Sen. Marco Rubio: 'Hope and Change Has Become Divide and Conquer'
Published on Aug 30, 2012 by PBSNewsHour
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida spoke at the Republican National Convention Thursday night, addressing goals for the nation and introducing presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention (C-SPAN) - Full Speech
Published on Aug 30, 2012 by CSPAN
Mitt Romney accepts the Republican Presidential nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay Times Forum. From C-SPAN's LIVE gavel-to-gavel coverage. http://www.c-span.org/RNC/
The Party of No: New Details on the GOP Plot to Obstruct Obama
my comment at bottom
.. if the American people only ALL knew the RepubiCONS purposely put everything INCLUDING THE ECONOMY out to dry for one singular political reason .. to minimize any jobs growth in hopes of getting reelected .. they KNEW they didn't have anything in any policy which could give them any hope to regain the WH .. zipadoodles! .. they didn't have anything of social contract substance .. they had nothing in policy to justify or recommend election .. the only weapon they had was to minimize recovery .. it's clear the Republicans have sabotaged the American recovery since Obama's inauguration day .. their 'treason' is manifestly clear .. is really sucks and if every voter understood it Obama would romp in .. then again the USA is virtually a 50-50 nation of decent people thinkers and ideological partisan dunderheads .. lol .. thank sod Australia does not yet have your extreme unpatriotic political virus .. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=79074429
Steven Hirsch, Porn Producer, Tells Republicans To 'Catch Up... Sex Is Everywhere'
Porn producer Steven Hirsch warned Republicans Thursday to back off after the GOP added a call for more "vigorous" enforcement of pornography to its platform.
By Kathleen Miles Posted: 08/31/2012 1:21 pm Updated: 08/31/2012 2:38 pm
Last week, Republicans were warned not to isolate women voters. This week, they're being warned not to anger porn-watching voters. Especially because Republicans reportedly watch more porn than Democrats.
This week in Tampa, Republicans added to their platform a call for more "vigorous" enforcement of pornography and obscenity laws [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/gop-anti-porn-plank-platform_n_1833840.html ]. Current federal obscenity law prohibits hardcore pornography on the Internet, hotel/motel TV, cable/satellite TV and in retail shops--which is pretty much everywhere you can get it. However, enforcement is lax because it has hard to determine which porn qualifies as "obscene," and the porn industry has usually won such battles in court, Hirsch pointed out.
The big-time producer wrote on Vivid's web site that Republicans "need to catch up with what's happening in America and the world today," he said. "Books like '50 Shades of Grey,' dozens of popular cable TV shows and the web have made the public more comfortable with portrayals of sex than they ever have been before... Sex is everywhere."
Which is exactly what Patrick Trueman, president of the conservative organization Morality in Media, is afraid of. "It's the Viagra problem for guys in their 20s [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/gop-anti-porn-plank-platform_n_1833840.html ]," Trueman said to HuffPost. He claims young men are now spending "10 to 12 years looking at porn on the Internet and masturbating to it, so when they are getting married, they are dysfunctional sexually because their brain maps are changed."
In response to Hirsch's statement to the GOP, Trueman sent the following to Morality in Media supporters Thursday: "Neither Republicans nor Democrats should be taking advice from a man whose business is sexually exploiting young girls for profit [ http://news.avn.com/articles/Trueman-Weighs-in-on-Hirsch-s-Recommendations-to-GOP-Leaders-486435.html ]" and who produced "such hardcore porn films as 'Adventures in Babysitting' and 'Savanna's Anal Gang Bang,'" AVN reports.
Regarding girls who watch porn, he said that they are "several times more likely to engage in group sex." And, also, "56% of divorces now cite Internet pornography as a factor in the breakup," he added.
