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Friday, August 24, 2012
Liberal
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Saturday, August 11, 2012
The Wrong Direction
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The Newly Minted Ticket
Rapacious Mitt Romney has chosen the fanatical ideologue Paul Ryan to be his running mate.
It is not the gift to the sane people of this country it may seem to be.
It is, in fact, a call to action.
The alliterative Republican ticket will likely reassure the hidebound right-wingers that Romney’s term as governor of the “socialist” Commonwealth of Massachusetts was more like Dorothy’s Ozian dream and not simply more proof of the contortionist chameleon Romney really is. The deep right will see Romney’s choice of Ryan as Romney’s Come to Jesus moment and it may even allow them to overlook all the oddities of Mormonism which makes their evangelical blood run cold. (While evangelicals are not usually thrilled with Roman Catholics, in Ryan’s case the Vatican trumps the Temple.)
If you are not familiar with Congressman Paul Ryan, Ezra Klein has a quick overview here.
Paul Ryan Lowlights:
- Voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- Will end Medicare and turn it into a voucher system, thereby costing seniors thousands of dollars every year
- Will cut Pell Grants for education
- Voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- Will ban all abortions even in the case of rape or incest
- Cosponsored a bill to ban common forms of contraceptives including many birth control pills
- Will increase taxes on the middle class and further reduce taxes on millionaires
- Voted against Marriage Equality
- Will cut funding to Head Start and other early education programs
- Voted to end funding for Planned Parenthood
- Will dismantle the Affordable Care Act - AKA “Obamacare” and, ironically, “Romneycare"
- Will slash funding for infrastructure - roads, bridges and rail
- In his budget, 62 % of the cuts will be taken from low-income programs
- Will cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Food Stamps 18%
No matter how repellent Ryan’s ideology and intentions are, we must not forget that he is cool under fire in debates and interviews. He also states his “facts” in a compelling way - rather like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. We must take action so as to avoid an equally disastrous ending.
It is not the gift to the sane people of this country it may seem to be.
It is, in fact, a call to action.
The alliterative Republican ticket will likely reassure the hidebound right-wingers that Romney’s term as governor of the “socialist” Commonwealth of Massachusetts was more like Dorothy’s Ozian dream and not simply more proof of the contortionist chameleon Romney really is. The deep right will see Romney’s choice of Ryan as Romney’s Come to Jesus moment and it may even allow them to overlook all the oddities of Mormonism which makes their evangelical blood run cold. (While evangelicals are not usually thrilled with Roman Catholics, in Ryan’s case the Vatican trumps the Temple.)
If you are not familiar with Congressman Paul Ryan, Ezra Klein has a quick overview here.
Paul Ryan Lowlights:
- Voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- Will end Medicare and turn it into a voucher system, thereby costing seniors thousands of dollars every year
- Will cut Pell Grants for education
- Voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- Will ban all abortions even in the case of rape or incest
- Cosponsored a bill to ban common forms of contraceptives including many birth control pills
- Will increase taxes on the middle class and further reduce taxes on millionaires
- Voted against Marriage Equality
- Will cut funding to Head Start and other early education programs
- Voted to end funding for Planned Parenthood
- Will dismantle the Affordable Care Act - AKA “Obamacare” and, ironically, “Romneycare"
- Will slash funding for infrastructure - roads, bridges and rail
- In his budget, 62 % of the cuts will be taken from low-income programs
- Will cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Food Stamps 18%
No matter how repellent Ryan’s ideology and intentions are, we must not forget that he is cool under fire in debates and interviews. He also states his “facts” in a compelling way - rather like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. We must take action so as to avoid an equally disastrous ending.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
We Are Young
Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning, Chuck and I were on tenterhooks. Chuck had what can best be described as a health crisis. We drove to the Emergency Room and after more than three and a half hours and lots of tests, we left reassured and almost relieved. The very long ride to the ER was taut and tense but punctuated with nervous laughter. Laughter after all is not only the best medicine it’s how the two of us cope with what comes along labeled as “Life.” The ride home was heavy on genuine laughter with a whole lot of counting of blessings.
