The Puppet Master Behind the Susan G.Komen Foundation

I love a Tea Party but hate women and gays!

Corrupt Komen Caves, Kind of!  Yes, yesterday the Susan G. Komen Foundation offered a less than milquetoast apology for their bad behavior.  The apology came not because it was the right thing to do, or because of some great care and compassion for women of color, women without means, and all women who suffer from the intersections of oppression, rather the apology came because of political pressure.  I don’t want to dismiss the power of this pressure, but I would like us to examine closely the Power behind the Komen Foundation, for I personally would like to see this organization crash and burn and be replaced with a more inclusive organization that truly reaches out to all women to help prevent breast cancer.

Just to be clear, the Komen Foundation is still refusing to commit to future grants to Planned Parenthood.  So who has the power and what does this power look like at the Komen Foundation? Sadly, Komen’s Senior VP is  Karen Handel.  You may remember Handel.  She ran for Governor of Georgia two years ago and was endorsed by the Tea Party, including Sarah Palin.  Yes, our Handel is exceedingly anti-woman and is a homophobic bigot, as witnessed by her own words!

I will conclude by saying that if you truly believe in women’s rights and you believe women should have access to health care regardless of color or access to resources and if you really believe in social justice, you will boycott the Susan G. Komen Foundation and put your money into Planned Parenthood.

I need to say a special thanks to my friend Jay and to the Voice of the Trailer (VOT) for helping me with this article and allowing me to express my rage in a socially productive way.

Poor Rand Paul: He Found Out He is not Above the Law

I am Above the Law!

When will Americans learns that elected Tea Party officials are allowed to be governed by a completely different set of rules than us everyday Americans?  I want to know what kind of Tea the Party is brewing and who is drinking it.  All Rand Paul had to do was get through security at the Airport in Nashville.

Apparently a millimeter wave scanner detected an “anomaly” in the area of his knee, according to Senator Paul, and TSA agents then said he’d have to undergo a full-body pat-down. Paul said he wouldn’t submit to such a search and offered to show agents his knee, instead. They said that wouldn’t suffice. There are rules in place (however excessive we might find them) to protect all passengers, even senators. as aTSA representative observed:

Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process cannot be granted access to the secure area in order to ensure the safety of others traveling.

But of course Sen. Paul feels there are separate but equal rules that his position entitles him to apply.  Yes, Plessy V. Ferguson is alive and well.  How sad that our poor old, sad old, dear old Rand was treated like any average American at the airport.  I’m sure his unpleasant and bitter brew of tea at the airport will only give him the stamina he needs to go forward and strip away the 14th amendment to block folk from voting. After that, Rand can finally conquer and put a stop to the unstoppable Gay Agenda.  Then he can get on to the business he was headed to Washington for when he ran afoul of the TSA, stopping women and ensuring they can’t be trusted with choices around their own bodies.  He is kind of like a Papa Stalin.

In My Lifetime…

One of my heroes!

In my lifetime, I have seen the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the start of the Vietnam War.  I remember watching on our black and white television the killing of 4 college students and the wounding of 9 others at Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard.  I witnessed the resignation of Richard Nixon, minutes before he would have been impeached. Presidents Ford and Reagan both survived assasination attempts, Reagan just barely. Ironically, the attempt on Reagan led to the Brady bill and some real, rational progress on gun control.

Fortunately, I also witnessed Roe v. Wade.  Finally, women were told by the U.S. Supreme Court they could be trusted to make decisions about their own bodies–what a novel idea. To be gay and to have been alive during the Stonewall Riots feels like a gift from history now. Through Affirmative Action and social pressure and protest the face of corporate and government leadership is much more diverse than it was when I was born, though we still have a long way to go.

I have seen the boom of space exploration, starting in my lifetime with the 1969 Apollo moon landing. Who would have imagined an international space station? The entire space shuttle program went from planning to launch to being grounded in my lifetime. I remember the excitement of each launch and the shock and disbelief that met the tragic fates of the Challenger and the Columbia.

Of course, the events of 9/11 forever changed the world and helped to give George W. the amplified tool of fear.  While we saw the world come together as a united globe for a couple of days, the legacy of 9/11 seems to be fear, and the vilification of Muslims.

Technology has changed in ways that make our lives almost unrecognizable. I remember the our very first microwave oven when I was in high school and the very first time I saw color television. Many people today carry more computing power in their telephones than existed in a typical business when I started grade school. The Internet has totally changed commerce, government, journalism, and social interaction, for better or for worse. Computing power and quick connections can be useful, but they also lead to snap judgments and a sense of urgency that impairs our better selves.

While I have witnessed a great deal in a relatively short period of time, I do worry about our country going exponentially backwards regarding civil rights and liberties.  The rise of the Tea Party and the blatant racism we have seen since President Obama took office have been mortifying.  Watching the GOP presidential candidates often shoves me into a dark and misanthropic abyss.  Where are the voices of the progressive movement? Why do we vilify the Occupy Movement? When do we take our country back from the religious right hypocrites?

