Last Call

Rick Santorum has figured out how to win the nomination.  Go as far to the right as possible, because 40-42% of America will vote for you no matter how much of a crazy, misogynist, homophobic bigot of a god-botherer you are.

The former senator was notably more energized here than he was in going through a litany of rehashed policy proposals to a modest crowd last night at an event his campaign billed as a major speech.

Asked why he was so tough on Romney, Santorum told reporters after his address: "Fight fire with fire."

Before a middle-class crowd, Santorum also amped up his populist message.

He noted his Italian immigrant lineage, joking that his ancestors didn't drop any vowels at the end of his name

And he took a tough shot at President Obama's declaration that he'd like all Americans to attend college.

"What a snob," Santorum, an attorney, said to loud applause, warning of teens being indoctrinated "by some liberal college professor."

There was also an unmistakable shot at Newt Gingrich.

"The only person I sit next to on a couch is my wife, period," Santorum said, a reference to Gingrich's climate change ad with Nancy Pelosi.

When your party is full of paranoid caricatures and cartoon villainy, you run as a sneering, neurotic mustache-twirling heavy.  You forgo the dog whistles and the coded language, and come out and say the President is an elitist snob for the view that everyone deserves a shot at college.  Everyone knows somebody who not only doesn't deserve a shot at college, but probably doesn't deserve a shot at being outside of prison.

And Ricky's brand of apocalyptic fatalism goes right to the heart of the Republican message:  those who are with us will share the spoils, those who are against us will share the wrath.  For all of his talk that America is the bestest most super-awesome country ever in all of space-time, Ricky's message is "It's time to admit our vision of America is screwed with all these gay, brown, elitists and jettison the dead weight and start over."

They no longer want to be part of an America where a black man can be President.  They're taking their ball and going home.  But they'll loot the treasury on the way out and take all the good silver.  The red state/blue state dichotomy ain't too different from the Blue and the Gray 150 years ago, to hear Ricky tell it.

And should he be the nominee, he'll get 60 million votes. Minimum.  Just like McCain/Palin.

Never forget that.

Iran, So Far Away, Part 12

The redemption of Rick Santorum as Serious Foreign Policy Thinker(tm) comes courtesy of Michael Ledeen in the WSJ.

After leaving the Senate in 2007, Mr. Santorum wrote about foreign policy frequently for the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he was a fellow until June of 2011. In essays written for the center, he acknowledges that terrorists are indeed inspired by radical Islam—but he wants to work with Muslims who do not wage jihad, subjugate women or oppress minorities. He's specific about the radicals: They are evil men who have perverted the meaning of "martyrdom," changing it from the act of dying for one's faith to killing others to advance the dominion of one's faith.

His opposition to tyranny abroad has been a constant in his political career. Even in the final days of his losing 2006 re-election campaign, Mr. Santorum never stopped calling for action against Iran and Syria. Apparently, Pennsylvanians weren't impressed by his Iran Freedom and Support Act, enacted in 2006, which imposed sanctions on the regime and authorized $100 million annually for the democratic opposition, or his 2003 Syria Accountability Act.

But today he looks prescient and gutsy. Back then, the Bush administration was trying to run away from such ideas. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at one point turned to a Democrat, then-Sen. Joe Biden, to block Mr. Santorum's Iran bill, before it finally passed. But Mr. Santorum's basic vision has prevailed.

And so it goes.  Clearly the Murdoch machine is hedging their bets when it comes to the very real possibility that the man who will carry the GOP's standard into battle against President Obama is going to be a know-nothing fundamentalist dipstick.  So like Bush 43 before him, the same "scholars" who told us that it didn't really matter that the Republican candidate is a moron because he would be surrounded by a brain trust of great minds led by the necessary vision and will to "win" are hard at work constructing the exact same fantasy with Iran as their target.

Ledeen and his crew of bloodthirsty ghouls have been after "regime change" in Iran now for over a decade.  To see him latch his lamprey maw onto Santorum's back to try to ride him into a war with Tehran should be setting off alarm bells in the head of every American old enough to vote.  They want war, and Rick Santorum is the best way to get it.  Ledeen allowed out of his crypt to try to sell Santorum as Commander-in-Chief means that not only is the GOP establishment making plans for Santorum vs Obama in the fall, but that when it comes to all the truly important boxes to be checked, that Ricky will do for them just fine.

