AMERICAN ANGST

Welcome to the Monday edition of The Sunday Planet. Though there are a few reasons for the delay, one of the reasons revolved around my foolish hope that Hurricane Isaac's path would destroy the Tampa Bay Times Forum, and every republican numb nut inside would be whisked to the land of OZ where nonsense is revered; no such luck. Instead it appears that the brunt of the storm will once again be Louisiana.

We can watch Bobby's useless ideas crumble again as people run for safety, oh joy.

I guess we couldn't get to the Forum without hurting Tampa itself, which is a democratic stronghold, so it's all for the best. They did cancel today's events, so Bozo's Circus doesn't start until tomorrow.

I really don't have much interest in what the mentally challenged Tea Party is up to, I know their brutality when it comes to the citizens of this country, but I am very interested when it comes to the sideshows. 

Here's a fun fact, no whole fruit will be allowed in the convention. Come on guys, man up; are you really talking rotten tomatoes? Bananas are definitely on the list of banned items, as well as tupperware for some unknown reason. May be carrying a fruit cocktail?

I think everyone should be interested in the GOP platform when it is ratified. This will be their guiding light for the next four years and should be great fun; at least if you're white, male and christian. For tolerant respectful people it will be the usual boot to the ass.

Meet the crazy. One of the planks is that republicans will oppose abortion in every case, including incest and rape. That is our possible new vice-president's goal as well. Another is to expand the legislation backing self-defense laws that kill innocents like Florida's "Stand Your Ground," the wild wild west lives on. The next consensus, if conservatives are in control, will make sure that immigrants are not counted; you know, your neighbor doesn't really exist. Another plank is that taxes cannot be raised unless a super majority vote for it. Then there's the same old dead horse being beat; the definition of marriage is the union between one man and one woman. We should all enjoy the commission to explore the possibility of reverting back to the gold standard; have to protect the riches of the rich, dontcha know. Then there's the voucher plan for future seniors instead of medicare, (please die now bitches), and exempting women from direct ground combat. Though I have no need to send any women in my life to war, I'm still not sure why they cannot decide for themselves.

Can't wait to see how crazy they get. The 2008 platform preamble was ludicrous, "...humility before God and before a nation of free and independent thinkers..." How many times do we have to argue with people who fallaciously change definitions of common words; "humility before god" and "free and independent thinkers" are not understandable when used in the same sentence. Keep them confused is the conservative motto; no language change expected.

For 2012, the draft includes language making the case that having an abortion is bad for a woman's "health and well-being." I never realized how fucking dumb the other gender supposedly is until I read a few conservative doctrines; apparently the ladies only got a piece of rib, no brains included. The exact line is “Through Obamacare, the Obama Administration has promoted the notion that abortion is healthcare. We, however, affirm the dignity of women by protecting the sanctity of human life. Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and well-being of women and we stand firmly against it."

Numerous studies? I'll have to come back to that.

Last Tuesday at the Republican National Convention Platform meeting an amendment to strike down DOMA was introduced, and then immediately struck down by Kansas' Attorney General Kris Korbach. His argument? Comparing homosexuality with drug use and polygamy. Again, will someone donate a few dictionaries to these morons? It only gets worse.

Steve King, Tea Party pig fucker from Iowa, decided to define minority students as those who "who feel sorry for themselves" and are "brought into a group that have a grievance against society." I guess the tea party blowhard is talking about evil democrats. He goes on to say that, "People are being told that it’s not their fault, that it’s somebody else’s…That’s the excuse path. We need to have individual responsibility, a culture that supports it — that celebrates it — and one that discourages the slackers from lining up at the public trough and accepting the benefits of the sweat of someone else’s brow."

It follows that King believes anyone wanting an education or is in need is a slacker. Apparently this guy's been cornholed sometime in the past by Ayn Rand wearing her real-man strap on.

Akin has been the brunt of attacks by the reality crowd, we've talked about his "legitimate rape" comments on the site. Huckabee did come to Akin's defense as others in the conservative party were trying to distance themselves. The Huckster stated that Obama had voted against medical treatment for botched abortions, trying for his best "squirrel!" imitation. Trying to shed a dark light on the current administration, he conveniently stays mute on the reality; Obama voted no because of the controversy surrounding the fetal personhood bills that would have accompanied the vote. He did not want to prohibit a woman's right to have an abortion. 

