The View From The Deck - Week Ending 10/10/10

The "Bear Your Rapist's Baby Caucus" currently consists of five teabagging Republican nominees for the senate, but according to Raw Story, at least 78 GOP candidates for the House would qualify for this extreme voting bloc as well. The GOP has always pandered to the right-wing base by promising to strip women of the right to control their own bodies. In the interest of not alienating sane people though, many Republican lawmakers make an exception in cases of incest and rape, and when a mother's life is in danger. Here are five freedom lovers who think they should get to decide what a rape victim does with her body:

1. Rand Paul (Kentucky) - Believes the federal government should have the power and the duty to intrude on women's reproductive choices. I thought libertarians were supposed to be small government, fiscal conservatives, but socially liberal?

2. Christine O'Donnell (Delaware) - Too much nuttiness to list with this one.
3. Sharron Angle (Nevada) - A quote: "If dealt a lemon, make lemonade." WTF!!!
4. Ken Buck (Colorado) - Also supports a Colorado amendment that would bestow fertilized eggs with “personhood” status, essentially outlawing not just abortion but many contraceptives like the IUD and the birth control pill.  Because Colorado needs more unintended kids?
5. Joe Miller (Alaska) - Unequivocally pro-life, including cases of rape or incest, but supports death penalty.  How does that actually make any sense?
Bottom line, if you don't believe in abortion, don't get one. Let other women make that choice. This has been going on for at least 2010 years, but has only been allowed in a controlled environment in our country for 37 years. If a woman really needs to terminate the pregnancy, do you really want to see wire coat hangers come back in fashion?

Gene Cranick, a rural homeowner in Obion County, Tennessee who hadn’t paid the $75 for the subscription fire protection service offered to the county’s rural residents got to watch his local fire department watch his house burn to the ground...literally.  Firefighters came to the scene and just stood there, with their equipment on the trucks, while Cranick’s house with 3 dogs and a cat inside burned to the ground. According to the local NBC TV affiliate, Cranick said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told no. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning. Thanks to 30 years of right-wing demagoguery about the evils of “collectivism” and the treachery of “big government” we’re getting a peek at a grim nightmare that may be in our not-too-distant future if the teabaggers really get a foothold in our government.  It’s a picture of a society in which “rugged individualism” run amok means every man for himself. This law abiding, tax paying citizen should've been afforded the basics --- like fire and police protection with no questions asked. Is this really the America that our founders and sane-thinking individuals pictured for us?

MSNBC, which has become the favorite news channel of cable-loving lefty's thanks to Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann, is finally getting to declare itself the progressive antidote to Fox. With the new slogan, “Lean Forward” and new promotional videos directed by Spike Lee, the news network is branding itself as the spot for progressive, forward-thinking viewers. And by extension it’s branding its competition–Fox News–as being left in the dust, looking backwards. MSNBC has shot past CNN in key timeslots, but public awareness of the network is lagging behind its rivals. The new campaign is a “coming-out of sorts” following the example of Fox News, its ideological competition, by marketing to a specific niche. MSNBC’s left leaning niche began growing with viewers tuning in to hear discontent from Olbermann and to a lesser extent, Chris Matthews (who supported the invasion initially) over the war in Iraq, but was solidified when Maddow, a popular guest on the channel, got her own show in the fall of 2008. “It’s an umbrella that’s pretty wide, but that does have a progressive sensibility,” Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC told the Times of his audience. “We’re confident. We’re strong. Let’s not live in the past, let’s not live by fear.” In addition to Maddow and Olbermann, MSNBC hosts Ed Schultz and Lawrence O’Donnell round up the progressive-friendly lineup.  In addition to the new TV ads which will run on other NBC Universal stations starting this week, the network will run a print campaign for buses, kiosks, and both web and online publications targeted towards potential viewers. All I can say is, it's about time!

