Ladies & Gentlemen! We have a new contender for "best headline of 2013." This entry comes from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal: Jindal Urges GOP to Stop Being "Stupid."
“We must compete for every single vote: the 47 percent and the 53 percent and any other combination of numbers that adds up to 100 percent,” he said, notably invoking comments 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney made at a closed door fundraiser about a bloc of voters who would not consider GOP candidates. [...] Republicans “must reject the notion that demography is destiny, the pathetic and simplistic notion that skin pigmentation dictates voter behavior. We must treat all people as individuals rather than as members of special interest groups,” he said.
It's a great headline to a bit of a fawning article overall that includes laugh-out-loud lines like this:
The Louisianan’s remarks further positioned himself as a forward-looking voice among the Republicans thought to have their eye on a White House bid in 2016.
Really? I guess that works if you define "forward-looking" as pushing a plan to kick old people & the poor out of hospice care - and then changing the plan after it got too much criticism. And also if you define "forward-looking" as proposing to eliminate corporate and individual state income taxes and further burden the poor & middle class by raising what is already the nation's 3rd highest highest sales tax rate. That's a move the Tax Policy Center reports"would dramatically shift more of the burden of Louisiana’s taxes onto lower-income individuals."
But hey, at least Jindal's not suggesting jailing raped women who have abortions because they "tampered with evidence" in a criminal trial (PDF link to the Arizona New Mexico bill).
What happens when a Democratic Congressman-turned-Republican-turned-pariah decides to rehabilitate himself? He starts sucking up to the folks who were dumb enough to support him in the first place. That's right campers, Parker Griffith has embarked on a Democratic rehab tour using former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman as his prop.
Former Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith, right, described Siegelman's seven-year sentence as a "political assassination" in a remarkable interview by Lila Garrett on KPFK. Garrett hosts a Los Angeles-based radio show. The interview can be heard nationwide in the second of the show's three segments.
Good luck with that. What's remarkable is that Griffith thinks anyone would believe he has any shred of credibility left. If he told me the sky is blue, I'd have to walk outside & look up before I believed it.
You see, Griffith seems to think that Alabama Democrats are so anxious for validation that they'll forget his party switch, his vote against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and his stupidity in abandoning his district by thinking he'd keep his committee assignment after his switch.
I don't believe that Parker Griffith has any higher calling than his own self-aggrandizement. I know who my friends and allies are. And Parker Griffith will never, ever make that list.
As so often happens when Senator Beason opens his mouth, he had no idea what he was talking about. As Bloomberg reports:
Republican state Senator Scott Beason, a sponsor, said at a news conference last year that the restrictions on undocumented workers would “put thousands of native Alabamians back in the work force.”
Instead, it caused a labor shortage that resulted in the importation of hundreds of legal African and Haitian refugees, and Puerto Ricans, according to interviews with workers, advocacy organizations and businesses. Most were recruited by the poultry industry, in a segment of the economy that has been a heavy employer of undocumented workers, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington research group. [...] Wayne Farms found Eritreans, displaced by war and conflict, and other Africans through East Coast Labor Solutions LLC, a Fairlea, West Virginia-based labor broker. East Coast has about 200 workers in Alabama, owner Ray Wiley said in an interview.
Most of these worker have landed in Albertville and I, for one, certainly hope that some of the African workers stay to open restaurants because Eritrean food is awesome!
But this article should raise a BIG red flag: these workers are being provided by "labor brokers" and the last time those guys were in the news, they were employing hapless "guest workers" in near sweatshop conditions in Huntsville at the Cinram DVD facility.
The workers are employed by Ambassador staffing agency. Ambassador distributed workers, upon arrival, among 20 local landlords. Circumstances varied greatly, but some workers reported paying as much as $300 per person per month to share a small, furnished apartment with three or more roommates.
In one case in November, The Times found four Jamaican women who paid a combined $1,200 a month for an apartment with busted plumbing and no heat that had rented for $450.
In February, the Fair Housing Center of Northern Alabama, a nonprofit agency based in Birmingham, and the NAACP began questioning housing for foreign workers in Huntsville.
Landlords "were charging some of the people $300 per bed," in "roach-infested" apartments, Jerry Burnet, chair of the state housing committee for the NAACP, told The Times last month. "They've got a little small bed, like you have in a barracks, and they were putting three in each room."
Wormsby said HUD opened the formal investigation after receiving the complaints gathered by the NAACP and the Fair Housing Center.
Remember though... compared to Gov. Mitt Romney's little paen to Chinese slave labor working conditions, Cinram was a real "worker's paradise." From his now-famous Q&A to wealthy supporters last Spring:
And they work in these huge factories, they made various uh, small appliances. And uh, as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day, the pittance they earned, living in dormitories with uh, with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10, 10 room, rooms. And the rooms they have 12 girls per room.
