Today’s thread didn’t start with Newsmax.com – in fact, I don’t actually remember where it started, but my nosing around quickly led me there.
Now that Rick Santorum has officially dropped out of the Presidential race, and with Newt Gingrich not even visible in the rearview mirrors of Mitt Romney’s Mustangs, I took a respite from Presidential politics. An article at Newsmax reminded me that November will bring other contests, one of them being my own Congressional Representative, Nan Hayworth (R-NY.) The article, “Five GOP Freshmen: Here’s What We’ve Learned”, references the original, complete piece at Politico, giving brief blurbs about New York Representative Michael Grimm (R-NY-13th), North Carolina Representative Renee Ellmers (R-NC-2nd), New York Representative Nan Hayworth (R-NY-19th), Florida Representative Allen West (R-FL-22nd), and Arizona Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ-5th.)
About Michael Grimm, Politico mentions:
A former FBI agent and Marine, Grimm credits the skills he learned in those positions with his ability to take on Washington and be a successful politician, and he says it gives him motivation to keep going. “Having served overseas, having served in combat, I’ve seen some of the darkest places in the world, and I’ve seen the look in people’s eyes when there is no humanity, when there is no hope, when there is no liberty. … What we have is fragile; our liberty, our freedom is taken for granted everyday.”
Huh? Has he seen the look in his constituents’ eyes lately?
Next, Renee Ellmers: from Politico,
…one issue she has no problem speaking out on is health care. The issue is near and dear to her heart as Ellmers is a former nurse, and her husband is a surgeon. Like many of her freshman colleagues, she came into office running on anti-“Obamacare” sentiment and still lists repeal of the health care law has her top priority.
“I’m a member of the [Republican] Doctors Caucus, and we’re very active in putting together different pieces to put into place … a free-market patient-centered program,” she said.
If healthcare is “near and dear to her heart”, how could she possibly believe that the “free market” would make healthcare better or more affordable?
Rep. Hayworth‘s blurb says, in part, “While she has moderate views about climate change and abortion, New York tea party Republicans have backed her.” Hmm…those “moderate views” include pushing for more off-shore oil drilling, and although she says that she is pro-choice, Hayworth believes that the issue of abortion should be left up to the States. Which leads me to wonder how she views what the Republican Governors are doing to abortion rights.
I love how the bit on Allen West begins: “This feisty freshman has earned a lot of attention for his strong, forthright rhetoric.” Sounds like West is being introduced on some nightmarish version of The Dating Game. “Feisty”? “Feisty on steroids”, possibly. That the delusional and psychopathic West ever got elected to public office in the first place is frightening enough, but that he’s considered to be one of the bright stars of the Republican Party is mind-boggling.
David Schweikert of Arizona blames the Senate for the gridlock in Congress. Enough said.
These five freshman representatives are just a sampling of the Republicans who will be defending their seats in November. Oh, joy, I can’t wait to go over the rest of the field. Sigh…
This is our daily open thread — What’s on your mind today?
TheZoo 
One final act of crazy before the curtain falls on Rick.
Politicians have a choice: They can join the NRA and help ensure our 2nd Amendment Rights are defended, or they can join the ACLU and help ensure ALL of our Constitutional Rights are defended, I wonder how many Members of Congress are members of both organizations?
I wanna know which well regulated militia each and every one of these reichwing nutjobs thinks they belong to..
I wonder what Rick would think of a liberal politician signed up their young daughter to be a life time member of the ACLU.
Well that would be unchristian and the work of satan obviously.
I don’t mean to be cruel, but doesn’t “lifetime” mean something very different to Bella?
I simply don’t understand that family. They home school their kids because they don’t like what is being taught in the public schools and they are so afraid of other people that they own lots and lots of guns but yet they want to be the leader of the free world? Why don’t they just buy a cabin in Montana or Waco or Guyana or something and leave the rest of us alone?
We seem to have excess bolding on aisle 1.
And aisle 2.
It seems that we are destined to go forth boldly!
Or not!
I don’t care. I’m going to go forth boldly anyway, with or without the font!
That’s the spirit, unless you’re in Michigan then you better be Times New Roman, 12 pt., Normal!
This was on Up With Chris Hayes.
