Tag: Conservative Agenda
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The Sisyphean Task of Gay Republicans
Watching gays try to be conservative Republicans is like watching people beat themselves up.
— Steve Silberman, Wired writer and editor, tweeting a link to an AP story about the Western Conservative Summit barring Log Cabin Republicans from taking a booth at their expo this summer, where Republican presidential candidates are expected to speak. “We’d love to have them attend the summit and be in the discussion,” the group’s president said. “But we have to draw the line at a formal relationship between two organizations with diametrically opposed policy beliefs.”
Why You Felt Good About Things Before You Listened to the Pundits
There’s a new standard for judging the success of Pres. Obama’s initiatives: Every single last soul in America must be doing great before we can claim progress.
Don’t believe it? Can you count the number of times you’ve heard news reported this way?
Pundit: “Well yes, Freemont, unemployment continues to fall, month in and month out, but if you’re a person who is still looking for a job and can’t find one, then you’re not feeling any improvement.”
Duh.
Let me correct that. Big, super-irrelevant duh.
Facts are facts, and numbers are numbers. Whether “you’re the person” for whom things aren’t getting better doesn’t change the fact that THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER.
This Republican and tea party tactic of dismissing Pres. Obama’s proven successes by noting the exceptions has gone mainstream.
You’re More Likely to be Killed by a Gun than a Car
The bad news is you’re more likely to take a bullet, especially if you’re under 25.
America is Awash in Guns — And Fear of Them
What if we’re missing a bigger issue in our musings about Ferguson and race and unarmed black men being shot by white guys, often police officers? Yes, systemic racism and a breakdown in our ability to trust police are serious problems. But are we overlooking something more basic?
It’s a rare day without a story like this one:
A white cop observes a black man cut through a parking lot to avoid a red light. He follows the car and when it starts to pull into an apartment complex, he turns on his cruiser’s lights to pull it over. The black man, 29-year-old Brian Dennison, drives further into the complex and parks in a parking space. When he gets out of the car, the cop shoots at him. Luckily, the shot missed. It was lucky because Dennison had his 6-year-old daughter in the car. And she was having an asthma attack. And her inhaler was inside their home, where Dennison was rushing when he drove around the red light.
So why did Officer J.C. Garcia get it so wrong?
Candidate for Texas Governor is Arguing for a Ban on Marriage Among Older People
One of the dearest moments during the wedding of my friends Cathy and Warren came when the minister accidentally stumbled into the part of the vows where he often asked those gathered to support the couple as they raised any children resulting from their union. A stunned silence was followed by Cathy saying, “Um, we can skip that.”
At the time, Cathy was 56 and Warren was 68. Both of them widows, their children from their previous marriages — all in their 20s and 30s, some with children of their own — led the laughter.
Abbott: ‘Same-sex marriage does not advance the state’s interest because same-sex unions do not result in pregnancy’
But according to the “traditional” marriage crowd, Cathy and Warren shouldn’t even have been allowed to marry. Instead, they claim marriage should be reserved for those who plan to conceive and raise children. So older folks, the infertile, and all who chose to remain childless should be barred from legal marriage. Being “partners,” “companions,” or as gay couples used to have to call themselves, “lifelong friends,” should be enough.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R), who is running against Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) to replace Rick Perry as governor, said exactly that in a brief filed before an appeals court to uphold the Texas ban on same-sex marriage.
The Rich are Lying to Us
When the Heritage Foundation tells us that the top 10 percent of filers are cruelly burdened, because they pay 68 percent of income taxes, it’s hoping that you won’t notice that word “income” — other taxes, such as the payroll tax, are far less progressive. But it’s also hoping you don’t know that the top 10 percent receive almost half of all income and own 75 percent of the nation’s wealth, which makes their burden seem a lot less disproportionate.
— Paul Krugman, Nobel-winning economist, in a column in the New York Times called, “Our Invisible Rich.” Krugman says Americans’ ideas about the 1% are based on 1960s notions of wealth, and woefully inaccurate today.
Jon Stewart to FOX on the Coffee Salute: ‘You’re Just Trying to Score Points in a Game No Else is Playing’
First, I am not opposed to the United States and other countries trying to wipe out ISIL. Whether they are an immediate threat to us is not the only concern. That Americans, including and especially journalists, can move around the world freely is a huge concern.
Second, I can’t agree more about the disgusting hypocrisy, hostility, and pettiness shown the president of the country these people claim to love. He was elected by more than half of us, and those are the rules under which your “beloved” country operates so please suck it up, like we did when the moron was in power and we were under threat from abroad. Put your country, not your hatreds, first.
What Australia Can Teach America About Gun Safety, After a Few Years of Detox
Watch the funniest — and most sensible — arguments for gun control yet.
It will be interesting to see what kind of refutations appear in the comments.