These types of working conditions are a feature, not a bug in the Republican plan for working Americans.
So I'd suggest that we give Senator Beason a nice little Bronx cheer for yet another of his "unintended consequences" to the immigration bill. He's managed to exchange one set of low wage workers who have little or no leverage or ability to demand fair wages & safe working conditions with another set. And yet... maybe it wasn't "unintended" after all!
Labor brokers have a shady reputation all over the world, from South Africa, to New Zealand, to Canada, and yes... in the US. Global Research studied the plight of these mobile, temporary workers and the description sounds depressingly familiar:
On top of low wages, no benefits, and no legal right to unionize, these workers face the constant threat of deportation if they speak out against their employer. It is within this context that we must understand the crash that six months ago killed 11 farm workers, including 9 migrants from Peru, near the Canadian town of Waterloo. Since the accident there has been no government investigation into the transportation and living conditions of migrant farm workers in Canada and fleeting media coverage. Like South Africa, migrant farm workers in Canada live in isolated rural areas, often housed directly on the farms, where they often experience severe discrimination and racism.
Don't get me wrong: I'm thrilled that some of these refugees have a chance at building a better life in a stable community with a decent job. But we need to be vigilant and make sure that's actually the case. Because past history has shown us clearly that these desperate people are willing to accept low wages, terrible working conditions, and are ripe for exploitation.
Anybody want to explain how this is an improvement?
Pity the baby elephants.... A few weeks ago, the New York Times wrote about the "young Republicans who blur the line on social issues." These idealistic young people think they can downplay such hot button issues as abortion and marriage equality and attract younger voters to the GOP based on economic issues.
Zoey Kotzambasis, vice president of the College Republicans at the University of Arizona, considers herself a conservative. But she supports both same-sex marriage and abortion rights. Those are not just her opinions.
“A lot of the College Republicans I know share the same liberal-to-moderate social views,” she added. “And I think that’s changing the face of the party.”
Really? Because the "face of the party" hasn't changed much with the recent decision of the platform committee to include support for a constitutional amendment that bans abortions - including those for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended the platform plank with this rather bizarre statement:
"The specifics, of course, are largely left up to the states."
Um... NO. The specifics are NOT left up to the states if we have a constitutional amendment that bans all abortions. In spite of the Dixiecrat determination to thwart federal law whenever possible, a #$%$ constitutional amendment over-rides state law.
This wasn't the only vote the platform committee took on anti-choice planks & those votes didn't pass without comment. A young Alabama delegate spoke out. Jackie Curtiss, a 22-yr old Monetvallo student who says she's staunchly anti-abortion, tried to bring some sanity into the platform discussion:
Curtiss made waves in the committee when she objected to an amendment to the platform banning medication "that terminates human life after conception." The amendment was aimed at RU-486 and other so-called “abortion pills," but Curtiss warned that it could potentially include the “morning after pill.” With a national controversy swirling around Rep. Todd Akin's skepticism that rape could cause pregnancy, Curtiss — the only person to even refer to the embattled congressman — said the platform needed to make it clear that the party is welcoming to women. [...] Nevertheless, the amendment passed and found its way into the party’s 2012 manifesto.
The same was true for abstinence-only education. Curtiss was joined by a handful of delegates in opposing the language which was being inserted into the platform. She also said she backs an exception to the abortion ban for rape victims, but did not offer an amendment on that pont.
“I’m from Alabama — we have abstinence-only education, we also have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country,” Curtiss said. “While I support abstinence and I think it’s something to teach our kids, I also am realistic and understand a majority of our kids are not waiting until marriage to have sex.”
While I think it's awesome that the national GOP put a 22 year old young woman on their platform committee, I fear that she's in for quite a season of disappointment.
Even though Rep. Paul Ryan called on Missouri candidate Todd "legitimate rapes" Akin to withdraw, it wasn't due to philosophical differences. Rather it's a cold political calculation that it's electoral suicide for the GOP to explain to mainstream voters what their real social agenda is.
Ryan voted with Akin in Congress 93% of the time and was a co-sponsor of HR 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Bill" that allowed women access to abortion if they'd been the victims of "forcible rape." Interesting term, that. Kind of like the "legitimate rape" language that Akin used just this weekend. The issue that GOP strategists have with Akin & company isn't their extreme views on the role of women & their magic ladyparts... it's that they're sharing those views with voters before the election.
There may be a "generational divide" looming in the GOP, but as long as the party power structure is dominated by mysogistic, xenophobic no-nothings who scoff at science and think Adam & Eve rode dinsosaurs, those young folks won't get very far. The current GOP is desperately treading water in the face of a coming demographic tsunami that's about to drown the entire Republican Party.
