Author: Ezra Grant

I'm just tired of the lies and nonsense coming from the GOP, so this is my little contribution to combat the nonsense!

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Abortion Domestic Policies South Dakota women's

In Four Months, Republicans Introduced 916 Bills Against Women’s Right To Choose

It’s almost an unbelievable figure – 916. That’s the amount of legislation that Republicans introduced from January to April, trying to regulate a woman’s reproductive system. It’s absolutely stunning!

This information comes from a report by The Guttmacher Institute, and it finds that 49 states have contributed to this number with various bills geared towards regulating abortions and a woman’s right to choose. The report says that in 15 states, the following measures became law:

  • expand the pre-abortion waiting period requirement in South Dakota to make it more onerous than that in any other state, by extending the time from 24 hours to 72 hours and requiring women to obtain counseling from a crisis pregnancy center in the interim;
  • expand the abortion counseling requirement in South Dakota to mandate that counseling be provided in-person by the physician who will perform the abortion and that counseling include information published after 1972 on all the risk factors related to abortion complications, even if the data are scientifically flawed;
  • require the health departments in Utah and Virginia to develop new regulations governing abortion clinics;
  • revise the Utah abortion refusal clause to allow any hospital employee to refuse to “participate in any way” in an abortion;
  • limit abortion coverage in all private health plans in Utah, including plans that will be offered in the state’s health exchange; and
  • revise the Mississippi sex education law to require all school districts to provide abstinence-only sex education while permitting discussion of contraception only with prior approval from the state.

The report continues;

In addition to these laws, more than 120 other bills have been approved by at least one chamber of the legislature, and some interesting trends are emerging. As a whole, the proposals introduced this year are more hostile to abortion rights than in the past: 56% of the bills introduced so far this year seek to restrict abortion access, compared with 38% last year. Three topics—insurance coverage of abortion, restriction of abortion after a specific point in gestation and ultrasound requirements—are topping the agenda in several states. At the same time, legislators are proposing little in the way of proactive initiatives aimed at expanding access to reproductive health –related services; this stands in sharp contrast to recent years when a range of initiatives to promote comprehensive sex education, permit expedited STI treatment for patients’ partners and ensure insurance coverage of contraception were adopted.

Four months, 916 bills introduced. Sounds like a new record is about to be set. Whatever happened to Roe v. Wade? You know, the 1973 decision by the Supreme Court that gives women the right under the 14th amendment of the Constitution to have a choice? The law that has guided this issue for the last four decades.

Why is Roe v. Wade now a mute issue?

 

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Birthers Donald Trump Republican United States

Michele Bachmann To Birthers: Move On. End Of Story!

Michele Bachmann appeared on Good Morning America and was asked about Donald Trump and the whole Birther conspiracy. Mrs Bachmann answered that she thinks we should “move on, end of story.”

The Republican representative was responding to host George Stephanopoulos when he presented her with a copy of President Obama’s certificate. Mr. Stephanopoulous then went on to describe the document, saying;

It’s certified, it’s got a certification number, it’s got the registrar of the state, signed. It’s got a seal on it. And it says: ‘This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding.'”

“Well, then that should settle it,” said Bachmann. She added: “That’s what should settle it. I take the president at his word and I think — again I would have no problem and apparently the president wouldn’t, either. Introduce that, we’re done. Move on, end of story.”

So is Michele Bachmann a convert? Has she come over to the side of sanity? Of course not. Bachmann is going to use this Birther issue again in the future. She was presented with facts and placed on the spot, so she had no other choice but to admit the whole birther conspiracy was crazy, but wait… given the appropriate time, in front of the appropriate audience, Bachmann will flip.

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Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

More Wisconsin Republicans Added to Recall List

The count is now up to four. That’s how many petitions have been filed to recall the Republican senators who supported Governor Walker’s decision to strip Wisconsin workers of their union rights. Democrats got the required 15,000 signatures needed to add the latest senators Luther Olsen and Sheila Harsdorf to the recall list.

Meanwhile, progressives still plan to file recall petitions against four other GOP state senators, and have until May 2 to do so. They plan to do the same against Walker once he is eligible for recall. And as FDL’s Dave Dyden notes, “While conservative activists have hinted that they have achieved enough signatures to recall Democratic members of the Senate, they have yet to file any petitions with the GAB.”

Governor Walker will be eligible for recall in January 2012.

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Arizona Barack Obama Birthers Donald Trump

Jan Brewer Kills Birther Bill In Arizona

We didn’t think she had it in her. But today, Jan Brewer vetoed a bill passed by both the Arizona Senate and House, and would have required all Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates to prove they are United States citizens.

