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The GOP's Obsession With Birth Control, Abortion and Homosexuality |
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Sunday, 26 February 2012 17:33 |
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Cohen writes: "The hysteria du jour will pass but it has done us the service of exposing essential truths about American politics today, if only we pay attention. A small group of reactionaries, obsessed with controlling the sex lives of other people, has hijacked the GOP and commandeered American politics."
Rep. Michele Bachmann waits before a television interview, 11/02/10. (photo: Andy King/AP)
The GOP's Obsession With Birth Control, Abortion and Homosexuality
By Nancy Cohen, Guardian UK
26 February 12
By obsessing about birth control, abortion and homosexuality, the GOP has turned its back on mainstream America
 ast week the travelling circus of the Republican presidential race went all Vegas. Bigger stage! Brighter lights! Death-defying stunts! In one ring, celibate men gave Congress expert instruction on the ins-and-outs of birth control. One up-and-coming star of the small-government, freedom-loving party vetoed gay marriage, while another mandated government inspection of women's uterii. And in the center ring, Rick Santorum, who thinks that birth control and women in combat are not ok, won over the crowd with harrowing visions of guillotines and Sodom and Gommorah on the frontlines.
Perhaps if the pill had never been invented, American politics would be very different today. And I don't mean Bayer aspirin.
The hysteria du jour will pass but it has done us the service of exposing essential truths about American politics today, if only we pay attention. A small group of reactionaries, obsessed with controlling the sex lives of other people, has hijacked the GOP and commandeered American politics.
If the history of the sexual counterrevolution were better known, no one would be surprised.
Consider the state of America's sexual politics just 50 years before Barack Obama took office. Birth control was indeed illegal in some states, and men and women were sentenced to prison for distributing it. Sex between consenting adults of the same sex was a criminal act in every state. Discrimination against women was pervasive and perfectly legal.
The sexual revolution, feminism, and the gay rights movement revolutionized sex, the family, the workplace, and popular culture in the space of a little more than a decade. Simultaneously, and in large part responding to these social movements, Congress outlawed gender discrimination, half the states repealed their sodomy laws, and the Supreme Court ruled that laws against birth control and abortion were unconstitutional.
America is a fun-loving, freedom-loving nation, so most people welcomed the expansion of freedom to personal life. Yet given that the government had long been in the business of legislating puritancial sexual mores, it is understandable that those who thought the old ways were just fine, thank you, chose to wage their reactionary crusade through the political system.
The sexual counterrevolution began in the early 1970s, when ultra-conservative fundamentalist, Catholic, and Mormon women organized on the grassroots level to turn back the tide of cultural revolution. They campaigned against the Equal Rights Amendment, sex education, government-financed child care, and gay civil rights. They were unashamed to say that their God and Church decreed that women must be submissive to their husbands and that being gay was evil.
After winning nearly every one of these campaigns, these sexual fundamentalists infiltrated the Republican Party and methodically took it over from bottom to top. They were the stealth force behind Newt Gingrich's rise to power in 1994. Sarah Palin would have remained an obscure Alaskan hockey mom but for their devotion. Since 1992, the religious right mobilized by the sexual counterervolution has constituted the largest and most powerful bloc within the Republican Party. As we now know-- and should have known all along--the Tea Party is largely populated by the sexual fundamentalists of the religious right.
Today's GOP was forged in the crucible of this sexual counterrevolution. Santorum's recent surge, Mitt Romney's renewed attacks on abortion and birth control, and Governor Chris Christie's veto of gay marriage are salutary reminders that Republican politicians are the captives, not the masters, of the GOP base.
For the last few weeks I've been fielding calls from China to Italy asking, essentially, what's wrong with America? Four years into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, why has birth control become a major issue in the presidential election?