The mainstream GOP should have paid attention to the old story about having a tiger by the tail. The cautionary fable explains that you'll have a powerful weapon, but can't control it. Soon, it will turn you you. This story is certainly playing out across the country - most recently in the Texas Senate primary on Tuesday.
The infusion of new conservative blood could alter the complexion of the Senate, increasing the sorts of conflicts between moderates and far-right Republicans disinclined toward compromise that have characterized the House for two years. From Indiana, where Richard E. Mourdock recently toppled the veteran Republican Senator Richard G. Lugar, to Wisconsin — where two Tea Party candidates are slowly unmooring the Republican front-runner, former Gov. Tommy Thompson — to Nebraska, where Deb Fischer surprisingly beat out a more established Republican candidate...
In Utah, Orrin Hatch was forced into a primary battle when he failed to get enough votes at the state convention to win the nomination without a primary.
The dwindling number of GOP moderates is watching in dismay as this plays out. Some are complaining publicly about feeling bullied by leadership to go along with the demands of the far right. Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette abruptly decided to retire, citing the need to "hand over your wallet and your voting card" to party extremes. A fellow GOP Congressman, New York Rep. Richard Hanna, is open about his frustration, telling his local paper in Syracuse:
“I have to say that I’m frustrated by how much we — I mean the Republican Party — are willing to give deferential treatment to our extremes in this moment in history,” he told The Post-Standard editorial board.
Hanna is a local businessman who won in 2010 and survived a TEA Party primary challenge this year, really seems shocked by the level of unhinged vitriol spewed on a daily basis by his GOP colleagues:
While he blamed the dysfunction on both sides, he said he feels more bitterness coming from the Republican caucus than from the Democrats.
“I would say that the friends I have in the Democratic Party I find ... much more congenial — a little less anger,” he said.
Right wing GOP pressure isn't just at the national level. Moderate Republicans should certainly feel justified if they're feeling a bit paranoid these days. Conservatives are happy to discuss their efforts to cull moderate Republicans, whom they consider to be weaker, less reliable members of the elephant herd:
Frustrated by their inability to achieve some policy goals, conservatives in Republican states are turning against moderate members of their own party, trying to drive them out of state legislatures to clear the way for reshaping government across a wide swath of mid-America controlled by the GOP. [...] The push is most intense in Kansas, where conservatives are attempting to replace a dozen moderate Republican senators who bucked new Gov. Sam Brownback's move to slash state income taxes.
While it's entertaining to watch the GOP slowly self-destruct and race happily down a rutted path that leads inexorably towards the cliff of political irrelevance, it is bad for the country in the short term.
Far too many people just don't believe how extremist these guys are. It's not just a clown car, people! It's an armored clown bus filled with unstable extremists hostile to civil liberties, Social Security, public education, compromise of any sort, and civil society. They're the clowns of your nightmares: they're in charge in many statehouses and running the US House of Representatives.
They'll do incalculable damage to the country - and right here in Alabama - before the voting public wakes up and turns them out of office.
Now that Gov. Romney's home from his "European Vacation," it's time to gaze at some of the downticket Republicans. They're a zany bunch who defend dogfighting, wag on about Kenyan birth announcements, and warn about martial law declarations. How long before all three conspiracy theories merge into one?
Iowa Representative Steve King has been a busy guy the past week on several fronts. First up - animal torture. Rep. King explained in a town meeting that dog fighting isn't a problem because we allow humans to fight. Why, what's wrong with our priorities?
When the legislation that passed in the farm bill that says that it’s a federal crime to watch animals fight or to induce someone else to watch an animal fight but it’s not a federal crime to induce somebody to watch people fighting, there’s something wrong with the priorities of people that think like that.
Um... I'm pretty sure there's some federal statute that would prohibit attending a fight intending to watch humans fight to the death. And boxers train voluntarily for their careers - and bear the scars.
But King has another bee in his bonnet - President Obama's birth certificate. During a telephone town hall meeting, King floated this new twist in the birther fantasy world:
We went down into the Library of Congress and we found a microfiche there of two newspapers in Hawaii each of which had published the birth of Barack Obama. It would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of Barack Obama being born in Hawaii and get that into our public libraries and that microfiche they keep of all the newspapers published. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some other explanations on how they might’ve announced that by telegram from Kenya.
They might also be from the future. Here's hoping Rep. King investigates that next.
But let's save the best for last. A Tennessee state legislator has a pet theory involving Homeland Security, martial law, and the November election....
Rep. Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown) sent an email from his state email account to constituents containing a rumor that Obama and the Department of Homeland Security are planning a series of events that could lead to the imposition of "martial law" and delay the election. Among the events hypothesized in the email is a staged assassination attempt on the president that would lead to civil unrest in urban areas and martial law.
