President Elect Romney—They Never Saw It Coming Because They Did Not View Obama Voters As Equals

Above is a picture from the Romney President Elect website that was up for a brief time.

It seems the Romney campaign never saw the defeat coming.

This is no surprise at all.

Mr. Romney and Paul Ryan were clear that they saw a large portion of the nation as nothing but lazy moochers.

The nearly all-white party they led denied the seriousness of rape in a view shared by Paul Ryan.

How could such righteous men be defeated?

The idea of defeat was apparently so unlikely that it was not even considered.

Yet in the end Romney-Ryan were defeated by a diverse coalition of non-persons, and people so lazy that they got to polls is sufficient numbers to carry the day.

Richard Mourdock’s View On Rape Is The Same As Paul Ryan’s View On Rape–Romney/Ryan Would Redefine Rape

(Blogger’s Note 10/26/12–This is a post I ran on the blog last month. It seems appropriate  to run this post again given the comments of Republican Indiana U.S. Senate nominee Richard Mourdock. Mr. Mourdock said that pregnancy that results from rape are “something God intended.”  Mr. Mourdock is one of a number of Republican candidates across the nation in 2012 who oppose abortion even in cases of rape. Mr. Romney recently filmed an ad for Mr. Mourdock and still says he supports Mr. Mourdock. These are  positions supported by Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan.)  

When I was in Cincinnati recently I saw Mitt Romney’s jet at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati.

Above you see a picture I took of Mr. Romney’s plane. Governor Romney was speaking at Cincinnati’s historic Union Terminal.

The RR on the tail of plane stands for “Redefining Rape.”

Or–if maybe there are 3 R’s on the tail–it could be “Romney Redefines Rape” or “Ryan Redefines Rape.”

Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan shares the view of Missouri Congressman Todd Akin that some forms of rape are not “legitimate rape.”

How have we reached the point where we feel that some forms of rape are not rape at all?

Here in Texas, women who seek a constitutionally protected abortion are subject to the state-mandated rape of the forced sonogram law. Rick Perry signed that law.

These folks fly around in big airplanes and hold the highest offices in the nation and run for President and Vice President of the United States–But really they are simply brutal men who would redefine rape and brutalize the poor.

Joe Biden Knows Just What He Is Doing—I’d Not Bet Much On Paul Ryan Getting The Better Of Him

Above is a picture of Vice President Joe Biden campaigning in Ohio over the past weekend.

(A great resource to learn about the men who have served as Vice President can be found on the U.S. Senate Vice Presidential website.)

While this picture has attracted some national comment, it does not surprise me at all.

There is a popular conception that Vice President is a bumbler of a kind or prone to gaffes that hurt President Obama.

It is so that Mr. Biden sometimes says things that make news in a way that President Obama might regret. At least that may be the case if Mr. Biden’s comment about gay marriage earlier this year was a gaffe at all.

However, it also the case that Mr. Biden is a man who was elected to the U.S. Senate at age of 29 in 1972, and who was selected among all possible contenders to be on the ticket by Barack Obama in 2008.

Mr. Biden overcame the loss of his first wife and his daughter in a 1972 car accident.

I saw Vice President Biden speak at the Hamilton County, Ohio AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic in 2011. Beyond the fact he gave a rousing hard-hitting speech, Mr. Biden also worked the crowd with skill.

He connected with folks and spoke to people as equals. I watched Mr. Biden talk to folks for maybe 20 minutes because he had people skills that were off the charts.

Here is a link to a New York Times story that says supporters of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan are looking forward to Mr. Ryan getting the better of Mr. Biden when they debate on October 11.

(The Green Vice Presidential nominee is Cheri Honkala.)

Regardless of how you may feel about Mr. Biden or Mr. Ryan, I’d not bet much on the idea that Mr. Ryan will make Mr. Biden look silly or outclass him in some way.

Below are two pictures I took in Cincinnati last year of Mr. Biden talking to people at the Labor Day picnic.

The RR On Mitt Romney’s Jet Stands For Redefining Rape

(Blogger’s Note 10/26/12– I need to add a mention here of Republican Indiana U.S. Senate nominee Richard Mourdock. Mr. Mourdack said that pregnancy that results from rape are “something God intended.”  Mr. Mourdock is one of a number of Republican candidates across the nation in 2012 who oppose abortion even in cases of rape. Mr. Romney recently filmed an ad for Mr. Mourdock and still says he supports Mr. Mourdock. These are  positions supported by Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan.  