For most Americans, the economy and job creation remain the issue of the day. The GOP, however, has turned its back on mainstream America. The sexual fundamentalists, who are leading the charge against the recent birth control ruling, who demand as the price of their vote that abortion be outlawed and gay civil rights be rolled back, make up only between 15 to 20 percent of the nation. A majority of Americans support gay marriage and legal abortion; two-thirds support the new policy of insurance companies providing birth control with no co-pay. And the use of birth control is nearly universal, even among Catholics.
Conventional wisdom has insisted the 2012 presidential election would be solely about the economy. The real America, that is just fine with the 21st century's sexual freedom, gender equality, and equal civil rights for all, needs to remember that this election has never been just about the economy.
It's also the sex, stupid.
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Republican Debate Review |
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Sunday, 26 February 2012 10:55 |
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Excerpt: "The Republicans sure have the right symbol with the elephant. Republican debates are nothing but elephants in the room."
Bill Maher HBO promotional poster. (art: HBO)
Republican Debate Review
Bill Maher, Reader Supported News
26 February 12
 he Republicans sure have the right symbol with the elephant. Republican debates are nothing but elephants in the room.
The biggest of which must be: to someone out there who's hurting, they spend the whole two hours yammering away about earmarks and illegal immigrants and contraception and every other peripheral, wish-I-had-the-time-to-worry-about-it issue they can think of.
Then there is the elephant of how they all - with the sometime exception of Ron Paul - nod along to insane statements just because they don't want to ever look like they're to the left of anybody, on anything, especially the evilness of Barack Obama. So Wednesday night when Newt said the president of the United States had a history of practicing infanticide... yep, yep, yessir, that's what he does all right. Clubs infants like baby seals in his spare time. Ike played golf, Kennedy liked boating...
Ron Paul said foreign aid just helps our enemies. Which, I believe, would make Israel and Egypt our two biggest enemies. Yup, yup, hate foreign aid. A meaningless percentage of the budget, btw.
Newt said where government becomes the central provider of services, it's a move towards tyranny - yeah, except in all the countries where it isn't, like all of Scandanavia and much of Europe. Today a barium enema paid for by medicare, tomorrow Poland.
And isn't a highlight of every debate when Mitt Romney takes umbrage at being accused of the best thing he ever did in his life - Romneycare? Something he should be proud of? Last night he took out his dueling glove and declared that when he was governor, he made sure there was NO requirement from the church to provide morning after pills for rape victims. They will be punished with a baby, as Jesus would want. Mitt's attitude is always, "How dare you accuse me of helping people or being compassionate! Why, I'll have you know I'm every bit as much of a cold hearted bastard as any of these other pricks up here with me!"
"But Mitt, we have a picture of you giving money to a homeless person."
"I did NOT give a bum money! I was paying him to blow me!"
This Republican field over the last year has been such a comedy gold mine - which I have compacted into a stand-up special I'm doing Thursday night, February 23, called #CrazyStupidPolitics - it's free, and it's live-streamed on Yahoo! 10:30 Eastern (with a mindblowing announcement at the end). I apologize for the shameful plug, but I just want you to have a good laugh! Thank you Arianna, you're the best... and now back to our blog.
The biggest elephant in the room tonight for me was Satan. All day, TV news was talking about Satan because of Rick Santorum's dug-up (but, no doubt still accurate) comments about Satan from 2008. It just shows you how when someone is a nobody politically speaking - as Santorum was in 2008 - you can say any kind of crazy shit and it's not newsworthy. But when you are seeking the highest office in the land... in the world - it really worries me that you believe in demons and a personified creature named Satan.
People get mad at me for using the phrase "this stupid country", which I sometimes do - but, I'm sorry - Satan? In 2012? This elephant is not only in the room at the debates, but everywhere on TV today where people were talking about this and not breaking down in the middle and screaming, Wait a minute - We're modern people, surely we don't give any credence to this comic book character that was created in the bronze age!! It's barely worthy of a children's story, and people take it to the Oval Office - Bush did - and it affects their thinking and our lives. Why is Santorum so against contraception? Because there's a line in Genesis about not spilling your seed. A random brainfart from some desert dweller 3,000 years ago, before people knew about germs or atoms or round planets, and it gets written down and passed down and in 2012 people like Rick Santorum are still too R-word to see that, and that's why some woman in Akron, Ohio might not get birth control.
