiculously misnamed  Family Research Council.  (A group the  Southern Poverty Law Center  has certified as a Hate Group),  tried to lower expectations  going in to the meeting down in Texas this past week.  Perkins  claimed that  the meeting was not "anti-Romney" but rather  pro-issues that mattered to social conservatives.

Yet earlier today  Perkins triumphantly  tweeted the  Texas  bigotfest  has crowned  former Pennsylvania Senator and gay sex obsessed nut job Rick Santorum as their preferred  choice  for replacing President Obama and thus bring their brand of  Sharia law to the country starting on January 20,  2013.

Which is actually  pretty funny given  what  Rick Santorum's  name is a euphemism  for.

For those of you who are not aware of the definition of word "Santorum", you can google it. It stems from the former Senators personal obsession, (and yes that is the right word,) with gay sex. Rick Santorum is consumed by thoughts about gay sex. It is what he talks most about. 

Jobs? National Security? The environment? Nope, none of those issues even come close to being what turns Rick Santorum's crank the fastest. Seattle advice columnist and activist Dan Savage is responsible for  the former Senator's name taking on a new meaning...

So now we have Senator Frothy Mix  as the  official "not Romney"  candidate of the  American Taliban.   What is  most interesting about all of this,  is not  the crazy stuff  Santorum regularly  says, or even the entertaining spectacle of  Mitt Romney  desperately trying to run from every  position he ever held prior to 2004.

The real story here is  how at least on the front end of the GOP primary process,  the 2012  Presidential race is largely a bizarre  repeat of what happened  at this point in 2008.  (cue Rachel).

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The Republican Party faces a tough choice.  Go with  Romney  and  face a  campaign that from an electoral standpoint would be a replay of  2008, and  risk alienating  the only  real core  constituency they have left.  Or,  go with  Santorum and  be saddled with a candidate and a campaign that  is  completely  removed  from  the issues  the vast majority  of  Americans  actually do care about.  Namely, jobs and the economy, which would  take a far back seat to  Santorum's preferred  crusade to ban birth control and  forcibly  divorce  thousands  of American couples currently  married under state laws in places like New York, Iowa and  Connecticut.

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I say the GOP should follow their hearts, embrace the bigotry and start uh.... spreading the Santorum message!

 I have made no secret of my disappointment with President Obama. I have found him to be an ineffective centrist corporate apologist, rather than a bold progressive leader. But what is now crystal clear, is that while President Obama may be largely ineffectual, he is not, like ALL of his potential Republican challengers, completely insane.

The Sound of Silence....

Hey there  folks...

Yes I am  still  alive and kicking.   I know,  I   have not posted in a while. Sorry about that.   I don't really have a good excuse other than  "well, I've been busy...ya' know?"   Which really isn't  all that good of a reason.    Truth be told,  after watching  the start of the  U.S.  2012 Presidential election  campaign kick off  last month,  with the  Iowa straw poll.  I wanted to blog about it,  but every time I would try  to write something,  I'd just get annoyed and develop a headache. 

Why?  Because,  as the 2012 campaign begins,  it looks like  United States  is once again poised to prove our stupidity  to the rest of the world.  

The current  crop of  Republican GOP  candidates are at best,  mindless dolts who honestly think destroying  the  middle class,  and turning America into a third world nation of  a few have-it-all's and a mass of  have-not's is a good idea.   Or,  they  are  at worst, Anti-American right wing theocratic wingnuts,   who truly  hate our freedoms as much as any Islamic extremist  ever did.   At this point, it is honestly hard to tell which is the case.   

The most  recent Republican to throw his ten gallon hat into the ring is current  Texas Governor, Rick Perry.   Who, among other things,  thinks creationism should replace teaching evolution in schools, and thinks that  God is telling him  to run  for President. 

