The rabid religious right will go to almost any length to express the so-called love of Supply-side Jesus in the form of hatred for LGBT people.
June may be “the month of Pride” but this year the Cincinnati parade has coincided with July 4th, leading some conservative leaders to warn residents [bigots delinked] against traveling downtown for the traditional holiday celebrations:
“We think its not right for them to invade the Fourth of July, and we’re trying to warn people that if they do go downtown they may be exposed to some deviant behavior,” Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values. “Everything from sex in the streets to topless women.”…”It bothers me that they’re going downtown on the Fourth of July, and it has nothing to do with the July celebration. Nothing,” Burress said.
Parade organizers point out that “ninety-five percent of our parade entries are church organizations, student and university groups, political rights groups.” “They never want to focus on the reality of the GLBT community and the couples who have been together for 10, 15, 20 years,” parade organizer George Crawford said… [emphasis original]
Gee, the Pride parade in Portland goes right by my door every year. I always step outside to wave an show support. I’ve never seen any sex in the streets or topless women. :-( What gives, Portland? Let’s get with the program! 😉
Seriously, everyone has a right to take pride in who they are. I think these bigots have no pride in themselves and feel the need to put others down to make themselves feel OK. I also think that they want their sheeple to stay home, lest they see that LGBT folk are people like everyone else.
Yesterday I went to see my pulmonologists assistant. She told me that if I need sleeping pills, to get them from my regular doctor. Geez. She could have told me that on the phone instead of wasting half my day. Microsoft called again. It turns out that there’s nothing wrong with my computer after all. I had started getting the same script failure on two different websites at the same time. Since both had worked before, long term, I figured it was my system. The tech rep had a brainstorm and tried to perform the same functions on the same websites on his own computer. He got the same errors. ARGH! Go figure!! I did reply to comments, but had no time to return visits. I hope to catch up today.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today it took me 3:23. To do it, click here. How did you do?
From Raw Story: In an interview with Fox News, Brewer said, "We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings."
Governor Brewer does not realize that her apparent lack of anything in her head stems from idiocy, not immigration.
From Bloomberg: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and then-New York Fed President Timothy Geithner told senators on April 3, 2008, that the tens of billions of dollars in “assets” the government agreed to purchase in the rescue of Bear Stearns Cos. were “investment-grade.” They didn’t share everything the Fed knew about the money.
The so-called assets included collateralized debt obligations and mortgage-backed bonds with names like HG-Coll Ltd. 2007-1A that were so distressed, more than $40 million already had been reduced to less than investment-grade by the time the central bankers testified. The government also became the owner of $16 billion of credit-default swaps, and taxpayers wound up guaranteeing high-yield, high-risk junk bonds.
Telling it like it is, Geithner and Bernanke lied. They defrauded the US Senate, and by extension, the American people. They need replacement.
From CBS: Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele suggested at a Connecticut fundraiser that Afghanistan is "a war of Obama’s choosing" despite the fact that it began years before the president took office.
Next, they’ll be claiming that Obama started the Civil War.
Our fourth full month since we moved from Blogger was excellent. Politics Plus skyrocketed in June.
Here are our basic stats:
Note that in June we exceeded our performance in March, April and May combined. That is not likely to happen again, because one article went viral. We had over 26,000 visitors and over 56,000 page views that day.
While Reddit is not a blog, I included an extra link for them as they are our overall top referrer.
One of the best ways you can publicize Politics Plus is to use the share button at the bottom of each post to list our articles on the the sites where you belong.
After all this time Technorati finally rated us with a Technorati Authority of 141. That means we have 141 links in the last six months from blogs that are registered with and recognized by Technorati. Thus we are officially a High Authority blog and on the B-list. Since so many blogs have never registered with them, and since it takes up to a year after that to be recognized, we have more blog links than that. But keep using our material. The motto here is Thou shalt steal. Even if you want to embed an occasional whole article, that’s OK. I just ask that you include a link to the original here. It’s not an ego thing. The more recognition we get, the more effect we can have toward ending the right-wing insanity.
We have 26,564 links on other websites, up from 6,567 last month.
We have 1,126 posts and 7,990 comments, as of midnight 7/1.
If you are tired of our funky avatars and would like your own avatar, go to Gravatar. Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use. Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that will be your avatar.
I’m even more stunned than I was last month by the speed of the takeoff, and thankful.
