I saw Joy Reid interview Jim Clyburn from his Columbia fish fry over the weekend. He was sounding more wide awake and chipper than usual, I guess since he was at his own big fete, and that made me happy. Then Reid mentioned that he was a supporter of Jaime Harrison, who has announced his intention to run against Lindsey Graham in 2020. Maybe it was my imagination but he gave a teensy tinsy nod and then went on to the next subject.
I have two problems with that. First of all, this is the second time I have seen Clyburn interviewed on MSNBC when he has been asked about the race for senator in 2020, and he has failed to make a big deal out of it. I understand that Clyburn may just not be comfortable with promoting someone that isn't himself -- Harrison tends to have the same quirk -- but the race against Lindsey Graham should be a huge deal. After 2018, even SC should be chomping at the bit to get rid of this Trump patsy. All his crazy flip flops as he chases down Trump's approval and his temper tantrum at the Kavanaugh hearing only magnify the need and the potential for change, especially after all those fearless women took the House last November.
My second problem is that even feminist and advocate of women of color Joy Reid failed to note that there is an actual primary opponent running for the Democratic contender, Gloria Bromell Tinubu. And not surprisingly, Clyburn has also failed to acknowledge this.
I say "not surprisingly" because a number of years ago, Clyburn threw his two cents into the race against Tim Scott, during Scott's first senate election campaign after his appointment to the Senate by his buddy Nikki Haley. In a primary race among two men and one woman, Clyburn asked the woman to step aside and let the guys fight it out. She did not step aside. And she won the primary. The woman, Joyce Dickerson, is a truly dynamic firebrand. She wasn't afraid to go head to head with Scott. But she really didn't get the chance. Not the money nor the true support of the Democratic Party. Clyburn was silent.
And now we have another dynamic woman who has stepped up against Lindsey Graham. Gloria Tinubu is a former economics professor and a former Georgia state legislator. She is speaking for those who have been left behind because of racial injustice and the failures of the government to address economic inequality.
Tinubu has experienced being overlooked by the Democratic Party machine, local and national, before. She is not likely to get financial support, or even acknowledgement, by the South Carolina Democratic Party, or the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or, of course, from big Congressional honcho Jim Clyburn. Unless we make waves.
Write and tweet the SCDP and the DSCC. Let them know you expect a fair primary fight. Tell them to put both candidates front and center. I am tired of our senate candidates being the best kept secret in South Carolina, and I hope you are too.
If you believe it takes a woman, a strong, smart woman, to defeat misogynist Lindsey Graham in 2020, please help spread the word. Follow Gloria Bromell Tinubu on Facebook and Twitter, meet up with her on her website, gloriaforussenate.com. Share, contribute, and help in any way you can.
I can be fairly certain, after years of hearing about how we are turning blue, that unless our party leaders put our candidates front and center, and do it now, the only thing that will be turning blue is our mood after the next election. I have suggested that the best way to generate publicity right now is by planning events for both candidates, forums, meet 'n' greets, debates, where both candidates engage each other AND the public. You know, like the presidential candidates have been doing for months.
Or, they can follow the old playbook and support the guy who will attract the most money in lieu of excitement. We know how that will turn out.
Showing posts with label Lindsey Graham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lindsey Graham. Show all posts
Monday, June 24, 2019
Monday, October 8, 2018
Lindsey v. Women
The thing about the tantrums we saw last week, both from Brett Kavanaugh and Lindsey Graham, was that they both sounded like men who had been spending way too much time with the "president." It makes sense, doesn't it, that if he can get away with it, they can too. And they did.
Women like Susan Collins, who pretend to be pro-women, are really throwbacks, as are any republican women who will tolerate and make excuses for raging men, and minimize the assaults on women. I guess because she is a women, successful in the republican party, she knew to keep her head down, study the notes she was given, and act like she was taking the high road.
The double-talk we heard last week may have taken us by surprise, but shouldn't have. It was the same double-talk we heard during the Clarence Thomas hearing. The woman was confused; the woman allowed herself to be put in that position; the woman waited until she had something to gain (?!) by coming forward when she did; while we sympathize with the woman, we don't believe her. The man is having his reputation destroyed; his family and career are being harmed; his sincerity cannot be doubted. Lies excused, attacks rationalized.
Why wouldn't Kavanaugh stick it out? He had powerful and loud men on his side. Donald Trump has insulted every-damn-body in the world, and knows that they will stand by him as long as he has power to wield. And, like Clarence Thomas in 1991, Kavanaugh ends up not having his family and career destroyed: he ends up with a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.
And then there is Lindsey. He has been taken for a ride -- and not just on the golf course -- more than once by Trump. But he has what Trump preys on: ambition. So he has been strung along since November of 2016, at first tentatively throwing his support, and then with more fervor, no, fever. What we witnessed from Graham last week was nothing short of hysteria. He was indeed crazed.
Like Kavanaugh, he had been spending a lot of time listening to presidential rants and invective, to the point where reason was a distant memory, calm was no longer even in the repertoire.
So it was no surprise that after Graham's rant, women -- and good men -- across the country rose up with outrage. We need to do something NOW, and the passion and determination is NOW.
I was not surprised to receive an email during that time from the South Carolina Democratic Party. What did surprise me was that they were promoting past chair and bombast Jaime Harrison as their choice to oppose Lindsey Graham in 2020.
First of all, I have heard Harrison speak just a few times, including a couple of appearances on Rachel Maddow before the 2016 SC primaries. I may be wrong, but it seems that whatever question he is asked, Harrison will respond with a long-winded replay of who he is and how he got here. Harrison's success as chair can only be summed up by the Democrats' losses in local, state and national government during his reign.
That said, the most important thing about where the party stands today is that they are not RIGHT NOW promoting a woman to run against Lindsey Graham in 2020. With the successes of women running for office across the country, with the rage and determination that resulted from the mockery of a Senate Supreme Court nomination hearing, it never occurred to our state party that Graham's assault was an invitation.
Had the situation been reversed -- and I am happy to say that wouldn't have ever happened -- but if it had -- by the end of the tirade, there would have been meetings and "bindersful of women" to parade in front of the electorate; fund raising emails promising the revenge of victimized women would have gone out in minutes.
While republicans disdain women, they know how to use us. That is why we had a Nikki Haley as governor, but we can't seem to promote and elect a Democratic woman governor. It pains me to say it, but they will use Nikki all the way to the presidency, and she will be happy to be used.
We do have fantastic women on the political stage in South Carolina. While the party might jump on board when they smell success, they don't put their money or their mouth into finding and promoting women that are right here for the running.
We don't just have smart and motivated women, we have organizations right here in South Carolina that will help.
Right off the top, we have South Carolina Democratic Women's Council, and local chapters, including Charleston County Democratic Women. I wish I could say women were well represented on the Democratic Party websites, but you have to look hard to find them. If you want to hook up with the Women's Council or CCDW, your best bet is to look on Facebook.
Then there are the women's action networks that have grown HUGE since 2016. WREN -- Women's Rights and Empowerment Network -- is fighting for women's issues across the state, from wage equality to healthcare to empowering women to seek leadership roles in business and, yes, politics. Emerge America opened its doors in South Carolina in 2017. I can't speak highly enough about the work they are doing to encourage and train women to run for political office. Thinking you can do a better job than the jackasses now in office? Get in touch with Emerge SC. Want to help women who have decided to run? Contact Emerge SC.
And of course we have great groups here in South Carolina like Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the American Association of University Women, both of which can be counted on to promote women in government as well as women's issues in healthcare and education.
Then there are all the women right here, right now, that we should be persuading to take on Lindsey Graham. Just a few names come to mind; I'm sure we can put our heads together and think of lots more:
So, here we are. Do we jump up and down and wave our hands so that our Democratic Party will listen to us? Do we -- both women and men -- insist on being represented equally in government and especially in the Democratic Party?
And most important TODAY, after Lindsey Graham invited us to step up and challenge him, do we find a woman who will fight for us, so that a misogynist like Lindsey will not be holding down that seat and voting against our interests in Congress after 2020?
Write, call, email your state and local Democratic Party. They won't take this step unless it is absolutely clear we will accept no less. Spread the word on Facebook, at home, at work, community meetings.
Finding and supporting a woman to step up and take on Lindsey Graham for Senate in 2020 needs to start now. And it should really be a no-brainer.
It is time for Lindsey to go. And he seems to agree.
Women like Susan Collins, who pretend to be pro-women, are really throwbacks, as are any republican women who will tolerate and make excuses for raging men, and minimize the assaults on women. I guess because she is a women, successful in the republican party, she knew to keep her head down, study the notes she was given, and act like she was taking the high road.
The double-talk we heard last week may have taken us by surprise, but shouldn't have. It was the same double-talk we heard during the Clarence Thomas hearing. The woman was confused; the woman allowed herself to be put in that position; the woman waited until she had something to gain (?!) by coming forward when she did; while we sympathize with the woman, we don't believe her. The man is having his reputation destroyed; his family and career are being harmed; his sincerity cannot be doubted. Lies excused, attacks rationalized.
Why wouldn't Kavanaugh stick it out? He had powerful and loud men on his side. Donald Trump has insulted every-damn-body in the world, and knows that they will stand by him as long as he has power to wield. And, like Clarence Thomas in 1991, Kavanaugh ends up not having his family and career destroyed: he ends up with a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.
