Wednesday, April 15, 2015

5 NEW STUDIES SAY CONSERVATIVES ARE DUMBER THAN LIBERALS


Liberals are always searching for the reasons that conservatives would do the stupid things they do these days. Five new studies attempt to explain their inadequacies. First, “Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes,” was done by Brock University claims that a low IQ as a child translates into the person being a racist and voting conservative. Two, Fairleigh Dickinson University asked people which news shows they watched, then queried them about current events and their source. Those watching Fox News had the lowest ranking, even lower than those that watched no news at all. Three, researchers at the University of Arkansas found that conservatives were likely to put little effort into their thinking. Four, Kent State University's “Abstract Reasoning as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward Gay Men,” found that, "those with low abstract reasoning ability have a tendency to be homophobic." Five, in the last study performing MRI brain scans on students at the University College in London, they were asked their political persuasion. Results: "liberal students had more gray matter, which would make them smarter."

A Progressive can only deduce that the above is why John Boehner and Mitch McConnell do the stupid things they do and why other Republican fruitcakes go around making the inane statements they do.

THE NRA WOULD LIE IF THE TRUTH WERE BETTER


How many times have we heard this crap from wacky Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Assn.? “They are coming to take your guns away!” I have been blogging it from the mouth of WW for over five years and Dean Obeidelah of the Daily Beast put it all in a neat package following the recent NRA convention in Nashville last weekend. The man is crazy, well that's my comment for WW, who, as the biggest gun nut of them all has made himself rich through keeping gun manufacturers' sales booming, who, in turn, line the pockets of WW and the NRA. The 70,000 poor souls that attended the Nashville get together on the other hand not only pay their annual dues but kick in extra bucks when the head gun nut scares hell out of them. Pathetic but Obeidelah sees no changes for the near future. Unfortunately I must agree.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

ELIZABETH WARREN IS NOT RUNNING BUT...



Although Elizabeth Warren isn't running for President??? she is having a lot to say about what the next Prez should look like. She believes that Washington works well for the lobbyists and their benefactors but not for middle America. She would like to lower the interest rates on student loans and shore up Social Security, and she's still not saying NO to running, rather, she still wants to see who is getting in the race. I have posted on Elizabeth Warren's Progressive credentials before but there will be a need for those liberal followers out there who are not currently voting to get off their duffs in 2016 for her to win. Nate Silver has said Hillary is a sure bet for the nomination but that was then and who knows what's around the corner.

KANSAS DUPLICATES ARIZONA STUPID GUN LAWS


First Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback gutted the state's education system with almost "$45 million in funding for public schools and higher education in his state by March." Now he has just signed a bill into law that "allows Kansas residents over the age of 21 to carry concealed weapons without any permit or training requirements." Do you realize what that means? If I have no criminal record, I can go buy a gun in Kansas that cannot be traced, and walk around the streets with it in my pocket, without the slightest idea of how to use it. In Iowa I could do it if I'm blind. In Arizona I could take it into a bar. ALL LEGAL. Is anyone ever going to realize just how farcical these laws are?

Monday, April 13, 2015

JOHN MCCAIN SECONDED BY LINDSEY GRAHAM UNDERMINES U.S. GOVERNMENT


John McCain and his bootlicker Lindsey Graham have been on a crusade to wreck just about anything Pres. Obama wants to do. The famous flip flopper on immigration is now siding with Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei on the Iran nuclear deal and effectively calling John Kerry a liar in what he presented as a prospective deal. Lindsey Graham says "Go John, Go John." McCain said, “I think you’re going to find out that they had never agreed to the things that John Kerry claimed that they had.” It's time for John McCain to go home to Phoenix and play with his wife's empty beer bottles. As far as Lindsey Graham is concerned, I guess he'll have to call John for direction.