Arriving home after 5:00 a.m., with the sky lightening to that beautiful marine blue of dawn, we were delighted to be home. As we pulled into the driveway the song “We Are Young” by Fun came on the radio. I put the Subaru in park, turned the engine off, but left the key in the ignition and turned the radio up. We got out of the car, left the doors open and danced to the music with our arms up in the air. The only thing missing was lighters held up toward the stage.
Here’s Fun’s video of “We Are Young”. To my taste, the video is just O.K. But the song is fabulous. Maybe if Fun ever does a re-shoot they can capture two people, with 123 years of life experience between them, dancing in their driveway, having just dodged a bullet...
Arriving home after 5:00 a.m., with the sky lightening to that beautiful marine blue of dawn, we were delighted to be home. As we pulled into the driveway the song “We Are Young” by Fun came on the radio. I put the Subaru in park, turned the engine off, but left the key in the ignition and turned the radio up. We got out of the car, left the doors open and danced to the music with our arms up in the air. The only thing missing was lighters held up toward the stage.
Here’s Fun’s video of “We Are Young”. To my taste, the video is just O.K. But the song is fabulous. Maybe if Fun ever does a re-shoot they can capture two people, with 123 years of life experience between them, dancing in their driveway, having just dodged a bullet...
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The Best Response To Chick-Fil-A & Huckabee
Mike Huckabee decided it was very, very important to support fast food chain Chick-Fil-A, specifically the Cathy family that owns the corporation. So former Governor Huckabee organized “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” for August 1, 2012. Huckabee stepped in because he was unhappy that the Cathy family and Chick-Fil-A were taking heat for being anti-gay.
It’s important to note that the Cathy family and Chick-Fil-A didn’t engender such ire because of just one single comment its president, Dan Cathy, made to The Baptist Press back in July. In the Huffington Post, David Badash spells out a long history (with many source links) of anti-gay and anti-marriage-equality positions plus discrimination lawsuits in “Chick-fil-A: 5 Reasons It Isn't What You Think”.
So thanks to Mike Huckabee devoting his energy, time, public profile and position of power to “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” the fast food restaurants were jammed yesterday. I hoped they wouldn’t show up. I knew they would. It was all just too easy a target with the bonus of a 440 calorie sandwich replete with 16grams of fat.
Enter Matthew Paul Turner. He’s apparently a very religious guy from Tennessee. Turns out he is a fine writer and he wrote the best response I have read to Huckabee and all those prideful Christians who came out in droves yesterday:
5 Reasons Why The Church Failed Yesterday by Matthew Paul Turner.
Many thanks to Tracy AKA Cascading Waters for her ReTweet of Mr. Turner’s response.
It’s important to note that the Cathy family and Chick-Fil-A didn’t engender such ire because of just one single comment its president, Dan Cathy, made to The Baptist Press back in July. In the Huffington Post, David Badash spells out a long history (with many source links) of anti-gay and anti-marriage-equality positions plus discrimination lawsuits in “Chick-fil-A: 5 Reasons It Isn't What You Think”.
So thanks to Mike Huckabee devoting his energy, time, public profile and position of power to “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” the fast food restaurants were jammed yesterday. I hoped they wouldn’t show up. I knew they would. It was all just too easy a target with the bonus of a 440 calorie sandwich replete with 16grams of fat.
Enter Matthew Paul Turner. He’s apparently a very religious guy from Tennessee. Turns out he is a fine writer and he wrote the best response I have read to Huckabee and all those prideful Christians who came out in droves yesterday:
5 Reasons Why The Church Failed Yesterday by Matthew Paul Turner.
Many thanks to Tracy AKA Cascading Waters for her ReTweet of Mr. Turner’s response.
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