Rick Santorum: Left uses college for "indoctrination" - CBS News
Perhaps, just perhaps, Rick, those of us who go to college and come out more liberal and less religious aren’t indoctrinated.
Maybe knowledge and critical thinking lead some-but not all-people away from religion.
Maybe being instantly saddled with massive, often crippling debt simply due to a desire for knowledge and understanding of the world gives some people a more progressive view of the world.
Maybe you and your ilk just want a cowed, ignorant, obedient mass of humanity that will hang on your every word and believe whatever you tell them without thinking twice because it’s easier to manipulate people who don’t know any better.
Maybe, just maybe, not everyone who attends college comes out a left-wing atheist, but instead gains critical thinking skills and a more inquisitive nature and that makes them more difficult to satiate with empty platitudes and dog-whistle politics, no matter what their political leaning.
Maybe what you’re really upset about are people who see through the stuffed-shirt politicos like yourself who are all talk and no action, who are in it for their own personal glory instead of the betterment of all Americans, and we’re increasingly getting sick and tired of your bullshit.
And maybe, just maybe, a guy with an undergrad from Penn State, a masters from Pitt and a law degree from a Dickinson shouldn’t be trashing people who want to get an education, because it certainly sound hypocritical to shit all over the professors and institutions that helped on your way to a career and livelihood that included being a high-powered lawyer, a congressman, and now a Presidential hopeful. You didn’t do that shit on your own and you certainly didn’t leave college a secular leftist by any stretch of the imagination.
So allow me to put aside all my high-falutin’ state college book-learnin’ aside for a moment and resort to a more folksy, ‘Merican way of speaking- You’re a asshole and a hypocrite and you make me ashamed to call myself an American. Go fuck yourself, shithead.
Ohh, Iowa…
So Romney won Iowa, barely. Not a huge surprise. Out of the poo-poo platter of candidates that the GOP has put forth, he’s really the most palatable to the rest of America. Sure, he’s still an empty suit with nice hair and magic underwear, but at least he’s not Newt Gingrich.
I’ve had friends who live in and are from Iowa tell me over the past few weeks that I should wait and see, Iowans are not stupid, crazy religious nuts who represent the margins of society. I believed them. After all, I grew up a few hundred miles north of Iowa and they always seemed like an extension of the mostly reasonable, live-and-let-live folks I grew up with. I mean, they legalized gay marriage in Iowa, for crying out loud.
But then they went and gave Rick Santorum a second-place finish to Romney. Like I said earlier, it’s not like they have a great group of candidates to choose from, but Santorum? The guy who lost a RE-ELECTION bid by 19%? The guy who wants to outlaw all abortion? The guy who wants to criminalize being gay? The guy who doesn’t believe in evolution, who thinks that caring for the environment is an “ideology being pushed on Americans,” and who said that liberalism led to Cathlolic priests abusing young boys?
C’mon, Iowa, you’re better than that.
No money to keep people from freezing, but plenty for our bloated military.
Poverty in America is only getting worse, with data showing rising income inequality and the startling fact that half of all Americans are now either in poverty or considered low-income. Were it not for the government programs that comprise the social safety net, those numbers would be even worse. More than a quarter would live in poverty without the safety net, according to one study, and Social Security alone kept 14 million out of poverty last year. Despite that, Congress — and particularly Republicans in Congress — have made cuts to various programs meant to aid the poorest Americans. Congress reached a deal Thursday to avert a shutdown that would have begun at midnight tonight, and in doing so, Republicans found another low-income program to target, cutting funding for subsidies that help the poor stay warm during the winter by nearly 25 percent. At the same time, however, the Pentagon’s budget is getting a 1 percent boost…
In 2010, US military spending account for nearly half of all military spending in the world. When you read the words “defense budget,” go ahead and translate that as “needless giveaways to corporations and contractors” — it’s the result of a corrupt system that combines corporate lobbyists and overt fearmongering. If you want a clear example of government waste, look no farther than the defense budget.
When the government would rather let people freeze than touch military spending, you’re officially in a “guns, not butter” scenario. These are not good people.
Source: thinkprogress.org
What I Want: A Wishlist for the Future from a Political Independent
Everyone is frustrated with some aspect of government. No one is ever truly happy with the way things are going. No one seems to get what they want when they want it. Government is too big, too small, inefficient, not acting in the best interests of the people, too lenient on corporations, not lenient enough on corporations, there are too many regulations, there aren’t enough regulations, it’s too liberal, too conservative, and on and on and on…
There is no quick fix to our problems. Barack Obama wasn’t a quick fix to eight years of war and George Bush. Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and crew aren’t the quick fix to our current problems. Things are not that simple, no matter what someone tries to tell you. Real change starts at the local level and goes upward, it doesn’t start at the top and trickle down. Even the hucksters who tout “trickle-down economics” will admit that.
I voted for Obama in 2008. I have no regrets about that vote. McCain and Palin certainly didn’t even come close to representing my idea of the future of the country. They weren’t even an option. Meanwhile, Obama, even though he hasn’t followed through on everything that was promised (but really, when does that EVER happen?), has at least managed to stabilize our country in a time of turmoil, despite a historically petulant opposition.
The one thing I keep coming back to when I hear my more liberal friends bitch and moan that Obama hasn’t done enough as President or that he hasn’t gone far enough with policies that he has enacted (the health care bill comes to mind) is a statement that I remember him making not long after he was elected that echoed one FDR made during his Presidency, essentially calling on the people who supported him and were pushing policy ideas to “go out and make me do it.”
