National Anthem Etiquette

Twitter, October 18, 2017

The New York Times, August 5, 1933

Restoring Lustre to “Liberal”

I found "The Resurrection of the “Liberal”: How the Right Tried to Destroy American Liberalism — and How It Came Back from the Dead" by Heather Digby Parton in Salon fascinating, but that may only be because this blog was started in 2004 in disgust at the way Kerry and Clintons and other Democrats were all running away from a proud label that they were letting conservative Republicans define.

Even if restoring lustre to "Liberal" is not your raison d'être, it's worth reading.

This may be hilarious, but it's NOT a joke.

Here is a link to the actual final 2012 platform of the actual Texas Republican Party. This is not a joke.

I'm surprised there isn't a plank in the
platform making the display of
the word "Liberal" illegal.

Click the link above and find your own favorite/scariest parts. You won't have to read more than one random line before your jaw hits the floor, but here are my "favorites" from each page. In most cases, it was very hard to choose just one:

page 1. from the Preamble "The embodiment of the conservative dream in America is Texas." 

page 2. "Washington D.C. - We strongly oppose making the District of Columbia a state or adding Congressional members."

page 3. "Preservation of Republican Form of Government - We support our republican form of government in Texas as set forth in the Texas Bill of Rights and oppose Initiative and Referendum. We also urge the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress to enact legislation prohibiting any judicial jurisdiction from allowing any substitute or parallel system of Law, specifically foreign Law (including Sharia Law), which is not in accordance with the U.S. or Texas Constitutions."[emphasis added]

page 4. "Protection from Extreme Environmentalists – We strongly oppose all efforts of the extreme environmental groups that stymie legitimate business interests. We strongly oppose those efforts that attempt to use the environmental causes to purposefully disrupt and stop those interests within the oil and gas industry. We strongly support the immediate repeal of the Endangered Species Act. We strongly oppose the listing of the dune sage brush lizard either as a threatened or an endangered species. We believe the Environmental Protection Agency should be abolished."

page 5."Voter Rights Act – We urge that the Voter Rights Act of 1965 codified and updated in 1973 be repealed and not reauthorized."

page 6."Enforcing the Platform - Every Republican is responsible for implementing this platform. Party candidates should indicate their positions on platform planks before their acceptance on the ticket and such information should be available on the Party website."

page 7."Confederate Widows Plaque - We call for restoration of plaques honoring the Confederate Widow’s Pension Fund contribution that were illegally removed from the Texas Supreme Court building."

page 8."Homosexuality ― We affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle, in public policy, nor should “family” be redefined to include homosexual “couples.” We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin. Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction or belief in traditional values."

page 9."Morning After Pill - We oppose sale and use of the dangerous “Morning After Pill.”"

page 10."Stem Cell Research - We oppose any legislation that would allow for the creation and/or killing of human embryos for medical research. We encourage stem cell research using cells from umbilical cords, from adults, and from any other means which does not kill human embryos. We oppose any state funding of research that destroys/kills human embryos. We encourage the adoption of existing embryos..." [emphasis added. Are they literally talking about people adopting orphaned embryos to give them a good home??]

page 11."Social Security ― We support an immediate and orderly transition to a system of private pensions based on the concept of individual retirement accounts, and gradually phasing out the Social Security tax. We insist that Social Security benefits be non–taxable. To protect the Social Security System, its funds should not be co–mingled or spent with general revenues or invested in private or public corporate stock."

page 12."Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."

page 13."School Health Care – We urge legislators to prohibit reproductive health care services, including counseling, referrals, and distribution of condoms and contraception through public schools. We support the parents’ right to choose, without penalty, which medications are administered to their minor children. We oppose medical clinics on school property except higher education and health care for students without parental consent."

