A new level of stupid- the right-wing(nuts) response to Obamas self-defferential muslim joke

drugsandotherthings

As you probably already know, among his numerous jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner Obama made a joke to the effect of “I’m not the strapping young muslim lad I once was”.

And the right-wing(nut) “news” sources and blogs exploded. Obama “admits” he’s a muslim.

And of course a grand conspiracy- the AP dared to omit this joke from some of their coverage.

Never mind the two simple reasons for the AP likely omitting it:

1) They weren’t reporting every word from his mouth

and

2)They know damn well that the right-wing(nuts) will be quoting, as “proof” that Obama is a muslim every piece from the evil liberal media that quotes it.

If anyone wonders why America is in the shape it’s in a substantial part of the answer is really quite simple. We have too many people in this nation who profess fear and hate while wrapping themselves…

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Boston Marathon Bombers mom was on a Russian watch list.

             Well we now understand why the FBI didn’t catch Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The Russians were not looking at him, they were looking at his mother. They were only asking about him in connection to his mother. In fact they overheard him and his mother speaking of Jihad on the phone.

              The pundits were trying to figure out who radicalized the Tsarnaev boys. Well it seems we may have found out. It looks as if their mother is the culprit, although this could be me jumping to conclusions. But look at the evidence we, not the authorities have. She was on a Russian watch list, they were even listening in on her phone calls. We may have been ables to pick up on the radicalization if we had known, but they did not want us to know how they obtained the information.

                 Tamerlan went to Russia and which seemed to have finished the radicalization. He was visiting his family. The younger brother became radicalized by the older brother. The mother blamed the U.S. for not keeping her sons safe. It is a windy twisting road that is also leading authorities to look for others. Apparently there was female DNA on the bombs.

              A lot of this is my opinion, upon the facts as I have HEARD them. My opinion does not make them guilty nor does it apply to all Muslims or practioners of Islam. The reason for their radicalization is truly moot, no religion says that it is ok to kill innocent people. It is ZEALOTS who pervert religion to make it say what they want.

             It is irresponsible for Democrats, Republicans, journalist or talk show hosts to blame an entire culture. It is not the millions of other Muslims fault that members of that religion are nuts. Just like it isn’t my fault that Fox News reports half truths and out right lies. But then again maybe we should all just hate one another because a guy or a girls, with or without hair did something mean to me.

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Republicans are afraid of President Obama’s political arm.

               President Obama’s political machine has run over and through his Republican counterparts. Republicans are fretting that it could help Democrats win the House next year. The Presidents political arm, Organizing for Action, can’t legally spend most of its money on elections. Officials insist it won’t play directly in the 2014 midterm elections. Republicans of course, think that’s a lie. They are convinced the OFA will find other, indirect ways to help Democrats capture the House and allow Obama to finish his presidency unchecked by Republicans.

                President Obama recently told a grass roots group springing out of his campaign that they can play an equally powerful role in helping  his ambitious second term agenda come to fruition. Addressing, the fledgling group OFA for the first time, he sought to temper concerns among Republicans and good governance groups that questioned whether the groupeas really seeking to help Democrats recapture the House in 2014. Why that would matter is beyond me. Republicans are constantly getting money from special interest and billionaires, why would this concern them.

              Hours earlier President Obama held a meeting with the House Republicans aimed at laying the ground work for compromise. He said that he sensed a genuine desire among Republicans to get things done. He said that many Republicans are just as weary of the grinding gridlock that has ground any progress on major fiscal issues to a halt.

                  Recently the RNC released its “Growth and Oppurtunity Project”, a document that RNC chairman Reince Priebus about his partys 2012 failings. It was also called an autopsy. It seemed to throw the party and its supporters into absolute chaos. Rush Limbaugh insisted Republicans remain as conservative as ever. Evangical leaders worried that a modernizing GOP may alienateits Christian base. Why? A political party needs to evolve its ideas to stay relevant or they will hlfind themselves in the dustbin of history. Conservative commentater, David Frum,  lamented the lack of new policy ideas in the document.

            Tie goal of the recent one day Obama Campaign Legacy Conference wad to rethink the mechanics of American politics. Campaigns usually scatter the day after the election, many think that is wasteful. All the mire so with a team that produced 155 million door knocks, phone calls and 1.8 million new voter registrations,  not to mention 332 Electoral College votes. So OFA wants to continue these tactics. Running ads in districts that data shows Republicans are out of step with constituentson Gun Control, as well as other issues. The OFA will use well well honed campaign tactics to achieve policy goals.

