Mindless in Wonderland

Hungry and Out of Work? Eat a Republican!

It appears to me the United States has become a sort of strange wonderland where the more mindless among us have discovered a mandate for exercising their most outrageous ideas. Perhaps South Dakota now holds some kind of record for mindlessness. A Bill was introduced there that would change the definition of justifiable homicide to include the murder of abortion providers. Really, I’m not joking. This bill would have allowed fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and I guess even others the right to kill an abortion doctor because he/she was interfering with the life of a fetus. While there was enough outrage to make the sponsor of this bill tone it down a bit, it now appears that only the mother has the right to kill the doctor. Wow.

The abortion issue seems to have virtually taken over the platform of the Republican Party. Mike Huckabee, for example, is going to make abortion the number one focus of his campaign if he runs again for the Presidency. There is also a plan in the works that would make it impossible for women to even use their own private money for abortions or insurance that provided coverage for abortions. Interesting that many don’t think people should be told to spend money on health care, but they think it fine to tell them where they cannot spend it. More importantly, Republicans have now mounted an all-out and vicious attack on Planned Parenthood. Mike Pence, Representative from Indiana, is introducing a bill that would take away all funding for Planned Parenthood. He was inspired, apparently, by a fake videotape showing someone at Planned Parenthood advising young people how to get an abortion. As in the previous case of Acorn, this involved a fake pimp and an underage girl. The fact that this was entirely faked, and was also promptly turned over to the FBI seems to make little difference. Steve King has come out against Planned Parenthood’s “ghoulish, ghastly, and gruesome” practices, and claims they are involved in child prostitution and illegal immigration (no lie is too outrageous when it comes to abortion). It is hoped that after the exposure of the Acorn fraud, Democrats will not fall for the same scam again (don’t bet on it). Remember, abortion is completely legal in the United States and has been now for quite a long time and, as far as I know, a majority of Americans still favor choice for women over back alleys and coathangers.

Elsewhere here in wonderland we find someone in Mississippi wanting to issue license plates honoring a former KKK leader. In South Carolina there is a move towards printing their own currency as they apparently don’t trust the dollar (would you accept a S.C. bill?). In Arizona (the true never-never land of the 21st century) they are trying to pass legislation that would make it mandatory for anyone seeking hospital care to have to prove their citizenship first (“Die alien, die”). And of course the NRA is actively calling for some kind of armed militia. Representative Connie O’Brien of Kansas has announced she can tell illegal aliens from the color of their skin. And also in Kansas you can apparently now own and use a gun even if blind. Of course Republicans are once again trying to stop funding National Public Radio. The Governor of Wisconsin was to slash wages and benefits for employees and destroy the unions. Ron Paul continues to want to return to the gold standard (as if there’s enough gold in the world to cover all those greenbacks).

The new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, has said that if Republican proposals for slashing budgets results in a loss of jobs, “so be it.” You might think that Republicans would be interested in creating jobs as they claimed they were. And you might think they were going to downplay social issues during this election. Obviously their priorities are much the same as always. No abortions, no unemployment benefits, no Social Security, no welfare, no empathy, no mercy.

Of course the “birthers’ are still around, I guess almost 50% of Republicans (maybe more) still don’t believe Obama was born in the U.S. (this is truly incredible). Many more apparently seriously believe he is a Muslim. This is a particularly interesting and revealing case of mindlessness and prejudice, given that it is not illegal to be a Muslim and it wouldn’t really matter much if he was (except, of course, he would have no chance of being re-elected). Notice I have not even mentioned the main axis of mindlessness, that trio of “strong Republican women,” Palin, Angle, and O’Donnell. Don’t forget the axis of has-beens but still wanna-be’s, Gingrich, Bolton, and Giuliani. There are so many hot Republican candidates for President it just makes you want to shout and sing for joy…if you’re a Democrat. Blend any ten of them together and it would still not spell “White Hope.”

Jim Dandy to the rescue!
Jim Dandy to the rescue!
Jim Dandy to the rescue!
Go, Jim Dandy! Go, Jim Dandy!