BlueBloggin

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

I suspect that if all immigration –legal or ill –were stopped overnight, the nation would be plunged into a recession/depression. Few economies are so large that they can simply kiss off an overnight withdrawal of some several billion dollars! Banks would fall like dominoes.

To be fair, it is not only Hispanics that the GOP begrudges health-care! It’s Americans of any origin or political persuasion! Their motto was best articulated by one Ebenezer Scrooge whom Dickens “quoted” thus: “Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons? Then let them die and decrease the surplus population!”

Posted by nytexan March 3rd, 2012 | Tags: corporate personhood, GOP, hispanics, Immigration, Len Hart, lies, native Americans, Taxes | Category: civil rights, Corporate corruption, Immigration, IRS, Tax Dollars | Leave a comment

At a town hall meeting in Iowa (November 2011), Santorum decried government efforts to protect children from economic suffering. He said: “If you’re a Christian, suffering is part of life, and it’s not a bad thing. It’s an essential thing.”

  “Suffering, if you’re a Christian, suffering is a part of life. And it’s not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life … There are all different ways to suffer. One way to suffer is through lack of food and shelter and there’s another way to suffer which is lack of dignity and hope and there’s all sorts of ways that people suffer and it’s not just tangible, it’s also intangible and we have to consider both.”

WIKI: Redemptive suffering is the Roman Catholic belief that human suffering, when accepted and offered up in union with the Passion of Jesus, can remit the just punishment for one’s sins or for the sins of another. Like an indulgence, redemptive suffering does not gain the individual forgiveness for their sin; forgiveness results from God’s grace, freely given through Christ, which cannot be earned. After one’s sins are forgiven, the individual’s suffering can reduce the penalty due for sin.

Rick Santorum is the poster boy for all things ‘HATE’. As president, Santorum would make sure that Americans that do not ‘toe the line’ to his twisted idea of freedom, are punished.  America would become the Theocratic Guantanamo of the world. Santorum represents a Very Vocal Minority that want to take revenge on American Social Culture. Santorum’s audience wants to turn America into a social conservative primitive religious theocracy, where religious freedom means the entire country must do it their way only … or else. Rick Santorum is a one man Hate Group!

How can the average American identify with the hateful rhetoric being spewed by a US Presidential candidate? In a world where Rick Santorum is leader of the world’s most powerful military and recovering economy, do you think that  you are safe?  The likes and dislikes Rick Santorum has espoused are blindingly clear, if you do not fit into his ideal image of a Tea Party Christian, you will be punished, because, “suffering is good”.

Santorum Against the World  - The ex-senator sets the Culture War aside to preach paranoia in our time.

Former senator Rick Santorum earned the sobriquet “the believer” during his time in Washington. A staunch Catholic, he made cultural conservative issues his personal crusade, frequently giving impassioned speeches on behalf of the unborn and leading the effort to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Though self-effacing and affable in private, on the Senate floor he became a scourge in the hands of an angry God.

Santorum ‘Throws Up’ on JFK/Obama

With Republican presidential front-runner Rick Santorum, it’s hard to decide what is more alarming, his know-nothingism or his dishonesty. In recent days, he has put on displays of both, decrying President Barack Obama’s advocacy for higher learning and distorting John F. Kennedy’s 1960 appeal for religious tolerance.

Like many on the Right, Santorum also selectively disregards the founding principles of the United States, which include government neutrality on religion. In one speech, Santorum said he “almost threw up” when reading Kennedy’s reiteration of that principle more than a half century ago when JFK was seeking to become the first Catholic president.

Santorum too dangerous to be even a weak choice for president

For all his supposed authenticity, Rick Santorum is not what he seems. Beneath that sweater vest beats the heart of a calculating and increasingly desperate politician who has gone beyond pandering all the way to shameless demagoguery.That’s the charitableview. The uncharitable take on Santorum’s incendiary rhetoric is that he actually believes this stuff. Either way, it’s time for Republican voters to end his little electoral adventure and send him back to the cosseted life of a Washington influence-peddler.

Politicians say the darnedest things, especially when their lips are moving.

“President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob. There are good decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren’t taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them. Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image.” … even Santorum went to college and earned advanced degrees in law and business, and look how he turned out! What Santorum was obliquely referring to is his sense that today’s college and university campuses are hotbeds of socialism and liberal theology.

Things Rick Santorum declares, thanks to research by 31 Rick Santorum Quotes:

Barack Obama = ~Rick Santorum, claims that President Obama deserves no credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden and that 9/11 families should be angry because he order him killed. I’m assuming that Santorum credits Bush which is laughable.

Gays = ~Rick Santorum, compares homosexuality to bestiality, and saying that we don’t have the right to have consensual sex. He’s also saying we don’t have the right to privacy.  ~Rick Santorum, compares homosexuality to being black. ~Rick Santorum, compares his fight against homosexuality to the war against terror. ~Rick Santorum, compares legalizing same-sex marriage to the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Liberals = ~Rick Santorum, claims liberals hate Western civilization despite the fact that Republicans have been tearing it apart for decades. ~Rick Santorum, claims liberals hate Western civilization despite the fact that Republicans have been tearing it apart for decades.