Action item: We have the ability to move forward. We have the ability to change systems and end the intersections of oppression.  We have to get out and use our voices and we have to VOTE!

Number 1 Bigot of the Year Award 2011: John Boehner

Number 1 Bigot of 2011

For those that have been following TSM for any amount of time, it should come as no surprise that Mr. Fake and Bake, crocodile tears, Mr. 1%, John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, earns the most dubious honor of the Number 1 Bigot of the Year for 2011.

The congressman from Ohio has consistently demonstrated an abuse of power from a wealthy white heterosexual that rivals some of the super rich white boys on the Supreme Court.  Boehner’s hypocrisy, double standards, misogyny, and homophobia have set his legacy of hate and abuse of power in history!  Rather than working for the American people to balance the budget and get out of a deficit, the ubiquitous obstructionist Boehner said, “we will not raise taxes,” as he was working tirelessly to protect the incomes of the top 1% of Americans–damn the rest of the country.

Yet, while operating out of a deficit, Boehner is spending tax payer dollars to defend discrimination by hiring an attorney to defend DOMA–yes, we must be fearful of the Gay Agenda!  

Pandering to the outer fringe of his party rather than brokering meaningful compromise (how sad is it when you can make Sen. Mitch McConnell look reasonable?) he has made 2011 the year of the do-nothing Congress. Let us hope that his recent capitulation on the payroll tax holiday is the beginning of his downfall–Boehner, another rancid tea bag.

Flashback  2010: The Bigot of 2010 was John McCain.

Number 5 Bigot of the Year Award 2011: “Celebrities” Behaving Badly

Number 5 Bigot of 2011

What a year! Sadly, 2011 was rife with so-called celebrities using their marginal fame to rail against the rights and dignity of their fellow humans. The majority of these over-compensated blowhards used their platforms to practice homophobia and misogyny. The summer was particularly loaded with such stories, giving us no fewer than six bigots of the week. The abusers ranged from Adam Carolla’s homophobic rants to Damali Keith’s insulting coverage of Glee on Faux News, from David Tyree’s anti-gay screed to rappers Tyler the Creator and Cee-Lo accusing anyone offended by their talentless bloviating of being gay.

Perhaps the champ was hypothetical comedian Tracy Morgan, whose virulently homophobic and misogynistic performance in Nashville last June threatened to overwhelm his career. It also provided an opportunity for others to show their cowardice or their courage. Jeers to 30 Rock creator and co-star Tina Fey for defending Morgan. Comedian Chris Rock was a mixed bag, initially defending Morgan from a comedy-can-be-edgy platform and then wisely backing down when he looked at the content more closely. Cheers to Wanda Sykes, who wittily dismantled Morgan’s ranting, exposing hate for what it is.

Celebrities derive their fame, money, and power from the people who watch and pay them. We must hold them accountable when they abuse that power to oppress anyone.

FLASHBACK: The 2010 #5 Bigot of the Year was the Tea Party for spewing its toxicity into our national dialogue.

Wednesday Word of the Week, August 24

The smaller you are, the bigger your burden.

This week’s word is: INCREASE

to make something become larger in amount or number

Specifically an increase in TAX

an amount of money that you have to pay to the government that it uses to provide public services and pay for government institutions.

payments.

The modern Republican party, especially filtered through the Great Tea Bag, maintains that its members are adamantly opposed to any increases in taxes. This apparently simple fact has motivated two of the biggest political fights of the past year.

Last December, the Obama administration largely capitulated to anti-tax purists even before the House of Representatives moved to Teabagistan. In order to maintain unemployment benefits, Congress and the White House perpetuated the odious Bush tax cuts. Earlier this month, as part of the debt ceiling debacle, GOP leaders in Congress again refused to entertain any increases in revenue – especially tax rates – as part of any deal.

Seems like a pretty clear position, doesn’t it? Except that now, when the payroll tax deductions that were included in the December Nightmare are set to expire, GOP leaders refuse to discuss an extension. Take a look at this simple math: if a 2% reduction in taxes expires, then taxes go up by 2%. That is, by any reasonable definition, a tax increase.

What say the Republicans?

“We don’t need short-term gestures. We need long-term fundamental changes in our tax structure and our regulatory structure that people who create jobs can rely on,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., when asked about the payroll tax matter.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., “has never believed that this type of temporary tax relief is the best way to grow the economy,” said spokesman Brad Dayspring.

Except, of course, that both men voted for a short-term measure last December. What is the biggest difference between the two issues? The Bush tax cut extension primarily benefits the very wealthy. The payroll tax cut primarily benefits the middle class.

Tea Party members can bloviate all they like about keeping taxes low, government small, and Americans empowered. At the end of the day, however, the party they support only really seems to care about keeping taxes low for corporations and the super-rich. Everyone else can just pay up.

