Shameful

Just over a week ago, Idaho State Senator Sheryl Nuxoll (R) voiced her opposition to Obamacare. The problem wasn't that she opposed Obamacare, a lot of Republicans do. The problem was how she did it, specifically the metaphor she decided to use. She said that Idaho should refuse to set up a state run exchange under Obamacare. She claimed that Obama would wipe out the private insurance companies that are currently being used and begin a socialistic health care system. Here is what she said about those private insurance companies currently being used:

"The insurance companies are creating their own tombs. Much like the Jews boarding the trains to concentration camps, private insurers are used by the feds to put the system in place because the federal government has no way to set up the exchange." - State Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll (ID-R)

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) gave a speech this week attacking ideas to regulate the for-profit college system.  This is a system that generally puts students far into debt without much of a competitive education.  Her opposition to regulation was not much of a surprise given that her campaigns are heavily financed by that industry.  Here are her own words on the matter:

“‘They came for the for-profits, and I didn’t speak up…’” Foxx said. “Nobody really spoke up like they should have.”

She is paraphrasing German theologian Martin Niemöller on Germans who ignored Nazi persecution. (“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.”)

Can we come together, please, and stop comparing things that aren't horrendous genocide to the Holocaust?  Seriously.  A system that helps millions get health insurance that otherwise wouldn't have it should not be compared to Nazi anything.  Plans to regulate an industry that desperately needs regulation is not killing anyone, certainly not 12 million.  

Ridiculous comparisons like this are an insult to anyone that died in the Holocaust and any of their descendants.  It is also an insult to the soldiers that liberated the camps and actually saw how horrific it was.  Shame on Sen. Nuxoll and Rep. Foxx.

It's sad that Godwin's Law is so prevalent.

Boy Scouts Delay Their Ruling on Gays

In an epic demonstration of timidity, the Boy Scouts of America have delayed their ruling on allowing gays into the organization until May.

How can the Boy Scouts join the world and stop this discrimination?  Well first, like with many causes, you have to follow the money.  Some of the largest donors are religious organizations like the Mormon church.  And we know how the Mormons stand on this issue from relatively recent events.  The Catholic Church and the Southern Baptists are also heavy contributors.  Neither of these groups have been sympathetic to this civil rights issue.

Over the years, the BSA has rubbed shoulders with hateful, bigoted people and now they are in a sticky situation because of it.  These people give them lots of money and while the country is moving on from the days when being gay was vilified, the BSA has painted themselves into a corner.  They are afraid of losing their base.

There is a large religious force in the Boy Scouts, and there doesn't need to be.  Morality doesn't come from a religion and can be taught without it.  Excluding people from a great organization that has helped countless men over the years is immoral.

I would have a lot of respect for the organization if they would thumb their nose at the bigots that they have found themselves surrounded with and join the rest of the country in welcoming LGBT folks.  If the radical religious crowd doesn't like it, they can form a new organization.  The BSA will shrink with time if they continue this archaic policy.  It is in their best interest, for the longevity of the organization, if they change their policy.

It will get better.

Moronic Quote of the Day

Apparently coming from the Todd Akin school of sexual education, Kevin Swanson said this on his radio show recently:

"I’m beginning to get some evidence from certain doctors and certain scientists that have done research on women’s wombs after they’ve gone through the surgery, and they’ve compared the wombs of women who were on the birth control pill to those who were not on the birth control pill," Swanson explains.

"And they have found that with women who are on the birth control pill, there are these little tiny fetuses, these little babies, that are embedded into the womb. They’re just like dead babies. They’re on the inside of the womb. And these wombs of women who have been on the birth control pill effectively have become graveyards for lots and lots of little babies."

Really?

And people listen to this show.  Just let that sink in. 

LaPierre Continues to Embarrass Himself

Apparently, Wayne LaPierre is surprised that Fox News has called him out over his ad that mentions the Obama girls.

In other news, the standoff in Alabama with a 5 year old being held hostage since last Tuesday is over. The kid is safe and the kidnapper is dead.