Women’s Rights = ~Rick Santorum, accuses the left of being bullies despite the fact that he agrees with those who want to execute gays and women who have abortions. AND ~Rick Santorum, declares that states have the right to outlaw all forms of birth control. ~Rick Santorum, advocates for arresting doctors that provide crucial medical services to women. ~Rick Santorum, opposes contraception and frighteningly suggesting that he would make pre-marital sex illegal. AND “In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don’t both need to. … What happened in America so that mothers and fathers who leave their children in the care of someone else — or worse yet, home alone after school between three and six in the afternoon — find themselves more affirmed by society? Here, we can thank the influence of radical feminism.” (Santorum’s 2005 book, It Takes a Family: ) AND “Women are too emotional for combat …”

Elderly = ~Rick Santorum, supports the Paul Ryan plan to kill Medicare and Medicaid, and stating that he would end both programs right now.

Minorities = “The most dangerous place for an African-American in this country is in the womb.” ~Rick Santorum, claims that blacks are more threatened by abortion than they are by GOP economic policies that discriminate against them. AND “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money; I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.” (Campaign stop in Iowa, Jan. 2, 2012)

Health Care = “Almost 60,000 average Americans had the courage to go out and charge those beaches on Normandy, to drop out of airplanes who knows where, and take on the battle for freedom. Average Americans, the very Americans that our government now, and this president, does not trust to make a decision on your health care plan. Those Americans risked everything so they could make that decision on their health care plan.” ~Rick Santorum, falsely claiming that WW2 veterans fought for the privatization of health care on D-Day, apparently oblivious to the fact that military health care is government run and a majority of WW2 veterans are currently using and enjoying Medicare.

Poor People = ~Rick Santorum, falsely claims that poverty was the lowest in history because of the Bush policies. In fact, poverty only increased.

Higher Education = “President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college,” Santorum said in Michigan. “What a snob.” and “The idea is that the state doesn’t have rights to limit individuals’ wants and passions. I disagree with that. I think we absolutely have rights because there are consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or passions they desire.” ~Rick Santorum, declares that government has the right to limit people from pursuing their dreams.

Immigrants = in December of 2011, Senator Santorum was interviewed on the PBS Show “Conversation with the Candidates.” He was asked about immigration and states that the US must be a nation of laws and we cannot grant amnesty to those already in the country while telling those who are coming here legally that they will get lesser treatment.

Evolution = “What we should be teaching are the problems and holes and I think there are legitimate problems and holes in the theory of evolution. And what we need to do is to present those fairly from a scientific point of view. And we should lay out areas in which the evidence supports evolution and the areas in the evidence that does not.” ~Rick Santorum, claiming that evolution theory isn’t accurate.

Climate Science = ~Rick Santorum, claims that man-made CO2 is not responsible for climate change despite the fact that CO2 levels have doubled since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

EPA = Speaking to voters in Iowa Monday, January 2, 2012, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania ripped the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule placing first-ever limits on the amount of mercury that coal-fired power plants can emit into the air. AND Santyorum calls research linking humans to global warming “junk science” that is “patently absurd.” He once eloquently said that climate change is “a beautifully concocted scheme” that is “just an excuse for more government control of your life.” Santorum also plans to abolish the EPA and its “job-killing radical regulatory approaches,” subsequently repealing all Obama-era EPA regulations. He has stated that he wants to “refocus [the EPA’s] mission on safe and clean water and air and commonsense conservation.” However, Santorum has consistently voted against an increase in renewable energy and regulations for cleaner air. Santorum has also supported a limit increase on mercury emissions from power plants, pushing heavily for nuclear energy. He has stated his hope to “put aside our dreams of ‘green jobs,” believing that we should instead focus on the “great domestic resources at our disposal.” Santorum plans to eliminate all agriculture and energy subsidies within four years, thereby cutting subsidies for solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources. He wants an “all of the above” energy policy, calling on the pursuit of oil, coal, natural gas, and anything else we can get our hands on – this would include drilling in his preferred location, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Santorum has, however, proposed scaling back on all “oppressive regulation” that prohibits drilling in other locations. AND about Fracking, “We have to have all sorts of government regulations because of the threats of hydrofracking,” Santorum said. “It’s the new boogey man. It’s the new way to try to scare you.”  Later he imitated anti-fracking politicians and environmentalists. “Ooh, all this bad stuff’s going to happen, we don’t know all these chemicals and all this stuff,” he said. “What’s going to happen? Let me tell you what’s going to happen, nothing’s going to happen.”  It’s not the first time Santorum has dismissed environmental threats as bogus rhetoric. At a campaign stop in Colorado on Tuesday, he told voters that he never bought into the “hoax of global warming.”