Keisling appears to have forwarded a more widely circulated email from Joe Angione, a Florida-based conservative blogger. Angione prefaces the rumor by saying it has not been confirmed but likewise notes it has not been denied. Angione also writes that people need to work to prevent the rumor from becoming reality.
What does Rep. Keisling have to say for himself? uh oh...
Keisling has not returned messages left at his Byrdstown insurance office, and there was no answer at his home.
We're still 3 months from the election. Hang on, campers... it will only get worse!
The Talmud says that if we thank God for the good things in our lives, we must also give thanks for the bad. So we know that the GOP is determined to blame President Obama for everything (could be he even controls the weather!) bad. Will he also get credit for falling gas prices?
Because truly, up or down, POTUS has little control over prices.
But PolitiFact has said repeatedly that Obama is not to blame. Gas prices are largely affected by supply-and-demand pressures over which a president has little control.
We addressed this subject in February 2012 when we looked at a claim by U.S. Senate candidate George Allen, a Republican, that the average cost of filling a gas tank had increased by $30 under Obama. We rated that claim Mostly True, saying Allen had his number right but wrongly suggested the president shoulders the blame.
There's more... check out the link for the details.
I took the photo here yesterday on Winchester Road in Madison County after passing numerous stations advertising regular unleaded prices below $3.
Since the TEA Party GOP would like us to believe that President Obama is the 21st Century version of "Oz the Great & Powerful," I couldn't help but wonder... will they give him credit for this positive development?
After a raucous meeting of the Baldwin County Commission where the burning topic of the hour was boathouses (seriously), a University of Alabama constitutional law professor said it best: "There are two lessons to be learned here: public policy shouldn’t be made by conspiracy theorists and some folks need to stay off the Internet."
Baldwin County Commissioner Frank Burt was the head unicorn hunter at a meeting held last week and he managed to excoriate the Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, Alabama Department of Environmental Management, and... the United Nations. I'm sure President Obama's name was tossed about too, but the reporter didn't mention it.
In a political commentary that sometimes seemed like a tent-revival exhortation, Baldwin County Commissioner Frank Burt held forth for more than 20 minutes Tuesday on the evils of a 1992 United Nations initiative known as Agenda 21 that he characterized as a threat to U.S. sovereignty.
"We are all for protecting the environment," Burt said, "but this is something that has seeped in amongst us. I don’t think we need the United Nations to tell us what to do."
He said, "We’ve got the EPA taking over the country. If the Senate approves (Agenda 21), they can come into New York City or wherever a raindrop falls and tell us what to do."
According to Commission Chairman, Bob James, Burt's wild assessment had merit:
"This country used to be easy enough for a caveman to understand," James said, a reference to a Press-Register editorial cartoon depicting James and Burt as cavemen for refusing to grant a school board request for a tax referendum. "People need to wake up and take this country back."
We don't know about cavemen, but it is pretty clear that the problems facing this country - and the particular problems of state and local governments - are way too complex to leave in the hands of the GOP/TEA Party tinfoil hat crowd.
Curious now about the sordid nature of "Agenda 21?" Read about it at the United Nations Web site. Hey, anything that 178 countries agree on must be a conspiracy, right?
What a photo. Hey, all that's missing is a watermelon slice! So I couldn't help thinking.... if the party's hard up for money, maybe they should think outside the teabag expand their product offerings beyond the boring "Vote Republican" bumperstickers.
What about this idea? That old schtick of charging $5k for a photo has been done to death. Instead, they could get more creative - let Gov. Romney (and a few of his closest friends) cut donors hair!
No? Well, there are a lot of other alternatives. GOP & TEA Party rallies have provided numerous ideas. Those folks can really get... ahem... creative with their crayons & markers. The party could cash in on the sort of items are already popular with an influential part of their constituency. You know, those folks on full display in the AL.com comment boards.
Two years of the AL GOP supermajority in the legislature have shown that they aren't restrained by either good taste or basic decency in public discourse or legislation.... so c'mon guys... go for it!
I've even done some of the product research legwork for you. Examples are on the flip. All product photos (except for Hugh McInnish) are actual examples of what the creators & distributors called "humor."
What does it say about the rank & file GOP in Arizona when Gov. Jan Brewer is the voice of reason? There's this - and more - in the last week's round-up of amazing GOP craziness from around the country. If they're not hunting unicorns... they're still on the prowl for President Obama's "real" birth certificate.
The bill was Arizona's far-right-wing response to the continuously debunked conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama is not an American citizen. It required that presidential candidates prove to Arizona election officials that they were born in the United States before their name's allowed on the ballot in the Grand Canyon State -- despite it's already being a federal requirement to land the job.
Sounds ridiculous, we know -- but it gets worse.
The original bill called for a long-form birth certificate to prove a candidate is a natural-born citizen, which was a little too much for some GOP lawmakers. So they made some amendments: if you can't find your birth certificate, and you have a penis, a document describing your lack of foreskin will suffice.
After Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, renounced his US citizenship to avoid paying US taxes when FB went public, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer introduced a bill that would require these sort of "expats" to prove that they did NOT renounce citizenship "for tax reasons." Grover (No Taxes) Norquist quickly denounced the bill:
Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, said the targeting people that turn in their passports reminded him of regimes that had driven people out of the country, only to confiscate their wealth at the door.
“I think Schumer can probably find the legislation to do this. It existed in Germany in the 1930s and Rhodesia in the ’70s and in South Africa as well,” said Norquist. “He probably just plagiarized it and translated it from the original German.”
That's right: in GOP land, renouncing your US citizenship to avoid paying taxes in patriotic, while asking citizens who have achieved success using the US educational system, taxpayer-financed Internet, and other benefits to pay it forward is... some sort of "Nazi Communist" conspiracy.
In the good news segment... the right wing is in a tizzy over the news that non-white births have overtaken white births in the US. It seems these brown-like babies "won't share our values..."
Roger Schlafly, son of Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly, today mourned on the Eagle Forum Blog a Census Bureau report showing that non-white births have now exceeded white births in the U.S. “It is not a good thing,” Schlafly said, warning that “immigrants do not share American values” and therefore “will not be voting Republican when they start voting in large numbers.” He went on to claim that “NY Times liberals seek to destroy the American family of the 1950s,” saying that immigrants “do not share” American values like working hard and self-sufficiency, and instead “will vote Democrat when the Democrats promise them more food stamps.”
You have to almost admire someone so willing to spew the crazy all out for anyone to see - even if he's a total butthead. And I have to chuckle at the fact that Mr. Schlafly doesn't seem to realize that even all whites in this country "don't share" his particular twisted values.
Demographics are a ticking time bomb for the right wing GOP and I, for one, totally can't wait until it explodes...
Alabama's in the top 10 - but once again it's a negative honor. The state is ranked #4 in the Economic Policy Institute's ranking of low-wage workers by state. The entire study - "The Future of Work" - is worth a read.
Some key points that I think are particularly applicable to Alabama:
In Alabama, wages of 32.5% of workers are at or below the federal poverty level of $22,350 for a family of 4. 41% of workers are at 200% or less.
Some may believe that a preponderance of low-wage workers live in higher-income households (thinking, for instance, of a teenager with a menial job living with parents, or an adult with a low-wage job living with a higher-earning spouse). In fact, in 2011, only 31.5 percent of poverty-wage workers lived in households with a family income greater than $50,000, and 31.0 percent lived in households with less than $25,000 in family income.
Low-wage workers are concentrated in 3 main occupations: food service, farming, & personal care services.
More job training & education may not be the answer. Right now, 26% of jobs don't require a high school diploma. 5.6% require an Associate's degree while 15.8% require a Bachelor's degree. Those numbers aren't expected to budge hardly at all between now and 2020. But don't worry, the GOP is working hard to make college unaffordable for most people anyway....
...in 2020, jobs will actually not require a significantly greater level of education or training than workers currently have. This is an important finding; far too many economic pundits take for granted that the economy of the future will demand far greater skills and credentials.
This is undoubtedly the most startling statistic because most people view a college degree as a ticket to the good life. And it used to be, but that dynamic has been upended during the past 30 years. An April 2012 study (PDF) from the Center for Economic & Policy Research found that the number of older, better educated people who work in low-wage jobs has increased markedly since 1979:
Characteristics of Low-wage Workers, 1979 and 2011 -- percent of low-wage workforce)
Less Than High School 39.5 19.8 High School 35.4 37.0 Some college 19.5 33.3 College+ 5.7 9.9
At a time when more people than ever need a safety net, both the state and national GOP leadership seems intent on shredding it even more. It's a great way to distract the population: have us fighting each other for scraps while the Republicans bow to Grover Norquist & reward their real constituency (corporations & the super-rich) with even more tax breaks & tax cuts.
But truly, the only thing really being cut & broken is the American Middle Class.
President Obama is so "anti-business" that America's biggest corporations posted record profits totaling $824 billion last year. Isn't it heartwarming to see these brave corporations managing to barely hang on & survive the assaults of what they call "the most anti-business president?"
The Fortune 500 generated a total of $824.5 billion in earnings last year, up 16.4% over 2010. That beats the previous record of $785 billion, set in 2006 during a roaring economy. [...] Companies are also garnering exceptional returns on their capital. The 500 achieved a return-on-equity of 14.3%, far above the historical norm of 12%.
Looking deeper into the list, several macro trends emerge. High prices at the pump translated into great results for energy companies like Exxon Mobil, which topped the Fortune 500 with $453 billion in revenues.
