Akin isn't a glitch, he's a feature of the GOP

You may recall that GOP Cong. Akin is running for the US Senate from Missouri, and recently made some quite incendiary comments about rape and abortion. Here's that from Marketwatch:

Akin, a Missouri congressman who is challenging Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, said on Sunday that pregnancy caused by rape is “really rare,” and that in the case of “legitimate rape,” women’s bodies have “ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

And here's the video of him making the comment:



Now the problem for the GOP: Akin needs to pull out by the end of today or it gets a lot harder, but not impossible, for the GOP to replace him with someone else. From CNN:

Missouri election rules allow a candidate to withdraw with little difficulty through Tuesday, which is 11 weeks prior to the Nov. 6 election.
After Tuesday, the candidate must get a court order and pay for any necessary reprinting of ballots. The state Republican Party would choose another candidate to run against McCaskill, considered one of the most vulnerable senators in the country.

Good piece by LZ Granderson at CNN about how Akin is only the tip of the iceberg - this is a GOP-wide problem. Here's a snippet:

The truth is the "legitimate rape" comment made by U.S. Rep. Todd Akin -- as in pregnancy from "legitimate rape" is rare -- is not a GOP anomaly, but rather another disturbing glimpse into the viewpoint too many social conservatives have about women's health and reproductive rights. And if abortion is not among the "real issues," why is the GOP platform committee considering adding a ban, with no mention of exceptions, to this year's to-do list?

Last March, in a discussion in the Kansas House about whether women purchase separate abortion-only policies, Republican state Rep. Pete DeGraaf suggested women should plan ahead for rape the way he keeps a spare tire. A few weeks later, Indiana state Rep. Eric Turner, a Republican, said some women might fake being raped in order to get free abortions.

Former presidential hopeful Rick Santorum suggested doctors who perform an abortion on a woman who becomes pregnant from an attack should be thrown in jail and this year suggested rape victims who become pregnant from an attack should be forced to keep the baby and "make the best out of a bad situation."

And we're to believe Akin is just a one-off.

Please.

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Social justice in the classroom? That's crazy talk

It's no secret that American education is in crisis.

So you'd think people would welcome any creative way to give our kids a break, as budgets get squeezed, teachers are laid off, class sizes grow and critical thinking skills give way to rote learning by textbook and standardized test. In fact, creativity is actually flourishing against the odds.

In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has embraced the prestigious International Baccalaureate program in high schools as a way of expanding the educational horizons of the city's best and brightest. And rightly so: U.S. high schools offering the IB program often find themselves on lists of the best schools in the country.

Something else that's no secret, though, is that certain conservatives love a good culture war and rarely miss an opportunity to trumpet ignorance over learning -- on the basis, presumably, that being dumb as dirt is more authentically American than actually knowing anything.  And so, the Republican Party of Minnesota recently decided that it opposes any state or federal funding for IB. And in Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene School District has decided to pull the IB program altogether.

Why? A leading opponent, lawyer Duncan Koler, told the school board last week that the IB is full of “concepts that are politically charged, such as social justice, sustainability. These are code terms." Code for what? Social justice, that is some crazy talk.

What's really going on is a backlash against creativity in education. The International Baccalaureate, we are told, is some sinister UN-backed plot that promotes totalitarian concepts and seeks, in the words of one anti-IB activist, to “program our children’s minds with new loyalties.” Nicky Kram Rosen, the principal of PS 368 in Hamilton Heights in New York City who is putting Arabic on the curriculum next year, is -- according to one scathing local critic -- part of "a cesspool for panderers and anarchists with an international agenda".

The mindset here is so 2003, that miserable year when Arabs were all terrorists, the French -- originators of the Baccalaureate -- were surrender monkeys, and congressmen preferred freedom fries for their lunch. You could even say it's so 1856, when nativists and Know-Nothings fought against the immigrant melting pot in America's growing cities because they thought that foreigners had nothing to contribute but disease, corruption and suspect ideas. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.

The fact is, the IB program has won wide international recognition for its exacting standards and the breadth of knowledge and critical thinking it demands of its students. High-schoolers who participate are taught a second language -- really taught a second language. They are encouraged to engage in community service and develop understanding and respect for other cultures, not as an alternative to national identity, but as an essential part of life in the 21st century.

A recent University of Chicago study showed that students in the IB program were 40 percent more likely to go to college. Tell that to the New Hampshire legislature, which made a short-lived attempt earlier this year to introduce an anti-IB bill banning any public school curriculum "subject to the governance of a foreign body or organization". The bill passed the New Hampshire State House but died, thankfully, in the Senate.

To be against the International Baccalaureate is to be against learning itself, because that's the beginning and the end of what it offers. More than 1000 universities -- including the US Air Force Academy, the US Naval Academy, and institutions like Brown University, Columbia University, and Stanford University -- recognize the IB Diploma as a mark of academic excellence.