People over here on this side of the Atlantic  ask me if  the  Republican Party could be even remotely serious about nominating "another one".  Meaning another Texas Governor with a frail grasp on reality and a penchant for confusing the voices in his head  with divine instruction.  I'd like to  assure them that  America is not THAT stupid, but  the most recent  CNN Republican presidential poll, suggests that at least, on the  Republican side, America may be just that stupid...

According to a CNN poll released this week, Perry has a commanding lead among Republican voters nationally.

The rest of the crop of  GOP candidates is just as much  fun.  You have  former Pennsylvania  Senator Rick Santorum, and  Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachman.  Both of whom think the greatest  crisis facing America,  is all those Gay couples getting married.   According to both  Santorum and Bachman, recent moves towards  marriage equality in the U.S. are responsible for;  (among other things...)  Unemployment,  the recent earthquake that rattled the American East Coast,  Hurricane Irene, and  bad weather in general.  

Not to be left out,  Perry, along with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; ( who up until  Rick Perry joined the field, was himself the GOP front runner).  Quickly signed on to a "pledge" by the right wing hate group  "The National Organization for Marriage",  basically  promising to ban all civil rights  for LGBT Americans,  and make fighting for those rights a crime. 

If that isn't enough fun and frolic for you ,  according to the  entire GOP field,  ALL forms of government regulation are  bad.. very very bad.    Especially anything that  regulates  what corporations can do to their employees,  their customers or the environment.   Oh, and  anything that protects workers,  consumers or  the environment is now  referred to as  "job killing"  in all GOP/Fox News talking points.

Along those same lines.   Anyone who is in the top one-tenth of one percent in terms of income in the United States,  according to the GOP should not have to pay taxes. 

The reason being , the uber-wealthy are  all magical  "job creators".  And paying taxes  might hurt their feelings, and then they wouldn't  create all those  wonderful jobs that  they  did during the Bush years thanks to those magical tax cuts...  Oh, wait,  I guess that  didn't  actually happen.  

Not ones to be  held back by facts, the  GOP candidates are once again  preaching  the gospel  of  "trickle down economics".   If we just give more money to those who already have  lots of money,  then  it will all somehow trickle down to everyone else.   (Remember that one from the Reagan years? )

 But  according to the GOP, we can't  require the "job creators" to use all that money to create jobs,  because that would be unfair.  So  when the top one-tenth of one percent  takes all that money and  just pockets it,  creating no jobs whatsoever,  folks like Perry and Ron Paul will insist it's not really their fault,  it's (wait for it... )  according to  GOP hopefuls,   all that Government Regulation that  has gotten in the way. 

These people are seriously insane.   So if the current  2012 GOP field is  so  utterly  wacktacular,  why am I worried?  Simple,   I am worried because  the American electorate  has a ridiculously short attention span and a  track record voting against  their own best interests.   

Add to that,  the painful truth that  President Obama's first term  has been one long experiment in  poltical  weakness.   

The Republican Party discovered early on, the sad and very inconvenient truth that  President Obama, is a good man, an intelligent man, who is very weak.   President Obama is not a Leader, he is a negotiator, and not a very good one. On issue after issue, from Health Care Reform, to Wall Street Reform, Congressional Republicans, found that President Obama, would accept a really bad agreement, if they simply threatened to leave him with  no agreement at all.

As a result, the GOP learned very quickly , that it was all too easy to back the President into a corner, where his natural urge to "find common ground", meant he would abandon his stated principles and simply give in.  All the while making very eloquent statements about the value of bi-partisanship.  

So now  we have the beginning of  the 2012 election campaign where President Obama's one major accomplishment,  health insurance reform, is in fact a motivating issue for Republicans,  who are now campaigning on  the "I promise to repeal Obama-care" bandwagon.   

Obama-Biden 2012, will be a tough sell to many Americans, who vote based on one question and one question only;  "Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?"   The answer for far too many Americans is sadly,  no.   

It doesn't  bode well, when the only real answer the Obama Administration has come up with so far to that stark reality,  is to say;  "But...think how much WORSE it COULD have been if we hadn't been here!" 