And then there is Lindsey. He has been taken for a ride -- and not just on the golf course -- more than once by Trump. But he has what Trump preys on: ambition. So he has been strung along since November of 2016, at first tentatively throwing his support, and then with more fervor, no, fever. What we witnessed from Graham last week was nothing short of hysteria. He was indeed crazed.
Like Kavanaugh, he had been spending a lot of time listening to presidential rants and invective, to the point where reason was a distant memory, calm was no longer even in the repertoire.
So it was no surprise that after Graham's rant, women -- and good men -- across the country rose up with outrage. We need to do something NOW, and the passion and determination is NOW.
I was not surprised to receive an email during that time from the South Carolina Democratic Party. What did surprise me was that they were promoting past chair and bombast Jaime Harrison as their choice to oppose Lindsey Graham in 2020.
First of all, I have heard Harrison speak just a few times, including a couple of appearances on Rachel Maddow before the 2016 SC primaries. I may be wrong, but it seems that whatever question he is asked, Harrison will respond with a long-winded replay of who he is and how he got here. Harrison's success as chair can only be summed up by the Democrats' losses in local, state and national government during his reign.
That said, the most important thing about where the party stands today is that they are not RIGHT NOW promoting a woman to run against Lindsey Graham in 2020. With the successes of women running for office across the country, with the rage and determination that resulted from the mockery of a Senate Supreme Court nomination hearing, it never occurred to our state party that Graham's assault was an invitation.
Had the situation been reversed -- and I am happy to say that wouldn't have ever happened -- but if it had -- by the end of the tirade, there would have been meetings and "bindersful of women" to parade in front of the electorate; fund raising emails promising the revenge of victimized women would have gone out in minutes.
While republicans disdain women, they know how to use us. That is why we had a Nikki Haley as governor, but we can't seem to promote and elect a Democratic woman governor. It pains me to say it, but they will use Nikki all the way to the presidency, and she will be happy to be used.
We do have fantastic women on the political stage in South Carolina. While the party might jump on board when they smell success, they don't put their money or their mouth into finding and promoting women that are right here for the running.
We don't just have smart and motivated women, we have organizations right here in South Carolina that will help.
Right off the top, we have South Carolina Democratic Women's Council, and local chapters, including Charleston County Democratic Women. I wish I could say women were well represented on the Democratic Party websites, but you have to look hard to find them. If you want to hook up with the Women's Council or CCDW, your best bet is to look on Facebook.
Then there are the women's action networks that have grown HUGE since 2016. WREN -- Women's Rights and Empowerment Network -- is fighting for women's issues across the state, from wage equality to healthcare to empowering women to seek leadership roles in business and, yes, politics. Emerge America opened its doors in South Carolina in 2017. I can't speak highly enough about the work they are doing to encourage and train women to run for political office. Thinking you can do a better job than the jackasses now in office? Get in touch with Emerge SC. Want to help women who have decided to run? Contact Emerge SC.
And of course we have great groups here in South Carolina like Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the American Association of University Women, both of which can be counted on to promote women in government as well as women's issues in healthcare and education.
Then there are all the women right here, right now, that we should be persuading to take on Lindsey Graham. Just a few names come to mind; I'm sure we can put our heads together and think of lots more:
SC Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter from Orangeburg
Linda Ketner, who in 2008 nearly defeated 4-term incumbent Henry Brown for US Congress District 1
Margie Bright Matthews, SC state Senator for District 45
State Senator Mia McLeod from Richmond County,
So, here we are. Do we jump up and down and wave our hands so that our Democratic Party will listen to us? Do we -- both women and men -- insist on being represented equally in government and especially in the Democratic Party?
And most important TODAY, after Lindsey Graham invited us to step up and challenge him, do we find a woman who will fight for us, so that a misogynist like Lindsey will not be holding down that seat and voting against our interests in Congress after 2020?
Write, call, email your state and local Democratic Party. They won't take this step unless it is absolutely clear we will accept no less. Spread the word on Facebook, at home, at work, community meetings.
Finding and supporting a woman to step up and take on Lindsey Graham for Senate in 2020 needs to start now. And it should really be a no-brainer.
It is time for Lindsey to go. And he seems to agree.
 |
| "I hope the American people can see through this sham." |
Friday, August 3, 2018
Leading Without a Clue
Donald Trump thinks we have to show ID's in order to buy groceries. Yes, that is hilarious; it is also just another example of the verbal diarrhea that is Donald Trump. But it also points to something essential to what is wrong with our government, something we have overlooked for far too long.
The people who run our government don't have a clue who we are.
Trump is a perfect example, because he has so completely isolated himself from the real world. When do you think was the last time he bought something on his own? With cash? In public? When was the last time he even walked on a sidewalk in any city, much less down a road in a suburb. For that matter, when was the last time he was driven through one of those towns in which any of us live other than to get to a rally where he pretends to be like us?
And no, I'm not even talking about since he became "president." He was as closely guarded and isolated before he hunkered down in what was once the people's house. Other than his lowly employees, Donald Trump has no friends or associates that come even close to living the life of most Americans. And we should know by now that he only gets close enough to his employees to pick their pockets.
But what of the rest of those elected officials? In 2012, Mitt Romney provided some comic relief when he went grocery shopping, and before that, the elder George Bush was astonished to find that supermarkets had scanners at checkout. Nikki Haley may have known that you don't have to show ID to buy groceries, but she sure as hell doesn't have a clue what it is like to work forty hours or more at minimum wage, or even at median wage, and then go home and cook for a family. And I wonder when was the last time Nikki walked down the street to actually get somewhere, or went out to "run errands." Or rubbed elbows with any of us when it wasn't politically motivated.
Because that is when we see our elected officials. They show up now and then, less so these days, in order to remind us that they are one of us, when they aren't. They show up so we will believe they like us, and respect us, and want to help us, when all they really want is to get re-elected. And then they want us to leave them alone, and they do the same for us in return.
The media is no different. I heard someone (a presumed liberal) on MSNBC this week talk about tariffs and the cost of big cars, and how the added expense wouldn't matter as long as the price of gas remained at "record lows." Obviously spoken by someone who hasn't paid for gas in awhile. The rest of us may not realize that the price of gas began to increase the week after Donald Trump was elected, but we sure as hell know that it has gone up over $1 a gallon since he has taken charge of wrecking our economy.
It is no surprise that republicans don't have a clue what we all go through. They are wined and dined from the moment they are deemed to be political assets. If you have started off as a small business owner, it doesn't take long to get accustomed to the flattery, to living that better life and having others do your bidding. In fact, it feels so good that fear of losing the privilege may begin to outweigh things like doing a good job. And along the way, you begin to think all those people who are bugging you for government freebies are just whiners who don't deserve the handouts the way your real donors do.
That is how we end up with republicans who fight to kill healthcare, food stamps and social security, and with Democrats who will sell us out in the name of "working with the other side." If you think wondering how to make ends meet makes you feel insecure, imagine what it feels like to work in a cushy place like Congress and know you could lose it in two years. Poor things, living a good life that could disappear, know they need to kiss as much big corporate ass as they can for the day when they are no longer able to live off the government.
Of course, that is not how they see things. They don't. What they ignore won't hurt them. Our elected officials learn quickly to listen to those with the deep pockets, who provide them with the bullet points they use to make us feel like they are working for us when they aren't. It even helps them believe they are really, really working for us. When they aren't.
The delusion that fattening the rich will make us all better off has never worked, and yet we keep electing people who keep selling us that fairy tale. Apparently, we want to believe it as much as the politicians, who need to believe it so they can continue to work guilt-free to keep fattening the rich, who keep them just fat enough to stay loyal.
This is just a piece of the problem we have with elected officials who don't represent us. Here in SC, we have two single men (I am tempted to say "white men" because Tim Scott does a great impression) as senators. With their own great government benefits, they weigh in against health care; with no clue as to what it takes to raise children, they tell us what families need to be whole. They don't just opine, they vote: on wages, on contraception, on education, religion, and of course, taxation. Because they are really there to make sure that the rich don't pay taxes and the poor get nothing for free.
Trump is a buffoon, and his comment about needing ID to buy groceries was a moment of fun, but it was actually also a glimpse into where our politicians stand in relation to us: far, far away. From a distance, it makes it so much easier to lie, and cheat, and steal, and justify it with nonsense about what the simple folk do.
The people who run our government don't have a clue who we are.
Trump is a perfect example, because he has so completely isolated himself from the real world. When do you think was the last time he bought something on his own? With cash? In public? When was the last time he even walked on a sidewalk in any city, much less down a road in a suburb. For that matter, when was the last time he was driven through one of those towns in which any of us live other than to get to a rally where he pretends to be like us?
And no, I'm not even talking about since he became "president." He was as closely guarded and isolated before he hunkered down in what was once the people's house. Other than his lowly employees, Donald Trump has no friends or associates that come even close to living the life of most Americans. And we should know by now that he only gets close enough to his employees to pick their pockets.
