Another Etch-a-Sketch

It happens so infrequently that when a Republican says or does something that actually promotes a sensible idea… it can be rather startling. It surprises me whenever one of these modern-day religious right crusaders has anything to say that even remotely promotes a woman’s right to choose, but Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has done just that. From the WSJ:

“The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists announced its support last month for selling oral contraceptives over the counter without a prescription in the United States. I agree with this opinion, which if embraced by the federal government would take contraception out of the political arena.”

However, In the same WSJ piece, Jindal goes out on a limb in a twisted and tortured effort to deflect the criticism many GOPers have so justly earned. He does so with a demonstrable lie:

“As a conservative Republican, I believe that we have been stupid to let the Democrats demagogue the contraceptives issue and pretend, during debates about health-care insurance, that Republicans are somehow against birth control. It's a disingenuous political argument they make.”

Is that so? A “disingenuous” argument that “they” make…

Does Brother Bobby not think the American people have memories? Does Mr. Jindal not understand that the people can hear what the religious right has been saying… notice how they have behaved once they achieved majority? Does he think we don’t read? Listen to the radio? Watch television? Is he expecting us to have short memories?

That would be a mistake, Mr. Jindal.

Let us recount just a few of the more recent, and memorable bits of evidence that the current crop of Republicans is top-heavy with old, white bible-thumpers who are either ignorant, stupid, truth-impaired or simply dishonest when it comes to equality and the rights of the alternatively plumbed segment of our population.

Let’s see… the garbage got rolling back in the George W. Bush administration. In 2008 we saw John McCain and Sarah Palin, and four years later we find Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and the Texas Legislature, Michelle Bachmann… and even Mitt Romney. The only top tier Republican presidential candidates in a dozen years to not get caught up hook, line and sinker in the shove-it-down-your-throat religious dogma of anti-contraception, anti-choice and anti-equality were John McCain… who moderated his stance after initially voting for the Blunt Amendment, and Jon Huntsman… who actually got a nod for his stance by that far-left ezine, Media matters. Huntsman was also the first to exit the field, reemerging as the Libertarian candidate.

But the clown car is far from empty. Recent history provides us with a wealth of Republicans wanting their women barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. For instance we have the likes of Jon Kyl, Scott Walker, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, Jan Brewer, a dozen Attorneys General, including Colorado’s John Suthers and Nebraska’s Jon Bruning, "Ultrasound" Bob McDonnell, Lovable Louie Gohmert, wannabe congress critter Danny Rehberg,Tea Party hack Tom Smith, all-around hack Rush Limbaugh [You Tube] and a host of others.

• For the complete review of state level actions in 2011 click here.
• For summaries of major state-level actions in 2011, click here.
• For a table showing reproductive health and rights-related provisions enacted in 2011, click here.
• For the status of state law and policy on key reproductive health and rights issues, click here.

The 2010 Republican takeover of the Congress, many statehouses and governor’s mansions begat the 2011 onslaught of anti-woman and anti-science bills (where Huntsman again stands a fair distance from the rest of the GOP.)

And then of course there was Jindal himself joining in with the rest of the moronic, anti-science Republicans. These actions have nothing at all to do with demagoguery, Mr. Jindal, and everything to do with religious social engineering. Your comments to the contrary speak of a familiar arrogance.

Brother Bobby is Johnny-come-lately to this dog and pony show. Perhaps the former silence was because he was angling for the VP slot on the Romney ticket (Romney would have fared far better) or maybe he is just bright enough to after-the-fact see the writing left on the walls from the 2012 elections. Whatever his reason I’m glad he is willing now to step back from the anti-equality stance of the Republican religionistas and call them out on that which lost for them.

Still, new spots on an old dog don’t go unnoticed. Until the smackdown of the anti-woman, anti-choice agenda, Jindal supported the “love it or Leave it” GOP in lockstep. Because of that he deserves watching. He might be the real-meal-deal, but we’ve already had to suffer one flip flopper. I’m not all that keen on the thought of having to go through that again.

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Goodhair back in the clown car

... and Texas women better keep their powder dry. The first bill on Guv. Goodhair's list of "emergencies," with full support from the teabagger section, is another attempt to foist their personal religious beliefs onto the taxpayers. Never let it be said that a teabagger let a little thing like our U.S. Constitution (or ethics) stand in the way of dogma.

"While legislators begin to file legislation during this pre-filing period that began today, they, too, look forward to supporting the flagship Pro-Life bill for the next session: Texas Right to Life’s Pre-born Pain Bill."

I've got a feeling this state is boing to be turning blue a lot quicker even than we'd hoped.

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Was the Libertarian darling an Illegal Immigrant?

In 1926 a young woman with the birth name Alisa Rozenbaum immigrated to America from Soviet Russia. In order for Alisa to obtain a passport and the tourist visa that she used to travel to America, she had to resort to illegal means. She had to become a criminal. Alisa and her family spent years and expended great effort convincing U.S consular officials that she was only visiting America for holiday, and that she would return to Russia so she could marry her fiancé… a fellow Russian citizen.

So what were her crimes? Under American law this young lady perjured herself in sworn statements and interviews. She also made false statements to government officials and deliberately falsified documents. Therefore Alisa’s passport and all visas were obtained illegally and therefore were invalid. She was coming to America as an illegal immigrant, and she knew it. 