Exxon Mobil topped the list? How can that be? Why, just weeks ago, the GOP leadership was doing all they could to help those poor. beleagured oil companies. From protecting their subsidies to rejecting attempts to curb oil price speculation, the Republicans have fought tooth and nail to protect their re-relection meal tickets.
Cullman County Republican Party Chair Ken Brown is blaming Democratic crossover voting for several upset victories in primary runoff elections. Of eight candidates in runoff races, only one held on to her first place finish and won the runoff. In the seven other races, the second place finishers in the primary surged ahead to win the runoff.
One race was a particular surprise. A school board candidate almost won the primary outright with 49% of the vote. But that tiny deficit forced Gene Sullins into a runoff and he won by 164 votes.
Turnout was abysmally low in the runoff - 18% compared to the 42% who voted in the primary. So it seems odd that Brown blames Democrats for the results:
According to Cullman County Republican party chair Ken Brown, Democratic crossover voting played a significant role in switching the order in which his most of his party’s candidates finished Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, tonight’s results do reflect the ability of local Democrats to crossover vote in our Republican election process and affect the outcome in some races,” said Brown.
“We hope to remedy this before the next primary election in 2014, by having Alabama join more than 20 other states in moving to voter registration by party, and closed primaries. Then, Democrats will be free to pick their own nominees — and we will be free to choose ours without interference.”
Instead of blaming crossover Democrats, perhaps Brown should wonder about the effectiveness of candidates who can't motivate their voters to head to the polls.
I know there are at least a couple of LIA folks who are familiar with Cullman County politics.... would love to have your comments!
And everyone else... what do you think about party registration and closed primaries?
Who better to headline a fundraiser for the Alabama GOP? Rep. Allen West: a man who combines the charm of Joseph McCarthy with the veracity of Sarah Palin. Now, most people wouldn't even like to be in the same room with West, but for the Alabama GOP, it's a match made in money heaven.
Just in case we haven't heard enough about communists, censorship, abortion, or Nazis lately, the Alabama Republican Party is bringing in Rep. Allen West of Florida for its June "Summer Dinner" fundraiser.
Let's learn a bit more about Rep. West....
Politifact Florida probably had to add staff to keep up after Rep. West got elected. The 14 statements from West that Politifact has checked fall out like this:
True - 1
Mostly True - 1
Half True - 2
Mostly False - 2
False - 5
Pants on Fire - 3
He's not just a serial liar; West is also a whiner with delusions of grandeur who continually blames the media for taking his remarks "out of context." Really?
Pushed to apologize for his assertion that Nazi propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbles, would be "proud of the Democrat (sic) Party," West blamed the media: "Once again, you guys will take whatever I say and you will spin it to try to demonize me or demagogue me." boo hoo....
After suggesting that President Obama and Democrats should "get the hell out of the United States of America," West again whined that what he said was not what he meant.
After asserting the presence of up to 80 Communists serving in Congress under the guise of Democrats, West sparred with CNN, and produced his "list:" the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. When pressed to say yes or no about individual members, West responded: “You can call it whatever you want,” West replied. --- um... yes, but you used the word "Communist," Congressman....
Hang on, campers! We aren't done with the crazy... Let's look at West and women:
Remember this bizarre exchange with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (who actually represents West in Congress because he doesn't live in his own district)?
Yesterday, TEA Party representative Allen West boiled over and called fellow Florida representative, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz "a coward" and "the most despicable member of the House" in an email broadside more reminiscent of a Glenn Beck rant than a serious policy discussion.
Then there's this speech to conservative women, he blamed "liberal women" for the deficit and accused them of "neutering men" and trying to make them "subservient." He then urged the gathered women to be more like the "women of Sparta" who reared strong sons for the army.
He told voters at a town meeting that "If you support Medicare, you can kiss the United States goodbye."
Just this week, West defended fellow right wing lunatic, Ted Nugent, who was, West noted "just expressing his opinion" on President Obama and decried the tendency to "sensationalize" it.
Texas Republican lawmakers are fired up at the prospect of a tough new voter id law. But they aren't nearly as excited by the thought that voters might read their emails & memos about the legislation. So you have to wonder if some Texas legislators have an "Aborigine problem..."
The state of Texas wants the discussions their Republican legislators had about passing a voter ID law to stay secret.
Texas, which sued the federal government in an attempt to have their voter ID law approved, said in a court filing last month that “communications between members of the state legislature, communications between state legislators and their staff, and communications between state legislators and their constituents” should be protected by legislative privilege. The state also tried to prevent officials with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division from deposing legislators who supported the voter ID legislation known as SB 14.
Why might legislators want to keep discussions about legislation "private?" Just ask Scott Beason, the former chair of the powerful Senate Rules Committee.