Social Security = “The Social Security system, in my opinion, is a flawed design, period. But having said that, the design would work a lot better if we had stable demographic trends. We don’t have enough workers to support the retirees . . . A third of the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion.“ ~Rick Santorum, blames abortion for future Social Security shortfalls when in fact, it’s Republican anti-job policies that are to blame.

Palestinians = “There are no Palestinians. All the people who live in the West Bank are Israelis. There are no Palestinians. This is Israeli land.” (Iowa November 18, 2011) ~Rick Santorum, falsely claiming that there are no Palestinians living on the West Bank.

Foreign Policy = ~Rick Santorum, critices President Obama for repairing US relations with France. And being ignorant of the fact that without the French, America wouldn’t be a free nation today. AND “I would be saying to the Iranians, you either open those facilities, begin to dismantle them and make them available to inspectors or we will degrade those facilities though air strikes. And make it very public that we are doing that. Iran would not get a nuclear weapon under my watch.”
~Rick Santorum, threatening war with Iran. and “I don’t want to go to a trade war, I want to beat China. I want to go to war with China and make America the most attractive place in the world to do business.”
~Rick Santorum, stating that he wants a war with China.

Other Religions = “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” AND “The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical.” ~Rick Santorum, claims Christians played no role in starting the Crusades. ~Rich Santorum says he almost threw up reading John Kennedy’s 1960 speech on religious tolerance, and the GOP presidential hopeful sees sinister intent in President Obama’s plea that young Americans seek higher education. So, what would a Santorum America be like?  “Satan has his sights on the United States of America!” Santorum declared. “This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country.”

Four years ago, Santorum apparently was under the mistaken belief that the country was fighting a war not in Iraq, but on the shores of the River Styx.  In a speech at Ava Maria University excerpted on Tuesday on the Drudge Report website, he warned that the Lord of Darkness was mustering his troops for an apocalyptic showdown with us rivaling anything ever seen in a Jerry Bruckheimer action movie.

OP-ED: Santorum’s snobbery

Rick Santorum Says Children With A Gay Father Would Be Better Off With A Father In Prison

Rick Santorum Expresses Views on Fracking While Bashing Environmentalists

In The American Conservative 2007 article:  Santorum Against the World  – The ex-senator sets the Culture War aside to preach paranoia in our time.

Instead, the speech grinds on as Santorum warns of the “gathering storm” and draws parallels between our time and the late 1930s and early ’40s. Warning that America will face an array of exotic threats alone, Santorum begins to quote the June 1940 address of Winston Churchill to the British people in which the prime minister girded them for the coming battle of Britain. In the audio recording sold by Focus on the Family, as Santorum’s voice solemnly quiets, the ghostly crackle of Churchill’s original rises. Santorum closes by explaining that defeat means to “sink into the abyss of a new dark age.” Dobson emerges to speculate that this may be some of “the most prophetic work” his ministry has brought to its audience, saying, “Rick Santorum gets it. He may have been the finest senator we have had in many decades. He is part of the heritage of Winston Churchill.”

Santorum has been giving similar speeches wherever he can. To a standing room only crowd at the close of the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference, his talk was preceded by a PowerPoint presentation by David Horowitz of the Terrorism Awareness Project. Grainy photos of suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq flashed rapidly across the projection screen to a soundtrack ripped out of “Classical Thunder.” The lesson: nowhere do Palestinians or other Arabs work for simple political goals, such as land or national sovereignty. They wish solely for the destruction of Israel and the Great Satan. No event is discreet: each bombing from 1979 until today is connected, and appeasement is not an option. The words of radical clerics fill the screen, implying that Islam itself is the problem. One onlooker explained how this presentation “revived [his] dedication to this battle.”

Santorum amplifies these sentiments when he talks about the historic animus between Islam and Christendom. “We’re not going to solve the problem by just chasing down a few bad guys in Iraq. … We are in the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. This is not just a military conflict, it is an ideological conflict.” And confronting this menace means reaching beyond the war on terror. According to Santorum, the West must witness to Muslims, not for Christ but for Modernity. We must also, in order to have allies, re-evangelize Europe for Christianity, lest Europe die out and be replaced with “Euristan.” Santorum never explains exactly how the United States can begin transforming the spiritual and ideological culture of both Europe and the Middle East—he just knows that it is essential to America’s security.

As Santorum’s list of enemies has grown, so has his ambition. His role in the fight against America’s enemies is no longer confined to Washington D.C. “We have to fund and produce artifacts of the culture that communicate the message on a broad-based scheme. … If you wanted to win America,” he asks “would you rather have someone give a great political speech or have a movie in every theater across America?” Citing Michael Moore’s documentaries and movies like “Syriana,” Santorum has expressed interest in becoming a movie producer himself and has reportedly met with the producer of “The Passion of the Christ,” Steve McEveety. His film would center around three Iranian brothers, one of whom comes to the U.S. as a terrorist. Santorum insists, “It’s not real yet in the sense that we don’t have the money. But we’re working on it.” He hopes the film will be action-packed and entertaining while at the same time educational.

