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Virginia joins the 21st Century

And the dominoes keep falling.

Virginia is the latest state where a Federal Court has ruled that prohibitions against gays and lesbians getting married violates the Constitution.  virginia-is-for-loversYes, once more, we radical liberals are forcing our views down the throats of unsuspecting bigots through the terrible practice of “using the exact words of the Constitution.”  (Hey, you ever notice that these homophobes always say we’re “shoving it down their throats”?  Is that subconscious wish fulfillment or what?)

The decision is stayed pending an appeal.  This means that either the Supreme Court will take all of these and make one final decision that will be applied to the entire country, or they will deny the appeals, thus confirming the lower court’s decision, permitting marriages in those states only.

A Federal Court yesterday also ruled that Kentucky could not refuse to accept marriages that occurred in states where the marriage would be legal.  The issue as to Kentucky’s anti-gay marriage law was not before the court, so that may still be coming in another case.

There are still plenty of other cases in the pipeline (including here in Pennsylvania, where our Attorney General has refused to support our states’ anti-marriage law).  So this trip is far from over.

Editorial cartoon: Blinded me with science

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GOP as carnies

Carnies have the attitude that if you’re gullible and stupid enough to fall for their rigged games, then you deserve everything you get.  They’re very proud of their deceptive actions, because they’re so much smarter than the rubes who fall for them.

The Republican party feels the same way about you.

This is nothing new.  Dick Nixon had a “Dirty Tricks” committee specifically designed to do these things. fakepelosisite And now the current party has taken a book from Tricky Dickie and has created a series of false and misleading campaign websites for Democratic candidates.

The National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee bought up hundreds of URLs on Democratic candidates and created sites that mimic the real ones.  They have the candidate’s picture really big, and then a big “donate” button, and then in small print, it says “Help us defeat the candidate.”

These are so misleading that Google has started putting their warning pages up before you can see them, telling you that it is a potential phishing site.

This fits in with the theme of the the blog this week, which is that the GOP has a specific policy of lying and being misleading.  What’s more, like carnies, they’re proud of it.  Daniel Scarpinato, the NRCC’s press secretary, brags about the fake website program and plans on expanding it.

In response, the National Democratic Committee states that it has no plans to ever create deceptive web sites of this sort.

Editorial cartoon: That works

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Lying as policy

All politicians lie.  But currently, only the Republican party proudly promotes lies and deceptions as its policy.

A few days ago, I wrote about the “2.5 million unemployed by Obamacare” lie they are peddling.

I now see that that they are claiming that “Obama caused the government shutdown.”

Here’s how it really went down:

“Hey, President Obama!  It’s us, the Republicans!  Remember how we voted against Obamacare but it still passed?  And how we challenged it in court and lost?  And how we nominated a candidate who ran on a platform of repealing it and he lost?  And how we voted 42 times to repeal it, losing each time?  And how we have tried to defund it and lost?  

Well, we now demand that despite all this, you defund it and thus kill it, or else we will shut down the government.  No?  Okay, you asked for it!

Look, everyone!  We, the Republicans, have shut down the government until Obama gives us what we want!  We’re proud of this accomplishment!

Okay, Obama, now will you defund it?  No?  Well, will you cut the budget in a few places?  No?  Will you  at least cut this one thing?  No?

Wait a minute … the American people hate this.  Our poll numbers are lower than they have been in the history of poll numbers.  

Okay, fine, you can reopen the government.

Wow, the public really hates us.  Guess we have to use our old standby policy to get out of this one.  Everyone, ready?  Good. Start lying.

Obama caused the shutdown!!!”

Fortunately, rational and reasonable people are laughing at this.  Here’s a nice video of journalist Bob Schieffer giggling uncontrollably when Ted Cruz claimed that Obama caused the shutdown:

… And here is an article from last December where Ted Cruz brags about causing the shutdown.

This is just outright lying, isn’t it?  I mean, is there another explanation?

Despite what some defenders claim, this is not the same thing as picking and choosing which facts to highlight when pushing your agenda.  It’s not the same thing as “spinning.”  It’s not even the same thing as not pursuing your campaign promises.  This is lying as policy.  To defend this is despicable.  (And I applaud those Republicans who are refusing to follow the party line here.)

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss the current GOP strategy of creating fake fraudulent websites designed to purposely mislead people into thinking they are donating to Democratic candidates.   I am not making this up.

Editorial cartoon: Facts never get in the way

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Killing the death penalty

Jay Inslee, the Governor of Washington, announced that his state will be joining the growing list of states that will no longer have the death penalty.

“Blah blah!” you scream.  “Blah blah blah blah!”   

Yes, yes, I know.  Some people deserve it, vengeance should be part of our legal system, and even though there is absolutely no evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent, it is a deterrent. death Yes, I know.  Thank you.  You can stop now.

I will never shed a tear for certain people who received the death penalty in America (Good riddance, Timothy McVeigh). But I am very familiar with our judicial system.  It’s what I do for a living, you know.  And all of us who do this for a living will admit that our system is not perfect.  Innocent people get found guilty all the time, and guilty people get found not guilty.   Sometimes we don’t realize our mistakes until way later.  And then it is often too late to do anything about it.

We should not have a punishment that is 100% irreversible in a system that is not 100% perfect.  Too many innocent people (mostly poor, largely minority) have been put to death only to be exonerated much later by DNA evidence, witnesses recanting their testimony, or proof of DA and/or police conspiracies.  It does happen, and more often than we would like to admit.

And we as a country should not stand for it.

That doesn’t mean we free everybody.  Governor Inslee made that very clear with his announcement.  “No one is getting out of jail!” he said.

So good job, Washington.  Maybe soon the US will join the rest of the advanced civilized democratic world in getting rid of the death penalty completely.   But by then, how many more innocent people would we have killed?

Editorial cartoon: …And we’re against those things! Right?

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How to Speak Republican

Lesson 27.

When an official report says something other than what you want it to say, make sure to twist it into something more favorable to you and bad for your opponent.

Example:  The Congressional Budget Office said that because of Obamacare, people who stayed in jobs solely for the insurance were now free to pursue other things.  They could now get rid of that second job, stay at home with the kids, or even start their own business.  Approximately 2.5 million people would be taking advantage of this, which will mean that 2.5 million jobs will soon be available for the unemployed to get.  The unemployment rate will fall, and perhaps even more small businesses will be formed.

Question:  How do you translate this news into Republican?

Analysis:  This is a difficult one, because clearly these are Republican goals.  Reducing unemployment, encouraging parents to stay at home, and helping small businesses form are all traditional Republican ideals.  However, to acknowledge this would be to not only admit that Obamacare might have some good points, but also allow the Democrats to claim that.  Clearly, any admission of any gains at all would be improper.

Solution:  Lie.  The best way to get around a truth you dislike is to lie.   Try one of these whoppers:pinocchio

“Obamacare is a disincentive to work!”  This one isn’t bad.  It implies that staying in a terrible job you hate just for the insurance is preferable to taking your life into your own hands and doing what you want.  But it’s still slightly true, albeit misleading.  you can do better.

“Obamacare will destroy 2.5 million jobs!”  There’s the winner.  A complete lie, absolutely not what the CBO said, and sure to be bought by a clueless media who doesn’t want to have to actually do the reading to realize that it’s complete bullshit.  Even if it was true, it’s offset by the fact that Obamacare has added 8.1 million new jobs.  But of course, you will never mention that.

Summary:  As we have seen from every other lesson, the answer is always to lie.  You can never go wrong that way if you want to learn how to speak Republican fluently.

Editorial cartoon: Fox checkers