“I would think that the fact that embarrassing and problematic information came out in the Texas redistricting case… would make them want to keep embarrassing info out,” Bagenstos said.
It wouldn't be surprising to anyone if the Alabama GOP super-majority in the legislature seizes on this tactic. They've already shown that they prefer fewer encounters with voters and have no problem passing toothless ethics legislation. It's not a leap to think that the less we know about their antics, the better off they are.
Hey, if I were a GOP legislator in any state, I wouldn't want people monitoring my activities either...
This section of the speech really puts Alabama's budget crisis in perspective. The problem isn't that Gov. Bentley is confused about finance and budgeting. No, our governor fundamentally misunderstands his job as governor:
“On Jan. 17, 2011, I put my left hand on the Holy Bible in Montgomery and promised to honor and protect anyone’s right to worship as they choose,” Bentley said. “As governor, I have to defend that right.”
"I,.........., solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Alabama, so long as I continue a citizen thereof; and that I will faithfully and honestly discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, to the best of my ability. So help me God."
And now we know why Gov. Bentley doesn't seem to think these issues are a problem:
Inadequate funding of the justice system that will close forensic labs, cut prosecutors & court staff, and cause delays for everyone involved with the court system.
Does Governor Bentley really think that God put him in office to cut services for the most poor and vulnerable citizens at the same time his party is enthusiastically handing out tax breaks to any industry that holds out a hand (or writes a campaign contribution check)?
Just who is the preacher at your church, Governor? Reverend Ike?
For the most part, Republicans aren't vocally anti-college. They just support policies that make college less affordable for all but the super-wealthy. Perhaps, like Rick Santorum, they're worried about turning our children into snobs who think they're too good to drive lumber wagons or see the world courtesy of the US military.
No, most aren't above-board about their hostility to higher education, yet they continue to support public policy that's detrimental to education and the economy as a whole. Taken together, the fragments form a frightening mosaic that affects the economic & national security future of this country.
Pell Grants: Originally designed as a way for the poorest students to afford college, Pell Grants are in the gun sights of the GOP majority. Rep. Paul Ryan calls the program "unsustainable" & tells students they should "work three jobs" to pay for college.
Part-time work for full-time students. In Alabama, only 47% of full-time students earn a bachelor's degree within 6 years. The state doesn't report part time success rates.
Now, most of us probably worked part-time while in college (I did), but that was almost 30 years ago, when it was far easier for a student to self-finance or at least make a meaningful contribution to college costs.
Tuition increases & state budgets. With tuition increases, even 3 jobs won't help a lot of students to pay tuition - even if they could find 3 $#% jobs and hold them down while maintaining an acceptable GPA. In 2008/2009, tuition at the University of Alabama was $2800 per semester. This year, tuition is $4300 per semester.
Note we're not talking about just four-year university degrees, but also post-secondary vocational education & workforce development training, much of which takes place on college campuses. None of that is free. Those technical schools are financed by public money and are stressed just as much as the university systems.
When the public training options are bursting at the seams & rejecting students, many turn to the for-profit training options that have higher tuition and - often - poor graduation rates that saddle students with debt but no job to help repay it:
For-profit colleges are typically more expensive than public colleges, which means students graduate owing more. They account for nearly half of student loan defaults, even though they enroll a little more than 10 percent of higher education students.
What do we hear from Paul Ryan, his GOP allies in Washington, and the Alabama legislative super-majority? Nothing but calls for tax cuts to reduce "excessive" government spending and "streamline" government. But the hurt in these budgets isn't shared equally:
Ok, I'm the first person to admit that there are Democrats out there who don't always make sense & who make truly dumb statements. But only in the Republican Party is that sort of behavior not only expected, but celebrated. Let's review some recent news stories - most of which focus on the GOP's rather creepy, unnatural fixation with the sex lives of strangers....
Cut it out sluts, birth control is irresponsible! North Carolina County Commissioners vote to refuse a state family planning grant, that included contraceptive coverage. One commissioner defended his vote by saying that he opposes "using taxpayer funding to fund someone's irresponsibility."
Chairman Ted Davis said he thought it was a sad day when “taxpayers are asked to pay money to buy for contraceptives” for women having sex without planning responsibly.
“If these young women were responsible people and didn’t have the sex to begin with, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Davis said.
Abortion is more palatable if men sign for it. I can't describe this better than the Mudflats blog:
And if you’re not fully convinced yet that Alaska is the next front in the GOP’s war on women, you just have to listen to State Rep. Alan Dick. He said in a House Health and Social Services Committee Hearing last week that he doesn’t believe that when a woman is pregnant, it’s really “her pregnancy.” As a matter of fact, he would advocate for criminalizing women who have an abortion without the permission via written signature from the man who impregnated her. He stated, “If I thought that the man’s signature was required… required, in order for a woman to have an abortion, I’d have a little more peace about it…” He didn’t say whether a rapist would be able to send his signature by fax from prison, or not. But he’ll have “peace” and women will require a permission slip for their own bodies.
