Go, Rick, Go

Rick Santorum in January 2012

To support Rick Santorum.

Seriously, just how crazy are the Republicans?

Are we this lucky to see Rick Santorum emerge as the Republican nominee for president?

As the GOP has declared open season on women, thinking people are wondering what Party has been loosed upon this country.

The GOP may be looking to Michele Bachmann now to get back in and tone things down a bit.

Next Tuesday in Arizona and Michigan may tell if the GOP will effectively concede this election.

GOP Bets Heavily on the Appeal of Misogyny

Photo that caught a nation napping as women are targeted

Update: See Opus Dei and the War on Birth Control: Neofascism Within the Catholic Church

Those failing to challenge Virginia's state-mandated (not just state-sponsored) rape of women are betraying humanity. The War on Women has been declared; whose side are you on?
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The above-right shot is not a photo of a 16th century inquisition. This is 2012, and these men are going to engage in a discussion on WOMEN'S health, contraception, and family planning.

I'm not going to ask "What's wrong with this picture?"

We know what's wrong.

I'm asking how can this be happening in 2012?

By Progressive Eruptions

What I want to know is: Where are the women?” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) asked the committee chairman, Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) before walking out. “I look at this panel and I don’t see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventative health care services, including family planning. Where are the women?”

More here.

From Politico:

"The image of men dominating the discussion about women’s health, say those on the left, may galvanize women voters in the way that the Senate Judiciary Committee's handling of sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas did in 1991.That incident is widely credited with the election of a large number of Democratic women the next year.

'I think it is an Anita Hill comparison,' said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who staged a walkout of Democratic women in protest of the chairman’s decision not to seat a minority female witness at the start of the hearing. 'I hope it will be just as galvanizing.' ”

More anti-woman legislation:

This time from the Commonwealth of Virginia, which just passed a bill that REQUIRES a doctor to give a transvaginal ultrasound (that is legislating vaginal penetration by the state) before a woman receives a legal medical procedure, even when the doctor deems it is not necessary. Democrats in the legislature tried to pass an amendment to the bill:

"An amendment by Del. David Englin, D-Alexandria, would have allowed medical professionals to determine whether images can be obtained without being penetrated by equipment used in the ultrasound."

The amendment failed.

Republican Governor McDonnell says he will sign the bill.

Got that?

Lord, you'd think there's less fools in this world

Virginia is poised to legislate forced penetration of a pregnant woman's vagina in order to obtain an image of the embryo or fetus and then the woman will be forced to view the image before she is able to receive a LEGAL MEDICAL PROCEDURE.

No exceptions under any circumstances whatsoever.

This monstrosity of a law forced on the women of Virginia by the party that wants government out of its lives.

The GOP has lost its mind; and certainly women's votes.

Here are some of the comments on the website announcing the legislation:

"Wake up Virginia! Wake up America! Virginia is about to pass legislation that requires women to undergo an invasive search of her body in an effort to gain permission from Republican legislators for her to obtain a perfectly legal medical procedure from her doctor.

Now, if anyone wants to liken this law to that of the Nazi regime, go right ahead."

*****

"Forcing women to be penetrated vaginally? Isn't that the equivalent of rape??"

*****

"Well, reads that way to me ... but with rape you could get pregnant and then denied the right to abort the child of a socio or psychopath ... UNLESS you agree to be penetrated once again. You can see the logic to their argument, nes pas? Again, does it not appear that logic is nowhere in this legisltive thought process? Just sayin' ..."

*****

"If rape is nonconsensual penetration, then what the government is mandating is rape of a pregnant women. Have we gone so far down that path that our most vulnerable citizens can be treated in such a criminal manner. I hope the courts are getting to overturn this monstrous legislation."
*****

"An affront to all women everywhere!"

UPDATE:

From ThinkProgress:

"As Dahlia Lithwick explains, the effect of this bill would be to force most women to undergo a stunningly invasive procedure for no medical reason whatsoever. “Because the great majority of abortions occur during the first 12 weeks, that means most women will be forced to have a transvaginal procedure, in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced.”



Virginia mandates rape - nothing less

 In case Lithwick’s description doesn’t completely drive home what this means, here is a depiction of the procedure that women would be forced to endure under the Virginia bill:"
"Simply put, it is difficult to distinguish a law requiring women to be vaginally penetrated by a long metal object from state-sponsored rape. Worse, discussions among lawmakers leave little doubt that its supporters understood just what they were trying to write into law — they just didn’t care. As an unnamed lawmaker told a fellow Virginia delegate, a woman already consented to being “vaginally penetrated when they got pregnant."(confirmed with Englin that this quote was accurate.)

"VIRGINIA IS FOR MORONS"

Charlie Pierce writing in Esquire: "Yes, and anyone who has had their earlobes pierced already has made the decision that, one day, the law would require them to have a tenpenny nail driven into their eye."

