Romney at Liberty: Which Cult Is He Preaching

This was a week in which we got confirmation that Mitt Romney, the man who's already shown himself to be mostly indifferent to suffering by the least of these, my brother, grew up as an intolerant bully, capable of harassing and physically assaulting[...]

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Did Washington Post Downplay Poll's Support for
Silver Line

Polls show DC area residents support train, bus, biking and pedestrian projects much more than they support building new or wider highways. However, the Washington Post editorial board strongly supports new highways and spun a poll this week to mean that our fellow Virginians don't support the Silver Line. As Slate's Matt Yglesias points out, the numbers don't necessarily back up that spin:

But the really weird thing is that it's by no means clear that this is what the poll has found. What it says is that 32 percent of the population says the Silver Line project is "not at all important" while 32 percent deems it either "extremely" or "very" important and a further 32 percent says it's "somewhat" important. The "not important to most Virginians" interpretation is supported by lumping the "somewhat" and "not at all" categories together as "negative" responses. But the straightforward reading of the poll is that the median Virginian thinks the Silver Line project is somewhat important. And it is somewhat important! So why not just say that?

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Allen West on LGBT Workplace Discrimination: That
Don't Happen in the US

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Tea party favorite Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is denying that LGBT people face employment discrimination in the U.S.

On Thursday, Think Progress' Scott Keyes asked West if he would be willing to support a law that bans hiring or firing of people based on their sexual orientation.

"That don?t happen out here in the United States of America," West insisted.

"You don?t think people get fired because they?re gay?" Keyes wondered.

"Well, I don?t see that as being a big issue with small businesses," West replied. "I sit on the Small Business Committee. You know what they?re concerned about? They?re concerned about onerous tax policy, regulatory policy, and lack of access to capital because Dodd-Frank is absolutely decimating small community banks."

West may be right that the issue isn't the top concern for business owners, but it is a real problem for the up to 43 percent of gay men and lesbians who have reported workplace discrimination or harassment.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, it's legal to fire someone for being gay, lesbian or bisexual in 29 states. And 34 states allow businesses to fire workers for being transgender.

In the past, West has said that he believes homosexuality is a choice.

"Let me explain something to you," the congressman told a conservative crowd in Tampa last year. "I can't change my color. People can change their behavior, but I can't change my color."

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Greek parties fail to form coalition

It's not yet to the point where new elections have to be held, but it's getting closer. There will be a push by the president to force a coalition and that may take some time. Regardless, austerity is on its deathbed in Greece. BBC News:Greek President Karolos Papoulias is preparing to hold talks with party leaders in an attempt to create an emergency government.The move comes after the...

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Open thread: Bullies, misogyny and marriage
equality

What's coming up on Sunday Kos ...

• Austerity, bullies and broken spirits, by Georgia Logothetis
• 40 years of Title IX, by Joan McCarter
• The states to watch in November?an update, by Steve Singiser
• Misogynistic Minister preaching patriarchy, by Denise Oliver Velez
• Occupy and the Constitution Part 2, by Armando
• California elections: what to watch for, by Dante Atkins
• President Obama lays down the gauntlet on marriage equality, by Laurence Lewis

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The Voter ID Con in Kentucky

By @KYYellowDog

Lists of states with "voter ID" requirements omit Kentucky because the Commonwealth allows you to vote without ID as long as you are personally acquainted with one of the precinct officers, who can vouch for your identity. It also technically allows multiple forms of identification, including social security and credit cards.

This is bullshit. The practical fact is that if you are poor or elderly and thus lack a current driver's license, you cannot vote in Kentucky.

Here's the law, according to the Kentucky Board of Elections:

Do I have to produce Identification to vote?

All voters must produce identification or be known by a precinct officer prior to voting. KRS117.227 and 31 KAR 4:010 provide the types of ID that can be used by the voter such as: Personal acquaintance of precinct officer, Driver's license, Social Security card, credit card, or another form of ID containing both picture and signature.

Everyone who has a social security, credit card, library card, insurance card or any other card that contains both your signature and your photograph, stand on your head.

My credit cards have my signature, but no picture. My warehouse discount cards have my picture but no signature. Ditto my employee ID card. My health insurance, library, AAA, gym membership, frequent flyer club and ACLU cards have neither.

So, unless you have a current driver's license or you are a personal friend of the precinct officer, you can't vote in Kentucky.  I've been voting at the same precinct - with the same three superannuated precinct officers - for more than a decade. But I don't know their names, and doubt they know mine.

