Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Kentucky County Cluck Refuses to Issue Gay Marriage Licenses



Citing God as her ultimate authority, Rowan County clerk, Kim Davis, has steadfastly refused to issue licenses for gay marriages, even though the law instructs her to do so. 

Finally, a federal judge has ordered her to court.

Ms. Davis can believe in any kind of deity she wants.  She can believe in Zeus.  Or Osiris.  Or Allah.  Or Yahweh.  Or Jesus.  Or the Pope.  Or the Poop.  She has that right. 

But as an official governmental officer, paid by the taxpayers, she does not have the right to refuse to do her job because her teeny little brain tells her that her god thinks gay marriage is wrong. 

[What I find incomprehensible is the insistence that homosexuality is an "abomination," while these same people totally ignore all the other "sinners" out there committing other abominations.  By a more strict fundamentalist Christian standard, she'd have to refuse marriage licenses to about 99.9 % of the population.  And she herself would not qualify for a marriage license as you can bet she's screwed up somewhere along the line.]

It's all such crap and it's so stupid to have to mess around with these ignorant and bigoted people in 2015.  

I hate to see anyone go to jail, but if she continues to refuse to do her job, she should be impeached (no matter the cost involved), fined and given jail time.

So often these days, piddly-ass religious twerps use the "god" scam as a way to bless their own bigoted beliefs and undergird the little power that they think they have.   But that can't work in this country because this country is a secular country governed by the people, not by any god. 

Monday, August 31, 2015

The Ten Commandments- the basis of our laws and morals

Rick Scott gives hypocrisy a new name




Rick Scott, the hypocritical criminal governor of Florida is involved in auditing "Florida hospitals to ensure they haven’t committed Medicaid fraud. This comes from a governor whose tenure as CEO of Columbia/HCA hospitals led to the company being fined a then-record $1.7 billion for Medicaid and Medicare fraud. Scott pleaded the Fifth Amendment 75 times in a deposition to avoid discussing the case.
 
"On Aug. 3, Scott ordered audits on 29 hospitals that failed to meet an Aug. 1 deadline for providing information on their Medicaid contracts. As The Sun reported this week, he has now added another 100 hospitals — including North Florida Regional Medical Center and several run by the University of Florida — to the list because he was unsatisfied with their responses.

"Hospitals receiving public money should be scrutinized, but this seems like a politically motivated witch hunt. Scott has been on the warpath against hospitals since they sought state funding to supplement the federal aid lost due to the failure of Scott and the Legislature to expand Medicaid."


[From the Gainesville Sun].

h/t to Ybor Stogie

War Criminal



When you see this guy on TV talk shows and listen to all of his justifications as to why he was involved in leading the U.S. into an illegal and unjustified war and why he thinks torture is the cat's meow, remember that he is, without question, a war criminal, and should be in prison along with several others, including his boss!

h/t to Crooks & Liars

The Teabagger Socialist-free Purity Test


I, ________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.
I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.
I will fore-swear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls.  Also.
I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life.  I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:
  • Social Security
  • Medicare/Medicaid
  • State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
  • Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
  • US Postal Service
  • Roads and Highways
  • Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
  • The US Railway System
  • Public Subways and Metro Systems
  • Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
  • Rest Areas on Highways
  • Sidewalks
  • All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009 federal senate appropriations)
  • Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
  • Public and State Universities and Colleges
  • Public Primary and Secondary Schools
  • Sesame Street
  • Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
  • Public Museums
  • Libraries
  • Public Parks and Beaches
  • State and National Parks
  • Public Zoos
  • Unemployment Insurance
  • Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
  • Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
  • Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
  • Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
  • Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
  • Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies
  • Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies
If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care
I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:
  • Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
  • The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments
  • The government-operated Statue of Liberty
  • The Grand Canyon
  • The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials
  • The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
  • All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC
I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.
I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.  
I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army
I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees
Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.
         Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health
         insurance until I die.      
SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF __________ IN THE YEAR ___.
_____________   _________________________
Signed       Printed Name/Town and State

Sunday, August 30, 2015

The Republican Party Rape Advisory Chart

attribution: Brainwrap
 
Thanks to Daily Kos for the above.

Bloviating Dumps in the Clown Car



I thought we had banned DDT a long time ago.  Well, we did, but not the political kind.  We still have Donald (Dump) Da Trump with us today.  And now this bloviating bully wants to be president of the United States because he's got all the answers and will make our country great again.

When Dump da Trump spoke to some folks in a football stadium down Mobile way, he got suddenly religious - Mobile is deep in the Bible Belt, ya know.  He said, looking out at the crowd, that now he knows how Billy Graham felt.   [Notice how in one sentence he brags about attracting as many people as Billy used to for his "crusades," and at the same time implying his message is as important or even more important than Billy's].  Da Dump then extended his religiosity by claiming he likes the Bible mostest of all the books he has yet to read.

In recent days a few TV personalities had the temerity to ask him how much he likes the Bible, and whether he likes the Old Testament better than the New Testament, and could he please quote some of his favorite Bible verses.  Well, da Dump had to think fast.  He looked like he wanted to fire someone.  His face turned redder and his hair began to sweat and it quickly became clear he knows next to nothing about the Bible; that he couldn't remember anything from the Bible; and he kinda likes both the Od and New testaments about the same.

