Year: 2012

Categories
Domestic Policies marriage equality

The Turning Point In Marriage Equality

Mark this day because it represents a turning point in the fight for equality in the United States. The President of the United States has stated his belief that adults who love each other should share in the same civil rights as other adults who love each other. Suddenly, the president’s new campaign slogan, Forward, has new resonance. Under Obama’s leadership, we have the opportunity to move forward towards a future where the guarantees of the 14th Amendment: “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” are applied to all citizens.

North Carolina might have just slammed the door on marriage equality and civil unions, but I have no doubt that ultimately that kind of discrimination and denial of rights will be overturned, and they should be. No state, even under the guise of federalism, should be able to hide behind a referendum when it comes to rights. This is why the Founders (you remember the Founders: This is a country about Founders) created a republic. They recognized the mischief inherent in allowing democratic votes on suspect propositions.

And where is Mitt Romney on the issue? Backwards. Mitt doesn’t believe that other people should share in civil rights because he, personally, doesn’t think that gays should have marriage equality. Isn’t that quaint? What other civil rights is Mitt going to deny people because he, personally doesn’t believe in them? I notice that he’s leaving caffeine drinkers alone, for now at least. Be thankful.

Of course, the big question is how this is going to affect the presidential race and more specifically, Obama’s reelection chances now that he’s jumped into the public pool with both feet. (By the way, without civil rights protections, Barack Obama would not have been able to swim in that public pool in North Carolina. Just sayin’.) My sense, and my hope, is that this helps him with the younger people who don’t seem quite as threatened by the idea of two loving adults actually being able to get married and share in all its legal bliss.

I could be wrong, but if I am, it will be because too many American don’t realize that it doesn’t matter who you love, just as it doesn’t matter what religion, race, gender, or creed you call yourself. The genius of this country is that all citizens are guaranteed equal protection. All. No exceptions. That’s something I will gladly fight for.

Please join the conversation at  www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest 

Categories
Politics Republican

Scott Brown Sheds His Republican Skin – Is He Now An Independent?

Embroiled in a massive battle in Massachusetts against Democratic favored Elizabeth Warren, Republican Scott Brown seems to be shedding his Republican skin and has adorned himself in the Independent banner. In this newly released ad, Brown is said to have  “turned out to be unpredictably independent and beholden to no one.”

Categories
Politics

Obama on Same Sex Marriage – “I think that same sex couples should be able to get married””

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he supports gay marriage, reversing his position on a controversial social issue just six months before the November election and adopting a stance fraught with political implications.

Mr. Obama had been under intense pressure this week to lay out a clear stance on gay marriage after several of his top advisers endorsed it. Mr. Obama said he “personally” believes gays and lesbians should have the right to marry, a position he came to after several years of talking to friends and family and thinking about gay members of the military and of his staff who are raising children together in monogamous relationships.

“I’ve been going through an evolution on this issue. I’ve always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts. “At a certain point, I just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think that same sex couples should be able to get married.”

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

Romney on Same Sex Marriage – ” I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender”

(CBS News) FORT LUPTON, Colo. – Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday said he unequivocally opposes “marriage between people of the same gender,” drawing a contrast to President Obama’s “evolving” position on the issue.

In an interview with Denver-based KDVR-TV, Romney was asked about the failure of a ballot measure that would have allowed same-sex civil unions in Colorado. “I indicated my view, which is I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name,” Romney said. “My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not.”

Romney, in another interview Wednesday, told CBS affiliate KCNC in Denver: “My position is the same on gay marriage as it’s been well, from the beginning, and that is that marriage is a relation between a man and a woman. That’s the posture that I had as governor and I have that today.”

However, it’s still early in the election season. Check back later to see if Romney’s position changes. Most likely, it will.

Categories
Politics tweet twitter

Today’s Funniest Tweet – Compliments Wisconsin’s @GovWalker

Okay. We know the day is not over, but it will be difficult, even impossible for anyone to beat today’s funniest tweet. It is from Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker and his tweet goes out to the public employees of his state, the same “hard-working” public employees that received the brunt of Walker’s attacks for over a year now.

Sidenote: These public union workers in Wisconsin will get another shot at Walker in less than a month. His recall election is scheduled for June 5th.

Walker’s Tweet:

Needless to say, the Twitter world caught on to Walker’s sense of humor (if you wanna call it that). Below are some of the responses;

 

 

Categories
Featured vote women

Right Winged Preacher Says “Allowing Women to Vote Was One of America’s Greatest Mistake”

Forget the fact that this so-called Preacher has a message that is vile, despicable and totally reprehensible to anyone with a common thread of decency. And if you could, forget the fact that he has an audience who leave their homes and come to hear his message.

If you’re able to forget those two facts, try to realize the utter hypocrisy of this man… a black man whose recent history made voting a matter of life or death. This man named Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson – president and founder of The Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny – went to the pulpit and “preached” a message that giving women the right to vote was “one of America’s greatest mistake.”

“One of the primary reasons…is because women are taking over…They’re in high, so-called powerful positions, they’re running companies, they’re making decisions, and not all, not all, not all….[I’m getting] a funny face now…There are some, a few logical women who can make sound decision[s], but most cannot. And the unfortunate thing is they’re in powerful positions…The one thing I know for sure without a doubt [is that] women cannot handle power…It’s not real power anyway. Power that the world give you is not power. It’s all ego-building.”

This right winged nut case recently said that all blacks should be forced back into the plantations so that they could understand work ethic, and more recently Peterson accused blacks of using the Trayvon Martin killing to “get even with whites.”

Watch the video… if you could.