Conservatives are lying bastards these days and this is a true statement. If you leave out pertinent data to make a point, you're a lying puke, nothing more.

FEMME FATALE

It must be female allure that incites stupidity on the right. Though this is probably more Adriana's specialty, I think it necessary to to give some history on how the fight against a woman's freedom is manufactured.

To understand the anti-abortion movement is to understand conservative christian thought. 

The GOP mouth pieces, like Akin, get their data from a body of scholarship that has been created by the right. By tagging old research into newer research, they create a false body of knowledge that they use to substantiate their views.

This is an excellent example of circular reasoning, definitely kin to the "god directed the writing of the bible, therefore the bible is true, therefore god exists and directed the writing of the bible." 

Back again to the ultimate deception. To influence the abortion debate, they repeatedly express the same views in multiple publications. They create the appearance of, again, a body of scholarship that they use to influence a political agenda that is based on an apparent legitimate body of scientific evidence. 

For you Fox watchers, sound familiar? One person makes an unsubstantiated claim that is picked up by others who use the unsubstantiated data which is picked up by others until there is this whitewash effect of blinding everyone to reality. 

After this is done for a while from those that have an agenda, the meme gets picked up by unsuspecting followers who give the ideas that push into the mainstream.

Think about searching a statement that you know is false and having to go through pages an pages of results that all parrot the false statement. To find the truth you must want to find that truth. If you were someone who is not savvy enough to understand this reality, you could get caught up in the falsehood. It must be true, every page of results you looked at before you got tired of looking says the same damn thing.

Which brings me back to why people vote against their own best interest; they don't, they've been duped.

FOOD FIGHT

Independent

Recently during an online exchange on politics where a few liberals were getting riled up, a gentlemen I worked with asked if he could be removed from the conversation. His reasoning being that he doesn’t take sides, he’s an independent.

Well, no he’s fucking not. He’s an embarrassed conservative who claims to be an independent so people don’t treat him like the dimwit he is. He lives in a small town in central Michigan where they think they are special. Nice homes full of arrogant bitches, conservatives bumblers and bible thumping theists; ugly place to live if it wasn’t for a growing gay community that the conservatives pretend aren’t there.

Which really amuses me to no end.

A thought being promoted is that the largest growing segment of voters are independents, but as the graph shows, that identification went up as those who identified as conservatives went down. Independents are now hosting the refugees of the right, they're not growing.

But I hear this a lot. I’m independent. With family and friends that use to be conservative until baby Bush screwed the pooch now using the term, it has become synonymous with possible crazy.

When I hear someone say that he/she is independent, the first thing that comes to my mind is that they are saying they should be institutionalized. To say you are independent means that you could possibly vote conservative. If you vote conservative, you are voting against 99% of the population’s well being in the hope that you will get a nice cherry lollypop at the end of your day. This person claiming to be independent could actually believe that either the GOP will institute policies that will help him/her earn money or that the GOP talks for god.

Really doesn’t matter why, your imbecilic thought process has labelled you as a possible enemy to the masses. Your thought says you can’t be trusted.

As far as I’m concerned, independent only means you are saying there is a possibility that you’re nuttier than a pecan pie on hormones. That there is a possibility that you would vote to take away health care from women, from children, our elders and the poor means you are a selfish, boorish individual who so fears that change may damage you in some unfathomed way that you are comfortable with the status quo.

Tell me why I am wrong.

AMERICAN ANGST

The Tea Party is still preaching the hate and divisiveness that the Romney Campaign says is what President Obama is doing. In fact, if anyone is paying attention, you'll notice that the strategy in the conservative camp is to repeat whatever the president has to say about them and toss it back. If the Obama camp says Romney/Ryan will destroy medicare, you can bet that the opposing camp will level the same accusations.

Back to the friendly Tea Party patriots, they hoisted this billboard in Elkhart, Indiana. In keeping with their friendly banter, they show the conservative talking points to be lies. A few people showed up to protest the sign, but apparently no one really cares. 

Nebraska has joined Arizona in flaunting federal law. In those two states, young immigrants will not be able to obtain a driver's license. Would make it a little hard to be competitive in the job market, since they will always have to rely on someone for transportation and will not be able to get a work permit.

To add to the fun, Tea Party House candidate Samuel Wurzlbacher, "Joe the Plumber," was campaigning with Tea Party candidate Lori Klein in Arizona. His plan for stopping illegal immigration is to "Put troops on the border and start shooting."