When I was in Cincinnati recently I saw Mitt Romney’s jet at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati.

Above you see a picture I took of Mr. Romney’s plane. Governor Romney was speaking at Cincinnati’s historic Union Terminal.

The RR on the tail of plane stands for “Redefining Rape.”

Or–if maybe there are 3 R’s on the tail–it could be “Romney Redefines Rape” or “Ryan Redefines Rape.”

Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan shares the view of Missouri Congressman Todd Akin that some forms of rape are not “legitimate rape.”

How have we reached the point where we feel that some forms of rape are not rape at all?

Here in Texas, women who seek a constitutionally protected abortion are subject to the state-mandated rape of the forced sonogram law. Rick Perry signed that law.

These folks fly around in big airplanes and hold the highest offices in the nation and run for President and Vice President of the United States–But really they are simply brutal men who would redefine rape and brutalize the poor.

JUDGEMENT!—Hurricane Isaac May Disrupt Republican Convention

(Update 8/26/12–If you click the first link below you will get the current report on Isaac. While I hope the storm breaks up, at current it is headed to Mississippi and Louisiana. These are  conservative southern states that often send people to Washington who complain about the federal government. You can be certain though these places will looking for federal help in the unfortunate event that the storm does a lot of damage.)  

As you see from the National Hurricane Center map above, Tropical Storm Isaac may be arriving in Florida at the same time as the Republican National Convention.

Though by Monday it may be known as Hurricane Isaac. Here is the hurricane center page on Isaac.

The convention is set to begin on Monday in Tampa. Tampa is on the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida.

I think the hurricane will go where it will go for whatever reason.  I imagine though that some religious people might see a message if a hurricane comes and disrupts a major party convention.

Maybe it is wickedness to the poor that the hurricane is meant to address.

Or poor stewardship of the Earth.

There really are so many possible reasons.

Folks who live in areas prone to hurricanes will know that the area in which a hurricane might strike is called the cone of uncertainty.

You’ll see that there is a large swath of land and sea within the cone.

Also in a cone of uncertainty are your rights if the Romney/Ryan/Todd Akin ticket wins this November.

Mitt Romney met in 2012 with the Cincinnati doctor—Jack Wilke—who is an architect of many of Todd Akin’s extreme views. Dr. Wilke says that he–Wilke–and Governor Romney are in strong agreement on many concerns.

Paul Ryan does not support a rape exception for abortion.

Hopefully the tropical storm will dissipate and people will not be hurt.

As for the Romney/Ryan/Akin Republican Party—You can bet on them inflicting full-blown misery on the American people every chance they get.

Republican Missouri Rep. Todd Akin Says “Legitimate Rape” Not Likely To Lead To Pregnancy—Here In Texas, State-Mandated Rape Is The Law Of The Land

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Todd Akin of Missouri has said that women who experience a “legitimate rape” are unlikely to get pregnant.

Mr. Akin is a current U.S. House member who is running against incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill. Mr. Akin has been leading in the polls against Senator McCaskill.

(Above–Todd Akin)

Mr. Akin made these comments in response to a question about if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape. This conversation took place on a political interview show in Missouri.

Here is the exchange—

“If abortion could be considered in case of, say, a tubal pregnancy [which threatens the mother’s life], what about in the case of rape?” asked KTVI host Charles Jaco, in a clip that was disseminated by Talking Points Memo. “Should it be legal or not?”

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said, referring to conception following a rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

Here is a video of the exchange.

The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that about 5% of women of reproductive age who are raped also get pregnant from that rape. 

Mother Jones magazine reports that Rep. Akin has worked with Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan to narrow the definition of rape. The matter of who is “legitimately raped”, and who might be raped in a more severe way that would draw the disapproval of Mr. Akin and Mr. Ryan matters to them because it impacts who gets government funds for a constitutionally protected abortion.

Here in Texas, women who seek a constitutionally protected abortion are forced to undergo the state-mandated rape of the forced sonogram law.

And while it is easy to say it is only Republicans who are part of the War on Women,—and for the most part that is true—the Texas law passed the Texas State Senate with the votes of three Democrats.

Below is a post I wrote last March about the state-mandated rape of the Texas forced sonogram law and three Texas Senate Democrats who helped make the law a reality. This post is just as relevant today as it was five months ago.

From March 15, 2012—-

Recently I wrote about how the Texas forced sonogram law is state-mandated rape and about how Texas State Senator Dan Patrick defends state mandated-rape.