But what of the rest of those elected officials? In 2012, Mitt Romney provided some comic relief when he went grocery shopping, and before that, the elder George Bush was astonished to find that supermarkets had scanners at checkout. Nikki Haley may have known that you don't have to show ID to buy groceries, but she sure as hell doesn't have a clue what it is like to work forty hours or more at minimum wage, or even at median wage, and then go home and cook for a family. And I wonder when was the last time Nikki walked down the street to actually get somewhere, or went out to "run errands." Or rubbed elbows with any of us when it wasn't politically motivated.
Because that is when we see our elected officials. They show up now and then, less so these days, in order to remind us that they are one of us, when they aren't. They show up so we will believe they like us, and respect us, and want to help us, when all they really want is to get re-elected. And then they want us to leave them alone, and they do the same for us in return.
The media is no different. I heard someone (a presumed liberal) on MSNBC this week talk about tariffs and the cost of big cars, and how the added expense wouldn't matter as long as the price of gas remained at "record lows." Obviously spoken by someone who hasn't paid for gas in awhile. The rest of us may not realize that the price of gas began to increase the week after Donald Trump was elected, but we sure as hell know that it has gone up over $1 a gallon since he has taken charge of wrecking our economy.
It is no surprise that republicans don't have a clue what we all go through. They are wined and dined from the moment they are deemed to be political assets. If you have started off as a small business owner, it doesn't take long to get accustomed to the flattery, to living that better life and having others do your bidding. In fact, it feels so good that fear of losing the privilege may begin to outweigh things like doing a good job. And along the way, you begin to think all those people who are bugging you for government freebies are just whiners who don't deserve the handouts the way your real donors do.
That is how we end up with republicans who fight to kill healthcare, food stamps and social security, and with Democrats who will sell us out in the name of "working with the other side." If you think wondering how to make ends meet makes you feel insecure, imagine what it feels like to work in a cushy place like Congress and know you could lose it in two years. Poor things, living a good life that could disappear, know they need to kiss as much big corporate ass as they can for the day when they are no longer able to live off the government.
Of course, that is not how they see things. They don't. What they ignore won't hurt them. Our elected officials learn quickly to listen to those with the deep pockets, who provide them with the bullet points they use to make us feel like they are working for us when they aren't. It even helps them believe they are really, really working for us. When they aren't.
The delusion that fattening the rich will make us all better off has never worked, and yet we keep electing people who keep selling us that fairy tale. Apparently, we want to believe it as much as the politicians, who need to believe it so they can continue to work guilt-free to keep fattening the rich, who keep them just fat enough to stay loyal.
This is just a piece of the problem we have with elected officials who don't represent us. Here in SC, we have two single men (I am tempted to say "white men" because Tim Scott does a great impression) as senators. With their own great government benefits, they weigh in against health care; with no clue as to what it takes to raise children, they tell us what families need to be whole. They don't just opine, they vote: on wages, on contraception, on education, religion, and of course, taxation. Because they are really there to make sure that the rich don't pay taxes and the poor get nothing for free.
Trump is a buffoon, and his comment about needing ID to buy groceries was a moment of fun, but it was actually also a glimpse into where our politicians stand in relation to us: far, far away. From a distance, it makes it so much easier to lie, and cheat, and steal, and justify it with nonsense about what the simple folk do.
Friday, February 9, 2018
Being Pro-Life
Last week I read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood for the first time. It was published in 1985, and found itself suddenly on the best seller list after the election of Donald Trump. In this dystopian future, corporate greed and science run amok have caused massive infertility. Religious extremists have banned pornography and forced those women who are capable to breed for the higher class of women who are infertile. Ironically, Mary McCarthy reviewed it in the Times in 1986 and found it "powerless to scare." I imagine if I had read it in '85 it would have made me angry. Now that I am older and have an adult daughter, in the era of Trump when every day results in another horrific attack on liberties, it made me enormously sad.
At the same time, I happened upon an essay by Gloria Steinem from 1980 entitled, "If Hitler Were Alive, Whose Side Would He Be On?" Gains by women in the Weimar Republic, increased freedom to work and access to abortion, were immediately eradicated by Hitler. In the U.S. in 1973, Roe v. Wade produced an immediate backlash, with the first anti-abortion law, attacking the poor by denying Medicaid funding for abortion. We have seen that the anti-abortion movement, which never goes away, becomes more fervent whenever women's rights grow. During the Obama presidency, we saw gains in access to contraception along with victories in the fight for employment equality. The Trump backlash, led by old white men like Lindsey Graham, grows in fervor as the women's rights movement has taken on renewed energy, and the #MeToo movement seeks to hold men responsible for sexual assault and harassment.
So here we are in 2018 with minorities and the poor being attacked by the federal government, from DACA to Muslim immigrants, to attempts to do away with the minimum wage. And front and center are the legislative assaults on women's reproductive rights. Right-wing states' rights advocates are pushing federal twenty-week abortion bans, falsely named "pain-capable." Personhood bills are cropping up like kudzu, along with new and improved twisted bills like "dismemberment abortion ban," which would prohibit second trimester abortions. Be horrified but don't be surprised to learn that Trump appointee Scott Lloyd proposed something called an "abortion reversal" in order to stop a teenage detainee from completing an abortion already in progress.
And conservative darling David Brooks weighed in last week, offering his unsolicited advice to Democrats, suggesting that we go along with the twenty-week abortion ban because it affects so few women and we could trade them for something else we wanted to get done, I assume something more important than those few women wrestling with the tragedy of fetal abnormalities.
Under the heading, With Friends Like These...: Bernie Sanders campaigns for an anti-abortion candidate. And in 2018, we in South Carolina have a Democratic candidate for governor who proposes registering pregnant women "so the state can track their offspring and offer services if their children are not thriving." This in a state that refused Medicaid expansion and wants to enforce work rules for anyone seeking public assistance. I shudder to imagine what "services" would be offered.
I have talked ad nauseum about the twenty-week abortion ban, and its basis in false science. I have ranted about a movement that calls itself "pro-life" but opposes health care for all and gun regulation. A movement that claims to be for the family but cheers on the separation and deportation of immigrants.
How did we EVER allow this movement to get away with calling itself "pro-life" anyway? The evil wordsmiths of the right wing have created fabrications of language that would make George Orwell blush. Paul Ryan's "American Health Care Act" was designed to take health care away from millions of Americans. Whenever you hear a republican talk about "gun safety" you can bet they are going to get behind whatever jackass bill the NRA hands them, and that bill will allow (or require) more guns in public places, across state lines, on college campuses, in elementary schools.
And you can bet that they all call themselves "pro-life."
It is time to take back the label "pro-life."
I am pro-life. I believe women and children -- and men for that matter -- should all have good health care. We live in a country of great wealth, that few of us see. Without leaving the Koch brothers homeless we could increase their taxes and provide health care for all.
I am pro-life. I believe that guns and gun owners should be registered, that background checks should be required. I believe that guns do not belong on the streets, and assault weapons do not belong anywhere outside of a licensed shooting range. I believe that police officers as well as children playing in their front yards or attending school as well as someone drinking in a bar deserve the right to be safe from an unstable individual with a gun.
I am pro-life. I believe that women have the right to decide how to care for their bodies, privately and with the advice of a licensed physician. Period. In a country where "a man's home is his castle" and George Zimmerman was allowed to "stand his ground" and shoot an unarmed teenager and collect his gun on the way out of the courtroom, you are NOT allowed to legislate a woman's contraception or pregnancy. There is not an abortion epidemic; there is an epidemic of violence against women, and attacks on reproductive freedom are part of that assault. There is nothing "Christian" about the "Christian right." They more resemble the Taliban than Christianity.
I am pro-life. I respect the right of women to choose to give birth. I completely respect and admire women who choose to give birth despite fetal abnormalities, or other hardship. It takes a strength I don't have, and nobody has the right to make that decision for the pregnant woman. I do not respect those few who have said that they made a mistake by having an abortion, so they choose to prevent other women from making their mistake. Likewise, if there is a God, she/he made it so that if you choose to have an abortion, you get to do it again when you're ready, so stop talking about all the babies we could have had in the world. If I had not had an abortion in 1973, I would not have my two wonderful children today.
There are a lot of different rationales for being anti-abortion. Those billionaires who fund our right-wing legislators mostly don't really care about abortion; they mostly like the distraction it causes while they pillage and plunder workers and the environment. Lindsey Graham knows it is a dog whistle that will keep his right-wing base from championing a more extreme primary opponent and keep the big donors happy.
Right-wing Christians entertain so many twisted rationales for their beliefs that it would be impossible to generalize. Fact free and projected from their own needs and fears, you can find the Rapture Ready, those that believe pregnancy is God's punishment for sex, and those that believe that the fetus is a little tiny baby with an erection that can pleasure itself and feel pain and that is going to be cut up into pieces with full awareness during an abortion. If that latter image horrifies you, that is exactly its intent.
The anti-abortion movement is mostly powered by those who will keep poor and minority women -- and girls -- from being able to determine their own lives. This is why, despite all the moaning about killing babies, these same people oppose free contraception, accurate sexual and reproductive health education in the schools, and health clinics like Planned Parenthood that provide reproductive care apart from abortion. It is the 21st century rendition of keeping them (us) barefoot and in the kitchen.
And this is not just about women. Smart men know that preventing women from controlling their own reproductive lives can throw an entire family into turmoil. Not able to work to their potential. Inadequate time or finances for the rest of the family. The stress of having to live with a pregnancy; the stress of knowing there are options out there, but you have been prohibited from taking them.
