Fun Friday: Rick Santorum quotes

Fun Friday: Rick Santorum quotes

So the psychobilly nutjob Olympics, also known as the GOP presidential primary is down to a two man race.  So I figured for fun Friday I’d give you a deeper look at one of the men at the top, former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum.

 

First of course, if you haven’t before, check out the Urban Dictionary entry for Santorum

 

On contraception:

“One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country…. Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” –Rick Santorum

 

The best part of this quote on education is that the speech made by Obama actually suggested the exact same thing Mr. Frothy suggested:

 ”President Obama wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob … Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image.” –Rick Santorum, speaking to a Tea Party group in Michigan (February 2012)

 

On the speech JFK made to show why Catholic’s like Santorum should be considered for president:

“Earlier in my political career, I had the opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up.” –Rick Santorum, on JFK’s 1960 speech about the importance of separation of church and state (October 2011)

 

Uhhhh Whaaat??

“The question is — and this is what Barack Obama didn’t want to answer — is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no. Well if that person — human life is not a person, then — I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, ‘We’re going to decide who are people and who are not people.’” —Rick Santorum, CNS News interview (January 2011)

 

Maybe Rick should take a history class from Professor Gingrich

“The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical. And that is what the perception is by the American Left who hates Christendom. … What I’m talking about is onward American soldiers. What we’re talking about are core American values.” –Rick Santorum, campaigning for president in South Carolina (February 2011)

Our Convenient Patriotism

Our convenient patriotism

 I was watching football tonight and was a little surprised that the game was starting a couple of minutes late and I realized of course, they are at commercial while they do the national anthem in the stadium.  For some reason tonight this made me think of the football games right after 9/11 and how for the weeks after that horrible day all of the networks showed the playing of the national anthem.  We do the same on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.  Our patriotism seems to be convenient to whenever it will best play on television or for the right audience.

 During election campaigns patriotism, or at least the appearance of patriotism, is at an all-time high.  Remember all of the flack Obama took for not having an American Flag pin on his lapel, or putting his hand over his heart during the national anthem?  Right now the Republican presidential wannabees are all trying to one up each other on how patriotic they are.  If you listen to one amnesty is the patriotic thing to do for illegal immigrants, if you listen to another you hate America if you give illegal immigrants amnesty.  Because the American public responds to the flag waving, hand over the heart type of patriotism TV networks and politicians use it when it is convenient.

 However bring up the ideals of free speech, the loss of liberty from the PATRIOT Act, or the right to protest overnight in a park and you’re nothing but an unpatriotic, radical hippie trying to take down the government and not adhering to the words, thoughts and deeds of the holiest of holy, the most patriotic of them all, the Founding Fathers!  You know the ones whose words should guide us in everything we do like the shiny beacons of patriotism that they were.  You know the slave-owning, every WHITE MAN is a full man, blacks, not so much, women don’t have the right to vote bastions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Well,  assuming you are a fully entitled, property-owning white man.

 We interpret history the way we want and we use patriotism when it’s convenient, but if you’re an asshole like me that questions these things you can’t possibly be a patriot, or can you?

Screw global climate change, conservative Republicans sign this!

Screw global climate change, conservative Republicans sign this!

As a scientist it drives me crazy that science seems to have taken a back seat to misrepresentation in the media. Essentially today if someone has media access and can say enough times this is false, then people will believe it, after all, it’s on television. This is particularly true of both evolution and climate change. Both concepts are overwhelmingly accepted by science yet if you were to listen to conservative talk radio, Fox News or even the main stream media you’d think both of these concepts were radical new ideas that only a small percentage of scientists supported. Ironically in Europe, you know all of those countries we seem to feel so superior too, these concepts are broadly accepted. This is another nod to the fact that America is one of the more religious and uptight countries on earth.

No place is the idea of repetitive bullshit being treated as fact more apparent than on the presidential campaign trail. If you say your opponent is soft on crime, fiscally irresponsible, unsupportive of the military, in a cult, etc… and you say it enough times, it becomes the truth. On the subject of global climate change the current crop of Republican presidential candidates keep hammering on how climate change is bullshit, how they believe the concept is only fear mongering on the part of liberals who want to ruin the economy.

I would ask those people to go and talk to the people on the Carteret Islands of Papua New Guinea who are having to leave their island home due to global sea rise as a result of global climate, there is a really fascinating documentary about this called, Sun Come Up check it out. But hey, they’re not Americans so who cares, no one in Boca Raton has had to move, and so everything must be fine.

