The national elections offer an excellent opportunity for state legislatures for pull a fast one on the public.  The Florida state legislature has proposed 11 amendments to the Florida constitution to be voted on November 6.  Several of them deal with homestead tax exemptions and one concerns the appointment of a student body president to the state university system's board of governors.  But look closely you will find "Prohibition on Public Funding of Abortions; Construction of Abortion Rights."  As you can imagine, it prohibits the use of public money for abortions "or for health-benefit coverage that includes coverage of abortion."   Fortunately, it still allows coverage for federally mandated cases like rape and incest (which Romney-Ryan want to eliminate).  Now take a look at Amendment Proposal 8 which is ludicrously called "Religious Freedom." But what it does is allow the state to give public money to religious organizations like churches, church schools and just about anything church affiliated.  After a bunch of drivel about how much Floridians value tolerance, liberty and the right of  people to practice their own religion, it specifies that one quarter of the state's current population is Roman Catholic and this amendment is intended to correct an 1885 amendment that "exists as a result of anti-Catholic bigotry and animus."  Now get this.  The lines they are cancelling from the old amendment make no mention of the Catholic Church, they just prohibit public money being given to any church.  The new amendment wording also does not mention the Catholic Church but allows public money to be given to any church-associated organization.  The Florida legislature is controlled by Republicans.  I will not insult your intelligence; you can draw your own conclusions.  Separation of church and state?

Anyone following the news over the past ten days might conclude we are about to elect the President of the State of Ohio.  Now I have nothing personal against the people of Ohio but I do object to the idea that they are the ones, in then final analysis, who could select our President for the next four years.  Then you hear how the Ohio coal lobby and coal unions are endorsing one of the candidates so, in theory, you and I could be governed by the person chosen by Ohio coal miners.  Over and over again we hear about the "swing states" that will decide the outcome of the election. Although I happen to live in one, Florida, I think our election system stinks.  We choose our President and Vice President by "indirect election."  We are actually voting to tell our state electors who we want for President and Vice President but the electors are not obligated to cast their "electoral ballots" for the citizens' choice.  Each state determines how electors are chosen so you and I have no idea who those electors are.  Our Founding Fathers established "Electoral Colleges," supposedly, to even out the electoral clout among big and small states.  That's the same argument Congressmen have been using to shoot down constitutional amendments eliminating the "College" over the past several decades.  I fail to see how electoral votes even the playing field between Vermont's three electoral votes and California's 55.  The problem is compounded by the political parties' Holy Grail, voter turnout.  Theoretically a small number of voters in states with lots of electoral votes could decide for the entire country.  But look on the bright side.  If we have a very tight race and it comes down to the electoral votes in one "swing state," we can just have the Supreme Court decide who will be President.  Think that could ever happen? 

Dear Mitt,

I hope you don’t mind my calling you Mitt but since you’re trying to sell yourself as a regular guy I figured you won’t mind.  I’m writing to give you a great idea for reducing the run-away costs of those dreaded government entitlement programs.  It’s easy.  If you get elected, on inauguration day just declare that registered Republicans are immediately not eligible for government handouts like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Disability Insurance and anything else that blood-sucking 47 per cent is getting at the expense of hard working Republicans who take responsibility for their own lives.  That will really show the liberals that Republicans put their money where your mouth is.  Now the beauty of this plan is that Republicans will demonstrate their conservative purity and you can shame the Democrat deadbeats into believing that they are causing our enormous deficits so they will quit applying for benefits.  Bingo!   You now have more money to spend on the military in case you let Netanyahu get you into a war with Iran. Of course there just might be some Republicans who actually benefit from government programs but screw them.  You’re used to dumping people so that shouldn’t bother you. Oh,  one last word of advice:  Try not to make any more goofs that make you look really out of touch with just about everything.

Sincerely,

Bill (You can call me by my first name too.)