The GOP establishment will prevent Santorum from winning over Romney?  Really?  At best they are hedging pretty damn hard, and at worst they are sabotaging the increasingly failtastic Mittens to get the man they wanted all along.  If "probability of deciding to go to war with Iran" is your top criteria for picking a GOP nominee, then Santorum's the clear choice.  If Murdoch and the neo-cons are backing him, the notion that Santorum will crash and burn long before Tampa is no longer so assured, is it?

Misogyny: Also Bigger In Texas

Texas Republicans have decided that if they can't ban Planned Parenthood in the state, they'll simply get rid of all the women's programs that Planned Parenthood helps to fund and provide.

If there was any hope that the state was seeking a compromise with the federal government over Texas’ Women’s Health Program, it’s fading fast. At the direction of lawmakers and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the Texas Health and Human Services commissioner signed a rule on Thursday that formally bans Planned Parenthood clinics and other "affiliates of abortion providers" from participating in the program — something the Obama administration has said is a deal-breaker for the nearly $40 million-per-year state-federal Medicaid program.

"The Obama administration is trying to force Texas to violate our own state laws or they will end a program that provides preventative health care to more than 100,000 Texas women," said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry. "This boils down to the rule of law — which the state of Texas respects and the Obama administration does not.

The rule, signed by Commissioner Tom Suehs on Thursday, takes effect March 14. Unless some last-minute agreement is brokered, the program, which receives $9 in federal funds for every $1 in state funds, will be either phased out or cut off by the end of March. At least 130,000 poor Texas women will lose access to cancer screenings, well-woman exams and contraception.

The goal of course was to end these programs all along.  This is why Republicans are fighting the contraception and Title X wars all over again, this is why they are suing the Obama administration over contraception rules, this is why they scream TENTH AMENDMENT and STATE'S RIGHTS and FEDERAL TYRANNY over this.  They don't want to help poor people.  They want them gone.

If red states make being poor, female, LGBT, and/or a racial minority so awful, and the legislative and social climate so hostile that people just leave the state, then the red states win.  That's what they've wanted all along.  They become some other state's problem.  It worked for the Jim Crow era.  It worked for Reconstruction era, it worked for the Civil Rights era, it's working again now.

Make it so awful not to be a white, Christian, straight male that everyone else says "screw it" and goes away.  And the more than do, the more political power these folks obtain in the state to turn the screws on the remainder.  Texas and Florida now have Republican super-majorities at the state level.  There's nothing Dems can really do at this point except wait for demographics.  Dick moves like this preempt that.  The Texas GOP now has enough power to basically end Medicaid in the state for poor women.  They want even more power.

They'll get it, too.

Show me Stupidity

Enough already.  They act like it's the employers who are being mistreated here.

After President Obama offered a compromise to his birth control coverage rule, which would allow faith-based organizations to opt out of covering the cost of contraception for employees and have a third-party insurer cover it instead, a number of congressional Republicans continued to insist that any employer, regardless of religious affiliation, should be able to decline to cover contraception.

Next week, the Senate is expected to debate Sen. Roy Blunt's (R-Mo.) amendment to the Transportation Authorization Bill, which takes that point of view a step further by allowing any employer to refuse to insure contraception or any other health service for any moral reason. The amendment has sent Senate Democrats into a tailspin because it would water down or nullify many of the landmark reforms they voted in with the Affordable Care Act.

"Here's the issue," Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the sponsor of the transportation bill, told reporters on Friday. "Our families deserve health care. They deserve access to insurance that covers health care. The Blunt Amendment is very clear: for any reason, an employer can deny a host of services from contraception, to breast cancer screening, to autism screening, to depression screening, to osteoporosis screening, to STD screening. And that is a sad day when one political party feels that it helps the American people to take away their access to health care."

Virginia woke up. Women are getting pissed, and rightfully so. The stupidity has just about reached its upswing, and when it all comes crashing down this will amount to political suicide. Don't think for a second I will miss a chance to throw this back in his face.

What an asshole. He is the perfect example of serving his ideas instead of the people. If enough women get out there and vote, we can teach them a lesson.

Meanwhile, he can enjoy health coverage that addresses his every need. I ashamed to be from the state, even though I couldn't disagree with him more.

Saturday Morning Stupidity

I hate to say "every week" or "every whatever" because then there is a pressure applied.  I'm going to start Saturdays off happy, though.  I'd like to say video, because I enjoy a nice clip from time to time, but then what if there's not a good video that week?  I hate to paint myself into a corner, but I can promise happy whether it's a video, cute cat,  or whatever fun I've stumbled across.  We have a lot of stupidity and ugliness in the news to wade through, so we earn a little giggle now and then.