Last time I checked, these were pretty highly regarded national institutions. The Republican party, less so. Read the rest of this post...

The convenient untruth of GOP lies on abortion, climate change, tax cuts, and vote fraud

Common wisdom on the left is that Mitt Romney has decided to lie his way to the Presidency. But there is another explanation, one that is much worse: Romney may actually think he is telling the truth.

Ideologues don't live in the same world as the rest of us. If the facts don't fit the ideology, then the problem must be with the facts, as the ideology can never ever be wrong.

GOP Congressman, and Senate hopeful, Todd Akin wasn't merely being sexist and stupid when he said that 'legitimate' rape can't cause pregnancy, he was repeating a falsehood that he believes as absolute fact - a convenient untruth that allows him to avoid the question of whether abortion should be available to women who are raped.

The problem is much bigger than Rep. Akin and the topic of rape.

Republicans today have to believe the convenient untruth that lowering tax rates on the rich will increase revenues, the convenient untruth that climate change is a hoax perpetuated by corrupt scientists seeking grants, the convenient untruth that in-person voter fraud is a real problem and anything else Fox News tells them to believe.

Making policy is easy when you can change the facts to eliminate hard choices: Want to raise spending, cut taxes and eliminate the deficit - just change the laws of mathematics.

Akin's comment on 'legitimate rape' was monstrous and inexcusable, but it is only words. The convenient untruth, and the policy based on that untruth, that he proposed with Paul Ryan and 50+ other Republicans would have had real consequences.

The national battle over Todd Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” has shed light on a “personhood” bill, co-sponsored by Akin and Paul Ryan, called the Sanctity of Life Act. Much of the chatter today has focused on whether Ryan opposes abortion in cases of rape. The Romney campaign confirmed today that Ryan does personally oppose it, while clarifying that a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose it.

But what about the other legal implications of the bill Ryan and Akin co-sponsored? In an interview just now, Dem Rep. Louise Slaughter, one of the leading pro-choice voices in Congress, raised two startling possibilities.

“One of the questions around this legislation is, Could a rapist who impregnated a victim sue that victim if she decided not to carry that baby and to have an abortion?” Slaughter said. “Another question: Could in vitro fertilization be outlawed?”

It’s unclear how this legislation would work. The bill affirms that from the moment of fertilization onward, “every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.” It then says that Congress and the states have the “authority” to protect all human beings — again, defined as human life from fertilization onward — residing in their juristictions.

Making 'faith based' policy is easy. Cleaning up the mess is not. It isn't an accident that George W. Bush left the country with a ballooning deficit, two unfinished wars and a fiscal crisis: Those outcomes were the direct and predictable consequence of his policies in office.

The Bush presidency failed because policy was based on beliefs that were demonstrably untrue. And now Romney is desperately tying to prove to us that he wants to make the same mistake. Read the rest of this post...

Mike Huckabee, in defense of rape babies (seriously)

Shorter GOP: Time for America's women to make some rape lemonade.

Keep in mind that this is the guy a lot of Republicans wanted as their presidential candidate.  And according to the Village, he's the "nice" one.

Just wow.  Via Gawker:

This is what Mike Huckabee said today, as transcribed by the Los Angeles Times' James Rainey, about the upside of being raped and then getting pregnant:

"Ethel Waters, for example, was the result of a forcible rape," Huckabee said of the late American gospel singer. One-time presidential candidate Huckabee added: "I used to work for James Robison back in the 1970s, he leads a large Christian organization. He, himself, was the result of a forcible rape. And so I know it happens, and yet even from those horrible, horrible tragedies of rape, which are inexcusable and indefensible, life has come and sometimes, you know, those people are able to do extraordinary things."

Anyway, stop being so racist against rape-babies, everyone.

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GOP adopts Akin-type anti-abortion plank, no exceptions for rape, incest

This follows on the news that the GOP permitted an officially-designated "hate group" to write the anti-gay language in the party platform. Read the rest of this post...

God sends huge storm to disrupt GOP convention, second convention in a row

Hot vengeful God via Shutterstock

As Hurricane expert, and former GOP presidential hopeful, Pat Robertson would say (you'll recall that Robertson said God caused Hurricane Katrina to punish us for abortion): God really doesn't want Mitt Romney to win the election.

For the second time in four years, God has sent a hurricane to disrupt the GOP convention.  Last time, it was Hurricane Gustav during the GOP convention in St. Paul in 2008:

With one eye on Hurricane Gustav and their plans still in flux, Republicans opened their convention here on Monday, conducting an abbreviated business session and appealing to delegates to help victims of the storm.

 And this time, it's possible Hurricane Isaac during the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa:

For three straight simulations, NOAA’s Global Forecast System (GFS) model has tracked a tropical system right over the Florida peninsula through or close to Tampa just as the Republican National Convention is ramping up. Assuming this system - presently a little swirl in the open Atlantic - strengthens some, it will be named Isaac.