The hunt for the real Mitt Romney has been going on since he started his run for the presidency six years ago.  How many articles, books or TV commentators have you seen speculating on who is the "real" Mitt Romney?  Now I can reveal the answer:  there is no real Mitt Romney. His brain has been taken over by extra-terrestrial aliens.  He is now an avatar under interplanetary control known as the Mitt-bot or M2R2.  No rational human being running for president would ever say half of the American people are a bunch of deadbeats and he’s not going to bother with them.  And can you imagine a real person believing "I can change Washington, I will change Washington, we'll get the job done from the inside. Republicans and Democrats will come together!” as M2R2 yelled at a crowd in Sarasota? Any human presidential candidate would have seen what a partisan mess the “uniter” George W. Bush created and that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, upon Obama’s inauguration, declared that the Republicans’ goal was to make Obama a “one term president?  Has his memory erased the three years the Republicans have refused to cooperate or compromise on anything the Obama Administration has proposed?  Now my theory could be wrong and the Mittster is just suffering from attention deficit disorder or merely hallucinating.  It’s just more comforting to believe his brain is now controlled by aliens and there is no real Mitt Romney so we don't have to try to find him anymore.

Republicans can't come right out and say they hate Barack Obama because he's black, so they have to invent reasons to hate him.  Donald Trump's favorite reason is because he's not a natural-born American. Hawaii is in the U.S. Donald. Then we have those who hate him because he's a Muslim.  Of course he's not, but you will never convince them since it justifies their hatred.   How about the Tea Partisti who have called him both a "socialist" and a "fascist" which shows how dumb they are since you can't be both simultaneously.  OMG!  Not only does he want to turn America into Europe, he is "anti-capitalism."  Never mind he saved the auto industry, corporate profits are up and the Dow is up over 4,000 points since he became president.  Then there's the he's-not-really-an- America contingent led by the Republican Imbecile in Chief, Rush Limbaugh who said "this president hates America" and John Sununu who maintains that Obama "should learn how to be an American."  To make matters worse, the Republicans insist he is not patriotic!  Remember the flap over his not wearing the flag lapel pin.  Wow, proof positive he's not patriotic.  And then, according to Mike Huckabee, Obama denied American "exceptionalism." If you needed a reason to despise Obama there you go!  And do you remember Sarah Palin declaring "he was palling around with terrorists"?  So according to the Republicans, Obama is an alien, Muslim, socialist/fascist, anti-capitalism, not really an American who hates America, unpatriotic, denier of American exceptionalism, and pal of terrorists.  Oh, did I mention he is black?

 

Sideblog:  This is circulating on facebook and the internet, a bumper sticker which reads "Don't Re-Nig in 2012."  Need I say more about Republican bigotry?

Well, the Mittster is having a bad week.  The Mother Jones videos that came out Monday showed just how much disdain he has for nearly half the American public.  He spouted the straight rich-guy party line (he was actually addressing rich guys) about those no-good, lazy, free-loading, give-me-a-government-handout misfits who just won’t work hard like good Republicans do to earn their millions of dollars. He seemed to be totally astonished that any American citizen in need should have the temerity to expect any help from the government. Now if the videos weren't bad enough, the staunch conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks commented in his column today on the videos by stating: "he really doesn't know much about the country he inhabits,"  "Romney doesn't know much about the culture of America," he "doesn't know much about the political culture," and "he has lost any sense of the social compact."  That's just a sampling.  If you want more reasons why Romney should not be President of the United States read the whole column.  It's all over the internet. What it boils down to is one of the slogans the Democrats chanted at their convention: “Romney just doesn't get it!” I can give you one more reason why Romney should not be elected:  He's a jerk.

Here’s one for all you gay-bashing bigots out there.  It is a facebook post written by a 15-year old girl.  Some students at her high school formed a club called “Alliance for Equality.”  It generated a lot of hateful, vicious facebook posts among the students.  This young lady decided enough was enough and struck back at the school’s bigots and bullies.  Here’s what she wrote:

 People are missing the point of the Alliance for Equality. Everyone is focusing on the "gay" thing, they are not focusing on the big picture. It's made for equality for EVERYBODY. For the people who are considered a minority in our school simply because they're not "popular" because they choose to be themselves and they don’t focus on the name brands they're wearing, or how much skin they're showing, or how many people they're dating. The club was made for more than just "gays." There are plenty of straight people who are in the club, including myself, who support this. The club is pretty much against bullying. To stop the stupid judgments made simply because you're different or yourself. The club is made for the people who are sick of being called names or seeing others being judged because they don't want to be in the "in" crowd. Who gives you the right to judge anyone because you don't like what they do? So stop with the annoying fighting and name calling when you're only focusing on one part when the big picture of equality for everybody is being overlooked.

The young lady is my grand daughter and I am very proud of her.  She wants to be a journalist and I know she will be a very good one. 