Gary Younge from the Guardian.co.uk, was at the NRA convention yesterday:
“The thing that strikes you more than anything after a day there, is the kind of underpinning of a climate of fear on two levels. One, a fear that they have for their person, a fear that I think is manufactured and exploited, that never before in a single day have so many people painted scenarios in which I might be killed, unless I have a gun. And then the other one is the fear, and completely unfounded as far as I can fathom, that someone, Obama in this case, is out there to take their gun. And when you say well, what evidence do you have of that? He got an F rating by the Brady campaign in 2010. What has he done to suggest that that would be true? Then they say well, you never know. And that seems to be their argument”
This is Gary Younge, by the way. He has a typical English accent, but he must have scared the shit out of some at the convention.
His most recent column.
oh how I’d loved to have been present when Mr. Younge was conducting the interviews or just wandering the convention floor!!!!!
“David Schweikert of Arizona blames the Senate for the gridlock in Congress. Enough said.”
I agree with Schweikert on this one. At the start of each session, the party in the majority can change the rules and eliminate the filibuster as we know it. Neither party has done that in my lifetime. Hence, both parties share the blame/credit equally, in my opinion.
Mind you, the Democrats knew coming in that Republicans will do everything possible to obstruct everything, yet they still did not change the rules.
Hey all. It’s tax prep day. Wish me luck!
Good luck!
Thanks LL. So far so good. Every year I also do my in-laws taxes. And every year I’m nervous that I haven’t done it right for them. They are retired so it’s pretty simple. Still, I feel the son-in-law pressure!!
It’s nice that they trust you to do that for them. You must be doing something right!
ahh, too adorable..
Good luck, little fellas!
As it happens, Freshman Congressman David Schweikert is my current congress critter… he’s a straight line Republican tea patter all the way. But. We have had redistricting this year and he will be having to defend his seat against the execrable Ben Quayle (son of Dan)… this is one grudge match that might actually be fun to watch.
My new district will be fighting for the hearts and minds of Democrats and Republicans alike since we are now in a more balanced district…
Stay tuned.
I’m frankly surprised that Binyamin Quayle hasn’t appeared on Romney’s short list of VP candidates. I mean, with credentials such as his, how can that not be?
I would like to ask a silly question… and I am a chaperone for Relay For Life for my daughter’s team today so I am just going to throw this out there for something to think about.
Why is it that there seems to be more and more support for gay people and gay marriage these days at the same time that women seem to be losing valuable ground that was gained only within the last 40 years or so? Race and sexual orientation don’t seem to be an issue with young people these days, but equal pay for equal work still seems to be a hurtle and access to reproductive choices seems to be slipping away.
From the Daily Kos Saturday Hate Mail Apalooza, the top entry provides a gold plated demonstration of the right wing’s thought processes, its ability to write intelligently on any given matter, along with prime evidence of those uniquely innate keyboarding abilities that are obviously its very own exclusive and eternal purview:
It is a great relief to know that the RW is so blissfully free of racism. Gabby Johnson is right!
Another “superior” white Christian.
Wow. That’s so filthy, it almost seems like a parody. But somehow, I think it’s not… 😯
Well as President of Procrastinators of America I have filed extensions for my taxes for years if not decades. But this year because of college and FAFSA I got them done in Feb. Mitt Romney apparently is unable to hire somebody to help him get his done so filed for an extension probably until after November.
My taxes always come out the same: despite the fact that I didn’t make any real money, I still owe Uncle some thousands that I don’t have.
“Help! Help! I’m being repressed.” Seems I’ve gone to the spam bin..
—
Let’s see if this will post:
Among those are these:
10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Offensive language; racism
7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
To Kill a Mockingbird is a favorite of everybody who reads it. Let’s not give teens something that inspires them to read more.
I always like the books that get banned for nudity when they don’t have pictures.
7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
It’s a book, without any pictures! The only nudity or sexual activity any reader would see is whatever’s playing in the reader’s mind’s eye. If nudity in the written word bothers you, you have some serious psychological issues that need addressing.
Racism? In To Kill a Mockingbird? WTF? Oh, maybe it’s because there are some unsympathetic white people in the story. Or maybe it’s the suggestion that someone is being villified because he’s Black. That’s the Right Wing view of racism: suggest that racism exists.
I haven’t read Brave New World for years but I really don’t remember anything salacious about it.
If you follow the link, the ALA offers a slideshow of 40 books considered classics that have been banned or challenged over and over. I’m proud to say I’ve read all but 12 — and should have read half of those.
oh dear – that’s twice it wouldn’t let me post..
I wonder, does WP censor comments about book censorship?
I retrived them Ebb. I’m so out of shape it took me a while though.
