Hillary Clinton never sent email to undermind our President that would be the 47 traitors

Starting Now, Reality, Total Human Equality Trumps All Belief Systems

via Godscrew

Dear Indiana incase you missed it, we've already had this conversation

via God

Some of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's guests at the signing of the state's "license to discriminate" bill look familiar to us

So many racist homophobic old man faces. Yuck. Their Jesus would be so ashamed of them. As a Jew o don't get it. They hijack our Torah to spread their hate based on one verse in Leviticus but will turn right around and eat pork, get divorced and wear mixed linens. You can't pick and choose which Mitzvah your going to follow. It doesn't work that way. You either don't follow them or u follow all 613. These poor lost souls. Oh yea and one more thing regardless of what the southern baptist try to tell you, gay is okay. You're born that way. Love yourself and be who u r!
via Jason Doherty

GLAAD

 

Some of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's guests at the signing of the state's "license to discriminate" bill look familiar to us.

Please SHARE and read more about their anti-LGBT activism at http://glaad.org/cap

(graphic via https://twitter.com/seamonkey237)

Indiana Governor Mike Pence "Was I expecting this kind of backlash? Heavens no." by Jim Wright

Jim Wright

"Was I expecting this kind of backlash? Heavens no."

That was a very surprised and hurt Indiana Governor Mike Pence. He wasn't expecting "this kind of backlash." This kind.

See, he and his pinch-faced right-wing conservative Evangelical supporters WERE expecting a backlash. Just not THIS kind.

What they were expecting was protests from a few gays and a handful of long haired liberals whining about civil rights and equality - and they just didn't care. Screw 'em. Those people don't matter and can be ignored so far as Mike Pence is concerned. He doesn't represent them. He doesn't care about them. He doesn't respect them. They're second class citizens and they should be grateful they aren't being stoned to death in the church parking lot. And in this Pence and his friends are no different than any other nasty small minded religious bigot. For them, their religion isn't a refuge or a comfort, it's a spiked club that they use to beat others into submission.

Pence pledged to "fix" Indiana's utterly unnecessary and completely idiotic Religious Freedom Restoration Law. But, Pence insisted again this morning, the problem isn't the law itself but how it's being perceived. He says a "fix" is needed only because "frankly, the smear that's been leveled against this law." Republicans are hurt and upset at how unfair it all is. They didn't give a goddamn about the pushback from gay people or liberals, but when businesses such as Walmart, Saleforce, Apple, and the NCAA threatened to pull out, well, THAT got their attention.

It amuses me that once again, the same people who do nothing but harp endlessly over Ayn Randian free market solutions are upset when that very same free market threatens to take its money elsewhere.

So now Pence is announcing a "fix."

HOWEVER:
- Pence said he opposes adding sexual orientation to the list of Indiana's protected categories under the state anti-discrimination law.

- Pence says the "fix" WILL NOT involve statewide anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people.

That's right, the law de facto gives businesses the right to discriminate against gay people BUT NOT ANYBODY ELSE specifically because EVERYBODY ELSE IS PROTECTED UNDER INDIANA'S ANTI DISCRIMINATION LAW. And Pence says he wants the law fixed, but does not support adding protections for gay people.

Think of it like how black people in 1960's Alabama had equal rights ... so long as they sat in the back of the bus and kept their mouths shut.

A year ago, Pence led Republican efforts in a bitter constitutional fight to ban same-sex marriage in Indiana.

So, forgive my skeptical face when Mike Pence says that he never intended this law to allow discrimination against gay people.

Pence is just the second coming of Bull Connor and George Wallace.
"Was I expecting this kind of backlash? Heavens no."

Heaven no, Mike Pence didn't see it coming. The people on the wrong side of history never do.

Jim Wright Blog
http://www.stonekettle.com/
 

Boycott Indiana‬ - Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

UNFIT TO BE PRESIDENT
Of course he would side with Indiana. He would side with anything that was hateful or popular back in the Old America. Back when women couldn't own credit cards, when you could beat gays for no reason and it wasn't' illegal, when the middle class was forced to work 55 to 60 hours per week before 40 hours was established, when there was no minimum wage or safety standards at work, when the age of consent was 10....yes they want to take us back to the dark ages where the ones with power at the very top screw everyone else. If it was up to them women would wear burkas and forced to be submissive to men and completely eliminate contraceptives. If they could they would bring back slavery in a minute.

via Armed Democrats

GOP Presidential Hopefuls Rise To Defend Indiana Law That Many See As Anti-Gay

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential hopefuls are lining up in defense of Indiana’s controversial “religious freedom” law, which critics warn will open the door to legal discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals by businesses in the state.
“I think Gov. [Mike] Pence has done the right thing,” former Florida governor and likely 2016 contender Jeb Bush said in a Monday interview. “I think once the facts are established, people aren’t going to see this as discriminatory at all.”

As a reason why such laws are necessary, Bush pointed to the case of a Washington state florist who was fined for refusing to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding.

“There are many cases where people acting on their conscience have been cascaded by the government,” Bush told radio host Hugh Hewitt. “This law simply says the government has to have a level of burden to be able to establish there has been some kind of discrimination. We’re going to need this. This is really an important value in our country, where you can respect and be tolerant of people’s lifestyles but allow for people of faith to exercise theirs.”

Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which Pence signed into law last week, differs from similar laws passed by 19 other states because it can be raised in disputes between private citizens. Unlike those laws and even the federal version, which President Bill Clinton signed in 1993, the Indiana legislation allows businesses to cite religious beliefs as a legal defense.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is expected to announce his bid for the White House next month, dodged a question Monday as to whether gay Americans should be legally protected against discrimination. But appearing on Fox News’ “The Five," he argued that religious freedom laws do make some sense.

“Obviously, it's raised a lot of debate in America about how far these laws go and what implications they would have, and it's a difficult debate to have for a lot of people,” Rubio said. “But I think the flip side of all of this debate is what about the religious liberties of Americans who do not want to feel compelled by law to provide a catering service or photography service to a same-sex marriage that their faith teaches is wrong?”

He added, “No one here is saying it should be legal to deny someone services at a hotel or at a restaurant because of their sexual orientation. I think that is a consensus view in America.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has actually declared his candidacy for president, endorsed Pence's efforts in a statement Monday night.

"Governor Pence is holding the line to protect religious liberty in the Hoosier State. Indiana is giving voice to millions of courageous conservatives across this country who are deeply concerned about the ongoing attacks upon our personal liberties. I’m proud to stand with Mike, and I urge Americans to do the same," Cruz said.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), who has made moves toward a presidential run, on Tuesday said he stands with Pence. "Religious freedom is worth protecting," Perry wrote on Twitter.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), another likely presidential contender, said in a statement that he supports Indiana’s new law because he supports “religious liberty as granted to us in our Constitution.” He joined his fellow White House hopefuls in rejecting the notion that the law is discriminatory.

Famed neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a darling of the conservative movement and star of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, told Breitbart News that it was “absolutely vital that we do all we can to allow Americans to practice their religious ways.”

Asked about the prospect of a religious freedom law in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R), an early frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, sounded noncommittal.

"Well again, in our state, there's a balance between wanting to make sure there is not discrimination, but at the same time respecting religious freedoms,” Walker said, according to WisPolitics. “We do that different ways than what they’ve done in the state of Indiana, and certainly that’s going to be part of the debate here and across the country.”

But the governor's spokeswoman told Breitbart that Walker broadly supports religious freedom as “a matter of principle.”

The national backlash against Indiana's law has shown no sign of abating. On Monday, Connecticut became the first state to boycott Indiana, when Gov. Dan Malloy (D), himself a possible 2016 contender, signed an executive order barring state-funded travel to Indiana. Two major cities, San Francisco and Seattle, have imposed similar bans.

Several large businesses, including Angie’s List and Salesforce, have also pulled or delayed spending in the state. And Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote a Washington Post op-ed on Sunday night, denouncing Indiana’s law and putting Arkansas on notice over a similar bill making its way through the legislature there.

This story has been updated with Sen. Ted Cruz's statement and former Gov. Rick Perry's tweet on Indiana's new law.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/30/presidential-candidates-indiana-law_n_6973280.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013

Indiana Governor Mike Pence refuses to say if he's opposed to LGBT Discrimination

 

 

 

SB 101-Where do they work? by Amber Stearns
March 27, 2015 

 

The Indiana General Assembly is a part-time legislature. They only work a few months out of the year on legislative business. Unless they are retired or independently wealthy, elected officials have a day job.

 

People upset with the recent passage and signing of SB 101 have asked where the legislators who voted for the bill work. Here is a list of many of the lawmakers who voted for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and their occupations, places of business and/or business affiliations.

 

For those who asked for it, you are welcome.
Rep. Cindy Ziemke, Owner
Brau Haus Restaurant

Rep. Denny Zent,Oral Surgeon
Fort Wayne Endodontics

Rep. Thomas Washburne
Old National Bancorp of Evansville

Rep. Heath VanNatter, Owner
VanNatter Construction

Rep. Matt Ubelhor,Operations Manager
Viking Mine for Peabody Energy

Rep. Randy Truitt, President
Main Street Management, LLC.

Rep. Jerry Torr, VP of Buiness Devlopment
Hamilton National Title

Rep. Jeff Thompson, Board of Directors
North Salem State Bank

Rep. Holli Sullivan, Owner
Onward Consulting, LLC

Rep. Greg Stuerwald, Attorney
Steuerwald, Zielinski & Witham

Rep. Milo Smith, Owner
Tax Consultants, Inc.

Rep. Ben Smaltz, Owner and President
Taylor Rental

Rep. Sharon Negele, President
Wolf’s Homemade Candies, Inc

Rep. Curt Nisly, Owner and Operator
C-Tech Solutions, Inc.

Rep. David Ober, Tourism Asset Coordinator
Noble County Convention & Visitors Bureau

Rep. Julie Olthoff, Owner and President
VIA Marketing

Rep. Kevin Mahan, Insurance Agent
State Farm Insurance

Rep. Peggy Mayfield, Owner
Mayfield Insurance

Rep. Jud McMiilin, Attorney

Rep. Wendy McNamara, Director
Early College High School

Rep. Douglas Miller, Owner
D.L. Miller Construction, Creekside Realty, LLC and White Pines Properties, LLC

Rep. Alan Morrison, Special Projects Gifts Officer
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Rep. Jim Lucas, Owner
The Awning Guy, Inc.