The prospect of Mitt Romney becoming President of the United States is truly frightening.  That's all America needs, another shoot-from-the-hip, tough guy, swaggering Republican to get us into yet another war.   Radical Islamists stormed the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, the Ambassador and three of his staff were murdered, all kinds of shit is hitting the fan in the Middle East and Mitt delivers a flagrant, political cheap-shot, accusing Obama of "apologizing" to our enemies.  Obama did not apologize. What he did was reaffirm a core principle of American character, respect for all religions then added, that does not justify this senseless violence and he vowed to bring the killers to justice.  I suppose Mitt would have called them a bunch of Muslim religious thugs and pissed off the Middle Easterners even more.  Remember Mitt stated he would not mind if Israel attacked Iran without telling him?  Obama has had the balls to tell Netanyahu he won't buy the red line in the sand crap.   Mitt may be really good at making money by dumping failing companies but he has a lot to learn about foreign policy and diplomacy.  He tells us how good he was as a businessman.  He should go back to being one.  Then he can make a lot more money but at least he won't get us into another war.

It appears that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to get the United States into another war.  He is now playing the Israeli Dick Cheney and clearly meddling in American politics.  You know, we have to attack Iran right away because the bad guys might possibly, someday get an atomic weapon. But, of course, Netanyahu is putting the squeeze on the United States to take responsibility for any hostile act against Iran.  He is griping about the “red line” America must draw and if Iran crosses it we will be obligated to join in the attack.  Fortunately, Obama and Hillary are not buying that crap no matter how much huffing and puffing Mitt Romney is doing to imply he would be Mr. Tough Guy and agree to comply with Netanyahu’s demands in a not-so-subtle grovel to the Jewish lobby. That, as we all know, is presidential campaign bombast.  Some people think Netanyahu is intentionally trying to get Romney elected.   One can dream so here’s mine:  Obama is re-elected, he tells Netanyahu where to shove his “red line,” Israel attacks Iran and Obama informs Netanyahu, “You’re on your own, Benjy, and, by the way, we’re not giving you three and a half billion dollars a year any more. Have a good day.”

Back in the 50s, lyrics to a popular song went like this: "First you say you do, and then you don't, then you say you will, and then you won't."  Doesn't this remind you of Mitt Romney?  In his Sunday Meet the Press interview he said he thought prohibiting insurance companies from denying care due to pre-existing conditions and keeping kids on their parents' plans were good ideas.  Of course he vowed to repeal the entire Obama plan his first day in office.  And we all know he established a health care plan in Massachusetts that was a model for Obamacare but now he acts as if that never happened.  And back in his Massachusetts days he was not strictly anti-abortion but now he says he is adamantly pro-life and told Dick Gregory that as president he would appoint Supreme Court judges that he hoped would overthrow Roe v. Wade.  That is a scary admission of advance planning and indicates how our Supreme Court is politically manipulated.  He also said he could work with the Democrats to get America "on the right track" and that "compromise" is not a bad word.  I'd like to see how that plays in Tea Partyville.  One thing I must say Romney did very well in the interview.  Every time he said he had a “plan” (which he says often), and Gregory asked him for specifics, he managed to answer at great length and very articulately without giving any.

Wouldn't it be nice to hear a presidential candidate say:  "On my first day in office I will eliminate party conventions."  These ludicrous bacchanals are a total waste of viewer’s time, campaign money and prime time television slots. Did you have any doubts about who would be nominated?  Was anyone surprised by what the endless line of speakers had to say? I bet the script writers were given these instructions:  See if you can get the word “jobs” in every sentence.  Use one of these phrases at least every ten seconds:  "the greatest country in the history of the world." "this is who we are," "middle class," "American Dream."  Predictably here’s how the Conventions went:  Republicans demonized Obama and said they would lead Americans to a better life without saying exactly how. Democrats demonized Romney, stated what they did and that they will lead us to a better place without saying exactly how.  Regarding performances, Michelle trounced Ann, Clint Eastwood and his chair provided comic relief, Ryan established himself as his party’s ranking liar, Biden got through his speech without any of his trademark gaffs, and Clinton, once again, proved to be the consummate, skillful politician.  The candidates themselves?  Disregarding content, watching Mitt was painful:  His darting eyes from left to right, his soppy sincere look when he did face the camera and his attempts at humor were pitiful.  Stand up comedy is not your calling, Mitt.  Remember the one about the Episcopal priests making lots of money by investing in his start up company?  Heh, heh, heh.  Obama creamed Mitt. The next time we have party conventions maybe I'll look for re-runs of Happy Days which represented the halcyon days when American life was a middle class, Norman Rockwell dream, the illusion both parties claim they will restore.