Koch Goes Public, Comments on Scott Walker

David Koch/Scott Walker

UW-Madison alum, Stacey Singer, scored a rare interview with David Koch, writing an intriguing piece in the Palm Beach Post this weekend.

"We're helping him, as we should," Koch says of Walker. "We've gotten pretty good at this over the years. We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend more."

Koch's anti-union and rightwing political activity is detailed, as is his support and admiration for Scott Walker whom Koch describes as "very courageous."

Cancer

Lovers of the PBS science show, NOVA, typically are surprised to see David H. Koch mentioned at the beginning as a major contributor.

Singer notes Koch's "passion for fighting cancer" and his science background, which may explain Koch's support for the acclaimed NOVA, a favorite of educators and liberals across the world.

Archbishop works AGAINST sexually abused children; Gives GOP thumbs-up for averting its gaze

Scott Walker should tell Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki to direct his energy towards helping the children abused and raped by Catholic Church priests. Then he and Sen. Ron Johnson should renounce the Church's crime against humanity, and offer some help.

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki has found the chutzpah to advise Wisconsin about corruption, Scott Walker and the recall.

As Dan Bice writes:

In case you missed it, here is the eight-minute segment in which Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki sits down with WITI-TV (Channel 6) over the weekend to chat about Gov. Scott Walker, the possible recall election and church and politics.

The bottom line: Listecki gives his blessing to Walker but not the recall.

Survivors of the Church are outraged.

SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests has been working since 1988 to stand up for and help heal the sexually abused. It's mission is clear:

We expose predators and those who shield them. We build policies and practices within secular and religious organizations that protect children now and in the future.

SNAP finds that perpetrators, most infamously the Catholic Church—guilty of nothing less than mass rape and abuse of children—enjoy the company of collaborators covering up the crime, and compounding the crime by becoming the obstacle to healing the trauma of its predatory priests.

WISN reported:

Advocates for the sexually abused ... claimed the move was more about protecting church secrets than about money.

The head of SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the group is very interested in what will happen during the bankruptcy proceedings.

"The biggest we concern we have about the next step is, kind of much to our amazement, the archdiocese is going to be in court Feb. 9 and their lawyers will try to throw out the vast majority of victims they asked to come forward," said Peter Isely.

The Milwaukee archdiocese is the eighth in the U.S. [out of 32 archdioceses] to seek bankruptcy protection since the scandal in the Catholic Church came to light in 2002.

Now, the Catholic Church hiearchy has consolidated its political alliance with the Republican Party; and the GOP (see Is the Catholic Church Just a Super PAC in Robes?) is not particluar about the company it keeps if it helps the Party acquire power.

But decent people of Wisconsin should stand up for the betrayed children and demand accoutability from Listecki no matter how deeply into the black hole of nihilism the Church has veered. In return for averting its eyes from the Church's sins committed onto children and women, the GOP is assisting the Church's political maneuver stating repeatedly that President Obama is at war with religion, and blocking bills protecting children.

As Jimmy Breslin writes in his The Church That Forgot Christ (Simon and Schuster, 2004), after leaving the Catholic Church in disgust:

I know one thing. [Former Head of the Bishops Conference William D.] Gregory's church history cannot stand the light of a heavy candle. I issue mine [estimate of abused children] after doing what he and his bishops don't know how to do: walk the streets of the parishes and listen to Catholics who, slowly, reluctantly, but so surely, tell of atrocities by priests on the young.

If the desperate Catholic Church wants to dive further into American politics, so be it; the United States is often a free country.

But the Catholic Church—as the misogynistic and child-rapist protection racket that it has become—and its collaborators like Scott Walker, Ron Johnson and the Republican Party need to look into their conscience and stop, not make worse, the trauma that 100,000s of human beings carry with them until they die.

On corruption in the Walker administration

How do Republicans believe they can get away with it?

The answer is secrecy and the GOP objectives of public inattention and distraction.

In September 2011, the MJS reports: "By far the biggest beneficiary of a move earlier this year to turn three dozen civil service jobs into political appointments is Cindy Archer, the one-time top aide to Gov. Scott Walker whose house was raided by the FBI last week." (Patrick Marley)

Yesterday, Marley reports that: "The head of a state agency late last year gave a political appointment - and a nearly $27,000 annual raise - to the wife of a Republican Party official without considering any other applicants, state records show." (Marley)

Another day in Scott Walker's regime.

As Republicans demonize teachers, fire department personnel and public workers generally, they plot against good government and the rule of law in Scott Walker's administration, in the Supreme Court, and in the legislature.

Corruption, an underground system of government, generally follows from a regime that sees the public as nuisance.

When Republicans ordered the removal and arrest of silent Wisconsin citizens holding and wearing the Bill of Rights from the Assembly gallery last year, GOP representatives scolded the gallery, saying the people of Wisconsin were "guests" of the Republican leaders.