The bill, which was sponsored in part and written to appease the Birther movement, would have appointed a person to determine the eligibility of presidential candidates, based on nothing else but their birth certificate and if that wasn’t available, their circumcision certificate (for males only, of course. Don’t ask what proof they’re asking of women).

“I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions,” Ms Brewer said in a statement.

For some reason, and we’re not quite sure what that reason is – *wink wink* – birth certificates or questioning whether or not a president was born in this country, was never an issue with previous presidents. Something about President Obama – and we haven’t quite put our finger on it – has triggered an entire movement, now led by presidential hopeful Donald Trump, requesting this particular president comply with their demands.

“I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their ‘early baptismal circumcision certificates’ among other records to the Arizona secretary of state,” Ms Brewer said.

I guess knowing what the presidential candidate’s penis looked like was not an appealing thought for Mrs. Brewer. Too bad her fellow Republicans felt otherwise in the vetoed bill.

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Chicago Glenn Beck

Conservatives Accuse Glen Beck of Stealing Material

Crazy is crazy, no matter where it comes from. It is, and will always be, crazy! But if you ask some conservative Republicans, their crazy is their crazy, and they want the world to know it.

With that said, using someone’s crazy without attributing it to them, is in itself, crazy… and plagiarism. And according to these conservatives, Glenn Beck has been tried and is found guilty of this crime. The Daily Caller elaborates;

By any standard, Beck seems unusually reliant on the work of others, and unusually reluctant to credit it. In an interview with TheDC, Roger L. Simon, CEO of Pajamas Media, suggested that Beck has committed the journalistic equivalent of a notorious crime. “It is not a question of just doing it right the majority of the time. It is a question of doing it right always,” Simon said. “Doris Kearns Goodwin is forever a fraud in my estimation because she has been caught plagiarizing once. If you rob a bank once, you still robbed a bank.”

A remarkably large number of conservative writers say they feel robbed. During the March 18 airing of his television program, for example, Beck ran a portion of video created by a Chicago-based blogger who calls himself Rebel Pundit. The blogger, who does not publicly reveal his name, says he was initially pleased to see Beck running his video, which featured left-wing protesters demanding amnesty for illegal immigrants. He was soon shocked, however, to see that Beck’s staff had obscured the watermark logo of his website, RebelPundit.com, from the tape.

“I put my website name on there for a reason – to bring people from the movement to my website so they can see the other stuff that I’ve done,” the man behind Rebel Pundit told TheDC. “You’ve got pretty much the biggest guy in the movement take your stuff and actually have his editors spend the time to scrub my name off of it.”

It seems that when it rains, it really pours. Who would have thought a few short months ago, that conservatives would turn on the anointed one this way? They have accused him of going cuckoo on air and bringing down the Republican party in the process to the point where even Fox so-called News has turned their backs on him. Now this?

Seems Glenn Beck “has fallen, and he can’t get up!” (< == taken from a Medical Alert commercial. Not plagiarism on my part! LOL!)

 

Categories
Barack Obama Medicare Paul Ryan Politics Republican The Budget United States weekly address

President Obama Slams Ryan’s Budget… Again!

After President Obama presented his speech on reducing the federal debt, Republicans went on a crying spree, accusing the President of not playing fair, and “making a partisan speech.” All of a sudden, the very same Republicans who have stood in the way of every single piece of legislation the Obama administration has put forth, are now questioning why, as they see it, President Obama is not working with them and agreeing on the Paul Ryan budget.

So to make sure Republicans heard him the first time around, President Obama used his weekly address to put emphasis on his original points – that all, including the rich, must contribute their share to America’s future, and that Paul Ryan’s plan is not worth the paper it is written on.

The President:

Now, one plan put forward by some Republicans in the House of Representatives aims to reduce our deficit by $4 trillion over the next ten years. But while I think their goal is worthy, I believe their vision is wrong for America. It’s a vision that says, at a time when other nations are hustling to out-compete us for the jobs and businesses of tomorrow, we have to make drastic cuts in education, infrastructure, and clean energy – the very investments we need to win that competition and get those jobs.

It’s a vision that says that in order to reduce the deficit, we have to end Medicare as we know it, and make cuts to Medicaid that would leave millions of seniors, poor children, and Americans with disabilities without the care they need.

But even as this plan proposes these drastic cuts, it would also give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest 2% of Americans–an extra $200,000 for every millionaire and billionaire in the country.

I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think it’s right to ask seniors to pay thousands more for health care, or ask students to postpone college, just so we don’t have to ask those who have prospered so much in this land of opportunity to give back a little more.

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Barack Obama Featured Politics Racism Republican White House

Racist Republican Email Depicts Obama As An Ape

You will have to check a calendar to believe the year is 2011, because if you simply rely on the stink that’s emitting from the Republican party today, you will swear that we’ve traveled back in time to the 1800’s.