page 14."Right to Keep and Bear Arms – America’s founding fathers wrote the 2nd amendment with clear intent – no level of government shall regulate either the ownership or possession of firearms. Therefore we strongly oppose all laws that infringe on the right to bear arms. We oppose the monitoring of gun ownership, and the taxation and regulation of guns and ammunition. We collectively urge the legislature to pass “constitutional carry” legislation whereby law-abiding citizens that possess firearms can legally exercise their God-given right to carry that firearm as well..."[emphasis added. This item goes on and on at length, but I thought I'd stop with the "God-given right" malarkey. I don't remember firearms in the Bible]

page 15."Capital Punishment – Properly applied capital punishment is legitimate, is an effective deterrent, and should be swift and unencumbered."

page 16."We support the principles regarding the public economy as stated in the Republican Party Platform of 1932" [it then goes on to quote directly the 1932 platform about the gold standard and "quack remedies" for the economy, proving, as if you needed proof, that the GOP wants to roll back the calendar to a time before the New Deal]

page 17."Federal Tax Reform – We recommend repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, with the goal of abolishing the I.R.S and replacing it with a national sales tax collected by the States. In the interim we urge the income tax be changed to a flatter, broader, lower tax with only minimal exemptions such as home mortgage interest deductions."

page 18."Law of the Sea – Adopted by the UN in 1982, we still oppose the Law of the Sea Treaty."

page 19."Minimum Wage – We believe the Minimum Wage Law should be repealed." [In this former slave state, could wages then theoretically be reduced to zero?]

page 20."United Nations – We support the withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations and the removal of U.N. headquarters from U.S. soil." [Another creation of Franklin D. Roosevelt's -- in Texas the "D" stands for "Devil"]

page 21."Birthright Citizenship – We call on the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the United States to clarify Section 1 of the 14th amendment to limit citizenship by birth to those born to a citizen of the United States with no exceptions." 

page 22."International Organizations – We support U.S. withdrawal from the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the World Bank."

These are representative of the entire document. There is page after page of these radical ideas. This is not a fringe organization calling for an end to the UN, the IRS, the Fed, minimum wages, Social Security, the EPA, the Departments of Education and Energy, the Endangered Species Act...etc., while simultaneously calling for the imposition of a Puritan social and sexual lifestyle and blatant public state recognitions of religion. This is one of our two major national parties. Their platform needs to be exposed to wider scrutiny and ridicule.

Rick Santorum Now in Favor of Universal Government-Financed Birth Control

Frothy suddenly saw the light on the need for more widespread government support for contraception as soon as he was handed the following headline about the rumor regarding the most recognizable cast member of MTV's Jersey Shore and the fact that she might be ready to reproduce:

Wedge Issue Update: Birth Control?

How can the Republican Party believe that their path to electoral success in 2012 could possibly involve alienating every woman in America by holding an all-male congressional hearing on contraception today? When I asked last October which wedge issue would win the Republican Primary in this election cycle, I suggested some normal suspects: Birtherism, Guns, "In God We Trust", the Dirty Filthy Hippies in the Occupy Movement, Abortion, Flag Burning, Evolution, Gay Marriage and Illegal Immigration. But never in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that anyone in the GOP might actually be stupid enough to make run-of-the-mill garden-variety birth control an issue, supporting the all-male hierarchy of the Catholic Church in their demand to deny birth-control insurance to their female employees, and doing so with an all-male congressional panel telling why the rights of a foreign patriarchal power structure trump those of their American wives and daughters.

And not only that, but they have made the one candidate with the strongest record of speaking out against birth control their new front runner in their race to lose to Barack Obama in November:

"I'm not a believer in birth control ... artificial birth control."  
-- Ex-Senator Rick Santorum

With unemployment on the way down again today, "Government Motors" announcing record profits, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average nearing 13,000 (up from 8,000 at President Obama's inauguration), all the Republicans will have in the general election are wedge issues supported by millions of SuperPac dollars, but taking a stand against birth control is probably not their best choice of tool when choosing a winning wedge.

"... if a sperm is wasted, god gets quite irate ..."

Welcome to a preview of President Santorum's America where the only acceptable reason for sexual contact is procreation.

As I've said before, every Republican issue can be explained by a clip from a classic movie.