On May 22, I'm seriously considering parking a half-mile away, walking to the polling place, claiming I don't have my driver's license with me, and seeing if they let me vote anyway.


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oter-id-con-in-kentucky

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US Military College Was Teaching Course That
Suggesting Nuking Islam's Holy Cities

The BBC editor who covered this story wondered why so many people sat through this class and didn't report it to anyone. I don't wonder?I'm going to make a wild guess that these were some of the far-right fundamentalist Christians who are trying to infiltrate and control the military:

America's top military officer has condemned a course taught at a US military college that advocated a "total war" against Muslims.The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey, said the course was "totally objectionable" and "against our values".

The voluntary course at the Joint Forces Staff College in Virginia also suggested possible nuclear attacks on holy Muslim cities such as Mecca.The course has now been suspended."It was just totally objectionable, against our values, and it wasn't academically sound," Gen Dempsey said.He added that he had ordered a full investigation when the course was suspended in April after one of the students objected to the material.

The officer in charge of the class, Lt Col Matthew Dooley, has been suspended from teaching but has kept his job at the college in the city of Norfolk.The Pentagon has also confirmed that the course material found on their website is authentic.'Barbaric ideology'The story broke after a copy of the presentation of the course material was posted online byWired.com's Danger Room blog.

"We have now come to understand that there is no such thing as 'moderate Islam'," Lt Col Dooley said in the presentation last July."It is therefore time for the United States to make our true intentions clear. This barbaric ideology will no longer be tolerated. Islam must change or we will facilitate its self-destruction."

He added that international laws protecting civilians in armed conflicts - such as the Geneva Conventions were "no longer relevant".That left open the option, the instructor continued, of applying "the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki" to Islam's holiest cities, and bringing about "Mecca and Medina destruction".

Lt Col Dooley has made no public comments on the issue since the story broke.The Pentagon hopes a full report will be out by the end of the month, the BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell reports.

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US Military College Was Teaching Course That
Suggested Nuking Islam's Holy Cities

The BBC editor who covered this story wondered why so many people sat through this class and didn't report it to anyone. I don't wonder?I'm going to make a wild guess that these were some of the far-right fundamentalist Christians who are trying to infiltrate and control the military:

America's top military officer has condemned a course taught at a US military college that advocated a "total war" against Muslims.The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey, said the course was "totally objectionable" and "against our values".

The voluntary course at the Joint Forces Staff College in Virginia also suggested possible nuclear attacks on holy Muslim cities such as Mecca.The course has now been suspended."It was just totally objectionable, against our values, and it wasn't academically sound," Gen Dempsey said.He added that he had ordered a full investigation when the course was suspended in April after one of the students objected to the material.

The officer in charge of the class, Lt Col Matthew Dooley, has been suspended from teaching but has kept his job at the college in the city of Norfolk.The Pentagon has also confirmed that the course material found on their website is authentic.'Barbaric ideology'The story broke after a copy of the presentation of the course material was posted online byWired.com's Danger Room blog.

"We have now come to understand that there is no such thing as 'moderate Islam'," Lt Col Dooley said in the presentation last July."It is therefore time for the United States to make our true intentions clear. This barbaric ideology will no longer be tolerated. Islam must change or we will facilitate its self-destruction."

He added that international laws protecting civilians in armed conflicts - such as the Geneva Conventions were "no longer relevant".That left open the option, the instructor continued, of applying "the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki" to Islam's holiest cities, and bringing about "Mecca and Medina destruction".

Lt Col Dooley has made no public comments on the issue since the story broke.The Pentagon hopes a full report will be out by the end of the month, the BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell reports.

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Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

Our regular featured content-On This Day In History May 12 by: TheMomCatPunting the Pundits by: TheMomCatAnd these featured articles-Popular Culture (Music) 20120511: Still More Moodies by: TranslatorFormula One: Catalunya Qualifying by: ek hornbeckLGBT:[...]