Rep. Don Lehe, Owner and Operator
Lehe Farms, Inc.

Rep. Kathy Kreag Richardson, Election Administrator
Hamilton County

Rep. Eric Koch, Attorney/Owner
The Koch Law Firm, P.C.

Rep. Mike Karickhoff, Executive Director of Facilities
Ivy Tech Community College, Kokomo, Logansport, Peru and Wabash

Rep. Christopher Judy, Assembly Line Worker
General Motors Fort Wayne Assembly

Rep. Bob Heaton, President
Heaton Financial Services

Rep. Tim Harman, President and Founder
Harman Restaurants, Inc

Rep. Dick Hamm, Owner
Cambridge City Casket Company, Dove Manufacturing, and Paul Casket Company

Rep. Bill Friend, President, Owner and Operator
Green Acres Ham, LLC, Friend Farms

Rep. Bill Fine, Attorney
Law Offices of William I. Fine

Rep. Dale DeVon, Owner
DeVon Custom Homes

Rep. Steve Davisson, Pharmacist
DanMar Pharmacy

Rep. Wes Culver, Owner
M and M Fire Protection and Security, That Pretty Place Bed and Breakfast

Rep. Casey Cox, Attorney
Beers Mallers Backs & Salin

Rep. Bob Cherry, Director of Industry Relations
Indiana Farm Buerau

Rep. Martin Carbaugh, Financial Planner
TradeWell Tax & Financial, LLC

Rep. Woody Burton, Real Estate Broker
Carpenter Realtors

Rep. Dr. Tim Brown, retired physician
Rep. Mike Braun, Owner
Meyer Distributing and Meyer Logistics

Rep. Brian Bosma, Attorney
Kroger, Gardis & Regas

Rep. Bruce Borders, Owner
Borders Insurance & Financial Services
(Borders is also a known Elvis Impersonator)

Rep. Robert Behning, Owner and Operator
Berkshire Florist

Rep. Ron Bacon, Owner and Respiratory Therapist
R. Bacon Enterprises, Inc

Rep. Michael Aylesworth, Executive Director of Facilities
Ivy Tech Community College, Kokomo, Logansport, Peru and Wabash,Logansport, Peru and Wabash

Rep. Timothy Wesco, Assistant Pastor
Calvary Baptist Church of Elkhart
Penn Township Firefighter/EMT

Sen. Scott Schneider, VP of Sales & Marketing
Mister Ice of Indianapolis

This list will be updated with additional representatives and senators as the information becomes available.

http://m.nuvo.net/NewsBlog/archives/2015/03/27/sb-101-where-do-they-work


 

TED Talks... Frightening by Old Fart Rants

oldfartrants
Published on Mar 27, 2015
 
Some people say "what difference does it make what people believe?" or "why can't you just live and let live?" Well because that's exactly what the evangelicals and wingnuts in America today are against! I don't think some people really understand just how dangerous the Republican Party's pandering to the religious right really is. Make no mistake about it - there's a Christian conspiracy afoot that wants to "fundamentally transform" America - exactly what they accuse President Obama of trying to do. Projection - one of the telltale signs that people are up to no good. They don't want democracy - they want a theocracy with them in charge. They actually believe they have a God given right to run things so they can legally discriminate against anybody they disagree with, and that anybody who disagrees with them is discriminating against their religious freedom!

They've already got the Republican Party by the balls with the Tea Party blocking anything getting done in Congress. They'd love to amend the Constitution so that discrimination against people who don't share their beliefs would be the law of the land, but amending the Constitution is no small feat, which is why they took the Hobby Lobby case to the Supreme Court instead, where we now have 5 right wing, Catholic men basically holding America by its balls. This is the scariest part of the conspiracy because Presidents and elected representatives come and go - Supreme Court justices are appointed for life! They want a theocracy exactly like many Muslim countries have where you must believe or suffer the consequences by whatever punishments they see fit to impose.

Did you see Ted Cruz give his speech at Liberty University, announcing he's running for president? It was like watching an evangelical preacher pitching his snake oil wasn’t it? Did you see the round of applause he got from all those Christian students, who were forced to be there or pay a fine by the way, when he said he'd repeal Obamacare and take healthcare away from millions of people? Anybody want to tell me how THAT fits into Christian values? Ted Cruz's father IS an evangelical minister - he says atheists should be put in camps, and preaches that his son Ted is the "Anointed King" who will bring about the End Times! The end times? Now that’s what I call a real plan for America’s future!

Anybody want to tell me how anyone in the 21st century who isn't mentally ill could possibly believe nonsense like THAT? 4000 new Christian churches open in America every year, all tax exempt, and they all teach some version of this Bronze Age dogma. And when they don't get their way they play the victim card and claim they're being persecuted because they can't hate and discriminate with legal impunity. They've already made their way into our government and will take over as much of it as they can. If you don't think these people are dangerous you're dead wrong!

Republican Idiocy on Iran

via U.S. Senate Democrats

 Republican Idiocy on Iran

After helping to ignite a firestorm over a possible nuclear agreement with Iran, Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential candidate, is now sort of acknowledging his error. “Maybe that wasn’t exactly the best way to do that,” he said on Fox News on Tuesday.

