First the GOP supports a bunch of dotty old men who know nothing about human sexuality because of an obscene vow of chastity, often resulting in pedophilia. Now they don’t care if women are victims of violence. I swear the GOP has fallen off a cliff!

Even though I am a Democrat, I think it is important for minority voices to be heard. I think it is important for all views of an issue to be aired in the public forum. We need more than one political party for that to happen.  I want the GOP to be a worthy adversary, not the clown show it is rapidly becoming.

The latest suicide attempt by the GOP was to allow the extension of the Violence Against Women to pass out of the Senate Judiciary committee without any GOP support.  This bill has enjoyed bipartisan support since it was first introduced by now Vice President Joe Biden .

A quote from the linked article: “The Republican-led objections are starting to sound a lot like those swirling around the birth-control mandate. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is leading the charge against reauthorization over provisions that offer protections to domestic abuse victims that happen to be LGBT or undocumented immigrants.”

So now they are pissing away the votes of women, Latinos, and the LGBT community. I guess only uneducated, illiterate, angry white men need apply to be members of the GOP.

Homework:

GOP Oppose Violence Against Women Act

They Are Against Protecting Native American Women Too

Wikipedia History of the Act

Laura Bradford

Yesterday the ethics committee decided that Laura Bradford was not guilty of ethics violation. The committee, made up of three Republicans and two Democrats, voted unanimously. What the committee did not do is heal the rift between Laura Bradford and the Speaker of the House. Rumor has it that the Speaker of the House has rifts with lots of people.

Thank Heavens for the Internet

Yesterday Colorado’s House voted to extend the “Make My Day” law to include businesses. So, if a clerk feels threatened, they could have the right to shoot the person threatening them. This bill hasn’t passed the Senate, but if it does I’m hoping that it will become possible to buy all groceries on line and have them delivered by UPS, or better yet the besieged U.S. Postal Service.

While the NRA will, no doubt, support this bill and threaten any legislator opposing it, I have a real problem believing that this won’t result in more violence, not less.  The probability of innocent shoppers getting hit by crossfire when a clerk and a criminal engage in a gun battle is great. Been there, done that, not interested in the T-shirt.

Years ago I witnessed a gun battle between a purse snatcher and an off duty Denver cop in the lobby of a bank on Denver’s 17th Street. Bullets often do not find their targets, and a miss generates more bullets. In this case the secretary to the bank president, who was trying to get under her desk to avoid the bedlam, was shot. In a near miss, one bullet went through the wheel chair of an installment loan officer who, because of his disability was not able to move out of the way.

Cottage Foods Act

The bill that will allow me to buy more food at farmers markets and at roadside stands passed the Senate and is headed toward the House.  If I can’t buy food on the internet maybe I can buy it at a roadside stand!

War on Women

The GOP and Catholic Church are continuing their war on women. I’m so dismayed by this insanity that I’m temporarily speechless, but the New York Times isn’t—read the link below.

Homework
Sentinel Story About Bradford

Business Make My Day Law

Who Supports the Cottage Food Act

New York Times Editorial About the War on Women

I had been hearing rumblings about Santorum making a strong showing in Colorado, and it turns out the rumblings were accurate. I remember thinking that Santorum could really connect with people after his speech in Iowa. Given the continuing strength of the Tea Party in Colorado, I’m not surprised that he took Colorado.

This election season has been way too much fun! Last night Santorum cleaned Romney’s clock in three states. I’m sure that Romney will now hit the accelerator on his move to the right. There will be a whole month of no primary contests to check the speed and direction, and the media will telegraph his every move.  The Newt will be moving to the right also, since he is convinced he is destined to be President.

The Komen experience with Planned Parenthood didn’t teach these guys anything. They still think that the loudest voices in the GOP are representative of voters in the general election. But the loudest voices are the fundamentalist Christians in a nation that is increasingly becoming more like Europe, where Church is not a weekly thing and does not dominate the thinking of the people. And then there are those pesky birth control and women’s health issues.

The Catholic Church is going to continue to raise a stink about birth control, and both the media and the GOP candidates are going to listen to them. Why anyone would put a lot of credence in a bunch of guys who hang out mostly with other guys and dress in medieval white, red and black robes while continuing to get caught up in scandals involving sex with altar boys is beyond my comprehension. For sure their own female parishioners are ignoring them when it comes to women’s health, as are many of their nuns.

Santorum, as the latest Anybody-But-Romney candidate, is going to get a lot more media attention, now. His war on birth control will become more widely known, and he will start to fall in the polls. None of the current crop of Republicans seems to remember that Ken Buck was defeated in Colorado because of his war on women. They have even forgotten the recent loss of a Personhood amendment in conservative Mississippi.

Homework

Atheism America Religious Right