Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Democratic National Committee unveils a new slogan — the
"Romney-Ryan-Akin Platform for Women" — in a video released overnight (below the fold). Women will remember in November.
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Occupiers in Tampa, Florida and Charlotte, NC are gearing up for the deluge of politicians, dignitaries, convention delegates, journalists, and other protesters who are about to descend upon their cities.
The Republican National Convention (RNC) will be held in Tampa will be August 27-30. The Democratic National Convention (DNC) will be held in Charlotte (AKA Wall Street of the South) from September 3-6.
With their anti-women, anti-any-color-but-white, anti-immigrant, anti-middle class, anti-gay, anti-union… OK… anti-99% agenda, the RNC offers a fertile field for protests from the rest of us. With Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on the ticket, the Republicans have cemented their place in history as the party of the 1%.
Occupy Tampa is one of the few Occupations with tents on the ground, and they plan to be camping– and protesting– during the RNC.
More hints about what will be happening outside the convention halls, after the jump.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Washington Post editorializes today, The repugnant code behind Todd Akin’s words:
LITTLE WONDER that Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate, is trying to back away from his comments about abortion and rape. So ignorant and offensive were his remarks that members of Mr. Akin’s own party, including its presidential standard-bearer, issued strong condemnations,enoug though it took them a while to get strong h. Mr. Akin was utterly unconvincing in explaining that he “misspoke.” It is scary that someone so ill-informed could hold elective office or have a chance of becoming a senator.
[Note to Editors: Have you actually met the members of Congress? Todd Akin is neither unique nor the most ill-informed and extreme member of Congress. There are more where he came from.]
The comments, first aired Sunday on St. Louis’s KTVI-TV, bear repeating, if only to underscore Mr. Akin’s alarming worldview. Responding to a question about whether he would ease his opposition to abortion to allow exceptions for women who have been raped, the six-term congressman said, “It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
It’s idiotic, to borrow the phrase of GOP strategist Mike Murphy, to say — citing doctors, no less — that women’s bodies contain some hidden defenses that can kick in to prevent pregnancies. To suggest there are different categories of rape — some real and awful and others that are not — is loathsome. [See last paragraph of opinion below.] Even from someone who would liken student loans to Stage 3 cancer, as Mr. Akin once did, the comment was stunning in its stupidity and insensitivity.
At first, Mr. Akin issued a statement saying that he “misspoke” and his “off-the-cuff remarks” didn’t “reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year.” The explanation was hard to square with the fact that opposition to abortion has been a core tenet of his time in office — the issue isn’t new to him, in other words — and that he expounded on his thoughts during a lengthy interview with KTVI’s Charles Jaco.
As calls mounted for him to withdraw from the Senate race and the National Republican Senatorial Committee announced it would not spend any money to help elect him, Mr. Akin apologized Monday on former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s radio show, calling his remarks “a very, very serious error.” Indeed.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Christian Taliban's candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, culture warrior Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), sparked a firestorm of controversy on Sunday with an interview he gave to a local television station. Todd Akin On Abortion: 'Legitimate Rape' Victims Have 'Ways To Try To Shut That Whole Thing Down' (VIDEO):
In an interview with KTVI-TV on Sunday, the GOP Senate nominee was asked if he supported abortion in the case of rape.
"From what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," said Akin said of pregnancy caused by rape. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume maybe that didn't work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist."
Watch the video (below the fold).
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Last week– thanks to an executive memo by President Obama– millions of "Dreamers" were able to apply for deferred deportation, which will allow them to legally live in the US for two years. Dreamers are young, undocumented adults who, as young children, were brought to the US illegally by their parents. Deferred deportation would allow Dreamers to come out of the shadows to live and work without fear of being sent to a country they have never known.
In true heartless form, once the Dreamers were given hope, Arizona Goveror Jan Brewer set up roadblocks by issuing her own memo. Soon after young Arizonans started lining up to apply for deferred deportation, Brewer announced that in Arizona Dreamers would not be issued drivers' licences or state-issued ID card. One of the stipulations for being able to stay in the US is a clean legal record. Her denial of drivers' licenses sets up these young people. Not being able to a car is a serious burden in Arizona because cycling in the summer is grueling and public transportation is sketchy in the big cities and non-existent in the rural areas.
Brewer's actions quickly earned her the label of "George Wallace in a dress" because her memo clearly focused on pandering to the racists in her base and, furthermore, disregards what's best for our state– allowing Dreamers to integrate fully into American society and the workforce without fear of deportation.
After the jump is a short video by Dennis Gillman: Gov. Brewer's Executive Order vs. Students and Teachers.