August 2012
25 posts
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Liar, Liar
For a devout Catholic, Paul Ryan sure violates the eighth commandment a lot. His rousing speech last night at the RNC was so full of distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies he’ll need to spend a week in the confessional after the convention is over.
It’s really too bad, because I was hoping that the guy who’s become the face of the Tea Party economic agenda would show...
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THEY Built It
The theme of day one from the Republican National Convention was loud and clear: “We Built It” signs were everywhere in the hall, and speaker after speaker repeated the message in one form or another—that those of us who made it did it by the sweat of our own brows, we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, without help from anyone, especially not from government.
Sure you did....
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Aurora, New York
This just in: nine of the people wounded in the shooting outside the Empire State Building were hit by police bullets in the exchange of gunfire with the man who opened fire on his former workmate. The gun nuts who insist that arming everyone is the only solution to this country’s outrageous level of gun violence will, of course, choose to ignore the clear implication of the story. In their...
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Hurricane Isaac
The Republican Party postponed its convention in Florida because Hurricane Isaac seems to have taken dead aim at Tampa. This brings up an important theological question question for the right-wing Christians who so often proclaim that some natural disaster or another is God’s punishment for whatever sin the victims are supposed to have committed. Does this mean that God hates Republicans and...
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Legit Rape
Quite a balancing act—The GOP simultaneously distancing itself from Rep. Akin’s outrageous remarks, that women who are raped can’t get pregnant, while standing by its own platform to criminalize all abortions, even in the case of rape, incest or risk to the mother’s life. I guess their relentless assault on women counts a legitimate rape.
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Warmth
According to reports, the plan is to showcase the warm, fuzzy side of Mitt Romney at the upcoming GOP convention, countering his image as a cold, unfeeling technocrat unable to connect with ordinary people. There will be a film clip of him giving his Swiss banker a big bear hug and videos of him tossing coins to grateful Cayman Islanders from the bridge of his yacht. One highlight will be Tuesday...
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Nation of Whiners
When did politics become one long offended whine? Poor little Mitt getting beat up on his taxes by the big mean Dems. Poor little Barack, inheriting a bad economy because of those nasty old Republicans. Poor little Paul Ryan, had to grow up without a daddy, so everyone else should have their benefits cut and be self-reliant like him. Poor little minority and elderly voters, having to produce...
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Paul Ryan
Oh, Goodie. Mitt chose Paul Ryan. We now know what the campaign will be about: the Ryan budget, which slashes social services, redesigns Medicare and Social Security, and eviscerates the safety net, giving away the savings through massive tax cuts for the wealthy, who already pay the lowest taxes in modern history. If the Republicans can persuade Americans that this is in their best interest, it...
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Mitt's Veep
Now the far right is demanding that poor Mitt prove his bona fides as a true wingnut by selecting Rep. Paul Ryan, author of the extreme budget the Republican party has adopted, a budget so mean-spirited that even the American Catholic bishops have denounced it for savaging the safety net. Romney, a formerly sane Republican who in the past has made at least a modicum of sense and who has previously...
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Another Mass Murder
Another mass killing, this one at a Sikh temple. This, on the heels of the shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater. So, please explain to me again why we allow pretty much any lunatic who wants one to have an automatic weapon. I know lots of folks think these frequent mass murders are just the price we have to pay for the freedom to—wait, I’ve forgotten exactly what freedom is...
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Record Drought
Okay, so the record drought and accompanying record heat wave is exactly what climate warming models predict with the rise in greenhouse gasses. Crops are dying, food prices will soar, which is exactly what we need in a deep recession. And the urgent response from our fearless leaders? Right. You might want to invest in sunscreen.