RAND PAUL BLACKBALLED FROM 2015 NRA CONVENTION



APPARENTLY NOT. Poor baby was not invited to Wacky Wayne LaPierre's party at his National Rifle Assn. affair last weekend held in Nashville. Rand Paul and his staff claim it is due to his ties to the National Association for Gun Rights. I don't know which organization is worse. Others were left out like Lindsey Graham and Mike Huckabee but after some sucking up to the NRA, they were invited. It is pathetic when a U.S. Senator and former Governor have to kiss WW's ass to get an invite to his movable feast. However, Paul's snub is not because he isn't a firm believer in the 2nd Amendment. He is. But the gun control advocates have recently announced to new approach to their goals. Where Republican Governors and state legislatures control many states, thus, loose gun laws, the new efforts are aimed at state ballot measures. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is bankrolling the movement. Watch for a ballot in your state.

DOES HILLARY CLINTON HAVE TO BE MORE PROGRESSIVE FOR 2016?


Hillary Clinton says, well, maybe just that much. Whether or not she decides to move further left, that bunch of loafing Progressives out there who have not been voting had better step up to the plate in 2016 and bring home the White House to Democrats again. Aljazeera America has chastised this voting group for its propensity for staying away from the polls if it doesn't get the exact candidate it wants. This is about as immature as it gets when you consider the results of losing this vote. We now have a Republican-controlled Congress. If you people in this category can look at the shenanigans of a John Boehner and Mitch Mitchell and not start getting in line for the 2016 voting polls right now I guess you never will. Don't know whether it's laziness, or whether it rained that day, maybe you were hungover or some other stupid excuse. How is it that the GOP can rally its people to turn out, conservative to moderate, but Progressives just stay home. If you can't understand what you're doing to this country, you have failed as a liberal.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

HILLARY CLINTON DECIDES AND TOP POLLSTER SAYS SHE'S IN


Nate Silver, founder of the website 538 Politics, has taken his place among the political analysts of today due to his methods in computer modeling and the aggregation of polling results. His results stem from the fact that with all the crunching of numbers including demographics, he has a feel for the political scene. So with Hillary Clinton's announcement today that she is running for President, Silver believes she is "likely to win the nomination." She has 27 Democratic Senators endorsing her campaign, far more than any party nominee back to Ronald Reagan. He seals it with the fact these endorsements are coming from the left, center and right of the Democratic caucus. Solid support. Factors for the general election: (1 Obama's popularity when he exits, it is average now: (2 The economy, it's good for now; (3 "The Electoral College And The 'Emerging Democratic Majority,'” and the demographic trends that favor the party. If you're passionate about 2016 I suggest you start following 538 Politics now.

TED CRUZ 2ND AMENDMENT FUNDAMENTALS STEEPED IN OBSOLETE IDEOLOGY


The 2nd Amendment is a divisive part of the U.S. Constitution that should either be modified drastically or repealed. The National Rifle Assn. is in the last day of its 2015 convention in Nashville, TN, and their 70,000 members are there for just the opposite reason; to preserve its sanctity. At least in their eyes. Ted Cruz is trying to help but, as usual, he put his foot in his mouth again. For years opponents of the ritualistic interpretation of the 2nd Amendment by gun nuts have argued, this is not what those guys meant on that day, December 15, 1791. That was then. This is now. Things have changed. Wake up and enjoy modern times. But Cruz elected to dredge up former Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story who did support the 2nd with the enthusiasm of someone proud of his country at a time when vigilance was needed. But that was sometime between 1811 and 1845, hardly a contemporary view of our needs of today. And therein lies the problem of the gun rights movement. Their view of the 2nd Amendment is antiquated and until that changes the shootings and killings will continue.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

NRA RUNNING SCARED OF HILLARY CLINTON


An unnerved National Rifle Assn. opened its 2015 convention in Nashville, TN, yesterday and what was on the agenda? Hillary Clinton bashing by wacky Wayne LaPierre with a generous sprinkling of digs by the GOP Presidential candidates present. The 70,000 attendees, mostly conservative, white, and male, listened to the maniac of munitions rant on why these poor souls in the audience should buy more guns and convince their congressional representative that there should be absolutely no more gun laws that curb guns like assault weapons. Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas probably received a standing ovation based on his recent law that relinquishes guns to a warm body. I don't know if Hillary has it in her to fight for more reasonable gun laws but I know Elizabeth Warren does.