Wayne LaPierre Plays Paranoia

NRA frontman, Wayne LaPierre, was on Fox News on Sunday stoking the paranoia of their base. This is what he said:

“I think what they’ll do is turn this universal check on the law-abiding into a universal registry of law-abiding people. And law-abiding people don’t want that. My God, that’s the last thing they want,”

He also argued that background checks are ineffective because criminals will not submit to them. As Anderson Cooper asked on his show last week, how do we know who is law-abiding or not without the background checks? There are many reasons why background checks are not as effective as they should be and that will be part of the conversation. The NRA is largely part of watering down the laws and making them ineffective.

He also said that background checks were "possibly part of a government plot against gun owners." Really? Stroke that paranoia. There is a man in Alabama in a bunker with a kidnapped child today. This is the constituency that he is speaking to with that comment. This is completely irresponsible and part of the problem. Wayne LaPierre and the NRA do not care about being part of the conversation, they are a large part of the problem. I was pretty upset when they complained that they were not going to be invited to the White House to be a part of the conversation with Joe Biden. Of course they were invited, but they can't possibly have brought anything to the table that was constructive. They are not interested in keeping people out of the morgue. They are only interested in expanding the gun culture in this country and feeding the paranoia of the extreme right-wing.

Gun Culture Run Amok

Rodrigo Diaz, 22, his girlfriend, and some friends were looking forward to an evening of ice skating and fun.  What they got was tragedy and heartache.

Diaz was driving the group to pick up another friend before going on to the ice skating rink.  They were using a GPS device that took them to the wrong house.  Whether they typed in the address of their friend wrong, or the device malfunctioned is irrelevant.  What they found when the pulled into the driveway is inexcusable.

69 year old Vietnam vet, Philip Sailors, came out of the house and saw the group of young, Hispanic, people in a car in his driveway and immediately felt he was under attack.  He rushed inside, presumably as fast as a 69 year old man can rush, and grabbed his gun.  He came back outside and fired the .22 caliber pistol in the air.

By this time it was very apparent to Diaz and his friends that this was not their friend's house.  Seeing an old man coming out waving a gun must have been terrifying.  They went out for a night of fun, but at this point they were just hoping to get out of that situation alive.

Diaz quickly threw the car in reverse and hit the accelerator.  Sailors lowered his gun and fired into the car, hitting Diaz in the head.

Where does the line between defending your property and common sense lie?  These people were not hurting Sailors, they were looking for their friend.  Once they realized their mistake they were leaving.  One report says Diaz rolled down the window to apologize to the man advancing toward them with his gun raised.  He tried to explain their mistake.  Sailors wasn't interested in his explanation.

Sailors has been arrested, of course, and maintains he is innocent due to self defense.  I would like to know how one can claim self defense when you shoot at a car driving away from you.

A lawyer for Sailors had this to say in defense of his client:

"He fired a warning shot and then when the car was accelerated to go in reverse he perceived it differently. He’s an elderly man, he perceived the car going towards his house, towards him."

If he cannot perceive if a car is coming towards him or moving away, he probably should not be pointing a gun at anyone, or maybe own it at all.  We would not let someone like that drive a car.  How is this different?

This speaks to the gun culture in this country.  There is a problem when people, Sailors undoubtably among them, believe they need to resort to tactics from the Old West in order to survive in the 21st century.  This culture that surrounds guns must be part of the conversation.  Bob Costas on the Daily Show this past week discussed the gun culture in America with Jon Stewart.  It is real, and people are less safe because of it.  More guns does not equal more safety, contrary to the NRA's position.

This will be an interesting story to follow.  

Wyoming, Mississippi, And Now Alabama!

Seriously, this is getting ridiculous.  Alabama is now seeking their own unconstitutional bill to nullify federal gun laws.

Just like Mississippi, Alabama should know better.  750,000 people died in the Civil War that began because of nullification laws!  Stop it!

Of course, I don't think that several states passing unconstitutional laws is going to result in a new civil war.  There are a lot of reasons for why a civil war like we saw in this country in the 1860's will not happen again.  At least the same way that it did then.

The supremacy clause of the Constitution dictates that the states have to follow federal laws.  These states that are trying to pass nullification bills so they don't have to follow laws they don't like is rather ironic.  They are trying so hard to protect their constitutional right to bear arms* that they think it is acceptable to ignore other parts of the Constitution.  They can't have it both ways.

*This premise is open to debate whether that is what was even intended, but for sake of argument...