Madam, Could I interest you in a public ultrasound? Abortion opponents in Idaho opened a live ultrasound clinic in the state Capitol basement.
“How can anybody call this offensive?’’ Swindell said. “Who doesn’t love an ultrasound image of a baby?’’ [...] For an hour and a half, Swindell guided the women lying on a table shielded from the crowd by a bamboo divider. [...] “Does this feel invasive at all?’’ she asked.
“No, I’d do this every day, if I could,’’ at least two of them replied. [...] The ultrasounds were done on the women’s abdomens, not using the more-invasive vaginal ultrasound equipment employed by many doctors for women whose fetuses are less than 10 weeks old.
Um... it didn't feel invasive because it wasn't.....
Hon, just why do you need those birth control pills? Arizona is considering a bill that would allow your employer to determine if a woman needs contraception for "legitimate" medical reasons or if she's just a wanton hussy:
Arizona House Bill 2625, authored by Majority Whip Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, would permit employers to ask their employees for proof of medical prescription if they seek contraceptives for non-reproductive purposes, such as hormone control or acne treatment.
“I believe we live in America. We don’t live in the Soviet Union,” Lesko said. “So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs.”
No, we live in a land of freedom with a right to personal privacy.... some exclusions may apply.
Sweetie, your husband can't be all that bad! Meanwhile in Alabama, State Senator Phil Williams is still pushing his "Covenant Marriage" bill to keep married couples from rushing into either a marriage or a divorce without paying marriage counselors first.
So girlfriends... no matter where you go or what you do in this country, the GOP thinks your private life is public business. What are you gonna do when there's an elephant all up in your uterus?
The GOP is at it again. The Alabama Farmer's Market Authority budget was slashed by 40% in 2010 and again by 29% in 2011. Now Governor Bentley is recommending the total elimination of the Farmer's Market Authority (FMA) budget for 2013.
Why should we care about elimination of this little-known program when we're trying to balance the budget?
The FMA has encouraged growth of local farmer's markets throughout the state, providing an outlet for small farmers to market their harvest direct to grateful consumers. The number of markets has gone from 17 (in 1999) to 133 last year, with 7 more due to come this year.
AL State Senator Cam Ward seems sure that the Alabama Constitution doesn't have enough amendments and the Legislature doesn't have real problems to deal with this session. Why else would he be sponsoring yet another Constitutional amendment to ban - get this - "Sharia Law" in Alabama?
Ward pre-filed the "American and Alabama Laws for Alabama Courts" amendment (SB33) in the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 4th.The text of the bill mirrors model legislation written by David Yerushalmi, president of the "Society of Americans for Natural Existence." Its Web site is only accessible by username & password. According to the SPLC:
Ideally, he would outlaw Islam and deport Muslims and other "non-Western, non-Christian" people to protect the United States' "national character." An ultra-orthodox Jew, he is deeply hostile toward liberal Jews. He derides U.S.-style democracy because it allows more than just an elite, privileged few to vote.
Ward is not the first Alabama lawmaker to introduce an anti-Shariah measure. In 2011, Republican state Senator Gerald Allen sponsored SB 62, a virtual replica of Oklahoma’s notorious anti-Shariah “Save Our State” amendment, which was struck down on Tuesday by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Allen’s proposal, which singled out Shariah law as its principle target, was not taken up for consideration before last year’s legislative session ended.
Though popular with secularists and religious conservatives, anti-Sharia legislation does not defend against theocracy but calls into question our society’s fundamental commitments to meaningful religious liberty and meaningful access to the courts. These commitments have been relied on by generations of Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and Jews, and to try to remove them for Muslims both is unjust to Muslims and sets a dangerous precedent for other religious groups.
The entire article is worth a read - particularly by Senator Ward and his co-sponsors - because it illustrates how this legislation can easily be used against people of all religions.
For instance, the traditional Jewish wedding ceremony includes the signing of the ketubah - the marriage contract - that spells out the obligations of the groom to the bride. It governs behavior, support, and monetary obligations. Muslim weddings have similar contracts. These are religious not legal documents, but their breach often forms the basis for secular divorces.
When bankruptcy courts apply canon law in determining property rights for a diocese or when courts enforce arbitration agreements based on biblical principles pursuant to widely invoked rules of “Christian conciliation,” the rule of law is not jeopardized. Anti-Sharia legislation proposes an unconstitutional double standard. Canon law and biblical principles are not dirty words in the American court system, and Sharia should not be either.
It would surely be delicious if this amendment passes and the first group to be caught up in it is a Baptist church in conflict with a pastor or something similar.
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The GOP is at it again. The 