Friday, April 10, 2015

NRA BEGINS BELCHING THEIR BULLSHIT TODAY


INDIANAPOLIS 2014: It was this anti-gun demonstration that marred the spewing of gun propaganda by the National Rifle Assn. head, Wacky Wayne LaPierre in its last convention in Indianapolis in 2014. WW and his flock embark on the 2015 version today in Nashville, TN, and are connecting with country music. First of all, I don't like country music but most of all I detest the NRA. In an obvious pro-gun piece in the Nashville Business Journal, the writer makes an interesting comment that the mostly male attendees were primarily target shooters. If this is the case the attendees won't include the gun nuts I regularly hear from in this blog with comments like, " WHO YOU GOING TO CALL WHEN THE SCUMS COME FOR YOU AND YOUR LIFE IS ON THE LINE..." No, I imagine the folks in Nashville this weekend are more like the 75% level headed members of the NRA that believe there should be universal background checks. My double-digit gun nuts probably couldn't afford the trip anyway.

Unfortunately Wacky Wayne LaPierre will pay no attention to this huge majority of membership and continue to espouse unreasonable gun rights for more guns everywhere for people who aren't trained to use them.

AN INFORMED VOTER DOES NOT VOTE REPUBLICAN


Political researchers have said, “When uninformed citizens receive political information, they systematically shift their political preferences away from the Republican Party and toward the Democrats," according to Aljazeera America. That says mountains about Republican voters who depend on the negativity of the GOP, accompanied by Fox (faux) News, and the Tea Party to make their decisions. If putting down their opponents isn't enough, Republicans resort to hate for their message. It is what I call trickle down abomination and seems to be a formula that has worked for the GOP.

Because there is no opposition from Progressives, like...voting. 

Thursday, April 9, 2015

ARIZONA-WHERE STUPID LAWS ARE BORN

APRIL 2014-PHOENIX, ARIZONA: A demented state legislature has just passed a new bill that would ban the passing of any future legislation banning plastic bags. Slate says it is in the bidding for worst state of the week, a place Arizona has enjoyed repeatedly in the past, especially when Jan Brewer was governor. State Sen. Nancy Barto proposed the bill that now waits for Gov. Ducey to sign. Barto is the fruitcake that recently pushed through another piece of mind-boggling legislation making it a law for Arizona doctors to tell women getting an abortion that it is reversible. The medical community says this is not only impossible but could be dangerous.

The meeting of the Arizona legislature reminds me of that movie from 1948, The Snake Pit, covering a woman's life during her stay in a mental institution.

AN ANGRY GUN NUT COULD LIVE NEXT DOOR TO YOU



There are around 300 million guns in the U.S. That's 90 per 100 residents, which comes out to 2.4 per household. You'd think we were preparing for a war. What is even more shocking is that 4.8 million of those households, approximately 5%, have someone living in them who is pissed off at the world and they have a gun or guns. They aren't all gun nuts and you can read the definition of this bonehead here. When you boil it down to figures like this it makes the statement, 'There are too many guns in America' believable. Even wacky Wayne LaPierre should be able to understand hard facts like this. But he doesn't. This weekend, WW will be in Nashville at the NRA convention telling all his gun nut minions that no matter what, they have to run out now and buy more guns.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

STARTLING FACTS THAT SHOULD SHAME PROGRESSIVES



The Pew Research Center has found that 39% of Americans consider themselves Independent voters, having left the two major parties in frustration. I am one of them. But the balance is aligned as follows: Democrats 32%; Republicans 23%. But around 90% of Independents do lean either left or right. Of these leaners 48% are Democrats, 39% are Republicans. Among the registered voters of this group, 48% are Democratic, 43% Republican. So how have we lost so many elections to the GOP recently? Because you Progressives are sitting on your butts and not voting.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT-ARIZONA A PROGRESSIVE STATE?