He was referring to the disgraceful and irresponsible letter that he and 46 Senate colleagues sent to Iran’s leaders this week that generated outrage from Democrats and even some conservatives.

The letter was an attempt to scare the Iranians from making a deal that would limit their nuclear program for at least a decade by issuing a warning that the next president could simply reverse any agreement. It was a blatant, dangerous effort to undercut the president on a grave national security issue by communicating directly with a foreign government.

Maybe Mr. McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, should have thought about the consequences before he signed the letter, which was drafted by Tom Cotton, a Republican of Arkansas, a junior senator with no foreign policy credentials. Instead of trying to be leaders and statesmen, the Republicans in Congress seem to think their role is outside the American government, divorced from constitutional principles, tradition and the security interests of the American people.

The letter was the latest shot to blow up the negotiations with Iran. Earlier this month, House Republicans invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to denounce a pact in a speech to Congress, and a group of senators is pushing legislation that could set new conditions on a deal and force a congressional vote.

Besides being willing to sabotage any deal with Iran (before they know the final details), these Republicans are perfectly willing to diminish America’s standing as a global power capable of crafting international commitments and adhering to them.

Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. was blistering in his condemnation, saying, “This letter sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe alike that our commander in chief cannot deliver on America’s commitments — a message that is as false as it is dangerous.” But perhaps President Obama described this bizarre reality best. “It’s somewhat ironic to see some members of Congress wanting to make common cause with the hard-liners in Iran,” he said. “It’s an unusual coalition.”

So far, the Iranians have largely dismissed the bumbling threat, with their foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, describing the letter as “propaganda.” But there are fears it could embolden hard-liners in Iran who, like the Republicans and some of the Democrats in Congress, oppose any nuclear agreement between Iran, the United States and its major allies.

The Republican efforts have so infuriated Democrats that even those who might have supported legislation that would have given Congress leverage over an Iranian pact are having second thoughts. Before this, the thinking was that the two bills most in play — one that would increase sanctions on Iran and another that would force the administration to bring any agreement to Congress for a review — might draw enough Democratic support to override a veto by President Obama. Both measures would surely scuttle a deal, but the Republicans’ actions may have set back their senseless cause.

The best and only practical way to restrain Iran from developing a bomb is through negotiating a strict agreement with tough monitoring. In rejecting diplomacy, the Republicans make an Iranian bomb and military conflict more likely.

-------------

A version of this editorial appears in print on March 12, 2015, on page A28 of the New York edition with the headline: Republican Idiocy on Iran

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/opinion/republican-idiocy-on-iran.html

John Shelby Spong - Why We Must Reclaim The Bible From Fundamentalists

Christianity is, I believe, about expanded life, heightened consciousness and achieving a new humanity. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. I am tired of seeing the Bible being used, as it has been throughout history, to legitimize slavery and segregation, to subdue women, to punish homosexuals, to justify war and to oppose family planning and birth control. That is a travesty which must be challenged and changed.

Why We Must Reclaim The Bible From Fundamentalists

John Shelby Spong

Retired American Bishop of the Episcopal Church
Posted: 10/13/2011 9:41 am EDT

The contrast between the way the Bible is understood in the academic world and the way it is viewed in our churches is striking. I know because in my life as a priest and a bishop I have both served typical congregations and been privileged to study and to teach in some of the best known Christian academic centers in the world. In academia I discovered that issues and insights, commonplace among the scholars, are viewed as highly controversial and even as "heresy" in the churches. The result has been that the majority of people who have remained in the church have become more and more rigid and fundamentalist, while those who have left have become more and more dismissive of everything, good or bad, about Christianity. We also now have a crop of writers like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchen, who have totally demolished the fundamentalist approach to God with their clever and penetrating books, yet they are seemingly unaware that there are other ways to view Christianity.

In the world of Christian scholarship, for example, to read the Bible literally is regarded as absurd. To call the words of the Bible "the Word of God" is more than naïve. No modern person can still believe that a star can wander through the sky so slowly that wise men can keep up with it, that God actually dictated the Ten Commandments -- all three versions, no less -- or that a multitude can be fed with five loaves and two fish. No modern person understanding genetics and reproduction can believe that virgins conceive, nor can those who understand what death does to the human body in a matter of just minutes still view the resurrection as the resuscitation of a deceased body after three days. Biblical scholars know that the accounts of the crucifixion read in Christian churches on Good Friday are not eye witness reports, but developed interpretations of Jesus' death based on a series of Old Testament texts selected to convince fellow Jews that Jesus "fulfilled the scriptures" and thus really was the "messiah." These issues and many others are assumed in the world of biblical scholars, but are viewed by many church-goers, together with the vast majority of television evangelists and radio preachers, as attacks on divine revelation that must be resisted in order to save Christianity. They thus, knowingly or unknowingly, join in a conspiracy of silence, ignoring truth when they feel they can and viewing biblical scholars, strangely enough, as the church's ultimate enemy. At the same time secular critics attack what Christian scholars know is nonsensical about both the Bible and Christianity and act as if they have discovered something new.

