Tea Party Republicans Want Christian Sharia Law

by Sunnyjane

One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.   

Thomas Paine,1794: The Age of Reason.

At its core, Sharia (or Shariah) Law is a faith-based society that is advocated by radical Islamic groups such as the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram.  Perhaps that law's guru, Newt Gingrich, spelled it out most clearly when ranting that President Obama was reluctant to label some terrorist acts as Islamic or jihadis: Stealth jihadis use political, cultural, societal, religious, intellectual tools ... and they’re both seeking to impose the same end state, which is to replace Western civilization with a radical imposition of Shariah.  It may just be me, of course, but it sounds very much like the far-right Christians' anti-American Seven Mountains concept of how God must rule the USA's economy, government, family, spirituality, education, media, and celebration.  OK, I don't know what the hell their concept of celebration is;  what, birthday parties?  KKK rallies?  I dunno, but I do know that I have better things to do than research it.

Religious Persecution

How dismal it is to see present day Americans yearning for the very orthodoxy that their country was founded to escape.  Christopher Hitchens, Separation of Church and State

The undisputedly ignorant CINO (Christian In Name Only) Sarah Palin -- and many of the far-right persuasion -- who knows little about true Christianity and even less about the United States Constitution, has seethed for years that the Founding Fathers based this revered document on the Judeo-Christian values to make America a Christian Nation, sort of like Saudi Arabia is a Muslim Nation.  Nothing could be further from the truth, of course.  All it takes is a quick glance at her pocketbook-sized Constitution (Todd!  Gimme my purse!) to see the words: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...  Perhaps a family member could help her with the big words.  On second thought, never mind.

Education:  God In, Science Out

All Western education is evil and dangerous -- especially in Red States.

Liberally translated, Boko Haram means Western Education is Sinful.  Obviously, a lot of Red States in this country think so, too.  

Texas is trying to set the standard for denying and/or rewriting American history.  No, slavery was not such a bad thing.  No, man was created, he did not evolve.  No, let's just do away with Thomas Jefferson altogether; he was a God-denier. (I have no idea how they reconcile the third president's not believing in God and then turn around and insist that as the writer of the Declaration of Independence and a framer of the Constitution that he intended for the USA to be a Christian nation.  Right-wing thinking, I suppose, and I'm sorely lacking in that area.)

Tennessee wants to remove any mention of slavery and do away with the fact that many of the Founding Fathers were slave owners.  In Pennsylvania, the governor refused to adequately fund schools, which forced the city of Philadelphia to borrow $50 million just to ensure that their schools opened on schedule last year.  In Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli -- had he won the governor's office in 2013 -- would have cut the education fund by almost $50 BILLION and used the rest to fund charter schools, online learning (translation: to benefit home-schooling) and religious schools.  No, seriously!  When Louisiana adapted the Cooch model in that state, a little problem reared its ugly head: they'd have to fund Islamic schools, too.  Oops!

Suppression of Women's Rights

War on women?  What war on women?

There is something uniquely far-right that has invaded the U.S.House of Representatives and Red State legislative bodies: they deny man-made climate change, and yet they all become OB/GYN experts when it comes to women's health issues.  This is old history, so there's no need to belabor it.  So I won't. 

One Tea Party darling, Phil Gingrey, actually was a lady-parts doctor until deciding to give that up and inflict his far-right views on the entire country.  He's also a lying hypocrite.  Who's surprised?  Gingrey and most all of the other GOPers in the house voted NO on the Violence Against Women Act -- well, before they voted for it and pretended it was their idea in the first place.  He has also defended Todd Akin's 2012 asinine and oft debunked assertion on legitimate rape.

But here's one interesting and obnoxious fact about Dr. Gingrey: He recently sent a letter to the CDC about the alarming fact that the children coming across our southern borders were riddled with diseases such as swine flu (not the season, asshole), dengue fever (only transmitted by mosquitoes, can't be transmitted person-to-person), Ebola virus (confined to Africa), and tuberculous (all children are screened immediately at the centers for that).  But the most hypocritical statement in that little missive is this: Many of the children who are coming across the border also lack basic vaccinations such as those to prevent chicken pox or measles.

Why hypocritical, you ask?  Because Phil Gingrey is a member of a group called The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a far-right bunch that opposes all mandatory vaccines.   You know, for like chicken pox, and measles, and...

Tell me you'd be willing to have him messing about with your body and making your laws.

End Note

   
  
 

Sarah Palin at the Western Conservative Summit in Colorado: Not impeaching President Obama is an "affront to God", and "we are not gonna dethrone God and substitute him with someone who wants to play God" (VIDEO)

President Obama likes to play God sometimes, just in order to annoy Sarah Palin

By Patrick

Sarah Palin: Look, we know you are stupid and insane.

