The politicization of breast cancer

Like many, I was disappointed in the Komen foundation’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood, which prompted me to defund Komen and divert my own meager future donations to Planned Parenthood.  

However, what is even more disheartening than Komen’s politicization of breast cancer is their confused and nasty responses to public ire, accusing Planned Parenthood of using this issue to raise money. Planned Parenthood did not contact me for money - I contacted them. Komen disingenously and ridiculously implies that Planned Parenthood should do nothing to recoup the funding Komen has taken away. Komen made its biggest mistake in hiring a Republican politician whose goal was to destroy Planned Parenthood, which most of us knew nothing about until now. That hiring alone would have made me halt support for Komen had I known about it.  

I have grown increasingly appalled at Komen’s “commercialization” of breast cancer, with pink ribbons appearing on everything money can buy. Defunding Planned Parenthood was my final straw. Planned Parenthood has a much longer and more committed devotion to women’s health than Komen, with employees who put their very lives for women’s health on the line every day - indeed with too many brave employees losing being murdered for their efforts by so-called “right-to-life” fanatics. Komen’s becoming an overtly political organ has resulted in millions having to choose between Komen and Planned Parenthood. 

I choose Planned Parenthood.

Thoughts and prayers for the Santorums

Despite political differences - which are just that: political, not personal - all day I’ve been thinking of the Santorum family as they go through one of the hardest ordeals in life, the serious illness of their little child.

Thoughts and prayers for the Santorum family.

Santorum’s unvetted past hypocrisy flies beneath the radar screen

The smartest thing Rick Santorum is doing in the Republican clown reality show is flying beneath the radar screen. So far, he hasn’t been enough of a threat to be vetted completely - so he can get away with his own version of “pious baloney,” to quote King-of-Mean Newt Gingrich’s description of Mitt Romney’s own incredibly weird stuff.

As a few articles have started appearing, it all comes back - the reality that Pennsylvanians have known all too well about Mr. Holier-Than-Thou Santorum - and it’s not a pretty picture. Here’s the latest recap of scenes from the past too many people have either forgotten or never knew, involving his totally hypocritical campaign to limit medical practice awards - correct that: OTHER people’s medical malpractice awards - not his own:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/santorum-pushed-to-limit-malpractice-awards-but-sought-larger-payout-for-wife/2012/01/19/gIQANXQeVQ_story.html?hpid=z2

And notice his injured wife always at his side? Her pain and suffering aren’t keeping her off the campaign trail.

What vultures.

How long will it take Romney to earn YOUR salary?

Want a shock? It’s easy to calculate:

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/01/romney_income_calculator_how_much_does_mitt_make_how_long_would_it_take_him_to_earn_your_salary_.html

And, please, no digs about George Soros! I don’t have anything against rich people, per se - it’s rich selfish guys who care/know nothing about the ordinary folks who offend me - and that’s not George Soros! Romney is clueless, and Gingrich is just plain mean.

The measure of a man’s character: Santorum fails

I think most of us knew what Rick Santorum was really like before he put on the sugar-coating for the presidential race. He’s just as mean-spirited and hateful as Romney and Gingrich, if not more so. Here’s the proof, an episode yesterday in which he lets a woman call President Obama an “avowed Muslim,” then later says it’s not for him to “correct” people’s perceptions - taking the high road again, right, Rick?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY1iK2wfKmE

That’s the Rick Santorum we all know - not the “act” I see him putting on right now on “Morning Joe.”

The face of evil “Obamacare”

As Republicans work themselves into coniption fits over the evils of “Obamacare,” unfortunately, too many of them simply do not understand why we must have it. Here’s the face of the millions of people “Obamacare” will help:

“Healthcare bind for working class”

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120123_Daniel_Rubin__For_couple_in_need_of_health_insurance__good_news_and_bad.html

This hard-working family is hardly representative of anyone looking for a handout - or of New Gingrich’s Foodstamp Nation.

I’ve heard it said that conservative Republicans simply don’t want anyone else to have government benefits that they don’t get - that’s what it boils down to - which explains why people living on Social Security and Medicare demonize every program except Social Security  and Medicare.

I won’t try to put an adjective on this entire debate (I’ll leave it to you to choose - selfish, greedy, uncaring, mean….???) - but it’s not pretty or AMERICAN when folks criticize “Obamacare.”

In about 20 years (if not sooner) 90% of Americans will be saying, “Thank God for ‘Obamacare.’” That’s a promise.

For Republican debate-watchers - definition of “covert”

See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/covert

“Covert” - Not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in, accumulated, or shown…as in “covert military operations”

Some of the many, many, many lies we hear repeatedly in these debates are, well, just about everything having to do with President Obama’s foreign policy. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard one of these clowns say anything true about this subject. They range from Rick Perry’s amazing (even for him) ignorance about Turkey (makes you want to crawl under your bed and never come out - I felt humiliated before the world on that one) to, well, the lack of understanding of the word, “covert” (how did New Gingrich get a PhD without understanding that word????).