Of course it was to her great benefit... a benefit she no doubt understood, that in the 20’s immigrants from Soviet ruled states were seldom prosecuted for whatever criminal actions they had employed while "escaping" the clutches of the communists and migrating to the U.S.

So Alisa entered America in 1926 as what today would be an "illegal immigrant." Some on the right still dispute this fact, but it was was made manifestly true three years later when her tourist visa expired and she remained in country. We know this to be true because we know Alisa’s passport and visa were issued on October 29, 1925, and we know that both had a three year expiration. At that time in our history extensions were just not granted.

Alisa never returned to Russia... never saw her family again. She never planned to. It is of interest to note that some modern day Libertarian cultists insist that Alisa defected. Some insist that she was issued only a 6-month passport. This is proven incorrect by her own statements, both in her testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and later in series of recorded interviews with biographer Barbara Branden (whose husband Nathaniel later became one of Alisa’s many illicit lovers). It was in these interviews where Alisa unabashedly admits to her immigration violations.

Both her passport and visa expired sometime before October 29, 1928. Because of all of the deception employed to obtain the passport and gain entry into America, Alisa was illegally in this country from the moment she stepped on U.S. soil, but from the day in 1928 when her passport expired until her 1929 marriage to an American citizen, she was doubly so. Alisa proudly admitted that her behavior was criminal. The right wingers know this and still accept her... they idolize her.

Alisa’s misdemeanors world have technically barred an immigrant from achieving citizenship, but marriage to an American opened the path. Laws have changed so that this is not true today. A 21st century Alisa would be jailed and deported, but in 1929 it was a common path to citizenship for old world immigrant girls to find an American sugar-daddy. Alisa was just using the system. It was behavior that would serve her well over the course of her lifetime.

Of course all of this was in the days before this constant din of hateful, anti-immigrant rhetoric… when Americans were still capable of compassion... of conceptual thought... and when minor technicalities like violations of immigration law could be overlooked for the greater good. Today, because of the constant barrage of right wing hate-mongering Americans see immigrants not as a potential resource… but as a threat to be dealt with.

This is so ironic considering the pedestal upon which these same right-wingers have placed the illegal immigrant known as Alisa Rozenbaum.

Today such a story could not be written. It is modern neo-con mantra that illegal immigrants must be boxed up and deported en-mass, and that immigration reform will come only after the borders have been secured. Would be immigrants, even when not trying to enter the country by nefarious means, are viewed somehow as less than human... certainly less than American. U.S. Immigration services and consular officials are not expected to respect the rights of foreign nationals, and indeed are discouraged from such behavior.

Where Alisa met almost no resistance and later became an iconic figure in American political rhetoric, even would-be legal immigrants today could be subjected to years of legal limbo and arbitrary, humiliating subjection to bureaucratic song and dance. Under the systems and attitudes of today our Libertarian friends (and Paul Ryan) would be deprived of one of their most cherished icons.

Alisa (Alice) Rozenbaum… AKA Ayn Rand… would not be welcome in America today.

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Sunday Funnies

Funnies continue BELOW THE FOLD...

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Manila has its own Pat Robertson

Just yesterday Bishop Broderick Pabillo of the Roman Catholic Church started saying that the recent catastrophic typhoon that did so much damage and caused so much misery for thePhilippines, is God’s way of showing his opposition to proposed legislation granting the women of that country what Americans might consider basic reproductive rights.

Typhoon Pablo killed more than 300 people and estimates are up to 700 remain missing. In an interview on the Catholic-run Radio Veritas, Pabillo stated that natural disaster, responsible for so much death, destruction and misery, is the “Lord […] trying to send a message.” From the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

“The good bishop, and I use the term “good” with utmost sincerity, because Bishop Pabillo’s record in the pursuit of social justice is otherwise impeccable, declared in a much-quoted interview over Radio Veritas that Pablo and its wake could be (he at least was not categorical, but that’s a  consuelo  de  bobo) a message from God not to further consider the Reproductive Health bill, or a punishment from Him for doing so.”

The following (translated to English) is an excerpt of the good Bishop’s speech:

“I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence or if the Lord is trying to send a message to us that whenever that [the healthcare bill] is being discussed heatedly, it seems that there’s a disaster that causes much suffering among us.

The Reproductive Health Bill currently under consideration would guarantee universal access to methods of contraception, fertility control, sexual education, and maternal care.

Wherever we find any of the Abramic religions it seems this misogynistic nonsense is endemic.

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Mitch punked - Filibusterers his own bill

Punked, pawned... call it what you like. I'd say McConnell took a dump and then fell back into it.

"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wanted to prove on Thursday that Democrats don’t have the votes to weaken Congress’ authority on the debt limit. Instead they called his bluff, and he ended up filibustering his own bill.

The legislation, modeled on a proposal McConnell offered last year as a “last-choice option” to avert a U.S. debt default, would permit the president to unilaterally lift the debt ceiling unless Congress mustered a two-thirds majority to stop him. President Obama has championed the idea."

But of course Mitch now says it was never his intent to allow a straight up or down vote. Sure Mitch. Sure.

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Sunday Funnies

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