We know that you are a notorious rabble-rouser.

We know that you hate anyone who doesn't adore you.

We know that Democrats started to love you, because you have turned into their secret weapon.

There is a lot more we know about you.

It's not worth any more to spend lots of time and effort on what you do or say. Only if something you say is even more insane than usual it deserves to be mentioned, because it's entertaining and truly frightening at the same time.

The fact that there are some people who still listen to you is also proof that propaganda does work, regardless how primitive it may be. This should serve as a warning to anyone.

President Obama needs to be impeached? With you, Sarah Palin, as the "leader" of the impeachment movement? Really...?

Maybe it is time to remind the American people again to which conclusion the bipartisan legislative Branchflower-investigation came in Alaska in October 2008: That you, Sarah Palin, abused your powers as Governor:

Screenshot:

(Link to the full report)

Quite inconvenient, is it not?

But wasn't there something else? Yes, of course! After you, Sarah Palin, filed an ethics complaint against yourself, in order to bring the matter before the Alaska state personnel board, you had reason to rejoice: "New Troopergate report clears Palin" read the headlines on November 3, 2008, one day before the election. How wonderful for you!

However, why exactly did the "Petumenos Troopergate Report" exonerate you, Sarah Palin?

Well, of course! How should you possibly know or control what your husband Todd does? After all, he is a real man, and he does what he needs to do!

Therefore you should be eternally grateful to the nice Mr. Petumenos, who apparently believes that the Governor of Alaska is supposed to be some sort of brainless robot - oh, wait???

From page 27 of the Petumenos Troopergate report:

But, dear Sarah, I am already spending too much time on you again. After all, as the new secret weapon of the Democrats, we should now be grateful for you existence, LOL!

Finally, let me say that it was still sweet when Mr. Petumenos later, in 2010, determined in another case that were you guilty of breaking Alaska ethics laws (after you set up your legal defense fund, which was just a private slush fund).

What an excellent advocate of impeachment you are, Sarah Palin! (cough, cough)

+++

EDITED TO ADD:

When I wrote this post yesterday, I forgot one fascinating detail: In Troopergate, Sarah Palin's husband Todd was just a "private citizen", who apparently rather uncontrollably roamed around the great state of Alaska, bullying people in order to fire Trooper Wooten - and Sarah Palin was allowed to do nothing, according to Mr. Petumenos, and was also not liable for his actions.

However, this view on the facts changed completely, when another legal case was to be decided. As I reported at Palingates on June 24, 2010 in great detail, when it came to the question whether Sarah Palin could claim executive privilege for emails she sent to her husband Todd (who was just a "private citizen", remember), an Alaska court suddenly decided that Todd had to be regarded as an unpaid government consultant, and the communications with him therefore could remain secret:

Excerpts from the judgement (download the full judgement here):

Sarah Palin herself was very proud of this judgement - it was yet another win for her, for Sarah, the poor victim of the evil ethic complaints filers. That this ruling was in direct contrast to the findings of Mr. Petumenos in the Troopergate case, naturally did not bother her at. Back then, her lawyer Thomas Van Flein even celebrated this victory on Sarah Palin's facebook in a long post, in which he wrote:

In a well reasoned opinion, the judge explored state law, federal law (including an historical discussion on First Lady Sarah Polk, wife of President James K. Polk), and invoked a too rarely used legal principle – common sense – to throw out this lawsuit. In so doing, the court concluded that Todd Palin, as the First Gentleman, though unpaid, was in essence a privileged consultant to the Office of the Governor, and the court compared Todd Palin’s privileged consultations to First Lady Hillary Clinton, in which a federal court determined that the chief executive’s spouse “acts as the functional equivalent of an assistant to the President.” And, with state government employees assisting the first spouse, Todd Palin had a clear and obvious privileged consultative function and is analogous to a de facto state officer.

That's how things worked back then in Sarah Palin's amazing Alaska: You could move up from a "private citizen" to a "de facto state officer" in the blink of an eye.

But enough now! Let's present without further ado the short excerpt of the speech from yesterday in which Sarah Palin claimed that Barack Obama is an insult to God - and don't worry, the clip is not even a minute long:

(Clip of the complete speech here)

We are now eagerly awaiting God's press release in this matter.

Louie Gohmert: Caribou Sex, Non-Rising Pool Water, and Moo Goo Dog Pan -- No, SERIOUSLY

by Sunnyjane

Bet you can't make YOUR eyebrows do this while wearing a tin foil hat!

Any day now, Louie Gohmert will be arrested and charged for being in Contempt of Mental Soundness, the penalty for which is sixty days in an asparagus-print wallpapered cell while listening to President Obama sing Sweet Home Chicago and I'm Still in Love with You twenty-four hours a day.

The congressman's philosophies harken back to a time when people bragged that Christopher Columbus had dined in their homes, and Louie disapproves of any idea that bears even the slightest whiff of moderate -- forget about liberal or progressive; those cause him to start picking his nose while hyperventilating.  It's not a pretty sight.

Gohmert was sworn in as a newly elected member of the Lower Chamber from Texas in January of 2005.  In 2007, Michele Bachmann arrived, and the two of them proceeded to establish the gold standard for House-Crazy.  In 2011, the anti-government Tea Party tsunami engulfed the House, and America became the laughingstock of the world.

No wonder John Boehner has reserved bar stools all over the Nation's Capitol.  The House has become Kabuki theater rather than a serious venue for enacting the country's laws.

The Crusades Will Be Televised

Louie Gohmert's belief in God's existence is total and as solid as the Pillars of Hercules.  And to prove it to, um, doubters, he recently offered his very own equation verifying said existence because atheists cannot say: Nobody + Nothing = Everything.  Well!  There you go then.

The God-bothering congressman from Texas would be quite vexed if he had to debate Thomas Jefferson on the true meaning of Separation of Church and State.  Louie, of course, has his own interpretation of that doctrine: ...the state would not dictate to the church, but the church would certainly play a role in the state.  Um...nooooo.

Louie also thinks that the Republican party can get Latinos to start voting for them because they are the party that believes in God.  If that's true, it makes you wonder why he's so against passing an immigration law, doesn't it?

And of course, the Aurora shooting massacre of twelve people in 2012 happened because America is becoming a Godless country.  No, it's actually because you and your ilk place a higher value on guns than you do on human life, you little imbecile.      

And More Louie Lunacy

While discussing the ENDA bill before the House last year, legislation that would make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, or refuse to promote employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, Gohmert whined that it was just more of the Democrats continuing war on religion -- especially the Judeo-Christian religion.  He doesn't give a fat rat's ass about other religions, and bewailed the fact that Jews and Christians actually supported gay rights, despite the plumbing that God created.  Uh huh.

In 2010, Louie was positive that pregnant Muslim women were coming across the border to spawn their babies just so those now-American citizens could be sent back to their Islamist countries to be trained as terrorists and come back and kill all of us.  And no one could easily forget that after the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, he tried to link that tragic event with immigration reform, opining that  We know Al Qaeda has camps over with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border. We know that people are being trained to come in and act like they're Hispanic when they're radical Islamist.  No explanation on how a Middle East individual might actually be able to act like they're Hispanic. 

Gohmert wants to protect the Alaska Pipeline because he's afraid that if there's not all that warm oil flowing through it, the sex-life of the caribou would be ruined:  So when [the caribou] want to go on a date, they invite each other to head over to the pipeline. So my real concern now ...if oil stops running through the pipeline...do we need a study to see how adversely the caribou would be affected if that warm oil ever quit flowing?   He declined the opportunity to inform us as to whether the pipeline takes dinner reservations.

Loony Louie once cringed at the thought of sending funds to China to help that country protect rare dogs and cats: There is no assurance that if we did that we wouldn't end up with moo goo dog pan or moo goo cat pan.  

Because he doesn't believe in man-made climate change, Louie refused to read the report because it was way too full of science mumbo-jumbo to make sense of.  He had an intern read it and decided it was just full of malarkey.  His argument: Rising sea levels? Melting ice caps? Well now, if that were true, how come the water in my pool isn’t any higher than it was last year?  It's perfectly acceptable to indulge in a major head-bang at this point.

Unfortunately, Gohmert is running against the same Democrat who challenged him and lost in 2012.  I think we can expect the same results this year.

End Note

Now there's a pro-life solution.

Mid-Term Election 2014: Why Getting Out the Vote is Essential

by Sunnyjane

1965: Black college students wait peacefully to be arrested for trying to register to vote.

Before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, Alabama was one of the most hostile states in the union for African American voters.  In Selma, where whites were the minority by a large percentage, harsh measures were used to, shall we say, discourage blacks from participating in the political system.  Along with beatings, arrests, and humiliating literacy tests, the voter registration office was open only two days a month, and would only process fifteen applications a day.  For the fifteen thousand blacks who wished to register, this was hardly adequate.

Civil Rights groups -- the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Dallas County (Alabama) Voters League -- were prohibited from gathering in groups of more than three people to prohibit demonstrations.  Thus, non-violent protests, as seen in the photo above, were a common occurrence during the first six months of 1965.

And then in 2013, the far-right-majority Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the VRA, saying in their opinion that racism no longer exists in the United States of America.  They were wrong.  Minority groups continue to be discouraged from voting, albeit by more subtle methods.

So the mission this year is twofold: Ensure that all Americans have unfettered access to the polls and that they understand what is at stake in this election.  We need to give the President, and ourselves, House and Senate majorities.

The Rigid Republicans

It will take liberal voters to repair the House and Senate.

House Speaker John Boehner is a worthless piece of humanity, trying to lead his party of even more worthless subhumans.  Since that's pretty much like herding headstones, he's decided to sue President Obama for lawlessness.  (Translation: The President is doing, by Executive Order, the job Boehner won't or can't do.  Boehner is pissed.  Boehner gets petulant. President Obama is a Constitutional lawyer.  Boehner is not.  Boehner decides suing is the only thing he can do.  Pfft.)

It was pretty much a yawner down at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where the President called the whole thing a stunt.  Even Erick Erickson at RedState said, John Boehner's lawsuit is nothing more than political theater and a further Republican waste of taxpayer dollars. If the Republican leaders in the House are too chicken to use their constitutional powers to rein in the President, they should just call it a day and go home. Whoa!  If you've lost Erickson, you're in mighty deep doo-doo, John.

Anybody got an extra pad of PostIt thingies?  I used all mine writing "Benghazi" a trillion times.

There is one issue the House is determined to take up, of course -- BENGHAZI!  Trey Gowdy has had two months to sling together his select committee on the subject, and is proposing that it will cost $3.3 Million to put on this little dog-and-pony show -- which is far more than the Veterans Affairs investigative committee was allowed.  So much for the vets, eh?  

No timetable from Gowdy has been forthcoming, because it's hard to put together a team of thirty investigators, and going from not existing to fully functioning takes some time.  Let me repeat: he's had two months already, and he's still in the preliminary stages. 

The Dithering Democrats

Impeach Obama's golf clubs!  Sue Obama's Dijon mustard! 

I'm at a loss to explain why candidates of the Democratic persuasion are so loath to tout the successes that have been gained over the last six years.  Even the White House doesn't do a very good job of promoting the gains that have been made, especially in light of the do-nothing House and the so-so Senate.

So, maybe it's incumbent upon us to share some talking points they can use:

-- Republicans are telling Americans that raising the minimum wage and giving workers a living salary would be bad for the economy, would be a burden on companies, and would result in job losses.  Well, no.  Many states have already raised wages for employees, and business is booming.  In addition, several companies are not waiting for legislation that might never come to pass, and have begun raising their employees' wages. Considering that House representatives earn $87 an hour for doing nothing -- or about $192 an hour since they're only in session 113 days this year -- it seems only fair to give Americans a little raise now and then, dontcha think?

-- Funny thing about Republicans:  they don't believe that man contributes unfavorably to climate change, but they'd most likely swear that God sends messages of his existence through eggplants.  No, seriously.

-- John Boehner famously touted that the 113th congress would focus on jobs for all Americans.  It hasn't; the House has never introduced a jobs bill.  And in 2013, GOP senators shamelessly killed the Jobs for Vets bill by filibustering, a fine example of why we need a greater Democratic majority in the Senate.  But despite the fact that over nine million jobs have been created since Barack Obama became president, Orange Tan Man Boehner still repeats -- robot style -- that every time he talks to folks, they ask Where are the Jobs?  And then blames the president, of course.  John doesn't read the paper: Obamacare -- that job-killing piece o'crap -- alone has added almost one million jobs to the economy.  Perhaps JB believes that until Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney are gainfully employed, no numbers are good enough.  I dunno.  But never forget:  If something horrible were to happen to President Obama and Vice President Biden, John Boehner would become president of the United States.

--  President Obama has done more to end gender identification discrimination than any other president in the history of the country.  Still, far-right states have done whatever they can to make it legal to refuse to do business with anyone who infringes on their religious beliefs.  Thus, Mississippi has passed an appalling Religious Freedumb Freedom Bill, much like the  Arizona bill that Jan Brewer refused to sign.  So a group of business people designed the above window or door sticker to provide -- for free -- to any Mississippi business that  wanted one.  The initial printing of five hundred was quickly snapped up, and the group is printing more for a growing waiting list.

There, that ought to do it for a while, huh?

End Note

   

American Exceptionalism, Republican Tea Party Style

by Sunnyjane

Name one American who lost a freedom when Michael Sam kissed his partner.  

The Tea Party radicals in what passes for today's GOP has two pat phrases in their anti-democracy arsenal: Taking Back America and American Exceptionalism.  Obviously, they believe that by accomplishing the former, they can achieve the latter.  Was the USA considered exceptional way back in 1780?  I forget.

These days, Tea Party American Exceptionalism seems to consist of, but is not limited to, being first in gun deaths, first in starting wars, first in preventing women from securing proper health care, and first in denying anything that has the slightest whiff of that scientific stuff.

Let's look at a few examples.

When Religion Trumps Science

(Image courtesy of The Daily Beast)

After years of exhaustive research, Biblical scholars have unanimously determined that not all modern advances in gynecology can be found in the New Testament.  And yet, the fate of American women's health is in jeopardy because of five Roman Catholic justices -- Kennedy, Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and Scalia.  Sorry, guys, but your religion is not supposed to harm other Americans.

Let's get something straight here:  The Supreme Court's decision favoring Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood in this suit is not about their religious beliefs.  Hobby Lobby buys their craft-crap from China, where abortion is frequently mandated by the government; the company's pension plan holds $73 million that invests in pharmaceutical companies that manufacture emergency contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, and abortion-inducing medications;  and their former healthcare plans provided for these same medications, without objection.

No, this is about putting the first scalpel to the Affordable Care Act, and it is just the beginning.  The President's enemies will continue to employ death by a thousand cuts to slowly rip  apart a badly needed -- and very popular -- healthcare law that covers millions of people in this country, all out of spite.

Is that American Exceptionalism?

Needlessly Poisoned by the Air We Breathe

A bunch of science (eek!) advisers is imploring the Environmental Protection Agency to enact stricter limits on ozone, which is adversely affecting the most vulnerable in our country.  Children, the elderly, and citizens with asthma are experiencing a decrease in lung function and an increase in respiratory symptoms and airway inflammation.

Of course, the GOP wants to do away with the EPA because they don't care to hear news like that and they don't believe in all that sciencey stuff anyhow.  Isn't that sort of like burning down your house because you dislike the color it's painted?

So what if Grandma and the kids are sick?  Take 'em to the doctor and get 'em some medicine!  Unless, of course, they don't have healthcare, and then...

Is that American Exceptionalism?

Who Needs Gun Control?  We Need People Control!

The gun lobby's creed.

Several posts ago we had some, um, out-of-town pro-gun visitors to Politicalgates. They didn't hang around long and, in general, were not terribly obnoxious.  For one thing, those of us who replied to their comments kept asking for citations to their statements; few were forthcoming.

But I did take the time to research some of their assertions and found one that was correct: The sale of guns is going down.  It certainly does not seem that that is the case, considering all the crazies who are open-carrying and shooting anything that moves.  However, here's the key: the NRA, gun dealers, and gun manufacturers are in a panic over this situation, and have resorted to appealing to the fringe elements in our society. 

The NRA fully supported universal background checks -- including at gun sale events -- after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.  Today, however,  background checks are too cumbersome, too intrusive, and too inefficient.  (Translation:  Holy Shit, those damn background checks are lowering our sales!)  So bring on the likes of Ted Nugent to appeal to the fringe.  And though not exactly how he wanted it, Glenn Beck exposed the NRA as anti-government extremists.

How's that for American Exceptionalism?   

Some Exceptional American 2014 GOP Candidates   

We're not going to have any more candidates who are unelectable!

Which one of these two headlines is a Daily Currant satire piece and which is real:

    
      Todd Akin Claims Breastmilk Cures Homosexuality

or

    GOP Candidate Charges Opponent Is Dead, Represented By A Body Double
 
I know, I know...it's difficult.  Actually, the Todd Akin headline is from the Daily Currant; the other one is true, and that is scary.  Timothy Ray Murray believes that Oklahoma GOP Rep. Frank Lucas was found guilty of something or other and was put to death in Ukraine several years ago.  All you have to know here is Frank Lucas as never been to Ukraine and he appears to be very much alive.  Snort!

Cesar Chavez -- the Arizona guy who changed his name and his party to try to win an election -- didn't even get a chance this time: a judge disallowed half of the signatures on his nomination forms because they were illegible.  Oops!

A Michigan slug wants citizens to forgive and forget about his criminal activities and his weird sexual fetishes and vote for him to join the state legislature.  Uh huh. 

     
And speaking of slugs people who want to be a candidate, you have to wonder what Priebus thinks the GOP's chances are when three potential 2016 saviors -- Christie, Walker, and Perry -- are embroiled in Grand Jury investigations.  Added to them, of course, is once-golden boy Bob McDonnell.  His trial starts July 28.

What wonderful GOP representatives of American Exceptionalism.

End Note