A funny aside:  Da Dump was interviewed by Ms. Icansee Alaska herself, and she declared that it was unfair to ask him to name a favorite Bible verse.  I suppose she relates this to the time Katie Couric asked her which magazines and/or newspapers she read after bragging how she keeps up to date on current events, and she could not name one!

Da Dump says he's a Presbyterian Protestant.  That phrase is a giveaway.  It would be used only by someone who's unfamiliar with both Protestants and Presbyterians.  Then he claimed he attends the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City.  Marble Collegiate is NOT Presbyterian, though; it is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America and was the church of the famous Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, he of the positive thinking approach to life.

Marble Collegiate says da Dump is not a member. 

A prophet he is not, also.  He's been bloviating about how he's going to deport 11 million illegal immigrants but when pressed about how he will pay for it, he clearly has no idea.  One big problem with such a deportation is that it leaves you without people to harvest our fruits and veggies, a job that's been handled largely by immigrants from Mexico - legal and illegal. 

A Christian he is not.  He wants to excise the 14th Amendment from our Constitution which grants citizenship to everyone born in the United States.  He would, in a most unChristlike manner, uproot all of our illegal immigrant families, including their children who are citizens of the U.S., and send them lock, stock and barrel, back across the border.

And then, says da Dump, let's build a wall all along the border.   Wait, we've tried that.  It didn't work.  People climb over it, build tunnels under it, or blow holes through it.  We've also found it's incredibly expensive and again da Dump has no idea how he'd pay for it.


One might think da Dump's past, which is filled with failed marriages and bankrupt businesses and shady gambling casinos, would put off fundy Christians, but that does not seem to be the case.  For one thing fundy Christians really have no values worth speaking about.  When they talk about values they mean abortion should be abolished, gays should be put back in the closet and liberals should leave the country along with the immigrants.

So, da Dump's values or lack thereof bother them not at all.  If it looks like he can return our country to the 1940s or 1950s, well, I'm sure they think that is what Jesus would want to happen. 

That's why da Dump dares to join with da Cruz to headline a rally, the purpose of which is to show opposition to the nuclear agreement with Iran, a rally organized by Tea Pot crackpots (The Tea Party Patriots), the Center for Security Policy and the right-wing Zionist Organization of America to be held on Capitol Hill on September 9.

According to TPM, "The Center for Security Policy is an anti-Muslim think tank founded by former Reagan administration official Frank Gaffney, who often speaks about the threat of creeping Sharia Law and has accused Republican and Democratic officials alike of being Muslim Brotherhood plants in the U.S."  He also claimed at one point that President Obama had "slipped an Islamic crescent into a government logo."


Da Trump symbolizes how our political system has turned pathological.  It has become a dump where toxic fumes and gasses leak into the air to despoil all that with which they come into contact.

When a field of candidates, almost to a man (or woman), publicly disrespect our Constitution and our laws, we have sunk to a new low, we are in dire straits.  Perhaps its time to try another system, the British or Canadian parliamentary system, maybe.

Consider this:  Ernest J. King was a five-star admiral who served as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Fleet and was the Chief of Naval Operations during WWII.  When 47 years old, at the Naval War College, he wrote a paper suggesting that the greatest weakness we have is our representative democracy.  "[...] our representative form of government has developed as to put a premium on mediocrity and to emphasize the defects of the electorate...[people think they know it all, people are concerned only for their own welfare, people are ignorant of our history, our foreign affairs, and are uninterested in such things] ..."

How a top admiral in our Navy could get by with penning such an anti-democratic and anti-American paper is beyond me.

But there is a disease that affects many of those who inhabit the top ranks of our military services.  It's a disease that infects them with permission to think they are gods of a sort, that they know what is best for the country; and it leads to a disease that allows them with ease to slip into the role of dictator.  I have experienced this in person.  The captain of a naval base or a ship is, in fact, a dictator.  He is to be obeyed at all times without question.  In some cases, that might work out for a time.  In my case, the captain was also crazy.  Eventually, he was relieved of his command and later drove his car off a cliff near San Francisco.  But it was a harrowing time between his arrival and his relief.


Listen to da Dump, to da Cruz, to da Bush, to da Santorum, to da Carson, to da Perry, etc., and ask yourself if you do not hear echoes of the Admiral's anti-democratic and thus anti-American sentiments hanging in the air around them.

The real danger is not that they are a bunch of clowns or fools on an errand.  The danger is that one of them might actually get elected. 

All is not lost, however.  Consider DDT, a terrible pesticide.  Thirty years ago, the brown pelican had become almost extinct because of the use of DDT.  But shortly after DDT has been banned, the brown pelican began making a comeback and today they are thriving across North America.

There is hope.


Note:  I don't care whether Dump da Trump ever reads the Bible or knows any verse in the Bible.  That's irrelevant to the presidency.  But if he's going to pander to the religious right nutcases, and parade his faux religiosity in public, then he needs to be called to account.