Senator Patrick was feeling sorry for himself and saying that he was the victim of unfair attacks.

Here is some of what Senator Patrick said—

“Once again I couldn’t care less about what the opposition says no matter how mean spirited. We did the right thing in passing this bill on many levels. Mr Trudeau has conveniently skipped over the fact that our bill passed by only one vote and that it was 3 Latino pro life Catholic Democrats who joined me to pass the bill. But that storyline isn’t convenient for Trudeau or the opposition. Heaven forbid they have to acknowledge that Democrats, even if only 3, voted for this bill and were the final votes for passage.”

The Mr. Trudeau that Mr. Patrick is referring to is Doonesbury comic strip writer Gary Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau has written a Doonesbury series in which he says that the Texas forced sonogram bill is rape. Here is a link to the comics that Mr. Trudeau authored about this state-mandated rape.

In the excerpt of from Senator Patrick above, he references the fact that three Democrats voted for the forced sonogram bill in the Texas State Senate. I appreciate this reminder Senator Patrick. It is important that we know the names of the three Democrats in the Texas State Senate who voted for the forced sonogram bill.

The three Democratic Texas State Senators who in 2011 voted for the forced sonogram law were Eddie Lucio Jr. of Brownsville, Carlos Uresti of San Antonio and Judith Zaffirini of Laredo.

Because of this law, the precedent has been set that the State of Texas can force politically motivated unwanted medical produces on free citizens.

Also, the State of Texas now mandates the rape of its own people.

Why is the Texas forced sonogram law rape?

From Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times—

“Here’s what a woman in Texas now faces if she seeks an abortion.  Under a new law that took effect three weeks ago with the strong backing of Gov. Rick Perry, she first must typically endure an ultrasound probe inserted into her vagina. Then she listens to the audio thumping of the fetal heartbeat and watches the fetus on an ultrasound screen. She must listen to a doctor explain the body parts and internal organs of the fetus as they’re shown on the monitor. She signs a document saying that she understands all this, and it is placed in her medical files. Finally, she goes home and must wait 24 hours before returning to get the abortion. “It’s state-sanctioned abuse,” said Dr. Curtis Boyd, a Texas physician who provides abortions. “It borders on a definition of rape. Many states describe rape as putting any object into an orifice against a person’s will. Well, that’s what this is. A woman is coerced to do this, just as I’m coerced.”

From a 2011 opinion column in the Houston Chronicle by local writer Beverly McPhail —

“Not only is this law an insult to women in Texas, a close reading of the Texas Penal Code, Section 22.011, suggests that the new law may also constitute a sexual assault upon women, which is a second-degree felony. The code defines a sexual assault as an offense in which a person intentionally or knowingly causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of another person by any means, without that person’s consent. Furthermore, the law stipulates that one condition of nonconsent is met when the actor is a public servant who coerces the other person to submit or participate. “

This is rape. It is about the State of Texas doing whatever it wants to free citizens. It has nothing to do with the legally protected procedure of abortion.

The issues here are politics, and the power the State of Texas exerts for the purpose of state-mandated rape.

Romney & Ryan Set For All-Out Attack On Everyday Americans

Tax-avoider Mitt Romney—who has engaged in business practices that have led to the death of American workers—has selected Ayn Rand-extremist Paul Ryan as his running mate.

If elected, these two will to execute a Rand-inspired social engineering plan that will slash the social safety net for children, veterans and seniors, and will alter so-called entitlement programs to make sure that American working people will never receive the benefits they have contributed to all their working lives.

What steps will you take to make certain these vicious proponents of Social Darwinism won’t get the chance to remake America with their depraved ideas?

Millions Of Americans Would Lose Health Coverage Under Paul Ryan/Republican Budget—It Could Easily Be Any One Of Us

The non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation has reported that up to 44 million Americans could lose health coverage under the radical budget proposed by Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.

From Kaiser—

“This analysis projects the state-by-state impact of converting Medicaid into a block grant and eliminating the planned expansion of the program by repealing the health reform law, as called for under the House Budget Plan. It finds that the plan would trigger major reductions in Medicaid program spending that could result in significant enrollment decreases compared to current projections, a shift with big implications for states, hospitals and tens of millions of low-income Americans who likely would wind up uninsured.”

(Above–The Republicn health care plan–Everyday Americans will be shut out. Picture copyright 2011 Neil Aquino.) 

Who is secure in our changing economy? Almost anyone in our nation could suffer a job loss in the years ahead. This will be the case even after the economy is said to be recovered from the recession.

