Politics Plus

I have felt troubled, by the recent controversy over vaccines brought about by fools like PIGnocchio, and especially Idiot, Son of Idiot, Named after Idiot.  I had a friend tell me how dangerous vaccines have become, I explained that a duck follows Dr. Mercola (her source) around to sound the warning.  Fortunately someone else is sounding the warning far better than a duck.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is not having any of your anti-vaxxer nonsense, or any of Sen. Rand Paul’s anti-vaxxer nonsense either. At a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on vaccinations, Warren had some questions for the director for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC:

“Is there any scientific evidence that vaccines cause autism?”

“Is there any scientific evidence that vaccines cause ‘profound mental disorders’?”

“Is there any scientific evidence that vaccines have contributed to the rise in allergies or auto-immune disorders among kids?”

“Are there additives or preservatives in vaccines that can be toxic to kids?”

“Is there any scientific evidence that giving kids their vaccines further apart or spacing them differently is healthier for kids?”

“Is there any scientific evidence that kids can develop immunity to these diseases on their own, simply by eating nutritious foods or being active?”

(Answer key: No, no, no, no, no, and no.)

Important questions, but one stood out: "Is there any scientific evidence that vaccines cause ‘profound mental disorders’?"

Rand Paul last week: "I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines."

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Here she is in action:

The facts are clear.  Bringing back diseased that we have completely controlled is insane, and too high a price to pay for for a few wing-nuts to just want to inspire fear.

GHW was Strike One.  He was so incompetent that he couldn’t win with his opponent in the midst of the Paula Jones sex scandal.  But he did appoint enough Supreme Court Injustices that they could steal the presidency for his son.  GW was Strike Two, the worst President the US has ever had.  Hundreds of Bushisms reveal his incompetence.  Jeb is trying to portray himself as a different kind of Bush: smart and techy, an e-Bush.  Strike Three!

Jeb Bush may make a presidential run in 2016, but the Republican politician has already make a glaring faux pas, ironically compromising the privacy of some his supporters and critics alike in a blundered attempt at transparency.

Bush decided to publish in Personal Storage Table (.PST) format thousands of emails he received during his eight years as the governor of Florida between 1999 and 2007.  The published emails had been received by his official gubernatorial account, jebATjeb.org. [Strike Three delinked]

What began as ostensibly well intentioned attempt to showcase his open door policy went astray when visitors discovered that the published data trove contained unredacted names, email addresses, physical mailing addresses, phone numbers, and even Social Security numbers…

Inserted from <Daily Tech>

Exposing the personal particulars and violating the privacy of everyone who reached out to him demonstrates a level of competence in the ballpark with Strike One and Strike Two.

In what may well be the shortest-lived career as a political technology officer, Jeb Bush’s newly appointed Chief Technology Officer, Ethan Czahor, resigned yesterday after he was called out in media for deleting a series of "offensive" tweets.

The Washington Post’s headline was, "Jeb Bush’s chief technology officer resigns after racially insensitive comments."

Czahor, one of the co-founders of Hipster.com, admitted to what the Bush camp described as "regrettable and insensitive comments," such as suggesting that "black parents need to get their sh@# together." He also, in backhanded fashion, expressed his relief that Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t wear "pants sagged to his ankles," or speak in "jibberish." These tweets were written several years ago, but, as Post writer, Phillip Rucker explained, Czahor, "could not survive the racially insensitive comments that surfaced on Tuesday."

Czahor could, however, have survived the sexist ones. The first media reports of his tweets were about his opinions regarding gender and sexuality. Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski  cataloged a whole series of tweets prior to their deletion…

…For good measure, there were also disparaging, homophobic ones. Racist commentary was also brought to light. It’s a bundled service…

Inserted from <Huffington Post>

While his choice’s values line up perfectly with those the Republican Party practices that message is far more honest than the one he wants to send.  He’s certainly no better at choosing people than Strike One and Strike Two.

Rachel Maddow provided even more detail.

The bottom line here is self-evident.  There is no different kind of Bush.  Jeb is just as honest, just as competent, and just as concerned for the poor and middle classes as his brother.  Strike Three!

Sixteen days from now, on February 27, funding runs out on on the Department of Homeland Security.  Republicans claim that the impasse is a mystery, because they don’t understand why Democrats refuse to compromise.  The impasse is no mystery.  Republicans refuse to offer a clean bill.

With a little over two weeks until the Department of Homeland Security runs out of money, Republican leaders in Congress publicly announced Tuesday what had become a grim, if private, truth in the Capitol — they are at an impasse, with no easy way out.

“I think it’s clearly stuck in the Senate,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader. “We can’t get on it, we can’t offer amendments to it. And the next step is obviously up to the House.”

Senate Republicans have failed three times so far to pass a bill to finance the department, which runs out of money on Feb. 27, in what has become a larger proxy fight over President Obama’s immigration policies.

The House last month passed a bill to the pay for department operations, but the legislation included provisions that would have gutted the president’s executive actions on immigration, rolling back legal protections for as many as five million undocumented immigrants, including children.

Senate Democrats, united against anything other than a “clean” spending bill, filibustered to prevent Republicans from taking up the legislation — a maneuver they decried when they were in the minority — and Mr. Obama has promised to veto any bill that undoes his executive actions… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

For the most part, the media are parroting Republican talking points, instead of explaining that Republicans are attempting to usurp Obama’s executive authority.  Passing the bill in it’s current form makes no sense, because Republicans do not have the numbers to overcome a presidential veto.

What we need is a clean bill, which would pass the Senate and the House, if Bought Bitch Mitch and Agent Orange would bring a clean bill to the floor.  Instead, they are catering to their anti-Latino base, for whom racism trumps the security of our nation.  Them we can deal with immigration as the separate issue that it is.

I won’t even try to count how many times I’ve complained about low voter turnout, so when a saw an article purporting to have ways to increase voter turnout, I could not resist sharing it with you.  However I do disagree with the author on one key point.

Voter turnout in the U.S. during the last midterm election hit the lowest point since the 1940s. The number of Americans heading to the polls each election has been declining for the last fifty years and lawmakers have recently been pushing efforts to keep even more people away from the polls.

People do not exercise their right to vote for various reasons, some of which are easier to solve than others. According to a U.S. Census report from 2013, 14 percent of nonvoting respondents were unable to participate because of an illness or disability, 8.6 percent were out of town, 12.7 percent did not like the candidates or campaign issues and almost 19 percent were too busy. Some people cannot take time off from work on a Tuesday in November, which has led lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to call for making Election Day a federal holiday. Others may not feel engaged in politics or informed enough to vote, while 5.85 million U.S. citizens are prohibited from voting due to a felony conviction on their records.

Voting advocates, including those who spoke at the Elections and Voting Summit last week, have been developing and pushing for new ways to get more people to the polls. Unlike laws that restrict access through voter ID laws, shorter registration and early voting periods and disenfranchising felons, these proposals are likely to have support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and would not be difficult to implement to get voters to turn out in higher numbers… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Click through for the list of ideas.

My disagreement is with the author’s statement that these ideas would have bipartisan support.  Republicans may give lip service to such ideas at conferences, but in real life, Republicans are doing everything they can to disenfranchise legitimate voters.

I still think one of the best ways to increase voter turnout is to adopt Oregon’s vote by mail system.