George W.P. Hunt, the first governor of Arizona, tried to get the state off to a good start. He was an arch Progressive and David Berman is attempting to capture his avant-garde politics in his book, "George Hunt: Arizona's Crusading Seven-Term Governor." If Hunt were alive today, Berman thinks he would be impressed with development but would scream over the political situation. Yes, it's hard today to look at or listen to any Republican politician in Arizona without howling over their absurd ideas and antics. Hunt believed,  "...government can make life a little fairer for more people." "...believed in supporting public education." "Much of his views are grounded in his hatred of poverty. He saw class bias..."

In fact, he was for everything the current Gov. Doug Ducey is against.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

LIBERALS NEED TO WAKE UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING-3



Alterman asks, "Why do such smart guys say such stupid things?" He traces the answer back to the source of power in this country. The Koch Bros. who plan to spend $900 million on the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson who gave $150 million to the GOP in 2012. Rupert Murdoch with his networks and newspapers spreads malicious rumors like Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and undocumented alien who hates white people. Eric Alterman says in his The Nation article that conservatives don't even bother to offer ideas rather, "...they’re making calculated attempts to undermine our democracy, exploiting and manipulating a public that has decreasing resources for the kind of reliable information that would lead to a pragmatic 'liberal' response."

If this doesn't piss you Progressives off, nothing will, and if not we will go through 2016 just like past elections skipping the vote. 

ARIZONA-WHERE STUPID LAWS ARE BORN



First, Gov. Doug Ducey proposed cutting Arizona education budgets to fund private prisons. Then Dr. Gov. Ducey declares his medical credentials in the passage of  Senate Bill 1318, termed "voodoo"  medicine, "ordering that henceforth doctors must tell women that drug-induced abortions might be reversible." Not possible scientifically and the first state in the nation to do this reports Laurie Roberts in the AZ Republic. He's joined by Arizona radical, Cathi Herrod, of the Center for Arizona Policy, another home-grown bunch of fanatics. A couple of doctors here in the state who are experts in the field of abortions say it's not only bad but it could be dangerous.

If you hang around long enough I'll have more of these gems for you. Thought we had rid the state of crackpots like former governor Jan Brewer but apparently Ducey has picked up the mantle.

Monday, April 6, 2015

NOTHING HAS CHANGED SINCE THE THE LATE 1800s



It is amazing that someone with the intellect of Mark Twain could make a statement like this using one of my favorite words for many politicians, especially Republicans. In the late 1800s, when the writer would have likely said this, Republicans were in control of the U.S. Congress. I bring this up since President Obama will soon be asking Congress to cooperate in the outcome of the Iran nuclear talks. Will they forget their stupid ideology and at least negotiate or follow Mark Twain's supposition?

TEA PARTY ACHIEVES PERPETUAL FUNDRAISING



And give your money to the Tea Party

I have a theory about the Tea Party. The people who write the emails that deliver the regular editions of the TP newsletter are professional copywriters from the junk mail industry. Nothing wrong with that except their fundraising is in perpetual motion and mirrors a situation I used to abhor when I worked in junk mail as a data broker. The philanthropic organizations would thrive over their command of little old ladies out there who might be eating pet food but still gave their $2.00 to the organization of their choice. I had one guy tell me that some of these donors would give their last dollar to his cause and may go without any food at all. Someone commented to me recently that the TPers really didn't know they were being used. In TP email after email there is the term, "We desperately need you." Sounds to me like their greed already has you.