Clinton Believes Obama Should Have Struck Back Sooner

Chris Matthews interviewed former President Bill Clinton in what I thought was an excellent interview...amazing that Matthews finally showed some respect and didn't continuously interrupt! I wish Obama would've asked the former president for advice at some point in the last 20 months instead of allowing the Republicans to control the dialogue. I just hope it isn't too late. Just thinking of the senate and congress full of teabaggers, John Boehner third in command with Mitch McConnell as majority leader makes me ill. Democrats, liberals and moderates, listen up --- maybe we've been disappointed in more than a few things that have not been done, but we can not go back to not just the GWB years, but mix in some Andrew Jackson!  On November 2nd, get out and vote!

Fair Representation? Not When Over 50% of Americans Live in 9 States!

Have you ever wondered why U.S. politics are so screwed up? Maybe it's because more than 50% of Americans Live in 9 States. What you're left with is just 18 of the 100 Senate seats representing 154.6 million Americans, while the other 82 Senators represent roughly 150.4 million (based on a U.S. population of 305 million)! Democracy in action, indeed. Conservadem Ben Nelson of Nebraska for example, can ruin any progressive bill. Nebraska's population is only 1.8 million, but he has just as much clout as California's Barbara Boxer (D) who represents 37 million people.  If ever a chart demonstrated the need for proportional representation, this is it. I've never believed the propaganda that we're a center-right country. I've always been of the opinion that the "right" had more land mass, but less people and this is crystal clear proof. We'll never have real progress in this country until we initiate some serious reforms to politics.


November 2009



Did You Know That Obama is a Radical Christian Muslim?

A little more cognitive dissonance from Saturdays service conducted by Glenn Beck.  Evidently he provides some sort of reality for them.  Whether or not that reality is based in fact is irrelevant.  It is a reality constructed from the blurred recollections of old wive's tales, half understandings of Scripture, barely rudimentary knowledge of our laws and our Constituion, veiled racism and bigotry that they grew up with in their insular lives.  Beck provides the same role that churches and religions do.  A simple ideology that comforts people in their stupidity. It defines their world for them so they can get on with their meager lives.  Although she did forget to mention that he's also a communist, socialist, fascist!

Beck Attendees? Here's Your Sign!

Another awesome video by the New Left Media from Saturdays Beckalooza.  I had to laugh at the very first interviewee (well several of them actually).  Liberals seem to understand that wearing a flag as clothing is desecration of the flag yet "real" Americans don't know that!  And when she said we're not just a bunch of crackpots, my immediate reaction was, "yes, yes you are!" As Bill Engvall would say, "here's your sign!"



Produced and edited by Chase Whiteside (interviewer) and Erick Stoll (camera operator) with additional camera work from Kasey Hosp

Restoring American Values That Never Existed

August 28, 2010 will be remembered as nothing more than the day an egomaniac wanted to redefine what that date represents in history. He tried to steal the historical date of Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs. "I Have a Dream" speech at the time we have our first black president. The Faux Networks' very own preacher, Glenn Beck and his klan (reported at as many as 87,000) decided that they've had enough (of that black, guy). Let's not kid ourselves, Beck's little "Restoring Honor" assembly was nothing more than a rally for those who still can't get over the fact that the black guy won. If this was any more than a disingenuous little gathering of pissed off teabaggers, I'd like to see proof of it. If this "awakening" was legitimate, why wasn't what they want honor restored to, made perfectly clear? What topics could they have covered? How about addressing two more than questionable presidential victories in 2000 and 2004? How about questioning the incompetence of George W. Bush when he failed to read any memo's or reports, the latest delivered on August 6, 2001 that warned, "bin Laden Determined to Attack" which led to the largest attack on U.S. soil. How about questioning invading a country that had no ties to Al-Qaeda, but sure had a lot of oil? How about indignation at the SCOTUS ruling that corporations are citizens and can donate as much money to political campaigns as they want thereby deciding the elections? How about how the U.S. violated the Geneva Convention with torture? How about thinking about how far we've fallen as a state-of-the-art country slipping towards third world country status? But no, while most of the Beckerheads obeyed their leader and left most of the signs home, that didn't stop them from blaming liberals for ruining the country even though the last true liberal running the country died November 22, 1963. Oh yeah, but letting terror suspects buy guns is groovy...seriously! One guy suggested that even though Obama hasn't come for his guns...yet, when he does, he'll get them one bullet at a time (if someone said that about Bush, they'd have been arrested). Well, watch the video for yourself and notice the diversity (NOT!):