There are some biblical facts that cannot and should not be ignored, if Christians really value truth. For example, the time separating when Moses lived (ca. 1250 BCE) from when the stories of Moses were written in the Bible (ca. 950 BCE) is about 300 years, representing 15 generations of oral transmission. Can anyone knowing this continue to be a literal believer? The gospels were written 40 -70 years after the crucifixion, which means that most of what we read about Jesus in the Bible was handed down orally for two to three generations before one word of it achieved written form. The gospels were also first written in Greek, a language which neither Jesus nor his disciples spoke or wrote! How can anyone claim "inerrancy" for such material? Other facts well-known in the academy, but seemingly unknown outside by either believers or critics, are that scholars can find no evidence that miracles were associated with the memory of Jesus before the 8th decade of the Christian era, that there is no mention of the virgin birth anywhere before the 9th decade and that the narratives of the ascension and Pentecost did not appear until the 10th decade. The New Testament does not agree on such basic issues as the identity of the twelve disciples or the details of Easter. Why has none of this been made available in churches or been discovered by those who pose as the church's secular critics?

The New Testament also introduces us to a group of characters who are far more likely to be literary creations than they are to be literal. Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? I do not think so. There is no mention of him in any source before the 8th decade. Paul, writing between 51 and 64 CE, appears never to have heard of the tradition that one of the twelve was a traitor. In addition to that, every detail of the New Testament portrait of Judas can be located in other traitor stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. If a major figure like Judas is not real then what about such lesser characters as Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman by the well, Lazarus, miraculously raised from the dead four days after being buried, or even the "Beloved Disciple?" All of them, I now believe, were created to illustrate a theme.

It was fascinating for me in writing this book to explore the scriptures from these perspectives by journeying through the entire biblical landscape from Genesis to Revelation. That enabled me with both integrity and conviction to challenge the literal assumptions of the past and to open the biblical story to new levels of understanding that I believe are profoundly real. Who would have thought, for instance, that Hosea's domestic life would illumine his understanding of the love of God; or that Amos, a keeper of sycamore trees in the village of Tekoa, would be the one to redefine God as justice? The book of Jonah is seen as a readable mythological tale, deliberately designed to hook its audience emotionally in order to break them out of the bondage of prejudice. The book of Job explores the universal theme of why innocent people suffer. There is great stuff in the Bible that needs to be opened in new ways.

Christianity is, I believe, about expanded life, heightened consciousness and achieving a new humanity. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. I am tired of seeing the Bible being used, as it has been throughout history, to legitimize slavery and segregation, to subdue women, to punish homosexuals, to justify war and to oppose family planning and birth control. That is a travesty which must be challenged and changed.

I wrote "Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World" to do precisely that.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-shelby-spong/why-i-wrote-re-claiming-t_b_1007399.html

We Won't Fight Another Rich Mans War

 

Letter from a Veteran to Senator Tom Cotton shared on: The Citizens Corporation.

Tom Cotton:
I'm a vet, and the survivor of a close family member who died on Active Duty. I have had direct relatives in the U.S. Armed Services for many generations, including Arkansas residents.
Here's what I have to say to you.

More and more U.S. residents are "fed up to here" with sacrificing all for corrupt government and corporate cannibals like you, who risk little or nothing while they constantly call for our people to give up everything in their never-ending invasions.

I'll support your sending 10,000 American residents into another war for petrochemical and military industrial complex profiteering just as soon as you--and everyone who personally stands to make a big ol' profit off of your recommended actions--are among of the first people on the front lines.
You all have to do three tours as ground-pounding grunts, too, because you have expected our troops to do so.

You also have to send at least half of your own children of eligible condition to the front lines to serve at least two tours of duty in the wars that you want so badly.

Oh, and before you get my approval, you have to set aside around $30 trillion in advance, to care for the veterans of your recommended U.S. invasion of yet another sovereign nation, so that you and your buddies can get even richer while you neglect your own nation, and its peoples, including the veterans of all of your other past wars for oil and profit for yourselves.

You also have to do your job as a taxpayer-funded, elected official, and make sure that not a single military-industrial complex corporation gets a single contract to profit from the war you want so much, unless it is obtained under fair and transparent conditions, with fair competition. They can have no history of profiteering, overcharging, or failure to provide the highest quality service.
This must be determined by a truly independent oversight committee.

And, one more thing, Tom: Before you get my approval to send a single soldier into battle in the name of this Nation:
No one in the U.S. government, or the corporate-owned and run mass media outlets, may publish a single story that is deliberately biased, inaccurate, or basically, propaganda designed to brainwash U.S. residents into ignorantly following your agenda while they once again send their sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers into the "meat grinder" for your personal enrichment--and as usual, not their own.

In regard to you and other GOP members of Congress who just openly attempted to hand over a chunk of U.S. foreign policy making power to a foreign leader--Netanyahu--and who sent your "missive" to Iran--you should all be fired and, most likely, prosecuted.

I couldn't care less about whether or not you like the POTUS, whomever that person may be. You are required to respect the office, however, and symbolic "palace coups" like the ones you and your cohorts just pulled, are absolutely unacceptable behavior.

Actions of that type, committed by elected government officials, led to the U.S. Civil War, Tom, and the kinds of folks who lined up behind folks like you LOST.