In America, we are prohibiting women from options that are available to the rest of the developed world. In Canada, Justin Trudeau has recently reaffirmed his commitment to reproductive rights, despite conservative protest. When we take part in the phony dialogue about when abortion is acceptable, we are agreeing that women are incapable of determining their own paths.
When I was young, Catholics were taking a lot of crap for their large families, and Prescott Bush worked to support Planned Parenthood; later, George H.W. Bush crusaded in Congress for family planning funding. Back then, they knew that unwanted pregnancies were a drain on resources, but now we have a government that believes it is worth the waste to keep the poor struggling. With government assistance cut down to bare bones, a poor woman won't get contraceptive care, and when she gets pregnant, can't get an abortion, so she -- and her child -- will spend their lives living hand to mouth. They won't be able to hold a job much less keep their children well fed and healthy.
Pro-life? Bullshit. It is time to take it back. Time to say: I am pro-choice because I am pro-life.
It is time to stop drawing lines in the sand for pregnant women to struggle with. It is none of your damned business. Embryos and fetuses are not cute little miniature babies. Viability is the false argument that began it all. It doesn't matter if it is viable if it is inside a woman's body. Late term abortions are rare and occur when there are severe fetal anomalies. Only a woman should make that decision. Using science or religion to create legislation to control a woman is unacceptable. We are not incubators.
If you want to save lives, make gun safety laws, provide health care and good education, make sure the poor all have a roof over their heads. Don't invent an epidemic that doesn't exist so that you can win elections.
For those of you who would like to learn more -- and I hope you do -- here are two excellent books:
Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt
Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice by Dr. Willie Parker
At the same time, I happened upon an essay by Gloria Steinem from 1980 entitled, "If Hitler Were Alive, Whose Side Would He Be On?" Gains by women in the Weimar Republic, increased freedom to work and access to abortion, were immediately eradicated by Hitler. In the U.S. in 1973, Roe v. Wade produced an immediate backlash, with the first anti-abortion law, attacking the poor by denying Medicaid funding for abortion. We have seen that the anti-abortion movement, which never goes away, becomes more fervent whenever women's rights grow. During the Obama presidency, we saw gains in access to contraception along with victories in the fight for employment equality. The Trump backlash, led by old white men like Lindsey Graham, grows in fervor as the women's rights movement has taken on renewed energy, and the #MeToo movement seeks to hold men responsible for sexual assault and harassment.
So here we are in 2018 with minorities and the poor being attacked by the federal government, from DACA to Muslim immigrants, to attempts to do away with the minimum wage. And front and center are the legislative assaults on women's reproductive rights. Right-wing states' rights advocates are pushing federal twenty-week abortion bans, falsely named "pain-capable." Personhood bills are cropping up like kudzu, along with new and improved twisted bills like "dismemberment abortion ban," which would prohibit second trimester abortions. Be horrified but don't be surprised to learn that Trump appointee Scott Lloyd proposed something called an "abortion reversal" in order to stop a teenage detainee from completing an abortion already in progress.
And conservative darling David Brooks weighed in last week, offering his unsolicited advice to Democrats, suggesting that we go along with the twenty-week abortion ban because it affects so few women and we could trade them for something else we wanted to get done, I assume something more important than those few women wrestling with the tragedy of fetal abnormalities.
Under the heading, With Friends Like These...: Bernie Sanders campaigns for an anti-abortion candidate. And in 2018, we in South Carolina have a Democratic candidate for governor who proposes registering pregnant women "so the state can track their offspring and offer services if their children are not thriving." This in a state that refused Medicaid expansion and wants to enforce work rules for anyone seeking public assistance. I shudder to imagine what "services" would be offered.
I have talked ad nauseum about the twenty-week abortion ban, and its basis in false science. I have ranted about a movement that calls itself "pro-life" but opposes health care for all and gun regulation. A movement that claims to be for the family but cheers on the separation and deportation of immigrants.
How did we EVER allow this movement to get away with calling itself "pro-life" anyway? The evil wordsmiths of the right wing have created fabrications of language that would make George Orwell blush. Paul Ryan's "American Health Care Act" was designed to take health care away from millions of Americans. Whenever you hear a republican talk about "gun safety" you can bet they are going to get behind whatever jackass bill the NRA hands them, and that bill will allow (or require) more guns in public places, across state lines, on college campuses, in elementary schools.
And you can bet that they all call themselves "pro-life."
It is time to take back the label "pro-life."
I am pro-life. I believe women and children -- and men for that matter -- should all have good health care. We live in a country of great wealth, that few of us see. Without leaving the Koch brothers homeless we could increase their taxes and provide health care for all.
I am pro-life. I believe that guns and gun owners should be registered, that background checks should be required. I believe that guns do not belong on the streets, and assault weapons do not belong anywhere outside of a licensed shooting range. I believe that police officers as well as children playing in their front yards or attending school as well as someone drinking in a bar deserve the right to be safe from an unstable individual with a gun.
I am pro-life. I believe that women have the right to decide how to care for their bodies, privately and with the advice of a licensed physician. Period. In a country where "a man's home is his castle" and George Zimmerman was allowed to "stand his ground" and shoot an unarmed teenager and collect his gun on the way out of the courtroom, you are NOT allowed to legislate a woman's contraception or pregnancy. There is not an abortion epidemic; there is an epidemic of violence against women, and attacks on reproductive freedom are part of that assault. There is nothing "Christian" about the "Christian right." They more resemble the Taliban than Christianity.
I am pro-life. I respect the right of women to choose to give birth. I completely respect and admire women who choose to give birth despite fetal abnormalities, or other hardship. It takes a strength I don't have, and nobody has the right to make that decision for the pregnant woman. I do not respect those few who have said that they made a mistake by having an abortion, so they choose to prevent other women from making their mistake. Likewise, if there is a God, she/he made it so that if you choose to have an abortion, you get to do it again when you're ready, so stop talking about all the babies we could have had in the world. If I had not had an abortion in 1973, I would not have my two wonderful children today.
There are a lot of different rationales for being anti-abortion. Those billionaires who fund our right-wing legislators mostly don't really care about abortion; they mostly like the distraction it causes while they pillage and plunder workers and the environment. Lindsey Graham knows it is a dog whistle that will keep his right-wing base from championing a more extreme primary opponent and keep the big donors happy.
Right-wing Christians entertain so many twisted rationales for their beliefs that it would be impossible to generalize. Fact free and projected from their own needs and fears, you can find the Rapture Ready, those that believe pregnancy is God's punishment for sex, and those that believe that the fetus is a little tiny baby with an erection that can pleasure itself and feel pain and that is going to be cut up into pieces with full awareness during an abortion. If that latter image horrifies you, that is exactly its intent.
The anti-abortion movement is mostly powered by those who will keep poor and minority women -- and girls -- from being able to determine their own lives. This is why, despite all the moaning about killing babies, these same people oppose free contraception, accurate sexual and reproductive health education in the schools, and health clinics like Planned Parenthood that provide reproductive care apart from abortion. It is the 21st century rendition of keeping them (us) barefoot and in the kitchen.
And this is not just about women. Smart men know that preventing women from controlling their own reproductive lives can throw an entire family into turmoil. Not able to work to their potential. Inadequate time or finances for the rest of the family. The stress of having to live with a pregnancy; the stress of knowing there are options out there, but you have been prohibited from taking them.
In America, we are prohibiting women from options that are available to the rest of the developed world. In Canada, Justin Trudeau has recently reaffirmed his commitment to reproductive rights, despite conservative protest. When we take part in the phony dialogue about when abortion is acceptable, we are agreeing that women are incapable of determining their own paths.
When I was young, Catholics were taking a lot of crap for their large families, and Prescott Bush worked to support Planned Parenthood; later, George H.W. Bush crusaded in Congress for family planning funding. Back then, they knew that unwanted pregnancies were a drain on resources, but now we have a government that believes it is worth the waste to keep the poor struggling. With government assistance cut down to bare bones, a poor woman won't get contraceptive care, and when she gets pregnant, can't get an abortion, so she -- and her child -- will spend their lives living hand to mouth. They won't be able to hold a job much less keep their children well fed and healthy.
Pro-life? Bullshit. It is time to take it back. Time to say: I am pro-choice because I am pro-life.
It is time to stop drawing lines in the sand for pregnant women to struggle with. It is none of your damned business. Embryos and fetuses are not cute little miniature babies. Viability is the false argument that began it all. It doesn't matter if it is viable if it is inside a woman's body. Late term abortions are rare and occur when there are severe fetal anomalies. Only a woman should make that decision. Using science or religion to create legislation to control a woman is unacceptable. We are not incubators.
If you want to save lives, make gun safety laws, provide health care and good education, make sure the poor all have a roof over their heads. Don't invent an epidemic that doesn't exist so that you can win elections.
For those of you who would like to learn more -- and I hope you do -- here are two excellent books:
Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt
Monday, May 8, 2017
The Method and Madness of Trumpcare
We should not be surprised that after all the protests, phone calls and town halls, and the first attempt at jamming the AHCA through the House, the bill was resuscitated, bribes were bribed, and it was forced through successfully last week.