While thinking about this the other day I’ve come up with an idea. The Republicans are very fond of signing pledges that they won’t raise taxes, inconvenience rich people or allow homosexuals to be treated like humans, so I have another one for them. If they think global climate change is such crap then sign the following pledge:

I {insert the change of your favorite conservative climate change denier} do pledge that I am so unbelievable sure that global climate change is a crock, that if it turns out to not be, I hereby pledge that my descendants will accept financial liability for any and all global climate change related financial impacts, including housing any and all climate change refugees with said descendants.

So screw global climate change, Republicans sign this!

 

 

Congress don’t raise the debt ceiling!

Congress don’t raise the debt ceiling!

Congress, don’t raise the debt ceiling, seriously let the United States default on our debts, watch the stock market crash, watch more people end up out of work, and watch interest rates rise.  The reason I want this to happen is that people don’t really pay attention to anything unless it hits them in the pocketbook or the wallet. 

Global warming won’t be real until it costs people money, the utter stupidity of a fossil fuel economy didn’t even cross most people’s minds until gasoline hit $4.00 a gallon, a level we’re unfortunately getting very comfortable with.  And so, the debt ceiling won’t mean anything until it goes boom and people are suddenly less able to retire, or their adjustable rate mortgage jumps up a couple of points.

Maybe, if congress lets us down on this issue to the point that our collective and individual bottom lines suffer then maybe, just maybe, we’ll finally understand that in America there is just one political party, the re-election party.  Jokers wearing elephant lapel pins can’t possibly vote for tax increases and jokers with jackass pins can’t possibly cut any entitlements because they are afraid their base will desert them and they won’t get re-elected, which of course is the sole reason they are in office.

I consistently hear politicians, especially conservatives, and idiot commentators like Sean Hannity talk about the debt in terms of personal finance.  They are always saying if you are out of money you can’t print up more, you have to cut back.  Well you damn fools, when people are truly broke they don’t just cut back on spending, they often also go out and get a second job.  You see ordinary everyday people are smart enough to understand that in order to solve a debt problem you have to decrease spending AND raise revenues. 

So the hell with the debt ceiling let it all crash and then maybe just maybe we can finally start getting rid of these bums and actually put somebody from something other than the re-election party into office.

 

The circus that is American politics

So this is where we currently find the government of the United States of America.  In ring one we have our military situation, we are fighting a war in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan and doing a little bomb dropping in Libya.  Additionally, on just about every news show they get the chance, the government slips in a little mention of Yemen which is where I believe our next military action will occur.

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/the-next-big-terror-threat-part-2/

In the second ring we have the budget, the budget that our brave warriors in the house and senate barely negotiated at the last second to keep our government working.  Such proud warriors, putting their heads into the mouth of the lion to save our great nation the Republicans trying to defend us from such horrors as Sesame Street and Car Talk.  But don’t worry citizens, the republicans haven’t lost, they’ve just staged their forces for the 2012 budget fight and don’t worry, before they are done they will stop middle-class and poor women from getting low-cost health services.  And don’t even mention Obama Care, good God the very mention of the term could summon the devil and end the Mayan calendar, what was that, oops, apparently my typing it did the calendar thing, sorry.

http://examiner.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20324:federal-shutdown-avoided-2012-budget-fight-looms-&catid=35:ap-news&Itemid=56

Finally in ring three, the center ring we have the upcoming 2012 presidential race.  Yes folks as expected President Obama has filed for re-election and we certainly have our fair share of potential challengers.  But had I told you two months ago that there would be one candidate getting the most press for their outlandish ideas, and it wouldn’t be Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich or Michelle Bachman would you have believed me?  No, my friends the monkey in the center ring with his fancy hairdo is none other than building mogul, I mean bankrupt, I mean Casino mogul, I mean bankrupt, I mean reality TV star, Donald Trump, the next President of the United States of America.  Wow what a circus that would be.

Muslim radicalization hearings or state sponsored bigotry?

Republican Peter King of New York, and today I’m ashamed of the New Yorkers who voted him into office,  in a bit of political grand standing, meant I’m sure to solidify his “conservative” credentials, is holding hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims. 