Friday, April 3, 2015

LIBERALS NEED TO WAKE UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING-CONTINUED



In his book, The Liberal Imagination, Lionel Trilling carped that there were “no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation.” Then along came right-wing intellectuals like Milton Friedman, James Q. Wilson, Alan Bloom and Gertrude Himmelfarb that liberals had to contend with for a while. But not for long. Anything representing intellectualism by the GOP went down the tubes with the advent of Karl Rove and the George W. Bush administration. It was basically replaced with "HATE." Something that has served Republicans well with the inauguration of Barack Obama for President. In The Nation, Trilling points out that today no intellectual equals exist with George Will saying, "that rape victims enjoy their 'privileges,' that Ebola can be spread through the air, and that global warming is a hoax." Trilling adds that, "Conservative 'wise man' Bill Kristol has achieved this status by proving himself, time and again, to be the worst predictor in the history of the punditocracy."

With this ammunition, Progressives can be passionate over keeping the White House in 2016 as well as retaking Congress.

More later.

SHOULD YOU ALLOW YOUR CHILD IN A HOME WITH GUNS?



A woman recently wrote a gossip columnist that the mother of one of her son's friends refused to let her child come to their house because there were guns there. The first mom quickly contacted the other mom to explain how perfectly secure the guns were in her house to alleviate the concern. It may have satisfied the distressed mom but it wouldn't satisfy me. Here's why. According to the Gun Violence Archive, 666 children age 17 and under have died or been injured by gun violence since the start of 2015. New Yorkers against Gun Violence reports that 2,694 children die from gun violence every year. Healthday News says gunshot wounds send around 20 kids to the hospital every day in the U.S. Our subject mom may very well be locking up her guns but someone isn't.  

Thursday, April 2, 2015

KOCH BROTHERS ALLIES/BIG DONORS POUT OVER THEIR IMAGE



The Koch Brothers and their minions of moneybags are taking heat, so supporters, like USA Today, are trying to clean up their image by saying things like, "The American Dream is simply too far out of reach for far too many people." Now who the hell do they think made it unreachable? The administration of George W. Bush squandered this "Dream" started with Bill Clinton during his presidency, saying as late as June of 2014, the middle class is the key to ending poverty. Keep the middle class healthy and it will pull up the country. All the Koch Brothers and their followers are interested in is to build wealth in the upper 1% of incomes and to hell with the rest.

LIBERALS NEED TO WAKE UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING



In a recent article in The Nation, Eric Alterman is putting out a "Wake Up Call for Us Liberals." He starts by citing the dinner Barack Obama had with arch conservatives like George Will, William Kristol and others. It was a misplaced confidence the newly elected President had that the extreme right could temper its ideologies and work with the left. No such luck. Alterman explains why defining the differences in beliefs: "The primary difference between liberalism and conservatism, at least in theory, is that the latter is an ideology and the former isn’t." He continues with an observation from Lionel Trilling, ” Liberalism is a large tendency rather than a concise body of doctrine.” In other words, the Progressive is free to be...progressive. The conservative is narrowly limited by its ideologies. Our political dysfunction has several sources but one of the most important is allowing, "...conservatives to define the terms of debate at a time when conservatives have lost all sense of moral, intellectual and especially practical responsibility."

More on this later.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

IS HILLARY CLINTON PROGRESSIVE ENOUGH FOR 2016?



The Hill blog has uncovered several emails that find considerable unrest among Progressives over Hillary Clinton's 2016 bid. These are influential voices that represent left-leaning liberals that feel they are not being heard. Activists, strategists and journalists, The Hill says the group includes prominent Democrats, Sierra Club officials, journalists who work for The Huffington Post and The Nation magazine, senior union representatives, leaders at the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the president of NARAL. The frustration says she is, "too much of a hawk, too cozy with Wall Street, hasn’t spoken out enough on climate change, and will be subject to personal questions and criticisms, members of the group stated in the emails." The piece says she has ducked issues like the Keystone Pipeline and I would add to that gun control. When you look at Elizabeth Warren on all these issues, the Progressives find agreement.


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