Hirsch's concluding thoughts on the War on Porn? As long as it's not child pornography, we shouldn't be worrying about it. "We have so many more important issues in front of us today than worrying about whether someone is breaking laws that probably should never have been written in the first place," he wrote.
further in particular to "GOP Anti-Porn Plank Added To Draft Platform By Republican Committee" (linked in the above), the 29th item (a bit under two-thirds of the way down) in the post to which this is a reply, and the related posts linked following it -- and also to the beard/hair-cutting/eating stuff (linked) following that (and to all the other great fundie follies stuff [linked] bracketing [and as also found in] the inseparably woven together content of the main Willard and the Twerp/wingbutt madness and bullshit segment of that post, which begins with its sixth item, "The Republican National Convention: Where Social Darwinism Meets Theocracy" and continues through to the aforementioned "GOP Anti-Porn Plank Added To Draft Platform By Republican Committee")
"And adult males have a huge bare patch of skin in the buttocks, testicles and perianal area," said John A. Hart, the researcher who described the coloring.
The bald-assed lesula is apparently also very blue, as in colorful, not sad. "It's a brilliant blue, really pretty spectacular," said the scientist.
Scientists first discovered the lesula in the center of the Democratic Republic of Congo. At first they thought this particular monkey was an owl-faced monkey, which has similar features as the lesula. But the coloring made them think it might be a new new species. Analyzed tissued samples taken from lesulas killed by local hunters confirmed their theory.
Republicans have been busy since they took control of the House of Representatives in 2011. Busy alienating every single group of people they can think of, except themselves. The United States is being transformed into a fascist state before our eyes and now is the time we must fight back and turn this evil tide.
Instead of focusing on jobs and the economy like they were elected to do, Republicans have used the excuse of budget crises whether real or not, to take rights away from us. In the 1920's and 1930's, fascists in Europe used economic crises to gain power and that is exactly what Republicans are doing now. Using the recession as an excuse to create a police state. Let’s examine how Republicans are frighteningly similar to fascists.
Fascism is the ultimate manifestation of social change and moral revolution, and glorifies nationalism. Sound familiar? It should. Republicans are all about culture wars and preach morality and how great America is. Fascists, like Republicans today, reject democracy and liberalism. Many Republicans called for violently overthrowing the government if the 2010 midterm elections didn’t go their way and have viciously attacked liberalism. Fascists also reject internationalism and pacifism and support militarism and war. Republicans have been calling for the United States to pull out of the United Nations since the 1950's and have since 2001, been the party of war as evidenced by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the calls to attack Iran, North Korea, and most recently Libya. Fascists also promote heroism, vitalism and violence. Ever notice how Republicans promote themselves by chopping wood or firing guns or some other “manly” activity? They are trying to prove how tough they are. And the examples of violence are aplenty. Just look at the shooting in Arizona and the calls to shoot liberals in the forehead and the threats of “second amendment remedies” among many others. Republicans have ALL of these traits. Now let’s examine how fascists and Republicans agree on the issues.
As we all know, Republicans claim to be the party of family values. This is the exact stance of fascists as well. Fascists, like Republicans, believe that a woman’s role is confined to the home as a mother. In Italy, the fascists banned literature on birth control and increased penalties for abortion in 1926, declaring both crimes against the state. Fascists even pushed policies designed to reduce the number of women in the workforce. Republicans are attempting to do all of these things. They have relentlessly railed against birth control, and have pushed their idea of abstinence as if they have always practiced it themselves. Hypocrites. They are attempting to ban abortion, considering laws to legalize the killing of abortion providers and laws that destroy Planned Parenthood and allow hospitals to let women die rather than give her a life saving abortion. Republicans are also assaulting unions that represent professions held by mostly women such as nurses and education and have been highly critical of single mothers who work.
Speaking of education, Republicans and fascists have that in common too.