Wedge Issue Update: "Liberal Hollywood Using Class Warfare to Brainwash Our Kids!"

In an election year in which the right does not have the high ground on any issue that really affect Americans, winning a majority of voters will require the GOP to peel off enough voters from President Obama and his party with a combination of wedge issues. Here's one that I didn't include in my original list, but it's an old chestnut in the right-wing arsenal, since the pre-cable conservatives railed against the unfair Liberal Hollywood portrayals Mr. Henry Potter and the 1% of Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life." Liberal Hollywood is at it again with the Muppets' nemesis, oilman Tex Richman. And Fox Business News (courtesy of Media Matters for America) is all over Liberal Hollywood's crime.



Speaking about (or should I say "screeching" in honor of the tone of this video?) brainwashing, someone needs to talk about the constant brainwashing in which we've been bathed since birth in America. We have every mainstream voice telling us about nothing but the wonders of capitalist consumerism supported by patriotic militarism. And this time of year we expect the non-stop cries of "buy..buy..buy" to reach a crescendo (with a subtext that if you don't buy..buy..buy, you obviously don't love..love..love your family). But if I start complaining about that, I'm into another wedge issue, The Liberal War On Christmas.

I still think that the current front-running issue in the GOP Wedge-Issue Race is "Dirty Filthy Hippies", but there's no reason to think that the race between Republican wedge issues will be any less volatile than the one between their stellar cast of candidates (which is being led at this moment by Newt Gingrich?).

The "War on Christmas" explained by a Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

Daisy, Bo, and Luke Duke's disreputable cousin David Duke explains who is really behind the Christian right's imaginary "War on Christmas".
The Jews.

Wedge Issue Update: The Liberal War On Christmas 2011

When Americans vote for President less than one year from now, there will be people voting on each side who have totally different pictures of the nation, the world, and the candidates based on which news sources they are consulting. As I write this, the mainstream NBC News is showing the President's wife and daughters welcoming the Clydesdale-driven 2011 Christmas tree at the front door of the White House, but in right-wing media outlets, there's a big story that none of us watching mainstream media or leftish blogs have heard about.
Murdoch's New York Post, Fox Nation, The Daily Caller and numerous conservative Tweeters, are reporting about the outrageous anti-Christmas agenda of President Obama's fundraising schedule. It seems that he has the audacity to hold his fundraisers in New York with LGBT supporters at the same time as the holy appearance of Justin Bieber at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting. An accident of scheduling? Not according to the three most recent commenters on the Fox Nation article.

americanazalea

And? He seems to "pick" these days with increasing frequency. All planned across the board.

A_10_Thunderbolt_II_warthog

This Kenyan musIim executor dictatorship has no Christmas sprite

usafemale

Sounds like something a Anti-American potus would do...... block what he can of any American tradition... Sad lil man.... throwing sand in every bodies eyes in the American sand box..... Despicable indeed

Like my anti-American Kenyan muslim executor potus, I also find myself lacking in Christmas "sprite" this time of the year.

Wedge Issue Update: #9 Dirty Filthy Hippies (with a bullet)

Back in mid-October I mused about which wedge issue might ultimately pop up as the centerpiece of the 2012 Republican attacks. Down near the bottom of my possibilities I placed "9) Dirty Filthy Hippies Occupying Wall Street (and elsewhere)".
A month later, I would place this wedge issue right at the very top. On Fox News this exchange between Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin on November 17th described an Occupy Wall Street movement that bore no relation to any reality outside the Fox News studios:

HANNITY: All right. We see the violence there, one police officer I think had 20 stitches and a gash, things thrown in their face. You see the violence. This is really just a culmination, though. We have seen rape, we have seen arson, destruction of property, sex, masturbation in public, defecating in public, anti-Semitism, anti-American rhetoric, drugs, open-air drugs markets. Well, what do you make of this and the Democratic Party support for this?
PALIN: It is amazing that President Obama, Vice President Biden and former Speaker Pelosi along with many other Democrats have actually embraced this movement and actually, you know, patted these folks on their back as they have engaged in these -- some really atrocious activities. I think it speaks to what part of that mission is on the left, and that is disruption, it is distraction. It's very misguided and these are folks who are ill-informed, not understanding really who and what it is that they should be protesting. If they truly want free men and free markets in this country, then they should be, you know, making their voices known at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and letting Barack Obama know that they disagree with the crony capitalism that he has been so engaged in and allowed to perpetuate. These folks are misguided and I think it's just atrocious what is going on.