We should have known that each and every time a snarky remark was made by a liberal about his failing first 100 days, Trump's determination to win grew. Much as the truly clever and funny jabs that Obama made in 2011 at the White House Correspondent's Dinner set in concrete Donald's determination to run and win the presidency.
It is said that Donald Trump has no understanding of the complexities of health care... by Donald himself in fact. And he really does not care, any more than he cares about refugees or American workers. He wants to be liked, and he wants to win. He would rather be liked by rich and powerful people than by disgruntled Americans, but if the latter can help him do the bidding of the former, he will say whatever he needs to say to get there.
One of the groups of peons that Trump has courted successfully is the republican Congress. Don't laugh. They may be a lot richer than the rest of us, but they aren't in the same league as the Kochs or Vladimir Putin. They are just rich enough to be insecure about keeping that wealth. They are just rich enough to know that losing could be just around the corner. In other words, except for the money, they are a lot like the middle class Trump supporter.
Ryan and McConnell and their cronies want nothing more than to be in the club, and Donald Trump can smell that vulnerability. When he bused all those senators to the White House for that meeting on North Korea, it had all the makings of a Trump sales pitch. Inviting a group of powerful people to "his" house is to Trump like inviting the Chinese president to share his delicious chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago. It puts the power in his hands.
Imagine his surprise when even republican senators were unimpressed.
Donald Trump is a man of limited intellect but a craving for attention and approval that has created a finely-honed instinct for manipulating others. Of course, he couldn't have done it without his father's wealth and influence, but what he developed has worked quite well for him in his businesses -- even when he lost he made sure he won, regardless of who he had to throw under the bus to do it.
What looks like erratic behavior is really a pattern of responses that is coming to be fairly predictable: assumption of success; disbelief followed by rage -- insults and attacks; withdrawing briefly to regroup; followed by approach and flattery; and then the deal.
He has done this with each of his primary opponents, with the media, with foreign leaders, and now with Congress.
But he is finding that he is playing in a different league these days. Even psycho leaders like Duterte of the Philippines are offering fairly lame excuses to avoid looking like they want to be seen associating with our own psycho leader. And he was brushed off by the inaptly named Freedom Caucus, the group formerly known as the Tea Party, when he tried to prod them into the original AHCA bill.
Like a rat learning to press the lever to get another rice krispie, however, Trump is a good learner. He knew how to get Paul Ryan to be his House lapdog, and it didn't take that much more wheeling and dealing to sell the really bad health insurance bill to the people that were actually looking for really bad health insurance to pawn off on the American people.
But that group of people in Congress who are just insecure enough that they will work with Trump to get what they need don't mind throwing him under the bus either. So what we all tried to call "RyanCare" is now "TrumpCare." And the republicans who have been at the art of the political dirty deal far longer than Trump, have laid the ground work for laying the blame on him AND gotten their nasty piece of legislation passed.
There are a couple of important factors here, things we need to keep front and center as we watch -- and even try to influence -- the outcome of this struggle.
First of all, we need to stop pretending that the Senate is that much more grown up and responsible than the House. They are mostly smarter, and definitely shrewder, than their wacky counterparts, but they are still rabid about success, and equally insecure about their futures. They are in the pockets of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, but because they can't count on guaranteed gerrymandered districts, they have to pretend to be listening to and working for all their constituents.
We in South Carolina have learned the hard way to never make the mistake of assuming that Lindsey Graham is on our side. He is on Lindsey Graham's side, the side of the right wing, whether it be religious or corporate. He was tickled that he could vote Neil Gorsuch onto the Supreme Court, and did whatever mental maneuvers were necessary to defend his desires. This is true of Mitch McConnell, Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, and all the other folks that have been bought by corporate money.
And that leads us back to Trumpcare. It is a truly egregious scheme, a tax cut for the really wealthy that takes health care away from pregnant women, cancer patients and sick children. But in that, it is not much different than what has been happening to workers and education since the 80's, and what will be happening to our environment. Every piece of which will make us sicker, less able to care for ourselves and our families, and less able to fight the plutocratic oligarchy that has managed to lie, cheat and steal their way into Washington.
The irony is, you can call it Trumpcare, but Trump doesn't care. Ryan and the rest of the right-wingnuts are looking for continued wealth and security. But the joke is on them. The only ones Trump cares about are Trumps. And every single damn thing he has done since he came into office has profited the Trumps. That is the other thing we need to keep remembering to keep our eyes on.
Talk about the art of your deal made in hell.
We should have known that each and every time a snarky remark was made by a liberal about his failing first 100 days, Trump's determination to win grew. Much as the truly clever and funny jabs that Obama made in 2011 at the White House Correspondent's Dinner set in concrete Donald's determination to run and win the presidency.
It is said that Donald Trump has no understanding of the complexities of health care... by Donald himself in fact. And he really does not care, any more than he cares about refugees or American workers. He wants to be liked, and he wants to win. He would rather be liked by rich and powerful people than by disgruntled Americans, but if the latter can help him do the bidding of the former, he will say whatever he needs to say to get there.
One of the groups of peons that Trump has courted successfully is the republican Congress. Don't laugh. They may be a lot richer than the rest of us, but they aren't in the same league as the Kochs or Vladimir Putin. They are just rich enough to be insecure about keeping that wealth. They are just rich enough to know that losing could be just around the corner. In other words, except for the money, they are a lot like the middle class Trump supporter.
Ryan and McConnell and their cronies want nothing more than to be in the club, and Donald Trump can smell that vulnerability. When he bused all those senators to the White House for that meeting on North Korea, it had all the makings of a Trump sales pitch. Inviting a group of powerful people to "his" house is to Trump like inviting the Chinese president to share his delicious chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago. It puts the power in his hands.
Imagine his surprise when even republican senators were unimpressed.
Donald Trump is a man of limited intellect but a craving for attention and approval that has created a finely-honed instinct for manipulating others. Of course, he couldn't have done it without his father's wealth and influence, but what he developed has worked quite well for him in his businesses -- even when he lost he made sure he won, regardless of who he had to throw under the bus to do it.
What looks like erratic behavior is really a pattern of responses that is coming to be fairly predictable: assumption of success; disbelief followed by rage -- insults and attacks; withdrawing briefly to regroup; followed by approach and flattery; and then the deal.
He has done this with each of his primary opponents, with the media, with foreign leaders, and now with Congress.
But he is finding that he is playing in a different league these days. Even psycho leaders like Duterte of the Philippines are offering fairly lame excuses to avoid looking like they want to be seen associating with our own psycho leader. And he was brushed off by the inaptly named Freedom Caucus, the group formerly known as the Tea Party, when he tried to prod them into the original AHCA bill.
Like a rat learning to press the lever to get another rice krispie, however, Trump is a good learner. He knew how to get Paul Ryan to be his House lapdog, and it didn't take that much more wheeling and dealing to sell the really bad health insurance bill to the people that were actually looking for really bad health insurance to pawn off on the American people.
But that group of people in Congress who are just insecure enough that they will work with Trump to get what they need don't mind throwing him under the bus either. So what we all tried to call "RyanCare" is now "TrumpCare." And the republicans who have been at the art of the political dirty deal far longer than Trump, have laid the ground work for laying the blame on him AND gotten their nasty piece of legislation passed.
There are a couple of important factors here, things we need to keep front and center as we watch -- and even try to influence -- the outcome of this struggle.
First of all, we need to stop pretending that the Senate is that much more grown up and responsible than the House. They are mostly smarter, and definitely shrewder, than their wacky counterparts, but they are still rabid about success, and equally insecure about their futures. They are in the pockets of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, but because they can't count on guaranteed gerrymandered districts, they have to pretend to be listening to and working for all their constituents.
We in South Carolina have learned the hard way to never make the mistake of assuming that Lindsey Graham is on our side. He is on Lindsey Graham's side, the side of the right wing, whether it be religious or corporate. He was tickled that he could vote Neil Gorsuch onto the Supreme Court, and did whatever mental maneuvers were necessary to defend his desires. This is true of Mitch McConnell, Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, and all the other folks that have been bought by corporate money.
And that leads us back to Trumpcare. It is a truly egregious scheme, a tax cut for the really wealthy that takes health care away from pregnant women, cancer patients and sick children. But in that, it is not much different than what has been happening to workers and education since the 80's, and what will be happening to our environment. Every piece of which will make us sicker, less able to care for ourselves and our families, and less able to fight the plutocratic oligarchy that has managed to lie, cheat and steal their way into Washington.
The irony is, you can call it Trumpcare, but Trump doesn't care. Ryan and the rest of the right-wingnuts are looking for continued wealth and security. But the joke is on them. The only ones Trump cares about are Trumps. And every single damn thing he has done since he came into office has profited the Trumps. That is the other thing we need to keep remembering to keep our eyes on.
Talk about the art of your deal made in hell.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Playing at the Town Hall
One thing you can say about our own Lindsey Graham is
that he is having a good ole time. I
watched all I could tolerate of his performance at his town hall on April 1,
about a half hour. Of the two of us, he
was the only one really enjoying himself.
He knew he was being televised, and he had a full house,
in a way a captive audience at his mercy.
Which I must say was a pretty clever turnaround after all the
legislators who have been caught as though running red-handed from a crime
scene. Which they pretty much were,
given the horrendous acts they had committed on their constituents over the
past years.