Two conventions in a row.  God must be seriously annoyed with the GOP.

Just fyi, but Robertson is also an expert on earthquakes.

Pat Robertson, natural disaster interpreter extraordinaire, said on Wednesday’s 700 Club that the earthquake that struck the Washington region Tuesday “means that we’re closer to the coming of the Lord.”

As the t-shirt says, time to look busy. Read the rest of this post...

Officially designated hate group supports Todd "forcible rape" Akin

His only defender is an officially-designate hate group. Any questions?

The Family Research Council offered strong support for Todd Akin on Monday afternoon.

“This is an effort to try to direct attention away from … Claire McCaskill, who has been supportive of Planned Parenthood — an organization that’s been under investigation for criminal activity,” FRC President Tony Perkins said in between meetings of the RNC platform committee.

Speaking of "under investigation," the FEC investigated and fined a campaign run by Perkins for hiding a payment to former Klansman David Duke. From the Nation:

Four years ago, Perkins addressed the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), America's premier white supremacist organization, the successor to the White Citizens Councils, which battled integration in the South. In 1996 Perkins paid former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke $82,500 for his mailing list. At the time, Perkins was the campaign manager for a right-wing Republican candidate for the US Senate in Louisiana. The Federal Election Commission fined the campaign Perkins ran $3,000 for attempting to hide the money paid to Duke.

If the FRC wants to play "guilt by investigation," then let's.

So, the entire GOP is up in arms of Akin's comments, and the FRC publicly weighs in on Akin's behalf.  Real pulse of the nation, FRC has.  Let's hope the GOP takes all of their advice all the way to election day.  And in fact, it seems they are.  The Republican party let the FRC write the anti-gay language for the GOP platform.  The language also includes, of course, a swipe at judges - you'll recall that GOP attacks on judges in the past caused Sandra Day O'Connor to admonish Republicans for possibly inciting violence.

There really is no limit to how extreme the Republican party has become. Read the rest of this post...

Solving the climate crisis: How to paint the possible futures

UPDATE: A complete list of climate series pieces is available here:
The Climate series: a reference post.
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[This post has been temporarily withdrawn for revision. Please check back later. Thanks.]


GP

To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
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GOP now trying to oust "forcible rape" congressman from Senate race

There's no way he's not pulling out of the race.  First the background from CBS:

The question he faced was simple: Should abortion be legal in the case of rape?

"From what I understand from doctors - that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin said.

NYT has more:

Amid an uproar over provocative comments on rape and abortion that Mr. Akin made in an interview broadcast on Sunday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee declared that it would withdraw financial and organizational support for Mr. Akin, including $5 million in advertising already reserved for the fall. In the interview, Mr. Akin said victims of “legitimate rape” rarely got pregnant.

Crossroads GPS, a Republican advocacy group that had already spent more than $5 million to weaken Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, considered the Senate’s most endangered incumbent, announced that it was withdrawing from the state.

At the same time, Republican candidates like Mitt Romney and Senator Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts either called for Mr. Akin to step aside or strongly indicated that he should. In a radio interview, the conservative host Sean Hannity pleaded with Mr. Akin to drop out. “Sometimes an election is bigger than one person,” he said.

But Mr. Akin said on Monday that he would not drop out. “I’m not a quitter,” he said on Mike Huckabee’s radio program.

Romney and McConnell have abandoned the guy too. It's only a matter of time now.
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UK Conservatives promote NHS for-profit abroad campaign

The current Conservative government has been actively attacking the status quo at the NHS since the beginning. One day they're calling for a for-profit NHS, another it's about privatizing and now it's some of both, with the added (complex) idea of taking the system abroad to generate profits. All of this leads back to the simple question of how this helps British people have better healthcare.

While there may be specific one off examples of how the NHS has gone abroad successfully, it's a stretch to imagine taking the system abroad in a bigger way and it somehow will be a success. As someone who has opened up businesses around the world for over twenty years, there's nothing simple or straightforward about it. Assuming a few examples can be magically repeated in other countries, with other laws and different cultures is wishful thinking.

Even if it was easy to do and profits were there to be plucked from the sky, how does this improve the core mission of providing quality healthcare to the UK? This is a terrible idea that will only be a distraction. The Guardian:

Hospitals are to be encouraged by the government to sell their services abroad, setting up clinics with the famous NHS brand to pull in much-needed cash for the health service from overseas.

The scheme – which has been put together by the Department of Health (DH) and the UK Trade and Investment department (UKTI) – attracted immediate criticism from the Patients Association, concerned that in times of financial stringency at home, establishing overseas clinics would be a distraction too far and could undermine standards at home.

But the government points to clinics that already exist, run by big-name NHS trusts with a reputation around the world, such as Moorfields Eye Hospital and Great Ormond Street children's hospital in the Middle East. The government thinks there could be lucrative possibilities for NHS-standard healthcare services in growing markets such as India and China.

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