Yes Mr. Romney, hate and divisiveness describe conservatives very well, thanks for the phrase.

A reporter for CNN, Soledad O'Brian, had the audacity toquestion a conservative about his statements on medicare. She asked what was the difference between Mitt's and Paul's plan. The conservative, ex-Governor Sununu, didn't like the facts of the conversation and at one time replied, "Put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead when you do this,” responded by pivoting to the Obama administration, slamming the president for “taking $717 billion” out of Medicare via the Affordable Care Act, a statistic O’Brien said had been debunked."

“They are assuming, Soledad, stop this!” “All you’re doing is mimicking the stuff that comes out of the White House and gets repeated on the Democratic blog boards out there. If you’re going to mouth what comes out of the White House."

Then the reporter dared once again to quote the facts. Really fun to watch if you haven't done so already. Sununu's as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Instead of subjecting all to hate's face, we'll look at Soledad instead.

Again Mr. Romney, hate and divisiveness? 

The voting controversy roles on. After a judge decided that Pennsylvania's attempt to deny the right to vote was fine by him, the state promptly shut down online absentee ballot applications. That would have allowed voters to exercise their rights without a valid identification card. Sorry, if you're old or poor, no voting for you.

Ohio is doing their best to subvert voting rights as well. In democratic counties early voting stations will only be open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm while republican counties have expanded hours allowing voting at night and on weekends.

In Florida, Governor Rick Scott failed again in his attempts to prevent minorities from voting. Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia have also reduced early voting in the hope of suppressing democratic voters from voting.

Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against The Machine says Ryan, who claims to be a big fan, is exactly the sort of person the machine rages against. But except for that bit of sanity, recent political viewpoints from conservative celebrities have been outrageous.

On Friday, crazy Hank Williams Jr. stated at the Iowa state fair that "We’ve got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the US and we hate him!” His adoring fans responded enthusiastically to the nonsense.

Dave Mustaine, singer for Megadeath, had this to say. "Back in my country, my president," Mustaine begins and then pretends to gag himself with his finger, "is trying to pass a gun ban so he's staging all of these murders. The 'Fast and Furious' thing down at the border. And Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there. And now, the beautiful people at the Sikh temple."

He is accusing the president of staging the deaths of innocents to promote a gun ban. Though celebrities are not my idea of news, especially when you get to the bottom of the barrel has beens, it goes along with the main subject:

Mr. Romney, please tell me about hate and divisiveness again.

FEMININE FIXATION

Ryan apparently doesn't have much use for women. His votes on women issues have been atrocious. He voted for the "Let Women Die Bill" which would have allowed hospitals to deny a woman an abortion even if her life was in danger. He co-sponsored a federal personhood bill which stated that a fertilized egg is the same as a person. Has voted against equal pay for women bills, against Title X family planning programs, against Planned Parenthood funding and many other bills that disproportionately harm women. He voted against allowing military women to have an abortion, even if they were able to pay with their own money.

Part of the VAWA, Violence Against Women Act, that is being held hostage in congress is the campus SaVE act. Congressional conservatives have continuously subverted this act that protects women. The SaVE act is one of the provisions they've removed from the VAWA that is crucial for women in college. The stats are unreal; one in four women will be sexually assaulted during their college years. 

It follows that conservatives wish to ensure that women are abused for attempting to gain an education; Taliban methods apparently work for them.

There was a win in Kansas. It had been reported that the state was going after Planned Parenthood for possible illegal abortions.  They have now dropped all the foolish charges. Curious how a federal law can be determined illegal at the state level.

If Romney and Ryan were to win, Planned Parenthood would be gone.

Once again let us reflect on divisiveness and hate. We know the source, it is the Romney/Ryan message to all women; specifically the poorest among us.

EDUCATION ENEMIES

Anti-evolution laws on the the state level are evolving. After the Dover, Pennsylvania case, anti-science went back to the drawing board. There is no more "Intelligent Design," now the buzz words to watch for in your area are "Academic Freedom."

As a country we still seem to dislike educators . In New York nearly half of the teachers in the state who were at the end of their probation were denied tenure. This is starting to happen all across the country as we decide that state budgets should get rid of teachers as a way of saving money. War dollars yes, education dollars no.