Fascist states pursued policies of social indoctrination through propaganda in education and the media and seek to regulate the production of educational and media materials. We see Republicans doing this every day. They have their own news network that uses blatant lies and misinformation to paint liberalism as evil. Fox News is directly responsible for spreading hate and fear on behalf of the Republican Party and even promotes Republican candidates with total disregard to acceptable journalism ethics. Republicans have criticized journalists for asking tough questions and have called for laws to change the mainstream media. Many Republicans are against Freedom of the Press and have even detained journalists against their will for asking questions. Then there is the GOP stance on education. Their attempts to destroy public education is nothing more than an effort to create private schools designed to do their ideological bidding. Private schools can deny an education to anyone and can discriminately hire any teacher they wish which means an army of conservative teachers that will only teach the Republican ideology and their view of history. Fascists created their systems of education to glorify their movement and sought to inform students of its historical and political importance to the nation. It attempted to purge ideas that were not consistent with the beliefs of the fascist movement. Republicans are also doing this. Take Texas and the South for instance. In those Republican controlled areas, the Confederacy is being glorified and Joe McCarthy is being portrayed as heroic. The Civil Rights movement is being largely ignored and the Founding Fathers are being transformed into Republicans that agree with everything the Republicans are doing today. They are trying to portray the founders as Christians that wanted Christianity to rule the state. Republicans are also trying to abolish the Department of Education and are trying to slash education spending to a bare minimum. Republicans and fascists hate the well educated because they want the people to be stupid in order to manipulate them. Fascism tends to be anti-intellectual and so does the Republican Party.
Another major aspect of fascism is its relationship with corporations. In 1925 the Fascist regime in Italy created a corporatist economic system. In theory, Fascist Corporatism is supposed to give unions a voice but in practice, that’s not what it did in Italy and Germany in the 1930's. The Fascist regime first created a Ministry of Corporations that organized the Italian economy into 22 sectoral corporations, banned workers’ strikes and lock-outs. Even Hitler banned unions. This is similar to how corporations were before America declared its independence. At that time, corporations such as the Massachusetts Bay Company, controlled entire colonies. The Founding Fathers hated this practice so much they rebelled against it and set many restrictions against the corporate world they abhorred so much. Republicans are attempting to reintroduce this idea that corporations should run states and the government. They’ve already called for privatizing policemen and the military and they already allow the Koch brothers to call the shots. It won’t be long before they introduce corporatism. Marxists accuse fascism of being a capitalist tyranny that attempts to make conservative reaction popular to the working class but in practice represses the working class. Even Lenin claimed that “Fascism is capitalism in decay.” Fascists dismantled working-class organizations, significantly reduced wages in certain areas, abolished taxes on inheritance and war profits. Republicans seek to do ALL of these things. They have called for an end to the minimum wage, are ending union rights state by state, most recently in Wisconsin where Republicans slammed through an anti-union bill illegally, and seek to destroy any and all corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthy.
Another aspect shared by fascists and Republicans is their hatred of homosexuals and people who are different. Just as fascists banned homosexuality in 1931 and hated certain groups like gypsies and Jews, Republicans seek to make homosexuality illegal and have made it clear that they intend to persecute those they feel are inferior such as Muslims, African-Americans, hispanics, and other ethnic groups. The current hearings in Congress specifically targeting Muslims is sufficient proof of that, not to mention their constant racial attacks on President Obama and the laws being passed against hispanics in Arizona.
Another major aspect of fascism that Republicans share is the fixing of elections. If the 2000 Election isn’t enough to convince you of fraudulent elections then also consider these current attempts to subvert democracy. Republicans in New Hampshire are pushing bills that would keep college students from voting. One bill would require a students parents live in the state and another would ban same day registration. Why? Because the youth come out to vote for liberals. This is the reason Republicans are out to destroy unions too, since unions support Democrats in elections most of the time. One Tea Party leader has already suggested a bill that would only allow people with property to vote. Even the voting rights of women are being threatened. These are blatant attempts to subvert Democracy and destroy political opponents. These are things that fascists do.