And as far as Rick's claim tonight that even though he holds these beliefs, he wouldn't legislate them? Bullshit - he said states absolutely had the right to outlaw contraception. That's the same thing - as an officer of the government, he should take the opposite position. Ron Paul would.
My favorite moment of the debate was the last question, when they all were asked to summarize themselves in one word: Ron Paul said "consistency," and you know what? I have no argument with that. It's true, and he's earned it.
The other ones however, I think I could find a more honest word. Mitt Romney said "resolute." I would have gone with "shapeshifter." Or perhaps "irresolute." Rick Santorum said "courage" , whereas I would have said "Bellevue." And Newt Gingrich said "cheerful." I was thinking "pus."
One other thing: in the overtime, I heard Ron Paul make the point to John King that his foreign policy was similar to Eisenhower's, how Ike avoided getting militarily involved in Vietnam or the Suez Canal and got out of Korea. Because he was a military man. Ron Paul served, also - the other three not so much. I know it will never become law, because it would require a constitutional amendment, but I don't think it would be such a bad thing if you had to have served in the military if you wanted to be president. Kennedy also avoided war where many would not have. After him, though, we got into the era of non-servers and draft-dodgers, and used the military like a toy. Ex-soldiers understand it's not. And the president is Commander-in-Chief - shouldn't you have served some time in an organization you're the head of?
I hope this was the last Republican debate. Well, I say that, but I'll need the material after I use up an hour of good jokes tomorrow night, so, fuck it, keep going.
Last bullshit call: In his closing statement, Rick Santorum said that in the race against the Evil One (no, not that Evil One, he was talking about Obama), the president would have the media in his pocket (yeah, except Fox News, lots of newspapers, all of radio... ), and way more money. Huh? Sheldon Adelson this week said he might give $100 million to Newt Gingrich! If he'd give that to Newt who has no chance, he might give more to Romney. And he's just one old cranky billionaire who hates Obama, there's a whole gaggle of them.
And Sheldon, if you want to blow money so bad, just walk into one of your hotels in Vegas and go to the Roulette table.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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FOCUS: How to Be More Like Satan |
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Saturday, 25 February 2012 11:42 |
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Morford writes: "People like [Gov. Chris] Christie are, of course, so locked like sad demons into their stiff little roles they cannot help but toe the party line, delude themselves into believing what is so clearly a violent mischaracterization of love and marriage, even as they sell their own soul for the sake of the vote and the sneering fundamentalist GOP nod."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a rally for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Exeter, New Hampshire on January 8, 2012. (photo: Justin Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images)
How to Be More Like Satan
By Mark Morford, SF Gate
25 February 12
 ften in the midst of my second glass of whisky do I ponder how it can be that seemingly savvy and knowledgeable people, people who clearly know better, people who you sense have a modicum of wisdom and perspective despite steaming piles of evidence to the contrary, how can such humans so brutally decide against their own better judgment, against their own inner voice, against what they must know, way down deep, to be honest and true?
More broadly: How can it be that we as individuals, as a species so often override our most innate, potent knowing simply because it is the popular choice, or the thing that will gain us more votes, or Likes, or money or candy or sex or time or power or support or accolades or cocktails or bonus points or awards? Particularly when we understand that such a choice will put us squarely on a collision course with illness, pain and prescription meds by the fistful?
"How is it," I ask, already knowing the answer, "that someone like, say, New Jersey governor Chris Christie could so ruthlessly veto the gay marriage bill that came across his desk recently, as passed by his own state legislature and increasingly supported by a majority of New Jersey's (and the nation's) more open-minded residents, even as DADT gasps its last and gay marriage calmly, if sporadically gains support and inevitability nation and worldwide?"