In Louisiana the dismantling of public schools continues. We've had several people comment on this on the site but all you have to really know is that tax payer dollars will be used for vouchers so children can attend private schools. Schools that have a strong religious message. Part of the plan? The Lochness Monster is real and disproves evolution. Get your crazy here.

The dismantling of the public school system can be seen in Milwaukee as well. A Lutheran school received a nice sum of money from the taxpayers that prevented it from closing. Vouchers is the word for violating the separation of church and state.

Kentucky legislators recently commented on their thoughts about evolution. “I would hope that creationism is presented as a theory in the classroom, in a science classroom, alongside evolution,”said state Senator David Givens. State Representative Ben Waide made a more precise statement:

“The theory of evolution is a theory, and essentially the theory of evolution is not science – Darwin made it up,”Waide said. “My objection is they should ensure whatever scientific material is being put forth as a standard should at least stand up to scientific method. Under the most rudimentary, basic scientific examination, the theory of evolution has never stood up to scientific scrutiny.”

PLANET POLITICS

Russian punk band "Pussy Riot" gets two years for making anti-Putin statements. I guess the U.S. might be doing a little better, so far we're not being locked up for having a bit of fun at our leader's expense. Not much fun for the ladies in the group, but for this Ukrainian protestor it was fun. She cuts down a cross with a chainsaw, topless, in protest of the arrest. Woman know how to grab our attention.

In South Africa, 34 miners were shot by the police. Apparently some countries have different methods of dealing with a strike. The police claim the miners came after them with machetes, and possibly a man wielding a gun. So they killed, wounded and arrested literally hundreds.

Julian Assange is in Ecuador for now. The government there has granted him asylum. He seems to be out of Swedish, and possibly American, hands for now. He renounced the U.S. witch hunt and stated that Bradley Manning should be released.

Chris has a discussion going on about Assange for those who want to concentrate on the issue. 

Chile's indigenous people are still under attack. Apparently land reparations are not coming anytime soon. This is what all conquerors do to the natives of any land, so shouldn't be a surprise.

ERODING ECO-SYSTEM

The XL pipeline's southern portion is being constructed despite protest. It has now been rebranded as the "Gulf Coast Project," no need for any better descriptor. This story is not going away. Oil companies make money as citizens are poisoned; the usual story.

In November, Californians will be voting on Prop 37 which would force companies like Monsanto to reveal which foods have been genetically modified. D.C.'s Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the 1.2 trillion dollar big food industry, is throwing money into the defeat of the bill.

Begs the question, what are they hiding?

If you care at all about life on this earth, make sure you read Ryan's views on Global Warming. Besides denying the science, "we still have snow" Ryan wants to dismantle green technology by calling for "drastic cuts in federal spending on energy research and development and for the outright elimination of subsidies and tax breaks for wind, solar power and other alternative energy technologies."

Not only do conservatives dislike women, apparently they really dislike all life on this planet.

OCCUPY OASIS

An interesting point on homelessness. Does the Occupy movement make it illegal? Homelessness is on the increase the last thirty years, definitely whenever a conservative was in the oval office. We've had shanty towns in the past, and the protections that helped the homeless are being dismantled.

The one year anniversary of the Occupy Movement is September 17th. On September 15th the Occupiers will retake New York City's financial district. Will this get any media attention? Probably not much. Except for a few far left news sources, everyone else is ignoring.

I think we are deliberately left out of the conversations that our government does not want to take place.

QUICK QUOTE

Yes, I have been a fan of Mr. Ingersoll for a long time, enjoy the message:

"Reason, Observation and Experience — the Holy Trinity of Science — have taught us that happiness is the only good; that the time to be happy is now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. This is enough for us. In this belief we are content to live and die. If by any possibility the existence of a power superior to, and independent of, nature shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough to kneel. Until then, let us stand erect."- Robert G. Ingersoll in "The Gods" (1876)

I really like that ending; plenty of time to kneel but for now stand erect. Robert is the man.

FOOD FIGHT

It seems that new crimes are being thought up on a daily basis. There is a movement by those in charge to criminalize chalk drawings. Yes, children and adults being arrested for drawing pictures and messages that are temporary in nature.

What does everyone think? It seems to be a simple and fleeting way to protest. From beautiful artwork to hopscotch, is there a reason that anyone here would think this should be an illegal activity?

I really enjoy creativity and think that this is more insanity from a growing police state that most of us will ignore.