Since "God" must not have anything to say through Psycho Glenn yesterday, he plagiarized Obama, King and others. Beck's speech was a mishmash of ramblings of a demogogue and sociopath. It wouldn't bother me so much if so many people weren't buying into this garbage. These people believe Obama is a manchurian president (because they saw the movie, not because they understood the meaning) and a whole bunch of other things they don't know the definition of like socialist, marxist, nazi, etc... They believe he's part of The New World Order for christ sakes!
In my mind, when these hateful, undereducated hypocrites say they want to restore "traditional American values" they're saying they want to go back to the 50's (at least). White men in charge of everything; women are to be a chef in the kitchen, a harlot in the bedroom, and an incubator; blacks go back to second class citizenry with separation; gays keep their mouths shut and marry someone of the opposite sex, live miserably just to conform to Becks version of Christianity or Mormonism (since I don't even know what the hell he's selling). And the Hispanics? Well, they weren't such a big issue "back in the day." Let's just go back to Mayberry --- which unbeknownst to them, never really existed. He mentioned that we're a Christian nation and that sends me through the roof. We are not, we are not, we are not! How is it these supposedly strict Constitutionalists can't interpret the god damn first amendment where it clearly states:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

These people are only strict Constitutionalists for the parts they like. They're the same people who cherry pick the Bible for quotes to justify their hatred of gay folks, but eat shellfish, wear blended clothing, but would be appalled if someone actually stoned their disobedient children to death. You see, when I went to catechism, a sin was a sin, there were none more egregious than others. I still don't believe being gay is any more a sin than wearing blended clothing, so I guess I'm a rebel.  The problem liberals have and always will until we have a true awakening of our own is that we try to do things in a well reasoned, politically correct manner trying to take into account everyone's beliefs. Conservatives are like a giant bulldozer who will wreak destruction on anything they don't like because they just don't care. We must stop being a Prius to their Caterpillar heavy equipment. These teabaggers are taking the country down a road the early settlers and founders clearly did not intend. Furthermore, this is not a grass roots effort. These believers are being played. It's been widely confirmed that the multi-billionaire Koch brothers are funding this anti-Obama movement with Dick Armey heading it up. History needs to be taught to these buffoons. The Pilgrims who left England and came to this land, came here to be free to practice their faith. They were forced to practice the State mandated religion of the Church of England. Now here we are in 2010 and radio clown Glenn Beck, abominable snowbitch Sarah Palin, crazy Michele Bachmann, scary Sharon Angle, fruity Rand Paul and doesn't wear heels Ken Buck want us to recognize Christianity as our national religion. God, if you're up there and listening, don't let them get away with it!

UPDATE: Evidently, part way through the event, Beck asked the gathered honor-reclaimers to take out their cell phones and text "SOF" to #### several times while the C-SPAN camera panned the audience and he teased them with the possibility that this could be the largest number of people to ever do this. After exhorting them to text a few more times he told them they'd just donated $10 to his SOF fund! Their pockets were picked without even a bump! It was masterful, indeed. I wonder how many did it multiple times! Brilliant fleecing of the flock and probably illegal!

Too Lazy to Think? Find Christianity!

This summer I haven't had as much time to spend with my blog, but as the days get shorter and cooler, I plan to resume writing on a more regular basis. One of my facebook friends posted this video and it made me chuckle. If you're a devout Christian, you may find what he says offensive. However if you live in the land of reality (where I try to exist) you will find a lot of truth in what he says, partially because you may have thought it yourself, but weren't able to verbalize it quite as well as he did. I hope you enjoy it.



You can view more of Pat's video's here.