Anyway, the thing about Lindsey is that he does a smooth
transition, back and forth, from a level headed, rational person to a rabid
right wingnut. Likewise, his strut
across the stage and his ready laugh go from charming to a bit maniacal.
What he did on Saturday was maintain control even in the
face of a furious, fed up audience. They
were actually constituents, but he sure made it feel like they were an
audience.
He started off with
Russia. Russia was easy. I could tell he knew he nailed it with the
audience, because we all know that Russia is the bad guy. Trump was another easy one, because by now we
all have shorthand for what we think of him, and we knew he agreed. And that even though he hoped the Senate
could do a sound investigation, the most important thing was not to get in the
way of the FBI.
Once he got us all warmed up he tossed the bucket of cold
water at us. Gorsuch. He’s been playing that tune since the
nomination. Lindsey Graham LOVES Neil
Gorsuch. How could he not? Gorsuch is as slick as they come – as I
learned to say in the South, he cleans up real good. But underneath that well-dressed white haired
dignified suit of armor is an angry, mean control freak. Gorsuch is going to act out every damn thing
Graham can only dream of. He will
consistently rule for corporations, which I don’t even think is the most
important issue for Graham. More
important, he will take down women, dashing any hope for reproductive rights,
worker rights, and basically, self-determination here in the 21st
century.
Because Lindsey truly has a thing about women. He could be reasonable about Obama, but when
it comes to Hillary, his hatred is visceral.
And lately, you can see it in his eyes when he talks about Susan
Rice. Women in power. Competent women.
So when those types of issues come up, that’s when we see
crazy Lindsey. That’s when facts fly out
the window. I believe this is why his
defense of Gorsuch on Saturday was so shrill.
As though he had no idea that the nominee was even more right-wing than
Scalia, he told the group that if they couldn’t see how qualified Gorsuch is
then “you are blinded by your own partisanship.” And that our problem with Gorsuch was
entirely to do with Trump (and not Merrick Garland): “You want to set the election aside because
you can’t accept the results – that’s your problem,” adding, inevitably, that
Trump is being investigated by the FBI, big deal, “so was Hillary Clinton.” And of course, bringing up the made-up “Biden
rule,” as though he has so much respect for Biden’s philosophy that he would
follow him anywhere.
After that things went downhill.
There was the usual “Obamacare is failing,” followed by
the very strange accusation that the ACA “was not designed to get us health
care but to get single payer through the back door.” A truly through-the-looking-glass moment as I
recalled progressives’ anger at Obama, who had not just omitted the possibility
of single-payer altogether, but also did away with a “public option” at the
polite request of the insurance industry.
When that idiocy brought about some loud boos, he laughed
and said, “Good fun! This is better than
going to the Flower Show.” And proceeded
to tell folks that if they like single payer, well, Canada has it. And if we
want his insurance we can join the military, apparently believing that his stint in the military is what makes him deserving of government health care, and not just being an American.
Adding that the VA system is a failure not because it does not have the
funding to streamline and have more doctors, but because it is a monopoly. Ending with a fantastical suggestion for
improving health care with a combination of managed care for people of high
risk (anybody remember the abomination known as managed care?), tax credits,
and allowing sales across state lines.
Done and done. Everybody insured.
About Betsy DeVos:
“She has spent most of her life working on alternatives to failing
schools.” The alternative being taking
money out of public schools to profit private schools.
Around about that time, Graham had a brief attack of
sanity. Regarding social security and
medicare, he offered that those with high incomes, like himself, should pay
more, take less. But then came the trade-off: We should all be willing to raise the retirement and Medicare ages.
Now this has been a bee in Lindsey's bonnet for a very long time. Way back in 2011, I made an ad for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee pleading with Lindsey not to change the social security retirement age. It was actually featured on Keith Olbermann's Countdown; it was my fifteen minutes of fame and a truly proud moment.
Point being, that Lindsey is so out of touch with his constituents that he has no clue how many of us finally retire with aches and pains and actual disabilities at age 62, or force ourselves to work to age 66. He has dismissed us whiners by saying we can just apply for disability, as though his gang of criminals has made it real easy for people who are hurting to cash in. He has no idea how, thanks to folks on his side of the aisle, Medicare has been chipped and hacked at until it requires costly private supplements, another boon for the insurance industry. I don't know how people survived before the pharmaceutical boondoggle known as Medicare Part D, but the way it stands now, with the drug plan, we are all in a position where cutting meds in half or living without them -- or not -- is a real option.
And then there is Planned Parenthood, where Lindsey has his final split from reality. Again, a woman thing. He doesn't much care about facts at this point, saying that the debate about funding "is about providing abortion services."
Lindsey is not an idiot. He knows the government does not pay for abortion services -- although they damn well should -- yet he contends that this is the crux of the issue. And this sometimes rational legislator is willing to not just vote for, but support cutting a truly essential source of women's reproductive health care because they also do abortions. Like his blind spot with Hillary, the thought of women making their own choices about their bodies brings him to near Trump-level irrationality.
And I am just sick to death of having these unmarried old white guys obsessing over control of women's bodies.
But we are indeed left with crazy Uncle Lindsey. He might toss you a quarter, but then you have to listen to him rant about Hillary and abortion if you want to keep it. Unlike the other unmarried right wingnut who "represents" South Carolina in the Senate, at least Lindsey's head clears every once in awhile. Is it good enough?
Graham has fought off challenges from the right. He has lately blown away what the state Democratic Party seemed to think was its best chance, a challenger with the all the right stands on the issues, but one who was outmatched in the ability to take center stage.
Invincible? I'm afraid it would take lots of money and a candidate brimming with personality and chutzpah, who could talk to the folks as though they were having barbecue and beer, and damned, knew what they were going through with that dad-gum gub'mint and was shore gonna fix it. Somebody who could make even a thick-headed southerner admit that they didn't want their nutty next-door neighbor carrying a gun, or their teenage daughter having to have a baby when that nasty boy she was with got her knocked up.
That would surely do it. And there's somebody out there just dying to step up.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Living with Tim Scott's Bad Choices
Up till now, the secret to Tim Scott's success has been knowing what side his bread is buttered on. And that side is not the side he grew up on, but that of the well-heeled capitalists who have found the perfect African-American republican. Little white haired southern ladies love him, and all those rich old white guys know he will fight for them, from the right to bear arms to the right to run roughshod over the environment.
Scott isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but unlike the republican candidate for president, he takes instruction well. He believes in the republican dream, because it has worked for him. So he can't see why it can't work for any black man in America. All you have to do is work hard and suck up to the right... well, the right. He jumped on the Tea Party bandwagon and it took him right to Washington, and then he sidled up to Nikki Haley, and sure enough, it took him out of the House of Representatives and into the Senate.
He was fortunate in that he did not have big intellectual shoes to fill in the Senate. Jim duh-Mint may not have had anything going on as far as critical thinking skills, but like Tim, he knew where the power lay, and he learned the words to their song. DeMint and Scott can recite the lines to the Tea Party Manifesto and they believe every word of it. Because fortune has, as the Reagan bunch promised in 1980, trickled down to them.
Like, DeMint, Scott talks a good story about his hardscrabble childhood, and for Tim it really was; no Andy Griffith's Mayberry for Tim Scott. And as with so many who have worked hard and succeeded, they believe that those who don't succeed have no one to blame but themselves and the government. In their minds, the government that gave DeMint and Scott an awfully good wage and benefits package is preventing the poor from finding success by helping them survive.
Scott doesn't come out too often and say that the poor should be dropped on their heads and left to fend for themselves. Instead, he has succeeded by using the right-wing trick of attacking those who are trying to help. Make Obama the bad guy and nobody will see those members of Congress who have been blocking any attempt to move the country forward. Blame the president for Guantanamo Bay while Scott helped prevent any reasonable solution from finding its way into the debate. And of course, make his constituents afraid and angry.
Remember ebola? Tim Scott was front and center demanding that the government ban travel from affected countries. No so much in the lead when it came to research and aid. And, as with every other message from Scott regarding any problem anywhere in the country, he blamed the Obama administration for the government's response, whatever it would be.
Now, with the Zika virus, Scott and his hare-brained right-wing colleagues offer up a bill to provide funds for research. Really??? Check it out. Carefully. Because when right-wing politicians tell you the government is going to help, it is really is time to lock up your valuables. Because first of all, that bill would waive the Clean Water Act to allow for spraying -- when your kids get sick from the chemicals Scott will blame the president, by the time cancer rates have risen he will be on some private corporate payroll. And here is the capper: sandwiched in the middle of his description of the bill are the words: "Offset this spending." What he fails to mention is that Zika spending will be offset by ebola funds.
Pretty slick, and certainly not dreamed up in Tim Scott's small brain. He is merely barfing up republican talking points. The way our current republican presidential nominee has been forced from time to time to regurgitate words dictated by his republican colleagues.
And while politicians like Senate colleague Lindsey Graham who are more secure in their own shoes are speaking out against the diseased mind of Donald Trump, Tim Scott is all in. He will support Trump in spite of racist attacks and unconstitutional proposals, because Tim Scott can't say no to the republican party. That is where his bread has been buttered, and he hasn't noticed that when buttered bread lands on the floor, it always lands face down.
