What is up with US Repubs?

[pieces o nine]

Here we are, celebrating our "freedom" while the news reports a steady stream of naked (and I think that's the right term)  far-Right grabs for power over the bodies of female Americans. They are resorting to ever more outrageous and underhanded tactics that go far, far beyond their dreams hallucinations that a Born-Again Christian Amurka is an abortion-free Amurka -- to outlawing established, female birth control, to shutting down *ALL* the health services in clinics (the 97% of screenings and treatments that have nothing to do with abortion,  leaving poor women at the mercy of Medicare -- also painted as a program for "takers").

This anti-abortion stance is so extreme, it not only does away with exceptions for rape and incest (see recent, infamous clips of faux-pious politicians invoking "God's Will"), but even insisting that a fetus with no "life signs" which will be delivered stillborn must be carried to term.  What about ectopic pregnancies? Some of these bozos (the most humble term I can muster) have attempted to write legislation that women experiencing a miscarriage must report to local law enforcement.  They are attempting laws forcing  women to submit to medically unnecessary ultrasounds or vaginal probes -- for which they must pay (not through insurance either, no ma'am!) which serve no purpose but to humiliate female patients, including those seeking health services other than abortion.

They want to eliminate any form of sex education other than the inherently flawed "Abstinence" in public schools, until they can get rid of public schools altogether. They are passing "Lie to X" bills forcing doctors to lie to patients, lie to rape victims, and teachers to lie to students about the realities of human reproduction. They want to eliminate health care for the poor. They want to eliminate prenatal care, early care for newborns (including vaccinations) and WIC. They want to eliminate assistance programs for developmentally disabled children and their caregivers. They want to eliminate preschool and subsidized school lunches. They want to cut taxes further for the very upper classes -- because they are "Job Creators" -- while outsourcing as many jobs as possible for their own short-term gain. FFS, do they have any concept of what a population explosion of poor, uneducated, subsistence-wage, religiously indoctrinated, unvaccinated and medically untreated people dominated by a tiny, pampered, obscenely wealthy, arrogant upper class looks  like or result in? Nope, probably not. The KJV's 2000+ verses on poverty and social justice just do not resonate with these God-fearing politicians, and the history of the rest of the world is non-applicable here in Amurka.

Simultaneously, many of these Repub legislators are making lightning strikes to further constrict non-repub, non-white, and (coming soon, kids) non-male voter registration -- not to mention actual voting  by the above mentioned sectors.

I cannot fathom how any of this is legal. I am revolted by the people hysterically wailing that they're suffering horrendous, historically unprecedented tyranny if not permitted every weapon imaginable, because it's their "constitutional right," while not having any reaction whatsoever to the dissolution of civil rights on a daily basis.

And I find it obscene that these same "lawmakers" are rubbing their forelegs together at the prospect of sending US troops to fresh, developing hot spots around the globe, to spread their Bizarro World version of Democracy. I am sickened and repulsed by the lot of them.

I don't want to see this for reals in my lifetime.



       

[Griffin NoName]

I do love your long posts. They are a real treat.

But back to topic. It is very hard to believe this is actually happening in first world modern society. I thought we had progressed past the Dark Ages. Wll they introduce the Spanish Inquisition (or rather a look alike)? It is shocking and wicked. They might as well bring back hang,drawn and quartered and heads on spikes at the city boundaries for shoplifting. These people are sick. They should be locked up in asylums for the insane.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The trifecta of Evil+Fanatic+Stupid has been a winning combination for the past decade but besides the drivers of the unholy alliance of the rich with the fundies to con the stupid, certain conditions need to be there in the first place to allow it to be successful.

I'll expose my prejudice and say that the very rich are almost by definition evil, they used to limit their lack of empathy to limited actions, but now they shamelessly promote their lack of empathy publicly. I suspect that while the European and Asian rich may express the same unempathetic feelings in private, they tend to moderate themselves in public to avoid backlash.

The fundies are also everywhere, being a fundamentalist is a very comfortable position, "truth has been found and I'm in possession of said truth". Note that you don't have to be a religious fundamentalist to behave idiotically, a good portion of the so-called American libertarians are as fundamentalist in [some of] their views* and promote radical agendas without questioning or critical thinking. On the same token we are bound to get atheist fundamentalists saying and doing stupid things, but for now they are a tiny minority with no power.