Read or watch the whole segment here if you're feeling a little masochistic.

On November 19th Newt Gingrich got rousing applause in Iowa with his instructions to Occupy Wall Street delivered to Frank Luntz and a pumpkin centerpiece: "Go get a job right after you take a bath." It could have been Nixon rousing the Silent Majority against the hippies.


Continuing in the old strategy to rouse the Silent Majority, we have Americans for Tax Reform President Grover "Rat Head in a Koch Bottle" Norquist, the most powerful man in America according the Alan Simpson, the strategist who has tied up the entire Congress with his no-tax pledge, giving us the final proof that #OWS will be used as a wedge in 2012 when he said, “The Occupy Wall Street is a tremendous asset and it’s a movement that I think will be very helpful [to his GOP clients and paymasters] in the 2012 elections, and I think it’s a mistake to interfere with them continuing to annoy middle class Americans." An annoyed middle class can then be manipulated to vote against their own economic interests.

Wedge Issue Update: Reaffirming A National Motto That Divides Us.

When I wrote 10 days ago "Which Wedge Will Win the 2012 GOP Primary?" I never thought that the wedges would start showing up so early in the race.  I mentioned "Birtherism" as my Wedge 1 as a joke, because I never thought any of the 2012 candidates would bring it up.  So, of course, in last Sunday's Parade magazine with Rick Perry on the cover, the Texas Governor did exactly that, with a wink, but brought up Barack Obama's birth certificate nonetheless, knowing full well which constituency he was speaking to.

But Wedge number 3 on my list, "In God We Trust", has also reared its divisive head.  This UPI article today, "GOP to Pass Bill to Affirm 'In God We Trust'" gives some details about the effort, led by Virginia Representative Randy Forbes (R) to reaffirm IGWT as the national motto and "supporting and encouraging the public display of the national motto in all public buildings, public schools and other government institutions."  The vote should take place this coming Tuesday, taking precedence over mere jobs bills. The following video tells a little more about Congressional Prayer Caucus leader Randy Forbes and the GOP effort to strengthen this sad relic of the McCarthy years.


Our longtime unofficial motto mentioned in the video above, E pluribus unum  (Out of the many, one) was put on the seal of the United States by Act of Congress in 1782, but it was never made the official "National Motto" so that left the door open to declare another, less inclusive, official motto in the McCarthy era.
IGWT was first put on a few coins in another divisive period, the Civil War, but the era of 1950s intolerance saw "god" rammed down America's throat officially with the words "under god" added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, the phrase IGWT ordered  on all coins and currency in the mid fifties, and IGWT finally made The National Motto in the US Code in 1956.  The new official motto -- forced through Congress in the time of the second Red Scare -- is not even as old as I am, so I'll go with E pluribus unum, which has served the nation well since the 18th century, rather than the recent one that excludes a significant percentage of our population that no longer trusts in old myths.
But causing conflict and excluding people who are unlike him is exactly what Randy Forbes is doing, isn't it?

Rick Santorum gets his five inches of fame on TBL dot org.

Rick Santorum isn't actually in this Santorum video, but we just couldn't believe that Herman Cain is being damned for three minutes - and losing the vote of America's fetuses - just because Piers Morgan forced him to admit an obvious truth about how criminal it would be to have a government that would make the victim of a sexual crime carry a rapist's embryo.

When he finally calls it quits in his current role in the travelling clown circus, at least Santorum will always be famous for his one lasting contribution to the English language.

Which Wedge Will Win the Republican Primary?