From the Los Angeles Times—

“Hardest hit would be states, many in the South and West, that have not built up their healthcare safety nets in recent years. These states would have received a large influx of federal money in the healthcare law President Obama signed last year. In 2014, the law will make all Americans making less than 133% of the federal poverty level eligible for Medicaid.The House GOP plan, authored by Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), would eliminate that expansion and also slash $750 billion in federal spending on Medicaid over the next decade. The plan was approved by the House last month, though it is not expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.”

No matter what political party you support—or if you are an independent—can you really trust the Tea Party/Republican Party when you are facing rough times even after years of hard work? Do you think ideological points from an Ayn Rand book will help you get treatment when you are sick? Will you have enough in a 401K to retire? What if the market collapses when it is time to retire?

People have an obligation to work if they are able. Work should pay off with a decent wage, the knowledge that you have coverage if you get sick, and that you will be able to retire and live decently at some point in your life.

The current Republican plans for our nation are so severe that working Americans will not be able to count on any of these things in return for the work they do each day.

Neither Party Telling The Truth On The Budget–The Paul Ryan Plan Is Evil

Former Ronald Reagan budget director David Stockman has written a New York Times opinion column that people should read.

(Above–David Stockman)

From this column entitled The Bipartisan March Towards Fiscal Madness—

It is obvious that the nation’s desperate fiscal condition requires higher taxes on the middle class, not just the richest 2 percent. Likewise, entitlement reform requires means-testing the giant Social Security and Medicare programs, not merely squeezing the far smaller safety net in areas like Medicaid and food stamps.Unfortunately, in proposing tax increases only for the very rich, President Obama has denied the first of these fiscal truths, while Representative Paul D. Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, has contradicted the second by putting the entire burden of entitlement reform on the poor. The resulting squabble is not only deepening the fiscal stalemate, but also bringing us dangerously close to class war. This lamentable prospect is deeply grounded in the policy-driven transformation of the economy during recent decades that has shifted income and wealth to the top of the economic ladder. While not the stated objective of policy, this reverse Robin Hood outcome cannot be gainsaid: the share of wealth held by the top 1 percent of households has risen to 35 percent from 21 percent since 1979, while their share of income has more than doubled to around 20 percent….In attacking the Bush tax cuts for the top 2 percent of taxpayers, the president is only incidentally addressing the deficit. The larger purpose is to assure the vast bulk of Americans left behind that they will be spared higher taxes — even though entitlements make a tax increase unavoidable. Mr. Obama is thus playing the class-war card more aggressively than any Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt — surpassing Harry S. Truman or John F. Kennedy when they attacked big business or Lyndon B. Johnson or Jimmy Carter when they posed as champions of the little guy. On the other side, Representative Ryan fails to recognize that we are not in an era of old-time enterprise capitalism in which the gospel of low tax rates and incentives to create wealth might have had relevance. A quasi-bankrupt nation saddled with rampant casino capitalism on Wall Street and a disemboweled, offshored economy on Main Street requires practical and equitable ways to pay its bills…So the Ryan plan worsens our trillion-dollar structural deficit and the Obama plan amounts to small potatoes, at best. Worse, we are about to descend into class war because the Obama plan picks on the rich when it should be pushing tax increases for all, while the Ryan plan attacks the poor when it should be addressing middle-class entitlements and defense.”

Nobody is telling us the truth on any of this stuff. Which makes sense in a way I suppose because the American people don’t want to know the truth on these budget matters.

Beyond President Obama’s lack of candor, one thing we must acknowledge right away is that Representative Paul Ryan’s budget plan is evil.

The Ryan plan is an assault on the poor, and it is an affirmation of a states rights/small federal government viewpoint that has always been the hallmark of the most regressive and narrow political elements in our nation.

You can bet that if we go backwards on our social safety net, we will also go backwards on civil rights, worker’s rights, and all sorts of personal freedoms. The states rights/small federal government view of our nation has always been accompanied with severe restrictions on the liberty of Americans not seen as equal by the political supporters of extreme limited government.

You can care about the budget deficit and still see the Paul Ryan plan for what it is. The Republican idea for our nation is no more than giving money to the few at the expense of the many, and weakening government to the point where the people will have no chance against big wealth. It is an evil plan and we should not be afraid to say so.

Nor should we be afraid to ask Barack Obama and other elected Democrats to tell us the truth.

Most of all, we should not be afraid to ask ourselves and our fellow citizens to do what is required to meet the challenges of the day.