This week, I have Bobby McFerrin demonstrating the pentatonic scale.  McFerrin is probably best known for "Don't Worry, Be Happy" but was actually raised around classical music.

This is one of the things I dig about music so much.  You don't have to know the science and rules of music to appreciate it.  As a race, a species, we understand a universal language.  McFerrin says everywhere he goes, every audience is on board.  Every time.  It reminds me of the awe that makes me play, that feeling you get when the notes are just right and it rings every nerve in your body.  That we know those rules without knowing them but can still have our own personal taste is just another reason why music can be as powerful as it is entertaining.

Enjoy!

Meanwhile In Afghanistan

The Afghan Taliban is claiming responsibility today for the deaths of a US colonel and major shot and killed inside the Interior Ministry in Kabul today.

At least two American officers were killed inside the interior ministry in Kabul, a senior Afghan police official said Saturday.

According to the International Security Assistance Force, initial reports indicated that "an individual" turned his weapon against NATO service members.

The agency did not provide the nationalities of the victims, but the Afghan police official confirmed they were American.

The Tabilan is saying that the attack was in retaliation for the burnings of Qurans earlier in the week.  And yes, we're still over there.  And yes, people are still dying.

StupidiNews! Zombie Edition

David Morrissey will be playing The Governor on The Walking Dead.  You can click this link to read the article, but major spoiler alert has been given.  If you don't read it, the broad strokes are that he is a major character and will be a villain.  One look at his character and you know that, already.  Walking Dead has annoyed some viewers, but I remain optimistic.  A certain amount of stage setting has to take place, but they had better deliver some action soon.

Zombie Con 2012 is accepting registrations.  It's strictly first come first serve, and is guaranteed to be the best miserable time you can have.  It's hotter than hell, with some hard walking and unfriendly living conditions.  But then there's also a float trip, nightly zombie movie fest, and knowing you have participated in something so awesomely geeky as Zombie Con.  I'm trying to talk the husband into it now, by the way.

Last but not least, Amazon sells zombie apocalypse survival gear  products.  I'm not even kidding, check it out.  I have to say, there's a couple of things that will end up on my birthday wish list!

Last Call

First Lady Michelle Obama was in town yesterday for some fundraising and to visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

First Lady Michelle Obama made a quick trip to Cincinnati on Thursday, preaching her husband’s record to the choir and stopping briefly at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

She collected some big money - about 300 people paid anywhere from $250 to $10,000 to hear her speak and to meet her.

She delivered a vigorous defense of her husband’s administration to the crowd at the downtown Westin hotel, saying President Obama’s work “is not done.”

“If any family in this country is struggling,” the First Lady said, “we can not be satisfied with our own families’ good fortune.”

It's good to know Mrs. Obama is a resource that her husband can count on.  Our side needs all the help it can get.

“Who do we want to be?’’ she asked. “Will we be a country where success is limited to a few at the top? This country is strongest when we are all better off.”

Her husband came to office three years ago, she said, to bring about change; and said change “does not come easy.”

It was her first visit to Cincinnati since Sept. 2008, when her husband was running for president. Then, she spoke at a National Baptist Convention at the Duke Energy Center.

The GOP of course showed their respect.

Her comments drew criticism from Christopher Maloney, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party.

“The time has come and gone for empty rhetoric and broken promises. Ohioans simply cannot afford another four years of job loss, higher taxes and increased debt under Barack Obama,” he said.

The First Lady praised the passage of health care reform legislation that she said has already “saved millions of seniors in this country an average of $600 a year for prescription drugs.”

“Now, there are some folks talking about repealing that reform,’’ she said. “Are we going to let that happen? Are we going to allow children to be denied health care coverage who have cancer or other serious diseases? We can’t do that.”

Shot back Maloney: “The ‘folks’ Mrs. Obama dismisses represent 2.3 million Ohioans and a majority of voters in all 88 Ohio counties who demanded the repeal of Obamacare’s job-killing mandate in November.”

He's referring to the very badly worded Issue 3 on last year's Ohio ballot, which was all about nullifying mandates, which of course is completely meaningless given the Supreme Court's century-plus precedents on the Commerce Clause since the Civil War.

Doesn't matter when the President is a ni-(CLANG)!

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

Steve M. has something of a point on Romney going all in on the winger right:

What this really reminds me of is a moment in a totalitarian regime when then the purges and rehabilitations seem to defy all logic, when the longtime loyalist with a few minor blemishes on his record becomes an unperson, while a former unperson becomes the chief inquisitor just because the regime has developed a new appreciation for his viciousness and willingness to apply the screws. But that's not a reassuring moment in the history of such a regime, is it? 