Orange County in California is slowly becoming the epicenter of the racist element of the Republican party. Back in 2009, when the rest of America and the world for that matter, celebrated the inauguration of the first black president, Orange County was busy preparing an email showing the lawn of the White House covered in watermelons.

And now Marilyn Davenport, a Southern California Tea Party activist and member of the Central Committee of the Orange County Republican Party, has decided it was time to show her true nature, or rather, the nature she associates with the President. She forwarded an email depicting President Obama as the son of an apparent ape family, with the title of the email saying, “Now you know why theres no birth certificate.”

Equally despicable, is Ms. Davenport’s refusal to see any harm in her racist attempt at humor as witnessed by her unapologetic response to the incident. And oh yea, the “I have friends who are black” statement was included in her response. That alone, made everything all right! Ms. Davenport goes on to say;

“Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people–mostly people I didn’t think would be upset by it.”

Calling the person who reported the email to The Weekly a “coward”,  Davenport is also blaming the media for making a “big deal” out of the incident.

I just checked. It is 2011, but evidently some people wish for the “good ole days…!”

More on this story here.

Categories
Barack Obama Birther Birthers Donald Trump donaldtrump Hawaii United States

Donald Trump Lies. Is Donald Even His Name?

No one with common sense takes Donald Trump seriously, but being the noisiest wheel that he is, Trump has forced one of the web’s most respected organizations to check into his Birther accusations. The Donald and the Birthers believe the president was born in Kenya, and is therefore not a legitimate president.

Enter FactCheck.org – the group that originally debunked the birther conspiracy – is checking into the wild claims and accusations of Trump, and FactCheck finds that Trump is crazier than we think.

FactCheck found the following:

  • The Donald claims the president’s grandmother says Obama was born in Kenya. In fact, the recording to which he refers shows Sarah Obama repeatedly saying through a translator: “He was born in America.”
  • The Donald claims that no hospital in Hawaii has a record of Obama’s birth. Hospital records are confidential under federal law, but Honolulu’s Kapi’olani Medical Center has published a letter from Obama calling it “the place of my birth,” thus publicly confirming it as his birthplace.
  • The Donald insists that the official “Certification of Live Birth” that Obama produced in 2008 is “not a birth certificate.” That’s wrong. The U.S. Department of State uses “birth certificate” as a generic term to include the official Hawaii document, which satisfies legal requirements for proving citizenship and obtaining a passport.
  • The Donald claims that there’s no signature or certification number on the document released by Obama. Wrong again. Photos of the document, which we posted in 2008, clearly show those details.
  • The Donald says newspaper announcements of Obama’s birth that appeared in Hawaii newspapers in 1961 “probably” were placed there fraudulently by his now-deceased American grandparents. Actually, a state health department official and a former managing editor of one of the newspapers said the information came straight from the state health department.
  • The Donald claims “nobody knew” Obama when he was growing up and “nobody ever comes forward” who knew him as a child. “If I ever decide to run, you may go back and interview people from my kindergarten,” Trump said. Well, two retired kindergarten teachers in a 2009 news story fondly recall teaching a young Barack Obama.

Recent polls have Trump leading in the field of misfits running for the Republican presidential nomination. Given that his entire campaign has so far been based on lies, it stands to reason that for Republicans, Teabaggers and Birthers, dealing in truth and reality disqualifies you from being their presidential candidate.

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Barack Obama failed Republican Sarah Palin Sarah Palin United States Wisconsin

The Wheels Fell Off The Sarah Palin Bus In Madison Wisconsin

Sarah Palin, in a weak attempt to get back into the spotlight again, rushed into Madison Wisconsin to deliver a “unions-bad-people-bad-corporations-good” message. But according to Wisconsin police and those in the audience, the message fell on deaf ears as a majority of the 6500 in attendance were there to protest the once beloved Sarah.

Sarah Palin rolled into Madison, Wisconsin today using a Tea Party rally as an excuse to attack union members, but the wheels promptly fell off of her bandwagon as only 6,500 people showed up for the rally, and reports on the scene say that many of those in attendance were there to protest Palin. Not even the Koch Brothers and their magic buses could draw a crowd for Palin.

The Koch Brothers threw their front group Americans For Prosperity into the effort to hold an anti-union rally in Madison headlined by Sarah Palin. All the resources were deployed, Palin fans were begged to attend, Americans For Prosperity had no less than 13 buses lined up, and despite all of this, the crowd never came.

Some people just don’t know when to give it up! Palin has been losing support from the most ardent Teaparty Republicans, but she still tries to capture the limelight with her folksy and meaningless slangs. Someone should tell The Palin that her message is no longer relevant.

Maybe she should take a page from The Donald’s play-book, and pander to the Birthers.

