Supporting evidence, Evangelical sanctimonium, foolish Democrats, courageous statesmen, terrible people, Corporate shunning, Assad has to go, a plan to save the world, and extinct Elephants.
Welcome to the Daily Sausage.
First up, a companion piece to an article running later today from Ed at Gin and Tacos: “Stormy Weather” Ed says basically the same thing that I do.
Next up, evangelical spokesman Jerry Newcombe noted that non-Christians that died in the Aurora attacks would be going to hell, and Fred Jackson, director of the AFA, blamed the attacks on Hollywood movies and liberal bias. AFA stands for American Family Association, which is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This follows up Representative Louie Gohmert’s claim that the cause of the attacks was atheism and attacks on Christians on. To this I only have to say: fuck you, you bunch of self-righteous sanctimonious pricks. There is a special hell for each and every one of you, and it is my sincere hope that the pain and suffering delivered to all of you in the afterlife equals that which your intolerance and hatred has delivered to those here on Earth.
Bill Kristol, who is normally right up there with George “Effing” Will on the people who’s advice should never be taken, actually said some advice that should be taken: Democrats are “being foolish” by not proposing sensible gun regulations.
“People have a right to handguns and hunting rifles, I don’t think they have a right to semi-automatic, quazi-machine guns that can shoot hundred bullets at a time. And I actually think the Democrats are being foolish as they are being cowardly. I think there is support for some moderate forms of gun control if they separate clearly from a desire to take away everyone’s handguns or hunting rifles. …President Obama on this one is just unwilling to take a strong stance.” – Bill Kristol
Bill Kristol has it right. Take not of this, as it may be the only time I ever say it.
Next up, some courageous statesmen.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for both President Obama and Mitt Romney to come up with a plan to reduce gun violence over the next four years.
And finally Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) repudiated a constituent this past weekend after she went off on a verbal tirade against Clinton aide Huma Abedin, saying:
“I think that the comments that were made about her in that letter, whether or not they were taken out of context, were the wrong thing to do…”
“Religion is a personal issue to every one of the people who lives in the United States, whether you practice a faith, how you practice a faith, whether you don’t practice a faith, whether you say you’re a member of a faith but don’t practice it, it’s none of the government’s business.
Good for you, Representative Sensenbrenner.
Next up, some terrible people.
First, we have Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) saying he would restrict gun control efforts because keeping high powered weapons and large capacity magazines out of the hands of sick and demented individuals would restrict our freedoms. Yes, because it’s not enough that high powered weapons and high capacity magazines are legal, we have to make them easily available to everyone regardless of mental state, because anything less would be infringing on the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear assault rifles with 100-round clips and grenade launchers. Go fuck yourself, Ron Johnson.
Russell Pearce, former Arizona State Senator and author of SB1070, has said:
“Had someone been prepared and armed they could have stopped this ‘bad’ man from most of this tragedy. All that was needed is one Courages/Brave man prepared mentally or otherwise to stop this it could have been done.”
Yes, because a bunch of people with handguns in a crowded, tear gas filled dark movie theater are going to take down a guy wearing Kevlar body armor and packing and assault rifle, a shotgun, and two handguns. Go fuck yourself, Russell Pearce.
Jonathan Merritt has posed the question of whether we really want to live in a country where people won’t do commerce with those who have beliefs different than our own, regarding Chick-Fil-A. Well, the Supreme Court has decided that corporations are people under the law, so it’s time to start treating them like people. I don’t associate with hateful homophobes and bigots in my personal life, so why should I give them my hard earned money to go donate to causes that support things I don’t believe in? Merritt makes the case that Chick-Fil-A does a large number of charitable things, and I don’t disagree with him. He says the reasons they do those things are rooted in the Christian faith, and I have no problem with that either. But, you don’t get to use religion to justify hate and get away with it, regardless of the size of the contribution. If corporations are going to be people, then by God it’s up to society to make them into good ones, and the only way we’re going to do that is spank them metaphorically and financially when they misbehave. So, a double go fuck yourself to Jonathan Merritt for being a schmuck and to Chick-Fil-A for being hateful homophobes.
Syria has acknowledged that they will use chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack, their first ever acknowledgement that they have weapons of mass destruction. Well, so much for diplomacy. Assad and his regime have got to go. They had to go months ago too, but you can’t leave dictators and despots in charge of weapons of mass destruction, especially ones so horrible pretty much everyone agrees that they’re too horrible to use. So, one last go fuck yourself to Syria.
We have a new article from Matt Taibbi on an extreme tactic being developed to halt the ongoing foreclosure crisis: cities using eminent domain to buy up foreclosed properties and paying fair market value for them (often less than the mortgage price) to the big banks, reselling the mortgage to a private equity firm, who would then adjust the mortgage for the current homeowner to match the value of the home.
This, of course, has the big banks freaked the fuck out, who through the Wall Street trade association, SIFMA, have promised legal challenges and collusion in freezing communities that use this plan out of the private mortgage financing market.
Personally, I’m already making popcorn, because this is going to be good.
And finally, an article from the New York Times on the decline and virtual extinction of the California GOP. For as dysfunctional as California Democrats may be, they’re still better than the raving loons that inhabit the Republican party. Some choice quotes:
“They have become too doctrinaire on the social issues. It’s become a cult.”
“The national party is becoming a party of very enthusiastic social conservatives driven by Southerners,”
“The institution of the California Republican Party, I would argue, has effectively collapsed,” said Steve Schmidt, a Republican consultant who was a senior adviser to Mr. Schwarzenegger. “It doesn’t do any of the things that a political party should do. It doesn’t register voters. It doesn’t recruit candidates. It doesn’t raise money. The Republican Party in the state institutionally has become a small ideological club that is basically in the business of hunting out heretics.”
“When you look at the population growth, the actual party is shrinking,” Mr. Schmidt said. “It’s becoming more white. It’s becoming older. “
Kimberly Nalder, a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento, says Republicans in California are still too closely identified with socially conservative positions — on immigration, the environment, abortion and gay rights — that have put them outside the mainstream in a changing electorate.
“They’re just blind to the future,” she said. “We’re passing the tipping point now, and they are not realizing that.”
You can apply this to the national party as well, with the exception that there are people in places like Alabama, Kentucky, and Kansas that think this is a feature, not a bug.