Or as people keep telling me, Romney could run on a platform of throwing liberals off cliffs, and he'd get 42% of the vote, bare minimum.

Then again, counting Santorum out as President is equally silly:

Over the past several weeks, Republicans have watched squeamishly as presidential contender Rick Santorum has waded into multiple controversies that risk alienating half the 2012 electorate: women.

But in fact, Santorum has grown more popular among women while talking about his opposition to abortion, his disapproval of birth control and his view that the federal government shouldn’t pay for prenatal screenings. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows not only that Santorum is doing better among GOP women than he was a few weeks ago, but also that he is less unpopular — and also less well known — among Democratic and independent women than his Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

Santorum's going after the base.  And if you're still a female Republican voter in 2012, you've already bought the notion that women should submit to men when it comes to sex anyway.  Of course they like him more now.  Candidate Santorum would get 42% of the vote in November, too.  All he has to do is get 9% more and the game's over for a big, huge chunk of America.

Don't take an Obama win for granted against these idiots.  They'll get 50 million votes just for being in the R column.  The Santorum folks are trying to run as Conservative Good Ol' Boy Dubya against Elitist Mitt (and Obama).  And they'll have unlimited millions to sell it.

Make The Gas Face For Those Little White Lies

One of the nation's biggest oil lobbyists in January warned the President that he could make life very uncomfortable for his re-election chances if he didn't approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

The oil industry's top lobbyist warned the Obama administration Wednesday to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline or face "huge political consequences" in an election year.

Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said it would be a "huge mistake" for President Barack Obama to reject the 1,700-mile, Canada-to-Texas pipeline. Obama faces a Feb. 21 deadline to decide whether the $7 billion pipeline is in the national interest.

"Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," Gerard said at the trade association's annual "State of American Energy" event. "A determination to decide anything less than that I believe will have huge political consequences."

Jump to six weeks later:

Soaring gasoline prices are threatening to undercut President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects and offering Republicans an easy target. With prices pushing $4 a gallon and threatening to go even higher, Obama sought Thursday to confront rising public anxiety and strike back at his GOP critics.

Obama said dismissively that all the Republicans can talk about is more drilling — “a bumper sticker … a strategy to get politicians through an election” — when the nation’s energy challenges demand much more. In a speech in Miami, he promoted the expansion of domestic oil and gas exploration but also the development of new forms of energy.

For all the political claims, economists say there’s not much a president of either party can do about gasoline prices. Certainly not in the short term. But it’s clear that people are concerned — a new Associated Press-GfK poll says seven in 10 find the issue deeply important — so it’s sure to be a political issue through the summer.

You do the math.  I'm thinking Big Oil already has, and they're liking the numbers they see.  The Republicans and the Village certainly aren't above concern trolling President Obama, either.  Remember, he's "bad for business" when he doesn't give corporations a zero tax rate and all the steak fajitas they can eat on Tuesdays.

Presidents may not be able to do much about gasoline prices, but oil companies sure as hell can.

It's Time To Protect The Kids, Dammit

As punishment for eating a "forbidden" candy bar, a 9-year-old girl was forced to run in her back yard.  For three hours.  And then she dropped, and started having seizures.  She later died from dehydration.  Three hours.  I'm surprised she was even able to keep going for that long.  It makes sense to me that she was so scared she thought she was running for her life.  Which, of course, makes her death all the more depressing.

The 12-year-old who was found naked and eating from a garbage can was kept naked so she wouldn't get out of the car.  Her mother forced her to stay there while she worked as an aide at a local school.  I imagine she couldn't get her daughter enrolled without an address.  The little girl was wandering, naked and eating some bread she had found.  She was basically caged like an animal, and so hungry she wandered out naked in February.

Those are the main two from this week.  As the sane ones, we need to keep our eyes open.  Someone did the right thing and called 911, and that poor naked child is clothed and eating real meals.  Nobody saved the first girl, and she died at the hands of two people who should have loved her more than anyone (or anything) else.  Because I am constantly scanning small news sources, I am so weary of articles about kids, yet I am compelled to read them.  We're not in a place to promise kids happy ever after.  We should  be able to promise our willingness to help when we can and make that call when we must.  We should be able to let them expect a place to sleep and food to eat.  If we can't give them anything else, it's meeting those most basic needs so they can survive to conquer.

It's About Darned Time: Toasty Warm Edition

Finally.  It only took one genius to make my favorite snack perfect every time.  Many thanks to CNET for knowing what is important!