Now let’s look at those two words, American Muslims, so Americans are being investigated for their religious beliefs.  I believe they tried this in Spain once, it was called the inquisition.  By what right does our government have to investigate a whole religion of people based upon the acts of several individuals?  And I don’t want to hear the nonsense some conservatives spout about how Islam is a violent religion, read the Christian Bible then read the Koran, there is a lot of overlap and a whole lot of violence in both books.  As a matter of fact if you made a movie using the literal stories in the Christian Bible it would have to be rated NC-17 due to violence, sexual situations and rape.  Yet Christianity is considered by conservatives to be the peaceful and “right” religion and Islam is violent and wrong. 

There are radicals in every religion; I’ll bet Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski and Eric Rudolph were all Christians, so why aren’t we having hearings on the radicalization of Christianity.  Hell American Muslims haven’t actually killed anyone but these white Christians did?  Oh that’s right, they are white Christians so they can act as individuals, but brown people who are Muslims are incapable of individual thought, at least that is what these hearings suggest.

Peter King you should be ashamed of yourself and your state sponsored bigotry.

Yup, Congress still sucks!

I’m not too thrilled with Obama either at the moment. So, our economy sucks, I think we all understand this as we look around and see friends, family and co-workers unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. The economy has killed possibility for a lot of people, without the opportunity to sell their homes, seniors are unable to downsize their expenses and many people can’t find work somewhere else when they own a home here they can’t sell. It is budget season in Washington DC and the same old, stupid budget wrangling is going on. The President softball pitches his budget where he totally ignores the big entitlement programs which everyone knows have to be impacted in order to reduce the deficit. The Republicans attack him for not proposing cuts to those programs but they ignored the budget commission report that said to do exactly that. Instead the house goes out and attacks projects funded by Nancy Pelosi, punishment I guess for her doing exactly the same things they do when they are in charge and that makes them both wrong. When this “new wave” of senators and representatives were voted in during the last election there was lots of talk about doing things differently in congress, just like when Obama was elected well, that hasn’t happened. There will be another chance to show that they are still at least sane. A vote is coming up on the debt ceiling, if we don’t extend the ceiling we’ll trash our credit rating. Why you ask? Well we will exceed our current debt ceiling because of budget mandates we’ve already created. So eventually we will have to up the debt ceiling, this does not prevent us from serious cost cutting in the future and bringing down the deficit. So in the end, shutting down the government and ruining America’s credit, which is what not extending the ceiling will do, is nothing but a political stunt, with negative consequences for all of us.

Congress said they heard us

Politicians on both side of the aisle stood up after the recent election and publicly said, “we hear you.”  They claim they heard the message the American people sent them, apparently according to their most recent actions what they heard was the following:

Do not help out the first responders who while helping to clean up the 9/11 site became ill:

http://www.app.com/article/CN/20101209/NATIONWORLD/101209042/UPDATE-Senate-Republicans-block-9-11-health-bill

To hell with those people who are on unemployment and can’t find a job, obviously they’re just lazy:

http://www.thestatecolumn.com/blog/2010/12/congressmen-unite-opposing-unemployment-extension-tax-cut-bill

 Either continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy or don’t give them to anyone:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/09/tax.plan/index.html?hpt=T1

 It is truly sad and amazing that our government really doesn’t give a flying shit about our country, but is instead more interested in playing the typical Washington political games.

The NYC Ground Zero Mosque Issue!

Ok, so I have had it up to my eyeballs over the whole Ground Zero Mosque issue.  First of all, let’s get something straight, the Islamic Cultural Center and Mosque will be two NYC blocks from Ground Zero.  I’m not sure on the orientation but that backs the distance somewhere between a half and two miles from the site.  So let’s stop the whole they are building a mosque on ground zero bullshit, not to mention that there is another mosque I believe four blocks from Ground Zero and that Muslims as well as Christians, Jews, Atheists and probably a Zoroastrian or two died on 9/11.  All of the dead from that horrible day have a claim to be memorialized, not just the ones that look like, or worship like the average American and before you criticize this project, do you know if any Muslim fireman or police died that day?

Honestly given the distance involved I’d like to set up a criterion as to who can actually complain about the mosque, if you can’t sprint the distance from Ground Zero to the mosque without needing oxygen afterword or a rest break during the run, you can’t criticize this project.  Good luck Rush, Hannity, I actually think Palin might have a shot, personally I think it would be a hoot to see all the talking radio/TV heads and republican congressmen running this together, I’d bet we could even boost MSNBC’s ratings for that.