When the dust settles from the debates and caucuses and primaries, we'll finally know which candidate the Republicans will be sending to face President Obama, but a larger question may remain. Which wedge issue will win? What phony peripheral concern will be the twenty twelve equivalent of twenty oh four's Swift-Boat idiocy? How will the GOP attempt to get millions of Americans to vote against their own economic self interest?
1. Birtherism?

2. Guns?

3. "In God We Trust"?

4. Flag Burning?

5. Evolution?

or 6. Abortion? or 7. Gay Marriage? or 8. "Illegal Aliens"? or 9. Dirty Filthy Hippies Occupying Wall Street (and elsewhere)? . . or something we haven't even been told we need to hate or be afraid about yet? Will Americans sacrifice Social Security and Medicare for assault weapons and prayer in the schools?

Put the X back in Xmas

Did it ever occur to anyone that it's called "politically correct" because it is correct?
Now we have the next wedge issue -- the alleged recent public disappearance of the politically incorrect religious greeting of "Merry Christmas". Will this win as many votes in the red states as the vital issues of gay marriage and the mention of God in the Pledge of Allegiance, oh, and non-existent flag burnings, and Willie Horton? Wedge issues are insidious, because if you ignore them as insignificant (which, of course, they are), they do their damage like they did in 2004, under the radar, and if you confront them directly you're a Christ-hating Bible-and- Flag-burning liberal. But you know what, I'm almost 50 years old, I was raised a Lutheran and I have a son going to a Catholic school and I HAVE NEVER HEARD THE WORDS "Merry Christmas" SAID TO STRANGERS IN STORES and I would never say "Merry Christmas" to someone if I were unsure of his or her religion. Maybe it's because I've always lived in the vicinity of a major city (NY, Philadelphia & LA) and I've always known people of other religions (or no religion), but it is simply RUDE to use the words "Merry Christmas" indiscriminately in a multi-cultural society, which, proudly and luckily, the United States of America has been, and will continue to be despite the current theocrats occupying the District of Columbia. Maybe in some rural red states where a shared Christianity is taken for granted, "Merry Christmas" has been the norm (as in that AWFUL movie, "Christmas with the Kranks"), but where I'm from, it's been incorrect for decades.

On the other hand, I'll be happy to wish you all Season's Greetings, and a very Happy New Year,
True Blue Liberal

FAIR ACTION ALERT: CBS, CNN Mislead on Social Security

FAIR ACTION ALERT: CBS, CNN Mislead on Social Security

We found out a month ago that the successful electoral strategy of the current American regime (if not outright vote tampering) was largely based on wedge issues and hidden groups. While most of us in the blue states thought that we were voting about the (bad & unfair) economy and the (unsuccessful & criminal) war, there were large portions of the country -- often those who are hurt most by the Bush/Cheney economic and military policies -- who thought the election was about boys marrying boys (they sort of secretly enjoy the girl/girl variations if we're to judge by the favorites at their local video store). One of the real electoral dangers for Democrats and other liberals is from another group -- TWENTY SOMETHINGS. I heard one saying to another one in my office.

"... it's neither social nor secure, so we should just get rid of it."

I found it shocking, but I don't think it's a mystery. Maybe it was something he heard on Fox, or from Rush, but I think it's more widespread than that. After decades of trying, I think that the right wing of the Republican party has taken control of the Social Security issue in the press, convincing millions of people that this program that has worked since the 1930's for our parents and our grandparents and is still supporting itself, is somehow broken, and in need of immediate radical overhaul. THEY HATE IT BECAUSE IT'S AN EXAMPLE OF A SOCIAL PROGRAM THAT WORKS. The young are especially susceptible, because they didn't hear the decades of arguments in support of Social Security. They don't remember Ronald Reagan as President. They only know the network TV hagiographic cartoon of the brave Alzheimer's victim and Cold War victor. You know what kids? Here's a little secret. HE SUCKED. HE WAS THE WORST PRESIDENT OF MODERN TIMES (until you know who).

à bientôt,
True Blue Liberal