You will lose again, sir.
Got it?

 

The Citizens Corporation

 

Here are the 47 Republican Traitors Trying To Sabotage White House Nuclear Talks with Iran

Monday, March 09, 2015

Washington, D.C.— Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) along with 46 of his Republican colleagues in the Senate will today release an open letter to the the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran about the ongoing nuclear negotiations between their country and the United States. A PDF of the official letter can be found here.  The  text of the letter can be found below: 

An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran:

It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system.  Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution—the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices—which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress.

First, under our Constitution, while the president negotiates international agreements, Congress plays the significant role of ratifying them.  In the case of a treaty, the Senate must ratify it by a two-thirds vote.  A so-called congressional-executive agreement requires a majority vote in both the House and the Senate (which, because of procedural rules, effectively means a three-fifths vote in the Senate).  Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement.

Second, the offices of our Constitution have different characteristics.  For example, the president may serve only two 4-year terms, whereas senators may serve an unlimited number of 6-year terms.  As applied today, for instance, President Obama will leave office in January 2017, while most of us will remain in office well beyond then—perhaps decades.

What these two constitutional provisions mean is that we will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei.  The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.

We hope this letter enriches your knowledge of our constitutional system and promotes mutual understanding and clarity as nuclear negotiations progress.

Sincerely,

Senator Tom Cotton, R-AR

Senator Orrin Hatch, R-UT  

Senator Charles Grassley, R-IA       

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY      

Senator Richard Shelby, R-AL         

Senator John McCain, R-AZ 

Senator James Inhofe, R-OK           

Senator Pat Roberts, R-KS   

Senator Jeff Sessions, R-AL  

Senator Michael Enzi, R-WY

Senator Michael Crapo, R-ID           

Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC       

Senator John Cornyn, R-TX             

Senator Richard Burr, R-NC

Senator John Thune, R-SD  

Senator Johnny Isakson, R-GA

Senator David Vitter, R-LA  

Senator John A. Barrasso, R-WY     

Senator Roger Wicker, R-MS           

Senator Jim Risch, R-ID

Senator Mark Kirk, R-IL       

Senator Roy Blunt, R-MO     

Senator Jerry Moran, R-KS

Senator Rob Portman, R-OH           

Senator John Boozman, R-AR          

Senator Pat Toomey, R-PA  

Senator John Hoeven, R-ND

Senator Marco Rubio, R-FL  

Senator Ron Johnson, R-WI 

Senator Rand Paul, R-KY

Senator Mike Lee, R-UT       

Senator Kelly Ayotte, R-NH 

Senator Dean Heller, R-NV  

Senator Tim Scott, R-SC       

Senator Ted Cruz, R-TX       

Senator Deb Fischer, R-NE  

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV         

Senator Bill Cassidy, R-LA    

Senator Cory Gardner, R-CO           

Senator James Lankford, R-OK       

Senator Steve Daines, R-MT

Senator Mike Rounds, R-SD

Senator David Perdue, R-GA           

Senator Thom Tillis, R-NC   

Senator Joni Ernst, R-IA       

Senator Ben Sasse, R-NE     

Senator Dan Sullivan, R-AK

http://www.cotton.senate.gov/content/cotton-and-46-fellow-senators-send-open-letter-leaders-islamic-republic-iran

The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed
to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

They Thought They Were Free

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each.

Socialism - Communism - Fascism *Defined

Here is the difference

Socialism:

a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Communism:

a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Fascism:

an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.

Republicans Sabotage White House Nuclear Talks with Iran

CONGRESS' WAR ON PRESIDENT OBAMA — First there was the unprecedented insurrection by House leaders who invited Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress in order to undermine President Obama's talks with Iran to prevent them from obtaining nuclear weapons. This action was almost without precedent. Then we learned today that Senate Republicans have taken it one step further by directly contacting Iran's leaders and warming them against signing any agreement with President Obama without Congressional approval. Forth-seven Senate Republicans (including presidential candidates Rubio and Cruz) signed the letter. We know the GOP hates our president. They met in secret when Obama first took office and agreed to oppose and obstruct everything the president did. Sedition anyone?! And today's actions further illustrate the extremes used by Republicans to undermine the legitimacy of our president and his foreign policy.

via Tracy Knauss 
 

ARKANSAS, TOM COTTON, TEA PARTY and TREASON

Senator Tom Cotton, the junior senator from Arkansas, is a classic example of educational failure. The puzzle is what, where and why did things go so wrong with him. He is the son of a Vietnam War veteran, lives on a cattle ranch in rural Arkansas near a town named Dardanelle High School, and is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard yet turned out to be a radical rightwing Republican Tea Party conservative. He went to college before going into the military so there is no reason to suspect he received government subsidies to pay for college.

Although we cannot credit autobiographies as being factual, his life follows an almost too perfect picture book pattern of someone who was grooming himself for elected office. He won his seat by a significant margin over his opponent. As with most politicians, there is a gap between what they say they are and what they actually do. As is a conservative in a purple state, Sen. Tom Cotton is doing pretty much what those who elected him expected him to do even though he is doing it with a radical twist. For liberal such as me, this is a tough realization.

