Saturday, March 1, 2014

Last Call For Marco, Rube

Sen. Marco Rubio thinks he has the stones to tell President Obama what he must do on Russia re: Ukraine, and as expected, the last of his "eight steps" is to block State Department under-secretary Rose Gottmoeller.

Finally, in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid should immediately halt his effort to force a Senate vote on Rose Gottemoeller next week to be under secretary of state for arms control and international security. As I, Sens. John Cornyn and Jim Risch said yesterday, we shouldn’t even be thinking about arms-control negotiations with Russia anytime soon. And especially not negotiations led by a State Department official, such as Ms. Gottemoeller, who has tried to play down and potentially kept information from Congress and our allies about Russian violations of arms-control agreements.

This is of course the real thrust.  Rubio could give a damn about what happens in the Ukraine, but this is the perfect excuse to demand that the State Department dismantle our arms control treaty with Russia, which the GOP has always opposed.  Well, under a Democrat, anyway.  They have no issue with it when a Republican is President.

Have a glass of water and sit the hell down, Marco.

Last Call For More Adventures Across The Rubin-Con

Jennifer Rubin's response to President Obama's new "My Brother's Keeper" initiative is as banal as it is predictable.

It’s odd, really, that we just got through celebration of the veto of Arizona’s anti-gay legislation that would have allowed business owners to refuse service on the basis of sexual orientation – if they could show they are acting upon a sincerely held religious belief. That was Wednesday. Now on Thursday the government itself wants to exclude at-risk boys who don’t meet the racial and ethnic requirements of the program. (If it was focused on only “straight” youth, would the left be up in arms?)

Now, it is refreshing that the administration has paused from its “war on women” rhetoric to take notice that it really has been men who were hurt more than women in the recession, have worse educational outcomes than women and seem to be more affected by the absence of a father in their lives.
The problem with hyping gender and racial differences is not simply the increased resentment and divisiveness it creates but also that it uses victimhood as a political weapon. Pretty soon words like “discrimination” lose meaning. It seems you are either for an inclusive society – devoted to diminishing racial, ethnic, religious and other distinctions — or you’re not.
Like the Arizona anti-gay law, no good can come from a program that divides up the population by these categories.

Rubin actually compares the program to Arizona's anti-gay laws because Liberals Are The Only Real Racists(tm). This is, quite literally a "Why do we even have your divisive 'Black History Month' anyway for you people?" rant dressed up nicely as "I'm the voice of the moderate middle/both sides do it" pablum.  It's as stupid as asking why the government sanctions May as Jewish American Heritage Month.  Congress passed that in 2006 and rightfully so.

It's vile and stupid, but then again, this is Jen Rubin we're talking about.  By the way, the program itself seems badly necessary.

Under Obama's initiative, businesses, foundations and community groups would coordinate their investments to come up with, or support, programs that keep youths in school and out of the criminal justice system, while improving their access to higher education. Several foundations pledged at least $200 million over five years to promote that goal.

Meanwhile, Obama signed a presidential memorandum creating a government-wide task force to evaluate the effectiveness of various approaches, so that federal and local governments, community groups and businesses will have best practices to follow in the future. An online "What Works" portal will provide public access to data about programs that improve outcomes for young minority men.

We could pretend like the bulk of the school to prison pipeline in this country isn't stuffed full of black and Latino boys I guess, but bravo for the President to name the slouching beast in the room.  This is exactly the kind of "compassionate conservatism" stuff that Bush would have gotten a spot on Mt. Rushmore for.

The White House listed a litany of facts showing the need for the effort: The unemployment rate for African-American men over the age of 20 was 12 percent last month, compared with 5.4 percent for white men. Hispanic men over the age of 20 faced an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent. The U.S. Census Bureau showed a poverty rate of 27.2 percent in black households and 25.6 percent for Hispanic households in 2012, compared with 12.7 percent in white and 11.7 percent in Asian households.

But let's pretend like race doesn't matter in America, because admitting it does upsets Jennifer so. 

Oklahoma, Yet Again

Not to be outdone by Texas in anything, Oklahoma is trying out its own bevy of anti-choice abortion regulations that will result in shutting down all but a few clinics in the state.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill on Thursday to apply new restrictions on abortions that lawmakers said are aimed at protecting women's health but opponents say are designed to shut down clinics.

The legislation includes a provision similar to one put in place in neighboring Texas that requires physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at an appropriately equipped hospital within 30 miles of their practice.

The Republican lawmaker who wrote the legislation, Mike Ritze, a physician, said his goal was to ensure women who experience complications like hemorrhaging, can have access to hospital care immediately.

"If the federal law is going to allow abortions, the state has a responsibility to our citizens to ensure those procedures are done as safely as possible," Ritze said.

The bill also requires abortion clinics to meet heightened building standards, bans abortion after 20 weeks, and requires strict adherence to guidelines in prescribing abortion pills.
The process is working well here in Ohio, as Cincinnati's two remaining providers are fighting court battles just to stay open.  Texas has already lost dozens of providers, and once again, small government conservatives are using the power of government to regulate women's bodies.  To death.

Your vagina belongs to the state.  Until what comes out of it is old enough to own a gun, that is.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

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