By making faraway fascists the top issue for families, Santorum’s struggle against Islamic fascism (and Latin American populism and Russia) has fused the two dominant strands of conservative politics: neoconservative foreign policy and traditionalist social policy. His credibility among social conservatives is the anvil on which hawks can forge an unbreakable war consensus with the base of the Republican Party.

Whereas each bloody headline from Iraq serves to chastise the American public and its political class, discouraging them from further interventionism, the effect is reversed on Santorum. Every roadside bomb demonstrates to him that powerful enemies outside Iraq are aligning for our destruction. Falling public support is further proof that Republicans have failed to explain the nature of the current struggle. His own defeat in last year’s election didn’t prompt him to rethink his crusade but to redouble it.

Santorum’s former colleagues draw other lessons from his defeat: you cannot win with the base alone. America does not want a new list of enemies or a mission to change the world. Nor does the country want “believers” who insist that we do.

SUFFER YE AMERICANS!  Rick Santorum has definite opinions that cater to his adopted Tea Party agenda, but it appears that he has amplified the rhetoric.  Don’t look at the contradictions.  Don’t look at his biggest contributors in the oil and gas industry (who despise safety regulations). Don’t look at his outright distortions to History and Science.  Don’t look at what he does or how he lives.  If Colleges and Universities are indoctrinating students into a liberal agenda, why is this University educated lawyer, with 2 degrees, sending his children to college? 

Picture me disgusted, the Grand Old Party needs to clean it’s litter box because it really stinks..

Posted by bosskitty March 2nd, 2012 | Tags: Clash of Religions, GOP, Hate Groups, Holy War, Human Rights, Presidential Election, Republican, Rick Santorum, Theocracy, women's rights | Category: Christian, civil rights, Conversion, GOP, Politics, Republican | Leave a comment

  Rush “Rusty” Hudson Limbaugh III, poster boy for sexual ignorance, is at it again.  He calls women, who want protection from pregnancy “sluts”. Should we call men who have sex with unprotected women, perverts?  So, let’s make a religious law that SLUTS cannot get birth control and PERVERTS cannot get Cialis, Levitra, Staxyn, and Viagra from their insurance provider.  Let’s get those commercials off of prime time TV.  What should we call men who watch ‘Girls Gone Wild’ and watch those late night infomercials for penis enhancing creams and devices.  Perverts? Does that make you a PERVERT, Rush? After all, you were “detained” by the DEA after being caught with an illegal prescription of Viagra, in 2006. What about your illegally obtaining the prescription drugs oxycodone and hydrocodone.  After four wives and no children, you must really walk your talk … so, why the Viagra?

Oh, ye who  “condemned illegal drug use on your television program, stating that “Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. … And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.”

So, if “sluts” don’t want babies from “perverts”, should we make a law against sex altogether?  Let’s go ask the average male …

News Flash, Rush!  It takes TWO to start a baby.  One or both want casual sexual gratification and one does not want to get pregnant.  Wow, that sounds just awful!  Women should get pregnant every time they have sex, right?  AND, men should become fathers every time they exercise their virility.  AND all sexual activity should result in a little house in the suburbs, minivan, soccer practice, and PTA meetings.  Let’s not forget saving for a college fund.

The casual sex business is raking in the money from penis enhanced men.  So, should this be a one way street?  You are advocating women to either abstain from sex altogether, or get pregnant and be sidelined from casual sex for nine months.  Did you know that even married couples have casual sex?  No?  Well, they do.  Sometimes married women want to be slutty for their husbands, because their husbands enjoy that.  Poor Rush, guess you never enjoyed any sexual fantasies.  Maybe we should ask your ex-wives.

Hey, that’s OK Rush, what is your name for men who require insurance companies to cover their Cialis, Levitra, Staxyn, and Viagra to cause erections.  Hey Rush, why would men want erections?  Would that be for a religious purpose such as, “go forth and multiply”?  Would that be for sexual recreation? Have you ever had recreational sex?

Hey, are you suggesting all recreational sex be required to cause pregnancies?  So many questions, so little responsibility.  Let’s totally ignore the population bomb.   This planet cannot feed all the happy little feet that come from unprotected casual sex.  Rush cannot think that far ahead, he just wants to put women in their place.  He gets his Rush by saying nasty things to and about women … the more women he can insult in the name of ratings, the better.  Rush has memorized all the key words to rile up his audience.  The producers for this cigar smoking pervert must be ecstatic.

Rush Limbaugh: Women who want health coverage for birth control should make sex videos, well, I think it’s only fair that men who use penis enhancing drugs and devices should be featured, when those women make sex videos.  Actually, I think men should show all of us, their own sex videos. The insurance companies, and politicians that endorse using these sex drugs, should be forced to watch the results of their actions and financially support the consequences … called BABIES.

Rush Limbaugh only has one decision making organ, and it is not in his head….

Posted by bosskitty March 2nd, 2012 | Tags: contraception, Male Enhancement, Population Control, Rush Limbaugh, Sluts and Perverts, women's rights | Category: contraception, Gender Equality, Politics, Rush Limbaugh, sexuality | Leave a comment

The Texas Progressive Alliance is rolling out the red carpet with this week’s blog roundup.