At the time, I was surprised that this blatant disregard for even the idea of representative democracy did not get more play in the media.

That sense of entitlement, the idea that government is a tool for the Republicans' political benefit is at the heart of the recall movement.

We have the right to observe the politicians, to see if they are truly representing our best interests, to ensure they are protecting and defending the State and United States Constitutions, to evaluate them, and if necessary throw the bums out of office.

Republicans today disagree of course.

In another realm of public concern, as GOP officials fight to keep gerrymandering documents secret to further the election of more Republicans, they claim a legal shroud as a right inside of which the public has no business observing. Why are they trying to conduct the people's business under the cloak of attorney-client privilege—the people of Wisconsin are the client!

"Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity," wrote Lord Acton.

This idea of open government is one of the venerable traditions of representative democracy (in fact it's a necessity) and Wisconsin—until the Walker administration dropped its bombs with the imprimatur of the four GOP justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court—has led the nation in transparency, open meetings and records guarantees.

Why are Republicans so opposed to the idea of open government?

Because Acton was right. In public service, everything secret degenerates, including a once-proud political party that now governs hand-in-hand with corruption and an intimate co-conspirator—Fear.

Fear of 12-year-old girls in the Assembly gallery. Of the fabricated union thugs. Of the school teachers, and cooks in university dormitories.

Think of it. Without corruption (specifically Walker's allegiance to huge-moneyed interests and anti-democratic movements) and fear, what chance would Scott Walker have in Wisconsin?

To borrow from another great jurist, Robert H. Jackson, Town Meeting (1939): "Fear will cause a stampede among politicians just as it will among the nobler animals. The only cure for this is a steady and unfrightened public opinion strong enough and expressive enough to show that respect for civil rights is also good politics in America. We defend free speech and free press, not because we agree with those who need defense. Rather, it is because these fights are the very best protection of our system against violent or underground movements."

In a clean, fair election Scott Walker stands no chance, thus even voting is under attack.

Scott Walker will soon be on trial for past corruption, but his current dedication to anti-public movements will be on trial in the recall election, our power protecting us against this type of politician who believes he can get away with it.

Where is the outrage from the GOP?

From the Brad Blog

Suppose that the long-time, top aide and confidante of a Democratic governor had been had been charged with stealing funds meant for the children of combat veterans.

Suppose that this very aide has a history of being "ethically challenged and someone to avoid," as described by established sources of his own party. [Murphy]

Suppose further that this top aide has been implicated in directing a secret e-mail system and a conspiracy set up to organize fundraising and political events, while avoiding the eyes of the Wisconsin people on whose dime the scheme was plotted and carried out.

There would, in this hypothetical, be howls of outrage from every Republican from Milwaukee talk radio to an obscure village board director.

Stealing from veterans' families: How low can you get

Corruption and secret I/T systems: Repulsive

Hiring tax-payer paid staff just to have them work on the secret system: Conniving and a slap in the face of Wisconsites everywhere.

But this is not a hypothetical. It's Walkergate: Arguably, the worst political scandal of a sitting governor is Wisconsin history. And these are the crimes and outrages of the Republican Party; so the order of the day is: Silence, deafening silence.

Walker jets around the country to fundraisers as he offers Biblical and religious justifications for his secret agenda with which he ambushed the Wisconsin people.

Fox News? Not a word of condemnation, has Walker as a frequent guest.

Editorial condemnation from GOP newspapers: Lame at best.

Milwaukee talk radio: Takes Scott Walker's side and has him as a frequent guest.

This is today's Republican Party. No ethics, no public accountability, just hypocrisy and venal corruption.

Not your parents' or grand-parents' Republican Party.

And certainly not the squeaky-clean image of Wisconsin's politics we used to enjoy nation-wide.

Running on a Mandate Is Small-d democratic in Wisconsin

Kathleen Falk

Rejecting the Scott Walker politics of dropping "bomb(s)" on Wisconsin citizens and strong-arming secret agendas onto our families, Kathleen Falk comes out and makes a pledge and seeks an electoral mandate.

That's representative democracy. 

In fact, the Wisconsin Recall movement is precisely a demand for representative democracy and a challenge to secret agendas such as Scott Walker's and his many power grabs and deals on which he refused to campaign, knowing he would never obtain an electoral mandate from the Wisconsin people.

GOP writers reject Falk's open approach to campaigns and public policy. "Personally, I tend to hew to the philosophy that the fewer hard-and-fast pledges a person makes, the better," writes the State Journal's Chris Rickert.

That's Rickert's right, but it sure isn't democratic.

A more democratic notion of candidates' seeking office is running on clear and open agendas, obtaining electoral mandates, and then governing for all the people.

There may be several excellent candidates running to replace Scott Walker. Rejecting his secretive and corrupt brand of electoral politics is precisely the first step in moving forward.