Thanks Shayne. One of them can be dumped – it’s a duplicate.
#10 has another thing wrong with it 😀
That is perfect!
ROFLMAO
😆
We may have a problem here. If cats are being taught to read and such, Republicans are going to become an even smaller minority.
Headline of the Day:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120412124840.htm
Peer pressure…
So, if a bunch of gun toting freaks start blowing away “libruls” in Wisconsin, will Scott Walker be charged? Cause it sure sounds like he’s trying to hire mercenaries to prevent his recall.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/14/scott-walker-nra-speech_n_1425874.html
One of my favorite writers, Sherman Alexie, a Spokane Indian, had his book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” put on the top ten banned books. Here is a partial response by Mr. Alexie to their misguided efforts…
Of course, all during my childhood, would-be saviors tried to rescue my fellow tribal members. They wanted to rescue me. But, even then, I could only laugh at their platitudes. In those days, the cultural conservatives thought that KISS and Black Sabbath were going to impede my moral development. They wanted to protect me from sex when I had already been raped. They wanted to protect me from evil though a future serial killer had already abused me. They wanted me to profess my love for God without considering that I was the child and grandchild of men and women who’d been sexually and physically abused by generations of clergy
Thanks. I’ve never heard of this book, but it sounds like something I’d love to read.
Oh he’s good Oimf. If you enjoy the short story genre he is an absolute master of the form. Google him.
Just a note. I made the dirty rice from my cookbook last night. Can’t wait to try the others again
Don’t taunt….
Not me. I’ll be happy to share. I’ve worked with several dirty rice recipes and this one is the best I’ve found to date.
Well, get on with the sharing!
Check your email in about 30 minutes
Thanks!
OMG, that looks amazing.
That recipe is from Chef Paul Prudhomme. A native Cajun and a wonderful chef. The cookbook I recovered is a small one with only a couple dozen recipes and all are wonderful.
I know who he is. He was really popular when I lived down there. His stuff always has lots of flavor.
Just a note. I made dirty rice last night. Now I need to try some of the other recipes.
OK, what’s going on with the comments?
No idea. Mine did not go at the bottom as it usually does.
When Ebb’s duplicate comment was deleted, it ‘orphaned’ all the replies under it. They end up at the bottom, and later comments drop in above them.
Ah, that explains it.
Arrgh..tomato plants. Hundreds of tomato plants. The worst part is that good tomatoes are months away.
Awesome pet blanket in the shop!!
ooooo – looks so comfy-cozy for a favorite canine!
You are amazing with needle and thread!
Thanks, Ebb.
Next up — kitty blanket!
Busy, busy day. Exhausted.
On the way home, I was flipping around the radio to try and find the weather report. (We were supposed to get pummeled with rain, which hadn’t started yet so I wanted to know where/when it was going to arrive).
Anyway… I found said weather report, and then ignored the radio for a few minutes, and then realized I’d landed on right-wing radio. Michael Savage. He tried to make some jokes but they weren’t funny. He said Obama loves communists, and hates real Americans. He endorsed some read-to-eat rations (not kidding). He then said Obama was trying to destroy radio and that we should all get used to living in conditions like North Korea.
My mind couldn’t comprehend any more non sequiturs and I had to switch it.
He sounds like a complete waste of oxygen.
Last night in Texas, Tony Eury, Jr. planned for a late race caution, saving Danica Patrick’s last set of sticker tires. The tires went on, and with six laps to go as the green flag flew, she set sail from fourteenth spot on the restart, and passed six cars in those six laps, to finish eighth. It was her first top ten of the season, and her second best finish in Nascar. Next week, it’s on to Richmond, a short track, which should be a tough challenge for her, but she has raced Indycar there before, so she’ll at least know her way around the place.
Impressive. Go Danica!
Audrey Forbes-Hamilton (Penelope Keith) on ‘To The Manor Born’:
“Generally speaking, if you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the sort of people he’s given it to.”
EV,
I hope you’re up on what’s happening at the F1 in China. I’m watching the replay of qualifying, because I missed it yesterday morning. I just saw the end of Q2, with Webber P1 and Vettel missing the cut in P11! Still have Q1 to go.
Webber starts 6th. I wonder if he saved a set of options for the race.
Hamilton penalized 5 spots for changing the gearbox starts 7th. Rosberg gets his first pole, and first for Mercedes since 1955, with Schumacher P2. Alonso 9th. What’s wrong with Ferrari?
40 minutes to the start. I’ll never stay awake.