They keep saying that President Obama should be conducting “covert” this and “covert” that, especially with regard to Iran - well, duh…don’t they realize that whatever he’s doing that’s “covert” is necessarily, by definition, “not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in, accumulated, or shown.” It doesn’t take a PhD to know what “covert” means - but this array of clowns has no clue.

I mean, like, killing Osama bin Laden was the result of “covert” activity - meaning,(listen up, Republican candidates), that he didn’t announce what he was doing because it was “covert.” (Get it?)

Can’t they get that? And why has no one in the media called them out on this particular nuttiness? (Maybe because there are just too many nuttinesses to call them out on?)

You heard it here first - now, please, spread the definition of the word, “covert,” around wherever you can to help people understand what it means.

PS: Oh, and if they have such great foreign policy ideas, why do you never hear them mention this name - “George W. Bush”? Why do they avoid this master of crazy foreign policy that resulted in the criminal deaths of thousands. 

I’m b-a-a-a-a-a-a-c-k!

I haven’t blogged in a dog’s age for a whole host of reasons, one of which is to protect my blood pressure.

Now, my blood pressure is perfect - the kind the doc smiles about. But I can feel the pressure in my head increasing when I (1) watch the Republican clown show “debates,” (2) read about the Republican candidates’ neverending lies, and (3) generally read/hear/see anything about this entire fiasco.

And you may not need or want read what I really want to say in this atmosphere.

It is hard to write about this clown show without appearing to malign all Republicans, without appearing to believe that all Republicans are mean, hateful, stupid, dishonest, greedy…etc.  No, they aren’t all that way. But you wouldn’t know it, would you, to watch the clown show? The clown show that we must all take seriously because some people really think these clowns are qualified to rule this country. It just boggles the mind.

Watching the clown show is kind of like trying to watch Fox “News” or trying to listen to Rush Limbaugh or Laura Ingraham or Glenn Beck or trying to read Charles Krauthammer or Thomas Sowell - it’s so maddening.

The main problem I have with it all is the endless lies. I can’t watch Fox “News” for 5 minutes without wanting to shout out the truth in response to the endless lies…or listen to Beck/Limbaugh/Ingraham with wanting to shout at the radio in response to their endless lies…or read any of the columnists without jumping to the “comments” section and spouting my own hysteria in response to their shameless lies.

In other words, it’s hard to keep one’s cool in the face of the never-ending onslaught of lies, lies, lies - and that’s all it is…lies, lies, lies that it are difficult for us to challenge effectively after they’re put out in the ethernet.

In addition to the stress that their endless, unashamed, unabashed lies can cause, I am totally enraged at what I know the history books will say about how this country treated President Barack Obama, our first (of many, I hope) African-American President and a man who I know will go down as one of the greatest ever. Barack Obama will trump (ooh…don’t like using that word, even, it’s so yucky now) Ronald Reagan and every other Republican president in the “greatness” category hands-down when history makes its judgment.

And that’s what they can’t stand, folks: That Barack Obama is not just a good President, but a great one, perhaps the greatest one in history (it’s time to say it) - they just can’t stand it.

Read Andrew Sullivan’s article that I posted yesterday - and spread it far and wide.

I’m b-a-a-a-a-c-k. And, rest assured, when you read what I write, I will restrain myself to protect my health - I’ll ask myself, “What would Barack Obama do?” then proceed accordingly with our best role model.

This should be required reading for everyone, right and left:

 Andrew Sullivan says it all here:

If I sound biased, that’s because I am. Biased toward the actual record, not the spin; biased toward a president who has conducted himself with grace and calm under incredible pressure, who has had to manage crises not seen since the Second World War and the Depression, and who as yet has not had a single significant scandal to his name. “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” George Orwell once wrote. What I see in front of my nose is a president whose character, record, and promise remain as grotesquely underappreciated now as they were absurdly hyped in 2008. And I feel confident that sooner rather than later, the American people will come to see his first term from the same calm, sane perspective. And decide to finish what they started.

So Rick Perry would destroy Congress and the courts…

…by making our representatives part-time employees and destroying the Constitution’s lifetime judicial appointment provision.

So what would be the result?

KING RICK, of course. After he would destroy the legislative and judicial branches of the government, the executive branch would be all that’s left. (Of course, I doubt seriously that Rick Perry understands checks and balances or even passed high school civics - show us your grade, Rick.)

Get ready for that horror show, folks.

Just when you think this Republican presidential race clown show couldn’t get any more terrifying…it does.