Categories
Birthers Canada Donald Trump quotes Republican United States White House

Donald Trump: “I’m A Liberal On This One…!”

Back when all American presidents were automatically considered “American” because… they just were, and no one questioned whether birth certificates were authentic, Donald Trump made his first run for the White House. The year was 1999, and he ran as a Republican. After losing, The Donald saw a way to make some cash and wrote a book called, “The America We Deserve.” In it, The Trump took some very interesting positions. Here’s some of them;

  • “I really believe the Republicans are just too crazy, right?” he told Tim Russert onMeet the Press. “I mean, just what’s going on is just nuts.”
  • “We must have universal healthcare. I’m a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one. We should not hear so many stories of families ruined by healthcare expenses.”
  • The goal of health care reform… should be a system that looks a lot like Canada. Doctors might be paid less than they are now, as is the case in Canada, but they would be able to treat more patients because of the reduction in their paperwork.
  • The Canadian plan also helps Canadians live longer and healthier than Americans.
  • We need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan, as many individual states are doing.
  • And on his criticism of George Bush and the Iraqi invasion, The Trump said, “He’d go into a country, attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the World Trade Center, and just do it because he wanted to do it.”

Back then, those were the more popular positions to have so naturally, the opportunistic Donald took advantage. Today, however, he’s jumped on a different bandwagon that puts him in total opposition to his stance in ’99… one he considers fashionably popular – Birtherism.

Look out for Trump’s next book, coming in 2013!

Categories
Barack Obama Politics Republican Ronald Reagan White House

Republican Presidents Add More To The Debt Than Democratic Presidents Do

Something we already knew, but now the record proves it. Republican presidents run up debts, while Democratic presidents try to reduce it.

This is in stark contrast to the ideology constantly being drilled into our heads by the media and the Republican party, that conservatives are for fiscal discipline. If this is true, the conservatives who become president must leave their ‘discipline’ at the door of the White House.

According to the report,

Economist Mike Kimel notes that the last five Democratic Presidents (Clinton, Carter, LBJ, JFK, and Truman) all reduced public debt as a share of GDP, while the last four Republican Presidents (GW Bush, GHW Bush, Reagan, and Ford) all oversaw an increase in the country’s indebtedness.

Similarly, Republican David Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, as op-ed contributor to the New York Times blamed the “ideological tax-cutters” of the Reagan administration for the increase of national debt during the 1980s.

Looking back, this trend was not always the case. Yesteryear’s Republican Presidents once had focused on bringing down the national debt,  but something changed right around the time Reagan got into office. See the chart below;

So next time these conservatives talk about “deficit reduction” and “cutting the budget,” maybe they should consider whose policies increased the national debt to where it is today. They should also consider educating their next presidential candidate, and beg that candidate to maintain their so-called “conservatism” if they manage to cross the threshold of the White House.

Categories
Arizona Barack Obama Featured Natural born citizen of the United States United States

Arizona Needs To Know What A Presidential Candidate’s Penis Looks Like

Great! Just when you thought it was safe to go to Arizona, the Birthers officially took over the place.

Today, the Arizona Republican Senate bowed to the Birthers, and passed a bill requiring all presidential candidates to prove he or she is a natural-born citizen of the United States, prove their age and also prove that they meet the residency requirements, as dictated in the bill. If the presidential contender cannot provide the required proof within the alloted time period, then according to the bill, that person’s name cannot appear on the Arizona presidential ballot.

Also according to the bill, which passed both the Arizona House and Senate, the political party of the candidate must “provide to the Secretary of State written notice of that party’s nomination for President and Vice President.” The bill then states that within 10 days after the political party provides the names of their nominee, an affidavit must be presented to Arizona, stating “the candidate’s citizenship and age and shall append to the affidavit documents that prove the candidate is a natural-born citizen.”

And get this… just in case the candidate cannot provide their long-form birth certificate, the legislation has an alternative. The presidential candidate will be allowed to put their name on the Arizona ballot if they can provide, among other things, their circumcision certificate.

So to understand exactly what is required to be on the Arizona presidential ballot starting in 2012, all candidates will need; proof of age, proof of residency, a long-form birth certificate, and if all else fails, then your circumcision certificate will do.

Of course, that requirement is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, which clearly states, “no person except a natural born Citizen” shall be eligible for President of the United States. But apparently, the founding fathers forgot to mention the circumcision certificate as proof of eligibility.

The bill now heads back to the Arizona House for a final vote where it is expected to pass, then it goes to Republican Governor Jan Brewer’s desk for her to sign it into law. That too, is expected to happen.

Wonder if those founding fathers ever thought that a description of one’s penis will be a qualifier for a United States presidential candidate?

I don’t think so.

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