Here is something else that Republicans and fascists have in common: death panels. In Arizona, Republicans have already decided the fates of 98 people by taking their names off the transplant lists in an effort to save money. Never mind the fact that the federal government has sent funds to cover these people. The Republican fascists in Arizona are too busy spending that cash on private prisons so they can send suspected illegal immigrants to them. Death panels are expected to spread to other Republican controlled states such as Texas and Mississippi among others. Fascists like death panels and private prisons too. Millions of Jews died because of death panels and the deaths only stopped after American soldiers liberated the prison camps.
The last aspect that fascists and Republicans have in common is their obsession with Christianity. The Republican party is one with the Christian Right today. Their goal is to make Christianity the national religion in order to create a Christian state. Republicans would then tear up the Constitution and replace it with the Bible. Republicans hate separation of church and state and have vowed to destroy it. Republicans have even gone so far as to make up quotes and falsely attribute them to the Founding Fathers to make it seem like they wholeheartedly agree with them. They actually do not agree. This obsession with religion is very familiar, in fact its Hitleresque. Take a gander at these quotes.
“The National Government will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built up. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality and the family as the basis of national life.”
“It is the purpose of the Government to fill our whole culture once more with a Christian spirit, and that not only in politics. We want to burn out the harmful features in our theater and our literature.”
“The Government, being resolved to undertake the political and moral purification of our public life, is creating and securing the conditions necessary for a really profound revival of religious life.”
“The struggle against materialistic views and for a real national community is just as much in the interest of the German nation as in [the interest] of the welfare of our Christian faith. The Government of the Reich regards Christianity as the unshakable foundation of the morals and moral code of the nation. The rights of the churches will not be diminished.”
All of these quotes were spoken by Adolf Hitler, one of fascisms biggest stars. And Republicans agree with his words. In fact, Christianity is one reason why Republicans are doing all of the above things stated throughout this article. If you are a white Christian male that votes Republican, you are safe. But if you aren’t, you are targeted.
The time for compromise with Republicans is over. The time for tolerance of them is also over. We could sit here and allow them to control things and turn the country into a fascist state or we can take action and bring down fascism before it takes hold and strangles us. I’m not suggesting general strikes or pacifism. Republicans would only be too happy to abuse the law and use military force against us. I’m calling on freedom loving Americans everywhere to storm Republican controlled capitals across the country and drag these Republican fascists out of power kicking and screaming and then elect new people to replace them. There may be little other recourse by the time Republicans are finished serving their terms and waiting to recall them will take too much time. Voting rights are being attacked from every angle. Our personal lives are under constant assault. Our right to negotiate our wages are being terminated and war and corporate power are increasing. We can no longer risk allowing this dangerous political party to have any power whatsoever. There was once a time in this country when a party rose up and forcefully put the other one on the sidelines for a long period of time because it was a danger to the nation and its ideals. During the Civil War era, Republicans, also the liberals of the era, came to power and brought down the once conservative Democratic Party for being a threat to freedom and Democracy. Once again, we liberals must rise to the occasion and be willing to fight for ourselves, for others, and for our nations ideals no matter the cost. Only this time, it must be Republicans that pay the price. They must be restricted from holding public office for a couple decades so that Democrats have ample time to clean up their mess and reverse all of the damage done by Republicans. In these dark times, it is our duty to do whatever is necessary to keep America free and its people equal. We must stand up and march together in the millions and topple every Republican controlled capital in the nation and then press forward to Washington DC and chase Republicans out of Congress. Its the only way to save America, ourselves, and those we love. Perhaps after a couple decades in political exile, Republicans will have denounced the fascist elements of their party and come to their senses. If forcing Republicans out of office is our only option to save America and ensure the freedom, equality, survival, and prosperity of the middle class, then in the words of John Boehner, “So be it.”
Mitt Romney: Only Capitalism Can Save The Arab Spring
Benjy Sarlin September 25, 2012, 10:31 AM 1833
Mitt Romney outlined a detailed vision for a compassionate American foreign policy that combined humanitarian aid with support for free market institutions before an audience at Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York Tuesday.