Finally, I’d like to remind you, once again, why I use the term ‘we’ when I am the only author. It is your participation in the comments that makes this blog more attractive that I could on my own. It is you referring to this blog in your articles and posting our articles on other sites that bring people that stay. Politics Plus has never been about just me. It’s about us all. And this fantastic month is equally your fault. 🙂
Off topic: there are a couple of excellent articles today down below. Please stay and check them out.
Americans are suffering because Republicans don’t care who they have to hurt in their attempts to manipulate US Voters.
More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won’t get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day.
An additional 200,000 people who have been without a job for at least six months stand to lose their benefits each week, unless Congress acts.
For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans in the Senate successfully filibustered a bill Wednesday night to continue providing unemployment checks to people who been laid off for long stretches. The House is slated to vote on a similar measure Thursday, though the Senate’s action renders the vote a futile gesture as Congress prepares to depart Washington for its holiday recess.
A little more than 1.3 million people have already lost benefits since the last extension ran out at the end of May.
"It is beyond disappointing that Republicans continue to stand almost lockstep against assistance for out-of-work Americans," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The measure, however, stands a better chance of passing after a replacement is seated for Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., who died Monday. The measure fell two votes short of the 60 needed to advance Wednesday night, but only because Reid, a supporter of the bill, voted "nay" to take a procedural step that would allow for a revote.
"We will vote on this measure again once there is a replacement named for the late Sen. Byrd," Reid said.
Byrd’s successor will be named by West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat.
Unable to deliver more stimulus spending for President Barack Obama, Democrats in Congress had hoped to at least restore the jobless benefits. Obama has urged lawmakers to spend about $50 billion to help states pay for Medicaid programs and to avoid teacher layoffs, but Democrats in Congress have been unable to come up with the votes.
Many Democrats see state aid and unemployment benefits as insurance against the economy sliding back into recession. However, many Republicans and some Democrats worry about adding to the growing national debt… [emphasis added]
Aid to unemployed workers is an excellent way to stimulate job growth, because the recipients spend their benefits immediately to fulfill their day-to day needs. But the GOP wants to prevent job growth, as long as Democrats are in power. Not only are Republicans trying to deceive voters by preventing solutions to problems they caused and blaming Democrats, but also, they are manipulating the progressive base to turn us against Obama.
Rachel Maddow ran two segments that have bearing on the GOP tactics. In the first she and DNC Chair, Tim Kaine, discuss this vote.
Ezra has his head so far up his butt that he’s breathing pure methane. Rachel’s view is the correct one. The Senate has a long tradition of collegial cooperation. It has been an unwritten rule for over a century. Democrats are still playing by it, but Republicans are not. When Republicans pretend to be playing by the rules, Democrats respond habitually. Republicans are like a woman who leads a man on, lasciviously and seductively implying a night of passion, enjoying the flowers, candy, gifts, dinner, and dancing, and knowing all along that they will leave him with a peck on his cheek and a bulge in his pants.
On those rare occasions when something does pass, it is so watered down that we progressives are left fuming, and that’s exactly what the GOP wants, to drive a wedge between Obama and the progressive base. When we say that the Democrats in the Senate are foolish to allow themselves to be so manipulated, we are spot-on. But aren’t we just as foolish as they are, if we allow this Machiavellian GOP manipulation to turn us against the only available chance for progressive gains?
Since 1982, the Siena Research Institute has polled presidential scholars on whom they view to be best and worst presidents in American history, based on a variety of issues from “integrity” to economic stewardship. This year’s poll [PDF] of 238 scholars found that President Franklin Roosevelt was once again ranked on top, joined by Presidents Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and Teddy Roosevelt to complete the top five. However, President George W. Bush did not fare well since the last poll was conducted in 2002. He dropped 16 places to 39th, making him the worst president since Warren Harding died in office in 1923, and one of the bottom five of all time, according to the experts:
Today, just one year after leaving office, the former president has
found himself in the bottom five at 39th rated especially poorly in handling the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence. Rounding out the bottom five are four presidents that have held that dubious distinction each time the survey has been conducted: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce.
Bush was rated second from the bottom on “intelligence,” “foreign policy
accomplishments,” and “handling of U.S. economy.”… [emphasis original]
For a good time, click through to the PDF file listed in the article.