Off the Kuff conducted interviews with Democratic Senate hopefuls Paul Sadler and Sean Hubbard.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is appalled at the disinformation and outright lies that the oil and gas industry pays advertisers and politicians to use, in order to mislead voters. Voters depend on main stream media to be objective when reporting about drilling and injection consequences. Other voters depend on their religious leaders to put a theological spin on their vote. So, the result is, The Earth is Flat and Fracking is Safe. BossKitty is really alarmed at the infiltration of the US Military by extremists. US Military Infiltrated By Christian Crusaders Desecrate Toward Apocalypse

BlueBloggin is appalled that Newt Gingrich has gotten away with condemning the US President for not making excuses for the childish vandalism of Holy Books. Gingrich and other GOP candidates are pandering to the most extreme Dominionist element of people who call themselves Christian. GOP Presidential Candidate nut case, encourages Holy War

As we wait for the Texas primary to be set, WCNews at Eye On Williamson, reminds us that there’s still time for candidates to enter races.

The long delay in determining the new redistricted parameters affects not only Democrats and Republicans but also the other political parties, who can’t begin to collect petition signatures until after the primary elections. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has that and more third-party news in this update.

Bay Area Houston updates the sage on Michael Berry, the right wing talk show hypocrite caught in a gay bar.

Neil at Texas Liberal took a look at some homemade fliers for shows from back in his punk rock days, and was reminded yet again that taking action is up to each of us.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw warns us that if you “…angry about the rising cost of gas? If you are, whatever you do, don’t ask a Republican politician to tell you the truth about why prices are increasing. For the Party of right wing mullahs has psycho based issues with women’s rights. The pre-historic neanderthal cave dwellers will just lie to you and blame the rising prices on Obama.” Read the rest: GOP Scamming People on High Gas Prices.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme joins the chorus screaming Texas Republicans really, really hate women.

Posted by nytexan February 27th, 2012 | Tags: Politics, Texas Blogs, Texas Politics, Texas Wheeler Dealers, TPA | Category: Politics, Texas Blogs, Texas Democratic Party, Texas Politics, Texas Progressive Alliance, TPA | Leave a comment

The 2012 GOP Presidential Candidates nut cases are doing more to discredit the integrity of the United States of America than any wartime spy. What ever happened to the Golden Rule?  The entire Muslim World has a right to be outraged at the REPEATED blatant arrogance and ignorance of sworn representatives of the United States Government. Gingrich appears to have no concept of responsibility.  His words provoke more incendiary Holy War by showing his disregard for a Holy Book.  If it was the Christian Bible being burned by the Taliban, Newt and his fellow GOP Candidates would drop more bombs in outrage.  So far, none of the GOP Candidates have shown any understanding of cause and effect. Evangelical US Soldiers are keeping the war going by constantly re-provoking the anger and anguish of the same Afghan citizens the US is trying to save from the Taliban. To the GOP, that is acceptable, because they use religion to raise money to run for President.  They do not understand or care about anyone else’s religion, they just want to drain the last drop of oil out of the earth and make a profit before it all goes dry.

Analysis: Can United States defuse Koran burning uproar? – (Reuters) – After a third day of bloody protests over the burning of the Koran, there is a sense that America is lurching from one image crisis to the next in Afghanistan, with no clear path for U.S. officials to defuse the latest uproar.  President Barack Obama apologized on Thursday for the burning of copies of the Koran on a U.S. base in Afghanistan, an  incident that has triggered far more outcry than another shocking incident: the emergence of a video last month showing Marines urinating on the corpses of what appear to be dead Taliban fighters.

CNN Photo

The Koran burning incident is only the latest image nightmare for the Pentagon in Afghanistan. Earlier in February, the Pentagon grappled with fallout from a photo showing Marines with what looked like a Nazi SS flag.

In January, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta quickly condemned the video showing U.S. forces urinating on Taliban corpses.

Just a week ago, NATO-led forces killed eight young Afghans in an air strike that enraged the Afghan government and came on the heels of a United Nations report showing civilian casualties in the decade-long war rose again in 2011.

But perhaps the most damaging incident, at least regionally, took place just across the border in Pakistan last November, when Afghan-based American forces killed 24 Pakistani troops. That prompted Islamabad to cut off ground-supply routes used to truck in essential materials for the war effort in Afghanistan.

How the Koran-burning incident adds to the headaches of American military commanders remains to be seen, but there is palpable frustration in Washington.

Indeed, the scandal is hardly the first involving burning of the Koran. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s predecessor, Robert Gates, was so worried about the fallout from a Florida pastor’s plans to burn the Koran that, in 2010, he took the extraordinary step of calling him personally to try to talk him out of it.

That only bought time. In April of last year, the pastor went ahead and supervised the burning of the book in Florida, triggering days of protests in Afghanistan in which some two dozen people were killed, including seven U.N. staff.

The unrest appears to add to the U.S. military’s challenges in Afghanistan, which commanders are trying to stabilize ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most American combat forces by the end of 2014.