This is a really good time for South Carolinians to take a look at Scott's Democratic opponent, Thomas Dixon.
Video thanks to Elaine Cooper
Dixon understands what we need from our government because, as he says,
"I was part of the problem for a long time. I was the person who was so wrapped around me and caught up in me that whatever hurt anybody else didn't matter to me.
But one day I woke up."Dixon woke up. And that is why today he fights for human rights. The right to be safe from gun violence. The right to earn a living wage. The right to love whom you choose. A woman's right to make her own reproductive choices, privately. The right of veterans and seniors to live in security. The right to healthcare for all.
Tim Scott may have had it rough when he was young. But he was bought out with promises of success, and every time he votes against those who need his help he realizes that success. So he is not going to wake up.
And that is why we need to support Thomas Dixon for Senate. His supporters don't have deep pockets like those of Tim Scott, but that is exactly why we need him to represent us. And we may not have a fortune, but we can send him our small donations, and we can vote just as well as the well-heeled.
So please spread the word about Thomas Dixon, and help elect him to the Senate in November. Tim Scott, like Jim DeMint, will do just fine in the private sector. And we will do just fine with him gone, and Thomas Dixon taking that seat.
Thomas Dixon
for
U.S. Senate
Saturday, July 30, 2016
The Melania Problem
When I'm on vacation I turn off politics, but I learned too late that both republicans and Democrats scheduled their conventions at the exact same time that I would be away. How rude.
Anticipating high -- and low -- times at the conventions, I made an exception to my usual no-politics rule. I informed friends and family of my plans and all were gracious about sneak peaks (republican) and full-on binging (Democrat).
On Monday night, we shared the reaction of the American viewers over Melania Trump's speech: wow, she can use words to form actual rational thoughts. A nice break from her husband, many of us agreed. And with that low bar easily breached, there was a newfound respect for the candidate's wife (excuse me if I DO NOT say "potential first lady").
And then we tuned in the next morning. Could it be that the Democrats were exaggerating when they said "plagiarism?" But no. There were the actual videos of Michelle's speech juxtaposed with Melania's.
Hilarious, right? Even better than Donald coming onstage through the mist -- or was it steam?
But as the week went on, and was proceeded by the truly professional, intelligent and exciting performances during the Democratic convention, I had some thoughts about how we had reacted to Melania, and what it all means.
We didn't expect her to sound intelligent. Beautiful (at least in the fashion world) and intelligent, and Trump's wife? How did that happen? And then, as the plagiarism was discovered and the Trump forces scurried around trying to get rid of the problem, many of us just accepted that Melania was an unwitting dupe. But was she?
Melania Trump did not just starve and learn how to apply makeup. She came from Slovenia for goodness' sake, got as far as college, became a successful model, and ended up the wife of a wealthy and powerful real estate mogul. This took quite a bit more than fashion sense.
In Melania's world, the rules may be different than in the world most of us Americans know. I imagine she had to be scrappy and tough. She had to compete with other beautiful women. She needed to not just learn the rules, but learn how to stretch them, how to test limits. She needed to watch, closely, what others like her were doing, and she needed to take what worked and run with it.
In retrospect, it would not surprise me if Melania herself studied Michelle's words, from the speech that she gave at the same moment in her history. Doubtless she saw Michelle as the epitome of what a presidential candidate's wife should be, based not only on the speech itself, but on the world's reaction to it, and in Michelle's successes and popularity as a first lady.
I am saying that we should give credit to Melania for having a mind of her own, and one that got her far.
Where Melania went wrong is the same place that Donald has gone terribly wrong. The rules that worked in the game that they had been playing don't work in this one. Up till now, nobody checked Donald's lies. Bullying and name calling won high ratings, sponsorship deals and fortune. People seldom looked behind the name "Trump" to find the con man. If they did, it didn't matter, because there were always more chumps to rip off.
But after a year and then some of letting Donald spout his ugliness, mock his opponents, and make claims to dubious success, there is a new game. This time the people he has taken on are smarter. They know the rules. And they won't be bullied.
The media, pushed around and insulted, are now confronting him with inconsistencies. Democrats -- and those republicans who possess a moral compass -- are calling him on his anti-American rhetoric, his threats to the constitution, and his attacks on the American people.
Last week, even Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell, who love to play the game my husband would call, "Let's you and them fight," stood up and drew accurate contrasts between the Trump and Hillary. And I must say that to date, our own Lindsey Graham continues to refuse to endorse Donald Trump.
I imagine it must be hard for Paul Ryan to sleep these days because he thought that what Donald Trump wanted was the presidency, and that he would do whatever he was told to do to gain it. And then it was just a matter of telling him what to do when he got there. But he is reminded, over and over, that Donald Trump is playing a different game. He will take from Ryan and the other republicans who are tagging along, and, when all is said and done, stomp them out.
When Melania plagiarized Michelle, she hadn't realized the game had changed. Donald hasn't realized it either. And as it goes with bullies, when they are backed into a corner by righteousness, reason and fearlessness, he will either quit or come apart; we will see Donald Trump come unglued on the national political stage.
And then, in November, if this is the America I think it is, he will return to his golden walls and reality shows, leaving us all a bit wiser and a great deal more relieved.
Anticipating high -- and low -- times at the conventions, I made an exception to my usual no-politics rule. I informed friends and family of my plans and all were gracious about sneak peaks (republican) and full-on binging (Democrat).
On Monday night, we shared the reaction of the American viewers over Melania Trump's speech: wow, she can use words to form actual rational thoughts. A nice break from her husband, many of us agreed. And with that low bar easily breached, there was a newfound respect for the candidate's wife (excuse me if I DO NOT say "potential first lady").
And then we tuned in the next morning. Could it be that the Democrats were exaggerating when they said "plagiarism?" But no. There were the actual videos of Michelle's speech juxtaposed with Melania's.
Hilarious, right? Even better than Donald coming onstage through the mist -- or was it steam?
But as the week went on, and was proceeded by the truly professional, intelligent and exciting performances during the Democratic convention, I had some thoughts about how we had reacted to Melania, and what it all means.
We didn't expect her to sound intelligent. Beautiful (at least in the fashion world) and intelligent, and Trump's wife? How did that happen? And then, as the plagiarism was discovered and the Trump forces scurried around trying to get rid of the problem, many of us just accepted that Melania was an unwitting dupe. But was she?
Melania Trump did not just starve and learn how to apply makeup. She came from Slovenia for goodness' sake, got as far as college, became a successful model, and ended up the wife of a wealthy and powerful real estate mogul. This took quite a bit more than fashion sense.
In Melania's world, the rules may be different than in the world most of us Americans know. I imagine she had to be scrappy and tough. She had to compete with other beautiful women. She needed to not just learn the rules, but learn how to stretch them, how to test limits. She needed to watch, closely, what others like her were doing, and she needed to take what worked and run with it.
In retrospect, it would not surprise me if Melania herself studied Michelle's words, from the speech that she gave at the same moment in her history. Doubtless she saw Michelle as the epitome of what a presidential candidate's wife should be, based not only on the speech itself, but on the world's reaction to it, and in Michelle's successes and popularity as a first lady.
I am saying that we should give credit to Melania for having a mind of her own, and one that got her far.
Where Melania went wrong is the same place that Donald has gone terribly wrong. The rules that worked in the game that they had been playing don't work in this one. Up till now, nobody checked Donald's lies. Bullying and name calling won high ratings, sponsorship deals and fortune. People seldom looked behind the name "Trump" to find the con man. If they did, it didn't matter, because there were always more chumps to rip off.
But after a year and then some of letting Donald spout his ugliness, mock his opponents, and make claims to dubious success, there is a new game. This time the people he has taken on are smarter. They know the rules. And they won't be bullied.
The media, pushed around and insulted, are now confronting him with inconsistencies. Democrats -- and those republicans who possess a moral compass -- are calling him on his anti-American rhetoric, his threats to the constitution, and his attacks on the American people.
Last week, even Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell, who love to play the game my husband would call, "Let's you and them fight," stood up and drew accurate contrasts between the Trump and Hillary. And I must say that to date, our own Lindsey Graham continues to refuse to endorse Donald Trump.
I imagine it must be hard for Paul Ryan to sleep these days because he thought that what Donald Trump wanted was the presidency, and that he would do whatever he was told to do to gain it. And then it was just a matter of telling him what to do when he got there. But he is reminded, over and over, that Donald Trump is playing a different game. He will take from Ryan and the other republicans who are tagging along, and, when all is said and done, stomp them out.
When Melania plagiarized Michelle, she hadn't realized the game had changed. Donald hasn't realized it either. And as it goes with bullies, when they are backed into a corner by righteousness, reason and fearlessness, he will either quit or come apart; we will see Donald Trump come unglued on the national political stage.
And then, in November, if this is the America I think it is, he will return to his golden walls and reality shows, leaving us all a bit wiser and a great deal more relieved.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Gun Safety v. Gun Control
As I updated my legislative tracking list yesterday, I cheered because a few of our Democratic leaders in South Carolina are loading up the House and Senate with gun bills. But I grimaced every time I entered the preferred term "gun safety" rather than "gun control."
We Dems don't much like to fight. We operate under the delusion that if we frame what we are doing in more peaceable terms, our opponents will look thoughtful, shrug and then say, "Well, then, I never thought of it that way."