The inaccuracy that is intrinsic to everyday cooking is no cause for alarm. At least when it comes to toast. The Breville Premium Plastic Toaster combines old-school styling with a couple of modern features. The toaster includes a monitoring process in the form of a "lift and look" feature that allows for midcycle adjustments. Perhaps more engaging is the inclusion of a button that speaks the language of the eater; there can be no mistake about the utility of a button labeled "A Bit More."

Much like steak changes significantly when subjected to prolonged cooking, toast is sensitive to varying degrees of doneness. There is no formula for such; we just know how we like it. Sometimes, despite all the precision equipment that populates the kitchen, all we really need to know is when something just isn't quite done yet.

How many burned thumbs have I endured from checking my toast?  How many burned pieces have I endured from sending it back down and getting sidetracked?  

Seriously, I love it when something we take for granted gets a simple but awesome facelift.  This wasn't incredibly hard to do, someone just had to finally get around to it.  I love kitchen gadgets, and this will be on my counter within a month.

The Bon is pleased.

Red State Of Insanity

Seven Republican attorneys general are joining together to sue the Obama administration over birth control coverage rules, citing Frist Amendment violations and asking a Nebraska District Judge to throw out the provision.

The lawsuit was filed by attorneys general from Nebraska, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. Three Nebraska-based groups — Catholic Social Services, Pius X Catholic High School and the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America — are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, a Republican who is running for U.S. Senate, said the administration's regulation "forces of millions of Americans to choose between following religious convictions and complying with federal law.

"We will not stand idly by while out constitutionally guaranteed liberties are discarded by an administration that has sworn to uphold them," he said.

That of course is a smokescreen.  This is the real reason.

The lawsuit alleges that the rule will effectively force religious employers and organizations to drop health insurance coverage, which will raise enrollment in state Medicaid programs and increase patient numbers at state-subsidized hospitals and medical centers.

And as noted, Jon Bruning is leading the charge here in Nebraska...oh and running for Senate.  Surprise!

Of course, the GOP goal here is to win a decision here where the federal government can no longer compel states to participate in federal programs:  the Affordable Care Act, but also Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, based on moral and religious objections.  At the very least it means state legislatures could simply walk away from the last 80 years, or hold referendums to do the same.

Now given a series of state votes on ending programs, and given all the tens of millions the rich could pour into campaign ads, do you feel your state could win a vote to keep Social Security or Medicare, or Medicaid?

I live in Kentucky.

Yeah.

Mitt Fails At Math

Mitt Romney's new tax plan is, in a word, horrendous.  James Kwak deconstructs it over at The Atlantic:

According to yesterday's bullet points, Romney wants to cut all tax rates by 20 percent, meaning that the top income tax rate, which is currently scheduled to rise from 35 percent (George W. Bush, 2001) to 39.6 percent (Bill Clinton, 1993), would instead fall to 28 percent.

There are several things about this plan that are either loony or deeply misleading. One is the claim that it would "address the debt crisis" because it will be paid for by $500 billion in spending cuts by 2016. But the only proposals mentioned would (a) repeal the Affordable Care Act (increasing deficits, since the ACA has been scored as deficit-reducing); (b) convert Medicaid to a block grant (no deficit impact); (c) increase government efficiency (yawn); and (d) cut Social Security and Medicare benefits for "younger generations" (no impact until well after 2016). In other words, it's a complete fantasy.

There's a shocker.  Mitt's latest plan is not only Laffer-lympics taken to the nth degree, the number don't add up because, well, they can't.

The bottom line is that if, like Mitt Romney, you want to cut tax rates by 20 percent, eliminate the estate tax, and eliminate the AMT, it is arithmetically impossible for the top 1% to pay anything close to their current effective tax rate. 

So yes, Mitt literally fails at math.  And this will benefit him with Republican primary voters, because let's face it, they don't want to believe in facts anyway.

StupidiNews!

• The US Postal Service may cut up to 35,000 jobs in the next three months as it plans to close or consolidate more than 200 mail processing centers.
• An openly-gay judge in Texas is refusing to marry any couples until same-sex marriage is legalized in the state.
• The US and North Korea are holding diplomatic talks for the first time since the death of Kim Jong-il.
• The Obama administration is cracking down on Japan's organized crime yakuza groups, freezing assets and applying sanctions.
• Researchers have found bacteria from pigs in the Netherlands was responsible for infecting a young Dutch girl, evidence that large-scale farms may breed new strains of germs.