“Nothing we can do as a nation will change lives and nations more effectively and permanently than sharing the insight that lies at the foundation of America’s own economy — free people pursuing happiness in their own ways build a strong and prosperous nation,” Romney said.
The Republican nominee was introduced by Clinton, who just weeks earlier delivered a primetime speech at the Democratic convention savaging Romney’s economic proposals. Romney broke the tension early, however, joking about the former president’s political popularity.
“If there’s one thing we’ve learned in this election season, a few words from Bill Clinton can do a man a lot of good,” he said to laughter from the crowd. “All I’ve got to do now is wait a couple days for that bounce.”
Romney avoided any mention of Obama at the nonpartisan event, focusing his speech instead on recent turmoil in the Middle East and how he thinks the United States could play a role in shepherding newly democratic nations into stable and free societies. In what was perhaps a subtle dig at the president, however, Romney said that recent events, including the “terrorist attack” in Libya, can make Americans “feel that we are at the mercy of events, rather than shaping events.”
“Idle, humiliated by poverty, and crushed by government corruption, their frustration and anger grows,” Romney said. “In such a setting, for America to change lives, to change communities and nations in the Middle East, foreign aid must also play a role.”
To turn things around, Romney suggested a renewed effort to create prosperity abroad through small government and free market policies that echo his domestic program.
“To foster work and enterprise in the Middle East and in other developing countries, I will initiate something I’ll call ‘Prosperity Pacts,’” he said. ”Working with the private sector, the program will identify the barriers to investment, trade, and entrepreneurialism in developing nations. And, in exchange for removing those barriers and opening their markets to U.S. investment and trade, developing nations will receive U.S. assistance packages focused on developing the institutions of liberty, the rule of law, and property rights.”
Romney also offered a throwback to his much derided remarks in Israel earlier this year that “culture” .. http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/mitt-romney-palestine-israel-culture-gdp-providence.php .. is the predominant cause of economic disparities between places like Israel and the Palestinian territories. But in his revamped version, he focused strictly on government policies instead of social values, using North Korea and South Korea as his test case.
“I noticed the most successful countries shared something in common: they were the freest,” Romney said. ”They protected the rights of the individual. They enforced the rule of law. And they encouraged free enterprise. They understood that economic freedom is the only force in history that has consistently lifted people out of poverty - and kept people out of poverty.”
LOL .. the look on the two faces! .. puppy dog 'like me'? vs 'we gotcha, Mitt'? .. the first Romney quote .. the 'subtle dig' .. Romney's 2nd quote .. 47%? .. or more? .. love the photograph ..
1. Religious Americans must fight back against nonbelievers. To quote Herman Cain:
~~~~~~~~ What we are seeing is a wider gap between people of faith and people of nonfaith. … Those of us that are people of faith and strong faith have allowed the nonfaith element to intimidate us into not fighting back. I believe we’ve been too passive. We have maybe pushed back, but as people of faith, we have not fought back. ~~~~~~~~
2. The religious values we must fight for are Judeo-Christian. Rick Perry warned:
~~~~~~~~ Somebody’s values are going to decide what the Congress votes on or what the president of the United States is going to deal with. And the question is: Whose values? And let me tell you, it needs to be our values—values and virtues that this country was based upon in Judeo-Christian founding fathers. ~~~~~~~~
3. Our laws and our national identity are Judeo-Christian. Michele Bachmann explained:
~~~~~~~~ American exceptionalism is grounded on the Judeo-Christian ethic, which is really based upon the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments were the foundation for our law. That’s what Blackstone said—the English jurist—and our founders looked to Blackstone for the foundation of our law. That’s our law. ~~~~~~~~
4. No religion but Christianity will suffice. Perry declared, “In every person’s heart, in every person’s soul, there is a hole that can only be filled by the Lord Jesus Christ.”