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Once Again, Very Tangible Differences Between
Carol Shea-Porter And Teabagger Frank Guinta

Only one "Democrat," Rahm Emanuel's prized North Carolina reactionary recruit, Heath Shuler, currently on his way to a cushy job as a lobbyist on K Street, voted for Boehner's and Cantor's little reconciliation trick yesterday. The resolution that allowed it to go forward passed 233-183. (When the legislation itself finally passed later in the day, 17 Republicans + Shuler bailed on it, but the damage was already done. Although Charlie Bass (R-NH) was one of the Republicans to vote NO, his lockstep teabag colleague Frank Guinta was all gung-ho to grind down already strapped and underprivileged people. Carol Shea-Porter, who's running against Guinta, addressed his deranged vote specifically, pointing out that "Guinta voted to hurt the people of New Hampshire today, when he voted to cut public health funding, Meals on Wheels, food programs for poor children and the elderly, child protective services, transportation for people with disabilities, help for cancer victims, etc. This is a very long and very cruel hit list, but missing from the list are Congressman Frank Guinta's Big Oil donors and his millionaire corporate donors. In spite of groups such as March of Dimes, Catholic Charities, AARP, and the American Public Health Association begging him to reconsider, Congressman Frank Guinta voted to take a hot meal away from the poor and the old rather than ask his campaign donors to pay their fair share. New Hampshire will remember his cruelty in November.?

Below is an OpEd from Carol about why she has a sense of optimism about the future of our country, even in the face of the determined efforts by the Republican Party to turn back the hands of time.

Restoring America?s Can-Do Spirit

-by Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)

When I was growing up in the 1950?s and 1960?s, I would listen to my parents? conversations with their friends. While I cannot remember every conversation, I remember the general theme of their conversations-- indeed, the theme of their lives. Optimism. A sense of confidence that we were Americans, and Americans were problem solvers. Whether they were talking politics, education, health, or other current issues of the time, they sounded more optimistic as a generation then we do today. They looked towards the future with hope and a certainty that they could face the danger and the challenges, and triumph over adversity. Today, we still have the danger and challenges, but many Americans are losing optimism. After being knocked around by a bad economy and some bad actors and events, many are short on faith in both government and private institutions. Can we as a nation find that optimism again, and if so, how?
 
My parents? generation certainly had their sorrows and challenges. It was just twenty years since WW II had ended, and they had suffered so many losses through that terrible period. My father had witnessed plenty of death and destruction. His ship was hit by a German radio bomb, which had killed almost 200 men on the USS Savannah on 9/11/43. Before that, he had suffered through the Great Depression, and the death of his mother and a brother. He saw more of humanity?s troubles by age 21 than most of us ever see. And yet, he and his generation believed in a brighter future for themselves and for their country. They turned towards tomorrow. Some of my parents? friends had seen two world wars, but their moods were usually upbeat, and there was always talk about new inventions, new construction, new products. They believed in progress, and medical and scientific advances were discussed and celebrated.
 
This generation by and large believed in their institutions of government, industry, and education. This is the world I grew up in. The world was certainly not free from problems, and certainly the world was not always fair to them. Poverty, racism, disease, nuclear threats, war?all were present, just like today. But the nation?s spirits were higher. Was it innocence, or was it the triumph of hope?
 
Too many right now think the country is headed in the wrong direction, and worry that their children?s future will not offer as much opportunity as they had. People are increasingly cynical about institutions. We need to turn this around if we are to hang onto our uniquely American ?of course we can? attitude that encourages education, risk-taking, boldness, and creativity. I know we can turn this around by making some changes in government and business.
 
Our political leaders need to present a more accurate and brighter vision if there is to be a surge of optimism and a renewed sense of possibility again. When citizens are told that America is broke, bankrupt, unable to invest in infrastructure or people, it shakes confidence. America actually is still a very wealthy land, and we can solve these financial problems if we have the political will and courage to address them. Saying ?we can?t? is both wrong and bad for morale. We can pay our bills-- there are solutions. We can also afford to educate our youth, who are our future, and take care of our old and our sick. We can also afford to invest in our infrastructure and create jobs.
 
Government leaders also need to address the sense of doubt about fairness. Americans struggling to earn a check and pay bills feel cynical when they hear that powerful people pay as little as 13.7% tax, or when they read that big corporations with friends in Washington and great tax lawyers can pay zero. American laws need to look fair and be fair. This could be accomplished by campaign finance reform, banning certain contributions to lawmakers and by fixing the tax code.
 
Private industry leaders need to clean up their act. There are too many reports of cheating, lying, and other unethical behavior. The Wall Street disaster had its seeds in greed, and Americans are cynical about corporate practices. Corporations can restore confidence by following strict ethical rules.
 
There is a lot of talk now about ?fairness? and about what the writers of our Constitution meant when they wrote ?promote the general welfare.? I think it means exactly that. We?re all in this together, and together, we can make this better.



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