The Stupid are in my opinion what makes this whole thing possible, and those are a confluence of substandard education where critical thinking is absent, traditional religious sentiment, which was a driver for the migration to North America, the natural tendency of a portion of the population to be more paranoid than the average, and a history of practical laissez faire during the process of conquest and colonization of the continent, which implies a deep distrust of government and central agencies. Not surprisingly, those elements are easier to find in rural areas, while urban areas can see more directly the effects of laissez faire plus the benefits of the government services.

You could say that the catalyst for the unholy alliance was September 11th but many of the elements have been there since the 70s and 80s, it isn't a coincidence that the children of the "greed is good" generation is now taking the reigns of government and industry.

The good news are that demographics don't favor them in the long run, not only because minorities are becoming majorities, but because rural populations are now a minority as well. On the same token, social trends have kept moving in the same direction, which explains why discrimination against gays is finally dwindling down, so, while women rights have been slow to come, they have been coming and the expectation is that long term the knee jerk reactions of the right will become a sad curiosity as past resistors of civil rights change.

What is difficult to admit is that we have to wait a generation or two for the more recalcitrant right wingers to be replaced for more commonsensical people. The people on top of the right are trying desperately to resist the tide and their more disgusting strategies come to light due to their desperation. They may have (had) some success and possibly delayed the dreaded changes, but they can't stop the flood.

I'm not saying that they aren't doing damage or that they won't do as much damage as they can, only that their view of the world is doomed to fail and their only choice is to transform of die. It may be a cold comfort for those who have to live with their misdeeds, but their time is coming.

*it is lovely to watch them justify their unholy alliance with the religious fundies, while true Randian libertarians are materialists. In the end Machiavellism is a bigger driver than consistency for them.

[Griffin NoName]

I'll expose my prejudice and say that the very rich are almost by definition evil, they used to limit their lack of empathy to limited actions, but now they shamelessly promote their lack of empathy publicly. I suspect that while the European and Asian rich may express the same unempathetic feelings in private, they tend to moderate themselves in public to avoid backlash.

In the Uk most of the government bods are millionnaires +++. They don't moderate themselves in public because they have a better plan. They have subverted the middle class and employed into believing every one who is so poor they need benefits is a shirker, or skiver, all the people who say they are sick which entitles them to benfits, are likewise lying, and all the disabled are too costly to support any longer. The public are so stupid they believe them, they also believe the massaged statistics they put out to support their evil (which can easily be shown to be nonsense, but the public does not respond to corrections). The extent to which the public believe the governments statements is quite simply ludicrous. It is so obvious when they are lying it makes me think a kind of madness has descended on our society.

So, if you can subvert the populace, you don't need to hide your evil opinions.

[Opsa]

*rumbling with everyone so far*

I wonder what makes people listen to, agree with, and follow these guys. Is it that The Stupid also want to be rich, so they back the claims of these nutcases, thinking that they will win brownie points with them? Or maybe The Stupid emulate the Nutcases-in-Power in the hopes of finding a more successful mindset?

Can the world support more greedy, stupid people?

[Swatopluk]

From what I read, that is indeed the formula: "I will be rich one day and THEN I will not want to pay taxes. => tax cuts for the rich NOW"

[Swatopluk]

Some new  sad joke from the abortion front
http://tfninsider.org/2013/07/12/texas-sends-message-to-women-no-respect-and-no-tampons/

And in North Carolina a bill concerning motorcycle safety got a wee bit extended with abortion restrictions
https://www.google.de/search?q=aBORTION%20mOTORCYCLE&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:de:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp

[pieces o nine]

Local Repub hopefuls are throwing their hats into the ring in anticipation of the next election cycle, and every single one of them is righteously promising that he [and they are all "he"] WILL NEVER COMPROMISE, by god, neener neener neener.

[Griffin NoName]

This Texas abortion stuff all over our newspapers today. The world is watching.

[Swatopluk]

This Texas abortion stuff all over our newspapers today. The world is watching.

And that at a time when even Ireland shows some tiny movement on the topic.

[Griffin NoName]

This Texas abortion stuff all over our newspapers today. The world is watching.

And that at a time when even Ireland shows some tiny movement on the topic.

Indeed. I too noticed the irony.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

The Texas fight is leading up to another Supreme Court re-exam of Roe v Wade.

[Griffin NoName]

Good to see you Bob.....

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Good to see you Bob.....

I've been lurking and pondering the various dilemmas-- without anything to contribute, so I sent good vibrations instead.

[Opsa]

Have we even begun to mention the US Repub's  Stand Your Ground law?