               The Republican party would not be in as much election trouble if they did more for the people. They continuously side with special interest groups, lobbyist and whoever gives them the most money. The people seem to suffer with every decision they make, Sequester, VAWA, Universal Background Checks, Raising Minimum Wage and Equal Pay for Women to name a few. But they help pass a bill that stops airport delays, which affects lawmakers, and are fighting the SEc on corporations disclosing political donations. Not to mention their Super Pacs and campaign donations from large corporations. To me this would just level the playing field.

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Elderly cancer patients not getting treatments because of Sequester.

              While Congress is worrying about our helium problem, the lack thereof, the elderly are being turned away for their oncology drugs. We cannot fix this but we get an almost imeadiate fix for something that affects them. Congress was inconvenienced by delays in travel because of the Sequester. Republicans jumped right on board to fix this.

              An elderly person on Medicare is being turned away for oncology drugs, this sentence keeps repeating in my head. How can Republicans, Tea Party and conservatives expect to be taken seriously. They are willing to harm people to cut a deficit they helper create. Instead of raising taxes a person parent may pass on because they are waiting for medicine and treatment.

            The Sequester affects even more. President Obama wanted to spend more on early childhood education. Right now we are at the lowest spending on education in almost 2 decades. This is what the Sequester is affecting. People on unemployment long-term will be getting a 10-12% cut in their benefits.

           Instead of Democrats standing strong on the FAA cuts and trying to get rid of other Sequester cuts, they again gave Republicans what they want. They agree to fixing air travel problems that inconvenience Congressman, but didn’t fight for seniors or children. Our lawmakers let us down again. The self serving Republican Caucaus will not raise taxes, work to help seniors, poor people, children or the unemployed but they will get a bill done in a week if it inconveniences them.

               Our government system works, when Republicans want it to. Why wasn’t this bill filibustered? Why weren’t lawmakers forcing pork projects into this bill? How did this bill pass, but a bill that was supported by 90% of Americans didn’t? The country is catching on to the party of NO. There is an election coming and I can guarantee I will do my part in unseating as many Republicans as I can.

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Why is the Republican party becoming irrelevant?

              It is s good question and the RNCs autopsy exposed some of them. They document said that they Republican party needs to focus on getting more involved with minorities, most importantly Latinos. What Republicans seemed to miss is that the autopsy didn’t cover any important issues.

                 The Republicans problems run deep. They are weak on policy, weaker on the economy and absolutely horrible when it comes to women. There hasn’t been a Republican policy that the majority of people have backed. In fact 90% of the people supported Universal Background checks, which Republicans shot down almost unanimously. What exactly have the conservatives done for our economy? It is almost universally agreed that the Republican obstruction has made our recovery more difficult. Women, just look up legitimate rape, Equal Pay for Women and VAWA. Republicans and the Tea Party voted against equal pay for women and VAWA.

                  They say that President Obama and the Democrats refuse to reach across the aisle. Although the Manchin/Toomey Gun Bill was bipartisan. President Obama taking Republicans to dinner to try to break the gridlock. Republicans do not care to work for the people, they work for their corporate sponsors. Each one of the Republican Senators that voted against Universal Background Checks recieved donations from the gun lobby. They are more afraid of the NRA then the people who put them in office.

                   For the Republican party to remain relevant in politics today they need to change their policies. Policies get people involved not talking points. When the Republican party does this, that is when they may gain support from not just minorities, but everyone.

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Aqua therapy, the pain continues.

           I have been going to aqua therapy for about 2 months. Just for background, November 12, 2012 I had a 2 level fusion and 2 disks replaced. That was the culmination of 6 surgeries over about a 4 year period. I have nerve damage that causes pain in my right leg and also causes me to fall. In short, it sucks.

             6 days ago my right heel started to hurt, which is odd because I usually only feel the nerve pain. I stub my toe and I don’t even feel it. The tuetapist said ( pardon my spelling) I was experiencing plantar faciatis. I am having a harder time walking, everytime my heel hits the ground it hurts quite severely. So when I went to aqua therapy I told the therapist and we started some stretching excersizes to help it. She also told me to freeze a bottle of water and place it under my foot, rolling it back and forth. It is essentially a massage fir my foot. It does not hurt quite as bad, but it is still bothering me.