Meanwhile, republican wingnuts (pardon my redundancy), harbor no such concerns about our feelings when they are talking about gun "freedom." The same holds true when they proudly claim that they are "anti-abortion" as opposed to our gentler "pro-choice."
This is a battle of words, but the words represent how strongly we feel about going to war. There is a reason that while my car is laden with political bumper stickers, I have passed up the opportunity to advertise my gun control sentiments. The reason is twofold: those who disagree are more willing to fight over it, and they are armed.
It is a good thing that we have legislators like Marlon Kimpson in the Senate and Wendell Gilliard in the House that are ready to stand up against the legislators who have drunk the NRA cool-aid that is killing off so many innocent people. It is going to take not just a slew of bills, but it is going to take courageous co-sponsors, and it is going to take South Carolinians who are willing to yell louder and and yell every day until those bills are passed.
We need to stop worrying about what to call it, and how it will affect gun owners. We have had enough polls showing that sane gun owners, including NRA members, want gun control. They want licensing, background checks, waiting periods, and controls on what type of weapons are for sale. The lunatics that are afraid that Obama is coming after their guns, that yell about Second Amendment rights without a clue about the meaning or history of the Constitution, are not going to be swayed by reasoned, gentler language. They are bullies, and they are bullies with guns. The way to stop a bully is through a show of strength and through fearlessness -- and I don't mean bigger bullets.
When someone rants about taking his (or her) gun away, I am tempted to point out that "you are exactly the type of person who should not own a gun." Fact. If you have irrational fears and anger issues, you shouldn't have a gun. The shootings we have been subject to on a daily basis, whether mass shootings, terrorist attacks, gangbangers or paranoid or depressed loners, have gone on too long. The rage and fear has been stoked by politicians who are bought by the NRA who exists solely for the arms manufacturers. Lindsey Graham and Lee Bright, and all in their club, bear responsibility for what is going on in this country. Their constant and unreasoned criticism of our country, their insistence that we are in danger and our national government is not doing anything about it, their targeting groups based on race, sex, sexual orientation, all feed the mob.
We need strong language, fearless language, and a determination not to stop fighting. So join the lawmakers who have stepped up to fight this fight. Letters to the editor, calls, emails, talking to friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, posting on social media -- the only way to stop a bully with a gun is to take away the gun.
And here is a PS: we need bills that will carry penalties for individuals whose carelessness has left guns in the wrong hands. Too many toddlers getting killed playing with their dad's weapon. Painting toy guns pretty colors isn't going to do it.
We Dems don't much like to fight. We operate under the delusion that if we frame what we are doing in more peaceable terms, our opponents will look thoughtful, shrug and then say, "Well, then, I never thought of it that way."
Meanwhile, republican wingnuts (pardon my redundancy), harbor no such concerns about our feelings when they are talking about gun "freedom." The same holds true when they proudly claim that they are "anti-abortion" as opposed to our gentler "pro-choice."
This is a battle of words, but the words represent how strongly we feel about going to war. There is a reason that while my car is laden with political bumper stickers, I have passed up the opportunity to advertise my gun control sentiments. The reason is twofold: those who disagree are more willing to fight over it, and they are armed.
It is a good thing that we have legislators like Marlon Kimpson in the Senate and Wendell Gilliard in the House that are ready to stand up against the legislators who have drunk the NRA cool-aid that is killing off so many innocent people. It is going to take not just a slew of bills, but it is going to take courageous co-sponsors, and it is going to take South Carolinians who are willing to yell louder and and yell every day until those bills are passed.
We need to stop worrying about what to call it, and how it will affect gun owners. We have had enough polls showing that sane gun owners, including NRA members, want gun control. They want licensing, background checks, waiting periods, and controls on what type of weapons are for sale. The lunatics that are afraid that Obama is coming after their guns, that yell about Second Amendment rights without a clue about the meaning or history of the Constitution, are not going to be swayed by reasoned, gentler language. They are bullies, and they are bullies with guns. The way to stop a bully is through a show of strength and through fearlessness -- and I don't mean bigger bullets.
When someone rants about taking his (or her) gun away, I am tempted to point out that "you are exactly the type of person who should not own a gun." Fact. If you have irrational fears and anger issues, you shouldn't have a gun. The shootings we have been subject to on a daily basis, whether mass shootings, terrorist attacks, gangbangers or paranoid or depressed loners, have gone on too long. The rage and fear has been stoked by politicians who are bought by the NRA who exists solely for the arms manufacturers. Lindsey Graham and Lee Bright, and all in their club, bear responsibility for what is going on in this country. Their constant and unreasoned criticism of our country, their insistence that we are in danger and our national government is not doing anything about it, their targeting groups based on race, sex, sexual orientation, all feed the mob.
We need strong language, fearless language, and a determination not to stop fighting. So join the lawmakers who have stepped up to fight this fight. Letters to the editor, calls, emails, talking to friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, posting on social media -- the only way to stop a bully with a gun is to take away the gun.
And here is a PS: we need bills that will carry penalties for individuals whose carelessness has left guns in the wrong hands. Too many toddlers getting killed playing with their dad's weapon. Painting toy guns pretty colors isn't going to do it.
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Seniors, Tighten Your Belts (Again)
Once again, the republicans in Congress have decided that those who are trying to eke out a subsistence have got to try a little harder. Just as Nikki Haley will give away millions to big corporations but wants to make sure each struggling artist or eBay seller pays taxes on their labors, the US Congress is determined not to let anyone who is not a millionaire catch a break.
Hence the decision to withhold the annual COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) to seniors and veterans. Their rationale is the decline in the price of gas. So if you have been able to catch some relief at the gas pumps, our republican Uncle Scrooges are going to make sure we make up for it elsewhere.
The formula they use is based on the cost of living for a portion of the general public, not seniors, who are spend less money on gas than the public as a whole. What they will be spending more money on in these years of extreme heat and extreme cold is heating fuel and electricity. They will spend more money on medical bills (The affordable care available through Obamacare is NOT available to those 66 and over; Medicare may once have been affordable, but republicans have been chipping away at those benefits for decades.). Those who have a car will see car insurance increase and will pay for costly repairs on older cars; housing -- insurance, maintenance, rental costs -- none of those are going down.
Meanwhile, Congress continues to allow corporations to deduct raises for CEO pay in an egregious tax loophole. CEO's with an annual income of $16 million on average will be seeing raises of 3.9% this year, and those raises will be subsidized by the taxpayer.
Elizabeth Warren explains this large piece of legislative hypocrisy far better than I could:
This is why Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are cosponsoring a bill that would close that corporate loophole, and use the tax income derived from it for a one-time payout to social security recipients and veterans to cover what they would have gotten from a COLA.
The problem, of course, is that our republican Congress, squealing over government waste and entitlements, is unlikely to pass a bill that would close a loophole for their corporate constituents. But we can let them know we know what they are up to. We can make our voices heard and insist that they pass this Senate bill. We can let our friends, families and coworkers know that seniors are struggling without a COLA this year while CEO millionaires and billionaires are getting a tax-deductible raise.
We can write and call our legislators, Graham and Scott. We can write letters to the editor telling our legislators to stop cutting senior and veterans benefits while pandering to wealthy CEO's. We can tell them to support the SAVE Benefits Act.
Let's make it hard for them to ignore us. And let's also let their hypocrisy be known.
Hence the decision to withhold the annual COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) to seniors and veterans. Their rationale is the decline in the price of gas. So if you have been able to catch some relief at the gas pumps, our republican Uncle Scrooges are going to make sure we make up for it elsewhere.
The formula they use is based on the cost of living for a portion of the general public, not seniors, who are spend less money on gas than the public as a whole. What they will be spending more money on in these years of extreme heat and extreme cold is heating fuel and electricity. They will spend more money on medical bills (The affordable care available through Obamacare is NOT available to those 66 and over; Medicare may once have been affordable, but republicans have been chipping away at those benefits for decades.). Those who have a car will see car insurance increase and will pay for costly repairs on older cars; housing -- insurance, maintenance, rental costs -- none of those are going down.
Meanwhile, Congress continues to allow corporations to deduct raises for CEO pay in an egregious tax loophole. CEO's with an annual income of $16 million on average will be seeing raises of 3.9% this year, and those raises will be subsidized by the taxpayer.
Elizabeth Warren explains this large piece of legislative hypocrisy far better than I could:
This is why Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are cosponsoring a bill that would close that corporate loophole, and use the tax income derived from it for a one-time payout to social security recipients and veterans to cover what they would have gotten from a COLA.
The problem, of course, is that our republican Congress, squealing over government waste and entitlements, is unlikely to pass a bill that would close a loophole for their corporate constituents. But we can let them know we know what they are up to. We can make our voices heard and insist that they pass this Senate bill. We can let our friends, families and coworkers know that seniors are struggling without a COLA this year while CEO millionaires and billionaires are getting a tax-deductible raise.
We can write and call our legislators, Graham and Scott. We can write letters to the editor telling our legislators to stop cutting senior and veterans benefits while pandering to wealthy CEO's. We can tell them to support the SAVE Benefits Act.
Let's make it hard for them to ignore us. And let's also let their hypocrisy be known.
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