Well, we didn’t do that. The 53% of the voting public that cast ballots for Barack Obama in 2008 just sat back and did nothing. We didn’t do shit.
I’m not sure if we all were so satisfied with ourselves for electing the first black President in American history or what, but we left the man who was elected President by a 10 million vote margin to flap in the wind. That wind turned out to be a gale of invective, misplaced vitriol, ugly racism and fear-mongering that has hampered and crippled nearly his entire first term as President. We spent our time as a country chasing after birth certificates and striking up fear among morons over how “Christian” Obama was and whether he was actually a “Muslim,” as if that means a damn thing. It was a fine and dandy way to divide the country further when we should be trying to coalesce and move forward. Instead, we moved further apart and staggered backward. “United we stand, divided we fall” isn’t just a catchy phrase.
More recently, we’ve seen the wave of protests by the “99%,” people who are sick and tired of being shit on by the top 1% of earners in our country. The Occupy Everywhere protests have spread worldwide by this point and even though they lack a coherent single message, what they want should be obvious to anyone who is paying attention- a decent chance at a decent future with a decent paying job, decent health care that’s affordable and a decent shot that their children will have opportunities to do the same. It’s not really that hard to comprehend, yet so many pundits and politicians seem baffled that the rabble are starting to rise up and demand to be treated with the same respect and deference as the corporations and PACS and lobbyists who push legislation and policy.
A government that actually works for the people who elected it shouldn’t be such a novel idea.
So here’s my completely incomplete list of changes I’d like to see in government, politics and society going forward-
South Carolina Voter ID Law: Yep, Pretty Discriminating - Mother Jones
I’m torn on the various Voter ID laws being passed in states across our country. On one hand, I’m baffled that so many people don’t have any form of government-issued ID. No driver’s license, ID card, passport, nothing. How do you get a job? How do you buy alcohol if you’re over 21? How do you drive a car? How do you get a library card? How do you do just about anything without some form of government-issued ID? It boggles my mind. And based off that bogglement, I support the idea that people should have some form of ID in order to vote. But the idea and the intent of these voter ID laws are not the same. As much as the people who support these laws like to deny it, time and time again the numbers come back that the laws unfairly disenfranchise minority, elderly and youth voters. Heck, in Wisconsin, the state passed a new voter ID law and then started closing down DMV offices in areas that were filled with primarily Democratic voters. That kind of thing stinks to high heaven. And it’s indicative of similar efforts in other states. If we’re going to make IDs mandatory for everyone to vote, then it needs to be done in a more inclusive and easy to obtain way. Not in a way that disenfranchises votering blocs that are predisposed to vote for either major party. That’s just dirty pool and a real underhanded play to consolidate power. Knock it off.
New York Observer: Exclusive “Occupy Wall Street” Unaired Fox Footage (by mavgirl69)
Source: youtube.com
The night Republicans booed a soldier - 2012 Elections - Salon.com
Um, wow.
First off, who the fuck do you think you are, booing an active member of our military who is currently stationed in Iraq, regardless of whether you agree with his/her lifestyle? Seriously, who the fuck do you think you are?
You don’t deserve to have men and women fight for your safety. But let me guess, you probably drape yourselves in the flag and have “Support Our Troops” bumper stickers on your cars. You call yourself a “patriot” and refer to those who don’t agree with you as “traitors.” Guess what, you’re just hate-filled little children, stomping your feet and throwing a hissy fit. Perhaps someone needs to check you diaper.
Second, each and every one of these candidates are cowards in the highest degree for not chastising those audience members who booed Stephen Hill. That’s who you’re looking to elect, Republicans, a man who refuses to stand up for a US soldier?
Good luck with that.
I know that not all of you agree with the shit-heaps who booed that solider, but you’re all lumped in with them because you just sat back and let it happen. Not only that, but you continue to support candidates who did nothing to stop it. Silence implies consent. So why do Republican candidates hate our troops?
Finally, Rick Santorum is a spineless, hateful, jellyfish of a human being. He gives people of faith a bad name. The fact that the Republican party allows him a forum to voice his ignorance, stupidity, and hate is just baffling to me. He is truly a piece of human excrement who deserves only to be ignored. Fuck you, Rick.And fuck each and every one of you who think it’s okay to boo a solider just because he/she is gay. I’m saying it now and I’ll say it to your face if we ever meet- fuck you.
I like this lady. She makes sense.
Elizabeth Warren on Debt Crisis, Fair Taxation (by LiveSmartVideos)
Source: youtube.com
The Consequences of Evil - Republican Legislation Since 2010
Ignore the inflammatory “war on” for every single group of legislation and look at what is missing-
All of these pushes to legislate social issues, morality, the environment and take away rights and not one thing has been done to help get out of work Americans back to work.
I’m not saying that Republicans don’t care about average Americans, but their elected officials certainly don’t seem to.
Write your congressperson and ask them why they have been proposing bans on abortion, defunding of NPR, bans on marriage for gay people, rewriting of history, etc. instead of proposing bills to help all of the people effected by the recession.
Letters To My Country: Henry Ford vs. The Shareholders: An Informative Exercise In Capitalism
In 1916, Henry Ford made a controversial decision that did not sit well with the other shareholders of the Ford Motor Company: he vowed to stop paying “special dividends” to shareholders (of which there were only eight at the time, including Mr. Ford’s 58% share), and instead pay only a regular…
Source: letterstomycountry
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