            As of yesterday I started getting some sharp shooting pains in my right calf. Therapist was not sure what it was, but did inform me to call my doctor. I am sure she is worried it is a blood clot, I had a similar pain about a 2 years ago. I had a dopplar done and it turned out there wasn’t a blood clot, just nerve pain. Better safe than sorry.

                 I am a little over 5 months removed from surgery. I DO NOT FEEL ANY BETTER. In fact I feel worse than before the surgery. My back hurts horribly, leg pain is always there, quite often severe and I am still falling. I can’t walk for more than 20 or 25 minutes, while I am at aqua therapy I am in pain the whole time. I am always tired, yet I have a difficult time sleeping. I know the doctor did his best, but I believe the doctor who did the first surgery screwed me up. But I will never be sure.

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SEC considers taking action to require disclosure of all political donations.

             A loose coalition of elected Democrats, shareholder activists and pension funds has flooded the SEC with calls to require publicly traded corporations to disclose to shareholders all of their political donations. This is a move that could transform the growing world of secret campaign spending. SEC officials have indicated that they could propose a new disclosure rule by the end of April. This could set up a major battle with business groups that oppose the proposal.  They are preparing for a fierce counter attack if the agency’s staff moves forward with the new rule.

              A petition to the SEC asking it to issue a rule has garnered close to half a million comments. Very few petitions actually result in action from the SEC, the committee staff did file notice last year that it was considering a recomemdation for a new rule. In response to the growing pressure, House Republicans introduced legislation recently that would make it illegal for a commission to issue any political disclosure regulations applying to companies under its jurisdiction. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Round-table, issued a rare joint letter to the chief executives of Fortune 200 companies, encouraging them to stand against the proxy regulations and other proposals from shareholder activists demanding more disclosure of political donations.

            Republicans do not think that shareholders have the right to know where their investment money is being spent. Even in the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, public disclosure was considered the proper check against abuse. Obviously Republicans do not respect Supreme Court rulings, see Roe vs. Wade. Republicans are afraid of Americans finding out how much corporatemoney is flooding Congress. How it is affecting votes like the Universal Background Checks, Raising Minimum Wage and Equal Pay for Women. When we find out which Senator/Republican is bought and paid for, because they know elections have changed. They will not have a job if we find out.

               Under legislation introduced by Senator Robert Menedez (NJ-D) and Representative Michael Capuano (MA-D), companies could nth make political donations unless a majority of their shareholders agreed. It would require shareholders to approve a political budget, the board of directors to approve each expenditure over $50,000 within the budget and public disclosures of campaign spending on a  quarterly basis. “Individual citizens should determine the outcome of our elections, not multi-billion dollar corporate interests, or worse a foreign government, so its time we pass this legislation to give shareholders a voice over how their corporate dollars are spent.” Menedez said.

          Non profit groups such as trade associations that do not disclose their donors spent more than $300 million in the 2012 elections, most of it on behalf of Republican candidates. While some publicly traded companies voluntarily disclose their donations, most do not.

             Democrats get more from everyday Americans, the majority, and Republicans get more from corporations, the minority. That there shows why they vote against American people. Many Americans are afraid of the Republican platform, the ideals and morals that they portray. If a Congressman recieves money from a company, they should not be allowed to vote on anything involving that company. It is a conflict of interest. A lawmaker is put there for the people, not the scratch.

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Immigration Reform, needs to be done, but how?

                    Talking to people about immigration reform is an extremely touchy subject. People have some very odd beliefs. One that you hear that is very disturbing is to send them all home. Where is their home? It is here, they do not understand that. We all come from immigrants.

             Immigrants are important to our economy. They do a lot of seasonal work that other Americans think they are to good for. Although many have come into America illegally, they are in many cases productive members of society. I personally do not know the process of naturalization but how would someone here illegally know it either.

                  I agree with naturalizing all people that are here illegally, aside from criminals who should be deported. We most certainly should have a pathway to citizenship. I like what has been proposed so far and believe that it can work. Give them 5 years to take the citizenship test, require them to Americanize, including learning English. They should then receive their Social Security numbers and have them start paying taxes. If they do not do this in 5 years they will be deported. They need not pay for any of this because once they become tax payers it will increase governments revenue.

                    I may have worded it crudely, but it is a basic idea that can be improved. Republican and Democrat lawmakers alike do not seem to have the werewithal to do what needs to be done. There are many good people here illegally who deserve the same chance at the freedom we all have. For the sake of these people and all Americans please get this done.