Then, along comes ‘Virile’ Republican nut cases, showing how macho they are by defending inexcusable actions made by our military on a US military base in a Muslim country.  How would they like it if the “Holy Bible” was urinated on, flushed down a toilet or burned?

On Thursday, Gingrich was the first Republican White House hopeful to criticize Obama for apologizing after Muslim holy books containing extremist language were burned by NATO soldiers.

Gingrich blasts Obama’s apology to Karzai – Gingrich tweeted,  “It is an outrage that on the day an Afghan soldier murders two American troops, Pres. Obama is the one apologizing.”

Does Mr. Gingrich really think his argument makes sense after all the “collateral deaths and injuries” the United States and it’s allies have been responsible for?  To the Muslim World, the United States is the bully always kicking sand in their faces.  Death of US soldiers is always tragic.  They are soldiers and are trained that casualties are a part of their job description.  This war is NOT about religion, but the GOP candidates are doing their best to make this a Holy War. But, excusing the collateral deaths of non-combatant women, children, elderly and wedding parties is totally insane.  The Afghan War is between combatants and politicians who get brownie points for body counts, like in Viet Nam.  There are US Forces trying their hearts out to mend the broken image of the United States, and there are US Subversives trying their hearts out to disrespect, injure and kill innocents along with actual combatants, and have the nerve to proselytize on top of everything.  Any Muslim that converts to another religion is called a Murtad and is immediately sentenced to death.  Our Evangelical Soldier know this and do it anyway.  God must be very proud of his arrogant children… especially the thoughtless ones.

Crossposted from TruthHugger

Posted by bosskitty February 24th, 2012 | Tags: Christian Terrorists, Newt Gingrich, Presidential Candidates, Quran | Category: Christian Terrorists, Military Religious Complex, Newt Gingrich, Religious War | Comments (3)

Modern technology is great!  Now, men can get their precious virility back with Viagra and a plethora of “Male Enhancement” products. They can watch “Girls Gone Wild” and have a great time …  They can send “Wolf Calls” to attractive passers by, swagger around and gesture at their enhanced genitals, with confidence. They can tally up their scores like college boys.  Their self esteem is guaranteed. It is always all about the male self-esteem.  Self-esteem is more important than being a responsible parent or husband. What?  That is where babies come from?  No, never considered contraception … my church doesn’t allow that.  Abortion is murder … women can’t do that.  No, I am not responsible … it is her fault.  No, I’m not giving a dime to that bitch.

But, oh, the disgusting idea of women having any control, over their reproductive rights, is wrong.  We should make a law against that.  After all, women are around for a man’s pleasure, aren’t they?  GOD MADE WOMEN TO HAVE BABIES, DIDN’T HE? Let’s make it miserable for a woman to make such an awful decision.  Let’s force them to see the ultrasound of their unborn fetus, before going through a pregnancy termination procedure.  Texas “Virile” Republicans saw this as a good idea and passed a law making the ultrasound mandatory.  AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas Governor Rick Perry Thursday signed into law a measure requiring women seeking an abortion in the state to first get a sonogram.  Texas wants to be the Good Ole’ Boy (Patriarchial) capitol of the world, the epitome of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer society.  Texas fundamentalist control freaks seek to insure they hold authority over women, children, and property.  Texas Republican males must rule and enforce privilege to insure female subordination.  Women are property again! Men are biological weapons of mass extinction!  Remember Compulsory Motherhood?  The Virile GOP wants to turn the clock back to the 19th century.  The Virile GOP do not want to pay for any of the consequences of birth, unless they are forced to.  GOP considers Pre-Natal Care, Nutrition, Education and health care, in general is unnecessary entitlement that they don’t want to pay for.

The arguments Texas women made, to their legislators, fell on deaf ears.  The practical side of controlling their own personal reproductive decisions was dismissed in favor of a Virile GOP agenda.  After all, these virile male Republicans are beholden to church endorsements, not some crybaby women.  Not just any churches seek control, but the most fundamentalist and male dominated churches, whose dogma is anchored in centuries old tribal thinking, that the measure of a male is how many children he can sire.  These churches want to dominate everyone, regardless of their faith, or lack thereof.  Handing over control of a human body to any organized religion is similar to the inquisition.  This is America, not an Islamic Theocracy. Human dignity is NOT gender specific!

UPDATE: The Philippines Cracks Down on Contraception The evidence suggests the bill did little to promote abstinence (what Aniceto called “self-mastery”) and did much to hurt women’s health. A report by the Center for Reproductive Rights documented a relative rise in maternal mortality, a slew of unwanted pregnancies and evidence of injury caused by clandestine abortions.

The American male must also complain about the trafficking of sex slaves, but will enjoy the moment given the opportunity. If your virile American male cannot find a suitable recreational female, then abduct one … Any children that result from this expensive recreation, are denied and refused support. But Human Trafficking has enough consumers to be almost as big as the drug industry, we just don’t want to talk about it.