Oh for shame, for shame!  Can you imagine? the Democrats did not mention God in their platform! And Paul Ryan, Republican VP nominee and his party's Alter Boy in Chief is demanding an explanation.  He told Fox News "I think it’s rather peculiar. It’s not in keeping with our founding documents, our founding vision. I’d guess you’d have to ask the Obama administration why they purged all this language from their platform. There sure is a lot of mention of government. I guess I would just put the onus and the burden on them to explain why they did all this, these purges of God." Have you ever heard such ludicrous bullshit?  Ryan laments there was "a lot of mention of government."  What did you expect, Paul, the Rosary and a couple Hail Marys?  Party platforms are about government not theology and erroneous references to "founding documents" and "founding vision."  To my knowledge in the entire history of the United States there has never been any moral or judicial requirement to mention God in a party platform much less a requirement to explain "these purges of God" if you don't mention him. I suppose Ryan's "onus and burden" to explain adds to Republican self-righteousness because they mention God ten times in their platform.  Why is it the Republicans consider God their exclusive property?  I can imagine God watching this sanctimonious absurdity and laughing his ass off.

Okay by now everybody knows Paul Ryan is a liar.  You’ve heard it all: the under three-hour marathon, the Janesville GM plant that closed before Obama took office but it was still his fault, etc.  I Googled “Paul Ryan’s lies” and got 215,000,000 results (no lie).  But there’s something even worse going on here.  A sleaze-ball like Ryan knows very well he’s lying and he also knows he can get away with it.  There are no consequences.  As conservative columnist David Brooks said in Sunday’s NY Times, “I know from conversations I’ve had that both campaigns do rigorous fact-checking.  When the candidates say something partially or wholly false, they know exactly what they’re doing.” Ryan knew full well he was flat out lying to the American public. And Ryan’s the guy who proudly proclaims he was an alter boy and that his political and economic thought is based on Catholic Social Teaching.  I guess Catholic teaching has nothing against lying.  You can be sure Ryan and Romney will keep on lying (“Romney’s lies” got 33,300,000 Google results.  (Yes, I did Obama too and he got 7,830,000 results so the Republicans win on the Lie-o-Meter.)  Now if you really want to know how cavalier the Republicans are about lying, get this.  Republican pollster Neil Newhouse said, “We are not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.”  Makes you feel warm all over, doesn’t it?

Political Convention broadcasts should have credits at the end:  starring... written by... produced by... directed by... cast in order of appearance... After all, political conventions have nothing to do with politics, it's all show business.  We live in the entertainment age.  Professional sports have been considered entertainment (as opposed to sports) for a long time and television news is now rated according to its entertainment value not for its news content. But I digress.  The Republican National Convention was another mindless display of how we approach politics in this country (the Democrats will be just as mindless).   It's a dog-and-pony-phony show with people wearing red-white-and-blue shirts and stuffed elephant hats (coming soon, stuffed donkey hats) screaming and yelling at whatever the scripted performers say on stage. Everybody knows what the politics are (including who the nominee is), so it's really just theatrical bluster! We all know it’s totally scripted (except for perhaps “mystery guests”.) The Republican Convention predictably went like this: The keynoter told the screaming crowd how great the future will be under their candidate, how wonderful the candidate and party line are (when the keynoter was not blowing his own horn); the wife delivered the required, soppy speech about her loving, caring, extraordinarily gifted husband and their wonderful children and grandchildren and their church and how much the party loves women; the vice presidential candidate slimed Obama and claimed his party can fix everything.  Then an aging actor told a few jokes (some in questionable taste) to an empty chair and the fawning crowd went wild.  And then the finale, Mitt, the man himself, the candidate, appears and the crowd becomes nearly hysterical on cue.  He says the same things he has been saying for the last 10 months only trying to sound really passionate about it and the crowd appears to go into ecstasy (a considerable feat considering it's Mitt Romney). The curtain comes down and everybody says “Wow, what a great show!”  It's all phony and a big waste of time and money but that's the American political way.   Coming soon to Charlotte, another meaningless example of your political parties in action, the Democratic National Convention. Stay tuned. 

Sideblog:  Judging from newscasts and internet buzz you hear more about Clint Eastwood and what he said than that guy, what’s his name, Romney?, who is running for president.