Where the failures of education enters with the education of people in Arkansas and other places like that—rural conservative with low to marginal incomes would vote against their own interest. The purpose of government of the people by the people is for the people, not against them. Distribution of wealth by taxes and salaries is to the benefit of all and they stand to gain the most by having a good government. The ten poorest states in the nation, 11 if we include Puerto Rico, are all in the south and Arkansas is one of them. The distribution of the nations wealth is the age old rich industrialized North versus the poor agricultural South. The South should love it and the North should hate it, but the reality seems just the opposite. The average income is this states is less than $45,000. Then stop and consider Tom Cotton’s economic status. He comes from a rich cattle ranching family in a very poor state; he went to Harvard. Actually, it is not just cattle; there are multiple farms with multiple corps involved in the family. However, he voted no on everything; the farm bill, Obamacare, Student loans, abortions, also voted against increasing wages; all things that would help the people of Arkansas.

Oddly, the only bill he introduced was equally strange; it was legislative language to overturn the United Constitution in respect to prohibiting attainder, which is the extinction of the civil rights of a person upon sentence of death or outlawry especially treason. Let me repeat, he proposed legislation to protect the civil rights of people who commit treasonous acts, in addition, he is from a farm family but voted against farm subsidies—he voted against his own personal interests but also against the interest of small farmers in his state. Of course, there was a conflict; the farm bill included the federal food stamp provision, which Republican hate but farm owners back of which there are quite a few millionaire farm owners in congress; they and their bank accounts stand to gain tremendously from that law.

More recently, Cotton wrote a strange but open letter to Iran’s leaders signed by a group of 47 Republican senators warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama's administration won’t last after Obama leaves office. These 47 Senators know that the Constitution gives the President the responsibility of negotiating such agreement and give the Senate the responsibility to agree with the agreement. We have to ask why Senators would write such the letter.
We have to assume Cotton is knowledgeable of the law. We have to assume from his background and his military record and his political affiliations that he is a flag waving America patriot to an extreme degree, as willing to die for his country as a religious zealot is to die for their religious belief. I would guess fate worse than death for him would be to lose his citizenship for committing an act of treason such as acting against the Constitution. Does this strange man think his attacks on the Constitution would endanger his standing as a citizen?

via Jerry B. Stevens

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Republican Senators Write To Leaders Of Iran, Attempt To Sabotage Nuclear Deal

by Igor Volsky Posted on March 9, 2015 at 10:04 am

Forty-seven Republican senators are seeking to undermine the international negotiations aimed at containing Iran’s nuclear program with an open letter to the government of Iran, warning the Persian leaders that any deal they strike with the United States and its international partners will not last past the Obama administration.

Arguing that the Senate must ratify a treaty by “a two-thirds vote,” the senators argue that they “will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei.” “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen,” they warn.

The letter, which was organized by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), was first reported by Bloomberg’s Josh Rogin.

The administration has sought to bypass Congressional approval of the deal, noting that Republicans — and some Democrats — have attempted to scuttle an agreement even before it is reached and are not working in good faith on an issue that would be a big win for the president. If a deal is in fact reached, Obama will use executive actions and waivers to suspend some sanctions, but will ultimately need to rely on Congress for more substantial relief.

Administration officials could also argue that Congress will have a hard time derailing any agreement that is reached by the United States and its international partners — Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — particularly if the Iranians comply with nuclear inspections. Doing so could jeopardize America’s relationships with its allies and be seen as internationally provocative towards a military conflict with Iran.

The ongoing negotiations are seeking to limit Iran’s ability to enrich weapons-grade uranium, reduce its number of operating centrifuges and advanced centrifuges, and lower its low-enriched uranium stockpiles. The emerging agreement would allow Iran to retain some parts of its nuclear infrastructure but delay the “breakout” period for developing a weapon by more than a year.

Cotton, a freshman senator from Arkansas, has a long record in trying to scuttle any deal with Iran. In 2013, Cotton labeled an interim agreement that froze Iran’s nuclear program “humiliating defeat” for the U.S. and a “total victory” for Iran and pressed for additional sanctions. He pressed Congress to supply Israel with bunker buster bombs to aid Israel in a military strike against Iran and introduced legislation to punish the family members of people who violate Iran sanctions, a measure that he later withdrew after legal experts called it unconstitutional.

Iran and its negotiating partners must agree to broad principles on limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities no later than March 24 and reach an agreement on the technical aspects of the deal by June 30.

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/03/09/3631314/republican-senators-write-leaders-iran-attempt-sabatage-nuclear-deal/
  

Alveda King Anti-Choice, Homophobe now a contributor to Fox Entertainment

Alveda King, what a tangled web you weave...

Just because you regret your abortions, doesn't give you the right to inflict your self imposed guilt on the rest of humanity. And your views on same sex marriages blows

Fox News Just Hired MLK Niece Alveda King, Who Calls Same-Sex Marriage 'Genocide'

by David Badash
March 06, 2015 7:42 PM

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s niece, Alveda King, who actively speaks out against civil rights for LGBT people, is now a Fox News contributor.

“It is statistically proven that the strongest institution that guarantees procreation and continuity of the generations is marriage between one man and one woman. I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to be extinct and none of us wants to be. We don’t want genocide, we don’t want to destroy the sacred institution of marriage.”