It's like telling someone who is unemployed, "Hey!  At least you don't have malaria!"   Factually true, but unhelpful.

My fear is President Obama will simply campaign like  he did in 2008,  and the American electorate will do exactly what  he told them to do back then...   Vote for change.

Last Night's Special Comment on the Debt "Compromise"

My 2010 Mid Terms "Enthusiasm Gap"

As some of you  have  remarked in emails and text messages,   it has been about two weeks since I have posted anything new  on here  and  yeah..  I really don't have a  good excuse.  Or maybe I do...  Lately  it has been hard  to  write about  the current  state of politics and culture in the United States without  wanting to scream obscenities  and throw things  at the television.  

There is  a wonderful  Ivor Novello  song  from  the soundtrack to  the movie  "Gosford Park".  The title is  "The Land of Might Have Been..."    As we approach  the  2010 mid-term  elections  I find  that title  resonates all too well with how I feel.  



The common  consensus  among the  political  punditry says the  Republicans and the corporate created and funded  Tea Bagger monstrosity  it has  spawned,   will  at the  very least gain control of House or Representatives if not  also the  Senate.  Though, most  projections have the  Democratic Party holding on to the Senate by a narrow  margin.

The fact is,  in 2010,  the face, voice and  mind of the  Republican Party is made up of  people who are  racist, xenophobic   anti-constitutional  nut jobs.  Reality  and fact  play  no role  whatsoever  in  their  world view.   When pressed  to  explain  why they  "feel"  the way they feel.  Or when asked to explain  their  fox generated talking points in  greater  detail,  you get  this...



It has been  popular  to  make  comparisons to the  "Republican  Revolution" of  1994, when  Newt Gingrich lead  the GOP to a  midterm trouncing  of  Bill Clinton and  the  Democrats with their  "Contract  With America".  ( It is interesting to note that  none of the  items  in  that  1994  "contract" were  ever  actually enacted by that  GOP controlled Congress.)    Still  it is worth  examining  what  the  GOP  is promising that they will do  THIS time  if they  win  back  control of congress.

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The very idea  that  there is a role for  Government in the welfare of the  American People is  what  the  Republican Party is  running  AGAINST.   The  idea  that   insurance companies  can deny you health insurance  for  a pre-existing condition,   regardless of what  that  condition might be, is what the  Republican party is running FOR.  The idea  that  if you  lose your job and  are unemployed  it is  your fault, is what  the  Republican Party is running FOR.



 The idea that  oil companies  are the real VICTIMS  if  they are  made to pay for the damages  their own negligence  has caused , this is what  the  GOP  in 2010  stands for.



Then on top of all of that  we have  Barack Obama and  the  Democrats.  Citizens of the  Land of Might Have Been.   

We might have had  real  health care reform and a Public Option for  Health Insurance.  But instead we got  mild tinkering   with  insurance coverage  that  while  a good  first  step, will  benefit  insurance companies  more  than  it will help  the  broader problems with Health Care in America.

Now  we have a GOP that is seriously running ON the premise,  that  for a insurance company to NOT be able to deny you coverage or  just drop you for a  pre-existing condition, THAT is  the real crisis that has to be fixed.

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We  might have had  real  financial reform in the wake of the  abuses and excesses of  Wall Street. But instead we got  mild  tinkering  with  with  Credit Card  rules and  the same players who took our financial sector the  brink of  collapse  have been allowed to stay right were they are doing the same things.

We might have had  real  advancement  of  civil rights  for all our citizens , including  LGBT Americans.  With  an inclusive  Employment Non Discrimination Act,  repeal of  The Defense of  Marriage Act  and the ending  of  the military's  ridiculous  "Don't Ask,  Don't Tell" policy of   forcing  patriotic and skilled  American Service Personnel  out of the  military simply because they are Gay or Lesbian.   But instead we got  speeches,  nice  inspirational  speeches  that  were meant to provide cover for  political  cowardice.