When Tea Baggers Prevail

Because the media and the blogosphere have been consumed with news about the debt ceiling, I have tried to steer clear of the topic, as much as I could.  As the Senate now looks to pass the bill that has already passed the House, I can no longer stay quiet.

The hypocrisy and bullying of the Tea Party will have profound negative effects on our country, specifically the middle class and the poor.  First, we should never have even reached such a dramatic point of “financial collapse,” but Republicans allowed right wing extremist to dictate the conversation, with a categorical mandate refusing compromise or debate. In fact, we witnessed President Obama as he acquiesced to John Boehner Republicans and extended the Bush tax cuts last December.  Not a shining moment for President Obama.  Simple basic math would seem to be enough to show that tax cuts, specifically tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans do not help eliminate debt.

The repercussions of today’s Tea Party triumph are shameful and embarrassing for us as a nation. Americans should take note that during these depressed economic times, when people depend on social services more than ever, will be harmed. How is this good for the economy? We now have over 30 years of evidence that “trickle down economics” does not work.

The game seems transparent enough.  The Republicans throw tantrums and bully Democrats until there is a crisis and then they choke us until the only way out of the crisis is to acquiesce.  So what will be the wake up call? When will Americans stand up and say enough? How many of us actually called our representatives in the past two weeks to let them know we would not be bullied by the Tea Party?  Today marks a sad day in history and things are certainly likely to get worse.  Click here to see the full NYT article.

Five Dollars Too Much to Save a Bridge (?)

Sellwood Bridge Scores 2 out of 100 for Safety

For regular TSM followers, you probably remember the story on the Sellwood Bridge and how it would only take $5.00 every two years to help rebuild a bridge that scores a 2 out of a possible 100 for safety.  Well it looks as though the Tea Party idiot who stirred up all the trouble and encouraged people in Clacakamas County to vote against the bridge won Mind you, the bridge is used heavily by those in Clackamas to get to and from work.  My question is: Really? Really?  $5 every two years is too much for you to pay for a bridge that could fall at any moment?  Those of us who live in Multnomah County, and don’t use the bridge with the same volume or frequency, have already agreed to pay $19 every two years to rebuild the bridge.  This vote from 63% of the voters in Clackamas County speaks to a great amount of ignorance and selfishness.

I would propose there be an electronic toll booth for the new bridge that recognizes the license plate and charges a toll to those cars registered in Clackamas County.  What makes me sad is that I expected better from Oregonians.  I expected that regardless of party lines, Oregonians would step up to the plate and do the right thing.  Obviously, we will not spend any money in Clackamas County.  How sad we see a victory for the Tea Party that only hurts and endangers the larger population.  Click here to see the full article.

Hypocrisy and reflections…

The Party of Hypocrisy

As my husband and I sip our early morning coffee and visit with each other in the quiet of a wet Portland morning, we were talking about TSM’s articles about the death of bin Laden and my fear of stirring up even more Islamophobia.  I have heard and read a great deal of blatant racism towards our Muslim brothers and sisters, thus I feel the need to point out:

The confirmed number of terrorists plots against the United States perpetrated by Muslims in 2010 was 10.  However, the number of confirmed number of terrorists plots against the United States perpetrated by non-Muslims in 2010 was 25.

I relay this information in the wake of a Texas high school teacher mocking a Muslim student after bin Laden was killed.  Click here to see the article.  Am I the only one here that sees the hypocrisy here and how this smacks of xenophobia?

More on hypocrisy: the functioning illiterate Michele Bachmann and her GOP cronies accuse President Obama of being a socialst.  Michele Bachmann has received over $154,000 in government subsidies for her farm–I guess that is not socialism, but just a profit.

Hypocrisy and Scott Walker and Paul LePage: Since 1972 the United States has seen a 114% increase in labor productivity.  Sadly, since 1972 wages have dropped by 6%.

Unfortunately, I could go on and on and on.  Rather I would encourage the readers of TSM to read the May issue of Harper’s, where I got most of this information.

Bachmann’s “Final Solution”

Frau Bachmann's "Final Solution"

A few days ago, Michele (Proud I’ve never read a book) Bachmann gave a speech to the National Rifle Association (NRA).  In that speech, Bachmann said:

The right to keep and bear arms has to be protected because the Second Amendment is the final guarantor of all our constitutional rights.

I would like to know what Frau Bachmann means by “final guarantor”? Does she have any idea of the implications of that language? Is she encouraging Tea Baggers to start shooting those of us that disagree with the racist, illiterate, and violent Tea Party movement?  Is anyone else thinking about Gabrielle Giffords right now and the lessons we could be learning from that tragedy? Bachmann went on to say:

I trust that you’re locked and loaded, and I’m really sorry that I can’t be with you in Pittsburgh to soak up all the energy from you.

Really? This is the type of language coming from a Presidential candidate.  One can only imagine the nightmare for the world should Bachmann hold the position of President; she makes Qaddafi look sane and even jovial. Minnesota, what on earth were you thinking?  When do we finally evolve from the primitive philosophy of “might is right”?  Click here to read the full article.