Human trafficking may be closer to home than you think- Those who work in the prevention of human trafficking want the public to see it as a broader problem that can affect men, women and children.  Human trafficking doesn’t just mean a young woman being sexually exploited. It can also mean a farm laborer or a cleaning woman being forced to work for little or no pay through fear or coercion. - Human trafficking is a $32 billion a year industry — tied with arms dealing and just behind drug trafficking. Ninety-five percent of the women in the sex industry are under age 24. Detective Harry James of the Seattle Police Department gave a presentation entitled “Somebody’s Daughter.”

Human trafficking haunts the Bay Area – Though slavery has been illegal in the United States since 1863, one abhorrent flavor still persists in the form of human trafficking.   The crime includes any sort of behavior that uses force to recruit or transport people into a position where they can be exploited, whether it be for labor, sex or other purposes.

The greater percentage of American women, in 2012, are unmarried. Of those unmarried women, a greater percentage are raising children alone, or with the help of their parents, siblings or aunts and uncles.  Those same women are working to support themselves, their children and their family helpers.  The other parent is male.  The privilege of being male is the ability to have recreational sex and move on.  How many times have we heard, “I am not ready for a commitment”.   All that means is, the father is not finished screwing around.  Parenthood would really be a drag.  The male parent can get away with that, no matter how many child support laws are passed.  It is always the woman’s fault.  Men have a problem being responsible for their actions, but want the woman to carry the burden of falling for the line they used to get them in bed.

CDC Statistics for the US are out of date: Births: Final Data for 2009  [PDF - 1.3 MB]

Unmarried Childbearing – (2009 Data are for the U.S.)

•  Number of live births to unmarried women: 1,693,658
• Birth rate for unmarried women: 50.5 births per 1,000 unmarried women aged 15-44 years
• Percent of all births to unmarried women: 41.0%

Teen Births – (2009 Data are for the U.S.)

• Number of live births to 15-19 year olds: 409,802
• Birth rate for 15-19 year olds: 39.1 live births per 1,000 population

Births to Unmarried Women

Increases in births to unmarried women are among the many changes in American society that have affected family structure and the economic security of children.⁴ Children of unmarried mothers are at higher risk of adverse birth outcomes such as low birthweight and infant mortality than are children of married mothers. They are also more likely to live in poverty than children of married mothers.5, 6,

In 2009, 41% of children born in the USA were born to unmarried mothers (up from 5% a half-century ago). That includes 73% of non-Hispanic black children, 53% of Hispanic children and 29% of non-Hispanic white children. Those are not misprints.

Some children of unmarried parents, of course, turn out just fine, particularly if the parents are economically secure or in committed, long-term relationships, or if the single parent is particularly strong and motivated. And as married parents will tell you, wedlock does not guarantee untroubled kids.

Even so, evidence is overwhelming that children of single mothers — particularly teen mothers — suffer disproportionately high poverty rates, impaired development and low school performance.

A long-term study by researchers from Princeton and Columbia universities who’ve followed the lives of 5,000 children, born to married and never-married mothers in 20 urban centers, is the latest to reach that conclusion, and it sheds light on the reasons.

A large majority of the never-married mothers had close relationships with a partner when their child was born. But by the time the child was 5, most of the fathers were gone and the child had little contact with him. As many of the mothers went on to new relationships, the children were hampered by repeated transitions that did more harm to their development.

Now, guys can have intercourse with anyone anytime they feel the urge, with the blessing of the medical and political community, and split.  Whoever they decide to have sex with is always left holding the bag.  For all those pious control freaks, no consideration is really given to the consequences of making child bearing into a requirement for single women.

Big Pharma is really BIG PHARMA and they are raking in the dough for catering to male self-esteem.  They own their politicians who support tribal consciousness.  This is all wonderful for a planet that needs to populate it’s landmasses, like it did in prehistoric times.  We are in 2012 and the planet has too many people to sustain. The arrogance of a deluded male population who thinks recreational sex makes them more of a man, does not want to take responsibility for their fun. Male dominance contributes to the extinction of the human race.

Gay men on the other hand are the apologists for their gender.  Gay men do not contribute to the mass extinction of humanity by over populating it.  They don’t make laws requiring women to bear the responsibility of the man’s indiscretion.  Lesbians are the apologists for the breeding half of their gender.  Gay men and Lesbians will raise the unwanted children of those denied abortions, along with their own.  They also do not contribute to the over population of the planet.  But, given the control freak factor of some clergy and the politicians they endorse, Gay and Lesbian rights are unacceptable.  It threatens their manly tribal rights. 

Bottom line, the wants of the few trump the needs of the many.  The increasing poverty level in the USA has led to more crime, including rape and domestic abuse.  Removing reproductive burdens from victims of rape or sexual deception is preferable to forcing a child to be born to endure physical and emotional abuse into a toxic environment. Ever wonder why women consume the most anti-depressants, while men consume more male enhancements?