(WARNING: I'm going to assume for the sake of the next few paragraphs that Christie, a Catholic, has a shard of intelligence, appears reasonably articulate, understands what's happening in the culture and the world around him. I know, but let's just go with it).
Indeed, part of the the answer is already encoded in the question. People like Christie are, of course, so locked like sad demons into their stiff little roles they cannot help but toe the party line, delude themselves into believing what is so clearly a violent mischaracterization of love and marriage, even as they sell their own soul for the sake of the vote and the sneering fundamentalist GOP nod. Hey, this is politics. The murdering of one's own humanity for the sake of power and position has been around since man first oozed out of the slime and demanded a campaign contribution.
But surely he knows. Surely he saw what just happened in Washington state, or even right next door in New York just a few months ago.
Surely he is hearing a tiny but persistent voice in the night, his own conscience as a screaming whisper: "Oh goddammit, now I'll be one of those ugly footnotes. Now, in a handful of years when gay marriage is fully legal and no big deal, I'll be remembered as one of those dark smudges of ignorance who stood on exactly the wrong side of history, who jeered his disapproval, even if, deep down, I knew full well it's the wrong and immoral choice." Surely he knows. Don't you think?
Maybe he doesn't. This is the astonishing thing: We will choke down our better judgment, our own soul, in favor of the power and the cash, the political gain and the backslapping of approval from exactly the wrong kinds of people. Despite roughly one billion historic examples of how this is the unhealthy, hurtful and spiritually vacuous path, we will do it anyway. Just ask the Catholic church.
Make no mistake, this is not an immutable law. Nor is it, I believe, the true nature of the human spirit, to work from a bitterly reactive state of fear and suspicion, instead of from a pro-active, intuitive state of possibility and love. It's just the way many have been trained, the prevailing modality, politicians' and organized religion's favorite weapon. Most don't know how to do it any other way. But as the wise ones and ancients say, it's also completely full of sh-t.
Occasionally, one falls through the cracks. Occasionally someone steps up, just a little, to reveal how life can actually be when you dial in to the core and listen to the true voice. It is no easy thing to do. In fact, it is often the most difficult task of all.
Occasionally you get someone like Maureen Walsh, a small-town conservative rep from the tiny burg of Walla Walla, Washington, once known for its famous apples and funny little name and now known for its superlative vineyards and funny little name.
Did you hear? Walsh recently did a most remarkable thing. As her state's landmark gay marriage bill was being debated in the legislature, Walsh stood up and, choking back tears, powerfully broke ranks with her Republican counterparts.
Apparently, Walsh lost her husband of 23 years, the love of her life, six years ago. Also, Walsh's daughter is gay. The two emotional realms collided in her heart to reveal one overwhelming conclusion: To deny her own daughter the possibility of such a state-supported love, of a marriage ceremony and life of couplehood such as she and her late husband had known, would be nothing less than cruel. And for what? More Republican fear? A nasty misreading of a single tortured line in the Bible? Please.
And so you think, is that what it takes? Some personal hit, a death, a wake up call from a loved one, a child, a perspective slap so hard and deeply felt that, if you don't heed its call, not only will you be on the wrong side of history, but your very own soul will quickly wither and die? Is there really no other way?
Somewhere in the new "It Gets Better" documentary is the stunning statistic that fully 26 percent of kids who come out as gay to their families are told to get the hell out of the house. True. One in four children are saddled with parents so hateful or scared, so ill-informed or spiritually bereft, they can do nothing but reject their own child over the fact he or she loves in a way they can't and won't understand.
Perhaps you know people like this. Perhaps you are one yourself. If so, I am terribly sorry for you. But more so for your child.
In Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost," the glorious, church-sanctioned tale of the fall of man, when the defiant angel Satan is cast out of heaven, he is first depicted as a completely glorious badass, reclining in fiery majesty, magnificently sexy and monstrously regal in his underworld throne.
But then, a slow deterioration. A ruthless decay. A withering and shrinking as he slides further and further away from God, from Source. And why? Well, one way to look at it is Satan was no longer in alignment with his God. Or what we might call, in the yoga tradition, his own true spirit, his divine nature, compassion and heart. (Another is that he was a radical individualist and anarchic rejecter of contrived heavenly dogma, but that's another column).
Strip out the bitter, dualistic Christian mythology, and the deeper lesson is simple enough: Stray from your true self, your calm inner knowing, deny your own heart's quieter, more authentic voice in favor of power, shrill punditry or the ego's sly trickery, and watch yourself fall, decay, slither into lower and lower realms of hate and sadness. Choose a path of fear instead of love, and watch yourself die.
Seems simple, no? Shall we alert the politicians?
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The Man Who Wasn't There |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=11104"><span class="small">Charles Pierce, Esquire</span></a>
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Saturday, 25 February 2012 09:50 |
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Pierce writes: "It is now an article of faith among the Republican base that Bush's failures stem not from the fact that he was a manifest incompetent, but that he was too liberal a president."
The looming presence of George W. Bush was finally acknowledged by the GOP candidates and by a debate audience. (photo: Yuri Gripas/Reuters)
The Man Who Wasn't There
By Charles P. Pierce, Esquire Magazine
25 February 12
ne of the more telling moments in last night's Carnival of Dickitude in Arizona came when Rick Santorum - and have I mentioned recently what a colossal dick he is? - was trying to explain why he'd voted in favor of No Child Left Behind, the education-reform program that was the signature achievement of President George W. Bush prior to Bush's actual signature achievement of Screwing Up The Entire World. Most of the attention has been paid to the fact that Santorum wound up drowning in oatmeal trying to explain how senators do their jobs. Some indiscreet booing went up, but I don't think the booing had anything to do with Santorum's ungainly tumble into the abyss of Palinspeak.
I think they were booing George W. Bush.
He is the man who isn't there. Until NCLB came up last night, the years 2000-2008 had been successfully written out of the narrative of the 2012 election. For these jamokes, time effectively began in January of 2009. It was Year Zero on the Kenyan Muslim Socialist Calendar. I do not believe that Bush's political non-personhood is an accident. It is now an article of faith among the Republican base that Bush's failures stem not from the fact that he was a manifest incompetent, but that he was too liberal a president. Putting through Medicare Part B without paying for it is a greater sin to these people than running two wars off the books was. No Child Left Behind had the endorsement of Teddy Kennedy! (Aieeeeeeee!) If only Bush had tried conservatism, the fairytale goes, then conservatism would have succeeded, as it always does. It never fails. It is only failed. C-Plus Augustus failed conservatism.
(It is important to note, by the way, that, when NCLB actually passed, Mitt Romney was substantially to the left of everybody else on the stage. Not that it matters any more.)
Since the crimes and bungling of the Bush Administration resulted in a thrashing in the 2006 midterms and, ultimately, in the election of the current president in 2008, this feeling within the Republican base has hardened into an immutable faith. The Republican party has become more extreme, not less. It has become so resistant to compromise that it has become completely resistant even to political logic. (Make no mistake. The party faithful really want this fight over contraception.) I fully expect that, by August at the latest, Willard Romney will be calling the last president of his party a socialist.
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teven Soderbergh's recent film Contagion is the most plausible experience of a global pandemic plague you're likely to see until the real thing strikes. Stark, beautiful in its own terrifying way, and all too believable, the story tracks the swift progress of a deadly airborne virus... from Hong Kong to Minneapolis... Tokyo to London... from a handful of peanuts to a credit card to the cough of strangers on a subway. Rarely does a film issue such an inescapable invitation to think, "It could happen. That could be us. What would I do?"