So after spending  two years trying desperately  to  woo non-existent  Republican support for an agenda  that  an  overwhelming majority of Americans  elected him and his party to enact.  President Obama seems to  finally  be grasping the  political  reality he and  the Democrats are now facing.   If the  Republican Party gains  control of Congress,  President Obama and  the  Democrats will  spend  the next  two years  trying  to  defend  the  meager accomplishments  of the last two years from  repeal, and doing little else.   In a recent speech in Ohio,  the President  finally  seemed willing to  take  the GOP on.



So  I can't help feeling  like  the last  two years  have been such a wasted  opportunity.   Barack Obama ran  with such passion, energy and vision  but  has  governed with such timidity,  as to make me  wonder if  Candidate Obama and  President Obama  are even the same man.

I  understand  the argument  that   if  the Democratic base  doesn't  get  over our  "enthusiasm gap"   all of these dire predictions  of  the damage a GOP controlled Congress would do, will come true.  And I also understand , and have  even made the argument,  that  cowardly Democrats are still better than any of the current  crop of Republicans.  

Yet  the truth is,  I am having  a hard time  getting  energized  about a choice between  apathy and evil.

If  the Democrats  lose  control of Congress  Barack Obama  will  spend  the next  two years  with even less to show for it  than his  first two.   Not much of a record to run for re-election with.

Nobody expects the President to win every battle.  I just wish it didn't seem like  Barack Obama was so afraid of fighting the battle.   I guess what  I really would like is for  life to occasionally imitate art...

Dear Republicans ...

Shut the hell up.

You no longer have any credibility or right to argue about who can and cannot get married. You are hypocritical sleazeballs. Your protestations on the "sanctity of marriage" is a sad pathetic joke, and stands in stark contrast with your own personal lives.

Let's look at the GOP record for a moment, shall we?

First we have Newt Gingrich, architect of the 1994 GOP Revolution, and ardent proponent of "Family Values".



More recently, in 2008 year we had the case of Conservative Republican Senators Larry Craig of Idaho and David Vitter of Louisiana. Last year we saw both these men show off their family values. Sen. Craig by soliciting an undercover cop for gay sex in an airport men's room.



Senator Vitter, endeared himself to social conservatives with his impassioned speech on the Senate floor in 1996 on the need to amend the U.S. Constitution to preserve the sanctity of marriage. More recently in 2008, Vitter really didn't want to talk about the sanctity of his own marriage.



Then just last week we had Nevada's "Family Values" Republican Senator John Ensign. Ensign, is the Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. In 1998, while running for Nevada’s Senate seat against Harry Reid, Ensign called on President Clinton to resign in light of his admitted affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky:

Ensign has also been an ardent opponent of gay marriage. In Feb. 2004, Ensign announced his support for an amendment to the Constitution that would have defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Ensign said the amendment, which ultimately failed, was necessary to protect “the institution of marriage“:

“Sadly, the effort to redefine marriage against the wishes of a majority of the people is, with help from activist judges, succeeding,” Ensign said. “In order to defend the institution of marriage, uphold the rights of individual states, and maintain the will of the people, I believe we are compelled to amend our country’s constitution.”

Apparently Ensign's efforts to defend marriage entailed having an affair with a married member of his own staff.



And most recently this past week, we had the curious case of the Republican Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford. Sanford A self proclaimed "Pro-family" Conservative, is Chairman of the Republican Governor's Association. Gov. Sanford literally disappeared for nearly a week. Neither his office, or his family knew where he was, and said they could not contact him. When pressed, his office said he was hiking the Appalachian Train.

We all have learned today, that apparently "Hiking the Appalachian Train" is a new slang term for flying down to Argentina to hook up with your married mistress.