The new normal: A child out of wedlock - ‘Marriage has become a luxury good,’ sociologist says

National Marriage Week: Marriage’s Economic Divide – One of the greatest drivers of poverty in the United States is the breakdown of marriage. Eighty percent of all long-term poverty occurs in single-parent homes, over 70 percent of poor families are headed by a single parent, and children in single-parent families are approximately five times more likely to be poor than their peers from married-parent homes.  The connection between marriage and poverty is becoming increasingly problematic as the rate of unwed childbearing continues its upward climb. Today, more than 40 percent of U.S. babies are born to single mothers, whereas in the 1960s the rate was less than 10 percent.

Rise in abuse, neglect shadows growing poverty – A 38 percent increase in poverty probably is responsible for more abuse and neglect in Huron County.  “This report shows a staggering increase of confirmed child abuse and neglect victims, from 26 in 2009 to 62 in 2010,” stated Becky Gettel, Huron County Great Start Collaborative executive director, about a new Kids Count report.

Unwed mothers in U.S. now claim most births younger than 30 – It used to be called illegitimacy. Now it is the new normal. After steadily rising for five decades, the share of children born to unmarried women has crossed a threshold: More than half of births to U.S. women younger than 30 occur outside marriage.

The GOP and the compartmentalization of dignity – Posted on 17 Feb 2012 at 2:36pm

Religious Liberty vs. Reproductive Liberty: A New Political Minefield Pits Women Against the Church – Huffington Post

The Contraception Mandate: Where Are The Women? – NPR:  The all-male witness panel at Thursday’s House hearing on President Obama’s contraception insurance mandate inspired Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, a Democrat from New York, to ask “Where are the women?” A photo of the lineup quickly circulated the Internet—appearing on Twitter and Facebook feeds and landing on women’s rights advocacy blogs.

Of course, our Virile Male Politicians would not risk embarrassing questions by the gender they consider their PROPERTY!

Posted by bosskitty February 22nd, 2012 | Tags: 13th Amendment, abortion, contraception, gender equality, Human Rights, Population Control, slavery, Theocracy, women's rights | Category: 13th Amendment, abortion, Accountability, contraception, Gender Equality, Human Rights, Overpopulation, slavery, Theocracy | Leave a comment

The Texas Progressive Alliance will never be able to say the word “surging” again with a straight face as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones resigned her position to run in the GOP primary for SD25 after finally coming to the realization that her argument that we can’t really know where the capital of Texas is located was completely lame. Off the Kuff provides the commentary.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is really getting worried at how America’s religious culture and the GOP are pushing America backwards, into the previous century, with barbaric personal intrusions. Virile GOP – American Women Are Property Again and Population Control, Climate Change and Zealots describe how these are taking place.

Nothing will change with school finance in Texas until we change our elected officials. That’s what WCNews at Eye On Williamson tells us in this post, We must “Re-Fund” public education in Texas.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about Houston right-wing talk show host and former Houston City Councilmember Michael Berry. Mr. Berry is alleged to have been involved in a hit-and-run incident outside a Houston gay bar. In the recent past, Mr. Berry has said things relating to gay people that did not seem very nice.

Santorum — the man, not the substance — is surging, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs gathers the evidence.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know that Nueces County Republicans screwed with redistricting, too.

Ken Judkins’ column at the Lewisville Texan Journal asks: Why are otherwise good people so uncivil when it comes to politics?

Posted by nytexan February 20th, 2012 | Tags: Blogroll - Texas Progressive Alliance, Politics, Texas Blogs, TPA | Category: Texas Blogs, Texas Politics, Texas Progressive Alliance, TPA | Leave a comment

Posted by nytexan February 13th, 2012 | Tags: Texas Blogs, Texas Politics, Texas Progessive Alliance, TPA, Views From Texas | Category: Texas Blogs, Texas Democratic Party, Texas Politics, Texas Progressive Alliance, TPA | Leave a comment

The Texas Progressive Alliance thought that was one of the better halftime shows it has seen recently as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Texas gets a C on its science curriculum standards, despite the worst efforts of the wingnut faction on the State Board of Education. Off the Kuff has the details.

Anonymous blogging is First Amendment-protected speech, as most of us (but not some conservative bloggers) knew three years ago. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs documents the establishment of the legal precedent.

BossKitty at TruthHugger wants you to ask your candidate about America’s water safety. The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that everyone, unable to afford expensive purification devices, is at risk. Water Crisis And the 2012 Presidential Campaign

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the struggle Texas teachers and schools are having because of the billions the legislature cut from public education last year, Texas teachers and schools need our help.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know that Planned Parenthood, unions, and the Girl Scouts aren’t the only institutions the republicans are trying to kill.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw nails the Komen Foundation flap and sees its parallels in Texas. Give it a read: The Republican Jihad On Women.

Blogging on protests at home and abroad, Neil at Texas Liberal posted about a website hosting conference calls for Occupy participants across the nation, and also made a post relating a number of links to learn more about events in Syria.

Posted by bosskitty February 6th, 2012 | Category: Texas Blogs, Texas Politics, Texas Progressive Alliance, TPA | Leave a comment