The second and most important point of all in this discussion is geography.  I believe that New York City is located in the United States of America.  Which squarely puts this discussion within the laws of the United States of America.  Please tell me, especially all of you freedom loving conservatives, under what law could we possibly deny this project?  What law will be broken by Americans, acting like good little Capitalists, who have legally purchased property, have cleared the project through the NYC Landmark Preservation Committee, and will have a legal building permit to complete this project?

If the reason we want to deny this project is that we don’t like it, or we don’t agree with it, than tough shit.  In America, as I have often heard conservative talking heads say, we operate under capitalistic principles and under the rule of law supported by the Constitution of the United States of America.  So there it is, ok Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh or any of the other talking heads on Fox News, tell me what law these folks have broken, or is it innocent until proven guilty unless you’re a Muslim or a Hispanic living Arizona?

If you’ve been asleep for the last few weeks here’ s alink to an article about the project:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/06/06/a_mosque_at_ground_zero/

Why I’ve lost all respect for Senator John McCain.

First of all let’s be clear, I’m not that big a fan of any politician, my general opinion being that the majority of them are interested in only one thing, staying in office.  Because if you stay in office you have political power to make things happen and while some I’m sure are just addicted to the power, that power has to have benefits, hmmmm wonder what those are?

However Senator McCain for a long time had the most respect I could muster for a politician.  First you take a look at his background, the man withstood 6 years in the Hanoi Hilton, a prisoner of the North Vietnamese, he was tortured and abused and took it all.  Did he crack, sure he did, but there is no such thing as a man who doesn’t crack under those circumstances and McCain himself has admitted that fact.  Then as a senator McCain was in fact a maverick, most politicians upon hearing an idea or reading a bill first check to see what party it came from?  If it came from their party it’s a good idea, if not, then it is something to be defeated and demonized.  This was not McCain’s stance, sure he took the party line most of the time, but that fit his ideology.  However he was not blindly committed to only doing what the party wanted and at times crossed the aisle when he thought appropriate.  For this he was branded as a “liberal” Republican and at times his party loyalty was questioned.

I was even lucky enough to meet him once at a hotel in Reno.  It was when he was running for the nomination of the Republican Party and I happened to be staying at the same hotel.  I met him coming out out of the elevator, I had noticed the security standing outside of the door of the room next to mine and I put two and two together.  We shook hands and he introduced himself and I joked he better keep the noise down and he replied with a smirk, “I think you better, I have the guys with the guns.”  I ran into him getting back on the elevator a couple of hours later and although security had stopped them, McCain waived an elderly couple and then me on to the elevator with him.  It was a brief encounter with him but he seemd like a genuinely nice man.

My loss of admiration for McCain started during his run for the nomination and subsequent run for President.  First, during the nomination run he was the McCain I knew and respected, and subsequently in a system that does not reward honesty and integrity he was trailing.  At this point I would have expected McCain to stand his ground, behind his principles and lose the nomination.  But alas, the drive to win, to be the big man was too much for him to ignore and so he started moving to the right and dropping the type of rhetoric John McCain had never used.  He even began to court the religious right, a group that he was notoriously at odds with over the last few years.  The tactic was as we all know successful and he became the Republican Party nominee.

Once he became the nominee he went even further to the right in hopes of winning and as we all know thrust Sarah Palin upon us all.  From everything I’ve read McCain may regret that decision as badly as the rest of us do but now we are subjected to throngs of Tea Party wanna be Sarah Palin’s yelling, drill baby drill.  Needless to say I’d lost a lot of respect for McCain by time the election but thought maybe, now that he’d lost, he might return to being the senator I respected, it was not to be.

McCain is right now embroiled in an election battle with J.D. Hayworth a former representative and now a radio talkshow host.  Given Hayworth’s right-wing attitudes and his success with the voters McCain has turned drastically to the right particularly on immigration where he once cosponsored a bill with Ted Kennedy.  He’s gone from a reasonable man on this issue to a right-wing parrot for the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Pailin and the Tea Party.  John McCain has even produced an ad where he says, finish this fence, in reference to the border fence in Arizona.  He’s backing Jan Brewer and her idiocy and has taken a brutal hard line on immigration.  Were these his beliefs and policies all along I could respectively disagree, but when your beliefs and policy recommendations are based on the political expediency of the moment, well at that point Senator McCain, you’re just another politician and I hope you lose.