Those words were spoken in the summer of 2010 at a rally against same-sex marriage by Alveda King, the niece of civil rights icons Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. That event was hosted by the National Organization For Marriage (NOM).

Today, Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes announced that King has been signed by the cable news network to share her views on social and cultural issues.

"Alveda has brilliantly carried the legacy of the King family to the next generation and has been a source of inspiration for many Americans," Ailes said, according to TV Newser. "Her passion and mission for social change will be a valuable contribution to our network."

Alveda King's views actually vary greatly from the heritage of her civil rights activist family.

Her aunt, the late Coretta Scott King, was a supporter of full civil rights, including marriage, for LGBT people. Mrs. King, who, unlike Alveda also supported women's right to choose, stated that her husband would have had the same beliefs on equality.

By contrast, Alveda King is so virulently anti-gay, that not only does she equate same-sex marriage with genocide, but she claims people who disagree with her views and support marriage equality are going to hell.

Her totalitarian views on marriage and abortion don't apply to her, of course. Alveda King has had several abortions and been married and divorced three times.

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/mlk_niece_alveda_king_who_calls_same_sex_marriage_genocide_was_just_hired_by_fox_news

--------------

Excerpts Wikipedia

Father's death

In 1969, her father, A.D. King, was found dead in the pool at his home after a long bout with alcoholism and depression.^[9] The cause of death was listed as an accidental drowning.^{[10][11][12][13]} Grandfather King said in his autobiography, "Alveda had been up the night before, she said, talking with her father and watching a television movie with him. He'd seemed unusually quiet...and not very interested in the film. But he had wanted to stay up and Alveda left him sitting in an easy chair, staring at the TV, when she went off to bed... I had questions about A.D.'s death and I still have them now. He was a good swimmer. Why did he drown? I don't know – I don't know that we will ever know what happened."^[14]

Abortions

She had two abortions and attempted to get a third one. When she became pregnant, she says her doctor, without the family's knowledge, gave her an abortion.^[15] She was divorced soon after that. When she was pregnant in 1973, she went to Planned Parenthood and got a second abortion.^[16] Later, she wanted to get a third abortion, but neither the father nor her grandfather would pay for it.^[17]

Public office

From 1979 to 1981, King represented the 28th District in the Georgia House of Representatives.^[20] The district included Fulton County,^[21] and King served as a Democrat.^[19] In 1984, King ran for the seat of Georgia's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and supported the Rev. Jesse Jackson for president.^[22] The 5th Congressional seat, at the time of King's campaign was held by Wyche Fowler. Andrew Young, who held the seat prior to Fowler, endorsed Hosea Williams. Hosea Williams was one of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most trusted lieutenants and perhaps best known for organizing and leading the first Selma March.^[23] Coretta Scott King did not endorse her niece. Young, who had given up the seat to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the UN, and Williams approached King and asked her to end her campaign for the seat so that she could dedicate more time to her family. Young later apologized for what he called "some blatantly chauvinistic remarks."^[24] She did not withdraw. With the black vote split, Fowler defeated both King and Williams in the primary. That was the last time she ran for elective office. However, since then, she has publicly stated that she is a Republican.^[25]

Abortion

Alveda King says "Mrs. Coretta Scott King knew that her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was pro-life", regarding Martin Luther King Jr. winning the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood in 1966.^[34] In 1994, According to Fox News, Alveda King has "long argued" that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican.^[35] In contradiction to King's statement, however, University of Cambridge historian David Garrow stated in a Salon profile of Alveda King regarding Martin Luther King: "King was not only not a Republican, he was well to the left of the Democratic Party of the 1960s [....] It's also well-documented that Dr. King was a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood."^[19] Also, after the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater (who voted against the Civil Rights Act) and Strom Thurmond became a Republican, Dr. King actively campaigned against Goldwater.^[36] However, evidence suggests that King was never formally affiliated with any political party.

After civil rights leader Rosa Parks died in 2005, King said Parks was a symbol for the pro-life movement^[37] (even though she had served on the Board of Advocates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America).^[38][39]

LGBT rights

King has spoken out against LGBT rights. At a 1997 rally in Sacramento protesting proposed state legislation to extend anti-discrimination laws relating to housing and employment to LGBT people, King said: "To equate homosexuality with race is to give a death sentence to civil rights. No one is enslaving homosexuals...or making them sit in the back of the bus."^[40] Alveda King wrote a letter condemning Coretta Scott King's support for abortion and gay marriage.^[19]

In a 1998 speech at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: "Homosexuality cannot be elevated to the civil rights issue. The civil rights movement was born from the Bible. God hates homosexuality."^[41] King made public appearances throughout 1997 criticizing gay rights.^[42]
King is also noted for her opposition to same-sex marriage,^[43] and received criticism for her August 2010 remarks likening gay marriage to "genocide".^[44] In 2012, King said in reference to the NAACP support of same-sex marriages that "Neither my great-grandfather an NAACP founder, my grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. an NAACP leader, my father Rev. A. D. Williams King, nor my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced the homosexual agenda that the current NAACP is attempting to label as a civil rights agenda".<sup>[45]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveda_King</sup>