Categories
Politics

The World is Rejecting Austerity – Republicans Push More Austerity in America

aus·ter·i·ty

[aw-ster-i-tee]

noun, plural aus·ter·i·ties.
1. austere  quality; severity of manner, life, etc.; sternness.
2. Usually, austerities. ascetic practices: austerities of monastery life.
3. strict economy.
Austerity is also described in economics, as a policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided.
—–

A day after voters in France and Greece toppled governments in a European backlash against austerity measures, Republicans moved forward with legislation to replace $78 billion in automatic spending cuts to defense and discretionary domestic spending with a much larger $261 billion cut focused only on domestic spending.

The GOP said its bill highlights the Democrats’ obsessions with raising taxes and inability to accept even reasonable spending cuts to a government that is $16 trillion in debt.

“We shouldn’t be taking more from hardworking Americans to fix Washington’s mistakes,” Ryan said in a statement. “Instead, we should be solving the problem with structural reforms to our entitlement programs to make them strong and sustainable.”

Democrats said the party-line vote showed Republicans were more interested in protecting tax breaks for oil companies than in funding programs that help the poor and needy.

“It is no wonder commentators are calling Republicans reverse-Robin Hoods,” said Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who offered a motion that would have replaced cuts to Medicaid and children’s health insurance with cuts to oil and gas subsidies.

[The Hill]

Categories
failed policies Politics Republican Party

Then The Republican Party Said, “Hooray For Short Memories!” – Pic

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum Endorses The “Worst Republican In America”

Remember when Rick Santorum said Mitt Romney was the worst Republican in America to put up against President Obama? Well last night, Mr. Santorum jumped on the Romney bandwagon and decided to ride it as far as its deflated wheels will take him.

In a late night email to his supporters, Santorum said that he had “no doubt” that Romney would repeal President Obama’s Health Care Law – the very law that was patterned after Romney’s own health care law in his state of Massachusetts. And almost to the end of his 16 paragraph email, Santorum said;

“Above all else, we both agree that President Obama must be defeated.  It will require all hands on deck if our nominee is to be victorious. Gov. Romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this the most critical election of our lifetime.”

After the Gingrich endorsement, Shepard Smith of Fox News said “politics is weird.” What will he say about this endorsement?

Categories
Politics

President Obama’s New Ad – ‘Go.’ We’re Moving in the Right Direction

It’s Monday, and the Obama re-election campaign has released another ad with a simple message – we are not there yet, but we are heading in the right direction.

The ad begins looking at the state of the economy before the President took into office. It also mentions that compared to where things were and where they are now with over 4 million jobs created, a rebounding auto industry, ending the war in Iraq and capturing Osama Bin Laden, the nation is coming back.

The ad will run in the battleground states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida and Colorado.

Categories
Politics right winged

Arnold Schwarzenegger to Republican Leaders – Stop Being the Party of Right Winged Nuts

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger looked at his Republican party and decided to write an op-ed column in the Los Angeles Times, begging for his party to go back to the days of Reagan, to forget the right winged nonsense and be more inclusive.

A recent decision by Nathan Fletcher – a Republican State Assemblyman and Republican State Legislator Anthony Adams to leave the Republican party and become Independents, prompted Mr. Schwarzenegger to write his piece.

“In the current climate, the extreme right-wing of the party is targeting anyone who doesn’t meet its strict criteria. Its new and narrow litmus test for party membership doesn’t allow compromise,” Schwarzenegger wrote.

It’s time for the Republicans who are so bent on enforcing conformity to ask themselves a question: What would Ronald Reagan have done? He worked hard to maintain a welcoming, open and diverse Republican Party. He would have been appalled to see Republicans like Fletcher and Adams conclude that they had no other option than to leave the party.

The former California governor called on his party to compromise and he used Reagan as an example. “To succeed, Republicans need to embrace true Reaganism,” he said, “and that means embracing the true Reagan, a brave and independent leader who believed in solutions and compromise.”

And he mentioned other prominent Republicans who worked together for the American people and who believed in compromise like Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.

Teddy Roosevelt is still a hero among environmentalists for his conservationist policies. Dwight Eisenhower believed in the value of investing in infrastructure, and we can thank him for our highway system. Nixon, who originally attracted me to the party, nearly passed universal healthcare. He also created the national Environmental Protection Agency, which some modern Republicans want to close down.

Schwarzenegger offered this little piece of advise to the Republican leaders;

It’s time to stop thinking of the Republican Party as an exclusive club where your ideological card is checked at the door, and start thinking about how we can attract more solution-based leaders like Nathan Fletcher and Anthony Adams.

Categories
China Mitt Romney Politics

Mitt Romney Jeopardized Foreign Affairs for Political Gain

Senior Obama strategist David Axelrod hammered likely GOP nominee Mitt Romney for his criticism of the administration’s handling of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng.

“I think what’s shameful is when presidential candidates are so craven to score political points that they speak irresponsibly on half information at a time when the president is trying, and the administration is trying to resolve a situation that is very, very sensitive and very difficult,” Axelrod said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Chen, a blind human rights activist who has been under house arrest, sought refuge in the U.S. embassy last week. A deal to allow Chen to live with his family and receive regular contact with U.S. diplomats quickly unraveled last week after Chen said his family had been threatened by Chinese officials and that he wanted to leave the country.

Romney called the incident “dark day for freedom” and “a day of shame for the Obama administration.”

“We want to help Mr. Chen achieve his goal, which is to come here, and we want to do it in accordance with our values, and we want to be successful in doing that. And we’re making some progress in that regard,” said Axelrod. “But it doesn’t help to have candidates blunderbussing around, trying to score political points, when we’re in the middle of that process.”

Source: The Hill

Exit mobile version