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How do we handle our child being bullied?

          It seems at least a few times a month I read about a child committing suicide because they were bullied. I am sure it is more frequent but not all make the news. That does not diminish the fact a life was ended early because another person or people bullied them. I ask myself, what should we as parents do to protect our child?

           We all know, having dealt with other children when we were younger, how brutal kids can be. Kids get picked on for being poor, having pimples, the house you live in, sexual orientation, eyebrows, we could go on all day with this. Kids brutalize one another emotionally. Some kids are picked on by large groups, sometimes it is one kid, sometimes it us physical and sometimes its mental. Either way it affects each kid differently.

                Schools create anti-bullying programs and tell parents and children to talk to teachers and administrators if there is a problem. It does not work. I have seen these programs at work and I assure you that they let kids down. School should be a place they feel safe and a teacher a person they feel they can go to. The unfortunate truth here is that most bullies parents are just as bad as the bully. In turn if a teacher attempts to take care of a problem they are then bullied by the parent.

             How to handle a bully parent? I think a parent that attempts to bully their child should have charges levied against them. I am all for protecting your child, but if several kids are saying your child is picking on them, chances are its true. Parents of the bullied child attempt to let the school take care of the problem. Then when the school can’t the problem in some cases is too far gone.

            If we truly want to stop bullying, which will never happen. But if we want to make it less we need to hold the parent, teachers and administrators all responsible. If a child is being threatened by a parent we need more comprehensive protection for that child. I am not a perfect parent, but I try to keep my kids aware of how they treat others. It would be nice if other parents did so as well.

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Kansas governer signs one of countries harshest anti-abortion laws.

            Kansas Governer Sam Brownback signed a bill that declared life starts at fertilization, blocks tax breaks for abortion providers and bans abortions performed solely because of the baby’s sex. The House voted 90-30 for the bill and hours later the Senate voted 28-10 in favor of it. This of course is in direct violation of Roe vs. Wade and the Supreme Court ruling that abortion is ok until the fetus reaches viability, which us 23-25 weeks.

                The bill passed despite the lack of reliable data on the amount of sex selection abortions performed. In 2008 2 Columbia University economists did a study that suggested aborting female fetuses,  which is relatively normal in some countries where parents prefer males, is being done on a limited basis in the U.S. Pro-choice proponents say that there is not any evidence of such procedures in Kansas. Pro-life supporters believe it is a growing problem that is exacerbated by the sophistication of prenatal resting.

               This bill also requires doctors to tell women about the disputed link between abortion and breast cancer. Which again shows that the anti-abortion stance of the Republican party is a bit of a witch hunt. It again shows their disdain for the Constitution and the 1st Amendment. There is nit supposed to be an establishment of religion, therefore a lawmaker cannot force their religious beliefs on anyone at anytime, for any reason. Roe vs. Wade is Federal law and the Constitution stated that Federal law is the law of the land.

             Despite the fact that the legislation is 70 pages long, it apparently doesn’t state everything Governer Brownback wishesto stay on the issue of abortion. Before he signed HB2253 into law, an AP photo reveals that he made a few additions of his own in his notes. He typed a couple of phrases; building a culture of life and all human life is sacred. He ended up using these on his speech to abortion opponents before approving the bill. He also wrote Jesus and Mary at the top of the page.

                 While hardly the first time a politician has used his religious beliefs to justify their anti-abortion stance. It is a relative slap in the face of the historical seperation of church and state. This is because the pro-life movement has branded reproductive freedom as blasphemous to the Christian faith. Catholic lawmakers are often very hostile towards abortion rights.

              But even as the Republican party and the Tea Party use Christianity as the reason for their position, their position is not really reflective of the Christian Coalition in the U.S. Abortion rights aren’t always in sharp opposition to religion. Over 75% of white Protestants, along with 65% of African American Protestants and 63% of Catholics support a womanish Constitutional right to legal abortion services.

              So once again it seems the Republicans and their conservative base are manufacturing an issue to keep focus off of their inability to help the country. Again they work against the majority as if they were dictators. President Obama and Democrats need to stop thus insanely push to control a womanish body and choice or it may lead to something worse. The Republican ignorance of the Constitution borders on treasonous in many different areas. You cannot be a protector if the Constitution if you only believe in enforcing the parts that work for you.

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