5. God created our government. Bachmann told the audience:
~~~~~~~~ I have a biblical worldview. And I think, going back to the Declaration of Independence, the fact that it’s God who created us—if He created us, He created government. And the government is on His shoulders, as the book of Isaiah says. ~~~~~~~~
6. U.S. law should follow God’s law. As Rick Santorum put it:
~~~~~~~~ Unlike Islam, where the higher law and the civil law are the same, in our case, we have civil laws. But our civil laws have to comport with the higher law. … As long as abortion is legal—at least according to the Supreme Court—legal in this country, we will never have rest, because that law does not comport with God’s law. ~~~~~~~~
7. Anything that’s immoral by religious standards should be outlawed. Santorum again:
~~~~~~~~ God gave us rights, but He also gave us laws upon which to exercise those rights, and that’s what you ought to do. And, by the way, the law should comport—the laws of this country should comport with that moral vision. Why? Because the law is a teacher. If something is illegal in this country because it is immoral and it is wrong and it is harmful to society, saying that it is illegal and putting a law in place teaches. It’s not just—laws cannot be neutral. There is no neutral, Ron. There is only moral and immoral. And the law has to reflect what is right and good and just for our society. ~~~~~~~~
8. The federal government should impose this morality on the states. Santorum once more:
~~~~~~~~ The idea that the only things that the states are prevented from doing are only things specifically established in the Constitution is wrong. Our country is based on a moral enterprise. Gay marriage is wrong. As Abraham Lincoln said, the states do not have the right to do wrong. … As a president, I will get involved, because the states do not have the right to undermine the basic, fundamental values that hold this country together. ~~~~~~~~
9. Congress should erase the judiciary’s power to review moral laws. Newt Gingrich suggested:
~~~~~~~~ I am intrigued with something which Robby George at Princeton has come up with, which is an interpretation of the 14th Amendment, in which it says that Congress shall define personhood. That’s very clearly in the 14th Amendment. And part of what I would like to explore is whether or not you could get the Congress to pass a law which simply says: Personhood begins at conception. And therefore—and you could, in the same law, block the court and just say, ‘This will not be subject to review,’ which we have precedent for. You would therefore not have to have a constitutional amendment, because the Congress would have exercised its authority under the 14th Amendment to define life, and to therefore undo all of Roe vs. Wade, for the entire country, in one legislative action. ~~~~~~~~
Gingrich said the same strategy could secure the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and protects the right of states to disregard same-sex marriages performed in other states. In his words, “You could repass DOMA and make it not appealable to the court, period.”
10. Courts that get in the way should be abolished. Gingrich again:
~~~~~~~~ The simplest first step which I would take is to propose—and I hope this will be a significant part of the campaign next year—I have proposed to abolish the court of Judge Biery in San Antonio, who on June 1 issued an order that said, not only could students not pray at their graduation, they couldn’t use the word benediction, the could not say the word prayer, they could not say the word God, they could not ask people to stand for a moment of silence, they couldn’t use the word invocation, and if he broke any of those, he would put their superintendent in jail. I regard that as such a ruthless anti-American statement that he should not be on the court, and I would move to literally abolish his court, so that he could go back to private practice, as a signal to the courts. ~~~~~~~~
11. The purge of judges should be based on public opinion. Gingrich once more:
Part of the purpose of singling out Judge Biery and eliminating his job is to communicate the standard that the two elected branches have the power and the authority to educate the judiciary when it deviates too far from the American people. And I think you would probably take that approach.
12. Freedom means obeying morality. Santorum concluded, “Our founders understood liberty is not what you want to do, but what you ought to do. That’s what liberty really is about.”
There was one voice of dissent among the candidates. Ron Paul, the libertarian congressman from Texas, argued that people should be allowed to make bad decisions, that freedom of choice in religious matters should extend to atheists, and that powers not reserved to the federal government should be left to the states. But in a field of candidates bent on legislating Christian morality and purging uncooperative judges, Paul stood alone. Protecting America is too important to let the Constitution get in the way.
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