The GOP is trying to distance themselves from the Bush legacy. But their claims to be different are despicable lies. You may rest assured that, if US voters are ever demented enough to let another Republican occupy the White House, he (or she) will follow the same policies of preemptive war, corporate regulatory capture, torture, impingement on Americans’ rights, socialism for the rich only, huge off budget expenditures, and more. If the GOP have changed at all, they have gotten worse. GW Bush is the face of the GOP.
Every Republican in office is one Republican too many!
Yesterday was a very frustrating day. Microsoft called and worked with me about an hour without success. He told me to contact Lenovo to get a replacement for my Windows 7 upgrade disk. He gave me the number Lenovo had given Microsoft for OEM support issues. I spent the next two hours burning cell phone minutes, being passed from person to person at Lenovo, calling six different telephone numbers in the process. None of those people had the slightest idea what they are talking about. Finally someone told me that Lenovo stopped providing upgrade disks in February and they have no more. Horsefeathers! I left a nasty email. I emailed Microsoft and told them I cannot get the disk. Within minutes, the tech rep called me, asked a few questions and set an appointment to call me again today. Microsoft is trying hard to help. Lenovo is trying hard not to help. I will not purchase another Lenovo product and advise that you buy elsewhere, lest you suffer a similar experience. Despite this, I did reply to all outstanding comments, but has no time left to return visits. Today I have a doctor appointment and another call coming from Microsoft, so we’ll have to see.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today it took me 3:35. To do it, click here. How did you do?
From TPM: Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) tonight announced she’s coming out in favor of the financial reform bill. She had been one of the two Democratic holdouts; Russ Feingold being the other.
This is good news as long as the final version does not contain the BS Brown cave-in.
From Think Progress: Having already declared health care reform a failure just three months after it passed, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wants to alert the public that today is the day the Affordable Care Act begins to destroy America, one tanning salon at a time. Boehner blasted out a press release and tweet warning about a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning beds, which goes into affect today, to help fund the Affordable Care Act.
We need to amend the health care bill to include a 100% tax on any tanning bed used by Bad-Tan-Limpy.
From Alternet: From the early 1930’s until the modern story broke in 2004, the newspapers that covered waterboarding almost uniformly called the practice torture or implied it was torture: The New York Times characterized it thus in 81.5% (44 of 54) of articles on the subject and The Los Angeles Times did so in 96.3% of articles (26 of 27). By contrast, from 2002-2008, the studied newspapers almost never referred to waterboarding as torture. The New York Times called waterboarding torture or implied it was torture in just 2 of 143 articles (1.4%). The Los Angeles Times did so in 4.8% of articles (3 of 63). The Wall Street Journal characterized the practice as torture in just 1 of 63 articles (1.6%). USA Today never called waterboarding torture or implied it was torture.
This is the subtle way in which the MSM pushes their right wing agenda. As a former opinion research professional, I know that opinions expressed in a poll can be deceptively slanted through the use of manipulative language. That principle is even more true of opinions derived from sources of information.
Normally, I do not make an internal poll the lead item, but today, there are special circumstances.
Here are the results of the social harm poll.
And here are your comments.
Showing comments 1–1 of 1.
From Otis on June 19, 2010 at 8:26 am.
Neither ‘harm’ our society. The lack of education does. The right wing extremism that has been occurring as of late is nothing more that a normal political transition that sometimes happens, especially in a country that elects all of its leaders.
This poll reminds me of the idea of standing in front of Glenn Beck’s studio to protest. That is not going to make people stop watching Glenn Beck. If you want Glenn off the air, start protesting at your local stores, handing out flyers with a list of products not to buy because the support Glenn Beck. THAT protest would be more effective, faster.
Want the GOP to be reasonable and the Tea Party to go away? Educate their kids better.
If you kill a branch, you still have a tree. Kill the root, and you will soon only have a stump.
Lots of comments, huh? 😉
Both was the winner here, with GOP in second.
As much as I am tempted by Otis’ most interesting comment, and almost completely agree with him, I’ll stand by my vote, which is GOP. The Tea Party isn’t real. They are merely an extension of the GOP, funded and directed by them. Like any other vicious dog, they sometimes bite their master. However, since they trained their dog to be so vicious, the GOP did the greater harm.
Now, I’m not sure how, but Rachel Maddow must have heard about our poll and released the following story, intentionally timed to coincide with the publication of these results. 😉
June may be “the month of Pride” but this year the Cincinnati parade has coincided with July 4th, leading some conservative leaders to warn residents [bigots delinked] against traveling downtown for the traditional holiday celebrations:
