Terri Whitehouse May 6th, 2008
Elderly nuns in South Bend, IN were turned away from their polling place today, thanks to Indiana’s GOP-backed voter ID law. (h/t: Crooks & Liars)
Anti-choice activists contend that 20% of American women are “murderers.” (h/t: Feministing)
Matt Gunterman October 25th, 2007
The young generation doesn’t like the GOP. Who can blame them? They see right through the party’s demagoguery on race, immigration, sexuality, religion, and health care. The Republicans aren’t even pretending to be building a vision of tomorrow for their party’s and our own future. They’re simply desperately trying to hold onto the power that they have. There’s no future for the GOP, and many Republicans believe that fact literally because they believe our nation should be governed as if the only relevant future event is the second coming of Jesus.
Those last people are fundamentalist Christians, and I think we’re all better off just admitting that they are crazy. Fundamentalist Christians are crazy. Loony. Dangerous. Freakishly churlish. A fierce detriment to American society.
There’s no way around it. We’re seeing the evidence and manifestation of it today.
Anyway, how bad are things for the Republican party today?
Check this out from Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo:
The Younger Set
You’ve probably seen how Stephen Colbert is running for president. You may even have seen this Rasmussen poll that has Colbert pulling down a respectable 13% of the vote in a hypothetical Rudy-Hillary match-up.
But look at this paragraph down into Rasmussen’s write-up (italics in the original) …
Colbert does particularly well with the younger voters most likely to be watching his show and therefore most aware of his myriad presidential-like qualities. In the match-up with Giuliani and Clinton, Colbert draws 28% of likely voters aged 18-29. He draws 31% of that cohort when his foes are Thompson and Clinton. In both match-ups, Colbert has more support with young voters than the GOP candidate.
There’s something appropriate in this. Americans in their twenties would prefer a normal person pretending to be a Republican buffoon than the real thing.
###
Jim Pence September 6th, 2007
[Message from Matt: Jim's work is ever provocatively ornery, but there are times when it not only captures the humor and mood of the moment when making its point, but also is elevated, quite frankly, to the level of art. If ever MOMA does an exhibit on folk blogging, then Jim Pence and his HillbillyReport will be Exhibit A.]
Matt Gunterman August 13th, 2007
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer offers us a new paradigm for looking at the world, one quite different from President George W. Bush’s “you’re with us or against us,” or his “axis of evil,” or even outside the realm of that bogeyman “Islamofascism.”
Yes, Breyer’s suggestion is rather asymmetrical in nature and design; he describes a phenomenon that transcends national boundaries and nationalism.
It’s an assault on reason; it’s a way of looking at the world that places fundamentalist Christian bigots and hate-mongers, like State Representative Stan Lee (R), who would love nothing more than to stuff his narrow brand of religion down the throats of all Kentuckians, with radical Islamic bigots and hate-mongers, like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R?).
I think it explains the state of things rather well.
From ThinkProgress:
Breyer sees assault on reason.
The Supreme Court’s most recent term was a difficult one, Justice Stephen Breyer said Saturday, because he found himself on the losing end of several key cases. After the 9/11, attacks, Breyer said: “I began to see that the true division of importance in the world is not between different countries. The important division is between those who are committed to reason, to working out things, to understanding other people, to peaceful resolution of their differences … and those who don’t think that.”
Matt Gunterman July 12th, 2007
First, we know that President George W. Bush has packed his administration with over 150 graduates of a Virginia-based, fundamentalist Christian college, founded by radical cleric Pat Robertson. These Bush hires have been at the center of nearly every scandal to hit the administration.
Second, a “radical Christian activist group” in Texas has been going around bombing other churches that the bombers themselves don’t consider to be pure, holy, and true enough. The group is rather disorganized at the moment, but the trend is nevertheless frightening.
Third, a radical Christian group invaded the U.S. Senate chambers today to interrupt a prayer being led by an American Hindu. They were arrested, and the prayer continued. Here’s the video.
We’re seeing a disturbing trend, I think, and I believe it will only intensify in the coming years as the majority of the nation moves towards a more inclusive, tolerant agenda to replace the one of hate and fear being carried out by the Bush administration. I think these people, while being small in number, will only radicalize more.
Matt Gunterman June 24th, 2007
The Courier-Journal ran an excellent editorial this Sunday that asked all the thinking fiscal conservatives who have aligned themselves with the Kentucky GOP in recent years to seriously reconsider their allegiance to and alliance with the Republican party’s fanatical social conservatives and religious fundamentalists.
There are about four billion people on this planet who aren’t Christian, and the nations their building aren’t ones that obsess about the Second Coming of Christ.
I mean, we have a man — Representative Stan Lee (R) — who’s running for attorney general of this state who wants to make Christianity the official religion of the land, who wants to teach Creationism in our schools as “science,” and whose personal legislative agenda is to stamp out homosexuality and homosexuals in Kentucky.
People like Stan Lee and all the people who follow his sort of creed are sapping this nation of the competitive edge it will need to survive and prosper in the 21st century.
We aren’t living in a global vacuum. Other nations aren’t going to be obsessed with building “Christian paradise,” and will instead be focused on building institutions of learning that produce top scholars and scientists and on creating nimble economies to rival our own.
In truth, people like hate-monger Stan Lee believe the nation’s calling is to prepare for the End Times. I have no problem with people believing their religion and applying its tenets to their own lives, but it’s absolute crazy talk to say it should be something the rest of the nation should be concerned about.
Let’s hope the fiscal conservatives do take a stand against the delusional religious fanatics in the GOP.
The GOP’s choice
Today, Kentucky Republicans are faced with a clear choice: What kind of party — and what kind of people — do they want to be?
Do the party’s solid businessmen and women really want to follow its social-conservative wing into a university-bashing battle over domestic partner benefits?
How comfortable can they be contributing their time, money and good names to Ernie Fletcher’s reelection campaign, now that his handpicked state party chairman has made it clear that a big part of their strategy will be to throw red meat to the anti-gay crowd?
Does that seem like an exaggeration? It’s not.
GOP chairman Steve Robertson had been on the job for less than three weeks before — as his first public act — he sent out an infantile opinion piece to newspapers, all but calling two Democratic candidates gay and inciting anti-academic hysteria over the issue of domestic partner benefits.
Certainly these are not the issues or tactics that education-minded, New Economy-building Republicans want to embrace. Kentucky ranks near the bottom in too many areas, and most Republicans no doubt long to focus not on keeping it there, but on making it a more educated, competitive and prosperous place.
Need proof? The decision to offer modest benefits to the unmarried partners of University of Louisville and University of Kentucky employees was made by the prominent business people, many of them Republicans, who make up their boards.
Go to the universities’ Websites and look at the names. They are CEOs, bankers, developers, a former director of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. Gov. Fletcher himself appointed about half.
These people — not left-wing radicals — decided what our universities need to be competitive.
As former Jefferson County Republican Party chairman Bill Stone, a U of L trustee, said the day that board voted 14-1 to offer domestic partner benefits, “This is not an endorsement of gay marriage or any of the other lightning issues. This is simply a recognition that people are people. You only restrict your opportunities for greatness when you restrict your opportunities to attract all kinds of folks.”
Domestic partner benefits will make a difference to a very small number of university employees. But if it helps attract, say, an Aaron Copland to a music department or a Gore Vidal to a writing program, that helps Kentucky kids.
The business wing of the GOP knows this. It’s time for them to make themselves heard. No — it’s past time.
If they let the social conservatives dominate this higher education issue, what will be next? Science curricula acceptable to the creationist crowd?
Joe Sonka June 12th, 2007
This letter to the editor was actually published in a Kentucky newspaper. I think its a pretty good representation of the kind of mindset and mental health that it takes to believe that Adam and Eve played fetch with dinosaurs 6,000 years ago while their kids were busy fucking.
Let me just summarize the wonderful pontification in the letter. The evolution “mythology” and science being taught in our schools is “dumbing down” our kids. This is being taught so the “Illuminati” and the Rockefeller family can control our kids. Oh, and they control the Federal Reserve and engage in occult activities, too. Also, her family loved the Creation Museum and the animatronic dinosaurs “concretely prove that God created the heavens and the earth”.
I really do hope that they chose to run this because it was funny, or they accidentally ran some wonderfully crafted snark.
(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)
Joe Sonka June 9th, 2007
I went to the truly insane “Creation Museum” last Saturday and have my full report up on BlueGrassRoots.
I’m a big fan of dark, unintentional humor, and that’s exactly what I got in my visit. What’s certainly not funny is that I could definitely see certain “Christian Academies” across the State (that teach Creationism in their school) bringing their students here on field trips. To call that child abuse would be appropriate in my opinion.
It also reinforces many, many negative stereotypes about Kentucky.
Another relevant question is how do our representatives stand on the museum? Do they endorse its views? Would they take their children there? Is this an appropriate field trip for students?
I haven’t heard any politicians take on this yet, and I’d be interested to hear it.
Anyway, I leave you a picture of Pebbles Flintstone and her pet Velaciraptor, Dino.
Terri Whitehouse June 7th, 2007
Sex, that is. You know, that dirty thing that men and women do together on their wedding nights and maybe a few other times throughout years of marriage in order to populate their congregations or whatever? Dirty. Dirty dirty despicable sex. Gross nasty people touching each other in their bathing suit areas. Eww, right?
No worries, though. House leadership today increased its extremely popular and effective abstinence-only education by nearly $30 million:
“Let’s face it, with friends like these, who needs conservative Republicans?” said James Wagoner, President of Advocates for Youth. “By continuing to fund these ineffective programs, the House Democratic leadership has signaled that the health and well-being of America’s teens are not their priority. Young people and their parents should be outraged.”
[…]
“The tragedy is not simply the waste of taxpayer dollars, which this clearly is,” added Wagoner, “but it is the damage done to the young people who have been on the receiving end of distorted, inaccurate information about condoms and birth control. Democrats are officially on record as promoting ignorance in the era of
AIDS — that’s not just bad public health policy, it’s also bad ethics and it’s just bad leadership.”
Salt ‘n’ Pepa, we need you now more than ever!
Matt Gunterman June 6th, 2007
Will this bit of nonsense from Bush surgeon general nominee and University of Kentucky faculty member James W. Holsinger be the straw that breaks the nominating camel’s back? It’s disappointing — and I believe I’m remembering this correctly — that both the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader editorial boards endorsed this man’s nomination.
Gay group attacks Holsinger paper
1991 CHURCH REPORT ARGUED MALE SEX UNHEALTHY, UNNATURALBy Sarah Vos
In 1991, Dr. James W. Holsinger — a University of Kentucky professor who is President Bush’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general — wrote a paper arguing that gay sex is biologically unnatural and unhealthy.
Like male and female pipe fittings, certain male and female body parts are designed for each other, Holsinger wrote in a paper prepared for a United Methodist Church committee studying homosexuality. “When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur,” Holsinger wrote in the paper, titled Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality.
The paper was released Monday by the Human Rights Campaign, a national group that advocates for gay and lesbian rights. UK spokeswoman Mary Margaret Colliver confirmed that Holsinger had written the paper. Holsinger declined to comment for this story, as he has not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
[...]
I don’t think any of us needs me to point out that, excluding the sex organs, males and females have exactly the same orifices on their bodies, and those female orifices are just as capable of being used for sexual purposes as the male ones.
And, of course, the biggest problem here is that Holsinger, whom Bush wants to make the nation’s chief medical officer, is shown here, as the article points out, pathologizing homosexual practices to make his religious point. Why not just quote some scripture and leave the science to the realms of scientists? The mainstream medical community de-medicalized homosexual behavior decades ago.
Joe Sonka June 5th, 2007
The Bowling Green Daily Post has a wingnut editorial up demanding that the 10 Commandments immediately be put up on Capitol grounds. Otherwise, I’m guessing that evil spirits will work their way into the capitol building and make the legislators start worshiping Satan and performing human sacrifice rituals and gay orgies. Or even start (gasp) lying, taking bribes and cheating on their wives. Yes, some good ole time religion in the Capitol will save us from this.
And who joins the BG Daily News in this passioned, urgent plea?
Ned Flanders, of course. Says Stan Lee, “The General Assembly spoke on the issue. The governor signed the bill. Whoever is charged with doing this needs to be working post haste.”
Don’t make Ned Flanders angry. You won’t like him when he’s angry.
How soon before Stan Lee proposes legislation to build a giant crucifix on the House floor?
(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)
Terri Whitehouse May 3rd, 2007
It’s true. Text of H.R. 1592 is available here.
Isn’t it weird how, when it comes to something like women’s right to control their own bodies, the GOP is all about some federal intervention? But in the case of something like playing a for-real version of “smear the queer,” they argue against federal involvement, hootin’ and hollerin’ about how it’s a violation of free speech? Why do you think that is?
Matt Gunterman March 23rd, 2007
I had the privilege last Sunday morning when I was in DC to attend a powerful sermon delivered by John W. Wimberly, Jr., a Presbyterian minister who sits on the board of directors of the ACLU (I think he’s the only non-lawyer to do so). The sanctuary was packed that morning, and there was a certain energy that I myself had never experienced in a liberal Protestant church. You got the distinct impression that this was a movement that had found its voice, its message, and its legs.
When the Pew Research Center survey on “Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes” was released this week, I was interested to find that it included data on trends in American religious fervor and on the intersection of Republican religious and ideological beliefs.
The first graph [below] on general Democratic and Republican Party leanings provides a simple context: Americans are feeling decidedly less sympathetic towards Republican dogma.
That established, see the second graph that shows a sharp decrease in “Religious Traditionalism” among Democrats. This decline doesn’t mean that Democrats are abandoning religion; to qualify as a religious traditionalist, the respondent had to agree with all three of the following statements: 1) Prayer is an important part of my daily life; 2) We will all be called before God on the Judgment Day to answer for our sins; 3) I never doubt the existence of God. These numbers might mask an increase in more liberal religious leanings among Democrats, and while there is a slight uptick in traditionalism for Republicans, fewer Americans are subscribing to Republicanism generally.
The third graph is a profile of Republicans and Republican leaners by state. It also includes a breakdown of how many conservative Republicans also identify themselves as white evangelical Protestants. Notice that Kentucky’s numbers reflect very closely states where Democrats picked up Senate seats in 2006. There is a notable difference between these states and Tennessee, where a Republican won an open seat by a somewhat comfortable margin considering the national political environment.
Will religion play a significant role in 2008? I think so. I think you’re going to find by then that the revival among liberal and progressive religion in the United States will only have strengthened its presence in Kentucky. I think you’ll also see a greater movement towards secular political orientations generally. I see little reason to suspect that this white evangelical Protestant segment of the Republican Party will find a way out of its funk. It’s waning both ideologically and theologically.
All trends point to the continued demoralization of McConnell’s base and the energizing of progressives.
Ditch Mitch KY