Now let's be clear about a few things. Whatever Newt, Larry, David , John and Mark do in their personal private lives is NOBODY's business but theirs and their family's. I really don't care what any of these people do behind closed doors, bathroom or otherwise. It's none of my business. Their behavior is not the issue. Their rank hypocrisy is the issue.

You can't run around the country saying how your morals are so much higher than everyone else's. You can't go holding your marriage up as some sort of social ideal that should be the ONLY kind of marriage to be legal in the U.S. THEN turn around behind closed doors and throw those ideals you claim to uphold, out the window or under the hooker's bed.

What IS my business is the efforts all of these people have engaged in to codify their FAKE morality into civil law at the expense of the the basic civil rights of millions of other Americans.

So Republicans, until you clean up your own lives, you don't get to tell ANYBODY else how to live theirs.

Sit down and shut up. You have zero credibility.

Again with the Gays!? What is it with you People?

Dear Anti Gay "Conservatives":

What is it with you people? You all need professional help.

Seriously.

You are obsessed with homosexuality. You think about it night and day. It's all you can talk about. Gay Adoptions, Gay Marriage, books with possible Gay content. (Except for Lynne Cheney's soft-core Lesbian romance novel, apparently that one is okay.) Gay characters on TV or in movies, basically if anything is even remotely connected to Homosexuality you are all over that like AIG on bailout money.

Gay people don't think about Homosexuality as much as you do. Your fetish for all things Gay has come out once again. This time in the form of TV ad courtesy of the conservative evangelical Ooompa Loompas at one of your new groups calling itself, "National Organization for Marriage".

The ad is striking, black storm clouds roll in the background. Bolts of lightning streak across the sky behind a group of distraught looking "average Americans" all talking about the Gay Attack on Marriage". And how granting same sex couples the right to marry would take away THEIR civil rights. But you couldn't find any real people who are as jazzed up about the 'Gay Threat' as you are, so you had to get really bad actors to give you your "gay attack" jollies.



Your latest bit of wing-nuttery crosses the line from dishonest and stupid, to just plain silly. As usual though, your passion for Homosexuality, avoids any connection to facts or reality.


But apparently your deep love for all things gay doesn't stop there. What is interesting, (and really entertaining) this time around, is how your quest for Gay-ness has expanded to economic issues . This past week you wanted millions of Americans to "teabag" President Obama.

So what you are saying is, your new cause is "tea bagging".... Really?

If that wasn't silly enough, you want millions of Americans to join your brand new "2 Million For Marriage" movement. Or, as you want to call it (being the hip, savvy interwebby types you are..) "2M4M"! Clearly somebody needs to teach you all how to use that "Google thing on the interwebs." It might save you a lot of embarrassment.

I really can't figure out WHY you care SO much about anything and everything Gay. The lives of LGBT Americans don't affect your lives. Giving LGBT Americans equal rights doesn't take away any of your rights. There is no logical reason for what you are doing. In trying to figure out why you all have been so Homo-focused lately. I have managed to boil it down to three possible explanations.

1) You are in fact, all closeted self-hating Homosexuals yourselves, who desperately want to get in on all the Gay action, and this the only way that feel you can.



2) You are mentally challenged bigots who really do believe the insane, hateful bile you are spewing, you as a result feel that the LGBT Americans are less than human, and like Hitler with the Jews, hope for their eventual extermination.



Or, the third (and most plausible explanation)

3) You are merely lazy political opportunists, devoid of any real ideas or solutions for America's problems. While desperately searching for an issue you think can scare people in to supporting your party and your causes, decided Gays and Lesbians are the last minority you can get away with trying to demonize for political gain. So anyone who disagrees with you gets painted with the "Gay" label,



So dear Conservatives, I have to ask; which is it? Are you all really just Gay and self-hating? Are you all just crazy and bigoted? Or are you all just intellectually bankrupt and dishonest?

Your non-stop obsession with Gays and Lesbians, their lives, their families, their civil rights (or maintaing the lack thereof...), makes any other answer, nearly impossible to believe.